What's cookin in the kitchen

Thanksgiving

2012-01-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

Now that my brother Sam and his family live closer ( 5 hours instead of 12) They came to AZ for Thanksgiving and joined them at my sisters in Mesa. Since our car was having troubles Sam swung by and picked up our two oldest so the rest of us could fit into our other car. When we showed up the next morning it was obvious the kids were having a great time. They had set up their own Big Kid table out on the patio and they even all dressed in blue or black to coordinate with their table.

I made the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and the green bean casserole. It was all so yummy and fun to see everyone.

For dessert, Grandma Borgia and all the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who live in mesa or were visiting came to Mandi's to have pie. Again lots of fun to see everyone.

date night with some siblings

2012-01-27T12:20:00.000-08:00

I stole this post from my sister in-law Melinda there are lots of pictures of my brother, but I didn't get any pictures and we had so much fun I was so glad she got some and did this post so that I can remember our fun nught....

Amazing Croutons...
We have so much fun with Sam's siblings when we manage to sneak in a date night without the kids! These are out of order but we went to this Marketplace in Tempe and found this really fun store called "It's Sugar," and got a kick out of all the giant candy.

Our first attempt for dinner was at a restaurant nearby but it was packed so we decided to give in and head to where the chain restaurants are. When I saw Ruby Tuesday I said "Sam, you could get the croutons you love!" and that led to a lot of teasing for Sam from the rest of the family for the rest of the evening. We ended up eating at Cadillac Ranch and got to see several people attempt the mechanical bull and also had a nice dinner even though Sam and Chad positioned themselves across from the giant screen with the football game on!

As we were leaving the marketplace Sam suddenly stopped and pulled up at Ruby Tuesday. He went in and asked the host for some croutons and they actually made him a whole fresh batch. When he came out with the croutons (and found us since we had moved the car and hidden from him) and everyone tried them, they admitted that they are good (Nicki is trying one in the picture above)! I know this story sounds a bit lame now that I am typing it, but it was really funny for those of us there and I have to type it for memories sake!
We then headed to sub zero to try out our own concoctions of ice cream! I had a really great time that evening and wish we could all do date nights more often!

turkey trot

2012-01-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

I had no idea Court could run till I showed up to the school on the same day they were having the turkey trot and a couple moms told me they has just watched her win the 1st grade girls race...and i missed it! Darn. She told me she even came in before the 3rd place boy and long before the rest of the girls. e even tripped and fell during the race

She won a $20.00 gift card to Fry's, our local supermarket, complete with electronics and toys. She got A 3 foot tall doll and some candy. I thought the doll was creepy and tried to talk her into something else, but she would not be swayed so she ended up with......

The sister i never gave her. She loves to dress in different outfits and do her hair.

cookin over a fire

2012-01-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

The kids were dying to roast hot dogs and s'mores over a fire, and they insisted we have friends join us so we invited a couple of friends and enjoyed our evening. We got the giant marshmallows for some extra fun. Nate showed us how messy that much marshmallow can make a s'more!

Soccer

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Our school is a K - 8 school. when the kids get to 7th grade they can join the sports teams. THis year they were short players for the soccer team so they opened it up to the 6th graders. Casey tried out and made the team. Court's Kindergarten teacher Mrs Norris was the coach, so it fun getting to see her so much. Half thir team was made of 6th graders. They only won a couple of games, but they had a great year and a lot of great team spirit. Grandma and Grandpa Kitchen came to a lot of his games and it really meant a lot to him, thanks to them for making the effort :)

Halloween

2012-01-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

I'm always terrible when it comes to costumes. As of 2 weeks before Halloween we had no costumes planned, but we pulled some together....Casey was the obvious soccer player since he was indeed a soccer player this year (post to come)

Tyler is interested in superman and batman this year, but to old and I certainly don't have one his size to actually be superman, so I got to thinking with his new glasses (i think forgot to post that he got glasses this year) he could be Clark Kent. Chad picked up a superman shirt for him at Walmart for $7.00

Court was easy since princesses are always at the top of her list. This year we borrowed a Belle costume from my friend Melissa and she was set..so to date she has been, Princess Aurora, Cinderella, snow white and now belle,

Aiden found this Spiderman costume in the costume box a while back so he new what he wanted to be early on.

By proudly wore this Lightning McQueen costume Tammi had picked up for Aiden a while back.

Chad had to go to bed so I took the kids trick or treating. We had daddy drop us off a few blocks away from the house since I have learned from previous years that we go go go till the kids get tired and then they are to tired to get home again. We made it a street from our house before Aiden gave up. I let the older kids do the street behind us while the 2 younger kids and I took the shortcut thru the park. When we got home Aide was more than happy to sit at the end of the drive way and hand out candy to those passing by.

pumpkins

2012-01-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

This year I was trying to be a little thrifty (after the large amounts of monies we paid the dentist) and so I got the kids each a small "pie" pumpkin. That way they could have the great fun of carving their own pumpkin and then I could bake and scrape them out afterwards to make a yummy pumpkin...something.

Everyone had a great time picking patterns. Aiden forwent his chosen design and just started cutting into his pumpkin.

Unfortunately I didn't get any after shots!!! I thought i did but i guess not :( oh well. It was great fun. I always love the kids faces as they scrape out the seeds and slimy guts. We saved and roasted the seeds this year..yummm. And I almost abandoned my baking idea, but in the end I did it and made some yummy pumpkin muffins. I still have some puree in the freezer to make another triple batch.

HERO

2012-01-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

At the kids school they have an award that they give to kids starting in 6th grade. It is a peer nominated award that is based on your peers thinking you are a person of character who is a good example.

He got the award at a special school wide assembly that the principal called me at home to invite me to so that could be there since Casey did not know he was going to be named a "Hero" (the kids don't know till there names are called). That night we went to another evening assembly where they called his name again and he also got a certificate for Kelso's Choice. This was a program where they partnered up about 10 kids who did a few weeks of training before they visited 1st grade classes and taught them about anti-bullying and problem solving skills.

birthday trip

2012-01-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

My friend Tammi was taking her girls to Disneyland for the Halloween party and since her husband didn't want to go she invited me to come along for my birthday!!!! Oh glorious day!!! The only stipulation was that i dress up for the party....oh OK!! I got be Sally form one of my favorite movies "The Nightmare Before Christmas" The cool thing about the Halloween party is that you get into the park at about 4:00 and then at 7:00 they make everyone who is not their for the party (you have to have a wrist band on) leave and then the whole park stays open till midnight with the addition of lost of extra character/photo ops and trick or treating stations through out the park. I want to take my kids next time...it was so great. And almost everyone there is dressed in costume so it is fum to see all the costumes.

The fox was being play full :)

The next day we got hopper passes and went to both parks. We got to see the new world of color water and light show. it was so beautiful.

Savanna and I rode all the big rides while Tammi took the younger girls on the other rides. Autumn wanted to spend time with us "Older" group too so we hit the medium ride (river run and stuff like that) together. Autumn was nervous to ride California Screaming and got in line a couple times but would change her mind. We finally got her to go on and she enjoyed it.

Tammi had Savanna take me to Cafe Orleans for my birthday lunch. I had decided I wanted to try this place since I had never eaten her before and I knew they had Monte Cristo sandwiches. When i got there and saw the menu i also discovered they had k and sausage gumbo. I got wondering if was the same gumbo they have at another restaurant that i love so much, so i decide to give that try in the form of a ck gumbo crepe. It was oh so yummy!

It was such a great birthday. Thanks to Tammi and her girls for letting me tag along and spend my birthday at one of favorite places to be. Thanks for the great party and the lunch and everything else.

