She makes me laugh and cry

Hazel is getting smarter all the time, and she copies what we say and do constantly.  She comes up with the funniest things.  She can also be very difficult.

Some of Hazel's new phrases are one night and all the time.  Here are some examples: "I saw that man walking one night."  "Did you buyed that frame one night?"

 Hazel was with Whitney and Whitney was pointing to dragonflies and Hazel said, "I see dragon flies all the time" as if it's no big deal.  I saw her dancing in the room and she said to me, "I dance with Dad all the time."  It's even cuter if you know her little voice and how she says it.

 The first month after Hattie was born was kind of rough for me and I had a few meltdowns, and Hazel let me know all about it.  We were sitting on the lawn on a blanket and she was running around and playing and then she would come over to the blanket and put her hands on her head and put her head down on the blanket pretending to pout and say, "I can't take this" then she would get up and play and do it over.  I couldn't help but laugh.

Hazel was getting better with Hattie for a few weeks where I felt comfortable leaving them in the same room, but now I'm not so sure.  I heard a thump in the room the other day and then screaming.  I went in the room to find Hattie on the ground.  I think Hazel tried to pick her up and she fell off the bed.  Luckily Hattie was fine.  Last night I heard Hattie coughing in her bouncer, and I went in the room to find Hazel putting a triscuit down her throat.  Recently, Hazel has had a biting problem.  She bit me on the arm, and I have a huge bruise that is finally going away.  Brendan caught her with Hattie's fingers in her mouth the other day and she bit them.

Hazel has a nickname for Hattie.  She calls her Patty.  It's weird because she knows how to say h's.  When we have her slow down she can say it, so sometimes you will hear her say Hat - tie.

When Hattie is crying, Hazel will sometimes say, "Mom, the baby is grumpy."

Two weeks ago we took a family bike ride up to BYU.  Brendan and I were on the tandem with Hazel in the front seat and Hattie in her car seat in the bike trailer.  We were going down the hill by the Clyde building when our brakes went out.  Brendan turned onto the grass which is lined with metal poles and rope to keep people off.  The rope caught a hold of our bike and ripped out a few poles until we came to a stop.  Unfortunately the rope caught a hold of Hazel's leg and gave her rope burn.  It took off quite a bit of skin and she was screaming.  We felt bad because she was the only one that got hurt, and we were fine.

Brendan was telling what happened to his grandpa, and he was saying how he had to make a decision whether to keep speeding down the hill and crash or turn into the poles.  A few days later I was taking the kids on a walk up to campus to visit Whitney and we walked by the poles and Hazel said, "Dad had to make a cision over here.  Then for Family Home Evening we watched the movie The Pioneer Miracle (which Hazel wanted to watch 4 times) and the girl says that she had to make a decision and she made the wrong one.  During that part Hazel kept saying, "The girl made a cision.  Dad taught me that."

Apple Pie

Whitney thought an apple pie sounded good the other day, so I decided to make one.  I used an all butter crust recipe from Smitten Kitchen and thought it turned out really well.  I don't usually make pies, because I hate making the crust, but it wasn't all that hard.  I have a pastry frame my sister gave me, and I love it.  The dough doesn't stick, and it makes it easy to see what size you need to roll it out.  For the filling, I just used a recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  It was great with ice cream!  I made it on Sunday and probably needed two more apples, but couldn't run to the store, so next time it would be piled a little higher.  

Hattie's 2 Month Stats

Height:     23 inches          75th percentile

Weight:    11 lbs 10 oz      90th percentile

      Head:      38 cm                50-75th percentile

Hattie continues to be a great baby.  As you an see she has spit up in the corners of her mouth.  She was spitting up as I was taking these pictures, but other than that she is great.  She started sleeping a full 8 hours at night in her bassinet!  Hazel still doesn't sleep that long at night.  She usually wakes up around 4:30 am and comes to our room.  Hattie has been mistaken for a boy 3 times when she wasn't wearing a bow on her head, so I try to keep her looking girly.  

The New Cupcake?

Cupcakes have been popular for quite a while now (and I still love them), but from what I've heard french macarons are the new cupcake.  They've been around for a while, but I just discovered them about a year ago, but not many local places sold them.  I've recently seen them popping up in more bakeries around here, and at farmer's markets.  They are made from a meringue shell with a buttercream filling, and they just melt in your mouth.  They come in many colors and flavors.  Salted caramel and key lime are some of my favorites.  

