Ohh Groupon

About a month ago I finally jumped on the cool-kid bandwagon and signed up for groupon. Up to this point my purchases have been pretty practical, movie punch card for Casa Video and a family membership to the Desert Sonoran Museum. Last week I made a decidedly impractical purchase, a coupon for Build a Bear. This purchase was motivated as much by my own curiosity as a desire to provide my child with another stuffed animal. So on Sunday we printed the coupon (Evie carried in her purse) and headed off to the mall for a bear-building extravaganza. I must admit it was pretty fun. Evie got to pick a bear, put a heart in her, give her a giggle sound and then press the peddle to fill her with fuzz. Once fuzzed she took her bear, now named Suzianna, to the wash station and then, and this was clearly the best part, to pick out an outfit. No great surprise, we now have a Cinderella (complete with glass slippers) bear residing in our house. We then filled out the birth certificate, put Suzianna in her box and headed home. On the way out to the car we were talking about how Evie just made a bear all by herself and she commented "Wow, Mommy that makes me like god."

Digits

One of the first things I remember from after Evie was born, upon discovering that our baby was a girl, was a totally sleep deprived and deliriously happy Patrick commenting in his best Texan voice, "Well I guess I'd better get a gun." I remember chuckling to myself, too tried from the whole birth thing to protest.

Well a firearm has yet to be acquired (and its OK Gerry, no Christmas gifts required :) but the boys are already knocking. Yesterday when I picked Evie up from school she ran up to give me a big hug, and then before we could leave rushed back to the table and grabbed a little piece of paper. The teacher told me that a little boy named Michael at her school had torn a piece of paper out of his notebook and then came running up to her for a pen. On this little slip of paper he wrote out "his number", gave it to Evie and told her to call him. Apparently (I learned this from Evie on the way back home) the two of them hit it off because he has a boy bear that matches her girl bear and they need to arrange a marriage between the two bears. Oh my.

Woodland Adventure

Last week was quite the fall break. We went up to the cabin (I only stayed until Tuesday because I had too much work to do and an exam... why can't U of A take a break like preschool?) with, at max capacity, three other families. At one point, I wasn't there for this beautiful chaos, there were 9 kids on the Blue ranging in age from 3 weeks to 8 years. Needless to say Evie was in heaven with so many kids to share her woodland kingdom with her. There were hikes, beach parties on the banks of the blue, much zip-lining and a few trips up to the lollipop shop in Alpine. (One of which, apparently, ended in Evie purchasing a lollipop the size of her head... you see the madness that occurs when I am not around?!) In the end it was a whole lot of fun and quite the way to say goodbye to the cabin for the next four months.

Happy Halloween

For the second year in a row we had a mini-gathering of friends over to our house for a little potluck and some trick-or-treating fun. I didn't manage to get any pumpkins carved this year but did find some bat wings to make a costume out of and, lucky for Evie, her Mina made her another fabulous costume. The trip around the block yielded much candy... not quite sure what to do with it quite honestly. I am also happy to report that for the first year since we moved into this house there was no 7:05 emergency run to Walgreen's because we ran out of candy. (I also opted out of the hippy stuff this year, and went for plain old chocolate...I am sure the neighborhood kids were happy for that)


There were some pretty great houses this year and Evie got scared once or twice. By the end though she was proclaiming herself a big brave girl and self-assuredly strolled up to what was the kicker of all scary houses last year... our neighbor puts on this great ghoulish costume and just sits on his step...very...very...still. She was not quite brave enough to face that one outside of between my legs. At another house each kid was required to tell a joke. Evie had to think about it a bit, but here is what she came up with:
-Knock, Knock
-Who's there?
-Nobody...
It made me laugh, but I am pretty biased. Evie got pretty into the joke idea though and started asking the kids who came to our house to tell her a joke before she would divulge any candy. She was so into her costume that she took it off to drink water and eat candy (she came back out of her room totally redressed herself, not to bad, the shirt is about 2 sizes to small and was on backward but other than that...) At the end of the evening Evie told Patrick that that was the best "hike" she had been on all week. I tend to agree, hikes with periodic stops for candy are pretty hard to beat.

