"I have a window!"

Of the two girls, Hazel has always been the more cautious. I never had problems with her running away with me, it was only this summer that she had the courage to go down the slide by herself, etc. Eliza on the other hand seems to have no fear and climbs everything. My family had even begun guessing how old Eliza would be before she broke a bone. Much to everyone's surprise it was Hazel who had our family's first emergency...

Thursday afternoon I took the girls to the park. They were having a great time. Remember those toys with the spring on the bottom that you ride and rock back and forth? This park had a double one that the girls were loving. Right before we left Hazel got on with another girl at the park. They were rocking pretty fast and loving every second of it. But then poor Hazel hit her face on the handle bar. I grabbed her off knowing she would be upset only to see blood pouring from her mouth! Surprisingly I stayed totally calm and hauled them both off to the car. When I finally got her to open her mouth I saw one of her front teeth was cracked nearly in half. The next time she would open it for me, it was gone (swallowed I think). Poor little girl!

Luckily our dentist was still in the office at 5:30 when I called and agreed to see her. The tooth had been knocked out cleanly so they didn't have to pull any of it (thankfully). And the teeth around it weren't lose so they should make it.

Poor Hazel was so traumatized by the whole experience though. She literally screamed at the top of her lungs for the first hour and cried the rest of the night. Then for two days she didn't want to close her mouth or swallow anything so she ended up drooling all over. I convinced her to drink by buying her a princess cup and telling her we would take it back if she didn't use it. Luckily that did the trick:)

 

She even held her mouth open while she was sleeping.

Thankfully she is back to normal now. She has even embraced her lost tooth. Yesterday she was running around singing "I lost my tooth! I lost my tooth!" and "I have a window!" She also thoroughly enjoyed her money from the tooth fairy.

The dentist said they can put in a permanent retainer with a fake tooth but it sound horribly uncomfortable and Hazel is so traumatized by the dentist I'm sure they'd have to knock her out to do it. If at some point she decides she wants it we'll get it for her, but I'm not going to force her. It will just be a long 3 to 4 years waiting for it to grow back!

Plot Twists

"... and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led." (1 Nephi 17:13)

This scripture best summarizes how I feel about recent events in our family. The Lord is constantly looking out for us and leading us to the experiences that will bless us and allow us to grow.

I posted here about how Mike had accepted a job teaching ASL at SLCC and we had struggled with the decision of whether to move in to the "new" house here in Provo or move up to Salt Lake. Ultimately we felt that staying here was right. About a week before SLCC was set to start, the section of ASL Mike was assigned to only had 6 students enrolled so they cancelled his class. While I normally would have felt saddened and upset by such a situation instead I felt A) immense peace that this was a blessing and B) gratitude that we had been guided to remain here in Provo.I know that Mike experienced similar feelings of comfort and assurance.

A few days later Mike was contacted for an interview for an ASL teaching position at BYU. Instantly I thought, "this must be why the SLCC class didn't work out." Imagine my surprise when he was not offered the job at BYU. However, once again we felt no hint of disappointment. Only peace that everything was in the Lord's hands.

The next evening (Friday night) at 10:45 Mike received an email... He was offered a job at UVU teaching two ASL classes! No interview, just offered the job (which was to start just 3 days later). I was shocked and amazed and wondered if I would wake up thinking the whole thing was a dream. Instead of driving all the way to Salt Lake every day, he will only have to drive to Orem. Instead of teaching one class, he will teach two. Instead of teaching level two, he will teach level four. Instead of teaching at a community college, he gets to teach at a University. I am in awe and humbled by the amazing blessings that have come our way.

None of this was simply "good luck" or "turns of fate." The Lord's hand was certainly in the entire process leading us to the best outcome for our family. What a wonderful blessing!

Mike starting teaching today. I'm a little sad I didn't get a picture of him on his "first day of school":( My sweet hubby is all grown up and teaching college! Professor Ballard, I like it!

