Hazel Starts Preschool!

Hazel had her first day of real preschool today with Teacher Jo at The Shoreline Children's Center. Considering she had a nightmare the other night about NOT getting to go to school, and she has watched her brother get to go to school her entire life, she was pretty excited. 

 This little Miss has had relatively few wounds in her 3 years, but of course she's sporting this chin one from a little fall just in time for preschool! :(

 

Both her outfit and Q's first day one were both gifted from our fashion adviser Gigi, thank you!

 

 The little a little bit apprehensive look 

She was a little nervous too, and she got clingy at drop off, but then she was fine and didn't even cry! I think it helped that she got into the toys, plenty of ponies, dolls, and dress ups for her there.

 And she enjoyed the light table!

When I picked her up Teacher Jo said she did great and Teacher Diane said she saw her trying to play with another little girl. And Hazel's report, "I didn't cry and I didn't even pinch anyone!" I guess I must have gotten it into her head that she needed to be brave, gentle, and friendly. Way to go Hazel, I can't believe you are such a big girl now (and it's a good thing you didn't catch me crying)! I'm glad I was so busy rushing off and teaching my first day at Froggy Holler to miss her too much.

Pink Party Dress!

 

Just a smidgen late H decided to wear her fancy pink birthday dress today! So I took advantage and gave her the party props to reenact the big day a bit. Plus she was so stinkin' cute I had to capture it!

* Note: Miss. Ella I think all of your "pretty clothes" talk just may have influenced Miss H. ;)*

Hazel's Pals

 Bowling with her pal Josie

At a Library rock concert with her pal Cedella

Oh Won't You Hold My Hand?

Miss H who is into a lot of things these days, she's practically 3 after all, wants to hold my hand ALL.THE.TIME. She especially loves to fall asleep holding it (I know, I know I shouldn't be doing that cause then she expects to have me right there when she wakes up, it's a step I have to take soon...). But it's also when reading books, going up and down stairs even when she doesn't need it, while out and about, and other random times. She is a cuddle bum this girl, even when that just means a hand cuddle. 

Dressing Up the New Hair

With her new do, H just had to get all dressed up for dancing class in one of her flapperish dresses,

 um, and make goofy faces for Mama.

 

 And here she is with her pal Cedella (admiring C's earrings below) with her big ole' new hair clip I made with circles of fabric scraps:

 

The truth is I've been wearing a new hair clip similar to this far more than H, so thanks to her new do I'm sporting new clips too!

Now You See it, Now You Don't

H has been pretty anti hair washing, anti hair do's etc lately, so I decided that she should get a hair cut and take away some of that bother. I was aiming for a shoulder length cut, but it ended up shorter.

H before:

 

H and her 20's era do:

She's happy with it!

Fortunately, her hair grows fast and it's still pretty cute, though I do feel the need to go out and buy her more hair clips! 
Q was in need of a shorter spring do too, and I think he's as handsome as ever with it!

Q before with Uncle Justin before he headed out today:

Q after:

 

Pippi Hazelstocking

H got real braids that lasted all day today. After admiring herself in the mirror, she agreed she was "Pippi" and she called herself that all day.  

 (that tiny tuft of hair right in the middle, which has actually been growing out for quite awhile, is the unsolved mystery of what I'm pretty sure was a "haircut" from one of the kids)

Pippi making a goofy face

H really got into her role today, often correcting me when I called her Hazel, "No, I'm Pippi!"

And no, I haven't read Pippi Longstocking to my kids (though we tried with Q, but it was a little scary with the robbers and all), but they have seen old and seriously low budget versions of Pippi Longstocking for our movie nights. So, H knows all about Pippi and her goofy ways, and her horse, Alfonso. Since H loves horses this was the connection she was making today, that and running around really fast. And Q even played along being Tommy.

One Day It Will Fit

 For that matter one day, not too long from now, it will be too small.

Farm Girl in Pearls

Sparkly Eyes

Sarah has been doing really inspiring posts over at Birth of a Photographer, and though I find it really hard to find the time to actually work on her tips or take gorgeous photos like hers, I do love reading her blog! So here was my attempt at the sparkly eyes tip. I find it so hard to a) get my kids to look at me AND take a good picture with the correct camera settings, b) get good light c) not have them squinting or making goofy faces at me. Picture sessions are always fun anyway though!

