Feeding Brodie

Annie loves "ruff-ruffs" (dogs). Thankfully Brodie is such a good dog when it comes to babies. Always so gentle and forgiving. One morning, Annie wanted to help Brodie eat. Patient dog. 

Lego Heaven

My brother grew up loving Legos. He even had a whole city that he put together on a huge piece of wood that my mom had put wheels on so he could slide it out from under the bed (genius idea!). Thankfully my mom had saved all of those Legos and now when we come and visit, she pulls down the huge bin from the attic and the kids literally swim in Legos for days. They are in heaven, especially Todd!

Even Brodie wanted to see what all the fun was about.

I love watching my son's creativity at work.

The Nutcracker

The Geyer women who were in town all got together for a special night at the Nutcracker. It was the first time that both Lucy and I had ever seen a ballet. It was so beautiful and the dancers were so graceful! We hope to make this a tradition and go every year!

Christmas 2014

Not a creature was stirring, not even three little creatures who were over the moon excited with anticipation for the Christmas morning! The stockings were hung, Santa had come, and the lights sparkled with a quiet magic that filled the air with peace and nostalgia. 

 Christmas for me, now that I am a mother, is so much more thrilling. To see the anticipation leading up the Christmas morning and to feel the joy of the kids as they receive their gifts is so rewarding. 

In true toddler fashion...

They received mostly small gifts from us because we knew that Santa was bringing them bikes! I had heard Santa the night before making all sorts of noise with the Legos. After we were all done opening presents, I told the kids that maybe they should go check in the pile of Legos to see if Santa left anything. Sure enough there was a gift hiding and when they opened it, there was a note inside telling them to go look on the front porch. They couldn't believe what they saw! They were elated and so excited for their new bikes!

(Notice they are all wearing scrubs. They are now doctors just like their daddy! Their scrubs even say their names - Dr. Lucy, Dr. Todd, Dr. Anna. So dang cute!)

Zoo Lights

Every year, the Tucson Zoo hangs thousands of lights around the park. Alex was on a late night shift that night, so me and a girlfriend got together with our kids and decided to brave the crowd. It was truly packed! But so much fun :)

The Desert Museum

A few days before heading to CA for our Christmas break, we decided to visit the Desert Museum - one of the main attractions of Tucson. An old friend of mine from high school actually works there and was kind enough to help us with admission. We figured since we've lived in Tucson for almost three years already and have heard about the museum quite a lot, we had to at least visit once before we put our Tucson chapter behind us. 

The first thing we did when arriving was to have a little behind the scenes tour! My friend was kind enough to arrange for us to get up close and personal with some of the birds. The kids even got to pet one of the barn owls.!

Time for lunch! We had packed some sandwiches, strawberries and string cheese. The only place to eat was in one of the restaurants. There was an interactive screen for the kids about food or something. Lucy and Todd found it intriguing and pulled up some high chairs to check it out. 

Annie trying to watch what was going on from afar.

And you know you're in Arizona when there is a sunscreen dispenser in the bathroom :)

For me?! Ahhh! He sure knows how to melt my heart, just like his dad!

Waiting for one of the educational presentations to start

On our way to go see the humming birds.

Can you spot the humming bird?

One of the kid's favorite part of the whole day was this chain barricade to help keep the humming birds in their exhibit. They ran in an out of this "wall" countless times. 

I know...you totally want to try it out too, don't you.

Checking out the mini aquarium.

Next were the snakes and reptiles...behind glass, thank goodness.

This little snake was mesmorized by Anna. It was totally staring her down!

Anna often has a concerned look on her face. Not sure why.

Lovely Lucy

They had an awesome cave that the kids absolutely LOVED exploring. We most definitely spent most of our visit in there. 

Bat ears!

Doing what boys do...throw rocks!

Do you see the rock mid-air? - right above the cave entrance

The desert is beautiful!

Daddy is so strong and the coolest!

Hopefully we get to visit again soon!