Be More Specific

I mentioned to Haylee (within the last week) that maybe she should color a picture in her Mickey Mouse coloring book that we can hang on Jackson's dog door so he won't be so sad when we leave him for 2 weeks. Well, today I was in the office paying bills and I told her, "why don't you go color Jackson a picture for his dog door?" She came back a minute later showing me a blue crayon saying, "blue" and mumbling about coloring. Instead of sending her away to "finish" coloring, I had a feeling I should go check out the situation. She ran right to the dog door to show me how she colored Jackson a picture directly on the dog door. Maybe next time I'll be more specific.

After explaining what I meant in the first place, she then proceeded to color Jackson a picture for the dog door.

Yes, she's coloring with her left hand. She might just take after her Papa Reggie in more ways than one!

Sleeping Situation

For the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out a sleeping arrangement for Hawaii. With the 2nd bag checking fees rising it will cost about $100 to check her pack-n-play all around. Haylee has never slept with us, in fact, she doesn't sleep well at all if we put her in bed with us (even if she's sick). She's always preferred her bed. Well today as we started packing and get things together, the solution to my problem became clear. You see, Haylee had a place to sleep all along...

That's right, in Josh's suitcase (with all the clothes out of course). She seems to love it!! She kept saying, "I sleep in there." So there you have it, problem solved.

And if packing is any indication of how much fun we'll have in Hawaii, I don't know if I will be able to contain myself!

Bubbles

Haylee wanted to mow the lawn tonight, so we let her. Only, I think she misunderstood exactly how it all works.

Haylee's new joy is bubbles! For some odd reason, whenever a bubble landed on the grass, she proceeded to get down on her hands and knees and pop it with her nose. Not too sure where that came from.

Stellan

Stellan had his heart surgery this morning. I'm awaiting details on how things went. In honor of Stellan, Haylee wore orange today and held her "Praying for Stellan" sign. Haylee's picture was posted on MckMama's (Stellan's Mom) website today along with hundreds of others wearing orange and praying for Stellan.

Please keep praying for Stellan.

Water Time

As it reaches 100 degrees today, we've had to find ways to keep cool around here. Staying inside would be my idea but Haylee has another plan.

She loves to be outside and loves playing with water. She usually comes in soakin' wet but has a wonderful time!

Memories

This past week I have thought about the past on more than one occasion. I have a lot of memories that are so special to me, especially the fun summers I spent in Iowa with my Dad and all my friends. Two of my Iowa friends, Lance & Sam, came to AZ this past week and Josh & I were able to go out with them Thursday night. We went to San Tan Flats which was an awesome place that I've never been to. We ate outside and then roasted marshmallows and made smores in our private fire pit. I have known Lance since my first summer in Iowa (14 years ago) so we had a lot of fun reminiscing about the "good ol' days". My Dad was always so fun to be around, making everyone laugh and always doing his best to make sure we had a fun summer- he succeeded every time! I met some amazing friends while I was there and I am so thankful to still have a few of them in my life. I have a TON of memories and stories from my summers in Iowa and it's bittersweet to be able to talk about them. It makes me laugh at all the funny things we did, the crazy people I met, and the fun we had. But, it makes me sad because I miss those days, miss being a kid, and miss my Dad. Iowa, along with all the wonderful memories, holds a very special place in my heart.

Yesterday, Josh & I went to Aaron and Lauren's beautiful wedding. That also brought back a lot of memories about the day that Josh and I were married. I can't believe it's been almost 6 years already. That seems like forever. I am thankful to have a husband like Josh who puts up with me all the time and is so patient with me. I know he loves me very much and would do anything for me. I can't wait to go to Maui (in just 2 weeks) to celebrate our Anniversary flying over beautiful waterfalls in a helicopter and laying on the beach soaking up the sun. Now that is the life!

Happy Easter

What a day! Haylee is not so sure about Easter. She doesn't like her Easter basket when it's all full of stuff, yet she loves to play with everything inside of it.

She doesn't like coloring Easter eggs but she likes playing with them after they are colored.

One thing that is for sure, she LOVES Easter egg hunts! After watching Jackson do his egg hunt (yes Jackson hunts for eggs and even opens them by himself too), she was more than ready to try it out. She found eggs in our house, in our backyard, at the park, and at Grandma's. She had a blast and especially liked the eggs with "money!"

Jackson enjoys it all! Easter baskets, coloring eggs, egg hunts, you name it. As long as he gets treats he's good to go.

Haylee even colored an egg for "Papa Eggie" today. A pretty green one which she put Tinkerbell stickers on. I added an Easter decoration outside by his in memory area. I miss my Daddy so much.

Haylee the Comedian

This week I was cleaning upstairs like usual on Wednesdays. I went downstairs to get something and when I came back up I saw this......

Haylee was playing with my craft stuff and put this little straw hat on her head. It stuck in her hair pretty good so she was running all around with it on her head and I was dying laughing.

Since she eats exclusively in her booster seat now, I find myself constantly saying, "keep your hands up" meaning on the table so she doesn't get her dirty hands on her clothes. When I say that, she takes it a different way.....

What would we do without Haylee in our lives? I love my little girl so much. She brings so much joy and laughter into our lives.

We took Haylee to Disney on Ice last night and she had a "fun" time she says. She loved seeing Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. She sat still the entire time and was such an angel.

Only about 3 more weeks till we leave for Hawaii. You can't tell I'm excited can you? We did decide we are definitely doing the helicopter tour over west Maui and Molokai on our Anniversary. I am so excited and can't wait. As long as we get through the 6 hour flight to Oahu with Haylee, things should go smoothly from there. I hope she has as much fun as we plan to!

New Climber

Thursday was our last Coyotes game. Haylee loved watching Howler, the mascot, as he came out on the ice throughout the game. When they mentioned he would be in the kids area after the 1st quarter we decided to go see him. Hannah ran up and gave him a hug, Haylee laughed as he danced around and acted silly. Then, Howler came towards her and touched her and she freaked out. It was funny, yet very sad. It took her a couple minutes to calm down because she didn't realize he had left. The rest of the night (and everyday since) all I heard was, "I scared. Howler nice." The last couple nights she has had a rough time falling asleep and if I go in there she says she's scared. I think it really freaked her out. Poor little girl.

We got Haylee a cute climber off craigslist earlier this week. So far she loves it. We just finished the "play area" in our yard today by removing a plant, moving her toys around, and adding rubber mulch. I don't have finished pictures yet, but these are pictures of Hannah and Haylee enjoying it today after we got it put together.

With the new climber and the new sand/sea table, I think she's set for some fun in the sun this summer. Oh, and Jackson loves the water table too.

Helping Baby Stellan

Our etsy store, Kraftysisters is donating part of the proceeds from each purchase to sweet little Stellan and his family. Please check out our store and help out a great cause. Mostly everything in our store is included in the offer. To learn more about Stellan click here.