Halloween

I love Halloween! It is my new favorite holiday! Lets not discuss the fact that these days every holiday is my new favorite holiday! This year I am able to understand and enjoy them so much more. What I love about Halloween: the goodies that Aunt Cat brought including the witch and pumpkin pez dispensers (my first experience with pez!), the adorable halloween outfits, the wooden witch masks with paint, the glow sticks, the fancy nancy halloween book and more! I also loved watching the bubble guppies halloween episode, I think my count is up to about 12 times that I have seen it, I have practically memorized every word! I also loved having friends over and then going trick or treating. I ran so fast to each house that mommy couldn't even snap a good picture! Annabelle got really into it as well. She wanted to keep up with the big kids and kept squealing in excitement! Every night since Halloween we have gotten to eat one piece of candy after dinner but tonight I noticed that our monogrammed pumpkin treat bags were gone and I could have sworn there was lots of candy left in them. I'll have to have a talk with mommy about that, but until then enjoy the few pictures we were able to get!

Festivals and Pumpkins!

A Lazy Fall Day at Home

We were mesmerized by the Enchanted music video on the computer!

More tea parties to be had :)

St. Max Fall Festival

Hallie's favorite thing: the jumpy house and slide. Belle's favorite: the petting zoo!

Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound

We couldn't get a good picture of everyone so lots of individual poses had to suffice.

Yay for Pumpkins!

Hanging out on the Porch after the Rain.

We couldn't go out in the wet grass so we made do with what we had! 

The girls with the Girls!

We love our Grana and Aunt Steph! 

Back to Busy

Mommy is back to work and we are back to Cheryl's, its a busy time of year! Annabelle and I still love going to Cheryl's and love all the friends we have there. I have been a super grouch in the mornings. I put poor daddy though a lot, I guess I am not a morning person like mommy. Annabelle is saying and repeating more words by the day! My vocabulary is also growing, just ask mommy, I do not stop talking for a single second on the way home from school!

Mommy decided to record some of the silly things I say so that she can get a good laugh when I am older. Here is a peek at her list:

Hallie-isms 2.5 years old

-         We were playing scrabble and Ian nonchalantly leaned over to give Christy a quick kiss. A minute later grandma comes to sit with Hallie and Hallie says to her: “Ian kissed Tisty like this ‘muah’” We didn’t know she was watching them or that she knew how to say Ian’s name!

-         Jason was trying to tickle Hallie and she was getting frustrated. I told Jason, “You better not push her buttons babe”. Then Hallie runs over to Grandma and says: “Grandma, Daddy pushed my buttons”

-         We had the Today Show on during their summer concert series. The Zac Brown band came on and we started dancing around the room to the song ‘Chicken Fried”. Before I knew it I could hear Hallie singing: “cold beer on a Friday night” Oh no!

 

-         An observation one morning: “Mommy drink coffee mommy happy?”

-         We were discussing going to the zoo one day. I told Hallie that the last time we went to the zoo, I was pregnant with Annabelle. The next day Annabelle was yelling in the car. Hallie sternly says: “mommy, put Annabelle back in your tummy!”

-         Driving in the car on the way home from school we were talking about family members. Then hallie asks: “Does Tisty love Ian mommy?” Where did she come up with that!?!

-         Hallie had a bad morning. She didn’t want to wake up and she didn’t want to go potty or get dressed. She yelled at Jason and told him she didn’t love him. On the way to Cheryl’s she decided to list off the people she DID love: “ I love mommy, dad-dad (granddad), gramps, blake, and casey” Not sure how she left off both grandmas and chose to include my parents’ dog!!!

Recent Pictures:

New Car:

 Playtime:

 New Tinkerbell PJ's:

 Painted toes and fingers:

 Awesome Hair:

Luau at Anna and Julia's:

Videos!

Words we've tried and/or mastered :)
Annabelle: mommy, daddy, apple, thank you, hallie
Hallie: (new words that mommy loves!) octagon, pentagon, hexagon and decagon

Soccer skills! Hallie dribbles and Annabelle shows off a nice throw in :)

August Days

Annabelle wants to be just like me! If I am wearing 'big girl' panties, then by golly, she will be wearing big girl panties!

At Liam's house, we got to have indoor fun playing with colored rice! Annabelle and I loved mixing the colors and stirring with a spoon but Liam had something else in mind! He liked throwing the rice and trying to eat it, oops! So a creative indoor idea turned in to a big mess, thank you Jenn for making and cleaning this fun project!

Girls 'working' with their daddy. Annabelle is helping play with daddy's new nook and I am helping daddy with his drawings for work! 

