Where the madness never ends...

2010-01-24T16:45:00.002-07:00

Like I said in my last post, soccer season has resumed, and Meghan is playing again. Yay! And look who randomly got assigned to ref her game? Ha! Somehow, we had a feeling it would happen eventually, but not this soon.

There's no rule against having a sibling ref a game, so it was legal. Plus, Meghan's on a rec team, and Ryan is only a sideline ref (not the center in charge), so there wasn't much conflict. It was fun to watch him, though. You could tell he was bummed when Meghan didn't start, and happy when she subbed in. It worked out well!

And I was quite appreciative of the shirt color Meghan's team was assigned. Could they have made it anymore coordinated for me? I think not.

Go Stingers! (they won their first game)....

Yo

2010-01-12T18:20:00.004-07:00

Welcome back! Oh, wait- it's me that's been missing. Ok- welcome back to ME!! I'm going to make a better effort to update the blog more often this year. And no- this is not a New Year's resolution. Blech! I never keep 'em, so why make one? ;)

I just uploaded some photos from New Year's, so I thought this was the perfect place to start. Behold, the one person in our family who knows how to have a good time:

Off to soccer practice...that's right- I'm a soccer mom again. Thanks, Meghan! :)

F-Bombs

2009-09-30T19:30:00.003-07:00

D'Oh!

Ryan and Erin and I were talking, and Ryan out of the blue mentioned that he hears the F-word at school a lot. Erin was shocked and couldn't believe it. So here's the conversation that followed:

Erin: "At school? You hear the F-word at school?!"
Ryan: "Erin. It's Jr. High- you hear lots of stuff in Jr. High."
Erin: "Geez- I only hear it when Mom whispers it. And it's always in the car."
Ryan: (hysterical laughter) "You're busted, Mom."

Note to self- turn radio up in the car to mask my potty mouth...

Welcome to Soccer Season!

2009-09-12T19:20:00.002-07:00

So today was opening day for soccer. Funny thing is, I have no players this year, but I do have one tough referee!

Ryan took the referee certification course (18 hours) a few weeks ago and is now an official referee. He got assigned to three games today and had a blast! He was a sideline ref for two Girls' U11 teams (coincidentally, one of them was Meghan's former team, so he knew a bunch of the players), and a Girls' U12 team (he also knew a couple players on this team, haha).

During the first game, there was a dad on the sidelines getting frustrated with the center referee (the head guy) not making calls. Ryan has grown up with soccer and witnessed many pita parents, so it didn't faze him in the least. Some younger referees get intimidated, but Ryan just let it roll off his back. The guy (wearing a Notre Dame shirt) eventually yelled over to Ryan: "Hey- tell your ref to stop making stupid calls!" Ryan just looked at him, gave an acknowledging head nod, then turned to walk away. He then turned back around and said to the Notre Dame dad, "oh, by the way- go Big Blue." (Big Blue is the University of Michigan and they played each other in football today...)

The dad then says to Ryan, "Now I really have to kick your ass." I'm pretty sure he was kidding, but Ryan's not so sure. And while it was inappropriate for the dad to talk that way to a 12 year old referee, I thought the whole thing was hysterical when Ryan told me the story. I can totally picture the encounter and it's so typical of Ryan, I can't help but laugh. We did have a talk about future interactions with the parents, though...

Oh, and Michigan upset Notre Dame 38-34. Ryan was thrilled. ;)

Well, that was fast!

2009-07-28T10:57:00.008-07:00

A fast summer break, that is. The kids started school yesterday- 7th, 5th and 2nd grades. Ryan is off to Jr. High, and the girls are back to the usual- literally, since they have the same teachers we've had in the past. Meghan has Ryan's former 5th grade teacher, and Erin has the 2nd grade teacher both Ryan and Meghan had. I love it when that happens! They know us and we know them, so it makes for an easy transition.

Ryan is thrilled with his teachers. So thrilled, his worst part of the day was "getting on the bus to come home." Fabulous! Meghan is happy with her teacher and classmates and also had a great day. Erin however, thinks she isn't cut out to being a 2nd grader. Her response to my question of how her day went: "How many days till summer vacation?" Yikes. Her problem? "Mom. I really don't think I'm going to be able to unpack my backpack and be ready as fast as the teacher wants. This is going to be hard!" I tried not to smile, but the seriousness on her face was priceless. I reassured her that it probably took longer than necessary because of all the school supplies she had to unpack and that seemed to pacify her. It should be interesting to hear her next complaint. The kid is always full of surprises!

Wait- there's what in it?

2009-07-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

Ryan is a major pita when it comes to food. Anyone who knows him already knows this, so if you don't, just take my word for it. If you look up picky in the dictionary, "Ryan" is the first definition. His middle name is "suspicious" in that he doesn't trust us when it comes to new foods. "What's in it?" is a common question, and if there's the slightest hesitation in our answer, he'll immediately say no thanks and go make his own food. We've gotten used to it, and his pediatrician seems to be ok with it, so we don't make an issue. Eventually, he'll either learn to eat new things on his own, or his wife can deal with it. Muahahaha!

Last week, Meghan and I decided to make cookies. I wanted to use up some butterscotch chips that had been sitting in the cabinet for a few months, so we made Oatmeal Scotchies. We figured we'd be the only ones to eat them, but were pleasantly surprised when both Sean and Ryan gobbled them. Ryan obviously didn't hear the name of the cookie, or he never would have eaten them knowing there was oatmeal in it. When we told him, he took it in stride and said, "Huh. They were good. Even knowing what's it them, I'd eat them again." Cool.

So last night, Meghan and I wanted to make cookies again. I had some old bananas I wanted to use up, so I found a recipe for Oatmeal Banana Cookies. Again, assuming that Meg and I would be the only ones eating them, we doctored the recipe a bit to suit our tastes. We added extra cinnamon, switched the white sugar to brown (I was out of white), added chocolate chips and even threw in some ground flax seed. We made no secret of the ingredients, and made them in front of everyone. Once they were out of the oven, Ryan promptly had 2 1/2 of them. We were shocked. Still are, actually. He must have been clueless, cause he didn't believe us when we told him there was banana in them. He even broke one open to look for evidence, and was still doubtful. I laughed and told him he could sneak these whenever he wants. And they totally smelled like banana, so I'm not sure why he was surprised...

Here's the recipe, if anyone wants it (from Allrecipes.com):

Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 cup mashed bananas

1 3/4 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.	Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
3.	Cream together the shortening and sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, banana, oatmeal and nuts. Mix well.
4.	Add dry ingredients, mix well and drop by the teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet.
5.	Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until edges turn lightly brown. Cool on wire rack. Store in a closed container.

And here's what I changed:

Altered Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas (I used two lg bananas)

1 3/4 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup ground flax seed

1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2.	Wisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
3.	Cream together the butter and sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, banana, vanilla, oatmeal and flax. Mix well.
4.	Add dry ingredients, and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and drop by the teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet.
5.	Bake at 375 degrees F for 13 minutes or until edges turn lightly brown. Cool on wire rack. Store in a closed container.

They have the consistency of a muffin top, so don't expect your typical cookie. Enjoy!
I think I might try these again and next time add macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips...

Thanks for the idea, Guy!

2009-07-02T08:02:00.003-07:00

Anyone ever watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri on the Food Network? We happened to catch it this week and one of the 'dives' featured was a breakfast place here in Phoenix. It caught our interest, so Sean and I headed out there this morning. I was a little worried that we might have to wait a while, but we walked right in- whew! We talked to the waitress a bit and she said it's been crazy-busy since they were featured. We laughed and said that's what brought us there. The couple next to us also saw the show and came out of curiosity. At one point, we saw Dan Majerle (sports bar owner, former Phoenix Sun) finish his meal and leave. Oh- we're trendy!

And if you're wondering, yes- the building is a former Taco Bell. They converted it and added an enclosed patio. We sat outside, despite the warmth (not too bad) and humidity (yikes) to enjoy the rain passing through. Fun!

2009-07-01T10:51:00.005-07:00

Baseball season has come and gone. Ryan played his last season with Little League. He had a great time, and the team did well. Chandler was split into two divisions two years ago because we'd become so big and competitive. After they won their second state championship, then their second regional championship the same year, Little League made the change. So all this to say that our League is composed of- the North and the South. Ryan was in the North Division, and their team won the North Championship! It was such an exciting game. I think the parents were frazzled by the time it was over!

The next night, Sean and Ryan were back east for Sean's cousin's wedding, so they missed the North/South Championship game, but the girls and I went to support them anyway. I think everyone had spent their energy the night before, because none of us were really 'into it.' They lost, but seemed fine with it since the bigger rivalry was within our own division. Ryan claims they lost because he wasn't there to help. Typical. ;)

So now the regular season is over and All-Stars has begun. Ryan knows a lot of kids on the two older teams (the Major's and 11's), so we've gone to a few games to go support them. Once the sun goes down, it's not so bad- really. ;)

Dance Recital Photos

2009-06-28T11:50:00.004-07:00

OK- Picture heavy. These are all scans, so the quality isn't the best, but you get the general idea. I let the girls choose one costume each to take an individual photo, plus a sister shot in their team costumes, then got group shots of everything else.

Here's the sister shot:

Meghan's individual from her hip hop dance (she's already re-worn all pieces of the costume- love that!):
Erin's ballet individual (love this costume!):

Team dance- they performed to a compilation of dance songs, including Lady Gaga's, "Just Dance" seriously edited for appropriateness ;) :

Erin's tap number (we hated the headbands):

Erin's tumbling:

Men in Black (our favorite dance EVER!):

Meghan's group shot of hip hop:

Erin's ballet group shot:

Meghan's tumbling (wish we could have had a re-usable costume like Erin's tumbling...):

We're missing a couple shots cause I got tired of scanning; sorry! But you saw the costumes in a post below. The Recital went really well. Between the rehearsal and the actual Recital(s), we had two 10 hour days. Meghan was in 7 numbers and Erin in 9. Between the two of them, the costume changes were insane (but manageable). The girls were so good- I couldn't have asked for better behavior! They were troopers and never complained! This year, I got a backstage pass, so I was able to watch sidestage. It was so much easier than running back and forth to a seat in the auditorium. Being there actually came in handy at one point. Just before Erin's hip hop group was to go on, one of the girl's sunglasses broke. I've been in charge of these glasses all year, so Mr. Ricky ran over to me and asked if I had a spare pair. I did, but the were in the dressing room. Too late! But at the last second, I grabbed my pair I always have on my head and threw them at him. Ha! It was hysterical. Poor Lauren- she was really concentrated on not dropping them, so her head barely moved at some points, but she kept those suckers on the whole time!

