mommy's little helper

Hadyn LOVES to help me with whatever I am doing...cleaning, cooking, laundry, blogging, eating, EVERYTHING...but she was really getting into the whole ironing thing...she would iron and then give it to me to get "warm".

I can't wait until she can take over on this one.

the rest of the summer

Between neighbors, friends and my parents house we spent the rest of our summer in a pool. It is the only way to survive the summer heat and with four little fish there is nothing they would rather do EVERY day! The kids grew leaps and bounds with their swimming abilities this summer...and it had nothing to do with swimming lessons...no need for those we had Grandpa. He worked with the kids everytime he came out swimming with us. He worked on their diving, strokes and kicking...and it shows.

Taryn has a beautiful dive now and can swim all the way across the pool and a little more holding her breath...Grandpa keeps encouraging her to do more with stories of how he and I are the champion underwater swimmers at summer camp...but she is happy with one length of the pool. She much prefers to be a dolphin in the water or some other animal than to work on strokes, but she is just as much a fish as the rest.

Drake has a beautiful dive as well and he too can now swim all the way across the pool in one breath. He loves working on his strokes with Grandpa and at times can be quite amazing. He has also started attempting flips from the side which can be a little scary at times...

Not surprisingly, Hadyn is a free little spirit in the water...off in her own world at most times. But she loves to dive as well and as gotten pretty good...though this day she was just being goofy. She can now swim to the bottom of the deep end of the pool all by herself and she loves to swim down to go under my legs. She also loves doing flips under the water and silly dance moves which always make me laugh. My little fish #3.

And then there is Dax...who tries to keep up, and do everything everyone else does. He has no fear which can be scary but quite entertaining at the same time. He has always jumped in whenever he feels like it and we have worked long and hard to get him to wait until someone is looking...he has gotten a little better...but my eyes rarely leave him while we are swimming. He can now swim about 4 feet and LOVES to be under water. He has discovered jumping in backwards which we thought was cute the first time and then not so much after that seeing how close he got to the wall. He has also tried flipping like Drake...which we had to put an end too as well. He loves jumping off diving boards but at the Winters house he prefers their highest wall...which is much higher then the diving board. Yes, he is crazy, but he is also number 4 and a boy...I think it comes with the territory. He has finally mastered swimming in a tube...though it never lasts too long...because he just can't sit still. This kid keeps me going...

Watch out swim team next year...do you think they will let Dax on???

cousins

We were lucky to have Jill, Quinn and baby McKenna stop by for a few days on their way home from Cali...we had a blast swimming, shopping, playing, more shopping and more swimming... 

Everyone fell in love with baby McKenna...she is so sweet...

And Quinn and Hadyn played together SO well the whole time, they were SO cute together and SO excited to see each other every day.  

Quinn and Dax also loved playing togther...they texted, talked on the phone and took pictures of each other...

Isn't she a doll???  One for love my Quinny...one for love!

We had so much fun and can't wait to see you in September...hopefully!

things i love about hadyn

I need to remind myself of these things...on a daily, sometimes hourly basis...

When Hadyn is doing something she shouldn't (which is often) her most typical response is "don't say any words to me" or "don't look at me" which always makes me laugh and almost makes me not want to say any "words" to her.

Hadyn has her own sense of style and that requires at least 15 dresses and 3 pairs of pajamas a day or she HAS to wear the SAME dress everyday all day and night.  So regardless, Sundays are always a challange, getting her dressed and happy about it.  This past sunday I was telling her that we need to wear pretty dresses to church to make Jesus happy (so I pulled the Jesus card...sue me)  Anyway, after much persusion she got dressed.  After we get to church she turns to Owen and says:

Hadyn - "Jesus doesn't like that boys clothes" 

Owen - "Why not Hadyn?" 

Hadyn - "He doesn't look very pretty."

So maybe that wasn't the best approach???

In the middle of saying prayers...she stops, says hold on, and shares an experience from her day with us, then continues on...Heavenly Father understands...sometimes, those REALLY important things like "Emma hit me in the playhouse" need to be shared IMMEDIATELY.

My favorite phrase that Hadyn uses on a daily basis is "I am going to tell mom/dad to spank you with a hovel (shovel)"  And no, we do not spank with "hovels" in our home (only rakes) I really don't know how this one got started...

Another beautiful picture by Julia.

how many...

lollipops can you fit in your mouth at once?

itty bitty dance christmas show

Hadyn's first dance show was Saturday morning and she was a star.  The girls started the show singing Jingle Bells and then while they were getting in their lines Taryn played some Christmas songs on the piano...

They danced to "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas"

Hadyn and Emma

Hadyn and Miss Tara

Check out the video of the whole dance...the best part is where Hadyn does the same move for the first 30 seconds.

dancing queen

Hadyn is in a dance class that my friend Miss Tara teaches in her home.  I knew she would love it...especially when she listens : )  Hadyn is my little performer, so this right up her alley...

They are getting ready for their Christmas show...

