It's CCC-O-L-D! (Relatively speaking)

My entourage

Dad giving it a trial run

The helmet and the car- sweet!

Dinoco McQueen race car

First trial-no crashes!

Well.  This Santa/getting stuff/eating cookies thing is pretty cool.  I think I'd like to do it again next week.  I did sleep in Christmas morning until 7 which the grown-ups were thankful for.  At first, I didn't quite get the present things.  Mom and dad had to kind of push me to my rockin' new Schwinn bicycle and tell me that not only was that mine, all mine, but most of the other presents under the tree were mine as well.  Holy Cats!  It was a little like Halloween but I didn't have to leave the comfort of my own home to get treats.  "I want to open another, mom!"  was my new mantra on Christmas morning.  Besides my bike, I got several race cars and train things (I'm almost the son dad never had!)  which I LOVE and didn't put down most of the day.  Uncle Tim and Aunt Dana sent me a My Little Pony (which I love because it can ride on my race cars) and a flute (which mom and dad love for obvious reasons!).  I got playdough and books and stuffed animals and a toothbrush and and and.....

In the afternoon, we braved the chilly weather and rain and headed to the park to give my bike a spin.  Dad had to give it a trial run first and then I had my entourage escort me the rest of the way.  That lasted for all of about 5 minutes when I had had enough of that.  Mom, dad and Nana spent the rest of the time hauling it around the park for me.

On Friday, everyone abandoned me and Nana here in Tucson.  Uncle Adam and Mr. Walker went back to Albuquerque and mom and dad headed up to Las Vegas for a grown up weekend.  They kind of missed me.  Since the weather here was so cold (it snowed on Friday and was 38 degrees for a high on Saturday) Nana and I didn't do much.  Mom and dad on the other hand whooped it up.  Well it was whooping it up for them.  They drove and things were going pretty well until they hit Hoover dam and it took them 2 hours and 12 minutes to go 5 miles across.  All it was was tourists clogging everything up and making mom and dad very irate.  So nine hours after leaving Tucson, they roll into Vegas, ready to....... nap!  They went to see the late showing of Mystere at Treasure Island.  It was a disappointing show and even more so because they stayed up way past their bedtime to see it.

On Saturday, they wandered around a bit and in the end couldn't resist all the great after Christmas sales going on (Mom anyway) and spent some Christmas money.  Mom found a really great pair of shoes that were 70% off.  She didn't buy them though because even though they were on sale, she couldn't justify the $400.00 price tag.  She also almost bought a $1500.00 dollar t-shirt.  Stupid people.

That night they met their neighbors, who happened to be up there as well, for a deeelicious tapas dinner and more casino wandering.

On Sunday, having learned their lesson on Friday, they were up at the crack of dawn (hangover and everything!) to drive back to Tucson.  They made it over the dam in 2 minutes and were back in Tucson in time to take Nana to the airport.

So, to recap, everyone had a great time, everyone is tired and ready for bed and gearing up for New Year's Eve.

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope everything is spectacular!  I have had a very fun 3 days so far.

On Monday, we celebrated dad's birthday.  We went out for pizza and then the neighbors came over for chocolate chip croissant bread pudding.  It was kind of hard to get me to sleep that night- WAAAY to much going on.

On Tuesday, mom went to work, I went to daycare-ho hum.  But when mom came to pick me up, she brought a great surprise- Nana D!!  And when we got home, Mr. Walker and Uncle Adam were here too.  So many people to choose from and so little time.  I got everyone to play trains with me.  I don't think they could have asked for anything better.

On Wednesday, I got the house up and going at 6 in the AM.  Almost everyone was OK with that but Uncle Adam could have used a few more zzzz's but since his bed is currently located in the living room, he didn't have a choice.

Mom and Nana spent most of the morning baking cookies.  I helped some by sprinkling on the coconut and rolling cookies in sugar.  I'm pretty good at this baking thing.  In the afternoon, we headed out to church and I was really, really good but don't ask mom.  We sat ( well, everyone else sat and I ran around) next to another 2 year old.  He actually, really and truly sat as did most of the other kids there.  They don't know what they are missing.

