Monsoon, Shopping & Pottery

This furniture was in a neat square yesterday afternoon...




Birthday Girl Rylan

We're not big on sweeties...

so when she gets a sucker it's like gold!

My Tough Girls

Striking Poses

Very detail-oriented

But Dad...this is your Christmas present -

You're not supposed to see!

Splashpad Fun!

For Rylan's birthday we went for a fun date! Her restaurant of choice - Sweet Tomatoes. Rylan plowed through salad, pizza, potatoe, soup and topped it off with chocolate indulence - chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce with chocolate sprinkles. Then off to Desert Ridge for a bit of looking around, a special treat of a dark chocolate covered pretzel for Rylan and a sucker for Maddie and then to As You Wish for pottery painting. Rylan painted a gnome that she named Mr. Zack, Maddie painted a cup for her Daddy for Christmas (surprised ruined when he came in and helped her :), and I worked on a plate. I am the most un-artistic person I know - but the image was there. The kids worked on their projects for about 2 hours - and both were REALLY concentrating and taking this very seriously! Rylans gnome is adorable - I can't wait to see it after it's glazed and fired. After Maddie finished she and Daddy got into mischief in the Splash Pad. What a FUN day!

The night before we had monsoon storming. I've lived here for 2o+ years and they are still amazing to me. Huge trees blown down all over where we lived including a huge Saguaro cactus. Our backyard was rearranged with patio furniture knocked over, heavy pots knocked down and broken, Maddie's heavy slide moved about 10 feet to the middle of the outdoor patio and a favorite mask broken :( Our next door neighbor's Palo Verde (HUGE) bowled over as well. Maddie slept through the pounding thunder, rain and constant lightning.

Potty Training & Bribery

Ever since we returned from China Maddie will go when we sit her on the toilet...it's just been a matter of her getting to the stage of remembering to go when wearing a diaper (and now pull up). We did the "naked potty training" which was easy and great. She's now 100% in underwear at home and 100% in pull ups at school and Papa's during which time she's pretty close to asking all the time to go to the bathroom. YEAH!! Now the big challenge...to potty train Horton! YIKES!

As a reward she chose her Halloween outfit. Mind you it's still REALLY hot here but she insisted on wearing it for about 15 minutes inside yesterday. Barney is still a HUGE hit and the I Love You song is sung right before dinner now.

She's also just about outgrown bathing in the sink...although she still loves it and it's so much easier for her to play while I do the dishes :) Such a big girl. It's going by so quickly.

Big Fish

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I was holding the video camera & helping her to swim too...so these are kind of choppy...but with swim season coming to an end here in about a month to a month and a half I wanted to capture how well she's doing. More to come that are hopefully "more professional" :)
She just smiles like a madman while underwater.

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I was a Baby in China...

After seeing the Bird's Nest in Beijing in 2007 ...it's nostalgic for us to watch the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympics. What fun we had in Beijing. One of our favorite things to do actually was a simple but elegant tea ceremony and of course seeing the Great Wall. The hustle and bustle of the city was amazing. The architecture stunning in many places. The marriage of old and new was palpable. The haze was prevelalent no matter where we went...setting a backdrop to Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven and the Beijing Zoo. I'd still go back in a heart beat.

The Opening Ceremony was STUNNING!! Maddie was disinterested for the most part except when there were children shown - all so cute. She and Kael were busy playing with cars.

Out of habit we called her baby last night. She walked over to the TV and pointed at it - reminding us..."No...I was a baby in China and now I'm a big girl in America". Yes you are our beautiful daughter. Thank you for letting us experience and continue to learn about another part of the world and becoming a part of ours.

Tunes by Maddie

Maddie is REALLY into singing right now. Her voice is my alarm clock - sometimes it's Old McDonald & other times Barney's I Love You song. Doesn't really matter - when it's 5:30 in the morning nothing sounds too terribly great to be honest - her only draw back is the early rising business. Who taught her that that was an okay hour for the eyes to be open?