Loungin' at the Library

Look out Woodward librarians!!

Lil Red is library legit now. 

I've been itching to introduce my girl to all of the fun a library has to offer. I remember being in love with the rows of books, the smell, the quietness (doubt Hal enjoyed that part though), the endless amounts of reading options.....LOVED it all! It's been several (more like 15 years) since I've spent time in a library (OU Health Science library does not count....studying was definitely not for pleasure) so it was almost as if we were both in exploration mode once we entered the doors. Off to the right was a children's area with cute little stools covered in animal print material, giant safari animals and a fish tank that fascinated Hallie. After kissing the fishies she made a beeline for the tub of baby books.....

 It was so incredible to watch her act so giddy about the plethora of books right at her fingertips. She couldn't slow her mind down long enough to sit still. We never made it past the second page of the books she chose and then we were on to the next...

The shoes went flying after a few minutes. She must've felt at home. She finally settled in with a book about babies and "read" a few pages to me while pointing at the pictures. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about so I shook my head as she went along....

Books, books and MORE books! I sat in the chair where she requested I stay as she brought me book after book stacking them in my lap....

Once we had carefully selected two favorites we made our way up to checkout....

This is where Hal made her love for books official by getting her first library card. She was a proud card holder....

I guess I should also address her premature Halloween attire. I guess she couldn't wait for those last couple pesky days of September to last before she busted out her new festive outfit from Nanny. Halloween kitty at the library it was! I'm so proud of my Halloween kitty/book lover/official library-goer!

Did We Just Become Best Friends?!?

Probably one of my favorite movie quotes of all time (thank you Step Brothers). 

The movie came to life right in front of Katie and I one night last week.

We may as well have renamed the girls Dale and Brennan.

Katie and I were beside ourselves watching the girls connect and decide that they were, in fact, best friends. We decided that going to separate daycares has been wonderful for their friendship. Hallie continues to mimick everything she does and Carmen is still smitten by the crazy things Hal does. Of course I had my camera on duty as the girls frolicked in the sprinkler and muddied up their feet nice and good..... 

Carmen wasn't afraid of a little mud puddle and soon had disrobed to her underpants....

Too much fun!

We cleaned up our little ladies and headed inside for some more BFF fun. No crying jealous fits from Hal! Miracles do happen!! We were in mommy heaven watching the girls push eachother in Hal's baby stroller. Beep beep, hot stuff comin' through....

Hal insisted on taking her shopping bag and one can only assume that they were headed to Walmart to get some bananas, milk and cereal puffs....

Carmen took her turn pushing big cousin Hal in the abused stroller. It's safe to say that the weight limit on that thing was greatly exceeded. For the sake of fun!!! And fun it was....we decided that they've finally, FINALLY discovered just how cool eachother was.

So the answer is clearly YES. Yes, they did just become best friends. ;)

Two Many Two Choose From: Hal'sTwo Year Photos

I just couldn't resist posting these pretties tonight. I have yet to finish my post about our evening spent with our fabulous photog Miss Mandy, but I'm sure I'll be getting to that one of these years! To sum it up, we spent nearly two hours in six different locations in downtown Enid on a beautiful Monday evening a couple of weeks ago. Hallie Grace proved me wrong yet again and hit a home run when it came to posing her little booty off, grinning from ear to ear which has resulted in me having a very difficult time picking my favorite(s). I'm considering getting all 759 pictures on separate canvases and making a ginormous collage all over the living room. Okay, I kid. Just a little. Mandy gave me about 200 awesome shots to choose from and I've narrowed them down to 198. Hehe. Most of these to follow are my favorites out of the bunch but I've thrown in a few of the "outtakes", if you will. Let's just say she had us sweatin', laughin' and runnin'. I was beside myself excited to dress her for these photos. I'd ordered three new outfits from Nordstrom's and had my friend Lacy make some custom cadet hats to match a couple of the dresses. Here's a peek into our evening.....

She took off runnin' the instant I put her down. I thought "oh no" and immediately assumed that this was going to go downhill quickly. No need to fear, the ever-fantastic Mandy is here!

She really loved all the freedom to prance wherever she pleased....

I think it was all the praying I'd done that afternoon that created this incredible mood she was in....

We had to do some fancy foot work while attempting some shots with her hat on. Eh, it was worth it!

Silly gal gave us some big laughs as Mandy was shooting in an alley with her big green chair. Hal decided to put on a show and was giving her poses that weren't very two-year-old-ish....

At one point Mandy said "all I can see is undies!!!"

She's was a hoot playing peek-a-boo with us and letting us tickle her belly....

Now that's a keeper!

At our last location Mandy had to bring out some reinforcements in the form of sweet potato flavored puffs. She bought it, hook line and sinker. Only problem was that she couldn't just eat one at a time. Meet my little chipmunk....

Here's my absolute favorite (I think) minus the puffs in her mouth!

 And here is daddy's favorite! Think it could have anything to do with the old Ford in the background??? ;)

 Lil Red had spent every last bit of energy she had and was tuckered out....

"Peace out!"

I could say it a million times over......Mandy must've been sent straight down from heaven to photograph our little angels here on earth. 

Amazing.