Something Odd

We were all headed out for gelato Thursday night when we saw this truck. It took us a minute to figure out what was so odd about it. There were SWAT officers completely outfitted in riot gear around the entire vehicle. There must have been 10 guys hanging off every possible place. I guess they were training somewhere because there wasn't anything on the news about SWAT teams doing anything. We wanted to get closer so J could get a better look, but they turned into the station soon after I took this photo. Sorry it isn't a clearer picture, but I couldn't use the flash without attracting their attention! :)

Smudges

The evolution of Smudges:


This is the first pic of her. She is at the top with the black head and no white.


This is her at a few weeks, basically the same, but a darker tail (and SO CUTE!).


Our first visit with her. The tabby is starting to show more, but she is still a grey cat.


When we brought her home. The grey fur was really coarse and the tabby pattern showed only under the right light.


The awkward teenage-hairstyle-you-regret phase.


Now: no grey and the softest silkiest fur. She is also very big for just a few months old. For reference, the pink bed above and the top of the kitty condo here are about the same size.


She is a cuddle-bug, often sleeping under my chin or on my arm at night. She follows me from room to room and has decided that big yellow thing (Scout) isn't so scary. She still can't decide what color she wants to be and is still a food hog (so far she's eaten everything from Doritos to Nerds), but she is just so sweet we can't say no to her!

June California Trip

As most of you know, we have been out of town more often than not this summer. Here are some pics from the first trip. J and I flew to CA to help my grandmother pick out some dresses for 2 family weddings this summer. She had never had a beautiful dress so she was as excited as Cinderella going to the ball! If also made for some hilarious moments as she tried on dresses literally twice her size, just so we could see if we liked the colors! She is such a good sport! Anyway, no visit to CA is complete without a trip to the beach. It took J awhile to warm up to the sound of the waves (plus it was cold), but he eventually did. It helped that I had a ball for him to toss around. Anyway, enjoy the pics and I will be posting our CO, Chicago and 2nd CA trip pics soon! (And Chris' 30th birthday, J's 2nd birthday and anything else I missed posting in this chaotic summer!)

This is my airport-by-myself contraption. Car seat nestled in the umbrella stroller with all the bags hanging off the back. He had the best seat in the house, but the disassembly of it for the x-ray machines was a little unnerving. He learned that a pilot says "I'm ready!" and "Let's go!" as we watched them prep the plane for take off. I don't know if that's really what pilots say, but he thought it sounded good!


First taste of airport food. What do you think he thinks of it? (BTW, Sky Harbor gets major kudos for having kid friendly tables and cartoons playing in the terminals.)


Definitely the best seat in the house. I was surprised he kept the headphones in.


My brother keeps complaining that I only get J ride on toys that don't steer, so my mom surprised him with this one when we arrived in CA. He loved it! (Apparently grandsons have cars on the carpet privileges -- she would have killed me for this when I was little!)


The bike. Ones purchased in CA apparently come equipped with attitude standard. (Check out J's hand. Is he flashing a 2 year old's gang sign?!?!)


Boys must be genetically encoded with this "Are we done shopping, yet?" face.


Granny keeping him entertained at David's Bridal. Those are wikki sticks they are using as swords!


The beach wasn't really this peaceful or empty, but I love this shot. Seconds later he was chasing the bird at Granny's urging. (Thanks, Mom!) :þ


This photo is appropriately titled "Want some, Mom?"


My parents have this local BBQ place with peanuts on the floor. My meticulous child could not understand why the floor was covered and kept commenting "Ooh, mess! Oh, no!" As you can see, he got over it by the end of the night. He and my dad had fun running and stomping on the peanut shells together.

He just keeps surprising us!

This is J's new bed. (Well, it's just his crib mattress on the floor until we get the new bed stained a darker color.) He surprised us by sleeping in it the first week without getting out on his own. He loves the bed and the Thomas the Tank Engine stuff is just a bonus for him. However, if he is not dead tired at naptime, or if there is an unusually loud noise in the morning, he has no qualms about running out of bed, opening his door (surprised us there too!) and jumping on mom! Isn't that sweet? (Yeah, right)


Just J having fun. I am impressed with how many games he can come up with to entertain himself on this splash pad. I think I would be bored in 5 minutes, but he'll play for a full hour!



