Happy Halloween!

Haley and Kendall both enjoyed Halloween this year. Well, Haley enjoyed it and the rest of us enjoyed dressing Kendall up ;)

It was warm this Halloween, so to go to school, Kendall wore her Snow White costume.

From September October 2009

On Halloween night, however, we made the poor girl put on her lion costume. Haley was Dorothy, and when I suggested that Kendall wear her warm weather princess costume, Haley would have none of it. Mom and Dad came over to trick or treat with us. Here are Mom, Dorothy, and one of the two cutest lions I've ever seen ;)

From September October 2009

You can't truly be Dorothy without the shoes...

From September October 2009

Kendall didn't walk long. Kevin carried her for awhile (he ensured that she filled up her candy bag). Not long after he handed her off to me, she wanted to walk. I let her walk, but the poor child fell and skinned her face up pretty badly. Maynee took her home, but the big kids continued their trick or treating.

From September October 2009

Haley and her buddy Janna.

From September October 2009

When Haley spread her candy out, Kevin was quick to find and remove all of the 3 Musketeers.

From September October 2009

Haley was very pleased with her stash! Mommy has enjoyed it, too ;)

From September October 2009

Chicago

Haley got to take her very first plane ride recently when she and I we went to visit our friends Mara, Kevin, and David in Chicago! My godson David will be 3 early next year, and he and Haley had a wonderful time hanging out and seeing all the sights in the Windy City.

Haley was SO EXCITED about the plane ride and the trip. Here she is as we buckled up to drive to Charlotte. She could hardly contain her excitement.

From September October 2009

Haley did a great job sticking with me in the airport and taking care of her own bag. It wasn't until the very last leg of the trip - after arriving back in Charlotte on Sunday - that I took her bag from her and just let her walk thru the airport.

From September October 2009

Getting ready to take off - more smiles!

From September October 2009

Haley and David played very well together. Haley loves her buddy ;)

From September October 2009

Among all of our exciting field trips were... a trip to Field Museum, Navy Pier, the top of the Hancock Building, the Shedd Aquarium, the Chicago Zoo, and for the adult ladies - a late night Second City Show (thank you, Kevin, for babysitting;). Here are Haley and Mara on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier:

From September October 2009

We hit the Maas' favorite ice cream shop one evening after dinner. David decided he wanted to copy Haley most of the weekend ;) So when I put two straws in Haley's milkshake so I could share, David needed two, too.

From September October 2009

Haley was fascinated with the hermit crabs at Shedd Acquarium. Yes, of all the things she could be interested in, the hermit crabs were exciting to her.

From September October 2009

Haley and I with a view of the city skyline.

From September October 2009

Most of the zoo exhibits were closed, but Haley and David were not phased. They had a blast running and throwing leaves. Who needs animals?

From September October 2009

Buddies :)

From September October 2009

Our last stop before we headed to the airport was the American Girl doll store. Despite my efforts to convince Haley to pick out an outfit for her baby, she insisted that she just needs ANOTHER baby doll. I guess that's what grandmas are for!!

From September October 2009

We had a FABULOUS time in Chicago. Thank you Mara, Kevin, and David for being such wonderful friends, hosts, and tour guides :) We enjoyed our time with you so very much!!!

Things Kids Say

Here are 3 things Haley has told me lately that I really enjoyed...

1. Mom, I'm trying to focus. Please be quiet.
2. I wish we could never lose the remote again (this after Haley asked to watch cartoons, and Kevin and I told her she could watch whatever she wanted if she could find either of the remote controls that we misplaced).
3. OOOOH, Mommy, you look fancy!!! Where are you going?

And my favorite new word that Kendall is working on...

PLEASE! Sounds like peez ;)

Kendall's New School

Kendall started day care in September. While Mom recovers from her surgery, Kendall and Haley will both be in full time day care.

Kendall started going full time two weeks before Mom's surgery,and I was very pleased that she seemed to fully adjust over that two week period. The last few days that I dropped her off before Mom's surgery, Kendall didn't cry when I left her. One of my coworkers has a child in the same class, and he drops off about 30 or 45 minutes after me. So the first few weeks, I requested 'status reports' from him each morning on how Kendall was doing. When he first started giving me reports, he had to tell me that Kendall was crying by herself and not playing when he got there. By the end of the two weeks, though, she was playing. Yea, Kendall.

Kendall loves to pull the little clippy bows out of her hair, so lately, we are going the practical route and sticking with the Pebbles look.

Here is Kendall with her lunch box on her first day. Kendall knew this was her lunch box the moment we picked it up at Target. She did NOT want her sister to hold it (even at Target), and she enjoys walking around the house with it. Even though it's as big as she is ;)

From September October 2009

Pumpkins for my Pumpkins

From September October 2009

The girls had fun picking out pumpkins this year. Haley left with her own little pumpkin. Kendall seemed to misplace hers before we got to the checkout area.

From September October 2009

Kendall - 16 Months Old

From September October 2009

Kendall's language and expression has really taken off over the past month or so! I realized today that I need to start writing these things down, or I will forget all of her first little words. Many of them probably aren't super clear to most people, but Mom, Kevin and I (and probably Haley, too) understand alot of what she's saying :)

Mama
Dada
up
uh oh (when she first started saying this there was an exagerated pause between the uh and the oh)
eyes
ears
nose
Bear (sounds like Bah)
milk (sounds kind of like malk; - she calls all drinks milk)
snack (pronounced nak)
baby
bow (which she promptly pulls out of her hair)
all done
night night (nah nah)
fish (pronouced like fis - for actual fish, sometimes for goldfish)
bye bye

Kendall knows where her tongue is (she sticks it out for you if you ask). She can point to her eyes, nose, ears, teeth, feet, and just over the past few days, her knees (she initially got this mixed up with nose). She has known the correct response to 'what does the puppy dog say' for awhile now. She also often responds correctly when asked what the cow or horse says.