Schoolish Time for Hazel

Hazel might not be going to preschool this year, but don't tell her that. She has a pretty hard time leaving the fun space of Quin's preschool room, and is getting more and more ready for preschool type activities herself. But with Froggy Holler and a Mom who wants time with just her, I wasn't ready yet to do a formal preschool this year. So, as a compromise we're doing play and learn preschool-type groups on Monday and Wednesdays while Q is at school! This Monday was the first one at the Shoreline Play and Learn spot and she had a good time. She was pretty into this art project of gluing items onto her paper, and kept wanting "red" items to add. Then she and I had fun in the doll and kitchen area feeding babies, dressing babies, and reading them truck books:

 Those babies needed to know what tractors were after all.

We left a bit early to get Q on time, but I think she'll enjoy this playtime with my focused attention. 

Then on Wednesdays there is a play and learn group at the Shoreline Children's Center where Q goes to school. There we know many more folks through Q's co-op last year and old pals too, so that's fun for Mama! She really enjoyed the circle and singing time there today.

I'm looking forward to watching my little girl grow at "school" this year too!

While the Boys Were Away..

..the girls did play! Besides dress up of course, we did play with dolls a whole lot more than normal, 

 taking her babies for a walk (that's Ella and Cedella fyi)

Mama played seamstress, 

 I am really not a sewer so promise me not to even dare look closely, I made this during naptime over 2 days after all. I have wanted to make this duvet cover for H for a while, mostly from material I'd bought for her curtains. Then it needed matching pillow covers to go with it of course, and the to be tested out immediately by H and all her babies.

We also had lovely book reading sessions, backyard playtime, fun parties to attend and play dates with friends, 

 

cake time at Trez's bday BBQ!

 (my favorite thing about this picture besides the sweetness, and that they did it again just for the camera, is Trezzie's gesture of "ahhh" in the background)

a little island adventure,

and plenty of relaxed meals together. 

 Have I mentioned how much this girl is addicted to corn on the cob?!

And of course I got time to plan FHOP (Froggy Holler Outdoor Preschool)!

But I'm SO excited they are coming home tomorrow, and so is Hazel!

Back to School Dress: The FINAL One!

Ok, yowza, I am deciding any other dresses that may appear in Hazel's closet are NOT HERS, really just shirts, or will magically DISAPPEAR (got that dresses?!?). 40 Dresses, one little girl, that is plenty I say (umm...actually sort of embarrassing really)! In fact, some have already made their way to other little girl friends of ours, some I'm hoarding for when my brother has a cute little girl of his own, and some will hold their place in H's closet, since I know they'll probably still fit for some time. So here we go, number 40, perfect for back to school if I do say so myself!

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She didn't exactly go "back to school" today, but she did participate in a little study (on cause and effect if you're curious) at the UW today, so close enough.

Well, since I just don't know quite when to call it quits, I'm going to make one or perhaps more. Well since I just don't know quite when to call it quits, I'm going to make one or perhaps more giant collages with all these pictures. Because, in reality this was just one big excuse to take pictures of my little girl everyday for weeks on end. I loved the excuse, and the fun we had doing it. Might just have to make a collage of all of her funny faces too! So, just bare with me 'k? ;)

Snow Bunny Dress

Might as well go with the flow here. She actually got her first dress a little wet this afternoon and wanted to try out this one! (I've strategically been putting the already pictured ones up on the top hanger out of reach, tricky me.)

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Happy New Years Dress

Hee, hee. Hey if they can have "Christmas in July" why not "New Year's in August"!? So, H is testing out this cooler weather dress, though it's actually a pleasantly sunny day. This one will be perfect for the holidays, but with dress fest winding down, we had to model it now! 

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 The jewels and purse were part of her fancy well stocked handbag gift from Gigi, as was the dress of course!

Tea Party Dress

We went out for tea this morn with the Roberts (as a mini birthday treat for Chrissy and I) and so H had to get dressed up!

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 Her Easter dress ensemble (from Gigi of course! ;)) was the perfect choice.

The best part was she miraculously didn't get hot cocoa all over it!

Girl Time

The boys are off, in Philly that is! They took off yesterday afternoon and were pretty excited for their adventure together:

H and I are already enjoying our time together, though clearly already missing the boys too. 

Yesterday we went right off for some shopping fun at IKEA after dropping them off. 

Then after a nap in the car (stopped at Dashel and Cassie's for that), and a quick Gwill bins stop (yippee for always finding treasures there!), we met Nami at Lincoln Park. 

 had to bring some snacks along of course!

H insisted that Nami swing next to her, though the baby swing wouldn't quite hold her, so she'd just insist that Nami give her lots of underdogs instead

Which is where this Mama finally got a good bit of time to do that much needed Froggy Holler planning that's been begging to be crossed off the to do list. 

So now, after a bit of play, some work, some chore catch up, H and I are all set for a week full of fun!