Bath Time!

This is why Alanna now takes baths in the bathtub. I had to get out the mop after this experience!

Thanksgiving

This post is a bit late, but certainly no less special for us. We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho with Aaron's family and had a wonderful week. Cousins were a main source of fun, and Great-Aunt Ginnie was indispensable. Rhys hardly noticed Daddy and Mommy were around what with Grandma, Grandpa, cousin Kylah and Aunt Ginnie keeping him entertained. Aunt Ginnie went home on Thursday evening, and Friday morning the first words out of Rhys's mouth were, "Where's Aunt Ginnie?" He kept asking for her throughout the day. 'Tis the season: we are so grateful for all of Aaron's family!

....Cousin Kylah and Rhys eating a snack with the ponies....

...."Posing" on Thanksgiving morning...


.....Cousin Ivy Jean, Alanna, and Kylah watching a movie....

We even managed to get in a good hike at the Little City of Rocks. Rhys is a spectacular hiker and he and Daddy did some rock scrambling, too. Alanna (in the pack on my back) slept through the climbing we did.

.....Rock formations, looking southward.....

.....Rhys, Daddy and Rusty triumphantly summited the rocks...

.....Daddy and Rhys after climbing up into a hole in the rock....


.....Descending (the large crack above and behind the boys) after the hole in the rock.....

.....Rhys and Mommy (and Alanna in the pack- you can just see her little pink foot).....

November Images

...Alanna splashing in the bath...


...sticking out her tongue...

...and eating blueberries...

...Rhys helping Mommy make peroshkis (stuffed dough pockets)...

...and being silly...

...and generally having fun...

Happy Halloween!

Rhys the Builder waves hello!

Alanna the Purple Mummy isn't so sure about Halloween. Actually, we didn't do anything exciting. Alanna is dressed warmly because we hung out with neighbors in their driveway with Jack-o-Lanterns, a fire in the fire pit, and Halloween luminarias. Rhys didn't want to wear his Bob the Builder costume, so he wore his Batman jammies instead. Oh well!

October Monday

9 o'clock a.m.: We woke to the first snowfall of the year! Rhys immediately wanted to go play and build a snowman.

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3 o'clock: As it is the week of Halloween, we carved some pumpkins. Rhys wanted to do a scary face, a happy face, and a sad face. So, we have three great Jack-o-lanterns in the front yard. Rhys wasn't sure how much he liked sticking his hands inside a cold slimy pumpkin, but he got over it and enjoyed himself in the end!

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6:30 p.m.: In the spirit of the season, Alanna had her first taste of winter squash. She seemed to like butternut squash puree pretty well!

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8 o'clock: And finally, a scary Jack-o-lantern all lit up!

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Autumn Images

--Happy Fall!--

--Pressing apples into apple cider at our friends' house--


--Napping on Daddy while he's on the phone--

-- Napping on Mommy while she does housework--

--"No, Mommy, I'm not really sure how this sand got stuck to my snot..."--

--"I'm funny!"--

On the last photo: Rhys's sense of humor is really developing. He's experimenting with what other people might find funny– and how he can get them to laugh. He'll do something, such as putting on Daddy's shoes and clomping around the house, and then inform us, "That's funny!"

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, dear hubby! Rhys and I decorated for Daddy's birthday yesterday, September 30th. Or at least, I did, anyway. Rhys played with the balloons and sang "Happy Birthday", which was helpful to get us in the mood. I don't know if Aaron wants me to divulge how many candles are on his cake, but as you can see, it burned very brightly when they were all lit! We're all so lucky to have our hubby/daddy in our lives and we love him very, very much.

Sitting Pretty

Alanna continues to amaze me. She can sit on her own (at 4 1/2 months!), though she needs some protection when she wobbles. She occasionally arches her back, which causes her to flop on her back (or the boppy, which is a softer alternative than the floor), and she'll lean too far to the side to get back upright on her own, particularly if she's reaching for something just beyond her grasp. I sat her up (with close supervision) in the bath tonight and she had a blast splashing her hands in the water. I think she likes the new perspective and ways to play with toys. She can still only roll over from her back to her front, and not back onto her back, so she gets very frustrated when she's stuck on her tummy. Sitting gives some nice variety to her play time, I think.

