Thinking...

We had a funny day yesterday. Todd was at school late taking his last midterm/final. For dinner I was making avocado, tomato, and chicken sandwiches. Hailee informed me that she didn't want a sandwich. She just wanted a tomato. I don't know of another child that will eat a tomato like an apple. I discovered this when she was about 18 months old. I had her on the counter when I was making dinner. When I turned around she had two tomatoes in her hands eating them. She loves them. So for dinner last night she first ate an entire tomato and got very offended when I suggested I cut it up for her.

Hailee at 18 months eating tomatoes. I had to be careful in the grocery store as well she would just grab them and start eating.

After dinner we still had a while before we could go pick up Todd so Hailee decided she wanted to play in her kitchen. She wanted me to come in her room with her. "Come on mom we need to do some making" I was wondering what we were going to be 'making.' But then she informed me that she was the "Maker." Instead of baking she was calling it making. It was so cute watching her 'make' things from macaroni and cheese to cookies. Such a funny little girl. Then since she was the 'maker,' she was also the mommy and informed me that I was 'hailee claire.'

It was quite late when we went to go get Todd and I was sure she would fall asleep in the car. But I think she was just too excited to see Todd that she couldn't sleep. When we got home I let her stay in bed with Todd so she could have a little bit of dad time before Todd left for New Jersey. Todd had a few more things to do before going to bed and I was getting laundry done so he could pack. I told Hailee to lay down and start thinking about going to bed. After a couple of minutes she jumped up and said "I'm all done thinking about going to bed mom. I want to get up." She got up to grab a few toys to bring back and share with Todd. Well we were all able to get everything done and then I got her to bed. Hailee slept really well, she was SO tired. But I was glad she got a little dad time. Just before going to bed she snuggled up by Todd and asked him to tell her a story. It was so cute to watch him tell her a story. He always comes up with fun little stories where Hailee is the heroine, who always out smarts the dragon. They have such a cute little relationship.

Growing Up

2 days old

1-year-old

2-years-old

3-years-old

My little girl is growing up. It's a sad thing for me, but at the same time I love seeing her do and learn new things.

Todd wasn't feeling well this weekend so we stayed home and had a nice quiet weekend. By Sunday afternoon Hailee had had enough of our nice quiet weekend and wanted to do something fun. Sundays are hard days to keep her occupied while still having a quiet Sunday. Well she decided she wanted to play a game. She loves to get the games like Monopoly and play with all the little pieces. So I decided since up to that point she had been such a good girl I decided to let her pick. She picked the Uno-Attack game. So as we got it out I decided to see if she could play. She loved it. I was very excited because it's a good way to practice numbers. I was really impressed with how quickly she caught on to the concept. The only thing that was a little off was she loved it when she got to press the button and tons of cards would shoot out. But she would always manage to get a "switch hands" card when she would have a lot of cards. I usually was a turn or two away from winning and then she could get a switch hands card and win. She loved the switch hands cards. I always knew as soon as she got one, she would get so excited and say "Mom I got a red switch card." She would play it down and demand a switch. She is such a funny girl. She loves to play and she got excited when I would win or when she would. We ended up playing 8 or 9 games.

After playing Uno it was time for bed and Hailee has come down with a little cold. She is really quite sweet about it, and doesn't really complain. Sunday night she woke up quite a few times and was wanting a drink of water. I was a little concerned that she would have a little accident since she was drinking so much water. I hoped that it wouldn't traumatize her. She has never had an accident at night before. (Hailee was really easy to potty train, at a very young age (6-8 months or so) she was waking up dry and she usually only had 3 or so wet diapers a day. It took a day and a half to potty train her and that was just because she wanted to stay in diapers so every time she needed to pee she would beg me for a diaper.) She woke up fine on Monday and then last night again she was drinking a lot of water during the night. At about 1:30 I heard her from her room saying "Mommy" ... "Mommy" When I went in there she said "I need to go potty." I carried her into the bathroom and put her on the potty while she was still half asleep. She went and then I carried her right back to bed and she was asleep instantly. I was impressed that she could wake her self up to go to the bathroom. What a big girl.

