Carey, Barclay, Lily, Addison, and Miriam

Miri is 6 months old

2012-02-05T15:05:00.004-05:00

Oh my oh my how times flies! Our little Miri is 6 months old already...she is 14 lbs, and 12 ounces of adorableness. She can sit fairly well. We have to be careful b/c she eventually tips over, but she's getting the hang of it. She has started eating puff cereal and likes all of the baby food she's tried except for green beans. The scariest thing of all is that she already gets up on her hands and knees. I hope we have at least 2 more months before the crawling starts, but this makes me nervous :)

Super Bowling Indy Style

2012-02-03T11:46:00.003-05:00

Big Splash Adventure (aka the water park at French Lick)

2012-01-14T17:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we took off right after Lily got off school and headed to French Lick. They have a newish water park hotel there (about 18 months old) and we were eager for a get away. It was great! They had a room with a king bed and bunk beds and that was too cool for the girls to handle. The bunk beds were, frankly, treat enough for them! But, to make things even cooler, they had water slides, and a pool, and a lazy river, and a baby area, and an arcade, and a restaurant. It was awesome! We swam for a couple of hours last night and then again this morning after breakfast. The girls loved it - Lily and Addy are very into water slides. They had so much fun going down them over and over again. Miri wore a swim suit for the first time and liked splashing around. She didn't like wearing a life jacket, so she wasn't in the big pool much, but they had a splash area for the little ones and a baby pool. Great quick get away. We'll do it again I'm sure!

Haley Christmas and Joe's 30th

2011-12-31T16:23:00.003-05:00

We spent the second half of this week celebrating Christmas with the Haley side of the family. It was so great to spend time with everyone, relax, eat, drink, open presents, and just have a good ole time. The kids love seeing their cousins - they all love each other to pieces. Taryn and Izzy weren't able to make it at the last minute b/c Izzy had rsv. So we missed them, but everyone else was together. We were SO glad to have Matt and Gabe around - they got loved on a lot! One of these times we'll be at 100 % :) On Friday night, Mel threw a surprise party for Joe's 30th b-day at the Red Room in Broadripple. It was a hit - he was totally surprised and we all had a great time (some more than others..ha ha).

Had to post the picture of Addy, Mike and Lily. I've entitled it "I'm so happy I can't stop crying". Cracks me up!

Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho!

2011-12-26T10:41:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year. We'll continue to celebrate this week, but for now, here's the run down....

I was so busy over the last few weeks that I think I made myself sick :( From Thurs night until Christmas early afternoon, I was sick as a dog with the flu). That was no fun and caused us to miss our Christmas Eve trip to the Haute. But, aside from that, we had a great Christmas! In a way it was nice for the girls to just be home, stay in their jammies, watch Christmas movies, and play without needing to go anywhere. Then yesterday, on Christmas Day, Santa came!!!!! It was great. I just sat on the couch and watched the girls open their presents. They declared it to be the "Best Christmas Ever!" They both got new chairs, Addy got an "American Girl" doll (of the target variety!) and Lily got all sorts of zoobles and a few other things that they went crazy for. Miri enjoyed her first Christmas very much. She got a few toys, all of which were fine to chew on...so she was happy :)

Last night we went over to Betty and Peter's for the Wong family Christmas. It was such a nice time. We were only missing Ari. Tomorrow we're off to Terre Haute for family time galore and to continue the Christmas celebrations.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Holiday Season - Oh my oh my!!!

2011-12-11T17:36:00.007-05:00

Well the holidays are in full swing around here. Barclay and I have been super busy with Christmas parties galore. I think we've had 4 or 5 work related ones just so far....2 more to come this week.

Thanksgiving weekend was great - we filled it with family time in the Haute and in Indy. Can't wait for more of the same during the week of Christmas.

Then there have been the Thanksgiving and Christmas programs and class parties (some of which are still to come). Lily is wearing a black and white dress and is in the front row in her picture (you can only see her from the side). Addy's Christmas program is this week, but her Thanksgiving program happened a couple of weeks ago. She is in the front wearing a green shirt and pink pants.

Today the girls and I went to the Conner Prairie gingerbread village, which we do every year. Then we made a Gingerbread house of our own. Addy said ours was the very best - I kind of agree (though that roller coaster one in the picture was pretty dang awesome :) Ours is the bottom picture, in case you couldn't tell.

And poor Miri - how have I neglected to take pictures of her lately? She's too cute to neglect photographing. I've stuck in a few random ones of her - she's been doing all of this stuff with us and being soooo good and patient :) She did get to visit with Santa and get her picture with him. This year NONE of the girls cried. Only the second time Lily and Addy didn't scream and run away from him, and (of course) the first time I was able to get a picture of all three of them with Santa. Someone else took the pic, so it's framed at home but I can't put it up here.

We've also had our fair share of sick kids in the last month or so, which is totally my fault b/c I was recently commenting about how long it had been since anyone had been sick.

Wow! That was a lot of pictures! We've had a lot of fun and our ready for the next few weeks!

Miriam - 3 1/2 months

2011-11-14T18:46:00.004-05:00

Little Miri Sweet is growing up SO FAST! All of a sudden she can roll over, laugh without being tickled, and pull sisters' hair, and hold herself up like a big kid! We visited two friends this weekend who had newborns (2 weeks old each). Made me realize how Miri is a rolly polly baby now - no longer a newborn. I'm a little sentimental about the whole thing!

Halloween weekend 2011

2011-10-30T19:20:00.002-04:00

We'll do a little Halloweening tomorrow night ...trick or treat at a few houses on the cul de sac, hand out candy, etc; but for the most part we celebrated this weekend. Barclay and I went to a Boogie Nights party at St. Simon. It was the annual dinner/dance/silent auction and just happened to fall on Halloween weekend this year. We got dressed up, went out without the kids - livin' it up. Then tonight we took the girls over to St. Simon (yes, again) for trunk or treat. We went with our good friends and the kids had the run of the place. They filled up their pumpkin buckets, ate hotdogs, roasted marshmellows and oohed and ahhed at the costumes. Miri even dressed up as a little pumpkin and she looked very...pumpkin :)

Miriam's Baptism

2011-10-17T08:15:00.002-04:00

We had the best weekend, but it was one of those that we need an extra day to recover from! On Saturday morning the girls had their last soccer games. It was great b/c mom, Ariana (all the way from California), Betty and Peter were all there to watch and they had their best games yet - each girl got 3 goals and showed so much improvement. Barclay was at the track having a "racing experience" at the same time as the games. He got to race a real nascar. Mom spent the night so we got to hang out with her all day and play with a bunch of Lily's birthday presents. She got a couple of board games, so we did those about a million times each :) Ari and her friend came over on Saturday night too so we could squeeze in some extra time with her before she went back to California. The girls love seeing their Aunt Ari! Then on Sunday Miriam was baptized. It was such a nice private ceremony. She stayed awake the whole time and never cried. Michael and Laura were the Godparents. It was so great to have them both there! Then everyone came to our house afterwards for food and partying!

Happy Birthday Lily

2011-10-14T14:13:00.003-04:00

We officially have a 6 year old in the house! So hard to believe. Lilian's birthday was yesterday and it was chock full of fun. Her class took a field trip to Conner Prairie and I was able to go along and chaperone. They visited the old pioneer blacksmith, potter, shop keeper, inn keeper and home. Oh and they saw a sheep get shorn (sp?) and then saw the wool turned into yarn and the yarn turned into a blanket. It was cool. Rained the whole day, though, so we were muddy and tired when that was done. After school Lily had a small group of her friends to a birthday party at the Sweet Treat Boutique, our little ice cream and candy shop. They did a really good job with the party. The kids get to see cotton candy and carmel corn made. They make ice cream sundaes, and do a scavenger hunt. Needless to say, there were so many sweets that we skipped the ice cream cake and just put a candle in her sundae :) She has some great friends and it was nice to see them have fun together after school. Here are some pictures of the fun. OH, and the party was a Fancy Nancy theme. We asked everyone to "dress fancy". Check out Miriam's awesome "fancy" outfit :)

We LUV fall 2011

2011-10-09T16:40:00.003-04:00

We have had one fantastic fall so far. The weather has been beautiful and we've been busy with soccer, long walks, playing outside, and other fun outdoor activities. Barclay has been golfing a ton too. Today we promised the girls we'd get our pumpkin. Turns out, our usual place is closed on Sundays, so we ventured to Noblesville to Stoney Creek Farms. So did all of Indianapolis and Hamilton County. It was crazy..but had it all at this place. We took a hayride (Miri's first) out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. Then we let the girls do 2 of the 50 activities they could choose from. They did the haunted house and this slide that went through a hill.

After Stoney Creek we went to John's parents house for a fly in. Because the weather was so nice they had a huge turn out with tons of planes, etc. They also had a big cookout so we had lunch their too. We took pictures with the two Marine planes for Uncle Joe, Uncle Matt, and Papa.

That's it around here - hope everyone had a great weekend!

