Hazel's Party

Ok, so once again not really any photos from the birthday party. It's hard to be the host and the photographer. It's a bummer but that's the way it is. Hazel seemed to have a blast and that's the most important thing. For a little girl who's not usually in the lime light to have a special day is important. She was very happy to have her family here, especially baby Jasper. She's so much in love with that little cousin of hers. And when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her, I know it made her day.

So no pics of the party but after our post party naps the girls and I went out in the yard and tried out the new bike. Hazel is thrilled with her new bike and helmet as I knew she would be.

My soon to be two year old.

Hershey Park

We met Grandmom, Aunt Jen and Hattie today for a day at Hershey Park. Clara had a blast, Hazel was a little unsure and Bryan and I got to ride a few roller coasters thanks to Grandmom. All in all a good day. The best part, Clara road her first roller coaster, the Trailblazer, and the flume ride, the Coal Cracker, both of which had some pretty serious drops for a three year old. She looked a little unsure while going down the hills but actual really enjoyed it. She wanted to ride again. Who would have known Clara to be the daredevil and Hazel to be the scaredy cat.


Here's Hazel right before she had me get her off the Carousel horse.

Counterproductive

Fruit picking season should prove to be very interesting this year. We had our first taste . . . and second . . . and third of what it will be like, now that our little fruit addict is older and on the move.

It's a good thing she's so cute.



Farmer Clara was all business, no sampling until the job is done.



(Yes, her boots are on the wrong feet, yet again)

Little Mommy

Clara is completely into a mothering stage right now. She smiles and coos at all the little babies she sees. Something that needs both encouragement and ever vigilant watch. I don't want her to be one of those kids who smothers a strangers newborn with kisses and petting with grubby kid hands.

She's also found a return interest in nursing her dolls and stuffed animals. Something I find entirely sweet. Our house is also strewn with baskets, boxes and containers big and small with little ones tucked away for their naps. We have everything from a large Ugly doll we call Babo tucked in a cardboard box to a Little People lion wrapped in a wee bit of cloth safe and snug in a teeny, tiny basket. Our pair of Little People giraffes both referred to as Manny are always occupying the other little basket. Twins, maybe?

Day at the Museum

Bryan and I actually had a Saturday with no plans. When does that ever happen? For us, lately, never. We've been so busy we barely see each other. So we had a nice day as a family and took the kids over to the museum for the morning. Eli even tagged along, we all know any exercise for him is a good thing. Surprisingly, I actually managed to get a decent family photo and it only took three frames! Well, I guess, theoretically, Clara took the shot. She was triggering the shutter with the remote. Here are the some more pics from the day - http://gallery.me.com/brydeemer#100092

Winter in May

Clara and Hazel dressed up for the snow and had a snow storm in the house today, complete with snowman. He's that pile of pillow behind them. Hey whatever keeps them busy and out of trouble.

Can we do it?

Yes we can!

Today we went to the Reading Museum to see the Bob the Builder exhibit. Clara and Hazel don't know who Bob the Builder is but that didn't stop them from enjoying it. It was a lot of fun, though completely exhausting for me. At one point several large classes were in the main exhibit area and trying to keep track of two fast moving small children in all that chaos was really hard and extremely stressful. However, it did quiet down and we were able to enjoy it more after the truck load of kids left.

Clara was in love with the safety goggles . . .


Hazel with the hard hats or helmets as she was calling them.


She wanted Stella to wear them too.


The exhibit made me discover that I should probably look into some dress up items for the girls to play with. Clara is really into modeling various career persons. She loved Hattie's doctor kit and was having a blast dressing up as a construction worker.

All the kids enjoyed the water pump. Which involved lots of blue plastic balls and buckets to put them in. I'm really glad we were able to make it over to this before it's taken down. It was a nice morning. Thanks Aunt Layne!

Happy Birthday Hattie!

This weekend we went to Pittsburgh for cousin Hattie's second birthday. It was a very busy weekend but a lot of fun. The girls had a blast playing together. Saturday we went to the Children's Museum, which had a whole huge water table section.


And lots of other fun stuff, like a maze for the kids to crawl through, a car to "drive" and various other activities.




Then we had Hattie's birthday party in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and the kids were having fun playing with bubbles. Hattie loved her cake and really loved making a mess with the icing. She loves lotion and was rubbing the icing all over herself like lotion. Hey, when it's your birthday you can do whatever you want.




On Sunday we relaxed for a while and then went to the zoo to see the elephants. Since, the Philly zoo no longer has elephants this was a special treat. Hazel also really enjoyed the Sea Lions and surprisingly was very fascinated by the bears. Clara was in a rather grumpy mood by then and wasn't really enjoying looking at anything. All that activity made for an awesome car ride home with two sleeping kids :) Thanks for such a nice weekend Aunt Jen and Uncle Pablo. Happy Second Birthday Hattie!!!

Zoo

After weeks of planning to go to the zoo only to be foiled by the weather or worse, we finally made it there today. Two weeks ago we were literally walking in the backyard to the car to leave and Clara got sick and we had to cancel. I was so bummed and she was so bummed, Hazel was like, what's the zoo?, I'm going to go play in the sand box now. So, since then Clara has been asking me just about everyday if we were going to the zoo yet. Monday I decided the weather looked good on Tuesday so we were going. Tuesday morning I get a text from Aliza saying it's a beautiful day for the zoo. Great minds think alike :) For not making any real plans it worked out perfectly, we met Aliza, Griffin and Maya for a lovely day of animal gazing. The only disappointment was Clara really wanted to see the baby orangutan and unfortunately her and her mother were taking a break from the public. I think the cool lego displays, ice cream and a free puzzle made up for the lack of baby Batu. But hopefully, we'll get to see her next time.

Since we have a membership now, if anyone wants to take a trip to Philly we'll be happy to go to.

Thanks Aliza, Griffin and Maya for joining us!

Free Comics!!!

Free comic book day people!!!

What's better than free Fraggle Rock comics?

Giving high fives and fist bumps to the 501st!