Christmas Ramp-Up

Our elf on the shelf hasn't made an appearance before, but this year he showed up because Hazel showed an interest.  After reading the book, Hazel named him Lollie.  He's been very motivating!  Grayson really gets a kick out of him too.  He calls him "Lala" and points him out several times a day.  

We've done a fair amount of Christmas shopping online, but we've been out a few places too, like Firewheel Mall.  It's nice to have a mall within 10 minutes, especially when it has a huge tree that the kids like!

These peppermint drop cookies were a bit high maintenance because I'm used to our regular chocolate chip cookies, but these were too cute to not make!  My Primary girls loved them.

We also got our letter to our Santa so he would know all of our wishes!  I had to try and broaden Hazel's list because the one item she's been saying she wants is a unicorn that gives her whatever she wants.  I have to admit... it's kind of a genius idea for a Christmas present... if only it were possible.

I also don't know too many big sisters who choose to write something for their brother as the first thing on their list.  What a sweetheart.  I especially love the "party shoes" idea (because she is a social butterfly after all), and I love how she writes her name almost as a mirror image when she writes with her right hand.  

We've also been reading the scriptures, playing with our little Nativity, and watching videos to remind us of the true reason for the season.  I would be sad if they didn't know why we celebrate Christmas!  We'll soon go to Beaumont with the Hayes side for a week to celebrate, and we're so excited!  

We Love the ER

I had a proud Mommy moment.  I was thinking how I hadn't praised Hazel lately on the cute things she does, so I took the opportunity to take a pic of one of her latest creative play ideas.  She had stacked the 3 bean bag chairs on top of each other, stuck the riding unicorn stick into a pool noodle, and climbed on top, making her queen of the mountain (she could even touch the ceiling with her stick!).  Click.  Then a minute passed, she told me she was going to jump down, and then, "AHHHH!" Screaming.  I knew it didn't sound like a usual owie squeal; this was more serious.  As I got closer, I noticed her forearm was totally curved.  No question it was broken.  I panicked, put some clothes on (of course I wasn't ready for the day at 11 am), called my friend Emily, dropped Grayson off at her house, called my dad, pulled over and took a picture of her arm to send to him, and headed to the hospital ER in Richardson.  Thankfully Hazel wasn't screaming constantly.  I don't know how she was so brave and strong, but I think I was more in shock than she was.  In the ER though, she had some tougher times when they did the IV, xrays, and especially when they set her arm.  Poor thing!  I couldn't watch, but I just cried with her.  I wasn't alone in this though.  There was a medical student observing the orthopedist, and she shed some tears with us!  I thought that was so sweet.  Thank goodness for cartoons because they kept Hazel's mind off the bad things mostly.  Sadly enough, they didn't give her a pink cast because they only had white in the ER, but I was quick about buying a bright pink sharpie so people could sign it and make it prettier.  One of the sweetest things about the experience is that the first thing Hazel asked her daddy when he got home was if he could give her a blessing.  The first few days in the cast were tough on her, but it was very helpful to have James home on the weekend to help out.  The follow-up appointment a week later showed her bones are straight, so hopefully we'll get her cast off in Beaumont after Christmas.  It's amazing how quickly kids' bones heal.

(before)

(after)

We have the sweetest friends and family.

Grandpa Hayes said put it up, so up it went!

A week later - 

Then a week and a day later I was cutting the hair off the bottom of our vacuum with a seam ripper, and it slipped and gouged my left arm.  It didn't get really bloody, but I knew it was a deep cut, so I squinted and took a picture to send to my dad (poor Dad), and lied down on the couch so I wouldn't pass out.  James came home early from Lowe's Build and Grow with Hazel, and back to the ER we went!  We decided to keep it exciting and went to the Baylor ER in Murphy.  Yuck.  It was so gross looking.  I feel extremely blessed not to have cut any tendons or anything major.  8 stitches and I was good to go home.  I'm glad this one was me and not one of the kids, but I still felt pretty stupid doing something like that.  The doctor said those kind of things happen all the time.  I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel better or what.  Anyway, Matt deemed this as the "Attack of the Palmer Forearm Week."  I'm thinking it might be best to keep James and Grayson in a padded room until we go down to Beaumont.  It was hard for my dad to be so far away when he could've easily helped in both situations had he been here.  I'm just grateful he's so calm and helps so much over the phone and Facetime!  He may be retiring this year, but his work will never be done.   

 The before pic of this is too gruesome to post, so here is the after stitches pic.

Highland Holiday Party

I was super excited for the Highland Holiday party this year because of the venue - the Dallas World Aquarium!  Neither James nor I had been there, so it was really fun.  The first thing we saw was a sloth, and it even smiled for our picture.

