Christmas Re-Cap

Well, we survived another year!  I can't believe it's almost 2011, but I'm really happy that 2010 is out the door.  We've had our fair share of colds and other illnesses (nothing life threatening) in our family and I want to start this new year with my smell and taste intact! I'm working on that last part.  Haven't been able to taste since Thanksgiving, with a brief intermission around the 2nd week of December, but now that the tree is out of the house, I hope my allergies go away.

Here is our lovely tree on Christmas Eve, with all the presents neatly displayed around it.

Hazel setting out carrots for the reindeer and milk  & cookies for Santa.

Opening up a ball from Santa.

I stayed up late on Christmas Eve to finish my sweater.  Yes, that sweater, the one I started in August!  I'm thrilled with how it turned out.  I still need to block it though, but I keep wanting to wear it.

Hazel's new passion is coloring!  She loves the new table her Oma got her for Christmas, and we've been using it every day to draw "circles".  She is a little OCD about her crayons where she has to have them all within reach and if one sneaks it's way across the table she has to either reach for it or go around to get it so that inspiration strikes, she has it.  A fun game she started playing is she likes to try out a color then hand it to me to use, or she wants me to try a color and she will take it from me if she wants it.  It's interesting.

Hagg's Tree Farm

Yay, we have our tree!

 We followed the signs up to Hagg's Tree Farm, it was kind of hard to miss as the little elves were at every intersection pointing out the way. First we stopped at the petting zoo area with goats and then had to go out back to see the donkeys.  There were also 2 friendly doggies that Hazel was a little unsure of.  She liked seeing them better when we were holding them, than when she was on the ground with them.  We picked out a pre-cut tree this time.  I do like cutting down our own tree, but this year it was easier to just pick one from their lot.  It was a little cold and muddy to have Hazel wandering around the tree farm.  Owen expertly tied it to the roof with his boyscout knots and we headed home.

Hazel is now addicted to watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ever since she saw the lighted reindeer in our neighbor's yard!

Outtakes

Today we did our annual Christmas card photo. I take pride in the fact that I have taken every photo for our Christmas cards, but this year I almost wanted a professional to do it for me.



While Hazy was napping we set up the shoot in our side yard. We got the tripod out, we marked where the legs needed to be with chalk, we marked the edges on the grass so we would know where the edge of the frame was, we even bought a remote control so we wouldn't have to do the dash back and forth from the camera like I have done in previous years.



To get Hazy to smile we hung her glowworm doll under the camera and that worked, for maybe 2 shots.



But who would have guessed that what really made her happy was the remote control???? She was fascinated with it. We let her hang onto it to take some photos, but none of them turned out that great because she would stare down at the remote, and not look at the camera. We did get it back, eventually.



We took about 75 photos total, but at least we got a few that were acceptable. Some were absolutely horrible. Some are too embarassing to ever be seen by anyone. I do think it's interesting to see what kind of faces you can come up with when you're trying to wrangle a toddler for a photograph.



I don't want to spoil the people who might be getting the photo in the mail, so none of these are the final picture we chose.

Deck the Halls

I waited as long as I could! I just wanted to get the Christmas decorations up. We don't have a tree yet, because we're getting that tomorrow. And hopefully we will be getting our annual card photo tomorrow too!

I've missed seeing these decorations. Some are as old as I am, and some I bought in recent years, but they all are special to me in some way! This year I decided to incorporate my favorite movies in with the decorations, so the DVD cases are in there too.  So we have: A Christmas Story, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Christmas music is essential for decorating, we listened to Andy Williams, Glee and Barenaked Ladies and Pink Martini!  Yeah, I have eclectic tastes in Christmas music :)  It's all good!

I wonder what Hazy will think tomorrow when she sees all the new stuff!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Life's short, eat dessert first!

Hazel got into the apple pie before dinner. At first she was unsure about it, but then decided it was really tastey. Then I jumped in and did something I never do, 1)eat dessert before Thanksgiving dinner and 2) eat apple pie. Yeah, I'm more of a cookies and chocolates type person, not a pie person.  It was fun sharing that moment with her and I'm glad we got it on camera:)

Zoolights

Oh, the magic of Zoolights on a freezing autumn night! I think it's my favorite holiday tradition. And now that I have a baby, it's even more special.

Tonight was the members only preview night for the Zoolights and it was about 30 degrees at the zoo! Don't worry, Hazel was bundled up! She had on 2 shirts, 2 pants, 2 jackets, a hat and a scarf, oh and a blanket for when she was in the stroller. It's been a long time since I've seen her so mesmerized! The only time she made a sound was when we were on the train and she imitated us when we were calling it "choo choo". She was just wide-eyed and happy. We are definitely going to Zoolights more than once this year, especially since there was a camera snafu (Someone Owen forgot the battery for the camera at home and we only had our camera phones to take pictures with).