Like I said at the beginning, it's amazing to see her growing up and doing so many big girl things, but there is still a part of me that misses my baby. I guess that is why we have pictures and videos because they don't stay small forever.

Playing in the leaves

We have been enjoying the warm fall days in Utah. I think weather in Utah in the Spring and Fall is the craziest time. It can snow one day and the next day be in the upper 60's. Well I'm not complaining about the warm weather. We've had some beautiful days and according to the weather man it should be nice for at least another week.

I wanted to take some pictures of Hailee out in the leaves so I got her all dressed up in her cute little dress from Louise. I just loved the purple and orange. Well I just wanted her to pose, but she had other ideas. There is a pile of leaves out in front of our condo and anytime we are coming or going she likes to run and jump in the leaves and then run and catch up. Well as soon as we got outside she ran and jumped in the pile of leaves. Luckily the dress is just fine and we did get some cute pictures of the leaves. Hailee loves to play in the leaves and we are taking advantage of the nice warm weather before the snow really comes.

Happy Halloween...a little bit early

Yesterday we had our church "mom and tots" group Halloween party. Hailee had a blast. We were kind of lazy when it came to costumes. I just pulled out the Halloween box and let her choose what she wanted to be. She had a great time trying on all of the costumes and she just couldn't decided what she wanted to be. Luckily most of the costumes still fit her (they are just a little bit shorter).

Going around the witches hats for the cake walk. Hailee loved walking around to the music.

Nichols was helping Hailee go fishing for spiders. Nichols is in my Primary class and was just so sweet with Hailee.

Hailee and I at the party.

At the ward party she decided she wanted to be the queen of hearts. She was even more excited when I put on my card costume and started singing the "painting the roses red" song. She had a great time at the party. They decorated cookies, colored spider picture, had a cake walk , went fishing for spiders, and had a M&M toss. She loved the cake walk and fishing for spiders.

Hailee's Ballet class. Her teacher is really cute with the little girls. Hailee just loves her.

After the party we had ballet. For ballet they were suppose to dress up for class in their halloween costumes. She chose to be Cinderella for her ballet class. It was really cute to see her whole class dress up. She loves going to ballet.

Todd was out pretty late last night so this morning when she woke up she came into our room and told Todd everything about the church party and ballet class. It's so cute to hear her explain things. Here is an example of their conversation about decorating cookies.

Hailee decorating cookies

H: First I told my mom I wanted to make a cookie so she got one and put it on my plate and then I took the knife and put it in the at pink thing (the frosting was orange, but it was really light so she called it pink) and put that pink stuff on my cookie and spread it all around.
T: Then did you eat it
H: No dad! (shocked) We don't eat the cookie yet. Next we have to put on the chocolate. (they had little chocolate chips to decorate the pumpkin cookies)
T: Oh, okay
H: Then we get the chocolate from the bowl and put it on our plate.
T: then did you eat it
H: No we don't eat it yet we have to put the chocolate on the cookie. So we then put the chocolate on the plate and then put the choclate on the cookie. That is how we do it dad.
T: Then do you get to eat it.
H: No not yet. we brought them home to share.

It's so cute to hear her describe her day to Todd. For ballet she has to demonstrate what she learned and showed the prizes she got at the Halloween party.

Painting

So while Todd is in the middle of finals (for his block classes) and midterms Hailee and I have decided to keep busy painting. This evening we finally got a significant amount of paint on the wall. This past weekend was all the prep work. Hailee was such a cute little helper and was quite pleased to have a little roller all to herself. The only rule was it was mom's job to put the paint on the roller. There weren't a lot of low spaces for Hailee but she had a good time doing it. She would say "Mom we are doing a phenomenal job." She picked up "phenomenal" from listening to Todd. After we decided to call it a night I was washing the rollers and tray in the bath tub when all of the sudden there was a naked little Hailee in the bathtub with the rollers. I asked her why she was naked and in the bath. She responded "Mom, we need to get the paint off me too." Of course...what was I thinking. So we got her all cleaned up and in her pajamas by the time to pick up Todd. I am really enjoying the color we are painting the bathroom, it already looks bigger to me. We are just lacking the second coat and touch ups now. Maybe tomorrow we'll have our bathroom back to normal.

