Friday nights

Just about every Friday night that we are in town (which, unfortunately this summer is pretty much every Friday) we pack up the swimsuits and head over to the racquet ball club for the Friday night bbq. It is a pretty fabulous little gathering... hoards of kids splashing in the pool, running wild on the grass, hiding in the trees, eating hot dogs and dancing to the live music. Patrick likes it because it has become his once a week chance to eat meat (aka burger) and I love it because we always meet at least two and sometimes as many as five families that we know there. The meetings are never pre-arranged, it is just one of the best places to be in Tucson on a Friday night... Even cooler, we have made some new friends there thanks to our gregarious daughter who is willing to cut a rug with just about any other girl she can find. The whole atmosphere is very reminiscent of what I imagine a bygone everyone meet at the social club time to be.. sort of Dirty-Dancing summer at family camp-esque... minus the saucy rumba.

This past week I decided to actually bring my camera but, I must admit, was too busy having fun and swimming to take too many photos. The highlight of this last week was the face painter, which Evie thought was very fun. The funny thing to me about it was that she was set up right by the pool so the kids would get these fancy face paintings and then either proceed to get back in the pool and smear them or get wet in some other way and smear them. The end result was a bunch of kids running around looking like the have black eyes or some other form of facial malady... our daughter was no exception. Any guesses as to what the face painting was supposed to be?

What do you do on a hot day?

Ahh the most important question in July... What on earth do you for fun when it is over 100 degrees outside and your house is humid as all heck and not terribly cool because the swamp cooler isn't working very well anymore as a result of the monsoon that just will not produce any visible precipitation? Well unless we want to spend the whole weekend at the pool or the mall; the answer is not much... but just laying around doesn't go over very well with a three-year old, so I decided this weekend to build her a fort. (Hearkening back to what I did as a kid during the summer.) She had a ton of fun with it and it was such a hit that we left it up until today. Hopefully it will start raining soon and we can add puddle jumping to our repertoire.

Now, if only I could figure out an equally pleasant way to survive during the workday at home...I am thinking about resorting to working in my bathing suit. I would still be getting out of my pajamas every day right?

4th of July

We spent a fabulous long 4th of July weekend up at the cabin with my folks. We didn't see any fireworks, except for the poppers that I brought up from Tucson, but we did manage to see a pretty awesome little parade in Alpine on July 3rd. Evie was pretty impressed by it too, especially the candy throwing part. (Gotta love people throwing candy out to children, who then proceed to run into the road in front of moving, albeit slowly, vehicles to fetch it)

Aside from the parade we mostly stuck around home, with an all important trip down to the stream every afternoon for wading and exploring. Evie discovered that she is a bit intimidated by large fish (thankfully, for her, there are not too many of those in the Blue) but that overall stream walking is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. One very notable event of the trip was that we actually managed to get Evie in pants! (As we were leaving Friday morning she walked up to me with about 6 dresses, still on their hangers, in her arms and informed me that I needed to pack them for the trip... she burned through those six dresses in the first day and a half)



On the way home yesterday we stopped at the catwalk hike in New Mexico. Evie hiked almost the whole mile in and out. We made it as far as the waterfall/swimming hole and because it was over 90 degrees decided to go for a dip. The water was utterly frigid, around 50 degrees I would guess, but in a you only live once moment I (queen of the its-too-cold-no-way-in-hell swimming) decided to almost get under the water
fall.


I also spent some quality time with my favorite flowers, which only really bloom for a few weeks in July, the monument plant. This is one of the better (of scads) of shots I captured.

Mt Lemmon

Well it is the time of year suitable only for the most hardened of the southern Arizonans... these are the late-June-uber-hot-no-rains-yet days. Last Saturday we decided to take a break from the 105+ degree temps and drive an hour up Mt. Lemmon (actually it was a co-worker's bright idea and we were more than happy to tag along). I am sad to admit that this was Evie's first hike in quite a while so I expected a regular 2.5 year old routine out of her: AKA walk for 100 yards and then either be so distracted or pooped that she would no longer hike. Imagine my shock then when she hiked at least two miles with us! (With only the occasional distracted stop... the hardest for her was the dirt with mica in it... sparkles...are...too...tempting... she only stopped stooping when her pockets were so full of dirt that her skirt was almost falling off from the weight)


You see from the pictures that not only was she a great hiker but she was also quite enthusiastic about the outing (feet 100% off the ground in one shot) You may also notice in the pictures that her shirt looks a little funny... just before we were leaving she found that shirt in my goodwill pile and proclaimed it still fit her (which I guess it kind of does) and proceeded to put it on backwards. Two lessons learned there 1) if its going to goodwill get it out asap and 2) backward/too small shirts are not a battle worth fighting... who knows maybe she is a fashion maven.

