You are My Sunshine

We were on our way to the FOCUS conference in Orlando for a luncheon with Curtis and some alumni staff today. Cecilia was being particularly ornery in the car, so Matt and I were trying to get her to sing some of her songs. This is her rendition of "You are my Sunshine," a song that I sing to the girls when they are cranky. She knows several other songs too, including some of the Mass parts, but we will have to catch those on video too!

Cecilia Singing "You Are My Sunshine"

Peter Comes for a Visit

Our friend Peter came for a visit right before the FOCUS conference and stayed with us for a few days. We had a lot of fun hosting him and showing him around Florida! He was luckily here before it got cold out, so we were able to go outside, go to the beach and have a few other fun adventures! Thanks for coming Peter! Come again soon!

Wow Celia, another present! This one is from Mr. Peter!

It's a crazy monkey!

The monkey makes some very life-like monkey noises. Believe it or not, it actually freaked Cecilia out the first couple of times! Who knew!

Hales on the beach! I can't wait for the warm weather again!

Surfers...there were quite a few of them out!

OK so it was warm, but these people were nuts!

More surfers

Why did I think she wasn't going to play in the sand?

Again, more sand. Good thing I brought extra pants.

Group Shot!

Ron Jon's Surf Shop!

Tons of beach things!

And our neighborhood on the drive out...such a beautiful sky!

Cecilia's Baptism Day!

Today, two years ago out oldest officially became a Child of God! We think that this is a very important milestone in their lives and want to remind them of how special it is, just as special as a birthday! So this day, also shared by Momma and Papa's wedding anniversary, was filled with fun and even a special present from Momma and Papa! Cecilia was given two coloring books; a Catholic Dictionary coloring book and a Mary coloring book! Happy Baptism day Cecilia!

Oh boy, what is it?

Two coloring books!

Look at all those pages!

Hugs from little sister!

Baby Emmie and More Presents!

Cecilia is really watching everything that Matt and I do these days...including how I take care of Miriam! Cecilia received Baby Emmie for her birthday this year and has been a great "mommy" so far. Besides changing her clothes and diapers, giving her milk, as well as trying to put her in the tub (cabbage patch kids don't do well in water) she decided that she also needs to start solids.

Cecilia getting Baby Emmie's sweet potatoes ready.

Uh, oh. Who are these from?

They look really pretty!

Oh fancy bows!

Mir loved playing with her blocks right away! Thanks Chadwicks!

Cecilia loved her present too....and we absolutely love Target gift cards!

Well, at least Mommy does :)

Disney Girls!

Can you tell we spend a lot of time at Disney? The girls love Mickey Mouse and Katy of course supplies us with the cutest things! Here are the girls with their ears...Mir just got hers! And these are little diaper covers I got at the mega Disney sale last fall when I went with Katy! Love it!

Cecilia saying "cheese" and Mir lost in her ears!

Better....

Now we look like we love each other....

And Mir has had enough....good job girls!

Miriam with her Minnie bottom!

And Cecilia doing the Mickey bottom dance!

The Third Day of Christmas...Presents that is!

Cecilia Shows off the Christmas Tree

the Tale of Despereaux

a Rosary and Christmas Carol Book

an Animal Puzzle for Cecilia

Lots of Other Presents

a Different Block Set for Miriam

Little People Wise Men for the Girls

The Second Day of Christmas

Here are more of our Christmas videos....enjoy!

Little Blue for Cecilia

Willow Tree Nativity Set for Momma

Dino Puzzle for Cecilia

Playing with the New Kitchen

The Buckeyes FINALLY get dipped! Yay for Papa!

Papa and Momma self portrait...of course Matt is a goof!

Much better....Happy Momma, Happy Papa!

Beads!

Little People for Miriam

Portable DVD Player for the Car

Christmas

We stayed here in Florida for Christmas again this year. It was hard not to be surrounded by family, but Matt is able to get so many "free" vacation days because of their work policy, it is hard for us to justify him taking days off to be elsewhere. We figure it is a trade-off, but we can use those extra vacation days for trips throughout the year.

No visitors this year either :( Matt was sad to have to day after Christmas shop by himself. Yes, my husband does go to Wal-Mart at 6am, Target at 7am, and sometimes Lowe's and Home Depot too. He loves Christmas decorations at discounted prices. That is how we decorate our house the next year, and I always get excited to put all those deals to good use!