The other funny thing that happened tonight was Kristy called and when Hailee was on the phone, Kristy asked her to tell her about ballet. Instead of explaining it she decided to just show her. She started doing all of her new things she's been learning at ballet. Not the most effective when you are on the phone, maybe we need to get video conferencing.

First fairly big snow storm...

Sunday Morning outside our front door. From the pictures it does look quite beautiful, now if we would just get snow that was warm instead of cold, life would be perfect.

Yesterday BYU had a home football game, but since the forecast ward rain/snow mix and cold and Todd had lots of mid-term/finals projects things to do we decided not to go. I know, what kind of BYU fan am I. I am a rather stay home and cheer than get cold and wet kind of a fan. Todd was doing homework so I didn't really feel like taking Hailee by myself. Instead we had a lovely time getting the bathroom prepped for paint, and start a few sewing projects. I couldn't paint the bathroom when BYU was playing because I wanted to watch the game, so I started sewing a bed skirt for my bed.

I was right in staying home the game looked cold and miserable on the TV. It began with an ice/rain mix and ended in a snow storm. I've sat through games like that before so I've already had that experience. Hailee was so excited when it started to snow. She said "Oh mom this is the best day ever." I wish I could share her enthusiasm for the snow. Friday was in the upper 60's here and personally I prefer that kind of fall weather.

N: "Hailee can you turn around so I can take your picture?"
H: "But mom I'm suppose to be watching the snow."
N: "I know but it will just be quick."
H: (turns around one second and gives me a quick, hurry up face)
N: (click) "Thank you Hailee."
H: "Mom do you think we can go play in the snow."
N: "It's kind of late and it's cold outside."
H: "I can wear my coat and my snow pants and my boots."

I honestly don't know where she comes from. She loves the snow and I really don't like being out in the cold.

You can kind of see from this picture what the BYU game was like. By the end of the game you couldn't see that the field was green, it was completely white. I think Hailee and I made the right choice by staying home.

How many more minutes...

Thursday when we were shopping at Target Hailee found that the new Charlie and Lola disk 6 was out. She was so excited. So we got it and I was hoping to save it for Thanksgiving when we were driving or maybe for Christmas. We had several other errands to run and things to do so I was hoping she would forget about it. She did wait until the next day to ask me if she could watch it. I did distract her long enough to get her thinking about other things. I was a little surprised she remembered. Now every day since she has been asking me about her new Charlie and Lola DVD. Today after telling her I didn't know where it was, which was partially true I couldn't remember if I had put it away in my closet or the hall closet, she got very concerned. "Oh mom, what are we going to do. We need to find my Charlie and Lola DVD. Dad have you seen my new Charlie and Lola DVD. It's about Christmas, have you seen it....." and on and on. I decided I shouldn't torment my child anymore. As soon as I pulled it out she was so excited. There really is nothing cuter than seeing your child so excited. She sat down on the couch and said "Oh mom this is the best day ever." Funny enough is the first episode is about Lola counting down the minutes to Christmas. Just as Hailee was counting down the minutes until she got to watch it.

The other funny Hailee story from this week is a few days ago she was in the bath. I usually let her play for a while in the bath, but for some reason this day I was in a hurry. I don't remember what was going on, but as I was trying to get her out. She said "but mom, it's not time to get out yet, I don't have those bumps yet." She was talking about goosebumps. Usually I wash her and her hair and then just let her play until she calls me. She usually doesn't get out of the bath until she is cold. What a funny little girl.

"I can fix anything mom"

So Friday and Saturday I decided to finish a few projects around the house. Hailee was more than happy to help. She found a little tool belt in Todd's tool box and insisted that I put it on her. I have to admit she looked quite cute. After I got it on her and she put some tools in she informed me that she could fix anything. She helped me finish our dresser for my room and then Saturday we got a good start on the bathroom. We finished painting the dresser black and are just waiting for some new hardware to come. The first set I bought were a little too small and didn't look quite right when I put the them on. We are also painting the bathroom a light blue/grey. I am really pleased with the color. I looks nice with our hallway color and I'm going to add a few blue accents to our bedroom to tie it all in. I love putting color on the wall. Now we are just lacking the kitchen. That will be our next painting project.