Halloween parade

Evie's last day before fall break was quite the event... complete with a Halloween parade. Evie wore one of her many princess costumes for the event. The fabulous princess dress that my mom made for her wasn't quite ready yet (you'll get to see that one this weekend). Basically the parade consisted of all the kids walking around the school picking up what had to be the world's healthiest trick or treat "treats" I've ever seen... pretzels, granola bars, erasers, playing cards and one stop with (gasp) chocolate :) Ahh nothing quite like a like-minded community. Although I think if I bought pretzels to pass out this Halloween this year I'd be ridiculed out of the house, so I'll just have to get the organic lollipops again... oh wait, no one wanted those last year and so I still have plenty, sweeeeet.

Zingers: Pits

"Oh Mommy, I really need to take a shower" as she raises her arm and walks toward me.... "Just smell my stinky pits." (Of course her "pits" didn't really smell... and where did she learn that word/association?)

Listen well...

A haunting sound has filled our nights for about a month now. Imagine you are three and it is almost eight, you've read your stories, brushed your teeth and are nicely tucked into bed when the distant joyfully eerie sound of the ice-cream man is heard. Its enough to drive a small child to tears... oh the injustice of it all! Once the truck came through early enough so we could try to find it, but alas after many minutes of running from one end of the block to another we couldn't locate the source of the sound. The whole situation was so tramautic that we had taken to playing music at bedtime in no small part to mask the torturous tunes.

About a week ago Evie was going to bed later than usual, such that pjs we donned and stories were read but the critical step of teeth had not been brushed. Patrick came home about then and Evie rushed out to see him when the call to ice-cream arms was heard. I, seeing out best chance yet at ice-cream goodness, had Evie jump into the passenger seat of the S-2000 with Patrick while I ran to shut the door. The three of us thereby set off on an ice-cream man chase. We first went right (its difficult to tell where those tunes originate) and stopped to ask some walkers if they had seen said ice-cream man, they indicated they had last seen the van of sugary goodness back behind us. U-turns were made, other walkers were queried until finally we caught up with the elusive beast (and this van really was a beast) about a quarter mile from our house. A small (it was 7:45 after all) treat was purchased and much satisfaction was felt all around. I do, however, still play music most nights to silence the sadistic sugar-man who still insists on visiting our neighborhood at 8 pm every night...

Zingers: Fixer and Stickers

Two zingers:
As the flower comes off a new thrift shop princess find (I think I have already expended more than we paid for it in fix it hours) Evie says as she hands the flower and dress to me: Mommy, mommy, fixing machine!

While making a picture for Patrick: I am going to put lots of stickers on this so Daddy knows that his child loves him.

Princesse Genevieve

As observed by her preschool teacher during dress-up last Friday:

Kittens and Creations

First the kittens: so being the suckers we are (well really Patrick) we acquired not one but two new kittens this weekend. We went to get just one but Patrick and I both liked the one that Evie did not pick more and.... so... there you have it, a three cat, one dog and 11 coop chicken family. (I think the second kitten reminded Patrick of his favorite cat from when he was little, Headly) We once again allowed Evie to name them and after Oliver was vetoed she decided on Frere and Jacque... a homage to her favorite song. So here they are the newest Lacroixs:



Aside from copious amounts of time watching kittens play, Evie has been making some pretty awesome creations. Today alone are three notables. This morning she put some playdough in a little basket, coated it with plastic beads and then started to weave this elaborate tale about how it was a nest and the plastic beads were fairy seeds. We then placed (at her request) the fairy seed basket out by the front door where they could "be happy outside but not get too hot."

