California Christmas: Staking Party

We were able to drive to California for Christmas to visit Michael's family. It was a GREAT trip! The girls did amazingly well on both the drive there and the drive home. Once we were there, we had a wonderful time visiting with family, enjoying some down time, seeing the sights, and most importantly enjoying the Spirit of the Christmas season.

Our first day there we were able to attend Grandma's skating party (she's a figure skating coach and rents the ice for an hour every year for a party). Hazel finally skated some on her own! She loved it and did so well. Eliza was cranky that day and didn't want to be put down, but she wore adorable mini skates anyways.

A few times early in the trip we stopped by various malls. I always forget how huge malls are in California, haha. While we were at an outlet mall, I snapped these fun picture of the girls.

 

The Christmas Spirit

Someone in our house has been helping us remember the true meaning of Christmas each day....

Everyday Hazel picks a princess to be for the day. If, for example, she was Belle, she would pick out a yellow dress and act like Belle for the day. This week she asked me to dress up as Mary. We found an acceptable Mary outfit for her and she spent the day rocking baby Jesus (her frog lovie), changing his diapers, and singing to him. It was precious and so touching.

The next day we were out playing in the snow and she made a snow angel. Then she said, "Mom, look! An angel just like the ones that told the shepherds about Jesus!"

Last but not least, while visiting Michael's grandma she said, "Grandma, Jesus is our Savior!"


Now that is the true meaning of Christmas!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Last week Michael turned 30! (Yes Michael - the past year or so he has been going by Michael more than Mike. Guess that happens when you get older, hehe.)

We had a fun weekend celebrating. Saturday my parents took him to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. We embaressed him by telling them it was his birthday. He got to ride the birthday pony:)

 

 

Then we headed over to the mall to hang out. I may be weird but I love the hustle and bustle of the mall around Christmas time. I don't like shopping during this time of year, but I love the atmosphere. Neither of the girls had any desire to visit Santa so we let them run wild in the play area instead.

Sunday was spent at church, enjoying an afternoon nap, dinner, then speaking at a fireside. They had a combined fireside of the Deaf singles group as well as our ward and had asked us to speak. Michael was nice to agree to speak on his birthday:)


It was a wonderful weekend to celebrate an amazing Dad! He has been working so hard this semester with taking three Master's classes, teaching two classes at UVU plus teaching one institute class. He also just accepted a calling to serve as a temple worker again. We love you Daddy! Thanks for your hard work and great example. Happy Birthday!

All I Want for Chirstmas...

Hazel is adorable! Except this video is not true. Hazel doesn't want her two front teeth for Christmas. In fact, she has decided that she doesn't want to get fake teeth at all. I'll admit we were disappointed. So were her grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. We've tried to make sure she knows they won't grow back for several years. She doesn't care. It will be easier to eat things like apples and corn on the cob. She says, "You can just cut it up for me"

What else do we tell her, "you will look prettier with teeth" or "kids won't make fun of you?" The thoughts have seriously crossed my mind but then what message am I sending to her? That you need to change something about yourself for other people to like you more. That's a terrible thing to teach anyone but especially a three year old!

Then I realized why the fake teeth were more important to us than to her. Because she's a child full of humility and innocence. We, on the other hand, are adults who care too much about what other people think. It really made me realize that although I don't think I have my heart set on the "vain things of the world" in some areas I do. So, sweet Hazel, once again thank you for teaching me. Thank you for helping me realized that I'm more prideful than I thought. Thank you for inspiring me to do better. Most of all, thank you for your shining example of humility and love. I love you sweet girl.

Here's to several more years without front teeth and loving every minute of it!

Guess who got in to Mommy's make up?

Who needs Christmas presents when you can have Christmas decorations? I always, always look forward to setting up the decorations, but this year I was especially excited. I guess I wore off on the girls too because they have been absolutely LOVING the decorations . The singing Santa (which Hazel has been scared of the past 3 years) plays constantly any time it's down from the high shelf. Eliza especially loves that thing.

Giving Santa a big hug. And I love how she posed for the camera:)

I love watching how happy it makes them. This video is a bit long, but you get the picture within the first few seconds...

