A Fear of Needles Comes in Handy

There are a couple things positive about people who are scared of needles- they're probably not going to go around stabbing themselves with any sort of object just because they're upset, they're not as likely to inject certain "products," and they're probably not keen on body piercings. These following ideas more than make up for the times my Redhead is screaming in the doctor's office and having to be held down just so the nurse can prick her finger for an anemia test.


We were playing Bailey's new Wii Princess game that Grandma graciously gave us and you get to pick out earrings for your character and Bailey was just changing her cute little character up a bit and so I asked her a question since we were picking out earrings after all. "So, are you going to get your ears pierced?" Now, don't tell Daddy the part where I asked the question, because he will NOT approve at all, but yes, I asked it. BUT, I only asked it because I knew what her reaction would be, because we've been down this merry little lane before.


"NO!" Bailey proclaims as she holds on to her precious little earlobes. "That would hurt. I'll just wear fake earrings. But maybe someday when I get married I will."



I have to admit, I like that idea. Not so much the marriage idea, but that it's in the far off future. Yeah, I'm rather fond of that part and the part where maybe, just maybe, she's not so likely to show up one day with her nose pierced.

Your Annual Dose of Us!

I know some people are probably going through withdrawal (cough, ha), so I'll post this here for their well-being. Wait...does anyone actually read this??? If so, you poor things. Just in case I do have devoted fans though, or more like people just that bored, I will indulge them just this once.

If you received this newsletter with your Christmas card, I apologize. I didn't mail them out to everyone though!


Drumroll please....


Dear Family and Friends, and anyone in between—

I don’t know about you, but 2009 felt like it flew right by, barely giving us much time to enjoy it, let alone savor it. But what an adventure of a year it was!

In late January, we had no choice but to embrace “out with the old” as our ancient Saturn died leaving a very cold redhead and I no choice but to walk in eight degree weather one morning. It was indeed dead and beyond repair and without any hesitation, we found the perfect fit in another Honda Fit, now proudly owning not only our 2007 Honda Fit, but a silver 2009 Honda Fit as well.

Our first trip of the year didn’t happen until the last week in April as we flew off to Florida again. (Oh how we love their sunshine.) We flew into Orlando and drove to our timeshare in Daytona where we enjoyed a week of our ocean view. Also on this vacation we took three different trips to Orlando’s Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure where we ate breakfast with Spiderman and the Cat in the Hat, met Spongebob in person, hated the Simpsons ride, loved the Jaws ride, and hung out with the Grinch. Other highlights included discovering Portuguese man-of-war’s on the shore as well as finding our first whole sand dollar, spotting manatees swimming right under the dock in New Smyrna, seeing some huge sloth bones at the Museum of Art and Sciences, and eating dessert in a racecar at the Cruisin’ Café.

In May, Bailey graduated preschool and we prepared for life as a Kindergartner. We also had our dance recital where Bailey sailed magnificently on the Good Ship Lollipop. It was such a proud moment in our lives!

We celebrated Bailey’s fifth birthday in July at the Great Wolf Lodge and had an out of this world birthday party. Her party was space themed and she made such an awesome astronaut. Soon after Bailey’s birthday, we celebrated Mommy’s thirtieth birthday at Sesame Place near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was such a fabulous vacation as we discovered much of what Philadelphia offered like the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Bailey really wanted to see mummies), the Franklin Institute, a Phillies game, the Liberty Bell, a Ride the Ducks tour, IKEA (a first in our lives), the Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Please Touch Museum. Other area excursions were to the Crayola Factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore, visiting family in Mantua, New Jersey and the Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill. We were so busy on that trip; I think I probably left out quite a few things.

Bailey started Kindergarten in August and still amazes us constantly. She’s reading and doing subtraction and addition, as well as maintaining her active imagination. She also started tumbling and a ballet and tap combination class. She has a lot of energy and is putting it to great use as well as never ceasing to make us beam with pride.

Other key moments of the year included Sesame Street Live, Disney on Ice, converting the front room into a play room for Bailey, visiting Thomas the train again, a landscaping project, a week of ballet princess camp during the summer, fall soccer, and celebrating Daddy’s fortieth birthday at the Great Wolf Lodge. Life was full of so much adventure we can only wonder what 2010 will hold!

