What's Up

Remy is splitting his time between the vacuums and superheroes. Thanks to the Lego Marvel game his favorites right now are Hulk and Iron Man. I have to keep reminding him that just because Hulk can throw things around doesn't mean that Remy should. Here he is playing in the bathroom sink with Hulk and a fire engine.

Mom has been sewing like mad for her ETSY sight. She made 6 of these adorable elves and I was lucky enough to get one before they all sold out! Mine is sitting on the fireplace mantle and I can't wait to get the Christmas decorations out of the garage and start decorating so that he isn't so lonely!
 

We had three days of non-stop rain here. That's an uncommon thing around here. I love the sun. Living here, I think I have actually become addicted to the sun. But it was a perfect opportunity to get nice and cozy with the fireplace going, thick socks on, and holiday scented candles burning. It wasn't so good for the roses. Here is one I rescued from the rain.

After three days of rain the clouds finally lifted on Sunday morning and this was the view from our bedroom. Snow! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

New Camera Lens

During my first trimester I not only stopped blogging but I also stopped taking photos. (I was exhausted! I did manage to watch a lot of Doc Martin.) Anyway, when I recently dug my camera gear back out I noticed that my 50mm f/1.8 wasn't performing well at all and on further inspection it appears that the autofocus feature on that lens has broken. It's only a $100 lens, made of plastic, and out of warranty, so sending it in for repair didn't make sense. Instead I did a little online shopping and found that the 40mm f/2.8 is a popular alternative. It's $50 more but has a sturdier construction, and because it shoots a little wider (sorry, I don't know the correct lingo) you don't feel so cramped using it indoors. This is big draw for me because I was having the hardest time fitting more than one person into the frame with my 50mm. I would back up and back up and then bang into a kitchen counte. So the 40mm arrived on Friday and I am loving it so far. Here is what it looks like and here are some of my first pictures with it (my camera is the Canon T3.)

It's small but much heavier than the 50mm f/1.8. I ordered mine from Amazon.

Newest Park in the Neighborhood

We have wonderful parks in the neighborhood and Saturday we checked out the newest one. Wide, grassy areas to run and play, more than enough picnic pavilions, courts aplenty for the grown-ups, and a great playground for the kids. Add to that the gorgeous views of Lone Mountain and the Spring Mountains and this could be our new family favorite.

Family Involvement Day: Gymboree

Once a  month Remy's class has a "Family Involvement Day" when class is canceled but a one hour activity is set up for the whole family. This month they invited Gymboree to come and give a taste of what their classes are like for the kids.  One of the regular-ed classes joined us for the first half of the event but after that we had the instructor (and all the parachute!) to ourselves.

It was fun to see Remy with his classmates. The boys didn't really talk to each other, but they were sweet with one another and had a great time running around together.  I was surprised at how often Remy separated from the group and had to be led back into the activities. He is definitely not shy at home, but with so many new faces you could tell that he wanted to enjoy things from a little further back.  I was really impressed (once again) with his teacher, Miss Vicky. She was so affectionate and tuned in with the kids, definitely the kind of person you can feel awesome about leaving your child with for 6.5 hours of the day!

Red Rock Canyon

October and November are two of my favorite months in Las Vegas. The temperatures are in the 70s and 80s in the day time so you can really get out and enjoy nature. Yesterday, after a late lunch at Lucille's, we decided it was too nice a day to go home so we drove out to Red Rock Canyon. Remy napped in the car most of the time while we did the loop through the park and we got out at a couple of place we don't usually stop so that we could see the views from a different perspective. It was great, hopefully we will get to back next month when Steph is in town!

Halloween 2013

Remy was Darth Vader this year. His interest in Star Wars comes more from the Angry Birds game than the movies but they don't make Angry Birds Star Wars costumes. ;)

Baby on Board

I couldn't believe it when I came here to the blog and saw that I hadn't updated since July! I think that may be a record for me. I have a good excuse though, I got pregnant in August and have been laying low while I waited out the morning sickness and 1st trimester exhaustion. Fortunately, I am 15 weeks pregnant now and feeling so much better. Here is an ultrasound image from week 12:

 

Isn't that a beautiful baby? I can hardly believe it. This is my 6th pregnancy and only the second one to make it this far so I am beyond grateful. At 35 years old I am considered of "advanced maternal age," so they have been carefully monitoring this pregnancy and so far it has been smooth sailing. Now that I am feeling so much better I will try to update more often.