We got home from that and I helped Uncle Adam and Mr. Walker set up the luminarias and dad got to cooking our Christmas Eve Green Chile Stew.  We had a great dinner and then Nana, mom and I went for a walk to look at Christmas lights.  The boys came back to celebrate the holidays by watching football.

I had a great day and can't wait to see what Santa brings me!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday.  He is pretty much the best dad a girl can ask for.  We spent 3 hours playing trains yesterday.  How fun is that!

Have a great day dad and you don't have to spend it playing trains!

Nothing much

Pretty quiet weekend around here- again.  Dad is already kind of bored being on vacation.  In fact he is almost looking forward to the in-laws coming for a visit.   That is desperation!  

We have all our shopping (food and gifts) done (we think), presents wrapped, bathrooms cleaned so I think we are ready.

On Friday night, we went headed down to the zoo for the holiday Zoo Lights.  We got to eat at In-n-Out burger first and I actually ate my whole hamburger instead of just licking the cheese off.  Then we met our neighbors at the zoo for a fun night of light looking.  It was pretty darn cold for Tucson so we were walking kind of fast but that was OK with me.

On Saturday, mom and I made a trip to the park but that was about it for the weekend for us.  We are just resting up for our busy week to come.

Mom is amazed at how tired you can get doing absolutely nothing.

Happy Birthday Uncle Timmie!

Today is Uncle Tim's Birthday!  Woo-hoo!  Hope you had a wonderful, relaxing day!

Seriously?! It's Only Wednesday?!

Welcome to the longest week in the history of the universe.  Mom and dad woke up Monday thinking it was Thursday already- that tells you how long it has been.  The good news is all of the Christmas shopping is done (gotta love the Internet!) and dad just finished his last day of work for the next 18 days.  What a lucky guy.  You all should know that it would have only been 17 days if not for me.  Mom got a call from Ms. Wanda at daycare today.  She told mom that I didn't eat my breakfast or snack, had diarrhea twice and was just generally cranky.  So mom finished up with her patient and paperwork, called dad and they planned for him to take tomorrow off since surely I'd be too sick to go back to daycare and she came to pick me up.  I saw her walk in and came running from the playground, huge grin on my face shouting "My mom is here, my mom is here!"  I felt fantastic!  We got home, I wolfed down ham, bread, milk, cheese and yogurt then refused to take a nap.  Mom finally got me down about 1.  I woke up still feeling great!  Sometimes, a girl just needs a day off you know.  Now, I get 2 days off- yeah me!

We did manage to get the Christmas tree decorated on Tuesday night and can I tell you what a huge help I am now that I am almost 3.  I especially liked one particular branch for hanging most of the ornaments.  It might be a bit overloaded now but it seems to be holding up well.   Now we just have to start getting ready for Richmas on Monday and the Walker invasion on Tuesday.  Busy, busy!  Here's hoping we wake up tomorrow and it is Friday!

Let it snow!

Christmas continues in our house. On Friday night, Colleen came over to babysit so mom and dad could go to his work Christmas Party. (It was actually called the Year End Morale Event. We all thought that was kind of silly so we just call it the Christmas Party.) I cried just a little bit for Colleen but then she got me talking about Dora the Explora and things were all better. Mom and dad had a good time too. I can't imagine how, since I wasn't there.

On Saturday, mom and I went to a bunch of places. We went to Steve and Nancy's house so I could meet their new 9 week old lab puppy. He is way to cute- kind of a Hallmark dog. I really liked him but unfortunately, I had to talk to Steve to get to the puppy. I was a little snotty to Steve but he took it like a trooper. Sorry Steve!

After that, we went to the park to enjoy some outdoor time before it got windy and cold. THEN we went to the bookstore to play with the trains. We walked out of there without buying anything- we were so proud!

After I woke up from my nap, the whole family headed up to the fancy mall to finish up with Christmas shopping and to watch the nightly "snow fall". It was very fun and I was a crazy woman the entire time. It took awhile ( a few tantrums) to get me wrangled into the car but we eventually got home.

