Dear Hazel - Age 11

Haze - 

I can’t believe you are officially 11 now.  ELEVEN!  Eleven years of your silly, crazy, fun self…you make our family complete.    You’re past double digits, you’re almost into the teen years and you are about to start middle school.  You move into the Jr. High building this fall where you’ll stay for 6th, 7th and 8th grade.  You’ll start moving from classroom to classroom and you won’t have just a single teacher anymore.  I’m expecting the middle school drama to start (it already has a little bit) and for the middle school awareness of what’s “cool” to start.  Being the second kid means I know a little bit more about what to expect, but it also means I know better than to think you’re experience and Abby’s will be the same.  You’ve proven that wrong time and time again and I’m sure age 11 will be no different.

My biggest hope for you is that you don’t let all those middle school things change you.  You’ve always been pretty good about going to the beat of your own drum and I hope that sticks with you.  You are so cool…so unique and I never want anyone to change that.  

I’m excited to see where age 11 takes you (and us!).  This is going to be a great year peanut butter!!

Favorite Toy: “Hazel Village dolls”

You really have loved these since day 1.  We got the very first one from Erin for Abby’s first birthday or Christmas, but she didn’t take to them the way you did.  You have been collecting them for years now and I keep wondering when you’ll outgrown them but you asked for the again for your Birthday (thanks Grandma!!) so I guess there here to stay for awhile.  I think the fact that the company’s name is also your name might have something to do with it.  But maybe more important to you is the fact that they have a troop of bunnies as part of the collection.  After your Birthday gift you’ll officially have all of the bunnies (I think).

Some firsts this year:

• Painted a mural - it’s taken some time, but awhile back we added a wall in the loft to create two rooms out of the space that was originally just your bedroom.  You now have a closet and a real door and we were able to add a cool hangout area to the loft.  All of that work meant we got to pick new paint colors and decorations for your room.  You asked if you could paint a mural on the wall and Daddy said yes, and boy did you deliver!!  The mural is SO COOL!  I’m glad he said yes…!

• Stopped taking the “Snuggling group” to bed with you.  A true sign that you are getting older and the things you did as a “baby” or a “little kid” are falling by the wayside.  It made me both a little happy and a lot sad the day you said you’d dismantled the Snuggling Group.  To be clear though, the Snuggling group is tier 2 in a very complicated pyramid structure of stuffed animal values.  The Snuggle Group (no “ing” in case you didn’t catch the difference) is tier 1 - meaning they are still very much in your bed each night and the collection of animals that still travel with us wherever we go.  There are about 6 in that group, made up mostly of Hazel Village dolls.  But snugglING group - you are out.  Not out-out (like headed to Goodwill), just moved to animal jail (the elastic rope container system for stuffies in your bedroom).  

• Gymnastics first: Back Handspring, Ariel, Front Handspring: You started gymnastics awhile back and you’ve slowly been making your way through the levels and you are starting to get really good at it.  Just before summer they moved you up to Level 4 and your class is now two full hours long.  I don’t think it’ll be long before we’re talking about if we want to enroll you in competition gymnastics.  I’m really glad I finally enrolled you, you’d been asking for it for quite some time and I was reluctant that you’d do it for a little bit and want to give it up but you’ve stuck with it and you seem to love it.  You get excited for class every week and you have the best attitude about it.

• Drank from a coconut - that’s right!  This was your one “when I’m in Hawaii I want to do…” thing and you were so excited to try it.  As Auntie predicted, you didn’t love it.  But, she and I finished it and we both loved it!!  Someday you’ll grow into loving it (or at least liking it).  

• Went camping without us - you camped for the first time without Daddy and I earlier this summer.  Now, it wasn’t a huge stretch, the trip was with Stella and Lucy so it wasn’t like you had to go out on a limb.  But, it WAS a first so we included it.

Bears or Packers? “Packers -hehehe” (You said it exactly the same way last year!)

What can I say?  I’ll take it!  I think I’ve lost Abby in this battle…but I’m still holding on to you.  Go Pack, Go!

Favorite TV show:  “Youtube shorts”

I hate YouTube shorts.  It’s the worst…I just haven’t figure out how to turn it off yet.  I miss the days of Bluey and Disney Junior.  Abby never really took to the stupid shorts…at least she still prefer a show with a plot line!

Favorite Color: “Purple”

 

Favorite Food: “My favorite meal is chili, but my favorite snack is pickles. Or blue Doritos” (you said the same thing last year!!)

