Our first Christmas in Arizona....and just in case there was any doubt, that background is fake....Gilbert really does not get snow like that at any time of year.....
Saturday 25 December 2010
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Piggy Bank...
Amelia wants a "bank account"...but really she means a piggy bank and it needs to be pink and look cute and maybe have spots on it....but mostly it needs to hold tons of money....as she has to carry all this money around with her all the time and really it needs a bank......
She is my little entrepreneur.....out of four kids, I guess one had to follow in Daddy's footsteps (and I can tell that he loves this streak in her!). She will ask for chore after chore to do (after first checking how much money she will earn by doing it!) A few weeks ago she even set up an entire lemonade stand in front of the house - she made the lemonade herself.....dragged out her dressing up box to set everything on and a chair to sit on and sat out front for almost 2 hours (it started raining which forced her inside). She walked to a few of the neighbors houses to solicit their business and probably made about 50c...she determined that she needed to make a big sign next time so she could make more money:)
Anyway, this morning, Andrew "found" a piggy bank on Amazon via his phone and she was in love with it and pleaded with me to buy it for her....but not wanting to commit to a $20 pig....I fobbed her off with an "Not right now....I'll think about it" so off she went crying to find Andrew to try and convince him......(which she did.....but that's not the point of the story). Andrew asked her if mommy was being a meanie (because of the tears) and she went quiet and then said "I can't say the answer to that"!! .....maybe she'll be a lawyer, not an entrepreneur:)
She is my little entrepreneur.....out of four kids, I guess one had to follow in Daddy's footsteps (and I can tell that he loves this streak in her!). She will ask for chore after chore to do (after first checking how much money she will earn by doing it!) A few weeks ago she even set up an entire lemonade stand in front of the house - she made the lemonade herself.....dragged out her dressing up box to set everything on and a chair to sit on and sat out front for almost 2 hours (it started raining which forced her inside). She walked to a few of the neighbors houses to solicit their business and probably made about 50c...she determined that she needed to make a big sign next time so she could make more money:)
Thursday 23 September 2010
Last One...
Growing up we always used the phrase..."last one in's a rotten egg" why? I don't know, but we did.....anyway, I'm guessing I must have said it more than once to 'encourage' my kids to get in the car and put their seatbelts on, but my cute little Amelia has her own spin on it and I just realised what she was saying last week....."First one in's a chocolate egg" .....talk about positive thinking:) Just today she was in the car scratching away at her leg and I said to her "be careful, you might scratch your leg off" just joking around with her and in all seriousness she replied, "No.....look it's still there" Oh the sweet innocence:) I love that cute little five year old ........even when......she cut her own hair last week!!!
OK so that morning, they had just got cute little dresses in the mail from Auntie Amy for their birthday...so I have a real true "before" picture......
She walked up to me and said "Mom, do you love my hair?" and I looked up and thought or quite possibly said in a not loving it kind of way "what .....did...... you....... do???" At which point her proud of herself happy face crumbled into a not so happy why what did I do face and she ran away......
THE EVIDENCE........
...she couldn't quite reach the back but the front got pretty short....she just wouldn't let me take a photo of it:)
So I fixed her up good enough to get her to school the next morning.......
Friday 20 August 2010
John Mayer concert...
Andrew managed to get some tickets the same day of the concert so the kids ended up skipping ballet, scouts and youth and we disappeared off to the concert.....
It was kinda surreal to arrive to this outdoor ampitheater and find it is exactly the same as the new one in Alpharetta....a little de ja vu to be in a familiar place at a John Mayer concert again.....made me miss Alpharetta all over again.....the de ja vu feeling wore off as the temperature stayed just below 100 degrees ALL NIGHT.....
First on was Owl City....although fireflies was the only song I recognized or liked - their other songs were a little techno-ey.....and then on came John Mayer....by this time it was around 9pm and dark.......
He played tons more songs that we knew at this concert (or perhaps we just know tons more of his songs than we did two years ago...??) which was fun....it was also fun to be able to lay on the lawn on a big blanket.......ok until everyone stood up anyway so we had to stand up too if we wanted to see:) We made it through to about 10.30pm and then couldn't hack the heat anymore....we were both kinda sweaty so no more contact/snuggling anyway......:)
Good music, cute date, fun to do something different.....but next time we won't do an ampitheater in Arizona in August:)
Wednesday 18 August 2010
Fun Night
We had a really fun night this week with a couple of Andrew's friends from work who were over from Brazil (Chris and Raphael). Lisa and Tonya came too with their kids and we spent the night playing piano, guitar and singing....ok so some of us sang and played while everyone else listened in awe:) Andrew only got a short video clip of Cristiano serenading us.......
and somehow we didn't get any video of McKenna's amazing talent - she'll just have to do it again for us:)
and somehow we didn't get any video of McKenna's amazing talent - she'll just have to do it again for us:)
Thursday 12 August 2010
School....
