What a Mess!

Oh my word. I do not know what in the world is going on here...but Hallie is not one who is a real messer. I mean, she's a mess, but today she was a REAL mess! Ha! She wanted some M & Ms, so I obliged...they're the minis from Valentine's (heavily discounted the day after!!). She was turning them up and dumping them in her mouth...something she's fairly good with. Then she dropped one. ONE! And she nearly had a fit. After we told her to just pick it up it seems that all manners went out the window; for this is what happened next. They ALL went into her mouth at one time, both hands were used to try to hold them there...then her hair was brushed off her forehead (hence the chocolate smear there). And she thought it was all great fun. I had to snap a picture for those of you who think Hallie is just as dainty as can be! She's obviously not. ;o)

Fairytale Princess

This came in the mail today! I was SO excited to open it up...Hallie was ecstatic! Hallie kept saying, "It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" I ordered this Fairytale Princess theme from Birthday in a Box and could not be more pleased with the timely shipping and great packaging! I found the prices fair, too. This is exactly what I had in mind...something princess and simple. I didn't want Disney princesses because that's a bit too much "theme-ish" for me. Hallie wants a princess party, so when I found this design, I knew it was perfect! We won't have as many guests as we had originally planned because Hallie's ballet class was cancelled and we didn't get to give her little ballet friends invitations, but Hallie is going to have a wonderful time no matter who is there! All her favorite people will be at her party! :o) The little princess bags will be the party favor with a few little treats inside--so fun and cute! I love having a little girl and getting do girly things with her/for her! And I will as long as she will let me! Now...what will she wear to hear party? I'd better get busy figuring that out! :o)

Snow Day!

What a fun day! My school closed at noon, so shortly after I picked up my little princess and headed out in search of some rain boots so I could enjoy this snow with her! I have been needing rain boots for some time now...but I only think about it on the days it's raining and I'm trudging through the mud trying to get to my classroom (the parking lot is closed due to renovations and we're having to park on the street and walk through the grass to our classrooms). Anyway, I finally found a pair at Rack Room Shoes...finally! I searched "many-a place" today! Ha! Hallie kept telling me that I could borrow hers...so sweet! At one point, we headed to the mall with no luck. But we did eat a yummy lunch at Chick-fil-A and Hallie scored some of the little square gum out of the machine. After that treat, she grabbed my hand while walking through the mall and said, "Mommy, you're my BEST friend!" Ah...I will always remember and treasure that b/c I know the time will come too quickly when she'll consider me an enemy (or maybe we'll never reach that point...who knows!). :o)

Once we got home--and before putting on many layers of clothes--Hallie ran out to the front yard and threw herself down in the snow exclaiming "I'm making a SNOW ANGEL!" lol. After that little adventure, we traded out the soaking wet clothes for THREE layers of dry ones. :o) Much to my disbelief, she didn't complain one time about feeling like the Michelin man! Ha! She looked super cute...and had SO much fun playing in the snow. It has been snowing straight for almost 12 hours...and has snowed about four inches! Unbelievable!

I was very thankful for my early release...and I'm even more thankful for the late start tomorrow! Because I got out early, Hallie didn't nap...and as I type, she's snuggled up to me sound asleep. Hmm...thankfully she ate a great lunch and has had several snacks after playing in the snow (hey, playing in the snow makes for one hungry girl!); so I'm thinking I might take her to bed. I know she's exhausted. After all, it's only about an hour and a half before she's usually getting in the bed. We'll see how it goes.

OK OK...now what you're really here for...SNOW PICTURES! :o)

Hallie and her Princess Snowman (er, girl)

Hallie was making a snowball to throw at me! Ha!

Our little angel making a beautiful snow angel!

Hallie absolutely LOVES (and I mean LOVES) eating snow!

It's a Princess Party!

Hallie's third birthday is very soon! I have been planning like crazy the past week...and that planning including designing her birthday invitation! :o) I can't wait until next weekend, my parents will be here to celebrate and stay the week with us! Hopefully I will get all the plates before her party. I'm kind of cutting it close! I like to live dangerously! Ha! :o)

Hallie's First Birthday Party!

