Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It has been soooo long since I've written but it has been a busy week- I'm sure for all of you as well. Let's see what I remember!
We left for Albuq a day earlier than originally planned but that was a good thing because dad didn't have to drive on his birthday and I got to hang out with Nana and Mr. a little longer. Saturday was dad's birthday and he got to celebrate with a solo trip to REI (an outdoor equipment store) to spend his birthday money. In the afternoon, we made a trip to the Children's museum which is the coolest place ever! I got to play with bubbles, make water dance, build a dam, play records, build a water maze and watch mom ride a bicycle on a tightwire. Too much fun!
On Sunday, we spent most of the day inside, waiting for it to get above freezing outside. It was so cold the whole time we were there. When we finally did venture out it was to go to the "River of Lights" down at the botanical gardens. It was so pretty and soooo cold. Everyone wanted me to stay in the stroller but it was to cold and I wanted to go RUNNING RUNNING. So, I won and spent most of the night getting in the way and just generally making trouble.
Monday was Christmas Eve and I helped Nana make cookies. We went to church that night which made mom a little nervous. She stopped taking me to church months ago when I started walking and developing my own will. Anyway, Nana was smart and sat us near the cry room. I spent the first half of church in the cry room with mom and the second half RUNNING RUNNING with dad in the back of the church. It was a very fun evening for me.
On Christmas day, I slept in until about 7 but when I woke up- WOW- all kinds of presents waiting for me! I'm still not entirely sure what's going on but I had a great time opening all my presents and playing with them. I lost focus a few times but mom and dad redirected me pretty well.
We left on Wednesday morning and came home expecting it to be warm but it was cold here too! Blech! Mom is ready to move to Ecuador to get warm. The best thing about coming home was the rest of my Christmas presents were waiting for me. I got a JUMPING CASTLE! How cool is that! Now I can jump in my bed AND my castle!
I spent Thursday recovering from the nasty cold I caught at the Children's museum. Mom and I spent most of the afternoon in the rocking chair trying to sleep.
The rest of the week has been pretty quiet so not much else to report. I'm sure our New Year's Eve will be a crazy time so be sure to check back on Thursday. Everyone celebrate safely!

Happy Birthday Uncle Tim!

Today is Uncle Tim's birthday. We hope your day was great and you got out of doing the laundry! Happy Birthday Uncle Timmie!

Dance I Say

Just another typical night at the Goedel household....now only if mom and dad could dance like me. At least they have good taste in music.

Here's my first solo flying lesson...and my first crash and burn.

And after a hard day of flying, a little Frost goes a long way.

Not so pretty in pink

Kind of a bummer of a weekend. I came home from daycare on Friday and developed a nice case of pink eye. It put a wee bit of a damper on the weekend because I couldn't go anywhere unless I wanted to contaminate everything I looked at. Mom and dad spent Friday night hanging around Walgreens waiting for my prescription for the eye drops to be called in. Can I tell you how much I dislike the eye drops?! The first few times, I was really good. The dropper looks like my Tylenol dispensor and I love, love the Tylenol. (Tastes like candy!) So there I am thinking I'm going to get something tasty, so I lay down just like I'm asked, look expectantly at mom and dad and next thing I know, I have stuff dripping in my eye. Blech. Mom thinks it is starting to be similar to giving a cat eye drops- or so she hears. It is definately a two person job now.
I did make it to the dog park on Saturday with mom and out for some crazy, crowded Christmas shopping on Sunday with dad but that was about it.
I need to send a big congratulations to my Uncle Adam. As you all know, he graduated with his degree in biology and went to work for Mr. Walker the engineer doing enviromentally safe housing design (or something like that). Anyway, he went to a week long certification course that was attended by architechs and engineers and they all had pass an exam at the end. Uncle Adam passed with his non-engineering degree and 3 (out of 11) engineers and architechs couldn't. How smart is my Uncle Adam? Way to go UA!

Don't touch my waffle!

