March Madness

March has been a whirlwind of traveling and fun. We continued the tradition of attending the SEC Basketball Tournament. This year it was in Nashville which meant we could drive, visit family, and meet up with some old friends. We started the trip by stopping off in Kentucky to visit Grandma and Jack. The girls loved being on the farm and spending time with family. Hadleigh was especially fond of the cows. She wanted nothing to do with the sweetest, friendliest Golden Retriever, but she would have crawled into the pin with the cows if she could!
After a quick visit, we headed down to Nashville to watch some basketball. Christian and I went to the single game Arkansas played while Gammy and Pops enjoyed cheering Kentucky to a championship at the rest of the games. Hadleigh was, of course, coached to cheer "Go CATS" which she proudly did and still will blurt out during any given sporting event. She also referred to Kentucky as "Popstucky". I must admit that I was completely satisfied that Arkansas only played one game...that is about all I can tolerate in one weekend and it meant I could spend more time shopping!
After our mini-vacation to Nashville, we headed down to Little Rock for a visit with Christian's family. Christian and some friends competed in a BBQ competition on Saturday down on the river. It ended up being a beautiful day and their team, The Mighty Fine Swine, turned out some fabulous ribs. Even though they didn't walk away winners, they had fun and are already planning out the next competition. Hadleigh and Harper enjoyed playing with their Little Rock friends and especially loved staying with their cousin Landon. Hadleigh and Landon entertained us all with concerts each evening. Landon would play his clarinet and Hadleigh would dance around. She thought it was the greatest thing ever and I must say, Landon is a pretty talented musician! Our weekend ended with us coming home to 12" of snow on the ground. It was the craziest, most unexpected thing. Luckily it melted pretty quickly, but of course the daycare thought it'd be a great excuse to close:( Anyways, we are finally back to spring weather and hope it is here to stay.
Here are the March pics:

Lining up to race to the cows.
"On your mark, get set, GO!"

Completely intrigued with the cows. Here she is waving goodbye to them.

Grandma getting her "Harper fix"

Impromptu photo shoot on the farm

Hanging out with Landon. She is way too cool to be getting her picture taken---can't you tell!

Harper is still working on her "scooting".

Entertainment time

Hadleigh and I went to see Storytime Live with Dora, The Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, and Ni Hao Kai Lan. She was anxiously awaiting Dora, but when Moose A. Moose came out, she jumped into my lap and tried to hide. She eventually warmed up, and ended up singing and dancing along and didn't want to leave when it was over.

Finally some warm weather which can mean only one thing...playground time!

And of course, the month wouldn't be complete without spending time with Scarlett and Adriene.

Friends

How blessed our girls are to have such good friends!

These girls are all smiles when they are playing together, until the camera comes out, that is!

Their sisters have no problem smiling for me, tough.

Harper and John Riley. He's already making a move!

An old one of Scarlett and Hadleigh from one of our many trips to the playground.

I foresee a fight between Adriene and Harper ensuing over the handsome John Riley:)

"Don't worry, we won't let a boy come between us!"

Picture catch up

We took Harper to her first basketball game yesterday. She loved it! This was Hadleigh's second game this season and she has become quite the little fan. She loves spotting the mascots, watching the band play, and watching the ballerinas (aka cheerleaders). She has definitely matured over the last year. Last season, we were lucky if we made it to half-time with her. This year, we can barely drag her away when it is over. It was a fantastic day, despite the loss.

Hadleigh is still enjoying dance. I caught her practicing one morning before we left.

Family picture on Valentine's Day. 4 out of 5 isn't bad!

