9 months!

these last 9 months have flown by...as opposed to the 9 months it took to actually grow her! looks like a bow will soon have a permanent home on that head--holding back all of her new hair!

just for now...

i can't believe that i actually bought this and put it on the wall! it's amazing what clearance items end up in the buggy!

she wants a "baby mermaid princess" room. i wanted these, but waited too long to order them and now they are gone. :( so until I find something that we {I} love just as much...I guess I'll have to look at these cheesy things. She's not complaining; she actually loves them!

she's trying hard to make sure Hazel loves princess too...sharing all the time! When I asked Renée what she would do if Hazel didn't like princess, her reply was, "every little girl LOVES princesses. they are just so beautiful!" I guess we will see. For now she enjoys chewing on their heads and has settled for a few hearts above her crib. I hope we find new things soon!

happiness!

makes me want to plan a party right. now.

thanks mm!

rise and shout...

the cougars are out!! yesterday, BYU played at tulane. the day started out with a tailgate party at our branch building. it had been raining for a few days, but was clear that morning. of course, we had to have cute byu shirts--cute enough to get them on national tv! we had people calling and texting us that they had seen us. too bad i didn't think to set the dvr. apparently our little group was on there several different times!

elijah was so proud of his that he had taken a nap with it the day before! {he definitely gets extra excited when what i'm making is for him--lately it's been a lot of flowers and headband...not so exciting for him!}

one things is for sure...he LOVES his sisters!!

soon after we arrived, the cheerleaders drove up. Renée was VERY excited, but within seconds it started POURING! {gotta love lousisana summers!} everyone ran to the tent for cover....well, we did. some people ran under a tree. other took shelter under the satellite. they obviously didn't realize the rain could come down so hard. they got wet. really wet.

during all the rain commotion, this cute girl woke up. she was SO excited to wake up to a party!

and when it was finally only drizziling...COZMO emerged! this little boy was SOOOOO excited to see him! he was the first one to see him under the tent...and then he proceded to follow cozmo.

that was until he found some nice, big puddles. to say the least, this little boy was SOAKED! we had to go home and dry his clothes before the game! i was just glad that tulane plays in the superdome! we were able to stay nice and dry for the game--so comfy and cozy that some even slept! hazel took the first 3 hour sleeping shift and elijah took the last hour! playing in the rain can really wear a boy out!

indoor pep rally due to the rain...

and one more pic with cozmo. hazel wasn't sure what to think about him, but at least she didn't scream at his sight!

go cougs! come back soon.

funny girl...

While the other 2 are at school...I get to spend 3 hours all alone with this litte girl! Her personality is really starting to come out and she thinks that she is SOOO funny! she has started showing us her gummy little grin...if her teeth EVER decide to come in she will be in for a surprise! her latest trick is touching her chin with her tongue--literally! she seriously has the LONGEST tongue that i have ever seen!

on this day if i said, "hazel you are so funny!" she would tuck her chin, stretch out her arms, and lift her shoulders. so adorable! luckily, she LOVES to eat so we don't have to go through this every mealtime. with a smile/eyes like that, i have a feeling she will be getting away with a lot...

new traditions & new beginnings...

so i know it's been a while, but there's a reason...for now let's just start with the fun stuff!

today was VERY eventful...a certain little girl turned 5 1/2! the half is a REALLY big deal, at least to her. she's been asking since march when she would be 5 1/2, and the day has come!

the kids woke up to a mini surprise party. shockingly, they did NOT dig into the doughnuts! when i woke up, renee was dancing to music and elijah was sitting patiently at the table! {if they wake up first they are usually fighting over what they are going to watch on tv, so the fact that renee put a cd in the dvd player was completely unexpected! i was even more surprised to find that they had waited!}

I have been wanting to do this since she is SO into being her age+1/2 for a couple of years, but it usually always slips my mind. It almsot happened again this year. I left last night around 11 to get a couple of things...krispy kremes :) I imagined pancakes, but decided to be realistic! Since, I usually feed her breakfast in the car getting up to make pancakes was not likely to happen!

I also wanted balloons. 7 Walgreen's later...I had 2 helium filled balloons! 5 stores were either closed or said NO! {one lady even felt the need to have an elaborate lie} one uptown store tried to help, but was out of helium. one downtown store filled 2 before they ran out of helium. i was quite annoyed....i came home and decided to get creative. turns out--i actually like it! {if i had started any earlier than 1 am, i would have done about twice as many!}

they were so excited about the doughnuts, that they didn't notice anyway!

Renee, the little genius, caught on quickly and asked if i would bring 1/2 cupcakes to school. Her teacher thought I was crazy for even asking and said no. don't worry, you know she didn't go without the entire day!

Once she was off to school, it was time for this one to get ready to go himself! He was SOOOO excited!!! He's been waiting for this day for years--seriously! When he turned 2, he started crying because he wanted to go to school like renee. When orum started school last year, i had to hear, "everybody gets to go but me. i never get to go to school!" well the day has come!!!

he wanted to wear his hat, but i eventually talked him into leaving it at home. also notice his BIG boy outfit! this is his first button up shirt that doesn't have a peter pan collar! i guess he's really growing up.

lots of silliness...he was just too excited to stand still!

and when he was done...more balloons! he was quite excited about them. they even had his name on them! {i've always envied that junk as a child because my name could never be found! now i often see it, but misspelled.}he says that school was fun. he told me that he played with his friends {duke and seth--which is exciting since he went knowing no one!} colored, and rode bikes!

all that celebrating, just wore him out! he fell asleep 30 seconds before i pulled in the driveway, and stayed asleep while i carried him in and put him in this chair! I finally got him to wake up by putting a little bit of frosty in his mouth!

and we obviously had to have cupcakes! Being the nice mom that I am, we celebrated with whole cupcakes---with 5 1/2 candles.