We wish you just as many adventures with a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!



Love,

Rob, Terra, and Bailey
(Aerial and Fudge too)

We quite possibly have a swordfighter on our hands

Right now, as I type before bedtime, my precious Redhead is finishing up sword fighting on our new Sports Resort game on our Wii. And she's quite good at it and has been since she first tried it yesterday afternoon. She's currently undefeated and still as fearless as always.


I'm constantly amazed by her vigor for such things and her fearless nature. The moment she tried it yesterday, she went at it in a fit of giggles, jumping up and down and defeating her opponent within seconds, at a much faster pace than her father had. And she did it again and again, almost the same speed each and every time.


Just another reason we shouldn't have swords at her next birthday. I'm not going to be happy if I have to be on blood splatter/bio hazard clean-up duty. No, not happy at all.

We will, we will, rock you

We will, we will, rock you...
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Just wanted to share with you what I've heard coming from the living room for the past fifteen minutes (at least). I hope it's stuck in your head too as you long for the rest of the lyrics.

We will, we will, rock you...

At least she's honest...

Each evening, Bailey is to pick out her clothing for the next school day, complete with underwear, socks and hair accessories. Sometimes, I advise her, especially when she's not focused on the topic at hand. So, I come to her, being proactive and all, asking her about a particular outfit and she responsed with, "sure, that's fine," followed by, "because I don't care."


Daddy was busy laughing, Mommy was dumbfounded, and Bailey was done.

Honesty is the best policy. And at least she'll still be prepared in the morning.

Question of the Day

Bailey: Remember when I was inside your tummy?


Mom: Yes.


Bailey: Well, when I was inside your tummy, how did I get built there?

Currently in Production

Bailey came bouncing in to announce that she's making a movie. It's called The Giraffe Who Died. Catchy title, eh? I'm thinking an Oscar win right there. According to Bailey though, "you'll just have to see it once they finish making it." Okay, Director Red, will do.

She's currently reading James Patterson

I found Bailey sitting in the living room this evening with a book, just reading away. (So it seemed.) And what book had my redhead's attention? James Patterson's Along Came a Spider, which is a decent book, but hardly Kindergarten literature. But it's not much of a surprise that she'd already be in to criminal thrillers, even at this age, because she is after all, Bailey. She happened to know it was about spiders and worth pulling off one of our bookshelves. Yeah, definitely the book for a Bailey.

I'll tell you what she wants, what she really, really wants

In case you didn't know, quite soon my redhead turns 5! That's right folks, it's been that long. And even though she's been compiling an ever changing list for quite some time, only Mommy and Daddy really know about it. She's an active kid so the things she usually wants, are things that keep her busy, and mostly only craft-type kits like Play-doh, Bendaroos, extra Pixos, the Pixos 3D set, Chixos (which just came out), Paperoni (also a new item), Zubber, and some sort of bear factory toy that makes miniature stuffed animals.

She's still into science, fell in love with the little Legos during her Kindergarten stampede, and doesn't have a scooter, but would want a princess one. She's still madly in love with board games and really wants the Curious George beach one at Target, the Spongebob version of Operation, and one of the Littlest Petshop board games.

In fact, she's crazy about anything Littlest Petshop, which she affectionately refers to as "Little Best Petshop," but she's going to be getting a TON of the little animals for her birthday already, and likes the VIP Pals which are stuffed animal versions that you use on the computer like a Webkin, something else she's requesting, and something else she does not have.

And the thing she wants most right now is Fancy Nancy, a doll, which is shocking to us as well, and although my heart has yearned for quite some time to buy this doll for her, I was under the impression she felt nothing for such a doll and she has since started wanting it after we bought her presents. Anything Fancy Nancy, including the books is welcomed since we have none of it yet and she looks just like her, except the eyes (Fancy Nancy's are green, Bailey's have always been blue).

That's about the only doll she's shown an interest in, but does love absolutely anything Tinkerbell, and any and all stuffed animals, just don't tell her father I told you that. He's been wanting to kill off her collection since the beginning of time. She doesn't need any clothing, but I can't tell you not to buy it, just that she has more than she possibly needs after I hit one too many Gymboree sales (yes, I realize I'm addicted).

