Labor Day Fun!

The Records came to visit us over Labor Day weekend and we had fun! Jeremiah is so smart and Eliza is as sweet as can be! One of my favorite moments with Jeremiah was over breakfast one morning. I got out some cereal and Jeremaih asked me what it was. I told him, "Frosted Flakes." He replied, "I like frosting," and then looked to his dad hopefully. Maybe he will remember that he can come to Aunt Celia's house and get spoiled with sugary cereal!

One of our first outings was to go feed the ducks at a local park.























Hailey tried to swim with the ducks and I tried to dive in after . . . creating another memorable experience.























Luckily, we live very close by so we went home to clean up and met everybody back at the playground.

We also went to the Botanical Gardens. There were great big coy fish that swam on top of each other to get the fish food the kids were throwing to them. Hailey and Jeramiah really liked that. My favorite part was rose garden because it reminded me of Mom and Gramma Marge. We also did some interpretive tree dancing.

It was fun for the cousins to get together!

Cute Girl

Hailey cracks me up!

















I was trying to convince Hailey of my authority as her mother the other day. I said, "I kinda make the rules around here, don't I."

She thought for a minute and said, "You kinda make potatoes Mommy."

I guess we'll work on that one.


Nose-nuzzles from Hailey are one of my favorite things! I love seeing her little face come in while consentrating on carefully rubbing her nose against mine and saying, "nuzzle, nuzzle, nuzzle." Sometimes we turn it into a game. I ask her for a nose-nuzzle and she runs and hides her face up against the wall. It makes me laugh every time.






















We're big into making picture with our food lately. I'll cut cut her cheese into little rectangles and arrange them in a circle so it looks like a sun. Or some times it's just triangles or big rectangles; whatever she is in the mood for. One day I asked her what kind of cheese she wanted and she said, "Duck cheese."

I had to do some convincing that what I had arranged on her plate was a duck, but I aways enjoy the challenge of stretching my artistic abilities.

More about me. . .

I've been really excited about doing some graphic design lately and I wanted to show ya'll what I've done.
This first one is company that makes raised gardening beds and their old logo had a lot of problems with it both visually as well as conceptually. It's unclear what the product is and it's not focused towards the market they are selling to. (And I personally think it was UG-LY.) So, I made this for them:









Ahh . . . isn't that reshreshing?

The friend that got me job has a web design company. He's not like Jeffy though, this guy is more of a programmer than an artist -- our Jeffy is both! Anyway, he wasn't very happy with his logo so I agreed to make him a new one with the understanding that he will be sending lots more work my way. This is what I made for him:



BAM! That must be a cool web design company.

It's been so much fun feeling like a designer again -- I just wanted to tell my brothers and sisters, "Hey look! I made this!" So thanks for lookin'!

Surprise!

I cut my hair!

It just wasn't working for me anymore. It was time to say goodbye to the corkscrew ringlets of yesterday and ambrace the loose curls of today. And I didn't even cry! (Who knows though, maybe all I need is a good hormonal mood swing to set me into motion -- it doesn't take much.) But really, I like it! Following the good example of my sister Mary, I saved it for "Locks of Love." It's a good feeling to literally give a part of myself to help another little girl feel happy and confident. Thanks for showing me the way Mary! I wish I could say I was as good as Mary, growing out my hair for that purpose, but mine was more of an after thought.

But on the note of "a part of myself," taking this picture really weirded me out! It was the first time I had really touched my hair since cutting it off, and I know it sounds weird, but I might as well have been holding my left pinky toe detached from my body. It was strange and I was glad to put it back in the plastic bag where it belongs.

Look how dark it is now! I had no idea before! I was a little worried about how Hailey might react to the change, but when I came home she studied it, kind of smiled and said, "Pretty hair, Mommy."

Around here we have routine tornado siren tests every few weeks. The test siren sounded today and Hailey covered her mouth and said "Uh-oh," then pointing her finger up said, "It's a tomato!"

Through trial and error, I've learned the most affective ways to approach Hailey when asking her questions. The other day I asked, "Hailey, do you love Mommy?"

"No," she replied calmly.

I quickly changed my game plan, "Hailey, who do you love?"

"Mommy."

This girl is not one to be coerced. She has a mind of her own and she's not afraid to let you know.


Did I mention she loves her blankie?

Hailey loves. . .

Hailey loves her sunglasses.













She loves flying with Daddy "up in da sky!"



and flying her grocery-sack-kite (the greatest free toy ever -- it only works when she runs!)



but really, she loves her pink dress! Grammy Sherri sent it for her birthday and ever since it's the only thing she wants to wear.



She is growing so fast! Remember the yellow dress from the portraits in May? The dress was pinned in back so it wouldn't fall off her shoulders. Well, it's about mid thigh now.

Hailey has taken to raising her index finger to make statements; the same way Mary used to! The poor kid has trouble getting the sentence started though. She raises her finger definitively and says, "I-I-I-I-I-I need to turn on the music now."

Oh yes, she runs the cd player with ease. We play a cd with a variety of classical music and she skips through to find the "fast music" that we can dance to.

Summer Fun!

Summer is here and full of excitement! As soon as Brandon took his last final we flew off to Florida for a fantastic Furness family reunion! After fun in the sun with cousins in the pool, at the beach, and at Sea World, we managed to get back on the plain just before Hailey turned 2! (Her last free flight . . .)

We went crazy and painted the kitchen/livingroom walls green the second we got home.
The next day I made a beautiful butterfly cake for the Birthday Girl! She had a happy day with her new rubber duckies, purple heart necklace, rings to match, and from Grandpa and Gramma, the Little People Farm, complete with animal noises and a merry-go-round!












If mom and dad are ever invited to play on the farm, we are only allowed to touch the farmer. One of her favorite games to play with the animals is letting them drink from the little watering trough and in the process, "Dey fell in da water!" She then takes a turn pretending to get a drink and, "AAAAH! I fell in da water too!"

Grandpa, Gramma, and Mary came for a visit in June (as stated in Mary's blog). And it's true, Hailey is crazy about Mary! She still makes phone calls to her on her egg-slicing cell phone from time to time.

For the 4th of July we zipped up to Chicago to see some of Brandon's extended family. Hailey and I had never met Brandon's Grandpa and Grandma Goose and realized this would probably be one of our last opportunities to do it. So...we did. It was great to see family and Brandon's cousin showed us around the big city! We went to a museum, visited the top of the Sear's Tower, and ate real Chicago style pizza. (mmm. . . pizza.) Hailey stayed up for her first fireworks show and LOVED it! She used the most logical words she could come up with to descibe it, "Messy fireworks! Messy!" She requested fireworks for the next couple weeks and she now makes a variety of firework noises.

Dan and Jess just left our place today. It was sure fun to see them again! Hailey adores them, not to mention Ebbie! Uncle Dano taught Hailey about the army . . .



















Aunt Jess taught her about talking on cell phones . . .



















and Hailey taught Ebbie how to read.