Mom's 35th Birthday

My family is the best.  Seriously.  Henry, Jonah and Bridget take birthdays very seriously, and they were determined that this would be my best birthday ever.  They wanted it to be special.  :)

The day started out with getting Sam and the boys ready to head out to their hunting lease.  After we got them out the door, Bridget and I got ready to go to IHOP for breakfast.  What a treat to eat out with my girl!  We did our best to match (Bridget picked a black/white dress for her self and a black/white skirt for me), and we thoroughly enjoyed our time together.  

After breakfast we had to head back home to get my birthday cake made.  (Raspberry filled vanilla cake...yum!)  We worked on that, and then got the house cleaned up so that we would be ready to party when the guys got home.  We also found time for a quick run to the end of the street and Bridget gave me a piano lesson...so sweet. 

I'm not sure I've ever had the birthday song sung to me so many times in one day.  Jonah woke me up singing at 6:30, each of the kids sang individually and together, Brian texted me a song, Sam sang along to an interpretive dance on the fire place (eek!).  One of my favorites was the video my mom sent of her dogs 'singing' to me.  It cracked me up!

Sam and the kids decided to take me to Jason's Deli for dinner because it is my favorite place to eat.  We had a fun birthday dinner, including ice cream, of course!  Then we stopped by Barnes and Noble so Jonah could spend the gift card he won from the library's summer reading program.  He found a really fun balloon-animal book and will be learning how to make fun animals soon!

My favorite moment from dinner was when Henry almost slipped and told me what he got me for my birthday.  He said, "I can't wait for you to see your cho....whoa!  I almost told you what I got you!"  Totally teasing, I said, "It's okay, Henry.  You can say it.  I already know what it is.  Everyone at the table knows what it is."  Looking relieved, Henry blurted out, "Chocolate.  I'm really excited for you to see it!"  Sam said, "Henry!  You just told Mom what you got her!".  Henry sheepishly grinned and said, "You got me, mom."  Oops.  Well, at least I didn't know what kind he bought me.  :)

After that we went home for presents and cake.  The kids all picked out the sweetest things for me.  Sam bought me a new set of pots and pans, and he had it hidden in the garage.  I had to read the card in code and figure out where to go to find my gift, so that was fun!  I was really surprised by that.  What a thoughtful gift.

Overall, it was a pretty great way to celebrate my birthday!  I have the best family ever.

Writing Stories

Bridget has taken to writing stories for me.  Many of them revolve around a naughty little dog.  I am loving these and just wanted to share one of them here to bring everyone else a smile too.  :)

A dog did not get his way.  So he got in his car.  Then he got in big trouble.

Bridget wrote this one this morning and told me, "I like this story so much that I think I'll even save it for my kids!"  I love that she is always looking ahead and wants so much to be a mommy one day.

Cub Scouts

Sam and I ended up being Cub Scout leaders for the 2011/2012 school year.  We were in charge of the Tiger Cubs (Jonah's troop).  Henry was a Bear Cub in another troop.  I'm not exactly sure how we got signed up to be the troop leaders, but we did enjoy the experience-especially the super cool shirts.

 Jonah was the reason we got involved with cub scouts in the first place.  

 He had heard about it and thought that it would be the very best activity for him.  Since Henry was involved in other sports at the time, we initially told him that he couldn't be in cub scouts, but it turned out that he could go on the same nights that we were there with Jonah.  So it actually worked out wonderfully for everyone!  Bridget came along with us to Jonah's class and was able to participate in the crafts and snacks and games.

The meetings were fairly structured but required a lot of parent participation-and our group's parents weren't very interested in participating.  So we just tried to keep it fun and get the requirements done as best as we could.  :)  We set up a snack rotation, planned games and crafts, and made sure the kids were earning their patches and beads as we went along.  We were also required to set up one field trip a month.  We went fun places like the fire station, and the local Christian radio station:

The cub scouts also had a chance to be in a parade!  When we got to the meet-up place the morning of the parade, it was raining and kind of cold.  Both my boys decided they wouldn't prefer to be in the parade after all, so we opted to watch from the sidelines. 

 Some of the meeting were super fun, like the one where they brought in "The Creature Teacher", who let everyone touch a tarantula.  Yuck!

Before the big cub scout camp out, we had a tent-building meeting.  The kids really enjoyed learning to put up a tent, and we packed them each a s'mores snack in a ziploc to enjoy while they played.

