Betsy Bailey

This email just came in for my 8 year old from her best friend:

I know it’s not fair. I might get a DS for
X-Mas. Did you know Santa’s not real my
Mom and Dad were talking a bout him last
night.
From,
Paige

Even after that email – and you assume some discussion later that day at school – she is not questioning. We don’t even really promote Santa much these days. We do stockings, but nothing is ever labeled “from Santa,” we don’t do letters to Santa or sitting on Santa’s lap. No putting out milk and cookies. She just has decided to believe. I was the same. I remember sustaining some level of belief internally well until I was 11 or 12!

I remember riding around with my Grandma around our town on Christmas Eve when I was around that age, looking at Christmas lights (an annual tradition) and listening to Christmas music on the radio. Periodically the announcers would do the “Santa tracking” thing and I thought grown up adults wouldn’t go to such lengths if there was no Santa. Even though another part of my mind knew this just really didn’t work rationally.

I was the oldest sibling, though! It’s hard to imagine her more jaded older sibs haven’t spilled the beans, eh? I rather think they MUST have and she’s just persistent in her belief. The power of denial – and the power of believing what we WANT to believe just has to be true – even the most irrational, literal version of the myth.

What are you making for Thanksgiving??

We’re having:

Turkey
Sausage and apple  stuffing
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Cornbread souffle
Old fashioned green bean casserole (I have a particularly good recipe for this)
Cranberry sauce
Waldorf salad
Pumpkin bread (already a loaf in the freezer from earlier baking spree)
Pie that Scott’s sister is bringing

Here comes Halloween!

I love July 4! Not only is it a long weekend this year, but it’s also my 40th birthday and today, the 6th, is our third wedding anniversary (and Jake’s 11 month birthday!).

I’ve been having a wonderful weekend. I miss my girlies, but I had a nice long talk with each of them when they called to wish me happy birthday and they were just SO sweet. I’m enjoying the quiet time, but I also can’t WAIT until they are home! They are having a blast with their grandma and that part of their family (which is HUGE and close knit) and I’m glad about that, though.

Scott is totally indulging me – he helped me get a pedicure on Friday after we had dinner at my favorite little Italian restaurant. Yummy! Then we came home and relaxed, watched Nova (about how fireworks are made and displayed – we’re such GEEKS!). Then we watched the Tempe Town Lake fireworks on TV heh. Which was nice because the weather was very iffy at fireworks time – lots of wind, dust and lightening. Eventually the storm blew north of the city, but it was touch and go for a couple hours. I’m just as happy we weren’t out in that.

Yesterday, we had our anniversary luncheon (our anniversary is today, but we wanted to spend Sunday being lazy around the house). We found a little wine bistro called D’Vine that isn’t too far from our house. We went around 1 pm and it was perfect. We were the only ones there and Jake was a dream baby. we started him off with some Cheerios, but as soon as our tapas arrived, he was having NONE of that. He wanted to eat our yummy food. He basically ate one third of it, too! We even ordered him his own entree he is getting to be such a hearty self-feeder! Besides eating a substantial portion of what we ordered him, he also shared a bit of OUR entrees, plus dessert. We couldn’t believe how much that boy put away! Here was the menu:

stuffed mushroom
marinated grilled portabella stuffed with a blend of cheeses, roasted garlic, red onions and bacon

fried artichoke
beer battered artichoke hearts lightly fried and drizzled with a chipotle aioli

Jake had the

grilled cheese “samich” (with gruyere)
your choice of gruyere, cheddar or havarti with a basil butter; served with french fries)

Scott and I had the

pork tenderloin
chipotle marinated pork tenderloin, grilled and sliced then served with green chili mashed potatoes, sautéed vegetables then finished with a red chimichuri sauce

Peach cobbler a la mode for dessert
After that, we went to the jewelry store to get my wedding set cleaned up, Scott’s ring re-sized and re-engraved (it’s too big) and look at mama rings. We decided not to get a mama ring yet, but this ring instead:

The rubies represent July – my birthstone, as well as the month we were married. Three stones represent our three years of marriage. So it’s a combo 40th birthday/3 year anniversary ring. Scotty has the mama ring in reserve for some other holiday someday lol. It’s at the jewelers being re-sized right now. I’ll get it on Friday.

Today we’re hanging out at home, doing our own cookin’ and probably taking Jake for a swim.

Looking at pix on camera:

Jake LOVES Dr. Who (especially the theme song and credits)

Jake is 11 months old:

Pat-a-cake with mama:

Sillies:

Teef!

Attack of the hat is a fun game! (This is the split second before he ripped it off lol)

There is no better day for the Phoenix Zoo than superbowl Sunday – the weather is usually comfortable and the place is practically deserted!

We had all the kids today, plus Superbowl Sunday (in 2005, that was Feb 6) is the anniversary of our first date (three years ago) and we chose the zoo as our first meeting place.

We also introduced our children to each other at the zoo, later that spring.

When Scott first saw me walking (so proudly lol) into the zoo with my children that first time, he said, “ahh, there you are – with your little ducklings all in a row.” So sweet. I feel all melty just thinking about it again. ♥

Here’s a pic from that day, almost three years ago:

Two years ago, when we were celebrating the first anniversary of our first date, we went to the zoo sans children, rented one of those bicycle surreys and debated whether or not we should have a baby together while we cycled around the zoo. I went off the pill mid-February and the TTC fun began.

I say, we sure have done a lot of living these past three years!!

Here are some pix from the day we had today. I can’t BELIEVE what a good time we had. Not one meltdown. Okay, Andrew really didn’t want to be there, but he was a good sport in spite of it. Yes, HM is wearing shorts. It was a gorgeous day!

Bailey, HM and Mira: