Movin' On Up

Thursday I did an overhaul cleaning in the girls room. This included cleaning off that top bunk of the bunk bed that has become my favorite spot to store boxes of out grown clothing that need to get stuffed into the eves, along with whatever else I need to get out of the way. (Note to self - We need to have a yard sale) So with the room clean and the bunk empty, Clara got her wish. I made the bed, Bryan installed yet another Ikea night light ( The third one for that room) and our little girl relocated to the upper bunk. She is in heaven. Two nights gone and no complaints. I was a little worried she might have a hard time adjusting because she no longer has the cave like atmosphere we created in her bottom bed but so far she's loving it. No falls either which is even better. I am just as excited about the move as Clara because I can see the dissappearance of the crib in our future. No more crib means more organization for toys, which means less chaos and a happy mommy :) I'm not saying that's happening quite yet. As we all know, Hazel is quite the trouble maker and letting her loose on her own could be asking for problems but in the distant future . . . a mom can dream.

Crafts

Clara is so into them. I am burning out. She always wants to do a craft and there's only so much a mom can think of, even with the help of craft blogs. Thankfully, story time Thursday at the library includes craft making but that's only one day a week. *sigh* One reason I am looking forward to school. Of course part of me isn't ready for her to go yet but part is. Despite my lack of ideas, I came up with a good one this week. I was pretty proud of myself for putting this one together.


Hanging Picture Frames - I bought the frames at AC Moore for a $1 and the girls glued buttons on. Then I pulled out those stamps I was saving for making scrapbooks, that never got made.
Now to find some pictures to put in them.

Mmmmm . . .

Underwear Updates

All in all things are going well. We had a minor set back on Wed. Hazel prefers privacy when she's going #2 so I left her alone on the big potty which she prefers over our little ones; I was right outside the door. Well she fell down in, not all the way but it was enough she got scared and has been avoiding the big potty now. She seems to be getting comfortable enough on the little potty so I think we're ok.

The bigger issues, believe it or not, are coming from Clara. She's acting much like an older sibling would react when a new baby enters the home. She's jealous of the extra attention Hazel has been getting and is not acting so nice. She even decided to pee on the floor the other day on purpose. Needless to say, it's been interesting.

Hazel in Underpants

That's right, we're potty training over here. I made the decision, after several months of Hazel using the potty, it's time to move into underpants. She has been in them the whole weekend. We've had a few accidents but not too many and it's to be expected. Yesterday was awesome for only being her first day she had one accident in the morning and though she had a diaper on at nap she was dry when she woke up and remand dry the rest of the day. She even pooped on the potty tonight. I was a little worried maybe I was trying it too soon but I think it's the right time. I can't believe we might actually become a no diaper household :) After almost 4 straight years of diaper changing, that's pretty fantastic.

Two very different kids

It's amazing how the same two people can create such vastly different new little human beings.

Clara somewhat always tidy except for her fine, stringy hair that never stays where it's supposed to, smart, sweet and stubborn. From the very moment she was born, she's been wishing she could do absolutely everything that she's just too little to do.




Hazel in a constant state of dishevelment from the moment she wakes up with her rats nest hair to the moment she goes to sleep covered in stains but always with a great big tricky grin on her face, silly, sneaky and resiliant. She rolls with whatever comes her way, smiling the whole time and secretly thinking about doing all the thing she shouldn't do.



It's also pretty amazing how they can be so different and you can love them equally so much.


Just my little observation for the day.

Garden

Just like every year, I decided to plant a garden this summer. Last year I tried lasagna gardening (sheet composting) and had some great success with it. It cut down on my weeding tremendously and despite the tomatoe blight everyone was hit with my plants did really well. So I decided to go with this method again. In the fall I had covered my beds with all the dried leaves I collected so I would have dry material to work with in the spring. When I moved the leaves in the spring I found three very healthy plants under them. Hmmm . . . Two of them really appeared to be peas and since I had planted peas last year and had a few dried pods that I'm sure fell I figured that's what they were. So I left the plants there as an experiment. After a few weeks the third mystery plant began to look more like a bigger mystery to me. I was thinking weed and was ready to pull it when the rabbits ate it. Probably not a weed after all. However the two "peas" kept growing and growing and soon were climbing and healthy. I figured any day now I'd get peas but nothing. Hmmm . . . Today I pulled a leaf and looked it up in my gardening book. I think it's actually a cucumber. I've never planted cucumbers!?! How the heck did it get there. My only thinking is maybe, just maybe, I was throwing kitchen scraps in my compost and some cucumber ended up in there. I don't know. I probably should have pulled it out when I found it back in the beginning of spring but I just couldn't help myself it was a mystery I wanted to find out. So as of now it's not hurting anything. I'm going to leave it there until it produces something.

Here's the mystery plant. See what you think.



Since Clara has been more interested in growing stuff I let her help me pick out some plants this year. In addition to my typical tomatoes, peppers and basil I've added zucchini, pumpkins, lettuce and carrots. The lettuce is doing fabulous and is basically ready to eat.



The pumpkins and zucchini are lookin' good.




The carrots, not so much. Which is a bummer because Clara really wanted the carrots. We have maybe two to three carrots that survived.



And our first two green tomatoes appeared this week.



We're going to plant some more lettuce, carrots and try some radish this week and see how they do.

Portrait of Mommy

We were so amazed at Clara's people drawing skills, as far as October we've got some pretty awesome drawings from her. Then shortly after Christmas, nothing. She insisted on just scribbling circles when she drew. Within the last few weeks she started getting into drawing again. Here is a recent picture I found on the frig. She told me that it's a picture of me.

Interview with a two year old

I know, I'm a little video crazy today :)

Here's a little video "interview" I did with Hazel on her birthday, including translations for those who don't understand Hazel speak.

Hazel's bike

A little video I took after Hazel's party last weekend.

Spiderman

Bubbles

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. Perfect for bubble blowing . . .

Our baby . . .

turns two today. How is that even possible? She's already older than Clara was when she herself entered the world. Soon she'll be sleeping in her own big bed, using the potty and turning into a kid like her big sister. I wish time didn't move quite so fast. I very much love watching her grow but at the same time miss all the babyness. She's really grown a lot in the last year, from not even walking or talking to running and jabbering a mile a minute. Granted we still don't understand most of what she's saying but it sounds super cute.




To celebrate Hazel's special day we had a few close friends over for a playdate. The birthday girl got to eat as much fruit as she asked for and a cupcake with mounds of raspberry buttercream. Not to bad for a birthday feast. Thanks to our friends for sharing the special day with us.



Smiling while we sing.

Blowing out the candles.


The aftermath.