"there's a bird..."

as Melanie would say. i got on the computer to blog and do stuff for a baby shower this weekend. i did blog, but then instead of shower stuff i made something for a birthday in july for a certain cute little girl turning 2! {wonder who?} and i learned how to "blind stitch," although i need more practice. but really there's a bird...but i'm saving her for an in-person reveal!

big brother...

i'm beginning to think that Elijah is a better BIG brother than a little brother! He LOVES Renée a lot, but ADORES Hazel! {and Hazel is pretty fond of him too!} I think he enjoys being with her so much, because there's no pressure "to keep up!" And he doesn't have to worry about hazel telling him what to do and how to do it...he likes to do things his OWN way! {like shoes on which ever foot he decides or opening the door EVERY time someone comes in  or out of the house}

He doesn't like to be without Hazel and rarely is! Today we left her at home with Orum for a few minutes to get Renée from school. He almost had a MAJOR meltdown! When I started backing out of the driveway, he franticly said, "Where's hazel? You forgot her! Mommy you forgot Hazel!" He calmed down once I said that we could walk into school together to get Renée, and that we would get Hazel in a few minutes. I'm sure as she gets older things may change, but for now they are SOOO sweet!

he even shares his "cold blanket" and his "star pillow." he's VERY specific...it's never just blanket and pillow!

T day...

this morning i went to Renée's school for the pre-k good manners
tea party. the girls got to wear a party dress and invited their moms.they sang a few songs...some about manners and, of course, i'm a little tea pot. i was SO glad that Renée ended up on the front row! it is the first time ever! for the past 3 years she has always been on the second row and always behind the tallest/largest person in the class. hooray for good planning today!they made the cutest little tea party hats out of a paper plate an a bowl! of course, like most of the girls Renée's was mostly pink. {in fact EVERYTHING at the party was pink!}
Renée and a few of her friends. {Lizette the other girl from the "french friends" trio is second from the left} i'm a little annoyed because i took most of my pictures without the flash. it looked good on the lcd...not so much now. i should have know school lighting was bad! hopefully, i'll know how to use photoshop soon and can fix them!{thanks to jessi:)}


each girl was supposed to bring a doll. i'm not sure why. they ended up putting them down while they sang. When we sat down, Renée found a "high chair" for her doll. {down by the legs of the table--not so much high, but it worked}

this was actually my baby doll! Renée found it at my mom's house when we were there for thanksgiving, and has been loving it ever since! up until hazel was born, she kept telling me that if the baby was a girl, then she would share her doll's bonnet with the baby. fitting since my great grandmother {hazel} gave me the doll, but i don't think her head was that small!
she's dying to know what that baby's name was when it was mine, and i have NO IDEA...maybe i never named her!? i don't know that i ever really played with her. she was my "special" baby and stayed in my doll cradle most of the time. Renée and I obviously have different ways of treating our special things...i just looked at mine and she takes hers everywhere! {really, this baby had black legs yesterday!} and i guess that's ok...i just love that she loves it!
next we played tea party bingo...she was VERY into it! she even got the first bingo at the table, but they played until everyone was a winner.
Renée and her teacher Ms. Giovingo. {Renée has trouble with her eyes and taking pictures...most of the time they are closed. but lately she's been looking in a completely different direction than the camera!}
this is her friend Madeline. she LOVES Madeline and Madeline LOVES to pick Renée up! they are quite silly together...

the good manners didn't last long...a couple of girls went up to take pictures and soon they were all running up and jumping around like wild monkeys! didn't last long...Ms. Higgambotham, the headmistress, soon put an end to that! {how cool is it that they have a "headmistress"!? she actually is really nice}

it was such a cute party. they had the girls write the place cards and draw a place mat for their mom. they had to draw something that they like to do with their mom. Renée drew up swimming. pretty funny since i usually don't get in the pool--at least not since we lived in Utah almost 3 years ago! and they painted a cute heart pin for us to wear. mine was gold...since living in New Orleans and learning about the Saints she loves GOLD! it actually makes her "top 3 favorite colors!" But my favorite part was being with my little girl! Thanks, Renée. I LOVED it!


then on to T-BALL...elijah still thinks t-ball is the best!
orum decided to tell him to throw the ball up and catch it in his glove...i don't think that was a good idea! the ball was nowhere in the vicinity of his glove...he usually just chucked it behind him and then ran around in a circle looking for it. dangerous...
buuuut...they got to BAT today! he was excited to say the least...
so far he's a switch hitter...i think he prefers left, orum thinks right...maybe that means he will be a successful switch hitter
they each got 3 bats...the first 2 went like this, but the 3rd was a success!

he's probably the youngest in the group {he had just turned 3 the week before it started, and you have to be 3} but i think that he's definitely the most enthusiastic! look at that stance!

and hazel? in true young fashion, she took TIMEOUT for a nap!!

eat up...

so after WAAAY too many days of hazel eating every 3 hours around the clock, i decided it couldn't be just a growth spurt! in the past i started foods at about 5 months, but today i broke out the rice cereal...
she had to be wondering why she was wearing such a cute bib and what it was for!
i made her a little bowl...and as always she stared me and the food down!

