el squared

where has the time gone?!? lucy turned 2 yesterday. i still can't believe my ity-bity, bald baby is so big.

we had a party for her yesterday at our church building. it was grant's idea and i think it was brilliant: room to run, air conditioning, no downstairs neighbors to annoy, etc. since we had so much room, we decided to invite the whole nursery (!). 22 kids showed up and it was amazingly fun. everything seemed to work smoothly (mostly due to grant's help. seriously, he's the best). i spent the week baking and i put all of the recipes up on my other blog. here's the spread:

for games played "pin the spot on the leopard":

hazel was proud of her placement:

when it was lucy's turn to go, she was sneaky with her cheating at first:

but she quickly gave up on subtlety (grant has some serious art skills, no?):

then it was time for game #2: leap across the lily-pads:

it was a hit and everyone made it across safely:

next we made lion masks:

hazel colored hers purple. surprise, surprise. a little elastic later and we have:

roarrrrr!

finally! it was time for what lucy had been nagging me about for days: cake!

i hope she didn't wish for more hair:

because it took her about 6 tries to blow both candles out.

throughout the party, lucy taunted us with memories of this day:

i got cold chills when i went to check on the weather:

that's where it happened. i still have nightmares.

happily there were no incidents of that kind, just a few bumps from kids running into each other (we probably should have taken into account masks obscuring vision). lucy threw a birthday-sized fit while we (by 'we' i mean grant) cleaned up:

so i took her to watch the rain:

then it was time for home and a much needed nap for everyone. once we were all awake, it was time for pressies:

and her favorite dinner:

tomato soup. can we say, "best day of her life"?

i think so.

love you, monkey.

p.s. that huge scab on her arm is compliments of our over-textured wall.

2 things of amusement & 1 thing that's less than amusing

hazel and lucy have needed some extra tlc, thanks to our not quite perfected parenting skills. so yesterday as a special treat we took them to see toy story 3:

i couldn't call myself a truly dedicated blogger if i didn't take my camera (please forgive me for the poor quality of the photos. i didn't want to use the flash and call attention to my dorky-mom-documenting-e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g-self.):

hazel was sooooooo excited, she could hardly contain herself:

she enjoyed every minute until a somewhat intense/scary/upsetting part near the end. that's when she started sobbing uncontrollably. i moved over and sat her on my lap, but was unable to offer much comfort as i was struggling with a tight throat myself. thankfully, that part was over soon enough and the movie ended happily. phew. lucy sat still for about 15 minutes:

before deciding that climbing all over daddy was much more fun. she also yelled, "again!" any time the screen went black. good thing it was a kid's movie.

by a raise of hands, who wants to hear grant's favorite song??.......................anyone? hello?..............?

well here you go anyway (this is also his favorite version and he says "it's pretty much the best song ever made!" to which i, of course, replied, "grant, like anyone can even know that."):

grant really enjoys most of matisyahu's music. i've grown to enjoy the radio version of this song. i can't handle the beatboxing in the above version but appreciate how good this guy is at it.

on to the not-so amusing.......

hazel tried to pin this one on lucy. she needs to learn that leaving a signature behind makes her lose any credibility she might have had:

a few of our favorite things

naps, paper towel rolls, & farmer tans:

kitchen helpers & hummus (even when it kills my blender):

bubble wrap:

big, cheesy grins on beautiful, bald babies:

babysitting exchanges = kids to play with + two date nights a month!:

potential suitors:

sing with me! william and hazel sitting in a tree..... (they were actually dodging stars and planets on their way through outerspace.)

&, last but not least, dads:

especially this one:

i love you, grant.

hair today, gone...um, yesterday actually

yesterday was a momentous day: hazel received her first ever, real hair cut [i trimmed her mullet off when she was around a year old but that doesn't really count. if i was on top of it, i'd find and post those pictures...]. grant and i had been discussing the idea of a cut for months and months. i toyed with the thought of doing it myself and came rather close to snipping it all off after one of her baths. lucky for hazel, i let a professional do it. during:

she was so good at holding still (mostly) and she remained enthusiastic throughout. she had about 4 inches taken off. after:

it's so healthy looking!

what a beauty. lucy was feeling left out so i let her jump in:

that is palpable excitement, folks. i also had my hair cut, it's only been about 2 years (!) since my last one. good-by stringy, nasty, scraggly ends (all 5 inches of them):

poor lucy:

any predictions on when her first hair cut will be??

be kind.

splish splash

playgroup last wednesday was at hermann park. all of the kids wore swimsuits and played in the fountains:

the girls, of course, had tons of fun:

lucy preferred splashing in the muddy puddles (lucky me):

happily, hazel was more excited to feed the ducks:

turns out they don't much care for ritz crackers. strike two, mommy.

today we planned on going to the discovery green downtown. so this morning we put the girls in their swimsuits and headed out:

oops.

we left anyway, thinking we might have a little time to play before the storm could catch up. wrong, again. this is what it looked like at the first major light (about 1/2 mile from our gate):

hmmmmm. at this point we decided to just drop grant off at school. it was slow going. houstonians treat rain like utahns should treat snow, i.e. they drive very slllllooooooooooooowww. just as we got on to the freeway, the car in front of us nearly caused a wreck by stopping. there was a big puddle in his way. anyway, we made it passed a couple exits and this sign:

"hurricane season is here...be prepared" oh, happy thought! this is where grant gave up and got off the freeway. we splashed our way back home (hopefully missing any pedestrians that happened to be on the sidewalk or at a bus stop):

and, go figure, by the time we got home it was barely sprinkling. so we let the girls brave hypothermia:

this is one of their favorite things to do. lucy especially can't get enough. she runs back here whenever we're outside to see if the puddle is there:

at first they were content with just running back and forth through it:

but soon enough, it was this:

and finally, this:

hazel is a stingray and lucy is a very rare water-loving cat. the best part of all of this splashing is (no, not the laundry) the tantrums that get thrown while trying to get back inside.

it's a good thing they're both so stinking cute.