Heaven Help Us!

Paul (brother-in-law) fills Kyle in on all the inner secrets of the motorcyle owners' circle of trust.

If anything happens to anyone, I'm blaming you, Paul! :) By the way, thanks for delivering all the way from L.A. It been fun and we are now the most/least (depending on how you look at it) favorite family in the neighborhood.

Queen of the Castle

After losing two cats, it looks like Marge is here to stay. Claire and Kyle built Marge a little place to call her own. Happy scorpion hunting, Marge!

Long Time Coming!

Two firsts today!

#1 Allison gets to start her first swim lessons. She was so excited that she woke up at 5:45 ready to go!

#2 She let me put her hair in a ponytail and she actually left it there! Doesn't it look amazing? She has the best hair!

By the way, swim lessons were so entertaining! She had her swim teacher, Chris, all over that pool! From one end to the other, back and forth, and back and forth again! This is a big pool, too! Anyway, when it was over, she had a major meltdown because she wanted to keep going! Does this surprise any of you? Poor Chris... I'm wondering if he's regretting the day he signed up to teach "special" swim lessons!

The Last Hurrah!

It looks like things are coming full circle. My kids are going to the school where I used to teach! It's all so strange to be a parent and not an employee! I was very happy working at Benjamin Franklin. I loved my job and I loved my students! I can't say enough about their curriculum, teachers, and administrators. It's a great place to get an education and my kids are so happy there! Claire completes 2nd grade with flying colors! This is her teacher Mrs. Solberg.

Derek with Miss Ritter after Kindergarten Graduation. Handsome boy!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

I guess we can't call him Baby Jack anymore! We'll still call him "Ning Ning" though! He's all grown up and walking all over the place just like a big kid! Jack loves his new toys... little cars, big cars, more cars! He also got a pool floaty, a new swimsuit and shoes (so he won't burn his little toes on the blazing hot ground here in the desert). We had lots of family and friends and fajitas and gingerbread cake... but Jack got the fancy cake, of course! I'm sure you will all agree that he is just the cutest, little birthday boy!

Just an observation...

Dwight Schrute and Claire "Schrute"

We found this picture when we were going through my mom's things. Kyle and I immediately saw a resemblance. Fortunately, Dwight is one of my favorite characters! What do you think?

The Day After...

Survived! My head hurts, but I made it through. Luckily, Kyle had the day off today! So, I had some help recovering from yesterday. To reward myself, I went and bought some new running shoes. I've been nursing my old shoes along doing Power 90... but I think it's time to run a couple of days every week and for that I needed new shoes. Time to lose the rest of the baby weight! Get some fresh air! No laughing at me when you drive by! Wish me luck! I'll try not to break anything or catch anything on fire, except the road, baby! Thanks for listening! :)

It's only 11:45am!

Stove caught fire. Not joking! What a day! I don't dare ask what's next. Alli's home from school, so the sky's the limit!

Insult to Injury

Not my best morning ever... first, the insurance thing. Then, as I was going potty, getting ready to hop in the shower, the light fixture from the ceiling fell, landing on my head, and then proceeded to shatter all over my bathroom and closet. Fortunately, my children were not on hand to hear my commentary on the situation. And, fortunately, I did not pass out, although I thought about it for a few seconds. Now I have a big, bump, a headache, and some frozen vegetables on my head... since I'm out of ice. Is anyone feeling sorry for me, yet?

I Hate Insurance!!!

Guess what I got in the mail today? A bill. Yup. A bill for the birth and delivery of Jack... who is almost a year old. $8,700.00! Also, when I called about this I found out that more bills are coming! Yay. For some unknown, unexplained reason I have disappeared from the face of the planet with my baby and nobody knows anything about anything! So, after spending the morning on the phone... long distance to Texas, of course, I know absolutely nothing, except that even though I was covered at the time of the birth, my insurance did a "retro-disenrollment" after Jack was born and now they don't want to pay for the entire preganancy. But wait, I can appeal. Lucky me.