She has learned all kinds of things...though I am starting to question some of the moves she has started doing at home...like strip dancing...maybe I need to sit through one of these classes...

more hot dogs and cake

We celebrated again that evening with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa Fellow.  I always let the kids pick their meals...so big surprise, it was hot dogs again...

I love watching kids this age open gifts.  They are always so excited and expressive...and of course Hadyn was over the top...it was hilarious.  I can't wait until Christmas!!

Hadyn Ariel dolls and a dress...but the evening couldn't be complete with out our traditional treasure hunt...

Hady-boo look in mommy's shoe

Hady-boo find the chair that is blue

Hady-boo find the cow that is blue (yea that one was a stretch...)

Hady-boo you'll find your treasure where the laundry goes too

Happy 3rd Birthday Hadyn!!!

a "pinkalicious" party

Sunday evening I decided I should have a little party for Hadyn on her birthday so she felt special...my goal in life to make my kids feel special.  Since I was planning this WAY last minute and I had bought this book for her birthday I decided a "Pinkalicious" party would be the perfect thing for my little 3 year old terror...I mean princess.

I asked each girl to wear pink and we had ALL kinds of pink decorations, pink foods, and pink crafts...pink EVERYTHING.

The girls colored pictures from the book with all different colors of pink crayons...

Then we made pink beaded necklaces...which everyone quickly got bored of, except my Hadyn

Then we ate, pink hot dogs, pink chocolate popcorn, bagels with pink cream cheese, pink fruit loops, and of course pink lemonade

Then we made pink wands and played freeze dance to the girls favorite song "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas"  They were quite the dancers...I think we have Tara to thank for that.

And FINALLY we had pink cupcakes with pink icing...and Hadyn had her third (everytime I turned around she had another)

My pink princesses were all FABULOUS, and we all had so much fun.  Thanks so much for coming on such short notice!!

And if you haven't read "Pinkalicious"...pick it up for your pink princess.  Thanks Julia for the reccomendation!!!

terrific 3s!!! right?????

My precious baby girl has grown so fast...

1 day

She was born with so much personality...and every day it just keeps coming...

1 year

She has the sweetest disposition that can turn to pure terror and back again in a matter of seconds...

2 years

and now that she is three she will be an angel everyday...right?????

3 years

It used to drive me crazy when people would tell me the years fly by...enjoy every moment...and now I find myself saying the same thing.  Where does the time go??  I guess it hits me most as my kids get older.  

Hadyn has always been my drama queen, girly girl, who knows how to get what she wants...and when she doesn't...you will pay...everyone within 5 miles will pay.  She is a very extreme and stubborn child.  She will LOVE you with every once of energy she has...and then she can be mad at you with that same amount of energy.  You just have to savor those good moments to get through the bad.  

She has quite the imagination.  She has all kinds of scenarios going when she plays and understanding them all is sometimes beyond me.  I will try and play with her and after being told no over and over, I have now just learned to do as I am told, I guess the things I make up just aren't creative enough...

Hadyn also remembers pretty much everything...if you promise her something one day you better follow through on that promise...she WILL call you on it.  Just the other day when "It's a small world" came on the radio her eyes lit up and she quickly recounted our trip to Disneyland (1 year ago) she remembered the lines and everything...I was amazed.

She is VERY observant.  She remembers stores and has her own little names for them (especially the one's she likes) Her favorites the crabby patty store (Circle K) and the big numbers store (Gap).  This one took me forever to figure out.  She would talk about it and talk about it for weeks and I never knew what she meant...until one day when we finally went back...the big numbers are on the dressing room doors, she LOVES to shop and loves to try on everything...what have I done???

Hadyn is also obsessive about certain things and they can change daily, weekly, or never.  She LOVES dresses and when she has a dress she loves she HAS to wear it everyday.  If I am lucky enough to talk her out of wearing it to bed she HAS to hold it to go to sleep.  She has ruined one too many cute dresses.  She also has her movie/toy obsessions.  She loves Cars the movie and carried Lightening McQueen around with her everywhere for weeks.  Then it turned to the "king" she now takes him everywhere.  She also loves her polly pocket Disney Princess dolls, her dress up clothes and pajamas.  We can never leave home without all of them usually.  Hadyn also loves Hot Dogs and Macaroni and Cheese so much that I have had to stop buying them so that she wouldn't cry to eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  The will of a 3 year old.

Hadyn also LOVES to dance, sing and just perform.  She is in her own little world a lot.  She will be belting out songs in the middle of the store hitting notes I couldn't even touch.  She has always been our most musical child.  She has always done things to the beat.  When potty training her...or I guess retraining her I was trying to come up with something that would make her care to poop in the potty.  I found a pink guitar one day at the store and she LOVED it.  It worked (for a while) and she rocked out with that guitar...our little American Idol.

Hadyn is one in a million.  I can't imagine my life without her.  It would be so boring...I am so grateful to have her in our family.  I love you my Hady-boo.  Happy Birthday!!!

competition

Julia does it again...really what can I say?