instasaturday

Here are a few Instagrams from this week. We had to have a bubble bath one night- instant cure for grumpies! Haz thinks boots and a diaper are all you need to wear and she's trying to instill the same values in her doll. Both kids love mexican food...I asked Haz if she wanted a soft or crunchy taco on the way to the restaurant, and she said, "I want rice". I'm pretty sure she could eat her weight in rice, chips, and salsa. Have a happy weekend!

get your crafty on

I really like to make things, but I basically have no time in which to do it.  Unless you count cutting out skin cancers and changing diapers as making things.  I think it drives HJ crazy that I'm always working on some crafting project when we have a thousand other things going on, but it is so relaxing to me to work on a project.  So, I make some time to craft here and there despite the craziness of our schedules.  My latest little project was a hat for Hazel.  I used the pattern linked at the bottom for the hat, and I just freestyled her "h" onto the side.  For those who are interested, I made 2 short strings by chaining what looked like a good amount for the "h" and then I sewed it onto the hat with matching green thread...very complicated.

I showed it to Hazel, and she said, "don't want it".  Oh well, she prefers to wear her bicycle helmet around the house instead of her cute new hat.

 

Earflap pattern source (I used the child size instead of toddler because my kids have big heads):
http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/09/crochet-owl-hat-pattern-in-newborn.html

weekend update

We attempted some family pictures this weekend at Shelby Farms.  I can't say it was a great success, as we did not get any of the whole family with us all looking at the camera, but we go some cute ones of the kids.  Thanks to the Kempes for their awesome photography skills:)  Hazel was amazed by Ingrid's gold shoes...I think she is giving her some pointers on fashion in the cousins picture.  Williams and Shepherd were more interested in fruit snacks and pine needles than their apparel.

InstaFriday

Since I'm on a roll here, I thought I'd post again...twice in one week! I'm trying out blogger on my phone while I wait at the doctor's office, so we'll see how it goes. Despite the fact that I've neglected the old blog, I have actually caught on to Instagram. You can find me @emijoned, where I do actually post pictures of the kiddos pretty regularly. I'm also on pinterest...which is an immense waste of time but super addicting!

One year later...

Long time, no blog.  I'm not sure how I let a year go by with no blogging, but I'm sure it could happen again. Somehow, the Haze has turned 2 this week, and it hit me that I really need to record some of the things these kiddos are doing so I can remember them.  I'm not even going to try to go back over the last year, but here are a few recent pictures and some updates:

Hazel is her usual spunky, sweet self.  She is all over the place.  We have been really struggling with bedtime lately...we are spoiled to having good sleepers, but we tried to move Haz into William's room about a month ago.  It has basically been a disaster.  She is thrilled to be in there, but it takes her about 2 hours to go to sleep every night.  It is definitely wearing us out...and we would love any suggestions on how to improve the situation.

She talks constantly, at least at home.  Apparently, she doesn't say much at school.  Here are a few of the things she has told us lately:

On driving home from trick or treating: "Bye, bye, Halloween!"

To me on the way to school, while I was singing: "Don't sing, mommy." Thanks, Hazey!

When I tried to get her to put the diaper back on her doll: "No, baby goes pee pee in the potty".  She then took the doll and put her on the potty...too bad she doesn't actually want to go to the potty herself.

Hazel loves her stickers, coloring, shoes (the girl has style), and learning her letters and numbers.  She is also pretty fond of her big brother!

William has gone from chubby toddler to boy overnight it seems.  He is very into superheroes, knights, and basically anything that fights "the bad guys".  Lately, he has been playing with his little soldiers, cowboys, and native americans (which he calls samaritans).  He is basically in costume most of the time we are at the house...either a transformer, a knight, batman, a construction worker, or some type of sports player.  Every once in a while he throws in farmer or train conductor.  He is loving preschool, although he insists they don't learn anything at school...they just play.

 

As you can see, we are expecting baby number three in March!  Baby girl does not have a name yet, but William has offered some really great suggestions, including coo-koo, lee-lee, and toot.  Very original.  So, if anyone has any awesome girl names, just send them our way!

Here is our best attempt at a family picture at Haz's birthday party.  Three out of four ain't bad:)

williamisms

Commander William. Did you know that "Astronaut's never give up?" That is what William tells us about astronauts.

William is at that age where you cannot predict what will come out of his mouth. He says the most random, hilarious things, and I love it. This is our conversation on the way home today:

"Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree that God told them not to eat. They disobeyed. And the bad snake came and told them to eat it. And God had a tractor in the garden."

Here are some other snippets of recent conversations:

W: I want to here the song "I want to dance with my friend"

Me: What song?

W: The one from the TV last night.

Me: Oh, "I want to dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me?" (we had seen someone singing this song while flipping through the channels the night before.)

W: Yes (duh, mom)

Me (reading from Dr. Seuss): I...Ichabod is itchy.

W: His mommy needs to get him some lotion (He is definitely the child of a dermatologist).

W: I didn't want to hear you sing the song, Daddy, I wanted to hear the radio.

W (on seeing the moon in the sky): Why did God take the moon out of its house?

Also, he recently stayed with my parents for the weekend and told the Sunday School teachers at their church that he goes by "Bill". And, they called him Bill the entire morning.

Happy Birthday, Hazel!