Erin had dance camp the following week which included evaluations for placement on next year's (er, month's) teams. She made the Competition A team and the hip hop B team. She's thrilled! Meghan is taking the year off from team to focus on school activities (there are a ton to choose from in 5th grade), and will take a couple classes instead. I'll do a baseball post next!

I felt the urge to document this

2009-06-08T10:34:00.006-07:00

Usually by about this time, I'm complaining about the weather. June is hell on earth here- high temps, 4 long months of heat ahead and nothing 'fun' in the forecast, like a monsoon (next month). But for the last few days, there's actually been a slight chill in the air in the evenings and in the mornings. We're taking advantage of it while we can!

Saturday night, Ryan had his baseball team party. They started off with a regular practice then had a" team-building exercise." The coach had them pair up and tie their shoes together. They did a three-legged race first. Ryan was partnered with the other Ryan on the team who is a lot bigger than our Ryan. On their way back in the race, they both decided that it would be easier for big Ryan to pick up little Ryan. Classic! The second exercise was to have the partnered boys do a crawling race together. They were all lined up on their hands and knees with their butts facing us. Without them seeing us, they started the race and we started pelting them with water balloons. It was great! We almost felt sorry for them in their soaking wet clothes and cleats. Almost.

I should also take this time to mention they had a father/kid whiffle ball scrimmage as well. The dads still rule cause they shut out the kids (and did it without getting hurt- bonus!)...

This morning, Erin and I are waiting for the boy to get his lazy rear out of bed. He needs new shoes before he goes on his east coast trip with Sean, and I was hoping to catch a movie with them while we're out. Short of actually waking him up, we're trying to make as much natural noise as possible. Erin's been in and out of her room, running upstairs- nothing. I made a smoothie with lots of ice- nothing. I got chilly drinking the smoothie, so we came outside to warm up. I'm on my phone right now posting this. Awesome! Erin followed me and is now jumping, diving, kicking and squealing in the pool. (It was quite convenient since she slept in her bathing suit...) Still nothing from the boy. I guess I might actually have to brave 'the mood' and wake him. *eta- he was awake when we came inside and I sat down to add the photos to this post (can't do that from my phone).

So the point of this rambling post? There's no need to feel sorry for us and our weather. Yet. :)

I have a middle schooler!

2009-06-03T21:13:00.006-07:00

How can that be?! ;)

Today was the last day of school, and Ryan is moving onto junior high. He had his promotion ceremony last night, which coincided with warm-ups for his baseball game. He was late for warm-ups, but still had plenty of prep time before the big game (playoffs). We didn't stick around at school to talk or take pictures, and he ended up changing at the ballpark. I insisted he pose for a couple photos so I could capture something from the day, so he agreed just to shut me up. ;) His coach happened to see him, and we heard him call out to the team to "Look at Ryan and see how pretty he looks!" Hehe. Ryan took it like a champ and didn't even glare at me for 'making him get caught'- the one thing he didn't want.

So they won the game, giving them almost a week to rest up for the division Championship. Woohoo! Ryan had a beautiful double and beat out the play for an infield single. The kid is fast!

After receiving his certificate from his teacher (on the right), Ryan shook the principal's hand:

At the ballpark before his quick change:

Today was a fun day. During the school-wide assembly this afternoon, along with a slide show celebrating the year, the whole school sings the school spirit song to the outgoing 6th graders for the last time. After that, they all line up outside their classrooms and form a tunnel for the 6th graders to walk thru, ushering them out of the school and wishing them well. It's really a neat tradition. They start with the fifth grade and end with the kindergartners and finally the administration and 6th grade teachers. Sean and I were there at the end to see Ryan hug his former kindie teacher. I pretty much lost the battle with tears right there to see that. All three kids had her and she's wonderful! OK- tearing up again just thinking about it. Ugh. Good thing Sean isn't home right now to laugh at me!

So they finished the tunnel, then he ended up taking the bus home (for the last time), and we drove the girls home. Poor Erin was bawling at that point too, cause she's going to "miss having Ryan at her school and she's really going to miss her teacher." Coincidentally, Meghan did the same thing after first grade. She had the same teacher and we all love her, so we all ended up crying knowing we were no longer going to have Mrs. M. Good lord- is this going to happen every year for me? Erin is most likely going to have the same 2nd grade teacher Ryan and Meghan both had, so I'm going to go through the whole thing again next year. Gah!

The tunnel:

Getting a big hug from Mrs. J:

OK- I managed to get this out with only a couple tears. But they're happy tears. :)

It's that time of year!

2009-06-01T10:29:00.004-07:00

Recital time! We've been pretty non-stop the last couple weeks, but I thought I should get these photos up while I'm sitting here in a rare downtime. Between dance classes, baseball games, school projects (lots!), teacher retirement parties, and 6th grade promotion planning, it's been a whirlwind around here. So enjoy some photos I took yesterday in-between costume changes for their photos. For some reason, I have no friend shots with Meghan, and no individual shots of Erin. I guess that goes with their personalities. ;)

That's just a few of the 14 costume changes we have (some in the same outfits, but different times of the program). The Recital is June 13th, so it's coming fast! :)

They're ba-aaack!

2009-05-05T08:55:00.005-07:00

...at school, that is! Yippee! No more pathetic whines of "I'm bored", or bickering, or baseballs being pitched into the front door or girl fights.

Or sleeping in. :( It's a good taste of what's to come in June, I guess.

In honor of going back to school and Teacher Appreciation Week, I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to make cupcakes for the teachers. It's Treat your Teacher to Something Sweet Day, so here's my contribution:

We have to keep our sense of humor in all this, right? ;)
Oh- and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Spring Break, Take 2...Abbreviated?

2009-05-02T18:33:00.004-07:00

Breaking news: Maricopa County Health officials will be meeting with District administrators on Monday to discuss the feasibility of re-opening school as early as Tuesday. Yeehaw!!

And as far as we know, we don't believe we'll need to make up the missed days since it was a health closure mandated by the county. Whew!

*Update* 11:45am Monday- It's official- we're going back to school tomorrow! Common sense has prevailed... ;)

Oink oink. AKA Spring Break, Take 2!

2009-05-01T11:41:00.002-07:00

So. What's new with everyone?

My kids are home with us right now. Our school was shut down yesterday as of 3pm with a confirmed swine flu case. The student has already recovered and was back in school when the results came back. Poor girl is one of only four confirmed cases in the whole state- what are the odds?

So we're on a forced quarantine until next Friday. Everyone is fine, here! Erin has a double ear infection, but she saw the doctor on Monday and has been on antibiotics, so she's recovering from that nicely. Ryan and Meghan are also fine. Everyone is taking it in stride and keeping a good attitude. Baseball is still on, and the dance studio is fine with the girls coming, so we'll go on with that as usual. We'll probably spend most of our newly found free time in the pool...

The kids are stoked. ;)

February Catch-Up

2009-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Just posting some layouts I did at the crop I went to in February in California. My friend Karen raised money for the Unforgettables Foundation, so a few of us went to support it. Then, we spent a couple days at Disney for what's turned into our annual girls trip- too fun! Mom and Lynne drove down to spend one of the days in the parks with us, so it was fun for all. And as I'm posting this, it dawned on me that I have very few photos from then. But I have a couple to share...

Jamie, me, June and Anna on Day 2, and me on Erin's favorite ride that she's never been on ;):

Proof that my mom can be a daredevil. She went on California Screamin' with us:

And the layouts: Guitar Hero on the PS3; Rocking Out to Pink; (not so) Super Bowl; and the Cardinals Playoff game Sean and I attended.

I'm off to a wonderfully hot field trip down in Tucson tomorrow with Meghan. Think of me in the sweltering heat... ;)

Happy Birthday, Sean!

2009-04-16T19:55:00.006-07:00

The big 3-0!!! (plus 10...)

While the girls had dance last night, Ryan and I went to dinner with him to celebrate early. He chose Benihana and we had a great time. We would have gone out to dinner tonight, but Ryan had a team practice at the batting cages, so Sean took him there instead. So I'm home here with the girls, waiting for the lasagna to finish baking so we can celebrate when he gets home.

Happy (almost) Friday!

Just call me Rip

2009-04-15T15:58:00.003-07:00

...as in Rip Van Winkle. Talk about a lazy blogger! Facebook seemed easier for a while, but I missed this, so I'll try and catch up. Not sure how far I'll get since it's been over two months. Yikes! Let's see- I have three holidays, a birthday, two trips to California, a couple of dance performances, a school play and half a baseball season to cover. I think I might need a nap. ;)

Going all the way back to February, Erin was a ladybug in her 1st grade school play. The play was titled, "Bugz", and a group of sassy girls were chosen to be the ladybugs. I have no idea how Erin got the part... So here are the ladybugs (check out the rockin' costumes!) and Erin with a couple of her friends, including the stinkbug:

And for those who really like my kid and can stomach three minutes of cuteness, here's the ladybug dance at the dress rehearsal:

Well, I seem to have gotten back into the swing of things on here, so I'll definitely be back to post more. There may even be a whole lotta posts at once to catch me up. I'm off to the dance studio. TTFN!

Layout Time!

2009-02-05T10:00:00.001-07:00

Yes- I've been scrapping; I just haven't been posting, hehe. Friday night, Michelle came over and we scrapped for a bit. She got a couple layouts done (my 'Family' layout below was lifted and flipped from one of hers) and I got one done, plus finished up another I started a few weeks ago. Even Meghan got one done, which I promptly framed for her to hang in her room since I thought it was so cool! She saw a friend do a mosaic at school earlier that day and thought it would be neat to make one herself. She grabbed some of my paper and got to work. When she showed it to me, I put it on top of a piece of cardstock, grabbed a photo for her and gave her some stickers. Voila!

2009-02-04T10:20:00.002-07:00

Super game; super lame result. OK, just kidding. (A little.)

We had fun with our kid-themed Super Bowl party. But many of you already know that from my Facebook posts, texts, and emails throughout the game. Man, was my phone busy Sunday afternoon! Ha!

Per Ryan's request, we headed to McDonald's for the 50 McNugget special, complete with Cardinal's car flag. We weren't alone, cause just about every other car we passed had one, too. I hate McNuggets, so I made Ryan keep the bag tightly closed and had the moonroof and windows open for the drive home. This wasn't a hardship by the way, cause it was 75 degrees out (just had to throw that in there for my midwest/eastern/northwest friends and family, hehe). Somehow, the kids managed to eat every single one of them. Blech.

