Saturday, February 11, 2012

Party It Up!

As Hayley's birthday approached, Jeremy and I did the debate that it seems we do every year: Do we do a party? How big? Where at? How much? This year, we splurged and went to Kangaroo Zoo. Hayley had so much fun with her friends. It's fun to get all of them together, since she knows so many kids from lots of different places. We had kids come from her class at school, our neighborhood, my mom's neighborhood, the fitness center daycare. It was quite the crowd!

Even the fam that didn't have any Kangaroo Zoo aged kids were good sports and came out to celebrate with us.



Some of the friends:



The song:



And a surprise visit from the kangaroo, complete with a gift for Hayley in his pouch.



This was as close to a group shot as I was able to get. Sorry if you are reading that and your kid is not pictured anywhere. There was too much to do at the Zoo to waste time sitting still for long!



The aftermath:



Hayley was a little bit bummed when we didn't have any huge plans on her actual birthday last Wednesday. I think her party sure made up for it though. I know her sweet "Thank you for having me a party, Mom and Dad!" on the way home sure made it worth the stress and preparation for me. :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Hayleykins Bachman!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hayley Bug

Hayley's birthday is next week. I can't believe I'll have a six year old! Really, where did the time go? With her getting so big on us, I've been reflecting lately on some of the things going on in her life lately.

Back in October, Hayley finally convinced us to buy her a pet. We decided on a goldfish, and she was super excited about it. Until it died. And the replacement died. And the replacement's replacement died. Fish #4 was going to be the last chance. We got some fish advice from my sister Stacey, who won a fish at Westfest four years ago and has also kept it alive for that long. (It's kind of creepy how big a four-year-old goldfish is...) The verdict? We weren't feeding the fish enough. They were starving with only having the few flakes that the fish food bottle recommended. Sure enough, as soon as we started being a little more generous with the fish flakes, Ta da! No more dead fish. However, since Hayley was now in the habit of going to pick out a new fish pretty much weekly, we still headed over to the pet store every now and then to check out the fish tanks. (And give Jackson his weekly exposure to dogs, but that's a different story...) One day we were there and there were some goldfish in the tank that were tiny! Hayley convinced me into buying her one of the mini-fishes to be a friend to the one we already had. (No names for the fish either. Hayley stopped naming the fish after about Fish #2.) The best part of this story is that when Daddy saw that there were now two fishes in the bowl the next morning, Hayley said to him, with a totally straight face, "Wow, I guess my fish had a baby!" She was so convincing, that Jeremy believed her! Until common sense got the best of him, and he came to me for an explanation of goldfish reproduction. Don't worry, I got him all straightened out. While Hayley listened from upstairs and laughed, until we heard, "I tricked you Daddy!"

Today I was reminding Hayley that this Friday is Spirit Day and they will be selling popcorn at school, so we needed to remember to bring a quarter. She asked if she could bring two quarters, and I told her, "Remember? It's only one bag of popcorn per kid, so you only need one quarter." To which she replied, "Mom, the extra quarter isn't for me. It's in case someone in my class forgets to bring their quarter, then I will have one to give them." Really? So sweet, and even better that it was unprompted. I think we just may send her with two quarters on Friday.

Lastly, the Little Girl lost her first tooth tonight. It's been loose for a while, but today it was to the point that Jeremy and I were both afraid she may accidentally swallow it in the night if it didn't come out. I came home to Hayley in front of the mirror with the pliers, and Jeremy recording her with his phone. Except then she started to get nervous, and Jeremy kept pushing her anyway, and pretty soon she was in tears. We took a break and Jeremy left for a while to go run some errands. I knew the tooth was barely hanging on, and had a calm chat with Hayley and told her that she could pull it, or I could pull it, but if it was still in her mouth when Daddy got home, he would probably pull it. Finally she said, "Okay fine. I want you to pull it." So without wasting any time, I plunked her up on the counter, grabbed the tooth with the dishtowel, and gave it a good pull. Sure enough it popped right out. After the initial shock was over, and she inspected her tooth and the new hole in her mouth, she announced that this was the "best day ever!" We send Jeremy a picture and he hurried home to share the excitement with us, and we headed to Grandma Heidi's to show her too. Grandma told Hayley to write the Tooth Fairy a note to not take her tooth because she needed to put it under her pillow at Grandma's too. Spoiled much Hayley? Guess I'll let it slide. Spoiling is what you're supposed to do with almost-six-year-olds, right?