Hazel's newborn pics

My sweet friend Emmy took Hazel's new born pictures.  She was so patient with her!  Of course, my never fussy baby, was super fussy when we went to have them taken -- but nothing some rocking, baby bum patting and white noise/blow-drier couldn't fix. 

Here are a few faves:

This last one just kills me!  So SO  sweet!!

Lately...

Summer is whizzing by!  Hazel is already 5 weeks old (what!?), we did a little back to school clothes shopping last week, & this week we're off to Target for school supplies!  Crazy!  School is going to be here before we know it!

Here's our life lately:

 We're loving this new little gal!!  She is pretty adored by her older sisters.  Ty & I are pretty darn smitten too...even if we are covered in spit up most of the time. Bless her spitty-little-heart!

 We're spending our days at the pool.

 Mckinlay is still our fearless fish...

 & this year Liza gets to take lessons too, which is loves!  She is so in love with her teachers.  She talks about them all the time and says "they are NOT my teachers Mom -- the are my FRIENDS!"

Being at the pool every day is turning these little gals pretty brown... 

and pretty darn blonde!

We love summer!!

Last day of Preschool

Mckinlay has LOVED this past year of preschool.  She had her last day a few weeks back.  She has made a lot of new friends, learned a lot and has grown up so much it kills me!  Look how much older she looks from the first day of school!  

She was pretty excited about the last day of school because it meant the next day would be the beginning of SUMMER VACATION.  To celebrate, I told her would could go to lunch anywhere she wanted.  She chose to go to the mall and get a pretzel and an ICEE from the food court. :)

While at the mall, the girls got to pick out an accessory from Forever 21 -- a set of matching bangles.  They were pretty excited about them.

Mckinlay brought "thank you treats" for her teachers.  Her teachers this year were pretty great.  

Here she is with Miss Sally, Mrs. Futchi, Miss Yvonne and BFF Molly.  Those two cute girls had a great year of school together!

 Mckinlay wanted to be sure to get a picture with Miss Teral -- her K teacher for the Fall -- so she could look at it all summer and not miss her too much.  Needless to say, she is pretty excited to start Kindergarten!

Introducing...

Hazel Bryn Loveless

Born June 15, 2012 

8 lbs 7 oz 19 in

Hazel came a little earlier than anticipated, but boy are we glad!  Given another week, she would have been a 9+ pounder!  Happy Jo can't be here until tomorrow, so my original plan was to be induced on Thursday (the 21st) having her get here the day I came home from the hospital...

After my Dr's appointment last week we decided there was a pretty good chance I wasn't going to make it another week without going into labor on my own... After lots and lots of deliberation (like, I didn't decide until an hour before showing up at the hospital on Friday), I decided to go in and be induced Friday.  That way I could plan people to watch the girls instead of risking going into labor in the middle of the night and scrambling to find child care.  Also I've always been induced in the past and had no idea how quickly I'd go into labor.

Other than her head being big and it taking some effort to push her out, labor was -- dare I say --enjoyable and relaxing.  Ty and I chatted, we watched movies, checked email and got some quality Pinterest time in.  

Having her last week was the best decision I could have made.  Although I wish my mom was here from the start, friends have been so great about taking the girls and Ty's chief's at work have been super nice and given him a lot of time off.  Much more than anticipated, for which we are both very grateful!  

Ty's been so helpful and I'm glad he's been able to get a lot of time in snuggling Hazel before his schedule changes in July (as in we'll never seem him he'll be so busy).   Thanks to everyone who has helped us out this past week.  We feel really loved.

Having Hazel last week also meant we got home from the hospital on Father's Day.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate.  

We're all happy and healthy and I'm so in love with these little girlies of mine.

And these girlies are pretty in love with their new little sister.

Tan/Dan Wedding

Nothing says "let's take a 12 hour road trip" like being 37 weeks pregnant, right!?  Well, that is exactly what we did this weekend.  

We made the trek down to South Carolina for Ty's youngest brother's wedding.  We're so glad we did!  It was such a fun weekend and we're glad we were able to be there, along with the rest of the Loveless clan to celebrate with Tanner and Danielle. 

Here is the trip in pictures:

Sunday night was the welcome dinner. 