So the first day of school yesterday - Daniel started 8th Grade, Jordan started 6th, Abbie started 3rd and Amelia started Pre-K (ok so she had just an hour today; "orientation" or something??? )
But for just an hour, I was all alone.....I mean not even Andrew was home (he's actually away for work right now)....and it was really weird. I thought I was going to really relish and enjoy the moment, but it was just strange and still and quiet,.....I realized its the first time I've been without a baby/kid or working from home husband in a LOT of years and I almost didn't know what to do with myself (ok so in that hour, I probably browsed facebook and put the dishes away...yay!) I'm sure I will figure it out - but for that one hour I actually missed my kids and I was glad when the hour was over and I could go and pick up Amelia (now by the evening when I'd had to feed, get to scouts/youth, then get into bed with teeth brushed, and deal with a few minor arguments in between,..... I was over it!)
But for just an hour, I was all alone.....I mean not even Andrew was home (he's actually away for work right now)....and it was really weird. I thought I was going to really relish and enjoy the moment, but it was just strange and still and quiet,.....I realized its the first time I've been without a baby/kid or working from home husband in a LOT of years and I almost didn't know what to do with myself (ok so in that hour, I probably browsed facebook and put the dishes away...yay!) I'm sure I will figure it out - but for that one hour I actually missed my kids and I was glad when the hour was over and I could go and pick up Amelia (now by the evening when I'd had to feed, get to scouts/youth, then get into bed with teeth brushed, and deal with a few minor arguments in between,..... I was over it!)
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Back to School....
School starts tomorrow - Daniel is going into 8th grade, Jordan into 6th, Abbie into 3rd and Amelia is in Pre-K......so it's been the usual rush of school supplies, backpacks, shoes, clothes, schedules, open houses and haircuts..... I hope tomorrow goes smoothly:)
Abbie wanted to go short and for the first time I let her do it (even though I could have puked right there and then when the lady chopped off the first chunk of her hair!)....she looks sooooooo cute but I was really nervous that she would hate it and cry when she realised her hair was actually gone....but so far she really loves it too so we are happy:)
Amelia wanted to get her hair cut the same as Abbie's but I'm not so willing and ready to let her start to grow up and look old and mature.....so we went with a couple of inches off...
And the boys got their hair cut (even though it still looks like it is in their eyes...) I wonder if they will ever change their minds about having longer hair and go with a short hair style??? I wonder if they will look back on their hair when they are adults and laugh about it...or if they'll always think it looks cool!
Abbie wanted to go short and for the first time I let her do it (even though I could have puked right there and then when the lady chopped off the first chunk of her hair!)....she looks sooooooo cute but I was really nervous that she would hate it and cry when she realised her hair was actually gone....but so far she really loves it too so we are happy:)
Amelia wanted to get her hair cut the same as Abbie's but I'm not so willing and ready to let her start to grow up and look old and mature.....so we went with a couple of inches off...
And the boys got their hair cut (even though it still looks like it is in their eyes...) I wonder if they will ever change their minds about having longer hair and go with a short hair style??? I wonder if they will look back on their hair when they are adults and laugh about it...or if they'll always think it looks cool!
Thursday 5 August 2010
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Advice....
Read this today and thought it was great advice - now if only I could remember to use it in the moment:)
"That boy is going to be the death of me. He never listens. I tell him and I tell him, but do you think he cares what I say? No! Not in the least. I don't know how he is going to learn if he never listens."
We've all heard the parent who talks like this,....
How old were you when you learned to shut out your parents' lectures? Lectures didn't work for our parents and they seldom work for us. They don't even bring out the best in our spouses.
The best rule of thumb is:
Keep it short.
Keep it polite.
Make it a question.
"Oh, Darla, I noticed that you were being a bit snippy with your friends when we were in the car. Do you ever worry about losing their friendship because of that?"
It's possible you might get a snippy answer like, "No, besides it's none of your business."
Instead of lecturing, stick with your polite questions. "Oh, sweetie, that might be true, but if not, do you have a plan? Good luck."
"That boy is going to be the death of me. He never listens. I tell him and I tell him, but do you think he cares what I say? No! Not in the least. I don't know how he is going to learn if he never listens."
We've all heard the parent who talks like this,....
