Dardo

While in Santa Fe, we stopped to visit my great uncle Dardo. He is from Uruguay, and quite a character. His house is in the historical district of Santa Fe, and is about 100 years old. He is an artist and his partner is an architect, so the interior of their house was very unique. I should have taken pictures.

Santa Fe

We made two whirlwind trips through the middle of the United States. We stopped through Santa Fe twice. Once on the way home from looking for a house, and then again when we moved. The old adobe architecture was picturesque. We went and bought some breakfast at the health food store and had a little early morning picnic on the plaza next to the monument. If you look closely you can see that someone scraped the word "savage" off of the stone. I will agree that the term "savage indians" isn't politically correct, but it was sad to see a centuries old historical monument defaced. The second to last picture is the governor's palace. It's the oldest government building in the United States. Native Americans sit under the roof and put out all of their artesania (what's the word in english?) to sell. My mom bought Ava the turquoise bracelet in the last picture. Ian took that picture, by-the-way. Along with a thousand other pictures. He is sort of obsessed with cameras these days.

Max's Birthday

Max turned five in June. His party served as a going away party of sorts. It was a crazy-busy time, as we were in the middle of getting ready to move. I can honestly say that month was one of the busiest of my life. But we pulled off a party, homemade gluten-free cupcakes and all. Phew. It was a magical birthday for him. He loved every second. And we loved spending time with family and friends. We miss them so much already.

picking peaches

Things I will miss about Arizona:

 -picking organic peaches at a local farm (in May!)
-hiking in the desert
-trader joe's and cafe rio
-swimming 6-7 months out of the year
-good friends
-being close to family
-warm weather

Things I won't miss:

-scorpions

Yes, we are moving. To a much colder state. One that neither of us has ever lived in before. Those that know me well know that I am not a fan of cold weather. I am one of the few that actually like hot weather. Living in Arizona is like having a free sauna. Just think of all the detoxing that goes on in the month of July...not to mention all the vitamin D! But I love to experience new things and visit new places.  So, I am putting on a positive attitude and looking on the bright side. And extending an invitation to anyone that wants to come visit...

18 months

Ava is 18 months old, but don't tell her that. She thinks she is four or five. She is full of enthusiasm, excitement, and opinions. Lots of opinions. "No, mommy! Deeeeez pants. Jeans!" She is already trying to usurp control of her wardrobe, and it makes me sad. She likes jeans (skirts, shorts), "jammies", and anything lime green. She has one pair of lime green leggings, and a pair of lime gingham shorts and always requests them.

She copies everything her brothers do. She always wants a red plate, because that's what Max asks for. If I give her a different color, she screams "noooooo! red!". She loves to look for letters and yells out "H!!!!", etc. She only sometimes guesses correctly. She surprises me with her vocabulary everyday. Today she told me her hands were "dirty" and wanted to "wash". I didn't realize the water was hot until she yelled "hot mommy! burn!". Her favorite things to say are "watch out!" (when she pushes her brothers around), "jump down!", "sit down, mommy...nurch!" (yes she is still nursing), "read book", and many more. She is a little parrot and is constantly repeating everything she hears. My favorite thing she says is "oh". She says it so adult-like. If I tell her that her purse is cute, she replies "cute?...oh." Or she will ask me where Max is, and when I tell her he is in his room she says "room?....oh." Her intonation is funny, as if she were saying "huh, ok, I get it".

She loves Dora, and can spot her from a mile away. If we pass anything "Dora" in a store she hyperventilates, flaps her arms, and yells "DORA!!!!!". After we pass said Dora paraphernalia, she puts on a sad face, turns, waves, and says "Bye-bye Dora!!!! Bye-bye!!!!". Sadly I don't share her enthusiasm for Dora, and the only Dora item that has made it into our house is a toothbrush purchased by her father. J-P has a huge soft-spot for his little "sugar plum".

Her 18-month well-check went well. In contrast to every other appointment, she was a perfect angel. She happily let the doctor examine her, and when it came time for the shots she didn't even flinch. No tears at all. The nurse yelled out "Wow!!! You didn't even blink! You get two stickers!! Tell them to give you two stickers!!"

