Daddy Date Night

Preschool hosted a Daddy Date Night that involved a few performances by the 3/4 year olds (and our 2 year old), and some projects with dad (legos, playdoh, craft stations).  They had a blast together and Liberty seized her opportunity to milk the special evening by requesting a dinner with daddy at Chipotle afterward - happy camper.

Cameron said that Liberty was one of the only kids dancing (even though she decided not to sing I guess).  These videos will probably be so lame to anyone who isn't related to this child - but here is 1 (about 1:30long) - there are more if you click the link under the video.

From 2012_9_23 - Daddy Date Night

Babymoon to Sedona

Cameron and I took a romantic getaway to Sedona this weekend. Two nights away from Liberty - which hasn't happened since she was 8 months old!  She's usually our road trip sidekick - but this time my mom (Mom-Mom to Liberty) babysat her and she did great.  We left at 3pm on Friday and returned 2pm on Sunday and had such a good time relaxing in Sedona and pigging out as usual.  We took a day-trip babymoon to Sedona when pregnant with Liberty so it was fun to go down memory lane and talk about our growing family.  Sedona is such a special place to us - way back to dating, celebrating the evening we got engaged 8 years ago and more.

We had a grown up dinner when we arrived at ENCHANTMENT RESORT and enjoyed the heck out of that resort.  The next day was dictated by meals:)
Breakfast at Che ah chi at the Resort (privious night dinner spot)
Lunch at L'Auberge resort - I've always wanted to eat creekside there!
Dinner at Elote Cafe - the local favorite that has a line out the door prior to opening at 5 - we got in, barely.
Dessert at Cucina Rustica - our usual dinner spot, we at least had to visit for a quick stop.
Then, a surprise STARGAZING adventure Cameron planned - with an astronomer and a telescope, and the most starry filled sky I've ever seen. Best husband in the galaxy;)
The next day we headed to the Anthem Outlets for some shopping and then to Barrio Cafe for lunch in Phoenix (another local, no reservations, hotspot I've been wanting to experience for ages).

Then back to my beautiful baby girl.  THANKS MOM for making this memorable trip possible.

Play Hard

Meet "Amberly" - a rat from IKEA that get's a lot of special treatment from Liberty - including lunch everytime we have lunch:)  And a few of Amberly's friends...

From 2012_9_9 - Random Liberty Playing

From 2012_9_9 - Random Liberty Playing

Meet Liberty - who really cut loose at preschool making homemade ice cream and looked so disheveled when I picked her up I had to snap a picture when we got home (and this is with somewhat fixed up hair!) Shaking that ice cream bag around was hard work and then eating it was a drippy mess too I guess:) - but someone has got to do it.

From 2012_9_9 - Random Liberty Playing

From 2012_9_9 - Random Liberty Playing

From 2012_9_9 - Random Liberty Playing

Meet Rain - and our flooded back patio.  An excuse to get out all the rain gear we own - which is very little.

From 2012_9_9 - Random Liberty Playing

Labor Day Weekend - Flagstaff, Bearzona

My camera's battery died a few minutes into our BEARZONA outing - so I only have a few pictures of Liberty cracking up with Grandpa and some phone pictures from Grandma and a watermelon-cousin picture from a cookout.  It was a good family filled weekend - lots of puzzles (Lib's latest craze) and playing outside at parks in the 70* weather.  So nice to have Grandparents in Flagstaff and the 1on1 time that Liberty looks forward to.  It was also great seeing everyone together for a cookout at my sisters house (both parents and my sister's family).

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

From 2012_9_3 Bearzona, Labor Day in Flagstaff

25 Weeks and Growth Ultrasound

I'm actually 27 weeks as I write this and we just got the ultrasound today...but here is my 25 week belly shot.  I feel fine and this baby boy moves almost constantly.  He is measuring 3 days ahead of schedule (how the OB comes up with this stuff I do not know), is in the 57th percentile for weight (2pounds 6 oz).  I predict he will be smaller than Liberty's 9lbs 22in, and come early rather than late (7 days!) like she did.  I've gained 20 pounds so far.  Liberty is the most enthusiastic sibling in the world and her little brother isn't even here yet!  She often brings him toys or blankets and will start a random dinner conversation with "I think we need to buy our baby boy a crib at Target".  lol  She thinks of him constantly.  Actually, for her weekly show and share at preschool she is bringing her "BIG SISTER" book.  She has started a pile of toys for "when our baby boy comes" and always wants to add to it things she sees that we have stored away (like the infant car seat/bumbo/etc).  Daily we watch videos of when she was a tiny baby.  She seems to have a real grasp about all the things our baby won't be able to do.  She told the OB today "Our baby will only have a tiny bit of hair."  And she mentions how he will only drink milk and won't have any teeth and how we'll have to teach him to say mama/dadda.  I'm amazed at how interested she is and it's hard to push off the excitement...but we've started to tell her that her brother will come "after Halloween" so she can at least have some sort of tangible milestone of time.

