Bed Head

Little Gymnast

Take me too!

Muah!

I Really Needed This...

For FHE tonight, Tyson & I read a great article about patience.  Patience is definitely not one of my strong points.  I am more of an instant gratification kind of girl, which is not always good.  I don't know if it's ever good, actually.  Tyson is pretty patient though.

There's a part in the article that reads, "Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings."  I really like that.

The article hit home for me because I've just never been a patient person and it's pretty hard right now with how much Tyson is working.  It's definitely a sacrifice and we know it will pay off but it's difficult now because we barely see him.  So that statement above applies to our situation a lot.  When Tyson is promoted, he will be able to take more time off, but in the meantime, it's work, work, work.  I needed to read this article, and especially tonight.  I found it comforting.

To read the article, click here

Blakeley thinks you should read it!

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For...Birthday Cake!!!

Strawberry Shortcake

The highlight of the day was definitely Blakeley eating her birthday cake.  Something hilarious happened!  You have to watch the videos below to see...

She didn't really like the cake though so she didn't eat much and didn't get too messy.

To watch the videos, click the links below:

Part 1: Click here


Part 2: Click here

Is that hilarious or what?!

More Birthday Fun

After we gave Blakeley her new toy, we put on a new Children's CD and listened to music and danced around.  She started clapping because she was having so much fun.

Then we played with bubbles.

Then we got ready to eat cake!

To be continued...

Birthday Princess

Blakeley looked so cute for church.  We got her a new dress and she wore a special "Princess" sash.  We made cupcakes and took them to church to give to the Young Women and some of our friends.  I'm in the Young Women presidency so I announced that it was her birthday and we sang to her and then the girls got a cupcake.

 

After church, we gave her balloons and she loved them.  Balloons are her new favorite toys.

After B woke up from her nap, our friends Rachael, Rob, Christian (Rachael & Rob's baby) Keithley, Angie, & Sebastian (Keithley & Angie's baby) came over and we all wrote down our wishes for Blakeley and then we let a balloon go in honor of her birthday.  1 balloon since she turned 1.

Then she got a present.

To be continued...

Happy Birthday Blakeley Week!

Since Sunday was Blakeley's 1st birthday, this entire week I'll post pictures from her special day since I took a lot of pics.

It was a fun day.  We woke Blakeley up by singing "Happy Birthday" to her, went to church, took naps, and then had birthday festivities!


Wake up sunshine!

To see the video of us waking up Blakeley, click here 

Happy 1st Birthday Sunshine!

Blakeley Jewel Haas

7.18.09    2:58pm     7 lbs 4 oz    19.5 in

Wonder \ 'wun-der\ 1-2 n. 3 vb. 4 adj. 1. amazed admiration or awe, especially at something very beautiful or new 2. a miracle or other cause of intense admiration or awe 3. to be in a state of amazed admiration or awe 4. exciting admiration or amazement by virtue of being outstandingly good, effective, or unusual

On the night you were born, every star, in every sky, 

Shone down in jealousy, at the twinkle in your eye. 

~Craig Castle

What a ray of sunshine you are...I couldn't have asked for a better baby.  

I truly wouldn't change anything about you 

You have always been such a doll.

I feel like I blinked and now you are one... 

I can't believe how fast it's gone.
The day you were born was the best day of our lives.

My greatest desire for you at this point in your life is for you to have a happy childhood.  

One where you can be carefree and just be a kid.   

Play with dolls, make friends, play tag and hide and seek

Go swimming, feed ducks, ride carousels

Blow dandelions until the seeds all fall off,

Search for four leaf clovers

Jump in leaf piles

Make necklaces out of flowers...

you know the ones...the white flowers that you find in grass

Play hop scotch and jump rope

Monkey bars and dodgeball

Fishing and horseback riding

Eat ice cream cones and cotton candy

Get pulled around in wagons

Learn to ride a bike

Go rollerskating, dance

Gymnastics, Fingerpaint

Ferris wheels and face paint

Popcorn and movies

Blow bubbles and capture bugs

Story time and puppets

Unicorns and make believe

Bubble gum and lollipops

This is my greatest desire for you.

Be a child, have fun.

The rest can wait.

Mommy & Daddy love you, little Sunshine.

xoxo

Girls Camp

 This is Earl.  

Earl is by far, the biggest bug I've ever seen.

This picture doesn't do him justice. 

He was about 6 inches long, 3-4 inches wide, antennas were about 4 inches long too!  No lie!

