Haylee ~ 2 years old

Well, the princess of the house turned 2 on February 17th. It’s hard to believe she’s that old already. And hard to believe that she’s as big as she is. Her two year check-up was hilarious. First of all, AFTER we’d left the house, she and her brother decided to dump some very red juice all over each other’s heads…..in the car. I’ll spare you the details of my rage, but suffice it to say, it dyed both of their hair pink and dyed Haylee’s face anywhere it dripped down…..which was pretty much all over. We didn’t have time to go home and bathe her again, so we went like that. I was mortified, but her pediatrician thought it was hilarious. She said we want our daughters to have a little bit of spunk. I decided that she either never had daughters or they’re so old now that she’s forgotten how much she DIDN’T want them to have that very thing when they were two. Anyway, Haylee proceeded to tell her all about absolutely anything she could think of. They had a great conversation. The doc even got Haylee’s signature cheese ball smile when she told her how pretty she was. What can  I say, she plays to a crowd.:) Apparently, at two, they want them to know how to speak and understand 20 words. I almost laughed out loud when she told me that. Twenty words…..is that all!? Sometimes I wish she could only say 20 words, but 20 sentences in under 2 minutes seems to be more her strong suit. So, they’re not worried about her verbally or developmentally at all. Big surprise. They’re also not worried about her size. Apparently that’s funny too. Stats:

Height: 35 1/2” (95th percentile)

Weight: 27 lbs. 8.5 oz. (60th percentile)

Basically, she’s still huge. It’s crazy. She was such a short, stubby baby. I don’t know how this happened. I do know, however, that Kyle’s a little bit irked that I passed on my short genes to our boys and yet didn’t pass them to Haylee. Oops. Sorry.:) Oh well, he should be happy…..then she’ll likely play volleyball instead of soccer and he’ll be thrilled.:)

Anyway, let’s see, her Birthday was a blast too. She was so excited this year. She has had zero desire to open presents at every other Birthday and every Christmas. We end up opening them for her and dramatizing our excitement to no avail. But this year, she was fun. She let her brothers help her, but she enjoyed it. The biggest hit? The bouncy balls I bought. She’s obsessed. Had I known that a 50 cent present would do the trick, I’d have saved myself the hassle.:) My other mistake…..the baby with the binky. We got rid of her binky 4 months ago or so and frankly, she’s never really gotten over it. The doll has a binky attached to it’s shirt by a short leash. This was how she worked around that: Shortly after that, she just removed the clothes to get better access. Perfect.

And even though she was very excited about her Jello pie (now those genes I DID give her), she was suddenly horrified of the candles. She moved across the bench and kept saying, “HOT! HOT!” She finally leaned over to blow them out. It was very dramatic…..lots of spit, you know, all that good stuff.

We sure love our little Haylee. And although she brings an incredible amount of sassiness and drama to our lives, she brings a whole lot of joy too. She’s quick to smile and quick to shower you with hugs. She has a smile that lights up a room. And we realize that we may be partial, but she’s gorgeous. She walks around twirling her little blond pigtails and we know we’re in trouble later.:) Haylee’s sharper than a tack. Obviously she talks up a storm, but she also loves to read and quickly memorizes her favorite books. She LOVES the outdoors. All of our kids do, but she does the most. I have to dead bolt everything or she sneaks out to jump on the trampoline…..in her bare feet when it’s 25 degrees outside. She loves to ride her bike and play in the sandbox just like her brothers. They pick on her mercilessly some days and she’s learned to hold her own quite well. I get a lot of secret pleasure out of it when she body slams one of them.:) And I also get a lot of secret pleasure when I hear her sing “I Am a Child of God” from start to finish from the back seat while we’re driving down the road. Doesn’t miss a word. I always hope that my kids will use their different talents and strengths to their spiritual advantage and at moments like that it gives me hope that they will. Haylee, we love you! You bring so much laughter and light and happiness into our home. Happy Birthday, baby girl.:)

My Concert Pianist

Hunter started piano lessons last week.  A lot of people said I should wait, but he begged…..he loved to just sit there and plunk away on the keys at my Mom’s, so I figured he might as well plunk something productive.:) I totally scored a free piano off of Craigslist from a lady that was moving and didn’t want to move it. I’m very excited about this since I never win anything. This was a good one to win and I’m pleased with my victory.:) Anyway, it’s an antique upright that actually looks a lot like my Mom’s. Hunter thought so too, which seemed to please him to no end. His first lesson was so cute. My other two were playing with Lisa’s kids (his teacher), so I wasn’t paying complete attention, but when I’d see him do what she asked and do it right, I would smile. He loves to learn and it appears that he’s going to love to play. Yay! I’m so glad. Here are some pictures of him practicing for the first time. So darn cute! He can barely get his hands to do what he needs them to and it’s darling. Can’t wait to watch you progress, Hunter!

I’m certain there’s a picture of me playing just like this when I was little. One leg on the ground, one on the bench (well, in Hunter’s case a stool because we forgot the bench at Kyle’s cousin’s house). Now to find it…..(the photo, I mean…..we’ll get the bench soon).

6 pm

…..but she doesn’t need naps.

Who needs Lance Armstrong

when you have Hunter? Kyle and I decided to buy bikes. Our kids already had them and well, we don’t want to be old and fat or anything, so we thought it was a good idea. Nothing fancy, but we got a super good deal on some decent ones and even got a bike trailer to drag Tanner and Haylee around really cheap, so we were set. We decided to try our first family bike ride along the Columbia River in the Tri-Cities. There’s a trail that goes for miles and miles and miles. Truthfully, I don’t even know where it starts or stops…..that’s how long it is. Anyway, we picked a place to start, thinking we wouldn’t make it far with Hunter since he’d only ridden around in our driveway mostly. And let’s face it, the kid is 5, how strong could he be anyway? Well, I’ll tell you, 8 miles strong, that’s what! And the only reason we stopped was because it was getting dark, not because he couldn’t have kept going. He struggled on a couple of hills, but since his little bike with training wheels obviously has no gears, that’s understandable, poor kid! Kyle would ride next to him and push on his back to help him up. He did everything else himself. This includes quite the crash, which he survived to tell about. We were coming down a decently steep hill. Cement wall on one side (not even sure why) and a post down the middle. He took the right side (by the wall), so I took the left. He got going  a little too fast for his own comfort and had trouble using his brakes to slow down. He panicked a little a clipped the wall with his handlebar. That sent his bike spinning around. He fell off, but caught himself quite gracefully I thought. He even hit his little head on the wall (thank goodness for helmets), but swears he didn’t. I guess that means helmets really do work.:) Anyway, it was actually really fun, so we’re planning more. There are a lot of places to go around here, that’s for sure! Although I wouldn’t recommend trying to ride up to the reach out here by the hatchery. I won’t say how many tack weeds ended up in my tire causing me to go amazingly flat…..and that was WITH a thorn resistant tube. Good grief.:)