The Latest of Hallie's Antics

Hallie really likes to watch me cook. She pulls up her little stool and observes everything very carefully and is thrilled when she occasionally gets to mix ingredients for me. The other day I came into the kitchen to find that Hallie was stirring up a little concoction of peaches and toast and left-over eggs on the stove...yummy!

A few Saturdays ago Chris and I were getting all ready to go to the temple and Hallie immediately asked if we were going to Church and if she was going to nursery! "No," I told here, "Mom and Dad are going to the temple and Hallie is going to Aunt Caitlin's" Her reply was "Hallie go to the temple too!!" Hmmm, I couldn't very well tell her that she couldn't go to the temple so I told her that we would take her later that day, as we were going up to Salt Lake in the afternoon. She then ran to her room and found her dress and stockings so that she could go to the temple. I guess she talked about going to the temple the whole time she was with Caitlin and Grant.

She was very pleased when we got there, but disappointed she was not allowed to play in the water- it was freezing!

Here's my thrilling news; Hallie is potty trained. Whoo-whoo, as she likes to say! All it took was some good ol' fashioned bribery and a week indoors with little else to do!

A few Tootsie-pops and a fancy sound-making puzzle and Hallie is a full-fledged, potty using, underwear sporting girl. She now only requires a marshmallow or Tic-Tac to be satisfied...we'll seen how long it lasts!

Yup, we love her.

So this is Hallie sporting the new dress I made for her out of an old t-shirt and some kitty fabric. I found the pattern on this site and I'm pretty much obsessed with making things from it. So far I've also done their wipes cover(just in time to not have use for it any more) and Kleenex box cover which you can see in the background.

Hallie insisted on wearing the Canada socks she got from Grandma Regehr for the picture. She likes the dress fine. The socks, on the other hand (or foot perhaps), she loves! I'm pretty sure they didn't come off for about a week and, once washed, they went right back on!

Hmmm, this looked rather suspicious...

...and then I saw this. Lovely.

As you can see we keep...busy. And entertained to say the very least.

I am not the most organized person around. But some days I feel like I'm living like this:

When I really want to be living like this:

Note all the books in that first picture; that would be Chris and his English major's doing...the rest of course is all me. I don't think I'm a real "hoarder" but I do have a hard time getting rid of things sometimes. I mean really. How many spatulas do I need in my kitchen...I think I have 5. By the end of today I'm determined to only have 1.

Chris and I have decided to live more simply, and considering we're probably going to move 100 times over the next 10 years (maybe not that much, but we do anticipate a few moves) we really want to cut down on all the stuff we don't need/use.

I went to a class by a couple of professional organizers who said that we use 20% of our stuff 80% of the time. I feel like I've been sucked into the consumerist vortex! Let the purging begin!

It's January?!

This is mostly the Hallie Chronicles, I know, but she's cuter than me and Chris so be glad she's the star of this post.

Hallie made a good haul this Christmas. Though I'd have to say that her favorite thing has been those snowman pj's. She hardly ever takes them off!

One of the best parts of this year's Christmas holiday was getting to know Chris' new niece, Emery. Hallie was in LOVE with that baby!

Hallie's Birthday is the 26th, so we decided to celebrate by pretending it's spring. This year we did a bug themed birthday party. Complete with edible grasshopper, ladybugs, bumble bees, butterflies, and (of course) ants on a log!

Hallie also had fun learning about Santa Clause, just in time for the holidays.