Jasper's First Haircut

Jasper got his first haircut last weekend! It was long overdue, but me wanting him to keep his baby hair for a while as a Mommy, I was not in a hurry to get it cut. Once Mimi came and made a comment about it, I was able to look at it and see how long it really was.

We took him to the place that specializes in kid's haircuts, so it would be a fun, non-intimidating place for him. We weren't sure how he would do in the new situation, but it turns out we had nothing to worry about. He had no problem at all with any of it! He sat there like a pro and never fussed or whined, even when she used the clippers on him. We were so impressed with him and happy to see him with his new big boy haircut!

Before - not a great picture of his hair, but it hangs over his ears.

Before shot from the back.

Daddy was blowing bubbles for entertainment. Harper is hanging out in one of the empty chairs in the background.

The clippers are no big deal.

Again, not a great "after" shot, but it looks great!

Mimi's Visit

Mimi had the chance to come on relatively short notice, and we were thrilled to say the least! We had so much fun with her here and it was especially awesome to have her here to celebrate Harper's birthday with us. She has never been able to celebrate one of the kid's birthdays with us, so it made this visit extra special.

We were able to work on the swingset a bit with her here, which was a huge help. We also had a date the Saturday night she was here since Jon was to receive an award at his annual company banquet. It was a really great honor for him to receive the award, and it was so fun to just hang out with adults and not worry about the kids.

I got spend a lot of time with her just hanging out and shopping. And the kids just had a blast with with her. She was by far the most popular person in the house while she was here.

On her last morning here, we all went to breakfast together and Harper said goodbye to Mimi. Last time she was here, Harper had a total meltdown when we dropped Mimi off at the airport and it made it really difficult for everyone to say goodbye. We felt it might be better to not bring Harper with us this time, so Jon had planned on taking her to school and I would pick her up after I dropped Mimi off. It was still a tough goodbye for us. When I picked Harper up from school, she looked at me and said "where's Mimi?" I waited to remind her until we were almost at the car, and of course she broke down in tears. I felt so bad for her, but I knew Mimi had gotten her a present and tried to get her to stop crying long enough to see it. Once she did, she was SO HAPPY. It was the perfect thing at that moment (even if it was Dora). She had also gotten the kids a tent to play in, and they absolutely LOVE it. I love it too because it's easily collapsible. ;)

As usual, we can't wait for Mimi to come back again!!

Harper's 3rd Birthday

Harper's birthday was so much fun. We sang to her, then I had to go to work. I couldn't hang out in the morning because I was taking the afternoon off so we could have some fun with her at school. But I was able to get a nice hug before I left!


I had to go to the dentist (boo!) but after that was done, I rushed around to get her some cupcakes for her class, and the only two things she requested for her birthday: a Dora cake and a pink hat. We had known about the Dora cake for a long time -- it's the first thing she would mention every time we would talk about her birthday. But less than a week before the day, she mentioned she wanted a pink hat too. I have no idea where this came from, but I knew I could pick one up when I was getting balloons and I was hoping she would love it.

Here is Daddy wearing the hat I picked out!

We went to her class and brought her cupcakes for everyone. To my delight, she LOVED the hat! In fact, everyone in her class loved it too.

Everyone enjoyed their cupcakes and we brought her home so we could give her the balloons and finally tell her what she was getting for her birthday.

It was rather hard to explain to her that she was going to soon be playing on the swingset she was holding in her hands, in the spot where she was standing. But she was excited about the picture at least!

She requested pizza for her birthday dinner so we went to our favorite pizza buffet spot. Children under 3 eat there for free, but we were able to request one more free meal since the cashier was in a generous mood. You can't charge the birthday girl, right?

I improvised on the Dora cake, but Harper absolutely loved it. And it was the best cake we've ever had! (It's a Walmart cake with a store-bought Dora and #3 candle!)

Of course it was a perfect opportunity to use the You Are Special Today plate!

We improvised on the pajamas so she could wear a cupcake to bed.

It was a really fantastic day for her, and we had a great time celebrating with her. I can't believe our baby girl is 3!

Harper's Fun

Harper's been up to tons of fun. Here's a snippet of some fun in March:

Here she is playing with her kitchen she got for Christmas from Nana and Papa. Obviously Jasper loves it too. He is fascinated by all the knobs and gadgets even though he can barely reach most of it.

Harper had been a really good girl, so I decided to take her to get her nails painted for the first time. The color she chose? Orange! She was so excited and was a really good girl the whole time.

Afterwards, I took her to get "ice cream" (frozen yogurt) from our favorite spot across the street.
Her favorite activity we often find her doing is making "beds" for her friends. She loves to lay out blankets or towels all over the floor and pretend they are beds for her friends to sleep on. She then pats her friends and tells them to "shhhh.. go nite nite!". It helps to make me put away all the clean folded towels instead of leaving them on the couch, otherwise they will soon end up on the floor as beds, as seen in the picture below.

