Its been so long...

Wow. It has been over a month since I last blogged. How terrible of me. We have had quite a few house guests and a tornado scare since then.

First Uncle Ricky and his good friend Boris came to visit for the weekend. It was so fun to have them here and to finally meet Boris after hearing stories about him for so many years. It was a whirlwind visit, but we all had a great time together. The boys hit the town on Friday night and Saturday Jona stayed home with Hailey and I got to go out. Geez, we really need a babysitter! I think Rick and Boris had fun and were impressed by all our music here in Nashville. Hopefully that means they will come back!!

The next weeking the Walshs came into town. Manus was willing to put Malinda and Katie on loan so they stayed with us for the weekend while Manus and his parents stayed downtown. It was so fun to see how big Katie has gotten since we moved. She is a beautiful little girl who smiles all the time and cuddles like a master! Hailey quite liked her, but had a hard time sharing her space and her toys. Of course, as soon as they left Baby Katie was all she could ask for! We met the gang downtown for dinnner Saturday night where Hailey was lucky enough to sit next to Nana Kay who was quite taken with our blonde haired beauty. They played and danced and hugged and kissed and now every time we look at Katie's blog Hailey loves to see pictures of Nana Kay and talk about seeing her again.

This past Tuesday night we had quite a storm blow through TN. I'm sure you have all seen the pictures of the devastation, mostly west of us. We were very lucky. Our area did get some heavy storms and some hail but no tornados thankfully. I was at work and Jona and Hailey were snuggled together in our bed just in case they needed to hide in the closet. It never did come to that, in fact the storm woke Jona up but Hailey slept through the whole thing. Please keep our Tennessee neighbors and all those effected in your thoughts and prayers.

Ok, theres a little update to hold you over for now. I'll try to do better. Hugs to all.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & Happy Birthday-- Phew

Oh so very much to blog about. I think I will keep the narration short and let the pictures speak for themselves. First Christmas...

Our friends from Miami, Deborah, Alex, and Ben Christensen, came to visit their family in Nashville for Christmas so they spent the day before with us making cookies for Santa. I am still finding flour and sprinkles which obviously means it was fun!!

Christmas Eve at church with dad and then home to open one present.

This Santa guy ROCKS!

I don't know what you're talking about. I am NOT spoiled!

Isn't this what dump trucks are for??

Happy 2nd B-Day Hailey Elizabeth

Oh-- and Happy New Year too :)

I don't know why you bother buying me presents, these balloons are all I really need.
Oh man, I need a moment.

My own little escape. (Dad thinks its pretty cool too!)

Holy cow, I am now officially THE coolest kid in the neighborhood!! THANK YOU GAMMY, GRAMPY, GRANDMA, & PAPA!!!

I think Mommy looks pretty good on my first bike, the Dream Dazzler.

To watch Diego, or go to Chuck E Cheese...should I stay or should I go??

Go ahead and try to tell me that I'm not the cutest Birthday Princess you have ever seen.

To Chuck E Cheese!

Kentucky Derby here I come!

You don't mind if I lick that do you?!

What an amazing couple of weeks this has been. So many new toys to play with, so much sugar, no naps, complete over stimulation...can't wait to do it again next year. And to top it all off- it snowed for her birthday. Now this is extreme swinging...

Who-ville

Before Christmas we visited Whoville at Opryland. Yep, we met all the Who's and even said hi to the Grinch. The entire city is made of ice and the building is kept at a frigid 9 degrees to keep it from melting. That being said, let me add that my adorable yet incredibly sassy little lady refused and I do mean REFUSED (screaming, flailing, kicking on the floor and all that jazz) to wear her gloves. So then she was horribly grumpy the whole time because her hands hurt. Well HELLO- its 9 degrees put on your stinkin' gloves! But no, and yes I do mean NO, I will suffer but definitely not in silence.

The ice was really cool. The child was not.

I'm sorry I've been so lazy about updating the blog, but life has been a little chaotic. Jona made it home from Mexico without amoebas and without fleas so all in all a safe return. Carol Ann arrived after my parents left to continue the grandparent spoiling of Hailey and we had a great week together before Daddy came home. Then Tony arrived a few days later and stayed to play until last Friday. Hailey had such a fun time with all the grandparents, I'm not sure that Jona and I are entertaining enough for her anymore!

So since I haven't updated in so long, this post will include lots of pictures. We start with a Diego reading session with Grandma her first morning in Nashville. Diego has completely consumed our lives, and although I often feel terrible that she is watching what feels like an endless amount of television, I can honestly say that she is learning from him. She can now count to 10 in english and in spanish, and knows an amazing number of spanish words and uses them appropriately. Her spanish vocabulary is just about as good as mine at this point!

The next pic just cracks me up because Hailey was quietly playing in her room when I walked in and found this scene. Please note that every baby doll has her own blankie, book, and cell phone...what else could a girl need?!?

Daddy's arrival home means lots and LOTS of running, playing and tickling! It really is astounding how much weight these children's toys can hold! This particular car was purchased with love from Gammy and Grampy and sings a variety of lovely, catchy, sing along tunes that are oh-so-fun to hear over and over and over again. When you hit the horn button it honks, next time it whistles, and then it plays what we refer to as her 'travelin music'. Whenever she is pushing you or she is being pushed, the movement must stop until she hits the button enough times to find her theme song.

Which brings us to Christmas tree shopping. We went to a little market just down the road from our house and picked out our tree in a matter of minutes. That is absolutely unheard of for us. It usually takes us multiple trips and at least one large argument to purchase a tree and get it in the house. No fighting this time. Walked onto the lot, picked the third tree we looked at, got it home, put Hailey to bed, got the tree in the house, adjusted it once, and VOILA- Christmas arrived in Nashville! Amazing. Hailey came out into the family room the next morning and stood in awe and said, "Mom, its beautiful." No lights or ornaments required, just a really cool tree in her house is all the girl needs. Decorating has also been fun. We put all the breakable ornaments on the top half so little hands wouldn't get to them, so the tree is rather top heavy. But we left a bunch for Hailey to hang and she did a fabulous job. She took so much time to find just the right place for each one and couldn't hang any of them until they got a hug and a kiss. She really is just too precious.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll try to do better, especially with Christmas, New Years, and her birthday rapidly approaching. And never fear, although we won't be with the rest of our families this year, Hailey will be more than adequately spoiled rotten :) Love to all.

She may be sick, but she is still adorble

Just cause she doesn't feel good doesn't mean she shouldn't look good!

Happy Turkey Day

I am so behind on my updates, sorry. Life has been a little crazy. Jona left for Mexico and my parents arrived to help with Hailey and to spend Thanksgiving with us. There are no words for how helpful they have been! Last weekend we all drive to Mississippi to visit Chris Perrin and family and while we were there Hailey chose to share her latest daycare bug (for her it was double ear infections) with everyone. Lots of tissues flying around and the constant noise of coughing children...a lovely time together, really :) Gammy got it first and still has the constant throat tickle, but Grampy got hit the hardest with pneumonia. Yep, thats right folks, I said pneumonia. See if they ever come visit us again! So we've been a snot filled bunch!

I worked Thanksgiving, so we just did our turkey day today. Gammy fixed quite a feast and Hailey is quite the fan of turkey smothered in gravy...and I mean floating in it. I am ready to fall sound asleep on the couch but I wanted to share the latest pics first. Let the holidays begin!!