The "other" camera

First up, we all went to the dentist* today and no cavities for anyone! Hooray! This was the most official visit yet for Hazel and she did AWESOME. The dentist even remarked at what a great job she did and wondered what we did to prepare her for it. Sadly, we did nothing. We get no good parent points today. Except for the whole good dental hygiene thing. Plus, I love how relaxed she looks in the chair. Okay, everything else is in random date order from the last month-and-a-half or so.

Girls' brunch out at Porcupine. Mmmm....Porcupine. For Shauntil's birthday. I believe this was the day after we got back from Vegas (don't worry, Vegas pictures are coming up).

Swimming while my mom was in town. Her hotel's pool was broken and then cold and so they sent us all to Dimple Dell which was still kind of cold but not broken, plus it was giant way more giant than the hotel pool. We had a great time. Plus, this is the first picture where I can totally see Hazel got my smile. Poor thing, she will never have an upper lip...

The AF Omans were swimming too. This was the best picture I have of Hazel and Gloria. The rest of them make it look as if Hazel is drowning Gloria. But I promise she was just hugging her!

Hazel at her favorite store. If you look at the big picture you can see that I am reflected in one lens and Geoff is reflected in the other. I would also like to point out that we almost never let her take toys into stores so it was a special treat for her to take the Care Bear.

Remember yesterday when I said that the Oman girls take odd pictures? See:

And then this:

Okay, so we went to Vegas in March. Me, Anne, Jesse and Jenni. My step-brother John was a dancer at the Tropicana (the show closed and so now he will be dancing on a cruise ship, and I will visit him there!!). So, we went to see his show before it closed. We also did a little sightseeing. While we were at the Bellagio we saw these girls taking pictures whilst leaning over their cameras to get their heads in the picture with the ceiling. I was enamored with this:
I took a ton of pictures whilst leaning over my camera. And then Jenni stuck her head in one. If you flip through the whole sequence of pictures it is hilarious. Especially on the impossibly long drive home from Vegas.**

These are the best group shots I have. After John's show, in front of the showroom.
And then at the Bellagio gardens. Man, I am a slob. Why am I wearing a t-shirt? I rarely wear t-shirts, outside of manual labor and sleeping. Blah to being a slob.

Finally, any ideas of what I should get my mom for Mother's Day? Apparently, it is THIS weekend!! I should have figured this out earlier and got her a present while she was in town last week. Worst. Daughter. Ever.

*Okay, new dentist update. He was pretty nice. I liked him. We used to go to another doctor but he moved to Oregon, which is kind of far to go for dental work. So, this dentist bought the practice and since we are lazy and already had appointments we stuck with this guy. He did a great job explaining things to watch and took care of the kid. I will be back in six months.

** I realize I am spoiled. I flew down and only had to ride in the car on the way back.

Happy Boxing Day

I haven't posted in a while but it has been BUSY. New house + old house+ job + Christmas + life = no time for website. Boo-to-the-hoo. Anyway, I downloaded all our pictures and what follows is my rambling about some of those pictures. Enjoy.


So far, it has been a fairly uneventful Boxing Day. Geoff had to work, Hazel and I lounged around until 8-ish.* We have played many rounds of tea party, blocks and hanging dresses in the closet. Oh, wait, I really meant to talk about Christmas and whatnot.
A couple weeks ago we had our cookie party and it was, again, fabulous. And I got this adorable picture of Hazel with Nate & Orson. They are all fairly close in age and, obviously, ADORABLE.

Hazel decorate a lot of cookies after everyone had left. The red sprinkles came out rather quickly.

But, that didn't much matter as mostly Hazel just likes the frosting.**

Apparently, our child is a hologram. This is a fairly new development and we are hoping to cure her. We got a new camera and it is lighter, cheaper and hardier than the D-SLR. Thus, Hazel has been taking a lot of picture. There are a lot of fuzzy shots of the floor and/or her finger but once in a while she gets a good one or two. Digital is awesome for kids.

Cousin Ben

Auntie Jenni. And a tiny bit of finger.

Hazel got everything she asked Santa for: light-up toothbrush, her very own toothpaste, a closet and toys. Santa truly got off cheap this year. Lucky too because I hear he just bought a house of horrors*** and is thus fairly broke. It worked out because Hazel got PLENTY from the relatives.
Just a little holiday FYI, you can always tell a zombie by the hammer and ghostly eyes set in a pale face. Do not be fooled by the happy face.

A week or so I took off work early and Hazel and I went to the zoo. It was pretty cold but there was almost no one there. I love the zoo in the winter. The animals are more active, there are almost no people there and oh, no people. Plus, there are plenty of places to warm up, so it isn't too bad. Last year, they had a baby giraffe and we went a couple times a week to watch it grow. Oh, but I digress. Here is a cute shot of Hazel and me at the zoo.

Hazel rocking her mad shades. Or, training to be some sort of law enforcement personnel.

*Seriously, what is wrong with my kid that she doesn't understand a day off means SLEEPING IN! And sleeping in does not equal 7:30am.

**I tossed this bag of frosting after she was done with it. And this was after the party.

***HORROR!!

My Hazel!

Zoe Jane gave Hazel her old bike. Don't worry, Zoe got a new bike. Hazel LOVES her bike. It is still a little big for her but I think she should fit it by summer. And even if she can't she will still try to ride.

I like the worried smile. It seems like Hazel has the worried look a lot.
Walrus.

Scary face. Scary! Face! I like it even better when she has her tongue out with the scary face.
Hazel hair is finally long enough for decent pigtails. Except for the bangs, which we are growing out. But, I think the pigtails are darling. And do a pretty good job of keeping her hair out of her face.
Zoey (as opposed to Zoe, of bike fame) came to visit. The girls had a great time jumping on Hazel's bed. Best of all, Hazel didn't get a single yellow card*.
*You know, for unneccassary roughness. I am so up on my sports terms.

Deep Fried New Year's Eve

So, to celebrate the new year, we (Jenni, mostly) decided we should have a Deep Fried New Year's Eve (DFNYE). This is as delicious as it sounds, but deadly.
We had donuts. Covered in sugar.
Also, clockwise, starting from the top. Cream cheese wontons, mini corn dogs, panko covered brie and onion rings.
Also, we deep-fried a Twinkie.
You see how we used whole-wheat flour? It is almost like our batter was "healthy".

We also deep fried: S'mores (which were like 100 times better than the zoo's), ham and swiss rolls, ham and Swiss wontons, pizza rolls, Brussel sprout (only one), my entire kitchen. It is like there is a haze in my house. The brie and the s'mores and the mini corn dogs were the most delicious, in my opinion.

And then we toasted the New Year with mini pigs-in-a-blanket. They were not deep-fried.
Happy New Years!

Cookie Party!!!

We had our 2nd Annual Cookie Party a couple of weeks ago. Okay, maybe one week ago, but it has been a really crazy couple of weeks so it seems like it was a lot longer ago. And I am tired. And don't have the English....diction...

Anyway, I think the party was fabulous. The stupid rice in my chicken soup fell apart (again!) but it was still good and really the kids just cared about the massive quantities of frosting and candy. All in all, I think it was a lot of fun and even though it is always a lot of working to have a party, it is worth it.