MAYbe I'll catch up on blogging soon

May was pretty low-key.  Lots of trips to the zoo. Scott's parents came to play in the Milk Bank's annual golf tournament (Scott's mom won "longest drive" to the chagrin of the 99% male golfers - ha ha!) and stayed for Mother's Day.  Scott and I fixed brunch for our moms, and I was spoiled rotten (highlights: Clara made me a painting; my dad sent a yummy edible arrangement; in-laws gave me a "nifty fifty" lens for my camera; my mom gave me a Wolfe Pottery bird; and Scott made a mindblowing vegan caesar dressing).

So far June has been lazy and warm. We attended/semi-helped-host a block party at which Clara discovered the joy of watermelon on the rind.  I've been doing a lot of soul-searching about my career path.  We're gearing up for our annual beach trip in late July.

More on all that soon. For now, here's May in pics:

loves her kitty slippers

playing in the eagle's nest at the science museum

three generations, mother's day
(also, this begins the period known as A.L. - after [awesome, new] lens)

worn out from making everyone do "jazz hands" at breakfast

independent at the zoo

"hiss cat" face

back at the zoo w/uncle Jeremy

mirror lake

Cell phone pics:

mama's (very) old toy!

future archaeologist

Hope everyone has a great week!
-G.

splash park video + new design

there are a few splash parks in town, but we're partial to the one at the Mississippi  Museum of Art because that's where we got married.  luckily, Clara loves it too :)

in other news... let me know if the new design/template is working ok for you. I've only tested it on my little laptop screen at home so there may be kinks to work out.

TGIT - one more day til the weekend!
-G.

catching up is hard to do

busy times around here! still working on the "milky matters" post I promised. in the meantime, here are the last couple of week's pics (sorry for cell phone camera quality of some) and vids:

it's spring!

spring for Scott = fallen branches and time to get out the Pocket Chainsaw

I just didn't have the heart to tell her to put her leg down when she was having so much fun.

shopping at the kids museum's faux farmers market

future conductor

not sure about her new nubby toothbrush





awesome toddler slide @ lefleur's bluff park

not afraid of heights!

for faraway relatives, some videos of everyday life:

in case you can't tell, she's doing great. says mama and dada but it's questionable whether she knows what they mean. her two real words are "cat" and "owl."  her coolest new trick is you can ask her to go get a specific book (The Little Kitten, Fancy Nancy, etc) and she will - even if it's in a different room! my heart swells with pride :)



who, me?



 have a great weekend!

G.

AWESOME children's museum

we recently visited the new Mississippi Children's Museum for the first time. It's a little pricey (though memberships are a good deal - we're going to get one), and of course most of the exhibits are geared to older kids.... but it was still AWESOME and Clara had so much fun!

the nail-biting excitement of racing cars
{and yes, dada wore a "Life is Crap" shirt to a kids' museum. lol}



dada: Clara, this is a cow. this is where your milk
will come from.... uh, eventually  :-) 

 

learning useful skills like putting up siding

hey, what's my name doing here??

mama, the king is creepy. can we play Scrabble again?

dancin' like Frankenstein

they have laundry here??!! oh em gee!

play farmer's market = my favorite thing ever
(except cats... and dada... and oranges)

dada can you show me those breakdancing moves again?

in other news, Clara's birthday is this week!!!!!! I am so sad! but, also thankful for our amazing daughter and how healthy she's been and how fun she is at this age.

have a great week, y'all!

G.

Clara's First Museum, Trip to the Park and Overalls

There is still one more day to go of this holiday weekend, and it's already been filled with new adventures for Clara. Yesterday, we took her to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science -- her first ever museum.

She loved the aquariums.



Dinosaurs interested her as well.


 They have a cool frog exhibit going on right now.


Checking out clawed frogs with Daddy






Calling frogs to hear their unique songs

 

Not too interested in Mommy's prize-winning photo!

 

Today, we met our friends the Thurmans at a great, free park about a mile from our home. It was unbelievably hot even mid-morning (the heat index here today is 105... I am ready to move to Alaska now), but we still had a good time. Clara and our friends' daughter Riley were slathered in my favorite natural sunscreen (California Baby SPF 30), and they didn't seem to mind the heat as much as we adults did. 



First ever time in a swing



I liked it!

 

(Cool insert is a Hugga-Bebe)

Another recent first? Overalls, courtesy of Uncles Bob and Jon!

Playing blocks with Daddy

Up for the 4th: Clara's first picnic.   Happy Independence Day, y'all!