Our big move

The girls and I started the month with a visit to the Botanical Gardens which was featuring a Monarch Butterfly exhibit.

 

Alex and I had a nice time, although we were disappointed to find out that Monarch butterflies are not very social and generally do not land on people.  We learned that the Monarch's migrate through Texas and if we plan the right flowers and plants they will likely visit our house.  Alex is so excited at the possibility!  Rory on the other hand was completely and totally uninterested.  In-fact, when I put her to bed that evening she said "next time can you and Alex go alone and drop me off at the mall?".  Um, Rory, you are only 3.  I was expecting at least another 7 years before you would ask to be dropped off at the mall!

Grandma Elizabeth came for a little visit this month and we had a ton of fun, although I have to say my wonderful beautiful girls were not on their best behavior  We often heard from Rory "I don't want to....".  I think we have finally hit our breaking point and are much in need of Daddy back home full time.

 

The rest of us had a great time visiting Out of Africa and getting nice and close to all kinds of wild animals and spending a lot of really nice family time together.

After Grandma left it was time for us to prepare for our big move.  We said goodbye to so many wonderful friends and were treated to the best going away parties I could ask for.  We received so many pictures, photo books, art and letters from our friends that it will be impossible to forget our wonderful times in AZ.  (Although we do miss you all!)

Before leaving, we got to spend Thanksgiving with Aunt Catherine, Uncle Kyle and the Great Grandparent Gigi and Baba.  We had a great weekend with the annual Thanksgiving morning movie.  This year it was Disney's Tangled and the kids loved it!  Thank you to Gigi and Baba for letting us all move in with you for the long weekend. 

 

Our first week in Texas has been interesting...in a good way.  We have mostly unpacked our little apartment that we will be living in while we house shop, we have found a preschool that I think we will be very happy with, and the girls have had a ton of time to work on their art projects and just play.  We even found a really cool new park!

 

Allen Texas seems to be a very nice place to live and we look forward to establishing our third set of roots here.  And just for Mommy, the shopping is great.  Can't wait to get the girls in school again so I can hit the mall!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!
Much Love,
Caycee, Pat, Alex and Rory

I'm Back....

I have decided that I am so far behind now on this blog that I really can't possibly recreate all of the awesome things we have done over the last few months.  So I am not even going to try...sorry everyone.  I am going to attach tons of pictures and give some brief summaries of some of our highlights and hope I can keep on top of this better in the future.  Also, for those of you who might not know already, we are preparing for a big move.  Pat recently started working for Raytheon and we will be moving to the Dallas area at this end of this month.  We are so sad to be leaving, so busy trying to spend time with all of our friends and family and  trying to coordinate the move that I really haven't had the energy to put as much effort into the blog as I would like.

Back in June, before we left for Chicago for the summer, I started to write our May/June update.  I couldn't get our pictures to upload and then I forgot about it and never got it mailed out.  So we will just start all the back at the beginning.

May and June
If I had to give this past 5 or 6 weeks a title it would hands down, easily be "The month of birthdays". The girls have attended somewhere around 12 parties between the beginning of May and mid June. This doesn't include Kyle's birthday dinner, Rory's little playgroup birthday or the birthday we celebrated with Gigi and Baba. On many days we attended more than one party, and I can personally say we spent most of the summer so far exhausted!

Between all of the birthday fun we did find time to swim, visit many splash pads, and generally have a lot of fun!

In May, before it got too hot, we went to Marley Farms for the first time. It is a really neat animal rescue farm not too far from our house. The girls fed the animals and enjoyed running around the farm with their friends. The farm had a very friendly camel that liked to get nice and close! :) BTW - don't the girls look too cute in their hats???

We had a wild time at Bounce U, and indoor kids play zone! It always reminds me how much Alex and Rory are growing up when we go places like this.  They ran, jumped, slid and generally went crazy for hours.  I couldn't believe the things they tried and the amount of fun they had.  Here is a little movie of the action.

We also made our annual visit to the local peach farm for a little peach picking.  It was so much fun and we were lucky enough to pick a day that wasn't too hot.  We enjoyed our yummy peaches and even more enjoyed the farmers market attached to the farm were we picked up tons of fruits and veggies and some old fashion hard candy. 

 

Pat started teaching the girls some mini golf lessons...way to cute!  Alex really seemed to enjoy it and would love to learn more...Rory couldn't wait to run away and play on the playground. 

We have had a great summer of swimming and have even taken a couple days to swim at Gigi and Baba's pool.  It was so nice early in the season to swim in a nice heated pool. 

In addition to swimming for fun the girls had very successful swimming lessons this summer.  They both made significant improvement and are well on their way to becoming great little swimmers. 

