Happy birthday, Grandma

October 2009

June 2012

We look forward to hanging out with you again soon!

Love, 

Paloma and Imogen

suitcase

Paloma is packed and ready to go to Australia.

See you soon, Australia!

Princess Ballerina

Paloma has dance class once a week at school, and I think she really likes it. 

There is a performance coming up at the end of term, so I rushed out and bought her a ballet leotard. 

I don't know who was more excited, me or Paloma...

sanity

Enough is enough.

Howard and I finally reached a tipping point.

The accumulation of daily dishes was getting too much. There was always a pile of clean dishes in the sink, and ones waiting to be washed on the counter. The kitchen is so small and it was taking all evening to get through all of the lunch boxes and baby bottles.

[It was kind of a relief when the pipes froze a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't do dishes.]

So, we finally did it: we bought a dishwasher.

Big Bad Bosch arrived on Monday and was installed Monday night.

Paloma was really helpful during the installation. She held the flashlight (sic) for Papa and helped him to get into all those hard-to-reach places.

As they were working together, Howard turned to me and said, "Now I understand why we had children!"

Funny thing is, I thought we had them to do the dishes for us....

sweet Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Paloma's school likes to celebrate all of the holidays (sic). Today, they had a party at lunchtime and then exchanged Valentine's gifts after nap time.

[In my day, I was lucky to get a note scrawled on a bit of scrap paper, but things have changed since then.]

Most of the gifts involved (a) something pink and (b) sugar, and lots of it.

Paloma was pretty darn happy on both counts.

Say cheese!

Look at all that loot!

Fortunately, I was able to defer some of it for a while and convince her that we should save some of those treats to take to Australia...

Santa Fe Children's Museum

Recently, we headed up to the Santa Fe Childrens' Museum. I really wanted to see the bugs and take the girls for a bit of an adventure.

They had a special area just for little kids. Imme got to play with some new toys and make friends with a giant bear.

 Meanwhile, Howard and Paloma went climbing on the indoor gym.

They also had dress-ups, water games, puppets, a worm farm - lots of cool stuff!

It was chilly but sunny outside. We wandered around and played giant musical instruments and daydreamed about building a super fantastical playground in our own backyard. 

Imme Viv

The eyes have it

I think she looks a bit like her Papa.

The Children's Hour

Paloma and I were recently invited to be on the Children's Hour. It's a one-hour radio show every Saturday morning, just for kids. It was Australia Day, so we took Kookaburra and had a great time. 

In the meantime, Howard and Imogen stayed home and listened in. Howard said that Imogen loved to hear our voices and looked up every time Paloma or I said something. 

See all of you Aussies soon!!!!

Capitan

Did we tell you about our belated new year celebrations? 

We headed down to Capitan, NM! Howard was deer-hunting so the girls and I drove down together on Saturday to meet up with him. 

After a chilly walk around in snowy Capitan....

... Paloma was VERY excited to snuggle into bed at the Smokey Bear Motel.

The next morning, we headed out to view the mountain where the deer were supposed to be..

... and then into Lincoln, a historic town. We wandered all over town, learning about Billy the Kid and all sorts of interesting characters.

We spent some time at the torreon in the middle of town...

... trying to imagine being inside during a gunfight...

Luckily, all we saw were birds nests. 

Paloma loves to bake

Paloma loves to help me in the kitchen. Here she is making cheese scones to go with the soup for dinner. 

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Day came and went in a flurry of wrapping paper and tinsel.

The girls were spoiled rotten and it was great.

Paloma admiring the tree and salivating over the presents.
She did manage to wait patiently until after breakfast before opening anything. 

Imogen liked the wrapping paper, of course. 

Paloma with a look of intent (and her new magnatiles). 

Princess Paloma (thanks Aunt Cathy). 

Paloma and Cathy, intent on playing games.
[Paloma loves her new computer.]

Serious business... 

The girls 'playing' together...

By the way, did anyone notice the legs on this little girl?
When did she get so grown up???

Hello 2013

It's been more than a month since our last blog. Oops. Sorry. We have been busy and sick.

[No major sickness, just colds and sore throats and sore ears and flesh-eating bacteria.]

And we said good-bye to our chickens (a surprisingly emotional event).

And then our pipes froze.

To make up for it, here is a photo Imogen playing with fire.

Howard is so proud that his little girl is using matches already.