Father's Day Interview

Sophie's thoughts on her Dad

What do you like about Daddy?

When I play with him. I like to play Barbies with him.

What does Daddy look like?

He looks nice.

What does Daddy do at work?

He works on buildings.

What is Daddy's favorite show to watch?

He likes watching Star Trek. He likes watching it with me.

What does Daddy like to do?

Well, maybe he likes going to the park with me?

What do you like to do with Daddy?

Sometimes he takes me to the park.

Fill in the blank:

Daddy is: happy!

Daddy smells like: clean!

I love my Daddy because: he is nice.

*****

I often tell Dave that I'm the luckiest woman in the world, and a lot of people say stuff like that. But I really, really, really believe it. Every woman should be intensely jealous of me because I seriously have the best husband in the whole world. 

He gives me back massages and (my favorite) foot massages. He makes me laugh. He lets me get away with a lot! Is that even a good thing? I dunno....

Sophie and Sabrina are two lucky girls as well. Dave will take his girls to movies in the park, on ice cream dates, and trips to the Home Depot! 

He is my life saver at the end of the day when I am tired and when my patience is running thin. Dave will spend time with the girls and will have more compassion on them when I am losing mine.

You are awesome, Dave.

Summer Vacation #2: GFR 2013 in Oceanside, CA

These are my friends from childhood (except for Nicole. I met her in middle school). Most of them live far away, but I get to see them every year. I never realized how unusual it was to keep up friendships since elementary school until a few people told me so. I am very lucky blessed.

Brityn: AKA "Mother Brityn"

Jael: World Traveler

Lecia: Pam from The Office.

Nicole: The Photogenic One.

I look forward to this each year! I stress out about it before hand with arranging babysitting and what-not, but it is always worth it. Plus, I honestly believe I come back a better Mom. And that's because I am hanging with some very wise, funny, and beautiful women! I think we should rename it The Better Mother's Convention since we pretty much talk about our kids the whole time.

Speaking of kids, I thought I was going to return home with Sophie and Sabrina clinging to me saying "Never leave me again, Mommy!!!" But much to my surprise and pleasure, I returned home and it was as if nothing had happened. They were like, "Hey, Mom." and then went on with their business. That means, they must have been very well cared for while I was away.

My favorite moment of this GFR is this: I woke up one morning and saw that Brityn and Nicole were already up. I wave to them and then head for the obligatory bathroom, but Brityn stops me. "Don't wake up Lecia! She is sleeping on the bathroom floor."
Then I hear a groggy Lecia voice, "I'm awake."
I open the bathroom door and sure enough, Lecia is lying in a blanket heap with her sunburned legs outstretched on the tile. Lecia got a sever sunburn and was cooling her legs off by sleeping on the tile.

And here are a few photos just to prove that I actually was there myself:

 (Above photo credit: Jael)

 (Above Photo Credit: Lecia)

Now I have to think of a way to repay both my mother and mother-in-law for watching Sophie and Sabrina (and feeding Dave) while I was away. Thanks to the both of you for caring and loving my little girls!

Summer Vacation #1: Show Low

Grandma and Grandpa Hancock always like to go "camping" at Fool Hollow Lake in Show Low. It was good to get out of the city and not be surrounded by asphalt for once. Vacationing with kids comes with it's own stresses, but we all had some fun.

Here's a recap of what we did in pictures:

At the lake:



Hanging with Grandpa and Grandma:

 



Playing Telephone:

Potty Dance?

Tire Swing:



And my favorite game that I just invented. The rules are as follows: Do not smile back at Sabrina. I think Sabrina won. :)




Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for the invitation! And thank you to Joe and Tiffany for letting us stay in your cabin!

Our cat, Patch-- I mean, Orion.

