Halle Riding

Halle takes horseback riding as party of her weekly therapy. It is great for her to grasp the reins, and it takes strength for her to pull the reins to her hip to steer the horse--especially on the right side. Her regular physical and occupational therapists at the hospital have commented on how much the horse-back riding has helped her. It simulates her own walking and she has to learn to sit tall and straight and also hold her core in the center as the horse shifts right to left. She also gains strength by posting (standing) and keeping her balance as the horse moves. Best thing is she LOVES it! She would make my daddy proud.

Chef Halle

Halle got an apron and cookie kit for her birthday so we decided to make them. Kinderbear helped us.

Mixing it all up!


Placing them on the pan.

Would've been great if I had taken a picture of her EATING the cookies, but hindsight is always 20/20. I will tell you, though, they were YUMMY!

Halle's 6th Birthday Party

Halle entertaining her guests with song at Twinkle Teas

Halle blowing out her candle

Madame Halle


Darby, Alie, and Emma in the puppet show

Madame Halle getting her nails done

All of the princesses!

Halle's 6th Birthday

Evidently, she takes after her mother with a love for the weather!

Guess who will play soccer this spring?

The birthday girl after school.

Trying out her new bike in the spring-like weather!

When Halle was almost three I did a scrapbook page that asked the following questions:

When you're 3 will you still....

• Watch Dora non-stop?
• Suck your thumb and hold lovie?
• Want everything to be pink?
• Let Mommy rock you?
• Be my girl?

Now at 6, wanna know the answers?

• She's watching Dora right now, although she doesn't watch it non-stop
• Lovie has been confiscated although she STILL sucks her thumb at night
• Pink is ok, but she'll tell you that BABY BLUE is her new favorite color
• The rocking chair is long gone although I suspect she'd still let me rock her if it were around
• There's NO DOUBT she's my girl!

Wicked!

Parker, Halle and I went to see Wicked in downtown Chicago. We all loved it!

Wicked was in it's last days after playing for years in Chicago. Johnny and I saw the show last year with his parents, and Parker and Halle had been asking to see it ever since. When we heard it was on it's way out, how could we not take them? It's awesome to live in Chicago and have access to such wonderful musicals.

You might wonder where our third child was through all of this? Let's just say that Wicked wasn't on the top of Grayson's list. He and Johnny will be attending a sporting event instead! Hopefully a Cubs game when the warmth returns.

Weather Report 1/16/09

Months ago I was advised to stop blogging about the weather. Now it has been brought to my attention that without the weather blogs Wheaton Harris 5 has become, well, stale. Can't argue with that. It's just that the nay-sayers took the wind out of my sails when then put a stop to the weather blogs. See what happens? I think some people should just be happy to hear from me.....at all.

SO, WELCOME to the return of the weather blogs. I thought I'd start off with something dramatic. Take a look at THAT outdoor temp as registered on my satellite clock. Wanna move to Chicago anyone?

Grayson's 9th birthday

Grayson had his party at Brunswick Zone with 49 of his closest friends.

He enjoyed his Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. Perfect for the blizzard that was taking place outside.


I think he gets his great bowling form from me.

Joey, Zak, Quinn, Parker and Jordan having a good time.

The whole birthday party crew.


Can't believe that next year he'll be in the double-digit range!