life lately.

just some photos of this simple, wonderful, low-key life of ours.

ringlets

the other day, i noticed that hazel's hair had turned into ringlets in the bath, and i just had to call john into the bathroom to show him!  it was quite exciting.  maybe this means nothing to other people but to me... it's something i want to remember.

bath time and ringlets from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

zoo for days!

when we first moved out here, i bought a zoo pass to the little zoo near us.  it's only a 15-minute drive from our house and the perfect size for a 1 or 2 hour outing.  plus, hazel asks to go to the "zooon!" every. single. day.  needless to say, we go a lot.  

these pictures are actually from two different zoo days.  a penguin came right up to hazel to chat, and cora got an up-close look at the fish.  (hazel also asks for "nemo" the second we get into the zoo.

"we're on the train!" - hazel

cora, smiling at her sister moving up and down on the carousel.
this time, hazel chose the tiger:

we are now securely in the phase of weird smiles when i tell her to smile for a picture.  it's amazing.

i am still so in love.

john brunt, you're my favorite human.  you're the perfect blend of adventurous and laid back, patient but hard-working, real but kind.  after a hard day at work you come home and somehow manage to fix everything.  you value things that are important, like being close to the ones you love, and eating only delicious food.  and {even though it sometimes makes me stress if dinner is going to be great,} i admire that about you.  i am in awe at how you still love me despite all my flaws and personality changes {which i am working/praying hard to prevent}.  if i had looked at current self five years ago, i still would have said yes to you on the top of sawtelle mountain.  i love you so much.

these days i am consumed with being a mother.  which ultimately, is the most wonderful thing i could be doing, and i am so grateful to be doing it.  but as i was going though old blog posts i realized how in the consumption of caring for our girls and enjoying every minute with them, i almost forget to document anything about the man that not only loves and supports us, but quite literally gives everything he is and has for us.  i used to quite frequently (and publicly) document how much i love and appreciate my john harman.  all those feelings are still there, but the "us" time gets buried underneath discussions about the girls and taking care of them, and i have shamelessly missed the mark, {except for an instagram post or two}, when it comes to thanking and expression my appreciation for him.

so today i wanted to say thank you, and that i am going to love you for the rest of forever.

a video!

we generally hang out and play with toys/watch frozen for an hour or so in the mornings because i am not a morning person and it is one way i cope with the disappointment of not being able to go back to my bed indefinitely. a mom in church talked about how she thinks back on her child bearing/rearing/feeding/raising years (the stage i am very much in the thick of), and remembers always being so exhausted, that she doesn't even think she was a very "nice" or "good" mom.  

well, we all have that worry, don't we?

i mean frankly, there might be something wrong with you if you feel adequate as a mother.

but fortunately, this woman did say that now she has graduated from that stage of life, when they watch home videos, she can look at a much younger self and see that she actually was a good mother, despite the pure physical and emotional exhaustion.  

and i love being a mother.  it has terrible hours, you have to work holidays and weekends, your bosses are demanding and whiny and pee, poop, and vomit all over you, but the pay sure is great.  and that makes it all worth it.  

i love my girls and this simple life we are living.  i hope that i will always treasure these home videos we make and (maybe) someday they will help me feel like i'm not as terrible of a mother as i sometimes think ;)  and even if they don't do that, they will be fun to look back on and remember how fun and happy our girls were at this stage.  

giraffe kisses for everyone from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

the turtleback zoo:

we have had such an amazing and crazy couple of weeks!  we have been going and going and i am pretty exhausted at this life trying to be a fun mom to my girls and sometimes i feel like i am going just fall over dead but i am so blissfully happy with this life of ours.  life is good, God is good.  anyways, we had a great time at the zoo last week.

hazel thought this giant cow was pretty cool, and loved standing up in front of it!

not happy at all ;)

and hazel chose the bald eagle on the carousel!

the farm!

on wednesday we went to an actual farm in new jersey.  i don't know if you remember but hazel has this obsession with raspberries.  so we drove up and saw the animals, rode the hay ride, and picked raspberries right off the bush and ate them.  we picked quite a few peaches too and i have been enjoying delicious peaches and cream all week.  and tonight we made peach cobbler with said peaches and it was completely amazing.  hurray for farms nearby!

cora's rolling tongue (laugh crying emoji) ^^^

if you look closely you can see hazel's raspberries smothered all over her face ^^^

things i'm loving that our girls are doing these days:

hazel at two-and-a-half years:

off-pitch humming to intro theme songs of tv shows we watch

going over to cora and talking to her when she is sad

saying things like "good job!" when i am asking her if she is keeping her panties dry

going pee pee in the potty like a big girl!

reading books and counting things

pointing out the color of everything in stores

cora at five months:

looking up at us and smiling all. the. time. {like seriously, anytime we make eye contact}

watching her busy sister move around the room

grabbing her feet and eating them

taking long naps so i can get stuff done {hazel never did this}

sitting up on her own

babbling on car rides

philly!

mimi and grandpa were in town this week with us.  yay!  we had so much fun with them!  yesterday, we took an impromptu trip to philly!  since we didn't have a tons of time, we just hit the liberty bell, independence hall, and jim's for a cheesesteak.  at some point we will go back and see some of the other sites!  like the rocky steps... duh!

probably one of the best things to do in philly is people-watch.  they have some very interesting people down there, from all different walks of life!  it was so fun.

i've become a playground

flips from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

life lately:

well, there is some big exciting news over here!
our hazelnut is potty-trained!
and we are so so proud of her.

because of said potty-training, we have been spending a lot of time at home.  so here are a few photos of our simple little life lately:

1.  swimming in the evening with dadda
2.  bath time - hazel "smiles" for the camera
3.  cora weighing in at 17 lbs 14 oz, 26 in at 4.5 months
4.  driving by the wtc memorial

1.  adding color to our porch
2.  THIIIIGHS
3.  cora is so sweet, and squishy, and delicious.  she is a complete joy.
4.  my girls are finally playing together!  they each think the other is hilarious.

the nj state fair.

one of my favorite things to do is try out a new state fair.  i like eating different delicious fried foods, and showing the animals to our girls, seeing the bright lights of the carnival rides, and people-watching.  while the food didn't really live up to the "big tex" state fair, (and no ostrich races, what a tragedy) the nj state fair did have its strengths.  for instance, they had a demolition derby going on.  i had never seen one before, and i don't believe they are safe, but peeking over the fence into the arena and seeing the wreckage was kind of fun.  hazel loved seeing the animals, and she even got to pet a sheep.

sure do love this family of ours.

pictures from utah!

while we were in utah we spent tons of time at the swimming pool.  we also went to the tracy aviary, and my grandma's cabin at solitude several times, and ate delicious food and spent time with family.  hazel loves being around her aunts and uncles.  frankly, it's kind of boring at our house for her with just me and cora around ;)  at my parent's house, she gets played with a lot.  and it is so amazing!  and they have a dog!  {which is serious entertainment where hazel is concerned.}  every morning she would go straight outside with someone to jump on the tramp, swing, and eat raspberries straight off the bush.  gosh, we are missing our family so much!

kshlh