Picture Round-up

I have lots of cute (well I think they're cute) pictures on my phone and I just can't delete them without sharing ;)

These two love sitting at the table in the playroom for snack time (or anytime) and Reece's squished up nose is just precious

Reece has discovered the joy of playing at target. We had to go there for a few things last week and he was practically jumping out of the cart to walk the aisles 

We have spent lots of time outside soaking up the spring weather. We took a trip to the playground last week but someone wasn't really a fan of the sand on his hands

Ryan refinished a picnic table for the kids and he had a little helper when he was putting it back together 

And two happy kids when he was done! I foresee lots of picnics in our future

Our neighbor celebrated her first birthday party this past weekend. It was bunny themed so we had to wear our bunny shirts. 

Hailey loved that they had a real bunny to hold!

My little bunnies weren't interested in taking pictures 

Hailey wore one of the dresses my mom made for me and my sisters on Sunday to church 

She looked so big before school yesterday! I can't believe we only have one more year left before kindergarten 

And as Reece said after lunch "all done!"

Hailey's Birthday

Even though we had a fun time celebrating Hailey's birthday at the zoo on Saturday, we still did plenty of celebrating on her actual birthday in Tuesday. We started with some birthday donuts, her choice!

Of course we had to sing and blow out candles

We had our Bible study at church that morning and I got a few cute pics before we left 

After Bible study we had a picnic lunch in daddy's office. He got us chick-fil-a!

After naps back at home we had a birthday play date with our neighbors. We sang, had brownies, played outside and she even got to open a few presents!

When daddy got home from work we had pizza for dinner, again her choice. But then the fun began! We made a scavenger hunt for Hailey to lead her to her birthday present. She was so excited about it. 

Her lady clue was "the house that daddy built for you"...and in it was her bike!

She was super excited it had a seat on the back for Brownie :)

We had to take it for a spin!

It was a great birthday day for our big girl! I can't believe she's FOUR!

Birthday Zoo Trip

This year for Hailey's birthday we decided to take her on a special zoo trip instead of having a big party. This girl LOVES animals and can tell you all kinds of things about them so we knew she would love it. Plus we decided to leave Reece with a babysitter so it was a two-on-one day with Ryan, Hailey and I. I think that made the day even more special for her too. 

We told her the day before that we were going to the zoo and she was SO excited and immediately started asking what kinds of animals were there and what we were going to see. This is her in the morning before we left. 

Just a little excited?!

She said she was most excited to see the grizzly bear and polar bears so when we got there we set off to find them first. We came across the seals and sea lions first and they were so fun to watch. 

Hailey was obsessed with all of the statues at the zoo and wanted to pet all of them. 

We found the polar bear but he wasn't out yet so we took a look in the polar bear den first 

We decided to check back later and set off to see what else we could find. We found a snapping turtle

All kind of lizards and snakes 

A honey bee exhibit 

Then flamingos 

Then all kinds of tropical frogs and birds

That was all on the "North America" side. Then we stopped for lunch and tackled the "Africa" side. We saw lemurs

Chimps, lions

Giraffes

Zebras, ostriches, elephants and rhinos

And of course petted lots of statues along the way

About that time our girl started getting VERY tired, she had been up since 4:45 after all ;) so we took the tram back to the front of the zoo and decided to take one more peek to see if the polar bear was out. He was! He was sleeping...but that was enough for our girl 

We let Hailey pick out one thing from the gift shop before we left. She found this purple giraffe in a purse and could not be talked into anything else! The girl knows what she wants. 

She had a GREAT time at the zoo and we had a great day with our big girl! 

An Up and Down Week

This past week,or two, has been filled with ups and downs for us. Unfortunately there's been a lot of sickness but we've had some really fun times with friends too. 

It all started two weeks ago with Hailey getting the stomach bug. Poor girl was just pitiful and wanted to cuddle. She pretty much stayed in her room for two days. 

Ryan came to rescue and took Reece out for most of the day. He even took him to church on his own on Sunday so I could stay with Hailey. (Which is not easy for a pastor to do when they have a million things to do on a Sunday morning) Reece loved the daddy time and that daddy let him do things like this. Ha!

Then we had crazy storms and tornado warnings and the kids and I had to hide out in the closet one afternoon 

We thought the rest of us were fine but Reece and I came down with the stomach bug on Thursday. It was no joke but Ryan to the rescue again! He came home from work to take care of me and Reece and help with Hailey who felt great and has lots of energy to burn. She brought me this tray while I was sick. What a sweet girl. 

We felt good by Saturday and were able to go to our neighbor's first birthday party. 

 

Unfortunately our friends were in town from Boston last weekend and we didn't get to see them nearly as much as we would have liked. But we made it to church for a bit Sunday morning and I got the sweetest picture of Hailey and Brayden. 

Daddy came down with the stomach bug on Sunday afternoon. 

But by Monday everyone else was good and the weather was beautiful so we got to spend some time at the park! 

Hailey even got to have a tea party with Brayden 

The kids and I got to go to lambs on Tuesday! They looked precious in their bunny shirts 

Daddy had to go out of town for a retreat and the kids and I had a picnic in the floor for dinner one night. They thought it was the best!

But poor Reece is cutting molars and has a cold that has now turned into a double ear infection. He is pitiful and this is the only way he will sleep. 

It's been a tough few weeks with sickness but we've had some bright spots in between. Let's hope the next few weeks are filled with more bright spots than sickness!