Friday, August 28, 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.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

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

Thursday, August 6, 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

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Mommy's Birthday

I celebrated my birthday this year not at the beach but at home. Since I couldn't be sitting in front of the ocean on my birthday, I opted for the pool. I took the day off of work and spent it with Haley, Kendall, and Mom.

Kendall loves the water.

From July August 2009


Haley's not so sure of the water these days. She spent most of the day sitting on the steps.

From July August 2009


Here are Maynee and her baby grands.

From July August 2009


Kendall thinks she's a big girl...she loves to climb up in the chairs.

From July August 2009


Mom made me spaghetti for dinner (my favorite) and a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Kendall might have enjoyed my birthday dinner as much as I did.

From July August 2009


Haley's not a big spaghetti fan, but the cake provided the necessary motivation to get her to eat her dinner.

From July August 2009


I was so happy to spend my birthday with my girls!

From July August 2009

For Aunt Summar

Hi, Aunt Summar! We love you and hope that you and your family have settled into your new (temporary) home. We are ready for a Carowinds day...please come and see us soon.

From July August 2009


From July August 2009


From July August 2009


From July August 2009

Princess Party

I've been trying lately to take Haley out to do some fun 'big girl' stuff. She loves playing with her sister, but she needs time to hang out with the big kids, too. Over the past few weekends, I've made sure we had at least 1 big kid outing per weekend. We spent one Sunday afternoon at Moneky Joe's with Haley's good friend Bianka. Haley ran Bianka all afternoon. We weren't there for long before Bianka told me herself that Haley was wearing her out. We also went to see a local theatre's production of High School Musical II with Haley's friends Jasmyn and Tre. Haley enjoyed the dancing and singing.

And of course, we can't go long without a princess themed event. Haley and her friend Abigail recently attended a princess party at Chickfila. There was a REAL horse and carriage at the party. I told Haley on the way there that there would be a horse and carriage. She asked if it would take us to a ballroom ;) I said no, probably not. She then asked, well where else would a horse and carriage take us? I told her it would probably take her for a lovely scenic tour of the parking lot, which it did.

Here are Haley and Abigail getting ready for their ride.

From July August 2009


The horse and carriage were quite impressive.

From July August 2009


The girls got their nails done...

From July August 2009


and their faces painted.

From July August 2009


From July August 2009


At the end of the party, all the kids got ice cream and a princess watch.

Abigail, of course, made a BEAUTIFUL and perfect Cinderella. Anyone who has seen Haley's closet knows that she has more than a few options when dressing up as a princess, but this day she decided to be Briar Rose. Here's one more picture of our sweet princesses.

From July August 2009

Monday, June 8, 2009

Kendall's First Birthday

We celebrated Kendall's first birthday this past weekend with family and friends. We all enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Here are Kendall and Sophia, my friend Bonan's July 4th baby.

From Kendall's First Birthday


Kendall did not know what to think about everyone singing to her. Haley helped by blowing out her candle.

From Kendall's First Birthday


Feeding cake to Maynee...what an unselfish birthday girl ;)

From Kendall's First Birthday


Yep, this is good - I like it!

From Kendall's First Birthday


Cheese!

From Kendall's First Birthday


This is probably my favorite cake picture - I'd say she was REALLY excited about her cake! Kendall laughed and grinned alot while eating her icing. Very little cake actually made it into her mouth.

From Kendall's First Birthday


O and Kevin provided the post cake bath. Summar pointed out that even after the bath, Kendall's hair seemed to be coated with crisco ;)

From Kendall's First Birthday


Haley was very eager to get her share of the cake. Here are the girls - Madelyn, Jasmyn, Abigail, Haley, and Miley - waiting patiently.

From Kendall's First Birthday


A cake party on the back porch.

From Kendall's First Birthday


Peter tried to get Kendall to relax after the festivities were over. Kendall chilled on the sofa with him, and her new baby (from Marynell) for awhile before we tried to put her down for a nap.

From Kendall's First Birthday


The nap was unsuccessful. After that much sugar plus 3 rowdy kids running in and out of the house, it wasn't a surprise. Peter rescued a crying Kendall from the pack and play, and she seemed to be grateful to him.

From Kendall's First Birthday


The Phillips family spent the night with us. The grown ups enjoyed an evening out - dinner and a movie. The kids had a great time playing. Here are Pete, Haley, and Miley.

From Kendall's First Birthday


Kendall is enjoying her new toys (yes, the boxes are still the best part sometimes).

From Kendall's First Birthday


Kendall is a year old, but she's still my baby. She is not walking yet, and this is just fine with me. She has started babbling more over the past month or so, but she doesn't say many actual words. We occasionally get Dada and Mama, but not often. She is a truly happy little person. She shares her smiles with friends and strangers alike. When I'm running errands with her, I often see people smiling at her and when I look at her face, she's already grinning back at them. Kendall LOVES to play patticake, and she often pulls my hands up and hits them to try to get me to play with her.

Kendall has developed a little temper ;) When she doesn't get what she wants, or when what she wants is taken for her, she lets out a lovely little blood curdling scream. It's often amusing, but we know it won't be amusing for long if it keeps up.

The phones and the remote control are her favorite toys. We don't argue with her about it anymore - we just let her drag them around and push all the buttons.

Haley and Kendall play very well together. It's been surprising to me that they've played together as much as they do - with the age difference, I didn't think Haley would be all that interested in what Kendall is doing, but she is. She usually keeps an eye on her for me if I need her to. As long as Noggin is not on TV, I can count on Haley to keep Kendall out of trouble if I'm not in the room. They are each other's favorites - Kendall makes Haley smile and laugh more than anyone else, and Haley does the same for Kendall.

From Kendall's First Birthday