Busy Busy

This past week has been quite a busy one with me wrapping up the end of the school year; I haven't had the extra time to post. Of course, that doesn't mean that we've just been doing nothing! We've been busy at home, too.

We celebrated Memorial Day with family. There'll be more on Memorial Day weekend in its own post. Then Tuesday night was Awards Night for K-2. I didn't have to go, so I offered to watch one of my teacher friend's youngest daughter so she could attend her kindergarten daughter's awards ceremony (and actually get to watch). We had a blast! Emily is 3, and Hallie was extra excited to have a new friend here to play! They played with the dollhouse, with the trike and car, in the pool...and had a snack together. It was a lot of fun and we hope to have Emily (along with Audrey and Hudson) over again soon! This fun evening will have its own post, too! :o)

Hallie started feeling a little under the weather on Wednesday night, running a little fever. The fever hung around Thursday morning and Daddy just couldn't bring himself to take the little princess to Miss Pattie's. So he stayed with her until lunch. At lunch time, I came home and got Miss Hallie and took her to school with me. She absolutely loved it! I didn't let her play with the other kids b/c of her not feeling well (I didn't want her to spread her germs), so she laid on her Monkey Mat under my table and watched Mary Poppins--and wrote on the white board at her discretion. haha. Thank goodness Rah-Rah picked her up around 12:30 to let her have a restful afternoon until her doctor's appointment. Oh, the doctor's visit. Sigh. We absolutely love love love our pediatrician. We are so blessed to have found her. Hallie loves her, too--at least she did. Dr. Popejoy checked Hallie out and said her lymph nodes were a little swollen (throat) and that her throat was really red, so she wanted to do a strep test. She'd do a throat culture swab, too, in case the strep test came back negative. She got a great swab on the little girl, but Hallie was M. A. D. MAD! She cried for about 10 seconds and then got the look of vomiting on her face...I know that look all too well! And just as I suspected, the "water works of the mouth" began. Ugh. She threw up, and threw up, and threw up some more. Bless her sweet heart. Dr. Popejoy felt absolutely horrible. About 10 minutes later (and lots of snuggling in Mommy's lap) Dr. Popejoy returned. She said, "I was starting to feel worse and worse about doing the strep test...but I am so glad I did b/c it was positive." So sad. So we got some medicine for the little girl and she is now feeling MUCH better. In fact, after her medicine last night, she said, "I feel bettie [better]. I take medcine [medicine]." :o) So precious.

After resting the rest of Thursday evening and staying home on Friday, too, Hallie was feeling almost good as new come Saturday morning. We watched our usual Lomax: The Hound of Music (PBS) and ate oatmeal. She was excited b/c after naptime we were going to go to Miss Pattie's 60th birthday party for a little while. (Miss Pattie keeps Hallie.) That'll be another post on its own (I had better get busy with the other posts). After the party, Hallie went to ride the train at Lion's Park (one of Hallie's favorite things) while Mommy and Daddy did a little shopping.

Today...we have rested. Hallie played in her little pool b/c it was SO hot outside, and Daddy put together Mommy's birthday present--a swing for our deck! It is so very comfortable...I love it!

So, hopefully I will get all these things posted soon. For now, I need to grade my LAST set of papers for these kiddies...hip hip hooray! I don't have many to grade, but grades for the report cards are due tomorrow, so I had better get busy! Thursday at noon is my last day with the kids. I'll have a work day Thursday afternoon and Friday...so next Sunday, I'll be completely stress free as I won't have to go to work the next day!!

One last thing...Jonathan and I are compiling a list of "Hallie-isms" that we will surely miss when she grows out of her toddler-talk. I hope to post those soon. I'ts harder than you think to think of all those sweet little words that you know she'll soon not say anymore. We still talk about our niece Abby saying, "Non't know" for don't know. :o)

Off to get busy!

I can't post a post that long and not have at least one picture...

Gramps and Rah-Rah got Hallie a new bath towel
that says "Princess" and has a little crown at
the top! How cute?!

Hallie's TWO pictures!

Finally! About a month after Hallie turned two, we took her out to a field and took some very sweet pictures of her. Jonathan turned the car stereo up and she danced and played. She could not have been sweeter for this little personal photo shoot, and she had so much fun! :o) While there were over 200 pictures taken, I have fought the urge to post all of them! So...here are my Top 15 taken that day!

Swimming Fun...and chilly too!

After a rainy Saturday, our Sunday turned out beautifully! We enjoyed church, lunch after church, a nap for two very cranky girls (yes, Mommy was cranky, too), and then some sunshine! We took the pool outside and hooked the water hose up to the elephant and let the fun begin! While all last week the weather was extremely hot and sunny, today we were confused by the mid-70s weather! Hallie was not a coward...although it was quite chilly outside, she braved the cold for the fun of the pool! She slid, she splashed, she jumped around. She tried her best to convince Charley th join her. No such luck. :o) She begged Daddy and Mommy to get in the water, but we both said we were too big (quite true, but it was also FREEZING!). Hallie was shivering, bless her sweet heart, but assured us she was not cold. When she had had enough, she went up to Daddy and said, "I need these clothes osh (off)." So cute! She was shivering from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. After getting on dry clothes, Mommy snuggled her up in a blanket until she warmed up--she did not protest! After that, we grilled some hotdogs and continued to enjoy the sunshine until it began its late decent. :o)

Enjoy the pictures...do you think she was having fun?! Bless her heart, her Momma won't buy her a swimsuit that fits. LOL. The swim bottoms would not stay up. They kept sliding down. Hallie would stop, bend over, and pick them up. Too cute! She's in between sizes right now. The 18-24 month is way to small, but the 2T (in the bottoms--and this came as a set) is too big. It depends on the brand, too...and this is a brand where we still get 18-24 mth in pants and 2T in tops. Hopefully it'll fit better by summer.

