Boxed in

 

I know I haven't posted in 3 weeks. 

And I know you are all just on the edge of your seats wondering how things are going.

As I'm sure you can surmise from my lack of witty banter here the last few weeks have been insane! Good (mostly) but insane. We've been working our tails off and sleep has eluded us. Add to that the fact that my computer has been packed for the last 14 days and maybe you can understand why I haven't gotten around to posting pictures in a while.

The good news in I've still been taking daily pictures-so I WILL eventually get them posted. I just have to dig myself out first.

The Magic Continues

Let the Games Begin
Monday, October 3 2011

Today was the first day of fall break. The kids are out of school for the next 2 1/2 weeks. On the one hand it means I have to now figure out what to do with the kids for the next 2 1/2 weeks. But it also means I don't have to make that awful school run twice a day for 2 1/2 weeks. And we move into the new house the day after they go back. Which means I really only have to make the school run maybe 3 more times. Because then we'll be in walking distance to the school Hooray!!!!

So what did the kids do with their first day of freedom?  They entertained themselves by playing train.



Wait for me!
Tuesday, October 4 2011

Temperatures have remained in the 100's this week so I thought we should take advantage of this fact to go swimming one last time before we move. (There is a community pool in our new neighborhood so it's not like we'll never go swimming again.)

I loved this shot of Harrison running to catch up to his older siblings.



I also love going swimming first thing in the morning because that is when all the retired folks are at the pool. The retired crew all come nearly every morning and they are a riot! The last couple of times we went swimming before school started many of them had already gone to visit kids and grandkids for the summer (most of them are snowbirds that leave during the summer months) so it was fun to see so many of them back. It's like going swimming with 10 grandmas and grandpas. They are all so nice to the kids. Plus they are just a crack up to listen to them talk to each other.I love that these wonderful seniors have finally reached the stage of life that they so don't care anymore about what anybody else thinks of them. They are finally free to just be themselves! I keep trying to take that lesson from them-and to not wait until I get older to finally stop caring what other people think of me. I have so missed our morning swims!



Fascinating
Wednesday, October 5 2011

I took Adam with me today to run some errands. It was fun to spend some one-on-one time with him.

We ended up at Ikea (which wasn't on the original agenda). If you've ever been to Ikea (and who hasn't, really?) you know that throughout the store they have displays showing how all their products undergo rigorous quality testing. This display was showing a nighstand with a 12 lb weight in being opened and closed over and over and over and over and over. Adam found these displays highly interesting and stood and stared at each one for a LONG time. He would probably STILL be standing there if I hadn't insisted it was time to leave.



And, I know I've been posting more then 1 picture a day a lot lately, but during our travels we also happened upon this house decorated to the hilt for Halloween and I wanted to post it, too. My blog-I make up the rules.



Let them read books
Thursday, October 6 2011

Today we ventured out to the county library to get our first Arizona library card!






A-maize-ing
Friday, October 7 2011

Feeling adventurous I took the kids to a corn maze, by myself. I'm not sure why I thought this would be a good idea since I have no sense of direction and get lost in my own backyard.

This was at the beginning of the maze. See how happy everybody is.



Just before we found the exit I had two *almost* in tears.

And yet when we returned home they all told their father that they had a fantastic time!

Clearance
Saturday, October 8 2011

I am a sucker for a good clearance sale. I think it's a genetic thing. (If you know my mom, you'll understand.)

So these storage baskets were on the clearance aisle for $2 at Lowes. Each set came with 3 baskets. And the color matches my new curtains perfectly!!!! How could I NOT buy them?



Lost
Sunday, October 9 2011

Adam lost another tooth today. That makes #4 for him.

And trust me when I say this was the best picture I was able to get. He kept giving me super goofy smiles. So finally we settled for this. Can you see the gap?



This also seems like an appropriate time for a little confession. The tooth fairy didn't have any small bills in her wallet. Neither did daddy tooth fairy. So the tooth fairy borrowed a $1 from Adam's piggy bank to slip under his pillow. Whatever it takes to keep the magic alive, right? Right?????

