Hailey's new play house came with two cute little pots outside the windows. So we took Hailey to pick out her very own flowers. She wanted orange ones, and was quite picky - finally we settled on these little Marigolds. She was the least bit interested. She did plant the first one but when I asked her to plant the second she said "No, you can do it Mommy" and ran off to find something better to do. We'll see how long these puppies last.
Update: How long did the flowers last, you ask? One day. She picked off all the petals. When we asked her why she did that she said "because I threw them on Emma" and giggled. I think we'll opt for fake flowers.

hanna, anna, hailey & jacob too

Hailey was so excited when I told her Anna & Hanna were coming over to play. These three play really well together, and Jacob loves to just watch these silly girls. There's not much we didn't do in the hour & a half they were all here. all that playing worked up an appetite

Easter Fun

Easter morning

meet brock

Brock Thomas Gaylor arrived April 13th, but since Hailey & I have been sick we didn't get to meet him until today. We had ourselves a little photo shoot while we were there. I'm excited to watch this lil' fella grow up. Lily is serving her job well as big Sis; helping with diaper changes, one wipe at a time.

and we got to see Grandma Lois before she headed back to Wisconsin

puppy sprints

It's always so fun to watch emma & hailey play outside together. I can't get over these action shots of emma. future strong man competitor?

sick again

Hailey has been sick for the past week. We had planned on going to visit the Hunter's last weekend, but Hailey developed a temp on Thursday so we had to cancel. On Saturday we were already going stir crazy so took Hailey to see Hop at the theater. She finally seems to be on the mend, but in the meantime has passed it on to me. It's snottsville around here; between the two of us, we've probably gone through a roll of toilet paper in the past few days. It was a month ago - on the dot, that she was sick too. 3.9.11 4.9.11 Poor Emma is even sick. She had a rash on her belly so we took her in to have it checked out. Turns out he has a staph infection, which was probably caused by swimming. Meds & a special shampoo will have it cleared up in no time.

playdates with ryder

Ryder is quite mobile these days, I predict he'll be walking close to his 1st birthday - which is in 21 days! Our playdates are going to be much more exciting from now on.

me vs. the camera

Thanks to tips from our talented pal Joc I've been trying to learn how to use my dslr cam. I've learned so far that I can get better shots outdoors (see above). But for the life of me I can't seem to get the settings right for indoors/poor lighting - without using the dreaded flash. I really do try, but then it ends up turning out bad then I'm pissed because I missed a great photo op. So I tend to get frustrated (imagine that, me frustrated) and flip it back to old trusty auto mode. Don't even get me started on editing, the extent of my editing capabilities are removing red eye. Basically my conclusion is that I probably need to take a class on how to use my camera and I'm so thankful we have Jocelyn (you make it look so easy)! Can hardly wait for Hailey's 3 year photos!

April Birthday's

Grandma Donna's birthday is April 1st and Auntie Jane's is the 3rd... so that means two parties in one weekend (busy, but fun!) On top of that Uncle Tommy was in town. Happy birthday to two wonderful ladies!

and here is H's bday wish for Grandma Donna