April? I hardly knew you...

Man, April flew by. I can't believe we are already well into May. And by "well" I mean, "tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo." I would lament that I have been busy and thus haven't had time to update but the truth is this, I have never been very good at keeping up on the updates. I get busy, it stays light at night and, frankly, I need to watch me some TV. I am lucky if I even TAKE pictures, much less upload them to the computer.

Hazel is still cute. And now will only do weird poses when I take her picture. I don't know what is up with that. It must be genetic, as my step-dad Bernie thinks the Oman girls cannot take a normal picture. Luckily, Hazel has not progressed as far as Jenni and I have. It is probably only a matter of time. Poor kid.

My mom was in town last weekend to get a new dog. (Roscoe, and he is adorable) The AF Omans came up to visit and the kids took a moment to torment the cat. I believe Gloria was chanting, "Brains.....braaaaaaiiiinnnnnsss" but I can't prove that. Also, I don't think she is as obsessed with zombies as my little blonde child.
They did not spend all evening messing with the cat, they also played on the swingset.

Hazel likes to play with her chalk. A lot. I like to keep the chalk on a hook in the coat closet while it is not being supervised. A high hook. I am sure I was not the one who got the chalk down this time. Hazel was surprised at how chalky her face was. I don't know what her arm is doing in the picture. She must have been posing. Because that is what you do when you are COVERED IN CHALK!!

Geoff has had like a week off. Of course. Because he gets a lot of days off and I have to go to work. And it is extremely unfair. One day last week he decided the best use of his time would be to copy the little picture from Hazel's puzzle onto the Magnadoodle. Immediately after he was done, Hazel erased it. Luckily, I took a picture so Geoff can remember the good times...

Oh, so one day Hazel was in going to the bathroom. It is great that she can finally go to the bathroom by herself (I just installed low toilet paper holders that she can reach, now we have two per bathroom, awesome). HOWEVER, this does not mean she should be left in the bathroom for long periods of time by herself. By the time Geoff went back there the sink was overflowing because she had shoved toilet paper in the sink drain (and we are old school without an overflow drain thing at the top) because "the fish needed to swim." Geoff helped her dig the toilet paper out and I took a picture. We both have our roles. Look how Hazel almost looks like she feels guilty for flooding the bathroom.

Finally, Hazel got earrings. She is VERY proud.

Other things we have done this month:

• Played with the neighbor, Jack, a lot. Hazel loves Jack and Jack loves Hazel. They play together very nicely and it is awesome to have a kid Hazel's age (he turns three this week) to play with.
• Walked to the dog park, a lot. Nacho is missing Triscuit, and likes to play with the other dogs at the park. But only if we are in the park too, she freaks out if we put her in there and try and play on the playground.
• Today Hazel and I went to the Utah Museum of Natural History (free day!) and Hazel got to be one of the volunteers for pulling the tablecloth off the table. She was very good and so proud about doing a good job.
• Hazel is starting to read. Good and bad because it is getting trickier to spell things around her.
• Trips to the zoo. The bird show is back after the Winter hiatus and the elephant is due in July!
• Worked on the basement. It is getting closer, I promise! We used all 30 (!) sheets of sheetrock and still need more. We have, of course, had a bit of scope-creep but we are almost done with the re-framing and then can finish the sheetrock. It is getting there.
• Geoff's cousins, Corey and Ryan, were in town for a week or so. They were great fun and Hazel adores them. She wants to go visit them in Hawaii next. I am supporting her in this.
• Probably some other stuff too but it is getting late and Hazel is sitting on my lap waiting for me to read her stories.