Native Trails

 On Saturday Martin took us to the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts to see Native Trails.   Representatives of tribal nations such as the Hopi, Dine, Akimel-Au-Authm and San Carlos Apache, come together to present musical  performances and dances as well as share stories and cultural information. It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoy some traditional North American flatbread with honey.

Snow day!

This past Thursday we took Hadley to Payson Arizona for her first snow adventure.  Payson had just received a fresh blanket of snow and was only 90 miles north of Phoenix.  We found a park that proved to be the perfect place for her and Dash to play.

Garden vegetables and hand me down toys

Hadley and I have been snacking on carrots and lettuce from the garden the last few weeks. The carrots were a fair size and really sweet. The spinach and peas are still growing and have held up well considering we had nights in the high 20's. 
Hadley recently received some hand me down toys, one being a tricycle. I got the crazy idea to ride it around the house. Hadley jumped on for a ride while Martin documented the one time event.

Merry Christmas!

 It was wonderful teaching Hadley the true meaning of Christmas this year.  We read books, played with her nativity set, sang songs and watched videos. Out of the blue I would ask her questions like, "Who's Birthday is it this month?". She surprised me by saying,  "Baby Jesus".   A few days later I asked again and this time she said, "Daddy's" and she was right.  Hadley had an opportunity to meet Santa at our church and just like last year she wasn't thrilled.  He was soon forgotten when she met Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus on the other side of the room.  As she gets older I'm sure Santa will play a part in her life but it is our intent to always teach her Jesus is the reason for Christmas.

Where is Peter Rabbit?

 Once the weather started to cool from summer we planted carrots, lettuce, spinach and snap peas.  I had prepared our garden to be safe from Peter and his buddies but didn't do such a good job because they found their way in.  A quick trip to the hardware store to pick up chicken wire and Peter and his friends would have to go back to just boring old grass.  Today everything seems to be thriving, we even have tomato plants growing everywhere.  It was my expert gardening friend Edy who pointed them out to me.  Where did they come from?  Our compost. 

 The lemon tree has some shiny new lemons ready for the picking. Hadley and her daddy will do the honors.  The tree already has flower blossoms, a sign of what is to come next year.  As for the orange tree I found a caterpillar.  We knew he would change into a beautiful butterfly and hopefully not do to much damage to the tree so we left him alone.  

 

 Beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Hadley with Pinky Pie and her four favorite skirts.

Orange you beautiful

Our orange tree finally produced its first fruit!  I was so excited about our one piece of fruit I had to post it on the blog. Technically the tree supplied us with two oranges but only one was edible.  Martin, Hadley and I shared the sweet and sour nectar and much to my amazement it was pretty good. We hope next year our tree gives us more yummy fruit to share.