Serving, Celebrating and Spring!

Our weekend was jam packed...but so wonderful! On Friday morning we took some new family pictures...more on those in another post. We are so happy with how they turned out! They totally capture our spunky, busy little girl.

Saturday morning started bright and early by serving at our church with a program called Feed The Hunger. Our church was involved in a pack-a-thon to pack 300,000 meals to send to families and children in need here in Raleigh, in Kentucky and in Kenya. We decided to bring Hailey with us because we really want to instill a heart of service in her. We want her to see us serving others and for her to begin to serve, even though she is only two. Here we are rocking our hairnets before we started packing the meals. Hailey was not a fan.

If you ask Hailey what we did she will tell you that we packed food for boys and girls that don't have any. She helped with a few different jobs; she helped put labels on the bags and helped Daddy scoop beans. And she played on the playground a lot...just keeping it real! ;) Ryan and I took turns taking Hailey outside so that we could both serve a little.

After we got home from the pack-a-thon we went straight to Emilie's (our neighbor) first birthday party! We had a blast hanging out with our friends and celebrating Emilie. Hailey had fun with her friends and playing outside.

best I could get...

We went back to our house for a nap and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside. Hailey wanted to put a blanket on the ground and then would "plop" onto it. It was hilarious! Then she wanted to cuddle with Daddy.

makes me smile every time

Since it was beautiful outside we decided to make a run to Dairy Queen after dinner. The weather was just begging for ice cream! Abbie and her parents met us there and Hailey was so excited. Check out this sweet moment...totally unprompted by us

holding hands...they love each other so much!

Hailey was way more interested in Abbie being there than her ice cream. She took about 3 licks and was done. Oh well, more for Daddy!

We were exhausted at the end of the day, but it was a good, content exhaustion!

I just have to share this one thing from today (Sunday). Hailey discovered how a water fountain works this morning at church. We were waiting for Daddy to get ready to leave and Hailey pushed the front of the water fountain because her mindset is "see button-will push". She was thrilled! She just laughed and laughed. She played with this water fountain for a good 30 minutes! I finally made her stop because her hands were bright red from the freezing water.

I love weekends!

Circus

A few weeks ago someone stopped by the church and gave Ryan free tickets to the circus that was coming. We were super excited to take Hailey. I thought she would love it! We asked another family from church to go with us. They have a little boy who is just a few months older than Hailey.

At first Hailey was super excited. She wanted to run around and take everything in outside. There were clowns, elephant rides, balloons and lots of food. She kept asking to go inside the tent and see the tigers so finally we went in. As soon as the show started this is what Hailey did

Like her many necklaces and bracelets she insisted on wearing?!

 She sat like that the.whole.time! It was crazy. Several times, she covered up her eyes and watched through her fingers. Silly girl! She took it all in because she hasn't stopped talking about it since. She kept saying "too scary".
At intermission she got to ride a pony and see the elephants again.

Then when the show started back, she assumed the above position once again. Until the last circus person left the floor that is how she sat.
She was super tired when we left, but still managed to eat dinner at Chick-Fil-A and play in the play area with Landon. She actually followed him up and slid down the slide for the first time too!

Today Hailey saw a moped on our street and asked what it was. I told her it was like a motorcycle and she immediately said "like at circus. Drive around and around." (in the big ball). Then she kept saying "People at circus say bye bye" and waved her hand like a beauty queen. She was demonstrating how they all waved when they ended.

Even though my silly girl didn't look like she was watching, she knew everything that happened. She amazes me everyday.

Easter Festivities

We had such a great Easter season this year! The week leading up to Easter we really tried to do some things with Hailey to help her learn why we celebrate.
Our friends from church (who live in out neighborhood) had an Easter Egg Hunt at their house as an outreach to their neighbors so we went to check it out. That is something I would love to do in the future with our cul-de-sac. There are lots of kids right around Hailey's age and I think it would be really fun. Anyways, Hailey had a great time looking for eggs. After finding the first one and discovering it had candy in it she just wanted to eat candy. But I showed her how many more eggs there were and off she went.

listening to directions (yellow jacket)

There was one empty egg hidden to symbolize the empty tomb and Hailey found it! She won a little prize and was so excited. After the hunt, they read the Easter story and had little crafts for the kids.