Miriam - 8 weeks old

2011-09-28T12:24:00.002-04:00

Miri smiles all.of.the.time now . She's such a happy baby. When she's awake she loves to be held upright so she can carry on conversations and see what's going on. We also had a big moment last night - she slept from 12-5:30. A very very big deal considering she usually wakes up every 2 1/2 hours. So there is a light at the end of this no sleep tunnel :)

September happenings

2011-09-21T10:40:00.003-04:00

Oh Grrrrr....I just typed the longest blog post and it somehow vanished!!!! I'll recreate it, but it'll have to be the short version :) We have had a great September so far. We are settling into life with 3 kids. Miriam is getting on some sort of schedule (at least it seems that way during the day), I am feeling better, and the girls are settling into their school schedules. The weather has been great - a little cooler than normal - so we've been going on a lot of walks and enjoying outdoor activities. We went to the apple orchard for their Carmel Apple Festival. It was a lot of fun, but I neglected to get any pictures. Then Addy and I had a date to go see Lion King 3d. Most recently Lily and Addy and I went to the Children's Museum for the last day of the Barbie Exhibit and the opening of a new Frogs Exhibit.

Next week I go back to work one day per week through the end of October. On 10/24 I'll go back to my normal schedule of M, T, Thurs. I was feeling ready to start back, but as the time approaches I get more and more anxious about it. Ah well, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Here's some updates on the girlies. ...

Miriam - she's growing! At her one month appt she was already 8 lbs 15 ounces. She is so alert lately. She says "ah goo" all of the time, which is adorable, and has started paying attention to the little toys on her car seat and bouncy seat. She still isn't extending the time she sleeps at night, but I think that's b/c she's still pretty small. Hopefully once she fattens up a little more she'll stretch her slept times past 2 or 3 hours :) Either that, or she just likes to see us and say "ah goo" in the middle of the night.

Addison - Addy loves to tell people how busy she is lately. She'll meet someone and tell them that she has preschool on M, T, Thurs, Dance on Mondays and soccer on Tuesdays. It's pretty funny. She is proud of all of her activities :) She's doing great at preschool and loves her teacher, Mrs. Ferguson. I do wish we could send her every day like we did Lily, but she doesn't qualify for the older 4's program, so 3 days are our only option. Dance is her absolute favorite. She is doing just tap for now and has so much fun with it. Luckily for me, the school let her be in Lily's class, which is for 6-8 year olds. It really helps out schedule wise. She's not so keen on soccer. She does great at practice, but gets intimidated during the games. Who knows. She also rides without training wheels well enough to take rides around the neighborhood now. We're about to head out here shorty for a walk/stroller ride/bike ride.

Lilian - Lily is adjusting to life at Saint Simon really well. St. Simon is much more strict than Holy Cross was (or at least Lily's particular teacher is more strict). Lily's social ways get her in a little trouble at times. Ms. Sweeney uses smiley faces, straight line faces, and frowny faces to designate behavior each day. 3 times now Lily has gotten straight line faces for talking during class. The system seems to be pretty effective and she is really upset whenever she gets less than a smiley face. We're working on quieting down. Regardless, she loves school. She's making tons of new friends and loves wearing her school uniform. Her best buds are Chloe, Neely, Zoe, Ainsley, Mary and Quinn. That's the crew she wants to invite to her b-day. A few are friends from pre school and a few are new friends. Lily is also in dance and soccer. She is doing really well at both, which is great to see. A lot of her friends play soccer at the same place so she has fun seeing them on game day.

That's a run down of what is going on around here! We miss you all and hope to see you soon!

Mriam is 1 month old!

2011-09-02T10:03:00.002-04:00

Ta da....

Addison starts school!

2011-08-25T11:58:00.003-04:00

Addy had her first day of preschool today and, from the looks of things when I dropped her off, she's going to LOVE it! No first day jitters here. She was excited excited excited! She is going to Holy Cross, the same preschool Lily attended, but has a different teacher.

Pictures Post

2011-08-15T20:57:00.004-04:00

The girls started dance up again tonight. Addy was SOOOOO excited to finally get to dance. We struggled in the spring b/c the studios don't have classes for kids who aren't 4 yet. So today was her big day. She did GREAT - absolutely loved it. We switched studios and I'm really happy with the new place. It's much closer to home (less than a mile) and just does a better job teaching the kids the technical steps, etc. The only negative is that it's a long night. Lily's classes are at 4:30 and 5:30 and then Addy's is at 7:00 - UGH! Ah well, at least we could get them all on the same night and soon we'll be able to take advantage of the wait time to do the kids homework.

Miri is changing every day - yesterday she seemed bigger to us both and she also started staying awake for longer periods. Sooo we were finally able to get some pics with her eyes open!

KINDERGARTEN

2011-08-11T18:58:00.002-04:00

Can you believe that Lily is old enough for Kindergarten? It's true it's true! She officially entered her elementary school days this morning at St. Simon. Check out the cuteness of the school uniform! She was excited and very ready for school to start, so we didn't have to deal with any first day jitters. The only difficult thing was that Addy missed her terribly. She was quite a handful today..I'm sure things will improve in 2 weeks once her school starts.

Miriam Elizabeth is here!

2011-08-03T15:57:00.003-04:00

We are so thrilled to announce the arrival of Miriam Elizabeth. She is the perfect addition to our not-so-little family! We went to the hospital on Friday night and she was born at 12:53 on Sunday morning. We were very surprised when labor didn't progress, the baby was showing some signs of distress, and we found out she was in an awkward position for delivery. So we ended up in the operating room in the middle of the night. It was very scary and unexpected, but so worth it in the end. Miri is healthy and perfect. She is itty bitty too and weighed only 5lbs 15 oz at birth. I took a picture of her next to one of Lily's Barbie dolls so everyone can see her size!

The girls are in love with their new little sister and we are very blessed to have family here to help until I am fully recovered. This c-section business is for the birds! We just got home this morning (Wednesday) and have been relaxing and recuperating. Loving having our whole family together for the first time!

We can't wait for everyone else to come meet her!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

2011-07-05T18:14:00.002-04:00

Happy 60th Birthday's Mom and Dad!!!

2011-06-26T21:04:00.003-04:00

Oh, and 35th wedding anniversary too!!! This weekend we all (absent the Matt and Taryn clan) met up at Brown County Inn to celebrate mom and dad's big 60th birthdays! On top of that, they also celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary at the same time (all dates within a month of eachother). Mom and Dad knew they were coming with Barclay and I to Brown Co, but didn't know that Joe, Mel, Abbie and the kids were joining us!!! They were really suprised - it was great!

We hung out around the hotel pool/playground/porch area a lot. We were lucky b/c it was sooo nice out on Saturday - sunny, but not too hot. Perfect for chillin' out and hanging out with the family. We also made two trips to the downtown Nashville area to walk around the shops, etc. Nice, but not the easiest thing with kids (even though they were all on their BEST behavior). Friday we had dinner in the hotel. Saturday night we had dinner in a little steakhouse and then came back to the hotel for birthday cake.

Sunday morning, everyone headed their separate ways, but mom and dad came with us to Brown Co State Park. We went to the stables and let the girls go on pony rides. It was great! We were the only ones there. They had really nice ponies to choose from, and a big arena for the kids to ride around. The girls loved it and have talked about it all day!

GREAT seeing everyone and celebrating mom and dad's big days. Here are some pics - Love you mom and dad!

Leiber Pool

2011-06-26T18:42:00.002-04:00

Last Friday the girls and I met mom, dad, Clare, Mike and Henry, at Leiber's Pool. It's right in the middle of Terre Haute and Indy and a fabulous pool, especially for little kids. We had perfect weather. Lily went up and down the slide the ENTIRE time. The other kids splashed around in the shallow area.

JUNE 2011

2011-06-15T17:31:00.005-04:00

We have had a busy, fun filled month of June thus far. Much of our free time (especially on the 90 degree days) has been spent at the pool. Addy has been swimming without water wings - in the shallow end at least.

I have no pool pictures, but I do have pictures from the sprinklers. We haven't needed to water the yard, but the sprinklers have been put to good use for other things :)

Lily had her recital last week, which was pretty all consuming. I keep having to remind myself that with dance, as opposed to baseball, there is one busy week. The recital was 4 nights - 2 nights of rehearsals and 2 nights of recitals. Seemed too much at the time, but baseball would have been 10 weeks of practices and 1 or 2 games each week. So it's fair. And, most importantly, Lily loved it. She was so proud of herself. We couldn't take pictures during the actual recital b/c no flash photography was allowed. But we ordered the DVD so we'll have that to remember the night by. On Saturday night, Mom, Dad, Barclay and I, Addy, Betty and Peter all came to the show. She did both of her dances, so it was really the best night to bring a crowd. Addy had a hard time b/c she really wanted to be a part of it all too - next year kiddo!

Sunday, of course, was mom's 60th birthday. We went out to breakfast, then to mass, and then on to Colleen's grad party. No pictures of any of that fun.

Then today it was cold and rainy, so the girls and I went to the Children's Museum to check out the new exhibit. They partnered with National Georgraphic and opened a Treasures of the Earth exhibit. It was very cool. Barclay met us for lunch, which was also cool!

Our summer is off to a great start!

