shower cap & another tutu!

haley is finally wearing the shower cap she got over a year ago (when she had her tubes removed!)
as usual, is very hammy for the camera!

and we went to a festival today and they had crafts, so she picked out a tutu!
and I really wish I knew how to rotate these pics!  sorry!

take me out to the ballgame

trey has been singing "take me out to the ballgame" with haley, and she has been learning the words with daddy.  so, here's her BELTING it out a few nights ago while we were reading our bedtime stories.  you can see the black eye again in this vid.

 

black eye....

yes, haley got a black eye.  sigh....when she throws a fit, she throws her body all over the place and it was bound to happen at some point...it just so happened to take place Wednesday morning last week, before school.  she threw a fit so had to go to her room and started rolling all over the floor recklessly while screaming and kicking.  sure enough, she rolled into the leg of her bed, and hit a corner just under her eye.  it immediately was swollen and turned red/purple.  we put ice on it for a good 20 minutes, but the inevitable purple half moon showed up.  it is now in the light green/yellow phase, but we got some pics to remind haley that she needs to control her body when she gets mad.  everyone has been asking what happened, so we have had many good teaching opportunities to talk about lessons learned from this black eye.  two's were great - not terrible until the last few months!  looking forward to what 3s brings!!! :-)

this was the day it happened

 

day 2 after it happened

 

 

ballet & tap

haley took a week long 'princess ballet' class at school and was totally into it.  they are offering a weekly class from Sept-May, so we signed her up and she is super excited.  her friend, alex, who is moving, gave haley all her gear, so haley has been thrilled to try it out the last few days!  her are a few pics/videos of her. hopefully the excitement will endure!

 

package from R&K

haley hit the jackpot after school today. not only did she have her first day of "princess ballet" camp at school, but she came home to a big package waiting by the door!  Russell and Kerrie went shopping and haley had so much fun posing with all the pretty dresses (and loves the shoes)!  daddy took some videos that i'll post separately once I get them uploaded.

 

 

I got one video to load - this was the third one so towards the end!

 

 

growing up - age 2 3/4

haley is growing up into such a big girl.  at age 2 3/4, she's doing more than we ever imagined.  its so neat to see her solve problems and find solutions to do the things she wants to do (like bringing her stool to reach the light switch) or getting a long stick to get her toy out from under the couch. 
she can count to over 30 and knows her letters and sounds.  she knows words to a ton of songs, and is generally a very happy girl.  she is mostly over her temper tantrum phase although sometimes one still comes to the surface.  she's a very active girl - never ever sits still.  always wants to jump around or play.  her favorite things to play lately are school, where i'm the kid and she's the mom, taking me to school. she fixes my hair and then we get in the car to go to school and have show and tell.

she has a best friend named alex that she plays with ALL the time.  but, alex is moving at end of August, so we'll see how that adjustment goes.  we've been encouraging her to play with other kids to help with the transition.  it takes her a while to warm up to other/new kids when we are at parks but I guess it's good that she doesn't trust strangers right away.

she really has not gotten into her bike at all, and rarely will even attempt to ride it.  maybe one day...
she is a MASTER at stalling her bedtime.  lately, I've been working till 7, so she does not lay down until almost 9pm!!   but she seems to get enough sleep, so hopefully we will get better with the time change.  she is the kind of kid that can adjust to changes as long as she knows what to expect.  for instance, we had to tell her every day that dad is going to start picking her up from school or else she would cry if mom didn't pick her up.  once she knew what to expect, she embraces the change.

she loves her stuffed animals and has at least 40 of them!  'bear bus' came to school and she picked out a pink dog that she named pinky.  that is dog #6 or 7 I think!  she still really loves her baby dolls and is now in the habit of playing with all 3 of them at the same time.  she is a very good mommy to them and loves all her baby-doll accessories. 

she wants to pick out her clothes every day, sometimes changing 2+ times a day.  it's impossible for me to give her something to put on -- SHE has to want to wear it.  and she loves shoes, especially dress shoes.  just like her daddy.  :-)

she is very competitive and stubborn at times (again like someone I know).  if I can't get her to do something, often times I just change it to a race and problem solved.  but of course she has to win.

we are SO blessed to have haley in our lives.  she's such a joy and treasure to have and we are so thankful for her health, big personality, sense of humor, and her bear hugs and kisses.  thank you Jesus!

here's a short video clip of her jumping off the couch onto a bean bag.  daddy taught her that. 
:-)

some of my other fav pics lately

here are a few recent pics

brookside gardens

haley & I went to brookside gardens in Maryland a few weeks ago to see the awesome butterfly house.  we only got a few pics with butterflies, but they were everywhere in the house.  one even landed on my sholder and haley could not blow it off.  haley thought it was cool, but was done in ~10 minutes!  we did go explore the children's garden so she got to play a little.  here are a few cute pics.

my fav pic!

she loved the wooden frame house!

she hangs & swings ANY and EVERY chance she gets!  this was pretty cool feature in the children's garden

not a big fan of the frog..i though she would be sympathetic to his 'broken knee' but she was very leery...

 

she looks thrilled to be there, right!!??

Jimmy & Delores in VA!

mom & dad drove from TX to VA to keep haley while trey & I had our weekend away for my awesome award at work!  here are a few pics from their visit.  THANKS MOM & DAD!!
haley had so much fun with grandma & papaw! and dad, thanks for all the fix-it jobs you did around the house!  xoxoxo

playing babies with grandma

helping papaw put up his rubber boots

tickle tickle!

helping papaw tighten the hand rail. 

swinging with kimmie

package from R&K

first face painting

haley got her first face painting today (a pink bunny) and she did GREAT sitting very still for the 5 minutes it took!  the lady even gave her the bonus of the stars & hearts since she sat so still and took her picture afterwards.  haley was tickled pink (just like the bunny!)

she was sitting on my lap during the painting and it was so funny -- she told the lady she wanted a bunny, then she decided she wanted it pink with sparkles in the course of their conversation. it was so cute to see her make decisions!  she's doing that at restaurants too.  big girl!!

some of the black outline got smeared on the drive home, but you can get the idea.

piggy bank purchases

we took the $ out of haley's piggy bank and told her she could buy something with it. 
her first choice was a princess umbrella, since her friend at school had his own umbrella.  so, we went to the disney store to see if they had any.  they were all out, and she saw a little minnie mouse that she fell in love with.  minnie's shoes match haley's pink dressy shoes to a T (which she was wearing when we were at the mall).   we went and found a princess umbrella this  morning.  with both purchases, we made a big deal of the fact that she was using the $ she saved in her bank, and let her pay and put the change in her own pocket.  the clerk at the disney store made a big deal out of it too and gave haley a high-five.  so, it was fun. 

here are the pics of her showing off her purchases.  i guess rubber boots are next!

 

This pic is not related to her piggy bank but she was totally posing before school friday, so i had to add it!  i have no idea where she gets her poses from!

 

cherry blossoms 2013

We took the afternoon off and headed to DC to see the cherry blossoms.  it was haley's first subway ride, and she was tickled pink the whole way there (~40 mins)!  (not so much on the way back.... -- was crowded and she was very tired!)

she could have cared less about the cherry blossoms but was totally interested in having a popsicle (which we could not find so had to settle for a 'cherry ice' cup).  we did manage to get a few pictures but most were of her frowning like the first one below....

 

easter 2013

posing in her pretty easter dress from r&k!!

easter package from G&G

snuggling with her "fluffy"!

easter package from G&P & Cats