Girl In A Box

I've been away. Not on a trip or perhaps a pleasure cruise. Just away.

In hopes of distracting you from the fact that I haven't posted anything in nearly a month, I present girl in a box.

We bought this ottoman on Black Friday thinking we'd use it to hide away some of Brenna's clutter, but instead it's primary purpose since said purchase has been storing Brenna.

Girl in a box was brought to you by the letter "M".

Home For The Holidays

Unless something changes, I am officially home for the rest of the year. Hooray for me.

Now, I have some catching up to do with the blogging.

A few weeks before I left, Emily, the small child, and I accompanied Ron to a gun show over in Glendale, which is on the west side of the valley.

The show was on the floor of the Cardinals' stadium, which we had never been to before, so that was pretty neat.

After we were finished there, Ron took us to a huge sporting goods store close by, so Brenna could see all of the mounted animals. Being an animal herself, she fit right in. Here we see Ron trying to wrangle her for a picture. Denied.

Look, ma, it's a moose.

Don't mess with that squirrel's nuts. Sorry, I had to go there.



We also did some antique shopping, which Brenna enjoys thoroughly. Here she is running amok in front of the Glendale library.



Here is a somewhat non-related picture of a historic house in the neighboring area. I know nothing else about it other than just that. Pretty cool, nonetheless.

And finally, because I'm extremely biased, and I'm the one doing the blogging, here's a shot of my child running into my arms and giving me a great big hug. Yes, it's good to be home again.

Dentist Halloween Party (oooh, scaaary)

This past Friday the three of us went to our dentist's Halloween/patient appreciation party. We were pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had, and although we didn't win any raffles, our small child took home first place for children's costumes (thanks to Emily's sewing skills).

In this shot, Brenna is pondering her strategy for walking away with the aforementioned prize. If you haven't guessed it, she went as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz. An albino Toto is in the background in that wicker basket.

The small child is apparently a big fan of Rick James. Given her parents eclectic taste in music, this isn't a shock. Here she is getting down to Superfreak.

The small child was somewhat skittish with some of the adults in costumes, particularly Satan from South Park, and the Mad Hatter (which was hard to figure, since she likes that movie)
Here she is climbing me like a tree at the sight of one of those people.

We went home with that balloon.

The very necessary silly pose for the night.

A nicer pose with Mommy.

And finally, the money shot. Oh, how we love money. Hmmm.

Born Into This

Fair warning, as you scroll through this blog about our recent trip to the arboretum, please keep a scrollin'. You'll find two more new posts directly below this one, and I'd hate for you to miss out on any of my feeble attempts to be witty and humorous.

I've been instructed by the shift boss that posting last names here is akin to pooping on the White House lawn, so I'll be referring to my cousin and her family going forward as the M&D company.

Emily took a number of great pictures from our get together, below is a sampling for your viewing pleasure.

Here is shot of some of us already seeking out shade early on. It probably wasn't over 90 degrees today, but in the sun it felt a little worse. All in all, we did well, making it around the main loop and seeing the more interesting sights.

This picture was brought to you by The Cult, The Atlanta Falcons, and mad props to cool Chuck Taylors and prickly pear lollipops.

Catching Brenna and Alexander in the same frame was a bit like herding cats, but Emily caught them here jumping around the sundial.

This pose never gets old, and Brenna never gets tired of joining me in the festivities.

Here is the M&D company strolling along the main trail.

Perhaps embarrassed by their parents, the two small children start to distance themselves from us. I don't blame them, we're quite honestly and certifiably insane.

Case in point. Darrick is seen here trying to determine the whereabouts of the nuts falling from overhead while we were strolling through the herb garden. Turns out it was a squirrel.

Or was it? There seems to be evidence in this picture that it may have been aliens. The light from overhead and the small child's expression would seem to support this.

After all of that excitement, it seemed only logical to sit tight and wait for the arboretum tram to come around and cart us back to the parking lot. No wait, that's the zoo. Damn.

