Brahnka

Dane's parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, and were given the title "Brahnka" by Aria, as grandpa & grandma is still a little too difficult for her to say. :)
During their trip, we went to Reid Park, and enjoyed feeding the ducks and seeing the rose garden.
















We also went to Old Tucson Studios, and watched the comedy shows, gun fights, and learned about the Westerns that were filmed there.
















We also checked out the valley by Gates Pass.














In addition to checking out the U of A, we also went to the Desert Museum, where my mom got to see the beautiful "Crimson Star" Adenium.














And of course, we had a fantastic Thanksgiving Meal!















And we watched the new Star Trek movie, which was pretty good. In summary, we had a really good time. Here are a couple more photos of "Brahnka" playing peek-a-boo with Aria.















Aria sporting some of "Brahnka's" Oregon State gear.














And Aria & "Brahnka" as they watch Wallace & Gromit.

Love that smile

This picture shows Aria wearing the new $5 sunglasses that Dane picked up at the mall. She wouldn't let him wear them, and insisted on sporting them all through the mall, and even outside in the dark. :)

Zerbets & Words

Aria was having fun with her mommy's pregnant tummy.

Finally, another man in the house :)

On Thursday we went to the hospital for Tara's regular checkup and found out via the ultrasound that baby #2 will be a BOY. We'd suspected a girl was on the way, so we were surprised by the news. We've had to stick the name "Nova" on the back burner for the next little girl, and are kicking around names such as "Zade", or "Forest". If only Tara would allow Dane's favorite name "Reuben." Alas.













Later that evening Dane came down with the flu (despite having a flu shot a month ago). It's been 4 days now and the flu just keeps changing symptoms, and doesn't seem to be letting up (although the symptoms are fairly moderate in intesity). We suspect it may be H1N1, so we're grateful that Tara and Aria got the vaccine for it a couple weeks ago. Poor little Aria doesn't understand why her dad can't play with her anymore. It's heart breaking to see her run up to Dane with her arms in the air, wanting to be picked up, and be denied. Hopefully this flu will pass soon.













On a happier note, parental Christmas money arrived (thank you!), and Tara immediately knew what to do. :) She'd long been wanting a bike seat to take Aria around on, so she picked one up, along with a bike to replace the one she's lending out to one of the girls in the youth group she's in charge of. Aria loves it.

Halloween 2009

For Halloween Tara and Aria dressed up as twin fairies, and I (Dane) decided to take the place of the baby in the family. We went to the church and Aria went Trunk or Treating. She even would mumble that little phrase, which sounded more like "Ta Tweet". She got a big smile on her face at each car when she was given a piece of candy. By the end, her little candy pail was so heavy, she could hardly haul it around with two hands, but she didn't let that stop her. :) When we got home we took her around our block, and let her build up her candy stockpile. She loved it. When she got home though, she was determined to consume the entire bounty in one sitting, so when we interfered with that, she put up quite a fuss and went to bed angry. The next day (today), we went on a family walk, and to our surprise, she started walking up to all the houses on the street. At first we thought she was just being a wandering child, but we quickly realized that she thought Halloween was still on. If only you could go up to peoples' houses everyday and they would give you candy. :) Here are some pics from the evening, including the jack-o-lantern Tara carved.