Sunday was pretty boring- it is cold and rainy here today. The highlight of the day was the arrival of our Christmas (Morale Event?) Tree. Dad's camping group went tree hunting this weekend and were nice enough to bring us one back. They didn't actually camp but got cabins because a couple of the wives tagged along. Mom and dad didn't think others would enjoy my antics so much so we stayed home. Maybe next year. Dad got the tree put up and lights on it.

Mom and I will decorate it sometime this week. Hope everyone is close to done with their shopping!

OCD?

Our week has been pretty relaxing so far.  Dad has gotten home from work at a decent hour every night this week- so nice!  The weather is way to cold for mom- she's ready for summer already.  It is going to be a long winter for her!

Mom is now spending her time trying to decide if I have OCD or am just a normal, slightly wacky 2.5 year old.  Everyday, when she picks me up from daycare, I can't leave until I make sure all the cars, dinosaurs, stuffed animals etc. are back in their respective bins.  So while all the other kids can't wait to get home and hang out with their parents, I'm busy straightening up our classroom.  Then, as you all may remember, I got my rockin' new table with the different colored chairs.  Well, the red chair was on the right, the blue on the left, the green in front and the orange in back.  Last night, I pulled them all out and lined them up neat as a pin for all my toys to sit on.  Mom put them back but she put them back all wrong.  Such a simple task mom and you screwed it up.  I had a little freak out and made her put them all back the way they were supposed to be in the first place.  Deep sigh, all is now right with the world.

Is that weird?  Should mom be worried?  Oh well, I'm pretty well adjusted otherwise.

See you Sunday!

You've been tagged!

We got tagged from our friends the A-Team.  Here are the rules.  If you read this blog you have been tagged.

1.  Go to the 4th folder in your picture files

2.  Pick the 4th picture.

3.  Post it to your blog.

4.  Explain the picture.

Our picture is from mom and dad's first halloween together.  They went as Sally and Linus, her sweet baboo.  They went their friends Shari(the ghost) and Nancy (deceased Princess Di- I think she won the award for most politically incorrect that year).

Santa Who?

I guess the holidays have officially started here and mom and dad are almost ready for them.

On Friday, Dad picked me up early from school and we had a lunch date and spent the afternoon just hanging out and trying to get me to take a nap.  I don't do so well with dad because he is a big softy and doesn't like to hear me cry.  Mom on the other hand has no sympathy for a pouty 2 year old!

On Saturday, we went to my school to have breakfast with Santa.  I use that term very loosely because my breakfast consisted of 2 sausages (better than the 4 my friend Addison had!) and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the weird guy in the red suit sitting on the porch.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to talk to him when there are dump trucks, tractors, sand, slides, climbers and swings to play with.  Who is this Santa character anyway?  Maybe someday it will make sense.

Sunday, Mom and I went to the zoo in the morning.  Mom has decided the zoo gets more and more fun now that she doesn't have to carry me through half of it.  It was a good morning for the zoo because it was downright cold.  Mom was pretty much freezing the whole time- maybe if she actually ran to places like I do, she would be warmer!

After that, we met dad at Costco and got me an early Christmas present- a new bookcase and a table and 4 chairs.  Holy Cats- how cool is that!  I got to help dad put the table together and I really did help.  I put the washers on all the screws and then put the screws in the holes.  Dad didn't let me use the drill.  Maybe when I three.   I wanted to eat dinner at my new table (which is in my room) but NOOOOOO.  Big meanie mom made us all eat at the dining room table.  I was all better by the time the chocolate ice cream made it to the table though.

Mom and dad made the very dumb parental error of trying to clean up and get rid of things (gasp!) while I was around.  That made for kind of a long afternoon of mom and dad making up stories about where all my stuff was going, me not believing them, me throwing a fit and finally mom and dad putting things back on my shelf, only to sneak them out later.  Lesson learned!

All in all a good weekend- see you on Wednesday!

Yawn

Not a whole lot going here these days.  It feels kind of like the lull before the storm.  I've got my attitude going on again, so we are having some fun with that but otherwise.... I think we will all go to bed for a long winter's nap.