So Busy

So lately Hailee has been so busy: busy painting pictures, busy playing her computer games, busy doing ballet, busy shopping, busy taking care of her dolls, pets, and monkey, and busy taking pictures of all her favorite things. She is one busy little girl.

Today we had lots of errands to run and as we were getting ready to go she had to pack her purse too. She needed her phone, keys, and stuff to feed Curious George. We got everything collected and out in the car when she remembered she left Curious George behind. I tried to reassure her that George would be just fine at home, but there was no convincing her. We ran upstairs and got Curious George. I have been realizing how lucky I am to have Hailee. She is a great little shopper and always makes an afternoon running errands enjoyable. No matter what kind of shopping we are doing she just has a great time. Her favorite, no doubt, is book shopping or clothes shopping.

Last night Todd had a dinner with HP (they are on campus recruiting so they took all the interns out to dinner). Since it was going to be in the Riverwoods we decided to drop him off and Hailee and I grabbed a sandwich at Subway and went to the bookstore. For almost 2 hours she just looked at books. I read a few to her and then the rest of the time she looked at them quietly. We had such a good time.

Speaking of Todd he is doing really well. His health is still up and down, but he's able to get the things done that he needs to. He has three fly-back interviews scheduled at the beginning of November. One with Intel in Portland, and two with AT&T (two different positions: one is the financial leadership rotation program that he interviewed with on campus, and one is for a leadership rotation position that he found at NSHMBA and interviewed over the phone.) The first he will be flying back to New Jersey and the second with be in the Bay area of California. He is excited about all three. HP is also a very good possibility, it might get a little tricky deciding, or maybe we'll just get one offer and it will be easy.

Today after our errands Hailee had her ballet class again. I just have to say that she is the cutest little ballerina. She loves her teacher and her class. It has been a really good thing for her. It's cute to see her growing up, but on the other hand I realize that she isn't my baby anymore. She is growing up so fast.

Here are some of Hailee's recent pictures. It's cute to see what she is interested in.

We just discovered the PBS website and the games they have. Right now Hailee is really enjoying the Curious George games.

A girl can never have to much jewelery...at least that is what Hailee thinks.

Yummy....lunch anyone. I guess she decided her half eaten sandwich and apple was interesting enough for a photo. She refuses to eat apples that are cut up. She likes to eat them like her dad. She is actually getting better at eating them now.

Her fish and car that she painted with Kristy. She painted them last year, but she is still quite attached.

A photo gallery would not be complete with out Charlie and Lola. Yes, Hailee is still very much enjoying Charlie and Lola. She knows how to use the remote now to change the channel to her favorite shows. #11 and #33. I think our TV is only on those two channels or ESPN. If she happens to turn it on and it's on ESPN she says, "Oh not a dad's show, I need a kid show mom."

Where has the week gone

It seems some weeks just fly by and you wonder where the time went. Here is is Friday morning and I'm feeling like it should be at least Wednesday, if not Tuesday. Not that I am complaining. I love the weekends, I just didn't get done everything I wanted to get done this week. I guess there is always next week.

Some of the highlights from this week since I didn't get anything posted.

Thursday through Saturday night Todd went to a NSHMBA conference in Houston where he interviewed with three companies (Microsoft, Cisco, and Conagra). He also got to talk to several other companies and has been asked by three more companies since returning to apply positions. Overall a very successful trip.

Friday my family came into town for general conference. They had tickets to go to the Sunday afternoon session. My dad also came up to help my Uncle Blake build a shed. So while all the boys were busy (Todd in Houston and my dad in Salt Lake with my uncle), the girls had a fun time.

Hailee and Kristen reading. Kristen was actually doing home work and Hailee was just having fun.

Also this week we got started on a few projects around the house. I bought some fabric to make a bed skirt and some pillow for my room and I also started refinishng the dresser in my room. Below are pictures of Hailee helping me paint. It is far easier to have her "help" then try to keep her out of it. I took off her clothes and gave her a little paint brush to use, and told her what parts to paint. She did a great job and it was a success...no paint on the carpet.

