Hazel's 7th birthday

Our kids value tradition more than novelty when it comes to birthday parties. Hazel has decided that birthday party = Death Star cake.

A good light saber battle is also part of the birthday tradition.

Star Wars all around! Easy to shop for someone who is so unwavering in her fandom.

Hazel is 6!

Hazel and her friend Josie are 1 day apart in age -- perfect for a joint birthday party!

We were lucky to have beautiful fall weather and a terrific setting, plus just about everything you could want for a kids' party:

Swings...

Monkey bars...

A bounce house...

Noise makers...

Chocolate frosting...

Even a pinata, thanks to our crafty friend Gabriela who made this star in honor of Hazel's love of Star Wars.

Perhaps we could have used a few more big kids to whack open the pinata, although no one complained when Josie's dad burst it open and dumped out the candy.

Hazel and Josie are old enough that they no longer get to be the cutest kids at their own party. Fern was the unrivaled queen of cute, especially as she proudly told everyone at the party about how she peed on the potty.

Happy Birthday, six year olds!

Hazel said that to have an even better party next year, we should do everything exactly the same but have more balloons, more juice, plant some flowers, and open the "mud kitchen." (Her name for the cob house that's currently being built in Josie's neighborhood.)

Lord Vader turns 5

This year we celebrated Hazel's birthday party on Halloween.


Darth Vader was a popular costume.

Hazel Vader stands triumphant while Henry Vader has momentary technical difficulties with his light saber.

Fern was super cute and brought back memories of when Violet and Juniper were small.

She and Ona had a nature girl thing going on while the Vaders dueled.

Lunch (Hazel's choice) was hot dogs and lasagna...

...with a Death Star birthday cake for dessert.

Happy 5th birthday to the sweetest Sith Lord in all the galaxies.

Our favorite kids, in one of our favorite places

Happy memories of a nice spring hike on Arabia Mountain.

New Year's Eve

Hazel and Henry were stylin'...

...Juniper and Aaron were sleeping.

Bowling Birthday Party

This is how you want a kid to feel at her 4th birthday party!

After the bowling alley, we came back to the house a dinner of Hazel's choosing: hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate cupcakes.

Tired Henry

In case you aren't sure, he did actually fall asleep like that.

And was not happy to be awakened.

We're back!

It's been a fun and busy summer. We went swimming in the Clarkston pool (lots) and at Lake Jackson (once), took a Honeycutt family vacation to Chattanooga, celebrated birthdays (Aaron and Sally), slept late, read good books, hung out with friends, got mosquito bites, marveled at lightning bugs, ate cherry tomatoes from our own garden and ice cream from just about every establishment anywhere nearby, played board games, got fed up with one another, built giant block towers, made up and snuggled with one another, ran in the sprinkler, went for hikes, hid in the house because it was too darn hot (or rainy), participated in the library summer reading program, argued about the application of sunscreen (but avoided sunburn), and enjoyed lots of lazy days together.

You'll see photos of some of these things in future blog posts, but much of what made our summer so fun were the low-key days that no one thought to photograph. Hope you enjoyed your summer too.

It's not funny, Henry.

I recently came across this almost two-year-old video. I'd uploaded it to put on the blog, but somehow never did post it. You might need to turn up the volume to appreciate this one.

It's fun to see how much the kids have changed--and how little the grown-ups have. Just this morning, I told Juniper that it's not funny to mush your peanut butter and banana sandwich onto your face, not long after Aaron told Hazel that it's not funny to jump on our bed after we've already asked you to stop.

Practically twins

Hazel and Henry in their (self selected) matching haircuts and matching flouncy skirts. They have absolutely no idea that they are flouting convention.

Based on my limited and decidedly non-scientific observations, my theory is that kids start to get gendered clothing sometime between 3-4 years old. In Juniper's 2/3 year old preschool class the boys were just as likely as the girls to play dress-up with tutus, sparkly butterfly wings, and silk scarves. By the time she got to her 4/5 year old class, everyone was still playing with the pirate costumes and firefighters' helmets, but the shimmery, sparkly, sequined things were largely the domain of the girls. No one in our families will tell Hazel and Henry that girls don't get buzz cuts and boys don't wear skirts, but they'll probably get that message anyway. I wonder, is this photo what our world would look like without those messages?

Climbing kids

Happy Birthday, Jason

Early November is a busy birthday season for our family, with Jason on the 2nd, Dan on the 5th, and Hazel on the 6th.

If you look closely, you can see where Hazel served herself some pie ahead of schedule. The poor kid didn't realize she was doing something wrong and was somewhat traumatized when four separate adults simultaneously yelled out for her to stop as soon as we saw her digging into the pie.

 Even dragons like pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we went to a pumpkin patch with several UUCA families. Of course, there were scads of pumpkins...

 ...and wagons (for pumpkins or kids)

 ...and a fire pit. Moving stones and logs from point A to point B kept the kids mostly occupied...

 ...while we waited...

 ...for a hayride!



We got to feed goats, cows, geese, a pony...

...and catfish!

Juniper was inspired by the prices written on the pumpkins. When we got home she covered our pumpkins with equations and proclaimed, "They're math pumpkins!" The nerd is strong with this one.