Disneyland

So, it has been 10 months since I wrote anything on our blog. How has the time gone by so fast? There is no way I can catch up on everything, so here is the recent big stuff. Hans is starting a family practice residency at St. Joe's hospital here in Phoenix. He will be done in two years. We are not sure whether we will see him more or less. I think I am happy that is he finally getting to finish up and that I get him home on Christmas. To celebrate, we went to Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. Hans had never been there and neither had the girl's. Everyone had a great time and we just enjoyed seeing each other for 4 days straight (as you can guess, that does not happen very often around here). The weather was cold the week we went, but there were not any crowds. How often do you get to wait in line for 10 minutes to ride Space Mountain and 5 minutes for Indiana Jones? We are all doing well and looking forward to the change of pace for the next two years. Merry Christmas!

11 months old today

Time has flown since the last post and I am a huge slacker. We have celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas, had two birthdays and a happy new year! So now I am updating something from today! Alyssa is 11 months old today. 18 lbs and running. She has been walking for about 3 weeks and crawling up the stairs longer than that. She recently burned both sides of her wrist with my hair straightener. Poor thing. It was so ugly, but it is starting to look better. We claim she can say Daisy and yesterday Jackie, but maybe we are just excited and hopeful. Definately sure there is a mommy and daddy in there. She is an independent soul. The other day I thought she was downstairs with me, but I found her upstairs playing in the toy room. We now use the gate a lot more. She loves mom, but as soon as dad walks in the door I am no longer needed. At least not until she is tired or hungry. Our house is finally on the mend from being sick for the last 3 weeks (pinworms, croup, 2 ear infections, a burned wrist, rotovirus, mono and an extreme sleep deprivation for mom and dad). Things are looking much better this week. Hans and I keep saying, "It can't last forever." HOpe you have a great day!

HaLlOwEeN 2008

Halloween was so much fun this year! Hans was a pirate, I was Lady Guenevere, Mariah a cheerleader, Madison was Aerial, Annie was Dora and Alyssa was a Pink Jaguar. We spent Halloween night at Trunk or Treat at the church (Hans and I are in charge of activities at church). There was so much candy and cupcakes that the kids were quite hyper. Earlier during the day Madison had a Halloween parade and party at preschool. Miss Debi is her teacher. Mariah had a fall festival at the end of the school day and all of us got to go and see her dressed up and munch on nummy snacks with her. Her teacher Mrs. King is great! This was the first year that Annie understood what was going on with trick or treating and the great candy that comes along with it. Normally we are trying to find her gum stash in the house, but this week we are searching for her candy stash. I think Hans got rid of most of it, but you never know with Annie. I told her I would give her chocolate every time she used the potty. She is so excited about it! Maybe potty training is in our future!

Our garden

Hans put in our square foot gardening this past spring and it has done great! We have cucumbers, watermelon, cantalope, carrots, peppers, swiss chard, tomatoes, artichokes, brocolli (or cauliflower - I'm not sure, it is just green and leafy so far), parsley, thyme, oregano and strawberries! Who knew you could grow veggies and fruit in November!

The State Fair

One of my best memories of the state fair happened when Hans and I were first married. He got me in at the 12 and under rate as his sister. Did I really look that young? Funny. I have a new great memory of the state fair this year. Whether it is the picture Mariah drew about going to the state fair, Madison riding a pony for the first time since leaving her beloved "Blackey" in Sacramento or listen to "too scary" from Annie as she rode a roller coaster for the first time with me. It was all great! We had Navajo tacos and hot dogs for dinner followed by deep fried Oreos and deep fried M&Ms for desert. It was awesome! I can't wait for next year!

Weird Science

The girl's had Columbus day off from school, so we went on a little field trip to the Phoenix Science Center. We have a year pass that we got last November and this is the third time we have been there. Nothing like getting your money's worth. Oh well, maybe we will do better next year. So we finally got dressed around 11 am and headed off. We got to see all kinds of things. I think one of their favorite parts was having a wheelchair race. Annie almost beat Mariah and Alyssa and I lost to Mariah. Where was Madison? She was over trying to put the human body together. "Mom, where does this go?" she said. I looked over and she was holding up the stomach. Her dad would of been proud to see her trying to figure it out. After the science center we went to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Our girl's have fallen in love with the fact that they can get salad, fruit, breadsticks and ice cream all in one place! I think Madison ate her weight in cantalope and honeydew. We usually go to lunch with Hans on Tuesday's and we always eat at Soup or Salad (same kind of restaurant). The other night coming home from gymnastics, Annie asked if we could go to Soup or Salad. After telling her no, she cried the rest of the way home. So sad :( It was a great day and we had great weather to go with it. I think 75 was the high yesterday.

Crawling before she learned to sit

Oct. 2008--Alyssa is full of smiles at 7 months old. She has been crawling now for about 5 weeks! She has been the youngest of our girl's when it comes to crawling. She learned to sit up at church about 4 weeks ago! She was about 14 1/2 lbs at her 6 month check up and doing well. One little tooth is coming in on the bottom as of 4 weeks ago. Her first word was "ma ma", which made me so excited! Now I am trying to teach her "da da". She studies me so intently as I say the word, but she has not said the word yet. Here is a little video of her crawling. I had a video of her crawling with Annie and Daisy jumping in every now and then to still the show, but it would not download. This is the second attempt and I hope it is a small enough file to work. Notice the extended right leg and the left leg that always stays under her body. She is so funny! She has also been pulling herself up on everything over the last couple of weeks. I found her standing up in her crib this am. She is growing up way too fast. She might of started out behind, but she has quickly caught up. Try to block out the baby talk you hear in the background. I'm sure everyone talks this way to their kids, but it sure sounds funny when you hear yourself talk!