A rare family picture! Putting on Mickey Mouse always helps :)

Sisterly Love

Check out my new leopard silver shoes with pink bows! I am very proud of them and want to wear them everyday.

Slip-n-slide fun! If you are outdoors in Texas in August, it better involve water!!!

Don't Go Summer!

This past week Grana, Grandad and Uncle Blake came to visit! In three days we went to Moody Gardens, Galveston Beach, and Schlitterbaun!

My favorite part of Moody Gardens was the 4D Dora Adventure. I sat in my seat with my huge 3D glasses on and was so captivated by the presentation that I didn't move an inch the whole time! The wind blew when Dora swung through the forest, it 'rained' on us, the theater lightninged and our seats vibrated, it was the ultimate Dora experience! Annabelle stayed awake for the whole moody gardens experience, she didn't have a nap until 3:30 that day, what a trooper!

My favorite part of the beach was building sandcastles with grandad. He built an awesome fort with a tunnel, bridge, pathway and more. I liked putting sand in my frog and dolphin molds and then stepping on them! At our beach house, I got to sleep on a bunk bed with Uncle Blake, what a big girl! Annabelle also had fun playing in the sand. Getting dirty in the Galveston mud/sand didn't bother her at all :)

Schlitterbaun was my favorite day of all! It was the perfect place for everyone in the family to have fun. The best part was the 'circle' slide. It was a slide in the pirate ship that was cylindrical and curved around before dumping me out in the water. I must have slid down it 50 times that day along with many other slides throughout the park. Annabelle loved her ride on the lazy river sharing a tube with mommy. She looked so cute curled up in the tube with her life jacket and sun hat. At one point, she almost fell asleep but then a big wave came with a splash and she was wide awake again.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Play Mat: HallieBelle City!!!

(Mommy is stealing the blog from Hallie again to post about the new play mat.) Let me just say that I love having girls, love, love, love. I do want a boy and hope that God's plan is to give us a boy next, but for now, I am so much enjoying taking advantage of as much of the pink girly stuff as possible. But I decided that although playing tea party, kitchen and dress up all day everyday is great, maybe we should introduce some cars into the mix. So one day at Target (my favorite weakness!) I let Hallie pick out some cars and a track to play with. That brought me back to my childhood and I remembered hours spent playing on our plastic car mat with my sister. So I started researching car mats to buy for my girls. They are all great but just seemed kind of masculine and 'boyish' so I started looking into making my own. I liked the idea of making it personalized to my girls (they each have their own house) and of course making it super girly! I am not a sewer and not really open to learning so I decided to go the felt/glue stick route. I was amazed by how easy it ended up being!  I am so excited to be done and hope that the girls can enjoy this for years to come! Our neighbors offered to lend me their sewing machine to make it more sturdy and I might take them up on their offer but for now the glue is holding like a champ :) Hallie tested it out today and doesn't quite get the idea of keeping the cars on the road (hers tend to fly or off-road) but we are working on that ;)

Cost: $12
Time: 8ish hours
Features: Hallie's House, Annabelle's House, Dallas, Conroe, Cupcake shops, School, Church, Forest, Garden, Airport/Runway, Swimming Pool, Grocery Store, Shopping Mall, Coffee Shop, Parking lot, Zoo, Park and other accessories.

Beginning Stages:

HallieBelle City! 

Parking Lot, Gas Station, Mailbox, Church: 

Cupcake Shops and Conroe (complete with Gramps' pumpkin patch!): 

Coffee Shop, Mall, Grocery Store and Dallas: 

:)

We Heart Summer!

We are taking full advantage of summer and packing in as many fun things as possible! Last week we went to Noah's Ark with Aunt Christy. I loved the slides and waterfalls and running around splashing! Since we met Christy there, I assume it was Christy's pool. So from here forward I will refer to Noah's Ark as Christy's pool. (man, you have a nice pool Christy!) Then Sunday was mommy's birthday so the family came over to celebrate with Rudy's and Cheesecake factory cheesecake, yuuum! Shame on mommy for not taking any pictures of that event. On Tuesday, mommy's friend Emily invited us to their Galveston beach house. On our car ride to the house it was raining cats and dogs, not a good indicator for a fun beach day. But we waited out the rain with lots of toys and bunk bed fort playing in the beach house before the sun peeked through after naptime. Annabelle and I had a great time at the beach but I must admit that I hate salt water. As soon as it hit my lips I freaked out and starting crying for my juice. But eventually I got used to it and enjoyed jumping each wave that came our way! Annabelle loved the free reign to practice her new fast walking skills. Mommy had to keep an eye on her every second or she would take off on the sad into the sunset! All in all we had a great day!

Still loving our chairs! Best money spent ever!

