Rainbow Hunt

To try and help reinforce colors for Hadley, we had a color scavenger hunt where we went around the house looking for items that were a specific color.  The girls really loved this activity, but this one took a lot of time to put it all back. Still, lots of fun!

Down on the farm

For our family adventure we decided to go and visit the farm. One of the local farms has a peach festival in the spring. They have a few rides, games, lots of peach foods, and a chance to pick your very own peaches. We decided to head down for the excitement and search for the delicious peaches.

First we walked around to see all the farm animals (chickens, pigs, and peacocks)

All the ladies on the hay ride. We got to take a hay ride out to the fields.

 The girls loved walking through the grove searching for peaches (this was the last weekend of the harvest so they had to look extra hard to find the good ones).  The best fruit was in the very middle of the trees, so we had to get deep inside to find them.

Hadley had to do the manual labor to carry all the delicious peaches.

After all the hard work, the girls couldn't wait to dig in. They were delicious!

On the way out we got to see how much hard work helps you grow.

Pedicure Time

Painting nails at our house is a common occurrence, so we decided to step it up a notch and do full on pedicures. 

With how often we play at the park, those little toe nails did not stay painted long, but they were cute while they lasted.  Gotta love having little girls!

Preschool Graduation

Allie LOVED preschool this year with Mrs. Stacey!  She went Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30-11:30.  Allie really blossomed this year in her learning and has started sounding out words and reading.  She also blossomed in her social skills and making new friends.  Now, Allie will go up to any kid and start playing with them, which is something that she had a hard time with before.  

As their last day of class, they had a slip n slide party and a video review of their past year of school.  Most of the kids in her class are going on to kindergarten this year, but Allie has one more year of preschool so she will be totally ready for sure!

Allie and her buddies watching their year in review

Allie and Mrs. Stacey

Marley and Allie

Pyper and Allie

The whole gang

Allie loved the slip n slide and had a great year.

Hadley at 2

Oh my Hadley-do, our lives have definitely been changed because of you, and boy are we happy about it!  You can make anyone smile with your facial expressions and you have recently become best little friends with Allie.  It makes my heart so happy to come around the corner in the house and see you two playing so well together.  Let's hope it lasts!
You have been potty trained for a couple of months and do pretty well, although not always perfect.  Sometimes you just get too busy and don't tell me you need to go until it is too late.  Still, it is better than changing diapers any day!
You love treats and can hear anyone, anywhere in the house opening a treat and you come running, asking what we are eating.  I wonder where you get that from. :)
You love to take off the couch cushions and jump from cushion to cushion or towering them up.
You just decided that you are not a napper anymore now that we switched you to a big girl bed.  It was getting to the point where if you napped, you wouldn't fall asleep until like 9 pm and if you didn't nap, you would fall asleep at like 5.  This is my least favorite nap transition, but I need my nights back without going into your room 10 times a night telling you to go to sleep.  I will take a cranky hour at 4 or 5 if I get you to sleep at your normal 7:00 bedtime. 
You bring light into others' lives and we love you so much!

GG's Move

After 20ish years living in St. George, GG Meldrum decided to move closer to family and move up to Boise, Idaho.  Since Boise isn't on the way to Orem, we decided to trek up to St. George to help Grandma move and visit with Grandma.  It was a good thing we came up because Mike ended up being the brute force of the moving crew, considering he was the youngest one by a few decades.  :)

 

 It ended up being the perfect day to move because it was overcast most of the day.  

While the moving crew was working, we stayed entertained by talking with GG in her back yard where she had baby humming birds in their nest and searched for sail shells.  It was so cute to see Grandma light up while talking with Allie - she is still a kindergarten teacher ant heart and while moving all her stuff was a bit emotionally hard, having Allie there made it much better.

The day after we moved all the stuff over, we went to the Mill park in Washington  where we enjoyed away the afternoon playing in the little creek and lounging in the shade.

 The girls started out dry, but quickly got completely soaked.  Go figure.

 Aunt Janice was well loved by the girls as well because she made little boats for them to send down the stream, again and again. 

 Uncle Jim took them on a bear hunt.  Luckily, none were found.

 Fun was had by all and it was great to get some good GG Meldrum time in. 

4 year old Allie

 

Allie is such a sweet, caring girl who calls everyone a friend.  On her progress report from preschool her teacher said she is always caring about the other kids and makes sure everyone is included.  Her feelings are easily hurt when someone is not nice to her and doesn't understand how someone could be mean on purpose... which I hope never changes - that ability to assume the best in everyone.

Allie had her 4 year old checkup and was on her typical curve- 98th percentile for height, 50th for weight  and when she got her 4 shots, she didn't cry or even yell.  All she did was say ouch on the one the nurse said would hurt the most.  She is one tough little girl and is ever patient. 

She is such a great big sister, usually looking out for Hadley and playing pretty well with her, coming up with some sort of pretend play or game.  She still loves art and is always up for coloring or painting.  She has started reading and sounding out words and loves it. We love our Allie and cannot imagine life without her. 

Clebrate good times!

 Hadley had her 2nd birthday this week, and we did the whole cake and presents thing then. However, we needed a chance to have a better celebration and Saturday was the first opportunity. We woke up early (just how Hadley wanted it, trust me this is never my idea), and went to the store. I let Hadley pick out some donuts for breakfast, and on the way out she asked for some flowers. I admit it, I caved, so we had flowers on the table for breakfast too.

Hadley enjoyed a strawberry jelly filled donut and would not let go of the flower pot for the whole meal! She was super excited to get her own flowers (this may have been her favorite part of the whole day).

After breakfast we went to the zoo for a family adventure. This time we decided to do one of the special things at the zoo since it was Hadley's birthday. So we got to feed the giraffes!

 Surprisingly enough, Allie wanted to go first. 

She wasn't even scared of the big giraffes and their really long tongues.

Hadley was next, she got a little scared (she closed her eyes when the big tongue came out), 

but did a great job.

I got to feed them little biscuits, and Rach took a quick turn too. 

(On a side note this is now the third or fourth time I have taken her to feed some form of wild animal. Which is great fun for me, but I don't think she would choose to do this on her own.)

The whole family in front of some really big giraffes. 

It was a great celebration for Hadley and fun for everyone.

Happy 2nd Birthday Hadley

 Per Meldrum tradition, Hadley woke up to a room full of balloons, which were all in the corners because the fan was on full blast.  Still lots of fun!  Hadley's birthday was on a Thursday so we had a mini-celebration before Mike left for work where she got to open one present to play with while Dad was at work and we opened the rest after dinner.  We decided to open Allie's gift to her so they could both enjoy it.

 A school bus! 

 After dinner we video chatted with various family members to wish her a happy birthday and watch her open presents and sing happy birthday.

 That is one concentrated face to blow out candles. 

 Not quite as messy as her first year, but still tired to eat her ice cream with her hands. 

 One of her favorite presents was this Minnie Mouse birthday card which sang happy birthday.  It was well played with before it died.  Hadley loved all the attention and kept singing happy birthday to herself all day.  We love you Had!