Then after school today she went out back to play in the yard while I made dinner and called me out to see here "wedding cake" (What you couldn't tell?) She then arranged our patio for the wedding... it still isn't clear who the lucky couple were... After the cake she came in a drew me the most awesome picture yet... and I say this not because it is particularly pithy, its just a self portrait, but because I think it is the first time ever she has drawn something that I could so easily determine what exactly it was! The scribbles at the top are her current version of her name, apparently she really likes v's.

For those of you who would like to know about my state of affairs... I am getting into the routine of school work, regular work and Mom work and starting to really enjoy myself. I have, however, realized that higher education, especially of the PhD type, is a really, truly selfish exercise. Hours and hours of time spent by yourself reading, writing and learning about all sorts of fascinating things that most people really don't care to know about. (This is of course unfortunate for those who are subjected to time with me because they have to listen to me dribble on about all sorts of esoterica) So let this be a warning to any potential out of town guests... you might just find yourself subject to my waxing poetic about the coolness of qanats or the beauty of biological soil crusts... and yes Patrick will accept your pity.

Zingers - Siblings

After watching three little baby hamsters play at school the other day Evie turned to me and said:

"Mommy, I don't want a little brother or sister, I would like a little brother pet instead. I think a little brother pet would be much better."

Labor Day 2010

We spent a lovely labor day up at the cabin. My folks took Evie on Thursday and Patrick and I joined them on Friday. Patrick and I had a fabulous time driving up sans Evie... we played the music loud and drove fast, two things that she decidedly prefers we do not do.


I had quite a bit of school work to do (two whole books to read and an abstract to write) but took enough down-time to go to the annual Christmas Bazaar up in Alpine. We got there early and as a result picked up some mighty fine homemade ornaments, pot scrubbers and a hat and bag for Evie. Back down at the cabin my dad was laying concrete and so we decided to get an impression of Evie's hands. It occurred to me afterward that the last time we tried this she was like two months old. Well much like the last time it was a pretty messy endeavor, except this time we could explain to her just how it had to be done and were able to try at least 5 times and get it right without her melting down. It seems like just yesterday that we had the "Plaster Disaster" and it is so funny to me that we intended to retry but didn't get around to it until almost 3 years later... it must not have been a priority.


Evie had a lot of fun doing the now typical (how happy that makes me... that she goes up to the cabin enough to have typical activities!) cabin stuff... playing in the sand, making forts and getting very messy. We won't be back up again for awhile but I am already looking forward to it!

A day in Poem

A (not so) little poem about my day today....

Wake up in the morning at quarter past five
Grind some coffee and double check an abstract whose deadline is nigh
Put the finishing touches on, submit it and I'm through
Take a look at my e-mails and see what else I need to do
Answer a few questions and now its almost six
Start a load of laundry and drink my morning coffee fix
A rumble from the hallway tells me Evie is awake
“Mommy is there something for breakfast you can make?”
I hand her a breakfast bar and she goes off to play
Patrick wakes up and asks what I have going on today
Around seven track down clothes for myself and Evie and then take a shower
Somehow that always takes an hour
Its eight am and we hop into the Subaru
Drop Evie off at school and say toodaloo
Drive to campus and park my car
Get another cup of coffee, the day is looking pretty good so far
Sit down for an hour and do a reading on the importance of river flow
Nine-thirty rolls around and its time for me to go
Ecohydrology class from nine thirty until ten forty-five
In depth discussions on vegetation and how much water it needs to thrive
An iced tea and conference call for work at eleven
Outside talking in the shade with a breeze that made it feel like heaven
Back to the book on river flow
Did you know a vegetarian diet takes half the water to grow
than a typical american one?
Clock strikes noon and the book is almost done
Wax poetic on the importance of a river
Write out discussion questions and hit deliver
Clock says its almost one
So long coffee shop, its been fun
Drive to Evie's school to meet some teens
They are going to build a fort next week for the kids by any means
Now its a quarter til two and I'm on the go
The fridge is bare so a quick stop at Trader Joe(s)
Back home again at ten till three
Kita and Oliver greet me with glee
Put together materials for a class I'll teach tomorrow
An edible aquifer for 2nd grade kids to swallow
Worked for an hour made a list of things I can no longer do
You didn't think I was totally insane did you?
Ten to four running out the door
Physical aspects of arid lands is what's in store
An hour of class on climate and then I am through
Rush over to Evie's school, later than usual, I hope she isn't blue
Find Evie playing on the playground
Pretending and laughing away not wanting to be found
Five thirty now and a quick stop at the store
To pick up a few things I forgot before
Home by six and Patrick is there too
Wow that day flew!
Make the pesto, boil some water, wash the dishes that are dirty
Dinner for all at six thirty
Seven or so and its time for bed
Read three stories, A Very Fairy Princess, Give a Mouse a Cookie and Skippyjon Jones
Then off to brush teeth with minimal groans
Set the “beepie” and cuddle for fifteen minutes more
Tell Evie the story about the magic skirt store
Quarter til eight and relaxation is near
I've worked pretty hard and I think I deserve a beer
Settle in with Patrick to watch a little TV
Up till about 9 and then off to bed with me