Super Heros

2011-12-12T08:28:00.001-08:00

I love that these three play so well, and they have such great imaginations. They were playing super heroes once again I think Chad got these pictures, because I don't remember this.

Big Mac

2011-12-12T08:27:00.003-08:00

Tyler has been asking to try a Big Mac since my brother visited this summer and had one. So we finally hit McDonald's again and I let him get one.

He loved it and now has a new go to meal when we eat their. They are growing and up and having grown up food when we eat out now.

Dentist

2011-12-12T08:27:00.001-08:00

Aiden had his first dentist appointment. I know it was really late for him to start, but between no insurance and then just not getting around to it here he is finally getting his first check up. I should have know this late start was a really bad thing since bad teeth run in the family (thanks daddy). He need work done and it was significant and since he was so young they recommended paying the extra to knock him out completely (anesthesiologist) so that they could get all the work done at once and have no memory. I agreed since I had gone through bad experience with Court and wanted to avoid that again. So for a total of $900.00 later he is good to go and caught up on dental care. We will stay on top of it this time and hopefully avoid a repeat.

He got a hold of a blue sharpie and did some art work on his legs a few days before his appointment so he was sporting some lovely legs. He did a great job during his check up and did cry once which is more than i can say for the 10 year old getting a cleaning in the next chair over. He also did great for the follow up appointment where they did all the work, but that was e plan when we paid the extra $650.oo.

special time with Aiden

2011-12-12T08:00:00.001-08:00

One day the older kids each had some special thing they got to do ( I cant remember now what they did) and I was needing to get out of the house so I decided to take Aiden to Macyo's for some special one on one time. Since it was still 65th anniversary and the food was cheep this was the perfect fun time activity.

He was silly and had to have gum ball from the gumball machine in the entrance for his dessert.

One of the funny things that happened was that he needed to go the bathroom while we were waiting for our food to arrive. I was worried that no one would be at the table while we were gone, but he cant go by himself so off we went. When we got back our drinks were gone and they were wiping down our table. I told them were just at the bathroom and were still waiting for our food. They apologised profusely and got us new drinks and chips. our food got their soon after.

Crazy Hair

2011-12-12T07:55:00.003-08:00

One day it was real hot and i was at my computer and I wanted to get my hair off my neck but I didnt have any hair thing close at had so I grabbed a couple of pencils and twisted them trough my hair. it worked and my hair off my neck...problem solved. Chad came home and said "what the heck did you do to your hair?" so he had to get a picture of me looking silly.

Race

2011-12-12T07:55:00.001-08:00

Chad got tickets from his buddy that he works for sometimes to the races at the track by the pit. They got to watch the real size cars of the same ones they race.

Rockstar won the race which Tyler loved since his car is the smaller version of this one.

Silly play

2011-12-12T07:49:00.001-08:00

I think Chad got these pictures because I don't remember taking them or them playing around with underwear on their heads.

Happy Birthday Cam

2011-12-12T07:42:00.001-08:00

For Cameron's 5th birthday we did our usual balloon release. Now every time Aiden gets balloons he lets them go as soon as we get outside....not sure if it comes from this tradition of ours, but I think so.

even had a birthday cake this year as a new tradition we are adding to his birthday celebration.

Racing at Fear Farm

2011-12-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

The "Pit" is get less and less participants for races because most people are racing at "Fear Farm". Chas took the boys over for a race one evening and they won 2nd and 3rd in their class.

Macayo's

2011-12-12T07:33:00.001-08:00

Macayo's had a special going on for month. It was their 65th anniversary and chimichangas were $6.50 and all kids meals were $1.99 so we took the whole family plus a friend that over and got out of there for under $40.00. It was fun and so yummy. The kids meals were huge and so we even had lunch for the nest day :)

Just some random pics

2011-12-12T07:31:00.001-08:00

D23 Convention

2011-12-12T07:09:00.001-08:00

In Aug my parent invited me to join them at the D23 convention. This is a huge Disney convention and since I had exclaimed my interest in in the fun things they saw at the last convention they called when this one came around. I had hoped to be able to leave Brody at home with daddy so that I could have me time, but unfortunately he is holding on the t nursing (I'm not trying to hard to wean him though) he had to come with me. I drove out to California on my own and met mom and dad at the hotel. When we got there it was to get in a crazy busy long line that was a huge mess. When we finally got into the convention it was a little overwhelming to figure out where to go and what to see. We started by walking around some booths. I saw this cool lighting McQueen made out of Legos and had to get a shot for my kids! after snapping a few more pics...like 5...my camera broke and that was the end of capturing all the coolness that is Disney :( so sad, but between pushing a stroller through the crowds and all t mayhem it was fine not having to worry about getting pictures too.

The first day we quickly figured out the the crowds were huge and if we wanted to get into a certain Q and A or presentation we needed to be in line a couple hours before hand. It was kind of frustrating because we pretty much had to go from one presentation to get in line for the next one. Unfortunately the really popular one like Dick Van Dyke were so sought after that one would have had to be in line like 4 hours early so sadly we and many many others missed out on seeing this icon. We did get to see some really cool things though. We saw the upcoming movies planned for the next 3 years by Pixar, Disney studios and Disney animation. Some really fun and exciting stuff. We got to see the art of "Brave", the new Pixar coming out next year. so beautiful. The detail they go into is amazing! This one was especially cool since my brother works at pixar and he worked on this movie. I had so much fun with my parents and Brody did so well considering we were constantly sitting in a line or in a presentation. It was so busy and so much fun. we didn't even get to see everything wanted and not even 1/4 of what was offered.

Canning Pears

2011-12-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

The kids love canned pears so when bountiful basket had them for sale by the case I decided to get some and jar them. It was a lot of work all by myself, but i got a good routine going and got them all done.

childrens museum

2011-11-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Aiden's friend down the block took him to the children's museum one day. He had so much fun and now every time he sees the commercial for sponsorship in PBS he says "hey! I went there"

12 years

2011-11-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

I was so sad when I was reading to Aiden one night when I noticed my ring kept catching on the blanket so I finally looked and found that the two of the prongs ad broken on my ring and the diamond was gone! I couldn't find it anywhere and still have not found it. It lasted one week short of our 12th anniversary. some day I will replace it...or get a fake one put in who knows.

new school year

2011-11-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

School started on Aug 8th this year. I didn't get pictures except these two of the first day...they are walking this year...yea!! And all the supplies we had to get.

first tooth

2011-11-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

Court finally had her first loose tooth. She wiggled and wiggled it till it was to the point that it could be pulled. Chad tried to get close enough but she totally freaked out. Casey asked if he pulled it would I give him a dollar and I said no but if Court let him pull it I would give her five dollars. After her freak out with Chad I figured I was safe making that deal.......

But I was wrong she immediately perked up and said OK, sat there calmly while Casey pulled it out. Not a flinch, no hesitation. nothing.

We wrote a note to the tooth fairy since as the note said Court never sleeps in the same place she was worried about loosing it.

The tooth fairy brought a dollar and I handed over my 5. I think that is the most any of my kids have made on tooth to date.