How old were you when you learned to shut out your parents' lectures? Lectures didn't work for our parents and they seldom work for us. They don't even bring out the best in our spouses.
The best rule of thumb is:
Keep it short.
Keep it polite.
Make it a question.
"Oh, Darla, I noticed that you were being a bit snippy with your friends when we were in the car. Do you ever worry about losing their friendship because of that?"
It's possible you might get a snippy answer like, "No, besides it's none of your business."
Instead of lecturing, stick with your polite questions. "Oh, sweetie, that might be true, but if not, do you have a plan? Good luck."
Friday 30 July 2010
Houseboating on Lake Powell....
Greg and Lara, Whitney, Carley and Wes flew in from Atlanta to come and spend six days on the houseboat with us on Lake Powell....and we had LOADS of fun:) Lake Powell is AMAZING:)
Andrew, Greg, Lara, Whitney and yes, moi, all managed to get up on the wakeboard for the first time....
Abbie and Wesley both got up on ski's for the first time (with Lara's help in the water)...
we also had a LOT of wipeouts....Andrew's was the most spectacular, though Greg came in a close second place....
We kept the houseboat right under the butte on Gunsight Canyon - it was an amazing spot to stay.....what a view every morning:)
We got taken on a quick tour around the lake one afternoon by Capt Rusty who showed us dinosaur tracks...really they are dinosaur tracks.....apparently:)......you are looking at the underside of tracks in the roof of an overhang that were exposed after a layer of rock right under them fell into the lake......the image right below is where the overhang is located - you're not going to notice it if you didn't have someone showing you - it's somewhere down Last Chance.
The great and infamous Steve Ward (one half of the Steve Ward and Stan Jones Guides/Authors to the best Map for the Lake) took us around to some of his "must see" spots on the Lake on another day. He is definitely the man to go with - he appears to know every nook and cranny of that place (and probably does after spending the last 40 years exploring it!!). I think we got to see everything worth seeing (that was possible in one day!) We got to see Rainbow Bridge (which I can't remember without feeling so bugged that my camera battery died before I got a single photo - luckily the nice, though long winded, Park Ranger Doug took a couple of family pics for us so we have something to show!)
He also showed us a few cool arches....the "Eye Arch" and "La Gorce Arch"
and also down the Esclante River Arm he showed us the Three Roof Indian ruins.....that were just perched smack in the middle of another pretty sheer rock face.....nope we didn't climb up to them:)
and of course Hole in the Rock - which is a shortcut that the early pioneers had actually used to cross the Colorado River (a 2000ft drop in 1/2mile!!).... needless to say, we didn't attempt this either.....although there were a couple of people specks who had made it about halfway up!
Steve also navigated the tight waterways of Cathedral Canyon without even touching the wall with the boat....so basically lots of cool fun stuff:) We ended up going to a similar canyon by ourselves the following day (West Canyon) so I could get a few photos.....(and realised how hard it actually was to get the boat through those Canyon walls!!)
ok I meant I got photos of the canyon but she was too cute not to take a pic or few:) These canyons were amazing - it would look like we were at the end of the canyon, that there was no possible way it could continue and somehow there was a twist and turn....it went on forever!! Amazing!
We gazed stars at night and found venus (we think) briefly before it disappeared behind the big rock....
and the moon was out big and bright almost every night....
except a couple of cloudy stormy nights - but as the storm cleared one night it was beautiful outside...
and the sun came up bright and beautiful every morning (imagine that!)
We jumped off various rocks....
though Carly needed a little help getting up on the rock in the first place!
and we jumped out of the boat to swim and cool off every opportunity we could... (Carly's favorite thing to do!)
fought over who got to/had to (depending on the day) hold the orange flag....
....played lots of fun games; Catan, Farkel, Uno, 3 crowns,....and had lots of good food (thanks to Lara's planning!)
The kids enjoyed going off the slide,
kneeboarding.....
kayaking,......
tubing.....(Amelia loved that Daniel jumped in to be with her when she fell off!)
and riding around on the jet ski's....which Amelia has a real flair for:)
and of course the boys had to show off to us newbies their jumping/getting up one-handed skills on the wakeboard (I am a few years off getting to that point...ok there's a possibility I might never get there....)
