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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.