TV

2011-11-14T09:26:00.000-08:00

Just a cute shot of court, the boys, and her doll watching a show...not sure what it was but so cute :)

dare devils

2011-11-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

We went to Corona to help paint some rooms for uncle Sam. He had been commuting and house hunting all summer and his family was finally joining him at the end of the week. There were things to be done around the rental house and he was getting it all done after work. I told him I would paint the kids bedrooms if he paid for my gas to get there and he took me up on the offer. The great news was I got the painting done in one whole day, but that sad news on that was as I was rinsing off the paint brush in the toilet (great for cleaning brushes because you can swish it all around in the water and just flush away the paint water) I was talking to Chad on my cell phone and it dropped from my shoulder and fell into the toilet :( no more phone for me for the rest of the week!!! Since they were not moved in the did have a house phone yet either.
Something else that had to be done was changing the light bulbs. This was a tricky effort in the high stair well, but they worked it out by standing on uncle Sam's shoulder while he stood on the ladder.
To make it even trickier the furthest bulb came off without the metal base that screws into the socket. they had to use piers to get it out and when I started snapping pictures the flash made Sam freak out because he thought the boys were getting electrocuted! They eventually got it out and all was well.

pioneer day

2011-11-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

One more activity for our fun filled day with Grandma. It was pioneer day and her stake had this huge pioneer day celebration. The Spanish branch built this small replica of the Navoo temple. it was so amazing, you could walk into it and see and read about pictures about the history of the temple displayed around the room.

They had so many great activity stations for the kids. They made paraffin candles...

Made rag dolls....

Washed clothes the old fashioned way....

and hung them out to dry.....

Learned about weaving and got a cool craft to take with them that was great, because they spent the next couple of days weaving.....

Went on a wagon ride around the parking lot.....

Bobbed for apples......

Enjoyed some BBQ corn on the cob......

Made rope.......

They had so much fun. I didn't even get a picture of everything...they also had home made ice cream in a Ziploc baggy for your churn/mix as you walked around, popcorn, pulled pork sandwiches for lunch, cobbler for dessert, quilting, historical pioneer info, cooking biscuits over an open fire, a rock wall, stick pulling games, log sawing. The older kids had a great time running around on their own and I had so much fun with he little ones.

Thanks to Grandma for the oh so wonderful day we had!!

one more trip to the beach

2011-11-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Since grandma lives close to the beach we had to fit in one more trip to the beach. Brody fell asleep on the short drive over so he took a little nap first.

The older kids discovered that snails can crawl on sand..... that salt water does not kill them.... that if you throw one out in to the ocean the waves will bring it back to you safe and sound (we already discovered that in our experiments at home that they do float and don't drowned at least for a short period of time). Casey was really great at coming up with experiments....i had a hard time trying to decided if they were experiments or torture. But I know they were out of curiosity not cruelty.

They had a great time playing in the waves with Eli. We had parked ourselves in the boarders only zone so the kids had to go down the beach a bit from us to be able to play in water so it was fun keeping watch of the little ones with me and the older ones down the beach. It was to crowded and to much work to move after we figured this out. Luckily there were lifeguards on duty and they were on top of things. it was fun to watch them run around and swim out to people. mostly to tell them they had crossed over to the surfing area and needed to move.

They had a great time getting all sandy and burying Eli's legs. That is the one thing that stinks about the beach....getting all the sand off when its over. Its a good thing they have so much fun because if i ever remembered about the clean up before we went i would probably not go.

visiting grandma

2011-11-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Our last trip of the summer was to Uncle Sam's hose to help him paint a couple of rooms in the house they are renting in preparation for his family to join him in corona. Since we were so close we just had to go spend a day with grandma. It was so much fun and very busy. The kids were just aching to go spray the snails for grandma since grandpa would always let them do it.
Grandma could get over that the kids were so interested in the snails seeing as how we don't have them here in Arizona. They sprayed some poured salt on others and played with others.....

And even saved some to take the beach to experiment how the salt water would affect them.

Grandma pulled out her toys for the kids to play, and they had a great time with them.

They especially love these Ideal Blocks. I tried looking them up on the Internet to some of our own, but everything I can find on them is from 2009 and all the places that say they have them say they are back ordered. Darn they are super cool, oh well, we will just have to play with them at grandma's.

Birthday Date

2011-11-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

Aiden party wiped him out....he fell asleep on the way to dinner for his Birthday date with mom and dad.
Aiden chose to chick Fillet, but in our family we call it chickie ole uh uh. He loves this place, it and panda express are always his choice for eating out.

He was very entertaining. he climbed all over and under the table and to and from the play area. It took him forever to actually eat his dinner.

It is hard to show in a picture, but he was run backwards in front of us down the isles at target, he was a little wired after his nap :)

He picked out this Monster Truck for his present. It makes noise and moves on its own by the touch of a button.

Happy Birthday Aiden. I can't believe how grow up you are! Love you buddy :)

Aidens birthday

2011-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

After his fun Mickey Mouse Club House party last year Aiden told me Tammi was going to have a buzz light year party for him next, so.....
She put together this amazing Toy Story party for him. He absolutely loved it.

She always puts so much detail into her parties, it really makes it amazing.

Since Mandi was around from bring Eli we had lots of helpers and lots of guests. Aiden also invited his friends Taylor, Colin, John, Emmi, Afton and Tyler who came later.

Casey wanted to play Happy Birthday on the trombone for him so Mandi quick found some sheet music off the Internet.

We played games carnival style and the kids roamed around between about 5 different games getting prizes for their efforts.

He loved getting gifts but I had to get this shot of the card John transcribed for his mom. Aiden John are always talking about their best friend so and so (each other). We were so glad to see John since Aiden misses him since he moved to Tempe.

Aiden and Taylor with the giant stuffed green alien.

Brody and Laine had a great time playing play dough with each other.

Tyler missed most of the party but was able to come at the end and stay to play for a bit after.

All in all...another successful party. Thanks so much to Tammi for all her hard work :)

Harry Potter - The End

2011-11-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

Since my brother Eli was coming to visit we planned a trip to the drive in to see the last Harry Potter movie. Mandi brought him up from her house and she stayed the night. She stayed home with the little girls for some girls time and not scary barbie movie while the rest of us went to the movie.
Since it is super hot Arizona I was really worried about how we going to keep everyone cool in the still 100 degree temps. So we can up with the plan to make a pool out of the back of the truck.

with some plastic and big water jugs we were set. We got it deep enough to cover the kids legs and it worked out well. By the end of the movies it was actually a little cold.

Friend, cousins and an uncle...snacks, drinks and a portable pool...great movie....great fun!

crabs molt

2011-11-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

It is cool when our crabs molt. Their outer shell usually comes off in one piece. I wish i could see it happen.
The kids loved getting to touch it and feel it and play with the little claw.

jaw brakers

2011-11-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

Had to get a shot of the big jaw breakers we got in Monterrey. I remember having one of these when i was a kid. I remember my tongue cut up from licking it so much,...so of course I had to share that experience with my kids :) Casey and Tyler got ex large and court and Aiden got Med size.

happy birthday Casey

2011-11-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

Once again Casey's birthday was also cow appreciation day and Chick Fillet so we dressed up for lunch and headed over for our free lunch.
Chad was gone to work before Casey got up so he left this note for him.

Casey chose to go to Hayashi for his birthday dinner date. I was super excited since this place is yummy! His friend had told him about this place so he was all excited. He had fun folding his menu in the an origami boat while we waited for our food.

The cook flung a piece of broccoli for him to catch in his mouth...he missed, but good job for trying!

Always a fan of the onion volcano.

Casey was so glad to get to see the "Peeing" fireman toy that his friend told him about.

IT was so much food, he got to take leftovers home for lunch the next day. He loved that he got to order stake.

They even brought him some ice cream and sang happy birthday to him. He was to full to eat it though so i had to help him out.

On our trip to the store after dinner he picked out a Lego set with his birthday money.

He had so much fun. I cant believe he is going to be 12 next year!! Thanks for the great night Casey. Happy birthday!

corn

2011-11-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

So cute...just love his smile.