"Let the Games Begin!"

Oh my gosh- I am an exhausted, emotional, sobbing mess this evening.  That is how much fun I had this weekend!

On Wednesday, we got up way, way early to drive to Abq.  We got there in time for lunch.  Dad made a beeline for Nana's candy stash and as he put the first piece of chocolate in his mouth, he could be heard exclaiming "WOOHOO!  Let the games begin!"  And so they did- mom and dad were beyond full the entire weekend.  Anyway, Dad went out for bike ride and mom got started on making pies for Thanksgiving.  After dad got back, he took me out to see Uncle Tim, Aunt Dana, Brooke and Faith who were in town too and staying with Aunt Dana's mom and dad, Trish and Larry.  They live up in the mountains with tons of room for 3 crazy girls to run rampant.  Those mountains will never be the same.  After that, we came home and Uncle Adam and his girlfriend Erin came up for a light, pre-Thanksgiving dinner of lasagna with pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  Rumor has it that it was very good but I didn't eat any of it because there were no noodles that I could see.  We all put on quite a show for Erin and I will be very surprized if she shows up again.

We woke up Thanksgiving Day to rain and it lasted pretty much all day.  It made for little bit of a restless day for me but the adults figured it was a perfect day for staying inside and eating all day.  The whole Goedel gang (U. Tim, A. Dana, Brooke, Faith, Papa Vern, Grandma Sue, Larry, Trish and Uncle Adam) showed up about 2 and we had a fabulous time.  We pulled the turkey out of the oven about 3:30 only to find it still not done- nothing that postponing dinner for an hour wouldn't take care of.  We finally sat down about 4:45 which is really a record for Nana.  Usually when she says dinner is a certain time, you should add about 2 hours.  Good job Nana!  We had a wonderful dinner with all the trimmings and everyone pitched in to clean up at the end.  It was quite a production but clean-up was done in record time thanks to the Goedel boys.

Brooke and I got to sit at our own table which didn't go over to well.  We spent a lot of time getting each other riled up and then getting into trouble with the grown-ups.  Gotta love being a kid!

On Friday, the entire gang met at the Children's museum and then went to Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate Faith's birthday.  The adults were pleasantly surprized to find the pizza wasn't so bad.  Brooke and I again tore up the place but it was tough keeping up the dads and uncle Adam.  They were having as much fun as we were!  We got home from that adventure just in time for all the parents to get ready to go out for an adult night and the grandparents geared up for a night with exhausted, sugar filled young ones.  The parents were so happy to go out and I was such an amazingly good kid for Nana and Mr. Walker.  (Not sure how it went with Brooke and Faith).

We made the long drive home on Saturday and slept like logs that night.  I am still exhausted today but how can a girl sleep when Christmas lights are going up outside.  I spent all afternoon helping dad put up lights.  I only stepped on a few and everything looks so festive!

Happy Holidays everyone!

My Dad is Faster Than Your Dad!

We had a pretty busy weekend with lots of fun stuff.  On Friday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate the holidays with all of dad's camping friends and their significant others.  Someone got smart and rented us a whole room at a Mexican restaurant , so I had plenty of room to run around and play.  Going out is so much more fun when I don't have to sit still!  I filled up on tortilla chips and milk so yet another delicious taquito plate didn't get eaten.  Mom and dad had a good time because there were so many more people to help keep me out of trouble.  They were actually able to have an adult conversation for a few minutes.  I don't think that sounds like too much fun but then I'm 2.

On Saturday, dad was up and out the door by 3:30 to ride in the El Tour de Tucson.  He rode the whole thing, 109 miles and finished an awesome 121st out of 4000.  His finishing time was 4 hours and 38 minutes.  He rocked!  He did this in spite of being stopped by a train, crashing then having to ride with bent handle bars and bent derailleur and then facing a big head wind the last 30 miles.  He even said he had energy to spare at the end.  GREAT JOB DAD!!!!