When asked how old she is, she will hold up her index finger. She sometimes says 'one,' but sometimes she just shows us her little finger.

The past few days, I've noticed that in her books she can point out babies, flowers, fish, sometimes trucks. She somtimes (though not yet consistently) will point to the correct animal.

She loves her books - loves, loves, loves them. If you ask her to go to her room and bring you a book, she is delighted to do so.

Late Summer Beach Trip

We headed to the beach this year in late August/early September. It was nice to go at a time when there weren't too many other families vacationing and the beaches weren't crowded. Unfortunatley, we had alot of rain, but we still enjoyed our trip.

We didn't spend much time outside on our first day - we didn't want to get too much sun. Little did we know this would be our first of only 2 or 3 days on the beach. Here's Kendall getting excited about her wagon ride to the beach. The pigtails are courtesy of Marynell.

From September October 2009

On one of our rainy days, we hit the aquarium. The girls both enjoyed it.

From September October 2009

From September October 2009

Before Kevin arrived, the 5 of us could fit in Marynell's car. Here's O hanging out in the back seat with the girls...sporting some really cool glasses.

From September October 2009

On another rainy day, I pulled out a tea set painting kit Haley got for her birthday. She really enjoyed it and was very serious about decorating each piece.

From September October 2009

Kendall was very serious about collecting sea shells. She loved loading her bucket down, and Mom and I got a good laugh out of watching her try to carry it as it got heavier and heavier.

From September October 2009

In an attempt to find a new hairstyle for Kendall, Mom rolled her hair up (what are these little clips called?;)

From September October 2009

Here are the results...yes, we got some more body in that girl's hair, but it lasted all of about 30 seconds.

From September October 2009

Walking buddies...

From September October 2009

Fun with Daddy.

From September October 2009

The Phillips family joined us on our last full day at the beach. Here are Haley and Miley - Miley's such a big girl. She started kindergarten this year!

From September October 2009

Summar and I challenged the kids to pull the wagon back to the house. They didn't get too far, but their team work effort was commendable.

From September October 2009

What beats pizza after a hard days work on the beach?

From September October 2009

Kendall's response to 'Where's your tongue?'

From September October 2009

Summar thought it would be fun to let the kids play in Kevin's car. For some reason, Summar and I were very entertained by this...

From September October 2009

Maynee's a great reader...

From September October 2009

Another summer comes to an end! Next summer will be our last before Haley starts school. I can't believe she'll be in kindergarten next year; time flies.

From September October 2009

Play date with Jasmyn and Abigail

Haley, Kendall and I got to spend a day with Haley's friends Jasmyn and Abigail Claire a few Fridays ago when I was off work. We left Kendall at home with Miss Jessika while the big girls went to bounce. They had a ball.

From July August 2009

From July August 2009

At home, the girls colored, played dress up, and watched a movie. Kendall got to dress up, too ;)

From July August 2009

From July August 2009

I am proud to say that Jasmyn was so tired after her day with Haley that she fell asleep before she ate dinner that night :) As Kevin pointed out to me, though, it wasn't my doing - it's spending time with HALEY that can wear anyone out.

Haley got to spend the following Saturday with Jasmyn at a church function, and she had a blast.

BJ and Johnny, Stacey and Jason and fam had dinner with us that Saturday night. Stacey and I played dress up with our baby girls ;)

From July August 2009

I am sad to say that this is my last Friday at home before Haley starts school back. I enjoyed having both girls at home with me this morning.

Chocolate Declair Cake

Kendall is more and more insistent these days on feeding herself with a spoon or fork. She doesn't mind finger food, but if she sees you trying to feed her with a utensil, she refuses to eat until you hand it over to her. Tonight, she only had a few bites of the chocolate desert Maynee made before she began refusing the forkfulls Kevin was trying to feed her. Kevin had no problem cutting off the rest of her desert, but Maynee objected. So Kevin made a deal with Maynee: He would allow her to feed herself if she would bathe Kendall. Maynee agreed, and here is the messy baby she ended up with:

From July August 2009

From July August 2009

From July August 2009

Haley's Swim Lessons

Haley had her first swim lessons this week. She took 4 lessons, and it's amazing how far she came in this short time. Haley fell into a pool not long ago, and she's been very afraid of the water since. Our goals were to get her past her fears and make sure she could swim to the side of a pool, if necessary.

Mom took her each day; I came on day 4 to check out the progress and watch how her instructor worked with her.

From July August 2009

Even on day 4, Haley was terrified to get in the water. She did not enjoy swimming her laps, but she had no choice - she had to do it.

From July August 2009

From July August 2009

I did not see a single smile on her face at her lesson today. When we got to the pool tonight, she was apprehensive and didn't want to get in the water. But once she warmed up, she started enjoying it! We saw lots of smiles tonight. By the end of the evening, she was driving us crazy - she wanted to get back in the pool as soon as dinner was over, and she did not want to leave at the end of the night - even though she was so cold she was shaking. She was proud to show O and Kevin what she had learned.

Here is Haley swimming her little 'laps' at her last lesson. She had already done several little laps when I started the video, and her instructor was not kidding when she told her she had 48 left to go.



I've been very slack with videos this year...I will try to catch up soon. There are a few more swim lesson videos on the 2009 playlist, and a few videos from Haley's end of the year preschool concert.

Haley and Kendall's 2009 Videos