In an effort to take my mind off of the fact that in a little over a month we won’t have anywhere to live, we decided to spend an evening out at the mall this weekend.  The Easter Bunny was set to be arriving that evening and so we headed off to enjoy the fun.

We started out by having dinner at Burger King.  We could see the Easter Bunny’s chair from where we were and Hailey watched and waited for him to make his grand entrance.

Hailey gave the Easter Bunny a big hug when it was her turn to see him and then sat on his lap to pose for a picture.

There were also train rides going on next to the Easter Bunny, so Hailey rode the train several times.

Then we waited in line for forever so Hailey could have her face painted by one of the clowns.  Hailey decided she wanted her face done to look like a bunny.

Hailey stopped so I could take a quick picture and then spent the rest of the evening hopping like a bunny.

I’m finishing up our holiday fun today with what we did on New Years Eve and the days after.  Here are some pictures of our fun.

On New Years Eve we went bowling.  Hailey had never been bowling before and she was really excited to try it out.  See her cute little bowling shoes?

Hailey hanging out waiting for her turn.  (My brother Matt took this picture.)

Hailey getting ready to bowl. 

Hailey had a lot of fun bowling.  She did have one little mishap when she tried to take off down the lane to get her ball.  I didn’t expect her to do it so I wasn’t ready to catch her.  And as you know those lanes are very slippery.  So she slipped and fell backwards hitting her head on the floor.  She was fine after a few minutes and really enjoyed the rest of the bowling (and did not try to run after her ball again).

After bowling we spent New Years Eve at my parents house playing games, eating and talking.  Except for Rich- he hadn’t been feeling well since the afternoon and by the evening time the stomach bug had hit him full force.  For some reason I didn’t get any pictures of our New Years Eve but we did have a great time (except for Rich being sick).

In the morning Hailey helped Uncle Matt make some of his famous pancakes and we enjoyed a big breakfast.

Later on Hailey and Aunt Ellie made some cookies that they found in Hailey’s new cookbook she got for Christmas.

Decorating the cookies (which were really cute and yummy!)

The next day Hailey and Pa did a little sled riding.

The first time down the hill- I think Hailey looks a little nervous.

Looks like they had fun!

Back up the hill to do it again.

I love the expression on her face in this one.

We had lots of fun while visiting with everyone over Christmas vacation.  We can’t wait to see everyone again!

The day after Christmas we headed out of town to visit our family.  We had Christmas with my side of the family on Saturday.  Here are a few pictures of the fun:

I know it’s a little out of focus, but I have to take what I can get with Brooke.  She hates having her picture taken just as much as I do.  So even though it’s out of focus I can still see her face!

All of the excitement was a bit much for Dottie.  She had to take a break from opening her presents for quick nap.

Hailey is modeling her new apron.

The aftermath of opening the gifts, just a little mess to clean up.  See me on the couch?  Don’t I look great?  It’s not my fault- remember I was sick.

Hailey and Aunt Ellie had lots of fun playing in Hailey’s new Rose Petal Cottage.

Hailey posing for a quick picture before church on Sunday.

We celebrated Christmas with Rich’s side of the family on Tuesday but I didn’t bring my camera with me.  What kind of blogger doesn’t have her camera at all times?  A bad one.  So- sorry I don’t have any pictures from there to share.  But here is one of Hailey playing with one of her gifts she got from Nana and Grandpa (Rich’s parents).

Hailey loves to clean with her vacuum- she gets it out every day and cleans up the house.

That’s it for my Christmas pictures.  I’ll be back with a few pictures from our New Years celebration.

I realize that Christmas was over 2 weeks ago but this is the first chance I have had to sit down and post some Christmas pictures.  So, this week I’m going to share our fun from Christmas.

On Christmas Eve Hailey and Rich worked making lots of Christmas cookies.  (I was too sick to help- and I love making Christmas cookies, so I was pretty sad to not be able to make them this year.)

Hailey loved decorating the sugar cookies.  She mixed the different colors of frosting together and ended up with some really neat looking cookies.

After Haileys bath she got to open her two Christmas Eve presents.  Here she is wearing her new pajamas while reading her new book.

Then Hailey wrote Santa a letter and we left it out with some milk and the cookies Hailey made.

Hailey was so excited on Christmas Eve that she did not want to go to bed.  Her little body just couldn’t stop moving.  She finally fell asleep around 11pm.  Then she slept in on Christmas morning.  When she got up she wanted to watch Curious George on TV- she had forgotten that it was Christmas.  Once we reminded her that we had to go check and see if Santa came she was sooooo excited.

When she saw the presents under the tree, Hailey ran to check them out.

After we finished opening our presents and had a yummy breakfast Hailey spent the rest of the day playing with her new toys.  Here are a few pictures of her enjoying her new things.

Hailey taking a picture with her new Mickey Mouse camera. (Yes, it really works- I haven’t actually uploaded any of her pictures to my computer yet, but it should be pretty interesting to see her pictures!)

Playing with her ramp garage- she loves to let her cars go down the ”slide.”

Hailey loves her new doll house.  She has spent hours playing with it already.

I’ll be back during the week with more pictures of our fun times during Christmas and New Years.