Here We Go Again!

Cheese!

Imogen.

Yeah, she's taken to posing.

Fourth of July 2011

Tired from the day's activities.

Finally! While I'm partial to fireworks on Siesta Key Beach in Florida, this came in as a close second for where I'd spend the holiday if given the choice. Granted, being with family and friends is most important, but I'm like a kid when it comes to the Forth of July and firework viewing. This time, we had great seats and the fireworks were really good. In the past, I felt a little too removed from the fireworks. We were given the tip to score seats at Northwestern and they were right. It was great! If we're not on Siesta Key, I think we'll be here!

Hadley Turns 8!

Hadley, Hazel (her best friend), and her little cousins and sister

Mock candle blowing (too windy to light)

Can you guess who did this? Yep, Rafferty.

Tired? Yeah, that bike riding did it, I think.

Friends playing.

Posing for some final pictures and silly Immy.

Gifts! She truly loved ALL of them!

SUPER excited about the chocolate covered Oreos from Auntie Elizabeth.

Not even sure I've blogged about Imogen's birthday yet, and I know I never blogged about Tatumn's (we had technical difficulties at the time) so I'm not getting an award in this department. At least I'm getting Hadley's on here in a reasonable amount of time, but I still have stuff do for this birthday. Here are pictures from her actual birthday, where we had a small pizza party on the beach with her closest friends and family.

Hadley is getting so big! She's tall (90th percentile at 4 feet 5 inches) and she's smart. She still mothers her little brother and sister and is always looking out for them. She's social and has many friends to prove it and loves to talk. She's still incredibly imaginative and still acting out scenarios with Imogen and her friends most of the time. She loves to read and is so very friendly. We love our Hadley, who's growing up so amazingly fast. And while she's getting so big, of course she'll always be our little Hadley Bear. Happy Birthday, Hadley! We love you to bits!

Hadley Rides a Bike (finally)!

Okay, so I feel guilty about adding the "finally" for a couple of reasons. First, it's our fault she's now 8 and we're just now getting her on a bike. Sure, she's been on the tandem, and barely even that, but that's about it. Second, I don't want to undermine her achievement. It's not like she's slow in the physical department. Well, maybe she's not the most coordinated yet (I'm terrible for saying it), but there's hope, right? I will say, our track record with coordination and bikes is...... questionable. But, and there is a big BUT (hee hee), Hadley was amazingly fast at learning! This experience was not much like Tatumn's learning to ride a bike. It took minutes to get her going solo. She was super motivated to learn to ride a bike by her most talented cousin, Morgan, who's the super star of balance and coordination on anything with wheels it seems.

I was surprised that once she learned to ride it, she wasn't too interested in continuing on to learn turns and whatnot. She seemed satisfied that she had mastered pedaling in a straight line (sort of). The bike was a gift for her birthday, so it was nice for her to master this milestone on a milestone. Unfortunately, the bike leaves much to be desired as it brakes stick, especially when trying to get momentum to start pedaling. Yeah, I don't think it's a keeper and am glad I chose to leave every tag on it so I can return it. I am in the market for a better bike, something we can pass down to Imogen, who also desperately needs to learn to ride. Hadley has Tatumn's old bike (still like new), which was slightly too big to learn on, but she's able to ride it now, too, if only in a straight line! There's still much to learn and more practice needed, but the hardest part is definitely out of the way.

Congratulations, Hadley!!!