Happy Halloween!!

This evening we went to a Fall Harvest Celebration with a group of friends from the Birth Center. Of course we dressed up. Well, by "we" I mean Ezra. And, I don't think I've ever loved halloween more than I have this year. Truth be told, Ezra prefers to be naked all of the time. As in, don't-even-think-I-will-wear-a-shirt-in-my-own-house naked. But, if he is going to wear clothes, he likes to go all out. Hats, sunglasses, you name it, this guy likes accessories. So, what better way to get dressed, than decked out in a full hobbit costume??





There was a bucket to bob for apples in...however I think that all of the tots just enjoyed playing with the water and tasting every single apple instead. Ezra did try to climb in (head first...true bobber style), but I gently re-directed his feet back to the ground. :)






After he tired of 'bobbing for apples' he found a soccer ball to kick around.

However, once this...


became this...


became this...


I knew it was time to head home for bed. :)

1st Birthday Party for Moses!

Last weekend, Momo turned 1 and Ezra had a blast celebrating!

Blowing up balloons (and yes, Ezra wears his sunglasses for hours on end by choice :)


Blanca, mama to Moses...


Ezra taking his usual stance at the cooler. Passing out drinks and sucking on ice...


Jell-o jigglers, party hats and balloons...what more could one want?


The Birthday Boy!


Happy Birthday Moses...we love you!

it's here....

The new Ryanhood record arrived via UPS last week! It looks awesome!!!!!!!






The first email response Ryan received after someone listened to the digital download was, "If I had to sum up this record in one word, it would be 'real' and if I could use two words, the second would be 'fantastic'". I agree. So much emotion and raw-ness. So so good.

And another email response included this (dancing by Dominic, videography by Chris Giambelluca):


You can get your very own copy here.

And, if you are in the Tucson area, their cd release is happening at the Rialto on 11/4/11.

Owen and Otto

Guess what?? Owen's mom (my friend Stephanie) had her baby!! Sadly, I don't have any photos of sweet baby Otto (yet). But, the other day we got to hang out with Owen for the morning. I just love the way Ezra and Owen follow each other around. Ezra gets so excited about seeing Owen (whom he lovingly calls "Owie").

We spent some time coloring (although they are pretty light with the crayons, so you can hardly see any of their drawings)...


They discovered that the Cozy Coupe really is a two-seater after all...


And, that they are musical geniuses on the piano!

Thank You!

I can no longer say "thank you" without hearing Ezra's little voice saying it in my head. We have some how taught him the wrong usage of the phrase. When he hands us the clean dishes out of the dishwasher we say "thank you" to each thing he hands us. Well, now he thinks that when you hand somebody something you say, "thank you". So all day long I hear him saying "tank youuuuu" and find him trying to hand me his apple, shoes, crayons, you name it. Oh well, I'm sure he'll figure it out at some point. :)

But the real usage of thank you here is for RYAN! Just two days after his birthday celebration, I received an early birthday present...





Ryan and I are not usually gift givers, so this was a super thoughtful gift and surprise (though I did find out about it before the delivery).

Ryan knew I had been checking Craigslist for pianos for a while now...just daydreaming and wishing we had a piano. I don't really even play. I just love the idea of having a piano in our living room as a way to welcome in music and anyone who wants to play a few notes.

Well, Mr. Icanfindeverygooddealoncraigslist scored us this great piano for FREE!! All he had to do was pick it up! (I really shouldn't say all he had to do, because I know a lot of time went into finding it, and pianos are not exactly light to move around.)

We had planned on taking off the mirror on top because it had a big crack in it, and replacing it with maybe some cool tile artwork or something, but when we took off the mirror we found that that it got even better.... (and that it is from 1903!)


Needless to say, there has been lots of music-making in our midst...and I'm totally loving every minute of it!

mmm...mmm...good!

The other day I caught Ezra in the fridge...eating butter.






Why is it that he loves butter so much?
And, why is it that I'm not supposed to let him eat it?
I mean, isn't it just cream that's been churned for a long time?
Am I allowed to give him butter for dessert while we eat ice cream?

Happy Birthday to Ryan!!

On Tuesday, we celebrated with Ryan as he entered into his 30's!

Actually, the celebration started on Monday night, having dinner at Bazil's with his family. It was really nice to go there again (I think it's been over 2 years since we were last there!), and have a long drawn out dinner in courses with family. Ryan was gifted the "Oh-No Three-0!" button from his mom, a button she had from her 30th birthday, that Ryan has many memories of (he was 8 when she turned 30).


Then on Tuesday we celebrated as our little family by...

...eating french toast for breakfast...

...going to the park...




...Redboxing Bridesmaids while Ezra took a nap...

...eating Sonoran Hotdogs at Guero Canelo...

...followed by dipped cones at Dairy Queen...

...Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders for dinner....

...Coconut Cream Pie for dessert...