Yesterday, Hallie got to be a sweet guest at her very first "friend birthday party". Ha! :o) She has been to her own birthday party, Abby's (her cousin) birthday party but yesterday was her very first time to go to a birthday party of a little friend. My friend and co-worker, Missy, has the three most precious kids. And Hallie loves them! Hallie was invited to the youngest's party. We picked out Emily's present on Friday afternoon and Hallie talked about it all night and all day up until the party. She was very excited about giving Emily her present...and honestly was a little bummed when Emily didn't open her presents at the party. Needless to say, Hallie had a blast at the party. There was face painting (which Hallie would NOT participate in), crafts, and a mini bouncy house (Hallie's favorite--she told me so! Ha!). Thanks for inviting Hallie to your party, Emily! Happy Birthday!

Hallie made an alligator

The birthday girl dressed up at JoJo the Clown. :o)

Yummy blue cupcakes!

Hallie and Audrey (Missy's oldest)--Hallie LOVES her!

The mini bouncy house!

The whole gang

Hallie giving the birthday girl a big hug! So sweet!

Sweet Girl

I love taking pictures of my sweet Hallie...and really, I love having the practice with my new camera! This particular afternoon before we were heading out to dinner, Hallie was in the mood to have her picture taken--with her new umbrella especially! :o) At some point, I must have accidentally changed the setting on the camera because out of about 30 pictures taken, the ones below are the only good ones because the rest are blurry. And I don't mean blurry like there's a little fuzzy look around the face and such...I mean BLURRY like it's all just smashed together! Ha! But the ones that turned out, turned out adorably! Of course, it does help that I have the cutest little model! ;o)

Melt my heart! This is my favorite!

After I accidentally changed the setting--see, I wasn't joking about the blur factor! :o)

Happy Heart Day!

We had a sweet little Valentine's Day at home...with our favorite little Valentine, Hallie! She was very excited when she walked into the playroom and found a basket filled with goodies just for her! After a yummy Valentine's breakfast (I made Hallie cheese toast in the shape of a heart--she LOVED it!), we headed to church and then to lunch with Gramps and Rah-Rah. It was a fun day, of course, filled with love. :o)

Hallie was SO excited to see her goodies!

Obvious happiness once she saw her basket. :o)

The goods for Mommy and Daddy

Take the time to stop and smell the roses. :o)

Helping Daddy open his new coffee maker...she also told Daddy exactly what we had gotten him right after we made the purchase. I guess I'm going to have to stop taking her with me when I'm shopping for "surprises". :o)

Our sweet little Valentine!

Mommy's FAVORITE Valentines!

Home Sweet Home

Well...this is my "old" Home Sweet Home...my parents' home. :o) While we only got a tiny amount of snow in Waco on Thursday night, the storm that apparently was just north of us in Dallas continued on into Heflin, Alabama. And around 10 am, this is what started hitting the ground. Isn't it beautiful?! It hasn't snowed this much since the "Blizzard of 93". And really...the snow they got on Friday is quite slim compared to 1993. Then, we were out of school for a week or more and without power! I remember being devasted because I couldn't see my boyfriend! LOL! My bedroom was on the left front corner and there was a snow drift covering half-way up the window (or maybe more)! That snowstorm covered a huge portion of Alabama--you can see some pictures and read some stories HERE. Do any of you remember the Blizzard of 93?!

Thanks, Pop, for sending me some pictures...boy how I miss having all the seasons! I suppose I got to experience a little bit of it, though. And really, it has snowed twice here in the past several months. That's more snow than I have ever seen in Texas!

There's something new...

...at the bottom of each post! If you're anything like me, you love visiting blogs. I love sneaking a peek into someone else's life. Not in a weird or creepy way, but just for fun. Ha! Sometimes I think I'd like to leave a comment, but I usually don't. But now there's a new element that I would totally use if it were on someone's blog. So I've added it to mine. Three simple (and positive) little phrases--"too cute", "hilarious", and "love it". I think before I edited them they said something like, "cool", "like it"...I don't remember. But if you like the post, all you have to do is give a little click to the square and you're done. :o)

So...leave me a comment if you want, or give a little click! I'll appreciate it either way!

