It's Pumpkin Time!

Wow, It's been a busy month so far...and now we're getting ready for Sean's birthday and Halloween! We've had an "event" every Saturday. We went to Vincent's 2nd birthday party, went to a pumpkin carving party last weekend, and to Buckelew Farms (the pumpkin patch) this weekend with the McGuire's. We have also been going to the park, we had a playdate/group with Rory and Clara, and we are always entertained by Elliot's new tricks. We've been having lots of fun. Elliot did have a little set-back about two weeks ago: another ear infection! But he's much better now. He is trying to say so many new words these days and last night he started figuring out how to make the /k/ sound at the end of words!!! I know, the speech therapist in me gets a little carried away-but I think Sean was actually more excited than I was!!

Check out all the new pics-there are a lot!

Happy Harvest, Happy Fall!

Well, here's the latest installment of the Semonsky family updates....

It's festival time here in Tucson. Two weekends ago we went to the Greek festival-mmmm lots of yummy gyros, souvlaki, spanokopita, baklava and many other yummy pastries! Not to mention live music...Elliot's favorite part of the festival! Then this past weekend we went to the Oktoberfest. The German food was definitely disappointing (we knew it would be from remembering last year's food) but again there was live music-and Elliot was busting his moves out on the dance floor. He even has a signature move called "the donkey". Unfortunately we forgot our camera! And of course both festivals were extra fun because we were there with our buddies-Anita, David and Rory!

Elliot seems to be going through another growth spurt. Lots of new vocabulary, comprehension and "tricks". I took him to the park yesterday and he climbed UP the slide by himself (with me spotting him of course) and he went down the twisty slide by himself too! I believe he has the Semonsky Dare Devil in him -just like his Daddy, Uncle Lee and Uncle Steve! (Did I mention he is on his 3rd Ouch Report from school?!) He also likes to feed Petty now, put on his Crocs by himself, and he knows exactly which button(s) to push to turn on/off the TV, stereo, answering machine, and CD/clock radios. He is SO observant. Elliot also has learned to say "PopPop", "Nana", "Marmee" and "Pappy"-which made Nana very happy on the phone! I know it seems like I say it every week, but he is just SO fun right now!

Check out the new Pics

Until next time....Peace and love to all-

Hey-is anyone going to come visit us soon??!

Camping Fun

Hi There.

Lots of new stuff to catch everyone up on...Elliot and I both started new classes this past week. Elliot started a "Little Movers and Shakers" class through the city parks and rec. dept. It is held in a big gym-type room with lots of mats, springboard floor, obstacle courses, balance beams, bars, etc. The teacher opens the class with a music and movement circle-then lots of play climbing and running...Elliot even learned how to do a forward roll (with my support) and we played with the parachute. It was a lot of fun (for both of us)!! I started a 3 credit class I have to take to recertify. It's half online and half in class for 8 weeks. So far so good...but already looking forward to the end. And Sean got to pick up Elliot a couple of times last week and even dropped him off one morning-Luckily Elliot didn't cry when Sean left...Oh but Elliot did get his first "ouch report" from school last week...He went down the slide head first and busted his lip-it healed pretty quickly.

So for fun we got to hang out with the McGuire's a bit two weekends ago. It was fun to have the boys (Rory and Elliot) together again. Elliot continues to do new things to amuse us. He had a green mesh bag he uses to put little books in, sometimes he puts little animals in it, and sometimes he puts it on his head and says "Hat" and walks around the house with it on his head. Fortunately he can see through it!

And the big fun we just had this past weekend was CAMPING. We took Elliot on his first camping adventure. Went to Mt. Lemmon (close by) on Saturday. We had lunch in the little town of Summerhaven and then spent the night. Elliot loved being outdoors-lots of rocks, sticks and dirt to play with and Petty enjoyed it too. So, in addition to it being Elliot's first night sleeping in a tent, it he also experienced his first bee sting, first scraped knees, first campfire, and well, it was actually his second car sickness experience! I guess he inherited that from Sean, poor guy! But watching the expression on his face when he woke up in his own little sleeping bag in the tent.....PRICELESS! Then Sean made us a pancake breakfast and we headed home. It was a fun way to celebrate my birthday!

That's all for now-Keep in touch.

love ya'll

Take a Hike

Some of us are hiking and some of us are being hiked....Can you guess who is who?? We bought a new backpack for Elliot and decided to give it a try on Mount Lemmon last weekend. It was so nice to escape the heat and be in the woods with lots of trees and wildflowers and even critters! Sean found a horned toad. We have never seen this trail so lush and overgrown. It was a lot of fun and even Petty found water at the end of the trail...

Erin and I were feeling rather adventurous and decided to take our yearly journey north to Chinle (over Labor Day weekend) but this time with the kids. Chinle is where Erin and I met and we love going back to visit the canyon and our friend Betty Kay. We were a little nervous about the long car ride which usually takes us 6 hours....but the kids were so good and really entertained themselves pretty well in the back seat with toys and books. It did take us 8 hours to get there....and 7 hours to get home, but we made a few extra stops this time...We hiked down and up the canyon with the kiddos on our backs-and the canyon was so beautiful and full of energy. We also took the kids on the playground at Betty Kay's school and just enjoyed being together with old friends and away from the heat and hustle and bustle of the city.