Hailee had a great time "helping" It's fun working on projects together. (Yes I know she is skinny....I'm blaming Todd.)

I had a dinner with the MBASA and since Todd also had something Wednesday night we had Ruthann come over to babysit. Hailee loved every minute of being spoiled by aunt Ruthann. We got to bed quite late that night (about 10:30) and the next morning we were up at 6:00. It was awful. Hailee fell asleep at 11:00 and slept until 3:10 when I woke her up to take her to ballet class at 3:15. We were a few minutes late and in our rush I forgot the camera. I was so sad, but I guess there is always next week. She of course loved her class and had a great time. She showed Todd everything she had learned when he got home.

This week Hailee has also been taking more pictures and figuring out how to take pictures so they look right. It was so cute to hear her taking pictures...

"Oh that one turned out good. Look mom I took a picture of my pig. Oh that one didn't turn out so good. Here is another one of my pig."

She is actually learning how to look at the screen and getting the object in the view finder.

The other funny story of the week is when we were driving to take Todd his lunch. A guy totally cut me off and when I voiced my frustration Hailee responded. "What did that man do" I said "Oh he cut me off." Then she said in her most sympathetic voice. "Oh that poor man" I was a little confused and when I questioned her why she was sorry for that man she responded, "that poor man, he is so dumb mom." I about died laughing. I do need to be a little more careful about what I say while I am driving. Funny girl.

Hailee is getting quite interesting with her breakfast. Today it was scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage (because Todd wanted sausage so she has to be like him) and pancakes. I convinced her that we could do toast instead of pancakes. I wasn't feeling like cooking that much.

Who are you?

Take the Quiz here!

Tagged by Louise

10 years ago I: had just moved back to St. George to finish my last year at Dixie College after spending the summer with my Grandparents in Mexico City.

5 years ago I: had just gotten married and things were just starting to settle down after two receptions and honeymoon, all while Todd was going to school full time. Yes it was a little bit of a crazy timing, but we love having our anniversary at the beginning of the fall. It's a nice quiet time and there is nothing else going on.

1 year ago I: Todd was just beginning to MBA program at BYU. Now we are just finishing up our last year and Todd is doing so well, it will be fun to see where we end up at the end of this year.

Yesterday I: I took my daughter to her first ballet class. It was one of those good mom moments. She was so excited and happy to be going to ballet and she looked so cute.

5 snacks I enjoy: la creme yogurt, fresh fruit (right now especially pears and peaches), ice cream and pie (any kind of pie, except raisin), IKEA chocolate, and blackberry crumble (oh I really miss Oregon.)

5 things I would do if I had $100 million: Turn it over to Todd to invest wisely (there is a very good reason I married a finance major, I don't even balance my check book), donate to organizations helping families, make Todd retire from his job, and travel the world.

5 places I would love to run away to: New York City, Acapulco (or really any nice beach with warm water and lots of sun), Portugal, Italy, and anywhere alone with Todd, even for just a couple of hours.

5 TV Shows I like: Anything on HGTV (I love finding new projects to work on around the house), Charlie and Lola, BYU football, and I haven't really gotten back into many TV shows after our summer without TV.

5 things I hate doing: cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floor (I don't like cleaning, but I do enjoy a clean house, I'm still working on Todd to let us get a maid when we graduate, so far it's still a 'no'), driving (if I had my way I would have a driver as well), going to the post office, and waking up Hailee.

5 biggest joys of the moment: Todd and Hailee (I just love our little family, they are always at the top of what makes me happy), taking my daughter to ballet and making her day, talking to Todd after Hailee is asleep, gaining a new perspective, and listening to Hailee "play," she has quite an imagination.

People to Tag: no pressure - only if you feel like it! Megan, Emily, Sian, Natalie, and Kristen

Our Little Ballerina

Today was Hailee’s first Ballet class and I have to say I don’t think there is anything as cute as little girls in ballet outfits in ballet class. We found a great little school 5 minutes from our house and Hailee has been so excited to start “balleting” (as she likes to call it). Yesterday we went and watch the morning class and got her signed up. When Todd got home she told him all about it. “Dad tomorrow I get to start balleting, and I will do this and this….” And on and on she went. Today she had such a hard time waiting until 3:00 to go to ballet. She was dressed and ready to go by 2:30, and that was after telling her 10 times that it was not quite time to get ready.