Zoo Field trip

2011-05-23T20:17:00.004-04:00

Just a few words about this - 1) the kids had fun; 2) I somehow managed to not loose a kid.

Neely, Maeve, Hannah, Addy, Lily

Lily's spring program

2011-05-23T20:10:00.004-04:00

We attended our first ever spring program at Holy Cross a couple of weeks ago. It was great - about 1/2 hour long and full of funny kid antics. It was an American theme complete with songs like Yankee Doodle Dandy and God Bless America.

Addy and Maeve

2011-05-23T20:06:00.002-04:00

Addy's best friend in the whole world is Maeve. They have grown up together at day care and Lily is best friend's with Maeve's older sister. So they are together A LOT. Here is a post devoted to their love (that day they happened to spend a lot of time telling one another how much they love eachother). They are so cute - and their personalities are so different than Lily and Neely. Addy and Maeve aren't as interested in the princesses and dressing up. They far prefer the more outdoorsy type activities, and share a love of animals.

She Rides!

2011-05-09T20:17:00.003-04:00

Lily can officially ride a bike WITHOUT training wheels. It's kind of a big deal....

I'm more excited than I was when she learned to walk. Addy's kind of upset by the whole thing.

Lily was struggling to learn on the little 12 inch bike that she's had for a couple of years. We thought it would be easier b/c it's closer to the ground and she can just put her feet down when she wants to stop or thinks she may fall. Mom disagreed and thought it would be easier for her to ride on a big bike. I wasn't convinced enough to go buy a big 20 inch bike, so mom picked up a cheapy from Goodwill. As it turns out, the old lady was RIGHT! Lily picked it right up on the bigger bike - and getting off isn't that bad either. Barclay practiced with her last night and after work today. No prob Bob. AND, to top it off, she thinks the Goodwill bike is cool. So we'll stick with that for a while and then maybe she'll get a new one for her birthday :)

Kiawah 2011

2011-05-02T19:56:00.001-04:00

Just got back from our Kiawah trip last night and wanted to post a few pics. Will try to write more later. Had lots of fun and lots of sun!

Easter!

2011-04-24T19:13:00.002-04:00

We had a wild and crazy Easter weekend. Festivities kicked off on Saturday afternoon when the Haley side of the family came over to celebrate. Uncle Tom's fam, Aunt Theresa's fam, John Callahan, and Mom and Dad were here to eat and have a small Easter Egg Hunt. It was a good time and very thankfully it didn't rain. Out of the 5 kids who were here, 3 ended up with band-aids - a rowdy bunch.

This morning the Easter bunny visited our house and left baskets for the girls. Afterwards, mom and dad joined us for Easter Mass and then we went to a brunch at Indian Lake. It was very nicely done. The Easter bunny visited, but Addy wouldn't give him the time of day. Mom, I would have posted the picture where dad looked crazy and not you, but that one was blurry of everyone - sorry!!!

THEN, we went over to the Jacobi's to celebrate with the Wong family. That egg hunt had coins in the eggs instead of candy. A nice change. Though the girls are going to use the coins to buy candy at the ice cream shop, I'm sure :)

It was great to see everyone and now we're exhausted - I just finished going through the bags of clothes that Melissa sent back. This baby needs absolutely zero new clothes..she is ridiculously well supplied. Happy Easter Everyone - sorry we missed Joe, Mel and the kids, Matt, Taryn and the kids, Abbie and Ari - next year!

Dance sneak preview

2011-04-24T19:10:00.003-04:00

Lily's recital is not until June 10th and 11th...but here's a little sneak preview of the cuteness...

Addy's 4th Birthday

2011-04-10T16:11:00.003-04:00

Addy B turned 4 years old yesterday! The child, as usual, was giddy about her approaching birthday for a month! First, Addy had 4 friends from day care meet her at Build a Bear for a "kid party". The kids had a blast. I was glad we kept it small b/c Build a Bear was PACKED and we likely would have lost a kid if there had been any more than that. The other kids had been to Build a Bear before, but Lily and Addison never had been, so it was an exciting new experience for them. The birthday party was well done - someone from the store lead them around and helped them make various decisions. Afterwards we went over to the food court for cupcakes and then called it a wrap. Then we came home to have dinner with the fam and have the "family party". Barclay picked up Chick Fil A, so we dined in style. The weather made a drastic turn for the better, so we moved out to the backporch for presents.

We are so thankful that our, now 4 year old, girl is healthy, happy, beautiful and loved by so many! Happy Birthday Addison!

Spring is HEEERRREEEE!!!

2011-04-06T15:03:00.002-04:00

Oh how I love my new 3 day work week, especially when I am off on a Wednesday and it is as beautiful as today! Lily is on spring break this week so she got to spend the whole day with Addy and I as well. We decided that we wanted to go hiking somewhere new. So we went down to the Art Museum b/c they have a newish exhibit called 100 acres, which includes a nice long hiking trail around the lake and bordering the river, but also has some fun outdoor art. It was so much fun! The girls favorite part was finding a snake (that was dead by the way - gross) and climbing all over this cool skeleton sculpture.

Swim Lessons

2011-03-23T12:15:00.003-04:00

There has been quite a lag time between this post and last. In that time, I started a new job and we found out that the baby is a girl. She needs her own post soon - I'll try to take a picture of my belly and post that (though be warned that it is rather hideously large for being only 5 months along)! The new job is fantastic! I'm not the least bit stressed at work and I work only on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. Betty and Peter have been the BIGGEST help by picking up the girls on the days I work. That has saved us logistically.

Last week the girls started swim lessons at Stoney Creek swim center. They took lessons at the Y last year, but I wasn't impressed , so I looked for a place that would push/encourage them a little bit more. So they go on Tuesday nights to this FANTASTIC place in Noblesville. Addy is in the red group, for kids who are not afraid of the water, but can't swim on their own. Lily is in the white group - she can "swim" on her own, but needs to hone her skills. I have them signed up through May and then plan to take them out for the summer. So far so good - and they love it! Aren't their little swim caps cute? They also wear goggles!

Children's Museum with Cousins!

2011-02-13T09:40:00.004-05:00

Lily and Addy got to show their cousins one of their favorite places in the world (though under less than ideal circumstances b/c it was CROWDED!) - the Children's Museum! We had a lot of fun and saw quite a few of the exhibits - Dora and Diego are there now and the kids loved it in the tropical rain forest, space ship, and Diego's jeep. Mike's favorite was the trains - he watched them and watched them...even after the other kids were playing with the glass sculptures. We stayed so long that it was melt down city when we were leaving...so dramatic :)

Baby Isabel and family!

2011-02-09T21:20:00.002-05:00

This last weekend, Addy and I went to Virginia to visit with Matt, Taryn and Gabe, and meet baby Isabel. We had tons of fun and did tons of relaxing (well, at least those of us who are not parenting a 2 week old did tons of relaxing). It was great to just spend time with them and have time to catch up. Gabe and Addy were a bit crazy - they loved each other one minute and would be arguing over something the next minute. Interesting to watch - all fights revolved around the fact that they both wanted the exact same thing at the exact same moment. We took them to Jumping Jimmy's, which is Haymarket's equivalent of Monkey Joe's, and they argued over the purple ball for about 30 minutes. Isabel is adorable and perfect. We got lots of snuggle time with her. Here are some pictures - enjoy! Especially enjoy the "Matt as a neanderthal" picture - did I spell that right?

Christmas Wong Style

2010-12-26T10:32:00.004-05:00

Finally, we went over to Betty and Peter's on Christmas late afternoon/evening. Betty had the house decorated to the nines and was cooking a Christmas feast. Before we ate, though, we opened presents with the family. Everyone was so generous. We all had a great time and got many fantastic treats. Ana and John gave Addy a play doh set and the girls are in the kitchen playing with it right now. Betty and Peter got them a bounce/trampoline thing that we will set up in the basement later today. After presents, the Jacobi's joined us for the roast beast (I mean beef). We all ate too much and the kids were just about passed out on the couch when it was time to go. Merry Christmas everyone!

SANTA!!!!!!

2010-12-26T10:10:00.004-05:00

He came, he actually came!!!! With Egbert the elf watching all of December, and the shananigans at church on Christmas Eve, we were a bit surprised....but taking into account of a whole year of pretty good behavior, I guess we shouldn't have been! Santa came to our house and left lots of goodies - and so did Gi Gi, Aunt Lindy and Uncle Tim, and Aunt Heather and Uncle Pete! The girls were so so so excited and happy on Christmas morning - all day on Christmas and still today actually! The favorite toys are the puppies and the guitars. They also love the Barbie Airplane from Gigi (love love love it actually) and the camera from Pete and Heather. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Haley Style

2010-12-26T09:59:00.003-05:00

We spent Thursday and Christmas Eve in the Haute with Po Po, Pa Pa, Aunt Abbie, Aunt Melissa, the cousins, and Gi Gi. Thursday the kids sledded (see previous post), then dad made a yummy dinner and Mike spent the night with the girls. Then on Christmas Eve we had a turkey lunch and opened presents with the family. The kids were so excited! The picture is for Joe - Joe, that's Melissa talking you and opening your present. We missed Joe, Matt, Taryn and Gabe a bunch, but hopefully everyone can be together next year.

