Ice Skating with Autie for the first time EVER!

On Auntie's birthday, all she wanted to do was to take Haddi ice skating at a real rink. It was really a lot of fun (we watched, Haddi skated with Auntie, two of Auntie's friends, and grandma). The rink was really cute - small outdoor rink in the middle of a shopping area and she just had the best time!

Helping decorate the tree???

Haddi is helping decorate the tree - at least until she decides to pretend she is a present (see pic 2). I had to tell her that she really is the very best present!

She's giant!

Haddi is finally taller than "giant" Santa! She used to be very scared of Santa but now she loves him! She is also holding a gift from her grandma nana who she has named "Frostina" - as in girl frosty the snowman.

Haddi Hugs Daddy

The title says it all! Rick's taking a well deserved break and Haddi is giving daddy some love!

Haddi and the Hotel

Haddi loves loves loves to stay in a hotel. We recently had to go up to Nebraska to retrieve some of our lawn equipment that we left there when we were working on a job earlier this year. We made a weekend of it and stayed overnight in a hotel (high luxury at the Comfort Inn in Scottsbluff Nebraska). Her favorite part without a doubt is the pool - which in this case had a broken heater. We swam for abou 12 seconds then went in the hot tub and went home! She loved it in spite of the problems!

Thanksgiving feast at school

Here is a picture of Haddi at school on the day of the Thanksgiving feast. The kids assisted with making bread then had that and vegetables for their feast. They really had a blast!

Playing at the Park.

Haddi and I went to the park near our house one morning for play time and she took a 'rest' on top of one of the climbing rocks.

Haddi the teacher.

Sometimes at the store Haddi gets bored and so she has 'school'. She selects some stuffed animals from the shelf - in this case mallard ducks, and conducts a class. The dialog is really very funny as it emulates that of her actual school. ("Everyone clap for Matthew", she says). She's a pretty creative little munchkin!

Littlest Ballerina!

My cell phone takes a crummy picture, but here is Haddi in dance class. She takes a combo class that is tap and ballet. This is the ballet portion and she is so darned cute in those ballet shoes!

Cinderella for Halloween - 3 pics

Haddi finally decided to be Cinderella for Halloween. This decision came after much discussion where Haddi decided she would be a kitty, a doggie, an elephant, a polar bear, a pumpkin, a firefighter, a princess (various). I wanted her to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I thought Rick could go with her and be the Beast! I loved this idea - the two of them did not so I was outvoted. I think her real favorite part was handing out the candy at our house after she was tired of walking from house to house to get candy for herself. Not sure what that says about the kid, but there you have it!

Mom, I'm so grown up!

Haddi is definatley fascinated with being grown up and being allowed to do things that she was too young for "when she was a kid". She just recently got permission from her dad for toenail painting. She chose the most shocking color of bright red/hot pink you've ever seen because it is a "very grown up color". Daddy painted her toes (to his and her delight) and she promptly put on her 'grown up shoes'. The thing that prompted me to take this picture was that these feet and legs look like teenage feet and legs to me. It's surreal that my 4 year old, without proper scale for reference, could really look so grown up! Freaks me out a little to be honest!

Miniature debutante!

One of Haddi's very favorite things to do is to get dressed up. She plays dress up in her play princess gowns, but she really loves to get dolled up to do things like go out to dinner or go to someone's house. Here, she's donned the dress up high heels, purse, hat and dress. Very funny!

Spooky Punch

Haddi, Auntie and Grandma Nana had loads of fun making spooky punch with dry ice and Haddi loved watching it bubble and smoke!

The Pumpkin Cake!

Uncle Martin (here at the Halloween part at our house) took Haddi earlier in the day to Michael's craft store (like Hobby Lobby) to a class on how to make this cool three D Pumpkin cake. They then brought it back home and we had a potluck feast and, of course, pumpkin cake! Pretty cool - Haddi had a blast!

Face painting with Auntie at our Halloween Party

Haddi's Auntie loves Halloween! She and the rest of Rick's family came up for a little pre-Halloween potluck party. Auntie arrived, much to Haddi's delight, painted as a kitty cat. Haddi then got the treatment too (left) and decided that Auntie's face needed a little touch up (right). Auntie has the patience of a saint! They really had such fun.

She's a Sound Sleeper

Gosh - I went upstairs to go to bed on evening and as I normally do, I glanced across the hallway at Haddi's bedroom just to check on her. I couldn't figure out what I was seeing at first - a tangle of kid and covers and princess sheets all wound up and sideways. So I went in for a better look. This is what I found....kid...sideways across the bed....head hanging off, arms hanging off, feet hanging off. Incredible. I ran back downstairs for the camera and snapped this pic. Sadly the flash woke her up and I felt pretty crummy. However, I was going to have to 'right' her anyway, so I guess it's really no difference. For those of you that don't already feel sorry for Rick, I sleep like this too. Back when I traveled for work (read, sleeping alone in a hotel bed) I would often wake up cross ways on the bed, or with my head down by where my feet started out. Poor guy - he has had to get used to sleeping with a windmill all these years. Looks like Haddi's future spouse is in for the same treatment!

Tractor Pull Winners

This is Haddi and her bestest bestest friend Abbie who lives down the stree. They play together quite a bit and Abbie is a really great kid. She is almost 2 years older than Haddi, but has taken it upon herself to use her "oldness" to show Haddi new things (shoe tying, writing your name, drawing the sun, etc.) They get along really well and like each other. Somehow I volunteered to be in charge of public relations and media for the annual Sugarbeet Festival (in a moment of insanity) and so on the day of the festival I was to be there all day with Haddi (ALL Day from 8am to 5 pm). So, to ease the pain for all of us, we invited Abbie to go along. They had an absolute blast doing all the fun events, dancing, face painting, bouncing in the bouncers, tasting sugar beets, and last but not least, participating in the pedal tractor pull. Basically the kid gets on a pedal tractor that is loaded with weights. As they pedal forward, the weights move up this sliding scale that makes the tractor heavier and heavier the farther you pedal. The person with the longest pull (most distance) wins. Haddi and Abbie both took first place - nevermind that they were the only girls in the category, thus ensuring them a blue ribbon but hey - they were proud nontheless!

Why did I take this picture?

Hmmm - not sure what prompted me to take this picture, but here is Haddi looking like she's handing me something and also looking devilish in the picture down below.

The Daddy Ladder

Haddi is really a monkey, not a little girl. She loves to climb and play, on ANYTHING. She calls this the Daddy Ladder where she climbs up on top and stands on his shoulders. She also sits on top of his head and stands on his chest (jumps from a position on the floor to standing on his chest - with help of course, c'mon she' s not bionic...) Obviously they both enjoy it!

Haddi the E-Bay Lister!

So, I'm still selling Coach handbags on Ebay from time to time, a process which requires pictures to be taken of the item to be sold. So, we were all set up in the hallway to take the pics and as I was changing cameras, Haddi stepped in with her Fisher Price Sure Shot digital camera and snapped a picture. It's so funny when she imitates us. Her camera takes the worst digital picture you've ever seen but she sure was funny "taking E-bay pictures"!

Sleeping Beauty...er Belle...?

Haddi just got this new Princess Belle Barbie doll - complete with Belle's famous yellow ball gown, and she fell asleep on the couch "snuggling with Belle". So cute!

Talking with the teachers on the first day of school

Here we are talking with teacher Shari and teacher Tori on the first day. This is the main classroom. Wow - look at that long hair!

The First Day of School!

Scroll down for more pics. Well, here we are at the first day EVER of "real school". We enrolled Haddi in the local Montessori school and she's going 3 days per week. Scroll down for more pics!