Hallie sings Jingle Bells: Be-a-buss

Hallie loves to sing, especially Christmas carols. Her favorite song this year is Jingle Bells. She has her own way to pronounce the lyrics: "Jingle bells, jingle bells" is "Be-a-buss, see-a-buss".

She has been proudly belting this song for a few weeks, and we've been singing a lot together recently because we've been visiting family and also spending a lot of time in the car with little else to do. A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night to Hallie yell-singing "BE-A-BUSS!!!"

Here's a video montage of Hallie performing her hit song during her Christmas morning Froot Loops (which she endorses about halfway through). Then she goes through a bit of a rebellious stage and refuses to perform until we coax her back for one more round. I left the camera running for a couple of surprise bonus songs at the end. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas from Will, Hallie, and new cousin Lily!

Merry Christmas everyone! A lot has happened for our family in the past few weeks. Two weeks ago we moved to Texas and spent the week unpacking and exploring our new city of College Station. Last Friday, Aunt Sara and Uncle Jeff had their first baby, Lillian Paige, who is a healthy and beautiful potato. Fortunately, we were already planning our Christmas at their house so we arrived on Tuesday and get to play with Baby Lily for a few more days before heading back to our new home. Erin and Sara got the kids matching pajamas, as you can see they made for a great picture, despite camouflaging little Lily.

I promise I have many pictures yet to be posted but please forgive me for being behind with everything going on. Hallie's bath pics - 2 weeks late - coming next. Have a wonderful holiday!

Hallie "Chestnuts" a nana

Hallie is a terribly picky eater, and there's very little Erin or I can do to get her to eat a semi-balanced diet. But we do our best. She will regularly eat cheerios, raisins, and yogurt, and maybe a cracker or a single chicken nugget for lunch/dinner. Sometimes she refuses to eat anything for several meals. She doesn't even like french fries - is she really Erin's biological daughter?

The good news is she will never go hungry as long as there are bananas in the house. Like her brother was/is with hot dogs, Hallie will get excited about eating a banana pretty much any time one enters her field of view. Bananas probably constitute 50% or more of her daily caloric intake.

On the topic of hot dogs, we call Hallie's 'nana eating style "Kobayashi'ing", or more recently (and patriotically) "Chestnuting". Click that link and watch my hero Joey Chestnut destroy hot dogs and then see the resemblance in the way my daughter consumes bananas.

scootin' and walkin' the baby

Still trying to catch up, working through two months of unposted pictures/videos...

These come from last October, when Will earned a scooter from Grandma Brenda. She promised him one for accomplishments in his swimming lessons. By the end of the summer Will was able to "make unassisted forward progress" in the water, which Grandma deemed scooter-worthy.

Because she is also a good little swimmer (sometimes), Hallie got a gift too. Grandma brought Hallie her own baby to take for walks in its own stroller. She loves doing this.

Here's a video of the two enjoying their new presents.

Hallie dresses herself

Hallie loves this skirt, and as it turns out, she can put it on all by herself! She did this when we weren't watching her and was walking around the house, it was a very funny and cute surprise.

She's so proud of herself, as you can see. This posture where she's leaning forward is her camera pose, accompanied by a big "cheeeeeese!"