Abstract art...

When I came to pick up Evie from preschool on Monday she had created the following:


I asked her what it was and her teacher told her to show me... so she started running around and around it. Any guesses as to what it is supposed to be? For the answer, click on the image, the image title will let you know. (She was so proud of her creation that taking the picture with my phone turned out to be the only way I could get her to clean it up)

Happy Father's Day!

Storyteller

Evie has become quite the storyteller/grand master of pretend lately. She creates these elaborate scenarios and then plays them out with whatever materials she can find. Sometimes its legos doubling as princesses sometimes its spoons constituting a cat family on vacation.

On Monday night after her bath she decided that she wanted to pretend she was a Barbie. Apparently the first step toward Barbie-dom is a fancy hair-do... so for the first time ever she actually sat still while I attempted to do a "fancy" hair do for her (you can see in the pictures that it didn't work out so well for me but she was happy so that's all that really matters) Evie-barbie then needed to get dressed "fancy" and then she wanted to get into a Barbie Box. We didn't have any large pink boxes handy so a split open file box would have to do. She then wanted to see what she looked like as a Barbie In A Box so we took pictures...


I then told her that I could make it really look like she was a Barbie in the box so while she painted in the other room I put together this for her (Yes it is Skipper, not Barbie but Evie can't read yet and I just couldn't bring myself to put her head on the top of a real Barbie...)

Finally after playing like Barbie in a box for awhile she ran out of the room proclaiming that she had a good idea, and came back like this:


In case you can't tell that is Evie pretending she is Daddy :)

Little Ballerina

Although it is incredibly difficult to make myself sit down and write right now (I am 400 pages into an incredibly engrossing 800 page book... why do I do this to myself?) Write I must because Evie had a pretty big weekend last weekend.

Starting last Wednesday she rehearsed every evening from 5-8 at the theater for the big dance performance for her dance studio. She was (briefly) in two numbers, ballet and tap. She vacillated between being very excited to be on stage and a little bit nervous about it (I learned the hard way that me being backstage was a bad idea) In the end though she gave two stellar performances on Saturday and then again on Sunday. (And in case you are interested the thumb turns out to be an important accessory to dancing... she sucked it for part of her tap routine one night, until she realized that she was supposed to be using both hands) I am afraid my low light photography leaves something to be desired so I don't really have any good pics of her dancing but I do have a few of the before and aftermath. The first is from her dance studio (Evie is the little one on the far right) and is of all of the dancers after the have practiced their "run for the rose" the second is from our friend Kwan whose daughter was also in Evie's dance class...




The highlight though was at the very end getting to run out and bow and get a rose from the head of the studio Miss Cecily. We have been treating that rose like royalty ever since...

Grand Canyon

Last weekend for our anniversary Patrick and I left Evie for four nights (and five days) with my parents. We both were a little sad to go camping without her but I must say we maximized our childless time with lots of hiking and almost sleeping in...


We spend three nights on the north rim of the Grand Canyon (an 8 hour drive from Tucson) at the most amazing camp site, pretty literally on the edge of the canyon. The first night was wicked windy and cold (well below freezing) and the next morning my fingers got so cold I was shoving them in the air vents of the subaru on our way to the trail head just to try to regain feeling in them. Our first day we decided to hike a little over 4.5 miles down into the canyon to a place called Roaring Spring. The over 9 mile round trip hike turned out to be a real butt-kicker, over 3,000 feet elevation change both up and then down. The next day we thought we would keep our legs from getting too sore (whose bright idea was that?) and did another 10 mile hike along the rim. Needless to say, by Monday we both could hardly walk but were darn happy with our lot in life.


On Monday we drove around to the South Rim and stayed at the El Tovar. The coolest part about that was being at the park both late at night and early in the morning. We took a walk at around 10:30 pm and came out of the hotel to see a huge 8-point buck grazing on the grass in front of the hotel. Tuesday morning, while Patrick slept in a little, I took a walk along the rim and saw maybe two or three other people. Compared to the throngs of folks that are there during normal hours it was glorious. All in all we both decided that taking trips on our own are great, even if every little kid we saw made us miss ours....