Near the end of the school year, we had one final meeting and had everyone come to our house for a bonfire.  The kids roasted marshmallows, met our goats, and ran around outside for a while.  We had mostly city kids in our group, and they all really enjoyed coming out to our place and having some freedom to enjoy nature a bit.  They all had so much fun!  

   It was fun to be a cub scout leader for a season, but at the end of the year Sam and I passed the torch to another parent to take over the leadership.  We decided that since we have so many other activities throughout the year that cub scouts wasn't the best one for our family.  We also spend lots of time outdoors and enjoy the experiences they were focusing on as a family.  We are thankful for the year that we had with such a fun group! 

Happy Birthday to me!

Last week I celebrated my 32nd birthday, surrounded by family and friends.

I just LOVE birthdays. I've never understood people who don't really enjoy celebrating. :)

My wonderful friend Beth decided that I need a girl's night for my birthday and invited this lovely group of ladies out to dinner and ice cream...we had a blast! It was so fun and refreshing to get out with the girls. There was much laughter!
And on my actual birthday, my incredible mother-in-law invited us to dinner at their house. When we showed up, I found that she had invited Jon and Kelly and family to join us, and she had decorated the table with balloons and all different colored napkins and things...it was a party! :)

Mary Beth served us a wonderful dinner and followed it up with this beautiful chocolate cake:

I felt so honored and loved on my birthday. What fun to have friends and family around to share in our celebrations of life!

Last day of vacation!

Couldn't resist posting a picture of Bridget with Mom's dog Mona. They have two dogs and the kids LOVED them both so much! Money (the other dog) wasn't quite sure about Bridget and her animal-lovin' ways, but Mona was sweet enough to let Bridget carry her around and sit in her lap for snuggles.

The following picture was taken the day after Sam's birthday. My mom had blown up a whole bunch of helium balloons to create a festive atmosphere for the party. The next day the balloons were droopy, so Mom filled a few new ones for the kids to play with. Eventually the inevitable happened and one of the balloons slipped up into the sky. Instead of that being a sad occasion, Bridget hollered out, "That balloon is going up to see Jesus!" They enjoyed watching the balloons rise up out of sight. My mom had just a little helium left in her tank, so she filled a few more balloons and attached them to what was left of the giant bunch and we all sat outside and watched them float away. Sounds kind of silly, but it was quite entertaining! :)

The day following the zoo excursion we needed something low-key. The kids were getting pretty wiped out from all the fun by then.

My mom suggested going shopping, so we headed out to one of the MANY local malls in her area. We didn't think much about time and just headed out, only to arrive at the mall at 9:45. And we all know most malls don't open until 10! Luckily there is a Super Target right nearby so we went over there to check out the dollar bins near the front. I don't get much time at Target since we live so far from one now, so I was pretty excited!

Well, Bridget had other plans. She wanted a snack, or to push the basket into innocent passers-by, or NOT to sit in the basket, or anything but being in that store. She started screaming (throwing a tantrum), so I made sure my mom could watch the boys, clamped my hand over her mouth and headed outside with her to let her get it out of her system. It went on long enough that I had to text my mom and ask her for the keys to the car so we wouldn't continue to disturb everyone in the entire shopping center. It was rough.

My mom and the boys continued shopping a while, picking out new socks for the entire family and a few fun gardening projects, as well as set of dog bowls that the kids could personalize for my mom's dogs. They had a great time while I soaked up the sun, sitting on the curb outside the car where Bridget was buckled in her car seat screaming still.

She eventually calmed down and we headed back over to the mall. We had fun walking around and playing in the children's climbing area (and we even found a LEGO store...awesome!). After a while we were walking along on the second story and Henry shouted, "A train!!! Guys, come see, there was a TRAIN!"

We found our way downstairs and wandered along in the direction Henry had seen the train. We finally came to the 'train depot' which was a little sign posted beside a seating area of the mall. A cute old man stepped out of the engine in his conductor hat and overalls and asked if we'd like to take a ride. Of course we said yes.

We chose the caboose as it seemed to be the most roomy car and we all loaded up for our ride. He drove us down to the other end of the mall and back for what I think he told us was a seven minute ride. The kids enjoyed the ride, especially when they could get someone to wave at them. It was a fun surprise to find a train at the mall and a great treat to ride it!

After the mall Mom treated us to lunch at "The Crazy Chicken" (okay, maybe it was called Pollo Loco but I prefer my version!) which was really good. We went home and let the kids get naps and then headed to the park. The neighborhood my mom lives in has wonderful parks, and a lot of 'em. Very cool. The kids also did the painting project my mom had found at Target. They really enjoyed decorating food bowls for the dogs, and they turned out pretty cute.