That night we went to mass before driving home in the snow. Lily was a bit challenging in mass, but Santa must have already been in route b/c presents still showed up on Christmas morning.

Christmas Sledding 2010

2010-12-26T09:55:00.002-05:00

Terre Haute had a lot less snow than we do in Indy, but the little hill behind mom and dad's house was perfect for sledding if you are 2-5 years old. It was very icy and slick, so the sleds just flew down the hill. Plus, it wasn't a big challenge to get the kids back to the top. Addy, Mike and Clare were the biggest fans. Lily and Hank could take it or leave it - they both sledded for a while and then called it quits. The funniest thing was when Mike dropped his pants in the middle of the sledding hill and "didn't potty in his pants"! I got pictures of that, but didn't think them appropriate for blog posting :) We'll just save them to show Joe when he gets home - hilarious.

More December 2010....

2010-12-18T18:56:00.004-05:00

First off, Happy Birthday to Brother/Uncle Joe! He's deployed for his last birthday in his 20's. We toasted him with our orange juice this morning!

It's been a busy month in our household (aren't they all). But busy in a fun way, with various work Christmas Parties, Lily's programs, Addy's day care party, etc etc etc. We've missed dance the last 2 weeks because of Christmas party conflicts. Lily's program was an Advent event on the Holy Day of Obligation ( Feast of the Immaculate Conception)....so that worked out. We went to Church and an her Christmas program on the same day. Check. Addy and her crew partied on at Monkey Joe's on Thursday night. That place is so fantastic on weeknights....no crowds, good pizza, worn out kids. Awesome. Though, I don't think they were still enough, even once, for us to get any pictures!

Today we've been lazy and mostly lounged around the house. Though this morning I took the girls to the Ginger Bread Village at Conner Prairie for a couple of hours. The houses are so impressive...especially when compared to the very shoddy one we did here at home. The best was the Alice in Wonderland themed house...

Hope everyone is having a Very Merry December!

Breakfast With Santa

2010-12-04T19:00:00.003-05:00

We went over to Indian Lake this morning for their annual Breakfast with Santa. I was a little hesitant b/c the girls have historically been terrified of sitting on Santa's lap and getting within 10 yards of him. This time, however, they loved the Santa Claus! When he came into the room all of the kids ran up and gave him hugs....so Lily and Addison followed suit. Then they took their turns sitting on his lap and telling him what they want for Christmas. Afterwards, Santa read "The Night Before Christmas" to all of the kids.

On another note, the Elf on a Shelf has joined our household for the month. He's awesome! The girls named him Egbert and totally feel accountable to him for their behavior. He reports back to Santa each night you know....

SNOOOOWWWWWW!!!!

2010-12-04T18:57:00.002-05:00

The first snow of the season fell last night and the girls couldn't have been more excited. It really was a pretty snow, and not too freezing outside, so it was prefect for playing. Tomorrow I've promised them a snow man, but today they just played while Barclay cleared the drive.

Circus!

2010-12-04T18:54:00.002-05:00

The Ringling Brothers Circus is in town this week and the girls and I went to Thursday night's show. They really didn't know what a circus was, so weren't sure what to expect....and I wasn't sure what to expect either since I hadn't been to a circus in about 25 years. But, needless to say, it was pretty awesome. The "super human tricks" people were amazing - the strong man, the balancing acts, the gumbo type ladies. They also had 6 motorcyles at once in a steel ball. That was something to see. The girls were amazed by the lady on the elephant b/c she looked kind of like wonderwoman. Good times were had by all!

Turkey Day and more

2010-11-27T19:29:00.005-05:00

November has been a busy busy month in our household. It's been fun though - we started it off with raking 60 bags of leaves from our yard (and we're not done yet...just taking a long break). The girls had a blast jumping in the piles of leaves. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures - the leaves were beautiful this year. We've had fun hanging out with friends, doing kid activities, and celebrating various events. No pictures no pictures. Then, to wrap the month up we celebrated Thanksgiving and Abbie's birthday both on Thursday. Who doesn't love Thanskgiving? This was our first to host a large crowd and actually make the turkey, etc. It was fun, though - we had people bring sides and dessert, so it wasn't actually a big deal to make the turkey and a couple of other things. Abbie had a special seat b/c it was her birthday...

We went to Lily's Thanksgiving party at her school earlier in the week. She and her classmates put on a little show for us and we had a Thanksgiving meal (picnic style). It was very cute.

Then we headed to the Haute on Friday to watch Tangled with the family. Great great flick. We also went to the Haley Thanksgiving at Aunt Carla's that night.

THEN, today we spent the WHOLE entire day decorating for Christmas. I just love when the Christmas stuff is out. Makes the house feel so cozy. So I was very excited to decorate the new house for the first time. It looks great. The only problem is that the tree is too tall for the living room. We had vaulted ceilings in the old house, so tree hight wasn't an issue. In this new house, the ceilings are tall, but not tall enough for our giant tree - well, the tree fits, but it skims the ceiling so we couldn't put the tree topper on. I don't know what is going on with the girls' faces in that picture of the fireplace:)

We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

T.H. Children's Museum

2010-11-17T20:26:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Terre Haute to hang out with the gang. While there, we checked out the Terre Haute Children's Museum for the first time. It was great - so much more spacious than the old one (and cleaner) with lots of cool exhibits. The best part was a big tree house right in the middle. Here are some pics of our fun...and yes, that is a picture of Lily with a piglet next to the momma and her big boobies :)

Halloween

2010-11-17T20:22:00.001-05:00

Californ-i-a Vacation 2010

2010-10-24T20:58:00.007-04:00

I can't believe that I'm blogging tonight - 9:00 on Sunday when I have a ton to do before work tomorrow. BUT, I'm very excited to show you all some of these pictures (we took 1000, so this is but a wee sampling). Plus, the pictures are downloading on snapfish right now. Lily is dying to have a little photo book to take to school and show her friends, so I'm trying to get that done by Tuesday. Anyway....on to the story of our vacation... We flew out on Friday, bound for the City of Angels. Our friends Jordan and Diane let us use their guest house while we were in LA, which was incredibly generous and saved our pocket books some major moolah. Friday night we just hung out with them, had dinner, caught up, etc. Then on Saturday morning we (being the McCollums, us, and Ariana) drove up to Sequoia National Forrest. We stayed in Sequoia until Monday night. It was absolutely amazing there. My favorite part of the whole entire trip. The only part I didn't like was the drive to the top of the freakin' mountain where these trees are. It was really scary - you drive on roads that go right along a mountain cliff. Not just any cliff, a cliff that is 5000 feet in the air. Scary. But we made it to the top and once we were there it was beautiful and fantastic. I was so excited to see the giant Sequoia trees, and they did not disappoint. We went on a couple of hikes while we were there, explored a cave, had yummy dinners, splashed in the river (at the foot of the mountain. It was too cold at the top for any river splashing), and gawked at the fabulous trees. Also, we saw 2 bears! One was very close to us, but he just minded his own business and eventually wandered off. That top picture from Sequoia was taken about 2 minutes before Addy took a stumble off the rock and scratched her eye - saw that one coming! So anyway, here are a few of our many pictures from the park.

We headed back to LA and Diane and I went to DANCING WITH THE STARS on Tuesday night!!!! Ariana was able to get us tickets in the second row. They didn't allow cameras or phones inside, so I don't have any pictures from that, but it was a great experience. I love that show so it was fun to see it in person.

THEN, we spent two days in Disney. The girls were in absolute heaven. It was fun for us too, but wow were we exhausted afterwards! The pictures speak for themselves here - this was the girls' favorite part. On the first day we had lunch in Arial's grotto and Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Ariel were all there.

We wrapped up with one day in Santa Montica and a cookout with the McCollums and Barclay's buddy from Oberlin. It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with Ariana. The girls miss her tons. And, as always, we love hanging out with the McCollums. They were wonderful hosts and we hope to return the favor soon and convince them that Indiana is just as exciting as California (in a different way, of course).

Lily's 5th B-day Party

2010-10-10T20:44:00.004-04:00

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We celebrated Lily's 5th birthday today with a small family party at our house. As calm as you might think that sounds, it was actually rather wild!!!

The kids were having crazy fun with the 4 wheeler. It was hard to keep up with them! Lily, who lives for her birthdays, was so excited and boucing off of every wall in the house. The party was a success, though, and we are so lucky to have such wonderful family to share days like this with. The weather was phenomenal....actually was HOT, not just warm outside. So that made it nice b/c we could turn the kids loose. Here are some pics....

#1 - Lily was kind of excited about her new princess Tiana dress
#2-The present opening started calmly enough and turned to total bedlam quickly.
#3 - Well, it was a family party WITH Lily's very bestest friend in the whole world - who happens to be sisters with Addy's very bestest friend in the whole world. Neely turned 5 this week as well.
#4 -We ripped the pinata open once we gave up on any success at wacking it open!
#5 - Ha! Caught Lily in this pose..no idea what she was doing.
#6 and #7 - Mike was absolutely giddy over the 4 wheeler. He giggled the whole time he was riding it. Too cute!