Snowing and Growing

Where has the time gone? Our girls are growing up so quickly. Hadleigh is still thriving in her preschool class and we continue to be amazed at how much she is learning there. Her dance class is still the highlight of the week for her. Her teacher told me that she is very independent and insists on changing into her ballet shoes all alone. Hadleigh listens great there and somehow her teacher has managed to have 8+ 2-3 year olds learn and perform a cute little tap number. Of course, anytime Hadleigh has an audience, she freezes up, but I know she can do it because they have tv cameras for the parents to observe on. The recital should be interesting!
Hadleigh's newest obsession is the $2 stool I bought her at Target. She carries that thing around all over the house so she won't miss anything. I can't change a diaper without her running to get the stool so she can get a good view! She loves to sing songs (really loud) and will often sing in her bed for up to an hour before falling asleep. Her favs are Jesus Loves Me, Jingle Bells, ABC's, and Father Abraham. They've also learned a new prayer at preschool that she sings a lot, always starting it with a 1,2,3... I think she is about to count and then she breaks out in song--so cute.
Harper is now 8 months old. She sits great, will try to crawl a little, but so far has only gone backwards, eats 3 meals a day plus 4 milk feedings, sleeps 11-12 hours at night, and can chat up a storm. No official words yet, but I'm sure she's said a few da-da's and ba-ba's in there somewhere. Unfortunately, she's now at the age where she's beginning to have some separation anxiety. She used to be so laid back about us leaving her, but now when she knows we are leaving, she'll start crying. This has also affected her independent play, too:( Overall, though, she is still a happy baby most of the time, especially when her big sister is playing with her.
Here are pics from the past couple of weeks:

Hadleigh patiently waiting for the ok to open her Valentine's gift

Of course I bought her way too much stuff when all she really cared about was the single tube of chapstick

Harper loves to clap her hands. We are working on waving...maybe next post.

Practice time...

Getting the hang of this standing thing

Cheesing it up for the camera. Can you please teach your sister to do this?!?

And yes, she does cry...

But it's always short-lived.

One of ours snow days...daycare got moved to our house. What an exhausting day with my four favorite little girls!

Hadleigh loved sledding down the driveway.

And the big finale...the annual Miss America Party!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

January has been a pretty low key month with the exception of Christian's birthday. His birthday request was a "Meat Off, Eat Off". After some explanation of what exactly this meant, the party was on. His poor friends were great sports about the whole thing, spending most of the day outdoors cooking in the single digit weather....brrrrrr. From someone who doesn't have much of an appreciation for meat, I must admit that all of the entries were very delicious. It was a tough competition to judge, but there ended up being one clear winner. Michael Considine, who drove up from Little Rock, took the title as the 1st annual Meat Off, Eat Off Champion. He made a pork shoulder that was incredible. We can't wait to make this an annual tradition and hopefully the weather will be more accommodating to grilling next year.
Harper turned 7 months on Christian's birthday. Now that she can sit up alone, she can keep herself entertained for a while as long as a few toys are in reach. She is excelling at independent play. She loves taking a bath and can spend hours (though that doesn't happen) sitting in there splashing around with her hands and feet. She has 2 teeth coming in and is eating 2 meals a day of cereal, fruits, and veggies. She's sleeping pretty well, but has a bad habit of waking up sometime between 4-6am and it takes some work to get her to go back down, but she eventually will. Harper continues to be the happiest girl around, laughing or smiling almost nonstop!
Hadleigh has grown up quite a bit the past few weeks. First, she threw away her paci! I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into when she did it, but Christian somehow convinced her to do it. The first couple of nights were rough, but once the initial shock wore off, it really wasn't too bad. She continued to ask for it for about a week and nap time and bedtime are no longer as simple as they used to be, but she has managed. She still asks for it occasionally, but the meltdowns are few and far between and she knows that the garbage man took it away permanently. She actually sleeps better now since she's not waking up looking for it in the middle of the night. I never would have thought it would be this easy. I guess people were right...it was my crutch, not hers. Secondly, Hadleigh officially moved up to the preschool side of school (sniff, sniff). This means she eats and plays with the "big kids". I could tell she was nervous the first day and she wanted so bad to go back to her old class, but she kept it together and marched right into her class. I stayed (out of sight, of course) and watched her go to breakfast. She had to wait in line and pick up her tray cafeteria-style. I held my breath as she took the tray full of food and milk and carried it back to her new table. Like a pro, she made it to her table and sat down next to a new friend. I left daycare that morning one proud mom!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

Hadleigh, Scarlett, and Marlee having a wild time. Can't wait for the first sleepover!

The Champ, Michael (with Adriene), giving a few tips to David for next year

Dalicia, Peyton, Harper and Abby

Cheers to the birthday boy!

The ladies man!

A few of the competitors tending to their grills and trying not to freeze.