Stop, go back!

Since I started this little 365 day project of mine my family has gotten used to me uttering 3 little words....Stop, go back!

These days I find that I am consciously and constantly keeping my eyes open for something to take a picture of each day. I often see something while we are driving, so it's become common for me to coerce my husband into driving around the block again so I can take a picture.

Except that after several weeks of this behavior the whole family is getting less and less patient with my quest for the daily picture. The kids cannot understand why we are stopping AGAIN when they are SOOOO HUNGRY. So, sometimes I miss a photo opp.

My favorite missed photo opp this week-the Adopt-a-Highway sign that said that a particular mile of highway was sponsored by the Florence Sr. Citizen Center. I immediately pictured in my head little old ladies with blue hair and little old men using their walkers to pick up trash on the side of the road and the mental image tickled me. It's just the way I roll, I guess.




Off
Monday, July 18, 2011
Day 50

Because AZ is so hot during the summer most of the shopping centers and restaurants have misting systems that will spray a fine mist of water down on you as you walk along the sidewalk. Not enough to really get you wet but enough to help cool you down, just the tiniest bit.

But the problem is that they all also appear to be on timers and no matter where we go they all turn off at 6:00. Believe me when I say that it has NOT cooled down by 6:00. And 6:00ish is when we are most likely to go out to dinner. So why, I ask you do they turn them off right in the middle of the dinner rush? Why????

So this picture is because I am disappointed, once again, that the misters have already been turned off for the day and we can't in fact eat out on the patio.

If you look really close you can see one little tiny drop of water falling from the sad, turned off mister.




Quiet, man at Work
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Day 51


Today Mike had a long day of conference calls and the kids were getting a little bit too loud in the other room. So I was trying to come up with a way of helping them keep the noise down without coming across and mean mom. So I encouraged them to get out their markers and make some signs we could post around the house when dad was on the phone to remind us to be quiet.










I'm gonna soak up the sun
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Day 52

Since school starts next week our mornings at the pool are quickly coming to an end. Too bad. My babies look good in the sun.





Meet your Teacher
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Day 53


New state, new school, new friends, new teachers.

Zoey is ECSTATIC about starting kindergarten.




Adam is a little bit more reserved, but optimistic.




I know school hasn't started yet but I feel fantastic about the kids' new teachers.

20 Guesses
Friday, July 22, 2011
Day 54



Harrison's birthday is really next week, but since his siblings will be in school and his dad may be out of town for work we decided to celebrate his birthday today.

Here I am working on his cupcakes.....any guesses as to what they are going to be?






Dear Environment, I apologize in advance
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Day 55


The dishwasher has been acting out lately. I did all the things the Queen of Clean recommended for cleaning your dishwasher and removing hard water build up. But the dishes were still coming out dirty. And I was tired of washing all my dishes 2 sometimes 3 times. (Pre-rinse, run through dishwasher, wash again by hand because they came out dirty.) So today I gave in and bought paper products to use until we move to our new house with a new dishwasher








All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Day 56


School starts tomorrow, so we spent the evening getting back packs ready to go. Tomorrow we kiss goodbye the blissful summer mornings by the poolside. Instead we will be waking up bright and early so we can be ready on time to make the 25 minute drive to school and still be on time. School hasn't even started yet and I already can't wait until our house is finished and the kids can walk to school!

Ground Breaking

Summer is actually starting to wind down for us. Not summer the season. But summer break. The kids start school on July 25th so we've been trying to cram as much into our remaining weeks as humanly possible.

Since Mike works from home and doesn't have to get up and ready to go to the office at any particular time we have also taken the opportunity to sleep in. Sure I get up early a few days a week to do the shopping before it gets too hot, or to just to enjoy the quiet time before the kids get up. But I don't HAVE to get up. And that has been a lovely thing. Something I will surely miss once schools starts again.

And so it begins

Monday, July 11, 2011
Day 43

Zoey went this morning for her Pre-K assessment at the school, which literally took less then 10 minutes. I like to believe it is because she is so stinking smart that she flew right through all the questions. But since they didn't let me in the room with her while they did the assessment we'll never know.

But, since our homesite is so close to the school (less then a block, yea for walking to school!) and since we were a little early before heading to the school we drove past our lot and were met by this happy surprise!

After her test we drove back past hoping to get a better picture of the backhoe but he is FAST and was already gone.

So excited that actual work has begun I can hardly stand it! Was getting tired of all the paperwork.

Priceless

Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Day 44

I don't want to get too bogged down in the details, but the past few weeks we have been in a little dispute with our builder. Our floorplan has an option for a walkout deck upstairs off the master bedroom. And we opted for said deck. Only to get paperwork back later with pricing we didn't agree with.

Long story short, our agent is awesome and totally went to bat for us, but in the end we were pretty much roped into the deck at a price we didn't love because everything was already signed.

