Halas is ONE!!!

I am super behind on blogging, I know. But I have lots of updates coming.  Halas turned one on July 30th! It's so hard to believe that our little smiley girl is one already- that year flew by so fast compared to Maddyn's first year.

We had a bear themed party- since that was all that seemed appropriate for our little Halle-bear ;)  It was lots of fun and the weather was perfect!  My friend Elysia made the cake- and just when I thought it wasn't possible for her to make a cake better than the castle one, she outdid herself again!! It was awesome!

At Hal's one year appt, we got her stats: She's smaller than Maddyn for sure:
Height: 30" (Maddyn was 32.5")
Weight:  22lbs 3 oz (Maddyn was 24 lbs 10 oz)

I'll be working to get her professional photos and her birthday photos posted to Shutterfly here shortly!
In the meantime- here are two quick teasers!

Birthday girl:

And a teaser from the pro photos I personally took this weekend (Aunt Janine- recognize this outfit?? Thought you might enjoy!!)

June updates!

It's hard to believe June is almost over.  This month was crazy with the wedding and the dance recital.  However, it was full of lots of fun. We also had our Great America trip on Father's day that we do every year with our friends, had lots of gtg's with friends, and even gave Halas her first ride in the "A".  I have lots of photos to get loaded onto Shutterfly, but they will be showing up soon.

I've already started planning for Hal's birthday party! The invites went out this week. I have decided to go with a Bear theme.  With Halas's namesake being Papa Bear Halas, we've called her Halle bear from day 1. So a Bear-themed 1st bday party seemed to be a great fit.  Once things shape up, I'll be sure to take photos and show them there. It's hard to believe we're a little over a month away from her 1st bday! Time sure flies.

Since some of you have asked, Hal is doing well. She's standing on her own, but hasn't quite taken those first steps yet (unassisted). She loves to hang onto things and walk- but once we let her go, she goes "boom" ;)  She's babbling a ton- mamamamamama and dadadadada, but no "real" words yet.  She's got 6 teeth in, and 2 more trying to break through- so most every photo I have of her she's covered in drool.  She LOVES Rylee - probably more so than Maddyn ever did. Something about Ry just fascinates Hal. She always wants to touch her (slobber hands and all, yuck!).  She's still the happiest baby I have ever seen. Seriously, the kid just smiles all the time (except when she has a bad day on naps, but otherwise, she's Cheery Hal!). I hope that lasts forever :)  Hal is still in swimming lessons (she started at 6 months) and is LOVING the water just like maddyn did!

Maddyn is doing great too. The 3's are surely a test of Dave's & my patience. LOL  Maddyn is doing awesome at swimming- seriously, she has some freakishly great talent at swimming, so we're just letting her go with it since it's still fun. We are taking summer off from ballet and just started soccer a few weeks ago.  She loves it so far, but we'll see how long she wants to stick with it.  Her health is ok. We think we have her asthma under control- the new inhaler seems to be working great- but we're also not sure if that is due to the weather being nicer. So we'll just keep our fingers crossed on that one.  Her arm is healed up well.  We still go back for one last check in a few months- but all is great as of the last check-up!

That's about all for now.  July will be another fun month. Anniversary, Ribfest, Windmill Festival, Napa/Sonoma Wine Trip, FUNK#3, Tea at the Drake, Beauty & the Beast on Broadway.... so we'll have lots to post about!

Maddyn is 3!!

Well, going back to work made me much busier than I had anticipated ;) The travel, holidays, birthday and chaos made December fly by!  But, I wanted to get this post in before I forgot. It's hard to believe my little snowflake is 3 already.  I remember days where time stood still as we dealt with her many medical issues, and yet somehow- the 3 years has flown by. 

At her 3 year appt, Maddyn was still off the charts in height. She's 40 inches tall, and 35lbs 8 oz. Her asthma is the biggest problem as of late- otherwise, she got a clean bill of health!

Her birthday party was a princess themed one. Our friend Elysia made a cake that was beyond incredible!! It was a 12 tower castle cake, which was completely nut-free for Maddyn! It was accompanied by "Belle" and crown cookies for party favors :) Everyone loved the cake!! It tasted as good as it looked.



We had her birthday at Kids Play World in St Charles. I can't say enough great things about it. It's a creative play facility and the owner is wonderful. All we had to do was show up and she took care of the rest. We've been there for a few GTGs with friends, and it was a perfect place for a party as well!  Thanks to everyone that came and celebrated with us!!

I know I have to upload tons of photos to the Shutterfly site from Christmas, Parties, and Maddyn's birthday. I had hoped to do that last week while I was off, but the week was a little crazy. So I will try to do a little each night this week in order to get caught up. I will post about our Holidays once I get those photos uploaded!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!! 



Every day is her birthday...

Trying to explain the full concept of birthdays to an almost-3-year-old is impossible.  She loves singing the song, blowing out the candles, doing a little dance, and making cupcakes. But trying to explain to her that it is not her birthday?? Big fat fail!  Grandma's birthday was Monday, so we celebrated by making cupcakes on Sunday.  Maddyn loved making cupcakes, but didn't understand that it wasn't her birthday.  We reminded her that her birthday is around the corner, and she even wished Grandma a Happy Birthday- but she wanted to know where her presents were. Needless to say, she was confused. LOL. Oh well, she'll get them soon enough I guess!!

Anyone that knows me, knows I don't really like cake. I can't stand icing/frosting (I'm a salt craver, sweets do me in and icing/frosting is just too much), so my preferred cake of choice is the DQ Ice Cream Cake. I do like the spongy part of the cake, but it seems silly to eat just half of it.  We made cupcakes for Grandma's birthday and yes- you might see a few bottomless cupcakes in my trash now, lol. The frosting was too much, but with the added sugary sprinkles Maddyn loaded on, it was overkill.  Here are some photos of her in action! Happy Birthday Grandma!