Not a whole lot to report this week. The rain has finally stopped and we had a gorgeous, chilly day. I woke up yesterday in a decent mood until mom messed with my waffle and ruined the whole day for me. I love my toaster waffles in the AM and was all set to eat mine when, for whatever reason, mom decided to tear it in half. She thought it would be easier for me to eat, she claims. Anyway- not what I wanted my waffle to look like. I wanted a whole waffle, not waffle pieces. So mom, thinking she is being clever, put my waffle back together and it LOOKED whole but then I tried to pick it up and IT WAS STILL WAFFLE PIECES- AAAUUGGGHHH! I'm so not into waffle pieces. It went downill from there on- just a bad day all around.
I've really taken to my big girl bed. I like it so much that it is the first place I go to when I come home and this morning, mom literally had to pry my fingers from the crib rail to get me out of the house. This is a little more than she bargained for.
When cousin Brooke was here, she was working on her potty skillz. I thought that was kind of interesting, so now, I am practicing my potty skillz. I'm still not sure what all this entails but I really enjoy sitting on the potty, saying "pee", spinning the toilet paper roll and carrying the potty around the house. It keeps me occupied for a bit and lets mom and dad get some things done, so they just kind of go with it. I did actually pee once but that was because I sat there for 45 minutes and refused to get off, so it just kind of happened.
Have a happy week!

Big Girl Bed

So here is how it happened. Friday morning we were all just hanging out having a lazy morning, I was bouncing around in my crib like normal, mom was at my dresser picking out my clothes and the next thing we know, I did an endo over the railing of my crib. Thankfully, I landed on my back and not my head. It scared the $%#@ out of me and mom but I didn't hurt anything except my pride. Dad immediately got to work converting my bed to the "big girl" mode and I haven't looked back. I LOOOOOVE my new bed- it is so easy to get in and out of (but I stay in it for nap time and bed time- aren't I good?!). Mom is a little sad but has to admit that it is much easier to change the sheets now. I guess that is something, huh?
Anyway, back to the weekend. On Thursday night, we met Papa Vern for pizza and then went to the zoo for the Zoo Lights. The whole zoo was decked out in Christmas lights and was really pretty. I spent most of the time running around and yelling "RUNNING RUNNING,MAMA". On Friday, our morning started out as above. Mom left for work and dad and I tried to go Christmas shopping but I wasn't really in the mood. I made it really difficult for dad with lots of yelling and squirming so he gave up and we went to the park and flew my kite. There was quite a bit of wind so that was very fun and I did a great job flying it by myself.
Saturday was another rainy,cold day but we went to my daycare to try the Santa thing again. He made a special visit for all of us and we even got breakfast. It went a little better but only because I was full of pancakes and sausage. Saturday night, we went to mom's church with dinner for a group of homeless veteran's that the church sponsors every winter. I was too busy "RUNNING,RUNNING" to pay much attention to anyone or anything. I kind of got in the way alot but I had fun.
Sunday was a day of getting things done around the house. I helped with the laundry, decorating the Christmas tree and with plumbing our firepit for gas. I think that was the most fun and I know dad really needed the extra pair of hands.
Have a good week! Oh, yeah- I put in a picture of the river by our house. We have had so much rain the past few days that it was flowing almost bank to bank again. Mom and dad think most of the water is coming from our firepit. We are still having some drainage issues but mom and dad think they have a plan- we'll see.

Pizza and beer, coffee and dougnuts, animal and "dis"

