BlankieSweater

There is a new obsession in town… and its (or her) name is BlankieSweater. (Evie’s name, not mine) BlankieSweater’s genesis was innocent enough, a good, gotta love it sale at Summit Hut and a nice new (and I’ll be the first to admit) soft and cozy sweater. In fact BlankieSweater was my favorite “lovey” for a week or so before my daughter usurped her. Like many other follies that start out innocently, I was foolhardy enough to take off the sweater and give it to Evie to use as her thumb-sucking prop one particularly stormy (in the emotional not the meteorological) morning. It was all downhill from there.

First, Evie chose this sweater of mine as the occasional prop; one of many objects that sated her need for something to hold on to while she sucks her thumb. Then, as most things seem to, it escalated to the decidedly favorite lovey, complete with a chewed through hole around the neckline (her way of laying claim on it I guess… never going to be able to wear that one out in public again). Now, about a month after its first appearance on the scene, BlankieSweater it is positively the must have accessory for every outing, and I do mean every outing. Why, just this evening we got ourselves into a little bit of a quasi-meltdown situation because Evie was tired at the end of the day and we decided to walk to the grocery store without BlankieSweater… fortunately though she can (usually) be reasoned with and was ok with the promise that she could have BlankieSweater as soon as we returned home.

I have, however, become a bit concerned about the inevitable, only because Patrick and I can be a wee bit scattered sometimes, loss of the all-important BlankieSweater. I therefore took it upon myself this evening to do a little web reconnaissance to see if I could possible find a back up copy of Miss BlankieSweater. I must admit I entered this mission with a heavy heart… If I had bought the sweater on sale lo these many moons ago, what were the chances of finding it hanging around on the Internets? Well I am very pleased to report that I (hope) I have found BlankieSweater’s twin sister (and for a steal to boot!) and will just have to get to work chewing a new hole in it myself so she will be ready for her eventual debut ☺ And… should it not be a carbon copy, heck I just acquired a new lovey for myself!

At Blue with the crew

Last weekend we decided (even though it was a pretty long haul for just a weekend) to go up to the cabin with Alicia, Cristof and their crew. I had a flex day so Alicia, the kids and I drove up Friday morningish (and let me just tell you I am now a big fan of their super comfy, satellite radio playing car) and the guys drove up after work on Friday.

The highlights of the weekend included:
-The airplane zip line, which the kids must have rode (taking turns nicely most of the time) at least 100 times.
-The hot tub, complete with a bunch of pool toys that Alicia brought
-The bathtub, complete with four too cute little naked bodies
-The hammock, which Evie loved playing in with Issac and Eva until Issac decided "dumping" was more fun than swinging.
-Fishing on the Blue, which I didn't even know was possible anymore, and actually catching fish! Issac caught his first ever, honest-to-goodness fish and so we grilled it up and everyone took a bite.


It was really neat for me to see Evie up at the cabin and playing with friends there. I have very fond memories of doing the same with my friends when I was growing up. Of course I imagine she won't remember this trip but then again you never know... she seems to have an uncanny ability to remember (and remind) us of things we told her we would do weeks (and weeks!) later.

Fruits of labor

This week Evie enjoyed the first fruit of our labor of garden love. It has been a bit of time in the coming (since November really) but man was it worth the wait! I must admit that the success of our garden really has very little to do with either Evie or myself. Our success can be attributed to two very important things:
1) Patrick and Monique who put it together for us in November (here is the garden genesis) and
2) An automatic watering system (the reason why our first fruits come a bit belated is because the watering system is a relatively recent development... in other words the whole thing didn't work out too well until I found away around my chronic oh-my-gawd-it-has-been-a-week-since-I-watered-the-garden problem)


My favorite part about the garden right now are the squash that have decided not only to take over my garden but also so go traveling around my side yard in general. They have these great primordial looking leaves and, much like Evie, require constant vigilance or they will get themselves into trouble by attaching onto my other plants and trying to drag them down. They are totally the bulls in my garden china shop. Evie's favorite part of the garden is definitely the tomatoes. For the past week she has been watching them like a hawk waiting for the moment one turned red so she could snarf it down. She was so excited about getting this first ripe one that she wouldn't even share with me!

Belated Memorial Day pics

It has been a busy few weeks, first memorial day weekend at the cabin and then my big three day trip to Chicago and Madison last weekend (farthest away I've ever been from Evie girl).

Memorial Day was great! (not to mention rainy... which in Arizona is great!) The theme of the weekend was definitely water. On Sunday Evie spent at least 4 of her 10 waking hours in water, the day went something like this: started the day in the hot tub, followed by a bath to rinse her off, nap, another trip to the hot tub (and subsequent bath to rinse her off) and then a play, splash in the Blue River and finally a good semi-wallow in a nice muddy puddle (and then a bath to rinse her off).


Then last weekend I left Patrick and Evie in Tucson and traveled to Chicago and then Madison to spend time with my friends from college for my college friend Lara's bridal shower. (The trip included an obligatory stop at Culver's, a Chicago pizza joint near Rachel's house and (of course) a nice pint or two of Spotted Cow) It was hard to be so far away for the weekend, but the trip was a blast. Patrick had his own little adventure with Evie last weekend but I'll write more about that later!