Farewell Party with Silver City Friends

Silver City friends threw us a little farewell party the day before family showed up to help us move. We grilled food, watched the kids be crazy, had a few beers, and had a remarkably normal gathering. I choked up a bit as we said "hasta la vista" but otherwise it was all fun.

Adam & the kids (Anson, Simon, Rylie, Lily) checking out a huge bug we'd never seen before.

Kids in the sandbox, mostly. L-R:Lily, Simon, Sebastian, Rylie, Sylvia, Joseph

Lily & Simon riding bikes with Aaron watching

Big

Simon's getting big. I'm kind of amazed at his abilities & creativity at 2 1/2.

Getting ready for a play date with his friends Joseph & Sebastian Castello. Got a water bottle and a backpack full of extra diapers & a change of clothes...play dates are inevitably messy and wet.

Showing off his new t-shirt to remember his age/size when we left New Mexico. It's the New Mexico state flag with the zia symbol.

Riding his bike with helmet, elbow & knee pads on the north "yard" side of the house

"I'm riding backwards into the wall, Mom!"

Walking the 'Hood

Simon loves to go for walks. We don't go far and we don't go fast, but we certainly explore every little detail along the way. I suggested that we look for cool rocks and see what flowers we could find, so of course he stops to look at every rock (including landscaping full of rocks, as you see below) to claim them as "cool." We saw some mule deer in one yard, and Simon was a little startled by them. After that he seemed nervous about happening upon more deer, so we started talking about them more. I found some deer tracks a few times, so we pointed them out and explained that's what deer footprints looked like. We found lots of deer poop, and explained how that was another way we could tell where deer had been. Soon after the latter explanation, Simon requested that we "go look for more deer poop." I tried to explain that deer poop was something we came across by accident, not something we go looking for, but that's the mind of a 2 1/2 year old versus the (boring) mind of a 28-year old mom!

Cool rocks, Mom

Walking with Daddy & sleepy Anson through an alley

Stopping to check out the flowers with Mom

"Two boys up" for the last stretch home

Reading

"And Tango Makes Three" with Daddy & Anson on the couch

"Little Chicks' Mothers and All The Others" with viking Mom and Simon's hoodie

I'm Holding My Little Brother!

Simon is positively gleeful about Anson - especially when he gets to hold him. He tells us, repeatedly and ever louder, "I'm holding my little brother!" Yes, Simon, you sure are. Good job, big brother.

Grapes & Grins

In the Johnny Depp version of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory there's a line by one of the grandmas that gets a laugh out of Adam every time. Randomly, she says "I love grapes." This has become a "quoteable" line in our home, so every time we have grapes Adam gets Simon to quote the line. It's funny every time...at least to Adam. :) Here's Simon loving grapes on the couch:

Grape in the belly button

Laughing...it's fun to have a big grape cluster! And to be allowed to eat on the couch - joy!

Cute stuff, Simon G.

Hoodie

As we get closer & closer to Moving Day I am doing more laundry even more promptly than I already did, because then I can pack stuff as soon as it's clean & dry again. I've been rounding up cold-weather clothes as we sweat through 90+ weather day after day. I'd recently come across a sweatshirt of Simon's in the car, so I threw it in with the next load of like colors. Simon, of course, pulled it out of the clean laundry basket before I could fold it and insisted on wearing it, zipping it up, putting the hood on, and sticking his hands in his pockets.

Hands in the pockets

THESE hands go in the pockets, Mom. Grrr...

Giggle butt. It's funny to wear a hoodie with pockets in the summer, especially with dinosaur pajama pants on bottom.