summertime

More vacation posts to come. But for now, a peek at a few of those non-vacationy things we've been up to, sponsored by my iPhone...

Swimming Lessons
I signed Hazel up for five weeks of swimming lessons this summer. She mostly loved it, and even put her head totally underwater by week three. They make the parents sit really far away behind a chain link fence, hence I don't have any great pictures of this momentous event. Oh, and the fact that all these pictures are from my phone. Have I mentioned how much I love my phone? And that this child's life is photographed pretty much on a minute by minute basis? Anyway, back to swimming....

At the end of week four, Hazel and Isaac were out on a bike ride when her bike trailer tipped over. She ripped up her hand pretty good and couldn't/wouldn't get it wet for a few weeks, so we missed out on our final week of swimming. And now we are back to Hazel not wanting to ever get her face wet. Darn.

Her hand is now mostly healed, but let me tell you, changing bandages on a three year old does not = fun.

a surprise princess lego set from nana helped her feel better!

this girl is so good at memory, i lose a lot. (and see her poor bandaged hand)

Olympics
We put that mother's day antenna to good use and turned our living room into an Olympic venue for a few weeks.

isaac is not happy with his bronze medal. dax got silver, and of course hazel won gold. and my messy house comes in LAST place, how embarrassing. We were still in the process of moving... right?

making olympic rings

Zoo
We went with two of Hazel's best friends to the zoo. Yes, her best friends are 12 and 13 years old. Don't worry, she has another best friend who is 15, and one who is 2. She is just so versatile.

oh, that long tongue of hers

Gymnastics and Preschool
I've been pretty much dying over our lack of a schedule this summer, and this week we are finally back on track. With gymnastics, story time, and preschool (today was my first day of teaching a home preschool twice a week for Hazel and a few friends), hopefully we'll have some more routine in our lives!

i may have gotten in trouble for having my phone out during story time. sorry lady, i have to photograph every second of my child's day. duh. 

she loved the rings but couldn't figure out how to let go and panicked. 

of course all the girls needed to dress up before preschool could begin. who can attend school in regular clothes?!

Dentist
Hazel went in for a dental check up, and this was the first time they cleaned her teeth. She did so great!

And a bunch of more random cuteness:

fell asleep on the couch after a long day of playing

she is making the justin beiber card dance to the music playing from the musical card. thanks to her cousin, she loves 'justin beaver'!

otter pops are definitely one of our major food groups this summer

trying out dad's new bright white bike

dancing to Michael Jackson while eating a samosa at the farmers market. 

hazel has given up naps, but will occasionally fall asleep after a long day. the bike ride back from helping a friend pack was clearly enough to conk her out. 

doing daxter's hair and makeup

keeping busy with pinterest inspired projects

more park fun with her old best friends

attempting to do my hair with my siamese twin- oh, this girl needs to be touching me about 20 hours a day

hazel has a HUGE aversion to apple sauce- she gags at even the smell. i finally talked her into trying it again, and no gagging ensued, so we are making progress (she still wouldn't eat it.)

we were babysitting at a friends house, and while their baby slept we watched the Lorax and ate chocolate cake. as hazel would say, she and dad are twinners!

how dad dries off a wet baby

on a walk with strawberry baby and her groceries

loves candyland

our little cowgirl all dressed up for saturday night errands

a little color mixing- notice all the bows in her hair. every day she wants to play: "i'll be rapunzel and you be the naughty girl who steals all my bows." it's a thrilling game. 

she would wear her hammer shark shirt every day if i'd let her. this particular day she exclaimed to me, "Mom, do you know you are the best ever? Do you know I love you a million million million million million?" Seriously, it doesn't get much better than that. 

loves playing with fashion plates

her favorite books right now are Mercy Watson, about a pig who loves buttered toast. i get a lot of requests for buttered toast every day. and look at her tired eyes, she needed a few extra hours of sleep that morning.

blowing bubbles with her age-appropriate best friend

our friend threw his wife his amazing surprise party in the park. i mean seriously, the detail- it was amazing! hazel was so thrilled to be going to a grown up party insisted on wearing her snow white party dress. 

here you can see that Isaac is acting the part of rapunzel, and hazel is the naughty girl who steals all his bows. i'm telling you people, thrilling stuff.

hazel couldn't wait to get home to have her sucker, so isaac fed her while she biked. that little princess has her daddy wrapped around her finger!

here you see a new game, called 'soapy world'. it involves our laundry quarters, and they are used to pay for 'rides' at soapy world. there are ferris wheels and roller coasters and swings that you get sprayed with soap. i much prefer this game to rapunzel, probably because it is new and i haven't played it a million times. 

hazel got a surprise package from Arlianne! she plays with this every day and is pretty good at catching the ball in it.  have i ever mentioned how much i LOVE open adoption!?!?!

Up next- a vacation and another vacation. Stay tuned!