Those Things You Do

Hazel,
It has been way too long since we've updated on our everyday (or more appropriately your everyday). You are 19 months old going on 2 1/2. Seriously, your vocabulary is amazing. You say new words everyday, so much so that half the time I don't know what you are saying, and only realize what you meant later. One of my favorites is how you say "k" instead of "yes." Mommy must say "okay" more than she thought! Just in the past couple of days you have started saying "thank you" (sounds more like "tank too") all the time! You are such a sweet girl. Your other favorite is "cuck" (truck). You and mommy get to spend some time in the car to and from school, and you spend a lot of the time pointing to all the "cucks" and even say "big cuck" when you see a semi. Jeannie got you a really fun Tonka dump truck that you either put your baby in, some blocks in, or you sit in it and ask Daddy for a "ride pees" (ride, please). You love truck rides from Daddy!

In addition to all the talking, you are also moving more and more like a big girl. You run and run, you walk up and down the stairs (with just a little help), and man oh man do you climb. You like to stand on chairs, tables, stools...really anything you can manage to climb on!

So many other new things too....you are turning into such a helper: bringing dishes to Mommy, cleaning up your toys, wiping your own face! You love watching videos of puppies on the iPad, but still haven't figured out that when you push the home button the puppies go away! You also LOVE reading books. You go through phases with which book is your favorite. At night you sit in either Mommy or Daddy's lap while we read to you. Right now your favorites are "moon" (Goodnight Moon), "A's" (ABC book Aunt Hannah got you - by the way, you can name so many of the animals and other things in the book), or "cup" (Pucker Up Buttercup). You still love bath time! You play and play with the fun bath crayons nana got you, or by putting your blue hippo on a bath book and push it around. Daddy calls it "hippo island"- so silly.

Hazel, you are so much fun and so full of joy! You smile and laugh all the time, and we love you so very much. You are such a blessing to our family.

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Trick or Treat 2011

Hazel,
We took you trick or treating for the first time this year! Aunt Al and Ashlee were here too. We started the night with a Jack-O-Lantern pizza...so cute and yummy (and a great way to pack in tons of fun on Halloween night)! Then we got you all dressed and headed over to start the trick or treating fun at Caden and Jorie's house. You were all smiles until we took you out of your pink plastic car to take pictures - rookie mistake. Once we put you back you were ready to roll. When we got to the Emmert's house, Shane and Caden opened the door and Shane held out the bowl of candy and you just kinda looked at him. He put a candy in your basket and you looked and looked at it. Then Daddy told Shane that he wanted a Kit Kat so Shane put one of those in your basket too. The best part was that as soon as he put that one in your picked it right out and put it back in their bowl! You then proceeded to take like four candies, it was great! We ended up hanging out with them and walking around with them too. We are lucky to have such fun friends so close!

Such a fun night to spend with friends and family!
We love you!
Mommy and Daddy

Halloween With Nana, Papa, and Aunt Al

Hazel,
We celebrated Halloween (by dressing you in your cow costume and carving pumpkins) with Nana, Papa, and Aunt Al on Sunday before Halloween. We had such a great time carving pumpkins. Nana said she hadn't carved a pumpkin since Aunt Al was little. Papa found an old tape with scary Halloween music that we used to listen to, so we played that! You had tons of fun watching Daddy carve pumpkins, doing "down dog" with Nana, trying on Aunt Al's shoes, playing with new duck toys with Papa, and "moo-ing" on command. We had so much fun, hopefully it's a new tradition!

We think you made a pretty cute cow!
Love you,
Mommy and Daddy