Storm

2011-10-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

I cant remember the exact date, but we had big storm that hit our neighborhood and the one next to us really hard. quite a few people lost roof tiles and the whole community lost about 30 trees. The park next door to us lost this tree into a homeowners yard.
our neighbors who were out of town at the time lost a few tiles.

and the neighbor on the other side of us lost the tree in his front yard and the one in his back yard....it took the fence with it.

we lost one and a 1/4 roof tile. we were lucky. Unfortunately it is on the second story and we don't have a ladder to reach it. Chad needs to borrow a ladder from one of his friends.

I do love the amazing Arizona storms we get here. soon after this storm we got another great thunder lightning storm and the kids were really scared and worried we would lose a tree. I kept telling them it was so cool as we watched from Aiden's window.

Monterey

2011-10-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to take the kids tot he Monterrey Bay Aquarium so when the second day of the reunion was to be spent in Monterrey doing what ever we chose to do on our own we decided to go to the aquarium. Sam's family joined us so the older boys took off on their own but we got a few shots of them before they left.

Chad and I spent the time with Court, Aiden and Brody. They had a great time, but it was super crowded!! I still got some great shots though.

We decided this had to be the UGLIEST fish ever. It is a sun fish.

The new exhibit was the seahorses and sea dragons.

Court and Aiden had to have this picture posing with a statue of this sea horse giving birth (notice the tiny horse protruding from the belly) my sister later informed me that the males sea horses have babies, so this is apparently a male.

After the aquarium we meet everyone at Denis the Menis park for lunch. We had a picnic and then took the kids to play. They had great fun and Melinda gave Chad her camera to get pics. he had a great time taking hundreds of pictures of the kids and everyone else at the park...even the strangers. he was looking forward to Melinda having to sort through all the pictures for the ones of our family.

After lunch my brother Nate's family was going to walk the fisherman's wharf by the park so we decided to join them instead of heading back to the hotel. I love this pic so much. It totally shows Aiden's attitude. He was mad and so refused to join us for the pic so I told Nate to just take the pic anyway.

I had to get i pic of the old guys building a sand castle. Cool castle, but every though it was creepy for him to be by himself playing in the sand...no kids with him.

Grabbed a quick shot of the kids in the harbor between wharfs. We wend down the fishing wharf first and then over to the commercial wharf.

All down the wharf restaurants are giving out samples of their clam chowder to taste. Since we are not a fish family I was not interested in trying each one so I decided that Nate and Laura's could decide on the best one and that one I would try. Also since the kids are not allowed to say something is gross until they try it I told them they had to also try the final winner. I told them I would buy them each giant jaw breaker if they did (I was going to get it anyway) Tyler wanted this giant sucker!

At the end of the wharf we spotted these sea otters. if you look close you can see one has a crab he is eating and the other had a bottle he was using to break muscles or something against, we could hear him hitting them against it if we listened close.

We had so much fun walking and seeing everything. On our way back we stopped at a candy shop where I got the kids their jaw breakers and we also got a huge bag of salt water taffy that we sampled on our walk back to the cars. The best one was the peanut butter taffy it had small pockets of peanut butter in it. Yummy! Thanks to Nate and Laura for letting us tag along.

On to the Borgia reunion

2011-10-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

We left the Farley reunion and headed straight over to the Borgia reunion about an hour drive away. This reunion was in Morgan Hill. We were told to stall arriving since our rooms were not going to be ready...dejavu!! When we arrived in Morgan Hill we found a park and let the kids play then waited in the hotel lobby. By the time we got our room I was not feeling great and so when we went to my uncles house for swimming so I didn't get many pictures because I ended up in the guest room lying down and taking a nap. Casey also got sick there and threw up so we didn't stay long at the swim party.

Other fun we had at the farley reunion

2011-10-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

First, just a couple more pics from the beach...

My big brother Sam and me.

We had to introduce more Farleys to our traditional game of SCUM, not to mention we had to get a few games in because how could we not get together and play.

Aunt Karen, Uncle Tim, and then my cousins Angela, Matt and his wife Tia were the only brave enough to join us. We had lots of fun rearranging my parent room so that we could try to make a table big enough for all of us to fit around.

Our families were spread out through 3 buildings. The kids had such a great time running around crazy playing tag and hide and seek and all manner of games. We had to get a pick of all the kids together.

These girls named them selves the seven group since most of them were seven or going to be soon. One day I kept hearing calls of "seven" answered by "heaven". I guess this is how they would call each other as they ran around.

Here is shot of grandma and grandpa with their grand kids who were in attendance

and then one of all the great grand kids

My cousin Jeremiah and his kids the missed the group shots so we grabbed one while waiting for our last meal before heading out

Court found a caterpillar before we left

We had such a great time. This resort is so amazing with its location to the beach and the absolutely wonderful, rich gourmet food! The kids had such a blast feeling so grown up in their own room next door to chad and I and the two little ones. They had such a great time bonding with all their cousins. Such a huge thanks to Grandma and grandpa for the wonderful time! We really can't thank them enough.

vollyball and smores

2011-10-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

one night we played volley ball and visited around the fire while we had smores and hot cocoa.

Eden, my brother Sam's daughter

My cousin Angela, caught in mid blink, sorry Ang, but its a cute pic of Aiden so I had to include it.

My mom and Brody

My cousin Matt. He tried to lour Tyler to come live with him for the measly price of an x box and the promise a wonderfully spoiled life in Texas. Tyler declined and chose to stay with us, awww he does love us :)

My sis Mandi and her 7th kid Laine

My studly brother Nate and his beautiful wife Laura with their new baby Tahlula (ill have to check the spelling on that one)

Beach day

2011-09-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

While the weather was absolutely beautiful on the day we arrived it was cold and overcast on the day we were scheduled to go to the beach. Luckily the kids did not mind a bit. I took a few of the older kids over to the tide pools and they had fun looking for hermit crabs and touching sea anemones.

Chad played with he little kids and built sand castles.

Some of the older kids tried to boogie board.

Grandpa said we were not allowed to bury anyone since he was worried about sand in the eyes, but my cousin Matt (rule breaker) buried his daughter.

Mom and aunt Roz.

I love this pic of my dad cuz his white hair blends into the white sky :)

And I love that Brody was dumping sand on Casey's head and Casey just kept on building his castle.

I took Brody back to our room early, but Chad and a few others and lots of kids stayed and braved the cold for a couple more hours. They had a great time.

Arriving for the Farley Family Reunion

2011-08-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

This summer we had two family reunions to go to. The first was the Farley family reunion. It took place in Asilomar which is by Monterrey in California. We were so excited to head to the coast and get out of the heat!! When we arrived we were told our room was not ready so we headed down to beach which is a 1 minute walk down the path at this lovely beach side resort that our grandpa and grandma brought us all to. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

We frolicked in the waves with my brother Sam and his family for over two hours which was great after an 11 hour car trip. unfortunately I hadn't planed on being at the beach for quite that long so some of us got a sun burn on that first day. oops!

Scout Camp

2011-08-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

Casey and Tyler went to scout day camp this year. It was Casey's second time and Tyler's first. They had three fun filled action packed days of swimming, shooting, archery and much more.

Chad's fathers day gift

2011-08-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

I have a few prefaces to this post - #1. Casey won his class fish tank at the end of the school year. It was 10 gallon tank and we got 2 fish, 2 tetras and 1 snail. As we were looking for a new fish to add I wanted some more exciting fish....#2. We have had fish tanks a couple of times through our 12 year marriage. We had a lot of guppies - my reason for wanting something more exciting. We have had these on again off again fish tanks because Chad loves them and I don't so much.