We are setteling back into our routine although it is a bit lonely now. I had my appointment with the allergist yesterday and I was AWFUL. It really isn't my fault though. Mom let me play with the faucet at the sink which comes on by itself when you put your hands near it. That thing could be hours of fun for me. When the doctor came in, mom made me stop playing with it so we could pay attention to the doctor. Too bad for her, I wanted to keep playing so I screamed and cried and tantrumed for the entire 20 minutes the doctor was with us. She tried everything, a snack, my water, a pen and paper. Finally she resorted to my favorite thing- the binky. Mom hates the thing and won't let me out of the house with it. She found one in the diaper bag and thought that would do the trick. However, at home, I ALWAYS take my "dis" (the binky) with my stuffed dog that I call animal. Soooo, I get my dis and immediately start asking for animal, which of course mom doesn't have. So, I get even more ticked off and scream louder. It was a very productive visit. Fortunately, the doctor used to be a pediatrician in Germany before going into allergy stuff so he was completely unphased. He was a very nice doctor but didn't tell us anything new. Mom didn't have her wits about her to ask all of her questions but we scheduled a follow up. We may have to drag dad along for back up.
I also had my 18 month check up last week. I am 90th percentile for height, 25th for weight and my head is back to manageable at the 75th percentile. I have also learned to jump and it is my new favorite thing to do.
Our backyard patio work is finished and we all love it! Saul is the man. Mom and dad both think it was a very good decision to bring him in to do the work. We still have quite a bit to do but at least the yard is almost usable now. We are hoping to be roasting marshmallows on New Years Eve!

Hail, the gangs all here!

Our weekend can be summed up in one word- whew! Let's talk about how much fun I had. It was like being in daycare all day! I had someone to play with, someone to practice my sharing skills with. I guess I still need some work on those but I don't really care for the whole sharing thing. Sadly, I had to go to daycare on Thursday but happily, dad got out of work early and picked me up. We met Papa Vern, G. Sue, U. Tim, A. Dana, Brooke and Faith at the mall for a visit with Santa. I almost made it to his lap but changed my mind at the last minute. Brooke didn't fair much better than me but little Faith was very brave. Hopefully, she put in a good word for us big girls.

On Friday, mom had to work but dad didn't so all of the above gang headed out to the zoo. It was a great day for it because it was about to rain so all of the animals were out and about again. It was our last nice day because it rained all night and all day Saturday. Friday night, we went to Papa Vern's house and he made us the most delicious dinner of tacos, beans, rice and tortillas. Mmmmm-mmm.

On Saturday, we had a whole bunch of Goedels over for a barbeque. There were 6 of us toddlers under 3 and 12 adults to pack into one little room of our house. All the parents were more than a little worried about the 6 of us but we sure suprized them. We didn't fight, we didn't break anything, we didn't color on anything we weren't supposed to, we didn't spill any food. It was actually kind of amazing. Everyone was congratulating themselves on their fine parenting skills to have raised such a fine group of kids. Hopefully, they rememeber this day during our next temper tantrum. And when we are all teenagers.

U. Tim, A. Dana, Brooke and Faith had to leave on Sunday and the house is sooooo quiet. I'm a little lonely but now, I can go back to annoying Daisy. I know she missed me!

I think the adults had a good time also. U.Tim and dad got some good brother bonding time playing football on mom's Wii. Mom and A.Dana bonded over refereeing us kids. Us cousins bonded by practicing "cousin ESP" at night. I was sleeping in mom and dad's room and I kept them up quite a bit and Brooke and Faith kept U.Tim and A.Dana up a lot too. I heard that next time, all us kids are sleeping in the garage.

Well, Dallas Goedels- Thank you for a fun week- hopefully we will see you soon!

Controlled chaos

This will be a short one tonight. All the relatives arrived late last night so I didn't get to see them until this afternoon when I got home from daycare. It was a little chaotic but only one collective meltdown. All the adults were eyeing the wine bottle on the counter about that time. We will post pictures soon.

Looooong, relaxing weekend!