The girls favorite part of the night was the s'more station.  

They started out roasting a mallow and making the whole s'more, then it just turned into them sneaking back over to the table to grab more {and more} gourmet marshmallows!  Tanner and Danielle made the marshmallows and the gram crackers.  They're starting their own candy company called Haypenny.  Look for them next time you're in South Carolina!

 The wedding wasn't until 4:30 on Monday so we spent the morning at the beach.  Despite the Tropical Storm off the coast, the weather held out for us and made for a great beach day.

Mckinlay's beach day highlight was her "sludge fight" with Dad and Grandpa.

The wedding was hot beautiful.  Filled with lots of personal touches.

 Don't they make such a darling couple!?

Speaking of darling, they girls have been SO excited about this wedding.

 They have been eagerly anticipating getting dressed up fancy.  For the past month, any time I put on a dress Eliza would say "You looks so perdy Mom!  You should wear that to Tanner's wedding!"

They were darling and made the day that much more fun because of their excitement. 

The highlight of the night was when the dancing started.  The girls have been practicing their "moves" and it showed.  I don't think they stopped all night.   They danced and giggled and danced some more.

  On our way home Mckinlay said "This was the best day of my life!"  

  The next morning we took a quick swim then headed home to Cleveland.

{Is it just me or are they way too grown up!?}

We had such a good time this weekend with the Loveless clan!  The girls were awesome and loved being there with everyone.  It made the long drive and swollen  ankles and feet everything totally worth it.

**Special thanks to Bryn for some of the above photos**

Week with Grandma & Grandpa

 Grandma & Grandpa came for Ty's graduation, but also flew in just in time to celebrate Eliza's 1/2 birthday with us!  

We love our 2 1/2 year old!

We had a great week and the girls ate up their one-on-one time with their grandparents.  

Our week included:

A picnic at Chagrin Falls

A fancy tea party

 Grandpa was brave enough to camp out in the back yard with the girls -- which they though was just about the coolest thing ever!

And no visit would be complete without their traditional "morning jogs" with Mckinlay.  Liza got to come along this time too!  Here are some pictures of their favorite spot to jog to.

Thanks for all the fun!  We're excited to see you again this weekend at Tanner's wedding!!

DMD + MD = Dr. Dr. Loveless

 Sunday was Med school graduation.  NO -- we're not done yet.  This is just a step along the way.  As part of Ty's 5 year oral surgery residency, he earns his MD.  We still have 2 years left.  

Now he is:

Dr. Tyman Loveless DMD, MD

Graduation was fun and a major accomplishment, but a little funny.  He still had to wake up super early the next morning and head into work as usual.  Nothing has changed.  He just has a few extra letters on the end of his name. 

That doesn't mean we're not super proud of our Daddy.  The girls had so much fun clapping and cheering and were pretty pumped about giving him the candy leis they helped make.

Speaking of people who are proud -- Ty's parents flew in for the week so they could be at graduation too. We're lucky we got to have them here!

Congrats Dr, Dr Loveless!!  

Only 2 year left!!!

{and only 4 weeks left until baby girls arrives!!}

Preschool Zoo day

 Yesterday was the, long awaited, all day preschool Zoo trip.  Mckinlay has been eagerly anticipating every detail, from the sack lunch, to the bus ride and who she was going to sit by, to what animals were going to be her favorite...

Mckinlay said she really wanted me to come, but I told her my belly was just to big for me to be happy walking around the zoo all day.  She said, "but Mom, I could just hold your hand the whole time, then you wouldn't be tired!"  Cute.  If only it worked that way.  

We dropped her off at school at 8:30 -- and someone was pretty sad she didn't get to go along too.  So we had a special date to Burger King for some breakfast. 

 I can't tell you how much this girls has grown up.  She just chatted away the whole time telling me about the imaginary pet spider sitting on my shoulder, how yummy my hash browns were, and how much she liked her crown... It was one of those morning you just don't want to forget.

My friend Emily went along on the field trip and snapped some photos.  

When I picked Mckinlay up, I asked her if her day was everything she imagined it would be and she said 

"No mom.  It was even better!" 