We thought we were home free with no serious injuries other than the cleansing power of lake water through your mouth/nose/ears until the last day when Andrew twisted his knee trying to keep up with his boys wakeboarding skills and then Lara had to top it all with stabbing a knife through her hand while pitting an avocado for dinner on the last night (she has a genuine sounding explanation!) The dads were off on the jet skis and she was spurting blood and did all the First Aid training come rushing to mind?? .......No!!! We somehow managed to do the right thing, despite feeling a little out of control and stopped the bleeding. Obviously, Lara got to the hospital and got things cleaned/fixed up - she asked if I'd taken a photo of the knife and blood...sorry to say I didn't - cleaning it all up was grossing me out enough:) Feeling better the following morning....:)
Anyway, on the whole, we had a really great time. Lake Powell is pretty amazing and it was fun to be there with friends...and of course my family:)
Andrew, Greg, Lara, Whitney and yes, moi, all managed to get up on the wakeboard for the first time....
Abbie and Wesley both got up on ski's for the first time (with Lara's help in the water)...
we also had a LOT of wipeouts....Andrew's was the most spectacular, though Greg came in a close second place....
We kept the houseboat right under the butte on Gunsight Canyon - it was an amazing spot to stay.....what a view every morning:)
We got taken on a quick tour around the lake one afternoon by Capt Rusty who showed us dinosaur tracks...really they are dinosaur tracks.....apparently:)......you are looking at the underside of tracks in the roof of an overhang that were exposed after a layer of rock right under them fell into the lake......the image right below is where the overhang is located - you're not going to notice it if you didn't have someone showing you - it's somewhere down Last Chance.
The great and infamous Steve Ward (one half of the Steve Ward and Stan Jones Guides/Authors to the best Map for the Lake) took us around to some of his "must see" spots on the Lake on another day. He is definitely the man to go with - he appears to know every nook and cranny of that place (and probably does after spending the last 40 years exploring it!!). I think we got to see everything worth seeing (that was possible in one day!) We got to see Rainbow Bridge (which I can't remember without feeling so bugged that my camera battery died before I got a single photo - luckily the nice, though long winded, Park Ranger Doug took a couple of family pics for us so we have something to show!)
He also showed us a few cool arches....the "Eye Arch" and "La Gorce Arch"
and also down the Esclante River Arm he showed us the Three Roof Indian ruins.....that were just perched smack in the middle of another pretty sheer rock face.....nope we didn't climb up to them:)
and of course Hole in the Rock - which is a shortcut that the early pioneers had actually used to cross the Colorado River (a 2000ft drop in 1/2mile!!).... needless to say, we didn't attempt this either.....although there were a couple of people specks who had made it about halfway up!
Steve also navigated the tight waterways of Cathedral Canyon without even touching the wall with the boat....so basically lots of cool fun stuff:) We ended up going to a similar canyon by ourselves the following day (West Canyon) so I could get a few photos.....(and realised how hard it actually was to get the boat through those Canyon walls!!)
ok I meant I got photos of the canyon but she was too cute not to take a pic or few:) These canyons were amazing - it would look like we were at the end of the canyon, that there was no possible way it could continue and somehow there was a twist and turn....it went on forever!! Amazing!
We gazed stars at night and found venus (we think) briefly before it disappeared behind the big rock....
and the moon was out big and bright almost every night....
except a couple of cloudy stormy nights - but as the storm cleared one night it was beautiful outside...
and the sun came up bright and beautiful every morning (imagine that!)
We jumped off various rocks....
though Carly needed a little help getting up on the rock in the first place!
and we jumped out of the boat to swim and cool off every opportunity we could... (Carly's favorite thing to do!)
fought over who got to/had to (depending on the day) hold the orange flag....
....played lots of fun games; Catan, Farkel, Uno, 3 crowns,....and had lots of good food (thanks to Lara's planning!)
The kids enjoyed going off the slide,
kneeboarding.....
kayaking,......
tubing.....(Amelia loved that Daniel jumped in to be with her when she fell off!)
and riding around on the jet ski's....which Amelia has a real flair for:)
and of course the boys had to show off to us newbies their jumping/getting up one-handed skills on the wakeboard (I am a few years off getting to that point...ok there's a possibility I might never get there....)
We thought we were home free with no serious injuries other than the cleansing power of lake water through your mouth/nose/ears until the last day when Andrew twisted his knee trying to keep up with his boys wakeboarding skills and then Lara had to top it all with stabbing a knife through her hand while pitting an avocado for dinner on the last night (she has a genuine sounding explanation!) The dads were off on the jet skis and she was spurting blood and did all the First Aid training come rushing to mind?? .......No!!! We somehow managed to do the right thing, despite feeling a little out of control and stopped the bleeding. Obviously, Lara got to the hospital and got things cleaned/fixed up - she asked if I'd taken a photo of the knife and blood...sorry to say I didn't - cleaning it all up was grossing me out enough:) Feeling better the following morning....:)
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