The Dust is Settling.... Slowly

We moved in to our new house a week and a half ago and we're slowly getting unpacked. There are still plenty of little projects that still need to get done, but it's coming along. We're pleased with how things are turning out and I can't wait to get decorating:)

I did learn a few things from our "this old house" adventure. 1) We're not big do-it-yourselfers with big projects. Painting, patching a fence, installing cabinet doors are fine but big projects like hanging drywall are much better left professionals. 2) I don't have the 'fix up an old house adventure bug' that my father-in-law has. He enjoys it but I do not. 3) I have no desire to ever purchase an old home. EVER. (unless someone else has already fixed it up and modernized it)

That being said, I love the house! It's has so much charm and it's so nice to live in a house with just our family again! Plus there is something everyone in the family absolutely loves about the new house.

I LOVE the Ikea kitchen my in-laws decided to put in (I love it minus the hour and a half we spent at Ikea on Saturday to get one set of hinges only to find out the hinges we had in the first place were the right ones and we just needed to mount the door to open the other direction. Thank you Ikea directions - not!)

Hazel LOVES her purple bedroom.

Eliza LOVES all the new things to climb on.

Mike LOVES his "man-cave" in the basement (and by "man-cave" I mean his desk in the unfinished basement:) But at least it's a step towards a man-cave and he's still very happy about it).

Kiara LOVES the backyard and the fact that she's now allowed to sleep in the house again (she's been sleeping in the laundry room since January).

When we're finally unpacked and pictures are hung I'll post some pictures. Don't expect them for a few weeks though:)

Hazel is so excited that Eliza can now nod yes and no that she taught her this...

Curve Ball

Sometimes life throws you curve balls. In this case it was a good one. A REALLY good one. But a curve ball none the less.

I had typed up half a post last week about how my life feels like an episode of "This Old House." Allow me to explain. When we first moved to Utah we moved in to the house my in-laws own here in Provo with Mike's sister and brother. The plan was that we would move as soon as we found jobs. Come March we started looking for a place to live. But Mike's parents decided they wanted to buy another rental property since interest rates were so low, and they wanted us to wait so we could rent from them. It took until mid-June to find and close on a house, and it is an older house here in Provo that needed lots of work. So several months after we expected to move, we still haven't. But the end is in sight. Mike's dad is a teacher and so he's spent his summer out here working on the house. Here's what's happened in the past month and a half:
- entire basement demolished (floors, dry wall and ceilings)
- entire kitchen demolished
- nasty carpet ripped up to reveal nice wood floors
- wood floors sanded
- electrical re-done in the entire house
- plumbing re-done in the kitchen to add a dishwasher
- ceiling in hallway demolished
- kitchen re-dry walled
- hundreds of other small projects

Now, Tony (Mike's dad) has one week before he has to go back to California. So we're down to crunch time and there's still a lot of work left. The walls in the kitchen need to be primed and painted so that the cabinets and appliances can be installed. Most of the painting still needs to be done and the ceiling in the hallway needs to be fixed. Hence why I feel like I live in "This Old House."

Needless to say we have been really excited about moving in to this house.  For one thing, it's a HOUSE! We got to choose the paint colors, we will have a yard, we will have a lot more space, and we won't share walls with anyone. SO exciting!

Enter the curve ball....

Last week Salt Lake Community College contacted Mike. He had interviewed with them for a teaching position in January but hadn't gotten it. They had been really impressed with him but just found someone better qualified. Well, they had another teaching job open up for the Fall and offered him a job!! It's just one class, but it will be such great experience. For someone that wants to become a college professor teaching at a community college is a huge break. So, we knew there was no turning down the job. BUT, it's a 5 credit hour class that meets Monday through Friday and SLCC is a 40 mile drive one way from Provo.