We also had spinach dip, cheese dip, Chex Mix, cream sodas (not beer, hehe), Diet Coke for me and red/white Jelly Bellys (pomegranate, sour cherry and cream soda flavors). Oh- and "Matt Leinart was there!" on the football on the table (Sean will be the only one to get this reference, hehe). So I don't get a bad mom rep, I had everyone eat a half a peanut butter sandwich beforehand to get some "good" protein in first. We eat junk food responsibly around here...

Ryan took photos of us girls in our Cardinal gear. Since he had a bet with a friend and took the obvious (cough*wuss*cough) choice, he was rooting for the Steelers and wouldn't wear any of his shirts, so we stole them from him. Ha! Even the dog got in on the fun (not by choice). So we take our pictures, get our food spread ready and hunker down for the start of the game. Not even two minutes later, Erin's on her feet to join Faith Hill in the singing of God Bless America. Ham thru and thru.

So that was our Super Day. Even though the Cards lost, we had a good time and enjoyed the game. Meghan and I were the only ones in the end, and she was cracking up at my screaming, cheering and pouting in the 4th quarter. We had the windows open, and could hear the neighborhood cheering right along with us. It was an awesome, exciting season, and as a result, it's nice to know that you can now say "Phoenix" and "football" in the same sentence and not get laughed at. ;)

So now it's onto baseball season. Ryan had Little League try-outs Saturday morning, so spring is in the air. Oh- and DBacks pitchers and catchers report in 11 days- woohoo! I'm refreshed and can't wait for the new season! ;)

A SUPER Weekend

2009-01-31T14:35:00.014-07:00

Miss me? ;)
I'm still in a stupor from the Cardinal's game two weeks ago, hehe. It's been a fun two weeks celebrating their win, knowing that this is more than likely the end of the road (we're realists here, folks). Sean and I had so much fun at the game! It was such a wild experience. The noise level was unreal! People were so excited, high-fiving, hugging and cheering. I'm so happy to have been a part of it!

Meghan and I started out the day at the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon. Her cheer team was one of the 40 valley area teams cheering the runners on, and we had a blast. After it was over, Meghan went home with a friend and Sean picked me up to head to the game. Ryan and Erin were already at Michelle's where they had a blast pigging out on food, watching the game and playing. Ryan pulled one of his typical stunts and cheered for the Eagles, so Michelle and Peter teased him mercilessly. It served him right. ;)

Here are some photos from the game. The beer guy in the middle of the escalator/ramps to the upper level; the waving flag during the National Anthem, sung by Jordin Sparks (holy cow- what a voice!); team introductions; the sea of red in the crowd:

After the game, Sean and I tailgated in the parking lot. Most people tailgate beforehand, but Sean has the brilliant plan to do it after. It literally takes 45 minutes to an hour to get out of the parking lot at games, so he thought it would be fun to kill time by grilling. He has a point. On the menu that day were brats that Kelly and Greg sent us for Christmas. They were so yummy! Thanks, Kel!

Since Sean is out of town for his guy's weekend in San Diego, the kids and I are going to whoop it up kid style tomorrow for the big game. Ryan has requested the $9.99 50 McNugget special from McDonald's (puke), but I guess it saves money on real wings, hehe, and the girls want cream soda in a bottle. Totally easy. Also on the menu are the pretzels Kelly sent out from our wager on the Eagle's-Cardinal's game. Thanks again, Kelly! ;) Can't wait to try the cheesecake pretzel!

Have a great Sunday, and enjoy the game and commercials! GO CARDs!!!

Are you ready for some football?

2009-01-18T00:11:00.004-07:00

We are. ;)

Tickets? Check
Jerseys? Check, check
Brats for tailgating? Check
Babysitters for the offspring? Check and check

And if we lose, we're ok with that. We'll be bummed, but so happy we made it this far. And doubly happy that we got to eek out an extra home game in the process. ;)

Go Cardinals!!!!

Out with the old...

2009-01-04T10:56:00.002-07:00

...and in with the new. Enjoy one of the Christmas card photo rejects for a bit. I'd use the real photo, but it was vertical and didn't look right. I think this one is pretty cute, despite Ryan's funky expression.

I've been doing lots of cleaning, purging and organizing around the house this week, so I thought it was only fitting to do the same on the blog. The kids go back to school on Tuesday, so we only have one more day to sleep in. :(

Enjoy the last of your weekend!

Welcome, 2009!

2008-12-31T23:47:00.004-07:00

I made it back on, just in time. ;)
We fondued tonight- the annual tradition. This year, Ryan joined in, with the girls sneaking over for bites. We've already watched the ball drop in NYC and are anxiously awaiting midnight here.

Happy New Year!!!

And for prosperity:

Ya gotta love Arizona in the wintertime... ;)

Catching up

2008-12-31T18:35:00.002-07:00

Confession- I haven't felt like blogging. But under much pressure from other members of the household- both resident and guest- I'm finally on here. I didn't take any photos of the kids Christmas morning. I figured nothing can top last year's photos of Ryan opening the Wii, so why try to top them? Hehe. We had a lovely Christmas, but nothing major to report. Ryan stayed in his room and didn't sneak down. Sorry to disappoint! ;)

So here's a little update from the past week: ***ETA- it's now three says later than when I started. I told you I didn't feel like updating!! ;)

Here's some of the food we had. Christmas Eve, we had a full turkey dinner. Meghan helped season the turkey (lovingly named, "Bob Tina") and was quite proud of her accomplishment. We filled it with lemons and rosemary fresh from the backyard, so the whole house smelled divine all afternoon. For Christmas dinner, we had a prime rib roast, double stuffed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Lynne made the apple pie for the sdults, along with Ryan's peppermint pie for the kids (and Sean, hehe). Between the two meals, we had leftovers for days- yummy!

Here's the family Christmas Eve- taken from my phone, so not the best quality. Oh, and sorry for the angle:

And finally, we took our annual drive around Ahwatukee to check out the lights. Here are a couple of our favorites:

We spent the rest of the week (weekend? whatever- I'm so confused on days right now) going to the movies- "Four Christmasses"; "Marley and Me" and "Bedtime Stories", vegging, shopping, and cleaning out closets and cabinets. Out with the old, right?

I'll try and get another post on here tonight for New Year's. If not, have a safe and happy New Year!!!!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T20:38:00.002-07:00

Yes, I owe some photos. But, I figure everyone else is probably just as busy as us and hasn't really missed me, so I'll catch up soon. Maybe tomorrow. Sean gave me PSE for the Mac, so I can put it to use. :)

I wish you all a very, Merry Christmas!! :)

December 20-21

2008-12-21T22:52:00.008-07:00

December 20-Last night, Sean and I went to a Christmas party hosted by one of the couples from the dance studio. Their house is absolutely gorgeous and their backyard is a dream! It was fun to spend the evening out there socializing with everyone, getting to know the adults with our Mommy and Daddy personas put away. ;) It was nice to enjoy the cold evening (with portable heaters spread about) while we raised a glass in cheers to all those in snowstorms across the country...

December 21-Tonight, we had another adult event- this one closer to home in our own neighborhood. We had a progressive evening, titled "Peeping and Popping"- where we moved from house to house to eat, drink and check out each others' Christmas decorations. We were number two on the list and had appetizers. The couple before us also had appetizers, then after us was an entree, then the final house was dessert and coffee drinks. Heidi made cranberry bliss bars (a copycat recipe like Starbucks) and they were so yummy! One of the couples had a Christmas trivia game (Trivial Pursuit style), and we spent the last hour trying to come up with answers to obscure questions. Fun!

Special thanks to my elves- Mom and Lynne- for taking my food out of the oven and putting it out in time for when we arrived at our house! ;)

December 18-19

2008-12-20T11:42:00.006-07:00

December 18- This was the last day of school before Christmas Break, and the school put on its annual fun run, this year titled the Penguin Plunge. The K thru 2nd graders ran a one mile course throughout the neighborhood near the school, while the 3rd-6th graders ran a two mile course. Ryan came in third! Terrible photo, but you can see the concentration (and exhaustion, hehe) on his face. Way to go, Kiddo! He was hoping for top 5, so he was very happy with himself. A few more photos from the event:

The walker, trying to avoid Bullseye, the school mascot:

Sorry, Meghan- you get your height from me: ;)

The Penguin and Bulleseye ran, too:

December 19- The girls and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet last night with several friends from dance. Aside form the numerous complaints of "I can't see-ee!" they had a great time. We went to dinner first, then followed each other to Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix. Meanwhile, Sean and Ryan, along with Mom and Lynne, went out to dinner. Ryan was craving ribs, so he requested Famous Dave's- yum!

December 14-17

2008-12-17T16:30:00.011-07:00

December 14- On Saturday,we had no dance, baseball, birthday parties, business trips or sporting events, so we took advantage of the down-time and took a drive down to Tucson. And look what we found- one tiny patch of snow up in the mountains on the way to Mt. Lemmon! Woohoo! We were bundled up because it was about 40 degrees and really windy. Here are a few more from the day:

After Mt. Lemmon, we went to dinner, then walked thru Winterhaven- a community that really does it up for the holidays. Our favorites were the "Santa at the Beach" house and the "Bellagio Jr." house:

December 15- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... Clearly, on-line shopping was the trend this year. The packages started rolling in on Monday, and the kids marvel at the growing stack each day. Someone has some wrapping to do... ;)

December 16- Some of you will have no idea what this photo is, some will roll their eyes, and those under the age of 12 will be amazed (and jealous): I got the gem of the day on Webkinz! Check out the offer! Yes, I have my own account, and no, I'm not proud. ;)

December 17- The Christmas cards- all 82 of them- went postal today! Whew- what a relief to have them mailed!

December 13

2008-12-13T10:39:00.003-07:00

This is why the dog rarely makes it into the Christmas Card photo. I later find pictures of my butt on the camera card. Fabulous. I knew as soon as I bent over it was a mistake, but what are ya gonna do? This was taken after Sean tried really hard to get Riley to go where we wanted her, but she was so afraid he was going to throw her in the pool, that she dug in and refused to move. I promise he hasn't thrown her in since she was a puppy- but, oh wait, there was the time when we used to put her down the slide when we first put the pool in...Hmm. ok. Maybe she does have a reason to be hesitant, but I never threw her in, plus, I'm 'alpha bitch' in her little doggy peabrain, so she listens to me. I got her right into position, then lined the kids up and got them into position, had them ooze some charm, then took 74 unusable shots for one reason or another. I got one- ONE decent photo of the four of them together. Typical.

