Friend's Birthday

Our friends had their daughter's 6th birthday at a horse ranch up in Cave Creek.  Bobbins decked the girls out, and it was a fantastic day outside.

 

 

Now That's a Deal!

Back in Calif. with the girls, on our day at the mall, we stopped in at Sport Chalet to browse the goods.  Bobbins and I always hit this store on our mall day, often snagging some good deals.  Well, this year I got a whopper.  I've been running in Vibram shoes and after only a year they're starting to wear out.  I found a pair that fit me on the discount table and figured they'd be about $30 or so (original price $100, marked down to $60, and everything on the table half off).  Lo and behold, they rang up at only $5!  I couldn't believe my good fortune.

 

We're Ready . . .

In addition to re-arranging the backroom, we got the car seat bases installed, the swing put up, and the room organized (crib, rocker in place) for the baby.  Ready for the little guy/gal to come. In a lot of ways it's going to be like having our first kid all over again.  Exciting.

Not Gluten Free

Now that Christmas is Over

'Moey' on the Move

Long V I D E O, maybe only for grandparents
(http://youtu.be/34RRIo9tkIM)

Getting in good shape for the big day, also getting ready to play with his/her big sisters.

We're Having Babies Too!

V I D E O
(http://youtu.be/tzvCwXYaQaM)

Blessingway

Bobbins' blessingway for the baby went a little differently than planned, but she had a wonderful lunch with her friends and fellow moms.

Moey's Outfit by Julia

With special help from the girls, of course.

Ciao Julia

Julia went home to Brazil last week.  It was a sad occasion.  We kept telling ourselves the Dr. Seuss quote: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."  Just like that, she was gone, after almost exactly five months.  We hope to see her again, either in Recife or in Portugal.

The girls kept playing in her room, like she might come home, and it wasn't the same for me coming home and not being able to say "Where's the Goolia?"




She reached home safely.  Thankfully with modern technology we can keep in touch pretty easily.  She said the Sunday rosary with us and sent some nice photos of the beach.
 

Back Room Re-do

We spent today getting ready for the baby, inc. his/her room and car seats.  We got ambitious and decided to re-arrange the back room.

 

Cowgirl Hike

The girls busted out their new black cowgirl shirts for a hike at Dreamy Draw with Dad, AK, and Uncle Zach the other day.  MM is becoming quite the hiker.  She's busted out three and four milers with inclines all by herself, no carrying.  JoJo, on the other hand, still rides about half the time.  It does ensure a good workout for her Dad that way.

Babymoon

The day after we got back from California, Bobbins wanted her own trip with me, so I took her out to Globe for a one-night romantic getaway at a bed & breakfast.  When you're pregnant, they call this a babymoon, which is more or less something women have cooked up to get their husbands to spend on them.  I had read about the Noftsger Hill Inn way back in 2008 and thought it'd be a fun place to take my wife.  Boy was I right.  We loved it!  Being an old schoolhouse was quite cool, and the proprietors are a lovely couple who know how to cook.  Each room is a former classroom, and they're huge, still with the original chalkboards.  The bathroom has a clawfoot tub we took good advantage of.

 After checking in, we drove down the hill to town and to Holy Angels Catholic Church, a beautiful little church right 'downtown.'  As luck would have it, they had Adoration for first Friday, and we stayed about a half hour with the Blessed Sacrament.

 

 

From there, we had a nice Italian dinner at Demarco's restaurant nearby (which advertised in the bulletin).  Lo and behold, the pastor of Holy Angels, the priest from Miami, and a retired priest sat down for dinner next to us.  We talked to them a bit and the retired guy blessed the baby.  It was quite special.

We slept in, enjoyed our delicious home-made breakfast, then went antiquing for a bit before returning to Phoenix.  It was a very relaxing and romantic get-away.

Rose Parade

Mark and Jessica with Will and now Otto were able to join us for the Rose Parade New Years Day.  It was pretty warm and the crowds were big, but we managed a pretty good spot with Aunt Mary, Patrick, and his girlfriend. I enjoyed the bands as usual, the girls got excited at the Trader Joe's float, we appreciated the Kaiser float for Nana T, booed the gay guys float (for AIDS awareness, appropriately enough), and ambivalently enjoyed the Sea World float.

Julia very kindly made Bobbins breakfast in bed.

 

New Years Eve

Because of the pregnancy, Bobbins decided to stay home, and Julia wanted to stay with Bobbins, so it was just the girls and I to California this year.  They did great on the drive over.  We headed out Sunday instead of Monday to surprise my mom.  Monday we went to the mall to goof off and see Frozen, which we all enjoyed.  Tuesday we dropped off and picked up Nana T at work, then had our annual New Years Eve dinner at Northwoods.  It was delicious, as usual.  The girls and I split a NY steak.  Back in Phoenix, Bobbins and Julia went to a friends to play games and wave sparklers.

Sequoia Rear Latch Repair

The rear latch (at left, with small black plastic piece) on our 2002 Sequoia broke a couple weeks before Christmas.  It was going to cost around $300 or so at our local garage, $400 at the Toyota dealership to repair it, all for a silly little plastic part that broke, so I decided to take it on myself.  I ordered a metal replacement from ebay, cost $19, and tackled the project.  Of course, youtube was my steady guide.  There's actually several good videos out there, including this one.  Essentially what happens is the small black plastic piece that pushes the lever down when you pull the handle broke.  I yanked it out and managed to find a little tool to stick in there to depress the lever and open the door.  It's the only way to get the hatch open.  This was probably the hardest part.  Bobbins also helped me, and we finished it in about 3 hours, which included 30 minutes for two runs to Ace Hardware.  On a previous repair the mechanics did not install a nut on the key lock, and it being metric I purchased the wrong one initially.  My first ever car repair.

Boxing Day Hike

The girls and I took AK and Grandpa to one of my old haunts, Shaw Butte next to North Mountain for a hike the day after Christmas.  I took the dogs for the steep part at the beginning.  The girls loved seeing the decorated tree on the way up, and we were lucky to have the perch at the top (facing southwest) to ourselves.

New Disney Pillows

Our Disney fanatic neighbors kindly got the girls new pillows and The Dog a new blanket.

 

 

 

Christmas Morning

We stayed home again this year, opening presents in the morning, then just hanging out throughout the day.  Bobbins received quite a special gift while JoJo particularly enjoyed one of hers, a pink phone.  I spent an hour with her calling people.  We watched one of my favorite films, Memento, with Jack, who had never seen it before.  My dad and Aunt Katie brought pizza over for dinner.
V I D E O   of Bobbins and the girls   (http://youtu.be/dvVZILKvrkA)