Hammer

We had two very special visitors this weekend.  Grandma and Grandpa from Minnesota, as Hadley would say, came to help celebrate her birthday a few days early.  We had a grand time playing, eating, laughing, and opening a few birthday presents too!  Hadley's favorite gift was a wedding set (seen below) that she could not seem to get enough of.  We even heard her singing "Here comes the groom" after we tucked her in last night. (No thanks to her Daddy's version of the song: Her comes the bride, all happy inside.  Here comes the groom, all filled with gloom!)  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, we SO appreciate the special visit - We love you!

There is a looooong standing tradition regarding the secrecy of gifts in my family.  A 30 year tradition in fact, beginning when I was just two years old.  If someone asks what you got them, the response is always a hammer (over the years it has really grown in humor and sarcasm).  I started using this idea with Hadley a couple weeks back when it was Kyle's birthday.  She carefully helped me wrap his gifts, and then with a grin, she told him he was getting hammers.  I was impressed that she was able to hold the secret of his gifts so well.  But just yesterday, packages arrived for Hadley from Auntie Kara and Auntie Kim.  She looked at them ever so carefully, and then said with all the seriousness and sadness of the world, "Its going to be a hammer, isn't it?"  After a good laugh, I assured her that it probably wasn't, but that we could open them right now to find out.  Much to her relief and delight she found a darling coat set, hip jeans and top, and a Dr.Suess book.  Thanks, Aunt Kara and Aunt Kim - We love you!