Hallie the Chef

 I love to help mommy cook! I absolutely insist on being a part of the process even if mommy is just microwaving a hot dog! Even though mommy spends more time cleaning up the messes I make while I am "helping" than the time it takes for me to help, I love being a part of creating our meals. :)

Summer Days!

Ah, it is July 8th and we are just now settling into our summer routine. I am having so much fun at home with mommy and 'Belle Belle' as I call her. We keep our days very busy because mommy says she would go crazy if we didn't. I am becoming a pro at potty training! Yep, I'm a big girl now. I have also stepped up to the plate in other ways to prove I am a big girl. I put the silverware away for mommy when the dishes are clean, I get Annabelle's changing mat, diaper, and wipes as soon as I smell a poopy, I climb into my car seat on my own as mommy straps Belle in, and I love drinking out of big girl cups. My favorite thing to do these days is play mommy! I love love taking care of my baby dolls. I change their diapers, sing to them, put them down for naps in bellebelle's crib, feed them tea and cupcakes, and take them for walks to the mailbox. I've got this mommy thing down pat, I don't know why mommy seems to think its so hard!

Annabelle here :) I am walking everywhere now! Everything has changed now that I have perfected (well kind of perfected) walking. Its like I'm a whole new woman! I am a happier baby now that I can keep up with hallie. I can even push her on our lion push toy (see picture below :))! I follow mommy and sister everywhere now. When Hallie needs to go potty, I go to the bathroom too. When mommy slips away to put some make-up on, I am right there spreading blush on my cheeks. When I hear the crinkle from Hallie's fruit snacks, you better believe I am going to get a fruit snack too! If Hallie is building a detailed house out of blocks for her farm animals, much to her dismay, I jump right in to help with the construction. I also love being outside now despite the 100 degree weather. Every chance I get, I ask mommy to play outside or go on a walk. My face will turn the color of a red pepper but I don't care, plop me outside and I am in heaven.

What we have been up to these days: *playdates with new friends *chalking outside *tons of tea parties *spending way too much money at target *watching new shows like bubble guppies and little Einsteins *splashing in our kiddie pool *shopping for a new car *eating lots of hot dogs and cheese mamiches (hallie's way of saying cheese 'sandwich' aka grilled cheese) *morning walks in the stroller *surprise trips to get gelatto... we love summer!

Tea Parties, Potty, and Daddy

Tea Party Today, and Tea Party 6 months ago, hope there are many more to come!

Hallie's Potty Chart:

I am such a big girl now! I am really good about telling mommy when I need to go potty. I get excited every time I sit on the potty (whether I go or not!). I run out of the bathroom to tell everyone how proud I am! The only thing I need to work on is the pooping thing. I have gone twice on the potty and about 5 times in my panties (oops!). I filled up my first chart with stickers (ignore the days of the week titles)!

Happy Father's Day! We love our Daddy! Here is a picture of us with daddy on his special day :)

Photoshoot by Capturing Creations

Amanda here stealing the blog from Hallie for just one post :) I am so excited to share the creativity of my friend Julizza. She is an amazing photographer and has such a great vision for the photos she takes. Recently we did a photoshoot in Old Town Spring. Here is a link to her facebook page if you want to peek at the pictures. http://www.facebook.com/jhccphotography

She also made a slideshow on her blog here --> http://capturingcreations.blogspot.com/

If anyone is in the Houston area, I highly recommend her!

Big Girl

Mommy says I'm a big girl now. At first it sounded great, being a big girl means I'm grown up, mature, not a baby anymore. But then she started introducing all these things that 'big girls' do. Give up their pacis, wear panties instead of diapers, share their toys with baby sister, help clean up after playing... who knew being  a big girl was so tough!

It all started with the paci funeral. See video below.

I was totally on board, yay, I'm a big girl, no more pacis! But then I realized the consequences of the paci funeral. It meant no pacis again. Ever. So now, I pretty much don't nap anymore. Without a paci to soothe me to sleep, I can't seem to catch any Zzzz's in the middle of the day. So instead I have mommy mandated "quiet time" in my room while Belle naps. This has turned into a creative play time for me. I completely rearrange my room during quiet time. See picture below. Do you like what I did with the place?

And then came the potty training. We are no where near done yet, so more posts will come but let me tell you, its a doozy. I have officially tee-teed 4 times now on my princess potty! But I've also tee-teed 3 times in my panties (on the carpet, at the library, in my booster seat), oops! Here is a picture of me killing time, reading books on the potty. Mommy asks me about every 5 minutes if I have to tee-tee, man mommy, get a life!

Belle and I are enjoying our time at home with mommy this summer. We get along... most of the time!

Happy First Birthday Annabelle!