H is for Harper

March 2011 070, originally uploaded by holly hanes.

The morning of Jasper's birthday, she was excited to show off how she learned to draw an H.

(This was over a month ago now, and it's amazing to already see progress with her speed and accuracy!)

Jasper's Birthday Song

March 2011 023, originally uploaded by holly hanes.

He liked the song so much, he decided to join us and continue after we're done!

Bluebonnets in Texas

A few weeks ago, we decided to set out to find a good spot to take some pictures of the kids in the blubonnets. We headed west and had a secondary reason to go. It had been almost exactly 3 years since we had visited Nanny's gravesite. The weather was beautiful and Jon had the entire Saturday off due to our date that night. So we ventured out to Dublin! It was great to be there again and talk to Harper about Nanny.

The trip turned out to be much longer and much more exhausting than we had anticipated. The kids did not nap at all on the way out there and the minute we got back in the car to head back, Jasper conked out, which was right before we were stopping to eat. He woke up a short time later while we were eating (of course.. too noisy), and neither one slept the whole way back again. We had seen a great hill of bluebonnets on the way out there, so since the kids were awake, we decided why not - give it a shot! They were both pretty cranky, so we didn't try to pose them too much and instead I just snapped away and hoped for the best. We did okay, but under the circumstances, I was really happy.

Jasper's 1st Birthday Party

We held Jasper's 1st birthday party the Sunday after his birthday. We were excited to celebrate the big milestone with friends and family. We never really go all out for a birthday party, so the first birthday is as big as we get.

I had pre-ordered invitations, balloons, plates and napkins in an adorable baby dinosaur theme. Harper likes to pretend she's being chased by a dinosaur every time she leaves a room, probably a game she came up with at school with her friends. At night when we are getting dressed after a bath, we would get Jasper dressed in his room, then move to Harper's room to get her dressed. Jasper would usually start playing with some toys while we made it over to her room, and as we went over she would run in saying "a dinosaur is coming!". A few moments later we would inevitably hear Jasper coming down the hall, making his usual noises, sounding an awful lot like a wild animal... or a dinosaur, as we would pretend. He'd peek his head around the door as we would be watching for him, and we all crack up. When I found these baby dinosaur party items, I thought it would be absolutely perfect.

Jon and I had cleaned up the house most of the morning, and while Jasper was down for a nap, Harper and I left to pick up the cake and balloons. I had asked Jon to hang some of the decorations from the ceiling and blow up some of the balloons to place around at different spots. We had discussed earlier in the week about possibly using some streamers, but I personally hate using them, so I told him he was in charge of that department. When Harper and I returned, I was shocked to see what he had done! Not only had he hung all the decorations like I had asked, but he had made a HUGE ballooon chandelier and hung it from our ceiling fan. It was awesome!

I was so happy with how the party went. We held it in the afternoon so we had plenty of finger foods and sweets and of course cake. Nice and relatively easy that way. He did great with his presents and surprised me by actually trying to open most of them himself. He received a rocking chair from Nana and Papa, and that was his very favorite gift. The unexpected gift that wasn't exactly a gift was the card from Uncle Craig and Aunt Karyn. It was a hamster that sung a silly song when the card opened, and he got an absolute kick out of it!

I was so happy with how the cakes turned out. For Harper's first birthday, I made cupcakes and made her smash cake. I decided I didn't have the time or desire to do that for Jasper's, and was thrilled to find a couple cakes that went with the baby dinosaur theme. Little did I know that Jasper would cry his little eyes out when we gave him his smash cake! He was absolutely terrified of it. He refused to touch it and did not stop crying until we took it away. Poor baby! I was disappointed as I looked forward to him getting completely gooey and messy, but that did not happen. The few opportunities we've given him to try sweets, he's refused, but I was hoping he would at least taste his birthday cake. Oh well!

Here are some of the pics from our baby boy's special day!

The amazing balloon chandelier and streamers created by Daddy.

Balloons and dinosaur placemats.

Picture table with birthday hats and dinosaur noses.



Big cake with baby dinosaurs.

Smash cake!

Birthday boy and Daddy.

Sitting in the rocking chair from Nana and Papa.

Fascinated with the silly card.

Not too sure about this hat, Mom.

Uh, what are you doing with that cake?

Please, get this thing outta here!

Mommy, Mia and Harper wearing the dinosaur noses.

After the party, Wes, Jessica and Mia hung around to visit for a while. We never really get to see them, so it was fun watching the girls play. We did a pretty good job wearing them out. Here's a picture of them having races in the backyard.

Later after dinner, we tried to give Jasper the smash cake again, hoping he might give it a try, but he cried harder this time!!

It was a long, fun day and we were so blessed to celebrate our little boy's big milestone!