This really made me laugh - or rather, the number of answers that you answered exactly the same as last year.  I guess that means you know what you like!  

Fears: “Thunderstorms and the dark”

Favorite Outfit: “Black shorts with my purple blouse” (nearly the same outfit as last year!)

Purple has always been your favorite color and I have to say, the purple clothes you have clear are the first things to come out of your drawer for the week.  Once those are gone, it’s a free for all (and maybe you’d rewear something 2 or 3 times if I didn’t make a rule that you couldn’t wear an outfit more than 2 times before it needed to be washed).  I do have to say though, while this is partly driven by your love of purple, it’s equally driven by the fact that you don’t want more laundry to fold and put away.  Someday it’ll change, but when?  I’m not sure….

Nicknames: (We’ve added some new ones from last year, but there are a few that are here to stay)  The first ones are really just whatever comes out of my mouth when I call you…and you always answer.  LOL!  

• Shabooboo

• Shaboozy

• McGregor

• Boopy

• Hazey

• Magoo – This is 100% the nickname I call you most often.  Magoo – Magoo-goo…some variation of this has really stuck.  You even correct me if I randomly use it in reference to Abby.  It’s your nickname and I think this one might stand the test of time.

• HayHay – Abby and maybe Stella and Lucy are pretty much the only ones that call you this…but it’s another long-term nick name that has been on these birthday posts for quite some time now – since Moana really.  

A sweet story about you:  

Back on the last day of school (the last half day that Abby didn’t have to go to because she is OLD now and graduated!!) you came home so excited to talk to me.  You knew I was on a work call but you just couldn’t contain yourself.  When I finally got off the call, I came upstairs and you said “Mommy!! I got a nomination!!”  I was pretty confused, because, being the last day, there isn’t much point in a nomination.  A nomination for what?  When would the awards come out?

I asked you for more details and you brought me the certificate.  You hadn’t just been nominated, you’d been given an award for being a good student.   When I explained that you to you you said “An AWARD?!  I have TWO awards now! I have to tell Abby…I only need 3 more to be just like her”.  My heart was both full and a tiny little bit broken.  It was clear that you’d been listening to me brag about Abby and talk about how proud we were of her and you saw everyone’s reactions when she won award after award after award…that had made an impact on you and you wanted to be recognized too.  

You are such a sweet girl and a hard worker.  You are going to go far!  I know it.

Favorite Movie: “T don’t have one, I like a bunch of movies…hum, The Middle” (This is a show, not a movie, but close enough)

I miss the days of movies and tv shows.  Really, I do.  But I”m also thankful for the moment we are in now.  You guys want to stay up later than you used to and I just don’t want to stay up a moment more than I used to….so having a space for you two to hang out and do your thing later in the evenings, so that us adults can do ours has really be nice.  That being said, I don’t know what you watch as much…it’s less front and center like it was when we mainly used the living room tv for all tv watching.  

Height:  4 feet 3 inches

Dr. Darmon (the orthodontist) recently ran your growth plates and growth chart (no, I can’t explain why the ortho does that for us…) and he predicts you’ll be a little shorter than you sister at your full height.  He says you’ll be about 5 feet 3 inches.  We’ll have to remember that and see if he’s right!

8th Grade Trip - FL with Abby

 About a year ago Erin and I started brainstorming how to make 8th grade graduation special for Abby and she suggested that we plan a trip, just the three of us, and let Abby pick where we'd go and what we'd do.  It would be a trip made by her, for her...a few days to just focus on being together us girls.  Around Christmas sometime we told Abby about the surprise and she said she wanted to go to the beach!

She didn't have more specifics beyond that so Erin suggested Sarasota and we were off to the races with a plan!  Erin lived in Sarasota for about 6 months when she was still doing shows and she'd been wanting to go back to visit for a long.  She'd talked about Owen's Fish Camp (the only "must do" item on the trip list from Erin) that I had also been dying to check it out.

We started making a plan, booking tickets and an AirBnB and planning the details.  It was fun to plan with Abby.  She loved looking at the houses and doing research about what to do in the area.  We flew out Wednesday - EARLY morning...we had a 7am flight.  I'm tired just typing it...lol!  And we returned home on Sunday afternoon.  It was the perfect amount of time and we had the perfect trip!  It was a little rainy when we arrived on Wednesday but we skirted it all with our plans and then it rained Thursday so we used that day to explore and shop.  

