Pretty Girls

These are our fall school pictures, and I'm sorta in love with them. :)

Photography by Hallie

Hallie commandeered my camera this morning and proceeded to take some pictures (note the little fingers in one of the shots). The funniest part was that she posed us. She specifically instructed Julie to "hold mommy's head" and gave me the pumpkin to hold.

My Little Rebelette Goes to "Ole Mee-uss"

On our way to Oxford. Eating a snack from her Daddy--and turning orange from head to toe.
Holding "Big Hallie's" hand all the way to the Grove. And screaming the whole Hotty Toddy cheer (the edited version). :)

At the Game

Playing with her VERY patient Juju at the game.

Face "sticker"!

Playing at Square Books Jr.

Kissing Faulkner

We match.

All Hotty Toddy-ed out.

Assessment

When cleaning out Hallie's school bag on Friday (her bag seems to accumulate quite a collection of things throughout the week), Jason came across an "assessment" that apparently went out in mid-October. Ok, so we don't clean out her bag that regularly. Out of about 40 items, Hallie could do everything on the list except hop on one foot, stand on one foot, and draw a face. I had to laugh--pretty sure I still can't do any of those very well.

Then we read the comments section. They went something like this: "Hallie keeps me on my toes. I always have to watch what I do because Hallie is always listening and watching. We are working on not bossing our friends and having listening ears for the afternoon teachers. I am looking forward to a great year with Hallie."

Well, Miss Malania, I think you hit the nail on the head with this one.

New Template, Take Two

It seems my other template has been experiencing technical difficulties. So, I'm trying again with this one. Hopefully it won't be prone to such glitches.

Pigtails!!

I'm really not sure who is more excited about this development--Mommy or Hallie--but her hair is FINALLY long enough for pigtails! They're still short little pigtails, but who cares? She was very proud of them and showed them off to the lady who sits at the front desk at school today. And of course to Toni. Good luck to Miss Malania, who will likely spend the day putting the little scrunchies back in her hair time and time again (I've done it four times so far, and that was before 8:00). :)

My Big Girl

Sara Bee has been climbing up into Hallie's big girl seat at the table the past couple of days, and tonight Jason decided to let her eat dinner at the table with a plate and everything (instead of in the chair/tray combo she's used to). As you can see, she made a total mess but was very proud of herself.

The Streak

For the second time this week, Sara came cruising through the den in just a shirt tonight...meaning no diaper. Hallie followed close behind, holding the diaper and proclaiming that Sara needed a new one. Both times, I had changed Sara about 5 minutes earlier.

There are a couple of things that amaze me about this: (1) we have not had an accident sans diaper either of these two times (thank goodness), and (2) how the heck does Hallie manage to get Sara to lie still long enough to get the diaper off of her?? We have enough trouble when we're changing her, and we can (sort of) hold her down!

Needless to say, Hallie has been explicitly instructed not to take Sara's diaper off anymore. But just wait till poor little helpless Brooks arrives on the scene. She'll be giving him bottles and stripping him down every time we look the other direction. Guess I'll just have to start wearing him in a sling 24/7 to protect him from his very helpful sister!

Happy Birthday Pat Pat!

We had a birthday lunch/party for Mama Pat today. It was very fun to spend time with everyone and to celebrate our Pat Pat!

Costume Party

Rednecks, the Duggars, and...Us. That's right. Heather and James came as Anita and Jason in 2010. Notice the 3 dolls and pregnant belly...

Lucky for them, we have a fabulous sense of humor. :)