Naming Names...

At Christmas, Nonna sent Hallie home with two puzzle/matching games--mommies to babies and then colors. Each match is a puzzle piece that fits together. Surprisingly, Hallie can match several of the mommies to the babies: mommy and baby, dog and puppy, cat and kitten, penguin and chick (!), elephant and calf, cow and calf. The colors...not so much. :o) But she absolutely LOVES naming the objects that are featured in the colors game! And when Jonathan holds up a card and asks "What's this?" She will quickly reply with the answer as if she's on a game show! Cup, phone, frog, berries, fish, flower, catty cat (cute!), dog, and so on. We were extremely surprised at what she named three of the objects. You'll be surprised at what she calls them...and without absolutely no prompting from Mommy or Daddy. Oh, it would've been cute even if we had prompted her, but it is definitely cuter b/c we didn't! Of course, the quality isn't so fabulous b/c she knew we were videoing...and she had already answered Daddy's requests about 5 times before the video shoot. But, it's still cute, nonetheless! I don't want to spoil the fun of what she says. I will post below the video what she's saying...I'm not sure if she names all three of the items or just two. Either way, it's pretty sweet. :o) This was captured after we got home from the park...Hallie spent a little "school time" with Daddy!

Hallie names Dada's buttons b/c she always points to and names the buttons on his shirt. She names Pop's hat b/c he is always wearing a hat. And she names Nonna's shoes b/c they look like little slippers and Nonna always wears slippers (unless we're out and about) and we got her some for Christmas. It is amazing what Hallie can associate with pictures! I love it!

We Heart Hallie!

We love Sunday afternoons with Hallie! They are always fun-filled and laid back. We were able to capture a few precious pictures of our little blessing (yes, she is still our LITTLE blessing!) in the beautiful weather. We even got a few Mommy-Hallie and Daddy-Hallie pictures. Those are few and far between b/c she rarely stops long enough for a picture with us!

A Sunny 87 degrees...

On Friday afternoon, it was 87 degrees! It was kinda windy, but it was absolutely beautiful! After picking Hallie up from Miss Pattie's, she and I headed to the park! We were both excited about spending a beautiful afternoon outside! Hallie played on the swings, she slid, she climbed, she rode the little firetruck bouncer, she slid some more and ran around admiring the skills of the older kids! She made friends as she always does and happily played with them. She even took her turn on the big slide (over and over again!). She is SO brave...a little too brave for my enjoyment while on playground equipment that's about 3 feet out of my comfort reach. Here are a few pictures from the day--I'm so glad I had the camera in the car! We stayed at the park until it was almost dark! It was very hard to get my outdoor-loving 22 month old to the car! With promises of another afternoon at the park, she finally complied (along with a little counting of 1-2-3!)! We had a wonderfully fun afternoon!

Fun with Pink Eye...

I don't know how much fun pink eye can be, but I have tried to make Hallie's day home fun-filled...minus the two times we've already had to put drops in her eyes. She did not have fun with that! We had a yummy breakfast, watched a little Word World and played in Hallie's kitchen. Then I asked Hallie if she wanted to make cupcakes. Her excitement was SO cute! She kept saying, "Make cu-cakes! Make cu-cakes!" So sweet! Hallie was a big helper in making the cupcakes. She only stirred for a little bit and then didn't want to help anymore. But she loved puting the liners in the muffin tin! She would put them in, take them out, rearrange them and put them in again. Lots of fun for her! After making cupcakes, Hallie got to paint--one of her most favorite things to do! After lunch with Daddy, Hallie and I went outside for a few minutes and got some leaves to do some leaf rubbings after her nap. She's sleeping peacefully right now. Such a sweetie! I have really enjoyed being home with her today and really miss my days as a stay-at-home mommy! So all of you SAHMs...relish every moment! :o)

My little cupcake maker!

A Fun Day Off

Mommy didn't have to go to school, Daddy didn't have to go to work, and Hallie didn't have to go to nursery school! It was a wonderful Monday! We spent the day lounging, playing, doing a little "hiking" behind our house, riding a trike, and just having a good day! Hallie's eyes have been a little gunky, so we decided to take her to the doctor to see if it was allergies or what. We got an icky report of pink eye. Ugh. So...Mommy's and Hallie's long weekend is extended! It will be so much fun to stay home with her! We have eye drops to put in Hallie's eyes--and she does not approve, but it should clear her sweet baby brown's right up! :o)

Heading down...yes, Jonathan has on shorts and short
sleeves! It was about 65 yesterday--a beautiful day!

