What 20 months looks like

Eliza at 20 months, full of spit and fire and lots of opinions. 

I wonder which parent she got that from

I wasn't really planning on taking pictures of her, hence the Pancho Villa's salsa spilled on the front of her dress.

She is a lover of pretty things, like glitter, jewelry and bows.

Her favorite toy is the plastic horses which she calls her "neighs."

 She is a little copy cat and mimics everything.  I think she is trying to blow a kiss.

Cute, cute Eliza Jane.

Back to school

The kids headed back to school today.  You can tell from Jacob's face how excited he is, he took a book just in case he got bored in class.  Adam is off to preschool this year, hard to believe he is that old already.  Merry and Grace were excited to head back to school, just not so excited to have their hair fixed in the morning.

One more addition

 We had to get a replacement kitty for the one of the Christmas kittens.

We thought she had got lost while we were one vacation, but it turns out that Merry's kitty must not like the abuse and moved into the orange groves next to us to be a wild and free kitty.

She will come close to the porch but will not come and eat anymore.

 Any who, we go a kitty named Chester as the replacement. 

Eliza loves him, I am not sure he loves Eliza, but he is extremely mellow and tolerates her.

Poor Chester.

 Lest Olaf should feel left out, Eliza gave him some attention too.

Merry comforting Olaf after the torture.  

He still loves to be carried like a baby.

Living at the lake

Happy lake life pictures, celebrating summer.

 First a canoe ride.

Then a dip in the lake.

 Cousin Tara is here to play nanny to the kids while have to work.

 Eliza pretty much thinks she rocks.

 Jacob's mad ninja skills.  At least that is my interpretation of the photo.

 Merry trying to get him back for all the splashing. 

Check out the tan lines on Merry and Tara's backs, that is how you judge if the summer has been well spent.

 This means warrrrr!

Ahh, Jacob is out numbered and out maneuvered by the girls.

Another tooth fairy visit

Surprise!

Adam actually lost a tooth without getting it knocked out.

He did accidentally eat his tooth with his breakfast though.

 One happy boy, the tooth fairy brought him stretchy guys.

Home again, home again

After stopping at the Grand Canyon we made a quick stop  at Brother Paul's house in New Mexico.

Brother Paul took on a short walk to see the magnificent views of the valley by his house.

The child photographer captured a prickly pear

and what appears to be some really dry ground.

The sky is incredibly blue in New Mexico.

After our short visit we took a short detour to San Antonio to visit some old friends.

The kids had a great time playing.

 Fun time.  We did make some cookies and eat breakfast tacos to celebrate the reunion.

It is hard to believe we have 9 kids between the 2 families now.

A really fuzzy picture of the adults.  

The speaker is in focus though.

After a long night of driving we finally made it home.

Grand Canyon - North Rim

Stop # 1 on the way home was the north rim of the Grand Canyon 

 Adam navigated us to find the canyon.

 The crew in front of the lovely scenery.

 Hiking on pavement, it hardly makes sense.

Merry completing the junior ranger badge requirements.

The highlight of the kids visit was the ranger program on horses.  The funny thing was they only talked about mules.  There was around 20 pictures of this horse.  I am not sure who the photographer was that day but they must have loved the horse.