Fall In Arizona

We've had lots going on! In November we were in Green Valley for the day, golfing with Dan's Grandpa Moore and taking the requisite neighborhood ride in his golf cart after the round. This is perhaps Michael's favorite part of visiting down there.

Also, Michael lost his first tooth in November! The tooth fairy was not prepared, because just 24 hours after it started getting wobbly, he had it out.

Cute shot of the kids all ready for bed.

Action shot of Michael in his Ducks jersey!

Miranda's new sparkly holiday shoes.

Fall-ing Behind!

We haven't updated the blog much lately...gotta get back on that. Here is a quick catch-up from Fall.

For Halloween, Michael wanted to be a bat and Miranda wanted to be a black cat. Easy-peasy.


We went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and even though it's a c-r-a-z-y place that drives Dan and me a little over the edge, we all had a lot of fun. Not so sure Miranda has figured out skee ball though...

(Maybe she's going to be a fast-pitch softball player?)

Michael and Daddy playing air hockey.




Miranda has been taking Ballet/Creative Dance at the rec center and she loves it. She runs a constant narrative for us about tea cup hands and ballet jumps and all the little things she's learning. This January she's starting Ballet For Beginners and I think she's going to enjoy herself. This picture is from their final class last session, where they got to dress up in tutus.

Dinner Out

Out at dinner at the Texas Road House ~ too much food but we had lots of fun!


Daddy and Miranda


Mommy and Michael (look at the camera, Michael!)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Dan's birthday, and so the kids and I made him golf cakes. :)


Two-layer chocolate fudge cake with cherry pie filling, chocolate and green icing, edible boulders and Golfer Dan on top. Cupcakes are chocolate fudge with a spoonful of cherry filling inside and a wee golf ball on top!

The cupcakes are for work tomorrow!

Fish!

Dan and I gave Michael fish for his birthday, which has been a big hit. We waited until Grandpa Mike was here to get all set up, since Grandpa is the family fish expert (with Daddy equally into them). It was so fun! Michael has since stopped sticking stuff into the tank (to "help" the fish) and everyone is doing quite nicely. Three goldfish for now, maybe more to add later.

Miranda and Grandpa Mike checking them out (Grandpa was taking some pics for Grandma to see later)


Michael is very proud of his fish!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Michael started kindergarten this month and it's been (SHH! Don't tell say it out loud or you'll jinx it!) going fairly well. Other than not wanting to wear his nice, new clothes for his first day, it all went well.

Times Square Has Got Nothin' On Me!

We had a naked cowboy running around the other day. There's a busker in Times Square who's known as The Naked Cowboy but our own was much cuter!

Spring Things

This spring we've been up to lots of things. Nothing too exciting has been going on, but life has been good and the kids continue to delight and surprise us.

Miranda has recently become very excited that her shadow goes with her everywhere ("Mommy, my shadow is here too!") so we took pictures of them one day after we had ridden the bus home from preschool.

Obligatory tub shot ~ they're starting to fill the tub up, and occasionally have nights where they don't want to be in there together. I know we can't make them take baths together forever, but it's so much easier this way!

Michael was very quiet one afternoon, and when I went hunting for what he was getting into, I found he had gotten his hands on a sheet of stickers and had covered himself with them! He was very proud of himself. :)

  

This next one was taken shortly after Michael tried to convince me that he didn't need a nap, didn't ever want to take a nap again, wasn't ever going to do it because he was too big to take naps, Mom!

And lastly, the never-ending racing continues in the house. Lots of variations on the theme, but it's an every day occurrence.

Starbucks Run

You know you've driven through Starbucks too much when one of the first things your son can say in a sentence (2 years ago or so) is "Are you getting a chai tea latte?"

We drove through again this morning (Mommy's Monday hail mary) and while we were waiting I caught the kids with my camera. Miranda's wearing a pretty new pink sweater that her Great Grandma Gilb sent for her birthday ~ it has a huge pink bow on the front that is covered by her seatbelt but it's very cute and I wish I had a Heather-sized one. I got Michael to smile for once, but only if he could cover it. Silly.

Tinkerbell Party

Miranda's 3rd birthday party was today and it was a success! All our Moores of Arizona were present as was Grandpa Mike, and Miranda had a really special day. These photos are courtesy of Miranda's cousin, Eli, who manned the kid's digital camera today.

Opening presents with her brother "helping".

Reading a birthday card with Mommy and Grandpa Mike.

Auntie Mona!

Uncle Jeff!

Cuckoo cousin Ethan!

Snacktime for Michael

What did Miranda love most out of all the cool stuff she opened today? The itty-bitty Tinkerbell off her birthday cake!

Carousels and Things

The end of this winter has held lots of fun rides for the kids. Our local Kmart has a cheap carousel outside that I let the kids ride if they can behave in the store ~ bribery for fifty cents! Since they're mostly anti-camera these days, this was a great chance to get some shots of Miranda wearing her new poncho made by Grandma Gayle.

While we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Moore in Prescott Valley a few weeks ago, we stopped at a parking lot street fair (you know, the kind that get driven in on trucks in the lot of a grocery store and look like they could fly apart at any moment?) and the kids got to ride a proper carousel and a little Jeep ride that spun them in circles. They loved it and escaped unscathed, much to their mom's disbelief. I was sure no good could come of riding on those less-than-sturdy-looking rides!


Miranda is the orange blur and Michael is the blue blur whizzing by. They were screaming with glee!


Miranda on the carousel with Grandpa Moore hanging on to her



Looks like they're going to take after their mom and love roller coasters. I promised them both that when they were big enough, I would take them on the Zipper!

Butterfly Magic

I took the kids to a live butterfly exhibit today, and it was awesome! I didn't really know what to expect ~ this is Tucson, where everything is pretty laid-back and so I wasn't expecting anything too extravagant. The exhibit is at our Botanical Gardens, which are a small (but beautiful) facility. They've converted their green house into the butterfly garden and when we walked in, it really was magical! 

There were easily 50 butterflies fluttering overhead the entire time, trays of fruit everywhere with butterflies sipping, flowers with butterflies all over them ~ it was amazing. Michael was in heaven because their "star actor" right now is the Blue Morpho Butterfly, which he knows all about from the TV show Go, Diego, Go. Michael amazed one of the docents when he started spouting off about how they hide from predators, what they eat, and what temperatures they prefer.  He got to hold one and for the first time in as long as I can remember he stood in one spot without moving until the butterfly decided to fly away.

Another docent brought out a box of newly hatched butterflies (she was very excited that it was their birth day) and she sat Miranda down and let her hold a very rare butterfly, the Pearlescent Queen.

(Miranda is not very thrilled about strangers lately, but she endured the docent holding her hand for this. Hence the funny look on her face.)

It flew off her hand onto my forehead, but after it settled there, the docent put it back on Miranda's hand, where it stayed for about 20 minutes. 

Miranda walked with her little hand held out in front of her the whole time, just talking to the butterfly and showing it around. They had a very nice little chit-chat!

They had told us when we came in that they didn't have any giant moths, but the kids and I found one ~ they were very excited to see they had an atlas moth after all! I really loved how the wing's tips look like snake heads.

They had magnifying glasses for the kids, and Miranda found a yellow butterfly with a little bit of wing damage that she was able to get a good long look at.  She declared it her favorite even though she didn't get to hold it.

If you live in Tucson or are visiting anytime soon, you should make a point to go see this exhibit. It's really something else!

p.s. Miranda is wearing a yellow sweater that was mine when I was little ~ something I love very dearly about having a little girl of my own.