Little Monkey

Hailey is a climber! She now climbs in and on everything that she can. Here are a few pictures of things she has conquered.

The clothes basket...every time I fold clothes. She even climbs in on top of the clothes and hands them to me.

The book basket in her room. I thought it was funny she decided to read a book while she was in there.

And the toy basket

The TV cabinet...on several different occasions

notice the beloved Elmo bib

"What?! You mean I'm not supposed to be in here?"

I already shared this one; her shopping cart

and the stroller for her baby dolls

and my personal favorite, the baby doll cradle that my grandfather made for me and my sisters when we were little. She was telling her babies "night, night" and giving them pats on the back and kisses as she was doing this.

Hailey sure does keep me on my toes! What will she get into next?!

Weekend Review

This weekend was a busy one! It felt super long because we had so much to do and so much going on. All good things, but still tiring none the less.

Friday we did a lot of stuff at the house. Correction, Ryan did a lot of stuff outside at the house. He pressure washed the driveway, walkway and back patio, mowed the grass and did a bunch of yard work. We haven't taken a lot of time on the outside of the house yet, mostly just maintaining what is already here since we're doing so much inside. But Ryan has been wanting to pressure wash the driveway since we moved in and this weekend was the time.

Such a hard working hubby!

Cleaning the outside a little prompted us to put out our new welcome mat too. Someone was very interested in it.

Side note: Friday for lunch I was going to warm up some frozen peas for Hailey and gave her a still frozen one to occupy her while they were cooking and she loved it! So, she had frozen peas at lunch with her grilled cheese and mashed potatoes. I think they helped her teeth to feel better too since she's cutting two molars.

Saturday I was at the women's conference at church all day. It was a wonderful time of learning and worship. This was obviously the first time I've been to the Women's Conference at Providence and am already looking forward to it coming back in two years! I had such a good time worshiping, listening to the speaker (Elizabeth George) and going to the breakout sessions. Everything was so practical!

Ryan stayed with Hailey all day and these are the pictures I got. We have a little monkey on our hands...

sitting on the stroller for her baby dolls

Saturday night we had a cookout with our neighbors that was SO fun. We had met both couples already but it was great to get to share a meal with them. Both couples are right around our age and one has a baby on the way in May. It has been such a blessing to have friendly neighbors and we can't wait to get to know them better.

I posted this picture on Facebook already, but I took it as I was getting ready for church on Sunday morning. We let Hailey watch Praise Baby on the ipad to keep her occupied while Ryan and I were busy.

After church my mom and dad drove up to bring us a bunch of furniture from Mary Katherine's apartment in Atlanta and stuff that they still had at their house from before we moved. It was exciting for them to get to see the house as it is now because they last time they saw it was before we moved in when they came up to help paint. SO much has been done since then.

Grams occupied Hailey and helped me decorate inside and Ryan and my dad worked on stuff outside, getting things unloaded and beginning the process of building shelves for the attic.

Hailey's new toy shelf for her playroom that Grams and Das brought

They also brought a small bounce house for Hailey that belongs to my sister. They got it for my nephews birthday last year but he's too big for it now so Hailey gets to use it for a while. She had a blast! I can't wait to use it a lot this Spring and Summer.

They also brought Hailey a bunch of Elmo things. She LOVES Elmo! It just started the past two weeks. And it's so funny because until she started liking him we hadn't even watch Sesame Street. We just had an app for the ipad that had Elmo on it and she had a few books with him in it. But now Hailey asks for Elmo all the time. As soon as we walk down the stairs in the morning, whenever she sees the ipad, after getting up from a nap...it's cute to see her really want something.

Anyways, my mom brought her two Elmo bibs, pajamas and some books and movies that Tucker had liked. I washed the bibs today and when Hailey saw me folding them she tried to put them on by herself. I put one on her and she said "more" and wanted to wear both. She wore them the rest of the afternoon!

After my parents left we were exhausted! It was a super busy weekend, but such a good one. I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of it!

Hailey Stories and Cuteness

So while I was posting about our trip to Atlanta, I got a little behind on pictures from everyday life. And because I don't want to forget these things here they are...

We play outside A LOT. Several times a day Hailey says "side", which means outside. We walk around the house, pick up sticks and rocks and walk down the street. Earlier this week I took Hailey's baby doll and stroller out with us and she took her on a walk too.

On another day Hailey sat down with her back to me and her book and read it by herself. I guess she didn't want my help.

I gave Hailey a snack in her snack trap the other day. It was Goldfish and yogurt melts. Every time she pulled out a goldfish she threw it on the floor. If she pulled out a yogurt melt she ate it. There was a trail of goldfish around my house...

