HAILEY DAY!

As those of you who read this blog know, Hailey had a BLOWOUT of a Birthday Party!! I mean, we did it up! Princess Extravaganza. Well, since the child did not need another toy or article of clothing, we decided to do something special as a gift for Hailey's birthday. At the time of her birthday, she was on an Annie kick. She watched the movie all the time, sang the songs, etc. So we found out that Annie the Broadway Musical was coming to Baltimore, so we purchased tickets.

Upon giving Hailey the tickets back in February, we explained to her that we would not be seeing Annie right away, we would have to wait until summer. And that once it was time to go see Annie, we would make it a very special "Hailey Day" - with just Hailey, Mommy & Daddy! She was so excited and asked if it was time to go see Annie for "Hailey Day" almost every day for quite some time. Well, that novelty wore off, and as the hustle and bustle of life went on, she almost forgot about the upcoming Annie show.

But finally the day arrived! HAILEY DAY! Daddy was also committed to be on a Men's Retreat for church this weekend, so he made a special effort to come home early so that he could join us for Hailey day (as promised! what a GREAT Daddy!)

Off Tyler went to hang out with Nana & Pappy and off Hailey went with Mommy and Daddy to Baltimore for Annie! What a big girl! I almost forget how big she is getting until I really take the time to look in her eyes and REALLY listen to her talk and then I realize that she's growing up WAY too fast!! She's an amazing little girl that has so much intelligence and so much spunk bottled up in such a tiny body! She's going to be an amazing woman some day....OK, that's enough...don't want to make her grow up TOO fast!!

Anyway, we arrived in Baltimore with some time to catch lunch before the show. We went to an Irish Pub & Restaurant across from the Hippadrome Theater. Hailey and Daddy took the opportunity to cheese for the camera!!We got to the theater and it was quite exciting. There were so many other little girls there to see Annie. However, as soon as we shot this photo of Hailey & Mommy, we got yelled that cameras were not allowed in the theater, not even before the show! Boooo!!!Well, it was a great show. I really enjoyed it....and I think Hailey did! Unfortunately, when it began and Hailey first showed up on stage, Hailey was very distraught. Annie had STRAIGHT HAIR! WHAT??? "That's not the Annie from my movie, Mommy. My Annie has curly hair. That Annie has straight hair!" Oh my. That did not start this show off on the right foot. Hailey was quite fidgety and kept asking for juice (which we could not bring into the theater) and snack (which we could not bring into the theater). When we asked her if we wanted to leave (selfishly praying she would not say yes, as the tickets were NOT cheap) she kept saying she wanted to stay. But she sure did not want to sit still! Gracious, that girl asks lots of questions!!!

We stayed for the whole show and Hailey was just excited to be with Mommy and Daddy for a big girl adventure. After the show, we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Annapolis for dinner. Hailey was so cute! Just laughing with us and talking about her day and all the fun things we do....got some fun shots~All of us on Hailey Day!Hailey explained to us, some time soon you can take Tyler out for "Tyler Day". You can take him to see a Mickey Mouse show and I can stay with Nana and Pappy until you get home, just like Tyler is today"....so nice of her to think of her brother!! This is definitely a practice we will be sure to get into...that is taking the kids out individually occationally, so that they get special time with Mom & Dad. Maybe not take Tyler to a show quite yet!! Good idea though, Hailey!!

As our meal was ending, Hailey said, "We better hurry up and get home because I think Tyler is crying because I think he misses me!!"

Hebron Carnival

Good Ole Hebron Carnival! YeeHa!

For those of you who do not live on the Eastern Shore, the Hebron Carnival is put on by the Hebron Fire Department and runs Wednesday thru Saturday for several weeks in a row, takes a few weeks of a break, then starts up again and this lasts the greater part of the summer. I've never had any desire to go there until this year. As we have seen from earlier posts, Hailey LOVES to ride the rides!! And at the Hebron Carnival, $10 wrist band lets you ride all night! So off we went - along with the Buntings and the Hudsons....

Tyler got to ride the Carousel for the first time! He was a little frightened, but Daddy was there to keep him safe!Mr. Mark had the girls....And Mr. Aaron had G-dog!....Carousels are NOT easy to take good pictures on!!Hailey's first roller coaster ride!! Miss Le & G are in 2nd car, Hailey & I are in the 3rd car, and Miss Sara and Kenna are in the 3rd car. WEEEE!Funny story about this 3some! Hailey was quite the social coordinator. She rode a few rides beside or with Kenna, then would say, "I'm gonna ride with Garret on this one." Well, Garret was completely content when he had to ride alone, but poor Kenna did not like when she had to ride by herself!! And then when we told Hailey that it was Kenna's turn to ride with Garret, LOOK OUT! Here come the water works!!

