Fun Day at Marbles

Yesterday (Friday) we took Hailey to Marbles Kids Museum here in Raleigh. I've been wanting to take her for a while but wanted to wait until Ryan could go with us so yesterday was finally the day. Hailey had a blast! She LOVED that everything was her size and that there wasn't anything that she couldn't touch or climb on.We will definitely go back because we didn't even get to see and play with it all! Here are a few pictures from the fun!

The first room we visited had all kinds of jobs and work places to explore: a vet's office, grocery store, kitchen, ambulance, farm, etc. Hailey's favorite part was hands down the vet's office with the animals. She took all of the animals out of their cages and lined them up on the table. Then she wanted to brush them and just carried them around.

There was a little lawn maintenance area too. Is it any surprise she practiced pushing the lawn mower?

Then we visited the grocery store. She loved pulling things off the shelves and putting them in her cart.

We also visited a room that was about exercise. They had a basketball area, weight lifting area, hockey area and one about healthy eating. She liked the dancing part the best. We tried to put a tutu on her but she hated it. She dances all the time at home. Dance classes might be in her future although she doesn't get that from me or her daddy. :)

 We went into a room that was all about earning and saving money and had different areas where the kids could practice "working" to make money like a pizza parlor, pet sitting, bank and so on. Can you guess which area was her favorite?!

putting the dog back in his house

playing with the fake fishies

They had green balls everywhere to symbolize money and Hailey loved collecting them.

 

The last room we visited before we left was a nature room just for toddlers. Hailey liked touching all of the tactile stuff on the walls and opening and closing every door she could find.

"close"

peek-a-boo

That certainly isn't all of the pictures I took while we were there, but I'll spare you! ;)

After we left we had to run to the mall to pick up Ryan's jeans. Hailey decided to continue the game of peek-a-boo while Ryan was in the dressing room. Silly girl! And yes she did actually crawl under the door, several times.

I love family days!

Grams Came to Visit

Ryan was out of town for a night later in the week so my mom came up to hang out with me and Hailey.

We took Hailey shopping one afternoon...it was an experience. Hailey did great. She just would much rather be walking around, touching everything and playing rather than sitting in the stroller.

She had the best time walking around the stores talking to people!

We found two little rides that had Sesame Street characters on them and Hailey loved them. And by loved them I mean talked about them the rest of the afternoon until we took her back to see them again. It was so funny!

giving Ernie a kiss

Mom got Hailey a new baby doll and a high chair for her while she was here. Hailey thought it was so cool. She has played with it constantly ever since. After we put it together, we put the baby in it and told Hailey to get her some food from her play kitchen. She brought back the bucket of food and dumped it on the baby's tray. It was hilarious!

making sure she has enough food

feeding the baby

This next one is quite possibly one of my favorite pictures of Hailey. Let me explain...the past week or so Hailey has been picking up on the fact that we pray before meals. She had asked to pray a few times when I was buckling her into her high chair for a meal. I thought it was so sweet that she was remembering that we pray. Since then she has started asking to pray all throughout the day. She will just stop what she's doing, fold her hands and say "pay". It is absolutely precious!  A few times she has even said "Baby. Pay." or "Muyen. (muffin) Pay." so that I will pray for something specific. Let me tell you. It has really challenged me to think of more things to thank God for. Because when we pray I will say something like "Thank you Jesus for our food." or "Dear God, thank you for our baby dolls." And when Hailey wants you to pray 6 or 7 seven times in a row, I admit, I kind of scramble to think of something. It's been good for me to think of more things to thank God for all throughout the day.
Anyways...After Hailey gave her baby the food to eat, she folded her hands and said "Pay." It absolutely melted my heart! It was totally unprompted by me. I just love how much she is learning! I pray that she continues to see our love for Christ and wants to model that in her own life.

I am so glad that my mom came to visit while Ryan was gone. We had a blast and Hailey is still asking "Gams?" We love having Grams visit!

The First Part of Our Week

So I totally made up for the not-so-many-pictures problem of last week...Sorry if you get bored...Ha!

