Rawhide and Cookies (and dough)

Well, it’s been a fun weekend for us. On Friday we had our date night where we trade babysitting with two other families. This week it was Joy and Mike’s turn to watch the three girls and they entertained them with cookie making! We thought that was very adventurous of them to try to get three toddlers in the kitchen with flour and chocolate! They did a great job though and we got to take home a plate of cookies! Our date itself was not the most exciting. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something like eating out and the movies we wanted to see were all over two hours long so what did we do? We went looking for Elia’s birthday present. She sees me taking pictures all the time and always wants to take pictures. She takes pictures of Watson, Ethan, her shoes, Elmo, or whatever else she can so that she can hold the camera.
We had actually been planning to get her a cheap digital camera for her birthday, and we’ve been telling her that her birthday’s coming, but one day out of the blue she announced, “I want a pink camera for my birthday, Rachel (one of her friends) wants a purple one, and Joy (Rachel’s mom) wants a black one.” We didn’t even know she equated a birthday with gifts! There is no turning back now, though we want to keep birthdays (and Christmas) in moderation. The camera is all we’ll get her for her birthday and we’ll have a little party with friends and treats, but no gifts. We have too many toys as it is!
So, for our very romantic date we hit Ritz and then Target looking for a cheap camera for her. We think she will have a lot of fun with it. It is kid friendly and, though we will teach her to treat it carefully, is durable enough to withstand dropping and kid hands.

On Friday night Jen’s mom came from Yuma (3 hours southwest) for a visit. We’re sure she comes to see the grandkids, but she sure likes playing Settlers of Catan! We played on Friday night with Sean, one of Eric’s schoolmates, then two games on Saturday. We destroyed our 9:30 bedtime and stayed up until 12:30 on Friday and 1:30 on Saturday! I am feeling it today, but it was fun. On Saturday night we went to Rawhide, this old-style town south of Phoenix with the Thunderkids group. Elia participated in a shoe race, during which she fell, but still won a t-shirt. It was fun to be with other people, but it was so hot and unimpressive. Let’s just say, we won’t be returning! On Sunday morning, Elia got a taste of making cookies Lowry style" with her Grandma. We dump all the ingredients in the bowl and mix with our hands. Even though he admits that can’t tell a difference, Eric still insists on creaming the sugar and butter and vanilla and eggs together then adding the dry ingredients. For all you out there who do this let it be written: IT DOESN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Just try it! Elia wasn’t too sure about this whole mixing with hands thing at first, but then when we told her about licking her hands after she was done, she got a lot more involved.

So the week has started again. Eric’s finals end in just three weeks. On Thursday Nana (Eric’s mom) comes for a visit. We’re excited to have more company to give variety to our routine!
Also, our little girl came up with two new Eliaism (those cute things she says that make us laugh) today. She saw a plane overhead and said, “Look at that plane. It’s going that way… I can’t believe it!” Then later on our walk I said, “I love my little girl.” Elia replied, “Yeah, I love you guys too.”