"I going to beach!"

At some point, Hallie overheard Jonathan and me talking about going to the beach. I really think that was over a week ago. Every day Hallie would ask about the beach. If we were leaving to go somewhere, she'd ask if we were going to the beach. She would tell random people "I going to beach!" with pure joy and excitement. I wasn't sure if she would be old enough to understand using a chain as a count down, so I thought I would try something a little more visual. I had some Post-It notes of the days of the week, weather, and various other things. I think I found them at Toys 'R Us (on sale, of course). So Hallie and I drew a picture of the beach together--mind you, she has never been but we have looked at pictures and talked about it A LOT. We also drew a little picture of Hallie. I thought it would be a good visual to see herself getting closer to the beach. And it's been a great little lesson on the days of the week. She will go up to them, point to the day, and say one of the days (although it usually doesn't match up...but one has to start somewhere). She has been very excited each morning to wake up and move herself a little closer to the beach. Tomorrow isn't actually our beach day, but we're flying to Alabama...so for all practical purposes for a two year old, tomorrow we're going to the beach. :o)

A little adventure

Hallie and I were going to go to Calvert--a little town about an hour away--with Rah-Rah to meet up with her sister, Aunt Charlene. We hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving, so it was great to get together! Aunt Charlene brought along Elizabeth (her grand-daughter) and Elizabeth's friend, Jaylee. Calvert really is a small town, but it has a really cute downtown. We were all pretty hungry by the time we met up, so we decided to eat at The Wooden Spoon...a small town eatery complete with fried pickles! We had a great visit, even if it was a quick one! Hallie really enjoyed the extra attention from Elizabeth and her friend.

If you don't have pockets, just put it in your undies!

The Wooden Spoon

Sisters and their grand-daughters
Elizabeth, Hallie, Rah-Rah, Aunt Charlene

Sweet girl

Splash Park Fun!

After we got cleaned up from the lingering purple Crayola marker, we headed to the splash park where Hallie had a most delightful morning! She absolutely loves the splash park! She played in the water, played on the playground, made some new friends...we even headed over to my school for a few minutes to say good-bye to our secretary who's moving to Colorado next month. It was a very fun day (minus the marker incident)!

Thank you, Crayola!

OK...I really do pay attention to my child, I promise. But if you're the parent of a toddler, then you know that even when you're watching them there's potential for them to be "up to something"! Lately, as soon as Hallie wakes up she requests two things--milk and cartoons. She usually wants to watch World World while she's enjoying her first cup of milk for the day. On this particular day, she was laying on her tummy, feet in the air, coloring away. Now, I thought she was coloring in her coloring book. Not so much. She turned around and excitedly said, "Ta da!" Thank goodness this was washable marker!

Now, I thought it was just on her hands...when I
pushed up her sleeves to wash her hands I saw
her purple arms! Oh my word!

Chuck E. Cheese's...where a Kid Can Be a Kid!

While Mommy and Daddy went on a date, Hallie went on a date with Gramps and Rah-Rah! She had her very first trip to Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast! While she's still not much of a pizza eater, she really enjoyed some of the little attractions--especially the singing Chuck E. Cheese! She also loved this little clock ride that went around the clock in circles up on the wall. You can't tell from her face in the picture, but the g-rents both swear that she loved it! :o)

We Heart Cows!

It's Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A! I have had it in my mind that I would dress Hallie as a cow. Now, that doesn't mean I wanted to put her in full cow gear. No. I wanted her to be a tastefully somewhat inconspicuous cow. :o) So I made her a darling little "cow t-shirt". She watched me sew those spots on with great excitement. She helped me paint the cow spots on her headband--she even got a chance to paint a few spots herself. And her squeaky shoes (sans squeakers) had little white with black dot bows on them. She called them her "cow shoes". lol. We had a lot of fun at Chick-fil-A...except...the cow wasn't there on Cow Appreciation Day. We reasoned with Hallie that he had the day off and was home reading the cow newspaper. She was VERY sad that the cow was not there. When I say she was sad...I am NOT exaggerating. We were surprised that she had such a reaction to the cow not being there. Have I mentioned that she LOVES the CFA cow?! Well, she does. So, in order to curb Hallie's sadness, Rah-Rah offered the possibility of a train ride at Lion's Park. Well. You can't offer a possibility of riding a train...once the offer is made, it's going to happen. Or you'll never hear the end of it. So, after our supper, we made our way to the train where Hallie's attitude quickly changed from sad to giddy!

Our cutie pie cow!

Loving the train ride! Even Grandmommy (who
Hallie refers to as "Grandmom") rode the train
with us! It was definitely a family affair!

A Little of This, a Little of That

So Hallie has been quite silly lately. She does something "new" every day that makes us stand in amazement or stand in absolute fits of giggles. It's very safe to say that she cracks us up most of the time! Our sweet girl is silly, loving, sweet, and quite independent...all that makes her our sweet Hallie!

Hallie found a marker...(not washable) and the rest...
well, you can see in the picture. So when I thought she
was quietly coloring, this is what she was doing.

I cleaned up Hallie's little play area. Her little dollhouse
usually sits in the window, but I moved it to the toybox
so I could vacuum. When I went to put it back in her spot,
she protested. The next thing I knew, she had a picture
of Mommy and Hallie beside her dollhouse. How cute is that?!

Oh, Hallie! I flipped on the shower and went around
the corner to grab a towel. Upon my return, this is what
I found. She LOVES getting in the shower!

Happy Fourth of July

We hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July!

Build-A-Bear

Daddy was off the Friday before Fourth of July, so we had a fun family outing to the mall! I'm sure Daddy was thrilled. haha. :o) We took Hallie to ride the quarter rides, to eat lunch at Chick-fil-A and then to Build-A-Bear. One of the last times we were at the mall, Hallie actually noticed Build-A-Bear. We walked around in there and she admired all the clothes, shoes, accessories, and the animals awaiting a loving family. She didn't question whether or not she could get anything...so after discussing it with Jonathan, we decided we'd take her the next day. She was so excited. We gave her a choice of a dark brown bear, the light brown bear, or a fluffy bunny. The bunny was honestly the cutest of the 3 choices, but after giving her the choices, I silently prayed she'd choose a bear. Yes. I'm admitting that. C'mon...she can't choose a bunny for her first experience at Build-A- BEAR!! She studied all of them for what seemed like an eternity. Then she pointed to the light colored bear. Whew!

I had never been to BAB...so I had no idea what to expect. The "Bear Expert" was very sweet to Hallie. She took Hallie to the cuddles and love fluffing machine and told Hallie to step on the pedal to start fluffing her bear. Hallie was hesitant at first, but when she finally did it she was excited to be the one making the machine work! The expert talked to Hallie while it was being done, asking her what she was going to name the bear. Do you know what she decided on? Bear. That's right. The bear's name is Bear. Then we asked Hallie if it as a boy bear or a girl bear. She stood there for a few seconds and then replied, "Um...itsa girl bear." When Bear was finished being stuffed with cuddles and love, the expert asked Hallie to pick her out a heart. The expert had Hallie rub it together with her hands--so the bear would have warm heart. Then Hallie rubbed it on her face so Bear would be as beautiful as she is. Then she rubbed it on her arms so Bear would have lots of hugs to give. Then Hallie held it close to her heart so Bear would be filled with love. I thought all that was sweet. After Bear got her heart and was sewn up, Hallie got to take her to get an air bath. I think this was Hallie's favorite part. She thought it was hilarious that the bear was getting a bath! She kept saying, "Bear, you like that?!" So cute. :o) Hallie promptly picked out some shoes for Bear and Jonathan helped her pick out a little outfit. Although neither is seen on Bear very often (which I figured), but Bear has been very loved since she came to live with us!