A Random Sampling from Late September :)

2010-09-27T19:17:00.003-04:00

We had a fun filled weekend. Our good friends Richard and Leigh, who live in the deep dark south (Alabama) came up to visit. They were at a conference with Barclay the week before and drove back to Indy with him on Friday. We went out to the verrryyy old haunt of Average Joe's on Friday night. We were wild and crazy and stayed out until 10:30 when we had to relieve Betty of babysitting duties.

Then Saturday morning I took the girls to the "big" playground (as opposed to the little one, which they have grown tired of. We visited with Richard/Leigh/Scott and Apryle/Dave/Sawyer on Saturday during the day, and then went to see Tom and Amber's new bambino.....

THEN Saturday night we lived it up again and celebrated Barclay's birthday. Can you believe I didn't take any pictures at his birthday dinner? Or of Barclay at all on his 35th birthday. Once again, I am a kid photographer and nothing more - in these pics with adults, someone else had my camera :) Sunday after church and sunday school I took the girls to Conner Prairie while Barclay golfed with Scotty. That night the COLTS won - yippee!!! So all in all a very good weekend.

I just love fall. A bad weekend in the fall is hard to come by. Here are some pics....but that's all I took all weekend long. Pretty pitiful...so that's Apryle, Leigh and me with the kiddos, Addy and a goat - pfffttt!!!, and Lily at the Apple store. We luuuuuvvvvv the Apple store at Conner Prairie and go as many times as we can in Sept and October. Yum.

Week O'Photos.....

2010-09-12T18:22:00.003-04:00

The girls have loved our new yard. Their favorite parts are the playset in the backyard and this little tree in the front. They think they're so cool b/c they can climb this tree - it's tiny, but it must feel big to them!

This weekend we went to a bunch of birthday parties. Gabby Chamness turned 3 on Friday so the girls and I went down to Mooresville for that celebration. On Saturday, Lily's friend Zach from school had his party at Snappers - it's a bounce house/lazer tag/climbing wall/bumper cars/video games (aka "crazy") place owned by the Colt's long snapper. Then Saturday night we headed to Terre Haute for Melissa's suprise 30th. Saturday was the perfect night to sit outside by a fire.

This morning Sunday school started back up. The girls both go this year. Addy was beyond excited - I told her that it was exactly like preschool, so she feels all big. I'm teaching the first graders again.

This afternoon we lounged around and watched the Colt's get their booties kicked...now we're off to Bonefish for Dinner. Here's to a good week for all!

Preschool and Sisterly Love

2010-09-01T20:02:00.004-04:00

It was a busy August in our household. Lily started preschool which was a real adjustment for all of us. The kids are in two separate places during the day, which means two drop offs, two pick ups, different schedules, ugh! So Barclay is now doing the drop offs and I'm getting to work at 7:30 so I can pick them both up on time. It's working out well, but schedule changes like that are taxing in our house! Lily absolutely loves preschool. It's like the place was made just for her. She' s learning a lot, making new friends, singing new songs, and even has her first case of puppy love - Barclay and I are really unsure how to deal with that one. Addy is pleased as punch about being one of the big kids at day care now and she's done better without Lily than I thought she would. So all in all it's a good change. This picture of Lily's first day is not the most flattering of my beautiful girl, but she was really in no mood for pictures that morning ;) We've also continued settling into the new house. We keep seeming to find new jobs - we did get some living room furniture from friends of ours, so that room is no longer empty. We stripped dining room wallpaper (still have to pick out paint), replaced two toilets, and Barclay did something with the AC. Can't wait until we're all settled - though I do understand by now that home ownership means never ending repairs, etc. In a couple of weeks both Sunday school and dance start up to add to our business....so we have big plans to stay close to home and relax this weekend. The weather is supposed to be awesome so we'll likely hit Conner Prairie (or at least the apple store) and the pool.

Happy Birthday Hank and Clare - and bon voyage to Joe!

2010-08-15T20:58:00.003-04:00

Well, ole Joe is getting deployed again. This time, surprisingly early. He ships off later this week, so came in town at the last minute with Melissa and the kids. While they were here, we celebrated Hank's 2nd b-day and Clare's 1st b-day. Melissa had planned the party for 8/28 in North Carolina. Because of Joe's early deployment, the party got moved to today, 8/15, in Terre Haute! We were glad that we got to join in the birthday celebration, but sad that the reason for the early celebration was Joe's deployment. Anyway, the party was great - Mel did a cowboy/cowgirl theme complete with cowboy hats, badges, and a boot pinata. Clare was adorable and Hank was thrilled with some of his presents. Good times.

New Playset!!!

2010-08-15T20:53:00.002-04:00

This weekend Barclay and his dad spent nearly 20 hours assembling the girls new backyard playset in very very very HOT weather. They nearly killed themselves, but it is great. It is cedar and green and looks great in the backyard. The girls are thrilled with it and I'm certain it will get plenty of use! Thanks a million Peter and Barclay!

KIAWAH

2010-07-28T13:50:00.004-04:00

Kiawah is quickly becoming one of my mostest favoritest places. Here are some pics as exhibits 1-6 showing WHY! Thanks so much Aunt Lindy and Uncle Tim for letting us invade!

Indian's Game!

2010-07-28T13:47:00.002-04:00

Ah how we love minor league baseball! The atmosphere just rocks! We took the girls to their first game a couple of weeks ago. We got there very early so we could have dinner in a tent that Harrison & Moberly arranged, then made it through 4 innings before having to head home to bed - it was a Monday night, don't judge us :) It was a blast as usual and I can't wait to do it again!

Matt, Taryn and Gabe's visit and Peter's B-day

2010-07-28T13:24:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, Matt,Taryn and Gabriel came to Indiana for Taryn's cousin's wedding and we got to spend all day Sunday with them. Gabe is such an adorable little man and the girls loooovvvveee him.

We met at the Children's Museum - one of our favorite places in town - and played around there for a few hours. I have no pictures b/c my stupid camera ran out of batteries just when I was trying to get pictures of my awesome nephew! Taryn was able to send me hers via snapfish, and while I am happy to be able to get hard copies, I don't know how to get them onto the blog. Ah well.

Afterwards we came back to our new casa and had a cookout with mom, dad and G-ma. It was Peter's birthday so the Wongs and Jacobi's also joined in the fun.

Cicadas at the New House!

2010-07-28T13:22:00.003-04:00

They're everywhere they're everywhere! And oh so noisy! The girls find their shells to be incredibly cool though!

4th of July and Addy cashed out

2010-07-11T21:46:00.002-04:00

My camera ran out of batteries on the 4th of July, so I wasn't able to get many pics. These are two from Barclay's phone, though. Again this year we went out to the Jacobi's and watched them put on quite the fireworks display. It's so cool b/c, not only is their show professional-like, but you can also see a bunch of other shows from their house - Conner Prairie, Fishers, Geist, etc. We had perfect seats for all of the fireworks action. Everyone brings a dish and there are tables and chairs set up in the hangar. The girls love it b/c they can run around with the other kids and there is plenty of space for the kiddie fireworks - smoke bombs, parachutes, sparklers, etc. Those are actually my favorite kind too :)

This other pic is Addy cashed out in her new chair - how funny is she?

New House!

2010-07-09T20:02:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been slow to get these pictures on the blog (Joe). We didn't have internet until yesterday and just haven't had a minute to take any pictures. Here are at least a few ....disregard the wires in the family room pic - they won't be there for long (once the TV is mounted). Can't wait for everyone to see the place in person. We loovveee it.

Maeve's party

2010-06-26T19:57:00.003-04:00

Here's a little action from a three year old birthday party we attended this afternoon. Maeve is Addy's best friend at school, and her sister Neely is Lily's best bud. They have a lot of fun together. This was a puppy party, complete with puppies from the Pug Rescue. We had a busy day today (packing, soccer, swimming, out to lunch, buying mattresses, b-day party, etc) , so we put the girls to bed at 7:30 and they're sleeping soundly.

Addy's first soccer game/practice

2010-06-26T19:48:00.002-04:00

Addy B started soccer today. She's been asking about this for a long time, but I thought she was just now old enough. We signed up at Little Kickers at Sports of All Sorts. It's a great, age appropriate, program. She's the wee one - way to the left in the group shot. Check her out! I'll try to post the video of her first goal in a bit.

Final Update Du Jour - Dance Class!

2010-06-21T22:31:00.002-04:00

Lily is schedule to start dance class in the fall, after months of begging and pleading to learn to "really dance". Accented Motions, the studio where we'll be going, had a little summer camp in the evenings this week for 4 and 5 year olds, so I signed Lily up to see if she would really like it. The kids dressed in princess clothes instead of leotards, which confused her a bit b/c she is really looking forward to the dance uniform of tights and a leotard. In the end, though, she OF COURSE, loved it - if Lily ever turned down an opportunity to dress like a princess I'd be shocked beyond belief. She looked so pretty and I was incredibly impressed with her ability to follow the teacher's instructions and hold some dance poses. My big kiddo was beyond thrilled with herself at the end of the day. We're only doing 2 of the 4 nights, but I've already seen enough to know that dance classes will be a hit with her. Lily is wearing a light blue Princess Tiana dress and pig tails.

