Hailey's 2 Years Old!

Tuesday, July 28th was Haliey's second birthday! It was such a fun day. The best part is that Matt's schedule worked out for him to be able to be around for all the festivities. We were so happy. Matt got her out of bed and said "Happy Birthday" to her as he walked in. She walked around saying it to me and herself all day.

The day started out at our local grocery store. Hailey LOVES to "drive" while we shop. I knew it'd be a special treat so I waited until her birthday morning to take her to buy her confetti cake mix. We even got her a balloon from the flower dept.
That afternoon after her nap we had a few little friends over for a party. We did all sorts of fun 2-yr-old activities. We blew bubbles in the backyard....
Had an amazing dance and played with balloons.....
And of course, played ring-around-the-rosies a few times.
We ate cupcakes and ice cream bars. Hailey knew exactly what to do with her candle, and she even waited until we finished singing to her. It was pretty cute to hear her as she sang the song over and over later in the evening. So sweet.
We finished with opening presents. She got some wonderful gifts!
Probably her favorite gift was her $1 "Mater" chair. We found it at a yard sale and she was so excited about it. I put it away during her nap the day we brought it home and when she asked for it after her nap I just told her that Mater went bye bye. She accepted the answer. It was so fun to see her squeal and giggle while saying, "Mater, Mater, Mater." It was so fun to watch her animated reaction to each of her presents.
After her friends left Matt and I took her for a little birthday outing. We took her to ride the carousel (again she squealed and started running when she saw it in the distance).
Every time they went around she waved at me with a huge grin on her face.
After her ride we took her to look at the toys at the Disney store. Next, we took her to Wendy's for chicken nuggets and fries - she was most excited about the dips that came with them. I wasn't sure if she was going to eat the food, but she ate it pretty well.
Lastly, we took her to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I've wanted to take her since she was born and told myself I had to wait until her second birthday at least. She had so much fun and loves her new bear "Lizzie." She carried her box all through the mall and back to the car by herself. It has been a wonderful two years and we can't imagine life without our Hailey girl. I never knew I could love a little person as much as I love her.

Beautiful Memphis Flowers

I was daydreaming out the window during breakfast the other morning when I noticed a surprise. Seemingly out of nowhere we have a mini forest of long-stemmed flowers in our backyard. They are beautiful! They start out pink and as they age they get a blueish tint to them. Gorgeous. This specific flower is one I brought in and put in a cup after accidentally hitting the stem with the back wheel of the mower. It has been blooming and vibrant for 6 days now!

Count to Ten

Hailey has learned how to count to ten. It's evolved over the last few months. She still skips over one sometimes, but now she actually says all ten numbers. She used to say, "two, three, four, second, eight, nine, ten!" It's been really fun to hear her walking around counting. She's also learned how to count backwards from five. I'm thinking she's picked up counting from my exercise class - with sets of 15 the instructor counts to ten and backwards from five.

Daddy-Daughter Date

The house is strangely quiet right now because Matt and Hailey are out on their first daddy-daughter date. Matt told me a few weeks ago that he wanted to take Hailey out before her second birthday so he could say he's taken her on a date every year since she was one. I thought it was the cutest thing. He came up with the plan himself. They played on the swing in the backyard, saw puppies at a dog shop, are currently at Ice Age 3, and are going out for ice cream afterwards. Matt is the sweetest daddy. I'm so glad they get to spend some time together! Oh, and note that she's all decked out with a skirt, purse, necklace and cell phone.

Olives and Otter Pops

Unlike myself as a child, Hailey LOVES olives. It took a few separate occasions to convince her that she like them, but now as a favorite food, she loves to eat them off her fingers. She was thrilled when I put them on all 10 of her fingers. It was hard to contain her for even one snapshot.

Once she started, it looked like she was playing the chubby bunny contest.

Another favorite is otter pops. This shot was taken on the 4th of July. You can't celebrate the 4th without a parade, otter pops, a hamburger and fireworks. We didn't find a parade, but we found everything else. It was a great holiday weekend together.

Random Bits

I love these snapshots of my sweet little summer baby. She loves her swimsuit and flip-flops or "sanals." She rarely wears any other shoes and has the cutest little tan lines from them. She has grown up so much lately. She talks tons and her hair is super long. It's back in a cute little bun in these photos.

We have a new form of freedom: a second car!! I have loved being able to go out during the day, any day I need/want. It has been so great to make it to my exercise class every day, make appointments when I feel like it, visit friends on a whim, etc. It has been so heavenly. It's not so fabulous having double the insurance and gas receipts, but I'd say it's about worth it. Oh yeah, it's a Chevy Impala for anyone like me who doesn't know their cars. Apparently we have a thing for "cop cars" - a Crown Vic and an Impala. Oh well, they run well.
We have had so much fun working in the yards. Like I said in our original post about the house, it hasn't been taken care of for the last year or so, but it has great potential. Here you can see a before and after (different parts of the same flower bed) weeding. We're pretty excited to get it all cleaned up. It has taken some time and we have to be picky about hours so we don't get overheated in our 110 degree (including heat index) weather. I have never sweat as much as I have in the last few weeks. I'm dripping, literally, in no time at all.

We're pretty excited about a fantastic yard sale find (thanks Zach!). Only $20 and it's solid wood. It's a little bigger than we had planned to get for the baby, but we're happy with it.

I planned a small surprise birthday party for Matt and invited a few friends over. We had a great time - an international potluck, cheesecake, a round or so of Mad Gab and relaxed chatting. I'm so glad to have such a wonderful husband and great friends to help us celebrate.
He really was surprised, by the way, a great feat for me. I told him after we dropped Hailey off at the sitters' that I forgot my wallet at home. Our friends had gone to the house while we were out. I ran in to "look" for my wallet, set up the camera and ran back out to ask him to help me look for it. He walked into the house and saw my bag hanging on the weight set. He was shocked and jumped when we all yelled "surprise!" I laughed all the way through the birthday song.
Random order, I know, but this is what Matt's legs looked like after mowing our "lawn" in the back yard. It's more dirt than lawn in many places. Even so, it looked so much better after several bags of leaves/twigs were raked and what little grass there is was mowed. We're just so happy to have a quiet place to play. Right now with the heat we don't spend too much time out there, but we're looking forward to it when the weather is a little more tame.

Bzzz.

I went to a yard sale the other day and found a $2 steal on this year's Halloween costume for Hailey. I brought it home and she got so excited. She calls it a "jacket" when she brings it to me to put it on her. It's hilarious to watch her run around in it because the little stinger wiggles. I tried to capture it on this clip but didn't really succeed - sorry. Enjoy anyway!