Where's Hailey?!

First of all, she has finally started saying Nana and mama! Of course she said Nana first though! Which made Nana happy! So we started taking this little video trying to get her to say mama and Nana on it. She ended up playing her version of peek-a-boo though. It is too darn cute to not share with everyone! She has been playing this game with us for months where we could cover her with her blanket or whatever else we had and say "where's Hailey?" and she would pull it down so she could see us. It has now evolved into her pulling her chubby hand up to her face and usually only gets it as high as her mouth. But she will sometimes get it up to cover one eye while she peeks at you with the other. The when she pulls it down we say "there she is!" and she gets excited to do it all over again.

This is my first attempt at doing a video on the blog so hopefully I do it right!

Oh yeah and pay no attention to Emma yelling at the dog at the end of the video! :)

1st zoo trip of the year

My friend Jessica M and I decided to get together and go to the zoo on Sunday with her mom and aunt. We had unusually nice weather all last week. The weekend was supposed to be cooler but not so cold you couldn't go outside. Typically, the zoo is a bit cooler because it is on a mountain (hence the name Cheyenne Mountain Zoo) but that so was not the case on Sunday! It was a cloudy day and cool in the morning but by lunchtime the sun was shining and the temps were rising. It got hot enough that I took Hailey's pants off and let her hang out in the stroller with just her shirt and diaper on. And I had to push her sleeves up! Of course, Kayla and I left with sunburned shoulders and faces. Oops!

We had 4 adults and 9 kids with us on this trip. The kids ages were from 13 yrs old all the way down to 8 months old. Oldest and youngest being mine. Hmm I had never realized that before. Anyways, we had a great time and managed to not lose a single kid! Our a single strand of hair! :)

The boys - Sam 3 yrs old, Zander 5 yrs old, Christian 9 yrs old, Eli 9 yrs old

The girls - Hailey 8 mo old, Kayla 13 yrs old, Emma 2 yrs old, Allorah 1-1/2 yrs old and Gabby 10 yrs old

And all of us together. Her and I have been friends since we were Kayla's age!

Emma with Sam and Zander. They are both holding her hands! I think I am in trouble....

The kids on the big chair

This picture is funny. If you notice, most of the kids are all looking off in the side...this is in the petting zoo area and they have loose chickens in there. One was near us and coming up to our legs...the kids were all watching to make sure it didn't come to the chair!

Jessica and I

Jessica and her mom Kim - boy don't they look alike?!

Poor teething baby

My poor Hailey is working on getting one of her top teeth. She already has 2 on the bottom. Seems like it has taken forever for her to get one on the top! This is the first tooth from all of my kids that has caused this kind of trouble! You can see a little blister on her gums where the tooth will be. Not soon enough for Hailey...but it will come! I have heard of this happening with other kids. In fact, I have a friend who's son would get a rather large, painful blister before his tooth would come in each time! All I have to say right now is thank God for teething tablets! Add a couple of those to her bottle at night and she can sleep peacefully for a few hours.

Happy 13th Birthday Kayla!

Man. I cannot believe it. I know I say this every year but it's true. Time really does fly. When they are babies, you don't necessarily realize just how little time you get to "have" your kids. 18 yrs is nothing compared to the average life span! And really, they start breaking away from you when they hit middle school at 11 or so yrs old. And naturally, Kayla is still working on that process. Since she is the first born she kind of gets the short end of the stick when it comes to certain freedoms. Which is fine by me! Because while she is breaking away, JR and I have to learn to let go little bits at a time. And boy is that hard sometimes! At the same time, it is fun watching her grow both physically but emotionally and mentally as well. She is officially taller than me by 1 inch! No surprise really but I surely didn't want to admit it at first! She is such a smart girl and is a good kid too. Of course she has the attitude but that is to be expected! Not always excused, but expected for sure! I know I dished out my fair share of 'tude to my parents when I was that age! I love that she is still open with me and willing to share stuff with me. And I will hold on to that for as long as she is comfortable talking to me. I hope that never ends but I do have to be realistic!

We celebrated her birthday with the grandparents on Wed the 11th. My mom is taking cake decorating classes so we had her make the cake. Kayla requested an i-pod cake. And of course Nana did an awesome job!

Darlin and Emma

Grandpa and Grandma (my dad and step-mom)

Nana, Hailey, Kayla, grandpa and Eli and my little brother Chris in the background

Kayla's cook i-pod cake. Nana even put the little ear buds on the side!

Blowing out her candles. She had the plan to have a 1 and a 3 candle for her cake so that I could use the 1 for Hailey's bday and the 3 for Emma's!

On her actual birthday (the 12th) we took her out to dinner. Her request was IHOP and there was no changing her mind! She gave herself away that it was her birthday though because she was wearing a bow from a present around her neck. So they came and sang to her and gave the kids this huge hot fudge sundae. Earlier in the day I picked her up from school and took her out to lunch. Then after dinner we came home and she opened her presents. Between her grandparents and us she ended up with $85! Of course she spent it all today when we went shopping.

Her and her friends always joke that they are nerds since they are in the gifted and talented program. Isn't this shirt fitting for that?!

I gave her the option to either have a birthday party with her friends this weekend or go to the Fall Out Boys concert coming up in April. She chose the concert! And is super excited about it since that is her favorite band.

Look Where I Found Her!

Earlier this week when I went into the girls' room to wake them up I noticed Emma's bed was empty. At first it freaked me out because that was where she should be, obviously! I went back to my room to check that she wasn't in there and I just missed her. Nope. I checked closer in her bed. Nope. I checked Eli's bed. Nope. The last place I figured she may have gone was to Kayla's room to her bed. On my way to Kayla's room....

Here is where I found her!

She had grabbed both of her pillows (yep she sleeps like that every night!) and went to the couch! When I woke her up and asked her what she was doing out there her response was "because I was hangin' out"! Not sure who she thought she was going to hang out with in the early morning hours but she must have gotten bored!