That being said I agreed to a tank our friend was getting rid of so that I....yes I could get some "cooler" fish, Well as cool as fresh water and non aggressive fish there are :)

We got some crabs because they are so fun to watch. They can be aggressive and they have killed a fish or two :(

We got these Schooling fish. They are fun because if you wave your hand in front of the glass they turn and go the other way.

We got some mollies.. the female has been pregnant twice, but the babies get eaten before we ever see them.

Another cool shot of a crab. we got 4 of them, but our 1 female died so we got two more females. we now have 5 crabs total.

We also have since added 2 ghost cat fish, they are cool cuz they are clear, you can see through them from the side. We also added 4 different kinds and color of mollies.

14 months and trying to dress himself

2011-08-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

I just had to get a few quick pictures of Brody trying to put his pants on all by himself.
He got both feet in one leg, but I was impressed he even did that :)

Deianeira came for a visit

2011-08-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

My sister Deianeira came for visit. She stayed for about a week. I didn't get to many pictures, but I did get these of them the day they drew a picture of an aneme guy in the drive way. When I looked this picture up for them on google my computer contracted a nasty virus that Our friend fixed for me, But I was without my computer for the rest of the summer, hence catch up blogging now.

push pop anyone?

2011-08-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Do you remember getting push pops when you were a kid? I do :)

daddy's newest hobby

2011-08-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

A friend asked Chad about making some picture frames for her so he set out to figure them out. He is having fun making them and designing patterns.

Completed frames to come....

schools out...let the fun begin

2011-08-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

A friend of ours went to one of the greenbelts and we joined them for a game of kick ball. After a couple rounds the older kids were killing the little kids. They knew they were supposed to go easy on the little kids, but they just couldn't hold back enough to make it even close to even. We switched to soccer and Casey decided to sit out. The teams were more even till Casey decided to jump in and when he went onto the team opposite Tyler, T started having a meltdown about how unfair it was, so I knew it was time to go home :). We had fun while we were there though.

memorial day

2011-08-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't get many pictures, but we went to Chads parents house for a BBQ and swim. We brought a baby pool for Brody and sent it up in the front yard. While the big kids had a great time swimming with cousins and uncles Brody had fun on his own in the front.

the door had to go

2011-08-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

Back when Tyler was about 3 he had quite a temper. Whenever he got put in his room for a time out he would yell and kick and throw his toys at the door. as a result the back side of his bedroom door was beat to a pulp with holes all up and down it.
Noe 5 years later Aiden has almost the same reaction when he gets put in time out. Unfortunately since T already beat through half the door Aiden didn't have much of a door to kick and eventually he broke through the door. the hole soon got larger and he started poking his head through.
and one day his bum.

so Chad grabbed the back of his pants and pulled him right through it. If we were going to take the door down we may as well have fun with it. The kids got a kick out of it and they all wanted to got through the hole. Aiden now has no door at all...funny thing is he still stays in his room for a time out, he just sits at the thresh hold and yells.

water balloons

2011-08-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

What better way the start the summer vacation than with a water balloon fight. Chad brought home some water balloons and got the kids to help him fill them for some fun at the park....

We went from a wagon full of balloons to these sad remains, but it was not all fun and games...

It began fun and smiles. Brody got a kick out of the balloons.

He got a little shock when his balloon popped, and then he wanted nothing to do with one after that surprise :)

Aiden refused to clean up a few things so he didn't get to participate in the initial fight. The kids had fun ganging up on us parents.

everyone got wet....

after seeing how much fun we had Aiden decided to clean up so he could have some fun too.
most of the second round of balloons went toward Aiden but when we got down to the last one we tried to help him get one of his older brothers. they didn't cooperate and broke it on nobody.

Aiden got good and wet tho, so he had a good time.

We all got home before the older two boys and we decided to get them back for wasting the last balloon. They had the wagon and had to go down the side yard so Chad waited with hose and as soon as they came through the gate and we heard it close he jumped out...

they had no were to go and Chad got them real good. they were not happy about it

and pouted for a while. We had to have a talk about fun and playing along.

Aiden loves taking pictures

2011-06-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

Aiden loves to get his hands on the camera!! here a few of his masterpieces.

Fishing

2011-06-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

Every year our church has a father son camp out. Some times chad had to work so it has become our tradition for chad and the boys to stay in town and spend some time together. This year Chad took the boys fishing at his favorite catch and release residential "lake". They had gone out to dinner the night before and then went and got fishing stuff. Aiden was so excited to get a kid size "cars" fishing pole. He proudly tells everyone who will listen to him about the monster fish he caught.

and about how daddy had a double hook line and caught 2 fish.

they caught 52 fish and two turtles.

Band performance

2011-06-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

this year Casey was in band club. At the end of the year the band club was invited to join the eighth graders for an of the year performance.

Casey and his great band teacher mr Brenamen.

walking

2011-06-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

I had to try to get a shot of these crocodile tears. They were hard to capture but I think I got one.
Brody is my latest walker. they boys were walking by 10 months and Court by 11 months. Brody started walking everywhere about a week after his first birthday.

Mother Day

2011-06-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Courts actual birthday landed on Mothers Day so we got to share the special day with each other. I always have big expectations of a perfect day of no fighting kids and not having to do ant cooking or chores.....let just say mothers day is always a let down with those expectations. This year was much better. I got a beautiful rose and while I still had to the normal things I do every day, Chad was a huge helper. Chad made fillet Mignon for dinner with mashed potatoes, grilled veggies and salad. It was super yummy :)
I like lemon cake and chad does not but he made the sacrifice and got it for dessert. Court got to blow out the candles.

Court is 7!

2011-06-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Courtney's birthday!! She turned 7 this year and her restaurant choice was the Golden Coral. Unlike Tyler she could not be talked into someplace else. This was actually a great choice for Courtney since she is our super picky eater! The option to not eat it if she didn't like it was to much for her to resist. I was not looking forward to this dinner option, but was pleasantly surprised! It was great!! they had some really good meat and it was actually a very yummy dinner. She made herself a birthday crown the she insisted on wearing. Our waiter of course noticed and they brought her a cupcake and sang to her, which she loved :)

After dinner we went to target and she picked out some clothes and a toy. We also hit Barns and Noble for a book and a stuffed animal. I don't know why, but she loves the stuffed animals at Barns and Noble

I think was disappointed not to get a pedicure this year...maybe next year :)

When doors attack!!

2011-05-25T15:29:00.001-07:00

Here is a close up of the injury.....
And a picture after the stitches.....

Now the story, Tyler and daddy were at the school dropping of water bottles for the teachers lounge. Chad got them filled for me and even tough I told him I would bring them to school the next day he decided to drop them off for me. Well Tyler was with him and as he was walking down the hall he was walking backwards and looking at some kid when he turned around and turned right into the corner of this door. Chad thought it was funny at first, till he puled his hand away and he saw all the blood. I got a call that they were headed to urgent care.

The next morning it was a little swollen.

Hair

2011-05-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost upon us so I figured it was about to cut her hair again. I remembered how much I liked it when it was shorter and how much easier it was to take care of, so off it all came. Good bye tangles.

Chalk Art

2011-05-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Tyler's new hobby. We saw some high school kids participating in a chalk art competition and it made an impression on him.
After this first one we looked up some professional chalk art pictures and were blown away! Tyler went out and bought some chalk with his and Casey's money they made selling cuffs. He had me print some character pictures off for him and every once in a while he goes to work.

Egg hunt

2011-05-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to egg hunt at the park next door since our yard is a race track with very limited hiding places.

I got a shot of the younger kids, but then got distracted by Brody so I missed the older two completely...sorry guys.

There were a few casualties that got used right away. The younger two were just not gentle at all...in fact i don't think Court was all that easy on them either. Eggs were dropped left and right.

At least they make for a good lunch.

