Chopped!

Last night I decided to cut Zach's hair. It was getting bushy and shaggy and I couldn't stand it anymore. While I was pulling out the clippers, Hailey informed me that she wanted a haircut too. Usually we have a very talented lady in the ward cut her hair, but since she just had a baby a week or so ago, we decided this would be a good time to give it a shot on our own.

Hailey kept telling me she wanted it short, short, short and kept putting her hand up to the top of the back of her head. There was NO WAY I was going to cut it that short, but I did cut it quite short.


I didn't originally plan on cutting it this short, but a quick turn of her head while I was making a cut made it so we had to go shorter than I wanted and when we evened it out, we ended up as you see it here. Needless to say, we had a big talk about holding still and after that she did really great.


Even though it's shorter than I was planning, it does look really cute. Who knows, maybe we'll keep it this short for a while?

Hailey's 5th Birthday!

You heard me right, our little Hailey turned 5 the end of last month. Where did the time go? She has been growing up so fast, we can hardly believe it. Here are her stats at her 5 year doctor check-up:

Weight: 38 lbs (just below 50th percentile)
Height: 45 1/4 inches (around the 80th percentile)
So she's tall and skinny!

As for her birthday, it was a lot of fun! The day started out with a new tradition we've implemented in the last year or two - the birthday child gets to choose whatever breakfast they want, in whatever color they want! This year Hailey chose pink crepes.


Hailey was so happy, she couldn't stop smiling during the entire breakfast.


And although the only thing I did was add food coloring to the batter, the kids kept telling me that the crepes were the best they had ever had.


After breakfast, we started the big job of decorating for her party - we decided that it was time she had a friend party and since 5 is such a monumental age, we thought this year was as good as any other.

She decided to have a princess party, so everything was pink and princess themed (I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the house all decorated! I was so rushed getting everything done, that I completely forgot!)

Once her friends arrived (6 beautifully dressed princesses), we began with coloring, doing some paint nails (nail polish), and then played a game of pin the princess crown on the paper. I so much wish I had gotten pictures of some of these games, but with 7 little girls running around, it was hard to keep them all in check and focused on the activity, much less grab some pictures. Thank heavens my Mom was there to help me out, I don't know what I would have done without her! I did grab a quick picture of the paper with princess crowns all over it - they all did surprisingly well.


Next it was time for cake and ice cream - yummy!


After that came the time for opening presents. Hailey could hardly contain herself as she tore into the presents all of her princess friends brought.




After the presents, I was able to corral all 7 of them into one location long enough to snap a few pictures.


Don't they all look darling?



Later that night we had our family party for Hailey (because a girl needs party after party on her birthday right?).

We had dinner - yummy spaghetti and then got to opening presents.


Here's the purse and chapstick set that Aunt Shell, Uncle Brian, Ashy, and Brans gave her. She loves it!


And the Pinkalicious doll and crown from Uncle Bubby and Afton. She carries pinkalicious around all day long.



I was super excited to give her this mp3 player / boom box with a microphone. She loves to sing and sings to almost any tune (even if the words don't match), so I thought she would just love this.


Zach gave her a new bright red beanbag for her room, she got right into all of her presents and a little bit later, I found her like this - singing and lounging on her new beanbag.


Yep, it was a good birthday. Best she ever had, she informed me later that night. I'm so glad it was fun for her, she really is growing up into a sweet little girl. Love you Hailey!

Christmas

It's taken me a bit to get these pictures on the blog - I really enjoyed the holidays and wanted it to last! Needless to say, we had a wonderful Christmas this year. The excitement from the kids was priceless and I still think back and laugh at how much fun they had! Jeremiah and I really look forward to this time of year just to be able to see them get so excited.

I always like to take a picture of the Santa set-up before the craziness begins. Here is what the couch looked like before the monkeys got at it. Hailey's stuff is on the left, Tate's in the middle, and Zach's on the right.


In addition to the stockings and small gifts on the couch, Santa also left some wrapped gifts under the tree too! We had quite the pile to open.


It's so much fun to watch the kids dig into their stockings, they were so excited about every thing they pulled out.


My favorite thing to hear is "How did Santa know I like (or wanted) that?" They are just amazed at how smart Santa is! I agree, he's quite clever. ;)


Even Tate was into pulling things out of his stocking. This being his first Christmas, we were so excited to see him getting into the spirit of it all.


As you can see the two older kids were overjoyed with their little piles of goodies!


Tate absolutely loved the little stuffed doggie Santa got him. It was a last minute decision on Santa's part and I'm so glad he decided to do it considering how big of a hit it was!


After everything was pulled/dumped out, the kids had to go back through and really look at what they got. Zach was as excited about what Hailey got as he was with what he got.


Tate also liked the whale bath toy Santa left in his stocking. He was content to lay on the blanket and play with it for quite a while.


I didn't take many pictures of the kids opening presents because I realized last year that I didn't get to enjoy the excitement or the expressions on their faces because I was so worried about getting that "perfect picture" - so I just took pictures of their loot at the end.

Here's Zach and all of his presents. (We hadn't opened presents from either of the grandparents at this point, so those aren't in the pictures, but they loved those as well!)


Hailey and all her presents.


And of course Tate and his presents.


After breakfast and playing with quite a few of their toys, the kids wanted me to put Tate in his new stroller he got from Santa. He really wanted a small umbrella stroller to keep in the car now that the huge one we already have takes up most of the free space (isn't he a smart 7 month old?). This one will be nice to just keep in the car for times when we don't know we need it!

He loved it or should I say being pushed around it in by both the kids for almost an hour! (I had a picture of Zach pushing him, but it was too blurry to include, so I'll just include the one of Hailey for documentation purposes!)


Look at that face - can you tell his just loves it?


Yes, we had a wonderful Christmas! I think I had more fun watching the kids get excited and open presents than I ever remember from being younger myself. It truly was a fun day and being together as a family was the best present of all!