Happy 4th of July!!

I hope everyone had some good and fun family time!! We definitely did. In the beginning of the week we couldn't decide if we should go up North and visit my parent's, down to Rapids and visit Korey's parent's or to the church picnic that our church hosts each year...it all turned out to be a mute point, because Korey ended up getting sick in the morning and we had to forgo all of our plans and instead we just stayed home!! I'm not sure what he had, he seemed to feel fine, but he had to stay pretty close to a bathroom...not a good thing! ;)

We did take some time to be silly and take some fun family pictures in the backyard!

Hailey was definitely on her "cutest" behavior and entertained both of us all day long!

The fireworks got cancelled because of the rain, but we let Hailey stay up til 9 o'clock, just in case, and made our own fireworks while we waited to see what was going to happen!!

Daddy and Hailey had a good time playing outside- even in the rain! This is Hailey's new favorite toy- our neighbor bought it for her at a garage sale and it's the most adorable trike- with a thing attached to it so that you can push it. She is too small to really ride on it, but she enjoys having us push her around while she sits on it! :)

swimming, swimming, and more swimming!

That's about all Hailey and I have been doing these days...swimming!! It's been hot and getting hotter each day, so it's been been to just sit and soak in the pool! We went to the Mosinee pool as a family the first time. Korey and Hailey were adorable together and I was so excited to finally be able to show him how much fun she could have in the pool! ;)

She loves to play with the "ball" at the pool! Even if we get there and another kid has the ball she gets jealous and starts screaming "ball" until we can distract her or the kid feels bad for her and gives her the ball!! I even tried bringing our own ball today, but it wasn't good enough- she had to have all the balls in the whole pool! What a selfish little one!

It was exciting to sit on the edge of the pool with Daddy...

Isn't he a great dad?? It makes me almost cry to think about how much Korey loves Hailey! And he is so great with her...when we got home last night he gave her a bath and it was the sweetest sound I've ever heard- a little girl and her daddy giggling and "talking" in the bathroom! :)

Earlier in the day we went over to our neighbor's house and did some swimming in the pool! It was sooooo refreshing!! (plus, she fed us some great chicken salad for lunch, so who could complain??) ;)

I think she loves her baby ring- it must make her feel safer or something in the pool, because when she's in it she has a lot more fun and is more "adventurous"!

birth plans, budgets, baby cradles, big sister...b is for boy!!

Well, our sons impending birth is only 10 weeks away...and the feeling is definitely not the same one that I experienced with Hailey! Or at least I don't remember thinking "yikes! there's just not enough time to get all of this stuff done!"
I went to the doctor last week and he asked, again, what my plans were for the baby and if I had people lined up to take care of her...basically a second momma "birth plan"!! I had to admit, rather sheepishly, that even though he had told me the month before that I had to come up with a plan that I hadn't done it! I have my next appointment this coming Tuesday and so I figured that if I didn't want to be embarrassed, again, that I needed to come up with a plan...so I did- just this morning! I guess, in a way it does feel pretty "freeing" but in another way it's rather scary and a little unsettling to think that Jackson's birth is close enough that we need to worry about it already!! I went in to see my friends from work, yesterday, and had to confess that although I had everything ready for Hailey way before she was born I didn't have anything ready for Jackson, yet! He might just end up sleeping in a laundry basket for the first few months of life...that'd be ok, right?!

Korey and I have always had a word that was very similar to a swear word in our house and that is BUDGET!! I don't know why, but there's just something in us that makes us cringe whenever we hear the word...but...with the impending birth of a second baby we're feeling like maybe it's about time to grow up and live our life on a budget! So, I came up with one yesterday...it was a little scary and it's probably not rigid enough for most "budgeters" but for us I think it might work- hopefully, anyways! Do you all have budgets? How do you make them work??

Hailey's getting herself all ready for being a big sister! She's been practicing feeding her elmo and pushing her dolls around in the baby stroller! She was even reading to her baby the other day- it was sooo cute! :) Here she made her aunt kelly and I put her in her carseat in the living room because she was so determined to "go"!! Obviously, the carset didn't get her very far, but she sure had a fun time getting in and out of it saying "go" louder and louder each time!!! Definitely a little girl who knows what she wants...she must get that from her Daddy! :)