Happy Mothers Day!

This weekend was Mother's Day! We did a great job putting lots of fun surprises together to make Mom feel happy and appreciated.

We have been looking forward to this all week. Hazel, Turner, and I made different Mothers' Day presents at school all week. I also whispered to Dad on Wednesday last week that I wanted to make Mom breakfast in bed. Hazel, Turner, and I were determined to keep it a secret all week.

On Saturday, Dad took us kids to go get flowers for Mom. We spent a long time agreeing on which flowers to get. Turner had some very specific ideas about which flowers he wanted, and Dad wouldn't let us get anything until we all agreed on it. Finally, we settled on a very colorful bouquet of a bunch of flowers. We gave them to Mom on Saturday so she would have them for the beginning of Mother's Day. She was surprised and very happy!

Mom asked if she could go running on Sunday morning, and I told her, no, we were going to make her breakfast in bed. Whoops! I spoiled the surprise. But Mom said she was surprised when I told her. So mission accomplished.

On Sunday morning, Dad and all of us kids got up early and went downstairs to Mom could sleep in. Then we started making Mom breakfast. Dad washed and cut up some fruit. All of us helped make some "Daddy eggs" (Daddy's secret scrambled egg recipe, that only he knows how to make!). Hazel and I made some toast with apple butter spread. Then we took all of the breakfast upstairs, and sang "Happy Mother's Day" to Mom and gave her a delicious breakfast in bed. Turner and Hazel stuck around to help her eat it.

Next we called Bubbe to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. She was happy to hear from us and thanked us for the Mother's Day cards we had made and sent her.

After a leisurely morning at home, we gave Mom her next surprise. She said she wanted to spend the day outside, so we took her to the Dinosaur Park in Cedar Creek, Texas. We had never been before, but it sure looked fun. It was beautiful weather, and a perfect day to go to the park.

The park had lots of fun stuff to do. There was a playground with lots of fun things, including a giant dinosaur head we could crawl in. The playground also had water misters and swings, which delighted all of us. We had a terrific lunch, played on the playground, and then walked on the dinosaur trail.

The trail was neat. It had all kinds of dinosaurs hiding in the woods, and a scavenger hunt for us to find giant scorpions, spiders, fossils, and loads of other things. The weather eventually started getting warm, and before too long Turner loudly and repeatedly told us he had enough and was ready to hit the road. We finished out the trail and headed home.

On the way home, Dad found a nut and candy store with a giant squirrel, and Mom ran in to pick up a treat for us to enjoy on the drive home.

We all agreed that it had been a great Mother's Day! Mom said she is very lucky to have us as her family.

Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch

Here's something funny that happened while I was at school today.

Mom needed a few minutes to work, so she asked Hazel and Turner to play together in the living room. She was pleasantly surprised by how cheerfully and quietly they played together.

After about 10 minutes, Mom finished what she was doing, and found them in the bathroom like this.

They yelled "Trick or treat!"

Hazel said she was Cookie Monster and Turner was Oscar the Grouch.

And it turns out water colors don't wash off skin as easily as you might think!

Skating

Camo Hazel

The other day, our friend Ender had his 6th birthday party at a roller skating rink. Mom thought it was going to be a disaster. We never roller skated before, and she thought we wouldn't like it.

She was wrong! After skating for a couple of minutes, Turner yelled, "We have to tell Dad about this!" Hazel really liked it too. I thought it was okay, but need to try the trainer skates next time. I had my Crocs on, and they would not fit in the trainers, so I had to use normal skates, which were really fast. When we left, Mom asked, "Who had fun," and we all yelled, "I did!!!"

After the party, we kept calling it ice skating, which made Mom laugh.

The party was Army themed, and Ender and his little sister, who is in Turner's preschool class, had their faces painted to look like camouflage. While we were eating cake, Mom turned around to find Ender painting Hazel's face too. It was pretty funny.

Hazel at 5

Hazel had her 5 year well visit at the pediatricians' office today.

She is now 38.5 pounds (48th percentile) and 41 inches tall (10th percentile). You can see her growth chart here or by clicking her chart on the right side of the blog.

Learning how much she grew was the exciting part of Hazel's visit. The less pleasant part of the visit was at the very end -- getting her shot. Hazel was pretty scared and she screamed, screamed, screamed. It took Mom, the doctor and the nurse to hold her down so they could give her the shot.  The good news is she does not need to get any more until she is 11 years old.

Birthday Bash Photos

For photos of Hazel's fifth birthday bash, click here.

Hazel's Fifth Birthday Bash

Hazel's birthday celebration continued last weekend when we had her big birthday party.

The celebration kicked off when Bubbe and Aunt Laurie came to town Thursday night. Mom and Dad were sure glad to have their help.

Friday morning, all of kids got up early to wake up and surprise Aunt Laurie. We went into her room to yell, "Boo," but we were the ones surprised, when we found Aunt Laurie already awake!

Friday while Mom was getting the house ready for the party, Bubbe and Dad came to my classroom while Aunt Laurie stayed home with Hazel and Turner. Bubbe and Dad read to all of the kids and helped decorate our classroom. It was sure fun to show her around my school. Dad had to leave for work a little later, but Bubbe came and picked me up from school and brought me home.

We had a good afternoon with Bubbe, Aunt Laurie and Mom. Once I came home from school, we went to our new tae kwon do class to show them our new skills. After we blew them away there, we talked Bubbe into taking us to Amy's Ice Cream for a little pre-dinner dessert. We played on the playground after our treat, then showed them IFly, next door.

Friday night Mom and Dad went out while Bubbe and Aunt Laurie stayed home with us. Mom and Dad seemed grateful to have a night out to themselves. Bubbe and Aunt Laurie kept us up late reading to us and playing fun games with us.

Saturday morning we were ready to party! Unfortunately, the party didn't start until 10:30. Dad tried to entertain us by playing outside and coloring the driveway, but we were getting anxious for the party to start. Finally at 10:30 all of the kids started to arrive. Before we knew it, there were more than a dozen kids at our house.

Mom had planned a really fun party. There were lots of things to do - coloring, painting, and other arts and crafts. All of the kids got to make their own puppets, tops and picture frames to take home instead of goodie bags. We even had decorate your own cupcakes. Everyone sang happy birthday to Hazel, we all ate our cupcakes, then we played pin the Hello Kitty on the wall and smacked around a pinata. By the time the party was over, we were all exhausted. Especially Mom.

Saturday night, at Bubbe's request, we went to Shady Grove for dinner. Turner was still so tired that he slept through a lot of dinner.

Sunday we all headed over to Central Market for brunch and to play on the playground. I was full from eating snacks at Sunday school, and still probably a little tired from the weekend. After brunch we went home for a little bit and then took Bubbe and Aunt Laurie to the airport. It was sure a fun visit. Hopefully we'll see them again soon.

Hazel's fifth birthday weekend

To see photos of Hazel's fifth birthday weekend, click here.