I can't believe the school year will be over in just a few weeks!  Then summer will be in full swing!  AND in just 6 weeks, we'll be a family of 5!!

Weekend in KY

B and family blessed baby James this weekend, so we hopped in the car and drove down for a few days.  Here is our weekend in pictures:

Oh, and Ty was there too, he just didn't make it into any of this pictures...

 We got down there late on Friday night, so the kiddos were excited to wake up to each other.

We went to a butterfly show.  The kids had fun chasing around butterflies and trying to catch them.  They kept landing on my belly -- but it's getting so big, I'd probably land there too! 

We had a picnic and the older kids got to go the park with the Dads while Alli and I went home with Liza and James for naps.

I found these awesome straw-glasses at Toys 'r Us.  They were a hit -- when they actually stayed on their faces... 

We're so happy we live close enough we get to spend special occasions with my big bro and his family.  We're sure gonna miss you guys when you move to Japan at the end of the summer!!

Easter Weekend

 Easter weekend was great.  Ty didn't have to work at all so, it was fun to be able to spend it as a family.  Here is what the weekend consisted of:

Easter egg dying -- with sparkles, of course.

I taught Mckinlay how to embroider.  She is loving it and keeps calling it her "knitting."   It's pretty cute how into it she is. 

 As per tradition, on Saturday we went out for an early dinner while the "Easter Bunny" {aka neighbor Holly} came to our house to hide our eggs and fill our baskets.

 The anticipation was almost too much for the girls to be able to eat their dinner, but the wait paid off because they got "Barbie and the Mermaid Tale" part 1 and 2.  {and now I can't get "she's the queen of the wa-a-a-aves..." out of my head} I've never seen two more excited girls.  

Mckinlay said: 

"How did the Easter bunny KNOW i wanted this so badly!?  Is the Easter bunny my brother or something?" 

Funny she would automatically assume it was a non-existent family member, and not, perhaps, her own mother.

We had a great Sunday filled with sunshine, family time, church, yummy dinner and enjoyed watching the Church's new Bible videos and teaching the girls about Christ and the Resurrection.  

It was a great weekend!  

april fools!

Mckinlay has been eagerly anticipating April Fool's Day.  About a month ago her friend Molly told her about a trick they played on their dad last year.  They put Jello in cups with straws so it looked like juice, and he fell for it.  Mckinlay thought that was the funniest thing she had ever heard and has been planning on tricking Dad the same way.  She talked about it all the time.  Usually at the dinner table.  She'd look at me and say something like "Mom.  Don't forgot the thing we're gonna do.  You know, when we trick (head motion in Dad's direction)." Then she would giggle and giggle.

I made the Jello cups Saturday night.  I knew she had forgotten April Fool's was the next day, but I also knew she'd be sad if she missed her day to trick Dad.  I decided I better come up with a few tricks for her too.

I snuck into her room and drew a big curly mustache on her while she was sleeping.  It was all I could do to not wake her up because I started laughing so hard.  Then I put some blue food coloring on the blue bristles of her tooth brush.

The next morning she came in, as she usually does after waking up, to say good morning.  Mckinlay wakes up early so she goes back to her room to play while Ty and I sleep a little longer.  A few mins later she comes back in and says, totally confused: 

"Mom.  I have a mustache on me!"

I said:

"That's because it's April Fools Day!"

Then she ran out of the room and started jumping up and down in front of the mirror saying: 

"I grew a mustache for April Fool's Day and it's SO funny!" 

She could not stop laughing.  

Then she ran down stairs and came back up and said confused:

"Mom, there aren't any decorations up for April Fool's Day...

Oh wait a second, I'M THE DECORATION because I have a mustache on me!"

Unfortunately she took a bath before I could get a picture.

But after her bath she brushed her teeth and about died laughing because her mouth turned blue.  

She didn't want to wipe the blue off her face so she could show her friends who were all coming over for our traditional Conference Brunch. 

While cooking breakfast we pulled out the "juice" and "tricked" Dad.

Several times during the day Mckinlay said: 

"I love April Fool's Day! And I love 'Gennifer Conference!'  This is the best day of my life."

...and just for cuteness sake, here is Liza with her solo version of "Pearly Shells"