Spring Has Sprung

I forgot to mention some stuff from last weekend, so I'll start with that. On Saturday my nephew Robert had his first T-ball game that we went to. Beforehand Levi tripped on his own feet and fell forehead first into our coffee table. We calmed him down with a sucker, and you could hardly see any bruising from it. After the game my family went to Red Robin for dinner where they were donating all the proceeds from that night to Special Olympics. Not only that but the local firefighters and police were there in uniform to be our hosts and servers. It was fun and a great help to all those who participate in Special Olympics!







Secondly, Hazel is teething. Levi started around this age as well, so I am not surprised. However, she deals with it a lot better than he did. Levi would non stop scream for hours, and no medicine or herbs would help. Hazel does great, but has a little fussiness in the evening. But Tylenol helps her a lot. She drools and chews like crazy! I can feel at least four swollen spots on her gums, but two of the teeth I know won't come in for a while, they never do!



Recently I found a great deal on elastic ribbon (40 cents a yard) so I bought three kinds and five yards of each. I am making hairbands for Hazel. I bought some cheap ribbon and am experimenting with bows. If anyone has any fun ideas, let me know! Also, for those who have little girls, I would be happy to make any type of headband you want! I have plenty of elastic.



It is coming closer to my Clark (mom's side) reunion, which I am in charge of. I am working on the T-shirts, and all I have to do now is the time consuming printing and ironing on. Justin said he would help me, so hopefully it can go faster. I am also trying to make sure all the meals and lodging are in order. It is quite a task, but it is running smoothly so far.

Justin and my 4th anniversary was this past week and Justin took me out to a nice restaurant. His gift to me was some jewelry. He took me to go pick it out, so I got what I wanted, but he said that the ring he picked out was almost identical to the one I picked! I don't have an expensive wedding ring (I don't want one until Justin and I can afford to get the matching set we designed), and my old one broke (gem fell out), so that is why he took me to get a new one. He also bought me a necklace and earrings to match. I love them all!! My gift to him was a painting. He loves Arizona ever since his mission there, and so I wanted him to have a piece of that. I painted Monument Valley with a sunset and lightning in the background. He loves it! I plan to make it a series painting, and do more places where we lived. It was a wonderful anniversary, with many more to come!









Levi's grammar is improving almost daily, and he constantly surprises me with phrases he says. His retorts are becoming smarter and more thought out. He is starting to use context correctly too, which is great! He really knows his colors, letters, and numbers. Oh, and he can tell you every name of every train from Thomas the Tank Engine! He also loves to sing. He can hear a song a couple times and start singing along. He loves the theme songs to Wall-E and Bolt. It is so cute to listen to him play and just burst out into song! Not only does he sing, he sings well. He is right on pitch and sings the notes just how they sound. His mom and dad both have good singing voices, and I am thrilled that he not only can sing, but loves to!







Hazel has entered a stage she hates. I am trying to get her to take a bottle, something I should have done a month or so ago. She has been fighting me a lot, but eventually she'll give in and drink. The fights are getting shorter, so I know it'll only be a matter of time before she just takes it. I am not giving her just a bottle, I still feed her myself too. She gets a bottle once or twice a day. We are also working on rice cereal, which is slow going as well. She catch on, I know she will.





That's all from us, hope you all can enjoy the Spring!

Short

So not too much this past week. My mom returned safely from Chicago, despite a blizzard in Denver that tried to stop her. The sun decided to come out this weekend, and we have been trying to enjoy it! I didn't get many pictures, so sorry! I can't think of much that happened, so a few pictures will have to suffice this week.

100th Post

Yea! 100 posts!!!

Happy belated Easter to all!

We have had a great week full of hellos and goodbyes. On Tuesday my mom headed out to Chicago for a week and a half to see my sister and her family for Easter. Out in Idaho, Justin's brother's wife gave birth to their first child, Allison Kelly, on Thursday April 9th. Meanwhile, here in Corvallis my sister Alicen gave birth to her fifth child, Abigail Elise, on Friday April 10th.

Allison Kelly

Abigail Elise

We took Levi on Saturday to a local Easter Egg Hunt with his cousins. He enjoyed himself, but it was really crowded and they kept running out of eggs. I don't blame them at all, a lot of kids were taking more than they were allowed to. However, I discovered one that happens at 1 pm at Albertsons and I think that will be the one we go to next year. They had the Easter Bunny, free hot dogs for the kids, face painting, an Easter egg hunt, door prizes, and a BBQ. Oh, and police and their dogs were there with McGruff the Crime Dog. Everything was free except the BBQ and door prizes. All proceeds went to the local Humane Society.

Later that day we decorated eggs. Levi loved it! He thought the whole thing was the coolest ever! We got some foil like we did last year, so we did quite a few eggs with that. Later on I used most of the eggs for Deviled eggs.

Speaking of food, we ate at my in-laws this year, and I made orange duck. I've made it before, but this was the first time without my mom helping me out. She and my sister were there for verbal assistance, but I really did most of it on my own. It turned out great, and the meal was wonderful! We had so much yummy food, I could have made myself sick.

We did get all dressed up for Easter, and I would have to say we all looked sharp! Hazel was the cutest by far! Her little bonnet was a hit with all! Levi looked so dashing in his vest and tie. And I think Justin looked really handsome in his too! I didn't get pictures of just Levi, but when he wears the outfit again I will be sure to take pictures for you all.

We had a great Easter, and we hope you all did too!

Waiting

Lots of pictures and even a video this time, so I will just have captions this time... these are from the past two weeks.

In this shot, Hazel has just had her nails painted. I did hot pink because it was the only color my mom had that dried really fast.

This is what happens when you let your husband put makeup on your son... it becomes war paint! Quit wasting my makeup I say!

Our little Hazel dressed for church, she's just so sweet! The other one is of her new found love of her feet. She has discovered them, and found they are tasty!

Aww, a daddy and his princess...

My dad was doing some home repairs in his bathroom and Levi really wanted to help, mostly he just wanted to use the hammer.

Hazel has been playing on her mat a lot lately, and here is Levi joining in the fun. The other day I found him blowing raspberries at her and she was laughing in hysterics! It was adorable! The video is of me getting her to giggle.

Another fun outlet is the jolly jump-up, which we are trying out. She seems to like it, but she is still unsure what to do.

This is actually an outfit I wore at Hazel's age. My mom gave to me to use for my little girl.

We've had some beautiful sunny and warm days lately, so we have gotten out as much as we can. Here is an afternoon at the park. This day was sunny, but not really warm.

One sunny and very warm day we took Levi to use his tricycle. He could either peddle or steer, but he had a hard time doing both. Just needs more practice!

Hazel is old enough for rice cereal, so we are testing it out on her. Levi loved it, but I've heard that most kids don't. The first time around she just didn't know what to do with it, but she'll get it eventually!

Well that is all from us, enjoy the pictures and movie of Hazel's giggles. We are anxiously awaiting the births of two nieces, so hopefully next week will be an exciting letter!