Ok, here goes….

Another MLB season is about to begin and here in the desert, we are very excited. Since MLB dad has spent much of the last 6 weeks away from home, I thought he might want to hear how his daughters (furry and human) feel about the upcoming season.

I hope you enjoy these and until the playoffs are over …. Root, Root, Root for the Dbacks

Love,
MLB Mama

Braelyn gives us her feelings on the upcoming season and her daddy!

Not to be outdone, Reiley felt like chiming in with her two-cents!

Today B & I went to swim class, the new favorite activity :)  She enjoys splashing, playing with the squirting toys and just generally doing whatever she wants regardless of the lesson plan for the day.  She has no fear of the water (a good and BAD thing for mom and dad) and doesn’t mind going underwater a bit. 

The indoor swim school (Yes, even in hot and sunny AZ, there are times when we can’t swim outside!) that she goes to is really great - wonderful instructors and staff, small class sizes and an immaculate dressing room and restroom area.  This is quite impressive to me since I only have one 2-year-old and know how hard it is to keep things clean with her running around all day!  I was hesitant at first to put her in an official swim school - how hard can it be to teach a baby to swim right?  Well, it’s much harder than one would think and after a summer where she only hung out on the steps, I opted to take her somewhere that would force her (and me!) to take the next step and do the dreaded underwater plunge!  As with most things, the anticipation of the event is far worse than the actual event - - I was dreading some screaming, crying, coughing, water-up-the-nose-and-in-the-mouth episodes and encountered none of them at all.  After a couple of trials with nothing more than a look of surprise, B was a natural under the water.  Every week I ask her “Where are we going today?” and she responds with a big smile and a happy answer of “SWIM CLASS!” 

It’s so fun to share in these type of activities with her & we are so grateful that I can do it every week and that when Matt is in town, his schedule will allow him to participate as well.  We hope you enjoy the pics and are looking forward to the swimming weather as much as we are (although, I WILL pass on the 110 degree temps) 95 is warm enough for pool time :) 

Happy Swimming, reading, walking, talking or whatever makes you happy this week!!!!

Love,

MLB Mama

Wow - what a weekend!  After R-dog being sick with a mysterious virus that cannot, apparently be figured out by modern veterinary medicine, but rather by 2 women with a human medical encyclopedia! and having the whole family (MLB Dad now has fallen prey to the nasty virus) knocked out cold by a bout of the FLU - I think things are getting back to normal here :) 

MLB Dad has had to miss the last 2 Spring Training games, but will be heading back to Tucson tomorrow and then returning for good (meaning until he leaves for lovely Cincinnati March 30th) next Thursday.  After the craziness that is Spring Training, it seems like the regular season is a walk in the park, well maybe a brisk run since it is a whirlwind and goes by so quickly.  At least we know where we will be at any given time, which at least provides some peace of mind for the next 6 months

MLB Dad had an off day (1 day out of 6 weeks is great right?) on Tuesday of this week and so we decided to take “B” to the Desert Botanical Garden where they have a butterfly pavilion - an enclosed area that houses 100s of butterflies that fly around and land on your clothes, arms, hair, etc.  I was suprised to discover that people are apparently quite afraid of the butterflies landing on them and would scream and run away, leading me to ask the question, “If you are so terrified of the scary butterflies, why on earth are you enclosing yourself in an area where 100s of them are living and flying and landing?”  Our girl was not one of the weak however, and she was excited when the butterfly landed on her hand.  She did tell me later that she wanted to get away from the “noisy, scared big people!”

We also did our first Easter Egg coloring extravaganza which consisted mainly of MLB Dad trying to get her to be gentle with the eggs and B humoring him for 2 seconds only to drop them (and crack them!) into the colored water 2 seconds later.  She did enjoy it and her artistic ability shined through :) 

Until next time - we hope you are all well and getting your Sedona Red and Sonoran Sand gear out of the back of your closets!

Love, MLB Mama

P.S. I have been advised by the oldest and wisest of bloggers, that it is never a good idea to use real names in your posts so … our names have been changed to protect the innocent :wink:

Hey to all of our family and friends!

I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to look at our new family blog :)  Both Matt and I will be posting periodically (hopefully frequently) to keep you all up on life in the desert!  Since we don’t get to see you all as much as we’d like, we thought this would be a fun way to stay in touch.  We hope you will click on the subscribe tab and enter in your email so that you will receive notification when we update the blog.  We are looking forward to your comments and you keeping you in the loop of the craziness that has become the AZ Smiths!