Lunch time!

Lucy loves black beans. She loves to squish them between her fingers, rub them all over her scalp, shove them down her legs and, on occasion, eat them.

Which is why I decided not to bother putting clothes on her during lunch time today. I think it was a pretty good call.

This is called baby ganster face. I'm pretty sure she was thinking "What you lookin' at?":

And once she got all shiny and clean again, it was time for some tupperware-drawer playtime while I tried desparately to get the bean smears out of, well, everything.

Greer, Part 2

Here we go, a barrage of pictures from our Arizona trip. Brace yourself!

Lucy thought Grandpa Howard was pretty hilarious:





This little gal looks more grown up every time I see her:

Sunny and Lucan and Dominoes:

Meris beat me twice in Scrabble. Good for nothing classical education...

(only joking of course, love you NSA!)

Girl cousins:

Name that bird. Now name the fish in its talons:

Pretty sister-in-law:

Feed the birds:

Yes, they knew us. And yes, they came quickly whenever they saw us:

Another impressive shot of the fire damage:

Adorable child:

Adorable child no. 2:

More of adorable child no.1:

Adorable child no. 3 with butterfly (next to her hand):

That's all folks!

Greer, Part 1

We moved into our new place here in Eugene and just got internet up today, so I'm finally able to finish our Arizona trip pictures. The highlight of the trip was our four day vacation in Greer at these incredible cabins. We had such a great time relaxing with the family and enjoying the great outdoors. Here are the two adorable Schwager gals practicing their painting:

Joel kicked back and relaxed in the rocking chair (that's his pensive look):

But he was able to get up and pose for a photo with me:

Joel and Kusie, chatting it up:

Here's a shot from our cabin's deck out towards the general recreational area. Joel and I went kayaking on that pond to the left, and I caught a fish in the little pond on the right! You can really see how close that big fire came to destroying the area:

And here's a bunch of self-explanatory shots of the cabin. It was incredible. So luxurious, that's my type of camping!

Hanging out at the Grandparent's

With so many of us staying at Mom and Dad's house in Phoenix, we spent a good deal of time just hanging around the house catching up.

Here's Lucy with her cousin Levi (I actually have no idea what the relationship is: Joel's cousin's son's son. Anyone? Anyone?)




Look at these two cuties:




Lucy learning a thing or two about begging from Buster Brown Dog while Daniel looks on:



Lucy with Uncle Daniel:




Lucy with Grandpa:



Lucy showing off her pretty blues:



Chasing after Buster (he learned to run away from her very quickly. But anytime she saw him she would still squeal with joy):

Eating while simultaneously doing the princess wave:

Lucy with Grandma:

That last picture is actually from Greer, which is what I'll hopefully get to in my next post!

Tabula Rasa

One of my favorite things about moving is getting the chance to start over with decorating. It's so much fun to move into a clean, empty space and re-think how your furniture should go. Even if I don't have any money at the time to buy new items, sometimes rearranging my old stuff makes me feel like it's new.

Another favorite of moving for me is purging. We started our married lives in a house that was really too big for us (4 bed, 2bath), and over the years we've been moving into smaller and smaller spaces. I think our new duplex (2 bed/1 bath) is really a perfect size for the three of us. Easy to clean, plus it means I get to purge even more! Makes me feel so lightweight.

But what I'm most excited about with this new place is that it is all wood floors (minus linoleum-tile in the kitchen/bathroom). I think wood floors and white decor are my two favorite decorating schemes. So naturally the new move has me daydreaming about all sorts of lovely wood/white combinations:



Doesn't this look so clean and cheerful?

Sure it's not very practical to have white curtains that pool luxuriously on the floor when you have messy baby hands roaming through the the house, but I can always dream, right?

Oh yes, and did I mention that the new place has a white fireplace? I'm already getting giddy about Christmas decor!



So excited about this move!