With the airplanes below, we tried to get them to all ride in the same plane, but Garret did not want to ride in the pink plane...Daddy would be proud! LOLOK, now you see the kids in Santa - Hailey did not want to sit in the back by herself, so we let Tyler try out a ride!! BAH HA HA !!!! Poor boy!!!But after a while, he was OK...Sissy had her arm around him saying, "It's OK Tyler. Sissy is here. It's gonna be fun!"Fighter Pilot ride.....These next 2 pics are NOT great, but I LOVE Hailey's expressions! She is truly shooting down her enemy!And laughing her head off!Garret knew just what to do!Cotton Candy time! Hailey had been talking about this all week!Shove it in, Ty!Nice Soul Patch, G!Cute kids!!

What a great time with great friends!!

Hotel Pool in VA

Hotel in VA for the graduation....

First dip of the season....Kids had a blast! Not a great picture of me with my eyes closed, but had to post cuz my kids are so stinkin cute!!!

Johnny, Becky, Mom-Mom & Dad-Dad also swam with us, but was not camera ready at the time!

Johnny's College Graduation

Honestly, I can't believe he made it! Who would have ever guessed that Little Annoying Johnny would actually finish college?!?!?! I'm so proud of him! Congratulations John Michael Hose II, you officially have a Bachelor of Science in Business Finance from Bridgewater College! Hip Hip Hooray!

The weather was quite threatening. They were calling for rain all day and the ceremony was outside, but thankfully it held off for us! The kids were exceptionally well behaved for the ceremony. It was the tail end of a long trip for them and they were tired, but they did REALLY well! It was nice that the ceremony was outside because it enabled them to get up and run around without being bothersome to the rest of the spectators.

We didn't get a lot of family shots at the school, but the ones we did get are cute...

My little brother and my babies!

Can you tell they are related?Let the truth be told, a degree does NOT make you mature! (You got that right, Becky!) Yes, that's his hand waving, with an odd/loud sounding "HELLO!" coming out of his mouth. Such a dork!Waiting in line for his name to be calledAnd the camera man jumps in my shot! Oh well.MONEY!After Graduation, Becky's Mom hosted a WONDERFUL BBQ for family & friends. It was SO kind of her to do!! The Family with the Grad!Wow, a degree and a beautiful lady...what more could a man ask for?What great friends - Petway and Miner came down from Hagerstown to share in the celebration!Johnny & Owie!Grandma and her John Boy!! Grandma is very proud of her John Boy. When we were at the banquet, she was telling everyone, "My John Boy is graduating from Bridgewater College this weekend." For those of you who don't know, Bridgewater is located in Harrisonburg, VA - which is Grandma's old stompin' grounds (well, Dayton, which is in the general area). Grandma loved coming down for visits. She just loves her John Boy. (I actually was introduced to someone as John Boy's sister...I thought it was cute, I don't mind!) Johnny does a great job of visiting Grandma now...he goes over to her house and takes naps on her couch while she naps and helps cut her grass. Far cry from the little pip squeek that would run from her when she babysat him as a child!!

3 Generations of HOSE!Proud parents!Uncle Eddie came down with Grandma....And Shawn Michelle & her gang came down for the day!
Johnny, we are all so proud of you! Keep up the hard work and you will be a very successful man!

Uncle Johnny's Graduation Dinner - Kyoto!!

The Night before Johnny's graduation from Bridgewater College, we all went out to Dinner at Kyoto - Japanese Hibachi Restaurant.What a great time! Neither of the kids have ever had this dining experience, neither had Mom-Mom or Dad-Dad. Hailey enjoyed experimenting with Chopsticks and her first Shirley Temple!Check it out! She's better than I am at the Chop Sticks!!!Here is an attempt at capturing the Hibachi Chef along with Hailey's face!! She thought it was VERY cool and talked about "The Funny Boy who set our food on fire and threw shrimpies in our mouth" for days.Tyler was very tired, but very enthralled with the entertainment.The BoysI told you he was tired! Poor boy...just wants to eat and go to sleep. What else can a baby do to show you this?Hailey is showing off her new found talent again!
What a fun dinner. Great idea Uncle Johnny & Becky!! We LOVED the food!!