Friday we dedicated to "beaching" (I still have a pretty distinct sunburn line down my left arm - the only part of me that was outside of the umbrella)...and Saturday we did a combo of shopping, visiting a Big Cat Rescue and a little more time at the beach and then Sunday we packed up, headed back north to Tampa and back home.

It was very different to travel just us 3 girls.  We lived at a different pace than we do when we're a big family group (and a much slower pace then when Ryan is involved)!  We ate girl dinner (ie: whatever the heck we wanted) around 5:30 most night (you know I love a 5:30 dinner!) and we watched 90's romcoms to get Abby in the know about all the cinematic gems she's been missing out on (I mean...13 going on 30...how could we not?!?!)

While our AirBnB left more than a handful of things to be desired (I was less than pleased with it), it did have a great location, just a short walk to the public access.  We managed to catch the golden hour sunsets every night we were there (except Wednesday).  I feel like we successfully landed "beach" for Abby.

Oh gosh!  How could I forget the two wildlife things Abby picked to do on the trip!?  First, when we arrived on Wednesday, we drove north of Tampa about an hour to a wildlife rescue park, in Homosassa Springs, that also had manatees on site.  Manatees are my most favorite animal (as a child I even donated part of my allowance each year to adopting a manatee) and I've never seen one in real life.  Erin said that when she was living down there there were Manatees everywhere so I was excited to try and see them.  Turns out in the winter months they move closer inland to the warmer, shallower waters and in June they live much further out to sea.  We did get to see two of them in a rehab tank of sorts but it wasn't quite what I had envisioned.  That's ok!  I guess we'll just have to go back in the winter months some time...maybe as a whole family.  Aw shucks!

The second wildlife thing we did was the Big Cat Rescue Abby found about 40 minutes north of Sarasota.  Erin and I joked that it might have been owned by Carol Baskin's sister (of Tiger King fame) but we have no idea.  There were lots of big cats to see - we'll give them that!  I bet they had 40 big cats ranging from tigers to lions and even a Ligar (which admittedly was WILD to see so close in real life.  He was HUGE!).  They had other animals too.  Bears and monkeys and reptiles and all sorts of things.  It was cool, but we felt like cages and pens were pretty small and the animals were doing a lot of pacing making you think they were uncomfortable.  If someone is thinking of visiting I'd say it's good for little kids (not much older than Abby) and only good for 2-3 hours max.  The park itself is was pretty small and we were all ready to head out after about 2 hours.

My favorite part of the trip?  That moment right there.  Sitting side by side with Erin and Abby reading our books and just soaking it all in.  All that being said, I sure did miss Hazel and Ryan.  It just wasn't the same without them.  I think spending time apart making memories makes for fun stories to share, but more fun than that is actually sharing the memories together.  Franny - I know you felt a little left out when we went on this trip without you, but you're up in just 3 short years honey!  I can't wait to see where you pick to visit.

Ally and Brett's Wedding

 

I was so bound and determined to get a few nice photos of us at Ally and Brett's wedding that I made everyone stop to take them just as we walked onto the property before the ceremony even happened.  I'm glad I did, because these are the only photos I took of the entire evening!  I didn't even get to snag one of Ally and Brett and most annoying, I didn't get a nice group shot.  That being said, I'm pretty happy to have these!!

Ally and Brett (Tim and Lynda's daughter) got married the weekend after Memorial Day weekend.  These early summer weeks are always packed with events.  Add in a wedding, 8th grade graduation and a trip to FL plus one of the busiest work weeks of the year for me...and I knew this was the very beginning of a very busy summer!

8th Grade Graduation - Abby

The last few weeks of school are always a little bit like living through a tornado, but with all of the 8th grade graduation things it made for an extra special version of chaos.  That being said, this is one week I'll be wishing I could relive over and over again.  My heart is full for this little girl and we're some pretty lucky parents to call her ours.

The last day of school at Riley they have a tradition where the graduate "pick your ride" and they organize all sorts of creative ways to get to school.  I've seen groups on horses, I've seen tractors, I've been golf carts and go cards and about everything in between.  This year one of the twin boy's families (there are three sets of twins in Abby's class) offered to host the kids that morning so they could all ride their bikes in one big group.