Zingers - Origins

A 12(ish) girl at a party this weekend: Evie where are you from?

Genevieve: I'm from a belly.

Storyteller

Genevieve has become quite the weaver of tales. She is always coming up with a scenario or story for the world she sees (or doesn't see) around her. Last weekend we took a short trip to New Mexico to the Gila Cliff Dwellings NM. On our hike up to the cliff dwellings we stopped to take a rest at a spot where you could see the cliff dwellings. Patrick was talking about the cliff dwellings and Evie chimed in that the cliff dwellings created by the furniture people who also created the logs we were sitting on, but then they turned into eagles and flew away. The pictures below are of the cliff dwellings in question, well worth the 2 hour curvy road to get to.


One of the cuter manifestations of the storyteller in her is during story time each night. Before she goes to bed every night I tell her a story on the fly. I usually ask her what she wants the general theme to be (princesses, fairies, magic, you get the idea) and then make up a story about it. For the past few weeks when I finish the story she will say, "No mommy you're not finished change the story to be...." and she'll propose a slight change to the story I've told (the location or the end result is somehow different) and then I retell the story based on her modification. It is a lot of fun for both of us.

Who knows maybe she'll be a ballet dancing, mud loving writer....

(Oh and for those of you who are concerned... I have indeed survived my (almost) first two weeks of school, work and mommydom... the first week was a bit scaring but the second week was down right enjoyable)

Seeking balance

On Monday I officially begin my PhD... for whatever reason it was not a reality to me until last Wednesday when I spent the day back on the University of Arizona campus at a graduate student orientation. All this week I've been having nightmares where I am at work and I've accidentally missed a whole week of class or in class when I was supposed to be at a meeting, or, the worst, I am in class and forgot to pick up Genevieve from school... clearly I have some anxiety about balancing the whole thing. Luckily for me I have just about the best support a girl could have with my parents and Patrick to help me take care of Evie when I have class and Evie herself who seems to be at the very least pretty intrigued about the idea of her mom at school "just like her."

As the orientation day finished and I walked back to my car across the big grass mall I suddenly felt a moment of honest panic, an oh my gawd what have I done. Then as I crossed the mall and walked past the library, where I spent so many hours totally engrossed in cave ecology or transportation planning (random I know) during my master's degree, I got over my panic and got really truly excited. Here goes nothing... or rather here goes something...

Fairy Princess

Last Halloween's fairy costume had an exciting resurgence last weekend when we all went to a gathering at Valley of the Moon. On Wednesday I found out about it and asked Evie if she wanted to go... being that Valley of the Moon is just about her favorite place in Tucson she eagerly agreed and then proceeded to ask me every single morning until Saturday when we were going.

