November 22-23, 2013

Mesa

My niece is super speedy and therefore runs in national competitions, one of which is held in Mesa every year so when that time rolls around, Nicco and I take a quick road trip for fun in Mesa and to watch Lucy run. Mostly just to watch Lucy run. Which is fun. For me.

This year I decided to make it a little more fun for Nicco too so I took him to the Organ Stop pizza joint. Organ Stop Pizza is "home of the Mighty Wurlitzer" pipe organ. The organ was originally built for the Denver theater in 1927, but then "talkies" were invented and the Great Depression came along and made it too expensive a luxury to go to the theater. Then there was a fire causing major damage to the organ. The organ was rebuilt and installed in Mesa.

Nicco was in heaven. A pepperoni pizza of his own, live music, flashing lights and bubbles, and Dancing Cats!

After dinner, we met Aunt Di and Lucy and her friends for dessert before turning in for the night to get good sleep before the race in the morning.

 Lucy is such a nice big cousin to Nicco, even when she's around all her friends. She took him by the hand (figuratively...Nicco doesn't hold hands anymore...) and helped him load up a bowl of ice cream and toppings. She indulged him by being "interested" in his bow and arrow. She makes me proud and pleased.

 It was a cold day at the races. 50s, cloudy, and rainy. At least it wasn't raining. That would have been bad. But still, we Arizonans suffered in the lack of sun.

 We watched Lucy warm up. She's like a gazelle.

 And we hoped for a top three finish. Really we hoped for a top two, but at this level of competition it's really hard to predict. Plus the cold... We were excited to see Lucy up there right where she belonged mid-race.

 Nike does a horrible tease at this meet. They give live updates for the first two miles but the course is a blind finish and they stop updating in order to build the excitement and anticipation. When the winner came around the corner we had to wait a few seconds to see who would be in second place. The suspense was brutal, especially on the Mama of Lucy. So the squeals of relief, delight, pride and pure excitement were pretty loud when our girl made the turn.

 The little Mama, trying to keep Lucy warm while she waited for awards.

 On the stand with all the top national qualifiers. Good girls!

 A cousin picture.

 A proud coach. Well done, coach!

 Lucy and the famous Cerake Geberkidane from Denver. Or Kenya. There is some subtle whispered speculation that this phenom from Africa where no reliable records are kept is not really 16, that he is probably much older. Who knows. He's famous. In his mind, at least, he will "Cerake Your World." So says the shirt he wore.

After the race and another race to catch up with our people on the highway to meet for lunch, we picked up some supplies in Phoenix and finally made the long drive home. It wasn't long before Nicco tucked himself into bed. I checked on him before I tucked myself into bed.

 

He's in there somewhere. 

November 21, 2013

Since Nicco turned 8, he's been attending scouts on Wednesday evenings. I have my own issues with scouts, so I wasn't planning to push it at all, but because the Kid loves it so very much, we continue. For now. But that's a rant for the future.

 

On one meeting, the kids learned about archery and made bows and arrows out of pvc pipe and plastic clothes hangers. Nicco feels like his Daddy, a big strong man capable of protecting and defending his home and family now that he has a weapon of his own. 

He's a very enthusiastic archer and I need to remind him from time to time to set up targets, rather than using his cat or his mom's bum for target practice.

November 19, 2013

On the way home from swim, my small boy said from the back seat, "Turn it up, Mom!" and he proceeded to belt out "...and I am a CHAMPION and you're gonna hear me ROAR-OH-OH-OH-OH-OHR!"
It was kind of awesome.

November 16, 2013

We were watching Doctor Who.


"There's a plan?" asked River Song.
"I don't know..." said the Doctor, "I haven't stopped talking."

I  heart The Doctor.

November 15, 2013

Crochet
I picked up an old hobby earlier this year, crocheting. It has been fun. I've made hats, scarves, and blankets. Even a little sweater. I have lots of friends having babies, so I get to continue practicing my dormant skills in making things for the newcomers.

I chose these colors to make a hat and  blanket based on the choice of a mother to be friend back home in CO.

I've made the same kind of blanket for many babies, but the puppy hat for this animal lover friend was an experiment. And it needed eyes. I have a whole pile of buttons, but no matching dark ones. None.

Nicco sorted through them and found a pair he liked. I decided that if one kid likes them, another one might too. So I went with Nicco's recommendation and sent the gift off.

