A Hectic But Boring Week

It has been hard to keep up with my blog because my laptop went bye-bye but I am going to really try and be better (I know, I know I keep saying that - but seriously!) The past week had been filled with chores, errands, house cleaning & further preperations to get Alex ready for back to school. We have her hair done, her clothes & school supplies bought, her school fees paid & have her signed up for sports so we are pretty much done and ready for school to start!

Alex's Registration

Today we took Alex to her 8th grade registration day. She got dressed up and did her hair so she would look great for her school photos - and boy did she ever! She was so happy and said that these photos were the best ones she has had in a long time! I am glad she is so happy with them! We got Alex signed up for volleyball and all registered for classes so now we just have to wait for the big day to get here!

Back To School Shopping With Alex

After a morning of attempting to relax and get some rest I took Alex to the mall to do some much anticipated back to school shopping. She had a fantastic time! It was so fun to see her so excited and literaly GLOWING after her whirlwind shopping escapade! She did a great job and got a lot of cute clothes and all her essentials as well. We literally closed the mall down! It was an exhausting day but Alex had so much fun it made it totally worth it!

Haley's Birthday Weekend

What a weekend! We set off Friday afternoon to camp at Barton Park for a weekend celebration for Haley's 1st Birthday :) It was a great weekend! We packed Haley, Alex and her friends Jacqui & Emily in the car and set off for a fun weekend!

Aimee, Sam, Kristine, Howie & Makenna all met us there to spend Friday night. And of course Tank was there to join in on the fun!

Haley & Makenna had fun playing on a blanket in the field while we made dinner. After dinner the young girls went to bed and the teenagers went to the playground across the road to swing, giggle & chat while the adults played a fun game called Apples to Apples. We called it a night and spent our first night in a tent with Haley :) All in all it went well but she did wake up at 6:20 in the morning - hurray! Mom & Haley hung out while Dad and the rest of the campers got a little more sleep. Then it was omelets in a bag for breakfast and off to the picnic site to set up for the big event! Haley's first birthday party was a rousing success! Tons of friends & family showed up to celebrate with us.

Since it was very close to our wedding anniversary, Roy & I took the opportunity to have a bite of our "delicious" cake topper we had diligently kept frozen for the past year

Lets just say we should have kept it in the freezer!

So after the not so tasty cake it was time for Haley's first bite of cake.

Haley was in a grumpy mood because she had fallen asleep on her sweet Aunt Kate

(which was REALLY cute!)

When she awoke she was a little disoriented and Mom had very rudely gone to a nearby table to eat a burger so was not immediately visible - this upset the sweet one greatly! After some hugs from Mom she was better UNTIL Mom put her in the booster seat to eat some cake.

This too upset her greatly and she was not too sure about being set down.

UNTIL she discovered that cake is GOOD!

The tears disappeared and happiness ensued! Lets just say, she likes her some cake!

Suffice it to say when she was done she was a tad messy - it took four of us each double fisting wet wipes to even make a dent! :) After a took one slightly sticky but very happy Haley to open presents.

Haley got some really great toys! Makenna, Arianna & Haley all had a fantastic time playing with the new toys!

It was a great party! After the party Jeff, Auntie Shoe, Hayden & Lucas joined the rest of us for an additional night of camping & Apples to Apples playing. Roy's boss Jeff, his wife Kelly (great name) & daughter Alyssa also came down from Olympia to camp with us. Haley was pooped after the party and went to bed quite early in the evening. The rest of us had a great time BBQ'ing, playing games and sitting by the fire. It was such a fun night! It was so nice to spend Haley's birthday with all our amazing friends & family! We are truly blessed!

My Daughter - Kung Fu Panda!

Just Saying...

Lunch With Grammy & My Daughter The Rock Star

Today Grammy came over and took all of us out to lunch at Chili's.

We had a great time visiting and eating yummy food! After lunch Grammy to the girls to Office Depot to buy Alex's school supplies for the upcoming school year.

While the ladies were doing that Dad & I went to Costco to get the burgers and buns for this weekend. I can not believe the big event is right around the corner! It is going to be so much fun! Speaking of fun, Haley has had a great time in the ball pit Mom set up using a sandbox (the frog pool kept losing air.) She loves to carefully climb in and out, over & over again. She also seems to enjoy standing in it and kicking the balls with her leg like a bull or throwing all the balls out of the pit )although Mom does not think that game is very fun!) :)

Alex had two of her friend's, Emily & Jacqui, come over to spend the night so they would be ready to head out camping with us tomorrow. After dinner the girls played Rock Band on the Wii - it was freaking hilarious!

Even Haley took a turn on the mike!

They are the biggest dorks, but they sure are cute!

Anyway I need to get my sleep so I am ready for this whirlwind weekend! Next time I talk to you all my baby girl will be ONE!

I love MaMaMa!

So Haley has gotten a little attached to Mom lately. She gets really upset when I leave the room and has even started saying MaMa. Well it is more like MaMaMa (reminicent of a certain Mom! Mom! Mom! I have heard echoing in my ears before...) I absolutely love it. She gets upset and blubbers out those sweet words and it gets me every time! She gets in my arms and snuggles into my chest and I know that she loves me almost as much as I love her - true happiness!

One Year Ago Today

Today was our first wedding anniversary! I can simultaneously can not believe that it has been a year, and that it has only been a year - our lives are so different! This last year has brought us some incredible twists & turns! Two beautiful daughters and the family we have always wanted! We went to the Melting Pot for a celebratory dinner while Alex went to a friend's house & Haley hung out with Grammy. Dinner was awesome! The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant and we got to try it all! We started with a cheese fondue with bread, apples, & veggies to dip into it.