The big question became, should we move to Salt Lake?  There are pros and cons on both sides. Here in Provo we stay in the same ward, get to live in the house we've worked so hard on, rent from family for a great deal, etc. In Salt Lake, his drive would be much shorter but we'd pay more in rent and be back in apartment. It was a hard decision. But we decided to stay here in Provo for at least this semester and see how it goes. Mike will still work for Sorenson too so when he can schedule Salt Lake appointments before or after work they will reimburse his miles so that will help make the drives worth it. Front Runner also starts up in December and next semester he will see if he can teach only a few days a week.

Exciting times with exciting curve balls. I love my plans and sure hate when they get changed. But sometimes those changes are good. This one was a little bitter but mostly very sweet. Wish us luck this week with the house:) We will need it to get it done.

Anniverysary Get-Away

In five years of marriage Mike and I have never done more than go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. But five years is definitely something worth celebrating so we set aside a bit of money from our tax return and treated ourselves to a get-away weekend.

Friday night we went camping near Alta. It was a gorgeous camp ground with tons of wild flowers all over the place. And, we saw a moose! Our Friday afternoon hike got rained out, but we still fit it in Saturday morning before heading down to Salt Lake.

Saturday also included Einstein's for breakfast, a few hours at Seven Peaks Salt Lake, lunch and window shopping in Sugar House then checking in to our cute bed and breakfast. (We forgot how quickly we can get things done when we don't have kids in tow!)

Saturday evening we went to the Jordan River temple to do a sealing session. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

We finished off the evening with an amazing dinner at Cheesecake factory. It was the perfect weekend of relaxing and spending time with my best friend!

Hazel at Three

 I'm not even sure where to begin describing Hazel at three. She is sweet, spunky, spirited, and stubborn all wrapped up in one. I have come to realize that she is the type of person who will get whatever she wants in life because she will never give up. If you tell her no, she will only try that much harder to get it. She will be wonderful at whatever she puts her mind to (now my mission is to teach her to want good things).

Obsessions: PRINCESSES! Hazel currently is almost never called Hazel because we are instructed to call her Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, etc, etc, etc. Her princess of choice changes about 20 times a day so we can never keep up. Since getting two princess costumes (Cinderella and Rapunzel) for her birthday she almost never wears real clothes except to sleep and leave the house. She will also say things like "I'd live pancakes for breakfast says Belle" so we know who she is at that moment:)

Likes: Rafi, pretending to go to ballet class, dresses (she still never wears pants - ever), swimming, spinning, story time at the library, reading, Dora, princess movies, Eliza, listening to stories, painting, nail polish, cucumbers, pancakes with buttermilk syrup, apples, any type of sweets, grandparents, and parades.

Cute sayings: "I have forgot...." "Ah, much comfortable" (as in much more comfortable), "For-cuse (because)"

 

I have loved seeing her imagination develop. She now has imaginary friends with her nearly all the time. For whatever reason her imaginary friends are usually Cinderella or nice dragons. Not sure where the nice dragons come from. She is also contantly inventing stories with great details and plot twists.

This summer Hazel began coming to one of my four sessions of work with me to be a typcial peer in our social skills group. She gets to join me for all sorts of fun activities and field trips which she loves, but it has also been great for her. She is learning how to be patient with peers that have autism and are maybe non-verbal or have limited language. She is also learning how to help them learn social skills by modeling the skill for them or prompting them. I have been impressed with her maturity in following directions at the group and with her willingness to help out.

Lastly Hazel has become such a great big sister. Of course she has her moments where she will push Eliza or not share, but overall they play well. The other day I say Hazel giving Eliza a smothering hug and saying "I love you Eliza. You're so stinkin' cute!" I'm so proud of my big girl! Love you Hazel!

Eliza at One Year

Looking at pictures over the past year, I'm amazed by how far little Eliza has come. She has grown from a tiny baby into a tiny toddler. At her one year appointment she weighed in at an itty-bitty 15 lbs 8 oz and is 28 3/4 inches tall. She's only about the size of a 6 month old but she's walking about like a pro and climbing all over everything. It's actually a bit creepy seeing someone so small walking around haha. The doctors aren't worried a bit though saying she's just petite and probably always will be. She is also starting to talk and sign, and showing more of her personality every day. None of these pictures show it very well, but she has strawberry blond hair and spit-fire personality to match. While she is still very much a tender heart, she is also showing us that she knows what she wants and she has the determination to get it!