Update #4 - Fathers Day/Last hurah on the Porch!

2010-06-21T22:25:00.003-04:00

Yesterday after Church and pool time, we had an impromptu cookout on the backporch for all of the dad's in our lives (with the exception of my own, who failed to make the trip to his only in state daughter's house for Father's Day). I'll forgive him when he drives to Indy with two twin beds and a dresser on his birthday :) The kids played in the kiddie pool and invented a hide-and-seek freeze tag game while the adults talked and drank wine. Nice relaxing Father's day. We can only hope our new back porch will be as good for hanging out and relaxing.

Update # 3 - Eagle Creek

2010-06-21T22:21:00.002-04:00

Eagle Creek park has gotten a LOT of rain water lately (as has the rest of Indy). We went there on Saturday to enjoy the beach...unfortunately there was really no beach b/c it is all covered in the high water right now. We still splashed around a little bit and the girls played on the playground. Then mom and I took the kiddos on a kayak ride around the lake. That was a ton of fun, but I didn't risk taking my camera out on the kayak in case we tipped....so I have no photos! Lily was the captain of my ship - she sat on the back and told me where to go. Fun times. I just loooovvveeee summer.

Upate #2 - Columbus, Ohi

2010-06-21T22:14:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, mom, Grandma and I (PoPo, GiGi, and I) packed up the girls and headed to Columbus Ohio to visit Aunt Lindy and Uncle Tim over mom's birthday weekend. Barclay had to stay behind b/c of the aforementioned move, and the need to make the house immaculate prior to the multiple showings and open house that weekend. It was rainy, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Lily learned to swim without water wings in their pool, which was very cool. It was neat to see her progress right before our eyes. Addy tried to do the same, but I had to fish her out. We fed ducks in the park across the street, climbed trees, went on walks around German Village, drove around Ohio State, and wen to the Athletic Club for mom's b-day dinner. All in all, a very fun time.

Major Blog Update Time - 1st update - MOVING

2010-06-21T22:08:00.002-04:00

I've gotten behind on the blog, which I just committed to not doing about 3 posts ago! Anyway, I have a good excuse this time - we've been even busier than normal! About a month ago we made the wise decision to list our house before buying another one. It was a tough decision, but we ultimately decided that while interest rates are at record lows, and home prices the same, we should at least see what happens when we list our house. So we listed it...the first week we had very little interest. The second week I planted St. Joseph in the ground and said the Prayer asking for the intercession of this Patron Saint of Real Estate. That was on a Thursday. That whole weekend our house had a revolving door. We got an offer on Sunday which we ended up accepting after a few counter offers. St. Joseph is the best! Not only will I dig him up when this house closes and put him in a place of honor in our new home, but I will also make our next child's middle name Joseph, if he is a boy! Anyway, we SHOULD close on the new house on 6/30 and then spend 4th of July weekend moving. This house is set to close on or before 7/16. Now we're just waiting on the reports from the inspections. It's been a whirlwind of repairs, cleanings more cleanings, more repairs, etc. We don't have a single box packed - we can look forward to that this weekend! Can't wait to show everyone the new place - there will be plenty of room for family gatherings, guests, and parties. We're very excited, though it will definitely be hard to leave Capistrano Court! Fortunately, I'm sure we'll stay in touch with our neighbors, since we're only moving about a 1/2 mile away.

Pooooooooooollll!

2010-06-02T18:59:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

2010-05-30T20:32:00.004-04:00

Oh what perrrfect weather we have had for our long weekend thus far! And have we ever taken advantage of it! On Friday night Jessica and I went downtown to meet the Toney's for Angie's 35th b-day celebration at the Rathskellar. It's been a long time since I've been down to the "Skellar" - it brought back a lot of fun memories! Then on Saturday we headed to the Haute and hung out with mom, dad and grandma for a while before going over to Aunt Kate's for Leah and Alice's graduation party. They recently put in a pool and a pool house - both of which are absolutely fabulous. Behind the pool there is a view of the field and trees, and absolutely nothing. It just feels so private and remote - I LOVE it! The girls had a great time and swam the entire time we were there. Then today we woke up and pretty quickly headed over to our pool. We were there for a few hours while the race was going on (b/c I just don't really care about the race!). I burned despite the 30 sunblock I used, but the girls and Barclay were unscathed. It was sunny and beautiful outside. Afterwards we changed clothes and headed down to the zoo to see the new Cheatah exhibit. It was HOT - that's really the only way to describe it. We couldn't stay long b/c we were over heating! The Cheatah's were cool, though, and we can cross that off our list of "need to sees". Then we picked up food to throw on the grill and had Betty and Peter over for a cook out on the back porch. Tomorrow I have big plans of spending the day at the pool again - provided it doesn't rain! Ah, how I love summer!

Oh yes Oh yes it's Spring Time!

2010-05-10T20:08:00.001-04:00

So admittedly I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately! It's soooo hard to find the time for posts, though I do love the blog so I'm committed to keeping it up. Some day I'm going to print the whole darn thing and save it for the kiddos when they get older. Let's see...what have we been up to? On April 24th Barclay and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with a date night and had dinner at Eddie Merlots. It's a fabulous steak house here in town - we go there every so often for big nights.

One day a couple of weeks ago we took the girls to Traders Point Creamery to check things out. It's out on the NW side of town. It's basically a little farm. The restaurant is in the loft of an old barn. They have yummy ice cream, cheeses, yogurt, etc....that they sell at the restaurant and in local grocery stores. The food is all organic - it was pretty yummy. After we ate we let the girls wander around and visit the cows and chickens. They do love the animaleees.

Last week we set the kiddie pool up for the first time. We had a few days in the 80s when it was warm enough to use it, but now it's chilly again. Hopefully this is our last burst of chilly weather and we'll be back in the heat soon! The girls wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a picture, but I tried :)

Other than that, we've been busy with work work work. Both around the house and at the offices. We've gotten some boards replaced on the house, cleaned gutters, laid mulch, weeded like crazy people, trimmed bushes, planted flowers, mowed a million times, etc etc. Spring is usually a pretty high maintenance time with our yard. And work has been absolutely c.r.a.z.y. for both of us. And I mean CRAZY! A girl needs a break! Today Barclay got 12 bottles of wine in the mail from one of his clients. That helped him feel a bit better about his schedule! Party at our house this weekend - or at least Abbie's coming on Friday and Saturday. We can say goodbye to a couple of those bottles!

Cheer Clinic

2010-04-18T19:25:00.003-04:00

The girls and I somehow ended up at Deveau's in Fishers for a Cheer Clinic this afternoon. Their little friends were going, so they got recruited to tag along. It actually ended up being pretty hysterical. I couldn't get very good pics, but this will give you an idea. The girls are each in green sorts. Ady is near the right hand side, Lily is on the left.

Wish I could be....part of your wooooorrllllldddd....

2010-04-18T19:21:00.002-04:00

Caught Lily in this pose twice the yesterday. Barclay caught her once. She was signing Little Mermaid Songs. Hilarious

Monkey Joe's party

2010-04-11T08:08:00.005-04:00

We celebrated Addy's third birthday at Monkey Joe's with all of her little friends. She's a crazy little bouncer and had such a great time with all of her friends. The kids all spent a little over an hour bouncing and bouncing and bouncing. After the bouncing was over, we headed into the party room for some pizza, cake, and presents. Monkey Joe visited us there - he scared half of the kids, and the other half of the kids got to give him a high 5. At some point, Lily was having a hard time getting Monkey Joe's attention. She broke down in tears b/c she thought he was ignoring her. Then she ran all the way around the party table, and gave Monkey Joe a big hug while sobbing. The pizza and cake were pretty uneventful - by this point it was 7:30 at night, so the kids were starving and ate quietly. Present opening time was adorable. Addy would open each present, then stand up and show everyone (Vana style) what she got. Here are some pics:

Addy B - funny is she

2010-04-08T21:46:00.004-04:00

In honor of Addy's third birthday, I decided to do the first post of Funny Addy-isms. Here are a few from the last few days:

- "She don't know ____ is beautiful" (insert name of various family members Addy had seen lately). A misinterpretation of She Don't Know She's Beautiful - a country song she has, no doubt, heard while driving around town with me.

- " MOMMY, those flowers are yellow, that's WIERD" (tulips in spring...wierd)

- "Mommy we don't say damn, right" "Mommy we don't say butt, right" "Mommy, we don't say God, right"

- In the Biltmore - "we better get out of here, there are dragons and we forgot our swords".

- " PRINCESS AND THE FROG? I love Princess and the Frog. Lily, you be the frog okay?"

- "Mommy, there's a dead bug in here. But we don't eat them, right?"

I just can't believe she's turning three - really, it's amazing that three years have gone by so quickly! She's just an amazing blessing in our lives - a challenging blessing, but a blessing nonetheless.