Personally, I think mom did even better.  She had the hugely important job of handing dad his new water bottles at the halfway point.  This is the most important job ever (well, that is what dad says) and if it didn't go smoothly, dad would have to quit the race and mom would have to leave the state.  Fortunately, mom did great and dad got his new water.  That is probably the real reason behind his spectacular finish.  You know what they, "Behind every great bicycle racer is an even better water bottle hander offer!"

Sunday was a beautiful day of hanging out at home enjoying our backyard and playing with the dogs.  Great weekend!

Ohio!

We have finally recovered from our weekend in Ohio.  We had a great time but let me just say that it was windy, snowing and 34 degrees when we took off from Cleveland.  We were very happy to see dad pick us up in Tucson wearing shorts and flip flops!

We got in kind of late Thursday night but I was absolutely wonderful the whole trip out.  I ate my lunch, watched movies, tried to run away from mom in the airport in Dallas etc.  I think we scared a bunch of people waiting for our plane in Dallas.  I was running up and down the concourse, yelling, rolling on the floor, climbing on the tables, jumping off the chairs but I calmed down and slept on the plane.  Mom had everyone around us tell her what a well behaved kid I was.  That made mom kind of proud.  Nana, Mr. Walker and grandma Walker all met us at the airport and we headed to Grandma's farm.

Mom and I slept until 9:30 the next morning.  Then we drove up to Lake Erie and had a great lunch and then I got to play on the big playground that I had all to myself.  No one else was out in the wind and 40 degree temperatures.  Do they know something I don't?

For dinner, we met Aunt Priscilla and Uncle John at Fort's Pub in Wellington for a Lake Erie perch fish fry.  That is kind of a tradition on Friday nights in that neck of the woods.  Mom and I also played "toddler pool".  That is basically a game of pool without the stick.  It was hours of entertainment for me.

On Saturday, we spent the morning playing in the mounds and mounds of leaves that collected in Grandma's yard.  I've never seen that many leaves ever, in my whole life.  I could have gotten lost in all those leaves.  More hours of entertainment for me.  In the afternoon, we headed over to Aunt Elsie's to say Hi to all her horses.  By that time it had started to rain so we were pretty much confined to inside for the rest of the trip.  Aunt Iva stopped by with some just-picked apples and brought me a book and a stuffed rhino.  

Just when I was getting restless, Grandma Walker, being the experienced Grandma that she is, pulled out all kinds of toys and let me by as crazy as I wanted to be to be inside the house.  We had great fun together.

Sunday morning, we met all of the other relatives for breakfast.  I sat for about 2 minutes of that and then made mom take me outside where it was snowing.  She loved that.

Our trip back was uneventful, other than the hour we sat on the runway in Cleveland waiting for our plane to be de-iced.  Mom was starting to panic because now, I was having to sit for 3.5 hours instead of 2.5 but I was so exhausted that I slept the whole way to Dallas.  No worries mom!

We had a great time and I continue to earn my "World's Greatest Traveler" badge.

Thanks to Grandma for letting take over her house for a few days and we can't wait to come back!

Ohio Pictures

The Manipulator

Me:  "Mooomeee I want caaaaandeeeee."

Mom:  " Eat some dinner first."

Pause a few seconds

Me: "mommmyiwantcandy!"

Mom:  "Eat some dinner first."

Pause a few seconds, push food around on plate

Me: " I. WANT. CANDY."

Mom: "EAT. SOME. DINNER"

Me:  "Hmmpf"

Pause a few more seconds

Me:  "Mommy, my finger hurts"

Mom:  "How did you hurt it?"

Me:  "Candy will make it feel better."

Mom:  "Grrrr"

We are off on our mom/daughter adventure tomorrow.  Dad claims he will miss us, but mom thinks he's just saying that!

Grand Canyon, Here I Come!!

This was a much needed weekend for us.  Dad was exhausted from work, mom was recovering from her late night on Tuesday (she didn't get home until 11!) and I'm dealing with a cold/allergies.  We slept in late both days and loved it.

On Saturday, our friends Joe and Amy invited us up to their cabin on Mt. Lemmon for the day.  It was such a fabulously beautiful fall day.   Amy is 4 months pregnant with their first baby so I tried to be extra good so as not to scare them too much.  I think I did OK but mom and dad may have put the fear of God in them with scary Jordan stories.  Not that there are too many of those.