Garden Beautiful

....Our only carrot of the season (yes, it's supposed to be small and round)

and the first ear of red popcorn....

....tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes...

...eight foot tall sunflowers....

....more sunflowers (and the unproductive raspberries,
and the blackberry bush)

....and finally, this huge– and I mean pretty darn big– spider and her web.This was taken out front, and I couldn't get the camera to focuson the spider because there was no background close enough.This spider, in the position it's in in the photo, was easily thesize of the top knuckle-to-fingertip of my middle finger. With its legs stretched out, it would probably be and inch and a half in diameter. Its web was about 18 inches in diameter, and was anchored by webby strands that stretched another 18 inches to 2 feet beyond the web. My interest was particularly piqued by the still-wriggling sack of lunch the spider was guarding in the center of the web. I checked on it later and found that it had moved its lunch to a more secluded place to eat. This spider has become a small obsession for me; I looked in on it this morning as I was loading the kids up to take Rhys to preschool. I don't know where it was hidden, but I know I kind of want to keep tabs on it just so it doesn't find its way into the house or something...

"Rusty's not a Big Boy yet."

This morning, as Rhys was getting ready for preschool, he and I had the following serious/hilarious conversation:

Note: Rusty is our 100 lb. chocolate lab

Rhys (in a serious tone): Rusty don't go in the potty, Mommy.

Me (with an amused smile on my face): Nope, Rusty doesn't go peepee in the potty. He goes peepee outside in the weeds.

Rhys (just as seriously as before): Rusty's not a Big Boy yet.

Me: Ha ha ha ha ha!

I love being a mommy!

"Dere My Is!"

We made a tent by draping a blanket over one of Alanna's play mats. That way, Rhys can pretend to camp, which is loads of fun. Also, he's saying the funniest thing: When I ask, "Where are you?" he responds with "Dere my is!" (instead of "Here I am!"). And that's when this picture was snapped this morning...

Bath Mat

I'm slowly able to complete occasional projects (which is better than not completing any at all!), including this bath mat. We needed a mat to fit in the narrow space between the bath and the toilet. It also needed to be quite long in order to catch as many of the splashes and drips that Rhys produces when he's in the tub. This was the solution. It's a towel folded lengthwise in half with squares from my scrap basket appliqued on. I think it works quite well, and it's washable to boot.

Scenes from Camp

We had a lovely weekend! We finally managed to go camping, and we had a blast. In fact, we're all fired up to go camping again as soon as possible, but due to other social duties, we won't be able to until the end of the month. We had such a good time!

We stayed at Jack's Creek campground north of Pecos. The Pecos Widerness is all around, which is a beautiful mountain area of the Sangre de Cristos. We stayed close to camp on Friday, and on Saturday after packing up, we went fishing/hiking in along the Pecos river. We went with some good friends of ours, so we had even more fun than if we'd gone by ourselves!

Alanna puts on a silly face as we unpack everything around her.

Rusty waits patiently as we unload (he was such a good camp dog!)

Rhys and Daddy get the tent ready.

Krista cooks dinner: flank steak, calabacitas, and corn on the cob. Yum!

Alanna sleeps in on Saturday.

The guys take the dog for a morning walk.

Ryan and Emma back from the walk.

Alanna decides she likes camping after all.

Rhys finally stops moving long enough for me to take a picture.

Krista and Emma hiking by the stream

Rhys wasn't so sure what camping was (he went 3 times the summer he turned one but not since then), but took to it like... well, like a boy in the woods. As we were loading up to head for home, he got upset and told me, "No! Camping in the mountains! No going home!" (He was a very tired little guy.)

We'll definitely go again soon.