Happy Halloween!

Our Little Chicken!

She was so funny in the costume. She's super skinny (only 10% in weight but 95% in height) but her cheeks are huge and oh so kissable. When we put on her poofy costume, all you could see was her huge cheeks and she looked like quite the rolly-polly baby!


She couldn't put her arms down all the way (like in the movie A Christmas Story). And she kept toppling over, from being a bit off balanced.

But she was one cute chicken!

We went to Dan's sister Rebecca's house to trick-or-treat with Jayden and Grace (Indian Jones, and Tinkerbell). All in all, a successful first Halloween for Hazel.

10 Things On My Mind...

1. I'm exhausted! Hazel has been feeding a ton a night and nothing I do seems to make it stop!

2. Hazel cut her second tooth on Wednesday...(this could have something to do with my first point).

3. We just got The Swell Season album, Strict Joy. I'm listening to it this morning. I told Dan it sounds like "Once 2". And he said, "wouldn't 'Once 2' need to be called 'Twice'?" I thought it was quite funny!

4. Hazel's poop smells like poop now! It's gross. (For those who may not know, baby poop smells different...not good, but not gross. Once they start solids more, it all changes)!

5. I'm super excited for Halloween tomorrow. Hazel's gonna be a little chicken! We're going down to Dan's Sisters for dinner and trick-or-treating.

6. Hazel loves pulling herself up to look out the window. She stares out there forever.


7. I'm having a harder time with the fact that Hazel is turning 10 months next week. I don't know why. Maybe cause it's double digits. It just seems too crazy.

8. I can't wait for December! Brian and Kellie will be here, and Pete and Sarah will have their new baby girl. Christmas is great, but Christmas with the whole family is Epic! Brian and Kellie haven't been here for Christmas in YEARS!

9. I've been dreaming a bit about Hazel's first birthday party...I'm thinking a purple hippo theme, but it's proving harder than I thought. So if any of you see purple hippo party things, let me know!

10. It's Friday...Thank you Jesus! At one point, I wasn't sure I'd make it through this week. Hurray for the weekend!

Fun Fall Famliy Fotos!

WARNING: The images you are about to see are dangerously cute. Please proceed with caution.

Yesterday we went to the park near our house to take some family photos. We ended up taking 130!!! These are some of my favorites.


Last year we took these pictures in the same place...What a difference a year makes!


*All photos taken by Dan

Great Date Night

Last night Dan and I had a GREAT date night! We dropped off Hazel and my Dad's in Seattle and headed to Mr. Gyro's in Greenwood for the best Gyro's in Seattle! Their gyros are amazing their falafel is fantastic and their hummus is to die for!


After dinner we headed over to Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford! BEST Cupcake EVER!!! I had the Snowball: chocolate cake, with coconut buttercream and pink shaved coconut. And Dan had Chocolate Peanut Butter: chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream and crushed peanuts.


It was the most fantastic cupcake I've ever eaten! This summer we went to Cupcake Royal and Trophy BLEW THEM OUT OF THE WATER! The cake was so much better, more moist, and flavorful, and the frosting was soooooooo creamy and good. 10 times better at least!


I realize that you may think this post is full of exaggeration...but I stand by every statement I've written!

I'm alive!

I finally feel a bit better this morning! That was 5 long days of feeling crappy!

Hazel's changing constantly...She now primarily crawls on her knees as opposed to her army crawl. She got her first tooth last Wednesday, and it wasn't nearly as awful as I feared it would be. She did quite well; just about an evening of fussiness and that was it! We've been trying to bulk her up for her weigh in in November...She loves cheese, so we've been giving her LOTS! The fact that she likes cheese is just another proof that she's our little girl! (That, and the fact that she has her Daddy's blue eyes). I'm mean she's not eating Goat, Roquefort, Wensleydale, or anything like that, but Cheddar has a special place in my heart as well!


And for randomness, these are some pictures I took while driving last week. The last ones are of the beautiful fall trees! And the first one is of a truck I drove by...Why would you want to advertise that there's ONLY 3% real juice??? What's the other 97%? YUCK! (You may have to click on the picture to see it enlarged).

Flu and Pumpkins

Well it's been a crazy weekend. Thursday night I came down with the flu. I didn't go to the doctor, so I don't know if it's swine or regular, but I would guess swine only cause it seemed mild for the flu. We were supposed to go out to a fancy dinner with Dan's co-workers Friday night, but instead, he brought home Pho for dinner and we vegged out on the couch for the evening. Saturday we just laid low with a few ventures out for errands. I will say that this flu is pretty crummy, but it's a thousand times better than the stomach flu. I HATE the stomach flu.

There's something special about Pho when you're sick

Today the sun came out, so I really wanted to go to the pumpkin patch to get some photos of Hazie Mae...So I loaded up on Advil and we headed to Remlinger Farms. From looking at facebook, it appears that everyone went to a pumpkin patch today. In October, if the weather is nice, especially on a weekend, you have to take advantage.

She got her shoes dirty for the first time!

This evening, we made breakfast for dinner, and just lounged around trying to regain some energy. (I think Hazel has the bug too, but she's been handling it really well). Here are some shots of her crazy curly hair. She was sweaty from the fever, so her hair got extra curly.

Hazel LOVES books

Favorite #9 & #10: Jimmy Fallon and Chuck

I really enjoy watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I think Jimmy's done a great job taking over Late Night. He's humble and hilarious! My favorite weekly bit he does is the Thank You Notes on Fridays. I also really liked the 7th Floor West bit, but that's not on anymore.


Other shows I've been watching this fall: The Office, Parks and Rec, Flashforward, How I Met Your Mother, Castle, and So You Think You Can Dance. 30 Rock starts back up this week, but I have to wait til MARCH for Chuck to start back up! If you haven't seen Chuck, I highly recommend getting the first few seasons and watching them before March! It's a great show!

Crawling

As of Sunday, Hazel has really started crawling on her knees (vs the army crawl she's been doing for months). If she wants something higher, or it's not to far away, she'll use her knees, but she's still faster on her belly, so that's her primary method of transportation!

Last night Dan's Dad was given the Pathfinders Award at the Museum of Flight! The award honors individuals or teams from the pacific Northwest for significant contributions to the aerospace development. John was honored for his work at Boeing from 1965-2002.


It was a black-tie optional event, and so I got to get a new dress! It was so fun to get all glammed up! My friend Lauren Soini makes her own jewelry and she let me borrow a set! You can see some more of her stuff on her website www.ophalenstudios.com. (The necklace I wore is featered on the homepage even).


Here's the whole family: Dan, me, Craig and Rebecca (sister), Dad and Mom, Kevin (brother) and Susie, and Kent (brother) and Ann.


And this picture includes Dan's uncle Barry, his Grandma and Grandpa, and his cousin Elton with his wife Heather.


It was such a special evening honoring Dad and being with the whole family. Plus who doesn't like getting all dolled up once in a while and I think Dan looks so dashing in a suit!