We had a yummy dinner of ham and veggies, potatoes and rolls.

And of course our traditional holiday treat of Martinelli's. I even found small bottles for the kids. They were disappointed not to get big one this time.

Easter morn

2011-05-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

Easter morning brought small pillow pets for all and little baskets of candy.

Court is the only one who got new clothes this year and the boys didn't even notice. I got her dress a couple of months ago and had to make her wait to wear it. She was ecxited to finally put it on.

eggs!!

2011-05-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Its egg dying time again!! I think I boiled a good over 4 dozen this year. Not because we love boiled eggs that much, but because we need plenty to dye. I mean really when you figure there are 6 of us dying eggs, yes Chad and I must get in on that action, we've got to have plenty for everyone.

Court had to get a shot with stickers on the forehead because she remembered that we got one like this a few years back...i think she was a baby.

Chad giving us a cheesy grin with his ugly egg. He was determined to make the ugliest egg possible.

I think it ended up looking pretty cool.

Brody had to get in on the action too, next year I'm going to have to have to make 5 dozen!!

Brody got a little too into in his....this one didn't make it to Easter morning

the aftermath...

Chad's final "ugly" egg. He discovered that eventually it just can't take on any more color and the spoon scratches of some layers so you get lines.

Brody turns one

2011-05-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

April 22nd was Brody's first birthday. He got this small t-ball set...so cute!

His friend Mateo brought him a present of these fun balls. They are all different textures or move in different ways.

Mateo even hope to play with them and enjoy them on the days he spends with us.

Chad and I chose where his Dinner date would be. We took him to "Uncle Sam's" it is a restaurant were we went the most in the last year so it was the restaurant most frequented by him, even though he doesn't really know that :). It was lots of fun and he slept most of the time. After dinner we went to the store to pick out presents from grandmas and grandpas. he chose a car thing, a sparkly ball filled with glitter and spiders, and the cutest thing ever!! a baby sock monkey.

We had his birthday cake the next day after Sunday dinner. he loved it and had lots of fun digging in.

Brody is so much fun, we love to just sit back and watch him. He does this thing that I'm not sure I can even describe, but I'm going to try. When he wants something or is curious about something he makes this noise that is very much an expression of questioning. One time he was crying when we all sat down for family prayer, as we all folded our arm and bowed our heads and began the prayer he stopped crying and got real close to my face and kept making his huh??noise till I opened my eyes and looked at him. His eyes and his huh?? was so obviously saying what are you guys doing? I said we are having prayer and he sat back and watched us for the rest of the prayer.

His smile is so bright and his big blue eyes are irresistible when they shine with his smile. The kids love him so much and get so excited for his every accomplishment. He started taking steps right before his birthday and then the week after he started really walking a lot more. I love to watch him walk around in his unsteady way.

I tried to teach him to sign milk for when he wants to nurse. It is so cute!! he makes to fists and waves them back and forth. I crack up every time so he thinks it is especially great because I laugh and then nurse him.

Happy Birthday baby boy!!

Girl Scouts

2011-05-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Court was in Daisy Scouts again this year. They did lots of fun activities. I got pictures of a few of their activities this year. They had a daddy daughter dance in Feb.

They went caroling in Dec.

They went on a day camp trip to lake pleasant.

And they went on another day camp trip to the White Tank Mt.s

The girls did so many fun things this year. Court sold over 200 cookies this year and earned many badges. They went bowling for an end of the year party. I hope to be able to be more involved this next year.

Pine Wood Derby

2011-05-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. This year our derby cars were made 2 days before the race. Due to this factor Chad was convinced the boys were going to loose and loose bad. We have some serious competitors in our ward. But they still had fun designing and painting their cars. They were pretty proud of the planing and effort that went into them. Tyler's was called Webby and Casey's was Splatter.

The boys were all excited! This track was really neat. Whoever was in lane 1 got to push the release button so they got to feel more involved.

Tyler took 2nd place in the wolfs.

Casey took 2nd place in the webalos

And Tyler took 2nd place over all.

Luckily Chad's worries were for nothing.

Daddy daughter

2011-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Chad and Court went to the church dad daughter activity in April. It was Square themed event. They did square dancing, tic tac toe and other square activities. Good daddy for getting pictures when they got home...i was asleep :)
Court loved it, she loves any one on one time.

sugar crash?

2011-04-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't get these shots so I think Chad must have.
That stick is lolly pop stick from a giant sucker, it was at least as a big a CD, maybe bigger.

An actor

2011-04-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

This year Casey decided to try out for the school play. He got two parts. The play was "Beauty is a Beast" In it the princess is a spoiled brat. Her fair godmother had blessed her with great beauty at birth and she grew up to be obnoxious and rude to everyone around her so her fairy godmother changes her ugly. She meets the villagers who teach her that there is more to life than being beautiful and she changes her ways and becomes kind. Casey was the village boy Peter and he was also the castle guard.

He liked that he got to push the princess away and refuse her entrance to the castle when she tried to convince him she is princess Beauty.

He did a great job, we were very proud of him.

Zoo

2011-04-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine runs a preschool out of her house and when it was time for their field trip to the zoo she was short on the required amount of kids to get the school discount so she asked if we were interested in going. Well, discount tickets to the so very expensive zoo?? absolutely!! Aiden and Brody set off for the zoo, Aiden was so excited!!

This zoo recent (in the past 2 years or so) opened their new aquarium and it is pretty great for what a little town zoo it is.

Aiden was so excited to see the sharks! we came across a diver cleaning a tank and the kids loved it. they watched him more than some of the fish.

I can't remember what he is being scared of, i think it was the petting area where you can pet horseshoe crabs and starfish, he wanted no part of that.

He wanted to feed the giraffes until he had the food in his hand then he refused and dropped the pellets to the ground. I got a great shot of his friend tho.

One great thing about this zoo is that the animals are so close!!

Brody had a great time chilling in hi stroller

Thank Mrs Candice for the invite and chance to go. Aiden keeps asking to go back.

Comunity Pride day

2011-04-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Every year our city has Community pride day where each of the communities can submit homes that have been abandoned and need cleaning up. We have gone every year with the exception of last year due to the fact the Brody was due any day and it was Tyler's baptism day. I have gone by myself or with the kids in years past, but his year it fell in Tyler's birthday and the whole family went. As an HOA board member I was one of the group leaders within our community. Our community of Sierra Montana had over 100 volunteers and we split into 3 teams.
Our team consisted of my family and the Builders club from our school. The builders club is focused on building the community and the school, so when they asked about being able to clean some yards in the neighbor hood it was perfect timing to participate in this city event.

Our vice principal, about 3 teachers and their student club members and families joined us and we cleaned about 8 houses in our section and then went to another section to do one of larger lots. It was huge and was end to end weeds!! We worked for about 4 hours total.

I ran from house to house checking out the next home on the list making sure it was not occupied and that it was OK for clean up, directed the team on where to go ( we split into two groups within our group) and the landscapers who were following in our tracks picking up the debris and doing the heavier work like trimming the trees and such.

It was a very rewarding morning and I was so proud of my kids and their excitement in helping out and doing service.

Happy 9th

2011-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Since the kids had a big party last year and I really like having one on one time with them the year before that...we decided to take them on a date for their birthday this year. They get to choose where we go for dinner and we will consider any other ideas they have for the evening.

April 4th was Tyler's birthday and he turned 9 this year. I was all ready to get Tyler the Lego's he wanted for his birthday. Then Chad came up with the idea that he might like a new upgraded controller for his RC car. After presenting him with that choice...yup, that was what he wanted. We told him it was on back order and would be here around Courtney's birthday. So he was excited to open it on the morning of his birthday.

