november in arizona

This month's weather has been beautiful and actually bearable for venturing outside. A few weeks ago, Russell's school hosted the ATSU Founder's Day BBQ at the Big Dreams Little League Park in Gilbert. The park has major league replica fields, a huge indoor soccer field, and a cool indoor eating place that overlooks five of the fields. There was a kickball tournament - our team took 2nd! - and of course Calvin was in heaven. He LOVES baseball and got to hang out in the dugout with our team and play on the field after the game.

learning to run the bases (backwards)

our friends Stan and Samira Brewer (below) and their little Isabella - she was so cute with her face painted!

I took these last pics two days ago - it was 75 degrees and we spent a lot of the day outside. Here's Calvin next to our monstrosity of a tumble weed...it's taller than him. Notice the flowers still blooming!:

I love this grass. I learned that there are actually two kinds of grass in Arizona - summer grass and winter grass. The summer grass is green, but not so soft and it's a type that can withstand the major heat. THIS is winter grass. It's emerald green and thick and luscious and I could probably eat it or at least have a nice nap in it.

I love that Calvin smiles for pictures now.
This is my favorite boy next to my favorite bush in our backyard.

I'm thankful for warm, sunny weather, especially because it's raining today.
Happy Thanksgiving!

quirky tag

My sis-in-law Lyndy tagged me like two months ago...

Here are the rules:
Link the Person who Tagged you.
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

1. I have to sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs and preferably be facing away from Russell and not touching him at all. I do love my husband, but I can't fall asleep without these conditions.

2. I hate shaving my legs. Before we moved to Arizona, I didn't really own a pair of shorts and seriously shaved probably once a month or so and even less in the winter (sorry if that grosses anyone out). I've only worn shorts since we moved here and regrettably, I've shaved more in the last three months than probably the last 5 years.

3. I'm a compulsive chap-stick user. I always have at least one tube with me and in the event that I can't find it, I'm really uncomfortable until my lips are properly coated again.

4. I always have a song in my head, which sounds sort of cheesy, but it's true. You can often catch me humming parts of it, which is probably annoying. The songs vary, but it's usually one that I've heard a lot lately. Recently, it's been "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" or something from Aladdin - you can probably guess why.

5. I always squeeze the toothpaste from the middle. I like it. Russell is a bottom of the tube squeezer and regularly pushes the toothpaste back up to the top so it's nice and neat again. That's my favorite time to get a good squeeze right in the middle.

6. If my feet are cold, my whole body is uncomfortable. I usually sleep in socks because of this.

If you feel inclined to share your quirks, consider yourself tagged.

Enough about my issues...let me add some cute pics of Calvin. His latest quirk has to do with his wardrobe. These are all from the same day last week. He started out by insisting that he wear his coon skin cap to breakfast. He had to put it back on every time it fell off and there were fuzz balls in his cereal and stuck to his hands, though he didn't seem to mind.

When he got dressed, he wanted to put on a tie and then raided my "unmentionables" drawer. He put them on all by himself, so I had to capture it on film...
Then he kept the tie and tried on Russell's socks and shoes. Looks like a little old man...

yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me...

Our Halloween festivities started with our ward's trunk-or-treat on Tuesday night.
Here's our little pirate all ready to go:

Calvin won a cupcake in the cake walk and got cotton candy and a balloon sword.

Russell's sister Katy let us borrow a crayon costume for me and a knight for Sir Russell...

Here's the boys in front of our trunk.

We carved our pumpkin on Thursday night

Calvin trick-or-treated at Katy & Dan's neighborhood with the cousins and loved it. Surprisingly, he ran up to all the doors, stuck out his bucket, and even waved bye and said "welcome" when Russell or I said "thanks." He scored in the candy department and still talks about "oween."

Russell decided to wear another of Katy's costumes for trick-or-treating - the "warlock" (witch) riding a ghost. Needless to say, he only lasted about a half hour waddling around in the 90 degree heat - yeah, I've never been so hot on Halloween and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Here's Uncle Dan, cousins Magavin the jedi, Milo as spiderman, Koby the pirate, and Delaney as Ariel, and Calvin all ready to go.

I had to include a short video (sorry the lighting is bad) of our candy-monger...