Cookies at Mawga's

One morning Hailey looked in the pantry and said, "Daddy, when can we make cookies?" I was sick, and he was going to get some work done at the office, so He suggested she call Mawga and see what she was up to. So she did. She called Mawg, and asked if she could come over and make cookies. Of course Mawg couldn't resist the sweet voice of Hailey asking to come over.
Hailey picked out her apron and wanted to wear the matching hat, she ran upstairs to show me that she was "dressed" for Mawga's house.

Tegan didn't want to be left out, so she ran and got an apron too.

 They made Nana Karen's chocolate chip cookies, but substituted with butterscotch chips.

Hailey made big cookies and even told Mawg she wanted to make little cookies.

Tegan even got to help a little,

Hailey took some up to her daddy at work,

and was so excited to bring them in her lunch to school and even give one to her teachers and let them know that she made them.
She was pretty proud!

(thanks for having the girls and for taking pictures, Mawga!)

Residence Club Fun

Our Residence Club hosted some fun events for the kick off of the new year. We picked up Kelly and then got to the theater room early so they can get "their seats." My girls always pick the back row.

The movie playing was Muppetts Treasure Island.
Then we went to the Art room and the girls got to do several crafts including bead necklaces, painting on wooden pieces as well as a ceramic piece. They also did a little water coloring just on paper.

I took the 3 of them for lunch at McD's then came back to the build-your-own sundae bar.
I think it was quite a hit.

Then they all showed me their wonderful art work!

First friend Sleepover

Hailey and Tegan had their first friend sleepover! We've had a couple times where friends have stayed over and went to bed for a few hours until their parents came to pick them up, but this time, their friend Hannah got to stay the whole night! Hailey was super excited to wake up and Hannah was still here.
We had our friends Kevin and Sonya over for dinner and game night. We figured we'd put the girls to bed and see how it goes.
Hannah and Hailey got to sleep in Hailey's princess bed. (Hannah was pretty happy about that, she had been wanting to sleep in their for awhile).

Tegan was just so happy to be a part of it all. We actually moved the toddler bed into Hailey's room so that Tegan could join in on the sleepover.

 After dinner, the adults started a game and the girls did a little dress up and princess play,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Andy then read them all a bedtime story,

and then the 4 of us adults went to finish our game of Risk. The girls actually fell asleep pretty fast, we did have to go up a few times to remind them it was sleep time.
As for the game I just have to say, for the record, that we stopped before there was an actual winner, but, if we continued, yes, Kevin would have won. There. I admitted it.
It was such a fun night and we'll for sure have to do it again.
In the morning, when Sonya came to pick up Hannah, she also brought some donuts for breakfast.

I'm pretty sure the girls had a grand time.

Dad's Birthday

Knock knock! Opa, we're here to take you out for your Birthday lunch!

My Dad insisted that he didn't want a party, and although we didn't agree, we respected that choice and asked if we could take him out to lunch instead. He chose the Olive Garden. We had a great meal and a fun time celebrating Opa.

Tegan always has a good time,

Happy Birthday Opa! We love you and we hope that you had a special time with us as we celebrated YOU!

Hailey's well-check up

We went for Hailey's 4 year old well check up.
She is 39in. tall, and in the 40th percentile for her age/gender. (a little shorter than average)

 She weighs 36.5lbs which puts her in the 64th percentile for weight. 

But none of that matters, I think she's just perfect!
This time she even had her hearing checked. Yeah, that didn't work too well. She kept smiling and would look at me, but never raise her hand when she heard the beep as instructed. The nurse said that typically at her age she has to look for other cues (like the smiling) rather than the hand raise.
After the nurse left Hailey told me, "I have a secret for you," she's very into secrets lately... and she said, "I really heard the beeping but I forgot to raise my hand."

After the Dr.'s office, it is our tradition to go get a treat. This time, Hailey chose to got to Cracker Barrel and we got lunch, and then ice cream!

 I have to include this picture too, just because I want it in one of my posts of her being 4. This is her "favorite" outfit. Every time she wears it, she asks if she can wear it again the next day. One time I kept tossing in the wash with different loads and she wore it 3 days in a row! (hey, at least it was cleaned each day). It must be comfortable or something. I mean it's cute, but there's nothing special about it as far as a color or picture, it's just gray. 

Her other favorite outfit is one that is a soft gray, kinda the same style but has blue with pink polka dot leggings, and the top has a hood with little, what she calls, "mouse ears." I'll try to remember to add a picture later. She loves pockets and hoods, and that one has both.
I love (well sometimes) that she is starting to form her own opinion on things that she likes and doesn't like.

Miscellaneous December

We stayed pretty busy in December, and although I've blogged the majority of the activities, there are still plenty that didn't get blogged yet.
Our church had set up a booth at the local Mall to wrap presents, free of charge! Some of our community group had the opportunity to go and serve one night,

Hailey came with me, isn't she such a cute little helper?

She was such a big help with putting on bows too.

This was an amazing outreach. I remember one guy was just floored that we were all taking time out of our busy holiday schedules and volunteering our time and that a church would work together to do something like this, all for free and not expecting anything in return (not even accepting tips). Our church set up the booth from after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve and we had over 200 volunteers wrap over 15,000 gifts!! What a great way to show the true meaning of giving at Christmas.

One night Andy came home with all the ingredients to make homemade pizza's for dinner. Hailey made BBQ Chicken and Tegan made Ranch Chicken,

We went to a birthday party (for one of the boys in Hailey's class...but for some reason only got one picture of Tegan playing. Maybe I was too busy socializing?) It was at an Indoor Playground that just opened.

We met up with some friends that had moved away but were in town for a visit,

We spent time with Oma and Opa, playing catch in their yard and fighting over who got to help sweep and clean,

We also went to their church for a Christmas Music celebration,

Hailey made sure that we brought the church bank she colored and added coins to that she got from last time she was there. (She remembered the teachers said to fill it up and bring it back for their building project, so she did).

Andy was able to help welcome a wounded soldier home, they had an amazing turn out even in the pouring rain!

The girls wanted to do a little switch-a-roo one night for beds, and Hailey slept in Tegan's crib and Tegan slept in Hailey's bed. They even switched minkies and lovies.

We've been going back and forth with Tegan with her crib and her toddler bed. She seems to like her toddler bed though.

The girls even had a great time with Harrison, while Rainer had watched them for me one day.

Yes, I will have to say, it was quite a busy December! Time for a little relaxation?