Biltmore Easter

2010-04-08T16:25:00.005-04:00

What's better than getting the entire family together and heading to the mountains of North Carolina for Easter weekend? Not much, other than getting the whole family together for a whole week on the beach somewhere ;) On Friday morning, mom, dad, and Abbie drove to Indy and met up with the four of us for a drive to Asheville, NC. We met up with Matt, Taryn and Gabe, and Joe and Mel and their kids. The weather was beeeeautiful, the Biltmore was amazing, and it was a great weekend to get everyone together. On Friday we all arrived, unpacked, swam in the indoor pool, and just hung out at the hotel. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed over to the Biltmore...which was right next door to our hotel. We were there all morning touring the house and gardens. The kids were so cute - they spent the house tour looking for the dragons that they just assumed lived in the house. The house was built by Cornelious Vanderbilt and was certainly very masculine with all of the gargoyles, etc. Spooked the kiddos just a bit, but they made a game of it. At one point Addy said "we better get out of here, there are dragons and we don't have our swords"! About half the group went back to the hotel for naps after that, but the rest of us went over to the winery and the little petting barn. That night we watched BUTLER beat Michigan State - whoop whoop!

Then Sunday, of course, was Easter. We went back to the Biltmore for an Easter Egg Hunt in the morning. Then we went over to the winery area, for lunch at a nice little outdoor cafe. The weather was amazing - 80 degrees and sunny. I could have stayed at that table with my mimosa forever! Alas, we eventually had to leave that spot and go back to the petting zoo with all of the kids. Gabe was hilarious - he was picking up fully grown chickens and carrying them around!

That night, a scheduling glitch caused us to miss mass - yes, I know...we missed mass on Easter Sunday. Ugh, the Catholic guilt! So we went to downtown Asheville for ice cream. Then we hunt out in the garden area of the hotel until bed.

All in all, a great weekend. The girls just adore their cousins and have so much fun when they are together.

Spring time Saturday!

2010-03-27T13:52:00.004-04:00

We got up this morning and went over to St. Simon (our church) for their annual Easter Egg hunt. It was c-o-l-d, but we bundled up and braced ourselves for the insanity that is an egg hunt with preschoolers. The girls did great - thank goodness! The hunt was broken into four age groups - 0 to 2; 3-4; 5-6; and then first grade to fifth grade. So luckily the girls were in the same area. They ran off into the field and filled their bags full of goodies. Afterwards Lily said "Mom, can you BELIEVE I got thirteen eggs?!?!" She was so excited. You'll note this big goose "egg" on Addy's head - she suffered that injury last week while in the Trader Joe's parking lot.

After we left St. Simon we headed up to Conner Prairie for the opening day of their outdoor areas. The weather had warmed up by 11:00 or so and it was absolutely beautiful outside while we were there. We checked out the Indian village and a test of our survival skills.....we could only name 3 of the 5 furs and also got a 3 out of 5 on the test of wilderness myths. Since we weren't fairing so well, we left without trying the tomahawk (sp?) toss or trying to start a fire with a mirror. After leaving the Indian Village, we went over to the barn to see the new animals. Addy befriended a baby goat - at some point I looked over and the goat was nibbling at the bottom of her sweater. Lily spent some time petting the baby cow. I thought the baby sheep were fabulous - they looked like little white furballs --- so so cute! After that we were starving so we left and headed to McDonalds. While there, the girls got dragons in their happy meals, which reminded them about the new movie that they had seen previews for. So we may go see "How to Train your Dragon" tomorrow if it rains. Girls are napping now and Barclay's cleaning my car. I'm going to go pick out my outfit for tonights dinner at Matteos for my birthday. Can't wait!

BFFs

2010-03-13T21:14:00.002-05:00

Lily and Addy had their best friends forever, Neely and Maeve, over for a play date. Neely and Maeve go to Ms. Amy's for day care with the girls and are exactly the same age as our girls. Neely is 5 days older than Lily. They are hilarious how their interests mirror one another. Neely and Lily went immediately to the girls room, stripped down, and tried on every dress-up dress and real dress in Lily's room. Note that Lily's dress is on backwards in this picture - there was no time for attention to details, what with 50 dresses to try on and then throw on the floor :) Addy and Maeve weren't so into the dress ups. They went into the play room and played with the animal toys - the climb on animals, farm set, etc. Perfect little play mates!

Welcome to the City where the Heat is on...

2010-02-22T18:45:00.003-05:00

We spent five relaxing days in Miami. It was a much needed get away from the daily grind. Wed-Friday we stayed at the Doral while Barclay attended the American Health Lawyers conference. While he worked, the girls and I swam in the heated pools - good thing they were heated b/c it was only about 60 degrees. We also spent a few hours at the Metro Zoo on Thursday. The zoo was fabulous and had lots of play areas for kiddos. Then on Friday when husband got done with work, we went over to Lincoln road on South beach for some lunch and shopping. Afterwards we checked into the new hotel - the world's most fabulous hotel on Miami Beach. Loved it loved it. That night, Betty and Peter came to the hotel and watched the girls while Barclay and I went out on the town with his aunt Heather and Uncle Pete. Good times.

Saturday was the best day, by far. It was 80 and sunny. We stayed at the beach all. day. long. Perfect perfect.

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T13:30:00.004-05:00

Last night we got dressed up and went to a party at the Children's Museum for Valentines Day. It wasn't exactly romantic, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. The museum was only open to party attendees, so we basically had the run of the place. There were crafts for the kids to do - making valentines, masks, and capes; dance demonstrations; a great dinner; Barbie live and in person; and all sorts of super heroes. The girls dressed up in fancy clothes, wings and wands. Some kids were in normal clothes, some were in princess attire, and others dressed as super heroes. Lily's favorite part was meeting Barbie. She talked to Barbie for quite a while about how her hair doesn't hold a curl- I swear, Lily is the girliest girl I have ever ever known! She wore her dress up high heels for the entire three hours and would never admit that they hurt! She also had wings, a tiara, glitter, and a jeweled mask that she made. Addy started with a necklace and tiara, but I was holding those about five minutes into the evening!

Whatever Wherever

2010-02-13T15:00:00.002-05:00

Bob the Builder at the Children's Museum!

2010-02-13T14:54:00.004-05:00

I swear, we would live at the Children's Museum if we could! We were there this morning to check out the new Bob the Builder exhibit and also go see Barbie and the Dinosaurs one more time. Then tonight we're heading back there for the Valentine's dinner/dance. It's a super hero theme - since the girls don't have super hero outfits, they're going to go as super heroes disguised as girls who are dressed up really fancy :)

Long Time No Blog

2010-01-30T19:47:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been about a month since we last posted anything on here. I apologize for our slacking, but we truly haven't been doing anything exciting that would warrant a post! It's been a slow January! Today we were tired of feeling cooped up and went downtown to the Indiana State Museum with the girls. We'd been to weddings and other receptions there, but never actually visited the exhibits. In fact, we didn't really even know what to expect.....well, we were pleasantly suprised. It is a fabulous museum! I get so excited when we "find" things like this in our own backyard! The museum would be best with kids a little older than ours - 10 or 12ish - but we were still very impressed. The first level has tons of fossils and exhibits on the earth's layers. It also has an early americans section. The second level deals with early Indiana and how it first gained statehood. It also has a ton of other cool things, like early clothes, cars, and communication equipment. Then the top floor is all about Indiana's animals and preserving the natural habitats of those animals. To keep the kids interested we also took part in the Barbie Safari that they had going on - you had to find various Barbies throughout the museum and answer questions. Then they got a prize at the end if they answered all of the questions properly. At the end of our visit we had lunch at the LS Ayres Tea Room, which was another real treat. We'll definitely be back!

Christmas Party 12/27

2009-12-27T17:38:00.004-05:00

Today we hosted mom's side of the family for one more Christmas party. We had everyone bring an appetizer, so it was very easy on the hosts. The best part was that it snowed during the party and quite a bit accumulated by the time the extended family left. Mom, Dad, Joe, Mel and the kids were still here, so we suited up in snow gear and went outside for some fun in the snow. We made snow angels, tried to sled (didn't work well b/c our hill runs right into trees), and had a snow ball fight.

Christmas Day

2009-12-27T17:28:00.003-05:00

Santa was very good to the girls this year. It was so amazing to see their reaction on Christmas morning. This is the first year that both of them have fully "gotten" Christmas - both the fact that it's Jesus's birthday and the concept of Santa. It was so cute. Santa even left an empty box with a note that asked the girls to pick out some of their old toys so that we could give them to kids who need them. Lily was really into that idea since it was Santa who had asked her to do it. They've had a great time playing with their new toys. Later in the day we went over to Betty and Peters for the Wong family Christmas. We opened presents early there too because the Jacobi's were coming over for dinner and we wanted to have the gift exchange done. It was a great night with a fabulous dinner cooked by Betty. The girls absolutely love their princess toys and barn. They got some great new clothes too, which is a good thing b/c I hadn't gotten them any new clothes at all. Yeah for Christmas - I just love this time of year.