Here stats:

height: 32 3/4 (75%)
weight: 22 lbs 3 oz (25%)
head: 18 1/4 (50%)

I get so many comments about how tall she is so I was wondering if she would be in a higher percentile, but I think she must look tall because she is lanky. She definitely has her daddy's body.

More pics here.

cilantro

I did some editing/transplanting in the garden this week. It was long overdue. I harvested lots of giant beets and dug out the cilantro that had gone to seed. Cilantro grows beautifully all winter long here, but it goes to seed with the first hint of hot weather. I thought it was so pretty, and I couldn't bare to throw it away. I stuck it in mason jars all around my kitchen. It has been making me happy all week. My kitchen makes me happy too, now that it is as white as can be. It puts me in a good mood, which is good since I spend most of my day in it. I will be very sad to leave it when the time comes.

take two

We tried another round of pictures in Easter outfits tonight. We still didn't get any where they are all looking at the camera at the same time. And in the majority of them they are giggling, sticking their tongue out, or running away from me. At least there was a little more light. Here are a few more on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezscoville/

Oh, and can anyone tell me how to change picture size in the updated blogger? I am so not good at figuring this stuff out...

outside

Here at chez scoville we have to hide the handle that turns on the hose. We even have to hide the pliers because the boys have figured out how to turn it on with those. We have the hose under tight lock and key. But at least once a week the children get creative and figure out a way to turn the water on. And then they make their favorite thing: mud. Mud is the bane of my existence. I feel like a very significant portion of my adult life has been spent washing mud off of clothes and children.

Ava LOVES being outside. She loves playing in the mud and "working" in the garden. And by working I mean picking everything. Our baby zucchini plants have been among the saddest fatalities. And ironically, she doesn't like to be dirty. She spends her five minutes in the dirt, and then comes running to find me. "Mama!!!! Dirt-eeeee...wash!" Throughout the day she will discover little scabs and scrapes on her legs. She immediately points them out and says "dirt-eeee! wash!".

making me smile

Max is really into writing lately. It's his favorite thing to do. He used to fill pages with random letters, but now he is more interested in making words. He will grab a paper and say "mom! how do you spell________?" A few days ago I found a card that he had written the names of all the people in our family in. I couldn't help but laugh that he had included his favorite stuffed animal "burrito" as part of our family. This morning I found him cutting out little papers, writing the alphabet on them, and then taping them together. "I'm working on an art project mom...these are clues to a treasure hunt." This afternoon I asked him if he wanted to run to the store with me. He said "yes!, but let me make the list!" He grabbed a paper and started writing down (with a little help) all of the things he thought we needed. This is what he told me the list said: "maple syrup, carrots, chicken, bananas, frosting, fish".

When I picked him up from preschool earlier he was rattling off about how they are going to celebrate his birthday in May (because it's a summer birthday). "Mom, I have to bring cupcakes, ok? Because that's what you eat when it's your birthday. Do you know what a cupcake is? It's kinda like a muffin, except a cupcake has frosting and a muffin doesn't. We need to get some frosting, ok?" We'll see if his friends eat the wheat-free, dairy-free, soy-free cupcakes I send. And I probably won't mention the fact that I use duck eggs. I figure his "birthday" is the one time a year that he shouldn't have to eat something different than the other kids. It makes me sad that he never gets to eat their birthday treats.

Easter Outtakes

Things have been crazy around here lately. We have been in survival mode for a few weeks. Easter snuck up on me. Luckily I bought Easter outfits last year (on clearance), or my children would have had nothing to wear yesterday. We did not dye eggs, we did not have a fancy egg hunt, or plant wheat grass for our traditional Easter centerpiece...but we had clothes. And despite not having a working fridge, we managed to throw together Easter dinner for J-P's mom and sisters.

J-P had his back surgery last week and is still in recovery mode, despite seeing gradual improvements each day. Luckily his mom came down to help, because I am quite positive I would not have survived without her. I have had a lot on my plate, and having an extra person around made things bearable.

As usual, we didn't get any perfect pictures. Mostly blurry. Ava's shoes were off, the pretty handmade flower ripped out of her hair, and the boys were wiggling and belting out "cheeeeeeese" (while making funny faces) for the duration of the shoot. I meant to put their clothes back on and take some more pictures outside when the lighting was better. But that didn't happen.