So-we drove back out to see if anything new had happened at the home site today. (This has actually turned into a night ritual now. It's our first build and we're just a tad bit excited.)

They had added rebar to the big holes in preparation for the concrete. Not so exciting visually.

But we were there just late enough to witness this amazing view of the sun going down as the moon was coming up.

And as I realized that this amazing view would be what I would see EVERY NIGHT sitting on my deck suddenly all the angst over the pricing and such disappeared. A view like this is priceless.

(No houses are going to be built behind us because it is a designated flood washout area. Score!)

Expect Great Things

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Day 45

That's Kohl's catchphrase, right?

Anyway, I have been having anxiety over what to wear on my upcoming trip to Vegas so I decided to trade in my AMEX points for a Kohl's gift card and use it to get something new.

I waited impatiently for days for it to arrive. I couldn't wait to go shopping!

I shopped till I dropped, and then completely forgot to use my gift card!

Put your best footing forward

Thursday, July 14, 2011
Day 46

Today was great! I finally found the library book that went missing just before we moved (which is perfect timing because I had run out of renewals and it is due next week.)

AND on our nightly pilgrimage to our home site we were thrilled to discover that the footings had been poured!

I'm wishing.....

Friday, July 15, 2011
Day 47

Zoey is my child who wants to BUY BUY BUY. She earns a quarter for something and immediately wants to find something to spend it on.

Adam is my saver. We practically had to force him to spend his hard earned money on a souvenir at Disneyland, even though he had been saving it all year SPECIFICALLY for our trip to Disneyland!

You're feeling that I'm not about the tell you a story to illustrate this point, right?

Tonight we went to dinner and ate outside by the fountain. So of course the kids asked for pennies to make a wish.

I gave each child 3 cents. Adam encouraged each of his siblings to throw theirs in first. And then he promptly pocketed his 3 to put in his bank at home.

Closed for the Season

Saturday, July 16, 2011
Day 48

For no particular reason we decided to drive South today and visit the little town of Florence, AZ. On the 4th of July when we were at the pool one of the ladies there was talking about how she had made some pastries to sell at their main street festival and the way she talked it just sounded like the kind of little town I wanted to visit. And it's only 20 minutes away so why not.

We arrived to find it was more like a ghost town, at least during this time of year. Apparently the historical museum and several of the cool old buildings close down for the summer. Who knew?

Luckily we were able to go into the first Pinal County Courthouse, so the drive wasn't a total waste.

Mike gave the kids their first lesson on the judicial system.

Ironically, the county prison is also in Florence. In fact you can't leave town without driving right past it. It's close enough to the road that you can see the inmates out in the yard in their orange jumpsuits. What a way to round out our lesson on the judicial system!

On a sidenote here-we ended up leaving Florence and driving to Tuscon. It's only another hour and a half so we figured why not. Once in Tuscon we ate at Chick-Fil-A, then the kids played in the play area for way too long and then we drove back home. Yup, drove clear to Tuscon for fried chicken! Now THAT is an effective use of time and resources.

Little Bunny Foo-foo

Sunday, July 17, 2011
Day 49

Sundays are always the hardest day to get a picture because we usually go to church then just chill at home the rest of the day.

But today, during dinner, the kids spotted this out the window.

Okay, it's a crappy picture through the screen, and he jumped away before I had a chance to actually go outside. So in case you can't tell, it's a little jack rabbit!

Another week bites the dust

This is where I typically wax philosophical about the past week before launching into the week's photos. But I am not feeling like my normal, witty self today. So, I'll skip the idle chatter and get straight to what you came to see anyway!

Let Freedom Ring
Monday, July 4, 2011
Day 36

Yes, today was Independence day. And yes we went swimming and went shopping and saw fireworks. But the real news of today was that Adam lost another tooth.

Tooth #3. And the tooth fairy forgot to come. Does that happen at anybody else's house? I think she may be getting a little old and senile.

Haboob
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Day 37

Today we experienced our first dust storm, or Haboob. Were we are living we were really just on the outskirts of the the major storm, but it was a surreal experience just the same. We were sitting in the living room and Mike looked out the window and said, "The sky is brown." I opened the door to get a better look and sure enough, the sky was brown.

Unfortunately by the time I grabbed my camera the wind had really picked up and the strange brown sky effect had already passed and this is the picture I ended up with.

My picture really doesn't do this storm justice. To get an idea of how massive this storm really was check out the time lapse below.

Home Office

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Day 38

We finally got the home office set up. Well, mostly.

You can see there are still a lot of boxes and a filing cabinet in front of the door. But, after over a month of doing most my computing from my phone the computers are all fully operational now!

Which means I spent ALL day today catching up on recording the finances and paying bills.

Stating the obvious

Thursday, July 7, 2011
Day 39

We laugh at this sign every time we pass.

So today as I passed it again today I snapped a quick pic.

