Weekend Before Halloween

Grandma Jo and Grandpa Ted came to visit! We went to see Elmo at Changing Hands bookstore and hung out in the gorgeous weather. Lots of crafts and Halloween prep too.

Pumpkin Patch and Butterflies with Gma and Gpa

We took a trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens to take a hayride, pick out a pumpkin, visit the petting zoo and see the butterfly exhibit. It was TOO DAMN HOT but Liberty enjoyed spending time with my parents. We dressed her up in her Halloween costume (purple butterfly) so Gma and Gpa could get to see her and Liberty was quite the attraction inside the butterfly exhibit (people took pictures/video of her for example!) She was too adorable for words. So instead I have 43 pictures for you.

18 months old

Recap of what our very tall 1.5 year old is up to these days...

Weight: 28lbs 2 oz, Height: 35.5 inches according to Dr. (99.9%) we think she's 35 inches (99.6). She is as tall as an average 30 month old. 3T in clothes.
Sleeps 7:45pm-7:30am. New to 1 nap: 12:45-3pm.
Hobbies: Pointing out every airplane, bike rides, coloring and stickers.
Says about 40 words, 12 of which a stranger could recognize.
Still calls all babies "mama". LOL I cannot figure this out. Baby was MY third word.
Has a love of lollypops, popsicles and the ability to DIP anything (in ketchup, ranch, italian)
Is DJ TRAK_TOR's biggest fan. Uncle Andy mixes her custom beats.
REALLY loves her weekly music class with Miss Colleen she calls "teacher".
Favorite movies: Milo & Otis and BABIES
Favorite books lately: "If you give a mouse a cookie..." and all the others in that series and Eric Carle books like "Brown Bear". And Gyo Fujikawa books like Baby Animals.
ELMO IS HER #1
BUTTERFLIES are her #2
BABY DOLLS/STUFFED ANIMALS (like beanie babies) are her #3
Tells me almost every times she goes potty in her diaper...so we are giving early potty training a shot here soon. She's used her potty a few times (by luck I'm sure).
Requests to give Cheetah Girl a cat treat at least 5 times a day.
If you ask her to say Flamingo or Music class it sounds like she says "Nicki Minaj". Go figure.


Video (6 min) of her doing some of her animal sounds and words:
*all the chest thumping is her signing "gorilla"
*when she gets distracted and runs away and asks me to pick her up that is because I asked her to say "Trash truck" and she thinks we need to run outside fast to catch the trash truck like we usually do.
*sweet dancing at 4:50

From Animal Sounds and Words VIDEO

San Francisco 2011

Each October we head over to SF to visit Cameron's Granddad and Uncle Thom. Last year Liberty was 6 months and took her first plane ride, and now she was 18 months and got the biggest kick out of flying in an airplane! Thom and Derek hosted us in their beautiful new home with a TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY view. It was also Fleet Week so the Blue Angels were flying around the city - so we spent a lot of time on the deck watching that. In addition to visiting Granddad and Thom, ANDY lives in SF now so we were SO HAPPY to see him. Liberty has a special fondness for her Uncle Andy and he picked us up from the airport and drove us all around the city. Grandma Jo and Grandpa Ted came out too!! We ate out, went to the Farmers Market at the ferry building, visited the sea lions at Pier 39, ate at House of Nanking, watched the air show, visited Granddad and had many meals with him. It was so nice having the 4 generations together. Liberty had a blast (minus the stomach bug that had her a little puky at 1am each night) but we love San Francisco and our family so it was a wonderful trip.

Oktoberfest in Tucson 2011

Each year since I've been 18 I've celebrated Oktoberfest with Two-Dad. While at the UofA, we'd go up Mt. Lemmon in Tucson and listen to music, eat, sit in the grass - the usual. But for the past couple years we bring the food and music to Two-Dad at his house. This year the party got pretty big at Aunt Nancy's (how I forgot pictures there, I don't know) so we had a quiet visit at Two-Dads. He is one of the most amazing men I know and I'm so happy we have these pictures.

Eating a Popsicle

Here is Liberty enjoying a popsicle (actually TWO) one day while I am trying out some new settings on my camera. I have a point and shoot camera and I feel like the pictures I take inside never turn out very well (maybe because of the windows in the family room)...so there is my lame excuse for the 27 pictures of my child eating a popsicle. And she's adorable. There is that too. I especially like the short video of her "eating a popsicle". :)

Random Fun (lunch, cookies, drawing, chalk, painting)

I really hope this great weather sticks around. Liberty and I have been trying to keep entertained indoors (lots of drawing and baking) but this morning we went outside while Cameron did some garage cleaning and we did chalk and "painting" on the driveway - it was so nice!

Bedhead!

Her hair is obviously growing. In other news Liberty is talking a lot more and said "night night" for the first time yesterday (and she said it really well, it was so cute!) She has about 30 words mommy understands and about 10 that regular people could understand.

After one particularly sweaty nap...

From 2011_9_1 Bedhead

Pinetop Getaway with the Wyatts

We had a belated Labor Day getaway up to the White Mountains. We enjoyed the family cabin and invited Grandma Jo and Grandpa Ted along. We walked around Fools Hollow Lake, played at the park, rode the ATV, had an Alaskan Salmon dinner courtesy of Aunt Jane catching salmon/halibut for us!, and enjoyed the 75 degree weather and rain storms. Grandma brought Liberty an Elmo doll (her #1 favorite thing) so that was exciting. It was a great time together!

Escape to Flagstaff PART 2

Here are the pictures from my sister's camera of our trip to cool Flagstaff. These pictures crack me up because one of the things we knew we must do with Charlie and Liberty is dress them us as pirates! LOL. They weren't that thrilled with it - but it made for a funny photo shoot because they look ready to make the mommies walk the plank!

Bedtime Reading with TRASH TRUCK

Here is a picture of Liberty, her Cheetah blankie, and her trash truck. Yes, the Gilbert City Recycle Truck driver stopped in front of our house and handed Liberty this foam trash truck toy - it pays to rush outside and wave to them!! They have always been so nice to us as we watch from the sidewalk, the driver always does extra CLAW movements for us before he picks up our bin:) and he honks the horn! To say the least, Liberty loves her trash truck and wanted to snuggle with it during this reading session:) She is also a huge Eric Carle fan all of the sudden - demanding MORE MORE MORE after every reading of Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? and The Very Busy Spider.

From 2011_8_26 Bedtime reading

From 2011_8_26 Bedtime reading