Hazel turns 6!!

Since we just moved to TCI - Hazel didn't have a chance to meet very many kids before her birthday so we got to have our first toned down birthday. The day before her birthday (Sat) we picked up her little friend Mikaella from the branch and went to the smurf movie at the new movie theatres here. The kids loved the movie - expecially the ridiculous villan. Then we went out for Pizza and home to play for a bit. I made cupcakes and the kids decorated and devoured them. On Sunday we had cake twice. One of the benifits of having a tiny primary is that we can get away with bringing cake to church and singing happy birthday! On Sunday afternoon Hazel helped me decorate her cake and we sang again and had more cake. So it was a pretty laid back birthday - I felt a little sad that we didn't get to have a big party with kids - but we promised her we would make it up to her next year!

Hazel is such a great little girl - in a nutshell she is creative, has a great imagination, loves to play with her brother, loves to teach her little brother, is a good helper if she is motivated properly, has the sweetest smile, loves to swim, and play barbies, is very into fashion, is already on her second crush,  is getting better at letting me do her hair, is finally growing out of her night terrors, hates to be too hot or too cold (just like me), loves playing with her friends, misses home and especially her cousins, loves her new school,  dreams of going to NYC to see central park and the statue of Balto the dog, is a great little artist, wants to be a teacher when she grows up and is SO funny. 

I LOVE having Hazel around and I'm so excited for the future - it will be amazing to watch her grow and learn.

 even without a big party - she still did OK for presents!

 strawberry shortcake on the beach - complete with REAL sea shells and hand crushed sand that Kyle painstakingly (is that a word?) made out of cookies

 she was sad when she finally lost (pulled out herself) her second front tooth and found that she didn't sound as

funny as she tought she would - especially while singing "all i want for christmas is my two front teeth.

eatin cake with milk just like her daddy

New tricks at the pool

I thought it would be fun to show what Hazel and Dekker work at while they swim.

Hazel has been trying to master the hand stand. It's been rough for her because she refuses to stop plugging her nose. So she should get extra points for the one handed Hand Stand!

Dekker decided last week to go from life jacket to nothing. This is a couple days later. It scared me at first, but anytime I try to help him I get in big trouble because "I am a BIG BOY!"

The worst day of my whole life!

Dekker is already turning into a pesky little brother.  He loves to throw and kick and poke and hit everything (including his sister). He never does it meanly, hitting is just a fun game to him. It's strange, I know at some piont this will bug me, but right now it makes me smile because he is just such a boy!

A couple of weeks ago he was poking Hazel right before supper and she came to me bawling uncontrollably.  She kept saying "this is the worst day of my whole life."  Of course I had to give her a real tight hug so she wouldn't see my smiling.  She was right -it may have been the worst day in her 4 1/2 years of life.  But how great is that?  We are very blessed to have a very plain, normal, lovely life.  We always have food, we have a nice little house, and we love each other.  I know life isn't always gonna be this uncomplicated, so I am enjoying every second of it!