Haley Family Christmas Eve

2009-12-27T17:22:00.002-05:00

We spent Christmas Eve in the Haute with the family. The girls and I actually drove down the day before so we could see the Princess and the Frog with mom. Great movie. It was only the girls second time in a movie theater and they did really well. That night we were supposed to go great Joe as he returned home. There was a get together over at Kathy and Rogers. Unfortunately the girls and I had to stay behind b/c Lily woke up from her nap with a big fever. She was fine by morning, though, which I was relieved to find. On Christmas Eve we all opened presents early so the kids could play, then went to mass at 5:30. We were all running late for church (it's a hassle getting 5 kids ready to go) and didn't have time for the traditional Christmas Eve photo. Barclay and I drove home right after church to prepare for Santa's arrival.

Week before Christmas 2009

2009-12-22T16:54:00.004-05:00

Oh how we love Christmas time! We have been taking advantage of days off work this week to do tons of fun things! On Sat, Barclay and I took the girls to Conner Prairie to see the Gingerbread Village. Barclay thought it was lame, but the girls and I thought it was awesome. On Sunday we picked up Clare while Melissa went to meet Joe as he arrived home from his deployment. The girls have looovvveeed "helping" me with baby Clare. She's just a perfect sweet little baby and we love her to bits. We bummed around the house a bit, caught up on some Christmas specials, and then today Ariana went with us as we took Clare to visit the new Barbie exhibit at the Children's museum. Unfortunately, Clare slept through the entire 2 hours we were there! Maybe next year she'll enjoy it more ;)

Santa...

2009-12-21T14:58:00.002-05:00

Earlier today Lily asked me about Santa:
Lily "Mommy, if Santa doesn't bring me any presents on Christmas, will you?"
Me " I already got you a couple of presents, but I think Santa is going to bring you some too. Why do you ask?"
Lily "Well, I know that sometimes I'm not a very good girl. I might be on Santa's naughty list" - then starts sobbing.

SOO heartbreaking!!! Poor girl - she's going to worry about this for 3 more days! Then I think she'll be very happy on Christmas!

Train Ride!

2009-12-05T14:48:00.003-05:00

Today Michael, Melissa and Mom joined us for a train ride. It was supposed to be like the Polar Express, but it was actually changed to the Polar Bear Express..wierd! Anyway, they read a story and then we boarded the train. The kids loved it. It was cute to see how excited they got over a simple train ride! The looked out the window the whole way. Santa Clause, Mrs. Clause, an elf, and a polar bear also rode the train with us. They handed out hot chocolate, bags of candy, and a stuffed polar bear to each kid. The conductor was particularly fond of Mike b/c of his flight jacket! Apparently the conductor was a pilot too. So after the train ride, the conductor palled up with Mike - took a picture with him and then let him climb up in the engine. That may have actually been the best part! Good times had by all!

Mike's Birthday!

2009-12-05T14:39:00.004-05:00

We returned to the Haute on Sunday for Michael's 3rd birthday party! It was big fun - here are the pictures!

Thanksgiving with the Wongs!

2009-12-05T14:27:00.003-05:00

On Friday we had "Thanksgiving" dinner with the Wongs. We made dinner at our house and it wasn't exactly turkey, but still...we got together and gave thanks for eachother! Close enough, right???? Ana brought the girls new pajamas and we busted out the Polly Pockets for everyone to play with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T20:09:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Turkey loving family and friends. We love you all so much and YOU are what we are thankful for each day. Cheesy? Yes...but true! Anyway...we've had a good Thanksgiving weekend so far. I took the day off work yesterday and hung with the girlies. We made a gingerbread house and baked some cookies. When Barclay got home we headed to the Haute to celebrate Abbie's b-day #22. We all went out to Tokyo of Japan for some sushi and Hibachi. Then the rest of us lightweights went home while Abbie proceeded to meet up with her friends for a night on the town. We didn't see her until noon today :)

Today was a wonderful Thanksgiving - Matt, Taryn and Gabe were in town and we got to have some qt with them. It was so fun to see all six cousins together - and they actually posed for a picture! Miracles do happen! (From left, the kids are Henry, Gabe, Lily, Mike, Addy, and Clare). We missed Joe and Grandma, but they will both be around for Christmas.

We just got back a little bit ago and are looking forward to more weekend fun and relaxation. Tomorrow we will put up our Christmas decorations and hopefully have a Thanksgiving celebration with Barclays side of the family. Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!

Welcome Sally

2009-11-09T20:43:00.002-05:00

Our new cat...she picked us...and the girls named him/her Sally

Wilstem 2009

2009-11-01T14:03:00.003-05:00

Go Abbie Go

2009-10-24T19:52:00.003-04:00

Then on Friday we headed to the Haute to watch Abbie compete in ISU's Trike race. It was potentially a rain out so we waited until the last minute to ditch work early and head down there. Abbie did an awesome job and rode that Trike super fast ....but as Lily said "Abbie, you're number 2"! There were like 8 teams, though, so number 2 was pretty good in my opinion! Alice was on the team as well so there were several members of the Haley cheering squad.

Some girl directly behind us was cheering for Zeta and yelling the F bomb super loudly. I had to jump into mommy mode and shut her up. It would have been embarrasing for Abbie, but she couldn't stop me because she was riding a giant tricyle! Then this morning we hung out with Mel and the kids for a while. Always a good time.

Conner Prairie Headless Horseman

2009-10-24T19:43:00.002-04:00

On Thursday night the girls and I went over to Conner Prairie for their Headless Horseman hayride and festival. It was supposed to rain, but we went anyway and lucked out with a very uncrowded evening. We went on the hayride first, since it was 6:00 when we got there and I didn't want them to go in the dark - it would likely wig them out and ruin the rest of the evening. Good call me - in the daylight they had a great time. We couldn't take flash photography while on the ride b/c it would spook the horses...but trust me, it was cool. The hayride goes through the woods and ghouls and goblins jump out from behind the trees to scare you. The pioneer town was decorated in spooky fashion. And the guest of honor was a headless rider on a white horse who gallops alongside the wagon and attempted to cut off our heads. Very very cool. After the hayride we saw a puppet show, ate smores, played around in a music tent, and grabbed some cider and carmel apples before heading home. Fun evening.

Zoo Boo 2009 and Haircuts...Mommy Style

2009-10-18T19:51:00.002-04:00

I took the girls to Zoo Boo today while Barclay stayed home and watched football. We had a great time. They liked looking at the other kids' costumes best of all. We also watched an elephant show complete with smashing pumpkins, enjoyed some haunted music, checked out the decorations, trick or treated amongst giraffes and lions, and did a hay maze. Fun times, when we got home I cut the girls hair...myself! It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Goodbye $15 cookie cutter haircuts, hello mommy!

Lily's 4th B-day

2009-10-12T13:59:00.005-04:00

We celebrated Lily's 4th birthday with a princess bounce party extravaganza! Required ingredients - friends, giant castle bounce house, princess cake, and Chick Fil-A = lots and lots of fun! After the friends left we opened presents with the family. Lily was so excited to have everyone there and just loved her gifts. She proclaimed the Polly Pockets to be her favorite present and stayed up late to make a bead necklace and decorate her princess mirror. Thanks to everyone - we love you!

2009-10-09T21:19:00.002-04:00

Funny Story

2009-10-06T20:14:00.004-04:00

On Saturday, one of my clients (who does photography on the side) met us out at Ft Ben and took the girls pictures. I was excited because we hadn't had any formal pictures taken outside yet. They turned out great. One hilarious moment - she tried to get pictures of the girls feeding the ducks at the very beginning of the session. Well, Addy is just obsessed with birds - sea gulls, ducks, chickens, etc...she loves them. So not entirely suprisingly, she tried to pet one of the ducks..that was in the water. Needless to say, she feel right in and was soaked up to her waist! Barclay had to bring a change of clothes. I scooped her out too quickly to get a photo of that "moment" and after the clothing change we got quite a few good pictures! I did post one of Addy following the fall and before the new pants were delivered...just for laughs! The other four are my absolute favorites, but we got a lot of other good ones!

YEAH!

2009-09-19T15:14:00.003-04:00

CONNER PRAIRIE - country fair

2009-09-19T15:08:00.002-04:00

Our first fall activity of the year was the Country Fair at Conner Prairie. It goes all weekend and we spent a couple of hours there this morning. We came home with apple cider and carmel apples. Yum!

Our weekend

2009-09-13T18:04:00.003-04:00

Friday we finally got the new mini van. It's AWESOME. We have plenty of space now. I can't wait to give everyone rides. On Saturday my friend Shawna and I threw a baby shower for Apryle. It was star wars theme - just adding a little creativity to your typical baby shower. It went great. She got loaded up with gifts and supplies. Here's the cool cake. Afterwards we went to a birthday party for Gabby Chamness. I left my camera in the car, which is a bummer b/c they had the very coolest bounce house and a perfect sponge bob cake made by Katie herself. Nice work. Sunday School started up again today. It was a big deal not only b/c I'll be teaching every Sunday again, but also because Lily started in the 3 year old class. Sniff sniff. I thought she needed a little taste of big kid school since we are delaying (or potentially foregoing altogether) formal preschool. Did she cry? Was she scared?? Not even close...she ran off and had an awesome time. Then we wrapped up today with a Colts win and some errands. The rest of the evening will likely be spent playing the new 3 point shooting game we got for the wii. It's my new favorite - and I have the current high score :)