I'll post more outtakes later... :)

December 12

2008-12-12T07:13:00.001-07:00

Yo, Mom- Ryan reminded me to grab this when we were at Basha's the other day. So we now have the main ingredient for The Pie. The Pie is an Oreo crust, with some sort of Christmas flavored ice cream (peppermint, candy cane...) smooshed in, then crushed candy cane sprinkled on top. I like to drizzle white chocolate on it as well, but I don't think we do that every year. Ryan has to have this pie, so it's become tradition. The ice cream is limited edition and not carried everywhere, so sometimes it's a challenge to find. He was adamant that we pick it up early. ;)

Dec. 8-11; AKA Clearly, daily updating doesn't work for me...

2008-12-11T10:28:00.005-07:00

December 8- We're going to have fresh lemon juice to add to the homemade guacamole for Christmas and New Year's! One benefit of living in Arizona is that you get fresh citrus in winter. It almost makes the 107 degree July temperatures worth it. I said almost.

December 9- My friend Heidi was selling fresh greenery items as a church fundraiser. Since we don't get a real tree, I got one of these to help make the house smell Christmassy. Doesn't it look pretty? I put it on the laundry room door so we can see it from the kitchen.

December 10- It's freaking cold in the mornings now! OK- not cold in terms of anyone east of New Mexico, but cold nonetheless. We moms need our gloves and hot coffee to hang out at the bus stop now.

December 11- I love my red Starbucks cups so much, I bought myself one for home use last year. I love it so much, I actually hand wash it every day so I can take my coffee to the bus stop with the kids.

December 6-7

2008-12-07T13:37:00.009-07:00

One of these days, I will get an actual photo of the day, and put it up here on the actual day by itself. But since yesterday's was taken so late, we'll go with a double dose again...

Last night, the girls participated in our city's Parade of Lights. The dance studio walked the parade and did a little performing down the route. The girls got to wear their performance outfits (cheer for Meghan, dance for Erin) and had a ton of fun. In order to be in this parade, every participant- person, animal, vehicle or float- must be lit up in some way. Our performers all wore light-up snowflake necklaces- too cute.

After the parade, we went over to the office of the dad of one of Erin's teammates. He works in downtown Chandler, right near the parade route, and they had a small get-together for all the families to informally celebrate their daughter's birthday. They had Santa to entertain the kids, hot cocoa, beer and wine for the adults, a great view of the tree-lighting ceremony in the square downtown, and best of all- two plasmas so that we could watch UofA kick ASU's butt in the big football game. It was awesome. ;)

And here is today's photo. The dog likes to snuggle (especially if it involves blankets and feet) just as much as the rest of us. She kept moving in closer and closer to Sean, stealing more and more of the blanket in the process. She is such a covers hog!

December 4-5

2008-12-05T00:18:00.004-07:00

I struggled with what I was going to take my picture of today. I thought the first three were really "christmassy", so I thought I should have something that involves everyday life. I could have documented the backyard funeral Ryan and I held for Dynamite today, but that was a little too depressing. So I figured the right shot would come to me on it's own. And boy, did it ever. ;)

I was pretty sure I had a bunch of Halloween candy left over in a basket, but when I went on the prowl a few weeks later for something sweet, I found an almost empty basket. Huh. I guess there wasn't as much as I thought there was. Well, there would have been, had someone not polished it all off. The smart candy thief would have buried the wrappers in the trash, never to be discovered. Not our thief. No- he hides his wrappers in places his Mom always, always finds. Always. You'd think he'd learn. Nope.

While up on a ladder, putting up the last of the Christmas garlands on the top of the china cabinet, I found my photo op of the day:

It's a good thing his fish died today, cause he got off with the look and clean-up duty.

And since it's December 5th already, here's the photo for Day 5:

I love these cookies. I buy one box every year to enjoy throughout the month here and there. And I just discovered the candy thief likes them, so I need to find a hiding place other than the top of the fridge...

Procrastinating

2008-12-04T10:34:00.005-07:00

I should be folding clothes, but instead I'm putting it off to do something else I've been putting off. Similar to Laura, I want to take a random photo each day until Christmas (or maybe New Year's?) to celebrate and remember the season. I actually have been taking the photos- and coincidentally took the exact same photo as her on December 1st without even realizing it- but not uploading right away. I'll try and get better. So here is December 1-3. Hopefully, I'll start an album with them as well. That's my intent, anyway... ;)

Decking the Halls

2008-12-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

...make that- Decking the freaking Halls.
*Where are all my extension cords?
*Why was I so impatient taking down the garlands from the kitchen cabinets last year? I found three broken bulbs, so it took me even longer to get them up this year.
Didn't I just take these things down?
And how the heck did pieces of waffle get up on said kitchen cabinets?

These are the questions going thru my mind as I finish decking the halls around here...

Pardon the Dust

2008-12-01T12:34:00.003-07:00

Construction zone in progress...
Sorry for the mess! Trying to change it up in here.
And I lost Jake in the switch. If anyone knows how to get him back, let me know! Weatherpixie's coding doesn't seem to work in my updated template. :(

Creativity abounds...

2008-11-28T22:45:00.001-07:00

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! We had a wonderfully casual day yesterday. I cooked, everyone over-ate, and then we all piled into our bed and watched some Jon & Kate Plus 8 episodes from their marathon yesterday. Talk about family time! ;)

Meghan and I headed out to do a little shopping today. We hit JoAnn's for some fabric. We weren't crazy, so we got there around 11 instead of the crack of dawn. The lines were incredible (holy cow!), but everyone was in a pleasant mood, and Meg and I did some teamwork to make the wait-time faster. She's a good little shopper, so I got her Starbucks after- a grande even. The rest of the day we spent cleaning and decorating for Christmas. Sean rearranged all the electronics in the family room so that the Christmas tree doesn't block the path of the remote to the receiver, hehe. That involved lots of dusting and sneezing. Meanwhile, I got the tree up and decorated in the living room, and brought the family room tree in as well. The kids will put the ornaments on that one tomorrow. Now, we're just chilling and working on our own various projects- Sean's playing in his office, I'm blogging and going thru photos and trying to clear up some projects, Ryan's playing video games, Meghan's at a friend's house, and Erin's pretending to clean her room.

So here are some of those projects I've done and am putting away. Layouts from when I went to Prescott back in September (?), layouts from Michelle's house a couple weeks ago, and the blinged Red Sox hats I did for Erin's dance teacher. Enjoy!

Oh- and one more project we've been "working on": Dynamite- Ryan's survivor fish from his science unit a couple weeks ago. The class learned about ecosystems and created their own with a cut up two liter bottle, some gravel, live plants, water, two minnows and some snails- all covered in saran wrap. Ryan and his partner named their fish Napoleon and Dynamite. The fish miraculously survived transportation from Petco, a week and a half in a six grade classroom, a trip home in a small water bottle (how the heck they got Dynamite in there from the two liter bottle, I'll never know...), and then another transfer into a bowl here at home on Wednesday. Every morning when we wake up, the first thing we do is check to see if he's still living. This little guy is definitely a trooper! So meet Dynamite:

Way to Work It...

2008-11-22T18:37:00.005-07:00

Erin had her first dance competition of the season today, and had a blast! She had three numbers this time- her jazz trio (same as last year), a Broadway small group jazz, and a small group Hip Hop. The hip hop was new for her, having never taken a class before. They ended up getting a high score as well as a special award- the "Way to Work It" award- too cool! Here's a photo of the "Men in Black" [these are the costumes I put together. ;) ]

More sports

2008-11-13T22:14:00.003-07:00

So the Cadinals played the 49ers here Monday night. Sean and Ryan went and had a good time. It was a great game- coming all the way down to the last play, so they had a blast. Even better? They were shown on tv twice. I recorded the game for them to watch again when they got home, so we paused the tv when we saw them and I snapped photos of the screen with my phone (have I mentioned how much I love technology?). While fast-forwarding thru the game, we also caught a glimpse of Erin's "boyfriend Tony Romo". His family also has season tickets, so it was fun that they made it on tv as well. 64,000 people, and the the six of them all get screen time. Weirdness. ;)

Here ya go...

2008-11-05T10:06:00.007-07:00

Halloween pictures! Ryan and Sean went to the Hamilton football game, so I took the girls out with a bunch of the other neighborhood kids. One day a couple weeks ago, one of the neighborhood boys was over playing with Ryan, and told us he was going to be Tony Romo for Halloween (Lisa- that's the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, hehe). I told him he needed a Jessica Simpson (Romo's girlfriend) to trick or treat with. So that morphed into Erin being his Jessica. It was a crack-up!

The girls (Meghan- a 'goth' vampire- got ready all on her own, including make-up):

Tony and Jessica (Erin had an on-purpose
pouty look, getting into character)

The inspiration:

And the big group:

My friends, it seems we're in for some Change.

2008-11-04T20:54:00.002-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T13:07:00.006-07:00

No photos of the kids and costumes yet, since they're still in school, but I wanted to try and catch up here with a little of what we've been doing lately. And since some of the photos include pumpkins, I figured today would be a good day for that.

Last Friday, a bunch of us from the neighborhood rode bikes to school instead of taking the bus. The weather is absolutely gorgeous in the mornings now, so we're going to try and make this a weekly thing. Erin isn't quite street ready for riding her bike all the way to school yet (she hasn't figured out how to stop gracefully), so she rode her scooter instead. The girl is going to have killer calves between her scooter skills and dance classes, I tell ya. We had a feeling she wouldn't be able to make it all the way, so Sean followed in the car, and also took all the backpacks, water bottles, pumpkins for carving and musical instruments. Whew- good thing we had him! ;) Sure enough, Erin got tired and we encouraged her to get in the car.

Impressively large group, huh? So we got to school, and most of the moms rode on to Paradise Bakery for our weekly breakfast. Two of us had early pumpkin carving with our 1st graders, so we stayed at school (the others brought muffins back for us), then rode home together later. I had to ride back to school for the afternoon pumpkin carving with Ryan and Meghan's classes, so I ended up staying all but an hour at school that day. We all rode home together after school and took naps. Well, I did, anyway. ;)

Every year, the students each carve or decorate a pumpkin, then we line them all up outside the classrooms. We add a candle, and light them up in the evening during the Harvest Fair, making a lit pumpkin walk. It's so fun to see how creative some of the kids are! I had fun helping the kids, and they all knew exactly what they wanted. Erin wanted a basic Jack O'Lantern, Meghan wanted one with freckles, and Ryan wanted a Texas Longhorn. Erin drew hers (I helped with the mouth) and I carved it, but Meghan and Ryan did theirs completely on their own. They're growing up!

