September

I can't believe it's already October, the month of September just went by way too fast.  Hailey has definitley gotten into the groove of first grade and from what I can tell she is doing great. 

She has also started religion classes which is so hard for me to believe she is old enough to be doing.  Next year she'll be receiving her first communion and I just can't get over how close that is!  Where has time gone??

Areas that she's improving in:
- She's really started to enjoy reading.  It's like a light switch finally was turned on and she now reads with a lot of confidence and isn't afraid to try to read a book that has words she doesn't know. 

- Also she is more willing to try to sound out words that she doesn't know how to spell. 

- She's taken very well to having responsibilities at home and is doing well with them.  Her chores include:
 Making her bed, feeding her fish, getting dressed and teeth brushed in the morning, feeding Toby and picking up her room daily.  Every now and thn she needs a reminder but most of the time she does great with it. 

She is doing great though for the most part. I am really proud of her and how hard she is working in school. She took her first spelling test last week and did great and this week she's been put on the spelling challenge list!!! So proud of her! Math is a struggle for her right now but we are doing daily flash cards together and I'm already seeing an improvement. She is amazing with history though and is always talking to me about the president or how cars weren't always around, etc etc. She obviously takes after her mom here in loving history!

Also in the month of September Hailey played in soccer and even though she wasn't thrilled with it in the beginning she really loved it towards the end and was really improving! She is a great goalie! I love watching her play!

Hailey has also mastered cartwheels, handstands, splits and round offs. I need to find her a tumbling class, I think she would love it!

Areas she is struggling in:
- Suddenly this year Hailey has because a social butterfly.  She was never a shy kid but she was always one to follow the rules and this year at school this has become a little difficult for her to remember to not talk when she's not supposed to be.  She is definitely not like her mother here! ha  This week she is actually grounded because once again the teacher told me she had several problems with Hailey talking when she isn't supposed to.  So we are working on it. 

Areas where I am really enjoying Hailey in:
- We read together every night and I love this.  We lay on her bed and read one of the books in the Magic Treehouse series we are reading right now.  There are not a lot of pictures but it amazes me how much Hailey picks up on even when it's mostly words on every page.  

- I love talking about her day after I pick her up from the sitter or at dinner time.  I especially love hearing what is her favorite and least favorite parts about her day.  I have learned a lot about her and her days at school just by asking those questions. 

1 year and 6 years old

First day of 1st grade!

This week has been full of prep for the first day of school and enjoying the last day of summer! 

On Sunday we headed to school for Hailey's open house.  It was crazy busy but we found her room, desk and cubbie and got to meet her teacher Ms Sillman.  Hailey was very excited to see some of her friends in her class again this year. 

Found her cubbie!

And her desk!

Mommy and Hailey

walking like she is going to rule the school this year

walking into school

Love my Hailey bug!

Then on Tuesday, Tony and Hailey spent the last day of summer together and they were determined to make it a good one.  They went out for lunch and to jumpy's and to the park. 

Miss H out shopping for a birthday present....this is her new pose lately

cuddling with her little buddy in HIS bed. 

Then that night we all headed out for Mexican food per Miss H's request. 

Got home and she finished her project that was sent home from the open house. 

And of course laid out her clothes for the first day. 

She got up that morning and was ready to go! 

Yummy breakfast made by Tony and Aunt Tracy!

overall it was a good day but ended a little rough with Hailey being put on the wrong bus at the end of the day.  After a few tears everything was alright and I made sure to talk to her teacher that everything was correct for her 2nd day of school. 

Here's to another successful year of school!!

Vacation - Myrtle Beach, SC

We just got back from our vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC.  It was great.  My sister Tracy and her son Luke came along with me and Hailey.  The drive was long but the kids did great since we drove at night and they slept most of the way.  The condo we stayed in was perfect, way better than a hotel room and big enough for us to be able to hang out on the days it rained and not feel like we were stuck. 

Pretty much our biggest decision every day was do we want to go to the beach first or the pool first....rough I know!  Most of the time we started out at the beach, came back for lunch and a nap and then headed to the pool the rest of the day. 

Hailey loved the beach this year!!!  She wasn't afraid at all, which made me very nervous.  I'm not a use swim in the ocean fan but I'm not a huge swim in any body of water that has animals in it either.  I love the beach and the ocean but I only go up to my knees in the water.  We had a really nice section of the beach to enjoy and it was very family oriented.  It was a great trip and I would definitely go back again.  Here are a few pictures from the trip. 

Hailey has gotten really good at doing cartwheels!

These 2 played really well together

Will not mention how many times we got FroYo while there.

view from our condo...perfect!

Summer so far

We leave for vacation in just a few days to hit up the beach for a while.  Very excited about it and ready to just be lazy and soak up any last ounces of summer we can before things get just plain crazy. 

This summer has been a good one so far.  Lots of time spent together and going to the pool and just hanging out with friends and family.  Still a lot I would like to do before Miss H heads back to school but hopefully we will have time to get it all in before hand. 

Hailey started soccer this past Monday and I cannot believe that it's ready for that to start already.  Can it really be August next week?  Only 4 weeks left until school starts and Hailey will be a 1st grader!  yikes!  Just the thought of her being in school all day and old enough to be doing that makes me pretty emotional.  Time really does fly by way too fast. 

