I received a package in the mail the other day and look what was in it . . . this beautiful "Happy Birthday" banner that my clever sister, Melanie made for me.
On the other side it says, "Valentines Day" in such cute fabric pieces. Melanie is a quilter and she comes up with the most darling ideas. She made the banner knowing they were moving to Idaho and sent a very sweet note with it which read, "Now, you can hang this banner up and have a little part of me at all of the birthday parties I can't come to." (yes, I cried when I read that!)
Our little Hailey, turned 7 years old today. She is absolutely the light of our life and I can't imagine life without her. She is really into birds right now. (last year it was reptiles, but this year it is birds!!) She wanted a parrot cake----so, thank goodness for the internet---we searched and found a pretty good parrot cake that we could duplicate! I think it turned out really pretty. She loved it!
Of course, she wants a REAL parrot but this cake will have to do for now! ha ha
This is her little birthday outfit. We let her open it before school so she could wear it on her special day. I just love that she is 7 years old but still wears size 4/5 pants. She is just petite!
Do you see her little art gallery in the background? We took down the regular pictures that hang there and decided to make that her art gallery. Hailey goes through more paper and markers than any other kid I know! I want to save all of them too because each is so unique and always has a sweet message written on it.
She also has all of her upper baby teeth still so that makes her look even younger to me than all of her other friends. (again, I'm completely OK with that!) She is my last little baby and I want her to stay little!!!
This is her best friend, Isobel. (Izzy for short) I took Hailey McDonald's for lunch and ate with her and her friends. Those kids were so cute! You'd think I was a rockstar or something---about 10 kids asked if they could sit by me at lunch! I love how innocent and trusting children are. As I sat eating with her, my mind couldn't help but think of the tragic events of last week. I looked around at all of the pure, innocent faces of children and just shuddered. I can't even begin to imagine the grief that is upon those who lost loved ones in Newtown, CT. I couldn't stop hugging Hailey during lunch and I must have kissed her a dozen times.
After lunch, she begged me to stay and play with her at recess. So, off to the playground we went. We played on the swings and I gave "underdogs" to about 8 kids on the swings at least 8 times each. That's 64+ underdoggies!!! Whoa . . . Then, I taught them how to play "Red Rover" and they had so much fun doing that! When it was time to leave, Hailey just clung to me and wanted me to pick her up and hold her. She is super snuggly and loves to be around me. I just eat it up, because the older the kids get, the more difficult snuggling becomes! I still get in some great hugs and snuggles with my teenagers, but it's just different when they are taller than you!
Hailey got a fox body pillow that she has been wanting for weeks now. Ever since she saw it at Target she has been dying to get one!
Since she loves birds, Tom bought her a book about the birds in Arizona. Hailey went crazy looking through the book and reading about the different bird facts. She said, "Dad, when it's the 25 days of Christmas, can we go birding together?" Perhaps she thinks the break from school is 25 days long--ha ha! At any rate, I still think it's so cute she wants to go out and look for birds with her daddy!
Of course, the two goofballs had to be laughing and wrestling the entire time Hailey was opening her presents. I kept saying, "Can't you guys just focus on her for two minutes!?! ha ha!
Spencer was making this wierd sound by hitting his throat and humming at the same time and Kohler was absolutely cracking up! It was pretty funny!
They finally calmed down enough to get a good picture! I love these two boys . . . even if they are goofballs! ha ha
I have a lot of things to catch up on but life has been super busy getting ready for Christmas, birthdays, concerts, staff luncheons, school meetings, teaching RS last Sunday, choir rehearsals, etc. But, here are a few photos of what we did last Monday night after FHE. We were singing Christmas songs with the two little kids and decided to record their sweet voices. So, Tom got out the recording equipment and we did it---right there on the fly! They aren't perfect recordings but they are so precious to me.
Hailey, in her little pajamas, sang, "Believe" from the movie The Polar Express. It was pretty high for her voice so I transposed the song down 3 half steps which still made it a little high but not as bad. She gave it her all and really belted out the high parts. It was super cute to watch her. Hailey really got into the recording and loved hearing her voice. Tom would give her suggestions and she listened and made the corrections and would say, "Now play it back for me dad!"
Spencer sang, "Somewhere in My Memory" from the movie Home Alone. He has such a beautiful, pure tone. I hope he grows up to sing like his dad!
Of course, Tom (a.k.a. Goofball #3) turned up the echo when Spencer recorded to full blast which sounded hilarious and Spencer got the giggles! He was seriously cracking up and could not stop! ha ha
Look at his face!!! We were all hysterical, laughing at him--laughing!
Then, on Tuesday night, after YM, Tom and I helped our Bishop's son, Dallin, record a beautiful song he performed in Sacrament Meeting a few months ago. It is going to be a Christmas present to his parents and he was super excited to record his voice for the first time!
On December 11, Spencer had his School Orchestra Concert. He started playing the cello just a few months ago and he is really liking it!
Spencer is the second cello in behind the girl with the long blond hair.
They played quite a few Christmas songs and we were really impressed at how nice they sounded, for a 5th grade orchestra.
Yes, the Santa hats were worn the next day to school!
OK, best find of the week!!!! Did I mention that Hailey is CRAZY about birds and wants a real one? Well, the other day I was at Party City and asked if they have any bird decorations for her birthday party. The manager said they had a styrofoam parrot with feathers that was damaged from a pirate costume that she would sell me for $5! DONE!!!! I came home, hot glued the broken feathers and loose feet---and we were in business. Hailey LOVES the parrot and named him, Christopher. She is happy (and so are we!)