Oh- and I do have one costume to show. Erin went to a Halloween-themed birthday party last weekend, and she was insistent she be a 50's girl with the pink jacket. I really didn't want to have to buy the costume for $40 for one wearing (she's got a different costume for tonight), plus I couldn't find it anyway, so I tried to talk her into being a 60's girl. She had the perfect dress and we could have done her hair and added boots. No, because "60's girls look dumb, Mom." Alrighty then. So I made her a necklace and got a pink shirt from a friend and ironed on some letters. I hope the Pink Ladies don't mind that I added a poodle to their 'jacket', but the kid thought it was "awesome!"

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Bear Down!

2008-10-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

So I started this post a week and a half ago. Back then, I was still excited after our impromtu trip down to Tucson to watch our Wildcats tromp all over Cal. We had a good time showing the kids parts of Tucson where we lived, where we had classes, where we ate on campus, where we drank off campus- hehe, and where Sean and I had our first date. The kids giggled over that. ;) It was interesting to see all the changes, and how much both the university and city have grown. Hopefully, we'll get down there again soon to explore even more.

Before leaving for the game, we bought some hats and shirts to wear in spirit. We found a jersey for Ryan to add to his 'collection', shirts for Erin and me (must wear red!), and hats for everyone. I blinged mine during the hour and a half drive down to Tucson (photos later, along with some Red Sox hats I'm blinging for Erin's Boston-born dance teacher in exchange for private lessons), and must say it came out pretty cool!

I'm running out of steam on this. The game was so long ago, it seems like a distant memory. That'll teach me to put off blogging. Enjoy some photos instead, cause let's face it, you're only here for the pictures... :P

When it's Fall (and you aren't in the desert), you go to the Pumpkin Patch!

2008-10-08T20:54:00.004-07:00

We drove out to a farm in the valley yesterday to get pumpkins and go through the corn maze. The kids quickly chose their pumpkins (each bigger than their heads, of course), and Mom, Lynne and I each got one as well. After that, we hit the corn maze, which was politically themed. It was cut out in the shape of a donkey and an elephant. I still haven't figured out why, but it was fun just the same. It took a little under an hour, but the kids were at their limits just before that. It was hot, dirty and itchy. But they were troopers and had fun anyway!

We had a Wicked good time

2008-10-06T12:37:00.006-07:00

Lynne's birthday is this week, so Mom and I surprised her with tickets to go see Wicked last night at the Pantages Theater in LA. It was so, so good! We loved the sassiness of G(a)linda, and thought Erin would be great in the role in 15 years. I guess she needs to learn to sing first. ;)

We had a blast and hope to go see it in Phoenix when it tours next summer. A few photos:

Today we're just lounging around, but have busy, busy plans for the rest of the week. We're going to hit a pumpkin patch tomorrow, and hope to have dinner at a new shopping center, The Americana. Sean and I went the other night after the golf tournament, and I can't wait to get back to snap some photos of some of the very neat features.

Hit the beach, of course!

2008-10-04T23:06:00.009-07:00

...cause we do every time we come out here. We picked a winner of a day, too- overcast and sprinkling. Awesome! We started out on the "Sean Scenic Tour" and stopped for lunch in NoHo- aka North Hollywood. Lynne and the girls and I ate at Panera Bread (yum), while Sean and Ryan went next door to a new sports bar- Big Wangs, where they had the second celebrity sighting of the trip- Mike "Boogie" Malin from Big Brother. Sean snapped a quick photo with his phone and sent it to me. Fun! Our first celebrity was last night. Sean played in a golf tournament and I later joined him for the dinner where the guest speaker was Rudy Ruettiger- the Rudy from Notre Dame. Very cool!

So we finish with lunch and decide to take the long way to Malibu. We drive through Laurel Canyon and take Sunset Blvd all the way to the coast. It was fun to take the same tour my dad always gave to out of town friends and family visiting when we were little. I missed a lot of photo ops, but here are a few I managed to snap:

So we finally reach the beach, and stumble across a just finished wedding. The bride looked pretty ticked off and we're assuming her mood probably came from the weather. We also passed a really, really big event off PCH being set up- huge tents, catering trucks, shuttle service, security. So if you hear of any celebrity weddings that occurred today in Malibu, this was probably it.

We had fun on the beach, mainly watching the huge surf and trying not to get wet. Well, everyone but Erin. She was determined to swim, but we let her get as far as her shins.

One week later...

2008-10-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

...and I'm finally updating! Too bad it takes a 6-hour car ride to get me motivated. ;) We're on our way to California since we're almost a week into our Fall Break. It's time to relax and have fun at Mom's.

Erin's birthday parties were a smashing success! She had two since she had so many people she wanted to invite and there was no freaking way I was going to have almost 30 little girls in my house at one time. So we took her school friends to Makutu's Island- an indoor play place- and she had a blast. Sean and I also had a blast because we didn't have to do anything for it. That's the best kind of party in my book. ;) The second was at our house and was an Almost Sleepover Party- the "almost" meaning that they all went home at 10pm the same night. ;)

Thirteen girls from her dance team joined us for an evening of dancing to High School Musical 2, manicures and pedicures, pizza, make your own sundaes and general house terrorization- including screaming, squeeling, giggling, slamming doors and a little bit of girl drama. Fun, fun, fun! Sean and Ryan were off the hook since I sent them to a Diamondbacks game, so they were relieved to not be a part of it. ;)

So here are some photos, cause we all know some people skipped right over my text and went straight for the photos: ;)

The school party, minus Erin in a couple cause she was scared of Makutu. So typical...

Erin after dance later that day. Her Dance Buddy, Erika, brought her a balloon with Skittles:

At dinner at Red Robin- I think this is one of my favorite photos of the day. Clearly she was upset about something:

In a better mood:

The Almost Slumber Party:

OK- so that's that. And it's actually Friday now, as I didn't finish the post during the drive last night...Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Little E!!!

2008-09-25T09:41:00.006-07:00

7 Years old!

Here she is in her birthday crown that Aunt Kelly gave her on her first birthday. She wears it every year, and was excited that I let her wear it to school today. Everyone sang to her at the bus stop, and she got cookies delivered to school to share with her classmates. She also thinks it's pretty cool that the school district made her birthday a half day (for conferences) just for her. ;)

Another field trip...

2008-09-21T19:03:00.003-07:00

Last Thursday, Meghan went on a field trip to Chase Field- home of the Diamondbacks- to take a tour. Since the Science Museum is across the street, they combined the field trip by having representatives of the museum come over to the field and do a bunch of scientific demonstrations for them.

The tour included two tickets to the game that night, and with the two we already had, Sean and the girls and I were able to go (Ryan was still at Science Camp). The whole section was full of 4th graders and faculty from school, so it was super rowdy and fun. Meghan had a blast moving from seat to seat to sit with all of her friends, and Erin was happy to see people she knew as well. Meghan's teacher knows the organist (the woman seems to know everyone!), so she brought Meghan and a bunch of her classmates to go stand around him during the 7th inning stretch. It's not a clear photo at all, but one of the red blobs is Meghan on the jumbotron during the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

Post # 200 !!

2008-09-17T00:38:00.005-07:00

Where's the confetti and balloons!?

It's been a busy couple weeks. I'll try and load up on photos for the reading-impaired-show-me-photos-only-to-keep-my-attention readers. ;)

Last week was the annual Patriotic Program at school to remember 911. All three kids were in it last year since it's put on by the 5th grade and their buddy classes. Erin was the lone participant this year, and once again, performed her heart out.

Erin with her teacher:

Ryan's been playing a lot of baseball. He's excited that he actually gets to pitch sometimes. And he's doing pretty well, too! It's funny to watch him get ready to throw the ball. He puts his glove up over his face like Randy Johnson. The kid cracks us up.

In other Ryan news, he left for 6th grade Science Camp this morning. Every year, the entire grade goes up to a camp in Prescott and has a blast camping out in cabins and taking various classes related to science and nature. We (er, I) had fun shopping for the various things he needed- a new sleeping bag, "man" toiletries -no girly shower gel or shampoo- with a skull bag to put them in; a costume for his skit and theme-wear for Hawaiian night and Western night. They are going to have too much fun! And I'm looking forward to when Meghan and Erin are in 6th so I can chaperone... ;) The sour look up there is because I took too long taking the photo. He was gracious enough to let me take one in the parking lot, but he saw a glimpse of a friend arriving and he was annoyed to get caught. Poor kid. Ha!

While shopping for supplies, Halloween arrived at Target. Yay! Maybe it's psychological, but it feels like the temps are starting to drop. No really- they are finally going down at night to downright pleasant. The kids went swimming last weekend and froze their patooties off in the cooler water...

Anyway- back to Target: have you found the new Hershey's kisses? I bought a bag of each to try, and while they're not gross- I kind of like them- I won't have to worry about anyone stealing them when I'm not looking. And I'll take one at a time since the're super sweet. But they smell yummy!

And now for the biggest and best news- Sean's sister had the baby this morning! She doesn't have a name yet, but I'll update when Kelly and Greg decide on one. Congrats to them! And the reactions from each of the kids when we told them the news:

Erin: Cool! I'm not the youngest anymore!
Ryan: Yes! I'm still the only grandson!
Meghan: Mom- deciding on a name is a very important decision. She has to live with it for the rest of her life, so they have to come up with a good one.

:)

RNC

2008-09-04T20:23:00.003-07:00

Don't worry- this isn't an issues post. ;)
Meghan's teacher was at the Republican National Convention this week as a delegate for Arizona. We've been watching for her, and finally caught a glimpse of her tonight:

And no- she's not the cute hat lady, but the one right behind her. ;) Meghan was so excited to see her!

This is for you, Maddy!

2008-08-31T15:24:00.005-07:00

Ya loser. ;)
Five layouts- five (5)! That's how many I got done last night while you were busy with your Mamma Mia sing-a-long. Slacker.
Enjoy!

Sports nut

2008-08-29T21:49:00.003-07:00

We had Cardinal's tickets tonight as well as Diamondbacks tickets, so it should have been a sports night. Sean took Erin to the football game, while I was going to take Ryan and Meghan to the baseball game. I think we're kind of 'over' baseball season, cause we unanimously decided to skip the game and hang out at home instead. Sean and Erin, however, had a blast.

