Hazel and Jude turn 3!

It was so fun to be able to celebrate Hazel and Jude's 3rd birthday with lots of family! They have come so far in their 3 short years of life and we are so grateful for how well they are doing. 

 Jude LOVES trucks and was thrilled about the book (a garage sale find!).

 Hazel and Jude LOVE stuffed animals. Jude mostly likes monkey stuffed animals. Hazel likes several different ones.

 Trains!

 They both got bikes from Nana and Papa!

 Of course, Nona was the first one to sit on the bike. Hazel and Jude were a little scared and overwhelmed.

IMG 0676 from Noel Snyder on Vimeo.

Apple Picking

We had such great fall weather for a little while and tried to take advantage of lots of outdoor activities. I took the kids to another farm where they could play, see animals, and take a wagon ride to pick apples. They still talk about it all the time!

 Hazel decided to take a seat to watch the pigs. Jude followed.

 Driving the tractor was a hit! It was fun until they all started fighting over whose turn it was. 

 The GIANT sand box had tons of trucks and other sand toys to play with. Jude could've stayed in here all day. It was ENORMOUS (the picture doesn't show it).

 The wagon ride was the highlight of the day. The kids have never been on a wagon before and Nona keeps telling me "bump apple" all the time (translation: we went on a bumpy wagon ride to pick apples)

 None of the kids like eating whole apples at home (they like them sliced and sometimes need the peel off). But, they devoured them on the wagon!

Apple Cider

I love our annual apple cider making tradition. And I'm glad we were able to participate this year!

 The kids loved helping Uncle Kevin wash the apples.

 Hazel had a blast throwing the apples into the press.

 Hazel is so shy and so I found it especially sweet that she wanted to help Great Grandpa with the apples.

 Nona soon lost interest and starting banging this golf club in the wagon. Lovely.

Nona and cousin Jett enjoyed drinking the freshest cider around!

The Farm

I took the kids to Anderson and Girls recently and they loved it! I thought we were going to do apple picking in addition to visiting the petting zoo, but apparently there is no apple picking during the week unless you're part of a school group. Bummer. But, the kids had a blast and keep asking to go back to the farm.

 Jude loved sitting on this turtle and asks to wear his turtle shirt almost every day.

 Driving a tractor. How fun!

 Jude was crying and asking me to help him get up in this truck. I told him I couldn't help him (I was helping Hazel and Nona do something else). Next thing I know, he climbed up by himself. Where there's a will, there's a way. 

 They LOVED throwing food to the ducks. They thought it was also hilarious to throw leaves and rocks to the ducks.

One of the goats was wandering around and Jude and Nona loved petting it. Hazel pet it, but was not as into it as the other 2.

Funnies

The kids say a thousand funny things a day that I always think I'll remember, but at the end of the day, I never do. So, I'm trying to start recording the ones I do remember. And I'm hoping to get some updated pictures up very soon as well.

Jude:
He loves to say what things are and what things are not (ex: I said we were going to get in the car the other day. He said, "This is not a car. This a van".) My favorite was when we were out on a walk and someone made a comment about our triple stroller looking like a bus. Jude said, "This is not a bus. This a black stroller."

Jude loves to make up words and then ask himself why he's saying them. "Why's Jude saying "... (fill in the blank with a made-up word)"?

Jude also likes to ask why he's playing with different things. "Why's Jude playing with kitchen, Daddy?" "Why's Jude playing with scooper?"

I'm often "on" Jude about his table behavior. The other day, I told him not to wave his fork in the air. He said, "Only airplanes go in air". Yes, Jude, that's right. Now please listen to yourself.

Jude brings me things from the carpet all the time (a fuzzy, a hair, a crumb) and yells, "A piece! A piece!" every time. One time it was a piece of poop. I nearly died.

Jude climbed in the oven of the play kitchen recently and then said, "What's Jude doing in the oven?" I don't know Jude. You tell me.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He said, "A cupcake." I said,  "Do you want any new toys or clothes?" He said,  "No just a cupcake with peanut butter on it (frosting)". Easy to please!

