Father's Day

This year was Dustin's second fathers day. He happened to squeeze it in by a few weeks last year ;) It was still a very special time! Boys are always so hard to buy for so I decided to go straight the the heart of each man.... food! I decided to get him an Edible Arrangement!! I did a box of strawberry and bananas covered in chocolate!! He loved it and I even got a couple of bites ;) Hailey gave him a gift card to his favorite fish store so that they could go out and pick out the perfect fish together!! "She" also wrote him a poem that he can always keep :) He also got to take a little over a 2 hour afternoon nap, which he LOVED!

We celebrated the day with my dad first for lunch with his family and then headed to Dustin's dads to celebrate with him. But it is funny no matter what the holiday is, there is always one cute little girl that steals the show!! :) haha. She is always such a ham and LOVES to be the center of attention! I dont know WHERE she got that from?!?!?! She loves to entertain and then laugh at herself with you. She is so proud of any activity that she does and makes you laugh at her. She is always checking to make sure that you are watching!

Fathers day 2010

The whole day was special right down to the 45 min daddy and daughter time watching a movie on TV!

Labels

I have now created labels for every post on the blog. YES it was a BIG TASK!!! But I took sometime and went all the way back to the beg :) So now you can navigate a little better and view older post. I have placed it on the right hand side bar and they are in alphabetical order. So, for example, if you want to look at all my recipes I have put up on the blog, simply click on the label "recipe" and it will bring all of them up! Hopefully this will make navigating the blog a bit easier :)

Hailey's First Birthday

Instead of writing about how FABULOUS ;) the party was, I have decided to put up the poem that I wrote for her. It somehow didnt make it out at the party, so it should be new to everyone. Hope you enjoy :)

SWEET BABY GIRL

June 8, 2009
I held you in my arms for the very first time

10 Perfect fingers and 10 Perfect toes
I love to watch you crinkle that cute little nose

We brought you home so anxious and stressed

the next few nights you would put us to the test

Restless nights while watching you sleeping
Waking up for 3AM feedings

How I ever made it, I'm not realy sure
To tell you the truth, the first few weeks were a blur

You learned so quickly to hold up you head
And it seemed all too fast wehn we moved you to your own bed

You flashed your first smile and I felt my heart melt
This kind of love, I have never felt

Wow! you are crawling all over the house
As quick as a cat chasing a mouse

It's high fives and patty cakes all in a row
It's hugs and kisses, your love you can now show

Waving "bye, bye" to friends and to strangers
In your little eyese, there are no fears and no dangers

We blinked our eyes and you took your first steps
Mommy closed her eyes and simply wept

You are a big girl now who is turning one!
We will celebrate with a party and have lots of fun

But on this day there is one thing you should know
I have had so much fun so far watching you grow

God has blessed us with a miracle from up above
A sweet little Angel who is full of pure love

So here's to the party, the guest, and ballons
Out little Cupcake turns ONE on the 8th day of June

Love Mommy :)

First Birthday Party :)

I am ONE year old now!!

I am ONE year old!!

The day that I thought was SO FAR away the day she was born finally snuck up on us... and might I add came entirely to fast!! One year ago we were counting down the anxious hours until our beautiful heaven sent baby came along, and today, we were chasing her through the aquarium to see all the fish!! Wow, how things change so quickly. She has brought so much laughter to my life, does so many things that surprise me, makes me feel loved everyday, and never fails to smile at just the right times :) So many things have happened in this past year and too many to recap, but she is def. a little kiddo to keep up with now!

We started out the day with an egg and some turkey sausage for a big girl breakfast.. in our "birthday suit" haha. The first thing she wanted to do this morning was take off all her clothes :) lol Then we chased each other around the house and crawled on daddy in the bed! She got to opem up a present early :) I got her a tigger and pooh push/ride toy.. and she LOVED IT! It plays music and the little characters move to it.. needless to say she didnt want to get ready to go because she still wanted to play. We then headed to the aquarium for a full hour of fun! There was so much for her to take in, but she did a good job of soaking every single bit of it up. She loved the big viewing windows were she could walk up and be right next to the fish. She kept trying to step in :) She kept screaming at the fish, and even tho a bit embarrassing, we let her do her thing! She got to go swimming for just a little bit and play with one of her new toys from GG :)