Hallie found her missing ball at the bottom of the hill
in the very dry creek! She was so excited!

Our shadow family!

Monkey See-Monkey Do-Monkey Wear!

We love Sunday afternoons at Gramps's and Rah-Rah's house! :o) Hallie especially loves it when Uncle Jay (which seems to come out "Shea") comes over! She loves him so much and has so much fun playing with him! :o)

Hallie and Uncle Jay

Hallie is saying "more" before he can even
catch her! :o)

Little Drummer Hallie (this one's for her Gramps
and Uncle Kelly)

Sweet girl looking at the birds

Fun in the hammock!

This is Hallie's favorite spot in the yard!

Toothbrush Tunes!

What fun! Hallie got this Toothbrush Tunes toothbrush in her stocking from Santa and we finally got it out last night. She has always been a good toothbrusher until the past couple of weeks, so it was the perfect time to break out the new one. She was mesmerized by the toothbrush playing a tune--hers plays "Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book. Just push the button, hear, "OK, ready to brush?" and then it is starts singing. About halfway through it says "You're doing a great job!" and then continues singing. The really neat thing is that you can hear it outside of your mouth, but it is amplified when pressure is put on the bristles (inside the mouth). Hallie loved this and thought is was really neat! Can I have one please?! They have "junior" toothbrushes for little ones and then the regular sized ones for older kids...Wal-Mart, Target, and HEB (our grocery store). They're about $5. :o) Well worth it...for Santa, that is!

The video is a little lengthy and there was some confusion,
but I knew Nonna and Pop would want to see what a
big girl Hallie is! :o)

Daddy's Little Helper

Usually Hallie reserves her helpfulness for Mommy, but this morning, Hallie decided Daddy needed some help making his coffee. She was very excited to help him! I know Daddy's coffee was filled with extra love b/c of Hallie's help. :o) Here are a few pictures of the events...as you can tell, Daddy and his mini both suffer from extreme bedhead. :o) Even with messy hair, this pair is pretty stinking cute!

As it should be...

It was very cold (for Waco, TX anyway) after I picked Hallie up after school! She and I came home, played, and made some hot chocolate. Like her mommy, she prefers the "mwewols" (marshmallows)! :o) This tasty cup of hot chocolate was 1 part milk, 1 part hot chocolate mix, and 1000 parts marshmallows...just as it should be! :o) It was a tasty treat that warmed our hearts! It was the perfect ending to a long day...but thank goodness I have a little break tomorrow (the kids are out of school...so I'll be working in my classroom all day!).

Yais!

Our sweet Hallie has become quite the conversationalist! It is precious to watch her vocabulary grow and her ability to communicate blossom by the minute! While we don't like being away from her during the day, we are very thankful that she is in a place where she is talked to a lot! We think that is so important in building her vocabulary!

My mom sent two little matching games home with us at Christmas. One matches the mommy animal to the baby animal and the other matches colors. Hallie can put together a lot of the mommy-baby cards and a few of the colors. Her favorite thing to do is to name the pictures on the cards. She also does this with her peek-a-boo blocks. It is so fun to hear "bird, car, bebe (baby), line (lion), cup, soos (shoes), momma (picture of a woman), too-bush (toothbrush), shirt, pane (plane), tchain (train)" and many others from the other room! She has also started "reading" her books a lot! I absolutely love it!


Last night, Hallie and I had this conversation while she was bathing:

Me: Did Rah-Rah pick you up today from Miss Pattie's?

Hal: Yais. (This is a move from simply nodding "yes"!)

Me: Well, what did you and Rah-Rah do this afternoon?

Hal: (pointing and moving her arms wildly) jibberish...jibberish...I saw park. jibberish...jibberish...I pay (play)...Rah-Rah played (yes, played!). We played da park.

Me: Wow! You and Rah-Rah went to the park to play?!

Hal: Yais.

Me: Did you have fun?

Hal: Yais. I side (slide). I swing. Rah-Rah side (slide). We go home.

Me: You and Rah-Rah slid together?! Did it get cold outside and you went home?

Hal: Yais. It cold. I home. (She has really started saying "I home" or "We home" when we get home!)

A very pleased Hallie happily finished playing in the bathtub while a very proud mommy shed a tiny tear at the thought of having a true conversation with her little girl. She is getting so big, and it's happening way too fast! It was so much fun to talk with her...to know she was understanding me and for her to respond in a way that I could decipher! I can only imagine what all her jibberish was telling me! :o) And I absolutely LOVE that she has started answering with a verbal "yais"!

