A visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

Last Friday, Hazel was nearly bursting with excitement all day. She was heard telling her school friends that her Grandma and Grandpa were coming for THREE sleepovers. She would follow that exciting news with the fact that she would be sleeping with them in their camper! It is a wonder that she was able to get a wink of sleep with that kind of excitement swimming in her head! Sure enough, early Friday evening, Grandma and Grandpa pulled up to the house...camper in tow! However, it wasn't just an overjoyed Hazel to greet them, but a clapping and stomping Henley too. You should hear how well he says "Grandma" and "Grandpa." We had a rather soggy visit, but isn't that the joy of an early Spring in Oregon? I meant to snag photos from Grandpa before the headed out on Monday...but that was remembered a little too late. Here are some glimpses into the fun of having Grandma and Grandpa visit...for THREE sleepovers. :)

Of course they arrived with all sorts of goodies to spoil the grandkids.

Fuzzy photo for good reason. This girl can really ride her new horsey! (Henley too!!!)

Grandma shows Henley her silly side!

All three kids LOVED the rubber centipede.

Grandpa showed Henley how to blow the pinwheel.

I SPY...Hazel and Grandma looking at Hazel's favorite book.

Daddy comes in for assistance when something eludes the other two. (Hazel is remarkable at the I Spy book...nearly as good as her mommy!) :)

Henley showed Grandpa his favorite book too. He and Grandpa spent many special moments together over the course of THREE sleepovers.

When the I Spy book gets tricky, Daddy comes prepared with a flashlight!

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their 34th anniversary over the weekend. My kids aren't lacking in the personality department. Henley just began saying "cheese" as you take a photo. His sister has been a great teacher when it comes to hamming it up!

A snuggle and a kiss.

I still see you...can't hide from me. I love how Henley is still caught in his "cheese!"

***

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks for spending THREE sleepovers with us all. :)

Story time...

The story telling starts sweetly...

A little brother likes to read books interactively...

Touching each page...

Story telling sister gets a little frustrated and removes that touching arm...

Thus ending the sweet and quiet story telling session.
***

Both our kiddos love books. We weren't sure if Henley was going to share his sister's affection for books. However, in the past few weeks, his most favorite things are ALL the books. I mean ALL. He gets out every last one (the board books in the living room cubby that are accessible to him). He spreads them all over the living room. Hazel arranges them into stepping stones. Henley picks one and takes it to mommy or daddy. Crawls onto the welcoming lap, and then listens (and touches) intently as we read him the story. He repeats the process and often won't stop fetching new books for quite some time.

Mommy's Mondays...

A few months ago, I flexed my work schedule and usually have Mondays off with the kids. It is nice to look forward to Mondays for a change!

After a lazy wake-up, and an even lazier breakfast, Hazel reminded me that last night I told her she could have a bath in the morning. Hmm. I decided that if we were going to bathe in the morning, she and Henley might as well get a little dirtier...

She started painting with great focus. Her subject, a small egg shaped rock.

Henley began on the paper, but quickly discovered he preferred to paint his chest!

Yes mommy, I am a silly boy!

Oh what fun.

Hazel discovered that the rock could actually be used to paint herself. That was much more fun than using a silly paintbrush.

Henley's first lesson in blending colors. Yellow and blue DO make GREEN.

Oh happy day.

A quick "cheese" for mommy.

No Hazel, we don't drink our paint water.

Henley still hard at work.

Some piggies got in on the action.

Henley's first time painting. He was so focused and enjoyed making his mess...I mean...masterpiece!

A sign of some serious painting.

Hmm. Yay for non-toxic paints!

More colorful piggies. These are the larger three and a 1/2 year old variety.

All done. These feet were soon carried by mommy straight to the bathtub. The kids were cleaned...and then the bathtub.

Mommy HAD a project of her own to do, but in all the fun of keeping up with her two small artists, she didn't really have a chance. Oh well. This was more fun anyhow!

Henley BOY!

A few Henley updates...

He is an excellent sleeper. Whew, took us a loooong time to get here, but we are soo pleased to all enjoy good sleep in our house these days. His relatively new bedtime routine...

