Merry Christmas!

 It was wonderful teaching Hadley the true meaning of Christmas this year.  We read books, played with her nativity set, sang songs and watched videos. Out of the blue I would ask her questions like, "Who's Birthday is it this month?". She surprised me by saying,  "Baby Jesus".   A few days later I asked again and this time she said, "Daddy's" and she was right.  Hadley had an opportunity to meet Santa at our church and just like last year she wasn't thrilled.  He was soon forgotten when she met Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus on the other side of the room.  As she gets older I'm sure Santa will play a part in her life but it is our intent to always teach her Jesus is the reason for Christmas.

Where is Peter Rabbit?

 Once the weather started to cool from summer we planted carrots, lettuce, spinach and snap peas.  I had prepared our garden to be safe from Peter and his buddies but didn't do such a good job because they found their way in.  A quick trip to the hardware store to pick up chicken wire and Peter and his friends would have to go back to just boring old grass.  Today everything seems to be thriving, we even have tomato plants growing everywhere.  It was my expert gardening friend Edy who pointed them out to me.  Where did they come from?  Our compost. 

 The lemon tree has some shiny new lemons ready for the picking. Hadley and her daddy will do the honors.  The tree already has flower blossoms, a sign of what is to come next year.  As for the orange tree I found a caterpillar.  We knew he would change into a beautiful butterfly and hopefully not do to much damage to the tree so we left him alone.  

 

 Beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Hadley with Pinky Pie and her four favorite skirts.

Orange you beautiful

Our orange tree finally produced its first fruit!  I was so excited about our one piece of fruit I had to post it on the blog. Technically the tree supplied us with two oranges but only one was edible.  Martin, Hadley and I shared the sweet and sour nectar and much to my amazement it was pretty good. We hope next year our tree gives us more yummy fruit to share.

Happy Birthday Hadley!!!

Our sweet baby girl has turned two! where has the time gone? We had a celebration brunch with a few of her friends. Cake, cupcakes, balloons, presents, family and friends, what more could a girl ask for?  She is such an amazing gift and has brought us more joy than we could imagine.

Building a dollhouse

For Hadley's birthday we wanted to give her a custom dollhouse. I designed one and my friends husband helped me build it.  But before the house was built I found some vintage IKEA dollhouse furniture which ended up being the inspiration for the design and decor.  This was a really fun project and is something Hadley and I can play with together.

Halloween

Halloween is not much of a holiday in our family but Hadley did dress up.  With some friends we walked the neighborhood and attended our church fall festival. Hadley wasn't sure what was going on but she had a good time.