February 2007
Hallie and Brooklyn are both one! Brooklyn celebrated her birthday on November 16. Brooklyn is my dear friend Julie's baby. We have been friends since kindergarten. We played on the playground together, we were in Brownies together, then in junior high and high school we did Show Choir together. Then, as fate would have it, we had our babies together (well, two months apart). Look how much our little ones have grown!
November 2007
Joseph, Karen, Mark, and Amanda
Great Grandma Skaggs and Hallie Laine
Michelle and her favorite little girls
Grandpa Skaggs (or as Hallie pronounces it "Boppy") and Hallie Cat
The boys and the babies
My first friend, my brother Mark
Hallie and her Aunt Kaylene
The best babysitter was the two-year-old. 
Amanda slowly twirled Hallie around in her stroller.
Thank goodness for Mark! Half the credit for this blog goes to my brother lately because this is the second time I am featuring his photos. Here are some of my favorite that he took. Dan and Kaylene look spectacular, don't they? Everyone who sees the pictures comments on how pretty her dress is. One thing that was particularly special about the wedding is that Mom, Karen, and myself all got our hair professionally styled at Kaylene's salon, Bella. Bella is located in Naples and is down-right ritzy--and fun! It was so special to be together and to watch our future sister get her hair and make-up done. She looked gorgeous. Meanwhile, my Dad and Mark watched Hallie and Amanda all day. (Thank you so much, by the way.) Hallie was enthralled with Aunt Kaylene in her wedding dress. Dan and Kaylene, next time you read this know how proud we are of you and how much we love you!
In addition to the beautiful bride, I think my Grandma Skaggs looks spectacular. Today my Grandma and Grandpa have been married 57 years. Even though my Grandpa has passed away, I know that their marriage is eternal. They will be reunited again where they will continue to be in love forever! I love you Grandma and Grandpa!
I sat Hallie and Amanda down for some cousin pictures. Here are the results...
I forgot to mention Hallie's other new obsession-- eyelashes. She started touching my eyelashes soon after she discovered her hands. However, in the last month she is obsessed with her own. Normally, she will suck her thumb with her right hand and use the other four fingers to gingerly brush the lashes on her right eye while simultaneously using her left hand to sweep her left lashes. I can tell she is really tired when I lie her down in her crib and she immediately goes for her eyelashes. I know it's quirky but it is just another reason why I love her..JPG)
Make sure to click on the picture to check out her already lushes lashes when she was just four-weeks-old.
Hallie is really into saying "uh-oh" these days. Anytime she drops something, sounds of "uh-oh" bounce through the kitchen. Two days ago when shopping I bumped the cart into a display. "Oops!" I exclaimed as Hallie echoed with "Uh-oh!" Even as I write, Hallie dropped her sippy cup off her high chair tray and said "Uh-oh!" three times!
Here is a major "uh-oh!" that happened a few weeks ago. Hallie was playing in her favorite spot-- just around the corner of the couch when I crawled around the corner to check on her I noticed she was chewing on something. I stuck my finger in her mouth to pull out what I assumed would be a Cheerio. I laughed so hard when I pulled out a large leaf from our fake ficus tree. It was so unexpected and her face was so innocent and unassuming.
We're back from California. I am tired but wanted to do a quick post for all the patient family and friends who looked at the same post for over a week while we were gone. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time on our trip. We had some good quality time with family and several friends. Dan and Kaylene's wedding was beautiful. They looked amazing. I will have to take time to post the details as well as all the many pictures in the days to come. In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures of Hallie and Amanda that my awesome brother Mark took. They are so fun together. They really enjoy each other and were very affectionate.
Not much to write today, just want to show you these cute pictures of Hallie. Make sure to look back at the "Hallie's first coloring creation" post-- I was able to update it with more pictures.
Look at my little Halloween kitty! Even though Hallie is really Tinkerbell for halloween, I couldn't resist turning her into a cute little kitty. Her whiskers aren't very straight because she was a TAD wiggly while I was trying to put them on. But the overall effect is so cute! Happy Halloween to all our dear friends and family! I hope you enjoy your evening. 
Love, Michelle, Chris, and Hallie Kitty
Hallie received some crayons in her treat bag on Saturday night so this afternoon I gave her crisp white paper and four vibrant-colored crayons and let her create...
She is partial to blue which is interesting because she always grabs her blue blocks first too. My brother Mark and great-grandpa Hinkson will be proud to know she tends to do things with her left hand-- both with her spoon and her crayons. It might be too soon to tell though.
Talia and Hallie
Some of our favorite girlfriends: Shanda, Talia, Emily, Michelle, and Hallie
We had a pleasant weekend. We did lots of cleaning and baking and partying. Chris had the day off Friday because he worked late hours on Wednesday and Thursday for parent-teacher conference. So, on Friday we straightened the house and Chris watched Hallie for me when I went to my singing group. Friday evening, after Hallie went to bed we rented Evan Almighty. It was a cute movie. On Saturday morning we baked pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, brownies, and made caramel apples together! Chris was so sweet to help out even though I know he hates being in the kitchen. On Saturday night we went to a fun "Fall Festival." We all got to dress up. Hallie, of course, was Tinkerbell. Chris and I were Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books. It was funny because the adults especially liked our costumes. It was like they were excited to boast their secret Harry Potter knowledge; they kept passing me and saying "Hi Hermione." It was fun. And Chris and I are so excited that our costumes collectively cost 51 cents! That's right-- two quarters and a penny. Since Chris and I both received our bachelor's degrees in 2005 and 2006, we both had black graduation robes. We found some great patches and had them color copied to make the robes look like they were standard-issued from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then, I chopped some wands off the tree in the backyard and we were good to go. Chris already had a regal-looking tie. And I wore one of my Grandpa Skaggs' cool ties that really polished off the look. We get to wear our costumes one more time for a party at the Hickman's on Halloween night. We are so excited for one more excuse to celebrate one of our favorite holidays. Finally, on Sunday Chris' mom and brother Michael came over for a visit and a fun Halloween dinner. I made "feets of meat" (meat loaf), mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic, onion, and mushroooms sautee, and finally cheesy crescent ghosts. It was festive (and I'll admit-- a tad bit creepy to eat something that looked like a bloody foot stump).
Here is Hallie snacking on one of the pumpkin muffins. She loves them!
