Santa

We took Hailey to see Santa a few weeks ago. Not because we really "do" Santa but more because we wanted a picture of her with him because it was cute. My little Mama's girl was having none of it

It breaks your heart just a little...but you have to admit it's a little funny too...

My Smart Girl

I shared this picture on Instagram/Facebook about a week ago but I figured it needed to be recorded here too...

My little stinker is a clever one. One day I was giving Abbie a bottle and Hailey was having an absolute meltdown for her paci. Abbie was almost done so I told Hailey that she could go upstairs and get it and I would be right there. So Hailey went upstairs, got her paci and then started coming back down. Well Hailey knows she isn't allowed to have her paci downstairs and I reminded her of that so this is what she did:

She sat on the stairs and watched Elmo thru the rails because she couldn't come downstairs with her paci. She is too smart for me!

Hailey's New Favorite Thing

So one morning I was getting ready to brush Hailey's teeth and set her down on the counter to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush...Now this is her favorite place to play. Seriously, every morning she asks, "Sit. Counter."

Cooking with Mommy

I've written several times about how Hailey loves to cook with me. Usually I can't get dinner made without my little helper. Lately her favorite thing is to stir food. For example, a few weeks ago I made black beans from the dry beans (not in a can). Hailey was perfectly content to just sit and play in / stir the beans for like 20 minutes! I had to eventually take them away from her so that I could cook them.

This particular day I was making cheddar broccoli soup. Hailey helped me put the ingredients into the crock pot and then of course she had to stir it. (Excuse the messy face. She had just had lunch and it ended with a little chocolate!)

Look how happy she is!

It did end in quite a mess but my girl had fun!

"Fix It"

I know, I know, it's been a while...but here begins my attempt to catch up

I blogged about Hailey's new table and chairs for her play room and how she "helped" Ryan put them together. Ever since then she is obsessed with "fixing" things. I find her quite often like this:

She loves to use her key as a screwdriver and "fix" things. Most often it's the chairs in her playroom. She will turn them upside down and put her key into the little screw holes (which are pretty small and require good hand-eye coordination). I've even found her laying under the table doing the same thing.

I love her!

When Did She Get So Big?

We went on a walk a few days ago and I couldn'y help but notice how big my sweet girl has gotten...

And then she does something like this and makes me laugh all over again

So resourceful, that girl!

You Know You're a Teacher's Kid When...

your sort your ornaments instead of putting them all over the tree.

I made Hailey this cute felt tree to decorate (thanks Pintrest!) and she didn't want to put the ornaments all over it. She insisted on them being in groups by color. Even if I put one on she would move it to the correct group. The Kindergarten teacher in me is proud!

Who Knew You Could Have This Much Fun...

with a box of ribbon scraps.

"Scarf"

Caroling

Our Singles group went caroling at several local nursing homes this week and it was early enough that Hailey and I could come too!

Hailey had a blast playing on the stage before we left the church. I tried to get a picture of her cute outfit but I was photo-bombed by Ryan.

She loved playing with Aaron's guitar case. She kept calling it a "slide" and rolling her juice cup down it. That girl could make a toy out of anything!

I didn't get any picture of us caroling at the nursing home. Mostly because I was standing at the bird cage with Hailey all night. She was absolutely fascinated! That and she loved to walk around the main lobby and look at all of the Christmas decorations. Oh well, no singing for us; but she did bring a lot of smiles to people as she told them hi, Merry Christmas, and blew them kisses. That's what it's all about, right?!

What a Helper!

My parents got a Hailey a table and chairs to put in her playroom for Christmas. They just had it shipped her because it was easier and it arrived earlier this week. I was excited for Ryan to put it together because I knew Hailey would love it.

Well the thing came packaged in styrofoam of course so Hailey decided to make "snow" while Ryan got started.

Then she got super interested in what he was doing and wanted to help.

It was so cute! She was so mad when he was done and she had to give the screw driver back! Needless to say she loved the table and played with it the rest of the night. She made us sit at it and read books, she made us "dinner" and fed her babies. Precious!

And just to show that the novelty hasn't worn off...we've eaten lunch at the table everyday since...

Thank you Grams and Das!

Trimming the Tree

 On Sunday (yes, I'm a little behind) we put up our Christmas tree and decorations. Hailey was super excited and curious about the decorations. I was at the grocery store on Saturday when Ryan pulled out all of the boxes of decorations and this is the text I got...