At 8:00 pm Mommy announces it is bedtime. Henley quickly shuffles over to Daddy. Daddy lifts him in a way only his big daddy hands can, and they both give each other a squeeze and a kiss. Henley gives his sister a goodnight hug. No complaints as he follows after Mommy to his room. She snuggles him shortly, and then he asks for his bed by pointing. Mommy sets him down, they both give his FAVORITE bed buddy kisses. (See bed buddy above - crafted special for him by his Aunt Caspian). He quickly says "bye bye" to Mommy. His music is turned on, and that is that. Whew!

Henley is an adventurer! He prefers to walk instead of being carried. As a result of his mobility, he took a TRIP yesterday on the concrete driveway. His forehead and nose broke the fall. Yikes! He is rather unfazed by the whole thing, and still insists on walking everywhere. I suppose there will be more scrapes in our future. Sigh.

Henley's CURLS are irresistible to his mommy. She loves twirling them just as his sister loves twirling her skirts! This morning his curls were particularly "bouncy." Henley is a CHARMER. He smiles and says "hi" to just about everyone who looks his way. People that don't look his way often gets smiles and greetings too. They just don't know what they are missing! Mommy used to think he was going to be a shy little guy. Shy? Not so much.

Hazel @ Three and a half...

GOOD Morning Mama!

Yesterday morning both the kiddos woke early. Beau got up with them, and I slept a bit longer. Lovely. The morning got even better when I woke to find these little angels to greet me in the living room. Bed head has never looked so cute. Though these two can test one anothers' patience often (mine too), they have these sweet, quiet moments. Times like this remind me that having a sibling is truly a blessing.

Hazel has been Henley's speech coach of late. She can be heard all through the day teaching him new words. He is a great learner, and most of the time eager to please his big sister. He loves her applause when he learns a new word! He smiles so big his eyes nearly disappear.

This morning they slept in a bit. I heard some noises coming from the nursery. Checked the monitor in our bedroom and saw some interesting activity. The light was on, and Henley was sitting up reading one of the 10 books his sister had dropped in on him. (They were relatively small books.) I walked in and they both smiled. Henley squealed. No hurry to come out and see mama when there is a sibling to entertain. I joined them for awhile, then we headed out to start our day. Love those little munchkins.

A girl who LOVES skirts!

My silly girl Hazel has become quite opinionated about her attire lately. I TRY to let her choose her own clothes, and in the past few months, she insists on SKIRTS. She has a few, but we quickly would run out over the course of the week, and then she would (sneakily) attempt to recycle her dirty skirts and come out proudly wearing them again. Last weekend, Beau had a great idea for our Saturday outing. The family headed to our local Thrift Store and found Miss Hazel a new assortment of SKIRTS. A brown one, a jean one, one with purple and orange (see below) and one with stripes. She was DELIGHTED with the new SKIRTS. Each day this week she happily skipped off to school in a new skirt. I caught her SKIRT joy this morning before we left for school, as she demonstrated for Henley and I (and the camera) how you can TWIRL in a skirt.

Oh, what fun it is to be a girl. Please note, she learned this hands on hips stance from a friend and not from me! :)

A great TWIRLING demonstration was enjoyed by her adoring brother. For his cheers he received a KISS.

Henley's THREE month old pinky nail.

Exactly three months ago, Henley and I rushed to the hospital to (hopefully) get his pinky-tip re-attached. Thankfully, his sutures took and the healing of his tiny pinky has been amazing to watch. In the early days post accident, I feared he may always have a "goofy" looking pinky, and likely no nail at all. His nail completely fell off post trauma. Above, you can see that the little man has a beautiful little pinky. Today I trimmed that beautiful little nail for the first time. Amazing what three months can do!! (I will spare you the photo I took in the Urgent Care - the "before" picture. A little too gruesome!)

I SPY...

"...a running man!" Hazel exclaimed as we pulled in the driveway this afternoon. I looked out the window up at the blue sky to where she was pointing...

"Running Man"