Then we had dinner and chatted with the Wises, which was their last holiday party with Highland.  There was a casino area as usual, and I learned to play a little Blackjack and was pretty lucky, surprisingly.  Forget it if real money is involved; I would be the worst gambler ever.

One of my favorite spots was the shark tunnel because they're so fascinating to me.  We also saw some penguins, owls, bats, crocodiles, and giant crabs, so it kind of felt more like a zoo.  I think the kids would've loved it, so we may have to bring them another time.

Here's my handsome, hard working date.  I'm always proud to have him by me.  

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a fun Palmer Thanksgiving!  Tami, Kaye and kids live in Frisco, and Dennis and Barbara live in Prosper now, so we met at the McRads' for the big Thanksgiving lunch.  We were late, of course, but at least my turkey rolls were cute!

And I almost ate this little turkey up!

After lunch we went to the park across the street, watched football, and hung out with family - a great Thanksgiving for all of us!

Trunk or Treat and Halloween

A few days before Halloween, we had our ward Trunk or Treat in the church parking lot.  I wasn't going to go because James wouldn't be able to make it, but we decided to stop by and show off our baby Nacho.  My friend Emily had the cape and red bloomers, so I just had to spend $2 on pants and draw on a sweet stache.  It was awesome.  He didn't even know how hilarious he looked, and he just owned it.  It's safe to say he was the hit of the ward party.  

On actual Halloween the next night, it was pretty cold, so we put Grayson back in his Jake and the Neverland pirates costume.  It's pretty awesome as well.  Hazel felt and looked like a princess in her sparkly mermaid costume and Ariel wig.  She didn't like when Daddy put on her red wig though because she said it's for looking beautiful, not scary.

My mom sent James and me some pirate costumes, so were a pirate family and a mermaid.  This year was our first year to actually go trick or treating with the kids, so we started small with about 8 houses.  We didn't have many kids come to our door, so between all of the trunk or treating, trick or treating, and the candy I bought, we ended up with plenty to last us all year long!

Pre-Halloween Parties

Maybe it's the musical theater mom I grew up with or the costume room we always had, but I love Halloween!  I think it runs in the family too because everyone always seems to go all out.  My friend Jackie had a little kid Halloween party at her house, and there's nothing better than little toddlers in costumes.

Instead of carving a pumpkin this year, we painted baby pumpkins.

For preschool we had a Halloween party since we were conveniently on the letter 'H'.  I couldn't help myself and made some healthy treats I found on Pinterest.

Then the adults had a little party of their own.  It was a Murder Mystery Party with a Mardi Gras theme.  I was Connica Gothika, and James was a lawyer and the victim's best friend, who turned out to be the murderer!  He hid it well; no one guessed it.  We all had a great time pretending to be someone else for a night.

Family Camping

Last spring we went camping in Tyler, but this fall we decided to try some place a little closer.  We went to Erwin Park in McKinney.  Sadly the Formans weren't able to join us, but we tried to have a great time still!  The Robinsons came for the night time, and we roasted hot dogs and s'mores and sang to Shayla for her birthday, which was the next day.  The Nylanders stayed the night with us, and we burned cooked our breakfast in the morning before heading out.  Next time we'll know how to use the charcoal - it was a good learning experience.  James had fun using some new gadgets and camping gear for the first time.  We'll be pros at this camping thing before long!

Arboretum

So the day of Hazel's actual birthday came... and I realized we were going to sit at home all day if we didn't plan something.  So off to the Arboretum we went!  It ended up being so fun and the perfect day for it.  We got lucky because on Mondays, they have extra free activities like a petting zoo and face painting, so both kids were in heaven!

Later that day we gave Hazel her birthday present, which was a pink and purple princess bike.  She loved it!

Love this sweet four year old!

Hazel is FOUR!

My little strong, sensitive, opinionated, funny, smart, social girl turned four this month!  It's crazy because she's all of the sudden a little girl - no longer a baby girl.  It's kind of sad to see the time pass by so quickly, but it's also so much fun to watch her grow up.  Right now she's into a few mystical creatures - mermaids and unicorns.  We were going to do both for her birthday party at the park, as requested, but we settled on a rainbow unicorn theme.

We celebrated at the park right by our house, and the day was pretty perfect for it; it was only a little windy.  Hazel did not approve of some of my food choices (because I needed a yellow pepper for my rainbow!), but she got plenty of pink and purple stuff, so she was overall happy with the outcome.

My magical unicorn birthday girl!

She loved playing with all of her unicorn friends!

Everyone loves Hazel!  We're so blessed to have her in our family.