For those of you who aren't in the know, Valley of the Moon is a random little park-type place in the middle of Tucson that was created in the 1920s as a magical land for kids. It has all sorts of little fairy houses, big and small, as well as little grottoes and other random stone structures. In the past year it has also acquired a number of structures from a now defunct goofy golf place that was a Tucson icon in the early 70s and 80s. Valley of the Moon is run today as a non-profit by volunteers so it is only open every now and again. On Saturday it was open to celebrate Tucson's birthday and there was live music, punch and general fun to be had. People were supposed to come dressed as fairies and later in the evening there was a contest for the best fairy. Evie and I (or really mostly me... I'll be honest) took the contest very seriously. We went out to target and picked up some glitter for her face and body, glittery shoes and some bobbles for her hair. She got all dolled up and was very excited to go.


Well let me tell you there were some pretty fabulous fairies there but just about nothing beats the cute 3 year old in pigtails wearing the costume her Mina made. Evie walked away with second place in the fairy contest and was beat only by the round about 7 year old girl on stilts (gotta love Tucson). Her prize was a Valley of the Moon shirt which is only about 5 sizes too big and as a result makes an awesome nightshirt.... which she has insisted on wearing every night for the past week.

Abstract art and other beauty

You just never know where in life you will find a little bit of art. Genevieve found it in her snacks last weekend and made this:


This was Evie's first week back at preschool and she was so very excited about it. She has a new classroom and got to see all of her friends that were off and about this summer. She was so excited that apparently it was nigh impossible to get her to nap on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday of course she was so exhausted that she reported to me on the ride home that she was still asleep when the lights came back on. In an attempt to get her relaxed and ready for bed we have started nightly bubble baths and Evie quickly discovered the beauty of the bubble beard.


Last night during her overly bubbled bathing experience Patrick called us outside for the most lovely rainbow... Evie was so excited she jumped out of the bath and slipped out the door totally naked (good thing we don't live on a busy street) before I could even get a towel on her....

Its the chemicals

Last Friday I had my first official Arizona-is-broke-as-hell-lets-"save"-money furlough day. As I see it I had two options... stay in my hot (and humid) house and bemoan for the umpteenth time the whacked tax structure of this state that led us to such measures OR head for the cool hills and streams of the Blue. Luckily for me, and those around me, I chose the Blue.

Patrick was preparing for a big trial on Friday and Monday so Evie, Kita and I left him to his own devices (always a dangerous proposition) and jumped in the car and headed north-east. My initial plan was to leave Friday morning but the sound of the gurgling creek (or was that the swamp cooler) called me and so I quickly loaded the car with a few things (including Evie and Kita) and headed out Thursday after work.

Evie is such a great car traveler and took the 5.5 hour drive in stride. So much so that really I had 5.5 hours to listen to music and think... both wonderfully neglected habits of mine. For most of the drive it was just me and the big stormy sky on the road, and it was glorious.

The long weekend (I decided to take Monday as a vacation day) was filled with trips down to the stream, bushwhacking hikes and Evie's first trip out on a lake. Interestingly enough I found that Evie and I did a lot of "science" on the trip, much more so than we ever do at home.

The highlight was on Saturday when after a big rain we went out to check on the stream and found it had jumped its banks, looked like Wonka's chocolate river, and was running really fast. My dad threw a stick in to show Evie how fast the current was. She wanted to participate too so she ran off and picked up a rock. When the first rock did not float down stream, she grabbed a second. The second rock also sank and so my dad asked her what the difference was between the wood he threw in and the rock she threw in. She looked at us both, thought for a second and proclaimed "Its the chemicals." We we both so taken aback by this perfectly correct response we both stood there for a beat looking at each other before we looked back at her and said, Evie that is exactly right. It was awesome.


The high note for me was a waterfall at the end of a bushwhack hike along Turkey Creek. I jumped/bouldered down to it and then had my parents hand Evie down to me. It was a cold and super pretty little waterfall. The only problem was that I wasn't prepared for wading and got rather wet and had to walk and then drive all the way back to the cabin with wet jeans... but it was worth it!