We have had some complaints from a faithful blog reader (who shall remain nameless but you know who you are!) that if it isn't for the pictures, I might as well not even keep the blog. Well, Uncle Adam, (oooops!) here are some pictures from our great, relaxing weekend.
Thanksgiving day was really great. The weather was so nice it was kind of a shame to be in cooking all day. We decided to go to the park in the morning before all the real work started. We took my kite and tried really hard to fly it but when there isn't any wind, it kind of doesn't work very well. I had a lot of fun running around trying to get the kite up anyway. We came home and got serious about cooking. Papa Vern and Grandma Sue came over for dinner and it was so yummy. Well, what I ate of it was yummy. My dinner consisted of 2 glasses of milk and 2 pieces of pumpkin pie. I guess I'm lucky it was a holiday and mom was feeling generous because normally, it would have been something healthy.
On Friday, dad got the Christmas lights up and that is no easy task. Our little compound neighbors really go all out and the Goedels will not be outdone, so 8 hours, 2 hardware store trips and 1 Target trip later, our lights are up and look awesome. The Griswalds have nothing on us!
On Saturday, mom and I went to the zoo in the morning. It was pretty chilly for us humans but it made for great animal watching. They were all out eating their breakfast and getting in their morning exercise. I had a great time. That night Grandma Sue came over to babysit so mom and dad could celebrate their anniversary (finally). I didn't even care that mom left- grandma and I were having so much fun.
On Sunday, another gorgeous day, dad and I went to out to lunch and then to the Children's Museum. I had a great time, of course. Dad was figuring out what to do with the mean little boy that kept telling me to go away. That little boy doesn't know who he is messing with. Give me a couple of years and I'll handle it myself!
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend- we have a busy week ahead. Uncle Tim, Aunt Dana, cousins Brooke and Faith are coming in on Tuesday for the week. Good stuff.

Mucho Independence

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! Hope you eat all you can and get your fill of football.
I have been busy working with my expanding independence. Mom took me to the park on Monday after picking me up from daycare. (It was 90 degrees on Monday!!) Mom and I were standing in the sand together and I wanted her to go away so I said "Mama away" and gave her a little shove. She didn't get the hint, so I had to repeat it. Mom is so clueless sometimes. She finally moved and let me do my thing. Later, we were playing on the big twisty slide and mom usually goes down with me. BUT... today I was too quick for her and beat her to the top of the slide and was down at the bottom before mom knew what was going on. Wow- I didn't realize how much fun sliding really was. Mom wasn't allowed near me on the slide the rest of the afternoon!
I'm looking forward to lots of turkey, taters, corn, rolls and pie!

Cranky

Well, for once it isn't me that is the cranky one. We all had a great weekend but mom and dad are exhausted and crabby. Let's talk about how much fun the grocery store is the Sunday before Thanksgiving when you are bleary-eyed tired and dealing with me. Anyhooo.
Nana D flew into town Thursday night and mom and I went to pick her up. I wasn't even afraid of her this time which made Nana very excited. We went out for dinner and came home and I went straight to bed. Dad got to go to the UofA football game and watch the Wildcats beat #2 ranked Oregon! Finally, something good coming from the football stadium. He got home pretty late and we were all up early Friday.
Mom had to work and the rest of us were just up for the heck of it. Dad ran a bunch of errands and Nana and I played all day. We went to the park for a long time and then grocery shopping. It wouldn't be Nana if a little shopping wasn't squeezed in somewhere. Wait until I'm older and we can hit the mall together! That night, mom and dad were off to a wedding rehearsal and dinner where they had a few margaritas and ate WAY to much. Nana and I hung out here and I ate some mac-n-cheese that Nana brought all the way from Albuquerque. It was organic even.
On Saturday, we were up and at 'em way early again and mom and dad were out the door by 10 for the wedding. Nana and I headed to the park again and watched the doggies play, watched a soccer game and watched some kites fly. Then she took me to Frost for some sorbet. I got banana this time. I haven't met a sorbet I haven't liked yet, so I polished that off. Mom and dad got home kind of late again but it was worth it. It was a very fun wedding and dad looked very handsome in his tux. Unfortunately, mom left the camera sitting on the counter, so we have no pictures to post. The bride was very pretty and the groom was very handsome- you'll just have to trust us on that!
On Sunday, mom and Nana were gone before I even woke up. Nana had an early flight out. It was much less traumatic for me that way. I spent the rest of the day watching mom and dad drag themselves around while I ran wily-nily all over them. THAT is always a good time!
Have a good week- may the grocery store ailes stay clear for you.