So I am sure you all know about J and golf. He LOVES to play golf and he can even hold the club properly and line up a shot well. We did not know he was that good at baseball too! He has really never held a bat and tried to hit a ball, as far as I know, but after 2 or 3 practice swings, he was knocking the ball all around the room. He doesn't even hit his hand when he swings! Somehow, he drops his hand at just the right moment and hits the ball as it hangs in the air for that brief second. Either that or he is whapping his hand and it will be covered in bruises in the morning :). He practiced for 20 minutes and just kept getting better. There is a video of him in action below.

June 2008

Some highlights, in random order.


We braved the cold water in the Kearneys' pool, and the results were blue lips and big smiles all around. It truly is amazing how quickly AZ pool water turns to bath-temp water once it hits 100 around here! A week later (picture #2), all the pools in town were already approaching too-hot-to-swim temps!

OK, so even in the middle of summer, with my thermostat set at a very economical and warm temperature, I still freeze! This is J cuddled up in the blanket my grandmother made for me. He wants to be just like mom. Awww.

On that note, Grandma recently taught me how to crochet and the headband on J is my first attempt. It isn't really anything except a strip made of leftover yarn, but he loved having it on and wanted to show it off. The best part was him scooting as close to Scout as possible (with Scout trying to scoot away as fast as possible) then saying "Cheese!!" with his biggest grin and scrunched up eyes.

Chris' Tiger Woods golf game for the XBOX has a cool feature that lets you upload your face and it will digitally create a copy of it for your in-game character. We wanted to try to get J's face on the game since he loves to play with Chris. These were the shots we got (none of them will work on the game) after bribing him with bites of a Milano cookie. The hardest part is that after years (literally) of teaching him to smile at the camera, the program requires you to have a straight face. Try explaining that to a 2 year old! Actually, if you are in need of a giggle, have someone try to take your picture while you keep a straight face! I couldn't do it!

A Little Confused

I think he misunderstood the memo that said "All kids eventually climb OUT of their cribs"!


The pink one is what he was after. If you enlarge it, you can see how sweaty he got climbing in and out!

May 2008

We went to Pei Wei one night and J couldn't help but flirt with the lady at the next table. He must have spent at least 20 minutes making all sorts of faces at her and showing off. She must have been a Grandma because she loved the attention and Chris and I loved that we got to have an uninterrupted conversation with each other!



We went to Makutu's Island for a Mom's Group recently and J was not content to play on the little kid stuff. He wanted UP! (for the uninitated it is a warehouse with 2 and 3 story tall slides and tunnels, etc) Since he is small and they are tall, I got to go too. Yea. Now, I like neither heights nor small spaces, but up I went anyway. This is one of the tamer slides we went on and thankfully only stair climbing was needed to reach the top.



I have been clipping my "bangs" back for a couple of days in a row and J wanted to be just like me when he found this paper clip. This one definitely goes in the wedding slide show.



We were at my MIL's and went to play tennis. You guys all know I am usually prepared for any contingency, but this one caught me off guard. It was COLD in MAY in ARIZONA! So here is J, in my MIL's sweater, his PJ pants and a T shirt. I think he was as displeased with the look of the ensemble as I was! :) However, it didn't stop any of the fun and he now says "WHAP!" when we pass the tennis courts.



I got his bouncer out to loan to a friend and J snuck in a quick bounce. How did he get so big so fast!?



His new thing is sending Daddy emails at work. Chris usually writes a sweet note back, too. I have a couple of softies in my house.



This is the best way to spend a lazy afternoon if you don't have a pool. Those are Chris's feet.

Our new kitten has a friend

Our little girl, Smudges, came home on Saturday and so far all is well. She chases down Tiger, hisses at Scout and generally thinks she is the queen of the household. She is also a table-scrap beggar so I'm sure she will put on weight quickly. It is almost midnight and she is up climbing my chair (and me!) just to see if she can. She quickly scaled the baby gate enclosing her in the office so it is time for plan B. She is a sweetheart though and everything a kitten should be. If your kids are bored one day, call me. Smudges would love the entertainment!


Jonathan did much better at holding her this time. Last time, he kept squishing her as he held her out in front of him.

Enjoying the car ride home together. She cried so loud when we had her in the carrier. It was pitiful!

Ahhh, I love my new bed. Too bad it comes with all these strings attached! ;)

Sleeping after a long day's play. She is really tiny, only 1lb 14 oz! The pillow next to her is a standard 12x12!

I will post pics of our recent trips to CA and CO in the next week or so!