Good Times with Zeke and Hazel: June 2012

Refreshing.

Nothing like kicking back with a cold one after a rough day.

Since they are always singing and asking us to sing the "Rainbow song", we decided to do a Rainbow theme birthday party. We had the party at my parents house and had lots of rainbow themed snacks while we swam. The kids had a blast and it turned out really cute! My friend Beverly took pictures and Katie Madsen did the banner and invitations. It all turned out perfect!! There were a lot of cute pics, so it was hard for me to edit. But here is a smattering of the fun. As usual, Zeke was too excited to hold still for a pic. But Beverly managed to get a few cut pics of him while he played!

Somewhere over the Rainbow...

The food table.

The full menu was a fruit tray, veggie platter, Trix Treats (Trix in stead of Rice Krispies), Colors Goldfish Crackers , Cupcakes, Marshmallow kabobs, Mini Corn dogs, 12 layer Jello-o and Skittles, Twizzlers, M&M's, Lollipops, and Rolos (you need a pot of gold, right?) to add some more sugar to the already sugar-heavy list. Awesome. I might have gone into a sugar coma. Then at the last minute, Jake informed me he was making a rainbow cake. It was amazing. He may do his own post on it later.

Fruit Kebobs my Amanda

My cupcakes were rainbow also. Layer by layer. They turned out so yummy!

The infamous Lough 12-layer Jello. A thanksgiving staple at our house, but it needed to be at the party. NEEDED.

Yummy food!

Katie Madsen designed the banners. Turned out SO CUTE!!

Jake's awesome Rainbow Cake.

My mom made these super cute outfits for the twins. And as a surprise, she made these amazing Dolls. Love it!

Hazel and her dolly eating some corn dog

Zeke trying out the veggies. He's not a fan.

Zeke with "My April."

Sweet girl!

Hazel getting into some yummy food

Hazel and "Papa", showing off her mermaid

Hazel with the Onan twins Eily and Maya. These girls are so sweet and mellow. Love them!

I'm ready for the pool!!

We love the pool!

Gimme some Cake!!

Ready for some cake!

Happy Birthday to you!


Showing off his masterpiece.

Pinata time!!!

Zeke trying to getting on the action.

After giving each kids a turn (Ethan was a champ!) Daddy helped Zeke break it open.

Hazel had no interest.

But we helped her get some candy any way we could.

She eventually got the hang of it.

Zeke loved his new trains. And the pinata carnage.

Thanks to everyone who helped out and all the friend who came! We all had a blast!

Zeke and Hazel turn 2

It's official. Zeke and Hazel are now 2. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we planned a big birthday bash (pics to come). On the day of the actual birthday, we got together at my moms with my parents, Uncle Jeff, and a few friends. We ate, went in the pool and had a great time. Listed below are some fun facts about the ~~babies~~ kids now that they are so big and grown.

We're 2!!

Zeke: Zekers, Zekey-weeky (Hazel calls him that, Buster, Buster-boo, Buster-brown, Buster-weeky (another Hazelism), etc, etc

-Not in any way shy. Will come up to complete strangers and say hi.
-Very active and boy-ish. Bordering on completely crazy. He's like a tornado of energy and destruction.
-Loves trains, firetrucks, planes, helicopters and the like. Makes sounds when he sees them or plays with them. Awesome.
-Loves to "drive" the car and asked to constantly.
-Very particular about his applesauce. And pretty much any food which is super fun. The dinnertime battle of "just one more bite" doesn't make us crazy at all.
-Never really is upset about going to time out and often asks to go to time out.
-Calls April "my April."
-Super clumsy. Unfortunately, this is a trait he got from his mommy.
-Won't stop for one second, much like Grandpa Steve.
-Doesn't like to settle down for a nap, but once you force him to, he is out in no time. This often takes a few trips into his room to get him to go back to bed.
-Is definitely a morning person and often wakes up on Sunday mornings at 6am. Awesome.
-Loves to play with computers and Ipads.
-Loves books. Can sit for almost an hour just looking though books.
-Loves any type of puzzle. He plays games on the Ipad that are puzzle games and is very fast at solving them.
-Loves to count to 20, say his ABC's and knows his colors. Often does this at the top of his lungs at church.
-Loves to sing songs, especially ABC and Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
-Constantly asks to watch a "show." Darn TV! He also loves to watch the trains on Youtube.
-Asks to go outside all the time. He loves to play outdoors.
-Super happy most of the time and loves to play. Easily brings a smile to anyone's face with his giant grin. We're still not sure how he got Mick Jagger's mouth, but there it is.
We love our Buster!!!

Hazel: Hazel-Rae, little sister, sis, Hazy, honey-bunny, Curly-Sue, Princess, etc, etc.

-Is VERY shy around people. She doesn't really like crowds and gets freaked out sometimes when we go to crowded places. But adjusts rather quickly.
-Although shy at times, she is completely crazy at home or around friends. She is extremely silly and goofy and loves to make people laugh.
-Loves kitty cats, doggies, and pretty much anything fluffy.

-Always wants to play with whatever toy Zeke is playing with.
-Is very maternal, she is always helping out take care of Zeke by giving him food, drinks, trying to change his diaper, etc. She often takes two of something so she can give one to Zeke.
-Also loves to pick on Zeke and make him cry. Its a interesting relationship.
-Loves to cuddle. She will often pretend to be sad so that she can sleep in "Mommy's bed." I don't mind the cuddles, until 3 am when I get kicked in the face.
-Is very light on her feet and balanced, can do amazing things sometimes with how balanced she is. That would be Jake's genes.
-Everything is either green, pink or orange. Still working on learning colors.
-Counts to 20 and does her ABC's like a champ.
-Calls Jell-o "bouncies."
-Knows all the words(ish) to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I Am a Child of God, Twinkle Twinkle, Row your boat, Ring Around the Rosey, Popcorn Popping, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Kumbaya, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Day-O (Banana boat song), Down by the Bay, and many many many others. And she sings them ALL THE TIME. Half the time, she makes up her own songs to sing. And when you try to sing along she says "No Mommy (or Daddy), NO!" Meaning she wants to sing by herself. She knows the Raffi CD's at daycare by heart.
-Loves to perform and get praised. Possibly a bit high maintenance?
-Very silly and Giggly and constantly gets attention for how tiny and cute she is.
We love our little Hazel Rae!

Disneyland 2.0

We had the second day of our pass to use to go to the California Adventure park. Since its a much smaller park, we didn't make a full day of it. We stayed most of the day, went on a few rides (the twins LOVED the new Little Mermaid ride. We went on that three times!) and watched the mini-parades. We stayed around to watch the new World of Color thing, but they were so tired and cranky by then and we had horrible seats(!), so we left after about 8 minutes. It seemed pretty cool, but yikes. Not worth the 2 cranky toddlers. Anyways, on the way out of the park, we got to see the Disneyland fireworks from the street, which they enjoyed a lot more anyways. In the comfort of their cushy stroller. Jealous.