Hailey's Christmas wish

Yes...that is my daughter.

Yes...she is eating raw broccoli.

Yes...she is asking for "secret" candy for Christmas.

Perhaps that is a test to see if Santa really knows what she wants.

Yes...she is THAT smart.

So, even though it seems like there is nothing exciting going on, I guess there really is…

Hannah is crawling.
Not the conventional crawling method though.
She sortof keeps one leg tucked in front of her and uses the other leg to push off and thus travel.
It is really cute.
I think that the reason that she prefers this is that she has altitude sensitivities.
The higher she is, the better.
Consequently she would much rather be “crawling” with her head held high until she finds herself something that she can use to stand herself up.
That is what she is really after.
Standing.
And, of course, playing with her big sister.

Speaking of, Hailey is so terribly excited about the upcoming holiday.
It all began last year when she was old enough to actually trick-or-treat.
Prior Halloween’s were simply her dressed up as either an adorable jack-o-lantern
or an adorable spider.
So, anyway.
Because she instantly became a sugar addict (thanks daddy…yes, they are YOUR GENES), she has not so patiently been awaiting round number 2.
And since it is quickly approaching, she is giddy with sugared excitement.

I on the other hand am not so.
Not because of the fun-filled activities leading up to the day.
Or the treacherous walk around out hilly-ass neignborhood.
Or they subsequent balancing act between a happy kid (read: candy-eathing) and a sick kid (read: vomiting).
But rather, because later that weekend I will be turning 30.
Yes, you read that right.
3. 0.
I should be am glad for all the wonderful wonderful blessings that life has bestowed on me thus far.

However, 30 is still staring me in the face growling.
And it is growling loudly.
I said I wanted to lose 10lbs before I hit 30.
Everyone says that it gets harder after 30.
And I still have baby weight.
Make that baby baby weight.
Well, I can scratch that off my list, cause it ain't happening.
Not unless I starve myself for the next week and a half.
But regardless, that is not the only reason.
(I am not THAT shallow)
I really don't feel 30; and I am not ready to look 30.
I am definately not ready to behave 30.
So here I am stuck in a 30 year old body.
Well, 29 for another weekish.
Me being 30 makes my baby sister 26.
26?!?!
Me being 30 makes my parents, well, old.
They don't act their age either.
Me being 30 makes my husband mid-thirties.
MID-THIRTIES?!!?
Before I know it we are going to be 50.
I know, I know, 40 will come first.
But not too long after 30.

New Purchase?!?!

"Mommy, we don't have a brother"

"No, honey, we have a sister."

"Yeah, we need to buy a brother at the store."

(If only it were that easy, honey. I swear we would!)

Thanks,Grampy!!

I've got two teeth...One...Two

I know, I know.
Not the most flattering picture.
It is very hard to take a picture of her smiling AND showing her teeth.
So, instead, you get a crying one.
But man, look at those two shark teeth!

They help me to bite...One...Two

sidenote

Got all the girls together for a picture with their babylegs umh leg-warmers erh... ballet-ups!

making my kids happy

In the never-ending quest to keep Hannah Banana a happy camper we have discovered that she enjoys hats.
Not you average hat, but makeshift hats.
Take, for instance, the random shoebox that you can find lying around our house.
It cannot be just any shoebox.
Hannah size shoes don't come in a box that is big enough.
Mommy & Daddy size shoes come in boxes that are too big.
BUT...just as Goldilocks discovered just the right size chair, bowl, bed...
We have discovered the right size box.
A Hailey shoe box.





In all honesty, it is actually Hailey that is the harder of the two to keep happy.
Most nights is is all we can do to keep her from having a meltdown over having to eat cooked pizza instead of frozen pizza.
Or her chair being too close to the table.
Or her ice being of the big variety and not the little variety.
Etc.
Etc.
But this weekend it was Mom to the rescue.
Erhh, Grammy to the rescue.
She showed up on Sunday for our usual day together.
But she came bearing gifts.
Gifts for Hailey, but in Hailey's eyes gifts for Grammy.
See, Hailey has been learning about time at school.
Days of the week; she has an adorable little song.
Months of the year; yet another adorable song.
And at home we are trying to reinforce the months and add some relativity to them.
What better way to do that than to attach holidays, or even better, birthdays.
So, she knows that her birthday is in July.
She also knows that the next birthday we will be coming to is Grammy's and that it is in October.
So, naturally, when Grammy showed up with CUPCAKES, it was time to start practicing for Grammy's birthday.
(If you know anything about the Philpot-Squared clan, you know that we practice/relive birthdays for quite some time prior to and post any birthday.)
So, Hailey got to frost,

bring out the candles and sing,

blow out ('cause Grammy was too slow), and eat her cupcakes.