As an early birthday celebration for Rory we had her playgroup over for some fun and cupcakes.  Plenty of fun was had by all and Rory loved being the center of attention! 

We also had a great time at Gigi and Baba's for a second pre-birthday celebration!

I am very sad to report that Josie, our beloved black lab, passed away this June. She was 12.5 and had lost her hearing and was starting to lose her eyesight and was showing some signs of dementia as well as neurological problems. We are so sad to say goodbye to her but happy that she can be in Heaven with Bailey and watch us all from above. 

July and August

We spent July and some of August in Chicago and Michigan, which as always is such a wonderful escape from the awful heat of Arizona summers.  Seriously, if you have never been in AZ in July or August you have no idea what hot is.  

Alex, Rory and I drove to Chicago this summer with Catherine.  It was a real adventure, but the girls did great considering they spent 30+ hours in the car.  Rory rode in a princess dress for a good portion of the trip, which I can't imagine is all that comfortable.  

The 4th of July was spent at Klinger and Alex fell in love with the lake all over again.  I have never seen another kid who loves the outdoors as much as she does and the thrill of the grass and trees and lake all in one place made it completely perfect place for her.  Rory preferred to play indoors, but during those times she was found outside she was again wearing a princess dress. I bet she is one of the first kids to be playing in the sand at the lake in a white princess wedding dress!

The girls returned to school (and the birthday party parade) immediately upon our return to Arizona.  They have both made some new great friends and are having a great time learning.  

Late in August Bronson, Fawn, and Jamie made a little trip out to Arizona.  We had a great time visiting with them and an especially fun, hot, day at Out Of Africa in Sedona.  The girls are still telling their friends about the awesome safari ride we got to take.  

September and October

Alex fulfilled one of her life goals in September.  She was out in the backyard chasing lizards and actually caught one, with her bare hands.  Seriously.  It was such a small lizard I am not sure how she even found it, let alone how she caught it, but she did.  Wow!  That might have been one of the most exciting days of her life.  

We had a great time celebrating Alex's 5th birthday at Marley Farms.  All of the kids loved feeding the animals, riding the horses and taking a hayride.  Alex must have taken 10 horse rides and can't wait to get started with her lessons again.  

The girls and I decided to take advantage of Pat working in LA and took a little trip out to visit him.  We had so much fun visiting the beach, even though it was a little too cold to be there, going to the aquarium, and taking our very 1st family trip to Disney Land.  Rory was so excited to meet all of her favorite princesses and treated each and everyone like she had known them forever.   Alex loved the ocean.  She would stay there cold and wet for as long as I would allow her and loved just sitting and watching the water just as much as running and playing.  

Halloween was great fun this year and we collected way too much candy.  Alex was a spooky spider and Rory was Alice in Wonderland.  Rudy and Molly also enjoyed dressing up this year, but they didn't get any treats.  

Wishing you all a very Happy November!
Caycee, Pat, Alex and Rory

Happy Spring!

The girls have rediscoved their love of USA Gym this past month.  We have made multiple visits and with each visit I have been amazed at the confidence and growth both Alex and Rory have made this year.  It is really awesome to watch!

Desert Sun, Alex and Rory's preschool, coordinated a very fun bus ride on the city bus.  This was a unique experience and a first for everyone on the bus!  The kids thought it was great.

We had an amazing Spring Break, which similar to last year, required a little bit of furniture rearranging but a whole lot of fun with all of us plus, Catherine and Kyle, Peter and Gamga and Peppa all under one roof.  It was so fun to have so much time together and Alex especially loved the extra adults to play board games with!

We did have a great time with a ton of time in the sun, some pool play, and way too much food!  We are already looking forward to next year. 

(This is a picture of the restaurant we waited almost 6 hours before we finally got a table.  Really felt like vacation with that much time on our hands!)

Alex has continued to improve and love her horseback riding lessons.  It is so funny to listen to her tell complete strangers about "her" horse. 

The first weekend in April brought us more fun than the girls knew what to do with.  We started off the weekend with Disney on Ice.  The girls once again loved it and although Tinkerbell and Cars was missing from the show all of the "Princesses" showed up.  We are looking forward to seeing the Princesses live at their castle later this year.

   

On Saturday we attended the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Desert Highlands with Gigi and Baba.  It was an amazing hunt with tons of eggs, multiple bounce houses, a train ride and of course the Easter Bunny.  The Easter Bunny gave the girls each a cute little chickie stuffed animal that they are still enoying.  On Sunday the girls work up to an egg hunt at our house.  The Bunny hid eggs all around the house and even some outside this year.  It was so much fun watching the girls search for the eggs.

The City of Chandler local airport held a special event for kids and adults to look at old cars and planes.  It was really neat and we all enjoyed sitting in a search and rescue helicopter. 