In a last ditch effort to get a picture of the two wild animals in the same shot, Emily is seen here wrangling them onto a bench together. They both look so pleased to be sitting with her.

Brenna spent some time during lunch visiting with her newest cousin.



After uploading this adorable picture, I thought briefly about us having a second child. Briefly. Very briefly. M&D company, it was a pleasure seeing you again today. We hate to see you leave the fine state of Arizona, but wish you well as you move back north.

Desperately Seeking Good Pictures At A Cookout

Last night our little family drove up to Canyon Lake to join Emily's family for a cookout. While everyone else stayed on for some camping fun, we headed back to be ready for our trip to the arboretum this morning.

Apologies to grandma Becky, who has managed to provide for some good photo-ops on this occasion, including demonstrating here what a wall-eyed fit is. I wasn't terribly familiar with this expression, but in return I shared the old opossum running over my grave tonight, so the cultural exchange continues in grand fashion.

Two out of three campers agree that posing normally for a picture is boring, and oh so uncool. Get with the program, Uncle John.

This is how you do it. Besides Emily, and again Uncle John, no one in this picture is much in their right mind. There are enough gems like this to post a part two to this installment, and I might just have to do that at a later time, for kicks. This one should go in a gold frame over the mantle, right next to the Billy The Bass singing Freebird.

The sheer contrast of a sweet four year expression in the foreground with hot dog spearing in the background earns this picture a spot in this post.



Someone needs to show this young man how to properly consume campground food.

Rachel doing her best Don Knots impression.

Here's a shot of grandma Becky rustling the snipes out from behind her camp chair. Apparently the radioactive strips on the front weren't enough to deter the little buggers.

One more for the road, with ketchup in the side pocket.

4!

We made it to the fourth birthday. And I'm only two plus weeks behind in posting about it. Don't worry, it'll get worse once I leave town again for work. And if I keep dealing with this ridiculous keyboard on our laptop, my witty commentary may be whittled down to spare me the inclination of tossing this thing through the office window out of frustration. Arrgh! Angry pirate!

The birthday girl is sporting in this first picture a nice shirt given to her by grandma and grandpa of the east coast persuasion. Grandpa of the west coast persuasion is looking on in the background, no doubt enthralled.

Ooooh! Look at that, another four pair of shoes to go with the forty she has now! No, seriously, like any other girl, you can't have enough of these things. And I have no room to talk with the endless line of Chuck Taylors I have in my closet. Moving on....

Here we see the pretty girl surrounded by the carnage of opened presents. She seems pleased with her haul.



What a great shot here of the small child blowing out her birthday candle. Whoever took this picture should be awarded with some sort of financial compensation, paid by money order or cashiers check. And what a damn fine cake this was. Emily has the egg less cake thing down like a science.

A well deserved hug for the fantastic cake making.

Brenna was given a gift card to Build A Bear by the aforementioned grandparents of the east coast persuasion, and below is what she came home with. I think the bear's name is Sparkleheart Sugarpants, or something similar. The child has a name for everything in our house, probably including the appliances, and I get confused in my old age. Whatever the case, if you push the bear's shoe, it repeats a dozen or so recorded messages, and has an English/Spanish translation included, which is handy for communication with our neighbors.

And finally, because it makes absolutely no sense to include this here, I present to you our small child in her underpants holding up a bird in a dress.

Brenna Art Gallery

It's hard to believe I've been maintaining this blog for four years now. It would be neat if there was a way to print off or archive everything posted here since the beginning for Brenna. I might look into that in my spare time, ha ha, ho ho. Granted, I took a six month leave of absence from this earlier in the year, but I'm still here.

Today for your viewing pleasure I bring you some of Brenna's latest artwork. She's been focusing lately on drawing family members. I don't think some of these need much explanation.

This art gallery was brought to you by the letters E and F. The F, by the way, is a bearded daddy fish. So, there.

Stay tuned, pictures from Brenna's birthday to follow in the coming days. I must catch up on the blogging before I leave again at the end of the month for work! Arrrgh!