{ HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALLIE }

Wow! So much to catch up on. We've been in UT for over a month, school started, Peyton's had a few health concerns, life got in the way of blogging :)....excuses excuses. Here's a little something. LOTS more to come hopefully soon.

My sweet little Hallie turned 5 on July 3rd. I can't believe she's already that old. I'm so lucky to have her. She is my little buddy. She really is a special little girl that makes my life so wonderful! Here's a few things I love about Hallie (there is alot more, but this is what comes to mind right now):

*She is very obedient. Always has wanted to follow the rules and do what's right. If you tell her something once, you will rarely have to tell her again (unless it's cleaning her room. ha ha)

*Has a happy and positive attitude.

*Amazing faith

*Strong desire to learn

*She adapts well to different things. Deals with whatever comes her way.

*She loves her sister and brother. Always such a good helper to them and a wonderful example.

*She learns quickly. When I tell her or show her something once, she picks up on it so fast.

* She's a thinker. She thinks everything through very carefully before doing things. I'm always amazed at the questions she'll ask when doing different things. And when she has made a decision about something, she sticks to it.

*Willing to try new things. Things that are hard for her. She doesn't give up.

*Many who don't know her well would say she is shy. She says, "It's not that I'm shy. I just don't have a lot to say."

*Always thinking of others and how she can help them. Great at sharing, giving, etc.

I thought it'd be fun to do a little bday interview with her to see what it's like to be 5. Here's her answers. After I asked her all these questions, I felt like a horrible mom. Do you think she wants a dog?  ha ha. What a mean mom I am. I almost want to go buy her one tomorrow :). (Almost...)

Favorite Color: purple

Favorite TV Show: Martha Speaks (a show about a talking dog. Watches it everyday at 3:30. ha ha.

Favorite Food: spaghetti

Favorite Treat: All of them! Licorice and skittles

Favorite Movie: 101 Dalmatians

Favorite Princess: Sleeping Beauty

Favorite thing to play with: Baby Paws (a stuffed animal dog that Jared's mom gave her)

Favorite person to play with: Peyton

Favorite friends: Alyssa and Clare

Favorite thing to do: go swimming, play with Peyton, go to Sea World

Favorite ice cream: vanilla

Favorite Sport: soccer, dance. But dad says that dancing isn't a sport.

Favorite Book: Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy

Favorite Flower: tulip

Favorite Song: We will rock you

Favorite place to go: Chuck E. Cheese

Favorite Restaurant: McDonald's

Favorite Drink: Fruit Punch

How many teeth do you have? 100

How tall are you? 20 months

How much do you weigh? 40 pounds

What do you want to be when you get older? : a mommy

 If you could be any animal, what would you want to be? : a dog because they're so cute

Tell the funniest joke you know: knock knock? Who's there? Booger Poop. Booger poop who? Booger poop I ate poop. ha ha ha

What would you rather be. A princess, a puppy or a fairy? a fairy. cause I could fly.

What food do you hate the most? the noodles that you made me eat in the morning because I wouldn't eat them for dinner. I HATE those!

If you had all the money in the whole wide world, what would you do with it? I would buy a dog with it.

Girls or Boys. Which do you like better?: Girls. Because girls don't do stinky toots like dad does.

What do you like to wear? dresses. Especially the one Chelsey gave me.

What makes you sad?: When Peyton gets to go to a bday party and I don't get you.

How do babies get here? a doctor gets them out with a blood pressure. the baby comes out of mommys bums or maybe their belly buttons. I'm not really sure.

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you? when I got a dog. Me:"you don't have a dog". I know but that's what would make me happy. Chelsey is giving me one. And when you had a baby. That made me really happy too.

What is the most embarrassing thing that's happen to you? when I peed by the car cause I had to go so bad and everyone was laughing and you took a picture of me. That was SO embarrassing.

What do you like about yourself? I'm so beautiful.

Why do you like Mom? cause you're so beautiful. and you do lots of nice things for me. like let me go to kindergarten, play with me, make me food.

Why do you like Dad? cause he plays with me all the time.