We had pizza the other night for dinner so I cut a piece up for Hailey. She didn't want to eat her nice, bite-sized pizza. She wanted my full piece. She actually ate it. First she pulled off the toppings, then the cheese and then ate the crust.

Sweet girl before church on Sunday.

When I was getting ready for church the other day I put on a necklace and of course Hailey wanted one. So I found one that she couldn't break or bite apart and gave it to her. She is still playing with it and wearing it 2 days later. A girl after my own heart!

Hailey tipped over her shopping cart today and climbed on top of it. All by herself! (Don't worry, I was right beside her the whole time...until I backed up to take this picture!)

Hailey is obsessed with her bows! I love it! She asks for them all the time, even if she already has one in. Today when she woke up from her nap she asked for a "bow" so I put one in her hair. She then walked over to her bow holder on the wall, pointed to it, and said "mo" (more). So of course I obliged!

Love my sweet girl and her fun little personality!

First and Last

Here is a side by side of our first and last day of Bible Study. Our first day was in September (Hailey was around 6 months old) and obviously the last day was today (13 months old).

It's crazy to me how much she's changed in just a few short months!

The Wedding!

So, finally the long awaited (I'm sure:) ) post about Mary Katherine's wedding! Well, of course I don't really have any pictures of the wedding itself and only a handful from the reception because there was just so much to do...family to see, a baby to chase after, matron of honor duties, a clingy baby to hold, yummy food to eat, a tired baby to cuddle...you get the picture. Hailey spent most of Friday and Saturday with Ryan because I was with the bride, and come Saturday night after the wedding, she just wanted her Mama.

Anyways, here are the pictures.

Cutie getting ready for the rehearsal. Of course she had to stop for a snack halfway dressed.

Playing with Cailin before the rehearsal started.

Tucker's cute sign (he was the ring bearer). It says "Here comes Mary Faferine" because that what he calls Mary Katherine.

MK and Justin's "first look" at picture time before the wedding. We were all way far away, so I had to zoom in a lot and it's blurry.

Keeping the kids occupied before the wedding. Fruit snacks and Goldfish

Tucker trying to sneak more fruit snacks...this picture makes me laugh every time!

Mary Katherine and Sarah before the wedding

 
My pretty girl at the reception! Hailey was supposed to be a flower girl, but didn't quite make it down the aisle. All of the kids had a melt down right as the wedding started, so it didn't quite go according to plan. Hailey ended up being carried about halfway down the aisle and that was it. Oh well...

Hailey's favorite part of the wedding. Cake! (Mary Katherine gave her the first piece after she and Justin ate their bite.)

Hey! I remember this stuff! It was at my birthday party!

Yummy!

Sweet girl stuffing her face.

I know these are dark, but here are a few "dancing" shots.

Mary Katherine and Justin

Mom and Dad...so sweet!

MK and Justin hamming it up

And one more. A shot of my little family

Ryan was awesome throughout the whole wedding weekend. He had Hailey by himself most of the time and loved every minute of it! It was so great to know that they were having fun together.

So finally, our trip to Atlanta is finished! Our trip home was quite comical and exhausting but, I'll save you the details. :)

The Aquarium

While we were in Atlanta we decided to visit the Georgia Aquarium. Ryan and I had been before but we thought that Hailey would love it...and she did! We knew she was still too young to fully appreciate it and the greatness of God's creativeness it displays, but we wanted to go anyways. Julie, Trey, Tucker and Mack went with us too, which made it even more special and fun!

When you first walk in the doors, there are two huge tanks with tuna fish in them. As soon as Hailey saw then she started doing the "fish face". It was precious!

She was pointing at the other fish tank across from her. Mesmerized already!

Trey and Tucker

 Hailey was so cute as we went through the aquarium. She loved to get right up on the glass of the tank and hit it because she was so excited. (Yes, she probably scared the fish. But it was cute!)

Ryan took her through the penguin tunnel and she loved it!

Can you see the back of their heads?

 Hailey spent a lot of time on Daddy's shoulders to get a good view.

the otters

Going through the tunnel...still pointing at something

She was always pointing at something. She was just so excited. Precious!

We got to see the dolphin show (it was included in our tickets!). It was awesome and Hailey did really well during it. We weren't sure if she would be able to sit for that long. Luckily, it was around her nap time and we had already seen so many things that she was tired and almost fell asleep on me. They wouldn't let us take any pictures during it though.

We actually got one family picture!

 

in the same spot that Ryan and I took one almost 4 years ago...oh the memories

We had a blast at the aquarium!