Color my world

Artists at work
Monday, September 26 2011

Today I got to help do art in Adam's class. In our school district parent volunteers come in and teach from a program called Art Masterpiece. It is actually really cool.

Today they talked about Vincent van Gogh and his Starry Night  painting. They talked about how it showed depth by showing the things far away smaller and the things closer bigger. Then the assignment was to do an Arizona Starry Night drawing.




Artist at work.....again
Tuesday, September 27 2011

Today I want to Zoey's class for Art. Today I was in charge and got to teach the lesson. We learned about Helen Frankenthaler and how she dripped and drizzled paint instead of applying it with a brush.

Since I was trying to keep 54 little hands from making a big mess I didn't get any pictures during the actual project.  I snapped this quick pic at the end of the day as the teacher was reading Junie B. Jones



And then I coerced Zoey to stand by some of the pictures after class. It was a fun project buy boy it was a messy one to try and do with 27 kindergarten students!



Chino Bandido
Wednesday, September 28 2011

Today was Parent-Teacher conference. Our appointments were just before lunch, so afterwards we told the kids we would treat them to lunch for getting such good reviews from their teachers.

The kids picked Chino Bandido.Every time we eat here they feel it neccessary to climb on the Panda Bear.



We were first introduced to Chino Bandido by Mike's oldest sister when she used to live in AZ and we were visiting them for Thanksgiving. We went there for dinner after she had taken us to Ikea, my very first visit to any Ikea ever, I might add.

One of her kids peed her pants while at Ikea, so we had to stop at Target on our way to dinner to buy her some new pants.

And then a second child peed her pants in the bathroom at Chino Bandido.

Aw, memories.

Mustard 
Thursday, September 29 2011

We showed up today to check out progress on the house and the door was yellow. Mustard Yellow. I'll admit, I had NO clue it was going to be that color.



Steamies Vs. Diesels 
Friday, September 30, 2011

We decided to take the kids out to the park tonight and ended up at a park we'd never been to before. And so it was much to our surprise to find out the park had a train track running through the park. Which meant, of course, that the kids felt the need to follow it to see where it went.



While making the trek around the track the train came around the corner. As it approached Adam yelled out "It's a steam engine!!!" Mike says, "I'm pretty sure it runs on Diesel." Adam got very serious at this point, looked at his father and said matter of factly, "I am certain it is a steam engine. Just you wait and see. I'm serious." Somebody has clearly watched too much Thomas the Tank Engine.



Sunset Tow
Saturday, October 1 2011

Today we made a run to Target. We just needed a few things and the kids so DIDN'T want to go. So we decided that if they promised to just watch a movie that maybe they were getting old enough to stay home alone for short periods of time.

So of course our quick trick to Target turned into an unforeseen ordeal.

When we came out the car wouldn't start. AT. ALL. There was a guy sitting in his car next to us so we asked him to give us a jump. The car started and we thought all was well.

We drove a little way down the street and at the first stop light the car quit again.

The guy in the car behind us helped Mike push it around the corner out of the intersection and up the curb out of the way. But now what? We only have 1 car. We don't even know any of our neighbors so we don't have anybody to call to come retrieve us. And our kids are home alone! I call Enterprise rental because they are the ones who advertise they'll come pick you up....but they are already closed for the day.

We ended up calling our insurance's roadside assistance number for a tow truck, which we then had to wait a little over an hour for.



Once the tow truck arrived the insurance company authorized the tow truck to take us to Walmart because it was just around the corner and the only place still open after 6:00 on a Saturday.

Of course, unless it was the battery we'd have to have it towed somewhere else on Monday since Walmart is not a full service automotive shop.

Turns out it was the battery. Which was less then a year old. And we bought from Walmart in the first place. Which means it was under warranty. So they replaced it for free and we were able to drive home.

And the kids? They didn't even notice we had been gone that long because they were so engrossed in whatever they were watching on TV.