Goldfish

For a little over a month now Genevieve has been enrolled in swimming lessons. Given that the most important activity for an Arizona kid during the summer is swimming at the pool (really the only way to survive the heat) we figured it was essential for her to learn as soon as possible. The way kids pick up new skills is really cool to watch and swimming certainly falls into that category. Just this week she graduated from pollywog level to goldfish level. (We celebrated this achievement with a box of jelly beans, which Evie shared with me only after I promised her that, "yes, when I was a little girl I took swimming lessons and graduated too.") As a graduate of pollywog Evie can now: do 5 popcorns with help, superman glide, 5 second back float without help, froggie dive, swim 8 feet without help, and my personal favorite, jump in and swim back to the side without help. I realize that many would need a separate dictionary for learn to swim speak but suffice to say she is doing a great job and will be hanging out poolside with the 4 year and older set before we know it!

Five things

Five things I love about being Genevieve's Mom right now:

1) The feeling of her warm little body when she cuddles up to me while we are taking a nap.
2) The way she is all about dirt and how she encourages me to play in it with her.
3) Her incredible imagination and the way she likes to reenact stories and movies she sees for days afterward. I had no idea that so many different variations of finding nemo could be found.
4) Her fierce loyalty to those who are kind to her. She is so kind and considerate to those she considers friends (fortunately for now I am among them. :) Just this afternoon when I laid down to take a nap with her she went and got me an extra pillow to sleep with because she knows I like two and pat, patted me to "sleep".
5) Her bravery never ceases to amaze me and gives me such a warm feeling whenever I see it. She demonstrates it almost daily now from anything from getting up and singing at her school's exhibition to just diving into the pool at swim lessons to going up to any kid she meets and asking to play.

Turn of events

Gotta love the little surprises in life. So here I am, Monday morning, gearing up for my last two days of work, I'm deleting files getting last bits of work finished, tying up all the loose ends. Around noon I receive a call from the HR person a my agency asking me if I would like to stay with the agency, move into a different division (Hydrology) and work on nothing but the project that I have been wanting/waiting to work on for four years.... oh, and all from the comfort of my home. (Maybe there really is such a thing as karma?) The only problem of course is that I had no intention of staying past August anyway because not only am I committed to going back to school I am really very excited about it. But gosh wouldn't it be nice if I could keep my job (and benefits!) part time while I go to school. I figure heck I've got nothing to loose at this point and so I propose this to the deputy director of my agency and she says, terrific... uhh what? Did I just go from unemployed to employed and working (again) on exactly what I want where I want? Go figure.

IST Exhibition

Tonight was Evie's third exhibition at her preschool. Every 6 weeks (aka unit) the kids put on a little show that is based on what they have been learning. This unit was all about animals, in particular pets. They got to go on a field trip to handi-dogs to meet dogs who help people and even had a visit from a vet who brought a real live dog to the class. (This was a highlight for Genevieve) Anyway, the past two exhibitions Evie has been too scared to go up and preform with her class. On a whim I got out the video camera before we left and asked her to sing the song she had been practicing... I was pretty amazed when she sang this:



The actual performance was awesome as well... but I won't subject you to 5 minutes of video (not to mention the fact that I can't imagine how long that would take to upload...) Suffice to say Genevieve did a great job of both staying up in front and preforming and showing off her budding french skills!

Balalaika daddy

Patrick, in a wise attempt to cultivate a little sanity through music, has joined the Tucson Balalaika Orchestra. It is a pretty random little hobby, but he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Last weekend was the annual folk festival and Patrick's debut as a balalaika bass player. It was also Evie's first appearance as a balalaika orchestra groupie. From where I sit it appears that they are both well on their way to greatness :)

Glass Half Full

We have had a bit of a rough week or so. I was thinking about this as I walked home from the movie store this afternoon when I noticed my (our) shadow. Something about this god-like shadow made me very happy, and I realized that although there have been a series of unfortunate events really we are very lucky. The glass is truly half full.

So as some might know, I was forced to resign my job last week. Its a bit of a long story, one I'd be happy to tell you about if you'd really like to know, but won't go into here. Suffice to say it was a very sad ending to what was, unequivocally, my dream job. That's the half empty. The half full is that back in November I worried that it could all end badly and made the decision to apply to go back to school and get a PhD; something I have always wanted to do. Not only have I been accepted to the program, but I also have received funding for my studies. That pretty much fills that glass... but to bring it to the brim, I now have almost 4 months to hang out and play with Genevieve, a once in a lifetime chance to spend a summer playing and having fun with my favorite three-year old.

So that is how the week started. On Wednesday I was up at my former bosses house working from there (they closed our Tucson office and moved our computers up to Phoenix on Monday, so I have been trying to figure out how best to work until my last day, next Tuesday, all week...) when I get a call from Kelley (our babysitter) informing me that she has just called the fire department because an electrical line failed and there is a fire in the alleyway. That is the half empty. The half full is that the fire trucks arrived quickly, no one or thing (including chickens) was really harmed and thank goodness someone was at our house to call them!