Our entree was a sampler of lobster, steak, chicken, pork, shrimp & various veggies that we cooked in a court bouillon broth.

So good and fun! For desert we had a chocolate fondue called The Flaming Turtle with carmel & pecans. There were marshmallows, strawberries, cheesecake, brownies and other delicious desert items to dip! It was a great meal! It was also really nice to get another little chance to have some alone time just Mom & Dad :) After dinner we picked up Haley & went home to spend time with our girls...all in all a great way to spend an anniversary.

Garage Sale & Final Preperations for the Big Weekend!

The last few days we have been busy setting up and attending to our garage sale along with making the final preparations for Haley's Birthday - can you believe it is only one week away!?! Grammy & I met on Thursday and we went to Costco and ordered Haley's Birthday cake. She is going to love cake - I just know it! She had a muffin before and thought it was great! The garage sale went really well on Friday & Saturday - we got rid of a ton of stuff and even made some money! Woo hoo! Haley made sure to keep an eye on everyone so that nobody tried and steal anything!

Sunday however was less successful. I think I sold three things all day - but at least we all had fun hanging out. Shoe brought some of her stuff over on Sunday but really the only stuff she sold was to us (but we do now have a cool toy organizer!) Oh well we all had a great time sitting around, playing with Haley and visiting! She makes the craziest faces!

She could entertain me for hours!

Here is Haley "I told you I am coming as fast as this giraffe will take me, I gotta go I have another call coming in!"

So our yearly garage sale has come and gone! It is a lot of work but it was not a bad way to spend the weekend!

Need to get back in the habit...

I have been such a slacker and I really want to start getting back in the groove with my postings - so despite a pretty ho-hum day with no photos I am here! Most of the day was filled with chores & errands...not too exciting. Trying to prepare for having a garage sale this weekend and then Haley's birthday after that - hurray! I am so excited for Haley's party and the preparations are well on the way! Haley continues to grow more and more stable on her feet. I know it will not be too long until she is walking around! She is constantly standing up without support and today she even squatted down & picked something up off the floor without falling & no support! She just keeps learning & growing stronger every day! She is pretty obsessed with shaking her head "no" at people now. She has very little discretion about what she shakes her head "no" at but she sure thinks it is funny! My sweet little girl is so cute - so much personality! I can not believe that in two weeks she will be 1!

Weekend in Washington

This past weekend we took the girls to Cle Elum, Washington for a retreat with Roy's work folk. We got to stay in this HUGE, really cool log cabin!

The woodwork in the cabin was amazing - so much time & thought had clearly been put into the building of the cabin. Even the ceiling fans had been hand carved & the bathroom floors were heated!

Pretty neat! We spent the weekend just enjoying each others company, relaxing & enjoying the incredible nature that surrounded us.

We went down to the lake but the water was so low and it was SO windy we didn't spend much time there. One of Roy's coworkers, Viet, had his two year old son, Andrew, at the cabin so Haley had a playmate. It was really cute - one time while we were outside playing around Andrew picked a flower and went up to Haley and gave it to her :)

Her first boyfriend!

The day we were leaving Andrew was following his Dad outside and when they waled past Haley, Andrew got down on the floor to give her a hug before he left! Too cute! He even made his Dad take him outside when we were leaving so he could say bye. I knew that sweet girl was going to have the boys going crazy eventually - I just figured it would be several years from now!

More Fun With Grammy :)

This morning Makenna came over to play.

She was completely obsessed with giving Haley hugs.

It was really funny. I think Makenna figured that Haley was just a larger version of her baby doll. Makenna would squat down and hold Haley or she would stand next to Haley and either pat or pet her head, one time she even tried to sit in Haley's lap! - too cute!

Haley did not know quite what to make of all the attention! After Makenna left Grammy stopped by to go to Troutdale Walmart & the Carter's store with Mom & Haley. Outside of Carter's we spotted a mini carousel and thought Haley might like to try it out. We each stood on one side of the ride and "spotted" Haley as she went around and around.

She was not sure if she liked it or not but eventually flashed a cheesy grin of approval at us :) She was COMPLETELY fascinated when another kid got on the ride and maintained a 180 degree rubber-necking pose for the remainder of the ride.

She is so cute & fascinated by the world around her!

Afternoon At Grammy's

Today Haley & I spent the afternoon over at Grammy's visiting - OK I was supposed to scrapbook but the task seemed all too daunting so I mostly hung out and watched Grammy play with Haley. They were just delightful! Haley is growing and learning so much everyday! It is amazing how quickly she picks up on things! She is constantly figuring out new things - how to feed Mom, how to drop things on the porch through the screen door, and of course how to wrap Mom & Dad right around her finger! She makes the cutest faces and is just so delightful to be around - Haley truly lights up any room! After some playing Haley decided it was time to eat. She REALLY liked Grammy's Mexican Rice dish...clearly.

Haley says nobody better come between me and my rice!

After she was all cleaned up Grammy & Haley played some more and then it was time for a little nap.

Grammy & the girl looked so very sweet together.

She was really passed out and during some of the nap so was Grammy! :)

We all napped on the couch until Papa came home. Then it was time for more playing & cuteness before heading home for dinner. We had a really great time visiting with Grammy today!

OMSI

Sunday was $2 Day at OMSI so Dad & I took Haleykins there to check out the baby garden. Haley had a good time!

There were SO many babies! Haley, of course, was mostly just obsessed with the ball pit and spent a good portion of the time banging balls together. She had a blast playing with balls and giving people strange looks :)

She was also very interested in the fish that were in the tank on the wall. She was really cute trying to press her head against the glass to get a better look.

There was not much more for Haley to do, yet, so it was a short trip - but fun!