Ancient ruins

Not a whole lot going this week. I get a free day off from daycare tomorrow because I woke up from my nap with goop in my eye. Even though my eye isn't red or yucky now, it is daycare policy that I don't go back until my eyes aren't goopy. Mom is a wee bit annoyed as her new job is getting busier and it isn't a good time to be off. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

Our backyard is coming along. It looks like an archeological dig right now but it is starting to take shape. The huge trench will all make sense to you when the yard is done. Suffice it to say that it will be cool and we are already planning lots of outdoor time.

Nana D is coming to visit tomorrow for the weekend and I'm very excited and I'm sure I'll have lots to report come Sunday.

Dad, dad and more dad

Well, it wasn't all about dad- mom was around a little. We had a fun family walk down to the new gelato store by our house. I knew right where we were going, probably because it is the third time mom and I have been there since it opened last Thursday! Mom and I shared a lemon sorbet and I got pretty greedy and wouldn't let her eat any of the last half of it. It was pretty tasty.
On Saturday, mom got the fun job of waiting for the delivery of sand and gravel for the backyard. They were only 4 1/2 hours late- not that mom had anything better to do with her time than wait ALL DAY for them! Dad and I had fun. He took me down to the bike swap to see if he could get any good deal on a new bike frame. None to be had but I got a cool new bike horn. I got to take a nap with it and then honk it when I woke up, so everyone would know I was ready to get up. Cool, huh?
On Sunday, mom had some errands to do, since she couldn't do anything on Saturday so it was dad and me again. Papa Vern stopped by with some delish home made bread and then dad and I did some more shopping. That doesn't sound very exciting but we went to the fancy mall and I always have a good time up there.
That is it for our quiet weekend.

Quitters!

So far, so good this week. I'm milking the "peanut allergy sympathy" for all it's worth. I have been a bit of a crank this week but in my defense, I seem to have picked up some nastiness from the hospital. I feel pretty good but my head is very stuffy and my nose is pretty runny. Mom is at me again with all sorts of nose wiping implements. Blech.
Well, mom and dad gave in (after only 1 weekend!) and hired someone to do the brick work in the backyard. Actually, mom gave in. Dad was willing to spend the time to do it but mom looked at dealing with me every weekend from now until Christmas and kind of panicked. I guess she really looks forward to having some down time and didn't see much of that happening with dad busy every weekend. Anyway, so far the patio is looking really good- even dad admits it. It should be done around the end of November- woo-hoo!
That is about all this week- mom and dad are feeling a bit frazzled but they will get over it.

We survived!

Well, we made it through our first peanut free weekend without incident. It might have looked really bad to haul me back to the ER less than 3 days after I was discharged, huh? We kept it pretty low keyed again as I still wasn't 100%. We had a doctor's appointment on Friday with my pediatrician. We LOVE Dr. M. She came into the room and said she was thinking a lot about me the night before. At first mom was flattered but then Dr. M said it was because her 2 year old son was in the ER at 1 in the morning with an allergic reaction to cashews! She and mom commiserated together for awhile, I checked out fine and dandy and left with a referral to an allergist. We stayed home the rest of the day and caught up on sleep. I also got to wear my Halloween costume for bit since I didn't get to wear it on Halloween. I only wanted to wear the head part and thought I looked pretty spectacular.
On Saturday, mom and I walked to the park and spent all morning there, watching the dogs play and swinging at the playground. There were a ton of other kids there too and mom was watching close to make sure there were no rogue peanuts around. In the afternoon, cousin Becky came down for the night. I always have so much fun with her. We all went for Mexican food, of which I ate none- can you believe it?! I had a piece of broccoli for dinner. Mom was in shock but did enjoy eating all of her meal. Then we went for gelato- mmmmmmm good but I only ate 3 bites and then helped feed mom the rest of the time.
On Sunday, Becky had a half marathon to run and mom and I were supposed to run a 5K. Good thing we drove seperately because I threw up in the car 3/4 of the way there. Mom of course panics, pulls over and starts checking for hives etc. I think I was only car sick because by the time we turned around and started heading home, I was all smiles. Mom wasn't though, for whatever reason. We just did our usual boring run around the neighbor hood and waited for Becky to come home. Then we went out for breakfast and much to my dismay, Becky had to go home. I really didn't want to have much to do with mom, I even made Becky carry me along with her backpack, cooler, purse and jacket. Maybe mom could have helped a bit more with the luggage, huh?
Dad was out of town this weekend for a long-ago planned bachelor party and won't be back until Monday, so mom put me to bed early and dove into the wine and Haagen-Dazs. She kind of fell off the healthy eating wagon this week and decided to end her weekend in a real blaze of glory.

