Hailey's Birthday Weekend

Our baby girl celebrated her first birthday this weekend! It seems like she has grown up so much over these past few weeks now that she is walking. We had so much fun watching her take it all in this weekend. Thanks to all our family and friends that helped us celebrate!

On Saturday for lunch we grabbed some Subway and then headed with my family to our favorite park by our house. :) Our kids love playing at parks and being around all the other kids. We got an email from one of the missionary wives in Niger this past week and she mentioned a playground in her email. I'm sure it won't be quite as fancy as this one, but our kids will love having a place to play outside while we are in Africa.

(Sorry Stacey, but this was the only pic I had from lunch!)

 Hailey LOVES her swinging time.

After lunch we came back to put the kids down for a nap, and I finished getting our food ready for the party. I made a Santa Fe turkey chili and Minestrone soup which seemed perfect for a Fall birthday party. I had fun decorating our house as well. I LOVE craft projects and enjoyed making Hailey birthday banner and the tissue pom poms. Hailey may have not noticed those things much on her actual birthday, but I think she will when she looks back over her pictures in a few years. (I painted the canvases above Eli's bed, and he asked me about them a few weeks ago when I was getting him dressed on his changing table. I told him that I painted them for him when he was still inside my tummy because I love him very much and because he is very special. Now when I change his pull-up he points to them and says, "Mommy, you did those for me because I'm special." Melts. My. Heart.) Here are some pictures from Miss Hailey's party! We love you Hailey!

Monthly pictures are great! We did these for Eli as well. It is so fun to look at them all together and see how much she has grown over the past year.

Mama Ree Ree and Papa made it to the party!

Time for presents!

Eli had to try out all of Hailey's presents including her new PINK jacket. :)

Gracie opening up her party favor bag.

We have the best moms ever.

Cake time.

My mom brought this cute cake all the way from Rick's Bakery in Arkansas. There was a little shifting in the car but it still looked precious and tasted even better.

Family picture time (thanks Dianna!)

Umm... where's Eli???

 Ahh, there he is. Doesn't he look happy his daddy took his balloon away?

After my family left to go back home we took Marc's parents downstairs to show them the kids' classrooms (remember we live in the same building as the daycare!) and couldn't help getting a quick pic of Hailey, Eli, and Gracie hanging out on the toddler couch.

Then we headed back outside to finish off a great day with some more fun on the playground. Hailey is really good at getting up the steps on playground equipment. I follow behind her but she does not like any help. :)

Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate Hailey's first birthday! We had a great time and hope you did too!!!

Eli's First Field Trip and Hailey's Big Day

I know that is a long title but if I don't put all this in a post right now then it likely won't happen for a little while since we are having Hailey's party tomorrow. :)

On Thursday, Eli's class took a trip to the Botanica Gardens here in Wichita. Eli had no idea what a "field trip" was, but on the way there he just kept telling us over and over how excited he was. I think he loved having both Marc and me to himself for a few hours (although when we first left he commented that we had forgotten Hailey. Ha!). Eli is such a sweet boy, and we are SO thankful for the wonderful childcare we have had access to over the past two years. I could probably write an entire post on the benefits we have seen with having Eli around other children his age daily over the past two years, but I just don't have the time. :)

Anyone in our family could tell you who Eli's best friend is. James is talked about quite frequently around our house and it breaks our heart that their friendship is coming to an end in two months. They have been together from Eli's very first day at the CDC when he was 10 weeks old until now. They are both full of energy and we had so much fun watching them on the field trip.

 All the kids were trying to get a peek at a butterfly.

 Eli and Cody playing some tunes.

Ms. Francie and Ms. Angela wanted to get a group picture of the kids....this was quite a task and I still didn't get a picture with all the kids and only Ms. Angela made it in this picture. That is the very hungry caterpillar behind them which was so cute.

What a fun day!

Our other big event is that at 11:50 this morning Hailey turned one. How is that even possible??? Wasn't she just inside my tummy??? She is such a delight and brings so much joy into our home. We are thankful for the privilege we have been given to raise her. We are looking forward to celebrating this little one this weekend with our family and friends!

Fall and Football Fun

Marc really wanted to make it to a Razorback game this season so we were excited that it worked out this past weekend (and my dad found us all tickets!). We headed to Arkansas to spend a few days with my family. The kids traveled so well and Eli even went 4 1/2 hours on the way there without needing to stop to go to the bathroom. He has been doing so great toilet training. I am thankful this has been a fairly easy milestone for us!

On Saturday morning, we decided to go to an area a little outside of Rogers where they have some Fall things to do. There was a petting zoo, a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and a cow train ride. The weather was just beautiful!

The cow train was NOT a comfortable ride for adults. I now understand why adults ride for free with their kids. No one in their right mind would pay money for that. Ha! Hailey rode in Marc's car and Eli was in mine. We were miserable but put on nice big smiles for the kids because they were laughing and having a great time.

Eli loved feeding the goats some hay.

Time to pick out a pumpkin!

Hailey kept trying to pick our pumpkin up. :)

After the kids woke up from their nap we got them settled in with a babysitter and then Marc and I headed out to Fayetteville for the football game. Arkansas played Auburn and the final score was something like 38-14. Now that I no longer go to competing SEC schools (Ole Miss AND Vandy), I can call the hogs without too much guilt. Woooooo pig souie! Eli even learned how to call the Hogs this weekend.

 We didn't have a chance to get the kids in their game day attire on Saturday so we had a little photo time on Sunday before we left to head back to Wichita. I LOVE that Eli understands how to cheese it up for the camera now. :) My mom found these outfits at TJ Maxx and they loooked adorable on Eli and Hailey!

 This is what Hailey thinks of the Hogs. Ha! Just kidding mom and dad.

 I guess I was the only one who knew which camera to look at.... Take 1.

Take 2

 Take 3

Have a great week everyone!

Nana's Visit

My mom came into town this past weekend to see us and the kids. She went to the San Diego zoo recently on a trip to California and bought the kids a few things that she wanted to bring them. They got some new t-shirts and books. Our kids just LOVE reading books so we always enjoy getting some new ones to throw into our bedtime reading rotation.

This was also the first weekend in over a month that we were home AND Marc had zero call nights. It was awesome. We both felt like the weekend lasted forever which is always a great feeling to have.

On Friday morning we took the kids to the park. The weather has been just perfect lately and we had lots of fun watching them play. Hailey is doing much better walking in shoes so she had a good time as well exploring the playground.

Playing peek-a-boo with Nana

Hailey may be a mama's girl, but Marc is making every attempt to change her mind. :)

Eli loves sliding down head first.

After naps on Friday afternoon we took the kids to the mall to do some Fall shopping with Nana. I think kids' areas in stores are just brilliant. Eli and Hailey were very entertained while we shopped.

One of our finds for the day were these cute shoes. I put them on her yesterday with some leggings and Marc said she looked like she should have been in a Jane Fonda workout video. Ha!

It was a great weekend spent with Nana, and the kids love their new Fall clothes and shoes. :)