They just got home, and Erin came in announcing that she's found her new career- "I'm going to be a Bear's cheerleader! Then I'm going to retire to Arizona and be a Cardinal's cheerleader! It was so awesome, Mom! Can I go to another game?!" This coming from the girl who reluctantly went to the game in the first place... ;)

Here's a photo Sean emailed me from the game:

And it's a good thing the rest of us stayed home, cause we had another storm tonight. It would have been a shame to miss it. We got pummeled last night, and have another potential two days of this. Yeehaw!

Back in the groove

2008-08-26T09:41:00.016-07:00

Meghan and I are back- we have been for two days, actually. We had a blast and have finally caught up on sleep again. Friday was spent getting ready with last minute details for the shower, then a nice picnic with Kelly's team from work. Meghan made a friend there, and has already emailed back and forth with her several times. I guess that's the new kind of pen pal- a keyboard pal? Haha.

Saturday was the shower. It was held at a restaurant in the middle of a park near Chestnut Hill in Philly. It was a beautiful shower, with good food, yummy cake and lots of good loot for Kelly. ;) Meghan and I sat with Sean's cousins who all drove in from New Jersey, and we laughed the whole time.

There was also a wedding going on at the same restaurant, so that gave us some added entertainment. I gave Meghan the camera and let her be the photographer for the whole weekend, so here are some of her shots (none from the actual shower itself, though. Carol or Kelly- if you have any, please forward them on. :)

Shower location, the Valley Green Inn:

The bride and groom we saw (groom is on the right, haha):

Just outside the restaurant:

Saturday night, we went back to Kelly and Greg's with Greg's side of the family to eat and hang out and watch the men's Olympic marathon. Meghan had a blast taking care of Greg's six-week old niece, Rohan. She got to feed her and hold her while she slept. She had her for well over an hour, closer to two, and loved every second.

Sunday, we drove up to Kutztown (near Allentown). One of the state colleges is located here, and Greg is a partner in building off-campus housing at three of the state schools. Classes start today, so this past weekend was move-in weekend and the company held a barbecue to welcome the residents. We all drove up for it, and got a tour of the models and clubhouse. I'd totally live here if I were in school again! ;)

Driving in, we got a good look at the dumpsters with all the college trash in them- the beer cases cracked me up (and brought back a few memories...)

After hanging at the clubhouse for a while and playing with the baby again (Meg was a baby hog), we went for an early dinner:

Scenes from the drive back to Philadelphia, where Sean's parents dropped us off for the flight home.

A first

2008-08-21T13:51:00.002-07:00

I'm posting from my phone. In the airport. Have I mentioned how much I love technology?

Meghan and I are flying to Philadelphia for my sister in law's baby shower. We've been looking forward to this for a while now, and Meghan was super excited to get checked out of school early. ;) It's just a quick trip- we'll be back on Sunday. I'll try and get a photo of the flower pots the girls painted for the table favors. Meghan did a great job on all the flowers, and Erin is a natural at painting backgrounds.

OK- enough for now. Oh- one last thing. As I was running around last night packing, I came across a wolf spider. I have a love-hate relationship with these guys cause they're so ugly (and fast!), but helpful with getting rid of other bugs. Anyway, I tried to smash it but ended up not getting a direct hit. Apparently this was a mama spider, cause all of her babies a scattered off her back and went everywhere. I've heard of this happening, but never experienced it personally. OMG. What a nightmare. So Sean- the sticky stuff on the floor is my fault (I know I didn't get all the spray stuff cleaned up) (sorry). Oh- and Mama's still on the bottom of your shoe right where I left it, so be careful when you pick it up... {shudder}

Busy and stuff

2008-08-14T19:52:00.004-07:00

So, um, I guess I should check in here every so often, huh? Or maybe take another trip since I'm a really good blogger when I travel... ;)

We're still getting used to the schedule around here and settling in with homework and baseball and dance. The girls love their classes, and Ryan is enjoying his new team for Fall Ball. He's a little bit older than some of the others which is the complete opposite of his spring team. His coach is the same one he had a year ago, and told Sean he's impressed with how much he's improved since Ryan played for him last. That boosted Ryan's confidence a ton, so he's all of a sudden become Mr. Baseball again. Funny boy.

I've been helping out with dance projects lately, so I haven't been checking in on other blogs lately. I hope everyone is doing well! And because I hate to post without a picture, and haven't picked up my camera in a while, I'll leave you with these:

We've been watching a ton of the Olympics and this race was one of the most exciting things we've ever seen. We were so stinking excited for these guys! Awesome race. :)

Random Bits 'n Pieces...

2008-08-04T16:33:00.006-07:00

So we survived the first week of school. They each had a good week, with some homework, but nothing too tough or time-consuming. We're getting a pretty good idea what the year will be like, and will know even more after Curriculum Night this week. Meghan starts cheer tonight, and is excited to get going (she made the cheer team earlier this summer, so will be just as involved at the studio as Erin now). Ryan has his first baseball practice tomorrow night, and Erin goes back to dance then, too.

The girls were excited to watch the Hannah Montana concert 3-D 'movie' on the Disney Channel last weekend. Ryan was bummed that I didn't pick up a pair of 3-D glasses for him as well. Who knew?

I cleaned up in Meghan's room today, purging stuff she'll never know is missing. I had so much fun, I even moved her furniture around. She was thrilled! And I was thrilled since there's less 'stuff'.

I got creative again last night. Maddy- don't look! ;)

I wanted to title it "Shell Seekers" (like the book by Rosamunde Pilcher), but only had three "e" letter stickers, so I had to improvise. Extra thanks to my sister for mailing me my forgotten Hilton Head sticker from our trip!

This felt like the most random, scattered entry...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-07-28T14:24:00.008-07:00

...they're going ba-ack!

Today is the first day of school. Yay! Erin has been asking for the past week- "Is it time yet? I really really really REALLY can't wait to go back to school!! And dance. When does dance start again?!" So it's finally come. The dog will have a quiet house again, the pillows will remain on the couch, the sound of Hannah Montana and iCarly will be replaced with the news or radio, and peace will prevail. Ahhhh. ;)

Big kudoes to the kids for taking this photo in one take- less than 30 seconds! So impressed!

All the neighborhood cars dropping off at the bus stop outside our gates:

Some of the kids at the bus stop:

Erin gettting off the bus at school and walking in (at this point, we weren't allowed to acknowledge the other two kids... ;)

I snuck a photo of Ryan walking in for his last year of elementary anyway:

Erin unpacking her school supplies at her first real desk (kindergartners had tables, but first graders get their own desks):

Our annual trip to Starbucks after dropping the kids off:

After Starbucks, I went to my neighbor's house for her annual "Mom's Morning Madness" party that she holds on the first day of school. It's an "M" theme, so we had mango margaritas and muffins. I just got home about 45 minutes ago, and the kids should be walking in the door in a half hour. Tomorrow, I'l start my annual purge in the kid's rooms and playroom, and I'm sure I'll be in the classroom by the end of the week. Dance and baseball start next week, so it's gonna be busy pretty soon- just the way we like it! :)

"Easy" Mac

2008-07-18T14:13:00.006-07:00

Meghan didn't want a sandwich for lunch today, so she decided she'd make herself some Kraft Easy Mac n' Cheese- the single serve, microwave kind. She hasn't made it in a few months, so she forgot what the instructions were. By telling me that the package said to cook it for 2-4 minutes, I figured she'd read all the directions. Apparently not, since she forgot to add the water. Blech.

Anyone for charcoal pasta? Yummy!

The kitchen klutz, innocently playing with her brother and sister, like nothing happened. Meanwhile, the burnt smell of pasta permeates the air throughtout the whole house...

Another one...

2008-07-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the other layout I said I'd put up (totally inspired by Jessica Sprague). This is probably my favorite photo from the whole trip. The poor kid was just beat at that moment, and didn't even notice me snapping away.

It looks like it's time to work on some Ryan pages now... ;)

I scrapped!

2008-07-11T23:06:00.005-07:00

Woohoo! I'm keeping up with the dance recital photos and am scrapping them for the girl's albums within a month of receiving them. Yes! I'm on fire! Huge thanks to Michelle for calling last weekend to get me to scrap! I got the bug back and have been working here and there ever since. I just finished another layout earlier tonight while scrapping with Meghan, so I'll post that after I get a picture of it in the daylight tomorrow.

I even cleaned my table up and purged a bunch of old supplies. Ahhh- organization feels good!

Things we learned along the way...

2008-07-04T21:45:00.004-07:00

*Texas Rest Stops have WiFi (who knew?)

*Texas is freakin' huge! (880 miles across I-10)

*Our kids are excellent travelers

*The Owens-Thomas House in Savannah has an open-armed spiral staircase. One side was for the men, the other for the women. The reason for the separate sides? Because the men might be able to see the women's ankles while ascending the staircase, despite the long skirts that were in fashion at the time. Apparently the ankles could cause arousal. Alrighty then.

*On a similar note- early churches were built with double doors. Again- one side for the men, the other for the women and children. They also sat on opposite sides of the church during services.

*Texas may be big, but it takes care of its drivers- yeehaw!

*I'm a much better blogger when we travel

*Southern states have the best Rest Stops- they were all charming

*Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas music still sounds good in June

*Kudzu- a viney plant brought over from Japan in the 1800's as a potential food crop- is all over the south, and is known as The Plant That Ate The South or The Green Menace. It grows at a rate of 60 feet per year (2 inches per day!), and may now be the next best supplement for corn ethanol. I thought it was pretty.

*Ruby Tuesdays are freaking everywhere!

*As are Texas Roadhouses!

*In Savannah, the sign of a rich household is the fish shaped rain spout. Who came up with that?!

San Antonio

2008-07-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

We left New Orleans on Sunday, and headed for our next stop- San Antonio. Along the way, we saw more Katrina damage. Passing through Baton Rouge, we drove over the Mississippi on this cool bridge. The truck in the photo was really lopsided, and we think his cargo must have shifted or something. Sean ended up passing him after he couldn't look at it anymore. ;)

After checking into our hotel in San Antonio (the best one yet- a Residence Inn penthouse), we headed downtown to find the Alamo and Riverwalk. Because we got there 10 minutes before closing, we didn't actually make it into the Alamo, so our photos are drive-bys. We then drove over to the Alamodome and passed a parade of historically dressed people (some type of convention or re-enactment? who knows-it was fun). We parked and walked around the Riverwalk, eventually finding a mexican restaurant with immediate seating (there were a ton of tourists and convention attendees in the area). It was nice to sit outside and enjoy the atmosphere.