{wow! they are giving me the spoon?!}
and don't think she did this alone! i know this picture is blurry, but of course renée and elijah were not going to let her eat without them! they had a little battle of who would be closer...because from the floor "they couldn't see her!" riiiight...
there were lots of silly faces...

and a little mess...but in the end she was quite pleased with herself! orum even took a study break to come join in the fun! {for some reason he thinks he must be the first to feed the babies with a spoon...and he wasn't going to miss out on this one!}
and when she was done...she was tired and full! here's hoping to more sleep tonight! oh, how i miss her 8/9 hour stretches, but if that's my only complaint i guess it's not that bad!

did i mention that i ♥ felt?

so after perusing etsy for a while on sunday afternoon, i decided to make some felt flowers of my own. i ♥ them! and since renee ♥ flowers & headbands she ♥ them too! i put these on clips so that they can clip to the flat headbands... look at that cute...oh so happy little model:) apparently, she had better things to do like...play with hazel!
and then this cute ponytail holder! i'm REALLY missing my ponytail right about now!

i think i might just wear it on my wrist and pretend that at any moment i could pull my hair back if i felt the urge! i'm afraid my ponytail is MONTHS away!
and of course...some pink ones, since that is the ONLY color renee thinks she needs! who wants one? i may have already made the color you want! like i said...renee ONLY wants pink!
i made a little loop on this pink one, so she could change out the flowers. why? i don't know...i guess i thought she might want another color...WRONG! unless it's just a different shade of pink! {i'm NOT exagerating! }

take me out to the ball park....

yeterday, after school we went to Audubon park so that Renée could play with "her new best friend" Amalie. About a month or so ago, we were there and they met. From the first hello, they have acted as if they have been friends FOREVER! it's quite adorable! this is how they are the entire time they are together...we are convinced these 2 must have been friends before!

these 2 go to different schools, but it turns out that another girl in Renée's class, Lizette, is also in love with Amalie. Lizette and Amalie met at summer camp last year...the three of them are now known as the "french friends!"

anyway, while at the park, they invited us to go to the Tulane/UNO baseball game. Since Elijah is consumed with baseball and Renée loves Amalie, we went. The field is just a few blocks from our house, so we walked down. These 2 held hands the whole way!


hazel had a little snooze as soon as we got to the bleachers...seriously this little girl is the BEST baby ever! i mean Renée and Elijah were very good babies, but she is golden! Anytime we are out and about, she is either sleeping or quietly observing...but usually sleeping!

Elijah thinks he can hang with the 6 year olds! Amalie has a 6 year old brother, Owen. Elijah followed Owen and his friend around the whole night! Then on the way out he saw these boys...they were probably about 8 or 9. he jumped right in the middle of their ball game!
{his super speed doesn't photograph well...hence the blurry little boy in the middle:)}
there was a group of men in the corner section of our bleachers, that got each of the kids a game ball out of the field house. they were all SO excited! Elijah even slept with his...now i just have to figure out how to get it away from him before damage is done {material or bodily!} MUCH harder than the t-ball he's used to!

look hooooo's 4 months!

i CAN NOT believe my little baby is 4 months today! i think of the 3, she seems to be growing up the fastest! everybody knows i LOVE tiny babies...and this one is not so tiny anymore, but i do still LOVE her!

i made her this little owl...it makes that crinkly sound that all babies {well at least mine} love! i think it's pretty cute. she had feet, but i didn't get them centered at all...so they had to be sacrificed. oh, well. the little bow in her hair is from one of her baby presents! {green of course, since i didn't find out she was a girl} she loves it too... in fact, it was all she would look at!

pale face...

i can finally see what "you look like a ghost!" looks like! {i could never see it before...i always thought people said it just because!} but seriously, his little lips were the same color as the rest of his face.

elijah crawled in bed this morning with us...totally ignoring the fact that renee was in the other room with the tv on! {definitely a sign that he REALLY is sick!} i guess it's a stomach virus. i still can't figure out how he ended up with it, and not the one that probably brought it home from preschool? my poor baby boy...

she did it again...

mimi found hazel another adorable pair of white mary janes! seriously....HOW CUTE!?

not happening!

anytime, anywhere....this is our constant battle. she puts her thumb in, and i take it out. sure it's cute--especially how she has all of her other fingers sticking straight up. but after seeing 4/5 year old girls at preschool with their thumbs/fingers in her mouth, i'm more against it now than ever! sure, the other 2 kids gave it a taste test, but they were easily swayed...not this one! she is determined! yeah she's moving her paci over for her latest trick...BOTH!Hazel, don't make me break out the baby mittens!