Mary Lou or Mia?

This past weekend we were deciding if Haley was going to be the next Mary Lou Retton (which is my all time favorite athlete no doubt!) or Mia Hamm. Saturday was her last class at The Little Gym for the semester and they had a Fall Show. For her group there wasn't too much to show but Grandma came to watch and Haley got a ribbon at the end. It wasn't her best day but she managed to smile at the end. This Saturday starts the new semester but we have kept her in the same class. It's nice to have Haley time every Saturday morning since we are both working.
Sunday it was beautiful out so we went to the park and a nice long walk. This time we brought a soccer ball and Haley showed us her best Mia Hamm impressions. I don't think Haley got the memo that Mia is not a goalie :) Watching your kids laugh and have fun has got to be one of the best parts of being a parent.
I can't believe how fast time is going by now. It's already almost the weekend again...whew! Enjoy the pictures of Haley's sports adventures.

Parachute time...not so sure about this

What just happened?

Whoops...I missed the bars

About to climb on the beam...and about 2 secs before I hit my chin on it...ouch

Getting my first ever ribbon.

Soccer time...good job watching the ball! Your Uncles Mark and Brian would be proud.

Carrying the ball is easier

Mama's gonna get me...run faster

That was fun but I am tired

Our little cowgirl

Wow....rare mid week post from Stephanie!

For Haley's first Christmas in 2007 Grandma had bought her some cute pink cowboy boots, a cowboy hat and an adorable dress. Well this summer she got pictures made with all of it on but the boots where way to big. So this Christmas Grandma bought her a new cowgirl dress so her boots wouldn't go to waste. She wore it for the first time this week and wanted nothing to do with the boots kicking them off right away. I didn't want to fuss with it in the morning as I was running late, as usual. When we got home from work and the day at Grandma's, we decided to try the boots again. This time Haley loved them. She was strutting her stuff around the house. Now the hat, not such a hit, plus it doesn't fit anymore. Hopefully now that she is comfortable with the boots she will wear them all day :)

Checking out the boots


The entire outfit


Strutting her stuff

Haley got her last Christmas present last night. Uncle Mark bought her a huge chair from Pottery Barn complete with her name! Haley loves it. She was so anxious to get it out of the car yesterday and even cried when it couldn't come out at the same time she did (she got over that really quick considering it was 30 degrees out and she was pouting outside). Thank you Uncle Mark for the great gift!!!

BTW, we do brush her hair! I'm noticing in these pictures her hair is always in her eyes. She has a swirl in forehead by her hairline and it is an odd length now so her hair always appears so uncombed (if that is a word). I'm working on my mommy skills of putting the little she has up in bows. Now only if she would leave it.

I'll have fries with that

Matt's in the process of replacing the baseboards and door casings throughout our house so I took Haley shopping this morning so he could get come quality work done without having her try to hammer in nails. After hanging out at Toys R Us for awhile and Laskeshore Learning, I hit up McDonalds for a Happy Meal for Haley on our way home. That was around 11:45 ish. So fast forward 4 hours. Haley had woken up from her nap and was hungry so what better to eat then cold Mickey D french fries...yuck. She had a death grip on them all afternoon sneaking a fry in her mouth every once in awhile. So off to the park we went, and along came the fries. I can't believe how big she is getting. She can climb up the stairs now and even went down the slides by herself! I get a little nervous on the kiddie one because at the top there is a large gap for if you climb up the ladder thing, which I think is silly because what little one shoud be climbing up the ladder! So one of us usually climbs up with her just in case but she did very good. And needless to say she did it all with one hand, since the other was clinging to the fries. I finally got the fries away when they were all gone and she was eating the wrapper...nasty. Oh well, guess we got our money out of that happy meal. I can't believe the weekend is over...hope everyone has a great week!

Haley, Daddy and the fries


Weee.. down the slide all by herself


Haley wanted to take a break and walked off with Daddy for awhile, but they came back. At least she knew the way home


Yummy! I love cold fries!!

What happens when you hold on to the fries instead of putting your hands down when falling. No damage done, and the fries were ok too

Cookie Monster

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we decided to check out the new park by the pavillon. I would recommend it to anyone who has not been yet. They have a great grassy area that is soft and fun to run in and a cool maze for the kids. Haley loved all the steps most of all as she was practing her climbing. We even ran into some friends there where Haley took off with Audrey's shoes and wanted to chill out in Eric's stroller. We then took a walk down the waterway to eat and Haley had a minor meltdown. Turns out she was really hungry and chowed down on 3 pieces of pizza when it finally came! On the walk back we enjoyed the lights on the trees and even saw a wedding at the park...how fun! Sunday was Uncle Mark's birthday and Haley helped make the cake. Ok, she just handed off the eggs but hey, what can you ask of a 15 month old. Maybe next year she will be more help.
So lately Haley has had an infatuation with the toilet...I know...GROSS. A couple of funny stories from the weekend, probably TMI but it should make you laugh. On Saturday when we were waiting for our food Haley was restless so I took her into the bathroom with me so she could walk. So I did my business and the next thing you know I felt something really cold on my backside. Haley spanked me! Oh my...not sure who or where she learned that but it was so funny. She just laughed and I couldn't help but laugh away.
Then on Sunday at Grandma's I had finished giving her a bath and she was running around the bathroom naked. She went into the toilet room and had her tooshie against the wall. She started to make the face, you know that face, so I was worried she was going to go poopies right there on the wall. So I sat her on the potty and she proceeded to grunt several times. Nothing came out and then she started to laugh like she was immitating what's she has seen others do! That girl is so funny. I'm sure Haley will kill me one day for telling these stories but they make me laugh and our little one brings so much joy to our hearts.

