hazel date

matt & i try to make sure we get one-on-one time with each of the kiddos.  so, last week i took hazel on a date.  i've been on little dates with her, where she'll go run an errand with me but this is the first time just the 2 of us has had time together like this.  it was a blast...at 3 1/2, she is at such a great stage & she is really just such a fun kid.  it was a dinner date & i was thinking about taking her to noodles.  noodles is a local italian place.  it has paper on the tables & crayons & hazel is currently very into coloring & making "beautiful drawings".  she could color for hours.  noodles also has great indoor hanging lights...sort of light large christmas lights...also something hazel would love.
so, still at the house, i tell her she will not be eating dinner with her brother & sister & to get ready to go on a date with mom.  she then runs quickly to her room to go "gather her things".  this has become an regular occurrence with hazel.  every time we go somewhere she wants to take a lot of stuff.  and accompanying all the stuff is an elaborate & detailed story.  i don't just mean a simple baby doll...the baby will need her fork & spoon for supper & the baby will be lonely without her sister (another doll or stuffed animal) & hazel will also need her purse & oh, she wants to make sure to have her phone in the purse because she doesn't want to miss someone's call.  she very much seems like a bag lady or an eccentric old lady, every day picking out her own mismatched clothes (that are perfect in her wonderful little mind) & that almost always includes brightly colored socks worn with shoes that would not usually need sock with them & lugging around all this stuff.
so, back to our date, she grabs all her stuff & we load up in the car.  i start to tell her she can go anywhere she wants & there is a great place with christmas lights inside & coloring on the table that has pizza.
"mom, i don't want pizza, i want a hamgurber"
"ok, hazel, but the christmas lights are inside & remember you can color on the tables, what will you draw on the tables if we go get pizza?!"
"i don't need to draw, i want a hamgurber with only cheese & pickles"

i turn the van around & take her to the best burger place in fayetteville.  hugos.  no coloring, not super kid friendly, dark & loud, & she loved it.  simply because she got a hamgurber:)
we parked far away & walked around the fayetteville square before dinner.  just the 4 of us:: me, hazel with her purse in hand, her doll "boo" & ragedy ann.  at dinner she set her 2 dolls up on the table & shared her sprite with them, they only got sips when she wasn't busy staring at every person in the restaurant.  she hardly talked to me at dinner because there were just so many fascinating people to look at.  so, when she did talk to me it was random comments about the surrounding tables::
"mom, that man has a lot of colors on his shirt & he is bigger than my daddy"
"mom, i don't think that little girl over there obeyed her mom"
"mom, that girl is on a booster, i don't need a booster"
"mom, where did that lady go?  did she go to the bathroom"

then it came time to pay & leave.  you take your ticket to the counter & pay the cashier & as we walked up, hazel pulled out her hello kitty wallet from her purse & said "i'll pay mom".  then she opened the wallet up, pulled out a quarter & put it on the counter.  she was dead serious & i just can't make this stuff up.  she's hilarious.

i forgot my camera & my old phone has seen better days, so these aren't great pics, but they'll do

fries & hamgurber

after dinner we headed to our favorite little bookstore, nightbird books. they have a wonderful cafe & we had a little tea party while looking at books...so very hazel.  after tea, she picked out a book for us to sit & read & we read the same book 3 times.    

love her.  so thankful for some good time with her.