Potty Training Breakthrough

We've officially started really potty training! I took the week of work and Hailey and I are doing it. We had a really rough start...so rough that she ran out of the bathroom to her bedroom and SLAMMED the door! I can't believe it! We're starting attitude already! Anyways...on a brighter note! We went out shopping with friends and picked out big girl panties for Hailey. She was pretty excited because they were all shopping for her! We picked up about 6 packs of Bratz panties (I'm not a fan but they were $1.20 for a 3 pack!). I also bought a Cinderella Pez dispenser which did the trick! When we got home, we looked at all her panties and Pez which thrilled her. She tried right away to go potty so she could get a candy. Success! She picked out big girl panties and wore them all evening without an accident! She even stopped coloring, got off the couch, pulled down her panty and sat on the potty! ALL BY HERSELF! I was in another room! SO proud of her! She's gone three times with no prompting! And she wants to wear her big girl panty to bed. We took proper precautions and put waterproof pad under he bed, left a light on and we'll see! She went potty while I was up there (cleaning her room so she wouldn't be tempted to get out and play). Just wanted to let EVERYONE know! Hopefully we keep it up! Wish us luck!

Kohl's Alarm!

Nich and I went to Kohls Friday on my lunch break to get a post-season house for our Christmas village and decided to get him new shoes-his old ones had holes in them. We paid for everything and were walking out the door the same time someone else was coming in with returns. The alarm went off and we just figured it was the other guy. Nope! It was us...the cashier forgot to take the tab off. He through out his old shoes and put on his new ones and realized the tab was there. Saturday he went back to have them take the tab off and it set off all of the alarms! Inside and outside the store and they were still going off even after he left!! Moral of the story...check your tabs!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Here's a quick recap of our day....

Hailey got up at 9! I'm dreading the years that she's actually too excited to sleep...she didn't know any reason to get up early! I got her out of bed and heading downstairs where Nich was waiting with the video camera. Her reaction was priceless! (The video's too big to post...sorry!) Nich and I had given each other our presents Christmas Eve so all the presents she saw were hers. We let her pick out which ones she wanted to open first. She saw Mickey Mouse first and was thrilled! We let her open her other presents. The exciting ones were Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with all the characters, Tickle Me Cookie Monster, Doodle pad, and Tinkerbell movie.

She played with the clubhouse all day! She barely turned around to take the picture!

Her big Mickey Mouse. Our camera battery died right after this picture.

After playing with new presents for awhile, we had breakfast - Nich's famous potatoes and kielbasa, then went on a traditional egg nog ingredients run! Each year we have made our own egg nog Christmas morning and bought all the ingredients at whatever store/gas station was open. This year we kinda cheated and only needed milk but it was still expensive. $4 for a gallon of milk! Turned out pretty well - milk, vanilla instant pudding, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and sugar. We brought 1/2 gallon over to the Washington's and hung out a bit. We have such great neighbors and a really thankful for them! They kept Hailey for a little while and brought her over when she was ready.

Grandma and Grandpa came down around 4 and we played Wii Bowling until Hailey woke up from her nap. Grandpa and Nich played 5 games! They stayed for a delicious dinner - Roast, carrots and potatoes cooked by Nich and Grandma's mac & cheese and salad followed by pumpkin pie.

We had a great day just enjoying each other. More Christmas memories coming next week! :)

Christmas Memories

This week was so much fun! I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner! We had to get cookies and gingerbread houses in one afternoon! Our day was off to a great start - Hailey got to wear her pretty Christmas dress to church. Which made her sooo happy! After church we had lunch at Taco Bell (Hailey now eats taco's by herself. Last week she ate 3 so her new nickname is Baby Taco). Then we went to Circuit City's store closing sale and got really great deals! We got home and it took 8 tries to get up the driveway! We kept getting stuck and eventually we got out and walked halfway up the driveway. After we got Hailey inside Nich and I went out to shovel and eventually get my car up! By the time we all got inside and settled it was 3pm and Hailey was wired! We changed her clothes into her other Christmas dress. That made her even more excited and needless to day, napless. We didn't want her to sleep all day so we took our chances and had a really fun day!Cheesin'!

Brittney had a cute little present box that we had Hailey open for pictures :)She was very proud of herself for turning on the outside Christmas lights! How adorable! :)

After a bit of goofying around Britt, Nich, Hailey and I built gingerbread houses. Or tried....

Our finished products! Hailey's, Nich's and mine!

We started out making gingerbread houses and that turned into just a fun, gooey mess! Rudolph the Red-Nosed Hailey!

Brittney and I made Christmas cookies and Nich helped decorate! We didn't realize how many we were actually making! Cookies for everyone!

More to come...I just wanted to get this posted before I left for work!

That darn hand!

So tonight we were driving home from a super shopping spree at Steven Barry's (20 items for $60!!-jeans, skirts and dress pants) when we heard from the back seat "Oh! Oww! My hand! No!" So any normal conversation you would think she hurt her hand on something. Nope. We asked what was wrong and she says "My hand hurt my mouth." She hit her mouth with her hand and was telling her hand to stop. Only Hailey... :)

"Pretty" pri-tē

"Pretty" according to Merriam Webster Dictionary:
1 a: artful , clever b: pat , apt2 a: pleasing by delicacy or grace b: having conventionally accepted elements of beauty

"Pretty" according to Hailey Pollak:
1 a: pink, b: layers and layers, c: nothing in Mommy's closet

Yesterday Nich, Hailey and I were dancing in the family room when all of a sudden Hailey stopped us! Mommy couldn't dance unless she was pretty! (what was I thinking?!) She wisked me upstairs saying "Mommy be pretty." She likes to pick out my clothes when we play dress up. She opened one drawer...and shut it. Opened a second...and shut it. I asked, "Didn't you find anything pretty" Hailey replies, "Nope." What Not to Wear has nothing on Hailey...fashion diva! Eventually we found a skirt and two shirts and I got to finish my dance.