more zoo;)

jumps & hugs

games

I cannot tell which part amazes me more.... that ira is so patient while liv knocks down every single thing she builds, or that she just keeps building things.... just for liv to knock down.

science center fun

to do list....

my final post of the day is short and sweet.... a couple ira-isms from the week....

I was going over my to do list with ira on monday.... I said, "today I have to do laundry and clean the playroom.....what is one YOUR to do list?"

"mmmmm...... just play. that all thats on my list"

just as it should be :)

Then today, as jared was getting ready for work....

"daddy, WHAT are you doing awake? oh, you go to work"

"yes, I do sweet, im leaving.... bye bye...I love you"

as he bends to kiss her....

"daddy, you forgot to say Adiós !"

Growth :)

we go to the zoo very often...the membership is cheap.... there is a splash pad to keep cool in our dry hot summers and its a small, relaxed zoo that one could just meander through in a about an hour or two....plus, every day at 10, you can feed the beautiful giraffes. 

we havent fed the giraffes yet this year because last year, ira was too scared, she would only want to watch, or she would want to feed them, and then throw the food at them and run away.

not today.... today, she grabbed the biscuit and walked right up to the gentle humongous animal and held up the food. Then turned and handed me her second biscuit...

"MAMA, you have GOT to try it, it tickles...."

They are playing TOGETHER!

I swear, just three short months ago, it felt as though my children would forever be a preschooler and an infant.... now, they actually play together.

Granted, most of it is ira playing with liv.... which I love watching... as it becomes more and more apparent that she has been waiting her whole life to be a big sister.

So I am sharing my joy with you, and also with them, to hopefully look back at and cry when they are 30 and 27 and raising children of their own.....if thats what they choose to do.... thats what I would do, because I am an emotional sucker ;)

carnaval

We went to the second annual Tucson Carnaval on saturday! It was so much fun. The childrens museum was involved, so admission was free and we had a blast walking around the historic neighbourhood surrounding the celebrations too!

I took pictures the first 20 minutes we were there and the camera didnt come out again, You will just have to trust it was amazing ;)

oh, and we made three masks, no pics of us wearing them either- that may still be arranged..... but here are two that I took while we were making them.... there is still glitter EVERYWHERE in the craft room.

zoooooooo

 

ira invents a new camera.....

and practices taking pictures of liv :)

Proud Papa

Puts sleepy baby to sleep......

so sweet.

ahhhh fresh paint

things i am inspired by today

                                      aboveccopyright melba levick

i need it, because my once white house is now painted and awaiting decoration....

six & six

the lovely stephanie at ordinary life magic tagged me for this six/six game!

"Open the 6th picture folder on your computer, open the 6th photo and blog it. Write something about it. Then tag 6 more people to do the same."

this was almost one year ago, feb 21, 2008.... we went on a short hike with some friends to find this sun circle. i was 7 months pregnant and had to scale a sand embankment... which was hilarious all on its own.

i slipped a little, and irs'a little hand grabbed me... this story is still told by ira and it goes like this, "one time, we were climbing a mountain and momma fell, but i caught her and saved her! im a reeeaaally good climber"

its usually told right after we ask her not to climb something dangerous!

i hereby tag

anna

ashlee

des

julia

kiza

trinity

hilarious, but i didnt alphabetize on purpose.

batteries

"mama"

"yes love?"

"i need to ask you a question" (ira prefaces every statement with this phrase. question or not).

"i need a magic wand"

"you have like 4 magic wands"

"no" she says "they do not have batteries"

"why do you think you need batteries to be magic?"

"that girl at the park said only wands with batteries are magic. They light up & make rainbows" 

"well, that doesnt sound right. All you need to make rainbows is an imagination" 

ira's eyes grow TALL & WIDE!

"huh?!? i already HAVE an imagination! a really GOOOOD imagination!"

"oh, good!"

"get me my wand mama- im going to go make some rainbows"

ramblings

The daylight is streaming in later and later and so spring cleaning has commenced.

Liv helped mop ;)

Ira helped set up a racetrack and stadium for the big race.

And the hurdles. I put an end to the pole vaulting competition.... "maybe next week" we agreed.

something has definitely shifted between ira and i. 

I read continuum concept when she was 3 months old, it revolutionized where I was headed as a parent then. I recently started reading "you are your child's first teacher" with a group of lovely ladies at MDC.

It is doing much for me in ira's preschool years as the continuum concept did in her infant stage.

I cannot quite explain it either. NOthing really has changed in practice. But it reminded me that I have set out to raise her in her own way. On her own path. With her as my teacher and guide. I follow her. NOT in the sense that she was the "leader"or that I chase her around searching her little eyes for what her next whim may be. She is my teacher in the way that I believe that she is an individual, that all children are, and that none of them are going to fit any mold, or timeframe in any more of a standardized way than any birth will fit a standardized protocol that a hospital may put in place.

And just like with birth in a hospital, the natural process is interrupted by even the tiniest, most well meaning intervention. Even more so when that intervention is more for our own needs than for the needs of the person living the event. Birth, childhood, adolescence.... who knows best for any age. 

I think the person living that life knows best, and it is most wise for us to sit back and watch, observe, listen, and only intervene when safety is involved or it is requested.

Which isnt necessarily AT ALL what this book is saying. 

I am only to chapter 3. 

I am just reflecting after a few passages in these first few chapters sparked a little of the passion for childhood preservation I had once felt.

But sometime after liv was born, I think I started maybe thinking ira was ready for more, she seemed so BIG, there standing next to this teeny tiny baby. She seemed so grown up.

This book couldnt have come at a better time in our life.

It reminded me, that while she is so big in comparison to liv, she is still so small compared to me.

Even the age difference of a year is vast in these early years, and her sensitivity deserves protection. Her influences imprint on her in ways that I may not understand anymore.

She is much more observant than most would credit a three and a half year old. More observant than I for sure.

so, maybe it is just that I am seeing her clearly. or, maybe she has felt a difference in my voice.... 

whatever it is, we are laughing, smiling, joking through the moments of our days. 

I caught this beautiful moment with my camera almost by accident.

Ira said, "look, mama, liv can stand on her own. LIV- can you do this?"

sisters.

its all so INSPIRING isnt it?

so cool...

i have TWO kids....

which just saying that out loud sounds so perfect.... they are amazing, and I think I could have about 20  more....

anyway, so I have two kids, two girls...

and they both wore the SAME tights the very first time they played in sand...

completely on accident.

well, if you believe in accidents.

in which I do not.

This is Ira- april of 2006. San Diego....

This is liv on tuesday....

AND, as if that wasnt cool enough all on its own.... those tights- came from my bestest lady miss chandra.... who I can pretend put them on both of her girls as well.... however, Im pretty sure she only put them on her youngest, but i can dream....

**please excuse poor quality photo-it was a copy shoot**

thank you linda

My Mother in Law passed away three months before i met jared, and she left him and therefore me, many beautiful gifts...some REALLY weird things and about a million wicker baskets. 

Sometimes i find little treasures here, in the house she lived in, that i feel were left so that only someone worthy would find them.

My last gift from beyond, pinking shears.

Might I add, about a week after i said outloud to jared- "babe, i need to get pinking shears, can you remind me tomorrow?"

i forgot.... he forgot to remind me.

then as we were cleaning the office, we decided to clean out one of her old sewing machine tables that we keep meaning to refinish... and found these.

not ever knowing her, these little things always make me sad... i think we would have gotten along so well.