Birthday, Birthday, Birthday!

Wow! So much happened in 6 weeks! Dillan had a birthday, Hazel turned one, and we celebrated Christ's birth. Hazel has 11. 5 teeth, and is getting close to walking. Hopefully the next post will have the real deal! Kyle had a one month break from school. We went down to St. George for 1.5 weeks and got to see lots of family and friends! Kyle's back in school for his last semester, yay!

We found out that Hazel loves olives. She had a lot of fun taking them off her fingers!

She got up there all by herself. The hard part was getting down.

Earlier this week it snowed for several days. Then it rained for a few. Now it's been flooding for a few. Dillan has worn his swimming clothes for most of the week. We make him change into warm clothes when we leave, and then he changes his clothes as soon as we get home! Right here he's being strong, carrying Daddy's backpack.

This is Dillan's first collage. He stopped when he ran out of tape, which didn't take long with his foot long pieces!

We went out and played in the snow a few times, which meant we got out the "snow box" of clothes. Dillan had a lot of fun playing dress-up.

Do I look freaky? Would you believe me if I said, "This is the life!"

Going out to play in the snow with Daddy.

This is just after unwrapping her birthday presents.

Cake went on her face, ears, and hair. Almost none went in the mouth. The video was too long to upload, she wasn't really interested in eating it. What a healthy girl!

Happy Birthday to Hazel!

In her front-facing car seat for the first time, on the way to Grandma's house for her birthday party. She didn't like it at first because the things she dropped fell all the way down, not just by her feet like previously.

One of Hazel's favorite things to do now is play the piano. She wiggles and dances and presses buttons that make songs play. Happiness.

In St. George during our Christmas break. Dillan was so attached to these goggles and would make other people wear the extra pairs. He wore them all through dinner, he slept with them...

So funny! You need to blow the picture up to appreciate the hilarious face she is making.

This is Hazel's big Christmas present. Dillan might like it better than Hazel.

Dillan got this helicopter for his birthday. Hazel loves playing with it, breaking it, putting the little pieces in her mouth, and then spitting them out after slobbering all over them.

Happy in her Christmas dress.

Happy Birthday Dillan! His "cake" was a big deal because we don't eat sugar anymore. Cookie layer on the bottom, chocolate ice cream on the top!

His moves are sweet!

I'm just throwing a plastic bag and catching it. Who knew that was funny?

I love it when they are nice to each other. Those are moments to cherish.

Self-propelled for the first time, who cares if it's in the wrong direction?She did this maybe 10 times int a row!

Perfect Little Moments

We look good!

I was washing off the table, so I moved a few things onto Hazel's high chair tray. She knocked the bowl of grapes off and started eating them!

The kids are both in there! Hazel loves playing peek-a-boo with it.

We just got out our Christmas stuff. Dillan was so excited to wear the Santa hat and made everyone try it on.

Hazel was actually trying to eat that tube of ornaments. Like a dog with a bone.

Yay for perfect family moments, everyone is behaving and being helpful!

It's Dillan's first Christmas helping to decorate. He also go to set up a nativity by himself (it's funny, nothing is paying attention to baby Jesus), and he got to put up the doorknob hangers. He likes to rearrange the ornaments or pick up the ones Hazel has pulled off.

I'm so glad our bulbs are from the dollar store, didn't have to worry about Hazel playing with them. She tired of this activity pretty fast. Dillan even tried to tempt her back with a really low one placed just for her, didn't work.

I made some vegan hot chocolate, the rest is all Dillan!

They love having bathtime together! Usually Hazel is laughing her head off the whole time because she enjoys Dillan so much!

Packing to go to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.

Okay, this is where I put in the stories of what has happened over the past few weeks. As I was doing the dishes one day I noticed that it was silent and both of the kids were in the family room. That's always dangerous. On checking it out I found Dillan sitting on the couch looking at a library book and Hazel playing by the legos. It was such a perfect moment!

Hazel has discovered legos, her favorite thing to do is is take apart every single piece. It's always a race to build something quick before she grabs it and begins demolition.

Also, Hazel only wants to eat "grown-up" food now. If it is made special for a baby, she doesn't want it. We are also making the transition to 2 naps a day for her, but with 2 kids sharing a room, naps are difficult.
I don't have any stories about Dillan. In general he is growing up, happy and energetic, behaving better, not improving in potty training, playing nicer with Hazel, and is so good at talking I think he'll be a public speaker.

Dillan and Kyle are swordfighting on the Wii. Dillan is good! He wins a lot of the time because Kyle can't get a swipe in!

He's got moves!

Hazel 10 Months

It's been an exciting month! About 8 months ago we finally got Kyle's bike outfitted with mudgaurds (rain + biking on road everyday= need mudguards!). 2 Months after that his bike got stolen, someone snapped the lock. Then he started using my bike. We outfitted that one with mudgaurds and finally got him a helmet (yeah, we're bad, he road his bike for a year without a helmet). That got stolen also! Including the Helmet. We blame the "occupy Salem" people, they were about 2 blocks away. Now Kyle keeps a watch out on the streets for our bikes and wants to jump whoever's got them.

Hazel's blueberry face.

This picture is not sideways! Dillan turned over the exer-saucer and is driving his "car"!

I read a book on the hundreds of ways sugar is bad for you. I've tried to stop eating it, but it is in anything that is store bought: sphaghetti sauce, bread, chips, potstickers, anything that is remotely convenient. We've all been duped!

The power went out for 45 minutes just as the sun was going down a few days ago. I learned that our only flashlight is one that you wind to give it power. We have repented of our unpreparedness and bought real flashlight.

Dillan envied Hazel getting the spotlight with these pictures, so he jumped in as well.

I went to get a haircut one evening and left Kyle with the kids for an hour. Knowing that he wasn't supposed to watch TV with them he got bored and rearranged the whole family room!

Cutie Girl!

One of her earrings got ripped out twice. I considered taking them out, but she's so darn cute!

Post trick-or-treating.

Team Work

Yay for us all working together! Ignore Dillan's weird face and notice that Hazel is standing under the table at dinner. What could be going on?

Dillan is feeding her rice! Both of them really love their rice tasks!

Rice + My Kids = Happy and Messy

Look at that cute boy! Our pumpkins took a lot of team work. Hazel slept. Kyle did all the scraping out and carving. I cut my finger before getting the lid cut out. Dillan described and modeled the faces he wanted on the pumpkins. I translated Dillan's words and faces into faces on the pumpkins (a.k.a. artist).

Yay for teamwork! They turned out great!

Kyle and I have been together for 5 Halloweens. This is the first time we have carved pumpkins. Mostly we like going to the pumpkin patch.

Dillan thought the pumpkin "guts" were gross. He wouldn't touch them with his hands, just a spoon.

I visited my family for a week, giving Kyle extra study time in Salem and me extra help with the kids. Seeing family is always great! (Yay team work again!) That's Shelly and Danny, my brother and sister.

This is Hazel at 9 months! She had so much fun pulling out all the books. Then she was surrounded by books, stuck, and crying because she didn't know how to get away.

Hazel's first box adventure. She loved it. There is a lot of playing with boxes in her future!

During General Conference Dillan made Witches Hats for the neighbors. It kept him busy for almost an hour on 2 different days! What impressed me was he didn't eat any of the ingredients.

These videos are all funny, no comments or explanations necessary.

Sorry, bad cinematography. I think the adorable Dillan makes up for it.