If you couldn't guess what kind of party Hallie wanted...she wanted a "Pet Party". We had alot of fun! Everyone brought their favorite "stuffed pet". When the guest arrived to Hallie's Pet Shop, they were able to take care of their pet at different stations. (wash, groom, dress, check-up, eating, ect.) Then they put them in the pet house Aaron made to play while we had the rest of the party. We played lots of fun games, ("Doggie, doggie, who has the doggy", pet charades, musical animals, freeze dance to "who let the dogs out",pinata, etc) We ate lunch, had cake and ice cream and called it a day. She had a blast and was so excited for it. Thanks to all who came.

Thank you Costco for making my life alot easier this year :).

We were all pretty tired by the end of the day :).

Aaron and I like to take our kids out on a date for their bday to pick out an outfit and do something fun. Hallie found a puppy shirt and was sold on that. We had a fun time shopping and going out to lunch. Aaron took Hallie to pick out a charm bracelet she's had her eye on. Then off to Sea World they went.

Sunday was her real bday. We opened presents and had a great day together as a family.

Peyton was so excited to give her some more pet shops.

We love Hallie!

{ IF YOU LEAVE PEYTON ALONE...}

You will end up with this!

I went to the bathroom and came back to find this masterpiece. I can only imagine what the final masterpiece would have looked like had I not found her. We had the following conversation.

Me: Why did you do that?

Peyton: Because I wook punny.

Me: Well you can't play with markers anymore.

Peyton: ok. But can I still go on a airpwane?

Me: Yes

Peyton: Ok. THANK YOU MOMMY!

Nothing phases her. She thinks I gave her the reward of an airplane for putting marker all over herself. Love this little stinker.

{ KYLER'S SPECIAL DAY }

Kyler had his blessing day on June 5th. It was a great day!! We missed having family here with us, but enjoyed the day together with our little fam. Aaron did a great job and I am so thankful to have an amazing husband who takes such great care of our family. Our kids are lucky to have such an awesome dad.

Kyler wasn't too into getting pictures, and I had really good intentions of taking more when he woke up from a nap...but...ya, that didn't quite happen. I think he's pretty cute though and am SO blessed to have this sweet little angel.

This is how he felt about me trying to take a picture.

{ PEYTON'S CAPTURED SAYINGS }

MAY 2011
(2 ½ years)

• Famous Phrases:
o “I am in charge! Not you!”
o “I not talkin to you!”
o “Hold a second!”
o “I wook wike Tangled.”


• Me: “Eww! You sicko!” (after she licked me)
Peyton: “No I not sicko! I’m Peyton O’Brien!”

• “I sharted my attitude.” (meant to say “I changed my attitude”)

• P: “What are you doing mommy?”
Me: “Cleaning.”
P: “Why? Who’s coming over?”
Me: “Nobody. I just want a clean house.”
P: “Wow! For us? Thank you!”

• Every day for about a week after I got home from my trip, Peyton would come wrap her arms around my leg and say, “I’m so glad you’re home now.” So sweet.

• “Our wittle brudder is SOOO cute. Mom, when is he ever going to turn into a girl?”

• We were making cookies and the girls had eaten a lot of cookie dough. I finally told them no more because I didn’t want them to get sick. Peyton says, “I think I not get sick. See?” (as she gets right in my face eating cookie dough to show me she wasn’t sick after taking another bite.)

• Me: “Peyton what did you learn about in nursery?”
Peyton: “I wearned about pway, and snack and water.”
Me: “Anything else?”
Peyton: “ummm…I wearned that Jayden took my toy away too.”

• “NO tooting in our house! Only girls can toot. Cause we aren’t stinky! And boys are so woud (loud) and reawy reawy (really) stinky! So gwoss!” (telling Aaron this)

• “I fink I falled down. But it’s ok. I’m strong.”

• Overheard Peyton singing in her bed:
“The itsy bitsy pider went up the water spout. And….the rain stopped yay! Now we can pway! Then the birds flyed awound…and that’s the end of the story!”

• Want to have her hair like Rapunzel from the movie Tangled every day. If I do her hair in pigtails she yells, “NO!! Then I won’t be tangled!”

• I was talking about my mom. And said, “Grandma Robin…” Peyton says, “Is that Granny? Oh! I wike my granny!”

• (telling Peyton she has 5 more minutes of rest time after she kept getting out of her bed.)
P: “No! Not 5 more minutes!”
Me: “If you don’t go now, it’ll be 20 minutes! Do you want 20 minutes?!”
P: “Yeah! I want 20 minutes!”

