Couple pictures of the kid

We went to an art opening for a friend at the Main Library last week and Hazel looked particularly lovely. She looks great in dark colors.
And also in whatever she is wearing here. I am pretty sure she is being a "dinosaurus rex".

She is definitely being a bunny here. She wore this costume all evening. She is hilarious in this costume. Everything is funnier when a 3-foot-tall bunny is doing it.

Another day (Friday?) she was a spaceman. I wish I had a better picture of it.

Must go sit by the kid now.

We have a cat.

So, there has been a cat outside our house, basically since we moved in. First it was living on our roof. But lately it has been on the porches and meowing loudly. Hazel really wants a cat. In fact, she is waiting for Geoff to die so she can get a cat. And then along came Rufus* the Reindeer** cat.

*because he lives on the roof

** I don't know why the reindeer, except that reindeer live on the roof.

And then I fed him dog food and he was happy. And then Hazel asked to buy him cat food. So I did. And I guess this means we have a cat. Maybe he is a mouser... Anyway, here is a picture of Rufus. While he was meowing loudly at me from the front porch. Also, a bunch of lathe from the basement. Because apparently we need to keep that. On the front porch. Because our house isn't junky enough.

Hazel's outfit today. Candy cane (sic) dress and hat. And crazy interpretive dance hands.
She is showing off her ponytail holder. It is Hello Kitty and she is very proud of it.
And those are the only pictures I have from the big camera. I am going to do a separate post for the little camera. because they are mostly from Hazel.

Update with kid on the lap

Yes, Hazel is helping update. She likes to type h. A lot. Plus, she just sits and watches for h's and then wants to type them. She would like to spell her name: hazel. Okay, I am back (you don't realize it but that took like three minutes. In my impatience, that is a really long time, and it was probably 30 seconds). Now she would like to spell my name: mom. Okay. Pictures. ***Okay, I still can't use Google Chrome to update, lame.***
Hazel wanted "tiger ears" one day. This was the best I could do.

And here is the ferocious face to go with the tiger ears. I hope this picture doesn't upload blurry. It isn't blurry on my computer, but it is on the preview. Aaaahhhh...stream of conscious blogging.

We had to take many pictures with stars on our faces. Luckily, I remembered to remove them in the car before I went in to work.

Here Hazel is being a T-Rex (easier to spell). You can tell because of the short arms.

Hazel loves the dogs. They tolerate her. But, since Triscuit has been sick rules have been flying out the door. He is allowed on the couch now and any treats he will eat, he can have. So, the relationships are getting better. Nacho even shook Hazel's hand. This is huge.

Love of dogs aside, Hazel really wants a cat. But, alas, Geoff is deathly allergic. So, she decided her potato heads are cats. "Potato Cats". The other day she lined them up, with Charlie (the invisible cat) and had them all watch her ballet. The goggles, I have no idea what is going on with those.

Okay, so we have this weird hole thing in our floor. It has wood that goes over it but you can just lift them up and then there is a hole to the floor joists. Hazel is fascinated with this. As well she should be. Oh, apparently THIS is where she gets it from...

We have extra Triscuit pictures lately.

Hazel wanted to pose with Triscuit. They are being lions. Or tigers. Or maybe even, bears. Who knows.

Fancy dress. Pouty girl. We got this dress at the Costco, because I am lame and apparently that is the only place I shop. Anyway, it was a toss-up between this one and an awesome purple one with green edging (which I loved, but Hazel got to choose). She has worn it at least part of every day since then. If they had the purple one at our Costco (not just Bountiful) I would totally get it too.

So, here is my tear-jerking story of the day. I heard Hazel in her room this morning, when she was first waking up, she was milling around and then I heard her talking. So, I went and spied on her through the doorknob hole* and she was holding Triscuit on her lap, much like this (cont'd after the picture):

and talking to him. She said, "Triscuit, I know you are sick and you are going to die. But, I love you very much and I am going to miss you." And then I sat at the doorknob hole and cried. I didn't think she really knew what was going on, or that she would be upset. I was wrong. I think this is harder on all of us than we would care to admit. It was very touching and very sweet and absolutely heart-wrenching. It chokes me up to just think about it. And just now she asked if we could check on Triscuit because, "He is sick."

* because I live in a house of horrors and we don't even have doorknobs.

Tree! Kitchen! Hair!

Christmas started early this year. Nat, Tim & Alex are in town so we had "Christmas" up there today. Hazel got this awesome, awesome kitchen from Tutu & Auntie Michelle.* And some fake food to play with in it from the Texas family. (not pictured, I believe it is being washed in the sink" And we started to set up our Christmas. I finally bit the bullet and moved to a fake tree. Sure, it is not all pine-y but, as I was stringing hundreds of lights I remembered I hate stringing lights. It is the longest, most tedious part of decorating a tree. So, I want to do this once (One and Done). Which means I need to pay attention to where the tree comes apart for storage. Which leads to this:
Hazel loves the tree and has been putting the candy canes on, even though we are truly not done putting lights on.