...and then redboxing Win Win after Ezra went to bed...(we recommend this movie!)

Happy Birthday Ryan!! :)

babbling brooks...

On Monday I met my friend Sushma and her two girls at Reid Park to play. We wandered over to the duck pond, and then the kids discovered a nice babbling brook to play in. Both mine and Sushma's hearts jumped for joy when we saw this sight of kids playing in water, a rarity here in the desert. We truly just melted inside and confessed how we daydream of such things.

After playing in the water for at least 20 minutes or so, one of the ground's keepers came up to me and said, "Make sure you bathe your kids when you get home, we put chemicals in the water so that algae doesn't build up." Of course, it was too good to be true. But, since we'd already been playing in it, why stop? So, the kids played to their heart's content. And, we laughed about our naivety.

greats and grands...

Last weekend we got together with some of Ryan's cousins and his grandparents to play at the park. In Jess' exact words, "I really like this habit we seem to be starting of just getting a dozen or so family members together for random occasions. Much friendlier and less stressful than the big 50 people gatherings at the holidays!" (sorry I didn't ask for permission to steal that from your blog..!) I totally agree! It's super fun and I think Grandma and Grandpa like to see the grandkids and great grandkids all playing together.

Ezra and Rachel playing catch


Ezra and Ian sharing their love for drinking fountains


Noel and Eleanor


Grandma, Rachel and Naomi


Isaih and Ezra had so much fun playing together. I just love to see how much Ezra notices other kids now and wants to play with them (especially if they are older).


My best attempt at getting a photo of all of the great grandkids together. Ezra, Elijah, Isaih, and Eleanor.

Gardening

I have decided to grow a garden this year. I am not yet convinced that anything will come up, so I guess that means if anything shows it's a bonus. I didn't put much money into it, so not much will be lost. BUT, if things do grow...I will be sooo excited!! So far we have planted kale, spinach, cilantro and carrots. I will soon be acquiring a juicer, so if carrots should surface...then juice will be made...yay!

The Cutting Garden

In my Maine Part 1 post, I told you that I was going to devote an entire blog post to the cutting garden, however I never did. Good thing for Jill and her on-top-of-it blogging skills...because she did it for me! :) Thanks Jill! I now present to you, The Cutting Garden.

Who fed them?

I have no idea who snuck what into these kids' dinner on Friday night, but after the sun went down, they turned wild on us!

They figured out how to take the couch cover off...


as well as the cushions...(I am pretty sure this is a double baby flip off the couch happening...)


An Ezra sandwich was made...at least a few times...






Funny faces all around...


Thanks for coming over friends, come again soon!

ezra talk...

The other day I was at a friend's house and she was cracking up over Ezra's pronunciation of different foods, and insisted that we video tape it now while he still says them in his own unique way.

So, we intended to do just so at dinner the other night, but as soon as the video camera came out, we forgot what food words he knows how to say and just kept asking him to say "watermelon" over and over (our favorite word of his), however he wouldn't say it for the camera. Not all was lost though, we instead got some "very Ezra" moments on camera.

The video is 1:39, if you don't have that much time, I recommend at least watching from 1:10-1:30.

Enjoy!

Da Mama Bus!!

On Friday afternoon The Mama Bus rolled up on Calle Diego and out poured 11 kids (ages 2-15) and two adventurous mamas! Before I put Ezra down for his nap, I told him that the house would be full of kids when he woke up, but I don't think he really knew what to expect. I have to say though, that I think he was in heaven for 24 hours, running and playing with the other kids. (And, I must also admit that it felt like parenting was a lot easier having so many hands to entertain and eyes to keep watch on my little guy.)

We headed to the park in our neighborhood for a picnic. Have I mentioned that the weather here has been awesome lately? Like, in the 70's-cool breeze-windows open-awesome?? I am loving it! Quickly teams were made, soccer was played, impromptu jam sessions occurred, mamas laid in the grass, tots toddled around...it was 4 hours at the park kind of wonderful!

Big Ezra playing catch with Little Ezra (Little Ezra's favorite game)


Jam session at the park...




Lois using dental floss to pull out (Big) Ezra's tooth!


SUCCESS!


We pulled out Ryan's Brio train set from when he was a kid...major points for us!


Ever wonder why our sliding glass door always has smudge marks on it? Hosting 11 children has nothing to do with it, just 1 makes all of those marks... :)




Saturday morning we went to the zoo. Can I tell you again how great our zoo membership is? We all (4 adults + 12 children) got in for FREE!!

Jenn Miller, one of the mamas and also the brains behind Uncommon Childhood and Edventure Project, talking with her 13 year old son Gabriel.


Jenn and myself


Ezra and Ryan


Gabriel holding Ezra


The whole gang (+Ezro)


It was a great weekend...thanks for stopping in Tucson, Mama Bus! Now, I am ready to form my own mama bus, who's in?