Hailey is really growing up and as much as I would love to keep her my baby, this summer we have been working on making her more independent.  With her being my only child it's so easy for me to just do things for her because it's just easier.  No fights of "Come Hailey for the 100th time, get dressed" or "yes you can do that, your a big girl"....however, as much as I don't want her to we've been working on it. 

One of the big things that we've done is Hailey learning to shower on her own and this is one that I actually enjoy.  She gets in the shower and I can clean up the house while she's doing that.  Kind of a nice break.  Also making her get dressed on her own.  This one she's been doing but it's my fault that I still help her with it and I've needed to stop myself from helping her.  Also have made her more responsible with making her bed and feeding her fish and Toby. 

Amazing how you view your kids still as a little kid and in reality, they are a little person and much more capable of more than we realize they can. 

Here's to 4 more weeks of summer and living it up the entire time! 

4th Tooth OUT!!

This past Friday Hailey finally lost her 4th tooth, the other one on the top!  She's been working at it hard for a few weeks now. 

So looks so cute with it gone! 

I have a feeling we will definitely be wanting our 2 front teeth for Christmas this year!

Being silly showing off her new smile!

Happy 4th of July!

This is probably one of my top favorite holidays to spend with Hailey, just because of the traditions that we have. 

This morning we went for a run/bike ride out at the park with Kristina and Zoey and then went to the pool in the afternoon.  It was HOT!  Only stayed for 2 hours because it was so crowded and if you stepped out of the water you were instantly sweating because of how hot it was.  Got home and rested some and then I grilled out for dinner.  Afterwards we ran to the store to get some snacks for fireworks later that night. 

This year Matthew, Kristina and Zoey came with us to watch Fireworks in Troy.  We always sit on the levee along the river and watch the fireworks and its just always a good time. 

Just one of my many reasons I love summer!

Happy 4th of July!

Sparklers!

First year Hailey didn't call them sprinklers  :(

Swim Lessons

Hailey's been taking swim lessons for the past week.  She's been doing great.  Hailey has always been a fish in the water.  Definitely enjoy taking her and watching her swim AND she is exhausted and ready for bed by the time we are home! 

One more week of them...let's home she graduates! 

Young's Dairy Farm

A few weekends ago we had went up to Young's Dairy Farm for the first time and Hailey really enjoyed it.  I haven't been in years and really had forgotten how cool it was.  Here are a few pictures from our day there.

I did it...hope you come follow

I started a new blog to record my weightloss journey...hope you come check it out and follow it!  You'll help keep me accountable! 

http://mamasara26.blogspot.com/

Major Accomplishment...for me!

For the past week or 2 we have been so rediculously busy that our evenings are so packed that we haven't been able to get outside for our bike ride/run with Hailey.  I think the last time I got Hailey to go out with me on a walk was Monday and before that I have no idea.  Last night Hailey was staying overnight at Chad's and so I was able to go out after I got everything done around 8:30 at night.  Monday when with the little bit that I was able to run I was surprised how good I felt and so last night I wanted to see how long that "I'm feeling good while running" would last. 

So I started out walking a few blocks, I always have to walk some to get everything warmed up, especially with my bad feet (remember I have plantar fiaciatis) and then I started running/jogging.  I just kept going, keeping my mind off what I was actually doing and just looking around in the area I was running in and I was surprised how good I was doing and I knew I had gone further than I had ever gone before.  I'm going for a while and I keep thinking...oh my gosh, I think I've gone a mile but I keep going just to make sure!  It got harder and I had to stop but knew I had gone further than I had ever been able to before and was so proud of myself!!!!  I walked the rest of the way home, it was getting dark! And then jumped in the car and reset my speedometer and went the course I ran, I so wanted to know how far I actually went!  Where I had stopped....was exactly 1 MILE!!!!!!!!   I cried!  Pure tears of happiness and pride!  That may not be very far to some of you, but to me, someone who has never been a runner and the thought of running 4 laps around the track during volleyball would nearly make me throw up in high school and I was in better shape then!  lol  It was a sign that I am actually getting somewhere!  Did the scale go down this morning...no! ER!  But I am slowly becoming a runner and I love it! 

Things I have learned about me and running:

1.  I can't do a program where I know how long I have to run or for how long...I just gotta run.  Otherwise all I'm doing it watching my stop watch waiting for the last minute to end and then I crash. 

2.  I need to look around when I'm running....Oh look at her pretty flowers, I am so gonna do that next  year....whoa, his car is dirty inside!  lol 

3.  Need AWESOME music...I still need to work on my running playlist...some songs in there are just NOT meant to listen to when running. 

4.  I need to take breaks inbetween the days that I work out.  I can't run every day, as much as I would love to, I am not there yet.  This used to bother me and now I realize that my body does need a day to heal.  Running one day and walking the other is OK!

5.  Just run and go with it and who cares how far you go...enjoy it!!!  Running is a total mind game and I have to play tricks on myself so that my mind doesn't tell my body that it's tired when it's really not! 

Now to work at getting better at the 1 mile and work up to 2 miles!   5k here we come!!!

Hailey's 1st Reds game!

Last night Hailey and I went to the Cincinnati Reds game with some friends.  This was Hailey's first reds game and she enjoyed it and all the food she could possibly eat!  Everything from cotton candy, ice cream and nachos.  We had a blast and best part was the reds won! 

Hailey at the GABP!

Me and my girl

Hailey and her first purchase...which was shortly followed by a trip to the restroom to clean up!

Mr Red Legs and Hailey!

Our great seats!