Lillian's school threw a party for all the kids at our local ice skating rink. The rink is always good fun, with ice to skate on and (fake) snow, but even more so when it's full of kids she knows. Lillian had a blast skating with her schoolmates, especially her little buddy Reid.
Nathaniel has been walking for about 2 months now, and is perfecting the art of getting into everything. While this makes our days an exhausting marathon of keeping him from danger while trying to keep the house intact, it has also led to lots of great moments of cute behavior. He loves to pick up the kid-sized tools in the backyard and wander around trying to be helpful, and he really gets a kick out of climbing in boxes and wagons. While he doesn't speak very clearly yet, he clearly understands lots of words, and will follow many simple commands. Soon we're going to have a good little helper!
While visiting Grammy and Pop-Pop in Arizona, Lillian, Eric and Pop-Pop conquered the 1.5 mile, 1000 ft climb up to the summit of Black Mountain. Pop-Pop need a little help getting to the top but Lillian was able to give him a hand. They were rewarded with a spectacular panoramic view over Cave Creak and North Phoenix.
Lillian's dear old friend Sophia recently relocated to Phoenix. We were lucky to get to spend some time with them on our recent trip to Phoenix. We are looking forward to seeing them again next time we visit Phoenix!
After taking a year off last year, we resumed our yearly trek to Phoenix to visit with the McGuire clan. In addition to visiting with Grammy and Pop-Pop, this year we were joined by Auntie Erin and her fiance Preston visiting from Los Angeles. We also spent a lot of time visiting with Great-Grandma Nora. Nathaniel, newly walking, had a great time checking everything out in Grammy and Pop-Pop's house. Lillian go to go swimming with Auntie Erin at the YMCA. We hiked up to some ancient ruins and saw the petroglyphs. We also visited the Children's museum, and spent lots and lots of quality time snuggling with the Grammy and Pop-Pop.
Auntie Erin knows how it is to be a second child, with all the requisite neglect and lack of photographic evidence. So over Christmas she took it upon herself to take lots of pictures of Nathaniel so he could feel like a fist child, if only for a few days. Here are a few of the incredibly cute moments she captured.
