Kool-aid

 
Kool-aid is a quintessential summer treat. I have memories of drinking it during the summer time when I was little. Being that it's essentially sugar water, we rarely drink it. In fact, this may be the first time my younger two kids have had Kool-aid. I got a few packets for us to enjoy this summer. Lily made up the first pitcher of it today.

Hazel sucked it down. She started drinking and didn't stop until her sippy cup was empty!


What a glamorous lunch. I know, Aaron gets so jealous of my lunch appointments. He has to eat out frequently with friends and coworkers, poor guy. I get gourmet pb&j. Actually, I really enjoy peanut butter sandwiches. So it's okay. You'll notice the lack of fruit or vegetable on C-man's plate. I usually put some on the kids' plate, whether or not they eat it. But not today. I was too tired to get a veggie out after making fresh salsa.

Yum.

Lately

Just cute.

Too cute.

We haven't been to the zoo in a long time. In fact, Carter couldn't even remember going to our zoo and Hazy had never been. We had such a good time. The kids loved the animals and the fresh air. I loved watching them have a good time.

These little people bring me inexplicable joy!

Coloring.

Lego. Carter has been doing an awful lot of building lately. He's a really creative builder. Our train table has turned into a Lego table.

Lily has been sewing. I'm pleased to see her develop her skills and talents.

Hazy is a little girl with initiative. She pinpoints what she wants, and finds a way to make it happen. I came downstairs the other day and found the back door wide open. I went outside and found Hazel jumping with noodles! She had pulled a chair into the pantry, climbed up to get a box of noodles, taken it outside and dumped it on the trampoline. She was chewing on raw noodles and jumping away!

She thought it was great fun!

Two!

Happy 2nd birthday, Hazel!!


How can my wee baby be two already? Where does the time go? I want to push pause and keep her this sweet, happy, snuggly, innocent thing for as long as possible.

She sincerely is a joy. She's like Mary Poppins...practically perfect in every way. She even unloads the dishwasher. Yes, you heard me right. She unloads the dishwasher. And puts her toys away while singing, "Clean up, clean up. Everybody do your share." And she snuggles me. Oh, I wish I could keep her in this stage for just a little while longer.

We started the birthday off right...with a partay in the morning! Crepes for breakfast...

...and a pile of presents!

Look at the excitement and intrigue on her face!

It's a lovely necklace from her GreatPapa Sperry. Thank you, Papa.

More excitement. She really knew how to respond when opening her presents. It was so cute.

All dolled up! She loves this dress.

These two cute little girlies are Hazel's favorite pals. They were born within ten days of each other. We had a really simple birthday party and invited these girls, along with their moms and siblings.

Cupcakes! Hazel anticipated her birthday with balloons, cupcakes, and a party with her friends. A side note, see the tablecloth on the table? It is my mom's. She had it on our table for all of our birthdays growing up. I love that tablecloth. I love that it's a real linen rather than a plastic cloth. And I love the continuity found in having it at all our family's birthdays over the years. I made a banner to match it. I love that little banner. I had fun making it and hope it will have the same effect as the tablecloth, linking family members together through our birthday traditions.

We finished off the night with a dinner party at Red Robin!

She got shy when the servers sang to her. She snuggled in to me and hid her face...peaking out every now and then. She liked the whipped cream!

Just for fun, Daddy's boots. I thought it was so funny when she wanted to put these on. She couldn't step into them herself so I helped her out. Once she got them on, she felt pretty proud to be in Daddy's boots.

Trick or treat!!

Trick or treat!!

"Trick or treat, smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!" Carter discovered that song this year. He thought it was pretty funny. Apparently Lily already knew the song, with the second verse, "If you don't, I don't care..." Carter heard it once and thought it was hilarious. Surprisingly, they sang it once, and, at my request, that was all. Now we just make knowing allusions to it and all smile at each other, rather than sing it over and over again.

I usually like to have a family theme for our costumes, but Lily knew early on that she wanted to be a vampire for Halloween. I was so surprised because we don't usually do "scary" things for Halloween. But Lily was set on it because she and her pals play vampires during recess. So she and her closest girl friend dressed as matching vampires for our church trunk-or-treat activity. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I don't have a picture of the girls together. :(

3, 2, 1...blast off! I can't get enough of Carter the astronaut! I just think he's so darn cute. He wasn't dreaming of being an astronaut for Halloween, we just found this awesome costume and chose it on a whim. After we bought the costume he told me several times, "I don't really want to be an astronaut. I want to be an airplane coyote." Gosh, I just didn't know what that was. He explained that it's an airplane that looks like a coyote. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that costume...so we stuck with the astronaut!

Carter had a super fun party at preschool. I'm so glad I could go. I loved watching him play and do the freeze dance. It was the cutest thing. What made it so stinking cute was that he was watching his teacher, Minnie Mouse, for cues on how to dance. She'd swing her hips and move her arms up and down, and Carter would do the same. His eyes were almost always glued on her. It was adorable!

Can it get any cuter than this?!!? I had two costumes for her to choose from: a cute little witch or this rooster. She wouldn't have anything to do with the witch dress and hat...but she loooves this chicken suit. I love seeing her walk around in it...the tail bobs back and forth over her diaper-bum and the little wings flap as she runs around. I love it!

Ask her what a chicken says, and she'll tell you, "Bock, bock."

As happens more often than I'd like to admit, we took care of the kids and sort of neglected to take care of ourselves. :) At the last minute I pulled out these witch accessories that I've worn a million times, and Aaron pulled out these scrubs, and voila, there we are! Not too exciting, but at least we're dressed up and ready to go trick-or-treating with our kids!

As is tradition, we visited our good friends on Halloween night. They had some extra special surprises for the kids. Four years ago Lily told them she loved Pixie Stix, and they've never forgotten. They give her a stash of them every year! (My kids love their cute dog, Scooby. He brushes his own teeth and loves to wear sunglasses!)

Sugar cookies

I love sugar cookies! I love being with my kids. This sugar cookie-making venture was the most fun we've had yet!

Working together! I love that my kids are becoming big helpers. They're doing more and more around the house to help out, and I love it!

Yummy anticipation!

Frosting cookies is work! Carter and Lily both frosted two each, I frosted the other 48.

Yummmm.

Attention to detail.

I just had to stick this one in because it's so cute! Hazel enjoyed her olives while we frosted cookies. It's funny to note that our cousin, Hannah, has a picture very similar to this on her blog this month. Hmm, they must be related!

Our masterpieces!

She didn't frost, but she sure did eat!

We had so much fun making sugar cookies that we did it again when our buddies came over. It was a lot of fun!