The next morning we had to get up EARLY to get to the airport on time. The kids had already said goodbye to the dogs, but my mom brought them out to say one last goodbye.

The flights home were mostly uneventful. The first flight is the longer one and all three kids did wonderfully. The second flight is only about 40 minutes and Bridget screamed through 25 minutes of that one. It wasn't my favorite. But we survived and she eventually fell asleep, about 10 minutes before we landed.

We had such a fun time in Arizona! Many thanks to my mom and Jim for hosting us and providing us with such a relaxing and enjoyable time. We love you guys so much and are ever grateful for you!

Phoenix Zoo

We spent the next day at the house. We ate cinnamon rolls with my brother before he had to head home. Then Mom drove Brian to the airport. Sam and I and the kids cleaned up the house and pool area and got Sam packed up to leave. When Mom got home from dropping Brian off, we all loaded up and headed to my mom's Costco. We had already been shopping at another one closer to her house, but we hadn't had the chance to visit the one she works at and meet some of her co-workers.

After Costco it was time to head to the airport to drop Sam off. After saying a tearful goodbye to Sam (the boys were sad to see him go!) we headed back to the house. We spent the rest of that afternoon swimming, playing golf and visiting the cool neighborhood parks. The boys would probably say their highlight from that day would be walking the dogs. They just LOVED walking my mom's little dogs!

The following day we headed out early for a trip to the Phoenix zoo. My kids would choose going to the zoo over many other exciting attractions. They love time spent at zoos and a new one is always something special to look forward to seeing!

Everyone was a little grumpy as we started out our day. The kids were kind of picking at each other and not being their usual cheerful selves. We had packed a lunch, so we finally decided to have a (VERY EARLY) lunch and see if that helped. I warned them that if attitudes didn't improve we'd be heading home after that, even though we hadn't seen much of the zoo at that point.

Miracle of miracles...the food helped! It seemed to my mom and I that they had just finished breakfast, but apparently they were all three hungry. After we ate it was like they were different kids!

We walked along the many trails and paths and checked out the entire zoo. Every time the path got bumpy, Bridget would grab Jonah's hand to steady herself. It was so sweet watching them walk along hand-in-hand. I just had to have a picture (or 12) of that...but I'll control myself and only post one here.

Throughout the zoo we found various physical challenges set up for the kids to test their strength. Henry was the only one of us able to do pull-ups...he is one strong boy! The other two just enjoyed hanging from the bar and having Grandma or I catch them just before they hit the ground.

Even though Bridget's attitude improved, she seemed a little tired throughout the day. She spent a lot of time in the stroller and asking to be carried. Snacks did wonders for her, but it's hard to overcome exhaustion. :) The one thing we finally found that truly perked up our little Bridget was the air dryer in the barn. We went in the petting zoo and visited the goats and on the way out they have a sink and hand dryer to wash up. Bridget washed her hands (a great joy for her!) and stood underneath the dryer, waving her hands to make it come on. It startled her as it came on as soon as she stepped under it, and it blew warm air all over her hair. Mom and I couldn't quit laughing as Bridget couldn't quit dancing underneath the blowing air. She found such amusement with that silly thing! A few times she even struck a Marilyn Monroe-type pose, pushing her dress down at the hem...it was just adorable.

We got a couple of group shots with the self-timer on my camera. I just love the self-timer! This one, down near the monkey areas, is my favorite.

On the way home, the kids all crashed. Always a good sign of a fun outing. :)

The Phoenix Zoo rocked! They had lots of little 'extra' things you can pay for and do, but we found that the zoo was exciting enough without doing any of the added-on things. Well, of course we rode the carosel...don't be silly! That is just a tradition of the zoo. Jonah rode the water horse because he had seen a picture of it online before we got there. It was all he had hoped it would be. Henry rode the shark as a second choice to the eagle, which was broken at the time of our ride. And Bridget? Would you think she might pick a horse? A gorilla? A hummingbird? A seahorse or a panda bear or maybe a zebra??? No, she HAD to ride on the bench. The handicapped-accessible bench that isn't decorated like anything at all and doesn't go up and down like the others. And you know what? She loved every. single. minute. :)

Arizona Vacation

The next few days of vacation consisted of lots of pool time for the kids, some putting practice and a MLB game (the Arizona Diamondbacks vs the Pittsburgh Pirates).

