Ice cream may not be eaten on Sundays.

In Oregon it is against the law to eat ice cream on Sundays! Our very good friends Art and Steffanie moved there this month and I think they should rethink their decision. What civilized place would have any kind of rule restricting freedom of ice cream? We had a BBQ for them before they left, and we even had an ice cream cake. Thank goodness we didn't have ice cream on a Sunday!


Steff, Davis and Art


Davis, look up!




Suzy, Katie and Bob


Mary and Shannon


Diana and Jake


The hosts, me and Dan.

What A Hatty Baby!

Lots of our friends and family have given Miranda very cute sunhats. It's just too ridiculously hot outside in Tucson right now to have her out in the sun, but I'm still trying to make sure she wears each one before she grows out of them. Here is Miranda's ice cream outfit, complete with a darling sun hat.

I have tried to take as many pictures of Miranda Mae as we did of Michael, and here are this week's photos to share! You'd be surprised how many people feel it essential to remind us to be wary of taking less snapshots of her than Michael when he was little - probably because they were second or third babies themselves!





What a cutie pie!


What a hatty - happy - baby!

Random Acts of Kindness

When was the last time you performed a random act of kindness?

Today I stopped on the way home and gave a ride to an elderly man pushing his groceries home in the pouring rain. His name was Charles and he had been having trouble dodging splashes from the cars as well as pushing the cart through the huge lakes in the road. He was so grateful and such a sweet guy. To my surprise I found that doing something nice for someone else has put me in a really fantastic mood this afternoon!

http://www.actsofkindness.org/

What do you do?

Girl Camp Ruidoso

Hola guapos y guapas!

Girl Camp 2006 was in Ruidoso, New Mexico this year over the first weekend in June. Girl Camp is continuing to evolve with more kids added this year - yippee! and no Jess - sniff, sniff! Everyone I tell about this annual trip says the same thing...that we are lucky to have long-time friends that are important enough to see every year. I didn't think much of it until about the 40th person told me that, these women were just a part of my life and they had never stopped being present. You know what though, I really am lucky. I count on each one for different things in my life, and I think I offer different things to each of them. They are all important to me and all loved and I'm thankful for every one of them. Our friendships ebb and flow as our lives wind in and out but we stay in touch and stay present. Here are some of the pictures I took while we were in NM together last month.

Helen and Sarah, and me with Miranda.



You can't really tell from this picture but Andrew Pretzel Boy was bent almost completely in half over his side, and couldn't have been more comfortable!



It seems that Auntie 'Milla has a soft spot for the babes, since almost all her pictures from this weekend were with one kid or another or three!

Miranda on the left, Sarah on the right.


The faces that Sarah can make!


Again with the grinning! What a ham, just like her mom. :O)


What a lovely smile that girl, Camilla, has too.


Michael was a great supervisor of the babies all weekend, and had a ball with his Auntie 'Milla. "I'm gonna get you!!" followed by vigorous tickling and giggling was heard throughout the house all weekend.


Can you see the baby? She's camoufloged!


On Saturday, we all had massages over the course of the day and traded babysitting for each other. Somehow Debbie wound up in charge of all four at once for a while and she totally had a handle on them all! She even had the situation in enough control to read to Michael. You go, girl!


Camilla, back from one of her power walks, having a snuggle with Miranda.


Jen with a sleeping sweetheart, Andrew. Does this mama look in love or what?

Goin' Back to Cali

Over Memorial Day weekend this May, we packed our little family into the Passport and drove out to LA to see family. It was a really great trip, and even though the kids were a little fried when we got home it was worth getting to see everyone that we did.

Our first stop was at Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Jim's house where we had dinner and had a wonderful chance to catch up. They gave Michael the coolest truck toy! It's a transport truck that has four little cars loaded in its cargo, and he loves it. Every kid that comes over to the house wants to play with it - they totally scored with that one! Uncle Jim is holding the little green car in his hand in these pictures.



We let Michael take this picture, he thinks the camera is very exciting and always wants to give it a try. :O)


We got Michael into ocean water for the first time while we were there. Balboa Island, where we stayed, is protected from the ocean waves so the water there is like bath water (as my mom puts it!) but Michael still thought it was great once he got over the shock of being wet.