The next morning, we headed home. We were going to stop in Las Cruces, NM for the night, but decided we'd much rather make it home sooner. The drive outside San Antonio was scenic and cool. We had stocked up on plenty of water for our long drive through the hot desert, but the majority of the trip turned out to be relatively mild- at one point it was 59 degrees! The cloud cover and summer storms helped tremendously and actually made the long drive quite entertaining. Oh- and on my leg of the drive (before I started to feel crappy), I spotted two tarantulas (I assume they were tarantulas- they were big enough for me to recognize at 80 miles an hour that they were big-ass spiders in the middle of the road...)- ugh. I was slightly grossed out for a bit, thinking that I had squashed one of them since it was in direct line with the tires. (OK- I'm gagging just thinking about it as I type this- and it doesn't help that the annual 4th of July Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is on the tv in the background right now- in HD even). Sorry- no pictures! ;)

Oh- and a big thank you to Texas for giving us the ok to go 80 mph on I-10 in their lloooooonnng state! Yeehaw! Giddy Up!

Traveling through El Paso, we saw Mexico on our left and Texas on our right. That was pretty neat for the kids when we pointed it out. We also passed though a pretty big storm. When we looked in the mirror, there was this sideways wall showing where it started. You can't tell in the photo, but it was really cool.

At our last gas stop of the trip (in New Mexico), Sean and I were debating which exit to take to stop. We passed a Pilot with an Arby's attached, and thought Ryan might appreciate it (he loves Arby's), so we took the next exit to turn around and go back. The kids didn't realize what we had planned, and asked why we turned around. Sean told them that "Mom decided she really wants to see the Alamo and get a real picture inside, so we're turning around and going back to San Antonio." For some reason, Ryan actually believed him, and got a little upset. "What? Seriously? Mom- you can get a picture from Google!"

Ha! He cracked me up. When he realized we were actually going to Arby's, he looked so relieved. "Ya got me, Dad. Good one."

It was fun passing through Tucson. It's only 90 miles away from us, but we haven't been down in years. We should take the kids down there in the fall- maybe to a U of A football game...

Oh- The Thing. Anyone who has driven toward Tucson has seen these billboards advertising The Thing. I still have no clue what it is (I suppose I could Google it...), but it's something located beside a Dairy Queen along the 10, east of Tucson. These signs are everywhere. It cracked me up that I saw one posted shortly after we passed over the Texas/New Mexico line, 255 miles away! I had to get a picture of it. And my Arizona state sign is kind of off, cause it was posted on the left side of the freeway. Darnit all...

I guess that's about it. I hope you all have a fabulous 4th!

New Orleans

2008-07-02T11:20:00.001-07:00

After arriving in New Orleans and checking into the hotel on Friday, we headed out to the French Quarter and the riverfront. We ate at Bubba Gumps, thinking that would be relatively 'safe' and fun for the kids. Sean was annoyed that we all ordered burgers and chicken, while he was the only one to actually get shrimp. I'm not sure why he was surprised about the choices, but in hindsight, we probably would have been in a better mood across the street at Hard Rock. (the table seating annoyed us as well, so that didn't help).

We headed over to the river to check out the Mississippi. Ryan offered to take a photo of the rest of us, but promptly ticked off Erin by not including her while trying to get his hand in the picture so "he could be in it, too". Grr. So she refused to cooperate, which then ticked me off, and it spiraled from there. Yeah- not one of our finer family moments. As a result, Ryan was banned from the camera the rest of the trip. ;)

The next morning, we got beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde. Yum! It's a good thing the line was too long, or we would have gone back for more! ;) After that, we headed over to the aquarium.

At the aquarium, the kids touched the sting rays (Ryan and Meghan), a nurse shark (Meghan and Erin) and a California Kingsnake (all three). The girls hammed it up in the shark exhibit, a couple of parrots cleaned each other, and we enjoyed watching the angel fish and white alligator.

We headed outside, where we watched the boats and barges pass on the Missisipppi, and the girls showed off one of the many painted trolley cars displayed throughout the city (kind of like the cows in Chicago several years ago). Meghan chose a mask for a souvenir (Erin didn't like the feathers, so she passed), and promptly put it on and didn't take it off for the rest of the trip. We walked up Bourbon Street, but decided that probably wasn't the best idea with kids, so we took a turn and headed back toward the river (and our parking spot). While on Bourbon St., Erin kept grabbing my hand to cover her eyes each time we passed a questionable location- "Mom- I see a picture with boobies- cover my eyes, quick!" Yeah- definitely not the best plan to walk around there. ;)

We got caught in a huge downpour, so we ducked into a shop to wait it out. When it calmed down, we headed back toward the aquarium to catch a movie at the Imax theater located there. We saw "Hurricane on the Bayou"- fitting for the location. It was originally supposed to be a documentary about the loss of the wetlands and what could happen if a hurricane hit. While filming, Katrina hit, so the movie changed focus. It was powerful and informative.

After that, we headed back to the car and started driving around, looking at all the local architecture. We drove through both the French Quarter and the Garden District, where we found Tulane University and Emeril's Delmonico restaurant, along with a bunch of beautiful homes.

We thought about driving through the lower 9th Ward to see the effects of Katrina, but decided against it. We researched it, but found signs that residents had put up that weren't the most welcoming. I'm sure they were a result of the bus tours that drive through, taking in money from its passengers yet not passing a dime onto the rebuild effort, but we were still apprehensive. I think the movie was a pretty good education for the kids, so that was enough for one day.

So that was New Orleans. San Antonio was our final stop, so I'll get to that soon!

Home sweet home

2008-07-01T13:03:00.002-07:00

We pulled in last night, after our longest drive yet. We left San Antonio in the morning, and decided to keep on going to get home early. We were going to spend the night in Las Cruces, NM, but we were all anxious to get home. Especially me, who developed a lovely head cold that rapidly progressed yesterday. Imagine driving thru the desert with a sweatshirt and blanket on at the end of June. Sean thought I was nuts... ;)

New Orleans, San Antonio and a final round-up coming soon! Like- before tomorrow, I hope! I can edit photos in bed... ;)

From Atlanta to New Orleans

2008-06-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we started our slow journey back to Arizona. We left Savannah mid-morning, with a quick stop back to Jane and Bill's to say goodbye to them and Mom and Lynne. We headed for Atlanta, where we made a two-night stop so we could take the kids to a water park- Six Flags White Water. We had a blast, and felt like we were re-energized for our next stop.

On the way to New Orleans, we drove thru Alabama, where Meghan tried her first Moon Pie (and loved it!), and encountered our first bad weather- a big rainstorm that knocked out the connection on Sean's laptop (the reason for my delay in posts lately), and worse- caused a complete whiteout for about 30 seconds on the road. Scary stuff! And why don't morons turn on their lights in rainstorms? Ugh!

So we continued to drive thru Alabama where it eventually cleared up, and we started to see evidence of Katrina. Lots of bare spots in the line of trees, with many new trees starting to grow.

Just over the Mississippi border, we saw a really neat rest stop. It looked like a mini-plantation house with a cool copper roof. It definitely beats the boring rest stops we have in the west!

Just over the Louisiana border, we lost Meghan. Her sugar low must have set in. ;) On the long bridge between Slidell and New Orleans over Lake Ponchartrain, we saw the new bridge being erected to replace the existing one. We didn't realize that the bridge we drove over only reopened in January of this year...

So that's it for our drive to New Orleans. More coming soon...

Hilton Head & Tybee Island

2008-06-29T15:05:00.001-07:00

On Monday, we all drove to South Carolina where my aunt and uncle moved to recently. They live just west of Hilton Head, so we picked up Jane (Uncle Bill decided to leave Sean on his own with the women and kids, hehe) and headed out to see the area. It was pretty, and we had a great time collecting shells, eating near the beach and searching for the perfect t-shirt. Most of us found one in the first shop, but it took Mom quite a few more. ;)

We went back to Jane and Bill's for dinner and got to listen to their evening entertainment- frogs. These little guys are loud! Even better, we got to watch a big summer storm- awesome! It was hopefully a preview of our upcoming monsoon...

The next day- Tuesday- we went to Tybee Island to swim in the Atlantic. The water was warm and the sand was smooth. Erin had fun buiding castles, while the rest of us jumped in the waves. Sting rays were in the area, but only Sean caught a glimpse of one. After swimming, we changed in the portable bathrooms, which were actually quite nice. It's a big trailer with three bathrooms in it that are all air conditioned and quite roomy. They even had art on the walls (for real!). It cracked us up that we were talking about port-a-potties and actually impressed with them...

After driving around the island for a bit and finding the lighthouse, we decided to have lunch at Uncle Bubba's- Paula Deen's other restaurant that she owns with her brother. I finally had my peach margarita (I'd been wanting one since we arrived in Georgia, but hadn't found the opportunity yet), Sean had his low country boil, and Lynne had her fish and chips- the second best she's had, she said (the first being the Buchanan Arms, aka "The Pub" back home near Mom). Everyone was happy, even the kids! We went back to the hotel, and this was the night Sean and I went out on our own, while Lynne took the kids out for pizza. Fun times!

We interrupt this blog for an important announcement...

2008-06-28T19:30:00.002-07:00

"Summer" is half over.
School got out May 28th.
School begins July 28th.
Yahoo! :D

Savannah

2008-06-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Savannah was absolutely gorgeous. I loved the Historic District, and was able to enjoy it even more since I started reading 'the book'- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil- shortly after arriving and getting my bearings. I'm really enjoying 'the book' and look forward to watching the movie sometime after we arrive home as well. Here are some photos we took while on the trolley tour- Oak trees covered in Spanish Moss, the Owens-Thomas House, The Pirate House, The Olde Pink House, the Shaft- outside the IRS building, and Chippewa Square, site of the bus stop from Forrest Gump. The bench is located in one of the local museums, so we didn't get to see it.

Next include a drain spout, Forsyth Park, Armstrong House, City Hall, presidential heads in ironwork, some more interesting architecture, and the Gingerbread House (found in the Victorian District on Bull St.):

And finally, some night shots I took when Sean and I went out on our own Tuesday night. Thanks to Lynne for watching the kids! :) We started out looking for parking (not an easy task), and drove by Paula Deen's "The Lady and Sons", then miraculously found a parking garage that wasn't full, so we took it, not caring how much we had to walk. We walked thru Colonial Cemetary to 'see dead people', then moved onto Churchill's to sit at the bar and watch the College World Series, where UGA (UofGeorgia) happened to be playing game two against Fresno St. Cool- we can cheer on the locals! ;)

After we left Churchill's, where UGA was up 5-0, we headed down to the Six Pence Pub, which was seen in the movie Something to Talk About. Looking in these windows, Julia Robert's character saw her husband, played by Dennis Quaid, cheating on her with another woman. Along the way, we passed the first Presbyterian Church and Wright Square, home of the statue that honors William Washington Gordon, grandfather of the founder of the Girls Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low.

