Her 3rd Birthday

Hallie had a wonderful 3rd birthday, with a party at school and presents and cupcakes at home on her actual birthday and a party with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susie the following weekend. I completely forgot to take pictures of her on the morning of her birthday, or of her beautiful birthday cookies (but you can see the cookies here, thanks to the lovely woman who makes the kids' birthday cookies for me every year), but I remembered to pull out my camera to document the rest of the festivities.

Both kids spent the half hour before Daddy got home watching Wild Kratts, as that was the only thing that could distract them from the presents sitting atop of the piano.  Neither one of them wanted to wear a shirt, which was fine by me.

Once Daddy arrived home, Hallie went to town. (Will was a little upset that she didn't need more help opening her gifts.)  More so than any other year, Hallie was legitimately excited about every single present she opened.

Miss Ballerina doll with magnetic clothes
and accessories from G & G O.

"Piddy" bracelet from G & G O.

Minnie Mouse bank from AJ.  Can you feel
her excitement coming through the screen?

Hello Kitty birthday badge from AJ.
She's starting to freak out a little.

A yellow umbrella from M & D.
H: "Is it raining outside yet?"
E: "No, Hallie.  It'll probably rain again next February."

Penny (a stuffed mouse with accompanying book)
and baby bed from G & G M.
We're still working on keeping Hallie
from climbing into the bed herself.

Will's 1/2 birthday present was the purple
light saber. Clearly he hated it.

Hallie opened a few other things that I didn't take pictures of, including a My Little Pony from Will that he shopped for and picked out all on his own. (He's not quite to paying for gifts all on his own, however.)  And then we went outside to unveil Hallie's "big" gift from Mama and Daddy.

So excited!

Hugging the bike seat.

Admiring the bike's tassels.

Taking the bike for a spin around the patio.

And then we headed inside so Hallie could blow out the candles on her birthday cupcakes.  (Over the years we stumbled into the tradition of having cookies for school birthday parties, cupcakes on actual birthdays, and themed cakes for friend birthday parties.)

A few days later, when Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susie were visiting we celebrated again, first with presents (Hallie especially loved her new outfit, which she put on immediately, and watering can)...

...and then with much-anticipated Hello Kitty chocolate cake.  

Happy birthday, baby girl!

A Soapy Mess

At a recent baseball game Hallie and I headed to the bathroom together. While I was washing my hands Hallie stepped up next to the sink, unknowingly placing herself directly below - and within sensor-reaching distance from - the automatic soap dispenser. I immediately recognized what was about to happen but couldn't move fast enough to stop it, and after what happened happened, I made Hallie stand there while I fished my phone out of my pocket so that I could take a picture.

She wasn't upset when the soap dispensed directly onto her head, face, and dress. In fact, after she realized how funny I (and everyone else I sent the picture to) thought the incident was, she reveled in her soapiness for a while.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

I'm writing about the kids' school Easter egg hunts on Midwestern Girl, but wanted to share a few more of our Easter pictures here.  The day had its ups and downs - just like every day - but was all in all a pleasant holiday.  The kids loved hunting for Easter eggs (plastic ones this year - I hid real ones last year and learned my lesson when the dye stained the inside of their Easter baskets), playing with the small gifts and eating the jelly beans left by the Easter Bunny, and singing at the top of their lungs during the Easter church service.  The kids DIDN'T enjoy sitting through the rest of the church service or having their picture taken post-church service.

I was pleased at how well Will understood the meaning of Easter this year, and credit his wonderful teachers for sharing with him the message of Easter in a way that he could understand.  Happy belated Easter!

By the time Hallie had figured out what was going on,
Will had found nearly 3/4 of the eggs.

But Hallie found ALL of the eggs hidden
in/with the shoes - she seemed to know where
she'd succeed and stuck with that domain.

Can you see the half-chewed yellow
jelly bean stuck in her hair?  I think
she was saving it for later.

Happy girl.

Will, as usual, was pretty tolerant of having his picture taken.
Hallie, on the other hand, not so much.

Scream + fake smile.

I really wish I'd taken my sunglasses off (I had no idea I was
even wearing them until I saw this picture on my computer
the next day).  And that I was wearing a different dress.

Real smile + fake/forced smile.
That's the best I could get.