Then there is the small fiber optic tree in their bedroom. Any time Eliza sees the tree she signs "tree" in hopes we will turn it on for her. Bedtime the past week has been a breeze as the girls drift off to sleep staring at their tree. Every time I turn it on Hazel says, "Mom, it's like happily ever after!" And you know what, I have to agree. It's wonderful to celebrate the Christmas season remembering the true meaning of Christmas without being wrapped up in all the gifts. Sitting in front of the tree with my girls in awe is perfect - just like happily ever after.

Tonight little miss dress up asked me for a Christmas costume. Ummm okay. I came up with the Sugar Plum Fairy (she is most definitely a Christmas character).

The Sugar Plum Fairy

Bottom line - I love Christmas and I love Christmas decorations.

It Makes me Smile...

Life with two young kids is so busy sometimes. It seems the floor is never clear of toys and we are always, always running a few minutes late. Some days I can't wait for bed time. But then I remember how short these year are. And how much I will miss my children needing me, and talking my ear off, and constantly wanting to be held. I never want to forget these special years and moments. So here are a few of the moments that have made me smile this week...
 
Hazel:

"I NEVER like mullets. EVER!"

Last night during her prayer Hazel prayed "Bless my Cinderella dress not to get more holes so I can go to the ball."

Recently she's been asking me lots of "Mom, have you ever..." questions. Normally she asks so many that they drive me crazy, but I had to laugh this morning when the first words out of her mouth were"Mom, have you ever droven a house?"

The other evening we were discussing dinner plans. Hazel said she wanted to go to a restaurant but I told her no because we were saving money to go to California for Christmas. She replied, "We can just use the money in your wallet then fill it up again when we're done."

Last night she was playing mermaids in the tub and trying to get Eliza involved too. I loved this moment because I remember playing mermaids with my sister in the backyard kiddy pool all the time.

ELIZA:

Eliza never cries when she wakes up and wants out of her crib. Instead I hear the sweetest "MA! MOM! MA!" from her bedroom.

We took away her pacifier this week and with the exception of one rough night she did great!

Last night I made spagetti and she wanted seconds! Eliza eats like a bird especially at dinner so for her to want more of any savory type food is huge. Keep it up little girl and maybe we can get some meat on your bones.

 On Friday while I was teaching ballet for Hazel and her friend, Eliza plopped her little bum on the floor with us and tried to stretch too. She would learn back and put her arms up. So cute!

Today in church she hummed along to the songs.

One more that makes me smile... I love how much Mike is enjoying teaching. He is loving it more than even he thought he would. So glad he's found his calling in life and a job that he loves! Good thing too since he has plenty of school ahead of him.

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween. Hazel of course was ecstatic for a holiday that meant she was allowed to dress up as a princess all day. Here she is dancing and singing "So This is Love." I love that girl's love for princesses! 

 Eliza looks up to Hazel so much she has started enjoying dressing up as well. Here's little Miss Belle and Daddy. During Trunk-or-Treat, Eliza sat with me in the car because she wasn't feeling well. I thought she'd just want to sit and eat a sucker. Instead she quickly picked up on how to pass out the candy and helped the entire time! (Also, check out the blue lips)

 When it came time to carve pumpkins no one was surprised by Hazel's choice...

 Not wanting to be outdone, Daddy showed Eliza some patterns and she "picked" Batman, haha. Their pumpkin turned out great too!

The last Halloween adventure was Trick-or-Treating. Mike teaches institute on Wednesday nights and couldn't come so we went with some friends from church. At one house they had a dance area set up in their driveway complete with lights and fog. I assumed Hazel would be scared but she walked right up and danced her heart out for a few minutes. Cracked us all up. Eliza was all about the candy. She had to have one piece in each hand, and wouldn't put any in her bucket until we were at the next house and she got a new piece:)

Happened in to Homeschooling

Since Hazel is 3 1/2 going on at least 5 she was dying to start school in September. So I figured we'd put her in preschool. That is until I checked out the price! Um yeah - this graduate student family cannot afford to pay someone that much to teach Hazel colors, shapes, and letters. So, I decided we'd do a little home preschool instead. A friend in the ward was wanting something for her 4-year old but was very pregnant (and now has a cute 2 week old baby) so I invited her son to join us.

Two days a week Thomas comes over for preschool and both of the kids LOVE it. Hazel seriously wakes up every morning asking if it's preschool today. I've also really enjoyed teaching them. I find it too easy to get wrapped up in cleaning, organizing, running errands, etc, etc that I feel like I don't take enough time to just play with my kids. So preschool has been great for that. Eliza loves it too and often watches what's going on or participates in her own way.