This is actually from a couple of days ago. But notice the outfit. Socks with sandals! Eek. Notice the stance as well, this is totally an action outfit.

And then it got better. My kid is crazy.

Also, as a side note: Hazel and I just ate some delicious ham and cheese quesadillas that were made in her microwave (okay, so they were really made in the real microwave and finished in her's but it is the thought that counts and she thought it was awesome). How sad is it that my kid has a nicer kitchen than I do? And, if I count the doll houses, a better functioning house...I have got to get something down on this place.

*Not that I am complaining, because I did agree to this kitchen but it took me almost THREE hours to put this dang thing together. People make fun of how long Ikea stuff takes to assemble. Let me tell you, that is NOTHING. There were 216 pieces that I assembled by hand. Plus, the entire time Hazel was "helping" because she was so. excited. to. have. a. kitchen! At least she loves it, because there is nothing worse than putting in hard labor for your kid and then getting, "meh."

Whoa. That's a lot of pictures

In no particular order (because, dude, Blogger uploads pictures stupidly, and then I have to move the code to keep the pictures clickable, so just deal with it.)

Geoff and Hazel unpacked the Halloween decorations a while ago and Hazel found this: A GIANT LADY HAND! ACK!
Oh, and we went to the zoo. At the begining of October, I only remember because I got off work early because of the ground breaking for our new building. But, this zoo trip was special because we took the camera. Here is Hazel and mama on the elephant. She has never been brave enough to stand in front of the elephant while he sprays but this trip she did and it was hilarious. If I was a better mom, I would have video. One day you will have to come to the zoo with us and see it for yourself. And then keep it in your brain, because I will probably never make a video of it.
Oh, and Hazel sat on the rhino statue with NO HANDS! Oh, what a brave little girl.

And Hazel and Geoff rode on the carousel. Hazel is riding on the panda bear because she has a panda bear on her shirt. I love the little look in this picture.
Oh, and I was attacked by an alligator. Hazel jumped on the alligator's back and tried to scare it off with ummm....I got nothing. I don't know what she is doing. But, she obviously didn't care that I was being attacked.

Hazel normally hates the snake slide, but she went down it a couple of times. I think it helped that there was another little girl there.
Apparently we are done with the zoo. We had some packaging from ummm... a package? and Hazel found it and LOVED it. She dressed in it for days. And the kitty dressed in it. Good times. Maybe one day we will be able to afford real clothes for her (stupid economy) until then, she is happy wearing brown paper.

Oh, back to the zoo. We were being those gopher things. The name of which is currently escaping me. You know what I mean. At the zoo. With the faces. And they live in holes.
One day Hazel got in the Sharpies. Or Shapies as I call them. Geoff was having some asthma issues, laid now for a bit and this was the result. Hazel and the mermaid have matching drawings. ALL OVER! And the wall. And my computer desk. And probably other things we haven't found. And this was a while ago.

Hazel and Geoff found a praying mantis. And then it attacked. The praying mantis (or A praying mantis) reappeared today on our back window. Weird.
Just highlighting the fashion choices of my child.

And more.
Oh, and this was today. We went to the farmer's market and Hazel decorated a pumpkin. It was a witch.

Oh, the eyes fell off. Luckily, the mama has some glue and I was able to save the eyes. However, it is doubtful the pumpkin will ever be able to play the piano.
Tattoos: Oh, and we went to the bird zoo (aka Tracy Aviary) today for free day. Hazel was tired. Before the bird zoo (aka bird park) we walked to the game store (about 1.5 miles) and back and we walked around the farmer's market (see the above pumpkin) and we walked to the bird zoo. Thus, she was really tired. So tired, in fact, that she fell asleep about 6:30pm whilst we were lounging on the couch (Geoff is at work tonight) and has stayed asleep.
Geoff and Hazel skating board. They are super-cute. Notice Hazel's safety gear. She found Geoff's knee/elbow pads in a donate box.* She is in love with them.
A tea party with Dr. Evil.

Hazel adores Nacho.
The feeling is less than mutual.

*Okay, so we are in the process of buying a new house and let me tell you. It is a pain. We have nine years of junk accumulated in this house. NINE YEARS! That is a lot of stuff. And now we have to sort it, pack it, donate it, toss it and/or move it. Exhausting.

Update hjsll8ne

So, now that I am not studying every night, I thought I would update more. I thought wrong. Instead, I am spending my nights (a) being sick, (b) reading and (c) finishing painting the outside of our house.

Also, I made sweet rice with mangoes. And it was delicious. And then Hazel dumped the bag of uncooked rice on the floor. Click and make the picture big and you can almost see the true extent of the mess. Also, notice the outfit.
Hazel loves babies. Real babies. Doll babies. Any babies. And she loves for them to go home, or preferably not to come to her house in the first place. Real babies that is, she is fine with doll babies at our house. Notice two in her shirt.
Because a baby in the hand is worth two in the shirt. Or something...
And, she asked me to take this picture. Notice everything. Hazel in a swimsuit, the sock (?!) on the handlebar, not to mention the towel. That kid is a kook.
Hope this is good, mom. It is all I had. :)