A first, and a last

Friday, July 8, 2011
Day 40

Pulled the kids in front of the computer to watch their first ever shuttle launch.

Which, unfortunately, may also be their last.

Two Balloons

Saturday, July 9, 2011
Day 41

At Chick-Fil-A today a kind employee came around and offered my children balloons.

Harrison said he wanted a yellow one. There were two slightly different colors of yellow so the kind employee asked him which specific yellow one he would like.

Harrison's response: Both!

We all chuckled at his response, which then caused this response:

So then, of course, he was quickly given both balloons!

World's Best Dad

Sunday, July 10, 2011
Day 42

It's a good dad that will play Princess Barbies with his 5 year old daughter.

I suspect that having 4 sisters growing up prepared him well for this role.

Funniest part is that Mike was all ready to be Jasmine-but Zoey had something different in mind. She wanted him to pretend he was to be a toy builder who was building the dolls.

This is your brain in the AZ sun

Every time we have had to venture out this week my husband comments that it is so hot that it is cooking his brains. So of course all I can think of when he says that is the old public service commercial with the egg frying as the voice over says "This is your brain on drugs".

Weird and random, I know.

To flip or flop or not

Monday, June 27, 2011
Day 29

For years I have been trying to convince my husband to wear sandals. I wear sandals whenever the occasion permits. I love letting my toes be free! (Sometimes to my detriment, but that doesn't stop me!)

I thought that once we moved to AZ he would FINALLY decide to give up his socks and shoes in lieu of something a little cooler.

But-here are my feet at the park today.

And here are his feet at the park today.

As you can see, even in 118 degree weather I am still losing this battle.

Reunited, and it feels so good

Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day 30

Today I FINALLY unpacked some of Zoey's toys. It's been almost 2 months since I packed them and she has been asking for weeks when she is going to get her dolls back.

So today she was reunited with her princess dolls. And she was just a TAD excited.

Yes, she is still in her pajamas, and yes it was after 4:00 in the afternoon. Don't judge.

Paint with all the colors of the wind

Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Day 31

Exactly what color is the wind? Would you call it Pebbled Courtyard? Or Toffee Crunch?

Today's picture was inspired by a conversation on Twitter with my cousin Andria and my Sister-in-law Karen. I was making fun of paint colors but Andria told me she gives paint chips to her high school students to help inspire them when they write poetry. So then I couldn't make fun of goofy paint color names anymore because that actually is a really good idea.

Finding Sanity on a swing

Thursday June 30, 2011
Day 32

It's been so hot all week that we haven't gone anywhere. At all. And by today I was going completely stir crazy. So around dusk I decided to walk down to get the mail and committed to not head home until I saw something that intrigued or inspired me. I went all the way around the block without much luck. Just across the street and down a few houses from our house is a small little "park". If you could even really call it that. It is just a sand pit with two swings and a teeter-totter. So I walked over to the swings and sat down and started to swing a little, unsure of what else to do. I just knew I wasn't ready to go home yet but it was TOO HOT to keep walking. And at least the swings were in the shade.

And as I started to swing I had a moment of feeling like a kid again, for just a moment. And I tried to see how high I could get. And then I reveled in the feeling of the breeze rushing past me as I swung back and forth, back and forth, higher and higher.

And my cares started to melt away. The stir-craziness of the week started to melt away. My heart was lighter. And I thought about how I found my sanity on the swings-and knew that had to be my picture for the day.

So I propped my phone up and put the timer on. But it kept clicking at weird times so all the pictures were really awkward. Of all I took this was the best.

And it wasn't great. So after about 5 minutes of running back and forth and setting the time over and over I came up with this one instead.

But the process of trying to come up with a creative picture of me on the swings was in and of itself amazingly cleansing and refreshing!

Vitamin D therapy

Friday July 1, 2011
Day 33

After weeks of waiting, impatiently I might add, the HOA FINALLY delivered our pool pass. Which meant today it was time for to get our allotment of vitamin D.

Made for 3 very happy, very tired kids.

Ghetto Fab

Saturday July 2, 2011
Day 34

We are having record breaking heat here in AZ right now. So we have stayed pretty holed up in the house, but we had to venture out today. The AC in the car isn't working up to par and we have been struggling to come up with a doable solution to make car trips bearable. We bought a fan that plugs into the 12 volt outlets in the car but didn't have anywhere to clip it.

So I grabbed my small cutting board, clipped the fan to that and and used bungees to strap the cutting board to the arm rest.

I can almost hear Jeff Foxworthy now, "You may be a red neck if......"

In the name of fashion

Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day 35

I guess today's picture is less about documenting our time in AZ and more about revealing a little more of my crazy side....but you know.

See I pulled my watch out of my jewelry box today only to find that it had a dead battery.

But the watch is so cute and matched my outfit for church so well that I wore it anyway! And prayed nobody would ask me what time it was.