We were pretty thankful because the roads between our house and the school are pretty dangerous and there is no sidewalks.  Maybe most fun of all is that the kids had a police escort to get them safely between the house and the school.  I didn't stick around to see the parade of bikes take off (work was calling...) but Abby said it was very fun "and the school was closer than I thought it would be".  

Let's not forget the moment I almost made all of these bikes fall down like playing cards all stacked up.  I moved Abby's bike into the line and knocked the one closest.  We took out about 3 bikes but thankfully one of the girls saw it happening and stopped the domino effect.  (I'm sure Abby would have LOVED that!)

A few weeks before graduation I got a text from Mrs. Campanelli (the kids gym teacher, but also their 3rd grade teacher from a few years back.  Anyways, she texted to tell me (in secret) that Abby had been nominated for 5 out of 8 awards that would be given out during the 8th grade assembly.  She was so kind about how she talked about Abby and how we should be so proud of her.  She said "I hope she sweeps them all..." (LOVE!).

Abby won three awards at the assembly.  She was awarded Academic Excellence, the Presidential Education Award (given to all student who score above a certain GPA) and a band ward for her leadership in the band.  Her little heart was full, but mine might have been fuller.  It was so fun to sit in the audience and to hear her name called over and over again. 

 

Fast forward to later that night at the graduation ceremony where they gave out three additional awards that were not already given out earlier in the day and you'll never believe it, but Abby won two of the three there too!  She won one given out by the American Legion (given to one boy and one girl in her class) and probably the most distinguished award of the entire day - the Humanitarian award, given to only one person in the school.  I'd made a joke when we sat down with our programs "When Abby sweeps these two awards do you think I should stand up to receive them on her behalf?"  I was totally joking of course, but then she actually did win them both!!

The Humanitarian Award was very special.  As Mr. Vicari described the intent of the award and what it was meant to highlight along with the story of the child who would win it, I know every single parent (or even every attendee...) was sitting there hoping he was describing "their" child.  The sweet 8th grader they were there to celebrate and my heart swelled (and my eyes teared to the brim) when he announced Abby's name.  He told the best story about how when Mr. Grey (the new superintendent who started 3 years ago) was walking the school his first week he pointed out Abby to Mr. Vicari and asked "who is that kid because she's going somewhere, she's going to be someone important some day".  Come on...........!!  It makes me tear up even just writing it.

If I'm being honest I wasn't putting much weight in 8th Grade Graduation.  I didn't want to plan a whole big party, I wanted to make it special for Abby, of course, but it is only 8th grade...it feels like a made up new holiday just to get you to buy things.  But, for me it ended up being so much more than that.  It was a validation I didn't know I needed.  I know it's her day, not mine.  But the validation through the awards told me "You're doing a good job with her...keep going Momma!".  I didn't know I needed it...but I did.

Of course, I can't forget about our friends and family who ALWAYS show up to make sure these days are special for the kids.  I'm so thankful for the time everyone takes (out of their very very busy lives) to show up and help us celebrate.  We had a big group in the audience to clap for Abby and make sure she felt loved and all of that made me feel loved too.  

My last few thoughts - here we are at the end of 8th grade.  13 years and while the days themselves feel long, the years have flown by.  I fully recognize that we are closer to being empty nesters than we are to having newborns...and that we only have 4 short years left with all four of us under one roof.  It makes me both incredibly excited for the days ahead...and a little sad about how quickly I know it'll fly by.

APM - you are going places!!  Mark my words!

1 Family x 12 (May)

 

This family photo is most likely the front of our blog book this year.  We're so proud!!  8th grade graudation in the book.

Memorial Day Weekend 2026

The official beginning of summer!  Summer holiday lake weekends are always a highlight of our calendars - mostly we love seeing everyone and hanging out.  

A few summers ago the boy started a men's golf outing and the girls are figuring out ways to do the same.  This year we opted for ladies happy hour on the gazebo.  No kids or boys allowed (if possible - lol!).

How could I resist a nice golden hour photoshoot with my honey - brought to you by Brittany, who of course knows the angles better than I do!  I love this photo!

Abby caught fish after fish, just as she manages to do each and every time we're there.  Somehow she has the best of luck - and really puts Ryan to shame because he's always said "there are no fish in the lake".  LOL!

Summer is here and now things get really wild with trips and plans and parties...if I know one thing for sure it's that I'll be posting Labor Day photos before I know it.  But, we work all year round and plan these fun weekends months in advance and now they are finally here and we get to enjoy them!