I also love looking back at these pictures and seeing how far she has come health-wise. You can literally see her back and neck getting straighter as you see her age. We're so thankful her scoliosis was able to correct itself and now you would never guess she ever had it!

Here's a short list of Eliza's likes/dislikes to sum up our sweetie at one.

Likes: Ellie (lovey), stinking fingers in people's mouths, open fridge/dishwasher, books (she LOVES books!), climbing on chairs, peek-a-boo, bananas, the opening song to Baby Signing Time, straws, forks (she will not eat without one any more), pulling things out of boxes/cupboards/etc, Mommy, Daddy, Hazel, singing, and walking!

Dislikes: being told no, having any of the above likes taken away from her, being crushed by Hazel, her iron supplement, falling down, and sleeping without Ellie (this would be a hate, not a dislike).

Words: Ellie (eh-eee), Dada, Mama, all done (ah duh), hi

Signs: Dad, Mom, more, all done, milk, baby, cracker

We love you Eliza!

Happy Birhtday Hazel! Happy Birhtday Eliza!

Yesterday was Hazel's 3rd birthday and Eliza's 1st! My baby is a year old already - where does the time go?  They are growing up so fast. They both had a great time at their birthday party on Saturday.

I don't know if this makes me crazy or not, but I decided that it is not "the girls' birthday." It's Hazel's birthday and it's Eliza's birthday. I still want them to feel special even though they share their special day. I'm not crazy enough to have separate parties for them (at least not now, we'll see when they're older). But, we had pink and purple doubles of everything from table cloths to streamers. A pink pile of gifts for Eliza and a purple pile for Hazel. We had two cakes - princess for Hazel and Minnie Mouse for Eliza. We sang the birthday song twice. Double the fun! Double the happy birthday girl smiles!!

First up, Eliza... She LOVED the attention and the sights of the party. She is obsessed with climbing and chairs and fittingly got two chairs which is adores. Other favorite gifts included a hand-knitted elephant (my cousin's wife Megan is amazing!) and the princess tent my parents gave the girls to share.

Then there was the first taste of cake. Oh my goodness this girl loves chocolate! She was a bit apprehensive at first, but once she got a taste for it, there was no stopping her. She stole someone's fork about half-way through and decided she needed to spear every bite after that. Too cute!!!

 

 Next up, Princess Hazel. She was so excited for her party and asked me everyday for about two weeks "Is it my party today?" At her insistence I dressed up in a "princess dress" with her. She sat on her throne as her minions spoiled her rotten. At one point while opening her pile of gifts from my mom she said "This is hard work!" Her favorite presents included a princess tent, princess figurines, Cinderella and Rapunzel dresses, and the new pink dress Gram got her for the party. She also got a hand made giraffe toy which she now calls "teddy bear Rafi" like her lovie:)

Happy Birthday beautiful Hazel! Happy Birthday sweet Eliza!

Fun 4th!

Can I just say Provo is the place to be on the 4th of July? We had a blast. We started off the morning with a quick peek at the hot air balloons then headed over to the parade. Somehow we scored awesome seats even though we arrived only 45 mins before it started. The girls LOVED it! Eliza took in all the sights while waving her flag and  Hazel loved all the princesses (aka - elected royalty from every town in Utah county).

 Little flag waivers

 Eliza was enthralled.

 The girls with Grandma B (notice Eliza has her flag in every shot)

We had a low key afternoon and the girls enjoyed their new sprinkler from Aunt Jamie. Then it was red, white, and blue pancakes for dinner, glow sticks, and a few small fireworks at home. Finally, we walked over to watch the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. Two words - HUGE and AMAZING! It was a wonderful day!

 

Glow stick princess complete with necklace, crown, bracelet, and wand:)