a trip down to seal beach, a hike up bronson canyon to explore the caves and see the hollywood sign, jumping in puddles in the rain, the playground and selfies, and a way-overdue temple trip.  life has been good to us lately.

life lately.

some pics of our life lately.

 this week, we hosted honey and uncle jack, went to the beach and disneyland, and frisbee golfed.  cora got carsick on our way to a park and i spent all of saturday detailing my car!  

 and then this afternoon john played make-believe that he was in disneyland with the girls.  this is them riding on space mountain.  all the heart eyes for that man.  

life lately

some pics about from our fun and crazy life.

 these three praying together... aka the best sight in the whole wide world :)

 hazel picked a pumpkin at school at their pumpkin patch, and i take a picture of cora napping almost every single day.  not even joking.

cora brings me flowers.  she also kicks and fights to get down and run away in line for the rockets.  you decide how i feel about those two separate situations ;)

our california life.

heyyy there!  we've been back from our summer in utah and idaho for about a month now, and i feel like we are finally settling down into our routine here.  just in time for summer to end, hazel to go to school and for us to have to do it all over again!  here's some pictures of life lately, which in general is lots of beach days, trips to the park, exploring, and watching movies.  

1. santa monica with my mom and uncle jack a couple weeks ago!
2. cora throwing dirt and hazel rolling down the hill.  just a typical summer afternoon at the park.
3.  i successfully grew these two jalapenos and excitedly texted john:  #domestic #guacamole
4.  cora playing on the playground at polliwog
5.  playing outside with cups and bowls full of water.  probably the laziest activity i've ever invented.  possibly their favorite.
6.  listening to one of the free summer concerts at polliwog park.  we went to several this summer and they were so much fun!  lots of cover songs.

1. cute hazel requested to be buried in the sand.  this was by far the worst post-beach-cleanup so far at our house.

4.  cora fell asleep in the middle of costco and it was the cutest/saddest thing ever.  poor tired bug.

5.  feet up in the air, asleep in her stroller at church.  apparently we are failing at naps these days ;)

our summer vacation thus far

1. cora, pointing at a bird
4. throwing dirt in the air
7. the curiosity museum with cousins {it was awesome!}
8. her new cheese face
9&10. swimming every darn day
12. musical duets

life lately

some photos of our life lately.

a few snapshots of life lately.

hazel requested "more big squeeze" which apparently means this

1.  why is my child so much better at painting than me?
2.  heffalump SNUGGLING HER BUNNY and i might cry from cuteness
3.  these girls have been "rawr"-ing at each-other all week
4.  we built a pirate ship {complete with an actual spinning steering wheel}
5.  admiring herself
6.  bulbbles + chalk!

babies make this man look GOOOOOD

life lately.

this week has been a week of big changes.  hazel has started going to preschool and is loving it.  she comes home from school so chatty and happy.  sometimes i feel like i have no idea what she does at school but whatever it is, i'm glad she enjoys it!  

and heffalump has taken a few steps!  she is way more cautious than hazel ever was, but she will walk to me with encouragement, and is actually way better at it than i think she realizes.  

here's a quick little video from instagram of cora's first steps, which is amazing that we got them on video.  you can hear the surprise in our voices when she starts to go.

cora mae's first steps! from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

also the weather has been warming up which means we've been having park days and it's quite thrilling.

this life

a few little snapshots into this life of ours lately, including my baby that is now looking a little less like a baby each day and it's BREAKING MY HEART>>>

1. a pic of cora admiring herself in the camera
2. the girls at costco because that's how we roll
3. that 52-degree day in february
4. john's new x-wing that was built immediately when we returned home from x-mas vacation
5.  building marshmallow snowmen at play-group

1. john put letters on hazel's tummy just for fun and then she genuinely thanked him.  "thank you dad!" it was the cutest.
2. 5-guys on a friday
3. ringlets
6. hazel with her new toy for filling up her potty sticker chart {we were a little out of practice after the break, and needed a little motivation to get back on track}

1.  le pouty face
2.  john fell asleep on a sunday afternoon and i applauded him for at least trying to stay involved
3.  hazel wearing john's china hat
6.  kitty cat superhero feeding and snuggling all the babies in need of it

real life

this is how i will remember life at home with our girls.  full of wild hair, dolls, dress-up, naked bums, dancing, endless laundry, messes, and playing pretend.

life lately

just some photos of our life over the past two or three weeks...

