LA County Fair

We've never been to the county fair before.  So, we hit up $1 entrance day on Labor Day this year.  It was HOT, and lots of fun. Surprisingly, the girls weren't at all interested in the animal/farm section.  Zoey especially liked all the rides, and Paige joined her on a few of the smaller ones.

 One of our favorite activities was exploring the "kingdom".  They had a knight school and a princess section with all kinds of dress ups.  Zoey was in heaven.  Paige loves to play house and with pretend food right now, so she enjoyed herself too.

 We saw some neat exhibits about the history of animation.  And we ate some fair food.  Kevin and Zoey shared a deep fried Klondike bar!  It is very likely the Redfords will return to the fair in years to come.

New Callings

At the end of August, Kevin and I both got new callings.  He is still working with the young men, but has moved from the presidency of the young men's to being the scout master.  He was already doing a lot of camping/scouting stuff, but he'll get to be in charge of it now.  The boys love Kevin and he really likes working with them.  He'll be great!

I am the 1st counselor in the new Stake RS Presidency.  Carol Turley is the president, and someone I've admired for a long time.  The 2nd counselor is Patricia (Pati) DeFez, and Ann Cho is the secretary.  We are a good group, and I'm looking forward to getting to know all these women better.  President Mark Bragg and his counselors were there to set us apart before our first meeting.  I really like that he considers us stake leaders.  We'll have speaking assignments in other wards, along with High Counselors.  Carol wants us to visit the Relief Societies all of the 12 wards in the stake before the end of the year.  We go together, based on the schedule she's organized.  I can still go to our ward Sacrament Meeting and some of RS.  Kevin brings the girls home and gets lunch while I'm visiting the other wards.  Seems to be working fine so far.

breakfast Al fresco

For Paige's 2nd birthday we got two new little kid chairs that live on the balcony.  The girls love eating their breakfast (and sometimes lunch) out there.  Being ingenuous, Zoey figured out the piano bench would be the perfect fill in for a table.

First family movie night

We started a new tradition at the end of August:  family movie night.  It isn't on a specific day, nor will it occur with a certain frequency.  It will be a here and there, now and again, kind of tradition.  It will involve a movie, snuggling on the couch and popcorn.  Paige cackled like a hyena when Kevin started popping the popcorn.

For this first family movie I made a poor selection.  Disney's Hercules was too scary for Zoey.  Dad changed it to Dumbo part way through, and all where much happier.  Zoey fell asleep and Paige stayed content on  couch throughout (or so Kevin told me; I had agreed to do a babysitting swap for a friend before Kevin suggested movie night, and wasn't there for the end.)

"I two!"

Paige turned 2!

About our cute girl:

• She's 27 lbs and almost 34 inches tall.
• She's turned into a chatter box, and says all kinds of things.  
• She often uses please, which is super cute and makes me happy that she is polite. 
• "mo peas" is a favorite expression when she is having fun and wants to continue something, or do it again. 
• She still loves yogurt and eats it almost every morning.  
• She is fearless, and has become a very adept climber.  
• She sings along to songs when a word she knows comes along.  Some are songs I don't even know she knows and then suddenly she'll sing the right word at the right time.  
• She walks, and gallops, and dances on the balls of her feet.  
• She flails her arms in front of her when she runs.  
• She's learned how to throw a tantrum.
• She wakes up her sister most mornings.  I hear "O-ey, O-ey" get progressively louder. 
• She cries when we drop sis off at school because she wants to go too. 
• She loves to carry, feed, swaddle, and push baby dolls in the stroller.
• People comment on her striking hair all the time.  
• She likes to give kisses on both cheeks--how very European.
• She is a joy and a delight.  

The first day of school--ever

Zoey has started at Nora Sterry Elementary School's pre-K program.  She goes to class 5 days a week from 8am to 10:35pm  I was very, very sad to realize school was starting so soon (August 12th!) and it was much harder emotionally than I thought it would be.  I didn't think I'd be one of those parents.  But it was bitter sweet having her start school.  Bitter because I feel like our opportunity to go do fun things has been curtailed because of school time, Paige's nap, and late afternoon LA traffic.  I also didn't like the idea of Zoey being gone every day.  The sweet part is how much she likes it.  She was ready to start and has been doing a fairly good job of doing her 5 things she has to do every morning before we read scriptures, pray and leave for school. Those are:
1. eat breakfast
2. get dressed
3. make her bed
4. brush teeth
5. do hair (I help)

 First day of school picture!

Best friend Addie Marsh is in the class for 3 weeks until her family moves

Cousins at the Zoo

Marilee and Nicole and their kids were all finally back from summer travels.  With school starting soon, and cousins dying to see each other, we wanted to get together for a fun adventure.  We decided on the LA zoo.  Lots of fun. 

 These two hadn't seen each other since the middle of June....way too long!

 The kids loved how Paige said "Mo-kee" for Monkey and kept asking her to say it.  The way the young boys take to Paige warms my heart.  They are all so nice to their little cousin. 

 the zoo gang

 No trip to the zoo would be complete with riding on the conservation carousel. Paige used to be scared of going up and down, but likes it now. How does her face get so dirty all the time?  I think that was dried mango and dirt combination.