After all this, you can imagine that she needed a nap... so 2 hours later and well rested, guest arrived! We had both of our families over to celebrate and also celebrate Chad's (dustins brother) bday! She acted like a mad woman from the time that everyone got there. She was, of course, all dolled up... and new how BEAUTIFUL taht she looked, and maybe even that it was her party ;) so she made the best of it! She was walking around at the top of her lungs saying "HAHAHAHA!!" it was pretty hilarious :)

We finally got to the good part, PRESENTS!! She LOVED the new princess rocking chair that we gave her, and she LOVED the swing/slide set that GG and Gdaddy gave her, and she LOVED the new wagon that she got that is all personalized for her and only her, and she LOVED the light up and singing toy that her uncle adam got for her to play with, and i LOVE the new pretty hand painted plate that she got from aunt erin and uncle chad!

We decided that Saturday was just too long to wait to dig in to a cake, and every little one needs a cake on their bday! Well hailey had hers and ate it too! haha. She was so precious and only stuck one little pointer finger in for a taste. She got more and more suspicous.. and then daddy stuck both her hands in and that was the end of the nice and neat baby :) She was also up for sharing with ANYONE. We all got some good tasting cake! ;) She did a great job digging in, so for those of you that are coming on Saturday, you will get to see a semi-pro ;)

Although full of birthday cake, our sweet little angel went right down to bed after a big day for a little girl who turned one :)

Sorry for the absence

I know that I have been terrible on keeping everyone up to date lately, and I do apologize for that. I have been super busy and the time that I usually do my blogs, at night, is now filled with trying to get HB's scrapbook done by the time that her bday gets here.... which is nearly impossible with how long I waited to start it. To give you a hint, about the time you saw me disappear from here ;) I have been doing pretty good with it and think that I will get most things in, but not done by her party :/ I have also been planning that, so needless to say I have been pretty busy, but can't wait to get back in the swing of things after her bday :)

We have all been doing great and HB is growing and changing everyday. She has learned a few new words and my favorite, can now shake her head no at you. While in the future I am sure this is going to prove to be quite the opposite, right now it is adorable and funny! She doesn't do it a whole lot, but if she is done eating...soon as you get the spoon near her mouth, there it is, the head shake! haha And the other time she does it that we probably shouldn't laugh but just can't help it is when she is escaping out of the living room and we say Hailey come back here... and the head shake no! :)

She has now also begun to stand up for the floor all by herself. She has all but perfected the walking, but has always used the furniture, walls, the dogs, or even your leg to get up ;) She has also dropped all of her bottles but the very first morning feeding and the bedtime bottle which we are going to keep around for just a little longer...and yes it is more for me than her! haha but she does need the milk, so THERE!

Memorial Day 2010

We headed to the lake for memorial day and she just had a blast. She got to do all kinds of new things including getting on the jetskit...even had her own little life jacket :) She didnt want to get out of the lake and pretty much cry to get back in. When it came around to nap times, she was out in 3 secs and slept for 2+ hours! (more pics to come from moms camera!)


I took a little mini photo shoot the other day, and you will see them at the end of the pics. She is such a happy girl and does so great for us! She makes me laugh all the time, and is just so full of love. I can't believe that as of today (thurs), we are on an official 5 day count down til the her first birthday!! YIKES!

11 months random

Tasty Thursday!

Ok, I know, so giving it a different name doesn't hide the fact that I missed Menu Monday AGAIN!! I am very sorry and actually have a semi good reason for it. Haileys first bday is coming up soon and I have been planning for it like crazy. One of my main goals is to finish her scrapbook for the party. Well lets just say I have my job cut out for me! So with that said, here is a delicious dish that we just had last night and loved!! I think that it can even be made into an apetizer if you take out the beef as a Spinach dip

Spinach Beef Dish
6-8 Servings Prep: 30 min. Bake: 20 min.

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions
INa large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in the mushrooms, salt, oregano and pepper. Add the spinach, soup and sour cream. Stir in half of the cheese.

TRANSFER to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 15 minutes.

SPRINKLE with the remaining cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1-1/2 cups) equals 269 calories, 16 g fat (9 g saturated fat), 66 mg cholesterol, 835 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 20 g protein.


ENJOY!!

~**~Nicole~**~

Vote for Hailey

She is far back in the votings, but every vote helps :) If you have the chance! thanks and hope to put up a new post soon (sorry I have been so far behind) :/

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/288784