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!

Cousin and Valentines!

Our cute cousin Hannah came to visit us this month. Aunt Kristen came too, and had to work during the day. But Hannah got to do some serious playing with us! My kids had so much fun with her.

Cousin relationships are cool. There is a strong family bond that unites them and makes them a part of each other, similar to sibling relationships. But cousins don't live in each others' space so they don't bicker like siblings tend to. I loved watching and listening to them interact and play over the week.


Meet Christina, Johhna, and Mirena (and Hazy in the back)...the spies who frequented our house that week. There was a lot of fun and excitement all week long.

Valentines from Grandma and Grandpa Ford. Thanks!

Our lovey dovey Valentine dinner. We celebrated a day early because Aaron was out of town on Valentine's day. (I know, lame!!) The kids thought it was so great to get their own box of chocolates along with their gift and Valentine.

On Valentine night the kids and I went with the young women I serve to heart attack some friends' houses. We put love notes and heart cookies on their doors and ran. Lily thought that was especially cool.

While I missed being with my sweetheart on Valentine's day, it gave us an opportunity to appreciate the time we do have together. We reminisced about the two and a half years we spent living on different continents during our courtship. Man, that was hard. I'm so glad we aren't having to do that now. It was immensely difficult then. Sometimes I wondered if I would even survive our time apart...as if I would spontaneously implode from missing him too much. :) Luckily, I survived and I'm so grateful we have each other.

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.

2011 family photo shoot

We had a lot of fun doing our photo shoot. This park had peacocks roaming free. They were beautiful. The kids loved following them through the orange orchards.

Sneaking up. He almost caught that one! Not really.

I love this funny face picture. It's especially cute to me because Hazel just figured out how to make a funny face for the camera. Love it.

Angels? Or rascals? Both! I adore these little people.

I love the morning sun shining through the slats and the rustic garbage can. So fun.

I love him!

I really love him!

Aaron is a really good photographer. I'm proud to be his wife. Who would have thought an engineer could capture such beautiful pictures? And he's an incredible dad too. Dang, I'm lucky!