We have gone to the park almost everyday this week. It has been pleasant in the mornings and Hailey just loves to play outside. She is starting to interact with other kids more at the park too. She will tell absolutely anybody "Hi" and jabbers a million miles a minute while we're there about everything. I've had two different people tell me this week that she talks a lot for a 15 month old. I love it!

She is now into "cooking". If Hailey finds anything that resembles a bowl and spoon she will "cook".

"Cook. Cook"

This gate occupied her for a good ten minutes at the park. She just opened and closed it a million times. She would go back and forth between saying "open" and "close" as she did it, and then "hi" and "See ya". Occasionally I would hear "push" and "pull" too. Her vocabulary amazes me everyday.

Tuesday Hailey wasn't feeling too hot. She was having some tummy issues. I think it was because of a new vitamin that I gave her. When I stopped giving it to her, the tummy problems cleared up... Anyways, we had to run to Target for some Pedialyte. While we were there, Hailey laid her head down on the cart and said "night night". And this was after a 2 and a half hour nap! Poor baby.

That evening she was returning to her normal self so Ryan took her outside to play in the yard. I came out a few minutes later and see them playing with Ryan's golf clubs! Hailey was having a ball!

"Daddy gives me the coolest stuff to play with"

Then I had the cutest little helper deliver my mail.

We've been eating a lot of popsicles this week too. I think this might be Hailey's favorite thing about summer.

This is a random picture from the weekend. But it's too funny not to share. Hailey brought Ryan a book and said "read" then sat on him like this! Ha!

See?! I told you I took a lot of pictures this week...and this is only half. Next up, Grams came to visit!

Busy Week

This week was Super Summer Adventure (or VBS) at our church! I volunteered to help with the 5 year olds and we had a blast! It was quite crazy at times but I loved it!
Because of that, I don't have quite as many pictures as normal but here are a few from our week.

Here is Hailey playing with a balloon she found in my VBS classroom. She loved it and wouldn't let go of it. You can also see the baby she found in there. It had it's own paci which she thought was the coolest thing ever. I think I'm going to have to find her a baby doll with a paci. She is TOTALLY into babies now. In fact, that's how I can get her to go into the nursery on Sundays. I tell her there are babies to play with and she goes right in. :) Sneaky Mommy.

Hailey enjoying one of her favorite pastimes...pulling all of the clothes out of her drawers. We're learning how to put them back too!

Reading a book while Mommy got ready for VBS one morning. Doesn't she look so sweet?!

Long hair after her bath one night.

Hailey's first craft from her week at Super Summer Adventure. I am so thankful for the ladies that loved on her all week while I loved on the 5 year olds!

This morning (Saturday) Ryan was outside mowing the grass and Hailey was yelling to go outside with him. So we went outside and she watched for him for a little while. Ryan got out her play lawn mower and she followed him around the yard with the play gas can. Then Ryan, being the amazing Daddy that he is, carried her around the yard with him while he finished. She loved it!

Today we took Hailey to the park and took her down the big slide for the first time. I think her face says it all!

Hopefully, I'll get back to blogging more next week...

Morning Picture Session

So I thought my sweet girl looked especially cute this morning as we got ready for VBS so I wanted to take a picture of her...plus I knew Grams would ask for one today. Here's what I got:

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

 Take 4

Take 5...Finally

I love her personality! Although, she is getting quite challenging to get a picture of these days.

Shopping with Hailey

So Friday we went shopping to find Ryan a new pair of jeans. Entertaining Hailey while he tried on pair after pair was, well interesting. Here is our trip in pictures.

Distraction technique #1: eat a snack

 

Distraction technique #2: play with Ariel

 

Distraction technique #3: stroll around the store and touch all of the clothes. I was desperate!

Finally Daddy picked out his jeans and then he got dippin dots ice cream. Hailey wasn't a big fan which is weird because she LOVES ice cream. I don't think she liked how it stuck to her tongue.

Then we went to get Hailey's foot measured again (now it's a 4 1/2 or 5 wide). She loved getting out of the stroller and running around the store. It was so funny to watch her.

Why are all of these shoes up on a shelf so nice and neat? They really should be on the floor.

Ahhhh. Much better. Now I can see them all.

I decided I want them all!

After the mall we went to Lowe's and let her run around for a while. It was a fun day with Daddy!