I've heard they are hard to make and kind of finicky, so I bought the book i love macarons and decided to try them out.  I just wanted to see if they turned out, so I didn't try anything fancy, just vanilla on vanilla.  My sister Whitney came over and helped, and we had a good time.  There are a lot of steps, including grinding almonds into flour (much cheaper than buying it), but they turned out great.

I heard the most famous macaron shop, Laduree, just opened its first location in the U.S in New York a few weeks ago.  Their stores are eye candy.  Check them out online.   

I was informed by Brendan and Whitney that they've heard pie is the new cupcake.  After googling it, it seems to be cupcakes are dead and pie is hot for 2011, but just in March the Today show was calling the macaron the new cupcake so who knows.  I like cupcakes, macarons, and pie.

  

Fruits of our Labor

This year we were able to plant a nice garden in our backyard.  It already had a perfect spot.  Brendan prepared the soil, and I planted all of the plants.  That's about all I did, but Brendan watered and took care of it.  It has done really well.  We have had lots of zucchini, and after a while we stopped picking them and they grew to be enormous.  My sister, Dawn, gave me a great zucchini lasagna recipe.  I didn't get a chance to take a photo, but it is delicious.  Try it.  We also grew beets, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, rosemary, basil, pineapple sage, yellow squash, and tomatoes.  We planted lots of different kinds of tomatoes, and they are delicious.  

Recently we've been eating lots of tomatoes.  We've been having BLT's, bruschetta, and marinara sauce.  I made my own sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden and let it simmer for a few hours.  I also made my own whole wheat pasta.  I even ground the wheat into flour.  I have a Kitchenaid attachment for pasta, and I love it.

Zucchini Lasagna

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning
4 cups zucchini, sliced
1 egg
2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1 32 oz spaghetti sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
9 lasagna noodles
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cook lasagna noodles and set aside.  Saute onion and garlic in olive or vegetable oil.  Add Italian seasoning.  Add zucchini and cook until tender.  Add egg, Swiss cheese, and cream of celery soup to vegetable mixture.  Set aside.  Combine spaghetti sauce with vinegar.  Place 1/2 of spaghetti sauce mixture on bottom of 9x13 pan.  Next place a layer of 3 noodles on top of sauce.   Place 1/2 of vegetable mixture on top of noodles.  Sprinkle with  1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Repeat with noodles, vegetable mixtures and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Top with remaining noodles and cover with remaining sauce.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Cover with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional five minutes.  Let sit for fifteen minutes before serving.

Hattie's Blessing

Over Labor Day weekend we blessed Hattie, and all of my family was able to come except for my brother who is on a mission.  That's 10 out of 11 kids, and all had to travel from out of state except Bruce and Whitney of course.  It was a fun filled weekend!

On Saturday we went up Spanish Fork Canyon to Brendan's family cabin for swimming and a BBQ.  It started to get chilly in the evening and they always have warm attire in the closets, so it kind of became dress up.  I'm not quite sure what the pirate face is all about.

Our new place has a nice backyard that we have been enjoying all summer.  It was a perfect place for our luncheon after the blessing, and the weather was beautiful. 

Not only was my immediate family able to come, but I had some local cousins and Brendan's relatives also.  We were blessed to have so much family with us. 

Pictures from left to right.  1. All of the sisters in order from youngest to oldest.  2. My two oldest sisters, Brook and Dawn. (Dawn is the oldest.) 3. My mom and Ivy (the youngest sister.) 4. All of the married sisters are sitting with their husbands, and all of the single sisters are standing.  We were going to take pictures of the brothers, but Bruce had already left to go to church, and Blake is on his mission so it left just Bill. 

Hazel was picking up grass and putting it on Hattie's head saying she needed some more hair, and then Hattie happened to spit up which is very typical.  Hattie and I both have to change our outfits a few times a day with all of the spit up, but it is getting better now.

Nieces and Nephews enjoying the hammock.  I thought it was going to break with all of the jumping on it, but luckily it held up.

By foot, strollers, single and tandem bikes, a bike trailer, scooters, a skateboard, and a golf cart, we all took a walk on BYU's new trail.  It is a nice cobblestone trail with a creek and waterfalls. (I had to throw the picture in of my dad on the skateboard.  I don't know how many years it's been since he has been on one, but it made me laugh.)