On the Mountain

South Mountain Lookout

Cleaning Day

Lizzy really enjoys helping with anything. On cleaning day she loves to help by doing everything I do. Lizzy has her own duster and floor cleaner to work with. The floor cleaner is adjustable down to her size. We use to have a carpet cleaner that was also adjustable but it broke. It's nice to use actual cleaning tools rather than just toys. Hope she's always as eager to help as she is now.

Morning Art

 Now that we are all settled in, and Tita has gone back home things are getting back to normal. I am trying to create a daily schedule for each day of the week. Today was art day. Lizzy practiced painting dots or circles using watercolor out in the yard. It was still morning when it's nice and cool outside. Lizzy was still in her pajamas and could get as messy as she wanted before bath time. Lizzy really enjoys painting. She painted daddy 5 different works of art.

Mondays: Baking and Laundry

Arizona Museum for Youth

Tita arrived yesterday and Lizzy has been very happy to have her here. Today we explored the area and went to a children's museum near our home. It had lots of hands on exhibits for Lizzy's age. The museum wasn't huge so that was nice also. I think we will be back in the near future.

Lizzy's 1st Swim Class

Lizzy had her 1st swim lesson today. It was her and two other children with an instructor (I watched behind the glass window). Lizzy did great learning some basic skills. We'll see how much she learns by summer.

Sushi Night

Mike and I had been talking about making sushi for a while and it was one of our planned date nights for last month but because we were so busy moving it didn't happen. This weekend we got a sushi kit, watched the movie, went to an Asian Market, and made the sushi....Not as easy as it looks. We could not find maki tuna anywhere or any tuna for that matter so we just used shrimp, crab, avocado, and cucumber. The seaweed sheets we got were half sheets and really just too small to make a roll. We tried and it was an experience but I think we'll try a local sushi restaurant next time we are craving sushi. If you have the time and patience sushi making could be fun.

Little Helper

Lizzy wants to help and do everything Mike and I do. Sometimes she is helpful other times she is not. This is hard because she is learning and really thinks she can do what we do. Sometimes it's not safe and boundaries have to be set. When possible I really try to teach Lizzy how to do things and be helpful by giving her small jobs. Providing Lizzy with tools that are her size are great because she doesn't get hurt and she really feels like she is helping. Here she is helping daddy rake the yard.

From Miles Away

Although Lizzy is separated from Tita, Tito, and Tio, by distance she skypes with them almost everyday! She sings, reads stories, talks about her day, and just runs around on camera. She enjoys this time but she doesn't quite grasp the distance part. Lizzy asks to go to Tita's house pretty regularly when we get in the car. I know it is hard for her to understand why we can't go.

Tita could not wait until summer when Tito is out of school to visit so we will be visiting next week! We are all very excited and happy she will be visiting us soon.

Pool Time!

Lizzy has always loved the water. She was already in the pool by 3 months old. One of her very favorite things is to go swimming. When we were staying in a hotel here in Phoenix the day before we moved in we took advantage of their pool and had a swim. Lizzy did great, she still loves water.

Now that we have a yard and the weather is warming up here I got Lizzy a little kiddie pool. She got to be in it one time since we got it. The weather is cooling down again here enough to make the water too cold to be in. The one time she was in it she has lots of fun splashing, kicking, and pretending she was in a bowl of soup!


Lizzy will be starting formal swim lessons next week! I took Lizzy to the store to pick out a swimsuit. She picked one with butterflies. Lizzy is very excited to start lessons. She will be in the three year old's class wish us luck!

Play Doh / Kitchen Play

Lizzy found the play doh! Everything is scattered in different rooms because while the house we are living in a much larger than the apartment we were in Lizzy's bedroom is much smaller. Lizzy has everything she needs in her room but arts and crafts type stuff is in my craft room. Lizzy found the play doh and played with it in the family room. She created some "food" with it. A three layer dinner. Here she is very proud of her creation. Lots of her play doh was dried out so I think it's time to make some more homemade play doh.

Easter 2012

The start of our Easter celebration started with eggs. Hard boiled eggs for breakfast and then coloring the hot eggs with crayons (so much easier at this age). The eggs came from my aunt Dorothy's chickens, the eggs were a gift to us when we moved in and we have eaten all of them (2 dozen!) now. I found her blog about her chickens called chicken scratch. Quite interesting to check out.



On Easter morning we had a small egg hunt in our backyard. Lizzy had lots of fun finding them and then opening them to find candy inside.



Lizzy's Easter basket had stickers, finger puppets, coloring book, and her first real board games. Memory and Candy Land. Which she played immediately after.


Later we had some time with family. Lizzy's great uncle, aunt, and cousins. She had tons of fun at their house. She ate a cupcake, some chocolate, opened some Easter eggs, played and ran around. Then the real fun began when she tried all the band instruments in their home and played/sung along with her great uncle and cousins who are in a band. The music was beautiful and Lizzy really enjoyed herself.

To top everything off my very talented cousin made Lizzy a bunch of balloons that included a bear with a heart, a fishing pole with a fish on the line, a flower, a hat, and a bunny! Lizzy loved it. I viewed my cousin's website tonight and she is not only a great balloon twister but an awesome face painting artist. Check out her website and gallery.

We had a good Easter here in Phoenix. We are truly blessed!

Mud Pie Kitchen

I made this mud pie kitchen for Lizzy using an outdoor side table and glued on some coasters for the burners. All the kitchen tools Lizzy needs are in a large pot under the table. Super easy and fun for outdoor play.

Easter is almost here!

Lizzy received a Easter package from her grandparents in Indiana. Lizzy is always very excited to open packages. This one contained lots of goodies for her. Lizzy has been watching the Easter bunny is coming to town everyday since she received it. Easter will be lots of fun this year for her.

Backyard Fun