We had a wonderful 4th of July!  We were able to spend the weekend with some family from out of town and it was so much fun.  We were able to see my Aunt Gladys and Uncle Dave as well as my cousin Vicki and her three kids- Lucas, Caleb and Danielle.

Hailey was thrilled to meet Danielle.  She wanted to hold her constantly.

And of course, Hailey had lots of kisses for Danielle.

Hailey read Danielle some books- and Danielle seemed to enjoy the stories!

Lucas and Caleb let Hailey play the Wii with them- or at least let her think she was playing.

Caleb and Hailey enjoyed watching some movies together.

Hailey and Danielle posed in their 4th of July outfits.

Hailey was excited to be able to feed Danielle!

Hailey and Uncle Dave were the first ones ready for church on Sunday, so they read some books while they waited for the rest of us.

After church Hailey loved listening to Caleb read her a book.

Later on Hailey, Lucas and Caleb were all in Hailey’s play house.

On Monday the kids were able to do a little swimming.  The water is still pretty cold but they had fun anyways.

Lucas enjoyed floating in the pool.

Hailey tried to make sure she held onto this ball the entire time she was in the pool.

Caleb posed for a quick picture.

Hailey loved being in the pool.

Since we’re still in the middle of moving all of our stuff is in my parents garage.  We couldn’t get to Hailey’s bathing suit or her swim diapers- so she had to wear clothes and a pull-up.  Do you know what happens when a pull-up gets wet?

I was afraid it might fall apart, but actually it just swells up to a huge size.

The kids enjoyed lunch on the patio and then we had to say good-bye.  It was lots of fun to get to see our family that we don’t get to see nearly enough.  We had a blast!

I was beginning to think that this would never happen- but our closing is scheduled for tomorrow.  Our mortgage broker has been one problem after another.  He has frustrated us to no end.  But that will all be in the past after tomorrow.  I keep waiting for someone to call and say, “Oh wait… we need one more thing.”  So, we’ll see if it really happens- but as it stands now we will finally be closing tomorrow afternoon!  My parents have been wonderful to let us stay with them for 2 months instead of a few weeks.  We want to do a few things to the house before we actually move it, so it will be probably be another week or so before we actually move.  But as of tomorrow we will finally have our new house!

Here are some recent comments made by Hailey that made me smile:

“I love you mommy.  I am so happy.”

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“I can see his butt crack.”

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Hailey was having a tantrum about something and I was ignoring the tantrum.  So, Hailey told me, “I’m havin a tantrum!”

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Hailey asked me how old the letter J was.  I told her it was very old.  She responded, “Is J old like Gramma and Daddy?”

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Rich was talking to Hailey about something that she had done that was wrong.  After he was done talking to her he said, “Don’t do that again.  You got it?”  Hailey looked up at him with a confused look on her face, held her hands open and said, “I don’t have anything.”

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After being told no that Hailey could not do something she wanted to do she said, “My heart is broken.”

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Hailey and Rich had played several rounds of hide and seek when it was time to stop for Hailey to get ready for bed. She was trying to convince him to play one more game and said, “We have to play hide and seek because I love you”

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Hailey had to get her pants changed and she said, “Can I see my poop that I did in my big girl pants? Can you put your finger in it Daddy?”

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After reading a No David book Hailey asked me, “Mommy, do you love me when I’m bad?”

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Hailey was drawing a picture the other day and said, “I’m sending Gramma an email and she’s leaving me a comment.”

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Hailey’s new thing is to ask “Why not?” about everything.  She doesn’t ask “why?” only “why not?”  For example Hailey might say, “Can we go to the library?”  And I tell her yes.  She responds with, “Why not?”

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When Hailey wants to know what time it is she asks, “What o’clock is it?”

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The other day when we were at the library Hailey looked at an older man and said (very loudly), “Is that Santa Claus?”

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Hailey was telling me a story the other day and in her story she used the word serious.  Then she stopped and looked at me and said, “Can I say serious?”  I told her that it was okay to say serious.  Hailey responded by saying, “But not fart?”

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Some of the big words that Hailey is using these days:

• hip-in-potamus (Hippopotamus)
• commotion
• concerating (concentrating)
• excellent
• possibility
• confused

She does keep me smiling!

A couple of weekends ago we went out of town to visit with some family and had a wonderful time! 

We arrived at my Aunt Gladys and Uncle Dave’s house on Friday evening.  Beka, Bill and Anika were there too and we had a yummy dinner.  Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Anika and Hailey played “Ring Around the Rosie” over and over again!

And their favorite part, “we all fall down.”

On Saturday we went to a baby shower for my cousin Brad and his wife Melissa.  It was the first time I had ever gone to a baby shower with both men and women there.  It was sooooo much fun!  I think all showers should have the guys too- we had a blast. 

I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures because it is a little hard to keep track of  a 2 year old and take pictures at the same time.  And when Rich had the camera he took pictures of things like people’s noses, ears and feet.  So I’ll spare you from seeing those pictures and share the few that I did get.  If you are a family member and want to see more pictures (or a regular reader who just wants to see some more pictures of the fun)- check out my cousin Aimee’s blog- she got some great pictures!  Anyhoo- here’s my pictures:

Hailey and Anika (the 2 on the right) enjoying some lunch with 2 other friends.

While we were waiting for the gift opening to start Hailey enjoyed being in the center of the room bouncing a balloon up in the air.  Brad (the daddy-t0 be) and Melissa (the mommy-to-be) helped her keep her balloon in the air.

Brad and Melissa opening a present from us while Hailey watched.

Anika and Hailey checking out one of the presents- probably discussing how they would like to sneak the present out of the room so they could get a chance to open something.

We had fun playing some games outside.  Hailey and Anika inspected the dirt.

Aunt Ruth (Grandma-to-be) and Brad posing for a picture.

We had such a wonderful time at the shower!!  We don’t get to see all of this side of the family very often so I had so much fun spending time with everyone.  It went by way too quickly.

On Sunday we got to spend a little time with Beka, Bill and Anika again before we had to get on the road.

Anika and Hailey enjoyed dancing together.

Then they took a quick “nap” together before we had to leave.

The entire way home Hailey kept asking, “Are we back on Anika’s road yet?”  It was a wonderful weekend!  We can’t wait to see everyone again.