Fun In the 'Burque

The kids and I went home for a few days early in November to spend time with my family. We had such a lovely time - fall had really begun and we were able to see leaves falling and turning colors and the weather was decidedly cooler than Tucson. We spent lots of time outside in the park and on my parent's new patio. We ate at Robb's Ribbs and the Frontier, brought home a bunch of green chile and in general had a great, New Mexican time.

Michael with Papa




We got to meet the new dog, Giblet - er, Ginger.


Ginger and Abe, the killer kitty


Michael was fascinated with Abe, being the first cat he had ever met. He ran around the house very excited every time he saw Abe, yelling "Cat!" He particularly liked how Abe could leave the patio by going out under the gate. Where did Abe go, Michael?


Mommy and Miranda playing in the den


We went to play with Jen and her son, Andrew one morning at the park near their house. Jen took this great picture of us. Andrew is Miranda's birthday buddy, they share the same day!

Hoodies In the Jardin

Michael decided early in November that he prefers sweaters with hoods. How do I know, you ask? He came into the office one morning wearing his little blue smoking jacket sweater that Grandma Gayle knit him, which has no hood, and appaently he had decided that it should ... what a goofy look!





I decided after he had marched into the office with that arrangement that perhaps we should just change into something with a hood, and he then was much happier.





Michael is running around in these pictures with the yellow sweater, yelling "Peep, peep!" at the top of his lungs, pretending to be a chicken flying around the office. He's wearing a sweater that my mom knit for me when I was little (it still has a name tag inside that reads Heather Balog!).

And while we're on the topic of sweaters, I'll include a cute snapshot of Miss Miranda, wearing a little green sweater that my Grandma Kleckner knit for me when I was little.

I Am the Cat In the Hat

I swear I am the Cat In the Hat, because at the end of every day, our house looks like Thing 1 and Thing 2 have been through, trashing everything! Where do I get one of those cool clean-up-machines that the Cat had in the movie?

Anyway, it was obvious to me what Michael and Miranda were going to be for Halloween!!



Yep, you guessed it - Thing 1 and Thing 2 revealed in their true form!

This next picture was taken after Michael and I had the "Please do not touch your hair AT ALL" discussion. You can see how thrilled he was about that.



Yes, I sprayed their hair blue, and no, it was not a good idea! Have you ever tried to convince a two-year old not to touch his hair? It all got washed out about 30 minutes after I did it, because I started having visions of blue smears all over our lovely new house. They were quite cute though and it was a lot of fun.

Where Do I Start?

I have been a blogging slacker and have left off from new pictures for almost two months! Believe me, I've been hearing it from friends and family, and the guilt emailed by Celina (Hi, Celina!!) yesterday got me motivated to get going again. :O)

To get caught up, I'm starting with pictures from September when we got out the playcenter for Miranda. I'm warming up with a pic of Michael when he first started playing in it, because I think it's pretty cool to compare how they look at similar ages. Why does it seem like so long ago and hardly any time at all at the same time?

Michael in his new playcenter!


Miranda, hard at play.


Yippee!


Michael had to help some, he just couldn't keep his hands off!