last ones, i promise

 i love this yellow door

 my cute tough guy

 i can't remember what i was laughing about

 such a little doll

 this was pretty much the first time hazel ever held olive like this

olive didn't seem to mind it

and hazel was so proud

 i love how happy noah and hazel look

happy, happy, happy...

sad

this was the last picture taken

i think i'll have to frame it

olive thinks she's big

in my dad's words,

"someone forgot to tell her she's small"

and yes, she did get up there all by herself

the birthday celebration

 despite the viruses noah and olive had

they both were happy and healthy seeming all day long

so i felt bad trapping them inside

i like birthdays to be special

so we started the day with hazel's fav. breakfast

eggs, bacon and sausage (she loves breakfast meat)

and for lunch they ate happy meals in the car

then we went to sunnyside park 

where noah shared his bun with the ducks

but they were too aggressive and hazel refused to get out of the car

with them around

so we went to a different park

that was empty

and played for a while

 it was pretty windy but hazel didn't want to wear a coat

it's her birthday, she chooses.

 i love all three kids in the swings

noah's feet could touch so he's probably done with baby swings

but it was fun while it lasted

 we came home and played dress up

noah was mad that he slipped in his high heels so he's ripping his dress off

 hazel is such a pretty princess 

she is quite proud of herself for blowing out the candles

 here she is hitting her unicorn pinata

we had cancelled her party

but a few of our friends risked it and came anyway

we had a lot of fun eating pizza and ice cream sundaes

despite the rough start hazel had a great birthday!

she's three

happy birthday, hazel!!!

sadly we are not under ideal circumstances today

yesterday olive got spots on her body

that looked a little like chicken pox

but is just a virus

noah woke up in the middle of the night last night

with croup and spent from 12am to 2am in the ER

and this morning after way too little sleep

we woke up to a wet floor in our bathroom

where our light fixture is leaking water

from the vacant apartment above us

needless to say

we're cancelling hazel's party

which is a shame

because we were all looking forward to it

and everything is all ready

but it'll still be a special day

we love our hazel

in just two more days...

hazel will be three

i forget she's not three already

i swear she has been for months

three going on 13

anyway

we're having an ice cream themed

birthday party for her

here is her birthday shirt

we're excited!

i love them!

i couldn't wait to post more pictures

i haven't seen all of them, yet

but i'm already thinking about which ones

to hang on the wall

i love my darling kiddies.

family pictures: sneak peak

my friend laurel is an awesome photographer
and she and i are trading photos for haircuts
here's a sneak peak from our shoot yesterday
thanks, laurel!!

the festivities

michael's parents came for a long weekend 

to help us celebrate his birthday

they sent us on a date, we saw water for elephants

and went to dessert at a nice restaurant (swilly's)

 we all went out to breakfast

i love olive's little attitudey expression

 we went to the farmer's market

 and danced to the live music

 michael played us some music

played on the slip and slide

and barbecued twice

 we ate a giant chocolate cake

and for some reason

hazel looks stressed out about eating it

after olive had some cake, i grabbed the camera

and said she looked like a little puppy

with a dark nose

so michael joined in

he is so funny

thank you grandma and grandpa olson

for spoiling us

we loved having you here

and noah has requested you come back again today

even though you just left last night :)

and olive is sorry she was so grumpy

as it turns out,

she has a double ear infection

the big two seven

My Darling Michael,

I love you so. If I had it to do over again, I would take every same step that lead to you. I am honored to spend forever with you. Happy birthday.

Love you,

Rachael

PS I should have bought you a guitar long ago. Listening to you sing and play is my new favorite pastime.

sewing: the perfect fit

olive's the best to sew for
i like to sew

she looks darn cute in everything

and she never complains
it's a win win win

out of commission

i ran 8 miles on saturday

and it seems that's my limit

ironically, i really enjoyed the run

but since saturday my left foot has been 

hurting more and more

in my arch, calf and ankle

i have really flat feet

so running probably never should have been my sport

i looked online and self diagnosed

this is what i came up with:

posterior tibial tendonitis.

it sounds just exactly like it. 

i am really disappointed that this happened

and really hope the pain starts to decrease 

so i can at least walk again

(right now that hurts pretty bad)

stupid flat feet and extra bone in each foot!

blurg!

i've been sewing...and crafting

i made a spring wreath for our front door

i wrapped a styrofoam wreath in burlap

and added a felt flower

using hot glue

here's a summer shirt for olive

it's a little wonky because i used a bunch of scraps

but i like it anyway

front

 back

and a flower clip for her hair 

  i made the kids church bags 

is it so wrong to expect them to lug their own junk?

ok, not olive..

happy mothers day

me, olive and my sweet mama

 olive with grandma olson,

 great grandma marge and great grandma shirley

 me, my grandma kelly, my sisters and their girls

my grandma jordan and olive

to all the

 wonderful 

women in our lives

celebrating

michael finished finals yesterday

yay, one more year down!

the kids celebrated by sliding down our hill

on their stomachs

 it may have ruined some clothes

 but they had a lot of fun!

 and michael and i?

we celebrated by going on another date this week

we needed to celebrate the start of summer break

and the wsu children's center closes this week

for the summer 

and that's where our kids are taken care of 

making dates possible

so we made the most of it

and had our two dates

this time we went to gambinos

a really awesome italian restaurant

where the chicago style chicken bacon ranch

pizza takes 35 minutes to cook

and we don't mind at all

 do you see all that cheezy goodness?

delicious! 

and we played card while we waited

it was super fun!!