Saturday Fun

Saturday was very relaxing! Friday night we went to Target and got Hallie a little pool for our hot Texas summer days that have already begun. She was so excited about having a swimming pool that we had to open it up Friday night! She slid and slid and played so hard Friday night. We talked about putting water in it, but we really think she would have been content to just leave it empty in the little living room! Saturday morning we ate breakfast as we watched the rain pour down outside. After a hot sunny week, we had a very humid, rainy Saturday...and it was nice to be able to relax inside! Jonathan and Hallie painted for almost 2 hours while I cleaned up the kitchen, den, living room, and did some laundry. Hallie LOVES to paint! I tried tackling Hallie's room (should have done that while she painted!)...she has so many clothes in her closet that don't fit anymore, but I just haven't had the time to pack them up. So I worked a little in the closet, got a little sappy over packing up all my favorite outfits of Hallie's from last summer/fall, and then gave in to Hallie helping me with ALL the hangers! :o) After that, it was naptime. I thought Hallie was going to fall asleep in her bed while I was packing up her clothes. But no such luck...she read happily to her babies while I worked, but then wanted to snuggle Mommy as usual (our weekend routine for naps). And I don't mind one bit b/c soon enough she won't want to have anything to do with me! So, Hallie took a little nap and Jonathan helped his parents with a few things...and picked up our weekend guest (Charley). I cleaned up a little more and actually rested! Here are a few pictures of our restful Saturday. :o)

Hallie trying out the slide on her new pool.

Hallie painting--one of her FAVORITE ways to pass the time!

Reading to her babies...

Oh my goodness...these are some of my favorite
outfits from last summer/fall and I got teary-eyed
while packing them up! I had to take a picture. :o) I
have so many memories in these outfits. I could tell
you one for each outfit! I can't believe my little girl is
getting too big for the little bubble outfits. Oh how sad
that makes this momma!

Hallie would pick up the hangers off the floor
and then make a pile of them somewhere else
in her room! haha!

Some more favorite outfits...Hallie wore the initial
outfit last Father's Day (and I have the sweetest
picture), the puppy outfit for Uncle Jeremy's b'day
outing to Dallas, and the other three more times than
I can count b/c they were three of my most
favorites! I should've bought these in every size!

Happy Birthday, Rah-Rah!

Happy Birthday to Rah-Rah!  We all enjoyed yummy Italian and celebrated one special lady! :o)

Hallie telling Rah-Rah "Happy Birthday"

Hallie loves her Uncle Jay (who entertained her

until the food arrived--thanks, Jeremy!)

Coloring--they're concentrating awfully hard!

Saying Bye-Bye

The fun always has to come to an end, but we are all so glad my parents got to come and spend some time with us all!  Hallie really enjoyed seeing her Nonna and Pop, and I'm sure the feeling was mutual.  The second we got onto the interstate, Hallie-Lou was snoozing away!  We stopped at Czech Stop for some FABULOUS kolaches.  Our plan was to stop for lunch, but we really didn't have time.  And after we all enjoyed our share of kolaches, we really didn't have room for lunch! :o)  Once we got to the airport, the bottom fell out of the sky!  Thankfully there was a sky walk so we wouldn't get wet--Hallie thought that was lots of fun!  Because of the weather, Nonna and Pop's flight was delayed.  We thought we'd grab some lunch for Hallie while we waited.  There was Chili's and McDonald's.  So we were going for McDonald's...until we got to the counter and saw the 3 ft x 2 ft sign on the Coke machine that read: Fries and Hamburgers not sold at this location.  Gates A blah blah and B blah blah.  WHAT?!  For whatever reason, that "location" only sold breakfast...and pretzels and popcorn.  Weird.  Hallie wasn't interested in eating anyway.  She was more interested in chasing Pop around the airport!  She also enjoyed a couple of rides on the escalator. :o)  Thanks, Pop, for keeping Hallie entertained!  We look forward to seeing Nonna and Pop again soon!  Thanks again for surprising me for my birthday!  It was the best present yet! :o)

Surprise!

I got home on Thursday, opened the garage and saw someone standing in there. I was worried for about two seconds, then I realized it was my sweet daddy!  My parents are little stinkers!  Come to find out Jonathan had driven to Dallas that morning to pick them up at the airport!  They had decided the day before to fly to Waco for my birthday.  How fun!  They had kept Hallie for the day, and she couldn't have been more excited.  I hope my dad caught some cute pictures of that day!  I enjoyed their visit, even if it was quick.  Friday (May 1) was my birthday, so I ended up taking 1/2 the day off to spend with my parents.  Hallie napped on Friday so Mom and I did a little shopping while Pop held the fort down. :o)  Then we went to dinner for my birthday.  Hallie was quite whiney despite her 3 1/2 hour nap, and she sat in my lap wanting me to read Peter Rabbit to her most of the time.  Sweet girl...although it would've been nice to eat my birthday supper warm!  All the way to the restaurant, Hallie was singing "Happy Birthday to Mommy!  Happy Birthday to Mommy!"  It was very cute.  And though she didn't want to eat any supper, she didn't dare turn down any ice cream cake!

Nonna and Hallie putting stuffing her

Bernstain Bears

On the way to dinner...Hallie kept hitting Pop in the

face every time I tried to take a picture! :o)

Hallie stepped in mud and wanted Pop to clean

off her shoe...and of course, she had to help him!

Hallie singing to me...