My mom's husband is a BIG golf fan. That is actually an understatement, but I'll leave it at that. :) When they bought this house a year ago, the backyard was a mess. They took out all the rock and installed a pool and fake grass (which is amazing! You'd never know it's fake...really!). Jim also put in a putting green, which the boys thought was incredibly awesome. They spent any time they weren't in the pool at the putting green. Turns out that Henry has quite an affinity for golf!

The pool doesn't have a heater, which isn't really a problem in the summer, but they aren't quite into Arizona summer temperatures yet. So it was a little chilly for swimming but that didn't stop the kids from hopping right in! Henry found it to be cold and never has liked being cold. Thus, he swam a little but avoided any extended time in the pool.

Jonah, on the other hand, spent every waking moment he could in the pool. We had to actually limit his time in the pool every time we'd notice his little body doing uncontrollable shivers!

Sam and my brother spent some time swimming and trying to out-do each other's splashes with monster cannon balls. I spent a little time in the pool too but preferred just soaking up the sunshine from the deck. :)

Bridget didn't feel like doing much more than playing on the shallow steps, and definitely preferred her perch from the hammock with her little friend Mona (one of my mom's little dogs).

On Sunday we went to a Diamondbacks game. It was so fun!!! It has been years since I've been to a MLB game. Baseball is my favorite sport and I just love being at the ballpark. I was probably more excited than the kids. :)

Brian bought the kids some fingers to wave around during the game. They made good use of them, since the D'backs won 15-6. Those boys sat through the entire game and loved every minute of it. I might have a couple of little baseball fans on my hands!

I think I forgot to take a picture of the little dogs, but the stadium was handing out webkinz dogs when we first walked in. They all had a 'collar' around their necks that was actually a D'backs bracelet for the kids to wear. That was a fun treat upon walking in the building!

Bridget figured out pretty quickly that if she looked at anything longingly or announced, "I want ____" that Jim would buy it for her. So she had cracker jacks, cotton candy, ice-cold water, my mom's sunglasses, sitting in whoever's lap she chose...pretty much whatever she wanted. She had fun too, although I don't think she saw much of the game.

After the game, the kids had the opportunity to run the bases. It was quite a production, as the crew had to replace all the bases, set up ropes for the kids to follow, rake out all the dirt and lead the kids out a few at a time. Luckily enough, Jim anticipated that it would be a crowd, so somewhere around the seventh inning he disappeared. When we asked where he went, my mom said he had gone to get details on running the bases. He actually went and stood in line for the rest of the game to hold a place for our kids! He was right up near the front and it was crazy! Kids were lined up for what seemed like MILES. Another parent told us that sometimes kids have to wait an hour and a half to get the chance to run the bases. Whew...good thing Jim was looking out for us! I don't think we would have waited that long. Anyway, the kids were in the first group to come out and they absolutely LOVED it. They thought it was really pretty special. Sam went along with Bridget so that she could go, and I think he secretly enjoyed it quite a bit too. :)

Here's a group shot before we left the stadium...check out the kid's hats and t-shirts! My mom splurged and treated all three kids to a Diamondbacks hat and shirt from the pro shop. Henry hasn't taken his hat off since, with the exceptions of sleeping and eating (no hats at the table!).

It was such a fun weekend! Sam and my brother had to head to their respective homes the following morning, but not before we had made a trip to Costco! We really miss living near a Costco and it's always fun to shop with my mom. The kids were sad to see their Daddy leave, but we all got to stay on in Arizona until Thursday. There was a lot more fun to be had!

Aruba

Don't we look better now? Vacation helped! :)

Aruba was a wonderful vacation. It was so nice to get away without our kids. We missed them, of course, but it really helped to know that they were having so much fun at home with Ingrid!

I suppose to start at the beginning, I should say that Sam and I celebrated our ten year anniversary back in July. Last year we decided that we would do something big this year. Sam has done a lot of traveling with work over the last three years and has accumulated a HUGE amount of frequent flyer miles with American Airlines. So Sam told me we could take a trip ANYWHERE in the world--we had enough miles to cover round trip tickets wherever I chose.

The pressure was on...this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I looked into a number of different locations...high on my list were Australia/New Zealand, Italy (and the rest of Europe!), and Zambia. I finally settled on Fiji, as it seemed like a beautiful and relaxing sort of place. Then I found out that not only does American Airlines not fly there, we could not afford the hotel prices there! A lot of the locations I looked into were going to be fairly expensive once we arrived. So we prayed about it a bit more and just decided to wait until the right thing came along.