This pretty much sucks.

I apologize for my unladylike words but I have been diagnosed with a peanut allergy and it justs sucks. No PB&J, no good candy at halloween, no peanut butter cookies, lifetime of carrying an epinephren shot with me, everywhere I go, no more carefree eating of whatever I want.
Mom gave me a small piece of peanut butter cracker. 2 hours later, I've broken out in hives and my ears are swelling and my nose is running. Mom and dad decided to ere on the side of caution, and take me to the ER. I must have looked really bad because everyone made comments and I was rushed to the head of the line. I was given a dose of benedryl and some god-awful steroid that I promptly threw up all over mom. Then came the real fun of starting an IV. No kid should ever have to go through that. It me cry, it made mom cry and then I couldn't bend my elbow, so it was very hard to do anything. We were then admitted for an observation stay and were up until 11 entertaining various doctors and nurses. I spent a very restless night setting off various alarms when I pulled my wires off or rolled wrong (hello- wireless?!), mom and dad spent a very restless night on the super comfy pull out sleeping chairs. The one bright spot was that we had the whole room to ourselves. We were up again at 5, getting the day started the same way we ended- entertaining doctors and nurses. I felt and looked much better. After a hardy peanut free breakfast, after getting my new epi-pens and then after waiting many more hours, we finally got to come home. I missed halloween all together, not that I could have enjoyed the rewards from a successful night of trick-or-treating anyway. To many dang peanuts to worry about.
So, it definately isn't the end of the world- their were kids at the hospital a lot sicker than me, I know but this could be a life long thing for me and we can't ever let our guard down.
So today, mom is exhausted, I'm not and we are in for a really long afternoon! Hope your Halloween was better than ours!

Low Keyed Fun

I had a pretty quiet weekend here. It was mom's last free Friday. She is starting a new job at work and will be picking up a few hours on Fridays now. You would think we would do something really fun but no, we just ran errands and waited for dad to come home so we could run more errands. We did get to go to the pet store and I loved, loved watching the hamsters and gerbils run in their cages. The birds were pretty cool too.
On Saturday night, we went to mom's boss' house for the big Halloween party. The party started at 7 and we were there at 7:01 along with all the other people with kids. We made our exit at about 8:01 along with all the other people with kids. I had fun though, running toward the pool and away from mom and dad and pulling up all of the nice lighting on the ground. I even got to dance a little. Good times. We went as the Apple family- dad was the iphone, mom was an ipod and I was the shuffle. All of our costumes fell off within 5 minutes of walking in the door, so really, we were just not much.
Sunday, mom went to a wedding shower and Grandma Sue came over and we hung out while dad did stuff around the house. A pretty uneventful weekend but that makes the eventful ones that much more fun! Have a great week!
P.S. Here is a picture of dad letting me do what mom won't. I know who to ask for the car keys in a few years!

Battles

OH. MY. GOODNESS. My mother is making life soooooo difficult for me right now. She just doesn't get it. If we do things my way, life is so much easier. She wants me to do things like get dressed before going to school, wear a clean diaper, stay inside with her while she cooks dinner, not dump all of the water out of the tub, not color on the dishwasher, sit in my carseat with the buckles fastened, not putting my feet on the table at dinner. You know, stupid stuff. Then, she is constantly touching my chair or trying to play with my foot in the car so I am always having to say "no no mama, no". I make her feel really special!

It has pretty much been one battle after another this week although I think I'm getting another tooth, so that may explain the intensity of some of our skirmishes. Mom knows it is all normal at this stage in the game but that doesn't make it any less tiring!