So besides our outdoor adventures, Elliot has just been exercising his independence and now wants to "help" with the vacuuming, fixing things in the house, and lots of other tasks around the house. He has also been practicing some new dance moves. He seems to be settling into the school routine now and he didn't even cry when I dropped him off this morning!!!

Hope you all had a fun, relaxing weekend-Keep in touch and check out the new pics.

XOXOXO

Back to School

The two school-aged Semonsky's are now starting their third week of school already! Elliot has had an expected adjustment period...He and I both shed some tears the first three days of school, but by the fourth day I dropped Elliot off in his classroom, he stopped crying by the time I got to the front door of the school-SO, it made leaving a little easier. Over the weekend of the first week of school Elliot slept 11 hours Sat night (unusual!) and then a 4 hour nap on Sunday!!! I guess school tuckered him out! Then the second week was complicated by Elliot's eye surgery. The procedure went well-they inserted a tube into his tear duct, and it is sutured to the inside of his nose. The first day was difficult for all of us-and Elliot only wanted "Dada" to comfort him (in addition to his twinkle baby, puppy, and "stinky thing"-the pacifier) but by Tuesday he was back to himself. And the best part...No goop in the eye anymore...let's hope it stays that way!! Going back to school on Wednesday was hard since he had been off for four days. Finally this week it seems like we are getting back on schedule with sleeping, getting out of the house, and separating from each other for the day. I am definitely very anxious to leave school on time so we have more time to play before bedtime. Sean is keeping busy too and helping out with the new routine.

Elliot seems to enjoy playing with the steering wheels on the playground at school, he loves the music and dancing, but his most favorite thing about school I think are the snacks!!! They tell me he only eats his fruit out of his lunch everyday...but he eats ALL of his morning and afternoon snacks-requesting seconds and thirds sometimes!....That's our boy! He is so much fun, and he does new "things" all the time. He will now do motions to familiar songs, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed....And he's using words to make requests and his needs and wants known!

I'm posting some new pics-check'em out.

lots of love-

Peachy Keen

The rains continue to grace us with their presense. However, the rain is not all good...There has been a lot of damage due to the rains, and this week a few people have even lost their lives in raging washes here in Tucson. It is very scary how powerful and intense the monsoons can be. The other thing the rains bring is ANTS...Elliot and I both were bit by fire ants this week. Thankfully Elliot's bites didn't result in a severe reaction like mine...but they are definitely painful!

We decided to head out of town toward Wilcox, AZ to pick peaches! There is a pretty big farm/orchard(s) called Apple Annie's. Anita and I thought we should leave early (to avoid the storms)...and wouldn't you know just as we arrived it started pouring! Luckily, it only lasted a few minutes and then it cleared enough for us to pick about 15 pounds of peaches!! It was a lot of fun tasting the different varieties right off the trees. Elliot didn't like the peaches so much, but enjoyed pushing the cart and picking them off the ground saying, "ball, ball". Rory, on then other hand was chowing down and loved the peaches! We did get to enjoy some homemade peach icecream too.

Elliot continues to show off his independence and likes exploring and trying out new things, like Petty's crate, putting our shoes on, and today he was really into taking care of his "bubu"(baby). In fact, he held his baby through lunch and even fed him some zucchini. Today I took him to the grocery store and he ate 3 bananas while we were shopping!!! And when "Dada" is home, I am pretty much invisible...I guess it's a guy thing.

So, tomorrow is our last day of "freedom" then back to school for me...and Elliot will also be starting his school. We visited this week again, and I left the room for a while-Elliot was expectedly upset at first, but then engaged in play and seemed to be happy. Hopefully this week we will fall into a groove and routine.

Have a fun week. More to come....

Monsoon Madness

We are definitely in the middle of an active monsoon season! We've been getting rain almost everyday-and Saturday parts of Tucson got 3 inches of rain!!! Our pool even started overflowing on one side (it's not exactly on level ground...) There have been some pretty incredible sights-rainbows, raging washes, beautiful sunsets, and lots of wildlife. Last night we took a walk over at David and Anita's house. On our walk we saw a tarantula (a big one!)...and since I had the camera they told me to take a picture of it "Get closer, get closer" they all shouted!-I took two pictures and got creeped out. So, Sean took the camera and decided to get closer...At first the tarantula jumped, and then Sean took one more picture and it started running after him-We all (David with the two dogs, Anita and I each with a stroller and little guy, and Sean) high-tailed it outta there! Then we saw a coyote, but it was a less climatic encounter. Oh, and then when we woke up this morning-our night blooming cactus had bloomed-YEAH!

SO, other news this week...Lily got her annual shave. She's looking a lot smaller, except for her belly, which now is very prominant. Elliot and I went to visit his new school. He enjoyed it-especially all the steering wheels on the playground. We got to storytime, and we got to meet Erin and Dylan at Cracker Barrel for lunch! Dylan is getting so big and is crawling now!! Yeah!

Elliot is imitating just about everything we do now...he wants to wash his hands when we do, talk on the phone when we do, and Sean usually squats down when he hands Elliot a banana in the morning, so now Elliot says, "Adada" (translation: banana) and squats down to wait for Sean to give him a piece ....Too funny!

Check out the pics-and keep in touch!

loveya all-