• While we were swimming in the backyard, I noticed Peyton. She has pulled down her swimsuit, sitting on the edge of the pool and is “feeding” her baby on her belly button. Acting like it was totally normal. She says, “Just open your clothes up and feed her at your belly. I think hers done yet.”

{ HALLIE'S CAPTURED SAYINGS }

May 2011

(4.5 Years)

• I was explaining how Heavenly Father is always watching us. How he is aware of everything we do and that we want to try and make him happy.
“Doesn’t Heavenly Father and Jesus ever sleep??? If they’re always watching us, they must be so tired!”

• Me: “Looks like we need to take a trip to Wally World!”
Hallie: “What’s Wally World?”
Me: “Wal-Mart”
Hallie: “That is NOT a trip!” (I think she hates going there as much as I do.)

• We were playing the game of giving 3 clues to try and guess what the other person was thinking about. I said, “I’m thinking of something that is up high, it moves around a lot and makes us feel good.” (ceiling fan). Hallie says as quickly as she can “the spirit!”.

• “I have a great idea for a espirient (experiment)”. (did the water bottle with vinegar and baking soda).

{ A Great Day... }

I love my sweet Hallie. I had to write this experience down before I forgot.

This week we started swim lessons again. If you remember me writing about it last year, you'll remember that it was a horrible experience. (SEE HERE). Well this time around, I got some private lessons for her with someone much better. She said she didn't want to do it, but didn't fight me too much on it and ended up saying that she'd do it. Deep down, I know she really wants to learn how to swim. But she's scared.

So yesterday was the first day. I told the teacher that I wasn't expecting her to learn how to swim by the end (it's 4 lessons). I would call it a success if she just put her head under the water confidently without being scared or freaking out. I mean...this is the girl that's scared to even go in the wave pool because she doesn't want to get splashed in the face with water. Well the first day went okay. No tears, so that was improvement from last time. She was nervous, but didn't quit. And it was much more on her level. She seemed ok, but on the way home she told me she didn't want to go again.


Which leads me to this morning. We were getting ready and she kept saying, "I really don't want to go. Why do I have to take swim lessons? Why can't you just teach me? I'm not going....etc." I gave her a little pep talk about how it'll be so awesome to learn to swim. How it may seem hard, but it will be so great when she knows how. I threw in a little, "All your friends are learning to swim too. Don't you want to be able to swim with them instead of sit on the side and watch them?" Well...she left my room while I finished getting ready and I thought she'd just gone to play.

A little later, she came into my room with a very different attitude. She was really sweet, had a smile on her face and said, "Mom. I just felt the Holy Ghost." Right after she said that I felt such a strong feeling too. It was really powerful. I said, "Really? That's so neat. Tell me about it." She said, "It felt really good. I know it was the Holy Ghost." Didn't say much more. Didn't fight swim lessons again either.

We headed to swim lessons a little later in the day and she was seriously AMAZING!!! I was shocked when I looked over to see how she was doing. She had her entire face in the water and was floating on her stomach. I thought the teacher was holding her until she gave me two thumbs up and yelled, "She's doing awesome!" I about died. I thought for sure she was holding her. Did she have a third arm? ha ha. Well it only got better. By the end, she was putting her entire head under the water, holding her breathe, blowing bubbles, and swimming a little to the teacher by herself!!! She went from one end of the pool to the other (taking lots of breaks). I couldn't believe it! I kept saying to my friend, "Holy cow! I don't know what got in to her. Maybe my little pep talk did something." ha ha.

She was so proud of herself! She was so giddy and just so happy. We all were so happy. I took her to get an ice cream cone on the way home for doing so awesome. The whole way home she sang, "Swimming is so much fun to do. Fun to do. Fun to do. Swimming is so much fun to do. To do to do to do." She was so cute.

Well later when Aaron got home, we showed him the video I had gotten of her on my phone. He was as shocked as I was too. . He asked me what got into her as well. We didn't understand how all of a sudden she could do all that. We had no idea, but we were all so excited for her. Aaron said, "Hallie! How did you get so brave???" She looked at us, smiled, and said, "I said a prayer. And then I felt the Holy Ghost." Wow! What a special little girl. I had no clue she had said a prayer. She did that all on her own. Nobody told her to do that. But she was scared, and her initial thought was to say a prayer. Wow! She has so much faith. She knew that Heavenly Father would help her if she just asked.

