'dopt-oberfest

our long week continued with no naps for ella and, by default, no naps for max.  :-(  we are crabby all around.  even after a playdate on friday that i was so sure would wear out el, not so much.

she did sleep well friday night after putting on a 'dancing party' in our living room with her friend, dakota, until well after 11 p.m.  

on saturday, roger was a trooper and dutifully agreed to go to a princess party at the disney store with ella.  it was pretty lame but she got to make the clock from cinderella.  

then we headed to tucson's octoberfest.  soo teeny but there was a fairly dangerous element: shelter puppies and dogs were up for adoption at the entrance to octoberfest.  then add beer.  a puppy is soooo beyond the last thing i need!

ella wasn't a fan of the jump castle so rog hopped in with her.

after el ate my cheeseburger and a huge slice of irish soda bread, it was time to head home for a relaxing night in.

max 'flying' in the air.  :-)  we really need to work him into some more pictures when we are out and about...

wine and dine

oh yesterday was one of those days.  kindermusik class and then toured a preschool.  on the way home, ella announced that she was done with her snack (goldfish in the bag because i couldn't find the snack container as i was running out the door).  not liking my response of "i'll take the goldfish when we get to a stoplight," she dumped the entire bag of goldfish on the floor of my clean car.  :-(  

however, this did provide entertainment for our neighbors who watched with me as she stood in the driveway and picked all of the goldfish up.

after lunch, the kids went down for a nap per our usual schedule.  ella didn't want to sleep, so i told her to have some quiet time in her room with her books.  what did she do instead?  woke up max.  by climbing into his crib.  and standing over him watching him cry.  

when is roger coming home so i can open a bottle of wine???

today we went to the 'little critters' preschool program at the zoo - today's theme was "1, 2, 3 at the zoo."  incidentally, i was supposed to meet up with a mom's group and was a bit confused when i got there and didn't see any of them.  later tonight, i saw some pictures posted and became really confused when el wasn't in any of the pictures and didn't remember seeing any of the moms i recognized.  apparently there were 2 different sessions.  oops...

but we did meet up with ella's friend, porter, and his mom as planned.  first we took a walk through the zoo and the kids counted monkeys, lions, giraffes and tortoises.

bonus!  ella got to do TWO art projects!

petting a blue-tongued skink

petting a bunny rabbit

looking at a hissing...um...something.  i don't know.  steve - help me out again here.  some kind of bug.

ella feeding carrot sticks to a giraffe!

running through the zoo.  

snack time with ella and max.

ella 'made' dinner tonight.  she set the table with her pretend silverware and put a cookie in my usual spot, spaghetti in front of herself and gave roger a slice of bacon.  mmm!  (auntie elaine - does the kitchen set look familiar??).  

reward for going potty before her bath - pineapple gelato - el's fave!

if you don't eat those, i will!

happy 7 months to my little, smiley man!!!!

max doesn't quite get the concept of picking up the apple puff and putting it in his mouth.  so ella ate them.  and about half the container when i wasn't looking.  :-(

today, jeanne's friend, ashley stopped by for a visit!

tonight we headed out for dinner armed with plenty of food for max and the ipad (loaded with mickey mouse shows).  we have officially found the formula to surviving a meal in a restaurant that doesn't end 2 bites after the entrees arrive with one of us rushing the kids to the car while the other frantically tries to pay and wrap up the food.  

all in all, a pretty relaxing weekend of football and friends.

oh, except my allergies are killing me.  everyone told me that there are no allergies in the desert.  kind of like there's no snow in cincinnati...  

to shed some light on the subject

after almost 2 years of blogging - for which i will be forever thankful for the opportunity to document my days with ella and max - i have started to play with SLR cameras versus a point-and-shoot.  i'm taking a workshop next month and just did a mini-newborn session for a friend yesterday.  it's been a completely different experience shooting in full manual mode and looking for the light rather than relying on flash.  loving it so far and really excited for my new camera!!  here are a few shots from the first time i tried taking pictures with my brother's camera:

thank you to steve and breanna for letting me borrow your camera and thank you to roger for your never-ending patience and support of the new, crazy endeavors i decide to embark upon.  

and back to the point-and-shoot:

in the absence of a human playmate, ella has enlisted george.  she is constantly telling him to follow her and chasing him around the house.  yesterday, after a few, rare moments of quiet, i went looking for the two of them...

"look, mommy.  ella made broccoli and cheese for george.  ella is having an orange."

 today, we drove back to the desert museum for the coati pup preschool class (i have absolutely no idea what a coati pup is but am sure that steve will chime in with a comment to tell me what it is, the animal species/class, where it is typically found and what type of food it eats).  the theme of this class was animal homes.

first they talked about why animals make homes and then ella got some one-on-one time with 3 animals!

cautiously looking at a tarantula (!!)

i also learned that tarantulas shed their hair/skin.  soo gross.  

next up was ella's fave animal: a box turtle!

finally was a screech owl who lives inside a saguaro, in a home called a "boot" which is actually made by a woodpecker.

a little hummingbird mid-flight.

ella was so excited to see this lizard.

putting the animal magnets in their homes.

face-to-face with a frog.

butterflies were everywhere!

then we headed back to the classroom for a snack and a little craft.

she saw all of this and when telling her daddy what she did today, her account was this: 

ella: i had a snack!!!  i ate crackers!  and carrots!  and raisins!!  it was a good snack...

daddy: really?  did you have fun?

ella: (my new fave response) you betcha!

max is on the move.  he's scooting forward and in circles!!

chill, chile, chili

ella chilling on the beam extender during gymnastics on friday.

today we woke up and headed to chile fest at the farmer's market.  

 there's nothing like pizza at 9:15 in the morning...

we were looking forward to a relaxing evening with the notre dame game.  here's how that went:

1 hour to kick-off: roger went across town to return something for me.  best hubby ever.  i hung out with max who is working on crawling and caught up with some friends.

1st quarter: roger comes home and starts making chili.

2nd quarter: with the chili in the crock pot, i start making zucchini bread.  half way through, i realize i am out of vegetable oil.  best hubby ever heads back out to the grocery store.  on his way out the door, we realize the crock pot is not on...

half-time: finally eat dinner.

3rd quarter:  roger is watching the game and i'm washing dishes.  roger hears some water splashing around and ella emerges from the laundry room, hair and face dripping wet.  when roger asked what she was doing, her reply was simply "head in water."  turns out she decided it would be fun to dunk her head into george's water dish... and maybe drink a little too (eeeewwwwww!)  bath time...

4th quarter: kids in bed, beers in hand.  go irish!

i wish you would go back to sleep...

this weekend we let el 'drive' down the street in her little cozy coupe.  it has finally, to my dismay, become an outside toy.  it was soo pretty...  

ella rocking the baby doll in music class - so sweet.  by the way, my new fave activity because max can participate too.  

speaking of 'sweet' - roger was taking ella to bed the other night, so i said to ella (as she was walking up the stairs), "good night, ella.  i love you!"  the reply: "good night, sweetie!  i love you too!"

unfortunately, the staying-in-bed part has been a failure the past few nights.  thinking our children were tucked in bed, roger and i grabbed a few cocktails on the back porch; only to find ella doing a puzzle on the living room floor.  and then reading a book in the loft.  and then pushing her grocery cart in the kitchen.  and then standing next to max's crib.  :-(  

storytime - ella would only participate once she was able to remove her shoes.  :-(

my little painter!

making a wish!