Here's some pictures from our backyard time eating her favorite cookies. She had to walk around with the big jar the entire time

What a big girl!

Funny faces

Where are my cookies? (My hair is so curly when it is humid out)

Found my cookies...they were ALL in my mouth. Just like a chipmunk

Catching up on Christmas

Christmas was great. We have been so busy over the last 3 weeks I haven't been able to catch up on the blog. Sorry! I'll give a very high level summary of our last few weeks.....Matt's parents and brother stayed with us for 2 weeks thru Christmas. Haley loved hanging on Uncle Michael best of all. She would climb up on the chair and give him hugs. It was precious. Matt's Aunt also joined us for Christmas so we had a full house but lots of fun. On Christmas Eve Uncle Mark and Grandpa Jeff came over to celebrate too bringing Haley lots of fun toys. Christmas morning we opened gifts from Santa including a new outside car for Haley, a kitchen and her very own rocking chair. She liked her gifts but was more interested in Uncle Michael's talking Elmo...go figure. Christmas afternoon we headed over to Grandma Jean's where we met the rest of the family and had a nice meal, and of course Santa stops there too. Overall it was a great Christmas and we couldn't ask for anything more then being surrounded with our family.

We're ready to see what the New Year brings and we wish everyone lots of love and happiness!

Enjoy some pics from Christmas...

Haley giving Uncle Michael hugs

Haley rolling out the Christmas cookie dough

Uncle Nathan trying to get Haley to eat icing while Uncle Mark is decorating a cookie with Haley

Haley and Buster at Grandmas

Checking out the new chair Santa left for Haley on Christmas morning

Opening presents is hard work

Mom and Haley in her Christmas dress

Snow...boys...kisses

Snow! I still can't believe it snowed in Houston! We took Haley out in it but she didn't want much to do with it and quickly wanted back inside. I'm sure it didn't help that I made her wear her thick puffy jacket that she looked like a pink blob in. I did manage to get a few pictures of the back porch and truck.
On Thursday Grandma took Haley to get her picture with Santa at a local shop in Montgomery. They waiting in line over 1 hour! Poor Uncle Nathan who is home from his first semester at college was coerced into coming along. I was shocked she didn't cry when she finally got to Santa. I guess there were tons of kids there so she was quite entertained. Haley seems to like Santa as she always points him out. I bet she likes the beard and the big red coat.
Yesterday we went to a gathering for our friends who are home from Singapore, the Kirkham's. Haley had a good time playing with all the kids and even got her first kiss! Whoa...we are going to have to watch out for those Kirkham boys in a few years!!!
Today Grandma and Grandpa Vara along with Uncle Michael arrived for the holidays. Haley was really excited to see Uncle Michael again and daddy took her for a ride on Uncle Michael's wheelchair. She wasn't sure what was going on but she loves to talk to her Uncle.
Hope everyone has a great week and enjoy our last week in pictures...

It's snowing!

The truck covered in snow

Ben and Haley running around outside

Haley was more interested in carrying the chair around then sitting in it

Haley thinking....hmmm....he is cute!

Ben thinking.... I'm going to sieze the moment and go in for a kiss

Smooch!

Whoa...what just happened?

Ben going in for seconds and Haley pushing him back

Catching up

We have been having some computer problems lately and today is the first day the internet is working again!!! So to catch up....we had a great Thanksgiving with Matt's family coming down to spend the week with us. Haley enjoyed seeing all her grandparents including all on T-day, I think that is a first. On Friday we went to San Antonio where we spent the weekend and enjoyed a day at Sea World. Haley had a blast. She loved watching Shamu and was mesmorized my the show watching his every move. It made it hard for me to get a picture but that's ok. After a long day at Sea World she zonked out in the bed. We ended up getting a season pass so we can't wait to take her back. Later that night we went on a riverboat cruise dinner where we saw all the Christmas Lights along the riverwalk. What a pretty night.

This week we finally put up our Christmas decorations and have finally told Santa what to bring Haley for Christmas. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to start your shopping.

Enjoy our pictures from Sea World...

Getting ready to walk in

This is what I think of waiting in lines!

Shamu

Our family with Christmas Shamu

Boy what a long day...this was about 2 minutes after the picture with Shamu