So we can all enjoy a little more family time and get some exercise at the same time I got a new bike.  We have had a great time taking family rides (Pat pulling Alex on the extention and Rory in the burley).  One afternoon we loaded up our bikes and took them to the zoo to ride around.  It was really a fun way to see the zoo, although Rory had to get out of the burley everytime she wanted to see an animal. 

We had our very first camping experience...well almost camping.  Along with a number of other students at Desert Sun, Alex and Rory's preschool, we spent the night in a tent on the school grounds.  The school ordered pizza for dinner and had pancakes and sausage ready for us when we woke up.  With the exception of the very little sleep we had it was overall a fun night.

Our Phoenix spring has been extremely windy this year, which prompted Pat to go out and buy a kite.  He taught the kids how to fly it in our community park.  It was a great time and we will be sure to do it again soon...or whenever the wind comes back out!  Rory had more fun posing for the camera then flying the kite though!

For a little child developmental update, Rory has learned how to peddle her trike all by herself!  Wow does that make taking walks with her so much more fun!  Alex has learned to count to over 100 and can count objects to at least 50.  She is also sounding out letters and I would expect will start some reading soon. 

Happy New Year and beyond!

Well Christmas and New Year's have come and gone and Spring Break is right around the corner. Amazing how time flies! We have had major computer issues since returning home in January which has resulted in the purchase of a brand new computer. Yeah! I can finally download pictures and update our blog again. I hope I can remember what we have done over the last 3 months. This is going to be a bit challenging....


We had a great time in Chicago with tons of great family time and plenty of snow. Alex couldn't wait to get outside and play in it and had a great time trying to catch the snow in her mouth. Rory enjoyed it some but didn't really want to spend too much time in the cold. It might have had something to do with the fact she was always wearing a skirt and her poor legs probably got cold!

With so much snow we did get to have a ton of sledding fun and brave Alex even went down the hill by herself! The hardest part was trying to carry a bundled up child up the hill while dragging the sled. Somehow we forgot to build a snowman this year. I am not sure how that happened but I hope we can make up for it next year.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were a success as always and the girls got EVERYTHING they could have ever possibly wanted. It took us weeks when we returned home to figure out how to rearrange and make room for all of the new stuff. Alex received a number of board games this year which we have spent countless hours playing and it has turned in to a fun Friday night family activity. Rory has succeeded in wearing just about all of her new princess outfits at the same time!

New Years Eve continues to evolve as the kids get older. We have been celebrating with the same families for about 10 years but this year the kids far out numbered the adults. It is always fun to see the kids of friends we have known forever start to grow up and change.

Our return trip home was uneventful, just as we like it! But, once we arrived home the craziness began! We jumped right back into our routine with school for Pat and the kids and our busy social calendar!

As a special surprise for the girls I took them to see Disney on Ice in January. The show featured Cars, The Little Mermaid, Tinkerbell, and the Lion King. Alex and Rory loved every second of the show (except perhaps the Lion King) and are still telling people about it. Shhh...don't tell them....they are going again in April!

We have made a few visits to the Phoenix Zoo in the last couple months and Alex has grown very fond of the Stingrays. She had so many questions about them and loved trying to pet them. Alex even found a Zoo Keeper to help her and answer all of her questions. It was so cute watching Alex and the Zoo Keeping having a conversation and working together to pet the Stingrays. Rory's favorite part of the zoo might be the maps! It was so funny watching her "read" the map, with which she actually did a pretty good job. You should have seen the people stopping to watch little Rory reading her map. I think she amused a number of people that day!

In February we purchased a Wii videogame system. The girls have loved playing Wii fit which is an exercise/balance game. Alex is getting pretty good at some of the games and looks cute trying. Rory just looks cute trying! And yes she is dressed up as a butterfly :)

Rory had her first playdate at a friend’s house without Mom this month. I was very nervous about it but Rory had no problem and was off playing as soon as we walked into their house. What a big girls she is becoming. Meanwhile Alex and I went on a field trip with her school to see the play "Peter and the Wolf". The show was cute but the theater was a little dark and scary for Alex. All of the kids had a great time playing afterward.

Alex also started her horseback riding lessons! So far she has completed two lessons and I am already amazed at what she can do. She is able to start, stop and turn the horse without assistance. She told Dad "you just have to give the horse a little kick to get it started". The horse they started her with is named "Tinkerbell", fitting isn't it? She is really hoping to ride Cookie next week. 

We were all lucky enough to be able to celebrate Bill's birthday with him this year.  We had a great time playing at Gigi and Baba's house and then a yummy lunch together.  

Alex and Rory participated in a Trike-a-thon with our MOMS Club. We helped to support Singleton Moms, a local organization that assists single parents while they fight cancer. Our organization raised about $600 with this event and the kids had a great time!