But wait that's not all. (And this is where you may want to stop reading Gerard) On Thursday night around 9 pm I get a call from Patrick informing me that he has been in a car accident. Thank goodness he is all right... the S2000, not so much. I wake Evie up and we drive to go get him, round about midnight we are back at home, a one car (plus scooter) family again. That's the half empty. The half full is that Patrick is totally fine, even though he had the top down when the accident occurred and ended up with bits of the other car in the cabin, the accident was not his fault and who knows, maybe they can fix the whole front end of the car up like new...

Here's to good (better?!) luck and new beginnings.

Eye Roll

This past week Evie looked at me, closed an eye, put her fingers on her eyelid, rolled her eye around in circles and said "Mommy, I am rolling my eyes at you." Awesome.

Candy from a baby

So there is this 60s song with the refrain... its soo easy, like stealing caaandy, from a baaaby... Anyway this little ditty has been stuck in my head all day because of an event (one of a series really) that took place last night. The sum total of the experience: stealing candy from a baby might be easy, but taking food from an Evie sets you up for a world of hurt.

It all started months ago. I had a cookie that Evie and I were sharing. She had eaten most of her portion of it and, after about an hour of inattention on the cookie front, I decided it would be OK for me to finish the rest of her half. Well about 2 minutes after I finished the cookie Evie asked me where the rest of it was. Of course I told her I had finished it, which set off a fit the likes of which I had not seen since the dark ages of the tantrum era. No matter how much I apologized she would not be consoled and not even the offers of a new cookie sated her displeasure with me. She was so miffed at my baked-good betrayal that she went around telling people for days how I stole the rest of her cookie.

That was such a memorable experience that I have made darn sure that I (almost) never finish off any food that is Evie's without getting express approval first. Patrick, on the other hand, is having a bit of a problem with this lesson. It is not due to any malice on his part, it is really more of a forgetfulness. He has a great ability to not remember the storms that rain down should someone knowingly, or in his case, unknowingly finish off Evie's meal.

Last night was a classic example. We were all in bed reading stories and Patrick and Evie were both eating slices of pizza. (A little bit of an unconventional dinner set up I know) Evie handed her piece to Patrick to hold while she went to find another book to read. She of course took her time finding the book, chatting to Oliver about something and then remembering that she had to go pee. Well by the time she made it back to the bed Patrick had forgotten which piece was which and had eaten her entire piece of pizza. He tried to give her his piece but she was not having any of it and just totally dissolved. Poor Patrick tried and tried to console her and apologize but she was offended like someone had just betrayed her in the worst way possible. (Did I mention that I might just have a drama queen for a daughter?) In the end she calmed down and accepted the apology and has not mentioned it again today, so I think Patrick is out of the woods this time. For the sake of family peace and harmony I really hope that it was the last time Evie's food goes "missing" :)

Evie and the chickens

I decided that I had better get a move on our garden before it gets too hot. Evie and the chickens were happy to help... especially when it came to getting rid of the bugs in the compost I put on the garden.

Have castle... will party

Whew, the birthday week is now officially over. Evie had her big birthday present this Saturday in the form of her first ballet class and then culminated the weekend with a big bash in our backyard. All I have to say is thank goodness for the affordable jumping castle, it is totally the birthday girls parent's best friend. Happy B-day Genevieve, may your next year be as fabulous as last!

Desert Bunny

I must admit, Evie has been semi-celebrating Easter for ohh about a month and a half now. Ever since rodeo break, when we played with my cousin Melissa for the day and hid eggs, Evie has been requesting that I hide an egg or two (preferably the filled kind) in our house just about every day. Then last week Mina watched Evie for the evening for us and suggested that she put her basket out by the front of the house for the Easter bunny. The next day there were goodies in said basket... and the day after too. I am afraid Evie now has a totally warped idea of Easter and believes that it is a spring-long celebration of obscured ova and much chocolate.

Well, for the real event (almost) on Saturday we went camping out in the Dragoons with about nine other families, mostly from Evie's school. It was quite the scene, there must have been at least 20 kids there between the ages of 3 and 8. On Saturday afternoon we hid about 300 eggs out in the desert and then let the kids go wild looking for them. (Hiding should be interpreted loosely, not wanting any to go undiscovered and end up as wilderness trash, really most were just placed on the ground) Evie certainly enjoyed the massive hunt.

The next morning almost all of the families went on a short hike together and Evie found a wonderful stream to play in and decided to hike no more. It was a glorious day, not too warm not too cold. We had better enjoy it while it lasts!