We haven't had time for to much else- it has been super-duper windy the last few days. We all know how much I hate the wind but at least we don't have to deal with the possibility of our house going up in flames. We are thankful for that. Here's hoping for a truce!

Big boys, big toys

This weekend was definately NOT all about me and I didn't approve of that at all. I was soo grumpy all weekend. Dad got started on the yard (Yipee!!) and he and mom were all wrapped up in that all weekend. Dad did most of the work and mom supervised and kept me from dragging dad's work stuff everywhere.
On Friday, we had 5 tons of sand and a bobcat tractor delivered to our door. Dad then moved all of the pallets of bricks from the front yard to the back. He had a lot more faith the abilities of the bobcat then mom did. She ran back in the house after the back wheels kept flying off the ground from to much front loading. Dad didn't tip it though- guess he knows what he's doing! After that, he got a little crazy and ripped up the lovely asphalt driveway we had in our backyard. Mom was really sorry to see that piece of art go. Then dad spent the rest of the day laying pavers, mom spent the rest of the day telling him they weren't level. He did rip some of the places up to start over but in the end, he and mom decided that if they ever sell this house, the dips will just be described as a "built in water collection system!".
Saturday was pretty much a repeat of Friday. The only bright spot was when Papa Vern stopped by with a huge pumpkin just for me. I've gotten pretty good at saying "pumpkin pie", so to actually see a real, live pumpkin was a sight to behold.
On Sunday, I finally got to be the center of attention for a bit. We all went to the fundraising brunch for the Tucson Childrens Museum. I had a great time bowling, playing golf (no worries, Tiger) and playing in the jumping castle. I liked the jumping castle the best but dad and mom kept pulling me out when the bigger kids got to close to landing on my head. I had lots of mac and cheese, broccoli and watermelon. We got home from that and guess what we did?! More yard work! Oh joy. I will grudgingly admit that I like the extra space already. Mom is very excited that the yard is starting to take shape. And dad is excited to be doing back breaking labor every weekend from now until Christmas!

Yard Pictures

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Nana D and Mr. Walker! It is 38 years and counting so far. Keep up the good work, you two!

Also a belated Happy Anniversary to Uncle Tim and Aunt Dana on October 13. Only 34 more years and you'll be right up there with the Walkers!

Many more happy years to all of you.

Halloween fun!

This has been an unusually fun week so far in the Goedel household. The weather has been so amazingly great, that mom and I went to the park on Monday after work. There were a ton of other kids, mostly boys, there. I tried really hard to keep up with the bigger kids climbing on the jungle gym, but mom ended up doing most of the work for me. She worked up a pretty good sweat. I only threw a little temper tantrum when it was time to leave.

Tuesday, we went and got my Halloween costume. I wanted to be the skunk. Mom gave me a choice of a pumpkin, a cat princess or a skunk and I went with the skunk. She asked me 3 different times if that is what I wanted to be. She was a little distraught because it looks like a boys costume and since I still have minimal hair, she figured everyone would think I was a boy. We fixed that by putting 2 pink flowers on my skunk ears. Wha-La! Instant girl skunk. Man, I love that costume.

I finally got to wear it on Wednesday for the "Babes and Paws Parade" at mom's work. I had a much, much better time this year. I got to pet so many dogs, I just didn't know where to begin. I think my favorite dog was Denali, the HUGE stinky St. Bernard. I got to ride in the elevator with him. Mom says there is nothing better than being stuck in an elevator with a pack of panting, drooling dogs. Smells like roses! I also had a great time waving to everyone, grabbing candy (for mom and dad), playing with balloons, eating cupcakes. I even kept my costume on for almost the entire time. I got a little hot at the end and kind of ripped it off, but everyone had seen me by then. Whew- I'm exhausted. We blew right through my nap time today but I didn't mind since any party is a good party in my book! By the way, I'm squatting for most of my pictures now because that is what mom does to take pictures of me. I figured I'd join her down there for a while.