last night @ pizza planet

when we explained to hazel where we were going, we told her that chuck e cheese's was kind of like pizza planet and she understood because she loves toy story. some of grant's school mates had been wanting to go and grant suggested friday. so there we were, grinning ear to ear:

eating our pizza so that we could go play:

first stop, the carousel:

lucy wasn't a big fan, but hazel did fine, hopping on after it was already spinning:

they both took turns driving; hazel with a mouse:

lucy with some stranger:

she was pretty upset, especially since we'd just read her the berenstain bears learn about strangers.

hazel is well on her way to teenage years. she wanted to gab on the phone all night.

grant threw gutter balls (just kidding, hazel tossed that ball just as i was taking the picture). and what were grant's buddies doing?

this is mike. he had a good time playing "where a kid can be a kid". he has a very tolerant wife:

way to be, stacey!

guess what?

let's play a guessing game. it's called 'guess what hazel is'. you see, hazel has a new trick. she likes to pretend to be things, and not just the usual, normal things, like a puppy, cat or a monster (though, she does those all very well too). she chooses rather random things to impersonate, such as a carrot: yes. that is hazel the carrot. perhaps even 'the angry carrot', she wasn't very clear when i asked why she made that face. guess what she is here:
give up? obviously, she's flexible. i'll give you a clue: she's a fruit. . . . . still stumped? a grape. yep, a grape, just one not a bunch. next, we move on from fruits and veggies to sea creatures:

an eel? no. nemo? nope. a mermaid? not quite. how about a stingray? ding ding ding! we have a winner. here's her interpretation of another aquatic beast:

well 'beast' is perhaps the wrong word to use to refer to a starfish. out of the water and into the alphabet:

hazel as the letter 'I' and below, as the letter 'X':

yes, this 3 year old has talent.

shenanigans

here are a compilation of pictures taken over the past month or so. they are kind of random so i've just saved them up for this post. first: lucy often goes off to play by herself in her room. this particular day she was picking up all of the orange square blocks and putting them together. she was very specific. it was fun to watch. she's so smart: grant is such a great dad and a super hard worker. he leaves for school by 6am most mornings. understandably, he's very tired when he gets home, but he makes sure to give me a break and plays with the girls:one of lucy's favorite off-limit areas to play in is our closet. i found her there cuddling our clothes, after she had pulled the shoes off the rack:

when she saw that the gig was up, she made a run for it:

straight for the bathroom, but not alone:

she had a little pat of butter attached to her diaper. that made me giggle. not long after that incident, i went to get her after her nap and found her putting her toothbrush down her shirt. a little back story: lucy l.o.v.e.s her toothbrush. it's not that she likes brushing her teeth, she just likes carrying the brush around, chewing on it now and then. we used to take it away once we brushed her pearly-whites, but after several long and loud meltdowns, we started letting her sleep with it. anyway, she decided that it was funny to stick it down her shirt:

bath time is something that both of the girls love. lucy enjoys drinking the sudsy water and hazel enjoys impersonating batman:

while i was getting hazel's party put together, grant was taking pictures of the girls in this empty box that had been sitting in our room for over a month:

despite their forlorn expressions, i think they had fun. the morning after hazel's party was lots of fun. hazel discovered that the balloons had lost most of their helium, causing them to fall ever so slowly which then gave her plenty of time to be there to catch them:

lucy also had fun swatting at them too:

hazel is becoming a better sculptor every day. at the end of last week she made a stingray out of playdough:

he didn't last long:

well i hope y'all enjoyed that little tour of the little things that make our life so interesting. thank you, come again.

home, sweet apartment

i've been putting off taking pictures of our new place for a while now. there are still a couple of boxes to unpack and a few things to buy. but i decided after hazel's birthday party that we're as put together as we're going to be for a while and this is as clean as the whole place gets. so without any further ado, here's our apartment:taken from the hallway looking towards the front door.
taken from the dining area

taken from the front door. the black desk usually holds our lappy. you can see the door to the hallway closet and grant's 6th anniversary gift hanging on the wall.

taken from behind the chair in the corner.

the slightly bigger kitchen and the wonderful gate that keeps lucy out.

to the left: we have the cupboards, sink and cheap, paint-stained dishwasher.

to the right: the refrigerator, stovetopped [electric] oven (i've burned several dinners trying to get used to using electric appliances again. weird, considering i only used gas for a year. hmmm.), and:

a microwave! in the year we spent without one, i've kind of forgotten what i ever used it for, but then i remember popcorn! i no longer need to melt butter in the oven and i can reheat leftovers so much faster. and then there's this lovely creature:

a pantry! can my life get any better? (probably, but this is good for now). and this next picture is for you mom:

yep, that's the can organizer that you gave me 3 or 4 years ago. i can actually use it now. hallelujah! anyway, moving on:

la toilet. this picture makes it look so much smaller than it is. it's a good size with more storage space than we've ever had in a bathroom, you can see the linen cupboards in the mirror. and if you could turn to the left, you'd see a door. upon opening said door you'd see this:

a laundry room, not closet. yes, i love it (not laundry, but having somewhere to hide it). and finally:

our room. taken from the doorway.

taken from the opposite corner. my purse is hanging on the door of our closet. we have a nice little vanity that makes not having 2 bathrooms easier.

the wall of clutter. i still need to organize better, but i'll be honest and say that that will probably never happen. pictures of the girls room are here. well, i think that is everything. any questions?