Oh So Cute!

I have to post about these cutie pie jeans Nonna got Hallie. Sometimes I put little clothes on Hallie and am just amazed at how stinking cute they look on her. I wish I could look that cute in my dark washed jeans! haha. These pictures are for you, Nonna...with one from naptime (or lack of naptime) thrown in! I'm not sure what's going on, but Hallie has skipped her nap the past three days. This is completely not acceptable in my book. So if you have some napping suggestions for an almost two year old, please...send them our way!

Hallie had almost every stuffed animal in her arms!
There were so many I coudn't get them all in the
picture. She named the ones she had for me:
Kitty, Righty, Bunny and Moe plus her blanket.

These jeans are just too cute. The little ruffle at the
bottome make them oh-so-girlie!

Nonna, these are the shoes we got in exchange
for the other brown ones. You can't see their
cuteness...maybe I'll get a better picture later!

Look at that sweet face in that adorable sweater!

Here's Hallie again, making sure the doors to our
pantry are closed. :o) She has on the cutest
little pink Keds (which she traded for the new
brown ones once she saw them...no, we didn't
exchange the cute pink Keds!)

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband, my guy, my very best friend, the person I love to laugh with, be silly with, sometimes pick fights with, spend time with, dream with. He is the most wonderful husband and daddy I could ever hope for!

Happy birthday, love! Hallie and I hope your day was wonderful!

For Jonathan's birthday, Hallie and I took balloons and coffee and a cinnamon roll from Starbucks to his office. It was our first visit, so we got to see his new place and meet the many firendly faces he works with. Afteward, we met Jonathan's parents, brother, and grandmother at Outback for a birthday dinner. Hallie was a handful and only wanted to play with this little activity table they had. However, it was a good night (in terms of "winning"--haha) for Mommy and Daddy...after some reasoning and a talk away from the table with Hallie, she decided she would eat her supper. She was rewarded with some activity table time. Man, who knew raising a toddler would be so hard?! :o) After dinner, it was back home to celebrate with some gifts and a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake! We all had a wonderful time celebrating 31 years of Jonathan!

The cake

Hallie loved the little smiley face candles and
"helped" Daddy blow out his candles.

A familiy photo...although a pretty rotten one. :o)

My goofy brother-in-law and sweet Grandmommy.
Jeremy made her put this little crown on. It was
very much against her will!

22 Months Old!

Sweet Hallie turned 22 months old on January 2nd! We are nearing the two year mark so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that our hearts bubbled over with joy at her saying "da-da"! Now her vocabulary is so full, it's hard to keep up with all of it. We are just so proud of how our little girl is growing. She is a complete joy to be around, and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!

Some favorites: "nuggies" (chicken nuggets in almost any form), milk, orange juice, Moe (her monkey), shoes, Mommy's jewelry, getting into Mommy's make-up (she is so cute--she knows exactly where everything goes!)

What she has said lately: "I try." "Go, Momma." "Turn ah [insert Elmo, Word World, car, and various other things] , Momma." (turn on, Momma), "Osh." (off), "Your phone ringin', Momma." "C'mon!" "You get it, Momma." "Uv oo, Da-da." (I love you, Da-da. Aw!!) "Dum." (gum) "Cook nuggies." "I hep." (I help.) "Peese." (please...usually on the end of requests--often prompted, too, though.) "Thans." (thanks...often whispered) "One, two, fife." (one, two, five...this is how she counts right now! heehee.)

What she loves to do: Dance, wear Mommy's shoes, get into Mommy's jewelry and make-up, singing (her ABC song, and she makes up her own little songs), play with Daddy, watch Word World, play outside

Here's our little sweetheart:

Hallie's New Set of Wheels

On New Year's Day, Hallie got to take her new set of wheels out for their first spin! We had so much fun watching her ride her new trike through our neighborhood. You cannot believe how thankful Jonathan is for the parent bar on her trike. It definitely saved his back on this long walk! It was pretty chilly this day, but Hallie absolutely did not mind. Since Gramps and Rah-Rah were in San Antonio for New Year's, we got the pleasure of doggysitting Charley. Hallie absolutely loved having him over! He was a very good house guest!

Hallie absolutely LOVED walking Charley. She thought it was so funny when he would take off, causing her to scurry behind him with the leash. She had a tiny accident at the end of the video when Charley jumps off the curb and brings Hallie with him. Luckily, she had on her helmet, so she didn't get hurt at all!