30 days old

OK we are going to o back in time.

back when I was pregnant with Stella

I felt this instant connection with her moving around in my belly.

like I knew every bit of her personality

I knew without a doubt she was a girl and I knew she was stubborn and fearless.

from the second she was born it was like she knew me and I knew her and we were best friends.

Hazel...

is a complete mystery.

mainly because i think she sleeps so much!!

seriously this child loves her sleep.

 

I asked Brian and he says Hazel reminds him the most of me.

I don't sleep so I was completely confused.

He said she is the most laid back and content little girl.

she goes with the flow and doesn't like to make too much of a fuss.

just like her mommy.

I can see that but I think he gives me too much credit :)

I don't always feel so laid back, maybe I just know how to look the part.

 she reminds me of little things about Miss Belle. she is a spitting image of her big sister. she stretches the same and makes the same grunting noises. but then there are obvious differences too. she has wider hands and fingers, her feet are really long and skinny. she have pointy ears and a bigger nose. o and of course she sleeps way more and way better than miss Belle ever did!

(p.s. my absolute favorite picture of her so far!)

 My mom's dad, my Grandpa Gangloff, built these booster seats for his children

like a million years ago. 

OK not really but at least 40+ something years.

 he had 6 children and they each got their own booster. these were passed down and my generation used them growing up. we have had this one for a couple of years and use it every night. I was trying to figure out what how to stage Hazel's monthly pictures and I really wanted to use something that had a good story.

Well what's more perfect?!

My grandpa passed away back when I was in high school

I have a lot of good memories of him and he is greatly missed.

I often think about what he would think about me and my girls now.

what he would build them or what pretty coats he would have gotten them for Christmas.

and I guarantee he would come over and kidnap them from time to time and take them to lunch at skyline.

but Heaven is too far away. 

at least my girls do get plenty of skyline lunches sitting in this booster chair.

 (the blanket was a gift from my husbands company! I love those people! they are the best!)

Happy one month Hazel Gwendolyn

now you can start waking up more during the day so we can get to know you better. 

but keep your night sleep schedule.

mommy really appreciates it.

 deal??

tree 2014

I started this tradition of recording the process of putting our christmas tree and decorations up when we first moved into our first house. I admit I was trying to talk myself into it this year though. As you will see in the ten seconds that I am actually making an appearance in this year's video, I look a hot mess!! We all had colds and I am running on maybe 4 hours of sleep in 3 days and no shower. So the thought of that being on video just wasn't very appealing. BUT then I was struck by guilt because it's Hazel's 1st Christmas and she gets to put the tree topper on so the thought of it NOT being documented was just something I didn't want to live with. SO here you go.....






years past:
2013
2012
2011
so much has changed in the last 4 years!!!!

home school preschool Thanksgiving

so it's only natural that this week for home school preschool we study about

Thanksgiving.

we played a little number matching game with turkey feathers.

i know I am her mother and I have to think like this BUT 

my girl is a genius!

 

 then we made a slide picture show of what she is thankful for. 

i am not sure why she wanted to draw the pictures upside down.

She is special.

 then we spent sometime finding a fun desert we can make to share with our family on thanksgiving

she choose pilgrim cookie hats.

 she loves to cook, create and share in her projects with her sisters.

I am so thankful this year for so many things.

my soul mate 

my 4 princesses

our castle

guard dog

my endless jobs

photography

our extended families and friends

i am truly happy with my life 

wouldn't change a thing.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

home school preschool space week

 Space week.

ugh

lol

I just never really been interested in it.

But my husband is a huge fan! He says his dream would be to be an astronaut. his favorite show is Ancient Aliens. He's not so much into si-fi movies but he is a nerd when it comes to rockets and planets and moons and all that. 

plus his company gets to work sometimes with NASA. He gets to see first hand some really neat things.

so Space week was a topic he asked me to cover in home school preschool.

We checked out these books from the library

Roaring Rockets

Papa, please get the moon for me

I want to be an astronaut

We also watched this video of a real spaceshuttle blasting off!

as soon as she saw all that smoke and the rocket actually going into space she was hooked! she immediately said "I want to do that!" we had to re read all the books over again and she soaked in every little information we learned about space.

We are still reviewing her numbers 1-10 and started introducing a few letters.

so we did a connect the stars to form constellations of the upper and lower case A and B.

 Then we build a rocket puzzle with her name.

 next we dug through our recycle bin and made a rocket.  this was the same day as the video. So you can imagine what she did all day long with this rocket and a Barbie doll she made into an astronaut.

The next day we talked more about the moon.

she licked the icing off her oreos to make a diagram of all the phases of the moon.

then of course she ate them.

 

She also continued her work book 

direction pages and B's and C's

doing home school preschool I am learning so much about my daughter that I never knew and probably never would have had the opportunity to learn. 

this week she found a new love: Space.

 she found a new dream: to become an astronaut.

 Brian and her talked for a long time about all she learned and was very impressed and they had a full conversation about constellations and gravity and rockets. watching them both talking about it and being so excited was definitely worth me having to teach a week about something I don't find interesting.

Daddy's tradition

because of the circumstances surrounding Julia's birth 

Brian wasn't able to be there.

He didn't actually meet Julia until after she was 2 weeks old.

 I remember him coming over to my house after meeting his daughter for the first time and he was almost in tears. He showed me her pictures and talked over and over about how she grabbed his finger and just stared at him.

I will never forget how happy he was to be a daddy. 

I don't want to get into all the details about everything that happened between Brian and Julia's birth mom. because it's not my story and we feel like Julia deserves to hear the whole truth when she is ready for it and that will take place before anything gets put on the internet. 

but I do want to state that my husband is the most amazing dad and from day one he has always put Julia's best interest first and I support 100% every decision he makes for all of our kids. He went to hell and back. and he is a better person because of it.

 everyone that knows him and the whole story are so proud of him.

 so the reason for this post is 

because the day he found out he was a daddy for the first time he went out and bought a red stuff animal dog.

he saved it and gave it to Julia after he brought her home.

Then 5 years later we were at the hospital meeting Miss Belle for the first time he brought in a pink teddy bear for her.

2 years after that a little white kitten for lil Stella

I was so excited to see this tradition continue with Hazel. 

The only difference this time was Miss Belle 

she was beyond so excited for her new baby sister and she really wanted to be apart of this tradition of buying her first stuff animal from her Daddy.

after that first night at the hospital with Hazel I told Brian to run home and pick up a few things we forgot (it was cold and I didn't bring my coat!) 

and to also take Belle with him.

They made a pit stop to the toy store and he said Belle was carefully looking through the whole isle of stuff animals for just the right one.

He had to steer her away from the giant ones 

you know like the carnival sized ones that take up to whole bed.

because that's a big suffocation hazard for a newborn.

I will never forget that big smile Belle had when she burst through that hospital door with a white kitten in hand.

Hazel didn't really bat an eye or say thank you for her gift 

but

this white kitten means the world to Brian and her big sister Belle.

and for me 

all the stuff animals hold a huge place in my heart because they are a tangible proof that my kids have the best Daddy ever!