We had lunch and then went for a really long hike.  I hiked (literally-through rocks, up and down hills etc.) for AN HOUR.  No kidding!  Mom and dad were so proud of me and I really loved it.  Mom really loved the fact that I hiked for an hour but our hike lasted an hour and a half and she got to carry me back for the last half hour.  It was even better that I completely zonked out- dead weight is great!

We got home in time to get cleaned up and Grandma Sue came over to babysit so mom and dad could go out to celebrate their anniversary.  They went back to their reception site for dinner and talked about how easy life was back then.  I don't understand.

Sunday was pretty quiet.  I went to the hardware store with dad.  Speaking of scary Jordan stories... Mom has been telling dad about my new game of bolting off at top speed in the opposite direction especially when mom has her hands full.  I don't think he quite believed her until today when I ran away while he was trying to pay the hardware store lady.  I'm pretty fast and dad had to work to catch me.  I think he believes mom now.

Mom and I are heading back to Cleveland on Thursday all by ourselves.  Mom is getting more and more stressed out.  She has spent about a bazillion dollars on stuff to keep me entertained on the plane- sadly for her, they don't make jumping castles for airplanes cause that is what is going to take.  Fun, Fun!

A Time to be Proud

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog for a brief message from mom.

I know there are a lot of unhappy people out there right now who are disappointed with the way this election turned out.  My hope is that no matter who you voted for, you can be in awe of what happened last night on our watch.  This is a most amazing event and when I got Jordan up this morning, I realized that she will only know a country where it is truely possible for anyone, man, woman, black, white, brown to be president, because it has already happened.  We still have a ways to go but to see how far this country has come in 44 years is something to be proud of.  So whether you like Obama or can't stand to hear him speak, please appreciate what has happened.

Back to our blog.

So back to me, me, me!  Things are pretty quiet now that Halloween is over.  Now I am kind of obsessed with my Halloween candy.  Mom and dad finally had to take it away and put it on top of the fridge.   Dad thinks I should get 2 or 3 pieces a day and mom thinks I should get a 1/4 of a piece every 4th day and then brush my teeth for a hour after.  I think they have found a compromise though- good for them.

Other than that- nothing new.

Halloween Part IV

OK- So this is how this Halloween thing works.  I get dressed up in a fun costume with pretty shoes and carry a big pumpkin.  Then I ring someone's doorbell and say "TRICK OR TREAT!" and then they give me stuff- pretty good stuff too.  And we get to do it over and over and over again.  I want to go every night!  After each and every house we went to, I told mom "I want to go to anotter house, mom!"  And we did!  I pitched a small fit when I saw we were headed toward home but my bucket was getting pretty heavy, so it was probably for the best.  Mom and dad raided my stash as soon as I walked in the door and now all I'm left with is Smarties and Starburst.  Better than nothing I guess.  Before mom and I headed out for the evening, we went out to look at Dad's Halloween display.  I thought it was fabulous and on our way back inside, I stopped and looked at dad and said "That is wonderful, dad!"  I'm a girl who likes to give praise where it is due.  

On Saturday, we went to my art class and made big ol' turkeys.  I actually wanted to stay and work on my project this time- mom and I had a good time.

On Sunday, we all packed up and went to Old Tucson Studio's which was the film set for many films like Three Amigos and High Sierra.  Yeah, like I know what those are.  I was just there to work on my driving skills, ride the carosel and ride the train.  And I got to run, run, run all morning long.  I got my first look at a corn dog.  What the heck is that?!  Why would you hide a perfectly good hotdog inside all that dough?  Mom kept telling me it was "nature's perfect food" (according to her friend Shari) but I wouldn't eat it until dad picked off all the corn bread.  Crazy people.  

We came home and dad actually did clean up the garage and mom made an apple pie while I chased Daisy around mercilessly.  It was good for her- she needs the exercise.

I'm off to bed early- no nap today.

Oh yeah, one more thing....VOTE!!