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...

Making Brownies

Saturday night we were having friends come over for dinner so Hailey and I made brownies. I'm pretty sure helping me cook is her favorite thing to do these days. Anytime I even walk into the kitchen she climbs onto her tower and says, "Help Mommy cook." It is absolutely precious. I love that she loves to help!

Well after we finished mixing the brownies during which I heard "Hailey turn" about a thousand times I decided to let Hailey experience the amazingness that is brownie batter. I'll let you decided for yourself if she liked it...

first taste

"more!"

Someone got a hold of the bowl while I was putting the brownies in the oven!

I think she's ready for cookie day Mimi!

(And yes that is brownie batter up by her eye. I have no idea how it got there!)

The Library

So...I haven't taken Hailey to the library yet. I know, I know...How can I be a teacher a not take my child to the library? Well, she's a little energetic and a lot loud and I didn't think that many people would appreciate that.

But I decided that Friday was going to be the day. We had a free morning so I decided to just go for it. It actually went pretty well... We went pretty close to opening time so there weren't too many people there yet. And the children's section was right by the door so if she decided to get loud I figured we could make a quick exit.

Hailey had fun looking at all of the books. She loved that she found Curious George books and then wanted to find books from every other TV show she watches. I was a little worried that she would rip the pages while we were reading books because she was getting so excited but she didn't. We only read about half a many books though because she just wanted to look for more and more books.

We found a cart of board books which was great. Hailey pulled most of them off and loved that we found a book about pacis. She wanted to read it about a thousand times. It was actually about not needed a paci, but my little girl missed that point of the book and just liked that it had a paci in it. Oh well...

We will definitely be going back to the library soon!

Picture Post

I have a few random pictures that don't really fit into anything but are cute nonetheless so here goes...

Ryan's mom brought Hailey an apron last week when she came to visit. She loved putting things in the pocket. (Notice she's on top of the ottoman again.)

The other day Hailey was playing in the guest room while I was changing Abbie and her paci fell out of her mouth and landed in her shirt like this. She said "paci pocket" and tried to do it like a million more times.

My mom sent Hailey some new Elmo and Cookie Monster socks. Hailey saw them as I was putting away her clothes and wanted to put them on.

But she couldn't make up her mind and ended up with one Elmo sock and one Cookie Monster sock on.

Love my girl!

Hailey's "House"

We got a new ottoman last week for our living room and Ryan was going to throw away the box. I knew Hailey would love it so I convinced him to put it in her playroom. When she saw it she went right over to it and said "house. in."

She wanted me to play in it with her, she put her animals in it. She read books in it. She even wanted Abbie to play in it with her. So sweet!

closing the doors

She then found her keys, went right over to it and said "lock it".

I love her imagination!

And in case you were curious this is what Hailey did when she saw the ottoman. It only her her about 2 minutes to conquer it.

Pigtails

Hailey's hair is getting so long I decided to try pigtails again. She looked ADORABLE! See for yourself!

And just so I don't forget this is her "jumpy squirrel" shirt. We got it on clearance at Target because she is constantly looking for "jumpy" out the window. She calls squirrels "jumpy" because the name of the squirrel on Curious George is "Jumpy Squirrel".