Hadley's First Soccer Practice

Hadley's new favorite activity is running. Just for the fun of it, she will run laps around the house until she literally falls on the floor dizzy.

A friend mentioned our YMCA was having a free day of soccer practice for two to four year olds, so we jumped at the opportunity. I've been looking forward to it all week because I knew it would be hilarious to watch.


Hadley started off listening to the coaches and kicking the ball with her feet.

 

Then she spent the rest of the practice sprinting. She ran up and down that field for 40 minutes straight.

She only took a few short breaks to examine cones, 

Brush her hands off after falling, 

Or to play an impromptu game of ring around the rosie.

When we got home she devoured a HUGE plate of meatballs. Can you see how tired she is?

We put her down for a nap. I went in to check on her and she was out of bed using the single ounce of energy she had left playing the xylophone. I put our exhausted little girl down in our bed and she took a good, long, snooze. 

Happy Time Time's Day!

One of my favorite things about having a child is seeing all the fun and magic of each holiday through her eyes. We had a fun and busy week stretching Valentine's day into more like 7 days of celebration. And you can bet the day the Valentine's decorations came down, the Easter decorations were put up!

Back to Valentine's day week: We started a few weeks ago by going to a little photo shoot at the Wilmington Arboretum. The photographer that did all of Hadley's baby pictures held a free 'Friends and Family Day' with fun Valentine's Day props. As soon as we arrived, Hadley spotted a table with boxes of candy hearts, and a nice woman gave her not one, but two boxes....and that was all she wrote. We got a few pictures of Hadley with a smug smile, and her boxes of candy. We took the candy away, and she screamed. We compromised by giving her two little pieces so the box wouldn't be in the picture. The rest of the pictures involved Hadley frolicking around with her candy, looking for fish in the stream, photo bombing other photo shoots, etc.

The picture we chose for our free image was the one of her pouting with a sad little tear rolling down her cheek. This picture captures the life of a toddler...the highs are so high and the lows are so low. I'll always treasure this sweet picture just like I treasure all the gorgeous ones of Hads smiling and laughing.

Hadley also had a Valentine's Day party at school. The kids had a special snack and exchanged  Valentines. When Hadley brought her bag of Valentine's home, we sorted through it. She picked each of the 8 Valentines up and told me which child it came from...and when I looked at the names on the cards, she was correct. I have no idea how she memorized all of them! I have noticed that the past few weeks she's taken to memorizing names and information and reciting it. She's a smart, wild cookie!

Happy belated "Time Time's Day!" 

Oh Two-dles! Happy Second Birthday, Hadley!

It took me awhile to work up the mental fortitude to write this blog entry. Weeks of cutting out perfect little black circles for Mickey Mouse heads, coming up with Disney-inspired puns for food, and planning every detail of this Minnie Mouse-themed extravaganza earned this Momma a few weeks of Disney Detox. Now I'm back, and as Hadley watches Mickey Mouse Club on TV, I am ready to share the experience.

Hadley's birthday theme was Minnie Mouse, after her obsession with the Disney cartoon, Mickey Mouse Club. For those who have not had the pleasure of watching this show every single day for the past year, the show centers around the Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, and Mickey cast solving problems with some tools called "Toodles." We made it into "Two-dles" in honor of Miss Hads turning two, and put together a special day.

Mommy made the invitations:

And Daddy made a sign for the beverage table:

We had home-made decorations around the house.

We set up with a ball pit, a tunnel, and borrowed a slide from our neighbors.

We had lots of fun Mickey Mouse themed food...

Hot Diggity Dogs:

Donad's Cheese and Quackers:

Daisy's Garden Veggies:

Mickey and Minnie Ears:

Clarabelle's Cupcakes:

A Bow-tique Birthday Cake:

...and Handy Helpers to help us eat all of the yummy snacks.

 The kids had a blast in the ball pit....

 ...and fought mercilessly over the slide. 

The sound of toddler laughter and toddler tantrums filled the air!

Hadley kissed two boys. I have no further comment on this.

And ingested tons of sugar....

We sang happy birthday....

And later that night after all her friends went home and things calmed down, Hadley opened her presents.

A good time was had by all! Happy second birthday to our little Minnie Mouse!