On a related note, I want to mention Hallie's dress.  She received the dress as a birth gift from one of my dad's best friends and his family, but the dress was a 2T so I knew she wouldn't be able to wear it for at least a couple of years.  (Saul and Peggy give absolutely wonderful presents - our wedding present and Will's birth present were favorites of mine when they were received and are still favorite of mind today.)  The dress hung in a place of honor in her closet until this Easter, when she wore it for the very first time.  I'd planned shoot a few photos of Hallie by herself that day - a little modeling shoot to show off the dress - but unfortunately she just wasn't working it for the camera on Easter.  She's going to wear it again for a wedding in June though, so I'll try again then!

Dance Party

Just a couple of videos of recent dance parties we've had in our living room.  These two love to rock out.

Baby Lily Comes to Town

Uncle Jeff, Aunt Sara, and cousin Lily visited us during their spring break this year. It wasn't Will and Hallie's spring break, so they still spent a few of their mornings at school, but we were able to fit in lots of fun outings, plenty of relaxing time at home, two trips to the gym, and a grown up date night never-the-less.

The most interesting thing about this visit was the way Hallie reacted to Lily's presence.  A big fan of babies, and a big fan of Lily's the last time we were all together, Hallie should have been ecstatic for a baby (well, I guess Lily is officially a toddler now, but she's on the baby side of toddlerhood) to spend a whole week in her house.  And she was, initially.

But once I started paying attention to Lily - carrying her, helping prepare her meals, changing her diaper, getting her dressed - Hallie made it clear that she didn't like the attention she usually received being divided between her and another child.  (My attention is always divided between Will and Hallie, but while Will is at school Hallie has the market cornered.  She didn't like sharing her Hallie attention.)  She wasn't mean to Lily, but she started acting like a baby - wanting to be carried, crying when dropped off at the gym and school, and peeing her pants - in hopes that baby-like behavior would score her a bit more of my focus.  Hallie's tactics didn't work, which led to lots of tears.

Will, on the other hand, did a wonderful job with Lily when he wasn't off playing sports with Uncle Jeff or at school.  He brought her toys, talked to and entertained her, read stories to her, helped pick out her clothes, and even warned an adult when Lily was about to get into something dangerous or messy.  I think he enjoyed "playing" big brother to a child who didn't yell at him, tease him, and hit him the way Hallie does.  He's particularly excited for Lily to return in June.

Reconnecting.

Hallie taught Lily what NOT to do on the couch.

Team Nike.
(They wore lots of matching outfits.)

The "trunk" on our tricycle was just Lily's size.

This is the only picture I was able to get of the three of them
in the bathtub.  It was VERY crowded, so we moved Will to
the shower the following night.

Cutie.

Hallie liked to help Lily rinse.

Will read books to Lily, and then Aunt Sara read books to Will.

The girls did lots of coloring - Lily loved having crayons
and paper down at her level, but since she couldn't be trusted
 not to color on furniture, walls, other people, and herself, the
crayons eventually had to be relocated to a higher shelf.
(Again, matching outfits.)

Lily had a knack for picking a crayon
or marker that matched her piece of
paper, and then she'd get upset when
her coloring didn't show up.

Hard at work.

Red Cross Fashion Show #1.

Red Cross Fashion Show #2

Red Cross Fashion Show #3.

I was supposed to be watching Lily, lost track of her, and
then found her sitting in my wet shower and going through
my shampoos and conditioners.  Aunt of the Year.

It's a tradition of ours to take a picture of Lily with these deer.
At first she wasn't all that excited about hanging with them.

But then she remembered them from her last visit.
Lily (15 months) with her friends at Dixie Chicken.

We visited Kyle Field, and while Lily toddled,
Will and Hallie ran laps on the track.

Well, Will ran around the track.  Hallie
made it about a fourth of the way
before she laid down and cried.

Will, rounding the bend and heading
toward "home" on lap one.

Will lapped Hallie on her first and his second lap.
(You can see Aunt Sara in the background - she kindly
made the trek around the track to help Hallie make
it to the finish line.)

She made it!

And here are two of my three favorite pictures of my sweet niece.  (I'm saving the third for a different post, and I'll also have pictures our outings to an Aggie baseball game, Will's baseball league's Opening Ceremonies, and both Will and Hallie's Easter egg hunts at school in future posts).

Jeff, Sara, and Lily will be back for another week-long visit in June (they'll be watching the kids for the first couple of days while Tom and I travel to Illinois for a wedding, and then we'll all be hanging out for the rest of the week).  We have lots of fun activities planned - swimming lessons, a day trip to Schlitterbahn, the Children's Museum, Chick-Fil-A (Jeff was raised on Chick-Fil-A - I kid, Jeff, I kid), and a perhaps another date night.  We can't wait!