Christmas Tree and Big Bed

 

 

We finally got the Christmas tree decorated when Hallie took a nap!  We have left some ornaments for her to play with, which she has.  She also loves the train set!

 

This past Monday night, Hallie had a hard time getting to sleep and wanted to be in the big bed, so we lowered it and put the rails on at 10:30 pm!  We made it out as an exciting thing that she slept in the big bed, but the past two nights, she's wanted to sleep back in her crib.....

 

 

This is the only video it will let me post!  She had Bojangles tea this morning...

 

 

 

Thanksgiving and beyond!

 

Hallie got sick before Thanksgiving, but was doing better on that day! I didn't get a picture, but a Chuck and Deda's house, we went back to Liz's room and she found this large lab dog stuffed animal Liz had.  She said "Puppy!" and wanted to carry it around!  I figured Liz would have liked that!

 

Later, we went to Grandpa and Granny's house and she sang for everyone using Paw-Paw's smart phone!  She still loves Elvis and her new favorite song seems to be "Good Luck Charm".  She also loves the Chipettes version of "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga.  I've got some videos, but they wouldn't post here, so I'll try another time!

 

 

 

They must be up to something!

 

 

Here's her today playing in her kitchen!  She loves making Jason and I tea!  She also likes putting the eggs in the microwave!  We're glad she's been more of herself this week, but Jason and I got sick with bad colds too!  

A few of my favorite things!

Thought I would note some of Hallie's favorite things!

She seems to really like the Dinosaur Train and Thomas the Train shows, though she won't watch them for very long! 

She can sing the songs pretty well too, since she seems to pick up on music really quickly!  She also knows who Bono is (from my favorite band U2) and will get into my car and say "I want Bono!  I want Bono!"

She is holding baby dolls more often now and seems to alternate between which ones she goes to bed with!  She loves for Jason to build a tower with the blocks and then knock them over!

She still loves to run in the house and we seem to do that about every night now!

We're trying to read her more books, but she still just wants to focus on the pictures! 

We call the below a laundry basket rollercoaster!

 

Halloween!

We considered it a successful Halloween since Hallie put on her costume!  She wasn't quite sure what to make of the Trunk or Treat, but figured out she got candy!  Go Heels!

 

Playing in the Leaves!

Jason raked some leaves this past week and Hallie enjoyed running and jumping in them!   

We've noticed she says "Dommie" a lot and think that she's combining "Mommy" and "Daddy" together!  I guess it's easier and quicker to say our names together instead of separately!  She still enjoys singing and it amazes us how quickly she picks up on the tune of a song!   She loves running in our house as well! 

She is giving us some drama...guess we should expect since she's in the "terrible twos!"  But we're learning to stay calm and try not to get too frustrated!  But, there's the sweet moments, like her now saying, "I love you!"

Music, Playing in the Rain, and More!

It seems Hallie really enjoys music!   She likes us to play the radio now in the car and it appears she likes the hard rock station the best!  LOL!    It impresses us how easily she picks up on words and music melodies.  She loves to sing the "God our Father" blessing and "Jesus loves the little children."   She also sang "Jesus loves me" and sang just about every word, which surprised me!

We let her play in the ran a few weeks ago and she loved it!

We've had lots more interaction with the dogs lately, which has been fun! She laughs when they lick her hands and tries to get them to chase her in the sunroom!  With fall/winter coming, I'm sure we'll have plenty of nights of doing this soon!  We let the dogs in the house one evening and she wanted them to chase her down the hallway!

She's becoming a bit more "girlie" too!  She finally likes the tu-tu my friend gave us at Christmas and loves to wear this neon green necklace, that actually is the daycares that they let her keep!

She's probably eating some "pips" here...aka "chips"

Hallie's two!

We had a great birthday party down at Lakewood Park on Saturday!   Even though it did downpour about 6:45, the kids had already played a lot on the playground, so it wasn't the end of the world!  

We did a Hello Kitty theme!

Athrun wanted to blow out the candle!

Aida wanted to put the candle in the cake!

 We were so excited that Isaiah, Chris, and Lesley came in!

She took one of the candles and used it to eat ice cream!

Aida also assisted in opening presents!

They also liked sliding down the slide together!

And playing in the rain!

She also loved playing with McKenzie!

I  think it did surprise her to see Isaiah!

 

 

 Feeding the ducks!

 Isaiah and Hallie played together well and loved chasing each other around the house!

Here's the Starnes gang!

We decided to do a sandbox for Hallie, so Jason built one on Sunday 

and we showed it to her today!

I'm busy, mama!

I think we may be in for a sassy year!  Hallie's getting more strong willed with every day and picking up things so quickly!  I tell the dogs to "hush" when they bark and just this weekend, Hallie realized that she can tell people to hush, which would mean mom and dad!  She seems to think it's funny to tell us to hush, but we do not like it! Ahh......terrible and terrific twos!

Random Toddlerness!

Hallie still absolutely loves the animals!  She's getting better about being gentler with the cat, but seems to not understand why the can't runs off when Hallie chases her.  Since we chase Hallie a lot and say, "I"m going to get you!", she will say something to the effect of "Meow not get you!" (meaning Lilac doesn't want to play!)

Molly is calming down a bit and not licking so much in Hallie's face, so we've had more interaction lately!

Hallie has found a liking to the water hose!   She liked when Jason would water the yard and she'd put her hand where the water came out!  Then, we just let her take control of the hose itself one day!   It was a risk, but she really enjoyed it! She knows how to turn the water on and off!

She did manage to get her face and hair a bit wet when she dropped the hose!

Here's a new toddler fashion idea-tennis shoes with PJs!

Hallie also loves the recycle bin (or what's in the recycle bin to be more accurate!) She loves bottles with tops and will thrown them down the steps outside! Jason called this toddler dumpster diving!

She's getting better with her words and singing!  It actually seems she can sing a bit on key!  She's forming more sentences we can understand and warming up to family members!!!  Yeah!  She loves to grab hands now and take you somewhere!  Her  hair is also starting to curl more at the ends!

Her birthday pics will be coming soon in two weeks!!  Can't believe it!