Jack's Pajamas

I'll just let the pictures do the "talking". I'm laughing too hard to type anyway. Thanks for the jammies, Mater. I think we'll just pack those away for later this year! :)

Three Men and a Tent

Kyle, Derek, and Nate head up north for the Ward Father and Sons Campout!

Kyle and Derek near a waterfall. And yes, for those of you who are outsiders... this is in Arizona. Beautiful!

Roughin' it, eh?

I think it took more time to prepare and load up than they were actually there camping! Glad they went and had some fun though!

MMM... Mother's Day

What did I get for Mother's Day, you ask? Well, my lovely husband took my children swimming Saturday afternoon, so that I could "get things done" so that I could actually relax a little on Sunday! I also got one really long nap... which never happens. I watched Twilight. Claire made me breakfast in bed (soggy Life cereal) AND... I made my dad, my in-laws, my husband's brother, and my neighbors all come over to my house and eat food. My dad and the boys made one of my favorites, Grilled "Butterfly" Chicken. Nate made one of my new dessert favorites... Creme Brulee. (I probably spelled that wrong, oh well.) It was a great day and I just had to blog and make you all jealous. Can you smell that chicken? Heavenly! (My dad, Frank, and Kyle's dad, Ted)

That's me trying to eat some watermelon before the kids figure out it's there!

Kyle and his mom, Carol.

Our favorite neighbors, The Woodards... (well, that's three of them anyway!)

Project Man Castle

We came, we saw, we conquered! My sisters, my aunts, Carol (my mother-in-law)... we descended on my dad's house and helped him clean, sort, organize, and dispose of my mother's many treasured treasures. And let me tell you, there were some treasures, and many of them! Some of my favorite finds:

1. The notes and receipts from planning my wedding almost 15 years ago. Also, found the flowers from my wedding.

2. Found mom's wig from when she had cancer. (In tact with wig brush, shampoo, and styling utensils.) We had fun trying it on and modeling for the camera.

3. Jar of peppercorns older than me! Way older!

4. Mom's favorite college clothes. Sweaters, slacks, skirts, scarves... Still stylish, but all wool, very itchy, and not practical, especially for Arizona.

5. A polaroid camera, with extra film, a 35mm camera with film, and the other kind of camera that's so old, I don't even know what to call it... with extra film!

We worked hard all week and after several loads to DI and lots of dust and grime, I'm proud to say that the only thing we fought over were some favorite DVD's from mom's vast collection. Sherry and I claimed all the Esther Williams movies to keep in Arizona, but we lost the Doris Day collection. Kyle's heart is broken. :)

My dad's now set up in his "man castle"... all the years of junk are hauled away and I'm feeling that things are finally coming to a close. The cobwebs have been cleared and the dust has settled on another beautiful journey. I can spend this Mother's Day, enjoying my own family and once again feeling grateful for all the beautiful memories I have of my own mom.

Easter Festivities

Claire and her "auntcestors". Kyle sisters DeAnn and Danette at the family Easter Egg Hunt.

Jack's first Easter! A new toothbrush, cool!

Derek, the Easter Bunny... funny.

Claire Egg Hunting

Alli Easter Bunny... funnier.

Derek's First Diamondbacks Game

Boys night out!! Thanks for the tickets, Travis!

A Mother's Work is Never Done!

I have been very blessed to have known many great mothers. Here are two of my favorites! My own mom, who recently passed away, and my husband's mom, Carol. Here we are at the end of my last pregnancy. I was preparing to move from Texas, Kyle was getting ready to graduate, kids trying to finish another year of school, packing, speech therapy, babysitting... craziness! They both came to Texas for several weeks to help. We got Jack here, packed up two weeks later, and moved to Arizona. I can't believe it's only been one year ago! I'm glad we all survived that move and have the pictures to keep us laughing about it now.