Tea Party and Swimming

Our niece Emma is in town a few days early before the rest of the Hamilton's (minus Grace~we'll miss you) get here. She planned a lovely tea party for all of the girls this evening and it was a big hit. Grammy just finished painting the inside of the playhouse and Emma got to go shopping for some decorations and accessories for the playhouse. I must say, she has great taste in decorating! The girls had a great time sharing drinks, cupcakes, cookies and a few laughs. When they were finished, it was time for our first dip in the pool of the season!

Norah, Audrey, Emma, Hazel, and Lilly
Ready for their tea party

As you can see, Emma has had a busy couple of days helping Grammy decorate the playhouse and getting accessories to bring the whole thing together.  Thanks for all your hard work Emma. You hosted a wonderful tea party!  Cheers!

Pool time!

Grammy and Hazel

Hazel's first time in the big pool!  She wasn't very comfortable at first and wasn't enjoying it, but she got used to it and by the end she was in her own floatie just enjoying the water!

Emma and Norah

Daddy and Hazey drying off!
Don't forget to keep scrolling.  I updated with another post below!  Just didn't want you to miss it!

Pancakes and Prima Ballerina

Hazel has officially given up baby food. I have packed up all of her 'jar' food to give away to our little buddy Bresnan who will be starting baby food soon. Apparently, Hazel is more of a 'big people food' eater. She loves pancakes, cooked carrots, green beans, watermelon, peaches, pears, bread (she eats the slimwich bread like it is going out of style) and she has even started having grilled cheese for dinner! I know, crazy! But, she is a great eater and is still drinking her bottles like crazy, but won't eat anything you try to feed her on a spoon. She is a bit stubborn and wants to do it herself. Hey, more power to ya girl! Norah continues to be smitten with her ballet dancing and I managed to capture a few shots of her the other night. She loves either listening to The Fresh Beat Band cd she has, which is a little more up tempo and requires a little more 'hip hop' moves or we recently found a George Winston cd we had around that has lots of ballet type music on it. That, combined with her ballet shirt/tutu and her new chevron leg warmers and we had ourselves a little mini dance recital right in Hazel's bedroom. I could watch her all night!

This was her first time trying pancakes.  She loved them, and come to think of it, she ate two whole pancakes for breakfast this morning!

The start of her ballet session

This one just totally cracks me up.  The words she is singing are "JUST LIKE A ROCK STAR, HEY, HEY, HEY".  Why wouldn't those lyrics call for a fist pump in the air!?

I told her a while back that she needs to keep her eyes open when she dances so she doesn't run into anything.  I guess the emotion is just too much for her, she must close her eyes!

Love these next two silhouettes!

Once again, fist pump!  That seems to be a favorite move!

Uh-oh!  Prima ballerina in distress.  I can't remember what she was throwing a fit about here, but even ballerinas are allowed to have a meltdown!

I can't wait for her to start dance in the fall.  I'm pretty sure she is ready! :)

Since Hazel was Born

Here is a little video I have been meaning to make for awhile.

Big Events

We have had a couple of very busy and productive weeks. I am not sure what is going on with the girls, but both of them are reaching 'big girl' status in their own way! We started potty training Norah on Thursday of last week. We have been wanting to do this for awhile, but it only made sense for me to be out of school. Let me tell you, I don't know how parents do this while they are working. We had to stay around the house for 4 days straight to stay close to the potty, we had accidents and successes, and it is still definitely a work in progress. She has done wonderful going 'tinkle' on the potty, but refuses to go 'lumpies' on the potty. She went about 10 times right when Hazel was born and hasn't done it since. I know she will eventually get it, but for now we are still wearing diapers at nap and bedtime to help her out with this little issue. Now, on to Hazel. I am not quite sure what has happened the last couple of weeks, but she is just turning into such a big girl. She is army crawling all over the place, getting into everything, she has started feeding herself, which then turned into eating big people food, like cooked carrots, peas, bananas, and she even tried mashed potatoes the other day. It is so much fun seeing all of these changes and I am so glad I am home for the summer to see it all, but it is going to make for a crazy, busy summer chasing two wild ones around, but I will love every moment!

Big girl potty!

The Loot......Skittles after a tinkle, and a Hershey Kiss after she fills a row on her potty chart.

So proud after her first day of potty training!  And yes, you see that right....we went tinkle 25 times on the first day.  :)  I think we were being a little overly anxious.  But, Norah enjoyed all 25 Skittles and all 5 Hershey Kisses!

Our first outing after potty training.  We headed to brunch for Father's Day.  I am pretty sure I was more nervous than she was.  She did a great job and we almost made it through brunch with no accidents, but right before we left she drank a little more orange juice and that sent her over the edge!  We whisked off to the bathroom, got cleaned up and we were good to go!  No big deal!   We are now a week into big girl underpants and she has been doing great.  She even went to daycare yesterday and did great.  She did have one little accident, but I would consider that a very successful day!