Yesterday I went to Girls Camp for the day.  Sweet Amy Beltran from our ward watched Blakeley (Thanks Amy!)  It was the longest I've ever been away from Blakeley!  I've never had anyone watch her for an entire day before.  Tyson picked her up after work.  I got home at about 10:30pm and she was asleep in bed so I didn't see her for over 12 hours!  It was a nice break but I missed my little munchkin. 

So it was about a two hour drive to get to the camp and it was a nice drive.  It was north of Austin in Leander, TX.  It was fun to see the girls and I'm surprised my ears were not ringing all night from all the cheering and yelling they were doing.  It was Cheer Fest!

It was a great camp.  When I got there, the girls were doing certification and then it was free time.  The camp had a HUGE blowup water slide and obstacle course, archery, horseback riding, and even a pool.  I wanted to go on the water slide!

In the late afternoon, I helped the girls paint their faces to get ready for Cheer Fest.  I painted one girl's face and then others saw it and I became the Paint Mama.  Dinner was delicious...we had steak, chicken, baked potatoes, salad, and green beans.  A guy in the stake has a BBQ smoker and brings it and cooks every year.  The steak was amazing!  It had that super good smoky barbecue flavor and it was really tender.  I'm not a huge fan of red meat but it was awesome.

After we ate dinner, the cheering began and it was really fun.  Everyone was teamed up by age level and the 4th years took 1st place.  The highlight of the night was when the judges left the room to deliberate who should win.  Everyone was pretty quiet and then all of a sudden, a couple girls started singing church hymns and then the rest followed.  We sang about 6 hymns before the judges came back and it was just amazing how it went from a loud, noisy room to a spiritual sanctuary where you could feel the spirit and everyone was just so reverent.

I'm really glad I went.  It was a fun time and it made me think..."Oh, to be a kid again!"

Bunch o' Daddy Long Legs
Sick, huh?!

Ick...I can barely look at this picture. 

Gives me the heeby jeebys!
Did I mention that I hate spiders?

Childrens Lit 101

These are some of my favorite childrens books!  Most of these are books that I had growing up that I was able to order on Amazon.com.  They are old so they don't sell any of them at stores anymore.  I don't know how I even remembered the titles to some of these.  I just sat down one day and tried to think of books I had growing up because I wanted to read them to Blakeley.  Somehow, keywords came to me and I was able to google them and find them.  I highly recommend these books!

There are Rocks in my Socks Said the Ox to the Fox

By Patricia Thomas

(One of my faves- This one is pretty funny for little kids- about an Ox who is trying to get rocks out of his socks in all kinds of wacky ways)

Moon Mouse

By Adelaide Holl

(About a mouse who thinks the moon is made of cheese)

The Book of Giant Stories

By David L. Harrison

Poochie and the Four Seasons Fair

By Joan Webb

 (Super cute for little girls- GREAT illustrations)

 The following two books are not ones I had growing up but I bought them for Blakeley and I love them.

 Cutie Pie

By Matthew J. Kempler

(It compares a baby to different pies and at the end, it has a surprise but I don't want to spoil it.  Super cute!)

I Love You, Little One

By Nancy Tafuri

(This book is absolutely adorable and will make you teary the first time you read it.  About a Mama's love for her little one. So sweet.)

 As you can see, Blakeley likes to read and lick books...

Just buy them already.

The End.

Filbert Part 2

I previously introduced you to Filbert.  To refresh your memory, go here.

Filbert is back in full effect.  He's been spotted recently antagonizing poor little helpless children and their mothers.

We are seeking your assistance in the capture of this menacing fellow.  We figure you need more information.

His full name is Filbert Einstein...Albert's nephew.

He is about 3-4 inches tall, depending on the day. 

(He uses different disguises.)

He has a blondish-brown complexion and he's thin. 

Filbert, if you're out there...be scared.  Be very afraid.  

Mothers everywhere are teaming up with their combs ready.

MAF has been established and is nationwide.

MAF = Mothers Against Filbert

A Special "Thank You!"

Thank you to our dear friend, Shannon Brennan who made Blakeley this beautiful quilt for her birthday!  Isn't it so pretty?
 

The backing:

 WE LOVE IT!

I see many fun outings in our future with this blanket.  Picnics, building forts in the living room, capes for Super Heroes, cloaks for re-enacting Harry Potter, rolling Blakeley in it and playing steam roller, and I guess for it's more functional use...keeping 'lil Miss Blakeley warm!  (I think Phoebe is going to enjoy some warmth from it too since she crawls underneath every blanket available.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Miss Shannon!  That was super sweet!

Isn't the card so cute too?!

P.S.  Can't wait to see you guys in November!