The park

We visited the park yesterday since it ended up being a sunny afternoon. This is one of the kids' favorite parks right now. Hailey really loves slides these days and she thinks these really long ones are the greatest. And I'm pretty sure hiking up all the stairs twenty times burns some serious energy for her.

The park

Tyler's slide

Hailey's slide

She apparently turns entirely red once in the slide :)

Just for Dave

Dave is out of town this week so I thought I'd send him a few of our everyday moments that I know he misses so much. The kids are counting down the days until he returns and everytime Hailey hears a noise in the house she says "Daddy? Daddy's home?".

We almost always have music playing around the house and lately it's been almost exclusively "SteveSongs" but the kids wanted to break out chicken fried and the rest of that cd while playing in Tyler's room.

Using all four drums

Hailey, well, being Hailey

Much happier "nakedy"

Air Guitar

nothing much

Just a few pics from the last couple days. Tyler and Hailey covered themselves with tattoos yesterday

After the tattoos they had a fleeting moment of tenderness.....

which dissolved into this attractive face.

And then this....

Later I captured Hailey playing with the play dough making "dinner". I'm not sure what I like best about this picture, the look on her face, the gesture of boredom with her hand, or her hairs that are sticking straight up on the top of her head.

Of course that turned into this

And then this

But she didn't actually bite down, this time. She had been known to take a little taste every now and then.

Hailey still doesn't have much hair but the hair she does have is getting a little bit longer. Check this out, it's actually blowing in the wind.....a little progress maybe??

Hailey's Birthday Party

We had Hailey's birthday party on Sunday and it was lots of fun. Most of her cousins were here and we had decent weather. We had Backyardigans decorations since that is her "thing" right now. It was nice enough that the kids were able to play outside. Hailey spent at least an hour (no exageration) blowing bubbles. She absolutely loves them right now (though you have to have a paper towel handy to wipe off her tongue as she always seems to end up licking the stick). After dinner and lots of bubbles we had cake. Hailey loves sugar (all forms). She can and did easily polish off a whole piece of cake and ice cream. Then it was time for presents. I hadn't really prepared myself for Tyler during this whole process. Tyler couldn't bring presents fast enough, at least for him. Hailey and I would barely start opening one and he would bring another saying, here here open this one. And then he would start opening it himself. It was really quite overwhelming for me anyway. Hailey didn't really seem to care. Here are a few of the many pictures taken during the party.

The Backyardigans

Fun outside

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

And some cute pictures with her cousins

Elise and Katie

Morgan and Elise

Ready to blow out the candles

Just getting started

Presents

Bottoms Up

I'm really tardy on getting Hailey's birthday party pictures up....but hopefully tomorrow. For now we'll do this. I wish I could have taken this picture at a lower angle because this picture is really misleading. Her feet are actually a good 4 or 5 inches off the stool. Anyway, this is what you might find if Hailey goes missing and you sneak a peak into the bathroom. She either thinks the bathroom water is delicious or just likes doing the acrobats to get into this position because I guarrantee she had a water cup sitting on the table in the family room just waiting for her.

Funny at Dad's Expense

So, we had Hailey's 2nd Birthday party on Sunday and everything went pretty smooth until time came to open presents. Tyler (not his birthday) has been soooo looking forward to the party and more specifically...Hailey's presents. He couldn't bring them to her fast enough and she couldn't possibly open them as fast as Tyler wanted which basically means Ty was hounding her so he could get at her presents. It's kind of cute thinking about it now but I was a little annoyed to say the least. After telling Ty to 'back off' Hailey for the hundredth time and that the presents were hers he looked at me (all serious business) and said, "Dad, remember what I said, sharing!"

To quote Hailey, oh darn it!

Funny

A quick funny story about Tyler. We got some bags of hand me down clothes from Matt yesterday (thanks Matt) and Tyler and I were going through them today. For those of you who don't know, Tyler is very picky about what he will and won't wear. So I told him to look through the pile and put the clothes he liked one pile and his "no's" in another pile. He picked up the next shirt, and looking at me a little hesitantly he started smelling it. While I was wondering if the shirt smelled funny Tyler built up the courage to ask me why he had to put his "nose" on the shirt. And as I thought about it, I did tell him to do what he did.....sort of.

Two lots

Just so I remember.....Whenever Hailey has more or sees more than two of something (or lots of something) she always says, "two lots".

Together

I feel obligated to post all pictures that have both Tyler and Hailey in them as it is so difficult to get them both in the same spot. Certainly these aren't posed photos but they are actually next to each other and they aren't fighting (ok, so they spend plenty of time playing together too but the screaming and crying occurs over and over again any given day). So really, it is quite miraculous. We took these this morning. While the kids watched their morning show, Hailey actually joined Tyler on "his" couch. I know they were watching a show but from the office, where I was working, I could hear Tyler talking to Hailey (about what I don't know). He was using his nice, let me tell you all about it, voice so I'm guessing he was giving Hailey the low down on something. He was certainly being the big brother we always have hoped for. This too is unusual as he is usually saying silly things to her trying to get her to laugh. Here they are, our two kids who really do love each other deep down (you should see Hailey run to Tyler to give him a hug after school). And I should note that the fact that Hailey's blanket is lying on top of Tyler's is earth shattering. Tyler usually won't let her anywhere near his blanket.

And I'm including a couple of pictures of just Hailey too because I thought they were cute but I don't really have a story to go with them.

Hailey 2 year stats

Hailey had her two year doctor appointment today and there were no vaccinations which was a huge plus. Here's her important stats:

height 34 1/2 inches (75%)

weight 26.8 pounds (50%)

I always like to compare her info to Tyler's even though they have the boy/girl difference and aren't even tracked on the same charts. But just for kicks at age 2 Tyler was 28.8 pounds (25-50%) and 34 3/4 inches (50-75%). So it seems as though I really did give birth to the same child twice with the exception of personality and gender. Their looks and stats make them undeniably related.

Here's both kids at age 2

Easter

A fun sugar filled day. This morning started off with Easter baskets of course.

The first thing Tyler did when he got to the bottom of the stairs was eat a cookie and a jelly bean. I was able to get a little breakfast in him a while later. He was very happy wiht his new drum sticks though the Easter Bunny was not educated in the different sizes of drum sticks and they are way too big......not that Tyler cares.
Hailey slept in a little bit and when she came down she did the same thing. Cookie and jelly bean.

And every time she went missing this morning, I'd peak around the corner to find this.....sneaking "beans" (as she calls them).


After Hailey had her milk the kids did thier egg hunt. The Easter bunny color coded the eggs so Hailey would have a chance at getting some eggs but Tyler still couln't resist and although he nicely pointed Hailey in the right direction of a few of them, most were brought right up and handed to Hailey so she could put them in her bag. Hailey really did like finding the ones that were left for her to find though. She definitely "got" what it was all about. I just love Tyler's new Easter shirt. And I am beyond thrilled that he was actually willing to wear it.

Hailey, look over here.

Ah, ha, found another!

Hers

And his

A family picture in everyones finery
Daddy and his girl. I love this picture.

Ready to go.
Ready for the egg hunt at Aunt Gerry's

A little help from Uncle Lawrence

The birthday girls...Hailey and her cousin Jessie.