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.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Just shortly before Christmas we had a really great rainy spell in Tucson and the kids discovered the joys of umbrellas.  Miranda mucked around outside for almost two hours one day, filling the umbrella up with rain, dumping it out, listening to how the rain sounded when she was under the umbrella ~ all the fun stuff that you forget about when you're running from the parked car to the store trying not to get wet.  It really was fun to watch them play, even though they were popsicles by the end and took lots of work to get warm again!



Miranda was totally soaked by the end of playing, but she loved it!

(Jen, recognize that umbrella? I still have it!)

Arrrrr! Meow!

We recently went to a pirate/dinosaur/matchbox car/pizza birthday party, and both of the kids elected to be pirates. Captain Michael and First Mate Miranda looked pretty fierce if I do say so!


Here they are telling me what pirates say..."Arrrrrr!"

Miranda later had her face painted to be a kitty cat at the party.

El Tour

Grandpa Mike came this weekend to ride El Tour de Tucson, a 109 mile bicycle ride around Tucson.  I took the M&M's out to meet up with Grandpa and to cheer for him, and it was great! They were a little shy about it at first (my kids shy? yep!) but warmed up when they got to ring their cow bells for him down the road a way. 





Michael tried on Grandpa's riding sleeves, jacket and gloves after we had finished cheering. I think there's a little room to grow...

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween night. The M&M's had friends over and we all went through the neighborhood together. This was the first time we had taken our kids out trick-or-treating and I think they had a lot of fun.


Abby Caddaby from Sesame Street


Lightning McQueen's Pit Crew (complete with socket wrench that is NOT for whacking your sister on the head!)

Curly Cutie

Miranda's hair is getting longer and staying curly. My hair is, well, not, so I'm trying to figure out how to keep the curly q's since they're so darn cute! She woke up from a sweaty nap the other day with the best ringlets...



Lately they've been racing every day, up and down the length of the house about a billion times! I can't believe how many times I've said "Ready, set, go!" over the past two years or so.

Notice the new shoes! She's very excited about them and will hardly take them off for bath time at night. :O)

For some reason Michael really wanted me to take a photo of his feet


Miranda's hair is getting fun, lots of pig tails and curly fun!

In Which We Pause Our Regularly Scheduled Program...

I just participated in my first knitting swap and wanted to give a shout-out to my team! It was the Dish Rag Tag, a relay race of sorts where we received a ball of yarn, a pattern and a washcloth knit by the gal before us, had to knit a new washcloth with the yarn, and then send a new ball, the newly knit cloth and pattern on to the next gal on our team, all the while hoping to get lucky with the post office and beat all other teams in returning our "baton" to the start. We didn't win but it sure was fun! Here's the box as I received it (stuffed with goodies! Lucky me!)


Washcloth for me, stamped cards made by Christy (they are awesome! I'm a scrapbooker, and these are right up my alley!), yummy tea, tootsie rolls and green yarn to knit a washcloth with (yes, I had already cast on when I took this picture ~ I could hardly wait to get started).

This was SO MUCH FUN and I can hardly wait to do it again next year. :O))))) I don't know what was the funnest part: waiting to get the box from my teammate in Nebraska and wondering about the treats she was including for me, getting the box and knitting as furiously as I could to try and get the box back out the same day (didn't happen but it sure was fun trying!) or putting together a new box for the next gal on my team and being excited to send surprises on to another knitter! I just don't know, all of it was a blast and I loved being a part of it. We were team Dishin' It Out and we'll probably come in somewhere in the middle of the teams but man, I feel like a winner. :D

End o' Summer

The end of summer is almost here and it can't come any sooner if you ask me. It will be nice to get out more ~ right now it's "Have some water, put on your sunscreen and bug spray, more water, snacks because heat makes us tired more quickly, more water and hats for everyone, please keep your hat on honey and here, drink some more water...wait, where's your hat? Way back there? Here, drink more water while I go back and get it." Fall is so nice in Tucson ~ can you tell I'm ready for the cooler weather?

We've been having fun indoors though and venturing out in the early evening to enjoy the yard and fresh air. Gosh, I make it sound like we stay shut up inside all summer...well, it feels like that. Anyway, there has been lots of cuteness lately...

Rowing in the row boat


Michael in a rare alone moment in the tub

(not many heinie pictures lately! their little butts are so cute!)

Michael in his "catchers mask" while playing baseball with Daddy (Really? You're playing baseball inside? In front of the huge TV? Did Mommy know about this?)

(does anyone agree that he looks like a much cuter, wholesome version of the Mouth of Sauron?)

Pigtails!


Make a silly face!


Riding on the big wheel out back (They're very particular about the set-up ~ Miranda has to be facing one way, and her little feet have to be crossed before the riding can begin!)

Wheeeeee!


Dog pile!

Casa de Jardin

One of my favorite things about starting a garden for the first time was the thought that the kids would be able to explore a new side of being outdoors. New bugs, growing plants, picking produce ~ it all sounded like so much fun with them and I was right! I have enjoyed showing the kids neat, new things out there just as much as I have enjoyed growing and tending the garden.

Today Miranda and I picked three whopper tomato worms off a chile plant. The little buggers have eaten almost all the leaves off it, and that wasn't enough because then the three of them ate 4 or 5 red chiles and 2 or 3 baby green chiles. Blargh! When I picked the last tomato worm off the plant, he spit red juice on me and man, his tummy must have been burning because it smelled spicy! That's the guy Miranda is holding here...





Then we found monarch butterfly caterpillars (at least I think so!) on the chives and lavendar...



(Mirand's trying to feed him a stick)

We picked two peppers that are a little green but not eaten by cardinals, which turns out to be a problem in our garden. The cardinals are great ~ fun to watch and beautiful to look at, but it turns out that our cardinals like tomatoes, peppers and tomato worms!