Our cat is very sturdy. He has survived the dangers of the desert back home in Tucson. That includes a snake bite and a cholla cactus run in (worst night of my life ever). He has survived years of car dodging (a game that he very much enjoys!).
However, this past year Orion has really gotten beat up by a particular neighborhood cat. He regularly comes home with scratches up and down his body. A while ago, he came home with his ear all torn up. Here's a picture of that all healed up:

And this is what he looked like after a recent Pet Hospital trip:

I have renamed him Patch.

He got a really nasty, infected cat bite. The top bloody mark on his side were the cat's top teeth and the lower mark were where the bottom teeth were. It was pretty nasty. Did I mention how nasty it was? The vet shaved up that area, if you are wondering how on earth a cat bite turned out to look like that. So yeah. Our cat looks pretty weird looking right now.

Sophie's Turn

Yesterday (or was it the day before?) I did Sabrina's pictures. Now here are Sophie's. I think she sat still for me for a total of two minutes-- long enough for me to get a bunch of pictures of her looking away.

 

 

 

New Discovery

Today I had Dave set up the slip and slide so that Sophie would be distracted from today's loss of privilege--the TV. I thought Sabrina might enjoy the water too. Well, she wasn't such a fan. So what do you do when your kid doesn't want to play? You let her eat the grass while you take pictures of her, of course! And that's what we did.
And then I made a discovery. My backyard has perfect photographic lighting in the hot afternoon.
 


Every time I have tried taking pictures in the backyard I have always been disappointed with the lackluster. Our backyard is always covered in shadow at sundown, and I never venture out to exciting places during that sweet golden hour. I'm usually cooking dinner, or eating dinner, or trying to get little people to eat their dinner...


But this afternoon our giant pine tree was filtering the harsh sun and splattering light onto our somewhat green grass. It was a lovely backdrop. Luckily, Sabrina is a willing and (most importantly!) an immobile subject so I was able to get some good bokeh.

Tomorrow, I will ask (aka bribe) Sophie to sit still for me around 3 in the afternoon.

  I know that the one above is slightly out of focus, but her little smile just makes it perfect.

Sick Day

Poor Sophie.
Isn't it terrible when you get sick?
(insert sarcastic smiley face)

Sophie and Soccer

Soccer.

I can't say that every second of this was a super awesome experience. In fact, I actually dreaded every Thursday night when there was soccer practice. We would show up ("we" meaning me, Sophie, and Sabrina) and in my super excited soccer-is-so-cool-voice I would encourage Sophie to participate. While  holding Sophie's hand so she could practice dribbling, I would also be lugging around Sabrina in her car carrier (which isn't exactly light). Then a kind friend would offer to watch Sabrina for me so I could focus on Sophie. This would work out well for two minutes until Sabrina would start crying. I would walk over to see if I could calm Sabrina only to cause Sophie to cry when she realized mom walked 10 feet away. Then I would want to start crying. Because this is pretty much what happened for 2 months straight.

Then one day. Sophie went to a game. And played. By herself. And it was awesome. Suddenly she didn't need any help at all. Suddenly she loved to run around and play!

Now that the season is over Sophie still asks about soccer and if she can play. She would tell you that she can't wait for next season!

In the end it was a good experience. I'm glad we stuck with it.

Here's a video clip. The best part is at the beginning when Sophie begins dribbling the ball off the field.

Because I said I would post...

Here are pictures of my perm.

 Side Note: I am holding the most beautiful chocolate dipped strawberry you have ever seen. Made especially for Valentine's Day. Apparently there is such a thing as melting chocolate too much.

I'm not as thrilled with it as I was the last time I got a perm, but oh well.

Now to look forward to my next hair cut coming this Summer!

For the Love of Running

 I love her hair flipping out as she runs.

Is this not the face of pure joy?

Sophie got really into it and in turn wanted to take my picture running around.

Isn't this a great shot done by Sophie?

For the above photo, she was awkwardly managing my fat camera while shouting out "Now run, Mommy! Spin around. Dance!" and snapping away. I really should do a post dedicated to Sophie's photography because she really gets some lucky creative shots. I'm glad she's enjoying it. 

Childhood is just so fun.