From BUMP baby #2

face - closed eyes, nose, lips, and arm/wrist/hand - I think the middle picture is the only decent one.

Weekend (GNO, Farmers Market, Splashpad, Potluck, Playdate)

Friday - Girls Night Out at Pizzeria Bianco!
Saturday - Breakfast at Gilbert Farmers Market + Petting Zoo + Splashpad.  Dinner and swimming at neighbors!
Sunday - Neighbor girls over to decorate cupcakes and play play play.  Cookout with family in Fountain Hills.

Amazing what a totally empty weekend can turn into overnight:)

Random Pictures

dress up potty break

From 2012_8_8 - Cupcakes and Dressup

8am cupcakes

From 2012_8_8 - Cupcakes and Dressup

ebay helper - anyone in the market for some bears my aunt collected?

From 2012_8_20 - Skirt by Kris

2nd Day of Preschool

From 2012_8_16 - Preschool

1st Day at Preschool!

Liberty is in the 3s program at Wilkins Learning Center. She goes Tuesday/Thursday 8:45am-11:45am. Dropping her off for her first day went great - she happily held Mrs. Ratliff's hand to the playground area and gave me a hug/kiss goodbye. I went to my car and cried a little and then had to get going to my MOPS group that meets during the same time.

The first thing she told me at pickup was "I made a beautiful painting for you mommy!" and we went home with like 3 crafts already! (we don't have an easle at home, so I think that's particularly thrilling - and she got to use LOTS OF BLUE PAINT). I asked her teacher if she was at all weepy and she said she wasn't. And I asked if she went potty and she said she DID ASK HER and went - which shocked me because I put her in shorts that had a button/zipper that I've never seen her do - so I think she got some major help. I asked Liberty who helped her get her shorts off and she said Mrs. Ratliff - so I guess I believe her:)

Eventually I got 4 stories out of her.
1 - "A little girl told me "NO!"" - and then that story developed into how they were going to be friends if the little girl named Camryn would be nicer to her. lol
2 - "I got to be a princess and everybody brought me food" - and then the story grew to how she sat in a red chair and was given popcorn. When I asked if anyone else got to eat popcorn she said no - so I'm a little suspicious of this story - and then she did say some of the food was pretend.
3 - Then Liberty started singing a song "pokey pokey bumble bee - can you say your name for me?" So I think they played a little name game song.
4 - "I ate teddy grahams, fig newton cookie and 3 mike&ikes candies!" - and "I threw away the bag in the trash" so I noticed she only ate the special "junk treats" I packed as snack and left the healthy stuff alone:)

Pinetop Tournament 2012

Each year we go to Pinetop to remember my Uncle Willie and have a memorial golf tournament. And every year it rains. No big deal - except this year it rained out the golf game - when some had only played a few holes. It was still a fun weekend of a dinner on Friday night, Saturday golf (lunch for non-golfers), and an after party cookout at my parents rented cabin. This year was especially fun because we shared a rented cabin with the Helsels and the cousins bonded. Most of my extended family comes and we see them for the afterparty which this year involved lots of toys and Liberty playing (mostly) unsupervised for a few hours - which was a peek of what is to come with older kids. All MY cousins were there (9) and some of them are young enough to play with Libs or adopt her as their special buddy.

Andy Visits!

happy happy joy joy. Uncle Andy came on an airplane to hang out with us! This was the best news to Liberty who frequently asks him to "come over and pretend with me?" (usually via her play phone). Liberty kept calling Andy her "dear uncle Andy". She also would tell me that he is her "best friend in the whoooole world" - which is a phrase she had reserved for mommy/daddy - but no longer. We swam, combated a haboob, organized the playroom, cooked out, went out to Liberty Market and Postinos and played played played. As we dropped Andy at the airport Liberty said "I miss him. He can come back whenever he wants" You heard her Dear Uncle Andy.

Waterbeads

I've been wanting to do this project for awhile. This past week while we were stuck inside on a hot day we grew these waterbeads (just add water for a few hours) and then spent the rest of the day pouring, squishing, sorting, dumping, spilling, etc. waterbeads.  It was a lot of fun - they feel so neat and are clean and reusable.  I took a ton of pictures and don't really have the time to go through them, so here is the entire album.  P.S. you can get these at walmart for like $1 in the floral section. Here is a link with much better pictures of these little beads: http://www.meetthedubiens.com/2012/07/water-marbles.html