Since we had something going on the evening of the 4th we took him out the night before. Tyler first wanted to go to "Country Buffet" because he liked how you could keep going back for more food and you don't even have to finish it if you don't like it. I got to talking to him about how he could choose any place and he could think of anything else, so I said what kind of food do you want and I can suggest some place. He remembered the ribs Chad always bring home as leftovers when we go to Texas Road House and said that was what he wanted.

I forgot my camera so we got a terrible shot on the cell phone, but a great one of the leftovers.

After dinner we went to the mall to look around so he could spend his birthday money from grandmas and grandpas. the vans he bought in Jan were falling apart so we went to look at the vans store and find out if they had sturdier shoes. I told him I was not going to halves on another pair of shoes that was going to fall apart in 2 months. The sales lady assured us that they had some shoes that were designed to stand up to skateboarding and were much durable so so we went halves again on his second pair of vans in 4 months.

after the mall we went for ice cream at 31 flavors and got big waffle cones of chocolate and peanut butter. He decided he didn't like the big chunks of peanut butter. That's the best Part!! Whatever. We haded home, it was lots if fun and we had a great time spending time with our birthday boy. The next night he picked out drum sticks for his birthday "cake" and we got a Red Box movie :The Sorcerers Apprentice" and celebrated as a family.

he's a climber

2011-04-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

One day I was in the family room and I heard some banging around in the kitchen so I went to see what was going on......
Older siblings + baby learning to climb = danger for baby!

Luckily everything was turned off and it had been long enough that everything on the stove was cooled off. Yikes Brody. I didn't even know he could climb onto the stool!

Lego Hotel

2011-04-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

As their "prize" for winning the Olympics, but not getting to be named winners I told the boys we would buy them the windows they wanted for the hotel they were building out of Legos. The need 48 windows, so we went on Lego web sight and ordered them.
Brody looks like baby Godzilla next to the Hotel.

Mother Son Olympics

2011-04-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Our PTO event for March was the Mother Son Olympics. We decided to have an Olympics rather than a dance in hopes that the boys would be more interested in it. We did a Minute to Win it type Olympics. Every even was timed to be achieved in a minute. The times were added up at the end. The boys and I Had the best time over all, but since I was one of the ladies in charge of the event I told the boys we could not win, but I would make it up to them later. They were fine with this except when Casey tried to tell some kids in class that he won and then they wouldn't believe him when someone else was named the gold metal winner. Sorry Casey :( The boys were excited because we planned it so that us PTO moms who had boys would still be able to participate with our boys. I was still running around a lot, but I did stop long enough to play the games. I promised the boys that next year I would do nothing but attend with them.

Art

2011-04-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

One more art showing for Tyler. His Art teacher chose this piece he did in class. I can't remember who it is he was doing, but I know she was very proud of him. This is at the district art show.
Tyler and Mrs. Dubrin

Rain

2011-04-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

One of the last rains of the year. Aiden got his shoes and jacket on and went out and played in the mud a bit.

redesighn

2011-04-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

Chad and the kids recently redesigned the track in the back yard. It tool a couple of days. They built a 2 level raised structure in the corner and some double doubles, a few moguls and are quite proud of the new challenges they face. They has so much fun with it once it was all done! so much fun in fact that Chad ran his car longer than he should have and burnt out the engine. Well that $100 fix is going to have to wait, so now we look at it proudly and dream of driving again :)

Chad won!!

2011-04-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

I have this tradition that I don't cut the kids hair till they are 1. Chad hates this tradition. Well with my other kids they had curls and I didn't want to cut off the curls! Or on my girl well, why cut it she was a girl. This time while we were sitting around one day Chad said "please, can't i just win one, he doesn't even have curls" it doesn't help that that very evening as we were feasting on 39 cent tacos at Del Taco (gotta love that deal) the guy at the next table told Brody " eat your food so you can grow up to be a big girl". Well I thought it through and decide to give him this one. A whole month early!

Brody and I headed to Kool Cuts for Kids, where I have gotten all except one of the other kids first hair cuts. We tried a different place with Aiden...it didn't work out so back to our original plan.

He was fine.....

till she actually went after him with the cutters.

She and he both endured and he ended up with his first hair cut. At first she was going easy since I guess some moms don't like to go to short on the first cut, but I figure if I'm paying for hair cut (i cut the other boys hair) then it better look like a cut, not a trim, and it better last a while so she went shorter.

She put some gel in and spiked the front too :) now he is all grown up and he is not even one yet!

The kids loved it and so do mom and dad :). Yes the boys also need cuts...I took care of that a few days later.

our artist

2011-04-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

Tyler was able to going Art Club this year. Ms Dubrin he art teacher was going to cut off the age limit at 4th grade, but she had extra space and so allowed T to join a year early. He worked really hard on a self portrait and it payed off when she chose his piece to hang in the city library. We took a family trip to the library to see it. I think he did a great job and can actually see him in his drawing.

She also selected one of his other drawings.

mini marathon

2011-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

This year one of teachers put together a mini marathon to raise money to benefit Leukemia. My boys wanted to participate so we signed them up and then showed up to cheer them on. I think the mini distance was 2.5 miles. They were so excited and kept talking about how they wanted to run a real marathon one day.

They even came in together and I got to get a great shot of them finishing it off together.

They got cool t shirts and a metal as souvenirs.

Brother and sister were so proud of them

Brody was there too :) here is the health teacher Ms. Page hold him for me

Dr. Seuss week

2011-03-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am not very good at remembering birthdays, but ever since my kids started school I never miss Dr. Seuss's birthday. Not that I realised I was missing it before. This year at our school made spirit week the same week as this famous birthday with themed days such as "Green Eggs and Ham day", "Thing one and Thong Two (Twin day)", "Crazy hat day" etc. So of course on green eggs and ham day the kids want that for dinner so below is my version of it. We had green scrambled eggs with bacon bits, sour cream and a slice of avocado for a little extra green ;) in a corn tortilla. As a side dish I colored the hash browns green and while they don't look all that appetising it was in fact a yummy meal. My supremely talented party throwing friend had a Dr. Seuss party for the little pre K kids. Aiden had a blast and came home with great party favors and lots of stories of the fun games they played.

Same friend made Thing one and two shirts for her daughter a friend. Tyler wanted in on that action so he became Thing 3.

Thanks Dr. Suess for all the great books that you contributed to my and my kids childhood, and thanks for all the fun you inspire.

a Cake

2011-03-18T12:34:00.002-07:00

I got to make a cake for one of Courtney's friends birthday party. It has been almost a year since I did a cake and it was fun to decorate one again. The inside was even cute too...

One day i will get back into doing cakes, but for now it is still to much to seriously take on with the little ones. I'll just do one here and there, when the opportunity comes.

The big field trip

2011-03-18T12:34:00.001-07:00

I remember going on an over night field trip when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Casey got the chance to also do this as his 5th grade class was the first at our school to take an overnight 5th grade trip. They went to Lake Pleasant Desert outdoor Center. They took many classes in the 2 days they were there. They made Journals....

Took nature walks and learned about the local desert atmosphere.

They stayed in Bunk houses/dorms

They got all bundled up for midnight (8:00) hike.

and got to watch the sun go down. I will say that AZ has great sunsets.

The next day they participated in lots of team work and team building activities.

They even got to practice building a shelter and attracting a rescue team.

And how to build a fire.

Building Bridges

2011-03-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

Casey's class did a study on bridges. They were then put into groups and assign "jobs" like architect, accountant, builder etc. They had to find a bridge, study it and design how they were going to replicate it. They were given a budget and they had to purchase their lumber (toothpicks) and glue. They then had to build the bridge meeting certain requirements.

