The Fabulous Five

There is a great farm fairly close to us that lets you go strawberry picking! So we joined one of Avery and Pete's classmates and headed out there to do some work! It was great! It was a little packed, but the strawberry fields are so large, you just had to walk a bit to find your own strawberry patch to claim! The kiddos were shown how to determine whether a strawberry was ripe or not, the basic life cycle of a strawberry plant and how to pick the yummy fruit! The older kids (Avery, Pete, and their friend Charlotte) did really well with the task, Hailey ended up with a lot of strawberry juice on her hands and face (hmm....). Oh, and see that irrigation line that Hailey is pulling in the picture, yeah, she wasn't supposed to be doing that either . . .


All in all, a great field trip and strawberries were $2 a pound - I figured that is pretty close to the grocery store and we got lots of fun and an educational experience out of it!

Since Hailey loves books so much I originally had the idea to do a "book party", but found so many cute ideas for Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Catepillar" and Hailey's birthday party theme was born! All my kiddos (as well as their momma) love Eric Carle books so this theme seemed to be a great fit. The more I kept searching for ideas, the more amazing things I found!




I ventured into cake making, er, cupcake making! I think the cupcake cake turned out so well! But, I do know that I really probably won't be doing it again! Cake decorating is tough - but it was all worth it seeing how happy that little cake made Hailey! She loved it and kept shouting, "CATEPILLAR!"



We also had a little photo catepillar to take pictures in. My kiddos were priceless getting their pictures taking being the catepillar. Each of their personalities really shined through!





Hailey is so lucky to have so many people that love, care and dote on her. I feel like birthday parties are more for the adults to feel the love - and boy, did I feel it at this birthday party. It truly means so much to Pete and I to have so many people take time out of their day for our special little baby. These are definitely memories to last a lifetime. Thank you to everyone that made this a special day for Hailey!

WHAT????!!!! My little baby girl can NOT be 2 already? Where has the time flown by? Hailey is the spunkiest, funniest, cuddliest kiddo I know. We are thankful everyday for her being a part of our lives.

Hailey is doing so well with her language skills right now. Her teachers are extremely impressed with how verbal she is and how well she is talking. Most people think she is older than she is because of how well she communicates. She is (and has been for some time) singing her ABC's, counting to 20 and learning letter sound correspondence. She loves to read and sit in laps as books are being read. She loves hide and go seek and making funny faces. She loves to get her pictures taken and say "CHEESSSSEEE!!" She loves, loves, loves her brother and sister and is often using every opportunity to play with them. She has hit a bit of terrible two tantrum throwing, but I really think that has a lot to do with nap taking and sleeping changes. She wants to go, go, go and would definitely stay up until midnight if we let her! (She takes after her big sister!)

She is a tough, tough girl and can usually hold her own with her "older" siblings. She doesn't get pushed around, that is for sure!! We just know that she is going to be such a tall girl with how much she is growing. She loves eggs, pancakes, french toast and will generally eat many things that we put in front of her.

Hailey, it goes without saying that we love, love, love every part of you. You are part of the sunshine that makes our day, everyday. We hope and pray many blessings for your life. Happy 2nd Birthday!