Hazel is turning one this weekend. I am going to be out of town (at a very boring conference), so we celebrated early. She had a blast at the little family birthday party we had (I say little but once you count grandparents and siblings, there were 12 of us there). Her favorite present was a toy with little balls that you hammer into the top and they fall through to the bottom. She just likes to carry 2 of the balls around with her all of the time now (the 2 with the pattern...not the solid color ones). William, on the other hand, is now enjoying all the other toys that Hazel "wants" to share with him.

Here is the update on our girl (just so I can look back and remember what she was doing at one year):
She does not talk much, but she can say DaDa, thank you, bye-bye, but still no mama. She signs for more, claps and dances to music, and sometimes puts her hands together when we pray. She still hates the carseat, so car trips are not fun. She will eat almost anything, but likes meats and yogurt the best. She is still not walking...she can go from sitting to standing without pulling up on anything, but she just refuses to attempt to take a step. She follows William around the house all the time, and they are really starting to play together. She is such an easy-going, sweet little lady...we are so thankful for her first year! Happy Birthday, Hazelnut!

Reality Check: Just so everyone knows what goes on behind the scenes when we try to get a picture around here:

On the move!

Nine Months

I know...Hazel was nine months almost a month ago. How did she get so big? This seems to be the question that is perpetually asked by parents. Time flies! Somedays, I forget to enjoy each day, and I start looking ahead to a less busy time in our lives, or to a time when we are not potty training, or not doing whatever the difficult thing is that day. But the reality is, despite screaming, and meltdowns, and exhaustion, these are the best days. These are the days that William and Hazel are learning important things about discipline, respect, love, God, and themselves. I pray I will take advantage of these sweet days to teach them the right things and to enjoy their precious selves.

Here are the stats on the Haze:

Weight 17.4

Height 27

She is seriously all over the place...but even though she is as or more active as William at this age, she is more cautious. She can stand on her own, but she will just slowly lower herself down to sit if you let go of her hands. She is happy, but fiesty. She has a funky crawl using one foot and one leg (so she can still crawl while wearing a dress). She eats pretty much anything we will give her (don't know how she stays so skinny). She can clap, but her hands don't actually come all the way together, so she looks like a seal. She says mama, dada, baba, hiiiiii....but she doesn't know what they mean yet :) She loves her brother; he can make her laugh like noone else!

On another note, we started potty training with the Will man on July 4th weekend. It has been a process! He caught on fairly quickly to the pee-pee (except for a few accidents here and there at school), but we just have just gotten #2 down over the last couple weeks.

I think a polo and Thomas undies make a perfect fashion statement.

Reality

There's been no blogging in a while due to excessive busyness. We have had weddings, dedications,
potty training, work trips, presentations, etc. that could all be blogged about (and hopefully will). But, I will just put up this photo of my Wild Child...this girl is never still! I thought girls were supposed to be calmer than boys!

Oh, and I just have to add this, too.

Conversation with William after HJ hurt his toe, and William was doctoring it.

William: Mommy, I cut Daddy's toe off.

Me: Oh, really. Where did you put it?

William (totally serious): In the pile with all the uddy (other) men's toes.

A little change...

It's amazing what a little paint can do. We have been doing a bit of renovating around here. And by renovating, I mean we hire someone else to paint and build things the way and colors that we wanted. We have been debating painting the fireplace since we moved into this house, and finally took the dive. We don't regret it, yet. We also went back and forth on the outside, too, but I think it turned out well. And, we now have a rail around our porch, so William cannot run off the side again.

Happy Tuesday

Hazel had her first ear infection this week...she has been a little down in the dumps about it. Yesterday, she had to stay home from daycare, so I thought I would get a few pictures of her during naptime. She is a very good but very light sleeper. Even at night, if you go in to check on her she will open her eyes and look up at you like she's been wide awake the whole time. These two pictures are just moments apart...

Sleeping Beauty

Oh, hello there

And this, my friends, is how you eat Mexican food- double-fisted, head back so as to keep as much as possible in the mouth.

Yes, he ate that entire plate by himself.

A few more...

Here are a few more photos from our beach trip. My brother took some for us, too...Thanks, Daniel!

Vacation

We have been on a much needed and long awaited vacation! It was such a nice break to spend a whole week on the beach...with our wide brim hats and sunscreen, of course! William loved the sand, the waves, the boats, the pool...ok, he loved it all. And, the Haze was a trooper. She was happy to sleep on a towel or in someone's arms, and she loved the pool! She turned 7 months old yesterday. She has learned to sit herself up, but she is not completely sturdy once sitting. She tends to fall backwards and hit her head. She is scooting and getting up on her hands and feet like a little spider...not crawling yet, but it won't be long. Here are the pictures:

"I'm in a boat"

William is into boats for some reason right now. He gets in this little boat in his tub and uses his shovel as an oar. This just makes me laugh so much...

And, I didn't want Hazel to feel left out, so here are a few pictures of our gal...she is on the move these days!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Mother's Day

Today is my 3rd Mother's Day as a mom, and I was again reminded of God's grace and provision in giving me these precious kiddo's. And, HJ and I were reminded of how grateful we are for our mothers...thank you, Gigi and Gran, for loving us and our kids. You are the best moms and grandmoms ever! We love you!

Here are some pics especially for the grandmoms:

Learning to sit up

Finally got a bow to stay in her fuzz


Planting

In his boat fishing...he set this up himself

P.S. Here are Hazel's stats from her 6 months appt, so I won't forget to add them later: weight 14.7 lbs (23%), length 26.5 (79%). William was the same length and 2 lbs heavier at this age...remember these cheeks?