When we got there we needed to pick up her ballet shoes because they didn’t have her size yesterday when we were there. At first the teacher didn’t know if they had them in so she said Hailee could just dance in her tights without shoes. But Hailee would have none of it. “But mom I need my ballet shoes to do balleting.” Luckily they did have them in so she got to do her balleting in ballet shoes. Her teacher was so great with her and the afternoon class is a lot smaller than the morning class so she gets a lot more one-on-one time with the teacher. It’s a lot like soccer in that they play games that are teaching them the skills, but they just think they are playing fun games.

She had such a great time and next time I’m going to try and get a few pictures when she is in class. I think she’ll be counting down the days until it’s time to go back to ballet.

On our way to her first ballet class.
Hailee ran to the car without waiting for me.

Since we didn't get any pictures at ballet class I took a few when we got home. She had a hard time taking off her ballet shoes and dress when we got home. I was able to reason with her and she decided that she didn't want to ruin her ballet dress and shoes so we would put them away for next week.

An Eventful Evening

Tonight has been a very eventful evening for the Cunningham family. Todd had a financial case competition for Intel so early on we were busy getting his clothes ready to go and to get him out of the door on time. Once he was on his way I started to get dinner ready for Hailee and I. She was so excited because we were having pizza, her favorite (at least that is what she told me tonight). While the pizza was cooking she started complaining that her back hurt. I didn't think to much of it because I just thought she was tired. She was up early this morning and didn't get a nap. The plan was to get her fed and put her down for the night. We were just cuddling on the couch and then I got up to get the pizza out. She followed me into the kitchen and was still whining a little bit when she threw up. She sat there just dazed for a second and then asked "What happened mom?" I replied, "Oh honey you threw up." To which she responded. "I don't like that." I got her cleaned up and put her in the bathtub. I got her a glass of sprite hoping it would help settle her stomach. The first cup ended up in the bathtub, she saw it fall in but couldn't find it, she was so confused because she didn't know where it went. I explained that it was in the bathtub, to which she replied "The sprite is in the bathtub?" with a very confused look. After the second cup of sprite fell into the bathtub I decided it was time to get out.

After she was back to her normal happy self and was really wanting to eat some pizza, because it is her favorite and her best. Mommy Mistake #1 "Do not feed pizza to a child that has just thrown up." Well sure enough 1 1/2 pizza slices later she cuddled up by me on the couch, I told her that if she was feeling sick that we should go to the bathroom. Not really understanding the concept of knowing when she needed to throw up, she threw up again, this time on the couch. (Thank goodness for microfiber couches, not a spot left. Anyone who has children, thinking about having children, or think children might come into their home should have a microfiber couch. They are amazing.) Afterwards she said "Oh mom, this is the worst." I couldn't agree more.

I got her cleaned up, dressed in her pajamas, and put her in my room while I went to go clean up the mess in the living room. Once I got everything else in the washer I went to go comfort her and I found her laying in the bathroom on a towel. She said, "My tummy hurts again mom." Oh I felt so bad seeing her laying there. I was just about to take her back to bed when she threw up again, what I am assuming was the rest of the pizza. She was most concerned about her Cinderella pajamas. "Oh no mom, my beautiful dress is ruined, this is the absolute worst ever." After reassuring her that her pajamas were safe and throwing them into the washer. We settled down to bed. Hailee wanted to wait up for Todd so we could read scriptures so she stayed in our bed, but it only took a few minutes and she was asleep. Poor little child, I think she is feeling a little better now. She is right, throwing up is the absolute worst. We are hoping that Todd's evening went a little better than ours.