Conference Sunday
Sunday, October 2, 2011

Today was the semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Which, when you live in Utah, means you get to stay home and watch church on TV in your pj's. But now that we are in AZ I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to watch it at home since we don't have satellite or cable.

But we do have a Roku. And one of the available Roku channels is BYU TV. I can watch live programming via our Roku, and they were broadcasting conference. So we got to stay home in our pj's after all. Yea!


 

Another week, another post

I can quit anytime I want
Monday, September 19 2011

I keep giving up caffeine. There have been a few times I have even made it months before "needing" it again. So lately I have sort of given up on giving it up.

Until I relized that I polished off this entire bottle today-all by myself.



Maybe it's time to try giving it up, again.

Check Anger
Tuesday, September 20 2011

We currently drive a 10 year old car that has told us in no uncertain terms that it does not like the Arizona heat. It's a German car and apparently they are much happier in colder climates.

But as we are closing on a house soon our loan officer has asked us to please wait until after we close to buy a new car so she can assure we close on time.

So we've been babying it and trying to get it through just a few more weeks-so of course the check engine light came on today.  



I'm trying very hard not to hate this car.


Here we go again
Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Closing day is now only a month away-so I started re-packing up some of the house today, starting with some of the kids' toys. While I am trilled  at the idea of finally being in our new home I must admit I am not looking forward to moving again. 




Grand Opening
Thursday, September 22, 2011

The development that we are building our home in is still so new that the community club house and pool have also still been under construction.

But this week marked the completion of the community pool and as soon to be residents we were invited to the grand opening/orientation.




As exciting as it was to see the new pool the best part of the evening came as they were showing us how the sound system worked and the gal doing the orientation flipped on the TV to show us how the TV audio can be played through the speakers. She just happened to flip on the TV to a rerun of How I Met Your Mother. So this is where I admit that I really like this show, and that I particularly enjoy Barney, the character played by Neil Patrick Harris. So the fact that she flipped on the TV to a shot of Neil Patrick Harris standing there with no shirt, holding up a sword just positively made my night.




My Kids are out of this World
Friday, September 23 2011

Today marked the kick-off of the Read-a-Thon fund raiser at the kids' school as well as the book fair. Both have an outer space theme so the kids were given the opportunity to dress up as an astronaut, alien, or robot for school today.

I just happened to have bought the astronaut costume last year for 90% off after Halloween so Adam wore that. Finding something for Zoey to wear was a little more tricky. So much of our stuff is still packed so I couldn't even find pipe cleaners to make antennae. I finally located some sticky sculpting sticks and we twisted some together and attached them to a headband to make one single antennae on top. I tried to convince her to stick a few wiggly eye balls to her forehead, too but she was not having that. But she agreed to let me stick an eyeball to a ribbon and then tie it around her wrist.

But my favorite part of this picture is the little one who jumped in the back to smell the flowers.



I had already taken my picture for the day this morning but this afternoon when we were visiting the house I was throughly amused by this scene in the garage.



The tilers apparently didn't want PB&J for lunch today, because they had brought their own microwave which was plugged into their generator and sitting amongst the tile saw and boxes of tile. It made me smile.

Wonderful Lazy Weekend
Saturday, September 24 2011

This morning we went swimming for the first time since school started. We arrived around 8:00 am and since most the neighborhood was across the street at the park watching little kids chase a soccer ball we had the pool completely to ourselves for nearly 3 hours.

When we finally did go home I spent the rest of the day doing laundry-so this picture was a perfect representation of everything we did today. It was a good day.



Waiting for the other shoe to drop
Sunday, September 25 2011

I am always curious about stray shoes out in the wild. I mean how exactly does a shoe end up in the middle of the road? How could you not notice that you were missing a shoe? I would think it would be obvious. I am always trying to imagine the story behind these missing shoes.

So today when there was a flip flop in the parking lot at church I decided That not only should I take a picture of it, but I should start taking pictures of all the stray shoes I see. Maybe I could write a book where I make up the back story of all the random shoes I see.



Or maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself.