Bike Riding Lessons

 Born out of a desire to start doing weekend bike rides and from a realization that it was not a skill she was just going to acquire on her own (or at school) Patrick has started to teach Genevieve how to ride a bike without training wheels.  For the past month they have been going down to the park to practice (at first they tried a bit on our driveway but there wasn't enough room to really get going).

I don't have photographic evidence of it but on our last time out she was making it down the street all on her own... now she just needs to get the hang of getting going without a boost from Patrick... definite homework for Christmas break.

Science Experiment

 Evie has joined the Science Club at her school.  She has come home with strange goop (I think it was supposed to be slime), homemade lotion (which looked almost exactly like the slime), and homemade butter.  The big challenge of the club though is to prepare for the regional science fair next spring.  In September we made a special trip to the University so she could get a lab book.  (Yes I know I could have gone to the local office max too but I get 10% off and it seemed fun to make a big deal of it).  Since then we have been discussing what she could do for an experiment and then she records her ideas in the lab book.  Her first idea was to see what kind of noises would make a glass break.  Once it became clear that we wouldn't have the sort of equipment necessary to undertake that experiment she moved on to a water-based one where she was going to examine evaporation rates from cups.  I of course thought this was fabulous but her interest in it fizzled so that too was crossed out in her book.  This week she had to report to her teacher what she was going to do so it was decision day...  On the way to school she still hadn't decided and couldn't come up with an idea.  She then declared that she would like to do an experiment with something that started with M.  I suggested molds (clearly not thinking of the ramifications of growing moldy somethings in my house for the next few months) and she got very excited and proceeded to come up with the idea for her experiment.

She decided to test 3 fruits in an indoor and outdoor environment to see what types of molds would grow on each one.  Her initial hypothesis was that she would see mold in 2 days.  While all of the experiment design was ongoing the puppy was in the backyard looking cute so I figured we should share that too....

(December update.... still no mold, lots of larvae from fruit flies... going to rework the experiement with a new hypothesis and procedures...I know it is a cliff hanger and you are on the edge of your seat... so stay tuned!)

Mahjong and the Spelling Bee

This semester I have been volunteering at Evie's school most Wednesdays at lunch time as a instructor/cat wrangler for the Junior School mahjong club.  When the parent who organizes it found out I was willing (and able) to help with the club I really had no choice :)  Evie joined the club and is in love with the game, she is among a handful of 1st graders in the club and I am totally fascinated that little kids can play a game with so many seemingly strange rules.  I have even dragged my co-worker into helping me one week when the other mom wasn't able to come.  I have been traveling a lot for work and have meetings some Wednesdays so I don't always make it... but always get flack from Evie when I miss it.

In November I missed a mahjong club to go to Clarkdale for work so as "punishment" (not really) I came to her school that Friday morning to help proctor the 1st grade spelling bee.  So that it isn't a painful experience for too many of the kids (just a select few) the process is for kids to sit in the auditorium and write the first ten words on a paper.  Those who get all 10 right go up on stage for a real(er) spelling bee experience.  Evie and six other kids got all 10 words correct and went on stage.  The first three were eliminated pretty quickly, some with tears.... Having never witnessed a spelling bee before I felt kind of bad (and was glad that I could be there for Evie when her tears came...)

The bee went on and on because Evie and her 2 friends knew the whole list by heart.  The teacher decided to try the next list and all of them failed miserably (a sure sign that spelling is all about memorization and confirming what I always suspected... bad speller (like me) does not equal lack of intelligence).  So in the end (and because it was time to go to the next class) it was determined that there would be three spelling bee winners and Evie was one of them!  She was so thrilled and now treats the pencil she won with great reverence. I was happy to have missed the mahjong club that week so that I had the chance to be there for it!

Halloween 2013!

Halloween this year was a blast.  Some of it was old traditions, like going to Valley of the Moon, but most was new on account of our new house and neighborhood.  At first I was worried it would be a disappointment because our new neighborhood is too spread out for trick-or-treating... probably the only thing I don't like about it... and we used to have so much fun in the old neighborhood with a little party and sitting on the porch passing out candy.  Fortunately though my fears were not realized.

Valley of the Moon did a Scooby-Doo themed show this year, which was hilarious.  It was so fun to see Izzy actually watch and enjoy it for the first time! Last year we didn't even try to go and the year before Patrick spent most of the show/tour in the car with a screaming Izzy.... yes we are starting to see the light at the end of the home-arrest-on-account-of-the-baby years.

The girls and I carved pumpkins, Evie wanted a kitty one and while I did the actual carving she embellished it with ears, whiskers and drawings (and yes that is supposed to be a bloody nose).  Izzy mostly sat and watched but did decorate a pretty cool pumpkin at school.  I had bought her a dollar store make your own pumpkin too... which was also a kitty. (Clearly she was pretty excited about this)

The girls had incredible costumes courtesy of my Mom.  Evie picked out the pattern and requested a pink Indian princess costume and that is exactly what she got (Izzy didn't really have a say I am afraid... but we suspected she would want to be exactly what her sister was and we, fortunately, were right.)   Even though we knew we wouldn't be trick-or-treating in our area we still decorated the house and made pumpkins to put out front.

Then on the 31st we went over to my Aunt and Uncles house to go trick-or-treating in the 49ers neighborhood and let me tell you it did not disappoint!  Tons of kids, awesomely decorated houses and a few spooks and scares to make it just right.  Although I don't relish the idea of traveling away from our neighborhood for trick-or-treating I think we have found our new tradition!

Carnival and mini update

I am afraid this will not having Internet has made it so the blog is really hard to do!  That in a crazy schedule with work and PhD stuff. Someday I will have a September and October that isn't  way too full and just be able to appreciate the fall.  In the meantime a little catchup is in order.  Starting with the newest member of our household Sadie the mini dachshund, who came into our life about a month ago now.

She weighs about 3 pounds and is super cute. She loves to sleep with Evie and is super cuddly.  Once she is housetrained she will be the best dog ever!

We have been taking advantage of the wonderful fall weather and doing lots of things outside. Today Evie and I went to the carnival down the street with some friends of hers from school. I was impressed with some of the scary rides she decided to go on, I think her friends made her extra brave!

Life without furniture...

We are just a few months from marking the 1 year anniversary of our new house.  In many ways we have made it our own... pictures on the wall, chicken coop, fairy houses around the fish pond (which Patrick fixed), and a new super efficient air conditioner.  This last addition in particular has prevented us from doing what most people do in a new house... furnish it.

While the bedrooms are all nicely furnished our living spaces remain rather bare.  In the family room this means that there is ample space for nightly wrestling on the carpet, and the front living room certainly feels nice and open.  The kitchen is nice and open too, with only a small kids play table to take up space....  Although it vexed me at first, I have become quite accustomed to this bare room lifestyle.  Now don't get me wrong, I am all about couches and tables, but hey how many people can do cartwheels in their living room without fear of breaking something?  I have no doubt that someday we will have a house furnished like most folks do, but for now I will revel in the unique openness of our space!  (and in the ability to ad nauseum look at couches in order to find just the right one)

Swim lessons

For the past five weeks the girls have been in swim lessons. Evie aspires to join swim team so we took a lessons to learn strokes better and Izzy just aspires to swim period. I was very impressed with both of their progress over the course of just five weeks, but Izzy in particular amazed me.  Where most kids her age cried to get in the pool for swim lessons she would pitch a fit every time when the swim lessons were over because she did not want to get out of the pool. After one lesson she was sticking her head under, blowing bubbles, trying her best kick, and without hesitation jumping off the side into the pool... she may just be swim prodigy :)  Of course now that she's in that awkward space between being comfortable in the water and not quite swimming yet she's totally a hazard to herself. But it is definitely fun to see your kid be so naturally good at something, not to mention so enthusiastic.  It's cooling off now so we probably are not going to anymore swim lessons for this year but next year I'm sure she will tackle it with the same gusto she did this past month. As for Evie she's already asked me if she's gotten to the level to join swim team and she totally has, she also improved a lot!  As for myself I learned that I'm not good at being the after school activity parent. I have felt so exhausted carting them to and from swim lessons for the twice a week that if we do lessons again it will have to be sometime before 6:30 PM. Maybe I just have a weak constitution, but getting home at 7 PM twice a week was a form of torture to me.  I really don't know how some parents do all the afternoon activities!  

Bugs!

Today I took the girls to the Arizona Insect Festival. As it turns out people in Tucson either a) love a festival or b) love insects because it was crazy packed with people, lines to wait to pet the cockroach and to eat cricket cookies among other fabulous actitivities.

Despite the crowd we had a blast and my brother came along to give us a bit 'o the insider knowledge on the social insects.  After an hour or so of bug business Izzy was worn out.  I think Evie could have spent the whole day there though. Her favorite parts were holding the caterpillar and making a clay ladybug.  Izzy's favorite part was the look like a butterfly photo shoot.... I pretty much had to drag her away from it so other kids could get a chance.  My favorite bit was all of the awesomely colored caterpillars!  Woohoo bugs!

Builders

Not sure what it says about the difference between my two girls, Izzy built a perfect straight-line, and Genevieve built a castle.  There some sort of telling information about the difference in their personalities here....

Pool games...

Patrick has discovered a new fabulous game to play in the pool. The push-daddy-in-and-watch-him-flail game.  Although seemingly a lesson in cruelty it is actually a sneaky way of getting Izzy to practice getting out of the pool and jumping back in.  After just a few nights of this game she is now pretty skilled at both pool ingress and egress.  

Car fun

Sometimes at the end of a long car ride you just need to wear your lunchbox. 

Catalina Camping

 

The weekend before, the weekend before last (yes this whole not having internet at home is a bit tough with the updating... especially when I have to work all day Saturday like I did last week) we all took a quick drive up the mountain and went camping for the night at Rose Canyon Lake.  We eeked in at 3:30 pm, getting the last spot available... which just happened to a) be awesome and b) be the exact same spot where we camped 3 years ago with little Genevieve.  The theme of the camp out was "bad decisions" so we brought lots of hippie cheetos, hippie soda, chocolate peanut butter cups and chips for the girls and choco-wine for Patrick and I. Yes I know caffeine free soda and trans-fat free cheetos aren't exactly sinful but it is all relative here people... and I am here to tell you that choco-wine is about as bad of a decision (in a good way) as it gets.

We had a great little camp out despite not being able to see the meteor shower, which was the main reason we left the lights of Tucson.  Evie was so upset that we didn't wake her up to see it that the next night, Sunday, I woke her up at midnight and we went to the roof porch on our house... sadly the lights were too bright to see them then too.  Evie and I went for a little evening walk and she helped me take some flower pictures... this is one of my favorites:

Earlier in the week I was in Clarkdale for my work I am doing with the Town and after two long days of Town Council meetings and public meetings got to have a little fun and try my hand a kayaking the Verde River... the verdict is I am god awful at kayaking.  (I don't think the mayor wants to ever let me borrow one of his kayaks again)  The upshot is that the River is beautiful and because of my horrible navigation skills I managed to get up close and personal with lots of rocks, willow trees and stream banks.   Sometimes (no really all the time) I think my work is awesome... I just wish I didn't have to travel from the Lacroix clan to do it!

Summer Camp Catch-Up

Well the school year has started but I thought I should post some fabulous pictures from Evie's adventures at Zoo Camp the second to last week in August. (I finally got around to downloading them this weekend....)  Zoo Camp was definitely her favorite.  Everyday she regaled us with tales of her adventures.... one day it was putting scents out for the tiger:

 And another it was cleaning out the giraffe cage:

 

They made pinatas for the animals to explore:

By the end of the week Genevieve had convinced Patrick and I that it was wholly unacceptable that we were not drinking coffee that was "rainforest safe"  (She knew this because our coffee didn't have a tree frog on it) and committed her allowance one week a month for us to spend the extra money on the more expensive coffee (we've been drinking the cheapest cost-co coffee we could find).  We won't make her actually give us the money but I will tell you I was highly impressed by her commitment!  Woohoo Zoo Camp!

 

First Day of School!

Both Evie and Izzy had their first days of school last week.  On Monday Genevieve ventured into the exciting world of 1st grade where she will have classes in English, science, math, art, music and (most importantly to her) French.  This year she spends about half the day in French immersion and the other half in classes that are in English.  She has a big backpack with a real 3-ring binder (trapper keeper in my day... I don't think they even make those anymore....) and a schedule for where she needs to be each hour of the day.  On Friday she took her first real test and according to her it was very stressful but "I got all of the answers right"...

Izzy's first day of preschool at the International School for Peace (I guess we like the international schools....) was on Thursday.  I (sigh) was not there to photographically capture it because I was up in the Verde Valley for work.  Patrick reports that it went well and by Friday she had proclaimed that the playground was "Izzy's playground"   I will try to get a good one of her at school this week!

Zingers: Rocks

After eating a nectarine this morning Izzy hands me the pit and says: "Look Mommy, mommy I found a rock in my nectarine."

Monsoony Fun...

So we have decided to go rogue and have cancelled our internet at home.  It is in part because of a sharp increase in cost but mostly because we wanted to see if we could (gasp) survive without it.  I am sad to say the only causality that really matters in this op is the blog.  Lacking internet at home on the weekend severely hinders my ability to keep up with it.  But (fear ye not) I now have a plan.  I will put them together on the home computer and then take them with me to upload when I do my Saturday morning dissertation hour(s), part of my new commitment to finishing this PhD by this time next year....

Trying on some angel wings on Congress Ave.

The Lacroix crowd has had a number of fun little vignettes to our weekends in July.  On the second Saturday (after my first ever "dissercation"  a week of vacation to work on my dissertation...another one of my new efforts to finish my PhD this year) we finally made it down to Second Saturday downtown.  We went out to Ethiopian food with friends, which was great for Patrick and I but I am afraid Izzy and Evie were not fans.  We then wandered about in the humid but coolish post monsoon storm air, it was lovely.  We even ran into the midwife that helped bring Izzy into the world almost exactly 2 years before!

Then the next weekend we trekked out to a birthday party... which doesn't sound like much, except for the fact that there was a massive storm just as we were leaving our house, making what should have been a 1/2 hour drive into an almost 3 hour one because we had to turn around at a wash we couldn't cross, go down dirt roads to avoid downed power lines on a major road and drive through a torrential downpour.  The party was loads of fun though with good Jamacian food and plenty of candy.  Izzy even, coincidentally, met a little boy who will be her classmate when she starts preschool next week!

A little role reversal...Evie on the trike and Izzy on the scooter

Then this past weekend, continuing on the monsoony theme, Izzy, Evie and I took a late afternoon/evening walk down to see the Rillito River flowing (Patrick was out at a happy hour with a friend).  It was wicked humid and hot but really fun nonetheless.  Luckily for me as we were slogging back to the house Patrick came home and gave us a lift the rest of the way because after an hour and half of walking with two kids who were now very, very tired it would have been a tortuous last few blocks!  Someday perhaps I will get better at predicting exactly when the girls are "half" tired and turn around then.

The big home project of the last weekend was fixing the fish pond.  It involved repairing pack-rat damage to eletrical wires, new pumps and much Patrick problem solving. 

 

After the pond was finished on Saturday we decided to turn the rest of the area into a fairy garden and so spent Sunday building the first house for the fairy village.  It was originally a project for the girls but turned into a creative endeavor of much satisfaction for Patrick and I while the girls hung out and played at other things.   Patrick was the principal architect, I designed the stepping stones.

 While not fairy related, the girls did do some crafts though this weekend.... which one did which?

 The weekend ended with a Mother/Daughter dinner and a show date.  I took Evie out for Japanese food (which she much prefers over Ethiopian by the way) and then to Valley of the Moon for their Princess Bride show.  We both really enjoyed the show and also got some great ideas for this next weekend's fairy house building exercise...

At a scene at Valley of the Moon, nothing like theater where you can be up close and personal!

All in all it has been a pretty rockin' July.  It has been really dry and hot the past few days, which makes me afraid that our lovely rain is gone until the fall... but you never know, we might just get another good storm or two... here is to hoping!

Sun setting on the mighty Rillito River