I was right. Another kid did like our choice! I bet the baby will approve too. ;)

November 11, 2013

Janelle's Baby Shower

Janelle is my cute young friend. Her baby shower was hosted by a former party planner who, I think, likes opportunities to plan parties for fun one in a while. Fancy.

 Janelle and her sister look kind of like twins.

Nicco's piano teacher thinks we look like sisters. But she's cuter than me, and her hair isn't sticking out.

I'm glad I have cute friends with talents like planning parties. it was a fun get together, and Janelle will be a cute mommy!

November 11, 2013 (and Beyond)

Working on "The Farm"

Nicco doesn't need anything, but we love him and wanted to surprise him with awesomeness at Christmas. We decided to do a room makeover in his bedroom. In order to pull it off, we had to come up with a cover story and we had to kick him out of his room for about 6 weeks.

Once upon a time, my boys were telling secrets to each other and I asked them what they were whispering about. "Uh, nothing! We're just talking about...watermelons!" one of them said. Since then, "watermelon" has become our secret code word for something that's a secret. So our cover story was that we wanted to have a special surprise for Santa's Reindeer on Christmas Eve. We told the kid we would be building and planting a watermelon farm in his room. But we wanted it to be a surprise for him too...so he could help a little, but he wouldn't be able to see it all. Our child is either a great pretender and just went with our totally lame story, or he is the most gullible, trusting child on the planet.

We moved him out of his room into the guest room to live in clutter and chaos for over a month:

 

We did want Nicco to have some pride and ownership in the project, so the Daddy let him build the "planter boxes" and measure the closet for the new shelves.


 We let Nicco in the room to see the first of the "planter boxes" in its place. After that, he was pretty much banned from his room. He rolled with it, poor kid.

 I went to the Home Depot to choose some paint that matched the new bedding. We weren't sold on the colors at first, but once all the walls were done, we decided they were perfect for our boy who loves blue.

 The loft bed was the biggest surprise. We needed a friend's truck to pick it up. Mr. Chad and one of his daughters were sworn to secrecy when they dropped it off. I dusted it and helped with the install, Frankie supervised and evaluated the work when we were done.

 It was quite a pickle our fuzzy buddy found herself in. She liked being tall but the footing was a little unsure. And she did not like getting help down.

 The daddy added some splashes of complimentary colors,

And the finished cozy nook. Done until Christmas day.

November 1, 2013

While we were gone, our dear friends checked on our pesky little pet to make sure she didn't die of starvation, dehydration, or neglect.

She (the cat) does not approve of us leaving her behind. To demonstrate her disapproval, she does things like this:

Then she lectures us for hours. Days, even.
Silly cat.

November 6, 2013

Quote of the Day


On the way to swim my small boy said, "Can you believe I'll be a teenager in just five years?" No, I cannot believe it. I asked if he was excited to be a teenager in just five years. He said, "Not really. I like being a kid. It's fun. You get more attention."

I laughed, then wondered to myself why my only child thinks he will get less attention when he's a teenager, or ever. He's my only child.

November 6, 2013

A joke.




"Hey Mama, what do you call a fish with no eyes?"
"I don't know. What do you call a fish with no eyes?
"A fsh!"

Ugh.

Basically, I decided to make myself a separate photo book with all my pictures and stories from France and Spain instead of trying to catch up here. It's just too much and I'm too far behind, so I'm going to skip ahead in my game of catch-up to November, when we returned.

The Birthday Continues

It was hard to top the early half of the birth day, but the day was only just begun. There were more gifts, food, gifts and food.

Our aspiring artist got some more tools for his trade,

a pendant with his initial,



The Daddy brought this fancy shmancy singing and spinning candle all the way across the ocean for the boy,

He also got a very nice watch, which he leaves on France time,



hugs and kisses all around...



Earlier this year Mamie requested a recent snapshot of Nicco. One that really showed his cute little face. I had to send about 100 pictures to get one that met the proper requirements and they settled on one of my favorites from a couple or three years ago...an artist friend of my in-laws drew his portrait in pencil. Looks just like him!



For Nicco's future wine cellar...

And the dear crème caramel. Mamie sacrificed and suffered much for this dessert, having burned her poor little hand in the boiling caramel. 

Now all three of us have celebrated recent birthdays in France! I think we should make it a tradition to celebrate a birthday on foreign soil. In just a few years, we might even catch up with my dad!