I think Hayley has been getting idea's from her Aunt Necia

Here is Hayley after eating a little planting soil. At least it has nutrients, do you think they work for 1 year olds as well and plants?

more presents for the 1 year old

Here Hayley is a little more interested in opening her own gifts, but sister still wants to help so we compromised one for each.Thanks grandma and grandpa they both love the gifts.

When you the best of friends:

On our way to Zeke's baby blessing I turned around and this is what the girls were doing. It was so sweet they really do like each other. I just hope they always do.
The other day

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

My sweet baby Hayley is 1!!!! Here is the cake I made for her, the mini cakes were for Hayley and Aubree. What would a 1st birthday be with out a special cake for the birthday girl?
The room was decorated perfect thanks to Aubree and Eli:Aubree thought her stuffed animals needed to be invited to the party as well.
We had a lot of fun with cousin Zeke and his parents Mike and Tina:And our cute little friend Taylor and her parents Erik and Lisa:Here we are singing Happy Birthday to her:Here she is with her cake:
The final results:After we got all the cake off of her and out of the carpet it was time for presents:She wasn't really interested in the gifts until they were opened, which her sister was very helpful with. What there is a toy in here, na we are happy to play with the box.All in all she was a very happy one year old.Ps. I have many many more pictures if anyone is interested. hint hint grandparents.

NICU-so near and dear to us

As many of you know my sweet Aubree came 6 weeks early and stayed in the Newborn ICU for 2 weeks. Every year the hospital is so great and puts on a great reunion. The reunion is for anyone that has "graduated" from the NICU. It is a chance to catch up with the Dr.'s and nurses that came to meant so much to us. The woman that was checking in behind us graduated in 1955. It is so spiritual to know that they people who are there with you went through some the same things you did as you waited to be able to take your sweet baby home. It is also interesting to see people you know but didn't know that they had a baby in the NICU. The reunion is full of kids entertainment, Face painting/ arm painting: horse riding:
and craft making:Hayley was very happy to just be with her daddy:All in all I think that she was a very happy girl:

pre-party part 2

We also went to one of our favorite places: Red Robin ! It is a very family friendly restaurant. If you order the kids mac and cheese they will split the meal in half for the kids to share and it is refillable. Here is a picture Aubree asked to take, of me and Stretch:Hayley with her birthday sundae:Hayley getting to taste the first bite, don't worry that she needed her own spoon to hold. Sometimes she wants to be a big girl.

Pre-birthday celebration

Eli had been out of town the week before Hayley's birthday so when he came home we decided to start the celebration!!! We took the girls to Build a bear, they each got to pick out a stuffed animal. (maybe Eli helped Hayley, but I will never tell) Hayley chose Coco the Lamb and Aubree chose Stretch the unicorn. Here is Hayley filling her lamb.Here are the girls "washing" their animals, this helps get all the extra fuz off. Here we are after our adventure. And the girls sleep with their animals every night since.

swim fishy fishy

The girls are taking swimming lessons and loving it!! Aubree did a parent ed class and did so well we moved her up to a preschool class. Aubree's class is full of kids her age and you know how friendly she is. She loves It! Hayley and her daddy are in the parent ed class now. Hayley loves it as well. The girls waiting outside with daddy.

SAN DIEGO, LOVE IT!!!!

Every year Eli has the opportunity to go on a golf retreat with the company that we works for. This year was the nicest so far. The first year I didn't go and as in MN visiting my sister. Last year I was huge and due to pop with Hayley at any minute. This year my sweet in-laws were gracious enough to watch both girls for the whole weekend. This was the first time I had ever left Hayley, and I can count on both hands the amount of time I have spend away from Aubree. I was very excited and nervous. I was worried about me missing them not them missing me. Anyway, Eli and I ate dinner at the Elephant Bar (yummy) then on to some golf. Once we went to the pro shop and told them we were going to the driving range they let us take a cart. (what could be better than driving a golf cart?) We had a lot of fun at the driving range, and I am a great coach if I do say so myself. Eli had a great game and I enjoyed the spa. All in all it couldn't have been a better weekend :)!!

Some people are just smarter than others...

This is serous: Yesterday a man was involved in some crime of some sort. After officers tried to arrest him and his friend the one man ran. After the officers were able to get him, one hit him with a flashlight and the other kicked him.
Wait it gets better: The news channel reporting the insistent also interviewed a citizen from that city.
The citizen said this: "So, what you are telling me is that if we do something wrong and the cops come to get us and we run we should expect a boot in the face?"

I would just like to tell this man, YES- you ran, da!! Hello, anybody in there.

Eli's birthday reprise

To celebrate Eli's birthday with his family, we went up to Simi and had Eli's favorite dinner tatter tot casserole and his favorite treat cookies and Orange Juice. Eli wanted what else? good books! Hayley watching daddy open gifts with Grandpa, her special buddy.We love to play in Simi because Grandma and Grandpa have a great back yard. The girls always have a good time and usuallyend up wet. This is what Grandma's beautiful tablecloth looked like after Hayley enjoyed some of daddy's b-day cookies. And this is what Hayley looked like

Another first

Aubree got to hold Zeke for the first time. She honestly loves everything about him.

They say its your birthday

Eli had a huge birthday this year, he turned 30th!!! He had a fun birthday party and Dave and Busters (which is an adult chuck E cheese). We had good food and even better company. The games were just a bonus. Thanks to everyone that came and made it so fun. To top off the night Eli wanted Sprinkles cupcakes.
Eli's dinner:
Eli and Mike's (brother-in-law) birthday's are close so they both got a dessert:
Here I am handing our cupcakes: Cigars or cigarettes
FRIENDS:

The Motta's
The For's
The Shek's with the third member of their relationship his phone. He was the man in charge of splitting the bill. Thanks for that Aurther.
The Owen's
The Larsen's
Eli's sibling's
Mike and Baby ZekeHere we are all playing a racing game. One of the best part of Dave and Busters is that you can do things in large numbers.