We also made Resurrection Rolls with Hailey. She loved putting the "spices" on Jesus' body (cinnamon). She was so excited when the rolls were empty after being in the "tomb" (oven). After that she kept saying "Jesus Live" (Jesus is Alive). It was precious!...and I didn't get any pictures. Oops!

Easter Sunday we tried to take a few pictures...

Oh well. I was going to try again after church but someone spilled with squeeze yogurt all over their dress and then we had to change. Hailey was excited to open her Easter basket. She loved the candy and goodies. All morning we tried to remind her of the reason we celebrate Easter and she kept saying "Jesus Live". I pray that she grows to real

"Wash Hair"

Yesterday Hailey and I were in the bathroom. I was cleaning the sink and she was playing with her toys sitting on the edge of the tub. She holds up her shampoo/soap and says "Wash hands?" I (not thinking much of it) said "No. That soap is for your hair. We use different soap to wash our hands."
Well my smart little girl then dumps the bottle, which she had opened, onto her head. And we had a nice little soapy shampoo spot.

Do you see it? I had to strip her down and dump water over her head to actually get all of it out.
Moral of the story: Pay more attention when Hailey has a bottle of soap in her hands.

Last Week

So once again I'm a little behind. Last week the weather was so pretty that I just didn't feel like sitting down to blog. We spent lots and lots of time outside.

Abbie got a swing set at her house so we spent part of every day (not exaggerating) swinging. Both girls LOVED it!

 Hailey also had to bring a "friend" every day and let them swing too. (We take a "friend", or stuffed animal, almost everywhere we go.

There was a rainy day last week so we took advantage of the new Bass Pro Shop that was opened not too far from us. Not for shopping, but a great playground for two year olds! We met a friend, Clara, and her mom and baby brother there and just let them run and climb.
The "tractors" and boats were lots of fun!

And the fish held their attention for a little while too.

And after all of the walking around the store to see every animal they had, we somehow ended up back at the boats, "tractors" and four wheelers.

It was a fun rainy day activity. We will definitely be back!

Hailey is doing the funniest stuff lately. We have to try really hard not to laugh at her and encourage not the best behavior. Not "bad" behavior, just not things we want to make a habit of. So anyways, we had quesadillas for dinner one night last week. Hailey loves quesadillas and always, and I mean always, asks for sour cream to go with it. We have to limit the amount of sour cream she has because she likes to eat it, not dip in it. Well this particular night she decided to give herself a bath in the sour cream. It was everywhere! On her hands, face, feet and clothes. And she was just laughing and having the best time with it! Crazy girl!

Life is never dull around here!

Picture Catch-up

So many pictures, so little time...

Waiting on Daddy at church. "Come on Dad."

Last week we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the spring weather. Hailey helped Daddy wash his truck. She was quite soapy after she was done.

We explored the yard and went to the park a few times. No pics of the park, I was too busy chasing her around.

Abbie didn't want to be left behind

Hailey is really into her stuffed animals lately. Baby dolls, not so much. Just stuffed animals. She lined them all up on the stairs last week and wanted me to take their picture. Think she's used to that?!

And she reads to them all the time. Melt.my.heart.

One day I was making lunch and I hear "Need help Mommy." and turn around to see this.

Silly girl had dressed herself as Baker Aker (from Daniel Tiger) but couldn't get the hat just right. Ha!

Hailey has turned into a Daddy's girl as of late. Multiple times a day she will say "So sad." When I ask why the reply is always "Daddy not here." Last week was our week for the Gathering (the singles service at church that Ryan preaches at) Ryan is so great to always make time to come home a little early on those nights so that he can play with Hailey (and give me a break) before he has to turn around and go back. 

Friday morning Ryan tried to fix Hailey's hair...

Ha! Luckily I fixed it before we went out.

Hailey was just a little excited to go visit Garry (who just had a lung transplant at Duke) and Elaine. Think that little face made them smile?!

Shew! I know that was a lot of pictures but they were too cute not to share...