We tried the 'net' with some carrots in it, but she didn't get much from it.  She preferred to pick them up and eat them with her fingers.  Which I am all for; much easier to clean her fingers than the net!  She loves chewing things, so the chunks of food are right up her alley!

Cruisin' around the house.....peek-a-boo

Sisters :)

And I had to share this collage.  All I wanted was one nice picture of the two of them looking at me.  Hazel was all about it for the first four pictures, then the red block showed up, just when Norah was ready to smile!  Ha!

Spring has Sprung!

Kind of, anyway! We have had some nice weather and some not so nice weather. We had a few hot days and now it has been chilly and rainy again. We did have the chance last weekend to go and purchase some bushes and flowers for around our deck and Drew did all the hard work and planted them. They look great! The girls enjoyed being outside, helping and watching. I only have 5 more days of school left with students! I just can't believe the school year is over. I am looking forward to this summer at home. It is going to be an active one!

Norah getting ready with her pig watering can to help Daddy plant some flowers.  And of course, a snack in hand!

Hazel watching all the action from the deck.  Even though it is spring, it is spring in Michigan, so  it was a bit chilly!  

And as you can see, Hazel was not thrilled with her hat.  I loved all these pictures, I couldn't choose just one!

Love this face!

 We headed to my parents house for a cookout last weekend because my Aunt and Uncle were in town from Florida.  It was great to see them.  I can't wait until their kids are home with them this summer.  Hazel and Sophie are going to have fun playing together!

Aunt Carol and Hazey

Such a little Mommy, taking such good care of Julie!

Such a sweet picture of Uncle Jimmy and Hazel

Hazel was not feeling very well at my parents' during the cookout.  She ended up staying home the next day with Daddy (lucky dog, got to cuddle all day).  She had an upper respiratory infection and was just stuffy and coughing.  Poor baby!

Once she was feeling better, we decided it was time to introduce the oh so popular "Puff".  She only gagged the first couple of times (and don't worry Mom, we broke them into pieces the first few days :) ), but she really has the hang of it now.  We still have to put them in her mouth for her, but she will have the hang of it soon, I'm sure!

Little Miss Norah became very interested in baby puffs again and now she feels the need to snack on them when Sissy is!
As you can see in this picture, Norah started to get the puffy eyes, runny nose and cough after Hazel got better.  She is starting to feel better now and is getting back to her old happy self!

This past Memorial Day weekend was a big weekend for Hazel.  She started the puffs and she is officially propelling herself forward, instead of rolling everywhere.  She was getting into drawers this weekend and knocking stuff over (puzzle rack).  I would say she is going to be crawling very soon.  We never really had to 'baby proof' with Norah because she was always content just playing with the toys around her.  I have a feeling Hazel is going to be a whole different story.  Stay tuned for more updates. 

Happy Mother's Day

Love these girls!
Happy Mother's Day to all the Momma's out there.

Long Time, No Post

I can't believe I haven't posted since mid-April. Things have been so hectic with starting to finish up the school year (I only have 15 1/2 days left, not that I am counting), and with the weather getting so nice out, we have just spent most of our time outside. The weather this past weekend has been horrible and there were even snowflakes flying earlier today, so I am glad we did take advantage of the 70 degree weather the last couple of weeks. Hopefully it will show its sunny face again soon! Anyway, other than playing outside and working we haven't been up to much. We got a new double stroller which is going to come in so handy this summer. We have already used it a lot and it is so nice to have both girls all strapped into the 'baby limo' and heading out for a nice long walk. We are looking forward to many more this summer! I am going to do a much better job keeping the blog up to date once school gets out too, promise! :)

It took Hazel a few stroller rides to get used to the elements.  She was having a hard time falling asleep with all of the traffic noise, sun and wind bothering her.  Obviously, this day, none of those were bothering her.  Maybe it was because she had her pajamas on!

Norah on the big girl swing and Hazel snoozin' in the stroller!

This was a sight to see, let me tell you.  I wasn't sure I was going to fit in the tube slide, and then Norah insisted she ride down on my lap.  We made it, but it was a close one!

Norah just loves making mud pies!

Jimmy, Erin and Thatcher headed up this past Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day a day early.  We have not been together since Meat Pie in January, so we had to take advantage of this visit and get a family photo!

We're starting to try the sippy cup.  At the moment, she just likes gnawing on it!
Hazel still doesn't have any teeth, so we are patiently waiting for them to pop through.  She is sitting up on her own now, loves rolling over in both directions, but is not crawling or anything yet. She is still going to be at about 6:30pm and will sometimes wake up around 10 or 10:30, but only because she isn't feeling well (she has been a little stuffy) or the paci has gone M.I.A.  She still loves her fruit and veggies and is wearing mostly all 12 month clothes.  Her nickname is 'Big Baby'......or when you ask Norah who her sister is she says, "Hazel Bedazel Brining" or "Hazey Brining".  She only has a few nicknames, if you couldn't tell.