Happy Birthday Hallie!

Hallie turns three tomorrow!! She had her Tinkerbell birthday party this past Saturday and she had so much fun. We invited six of her good friends who all play together every week in nursery and at playgroup, but when they arrived, you'd never know it since they were all so quiet the whole time!? I made Hallie's Tinkerbell cake, and when she saw it for the first time, she said, "Oh pretty! It's a Mommy!" I told her it was Tinkerbell and after reexamining it for a minute, she said, "Oh! Tinkerbell!!"

Since Hallie had more boys than girls at her party, I decided to twist the theme into a Peter Pan party, so when each of the kids arrived, I put bandanas and eye patches on the boys so they could be pirates and the girls got Tinkerbell tiaras and wands. They all looked so cute! We ate pizza, played some games, sang some songs, went on a treasure hunt with their own treasure maps, opened some cool presents, ate some yummy cake, cleaned up two wet underwear accidents, and wiped two kids' boogers.... I'd say it was a great success! Boy, has time flown by! Happy Birthday Hallie-bear!! We love you!!!!!!

Fun in the Snow

We have gotten so much snow the last week, I think it's actually broken records since this much snow is unusual for where we live. Hallie has just been dying to go and play in it but hasn't been able to since the temperature has been 30 degrees below zero with windchill the past week! Then finally, we had a warmer day, so while Sydnee was sleeping, I let her play in the snow with some of her play dishes and she had a blast making me snow cupcakes, while I stayed inside and watched her where it was warm! When Sydnee woke up, she and I watched Hallie play outside.

At one point, I was paying attention to Sydnee playing and I looked up to see what Hallie was doing and she stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me with a mischievious grin. She said, "Look at Sydnee again, Mommy; don't watch me." That's usually her way of saying, "Don't catch me because I'm doing something naughty," so I pretended to watch Sydnee again and caught her eating snow. I thought it was pretty funny. Click on the video below to see Hallie's reaction...

Building Forts

Hallie loves it when Daddy builds forts with her because it's the one time she is allowed to take the couch cushions off without getting in trouble. Cam builds the best forts since he's had a lot of practice growing up with six other siblings (five of which are boys)! Here is Cam and Hallie's best fort yet.

Sydnee Laughs!

Sydnee LAUGHED two nights ago for the first time which is something Cameron and I have been waiting a long time for since she has some developmental delays. We were all playing on our bed right before bedtime and Sydnee was so happy so I started tickling her (which we've done a million times before in an effort to make her laugh) and when I reached her neck, she just burst into laughter!!!!!!! It was the cutest laugh ever. I love when your baby laughs for the first time, you just want to keep listening to it over and over again since you forget so quickly what it sounds like!! I know she'll be laughing all the time soon enough though. So laughing at 7 1/2 months old is better than never! We're so proud of her! And, if you notice in the picture, she's sitting up by herself! Two big milestones in one month... she's growing so fast.

The Hunt Is On

We've officially started the "house hunt" for our first home today. We're so excited but at the same time, so overwhelmed with all the options to choose from, the paperwork, the amount of money we're about to spend, etc. etc. So, I thought I'd come to those of you who have been there, done that already. Any advice you could give about house hunting and what is important to consider before buying a home?!?!? We're getting anxious, and have found a real estate agent that we like (she's also our current landlord) so it's a long road ahead, but I know in the end we'll get a house out of it! Wish us luck!

A New Year's Eve Visitor

Our New Year's was pretty mellow since Cam had had surgery on his ACL just days before. We missed out on some fun parties, but we were still able to enjoy visitors. Cameron's brother, Nate and his roommate came to visit on their way to Maryland and got here just in time to see the ball drop. Hallie was so excited to see Nate the next morning and talked his ear off. Nate played all of the games that Hallie wanted to play which made Hallie's day! Thanks for visiting Nate!

Christmas 2008

We spent Christmas with my parents in Michigan again this year and it was quite an exciting visit. We visited the Dicken's Festival that is held in a nearby town where they perform a Christmas Carol outside (and boy was it cold!!!) and you can also see Santa and join in other old fashioned festivities they have on the streets. It was fun but very cold.

While in Michigan, we also got to spend Christmas with my brother, Justin and his girlfriend, Brittany that he brought home to meet the family. It was fun to get to know her since she it looks like she will be part of our family in the near future! Hallie loved her instantly but she couldn't say her name so she kept saying, "Frittany" which stuck the rest of the week. So now everyone, including Justin calls her Frittany... sorry Brittany!

Christmas morning was fun having two kids to enjoy it with this year. Hallie got a kitchen with dishes and food (exactly what she asked for... thanks Santa!), and Sydnee got an interactive rhymes book (which I'm sure she would have asked for if she could talk!). It was a great Christmas, and we all had fun being together.

Above: Yes, that is a poster of Edward that Justin got my mom, and she actually put it on the back of her bedroom door. It was the best gag gift!

Jack Frost Has Met His Match

Just before Christmas, we had a huge ice storm that hit our city overnight. It did tons of damage to trees and power lines, leaving a lot of our friends without power for days. Most of trees on our street had to be cut down since they broke in half because the ice was so heavy. Everything was covered with about 1/4 of an inch of ice... it was pretty crazy!

A Big Sister's Guide to Feeding a Baby