Spring

Utah has begun to show little glimpses of spring and then mother nature changes her mind and throws another snow storm at us. We have managed to take advantage of the few beautiful days that we have had.

Bailey has been re-introduced to her beloved backyard and slide. Initially she acts scared to go down by herself and always asks to hold your hand as she goes down, but after a few goes at it she usually finds her courage and can slide down the whole 6 inches by herself.
Running around to the side of the house (the scariest part of the yard) is always a must. She would probably play back there the entire time if I didn't constantly yell at her to come back to the grass.
The plan is to make this little yard her dream come true that will hopefully occupy her for hours on end throughout the spring and summer.
Such a happy little face.

Shoulder Ride

Little Hazel is growing up before our very eyes.

She is still a little angel baby. She is getting much more vocal and her default noise happens to be a very high pitched squeal (almost scream) that gets louder and softer depending on how much air happens to be in her lungs at the moment.
She has started to suck on her bottom lip along with her two pointer fingers as well as drool like crazy.
Happy little clam who loves observing the world.

The Mischief Continues...

It was lovely while it lasted, but alas just keeping the doors shut has stopped working. The monster baby has learned how to open the doors, even the tricky ones that get stuck and need to be pulled hard. Her new favorite room in the house? My bathroom.

The toilet is the perfect stepping stool to reach the sink and who doesn't love shoving their fingers inside the spigot so that the water sprays everywhere? Plus the cupboard is full of tampons, soaps, shampoos, deodorants and other fun things to get your chubby little fingers on.
And the most recent addition to the naughty play is her ability to open up the shower door. Now she can run around inside the shower and squirt shampoo and soap all over the place, including rubbing it all through her hair and face (which I guess in her defense is what it is actually made for).
The little lady sure does know how to keep me on my toes. I used to blame Sam for any white hair or ulcer I may end up with, but I think I can officially transfer that blame over to little Bails. She sure is lucky she is the cutest little 2 year old I know otherwise...

Tuckered Out

That ginormous blow out must have knocked her out.

Love my little cute chubby baby. She is already a smarty pants. Keeping her hands on her toys while she sleeps to make sure they don't get stolen while she isn't paying attention.

Best Friends

Bailey has developed that special syndrome where she could care less about an item until someone else shows some interest; then it suddenly becomes the most important thing in her little life.

Luckily, for my sanity she can share once in awhile (it is much easier to share Hazel's toys).
And Hazel appears to be a pretty big fan of this set up.
She spends the majority of her awake day watching her big sister run around like a crazy child.
And Bailey can always manage to get a big grin out of her little sister without even trying.

Too much mischief...

Sunday afternoon was a very busy time in the Braden household. Little Hazel passed the time happily swinging away.

On the contrary, this cute little face was up to all kinds of mischief.
On top of dinner I had the bright idea to make some sugar cookies for home and visiting teaching families. I managed to get most of it done in the morning, but frosting all the cookies and rolling out and baking the croissants were left on the list. While I finished up the rolls Sam was hard at work making the frosting. Bailey was running around like the wild child that she is. At one point it got a little too quiet. I started to wonder what she was up to and sent Sam looking for her. It was a nice day and she was running inside and outside, so he stepped into the backyard to find her. He called her name and then walked over to the side of the house (her favorite spot). He found her squatting against the brick wall eating a stolen cookie. We looked at where they were cooling on the counter and sure enough the rack and been scooted over to the edge where she managed to grab one, and then hide in safety to eat it. The first of probably many stolen cookies to come.
We let her eat it to the dismay of Sam who was already grumpy that there was probably going to be maybe one (and now possibly none) for him to eat. We went back to work while she finished her cookie and continued to play. Awhile later it once again got quiet, and I once again sent Sam to see what she had gotten into. She had managed to sneak into our room, find the ipad, and then carry it back to her room so she could watch one of her movies.
Her final fiasco has no pictures because it was too disgusting to have time to grab a camera. It was during dinner and involved a dripping wet toilet brush finally being carried into the kitchen (we aren't sure exactly how many rooms it managed to venture into prior to this and I don't really want to think about it much). I screamed, Sam did his best to do damage control, and Bailey just stood there with a face like 'What's wrong with you guys?' This child may be the end of me.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday started out with a few Easter presents. When all the girls were in California Sam took it upon himself to do the Easter basket shopping and he went a little crazy.

Bailey got a rake and shovel, some food, and a mini BBQ. Here she is trying to open the box of food.
And then notifying us that she is going to eat her hot dogs, hamburgers and corn.
After she grills them of course. Such a spoiled little monkey.
This pretty little lady also has her daddy wrapped around her tiny little fingers.
After present opening we ventured outside to dye some Easter eggs. We didn't get around to it on Saturday and thought we would squeeze it in before baths and church. Don't judge us too much. We have now decided that it is not an appropriate Sunday activity (and have already been punished for thinking it was okay).
It started out quite peaceful. Bailey was excited (because the dye was pretty colors and she got excited for a special drink). We laughed as she dropped the eggs into the dye (because we literally mean she dropped them and they would crack). The dying turned into a fiasco rather quickly.
She was in love with picking up the eggs and playing with them.
They were pretty colors. Problem was they weren't quite dry yet.
The bigger problem ended up being that she enjoys to pick things up and dump them out. Can we say wet, colored, cracked eggs down?
We gathered them back up to let her go to town with the sticker faces.
That got her attention for a couple minutes, but not long enough to save the little buggers from what will eventually be their untimely death.
The yellow one got dropped.
The green one got thrown and rolled for awhile.
And the poor pink one was cracked open and mutilated.
This may be the most unlucky dozen eggs on the planet.
After some cleaning up and tossing of the poor eggs we got dressed for church. We had a nursery attendance success, 2nd and 3rd hour class attendance instead of roaming halls and a delicious Easter dinner with Connie, Brandon and Queden. Even Hazel got her first taste of people food thanks to Bailey and her attempts to share (or to frankly shove food into her little sister's mouth). Amidst all the chaos we were reminded of a loving Savior and his amazing sacrifice for us. Happy Easter.