Welcome Hunters & Shoppers

'Grama and Grampa' came for the weekend and were greeted by this lovely sign out on our porch (it says real small Welcome Hunters and Shoppers on Hadley's side)...

This was our first attempt at trying Thanksgiving at our house with them, while Kyle and Grandpa headed out to our land for opening deer hunting weekend!













Bryndel got her Grandpa love before he headed out to the stand with Kyle.

The hunters had a great time out at our land, but the cold blustery weather was not quite the ideal forecast for big bucks.  Maybe next year...

Grandma kept the girls busy with project after project!  The favorite being a gingerbread house :).  We also snuck in a little shopping all 5 of us girls.

It was such a special weekend with them here!  We have MUCH to be thankful for!  Thanks for celebrating Thanksgiving Wisconsin style, Grama & Grampa ~ We love you!

Seven

Sweet. Silly. Smiley. Squirmy. Sassy. Sincere. Social. Smart. Slim. Splendid. Sensitive. Sneaky. Sparkly. Special. Seven.

We love you, sweet Hadley girl.  Happy Seventh Birthday!

7th Birthday Party

Hadley was blessed with a whole morning of celebrating her birthday with six little friends from school (Kyle was even more outnumbered than usual around here!).  They did a little crafting first...
Played 'Pin the glasses on Hadley' (a giant photo of Hadley that is)!  

And after some serious playing down in the basement (I had no idea 8 little girls could make that much noise, OR all 8 of them fit in the teeny tiny playhouse downstairs either, ha!), they eventually made it back up for pizza & cake.

At the last minute, Hadley decided she wanted a cake to match the season rather than her usual request for a princess.  She did, however, want it to be a 'happy leaf' hehe. Which is pretty appropriate for that Happy Hadley kid. 


Pictured below~Piper, Sydney, Rebecca, Abby, Hadley, Malia, Bernie, & Lilly

This is how Bryndel felt prior to the party!  










And this is what Bryndel thought during the party (particularly when 6 little girls were signing Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs, hehe!).

It was such a fun morning.  Hadley really is blessed with such a special school & classroom of girls to learn and grow with. 

Buddies

These two are amazing little buddies.  Isn't God cool that He can give you a best friend in your sister!

Techy

Kyle and I finally got our first smart phones last week! It's been an exciting adjustment from our old 'silly' phones (silly being the word we use instead of dumb in our house :). Most middle schoolers would school us in their use, but we are slowly proving that old dogs really can learn new tricks, ha! Look what we caught Bryndel doing last night in the dishwasher door water  as we cleaned up after dinner...

And here she is really walking :)

Firsts

Bryndel is just growing & changing left and right these days.  New words/signs every day, new likes/dislikes every day, and new skills every day too.  She's had several 'firsts' in the past few weeks.  God is good!

Despite the teeny little legs she's sporting, the girl really can walk! 

She survived her first major sickness a couple weeks back.  I got some serious snuggles & even had her fall asleep on me in church.  It was awful to have her so sick, but the extra love was priceless.

Bryndel got to touch the squishy insides of a pumpkin for the first time, and did not care for it!    







She also had her first weekend without me!  She got some extra love from Auntie Kara, Grandma A (both pictured below), Grandpa A, and Auntie Kim.

And Bryndel was also treated to her first hairdo a couple weeks back.  Hadley & Piper were really  wanting me to stick little pigtails in her wispy hair.  They had a good laugh! 












It wouldn't be an accurate 'firsts' blog, if I didn't write about her first display of frustration.  When Bryndel does not get what she wants or is unhappy with something, she bites the floor!  The carpet isn't so bad, but the wood floor is pretty ouchy to that sweet face.  If the floor isn't close enough, its the bathtub ledge or her highchair tray.  Oh my!  The worst of it, or maybe the best, is that we all secretly find it hilarious; Hadley and Piper included.  One thing is for sure, this little pumpkin is going to keep us on our toes!

Halloween 2013

The girls had a safe & fun Halloween.  Piper went as Bat Girl, and was thrilled to find out that her best little buddy at school, Owen, was none other than Bat Man!  

Not surprisingly, Hadley went as another princess this year.  She was also thrilled to learn that one of her best friends at school, Rebecca, was also dressed as Snow White!

Bryndel was a little overwhelmed by it all, but did seemingly enjoy being an owl.  There was a lot of 'hoo hoo' -ing from her :)

She did not, however, think it would be fun to have a photo with both of her sisters. She has been showing a bit of an independent streak as of late...

Take two of that sister photo.  Just leave the crazy baby sis out, ha!



















And yes, we had an 'extra' jack-o-latern in the house this year, as Hadley's mouth officially looks like one!!!  In her first grade class of 20 students, 14 teeth have been lost since the start of the school year... 4 of which were Hadley's.