I'm ready to decorate Mommy!

Anyways, like I said Hailey was very curious about everything.

examining the tree box

 And was, of course, a good helper

She saw me laying under the tree screwing in the screw to keep it from leaning and decided she could help too.

And was SO excited when Ryan turned on the lights! (I LOVE this picture!)

She was excited to hang her Elmo and Abby Cadabby ornaments. She loved exploring the other ones we had too. She definitely has her favorites but is doing much better not trying to eat the ornaments like last year...ahem...remember this?

My little decorator

Last Christmas was a blast with her, but I have a feeling this one is going to be even better!

Sunday Morning Shenanigans

So Sunday morning I tried to get a few pictures of Hailey in her Christmas dress...

The first two weren't that bad...and then the shenanigans started...

So I gave up and went upstairs to get our coats to leave for church. I came back down to this...

"Light on. Off"

So naturally I took a picture before I took her down!

Thanksgiving with the Epleys

After lunch and Hailey's nap time on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) we went to the Epleys! Hailey was super excited to see Mimi, Poppi and Bobo. We got to play for a few minutes before leaving for dinner with Ryan's extended family.

Ryan's Aunt Sherry always hosts Thanksgiving dinner and it was so good to see everyone. She had this wooden turkey set as a decoration and it kept Hailey occupied pretty much all night. She liked to hug it, kiss it, bring it food and toys. Silly girl!

Hailey started getting a cold while we were gone and she slept HORRIBLY! Like get up at 4:30 or 5:00 horribly! So, needless to say we were all tired and spent lots of time relaxing in our pjs. But that's what time with family is for, right?!

Hailey found these sunglasses in the basket of toys at Mimi's house and liked putting them on and seeing herself in pictures I would take.

I loved this sweet moment...We've only been to Ryan's parents house about a thousand times, and it took 2 days this trip, but Hailey finally noticed Mimi's piano. Mimi showed her how to play. Hailey was timid at first and liked to hear Mimi play, but finally warmed up to playing too. After this morning, Hailey kept taking our hands and saying, "Music. Play." So sweet!

Ryan's dad snapped this picture of Hailey and their dog Beau. This pretty much sums up their time together. They loved each other. Hailey would follow Beau around and give him kisses and try to hug or pet him. Whenever he got put in his "room" Hailey would say, "Bobo out." He was told "Love you" many times and fed lots of marshmellows at Hailey's request.

We also went to visit Ryan's grandfather, PawPaw and his dog Maggie while we were in Charlotte. Hailey was fascinated with his Christmas tree.

She was showing it to her cat and saying,  "Look. Beautiful. Great."

We had such a fun time with family in Charlotte celebrating Thanksgiving. We are truly thankful for so much!

Thanksgiving with the Browns

We spent the first part of our Thanksgiving week with my family, the Browns. We got to Charlotte late Tuesday night so Wednesday Hailey hit the ground running. She was into everything and all about everyone. I love how she gets so excited to see our family!

My mom got a cute little folding table for Tucker and Hailey to use at her house and Hailey LOVED it. She thought she was big stuff sitting without a high chair. (In fact, when we got home to Raleigh, I tried to put her in her high chair for dinner and she said, "No Mommy. Big table." Ha!) She actually did pretty good sitting and eating her food.

My mom pulled out some of our old toys from when we were little and Hailey had fun playing with those too.  She put the little doll down the slide...

and then decided that she needed to go down too!

She spent lots of time playing in the pantry,

helping Mommy cook,

We sure were missing our learning tower...

licking the beaters with Das,

and playing in the "house" that Das made her.

On Thanksgiving day, the whole family was there!  Mary Katherine and Justin came in from Atlanta, and Julie, Trey and the boys came over. Hailey had a ball with everyone, and I did too!

Tucker and Ryan built a tower using all of the blocks.

Tucker was so proud!

Then for lunch, Tucker and Hailey got to eat at their own little table.

Don't they look precious! It won't be long before Mack is there too.
Lunch was a little louder and more chaotic than it used to be, but I wouldn't change it for the world. There were a few sweet moments after we were done eating...

Hailey snuggling with Grams

Mack showing off his clapping skills

I am so thankful that we get to spend holidays with our families!

But this was only half of the fun...