Hailey and Brynn - 2 1/2 years old

Hailey and Brynn turned 2 1/2 in June. We can hardly believe how fast this year is going. The girls amaze me daily with the things they remember and always bring me laughs with their developing senses of humor. They are SILLY. They get that from their daddy!! A few things about the girls:

• Hailey loves to sing...doesn't matter what the song is, she is constantly singing. Brynn will chase her around the house shouting, "Hailey, no singing!!!" Brynn loves music too, she just prefers the artist's original version of the song!



• Favorite movies - Brynn likes any Veggietales and Hailey likes Strawberry Shortcake.



• They both love to play Ring-around-the-rosie and fall down in a crazy way.



• The girls like to help in the kitchen - pouring the measuring cups full of ingredients into the "big bowl". Favorite ingredient: CHEESE for a meal or Chocoloate chips for a treat



• Hailey and Brynn go to bed the same time, but Hailey will just hang out in her bed doing who knows what until late hours in the evening. We always check on all of the kids before we go to bed and she has been up waiting for us some nights. Crazy girl! Then she gives a summary of all the sounds she heard while we thought she was asleep. She is right on most of the time which is amazing to me.



• They love to wash hands. All.The.Time. The love to sing the ABCs while washing hands to make sure they wash thoroughly. And they like to use a BIG handful of soap. Brynn has been able to turn the water on and off for quite a while now but Hailey is finally tall enough so they can do this whole process independently. I have to make sure to keep the door shut or they would be in the bathroom washing hands all day.



• Both girls are very good mommies to their baby dolls. They like to strap their babies in Klayton's high chair, car seat, and once in awhile I even find their dolls "napping" in Klayton's crib.



• They have also developed into great big sisters. They love their little brother and are pretty good helpers. They always make sure he has a toy and if he is crying Hailey says, "What's the matter, buddy?". Brynn will go get a toy for him and say, "It's ok, Klayton. No crying." They always make him giggle and provide a constant source of entertainment.

Here are some much overdue pictures of the girls and our activites this summer.

They love to use their buckets to take water from their water table and give our flowers a drink. Thanks to the girls, our flowers are alive this summer :)

The swimming pool in the back yard is a hit. I haven't taken them to the city pool yet but that is on the agenda for tonight. So, possibly more pictures to come (probably in September at the rate I update this blog!).

Daddy and the Grandpas built the kids a swingset this spring. I don't know what we would do without it! The girls love swinging and playing up in the playhouse and going down the slide. And it is nice for me because it allows Klayton to nap in his crib while we play outside.

Hailey and Brynn took their first carousel ride at the carnival at Summerfest. Hailey chose the horse and Brynn chose the giraffe. They kept saying, "again, again". We tried to use the "it is someone else's turn" card, but there was only one little boy in line so there were lots of animals left just calling their names. They LOVED it to say the least.

I am so excited to report that both girls have long enough hair for pigtails. Yay!! I don't claim to be great at hair but I love being able to pull their hair back for the summer. Oh, and Hailey was sneaking her thumb in the below picture. Both girls have sucked their thumbs since they were about 2 months old. Shortly after they got home from the hospital they found their thumbs and it helped create two great sleepers. But, now we are trying to break this habit and thumbs are only allowed if they are in bed. You can kind of see a smirk on Hailey's face because she knows she is breaking a rule...

The new favorite toy at Grandma and Grandpa's house - a yellow Camaro! The girls LOVE this car and do a pretty good job of taking turns in the driver's seat. At first, Hailey always wanted to drive and Brynn would be in charge of the radio from the passenger's seat.

Oh my...the picture below is the result a few unsupervised minutes while I was changing Klayton's diaper. Diaper cream is the one item the girls are not allowed to play with so Brynn took this opportunity to check it ou. Wow...40% zinc diaper cream does not clean up well... Luckily the cream was relatively confined to the changing pad, jammies, and of course hands/arms/legs. It took me 45 minutes to clean up this one but I couldn't help but laugh and grab the camera. I have a similar picture from my experiments as a child - I had squeezed out a tube of toothpaste. Now I know how my mom felt!

Burley rides are so fun! Daddy usually takes the girls on a bike ride and Klayton goes in the jogger stroller with me so we can all get out of the house for some fresh air.

Brynn on her favorite princess couch.

Hailey on the deck with bubbles.

The girls have a picnic table that they love to eat on. Whenever they drop food, they have learned not to pick up the food because it is "for the birds". Now, even inside when they drop food they say - "it's for the birds"...well...not so much but at least they aren't picking up gross things outside to eat. Now if only Klayton understood :)

Sometimes we take a picnic lunch to a park just a few blocks from our house. Hailey and Brynn love to go to the park and are very daring on the play equipment. Brynn is usually eager to try just about anything and Hailey will wait to see how it goes before she attempts it. The park and our walk there and back usually guarantee a great afternoon nap for all three kids!

We are so blessed to have Hailey and Brynn in our lives - they are two amazing little girls and they bring so much joy to our lives. Happy 2 1/2 girls!!!