Hailey's 3rd Birthday!

Hailey's birthday is July 30. She turned 3 this year.  In the last 3 years she has changed SO much.  Gone is the shy, quiet girl.  Now she is a talkative, adventurous, and crazy little girl.  She is usually a little hesitant about trying new things, but the moment she does, she always has fun.  She is still a Mommy's girl, doesn't like to be left in nursery (though she only cries for a few minutes now).  She loves her big sister, though not being told what to do by her :).

Her birthday turned out to be a 2 day celebration.  On Friday we went to Wedgewood Pizza and Handel's. Then on Saturday we stayed busy painting nails and baking cupcakes, along with a visit to Austintown Bounce Around, and Build A Bear!

Pretending to be an Elephant with Papa Tom

Cupcakes made by Mommy, K and H.  Blue of course, chosen by H

Gifts....A bunny dollhouse from Papa Tom and Grandma Barb 

A set of 5 dress up dresses with shoes, accessories and fairy wings in just her size from Uncle Ray.

Our fun at Austintown Bounce:

All the kids had fun :)....Ray is a good sport going through the obstacles to help them.

Too much excitement for the old men.  They needed a rest.

Hailey has received a few Build A Bears in the past, but this was her first time to pick one out, make the choices and be very involved.  She loves her Blue Bear.  Thank you Grandma Jan!

 Uncle Jasey got her a paint/art spinner. As you can see she liked it :)

We got her a pair of learning roller skates, no pictures though, because we need 2 hands to help her :)  Continuing the celebration the girls' big summer bday party is next weekend at the park.  They are looking forward to it.

Also - the day after Hailey's bday is my dad's birthday - who turned 50 this year!  Hailey said, wow he is bigger than me :).

Random Bits...

It has been an adventure here the last few weeks.  We had our first 3D ultrasound, our first week of VBS, and my last day of work during the end of July!  Justin's Dad also built several sets of regulation corn hole boards.  Justin and Ray painted ours in the last two weeks, not an easy job with the humidity!

 3D Ultrasound of baby boy on 7/21

VBS was centered around a trip to the Big Apple.  Kaelin was old enough to attend, but Hailey wasn't.  I volunteered to help in the volunteer's nursery so Hailey was able to be with me and 6 other 2 year olds all week :)

VBS makes us sleepy :)

The Sunday after VBS the students sang during service.

319 students, Can you spot K? She is on the front left - a spot of green in a sea of yellow.  The kids raised almost $1200 in change for wells in Africa that week!

Justin's new boards.

2011 Birthday Pics

Today Ray, Jecca and I took the girls to Mill Creek Park (near where their party will be) so that Jecca could take Birthday Pictures of them.  Kaelin was a ham, she likes to do this head tilt that cracks me up (ie her last pic).  Hailey wasn't a huge fan - she doesn't do great when we do outside pictures for some reason - too distracting maybe?

Anyhow, these pictures are unedited, some need cropped, but they are my favorites of each of the girls:

Kaelin Rose:

Hailey Grace:

Birthday Pics I like for random reasons

These are some of the birthday pictures from today that won't necessarily end up being used as favors or printed for frames but I LOVE them and here is why:

Kaelin decided to pout for a minute - but the pic is a cross between I am going to laugh or cry.

 Hailey 'telling' Kaelin a secret, while covering her both completely with both hands.

 I jokingly told the girls the sky was purple, this is what happened.

 The look on her face is a little goofy, but for someone this one is cute to me.

Summer Fun

We are trying to make this a very fun summer for the girls.  We purchased a zoo pass this month (and have already been twice to the Pittsburgh Zoo, hoping to get to Akron Zoo this week), and are taking trips to the park, nights in the hot tub, Justin and Ray have taken them to Lake Milton twice, and we were able to go to a Scrapper's baseball game for the first time.  The girls could have cared less about the game, but really enjoyed the food :).

We sat near a regular attendee who gave K a ball.  She was so excited.

The lemon slushes were a little to frozen for a spoon, so they started off licking them like popsicles.

For people familiar with Pierogi races, the Scrapper's game hosts the Dunkin Donuts race :). Not as cook, but the girls liked it. 

Here are a few other pictures I like from the last week.  

I love this picture of Hailey.  She loves this seek and find book.

 While RJ was visiting, we went to Quaker Steak.  We have been there about a million times, but this time the girls wanted to take a picture like RJ did.

 This is not a great picture by far, but it is one of my favorites.  The girls spent about an hour playing together and then creating this 'house' out of books and toys.

Hailey enjoyed the lake a little too much on Saturday :).  She ended up falling asleep at the dinner table.  

 Saturday night tub time.  I love this picture because Kaelin loves when I do this to her hair.  It also shows her red raccoon eyes from the day at the lake.

Our plans for the remainder of the summer include VBS next week, Hailey's birthday, an overnight in Pittsburgh and Kennywood day, Kaelin's birthday, family reunions on Justin's side, several planned BBQ's and pool parties, and the girls BIG bday party.

4th of July Weekend

On Friday we went to the Trumbull County Fair.  We go every year even though it is very, ummm, redneck :).  The girls loved the rides and road EVERY one! 

Then over the weekend we enjoyed play time for the girls and a lot of sitting/rest for me.
Hailey showed up in front of us to sing one morning, but when I went to take her picture, all she did was pout. SO CUTE!

 On July 4th we got a chance to see the Goodyear Blimp as it flew right over our house.  The girls thought it was SO cool!

That afternoon, we took the girls to the Austintown Parade, sitting next to our neighbors.  I sat in a chair with an umbrella, while everyone collected candy.  The girls loved it the first 45 minutes, then they were hot and tired and ready for air conditioning.