On Sunday we went down to Luna Lake and hiked around and took the paddle boats out for a spin. We didn't get in our full hours worth though because it started to storm and even though the paddle boat probably did not have an ounce of metal on it an extra 15 minutes on the lake just wasn't worth getting soaked (for the second day in a row) or worse. Evie enjoyed her first water-born adventure and did a good job navigating for me.

Yellow Rain Coat(ed)

This past weekend Patrick got a wild hair and decided that we should paint our living room. We have long contemplated undertaking this task but have never quite gotten ambitious enough to do it. We had decided long ago that we should paint the room yellow. (Our living room in our old house was yellow too... hmm I wonder what it says about people who always have to have orange kid's rooms and yellow living rooms?) So when he decided we should go for it I jumped at the opportunity. The task itself turned out not to be too onerous... although I did find myself painting away at midnight on Saturday night while Patrick sat on our couch in the middle of the room watching Battlestar Galactica on our TV (also pulled to the middle of the room... just to be clear, there was no expectation that he help me at that point, I was just neroding about getting it finished and couldn't relax until it was done) As it turns out, however, the build up to painting the room was by far the most issue fraught endeavor.

Before going into this there are two this that should be noted. One: Patrick and I, for all of our good planning and organization in our work activities, are woefully inadequate, for some unknown reason, in our ability to effectively pre-plan household chores and projects. Two: Our living room is, by our standards, really big.

So, we wake up on Saturday morning and I volunteer to go out and buy the paint. Patrick and I confer on the amount required, he suggests 7 gallons I feel like that is excessive and negotiate 5 gallons... umm yes I now realize that even 5 gallons is a lot of paint but at the time it seemed like a reasonable counter-offer to his initial proposal. Then, intent on acquiring 5 gallons of yellow raincoat colored paint, I head off to Ace. As the guy is mixing my last gallon of paint he notes that each gallon should cover about 400 square feet, which would be, oh say enough paint to cover my entire house in raincoat yellow. Oh well, too late at that point, and besides it never covers as much as they say it will (right?) and our living room is really big...

So I pack up the car with my 5 gallons of paint and head merrily on my way. About 1/2 way home I look back and realize that one gallon is leaking and, panic stricken, pull into a nearby parking lot and jump out of the car in the hopes that I can get to the can of paint before it gets to my seats. Well, in my panic and haste, I throw open the back door, which leads the can in question to go toppling out of the car, spilling all over my leg and the side of the car (don't worry Gerry it wasn't the Honda I was driving). So now I have paint all over me, the car and this parking lot (oh and it is already like 100+ degrees outside) Figuring liquids and some sort of mostly toxic solvent are really the only things that are going to solve this problem I jump back in the car, race home and run into the house all a dither about yellow paint in the car. Patrick and Evie rush out to help me... but upholstery and paint do not part so easily. Luckily, in the end, it was a pretty small patch of area that is now yellow and we never really intended to sell the car again anyway. Once the dust settled and we started to regroup and paint something other than my leg and the car, I realized that I felt quite guilty about the large yellow spot in this random parking lot. So I looked up the phone number for a business there and left a message confessing my sins... no word yet on whether or not I will pay dearly for my guilty conscience.

Once the excitement of getting the paint home subsided we all resigned ourselves to the rather large task of actually painting. Genevieve helped us out some but we rapidly realized that she is just far too artistic (not to mention hands on) to be a good painting partner. By the end of Saturday we were all pretty well painted: the living room, my feet (where the can fell), Patrick's arms, all of Genevieve, Oliver's face and left whiskers (I have no idea when or where that occurred) and Kita's leg (I think she decided to hide a toy in the sheet that we used to cover up the paint supplies when we went out on Saturday night). When it was all said and done we painted the whole living room with 2 gallons of paint... so subtracting the gallon that chose to paint my car instead of my wall, we have 2 unopened gallons of yellow raincoat left for when we decide to paint the rest of the house yellow... or something else (anyone want to buy 2 gallons of eco-yellow paint off me?) All told it was not the least traumatic painting experience I have ever had but that's OK because the end result is pretty darn awesome.