Todd just got home so I am updating our blog. He won the finance competition for Intel. He was put on a team with 2 first year MBA kids with no finance training and all the other teams had 4- 5 kids with 3 or 4 second year finance MBAs. I am so proud of him. Because both of the kids didn't have any kind of finance background he was having to walk them through the case and he was feeling bad that he didn't get through everything that he wanted to get through. I guess it didn't matter because his team won. I think we found the right fit for Todd, he has loved getting his MBA and if this past summer is any indication, I think he is going to enjoy working even more.

I don't think there is anything sweeter than sleeping children.
They always seem so calm and peaceful.

She fell asleep waiting up for Todd. I took this picture and she opened her eyes for a minute and said "I want to see the picture mom." I showed it to her and she took one look and was asleep again. She always likes to look at the pictures as I take them.

L'Artiste

Hailee no longer takes a good afternoon nap for me, but everyday I try to have quiet time. Today I was also a little tired so I laid down by her and hoped that she would take a nap. She didn't. In my somewhat aware state I vaguely remember her asking if she could paint. I told her that when we got up from quiet time that we could paint. She was fairly quiet the rest of the time until the timer went off and it was time to get up. I got up and decided to check my email and get a few things done for work. The next thing I knew Hailee brought me over the red paint pot and asked me to help her open it. To my surprise she had gotten the paints out of the closet and had proceeded to open three of them before she came to one that was stuck. She also had her paint brush and paper all ready to go. After coming back from Oregon I cleaned out the hall closet and dedicated one shelf to Hailee's art supplies so she can get them whenever she wants. After the shock of seeing open paint pots on my carpet I quickly moved her to the bamboo floor rug and opened the rest of the paint pots. She painted two beautiful pictures. It's so cute to see her becoming more and more independent, although I am thankful that this lessoned learned didn't result in spilled paint on the carpet. (I only buy washable art supplies, but scrubbing it out of the carpet would not have been fun.) Now that she knows it's supposed to stay on the table or bamboo floor we should be okay. I love the fact that she can get her activity books, crayons, and other things all by herself, but it does make me a little nervous.

Women Soccer World Cup Finals

A few weeks ago in the opening rounds of the Womens World Cup in soccer Todd was up exercising and he had the TV on to ESPN. The women's world cup had started and Germany and England were playing (I think). Hailee had woken up early and was amazed and excited to see girls playing soccer on TV. She sat and watched the rest of the morning until we had to take Todd to school. I realized that we hadn't really watched women play soccer. She was so thrilled to see other girls playing soccer.

Since then we have been taping a few games (they have been starting at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning) so Hailee could watch them when she woke up. Yesterday was the final between Germany and Brazil. Todd got up early and made sure he taped it for her. We watch it yesterday and had such a good time. Hailee watched it from beginning to end. (See the picture above, there was no getting her hair done or getting dressed for the day until the game was over). She kept switching teams throughout the match of who she was cheering for. Sometimes it was the yellow team and then she would switch to white. It didn't matter who was winning, she just liked to switch and cheer for everyone.

Some of my favorite parts were her comments. Marta, on the Brazilian team (wearing yellow), had a penalty kick that was blocked by the German goal keeper. Afterward she was obviously upset at the missed opportunity. Hailee said "Oh she is sad, where is that yellow teams mom. She needs a hug from her mom." I replied "Her mom is probably watching her play." To which Hailee responded, "but she needs a hug from her mom."

Later as were were watching and Brazil came close to scoring, Todd and I both groaned at the missed goal. Hailee said "Oh no did she get a yellow card." It was the first time she was really paying attention to the penalty card. If she decided a player wasn't playing very nice she would say "she's not being very nice, she needs another yellow card." I was surprised how much she was really understanding. It's so cute to see her get so excited about soccer.

Favorite Breakfast

Everyday Hailee gets to choose what she wants to eat for breakfast and lunch. We've been doing this for quite a while. She likes having choices in her day so I try to give her as many as possible. That being said, she has had some interesting things for breakfast including, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and noodles. Most of the time she does choose breakfast foods like toast, eggs, cheerios, yogurt, etc. Friday she surprised me a little and had a whole breakfast menu picked out, she usually just has one thing in mind. So on Friday she had toast, marshmallows, and pink milk. As you can see by her face she was quite pleased with her selection. What a funny little girl.