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!

Camping to beat the heat

Oct 3rd and 4th, 2008--We decided that it would be a perfect weekend to go camping and get out of hot Phoenix. Little did we know the weather would have other ideas in store for us! We headed up to Payson, AZ to enjoy the cooler weather and do a little camping, hiking and fishing with our friends the Turner's and the Colton's. We all got up there Friday night and put our tents up with the light of the Suburban headlights. We had bought a new tent and we were learning to put it up with the help of a lantern and some color coded poles and instructions. It was great! The kids slept well that night and we even got to use a blanket because it was "cold". We woke up the next morning to hot chocolate, sausage, bacon and french toast. Our friend Lysa Turner was the cook that morning and made some awesome syrup. She did not have any sugar, so she improvised with marshmallows. I bet your thinking, man that probably did not work, but WOW! It was awesome! I will have to get the recipe from her and post it. Unfortunately, it started to rain and did not let up. We all headed on over to the fish hatchery to try and wait out the storm. It was beautiful! After looking at all the fish we headed back to camp and decided to pack up and leave. So of course the sun poked its head out, but we were already packing up and decided to head home. It was 55 degrees when we left and we figured it would only get colder as the night drew closer. We had a great time! I hope we can go again soon, even if it is only to the backyard!

The First Day of School

School started about a month ago and is in full force now with homework, bring home art work and a field trip in the making for Mariah this week. Mariah is in the 2nd grade this year at Las Brisas Elementary in Mrs. King's class. She has two of her friends that live right near us in her class. This year she is riding the bus to school. She is so excited! I, of course, am nervous as can be! I followed her to school the first day, just to make sure she got there safely and knew where her class was. I didn't feel alone with all the other mom's and dad's at my side. Madison started preschool one week later and is loving Miss Debi's class. She can't wait to go to school everyday. For now she will have to settle for Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Annie is excited for the day she gets to go to Miss Debi's class also.