She still loves her Leapster and doesn't have Creature Create, Mr. Pencil, any Dora games, just to name a few and the ones she's shown an interest in. We also recently purchased a Wii, so Wii games would be fine, particularly the ones that keep kids active. I also have a suspicion she may soon have a use for SmartCycle games, except the Barbie one. Those are just my suggestions and I'm sure she'll appreciate anything she receives because she's just that great of a kid!

I'd almost forgotten we had a website...

You probably have too. But if you have some time, I finally placed some overdue photos in the albums. Check them out: http://baileyhardt.babysfirstsite.com

She mowed me down

"The grass hasn't gotten mowed yet, has it?"


"Um...I already mowed it this morning."

"Oh."

That will teach me to get up early so I could mow (with a manual lawnmower, as in, not motor) while it was only 85.7 degrees because apparently it's not noticeable anyway. And that was even with a snail's help. He hitched a ride at the top while I sweat off some fat, at least I'm hoping I sweat off some fat. That's probably not noticeable either.

Worm Experiments

Bailey couldn't wait to start moving tenants in to her worm farm she got for Christmas from Aunt Susie's tribe. (Of course, Aunt Susie didn't know they were getting her such a contraption since we used a gift certificate they gave her way back in 2006 to purchase that as well as a couple other novelty science kits.) But that's not the point of this entry. Oh no. Is there a point?

Yes!

Bailey was so ecstatic to get some fresh worms in to her habitat and then she came across the book again that came with it. And in it were "worm experiments" so after a couple days of reminding Daddy, my little scientists were on their way to doing evil deeds to some poor worms. Imagine my surprise when I discovered them conducting experiments on the coffee table.

I was a tad worried about dissection scarring my badly beaten living room furniture, but they assured me all would be okay. In fact, these were not the kind of experiments I had been expecting.

Now why was I expecting worms being sawed in half like a magician's model? (I do recall being overly helpful as a child and when my father told me how helpful worms were to his garden, I ended up later being found cutting worms in half all in the name of assistance, thinking I was doing a great favor. I really had believed I was helping.) But that was me, and not Bailey. No, my little Einstein was following these careful directions and I was impressed by their actual experiments.

The worms were tested to see what they thought about apples and soap. Shockingly, they preferred the apple juices over the soap residue. So odd. Once the worms were finished with their taste test and were caught escaping, back they went into my never-will-be-used-again-as-long-as-I-shall-live container. I'm assuming they took them back outside afterwards. (These were different worms, and not worm-farm occupants.)

Monster Mayhem

I think we've known for quite some time that we've had a little actress on our hands (whether we wanted one or not). But now you can see the drama for yourselves too!

I'd like to point out that each and every time she'd walk around, examine each creature carefully then stand behind it and make the appropriate face. We did not ask her to take these photos, nor to pose for them. She chose this all on her own.

Escargot is in season

Tonight, Bailey enthusiastically brought me a little backyard friend. She's certainly finding them all over the place lately. "Rescuing" them as she avidly claims. Yeah, I'm sure there will be many, many more in our future. I'm just hoping she stays away from their cousins twice-removed, the slugs.

We were missed

A certain somebody missed us while we were gone. Surprisingly enough, we missed her crazy antics while we were gone too.

Oh Barnacles!

"Oh Barnacles!" is yet another lovely quote we've managed to learn from Dear 'Ol Spongebob Squarepants, my longtime nemesis and never-has-been-friend. But this particular quote came in handy today as I discovered this living, breathing (albeit creepy) creature on the balcony of our vacation condo. Now if you're rather curious how it made it to our seventh floor, it's because he hitched a ride on this fantastic coral that I found while shell-seeking on the beach the night before. And when I realized something was alive, the genius that I am put it out on my balcony because I didn't want to smell it later. (I honestly figured it was close to death, so I didn't think it'd be worth a trip back out to the ocean to save.) Well, here it is, twelve hours later and STILL alive, so that earned him a one way ticket back into the ocean water and a feature on my blog. What a lucky little barnacle he is!

No Place like Gnome

In Bailey's Easter basket was this gnome kit, and here are the results.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beautiful yard gnome in my life. And I'd know. After all, I'm a yard gnome connoisseur.