What a cool experience for her as well as Aaron and myself. Just thought I'd share. And record it so we don't forget. Hallie is always teaching me so much. She has always had so much faith and believed so much in the power of prayer. It's cool to witness this in your own children and see them having these experiences. For sure, faith building for me. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the comfort we can receive from the Holy Ghost. And I am extremely grateful to have these sweet little angels in my life!

{6.29.11 }

{ PRESCHOOL DAYS ARE OVER }

Hallie finished up preschool at the end of May. Time flies. It seems like I was just shipping her off for her first day not too long ago. I can't believe she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall. We have LOVED this preschool and had such a great experience. Such a great environment with amazing teachers and kids. I can only hope she'll have the same for Kindergarten. They had a little program at the end of school. It was really cute.

We love Ms. Shem. She's awesome. Always made Hallie feel so special. She was cute and made these tshirts with them. The kids drew a picture of themselves and then all the other kids put their thumb print on the shirt. It said, " It's ME and "thumb" of my friends."

Hallie, Alyssa and Clare.

Ms. Shem had made these for each kid. All the kids had said what they liked about Hallie and then read it aloud to everyone. Fun to see what their little friends say. Here's what they said about Hallie:

You like flowers. You are so quiet. Your friends like to play with you everywhere. Your friends love that you play with them. You are kind to everyone. Your friends love all of your "beautiful things." Your friends like your sharing things and think they are beautiful. Your friends love you."

And we can't forget about cute little Peyton. She was such a trooper and usually a good sport about taking Hallie and not being able to stay. I lost count of how many meltdowns we had in the parking lot. ha ha.  But I loved having that one on one time with her while Hallie was at preschool.

I will miss our Target dates. The girl that used to HATE shopping. BUT I am proud to say, she has become my little shopping buddy (or "shopping Peyton" because she is "not a buddy. she's a girl"). If I ever said we were just going home she would beg, "No! I wanna go to Target. TJ MAXX. Costco. Home Depot. The drinker store.." I bet Target has really been missing us. The popcorn all over the isles, the endless refills of DDP, the eyeshadow makeup samples all over Peyton's face, the clearance deals I had mapped...Oh...I better go back. I miss it :0).

We had a picnic lunch with everyone after the program.

 

All the great teachers and Jennifer the program director.

Class Photo--Back Row: Abram, Hallie, Todd, Haylie, Ms. Shem, Nathan. Front Row: Alyssa, Clare, Judah (I stole this off your blog Meg :) thanks!)

We will for sure miss preschool!

{ ROUGH LIFE }

{5.17.11}

{ 3 MONTHS }

KYLER is:

LaUgHiNg..........SMiliNG alot.........Finding his ToEs and loves to hold and eat them..........Trying so hard to RoLL oVeR. Rolls to his side and has now rolled over 3 times(all in the middle of the night while sleeping)..........JAbbERing alot...........AND........discovering the TV.

In fact..so much that he can't even look at me for a picture because he is so fixed on it.

Oh fine Mom, what do you want? Why are you bothering me?

{ ONE YEAR OLDER }

Wow! I'm getting quite up there in the number department. I just had my 28th birthday! That is basically 30! Seriously? Am I really that old? I feel like I am forever 21. jk.

It was a fun Sunday birthday. My sweet husband and kids were so cute to me. Aaron had the day off which made it perfect. It was the best birthday present of all. They treated me to a wonderful breakfast in bed, Aaron made a fabulous dinner of homemade pizzas, the decorations and cards did not disappoint and I got a lot of little hugs, loves, and "Happy Birthday Mommy". Not to mention a super yummy chocolate sheet cake. Thanks for all the calls, letters, gifts, etc. I am truly blessed to have so many loved ones.

Hi. My name is Peyton. I look a little homeless. And...I really like to eat ice cream with my hands. Who needs a spoon?! Spoons are for the weak.

"Do you want a bite?"

Hallie is the little photographer in the house. She thinks it quite fun to try out my camera.

{5.15.11}