Every night at dinner we would get an update on how the bridge was coming and how much money they had spent compared to the other teams. One day the lumber was on sale so they bought it on sale and then sold it other teams at a profit later. Casey's team had the most money left over at the end of the assignment. It looks so fragile to me, but looks are deceiving, his team won the weight test and could have taken on more, but the time was up so their bridge didn't brake and who knows how much more it could have taken on...

Finally!

2011-03-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

After Aiden showed me how he could put on his own diaper...seriously, he laid the diaper out, sat on it and did up the tabs. I immediately felt shame for putting it off for so long and then informed him it was time to start going potty on the toilet, he was already doing the other, so we were already half way there. He had recently started asking for a pillow pet, so I told him when he went a whole 7 days in a row with out having an accident we would get him one. It really didn't take long...i would say within 2 weeks he was accident free. So there is something to say for waiting to long...they learn faster :) he chose a bumble bee pillow.

Valentine day

2011-03-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

Before going to bed on Valentine Eve :) I put out cards and candy for the kids. In the morning they were excited to show me what they had done with the candy wrappers.
They took it upon themselves to eat the Pixy Stix so that they could use the paper to write me a note. Yes they considered this binge on sugar to be their breakfast.....on a school morning....I informed them that they had better get something sugar free in their bellies before they left for school!

and of course our traditional Breakfast for dinner, since Chad was already at work for breakfast.

And I didn't cut my finger!

2011-03-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

After Casey cut his finger i showed the kid the proper tools to use to cut carrots since this is a popular snack at our house. Aiden takes it upon himself to make himself a carrot which consists of cutting off the ends and peeling off the skin.,,,this was a common sight in our house for a while.
Aiden was so proud of himself and his skills in carrot preparation.

"And I didn't even cut myself!"

The wrong hand

2011-03-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

after breakfast one Sunday morning for some reason we got to talking about people who can write with both hands and Chad told the kids to go get paper and pens and we all had to write with our "Wrong" hand.
It was really funny watching the kids holding the pen with their wrong hand.

After we were done we compared it with our regular handwriting...Tyler was not even legible, Casey and Court were pretty shaky, but we could still read it.

Diaper Dash

2011-03-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

There was a Huggies "Diaper Dash" crawling contest at babies r us one Saturday afternoon so the kids and I headed over to sign Brody up.
The first round was him a little girl.

As soon as they said go everyone started calling the babies to come and they just looked around at all the noise. Eventually the little girl started crawling as her parents pulled out her bottle. I couldn't even get Brody's attention over the noise.

So we lost, but we stuck around and they let him sign up for the 3rd round since there were very few people there. He won that round since the other two kids didn't move and I think he was more comfortable with his surrounding by that time.

He won a $10.00 gift card.

In the final round all the winners from the five rounds competed for 3 months worth of diapers. It was between him and the little girl from the first round. They both crawled and then right before the finish line they stopped and sat up. i should mention that she was crawling for his toy. Well they both sat there and then she put her hand forward and touched the finish line!! so close!!

We decided if daddy had been there Brody would have totally won since he crawls for Chad super fast. Oh well.

We still got a package of diapers and some treats for Brody. Good job buddy :)

And he fell asleep

2011-03-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

One afternoon I was doing some work on the computer when Aiden crawled up to his normal spot on the arm of my chair. On this particular time he must have been pretty tired. He takes naps every once in a great while...today was one of those times because as I clicked away I slowly noticed him leaning on my arm more and more till I realised he was completely knocked out.

father daughter winter ball

2011-03-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

Court and Chad of course went to the dance and a great time.

They danced the night away. Court was in heaven.

We had a desert bar with cake pops, brownies a chocolate fountain and more. We had a game going on in the food room. It was a How well do you know your daughter (like the newlywed game) which was a bug hit. The dance was going on in the other room.

Set up for school dance

2011-03-18T11:44:00.001-07:00

At the end of January the PTO had a Father Daughter Winter Ball. The PTO board stayed late into the night on Thursday night to decorate for the dance the following night. We strung lights from end to end across the gym and then with the help of the cleaning crew and their access to this machine to lift them high they strung a rope for us to lift the center of the lights. This really helped so Thanks cleaning guys !! :)
The decorations were great! the kids loved it and the dance was awesome! it was worth the 5 hours of set up when the girls would walk in and be amazed.

9 months

2011-02-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

It took 9 months but after those long months I got a great reward and got to bring this sweetie home.

9 months later he is growing so big and so fast I got some clothes from a friend and she had the same outfit he had worn home from the hospital so I just HAD to get a picture and compare.

Brody is such a joyful addition to our family. He keeps us all very entertained with his new skills and achievements each month. The kids take great pleasure in every new thing he does. They love showing him off to friends and playing with him. He loves daddy so much and crawls after him if ever he walks into a room, crying with disappointment if he is not picked up and given his due attention.

Feeding himself

2011-02-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

He is finally old enough to share our dinner with him. On this night I gave him Some cut up noodles, carrots and peas. He dug right in and loves to feed himself.

he cut his finger

2011-02-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

I was at Courtney's girl scout meeting getting the order form so we could start cookies sales. I got a call from Chad which I ignored....then another call.....then a text. I figured I'd better find out what the emergency was. "Please call me, Casey cut his finger and may need stitch" is what the text said. I grabbed all the paper i need and excused myself from the meeting. On the way home I called Chad and said I would stop at the store and get some bandages and stuff in case we could just wrap it ourselves. Ass soon as I walked in and saw it i said "lets go, that looks bad". So off we went. Apparently he had tried to cut a carrot length wise using a 5 inch knife and of course it slipped and he sliced his finger. Chad was already in bed and he tried to use a band aid and take care of it himself, but when the band aid wouldn't stick due to all the blood, the other kids convinced him to go wake dad up. He has always been so sure of his knife skills, he has his whittling chip from boys scouts so he knows all about knifes and the skills need to wield one....he had learned a health respect for knifes now. As we got in the car he asked if he was going to need stitch. I told him I didn't know we have taken two other kids to urgent care before in case of stitches and neither one had needed them, so we would just have to see.
Since I had been to his honor roll assembly earlier I happened to still have the camera with me!! joy!! pictures for the blog!! :) This pic doesn't do it justice...notice the blood spatters on his pants.

The doc came in and after one glance said yep...stitches. after determining that not muscles or tendons were damaged she left the room and he asked for me come hold his hand and sit by him, he was shaking with nerves.

While she numbed his finger and started stitching, he had his head turned and said he was just going to talk to me to distract himself. He talked and talked and told me all about his book on tape he is listening to. towards the end he took a peek and found it very interesting to see the needle sew him up, he was good a numb and not feeling a thing :)

She wrapped it up real good plus the finger next to it, so he would be flipping people off, and instructed us to keep that on for three days then change it everyday after that. Come back in 10 to 14 days to get then removed. He was very excited now to go to school the next day and show off his bandages and tell his harrowing story.

After the three day we were able to take off the bandage and show everyone his beautiful blue stitches. They were all duly impressed.

One of the funny things about it all was that after it happened, he kept saying to Chad "i hope it doesn't turn green! I hope it doesn't turn green!. Apparently had watched a movie about guys on a ship back in the day and there was fight and after getting injured one of sailors got ganged green and had to have his arm amputated, and he had also read about a similar story in a book recently. As he told me about this I said "Casey, do you think it would turn green right away?" He said "yes", I could help but giggle as I thought about him looking at his cut and watching it, waiting to see if it turned color.

I have now shown him and all the kids how to properly cut a carrot and the correct utensil to use so that we have no more trips to urgent care.