Hallie attended her first parade of the summer this weekend! She went to a few last summer, but was still too young to get the concept of collecting candy...and definitely didn't have the speed to beat the older kids to the punch. Yesterday was a big improvement. She enjoyed the sights and sounds and was able to snatch a piece of candy here and there...which she promptly sat down and ate. And then on to the next one.
Fill up tub, add 1,000 toys, add one adorable red headed toddler = instant fun. Hallie loves taking a bath at night and sometimes asks for it before we've even finished dinner. We fill up the tub pretty full with water and let her play for a while. Then we brush teeth, wash hair (Hal likes to dump the water on her hair to get it wet), scrub the booty, and then Hal "swims" around while the water drains and waves "bye bye" to the water ;) After the bath we grease her up good with coconut oil - I like this one - put on snuggly pjs, brush her hair and then it's time for sweet dreams...zzzzzz :)
One benefit of living an apartment while we finish our remodel is the fact that there is an AWESOME playground 50 yards from our front door. Hal calls it "my slides" and she is pretty much obsessed. Now that we are safely into spring, we spend time there almost every day (sometimes twice), which is still not enough for Hal's liking. We have been doing this for about a month now and it is so cool to see Hal's playground abilities evolving. She went from avoiding the rock wall to quickly climbing to the top like a pro. And the swings...well she likes to do those all by herself now instead of sitting on Mommy or Daddy's lap. Running to the top of the tower and flying down the slides continues to be her favorite. I love you, my adventurous little daughter :)
What a great day to hunt some eggs! 80 degrees and sunny! Hallie and I went to an Easter egg hunt at the Senior Living Community where my Mom works. We met Lia and Rose there and Carla, Kate and Clete came too. Hallie participated in our family egg hunt last year, but this was the first time I think she really understood the concept. And boy did she go for it. We hunted in the 0 - 2 year group and it's safe to say that Hallie really took advantage of the fact that she was on the upper end of the age group ;) She made a beeline for every egg she saw and quickly filled her bag. After the hunt we had cookies and punch and the Easter Bunny was there. Much like Santa, Hallie was seriously disturbed by Mr. Easter Bunny. She must have said a hundred times, "I no like the bunny!" In fact, later during her nap I could hear her repeating the phrase in her sleep. But she rallied and enjoyed petting the baby chicks and seeing the real bunnies and goats too! Another fun spring activity checked off our list and more egg hunting to come next weekend.
This beautiful spring weather has me in the mood to grow something! When we lived out on the acreage, Cory always had a huge garden. So big that it intimidated and overwhelmed me and I wasn't really involved in it. But now that we are going to be living in a house with a smaller, manageable neighborhood lot, I am really excited to have a small container garden. My sweet Grandma Fan was the most amazing green thumb I have ever known. I didn't really get that from her. I have always enjoyed landscaping, but not so much gardening. Maybe that will all change this year :) I have been looking on Pinterest for inspiration and love this one, this one and especially this one (maybe with a bright color painted on half of each cinder block like this).
Hallie and I got this cool Burpee greenhouse at Target, along with some Seeds of Change organic seeds. We're starting with bell peppers, cucumbers (gonna make our own pickles this year!), mesclun greens mix, cilantro and basil. We still need to find some heirloom tomato, dill and sage.
Even though we're in the apartment right now, we still took the liberty to get a little messy. Hal was pretty into the project for about 10 minutes and then left me to finish it up while she played with Lilly. It was fun getting our hands dirty :) Our next update should hopefully be in a few weeks with little green sprouts popping up! Until then...
Hal's new book this month is Life Through My Eye. She got it for Christmas, but hasn't really read it until today! She enjoyed it in her sunbathed reading nook in the apartment this morning :)
Our sweet little strawberry-blond nugget is TWO! We're looking forward to celebrating with family and friends once we move into our new house, but here's how we celebrated so far...
Grandma & Grandpa Scearcy gave Hallie an early gift before they left out of town. It was a basket full of plastic fruits and veggies that she could cut apart. I love Hallie's expression every time she "cut" the fruit and veggies.
Friday night we went to the fish fry with some of our friends and Hallie and her good friend Rose had a fun time getting their faces painted and got cool balloon animals.
Saturday we went to Build-a-Bear with Aunt Carla, Clete and Kate. Each of the kids picked out a bear and got to "build" it. So fun!
Sunday morning (Hallie's actual birthday), she was greeted over breakfast by a birthday video text from her good friend Rose. What a sweetheart!
Then Daddy brought Hal a special donut and I Mommy made her bacon (her fav) for breakfast.
Then she opened up her gift from Daddy. It was a velcro ball/paddle set that would help her learn to throw and catch. Hal and Daddy had a blast playing with it. Lilly had to get in on the action too :)
Mommy got Hal a set of Cars 2 fischer price wheelies to use on her car tower. These were a hit! I love hearing her say "Mater!" and "Lightning McQueen!" with excitement. She's still working on "Finn McMissile" and "Francesco Bernoulli" ;).
After nap time, we headed to dinner at Red Robin and told Hal we were going to see the new Muppets movie afterwards. She's been talking about the Muppets for a while now.
We ended the day with a little cake I made and a few more presents at home. Hal got so excited for the cake she didn't even wait for a fork ;)