Because we love our planet; We must be doing something right

You may fancy me a nut (because well, I am), but this Earth Day we'd like you to consider some changes to your lifestyle or perhaps, just additional measures. And who better to explain those to you than my four year old redhead?

"You can't throw that plastic away. It's recyclable. It really, really is."

"I turned the light off because I don't want to waste electricity. Wasting electricity is bad, isn't it?"

"You're not supposed to throw trash on the ground and if you see trash on the ground, you have to pick it up because it's not supposed to be there."

"Clean up all the garbages off the Earth."

"If you're not using the rooms, then you just have to turn the lights off."

"Even if you open the door and then not using it you have to close it so air doesn't get out."

"You have to do stuff that is right."

Yeah, I'm sure she didn't leave anything out.

On the Fly

We leave for Florida very, very soon. YAY! If you know much about my family, we need vacations in order to stay sane (at least the little sanity we have). Of course, everybody enjoys vacations, and we like to take as many as time allows. Bailey's almost as excited as we are.

And although we've had this trip planned for quite some time, we made some slight changes as of today. Daddy was determined to drive this trip, and I was fine with that, since he'd be the one doing most of the driving, if not all of it. (By his choice.) I was a bit surprised he wanted to drive, since that hasn't been like him in the past, but who was I to argue? Really. Hey, as long as I'm going on a vacation, I'm up for almost anything.

Well, he called me this morning about a flight. This isn't the first time he's looked, which was interesting through this whole process, because obviously he started doubting his road trip concoction from the beginning. But if you must know, my husband is a Prima Donna when it comes to flights. It has to be from particular times (seriously), and it has to be a direct flight because we've flown direct twice before to Orlando, and since we have we can't ever fly to Orlando anything but direct ever, ever again. And I'm pretty sure he has to have a particular air plane, stewardess on the flight, temperatures, and check the beverages beforehand to make sure they're to his liking. Nothing surprises me anymore.

So we're officially flying to Florida, which means we're leaving in four days, rather than two days, which is important to point out from Bailey's point of view. Bailey would also like you to know that she wanted to fly all along. (And that's true, she even "voted" for it during every discussion on the subject.) Sure this was a last minute decision, but it was also a last minute flight for the airline as well, and it happened to be the times Daddy wanted as well as direct. And if you think of us spontaneous, I assure you the opposite. We hardly ever fly by the seat of our pants, which is a good thing, because my pants don't need to be any larger. I have a saying, "I'm only spontaneous when I'm bored, and when I'm bored, I'm dangerous." The only time I've been spontaneous was during the year of nineteen and trust me, that's not something I want to relive. But sometimes, perhaps spontaneity isn't all that bad. And vacations certainly aren't.

Shark Attack

Yes, it may be rare to spot a shark in Kansas, but you just never know what's going to happen in our neighborhood, especially when our neighbor Lee is involved.

Got your nose

Rather, her nose.

I assure you, that's not butter. A certain little canine somebody got a little too close to some paint, all by herself.

The Apple of Our Eye

It felt like time flew by enough after today's round up of Kindergartners. But then I viewed these pictures and she looks so much older in them, which Daddy nor I especially liked. One day of Kindergarten-rounding and she thinks she can age a few years. As for the pajamas, I had yet to get a picture of her from the day, so you missed out on her cute little apple shirt that said, "Smarty Pants," but I'm sure she'll wear it again unless she ages another several years during her sleep tonight.

She wants you to know she's not crazy

Bailey's teacher Ms. Amanda wants to make sure the dear readers of my blog know that she's not crazy. Now why does she want to stress this to you dear readers? Because she is convinced she's a victim of many photographs that depict her wild and crazy side. Perhaps there is a good reason for such paranoia, because well, pictures do speak a thousand words. She was curious how many readers I have, and I have assured her, I know exactly how many people read my blog and exactly who (I have my ways) and that everyone who reads this blog knows me and to trust me, she's no worse than I am. (I'm sure you're all nodding right about now.)



As for her wacky ways in these photographs, she's no Wack Job, really; it was Wacky Wednesday and the kids were to dress as wacky as they pleased. Bailey chose her own wacky demeanor which suited her perfectly.

She even directed me how to style her hair appropriately for the day. Yeah, it was absolutely wacky.