Date with DAD!!!

Since Brandon's been gone a lot with his first year of Residency- the kids have been missing their dad! He got home yesterday from working a 30 hr. shift and after having a little siesta (sp?) he took the kids on individual dates. First it was Hayley's turn. She wasn't feeling very peppy, but she was excited to go. Out of all the things they could do she chose to go and pick out a toy for her date. Here she is sporting her new baby doll backpack. When they got home- she ran into the bathroom and "tossed her cookies". Besides that, they had a good time. ;) Ethan took Hayley's lead and instead of going to get icecream or going fishing at the lake- he went to the toy store and picked out a little lego policeman car. I didn't get a picture of him with it, but I did snap a shot of him doing one of his favorite activities (rocking chair aerobatics).

You'll have to scroll down to the previous blog to see what these two pics are all about. (I can't figure out how to add more than 4 pics to the blog at a time. So, these are meant to go w/ the rest).

Before and After

This is our living room w/ it's vaulted ceilings and hospital white walls.

This is the after shot- Brandon and I painted it a "Belgian Sweet" color to make it more cozy. I need to get bigger pictures for my walls, because the ones I have look teeny-tiny. Any cute, cheap suggestions for large wall art?

Visitors

We've had our first visitors here in AZ! Hooray! We hope that it's just the first of many (hint, hint to all of you out there reading this!) My parents, my bro. and his wife (and 3 kids) all came and stayed with us last week. We went to the Zoo, went to a baseball game, went swimming at the pool everyday, and last- but not least, we went to Chuck E. Cheese! Where a kid can be a kid! Here are some pics. from the trip.

Cute Cousins- they both have super straight hair and wanted it curly so we played beauty shop and put sponge curlers in. Here's the after pic.

The Arizona Diamondbacks Game!

On Labor Day we went with my parents and the kids to a D'backs game. It was a blast! Mariah loved all the clapping (and sipping Sprite from the straw!) I think she had the best time out of all of us. The pitcher for the D'backs is named Brandon Webb- maybe you've heard of him? For Brandon's b-day back in July I wrote in and was able to get THE Brandon Webb to autograph a pic. and send it for MY Brandon Webb.

My Girls....

Mariah loves to ride her bike- and Ethan's motorized Police ride-on. I don't think she has any incentive to walk, now that she has an easier way to get around.

I thought I'd document her crawling- I love that her tongue is sticking out, like she's concentrating so hard.

Hayley's in a Fairy Tale Ballet class, each week they learn a new dance and dress up like a different princess for the performance at the end. This is her practicing her twirls at home and then below is a pic. of her in her "Ariel" costume. I'll have to figure out how to post the video of her dance and I've also got a great video of Ethan and Mariah wrestling. Hilarious!