My Aunt Denice, Grandpa Gilb and Grandma Gilb were all up on the beach house patio while we were playing with Michael in the water.


We celebrated my Grandma Gilb's 80th birthday that weekend, and had the whole Gilb family there together. It was a great time together and we had a chance to take a really nice family picture together.



We snapped this picture as Amy and Brian were leaving to go back to San Diego before they flew home. I really love it!

Packing Up

Watching Michael grow up has been one of the most delightful experiences I've had - I am so lucky to have him! As we were packing up our old house to move, Michael continued to find new ways to "help". He was particularly good at handing Daddy glasses and dishes to box up, and he liked climbing in the boxes to inspect them, as you'll see below. He's the big brother now, and the big kid in the house, so there are lots of responsibilities to take over!


Our friend Debbie sent Michael this shirt - a good reminder for him that there is a little sister to watch out for. Michael's blazing the way for her on the road to growing up!



While packing, Mom wasn't always able to keep as close an eye on Michael as she'd like and after running through the house unable to find him, I discovered he had taught himself how to climb into the tub. Nevermind that he couldn't figure out how to get out - he thought it was fantastic to be in there with his clothes and shoes on! Thank goodness he hadn't figured out how to turn on the water too...



We packed up a lot of Michael's toys about two weeks before we moved so he found lots of new ways to play with the ones we had left out - not quite the fit he was hoping for, but he still thought it was great!



Inspecting the box from the inside. Yep, it's a good one!



The last talent to be discovered during packing days - climbing up onto whatever had been packed and was waiting in the hallway to be moved to the garage! Not always a wise endeavor but definitely fun.

Thank goodness the moving is over. There won't be any more packing like this for a long time to come!!

Meeting Grandma

Grandma Gayle came to Tucson in May to meet Miranda when she was a month old. She had been trying to make sure that Michael felt included in all the excitement by sending him special presents and spending extra time with him when she visited. Michael loved having her here and it was so neat to introduce her to her granddaughter!


Grandma bought Michael a special stroller for him to put his stuffed toys in, and they took it for a spin while she was here. He was so funny - he wouldn't let her help him push it or steer it, which made for a long and slow walk!! He wings it all around the house now... thankfully without Miranda in it because he doesn't exactly have a handle on steering or stopping very precisely!

Getting in some quality snuggle time...






Grandma Gayle had also sent a funny pair of slippers to Michael that Auntie Amy had found for him. They're quite a challenge, since walking with slippers is very different than tennis shoes. It's been fun to see him experience so many new things as he gets bigger.

Monkeying Around

Miranda is getting bigger and bigger, which I should know is what happens with babies, but is always surprising to me. :O) These pictures were taken mid-May, in a new monkey outfit that her Auntie Amy gave her.






Michael wanted to get in on the picture taking, and without prompting started trying to give Miranda kisses - here he is, mid-pucker.


Miranda is snuggling with her super soft bunny, which was given to her by her Grandpa Mike's bosses, Billy Jean and John Wirth. She really loves to hold on to his ears when she's snoozing!

It's Been A Long Wait...

Hi all - Just a quick note to say sorry for the long wait between posts! We've had tons going on, and I thought it would all be calmer after last week, but that wasn't the greater plan! We've been

• in LA for Memorial Weekend
• then in NM for Girl Camp the following weekend
• moving to a new house in Tucson
• getting the old house ready to sell

and then Max got hit by a car so we've been dealing with getting him fixed up and home again. He's finally home but has some serious robo-dog pins stucking out of his leg while the break heals. Hopefully he'll pull through the broken leg without any problems and be back to his usual jumpy self soon.

Regardless, once we get our house computer network up and running in the new place, I'll post pictures - of which I have a ton to share!!

XOXO, Heather.

M and M Cuties!!

It seems we have a couple of cuties on our hands!!








Wearing Mommy's dress shoes! Michael thinks it's great fun to clomp around the house in these.






All ready to go play outside!