Hazel and Thomas as Prince and Princess during Fairy Tale week.

Showing off paper bag pumpkins from this week's theme.

 But wait, our home school adventures aren't over yet. Hazel also wanted to start taking ballet classes. Yay! (Let's be honest, I've been planting the seed for some time, but she genuinely wanted to to do). I checked out studios in the area and prices. What I was seeing just wasn't that great. Either the teachers for pre-ballet weren't highly qualified or I didn't like the feel of the studio. Then I thought to myself, why pay money for less than stellar ballet classes when I could teach her. Haha! So, I rounded up a few girls her age and stated a little home ballet class (it's easy to round up 3 and 4 year old for free ballet lessons).  Obviously it won't take her far, but she's loving it! Her "best friend" from church Leah comes and it makes Hazel as happy if not more to see her as it does to do the ballet class. And once again, I'm loving teaching ballet (and saving money)! So our year of home schooling has definitely been a win win.

Love the bun and leotard!

Hazel as a butterfly.

16 pounds 4 ounces of....

Cute, wild, crazy, adorable Eliza!

Eliza is already 15 months old! I can't believe how fast the time has flown or how much she is maturing. She's talking and signing more words every day. She's playing and interacting more with Hazel. She's climbing on everything.

Notice I say maturing, not growing up. She really isn't growing up quickly. At her 15th month appointment she had grown a bit taller and was up for 29 1/2 inches (15th percentile). But she only gained about 8 oz since her one year appointment bring her to an itty bitty 16 lbs 4 oz (she is well below the 1st percentile - like 3/4 of an inch below the bottom of their little graph). But she is growing and so the doctor is not concerned. As for her blood, the final results from all of her blood work confirm what the hematologist told me the in the office - her body shows signs of inflammation but the test is non-specific meaning that they don't know what is causing the inflammation. It could have been anything from a virus to a chronic condition. But her blood counts are recovering and are now on the "very low end of normal." So the plan is still to re-check her blood in three months to see if the anemia and the inflammation have resolved or if they need to further investigate the cause of the inflammation.

Health aspects aside, our little E is thriving! First off, she climbs, all the time, on everything. She has learned to climb on the kitchen chairs and then up to the table. I turn my head to stir dinner and next thing I know she's standing on the table. She uses toy crates as step-stools to try and climb shelves. She climbs up on the couch and our bed with ease. We are going to go crazy trying to keep her safe until she learns not to climb up things. I just hope we can avoid broken bones or stitches until then.

Eliza is the cutest things I've ever seen. My mom says Eliza reminds her of a precious moments doll and I have to agree. Her petite body, pale skin, and gorgeous blue eyes make her a good precious moments look alike. She is much more cuddly than Hazel and will frequently give us hugs and kisses (we love that!). Her signing is also adorable! My personal favorite is toothbrush which she signs by biting down on her index finger than shaking her head side-to-side. So cute!

Little E is an adventurer. Today at the park I had to laugh. Hazel is still afraid to go down slides and always wants me to pull her leg, catch her at the bottom, etc. But there's Eliza, climbing up the stairs and sliding down a small slide on her tummy. Over, and over, and over again:)

 Cute, crazy little Eliza. Keep up the adorableness! We love you!


On a completely unrelated note.... look at our pumpkin harvest this year! 10 pumpkins! (one isn't in the picture). Four of them were pie pumpkins that made about the equivalent of 8 small cans of pumpkin puree- yum! The other six will get carved. The two green ones were late bloomers so we'll see if they're orange in time for Halloween. If not, Thanksgiving decorations maybe? That was a few dollars in seeds very well spent! 

A Niece!

My sister Gabby had her baby about a month ago and made me an aunt for the first time. Brenna Natalie Larsen is adorable. And big! She was 10 lbs 2 ozs and 22 inches at birth. She's a doll and the girls LOVE her! Brenna's 3 1/2 weeks old in these pictures.

She was happy until right when I took the picture. Hazel was saying "She's squishing my hand!" haha.

Me and Brenny (as Hazel likes to call her)

I give Brenna about 3 months until she's the same size as Eliza:) But, that's not hard to do.