Hazel Turns 4!!

I say this every year, but this time I really can't believe my baby girl is 4!! For some reason it seems so old to me. She is in school, gets herself dressed, wears undies, brushes her own teeth, can buckle herself in the car, etc., etc. The things she can do for herself is very quickly catching up to the things she can't do. And that blows my mind when I think of how far we've come from the screaming car rides we'd take when she was a tiny newborn, when we had to do everything for her. Time really flies and I can't believe how much fun we've had and growing we've done together these last 4 years!
Here is a little bit about what Hazel Henderson is like at age 4:

*You are so FUN. You love to play games, make people laugh and are always up for an adventure. You love to be tickled and play chase. You laugh easily and whole-heartedly. You are so full of joy and energy and love for life.

*You are observant and have a fantastic memory. Your dad and I are shocked almost every day at the things you remember- people, cars, moments, presents, little details from shows. It's mind-boggling. Like one day we saw and outhouse at a construction site and you said, "oh that's like in the meatballs show, that's how he gets to his house." You saw "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" once and it was months before. And yes, he does get to his lab through and outhouse.

*You are really good at sharing and playing well with others, especially for your age. You and Drew, and other kids too, have your moments for sure, but for the most part you love to share and make other people happy. You are a problem solver and find ways to compromise. You have a tendency to be bossy sometimes (just like your mom was at your age), but when I tell you to stop you are pretty good about changing your behavior. You make friends easily and can play for hours with one friend at a time.

*You have a very active imagination. You love to play make-believe, build houses of your own all over our house (not so fun for mom (:), make up songs and stories and play dress-ups. Your favorite thing to play lately is "mom and dad". Usually you make your cousin Will be the dad and he kindly goes along with it. And you love to make mom be the baby. And Drew is usually not allowed to be part of the family.(:

*You are brave and confident. You walk into new and seemingly scary situations with no fear or hesitation. With Primary and Preschool, you walked in your first day, turned around and said, "Bye Mom!". Those days were much harder for your mom.(: You sang in your first Romney Talent Show before Christmas and you walked right out in front of a large group of people and confidently sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Your dad nor I can figure out where you got this fearlessness but it's amazing to watch.

*You have a sophisticated pallette for a 4 year old. You will try almost anything and you prefer to change things up a bit, you don't like eating the same things every day. You'll go to the Pho and down the soup, eat Shar-Shu at the Mandarin and you beg for Grandpa Henderson's broccoli on Sunday's. I remember one time when you were probably around 2, we went to a shower and of all the delicious food they had on the table you wanted the raw shrimp. Your dad and your Grandpa Romney are so proud!(:

*You are a girly girl and tom boy all in one. You love dresses, make-up, princess shoes, purses, dolls, the whole thing. But you love to be a dare-devil, get dirty and you can fall and scrape your knees and get up without a tear. You are the best of both worlds.

*You are so kind and loving. You looove to give presents to people and see them get excited. You say it "makes my heart happy." You are selfless and constantly thinking of others- what you should make for them, draw for them or that we should bake cookies for them. I keep finding little things wrapped up around the house that are for friends or family. What a sweet little thing you are.

*You are not a follower. You are independent, you know what you want and don't back down. This can be hard when we're trying to parent you and you are certain you know what's best, but I think when you get older it'll be great. You had a couple friends over the other day and I asked what color sucker you all wanted and they all said pink. So you looked at them and said firmly that you wanted blue, even though pink is your favorite color. Our little Hazel will always stand out in the crowd, we've known that from day 1.(:

My sweet little 4 year old Hazel, you are a true blessing and gift in our lives every day. You are a delight to raise and there isn't one night that passes where your dad and I don't go in your room and kiss you while you're sleeping and thank our Heavenly Father that we get to be your parents. We love you!!

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For Hazel's birthday, she of course, wanted a Princess Pary!! It was all Disney, all pink and all out girly for this little Princess' first friends party!!

They had a blast and it went much better than I expected! All the girls came in their favorite Princess costumes. Hazel was in a new Ariel dress she got just for her birthday (that she would not let me put a shirt under, so it was a bit scandalous), and she was pretty sure she was the cutest thing in town! We made crowns, played Princess trivia, played "Duck-Duck-Frog" and musical cushions, ate Princess cupcakes and pink ice-cream, opened presents and ended with a fish pond. Hazel kept saying, "It's my birthday I can do what I want", where did she learn that?! She had fun and did do what she wanted and it was a great way to celebrate her big day! We love you girlie!

I think she had a good time! Mission accomplished!!