Rosy Little Kits

Check out the goodies I've been getting in the mail! Two handmade ornament kits from Posie Gets Cozy! I've had my eye on them for the last three years Alicia Paulson has been making them, and I finally decided to order a couple. She comes out with a new one each year and they are simply adorable! She sells the patterns as a pdf file as well, but the kits help get you going and the quality of the supplies she sends is really nice. They don't look or feel cheap at all!



I spent last night watching Letters to Juliet and making this tree.  I was glad that I had something to do while watching the movie, because it was not as good as I expected it to be.



These pictures don't do it justice, because it's prettier, sparklier and better looking in person.

I blame the camera. The camera I normally use (Canon Rebel T2i DSLR) had an error and I ended up sending it back to Canon to be fixed, so I'm using our old Olympus Stylus 1010 and it is just not the same quality. Hopefully my camera will be back next week so I will have it for Thanksgiving weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Hazel definitely had a good Halloween this year! As soon as I saw the Gnome costume at Target (back in August), I bought it.

She had quite the party schedule this week! First there was the harvest party at Gymboree on Thursday. She had so much fun running around in her costume checking out the fun activities and dancing to songs like Monster Mash and Ghostbusters. On Friday she had two friends over to decorate pumpkins and watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". On Halloween we took her to the Zoo's Howl-o-ween event. We just went through the whole Great NW Exhibit and to see the penguin's new digs (they moved last week to the Polar Bear's winter habitat). After the zoo we met up with my mom at Bridgeport Village where the stores had trick-or-treating and afterwards we ate at PF Changs. On the way home we stopped at a few friend's houses to trick-or-treat. Phew! And she kept the hat on the whole time!

Hoppy Easter

Hazel loves her new bun-bun and the shrug that matches her Easter dress!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year - Happy New Decade

I was going to write something profound about the past 10 years, but I struggled making this collage and now I forgot what I was going to write. So, here is the last 10 years summed up by 10 photos.  Maybe later I can write something better :)
2000 - Owen and I got engaged
2001 - We graduated college
2002 - We got married
2003 - We bought our first home
2004 to 2008 - Our life BH (Before Hazel)
2009 - We had our baby Hazel

Christmas in a nutshell

Handprint Ornaments

A last minute gift idea for the grandparents. Hazel helped us make these totally adorable handprint ornaments!

I rolled out some Crayola air dry clay and used Hazel's hand to make an impression in the clay. I used a can to cut out a perfect circle, then waited a few days for them to dry. I painted the handprint with watered down pink acrylic paint, then some glitter glue to seal the handprint. Owen helped out by making the paper piece that we spray glued onto the back of it. After it all dried we used clear acrylic sealant to preserve the whole thing! I think they turned out really cute.



I'm not lyrically talented, so we found the poem on this site!

Merry Christmas Eve

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Originally uploaded by trtlgrl

Holiday Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Birthday Owen!

A low-key bday for Owen this year. We had a fondue dinner on Friday night! Saturday, his actual bday, after he took Hazel to Gymboree (while I was at a spin-in) we had lunch with my mom at Red Robin. After lunch she baby snatched Hazel and the two of us went to see the new A Christmas Carol movie. I liked this version. Of course, I think it is probably scary for smaller children, and I'm surprised that Disney would make it scary! But, it is my favorite Christmas story so I was expecting it to be creepy. The animation was so realistic, I forgot that it was animation some times.

For his present, he got this Blendtec blender. Tonight we made Tortilla Soup


It was the smoothest soup I've ever had! A little too much jalepeno though, but it was only 2 servings and we have enough ingredients for a couple more soups. At least they will be fresh each time:)


I also promised to make him a hat and I proposed a few I thought he would like, but he found this one online all by himself - Habitat by Jared Flood. Of course, it would have a million cables. Did I mention the yarn is a charcoal gray (almost black). Yes, I love him that much :)

Goin' to the chapel

at my cousin's wedding.

Trick or Treat

My little Sweet Pea had a fun time trick-or-treating. She got loads of candy (8 pieces), too bad she doesn't know what it is, or that it's yummy. Her little pumpkin bucket overflowed with snickers and kit kats (yay, my favorites) :)

Candles

I adore this picture!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yeah, I turn the big 3-0 today!! Yikes!

When I was little 30 seemed so old to me, but now that I've reached it, I don't feel old at all!  Enjoy the picture of me when I was a little baby, I think I was about 9 months old!

And since it is Thursday, I will add a few things that I'm thankful for :)

Family - I am so lucky to have the best husband in the world and the best baby in the world!
Friends - I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people that I know and consider my friends.  They are awesome and I don't know what I would do with out them!