And We're Back!

So, it has been a very long time since we updated the blog, and I think it is time we got back to it. The last post was over a year ago and it is a shame, really, because 2012 was a really great year for us. I'm hoping that 2013 will be even better! I promised my mom that I would get back to blogging and keep the blog updated, so let's give it a shot, no? Let's start with Christmas.

This year, Christmas brought snow with it. Lots of snow. We spent a lot of time at Grammy's house, playing in the snow with our cousins. I left all those pictures at Mom's though, so I will start by posting photos from our Christmas at home. We spent Christmas Eve at Grammy's annual Christmas Eve party, and drove back home just in time to put out some cookies for Santa before we went to bed. Christmas morning, we woke up and found that Santa had indeed visited, and he must have liked the cookies we left for him, because he left us some great gifts!
 

 Hazel waited as patiently as she could for Lisey to wake up, then she ran downstairs like a shot!

 Santa went overboard this year and filled the stockings with so many gifts, they wouldn't all fit in the stockings. Oh, and he brought the girls a Barbie Power Wheels Jeep.

That Santa! He must have been watching our weather forecast, because this came in handy the very next day.

 As usual, Glenn had some crazy gift packing ideas.

 Glenn shows some appreciation for an awesome gift from his oldest daughter.

 She got him a Warrior Dash track jacket because we are all so proud of his skill in the mud races.

 Apparently, there were some holes in Glenn's toolbox, which his dad was happy to fill for him.

 I'm so glad there are at least 10 years before I have to worry about Hazel driving.

 The girls and I decided to make boxes to keep our hand-made ornaments in. So we found some boxes in Grammy's garage and covered them with wrapping paper and Christmas stickers.

Lisey doesn't have many hand-made ornaments yet, but Hazel reminded her that she will be starting preschool in 2013, and you get to make ornaments in preschool. So we made Lisey a box too.

 Our finished products. We are quite proud of them.

We had an awesome 2012, and a really great end of the year celebration. We don't know what 2013 has in store for us, but we are really looking forward to finding out!

Birthday Season, Part 1

Every fall, we celebrate three birthdays in the span of 6 weeks. It is always a crazy time in our house, and this year, it was made more so by the start of preschool. For Glenn's birthday, he said he thought he might like to visit Huntsville and hang out at the lake house with Steph, Richard, and Sarah Kate. So we headed down for a four-day weekend and a birthday celebration.

We started off the weekend by riding Sarah Kate's zip-line.

The girls really enjoyed it, and it was great exercise for Daddy, too!

Even Mommy got in on the action.

After a spin on the zip line, we headed down to the boat ramp and threw rocks in the lake. The girls thought it was more fun to jump and splash and play in the water, though.

Hazel slipped on the algae on the boat ramp, and had a blast falling into the water.

Lisey had to follow suit.

Then it was finally time to get on the boat. Safety always comes first. Thank goodness Aunt Stephanie has Hazel- and Lisey-sized life jackets.
It was a beautiful day for a boat ride.

Mommy and Lisey thought so too.

When it got too hot, we stopped the boat and took a dip in the lake. Hazel thought Daddy was taking too long to get in the water.

Lisey loved swimming in the lake.

And Hazel learned that she could swim on her own in the life jacket.

Glenn got to try wake surfing.

And wake boarding.

And Mommy found out that knee boarding is harder than it looks.

The whole family got a tube ride too.

It started to rain, but Hazel had a blast playing on Aunt Stephanie's iPad and snuggling with Minnie.

Then the big girls came to take her out to play in the rain.

When they got back, Hazel helped Aunt Stephanie and Mommy prepare a special birthday dinner for Daddy.

The big girls baked cupcakes for "Uncle Glenn's" birthday.

And by the time we left, Hazel was riding the zip line all by herself.

Trip to the Beach

While the East Coast was battling Hurricane Irene, we decided to head up to Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It was a bit of a spontaneous day trip, but we all had a blast. We drove up Saturday morning, stopped by the Visitor Center, got our National Park Passport stamped, then headed towards the beach. We set up camp near Mount Baldy, had a picnic lunch, then played in the sand and the water for the rest of the afternoon. After 5-6 hours, we changed, packed up the car, and headed home. It was a great day!

Preschool is Finally Here!

Hazel has been looking forward to starting preschool since we signed her up in the spring. And finally the big day is here!

It was such a big day for her. The calendar told us that today was "Red Day" so we went out to find a red "First Day of School" dress. Hazel loved it!

She has to wear a name tag to make it easy for her teacher to learn her name. And she was so excited to finally get to use the backpack that Aunt Stephanie gave her as a birthday present last year.

Momma wasn't technically supposed to get out of the car at the drop-off. Hazel's teacher got her out of the car, but I jumped out real quick to snag a photo. Naughty Momma.

Lisey watched Mrs. Duley get Hazel out of the car...

...and it slowly dawned on her that she wasn't going to get to go with Hazel...

...and then we drove off and left Hazel at school without Lisey!

But then Momma explained that we were going to get to spend all morning together just the two of us, going to the grocery store and sharing snack time together, and Lisey thought that might just be ok.

And even though we had a great time together, Lisey couldn't wait to go pick up Hazel. Here she is waiting for Hazel to come out with her class.

Hazel was responsible for bringing in the drinks for snack-time today, and that meant that she got to be line-leader. Do you see her up there at the front of the line, behind the teacher?

As soon as Lisey saw Hazel come out with her class, she went running up to her and stood next to her until Mrs. Duley released Hazel to Momma.

Hazel said she had a great day! From what I could gather, she played with the cars, walked on the balance beam, showed pictures of our family at show-and-tell, set the table for snack-time, sat on a pink circle for story-time, played dress-up with another little girl named Macy, played in the sandbox on the playground and got to be line-leader all day. She loves school, she says, and wishes she could be there forever.