Happy as a clam.
For a very brief moment.
Until she discovered the next thing that was amiss in her perfect existence.
Thanks Grammy for the reprieve!

Look what I've created...

1) a monster
Let me explain.
My sister, Thanks Katy, came up with this really great idea to make baby legwarmers.
Yeah, you can buy them online.
Yeah, I am to cheap to shell out $12-$20/pair for "socks".
So, since I do own a sewing machine, AND since Katy found me instructions for "do-it-ourselfers", I headed out to by some women's knee high socks.
The intention was to have some for Hannah so that once it started getting cooler diaper changes could be accomplished with ease.
Being the supermom that I am, I KNEW that if Hannah had a pair, Hailey needed a pair.
I am acutely aware of the consequences of owning one thing that is labeled as Hannah's.
So I bought two extra-long pairs of socks especially for Hailey.
I worked on converting them to "ballet ups", a term affectionately coined by Hailey herself, this weekend.
Now, she wears them all the time.
Mind you, it is still into the 90's during the day.
But very merrily she chooses her ballet ups as part of her ensemble for school.
I did not buy ones to match everything that she owns.
Nor did I ever imagine that she would like them so much.
Nevertheless she does, and she is getting lots and lots of compliments.
Hannah has yet to wear them, except for a trial run with the first pair to make sure I was accomplishing what I set out to make.
They don't match.
They seem sort of out of place when everyone has on shorts and sleeveless shirts.
They are really bunchy if they are the extra long ones I bought just for her.
They have to be worn 1/2 covering her foot.

And they are TERRIBLE ADORABLE



2) The most loving child ever.
"Mommy?"
"Yes booger?"
"Mommy, Hannah is my best friend."

So, I have quickly realized that I cannot post all that often.
Nevertheless, it is a pretty good way for you to stay up on what is going in in Austin.
I will try to at least put a few pics every few days...

We went to the Dinoland exhibit this weekend.
Hailey had a good time.
Not because of the dino's, but because they were selling snowcones.
Hannah slept through just about the entire thing.
Trevor got to come with us, since we went on Sunday.
Bailed early for the Bucs game and probably the air-conditioning.
It was pretty darn hot, made the snowcones that much better.
Hailey's other request was to see H E Buddy, the local grocery store's mascot.
The person in the hot suit bailed before we got a chance to see it.
Can't blame 'em.
I took quite a few pics, but they were all with my film camer, so you'll have to wait.



In the mean time, here are some to hold you over.












Yes, there is a recurring theme of lack of clothes...
It's hot in Texas, and watermelon is messy!

First of all, thanks a MILLION to my family who had to lend a helping hand at the end of the week and over the weekend.
All because work was having heir annual user conference downtown and I had to be there Thursday night, all day Friday & Saturday.

So, Dad was going down to Windy Point for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters event that featured Hobie Cat rides to the "Bigs" and "Littles", which he tells me that are called.
This was Hailey's first boating experience. But, she got a lifejacket for her birthday and I know that mom and dad would never let enything happen to her.
She apparently enjoyed herself a lot and got to swim and float around the middle of Lake Travis.
Wish I could have been around for this "first", oh well.
Mom snapped some cute pics.

And Hailey took a great nap after getting tuckered out after the heat and festivities.

Aunt Katy watched Hannah.
She reportedly called Mom and asked if she could trade kids...Guess it wasn't going as well over there.

Looks pretty good to me!

Saturday the Mom and I took the girls to Ikea; I wanted to get some frames/art for the house. Haven't done any thing really since we moved in.
Found nothing.
Scratch that.
Found a cheese grater and some cups. Under $10. Good for me!

More importantly, had to be up early, early for a really net event that Aunt Katy wanted us all to attened.
Hot Air Balloon thingy.
Up at the butt crack of dawn, girls still basically asleep, until Hailey remembered we had gotten donuts for this morning.
Get to Mansfield Dam park and not a soul is there!
Where is this think going on, anyway?
Call Aunt Katy.
Turn right before you go into the park.
Already did that; no one there.
"I'll look it up online," she says. Followed by "It was YESTERDAY."
Yep, thats right yesterday.
Oh well, we missed it.
Maybe next year.

Went to breakfast anyway since we were all together.

That was nice.