A visit with the Denver cousins

What's more fun than watching children play? -especially cousins who don't have the opportunity to see each other often. For Memorial weekend, Scott, Monica, Andres, Sofi, Lucas and Mia visited from Denver. To the children's delight, we visited Bounce Jungle, swam and played nonstop. Here are a few photos. I will post a slideshow soon. Until then...
The Denver Z and the Arizona Z cousins
Lilly, age 2 1/2
Claire, age 13 mo.
Sofia, age 4

Lucas, age 2 1/2

Mia, age 12mo.

Spring Photos

These photos capture Claire just before her first birthday
and both girls in their pretty Easter dresses.
Enjoy!
Happy birthday little Claire. Silly Lilly

Happy 1st Birthday, Claire

Claire turned one in high style on Saturday, April 11. Dressed in her pink birthday dress and hat, Claire was the star of her party. Her special guest was Nana all the way from Kansas.

Big sister Lilly was ultra excited to greet and play with party guests, eat cupcakes and pizza. The pinata was the highlight of the party... providing much needed sugar and toys galore. Lilly and friends successfully disassembled Claire's pull-string pinata. When the pinata opened, Lilly selectively gathered only the dum-dum "suckers" from the pile of candy. Claire watched from the sidelines.

Homemade cupcakes provided another much-needed carbohydrate rush amongst party guests. Chocolate or vanilla, take your pick... homemade chocolate buttercream or 7-minute frosting. Yum! Nana and mom had fun making (and eating) these before the party started.

Claire dug right in and enjoyed her little slice of heaven... sugar sugar sugar. Claire is a carb-o-holic, so this was a moment of true glory for her that probably left her wondering: "Where's the ice cream?"

But before the party began, we had a "balloon incident" in Lilly's room. The hazards of having ceiling fans all over the house become apparent everytime we have balloons. Inevitably, one (or 12) will become wrapped around the fans. Rob had fun "cleaning up" this one.

Happy birthday, Claire. We love you and wish you many more healthy and happy birthdays. Thank you to everyone for your beautiful cards and gifts. Claire adores each of them.

Thanks Easter Bunny

Easter is almost here, so a trip to meet the Easter Bunny was on the list of things to experience with the girls. We talked it up for days with Lilly, knowing it was highly likely she would wimp out once in front of Mr. Rabbit. Claire wasn't a concern given her young age.

We ventured to the mall, walked up to Mr. Rabbit's house and stood in line to meet him. Lilly was extra excited to be there, even waved to him multipled times from the line, said hello from a distance, and even told us "He's my friend." But when the big moment arrived, she was not willing to sit on his lap, sit on the chair beside him or even stand in front of him. Instead, she stayed in the safety of Rob's arms while Claire had her pictures taken. In polite Lilly fashion, she showed much enthusiam as we walked away from Mr. Rabbit's house exclaiming: "Bye Rabbit. Will you come to my house?" Enjoy the photo of Claire.

We'd better begin talking about Santa right away...

Claire's first introduction to the Easter Bunny

Culinary Creation...

Question:

How do you convince two little girls to eat beets?
Answer:

Beet cupcakes

Reminiscent of "glop" from Dr. Seuss

Taster Lilly ate her share.
If you are fond of tasty carrot-cake, you may also like beet-cake. Texture, ingredients and flavor are almost the same. Organic beets are always included in our co-op basket we purchase every few weeks, so instead of permanently scarring the girls by making them eat pickled beets, cake was the best option. This recipe was made possible by Cooking Light magazine. Add a little light-cream cheese frosting and they really can't be "beet".

Take a little trip... to Flag

As spring break drew to a close, we decided to travel north to Flagstaff for a mini- getaway. When packing, we were quickly reminded of the 10-million baby and small child items that needed to come with us. We packed everything from a portable crib for Claire, travel DVD player for Lilly and every necessity inbetween.

Our playground in the pines.

Notice the snow on the peaks.

Rockin' Dino

We arrived in Flagstaff to sunny skies and 60-degree weather, though snow remained on the distant mountain peaks. A beautiful park was our first stop, where we shared a picnic lunch under the pines and played for hours.
Claire the daredevil

Cuddle-bug Lilly loved her bed

Claire's first stay in a hotel.
She felt quite at home.

Claire had her first experience staying in a hotel... and did quite well with naptime and bedtime. Though, at bedtime, her portable crib found a home half-way sticking out of the room's closet. This clever positioning was the only way of "hiding" her from our view. Otherwise, she'd never go to sleep! Lilly did well in her queen-sized bed without guard rails. Rob even treated his girls to roomservice... ice cream topped cookies and pie. Lilly, Claire (and mom) were in heaven.

It was quite a treat to travel north to the mountains, even if just for a night.

A Huntin' We Will Go

Off on the hunt... feel the excitement!

Easter Eggs Already? Thanks to the local MOPS group at church, our girls enjoyed a fabulous Easter-egg hunt at Tumbleweek park. Claire was easily satisfied with just one egg, while Lilly filled her bag to the brim. At first Lilly stopped to open each egg, eat what was inside and then proceed to the next egg. Her routine quickly changed once she figured out she was wasting precious time as other children grabbed the eggs. At the end of the event, Lilly's bag was full. What a childhood delight! We can't wait for our next hunt... in our own backyard.

Claire's prized posession: one blue egg

Proud Lilly... look at my treats!