Earlier this year Sam and I were at the mall together. This was unique in itself, since we very rarely go to the mall at all and even more rarely do we go together. A man running a booth stopped us and asked if we'd like to earn some free waterpark tickets. Sam kept walking, but I stopped to listen. I had been wanting to take the kids to this fun new indoor waterpark, but the tickets are $19.95 each--WAY out of my price range! It turned out to be a time-share presentation. They offered us a $40 american express card, six free waterpark tickets, and I don't even remember what else, so I signed us up.

The next week we sat through the (tortuously loooooong) time-share presentation and had no problem saying 'no' at the end. When we went in to receive our prizes, the woman handed over the things we knew we were getting and also a scratch-off game card. We weren't instant winners, but we still were given a certificate for a free hotel stay in our choice of locations (Aruba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, or Jamaica).

So that is how the trip to Aruba started in the first place. I had to look it up on a map since I didn't really know where it was (to save you the trouble, it's in the Caribbean just off the coast of Venezuela!) but it sounded great...a mostly free vacation! Of course we still had to pay for food and some other travel expenses, but overall it was a very inexpensive trip.

In some ways Aruba is a really beautiful island (the beaches are amazing!) and in some ways it isn't very pretty at all. When you get away from the beach it is a really barren, desert landscape (cactus and lizards everywhere!).

We did a lot of different things while we were there. We spent time at the beach and the pool, just reading books and soaking up the sunshine. I had the genious idea to wear a two-piece swimsuit after a few years hiatus. Also forgot sunscreen one day. That resulted in my tummy looking like this: (and it is STILL peeling!)

One day we rented a jeep to go and discover the treasures on the uninhabited side of the island. We found the rocky shore and the natural bridge, which was very beautiful but full of trash. On the other side of the bridge water pools up and there is a little canyon dug out of the rocks. It was completely full of garbage that washes up out of the ocean. Kind of strange in such a pretty place.

The driving was rocky and bumpy but not really too bad until we got to the trailhead for the natural pool. At that point there is a sign that says 4 x 4 is REQUIRED and not to venture on without it. We soon found out why! The roads were steep and full of huge rocks that Sam had to manuver over or around. There were also cactus everywhere and we ended up with a flat tire before we were done. :)

It was so worth it to make the drive though. The natural pool was our favorite place on the island. It is right on the shore and there are great big rocks that form a circle. Waves crash up over them and then the water trickles down into the pool. The pool itself is perfectly calm and about 50-60 feet deep. We snorkled around and saw some beautiful fish in there and then climbed up on the big rocks and did some cliff diving. We had the pool to ourselves a while and then there were other groups there with us. Everyone was incredibly friendly. There were even two Aruban men 'working' there to make sure nobody gets hurt in that area. One of them told me that they sometimes have to call in helicopters to air-lift out people who get stupid on those rocks!

We took the bus into town a few times and walked around. The downtown area is very touristy and set up mainly for the cruise ships which port there. Lots of jewelry stores and souvenir shops. One night we went on a sunset cruise and got to see Aruba from the water. It was beautiful and we enjoyed being out on the ocean. We saw FOUR weddings taking place on different spots along the shore! The sunset wasn't spectacular as it was fairly cloudy that night, but it was still very pretty.

Our last full day on the island we took a trip to de Palm island. It's owned by one of the tourism companies on the island and it's just a tiny little island five minutes off the coast of Aruba. (The picture below was taken from the dock looking out toward de Palm.) Once you are on the island, everything is included. They have a restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch, a 'snack bar' that serves hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken nuggets and fries whenever you want 'em, an open bar, snorkeling equipment, a waterpark that our kids would have loved (and we made sure to use, just for them!), beach volleyball, soccer and all sorts of empty white-sand beaches. That was a pretty fun day. Very relaxing and fun. The snorkeling off the island was beautiful. We saw these huge blue parrot fish and lots of others. It was an amazing vacation. We haven't had any time away from our kids (besides date nights) in over three years, so it gave us a chance to talk and just enjoy each other's company. My favorite part may have been the airplane rides. I have flown quite a bit with my kids, but haven't flown without them in over six years. It was pretty fun to just nap when I felt like it, read my own books, and not have to carry anyone. :)

Now that I'm all refreshed and relaxed, it's back to reality! Sam was home from Aruba for just a few days before he had to leave to help with a retreat at work. He was gone from Wednesday to Sunday, so it's been just me and the kids getting back into a routine around here.

It's good to be home! :)