In and Out

Last Tuesday in ballet, I happened to have the camera in my bag and took a quick video of Hallie doing the perfect Échappé (ay-sha-PAY)--to jump in and out with the feet. I am, of course, one proud mommy. :o) The little girl beside her stepped over to see how high Hallie could jump--another little exercise they do to warm up. Pretty cute. Hallie is one cute little ballerina...in my opinion, of course! :o)

Hello, Mr. Praying Mantis

Jonathan was clipping some weeds that had "crawled" up to our back porch, and from one of those leaves fell one of the most beautiful creatures--a praying mantis. Hallie was very curious. She and I were swinging when I noticed him. Jonathan quickly picked him up on his little hedge clippers and showed him to our little curious girl. The first thing she said? "Hi, bug. You got some shoes? No?" lol. The next thing she asked him, "Want something to eat? You hungry?" She cracks us up! Jonathan sat him on the rail for us to bug-watch while he continued clipping weeds. The praying mantis stayed there for a long time, allowing us to gawk at him! Maybe he was curious about us, too! Isn't he pretty?!

Sic 'em Bears!

We spent our Saturday evening at Floyd Casey Stadium cheering on the Baylor Bears! Hallie LOVES going to sports games...she has now been to all of the "major" sports--football, basketball, and baseball. I'm not sure which one is her favorite. Right now I think baseball b/c of the "Dot Race" at the Ranger game! I'll have to ask her which is her favorite...right now she calls everything baseball. :o) One thing is for sure, she requests popcorn at EVERY game! We had a good time at the game, she loved that they shoot fireworks after every touchdown AND every extra point kick! And she loved listening to the band play--of course, it wasn't the Auburn band (who is amazing, by the way), but she still enjoyed it. Keeping true to her roots (her momma), she was really mesmorized by the majorettes! :o) We left right as the 3rd quarter began because it was past bedtime...hopefully they'll have an afternoon game soon and we'll get to go and stay the whole time. I have heard they let all the kids go down and play on the field after the game--what fun that would be!!

Sporting her Baylor shirt Mommy made for her!

Watching the fireworks!

Gecko anyone?

As I was gathering clothes to wash and out jumped a gecko! Bless his heart, if he hadn't escaped, he'd have been put through the spin cycle...after that, my imagination runs rampant--spin cycle to the dryer...then discovered when putting on a t-shirt or pants. Hmm...yuck. Thankfully, my imagination was only that. Little ecko, as Hallie called him survived just fine--at least we hope he did after spending about 15 minutes with us! Ha! Hallie had a lot of fun exploring the little Gecko. If you're thinking it's gross...believe me, they're not uncommon. We have them everywhere and often in our house. Maybe I told you the story of the last "Little Gecko" that came to visit our home...he ended up with blunt force trauma to the head (...Hallie stepped on him, accidentally, of course). So we were very gentle with this Little Gecko. :o)

SEC and Big 12!

Sweet little Hallie...torn between two teams. She seems to have adjusted just fine...and Auburn friends, just know that on the side, we do a lot more "War Eagles" than "Sic 'em Bears"! Just don't tell the Texas grandparents. ;o)

Mommy's Classroom

I had to do a few things on a Sunday afternoon, and Jonathan and Hallie went to school with me. Hallie always loves going to school with me...there's an endless supply of fun for her! Jonathan doesn't share her enthusiasm. :o) I wanted to share a few pictures of my classroom...and here they are. I really should have taken pictures before the kids came--when it was cleaner and more organized!

Miss Compooter Whiz

As we were getting ready for church, our house seemed awfully quiet. Quietness is only a good thing when Hallie is tucked in her crib sleeping soundly. :o) Jonathan walked into the den to put his socks and shoes on--he only walked into the door, spotted his laptop missing from its little perch and said, "Kendra?! Did you move my computer?!" He walked into the den more to find Hallie sitting on the couch with his computer in her lap, looking at pictures! Now, we have no idea how she got the file open to look at the pictures--it was pictures of Gramps's and RahRah's car that they're trying to sell. She was quite a cute sight!

My Two Faves!

Look at these two cuties! Here they are, supporting our two favorite teams...heading out to get our Saturday morning breakfast. War Eagle! Sic 'em Bears! :o)

Rain, Rain...let's play!

We are FINALLY getting some rain in Texas. After picking Hallie up from school yesterday, we had to run a few errands...then I took Hallie to the mall for a cookie. She was SO excited! When we got home from the mall, it had let up just a little...and Hallie looked at me with curiosity and asked, "Can I go play?" The last time it was raining, I told Hallie she couldn't play in the rain...and I regretted it. So this time I told her she could...and she took off! She had so much fun playing in the puddles. When she got finished, she was soaking wet, but had the biggest smile on her face! Playing in the rain is definitely fun! :o) Maybe next time I'll join her.

Relaxing after school...

When I picked Hallie up from school on Wednesday, she immediately said, "I want some popcorn, please!" :o) What a way to relax after school...with some popcorn and a cartoon. While Hallie was relaxing, I decided to start dinner...she later helped with dessert. And by help, I mean stuck her fingers in the cheesecake while I was mixing it. :o) In fact, while I was cooking, Hallie snagged a half of a stick of butter off the counter (I must remember how tall she is now!) and began eating it. She was quite happy in doing so...she does love butter. She only took about two little bites of it before realizing that some things are only good in small amounts; upon that realization, she decided to throw it away. So silly!

Relaxing ("with" the popcorn)!

This is her latest thing...wanting her picture taken
"with" something...and she puts it up by her face. :o)

Just needed to prove to ya'll that she didn't continue
chomping on the stick of butter...and that I didn't
put it back into the fridge after being gnawed on by
a two year old. :o)

Look Who's 30!

On September 2, our little sweet turned 30...30 months, that is! She is officially two and a half! I felt it was a fairly large milestone...she's now almost 3. Where in the world does the time go?! To celebrate, we decided to have her a little party. We invited Gramps and RahRah over, grilled some hotdogs, and had some cupcakes! It was all very yummy. Since it WAS a party, she of course had to have a "presnent" to open. I found just the thing for her...and she loved it! I also got her some new pajamas with ballet slippers on them. I must confess, she wasn't nearly as excited about them as she was the new Play-doh octopus! :o) That's OK! Turns out, the Play-Doh octopus has been well worth the $6.98 (on sale--1/2 off!) I paid for it...she has played with him EVERY single day, multiple times a day! We really enjoyed celebrating our little girl! She makes us proud every day. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and just can't remember what life was like before her!

Opening her present! She was SO excited!

Loving her Play-Doh octopus

Hmm...those don't look too exciting!

With Gramps and RahRah

With the "half-birthday girl"

Showing RahRah her ballet skills...Gramps had
to leave early for a gig.

The Princess the next morning going to church...
she is wearing the same outfit she wore to her
"party"...that night she said, "I wanna wear this
to church...it's cute!" :o)

Ballet Videos!

And more coming soon! :o)

Yay for Ballet!

Hallie started ballet class today! She was so very excited about it. I picked her up from Miss Pattie's and she was ready to go put on her ballet shoes, tights, and leotard! :o) I was hoping I would be able to take some pictures/videos of her first day at ballet. Thankfully, I got lots of both! Unfortunately, the lighting inside the building was horrible, so it was really hard to get good pictures. A few of them are a little blurry, but I'm posting them anyway...even through the blur, I can remember the memory vividly!

Ballet was definitely a hit! She walked on her tip-toes to her "spot" and sat down like such a big girl, awaiting instruction. She followed directions pretty well, with only a few corrections when she got distracted. At one point, she stood beside Mrs. Korpi, like she was teaching the other little girls. Mrs. Korpi was very gentle with Hallie and picked her up, put her back on her spot and said that maybe she could help out in about 10 years. :o) Mrs. Korpi has two of her dance students (probably about 12 or so) help her out with the little ones. Very smart! The girls stretched, they twirled, they spun around on one foot. They jumped and pointed and galloped. They galloped in a circle, brought the circle in and then stretched it back out. It was a great experience. The class is on the skate floor of the local skating rink. It's a great set up and wonderful use of space...mirrors are rolled in so that the students can see themselves. Because the skating rink is obviously open, I was able to watch Hallie for her entire class! How exciting! There were a couple of times she called out "Mommy!!" with excitement...but Mrs. Korpi never missed a beat nor did she seem irritated by it. I wasn't the only parent snapping pictures and watching anxiously on the edge of their seat! :o)

So...as I said before, ballet was a hit. So much so that we left class with Hallie kicking and screaming "I want to ballet! I want to ballet!" So sweet! :o)

Now...a note from the Mommy. When Hallie tip-toed out to her little spot, my heart swelled with joy and pride for her. She was so big! (Even though Hallie is the youngest student in her class.) Memories of my days of ballet with "Miss Sheila" flooded my mind, and I honestly teared up. I hope Hallie has wonderful memories of ballet and dance just as I do! :o)

So excited to be heading to ballet! Don't worry,
I carried her to the car...no dirty ballet shoes here!

So big! Ooh...and oh-so-cute!

Waiting in line to begin ballet.
Check out that skating rink carpet. ;o)
Brings back even more memories! ha!

Mrs. Korpi saying hello to Hallie and telling
her which letter to walk to. The floor has
"Skate World" in big letters on it...it's perfect
for the little ones!

Sitting on her letter, waiting for class to begin.

I think they were walking in circles here.

Mrs. Korpi had them curl in a ball (as a flower seed) and
then sprinkled flower dust on them to make them grow.
Then she was a flower seed and the girls got to sprinkle
her. It was very cute!

This was one of the times Hallie had her own little
beat and traveled off on her own...one of the "helpers"
caught her and took her back to her place. :o)

The girls were put in partners to gallop across the floor.
This little girl just turned 3...she and Hallie were absolutely
adorable trying to gallop sideways across the floor!

The closing circle.

Daddy made it to the end of Hallie's class...he
tried to snap a picture, but Hallie was MAD at this point.
Why? Because she didn't want ballet class to end!

Love from Alabama

All I have to say is thank goodness we were expecting a package from Nonna and Pop! That was the only thing that saved us from a tantrum at the dance shop. Seriously. Hallie did NOT want to take off her ballet shoes or leotard! I mentioned a present from Nonna and that's all it took! So, Nonna...thank you, thank you! :o) Hallie was super excited to have a package when we got home! She and Daddy immediately started going through her box of goodies and she had many, many things that she absolutely loved! :o) And Mommy got a few goodiess, too--yummy Melting Pot seasoning! Yay!