Our Kids

It looks like Phoebe is ready to give up the crawl. Today she started walking around more than crawling and it doesn’t seem like we can stop her. She just picks up something, a spoon, wallet, whatever and starts walking. She has been walking around since we got home from Havasu and seems to be over the moon about it. So there you go, 14 months and a day and she is walking full time. So cute!

Well we loaded up the van on Friday afternoon and headed out for an overnight stay in Lake Havasu, AZ. When I made the plans I thought it was only about 3 hours away but it was really more like 4 hours. I am happy to say that the girls, even Phoebe, did super awesome in the car going and coming. We made good time and really enjoyed the scenery. I was amazed again at the diversity that the state of Arizona has to offer. You want snow, we got that, you want mountains, we got that, you want lakes and water sports, we got that too! Lake Havasu was beautiful. We stayed at the HEAT which overlooks the London Bridge (the actual old London Bridge, how cool). The room we had looked over the water and at the bridge and even had a balcony and a jacuzzi tub. The girls had a kick of a time in the tub and on the balcony. It was like a sleep over with giggling girls that finally had to be quieted by mom:)

We dined at IHOP for a pre-race meal of pancakes and watched the food network in our room. It was a real treat:) This morning I got up and went down to the race start for the Lake Havasu Half Marathon. I met my friend Niki and we set out to run our 13.1 miles in gorgeous weather. It was supposed to rain but the rain stayed away until the race and post race festivities were over. The girls and Jason met up with me on the London Bridge and took photos and I think videos. Then they saw me on the way back in on the bridge again. We all met up at the finish line and enjoyed some post race music and playing in the park. We hit a restaurant after that and then headed on back. It really was a good trip. The only thing I wouldn’t do again is sit still for 4 hours after running 13, yeouch I am stiff as a board, lol. We are safely home now and have Uncle JJ to thank for wrangling the dogs while we were away.

Seems like we just got back from Texas by the state of things but we have actually been back for weeks! I will try to get the blog up to date with this post and then post more frequently I promise.

Landis and Phoebe started playgroup at Desert Marigold. We go once a week for a few hours and I stay. It is really fun. We do morning greeting, then the kids “wake up” the toys, we do outside time, make soup and fresh bread, have a meal, circle time, sometimes we feed the goats and all sorts of other little things that Piper and Lela do everyday in their class, ours is just on a small scale. Both Phoebe and Landis seem to like it. We are in the class with young kids but that just means that Landis is the big kid and she gets to do all the fun stuff like snap beans, set the table, blow out the candles etc.

Phoebe picked up a stomach bug on our travels home from Texas and then when we went to the Children’s Museum she picked up a sinus bug. She is still recovering from all that but is pretty much on the mend. Today she almost looks like she has two black eyes so I figure her sinuses must be really clogged. Poor girlie. Even with all that and a couple teeth coming in she is in good spirits. She is such a big girl. She is right there with the big girls in whatever they do and she amazes me every day at how much more quickly she is “growing up” and doing things way beyond what I expect her to do. She is walking a little each day but prefers to put her head down and crawl as fast as she can.

The girls and I have been super busy with playdates, museum dates, and we even discovered Fiddlesticks. Both Piper and Lela have really started to enjoy riding rides. We spent the afternoon today at Fiddlesticks with a friend and her niece and the girls didn’t want to leave. Of course that leaves Phoebe in a wreck without her good afternoon nap and Landis is crashed out on the sofa and won’t go to bed until I do tonight, c’est la vie.

We got our landscaping finished and our curtains on order. I am so fortunate and lately I have been feeling guilty because my life is so wonderful. Things are really coming together for us as a family and I couldn’t be happier. I feel that we are all in a good place. I am exercising and running and have a few good friends that I see regularly. Life is just really good:)

We just about hit our new-house-utopia last night now that the backyard is just about done. It was a beautiful arizona evening and thanks to our new wall that separates dog-yard from human-yard, we could just let all the girls come in and out of the house without a worry. Piper, Lela, and Landis were playing on the new turf, then the patio, then back to the turf, all the while being trailed by Phoebe who was loving every minute of it. Mystique and I were in and out, too, but then we settled into our comfy chairs and relaxed while watching everyone play. Didn’t have to worry about dog poop or Phoebe eating dirt (just gravel) or wondering if Buster had peed on that toy or not. Just plain having fun and relaxing in our backyard. I even cracked open a Sierra Nevada (thanks Molly!) just to take it to the next level.

Phoebe took it to the next level herself by sliding down our ~5 foot slide all by herself. Some videos of that will go up on flickr pretty soon. It’s amazing seeing Phoebe growing up so quickly… and all the girls, really. Personalities are really coming out.

Summer is just around the corner so our yard use will taper off a bit soon enough. But we’ve got a few more good weeks to go and even in the summer we’ll still get some nighttime use out of it. We’re soaking it up, though, and having a ball.