1.  hazel in her happy place
2.  coramae munching on what could quite arguably be the best beef gyro of my life
3.  the leaves that i desperately loved that are all gone now
4.  making it outside to enjoy the 60ish weather we were having mid-november
5.  nighttime ritual, complete with diet coke

1.  sleeping eyelash profile... is there anything better?
2.  dadda and hazel on jane's carousel
3.  posing in front of darth vader.  p.s. does anyone really understand this side-smile thing she does sometimes?  because i don't.
4.  our apartment-living christmas tree.  we decorated it together as a family and it was very exciting
5.  mae mae humoring me with selfies

1.  wearing a dress my grandmother knit
2.  that's how i think nativities should be arranged too, hazel.  everyone peering in at baby Jesus.
3.  also, swings appear to be cora's happy place
4.  blue steel
5.  from our family photo shoot where i got zero good photos of all of us as a family... but we still had fun
6.  no caption necessary?

some things about life lately.

life has been a whirlwind over here lately.  hazel has started speech and developmental therapy, and while it has been extremely helpful for her already, and helped me to be more patient and know how to communicate with her better, i am still experiencing mom guilt in the extreme because i don't want to do anything but play non-stop with my girls, and i'm worried that if i don't they will miss developmental milestones.  i keep having to remind myself that hazel is just fine, and making leaps and bounds, and this is just a way to keep us on track and help her to be less frustrated day-to-day.  i just have to do as much as i can and God will take care of the rest.

there never really is a great photo of the four of us these days.  i am hoping one of these days to go to a park and take some real family photos.  i have a tripod, and i could totally do it, but life is flying by and i hope we can find the time before the weather turns frigid!

cora is getting pretty close to crawling.  since hazel completely skipped this, i am excited to see how this even unfolds.  and also a little nervous.  i'm not ready for her to be mobile yet and have to have clean floors!

a sneak peak of hazel's halloween costume, and look at cora in that hat my mom made.  

also, john and i went on a real date - we decided to make it a bi-monthly tradition since the "dating" part of our lives has seriously faded out without us realizing it, and it's something we desperately need in our relationship.  so even though i am still nursing and cora really doesn't take a bottle, we go out late at night to see a movie or eat a late dinner twice a month.  i'm not going to lie, i've been loving having some one-on-one time with john; away from the house and the girls - and knowing that the girls are sound asleep really helps me to relax and enjoy it ;)

life lately!

things that have been going around at our house these days:

these girls are getting along gloriously these days.  having a sister is the best!  some days are so so hard, but then i see how close they are, and think about how much closer they will get as they get older and it makes it all worth it.

{sidenote: yes, cora is always this happy.  i am not making this up with these photos.  her face is practically smushed in this first one and she's still happy as a clam.}

#1. hazel has been choosing out her outfits and it is downright hilarious what she picks some days! "hor-see shirt!" "sun-glass-is!" "heded-band!".  

#5. she has also been putting on make up some days with me.  this was one of the more memorable makeovers she gave herself.

#6. you know it's been awhile since i did a pic dump on the blog when there's a swimming pool picture and it is now october.

#8.  hazel was throwing a tantrum at the moment i took this.  as you can see, cora thinks hazel crying is quite amusing, along with everything else she does.  i serious have to compete with hazel frequently for attention!

cora tried the swings for the first time yesterday and loved them! {excuse the crazy outfit, we were down to our back-up clothes out of the diaper bag ;) 

#1. feet are just as tasty as real food.

#2.  gooooo cougars!

#3.  this is one of hazel's hilarious expressions.  that girl seriously cracks me up!

life lately.

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

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.

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

life lately!

what a whirlwind few weeks it has been since we moved out here.  between unpacking, exploring our new surroundings, taking care of two littles, and cooking and cleaning and all that other fun stuff - i feel like i've hardly had two moments to sit down at my computer!  but, here i am, and here's a glorified pic dump of things we've been up to lately:

1. communal sunday afternoon nap in our blow-up bed our first sunday in nj
2. adding some color to our front porch
3.  cora, showing off her double chin
4.  on a sunday evening walk with our harman cousins!  they are the best!
5.  cora kicks wildly during her entire bath these days.  so fun!
6.  riding on the staten island ferry

1.  i love it when i can snuggle cora down for an early morning nap/snuggle
2.  trying out a new park.  it had dinosaur stuff!
3.  eating at the river grille.
4.  swaddling this little love.
5&6.  our family on a kite expedition wherein we mostly just ran around for an hour trying to get the kite off the ground, instead of actually flying it.

hurray!  tomorrow is friday!

life lately:

here are some photos of our simple little life lately.

oh how we love the weekend.

this weekend was pretty great. john watched hazel on friday so i could go out for a much-needed girls night. briana and i got burgers and pinkberry and talked about girly things. which is something you just sometimes need, you know? 

saturday we ran errands, fed the missionaries, and watched a movie.

then we had some friends over for the superbowl. mostly because it's a good excuse to eat wings and appetizers as a full meal. 

some photos of life lately....

go ahead and make yourself comfortable, hazel.

at the zoo last week, when it reached 80 degrees one day. is it really january? 

frisbee golfing with dadda

we take coloring very seriously these days.