400 Posts!

Wow...I was just about to add a new post and realized that the post I published earlier (backdated to Feb 4) was my 400th post! My goodness! I can't believe I have actually posted that many posts in the past 2 1/2 years. So...I suppose this is my 401st post and I have many more to come. I wonder with Blogger will tell me "that's enough...you've used ALL your space"?! Ha!

I have more to blog...they'll be backdated up until the present...I have been going to bed early the past few weeks and have rarely even gotten online. I'm going to attempt to make it a point to blog at least once a week if not every day or two. I know Nonna and Pop check here often to get a glimpse of how their little princess is growing (and she is...FAST!). In just a few short weeks, she'll be THREE! I don't know where the time goes!

A little bit of snow...

This was the sight as Jonathan left Thursday night for San Antonio (he had a business trip). There was some rain, sleet, and snow...and since the temps dipped just below freezing Thursday night, we had a late start at school on Friday. :o) It didn't last long, but it was pretty while it lasted!

Always watching

I was walking out of the den the other day and spotted this...Hallie's Little Tyke guitar leaned up against the wall with Daddy's guitars. Just like Daddy's. My heart swelled with love for that little girl. She is so precious. I told Jonathan about it and he said he had already noticed it. None of the guitars have been moved in the past several days...maybe because we don't want this little guitar family to move. Just another reminder that Hallie is always watching, always listening, and always paying attention (even when we think she's not).

A Nonna Box!

This past Monday, we pulled into the driveway and saw a box sitting beside our front door. I said, "Oh Hallie! A box!" She said, "I wonder what it could be!" I told her that I wondered who it could be from. As she sat there for the 10 seconds it took to pull into the garage, she finally said, "I know! I bet...I bet...it's a...it's a NONNA BOX!" I burst into laughter. Then said again, "A NONNA BOX...FOR ME!" lol While I knew that Nonna had, in fact, sent a Valentine package for Hallie and that it was probably going to be the box Nonna had sent...I was briefly worried that it wasn't going to be from Nonna. No worries, though...it WAS a "Nonna Box"! Ha! Hallie examined the label, found her name, and said, "It IS for me!" :o) Sweet girl. We could not get that box in the house fast enough...Hallie was very excited!

I always like to document the events of opening a box from Nonna so that my mom can get an idea of just how excited Hallie is. While I absolutely hate we live so far away from my parents, it is quite exciting to get packages from them. Hallie loves it! And of course, she loves THEM!

Instant excitement as she opened the box. She exclaimed, "A bear!" when she first saw the stuffed animal...then she pulled it out and said, "Oh, wait...that's not a bear, it's a doggy!" :o)

Of course, Hallie loves her new princess wand...the little girl loves anything princess. Anything, I tell you. She is constantly "turning us into" something else..."What do you want to be?" is the question we hear more than anything right now. Precious!

Princess cakes?! Hallie loves these. It was so funny...she opened the box and started emptying its contents. She looked at me, puzzled, and asked, "Where's the plate?!" LOL! There IS a plate on the front of the box...and Hallie expected it to be inside. Hilarious. She quickly found a plate of her own and put two princess cakes on it and cut one in half. Then she said, "There. Just like the picture." LOL. My word!

And what else is needed but a princess crown to go with all the other princess goodies. Hallie can never have enough princess crowns...at least that's what she thinks!

Now...what "Nonna Box" would be complete without a new pair of shoes? Hallie now expects to get new shoes. And honestly, so does mommy. Ha! Hallie was VERY excited to get a new pair of shoes and had to quickly put them on!

This book is absolutely precious, and Hallie loves it! Hallie would have loved any book, I'm sure, but this is such a sweet book. It's a rhyming story which Hallie just loves! Very cute!

More princess goods! A sweet little necklace...Hallie can change out the princess pendant in it!

Hallie's Nonna Box stash...she was so excited. She got this outfit, too--adorable. And she loves it! Thanks, Nonna, for Hallie's Valentine Nonna Box! :o)