New Kid is 18 Months!

It's hard to believe but this little cherub is 18 months today. She's becoming just as precocious as her sister but is still the easiest of the three. I think she is a good combination of her brother and sister - sensitive and loving like her Bubba but independent and adventurous like Pickle. She gives the best hug you will ever have from a toddler and her smile is infectious. Slowly she is learning new words like "light," "milk," "I out," and "Bubba." And she has learned to climb everything. She is helpful and smart and loves to please by following directions; I just hope that lasts!

The Boy has Character

The grades that kids get are a funny thing. A ton of emphasis is put on something that isn't really a gauge of how smart the person is. My opinion is biased. I never made straight A's. The Boy is a pretty smart little man and I bet he won't ever make straight A's either. But what he was awarded today makes me more proud than any report card full of arcane and seemingly random marks. He received an award for character. The best part is he didn't know it existed. He was just behaving as he normally does which apparently is with compassion and kindness.

Halloween 2011

A Jedi, Rapunzel, and a Pumpkin . . . messy hair and a dirty face . . . Halloween at our house 2011! We had friends join us for dinner and trick-or-treating which added two small firefighters and two Darth Vaders as well.

This was Baby C's first trick-or-treat experience and it only took a few houses for her to figure out what to do but she didn't really care about the candy. She just wanted to be right in there with the big kids and more often than not would just turn and walk away with them without even getting a treat.

Creole Mustard and Happy Birthday Dad

 

Zatarain's Creole Mustard makes me happy. It is one of the items I like to have in my refrigerator at any time because I love it and it reminds me of home. It doesn't take much and you can use it on anything.

A love of flavorful foods is one of the many things my Dad taught me and for this I am grateful. Happy Birthday Dad . . . I love you and hope to be eating some tasty food with you soon.

Sedona

The weekend after we went to the beach Josh and I were lucky enough to be able to spend the weekend in Sedona sans kids . . . you read that correctly . . . we were ALONE. Well not necessarily alone since we were there to attend a wedding and were surrounded by good friends, but we were not responsible for anyone other than ourselves for 48 hours! Josh was asked to be one of the Groomsmen in his friend Ryan's wedding which they held at a vineyard south of Sedona so we were also included in the rehearsal dinner festivities on Friday night.

View from our hotel room patio

On Saturday after a very yummy breakfast - which we did not prepare and were able to eat at the same time with no one demanding anything - we decided to take a drive through Oak Creek Canyon and then got even more adventurous and went off road! If you have been following along you read about "The Trip" and know we have our Jeep back which we had with us in Sedona. We drove over Schnebly Hills Road which dropped us right back into Sedona just in time to get ready for the afternoon wedding.

"Bear Head" - taken on our off road adventure

It was a beautiful weekend and I was very thankful for the opportunity to spend that kind of quality time with my best friend. The Bride actually thanked me for making the trek up there and I told her the thanks was all mine!

The Beach

At the end of September we took at little jaunt to Mexico to introduce the kids to the beach and ocean. It was well received! Rocky Point is only about 4 hours away and the drive - although boring - was very easy. Crossing the border was simple in both directions and we made it there and back without incident. We went with our good friends - the Bounds - who have been down to the seaside town several times and knew the lay of the land. We rented a house from a nice Arizona couple from whom the Bounds had rented before and they actually lived in the beach house next door. The house was a perfect size for our two families and was right on the beach so we were able to enjoy the view and easy access that we needed especially with a "napper" in each family.

The best part of this particular beach was the exceptionally low tides! Each morning when we awoke the water was already slowly receding and the wonderful sand bars and natural streams and pools that were created were the perfect playgrounds for all of us. Beautiful shells were there for the picking as well as crabs! The boys loved digging and the girls loved splashing and you could find your perfect depth of water for swimming or sitting or floating. The evening low tide was also a lot of fun and we spent some time exploring with flashlights as well. Jer brought a paddle board and he spent a lot of time paddling himself as well as each small passenger who was interested. I think we would all agree that his biggest fan was Pickle, by far. She is the small figure you see on the board with Jer in the picture.

The sand was actually fairly steep so at high tide there was a pretty abrupt drop that made floating and swimming a little rough especially on our second day when the waves were coming in pretty strong. This did not deter the bigger boys as they rarely left the water or water's edge for the whole 3 days we were there.

Going to the Ballet

Thursday night I took Pickle to see the Arizona Ballet perform Cinderella. For many reasons this was a big deal the least of which is the fact that the show did not start until 7:00pm which is usually when she is already in bed. Our tickets were complimentary from a very nice Junior League Sustainer so day and times were not of my choosing, but I was not going to pass up this wonderful opportunity. Pickle started taking a ballet and tap class last summer so her interest in dance is piqued and of course she is infatuated with anything “princess” related.

My biggest decision was what to have her wear. We are not the “formal” dress kind of girls but I wanted her to be dressed up for the occasion. Dressing up is easy until we get to her shoe choices . . . Crocs and flip-flops were not going to work but I found these adorable flats at The Gap last weekend which happened to match the cute coat she’s had in her closet for many years. I found the coat at Target on clearance several years ago and bought it on spec for future use . . . it’s a 5T but I knew it would come in handy one day. Overall I thought she was perfectly dressed and looked so grown up!

 Cathy and I took her out to dinner downtown before the show and she was just a bundle of energy. She really only sat still once dessert was served. Pickle can be a really sweet little girl when she is the only child involved in the outing and is not competing with others for your attention.

The Ballet started slowly and it had a hard time holding her attention (to be honest it didn’t really hold my attention either), but it soon picked up with beautiful costumes and more continuous dancing. Overall it was a beautiful performance and I think she really enjoyed it. I was amazed that she knew so many ballet steps and would comment on what they were doing. She made it nearly to the end but fell asleep about halfway through the 3^rd Act.