We took like a billion pictures of everyone opening presents. I guess for those who weren't with us, you will truly feel like you spent the holiday with us after watching. Matt loves playing with movie maker and has done an excellent job! The movies are titled, so only watch the ones you want, or watch them all! We took our time an opened presents over a span of several days. We didn't want the girls to get overwhelmed with how much they are loved or not have a chance to play with toys and things as they opened them. It was a lot of fun, and in the end I am glad we did it!

We missed so many of you, and thank you for all your heartfelt cards and presents!

May God Bless us all and give us a great start to the New Year!

Before Opening Presents

Puzzles for Cecilia

A Drum full of Music for Miriam

A Tea Party for Cecilia

A Vera Bradley Diaper Bag for Momma

A Gardening Set for Cecilia

A Set of Shape Matching Blocks for Miriam

A Kitchen for the Girls

The Girls Aprons, Potholders, and Tag Jr. Books

Christmas Eve

Mir surrounded with toys. Not sure if she did this on her own or with her sister's help.

But, this is the norm for her. I wouldn't be surprised if it was her.

Momma, Cecilia and Mir all dressed up after Christmas Eve Mass.

We got there 30 minutes before Mass started and claimed the last three seats!

It was so wonderful to see a full church! I only wish it were that full every week.

Mir in her off white velvet with little black shoes. They were the same ones that Cecilia wore on her first Christmas. I thought they might have been a bit snug, but we pushed it for a couple of hours!

Cecilia and Miriam all dressed up!

Christmas Eve Dinner....BBQ Chicken Pizza. Homemade too! So good!

I think Cecilia just had chicken for dinner that night. But a clean plate is a happy mom!

Our Christmas tree with all the presents!

Thank you to everyone who gave us such wonderful gifts!

Miriam working on her crawling again!

Making Christmas Cookies with Papa

It is a tradition in the Hale family to make about a zillion different cookies at Christmastime. He comes from a family of 7 kids, for those of you that don't already know, so there were a lot of mouths to eat all of those cookies. We are still a growing family, so not as many mouths to eat them, but we have decided to share them with everyone that comes to the house, as well as Matt's co-workers.

The things we made this year were:

Buckeyes

No Bake Cookies

Brown Sugar (Fork) Cookies

Gingersnaps

Cut-out Cookies

Oreo Truffles

Reindeer Chow

Lemon Bars

I know that sounds like a lot, and it was! The Oreo Truffles and Reindeer Chow were a first for me this year....and will definitely be added to the regular line-up! They were all so yummy and many others are enjoying them too!

Papa and Cecilia making the Buckeyes and No Bakes

Cecilia helping to "mix." Papa was instructing her on the no touching of the pot!

The no bakes before they were dropped on waxed paper.

There is all the chocolate goodness Momma!

The recipe that made a TON of cookies. Matt of course doubled it.

Mir was still a little too small to help, so she just worked on her crawling.

Long time no post....

So sorry to all our blog followers.....our computer decided to poop out about 2 weeks ago and we FINALLY have it fixed! Pictures from Cecilia's birthday, Thanksgiving, our trip to Chicago and more all on the way!

Stay tuned for more Hale adventures! Be sure to look at the entire two months as we have back-blogged! So much fun!

We Love our Toys!

Miriam is on the move again, and constantly finding new toys to play with, not to mention looking super cute all the time! I love it! She is so happy and entertains herself next to the toy shelf all the time! By the way, the toy shelf with plastic containers is awesome! And I scored it for $5 at a garage sale! It keeps things organized and sorted.

The things I get excited about nowadays....

Hi Momma! Just looking at the mirror!

Cheese!

Big girl!

And her sister looks on at her lovingly.

Cecilia has really started to "cook" a lot lately. She is always making new things. The latest is sausage and noodles. I am not sure where that comes from, but she seems to like it!

Looking Pretty

Morning pictures of us in Jammie's seem to be happening a lot lately, but that is ok! Here are a few I caught including a priceless one of Cecilia.

Mom, it is seriously too early to be taking pictures. I mean, I still have sleep face.

And Cecilia....all decked out in the necessities:

Princess Tiara: check

Ballerina Tutu: check

Princess shoes: check

What more does a girl need?!

And might I add that she gets around really well in heels for a 2 year old!