The rest of February...

As we near the end of March, it's time to wrap up February. There actually was more to last month than Disneyland and Hazel's birthday - not much, but a few days here and there.

I don't often quote Hazel here. That's mostly because she speaks very articulately and usually makes perfect sense - it's also because I always think I'll remember what she says and then I forget. I do want to mention a few things I do remember. For some reason I was explaining to her that removing corn husks is called shucking and she said, "Aw shucks" and leaned in close and whispered, "that's a joke." "Shucks" also seems to be her favorite oath when something goes wrong. For a few weeks she kept saying that she was all about things... "I'm all about Diego. I'm all about Peanut Butter Puffs for breakfast. I'm all about playing." And she did make us laugh one night last week when she mentioned in passing that she'd like to have two different parents who were prettier. Sorry kiddo - you're stuck with us. :) Oh, and I also thought it was cute that while I was singing her a song one night, she told me I had beautiful lips - we were in the dark. Maybe that means a beautiful song was coming out of my lips? Who knows?

Then one little story about watching her problem solve. We were dining at IHOP one night, and the kids place mat had a search and find game. We had to find someone eating pancakes, someone coloring, a bunch of other things, five people smiling and a glass of orange juice. Hazel counted the three of us smiling, and then unable to find anyone else smiling, she drew two smiley faces on her place mat and later drew a glass of orange juice. Hey, that counts, and I liked how she solved the problem.

Here she is in the passenger seat in a motor home at the Seattle RV show. Boy, did she have fun there. We were ready to go, and she kept inviting us into her little houses. She picked several to purchase.Here's one we did purchase in Tillamook a few weeks later, and Polly Pocket is the perfect size to drive it. It has removable furniture, a slide-out living room, an awning and patio furniture. And if you pull it back, it goes. What great gas mileage we'd get in a motor home, if we could just pull it back and let it go. Eating lunch and helping me make gingerbread cookies for Valentine's Day. I just thought the words on her valentine from us were perfect in describing her. One day I walked through the play room and thought it sure looked spic and span. That's because Hazel had decided to store many of her toys in her tent. Sure, you can pack a bunch in there, but it makes it awfully difficult to locate something specific. Still, in the quest to keep the toys orderly, I let her store her toys in here for a week or so. Than the tent got packed up and put away until she forgets this purpose for it. Ah... nothing beats an evening of car racing with Daddy. She's getting fairly good at speed control. The morning of her birthday, she hung out in Daddy's office for awhile and played with Mrs. Potato Head while pretending to be a monkey... The promised shot of our sighting of the Wienermobile in Tillamook, with Aunt Trudy and Grandma Kitty! Another picture of Hazel in her Rapunzel locks. That's her new purple dress and matching doll dress. Later, at home, she and Merry are modeling their dresses and new hairstyles. After our visit to the Air Museum in Tillamook, housed in a blimp hanger, we happened to catch a television show about air hangers. Very interesting. Then Hazel requested that Daddy make her an airplane hanger, which he did - out of a cracker box. He then decorated it with photos from her various birthday celebrations.