Hazel:
The other day, Hazel was standing on her Tiny Bear Bible and said, "Look Mommy! Hazel standing on the Tiny Jesus Bear!"

When I asked her if it was okay to not listen to mommy, she replied, "That's very naughty naughty."

"Where's Daddy? Hazel LOVE Daddy." upon waking up in the morning.

When she carries her baby around, she is often saying, "Oh honey honey honey. Oh baby."

I asked her a few weeks ago if I was cool or weird. She said, "Mommy weird. Hazel cool." Later she added, "Daddy and Nona cool too. Jude weird."

Hazel came walking out of the bathroom recently and said, "Hazel looking good."

Nona was chewing on a shoe and Hazel looked at me and said, "That might be a shoe, not a snack."

She uses the words might and maybe a lot. She often says, "That might be neat." or "That might be nice." or "Maybe that might be fun." It's almost always hilarious the way she says it.

She was singing "This old man" recently and I heard her sing, "This old man, he played one, he played nick paddy on my bun". Ha! I have to catch these things very sneakily because she won't sing if I'm around. In fact, if I walk in the room, she immediately stops or says, "No mommy listen. No mommy come in this room. Mommy get out."

Anything that happened in the past is "last night" according to Hazel.

Nona:

Every meal time involves Nona running to the table yelling, "Lunch, lunch!"

She says "Hewwo Daddy. Buh-bye Daddy." about a million times a day.

Whenever she pushes her baby stroller around, she says, "Choo-choo! Choo-choo!"

At the table, she often asks for more milk by saying, "more nook". Then Jude says, "Why's Nona saying nook?" and then laughs his head off.

Remembering quotes

Jude-
Whenever we get to the library, Jude says, "We made it at Seattle!". The library is about a mile away. I'm not sure why he thinks it's Seattle.

Jude is really into elevators, hotels, and swimming pools. That's probably due to our recent move, which involved 5 nights in Hotels, taking elevators to our hotel rooms, and swimming in pools. Anyway, he often plays in his closet saying that he's in the elevator or he made it "at" the hotel or he's in the pool.

Jude loves riding his red car around the house and often calls it Grandma's black van. :)

When something is hot, Jude always says, "It's too hot hot."

Hazel-

Hazel is often a helper and puts herself in the mom roll. She often says, "Here jude, I help you. I helping jude, Mommy."

Nona-
If you ask Nona where anything is, her response is always "room". Nona, where's your doll? "Room". Nona, where's your blanket? "Room". Etc.

Adjusting to Michigan

We knew it would take the kids awhile to adjust to Michigan. I never knew how much they would pick up on my own frustrations about the house and area we had upon moving until Hazel started saying, "This is not a nice house. I want to move back to Washington. I want my own room again.". They are doing much better, but often say they want to go back to Washington. I don't think they really know what that would mean. They LOVE seeing their grandparents frequently here and I know would be devastated if they were far away. It's been a long adjustment, but I *think* they finally like it here. 

Hazel loves to take her "bony nails" (pony tail holders) out to the garage, sit in this camping chair, and play with them.

Jude was thrilled when his ride-on car was loaded off the semi-truck.

Always with the pony tail holder container.

"Look Mommy! 2 kids riding on Jude's car!"

"Helping" with the laundry.

"Look Mommy! I took off my diaper!" Nooooooooo!!!!

The kids were tired for weeks after we moved (so was I! Oh, wait...it's a year later and I'm still tired). They were often just laying around too tired to play.

Twins!

The day Hazel had 2 twins. :)

For some reason, Jude thought it would be a good idea to climb into the oven of his play kitchen. 

"These glasses help me see better, Mommy." Hazel often comes up with some creative ensembles. Today was sunglasses inside (not out of the ordinary at all) and her tiger backpack/leash.

This was one of the first times all 3 kids sat nicely to listen to a story. Yay! They love their daddy so much!

Birthday parties!

One of the benefits of being closer to family is being able to celebrate birthdays! The kids were able to go to their cousin Beckett's birthday party for the first time! They loved it! (Or was it the treats they loved?)

The kids LOVE Grandma and always choose to sit by her when they get a chance.