When we arrived in the pub, we found UGA to be trailing Fresno St. 6-5, and when we commented on this, the bartender told us (jokingly) to go back to Churchill's. We were amazed that so much could change in so little time. (UGA ended up losing that game, then the following one, so Fresno St. won the Series.). We ended up chatting with the couple next to us for a bit, who were on their honeymoon and traveling around the East for six weeks. The husband was originally from Palatine, Il, where Sean and I first lived when we got married. Very small world!

So that was Savannah. Next I'll post Tybee Island and Hilton Head, and I'll be pretty much caught up since we didn't take many photos in Atlanta. We played at the water park instead. ;)

The Last of Tennessee

2008-06-25T09:26:00.006-07:00

Man- here I am on my way out of Savannah and into Atlanta, and I am just now finishing up Tennessee! We've been busy, it seems. ;) So here is our last day in the cabin/Smokies area. We went to Cades Cove in the National Park last Friday. It's an 11 mile scenic drive with stops along the way to view various buildings from the old town of Cades Cove, dating back to the early 1800's. With a stop for lunch (and a little football), we headed back to the cabins to pack up our stuff for our exits the next day.

We had one last big family dinner at a restaurant in Pigeon Forge called "Bullfish." It was a yummy meal, despite the hostess's cluelessness and the waiter's confusion between chardonnay and cabernet. ;)

We ended the night back at the cabin in the game room. Ryan introduced Greg to the wii, where he proceeded to lose to Sean at tennis, and then to Ryan at tennis and bowling. Grandma even spanked him at bowling. Sean and Kelly had a hugely competitive game of foosball, while Mom, Lynne and I played a round robin game of pool. Mom was curious why Lynne and I could both call shots and make them most times, while she ocould not. She was none to pleased when we both said "college!" at the same time. ;)

The next morning, we all cleaned up and packed the cars, then each left for our next destinations. Lynne, Mom and Meghan followed us to Starbucks then onto Savannah, via North Carolina and South Carolina. We finally found rain in South Carolina (our first shower on the whole trip). Nothing like seeing steam rise from the street as the raindrops fell... Oh- and the "sexy stuff" photo was a shop we passed outside Pigeon Forge. The kids giggled for five miles after seeing that. ;)

After arriving in Savannah, we checked into the hotel, then drove up to the historic district to get our bearings. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for dinner at Sticky Fingers- a southern ribs chain. What a great choice, cause everyone was happy with their food! We even bought two bottles of their BBQ sauce to take home. Yum!

More Tennessee

2008-06-23T21:19:00.005-07:00

On Thursday, we went to Dollywood. We had to do it after it was featured on a Travel Channel episode. ;) It was a great park- full of fun rides, good food and lots of shade! It was well-laid out, and we had a fabulous time. The weather cooperated with us, and we weren't the least bit uncomfortable-whew!

Being that it's located in a hot and humid climate, Dollywood has lots of rides that involve water. One of our favorites was new- the "River Battle". It had water guns that you could aim and shoot at the observers along the walkway, while there were also water guns for the observers to shoot at the people on the rides. Sean had a blast aiming at people, then got soaked when he and the kids got on the ride. Too fun!

Erin loved the "Lemon Twist" (aka the Disney Teacups), that she rode with me. I did all the work, while she sat back and enjoyed the spinning. While we rode that, Lynne, Ryan and Meghan waited in line and finally got to ride the "Dizzy Disk". We had fun watching them on that one!

If you're ever in the area- we recommend you check it out. It was very classy, and not at all "honky-tonk" like the rest of Pigeon Forge... ;)

Tennessee, cont...

2008-06-21T09:47:00.005-07:00

I'm back. :)

We're currently on our way to Savannah, after a week in the cabin. Such a great time! The whole point in getting together was to celebrate my mother-in-law's 70th birthday and my in-laws' 40th wedding anniversary. Some of our best moments were hanging out on the decks of the cabin, watching the sunset and enjoying the mountain views. We also celebrated Father's Day the first day we got there:

On Wednesday, we decided to take a 2.5 mile roundtrip hike to Laurel Falls in the Great Smoky National Park. It was a nicely paved trail, and we had a fun time. Ryan and Erin raced ahead to "get there first" (with Greg right behind), then Meghan and I took the middle, while the preggo Kelly, Sean and their parents followed behind. Meghan decided about halfway up that she wanted to try and catch up to Ryan and Erin, so I let her take off, while visions of little ones falling off steep cliffs whizzed thru my head. I wasn't too concerned, since I knew Greg was up there, but I'm pretty sure I quickened my pace anyway, cause they were completely out of view ahead of me. ;)

After hanging out at the falls for a bit, we made our way down and decided to eat at Mel's Diner. Probably not our best choice in eating establishments during the trip, but the kids enjoyed it! ;)

When you visit the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, you have to take in a cheesy dinner show. We heard the best of them was the Black Bear Jamboree, so we decided to go to that one. Lynne and Mom had arrived a couple hours earlier, so they joined in on the fun. It was a fun night, ending in some mega Jenga battles back at the cabin.

OK- my lap is getting hot from the laptop, and I'm tired of editing photos, so I'm going to post this and update the rest of our Smokies trip later. Enjoy!

Oh- we made it!

2008-06-17T15:25:00.006-07:00

Sorry- the connection stinks up here in the mountains- I can't imagine why... ;) But we made it! After a very uneventful three days in the car, we arrived in the Smokies in Tennessee. Whew! And not a bad trip at all.

We had a good day yesterday, checking the area out. We went into Gatlinburg and ate lunch at Bubba Gumps. Once again, Ryan had a good time answering the trivia questions from the waitress. He's never actually seen Forrest Gump, but somehow was able to pick up the answers to about 80% of the questions. Typical Ryan...

After lunch, the men (Sean, Ryan, Grandpa and Uncle Greg) and Erin found a sports bar to go sit and watch the playoff round of the US Open (that's golf, Lisa :P ), while Kelly, Meghan, Grandma and I browsed the shops. When we met the others back at the bar, we found that the match still wasn't over, so Grandma took Meghan up in the sky lift (a ski lift) while the rest of us watched the last hole or two. Meghan took my camera with her and had a blast shooting away:

Today, we woke up to ear infections for both Ryan and Erin. Fun, fun fun! Ryan fought thru the pain to go play golf with the men, while the womenfolk hung out and waited for it to be late enough in Arizona to call our pediatrician to ask about them calling in a script for the sickies. So it turned out to be a slow day for us, but we enjoyed the gorgeous temperatures and were able to plan Kelly's upcoming baby shower. Yay!

After the men got back from golfing, Sean, Greg and Kelly took Ryan and Meghan out to go go-carting and will bring pizza back for dinner. Grandma and Erin are downstairs doing puzzles, while I'm sitting on the upstairs deck (where the best connection is), blogging away with a glass of wine my father-in-law has just delivered to me. Gosh, I love vacation! ;)

Tomorrow, I think we're going to check out a trail in the National Park, then hopefully go to a cheezy dinner show. Mom and Lynne arrive in the afternoon, so we're looking forward to seeing them soon, too!

Day 3. Still truckin'

2008-06-15T09:08:00.006-07:00

...although we seem to be a bit grumpier today. ;) Thankfully, we only have a total of 5-6 hours of driving to get to the cabin in the Smokeys outside Pigeon Forge, TN- our destination. We had another uneventful day yesterday. The kids are absolutely awesome travelers, so the trip has been relatively painless.

When we crossed the Texas/Oklahoma state line yesterday, I tried to get a picture of the sign, be we sort of missed it. We were expecting to find a big, colorful billboard like every other sign we've seen, but Oklahoma decided to go all classy on us and fool us with this stone structure. By the time we realized that was it, I didn't have time to get a good photo. Not OK, Oklahoma. ;)

This sign kept popping up. It's a good thing I didn't come across any cars going 40 mph on the two-lane interstate, as I would have been highly annoyed. ;)

Here's another photo collage from Day 2 of the trip. Photoshop has been my friend on this trip, and it's been fun using all the gadgets in the car to kill time! The first photos are from Oklahoma City, Sonic's Headquarters and a cool building I saw. Sean snapped one of me driving thru Arkansas (so far the prettiest we've been thru- lots of trees and greenery), then I got some of Memphis while crossing over the Mississippi River.

We're currently about 100 miles outside Nashville right now, where we'll stop for food/gas and get a few photos of the Grand Ole Opry, then we'll head over to the cabin.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! The kids and I forgot to wish Sean a happy day till the Target cashier in Memphis reminded us. D'oh! :O

Day 2. On the Road Again...

2008-06-14T07:21:00.005-07:00

Another early start, another state. We just passed into Oklahoma after driving thru a bunch of thick fog outside Amarillo. It was slow-going for a bit there, with visibility going in and out, but we made it. Erin has gone back to sleep again, so it's pretty quiet in the car right now. Maybe she'll nap all the way to Oklahoma City. :D

I think the kids were hoping to sleep in... ;)

Don't Mess With Texas

2008-06-13T20:11:00.005-07:00

We made it to Amarillo! Woohoo! No car trouble, no kid trouble, no electronic toy trouble. ;) We've already swam and got some energy out, so hopefully everyone will go to sleep. Since the wireless connection at the hotel is going in and out, I'll just let the photos do the talking and post this quick!

Hugs to all!

On the Road

2008-06-13T08:49:00.003-07:00

And we're off! We left home around 5:20 this morning, and we've just passed Flagstaff. We're hoping to make it to Amarillo, TX tonight. So far, the kids have bickered twice and asked "how much longer till...?" only once! We're having fun filling in the different state license plates in the magnetic scavenger tin I picked up at Target- Indiana and Florida justs passed us... ;) TTFN!!

Fear the Halo

2008-06-07T23:01:00.004-07:00

Success! Ryan's team won the Chandler National Little League Majors Tournament! And with that, I'm off to bed. It's been a loooooooooong day. But a very fun day at that. (The recitals were awesome. Can't wait to get the DVDs to re-watch...)

Oh- and thanks to Grammie for the celebratory ice cream! ;)

The Recital is Here!

2008-06-06T19:09:00.013-07:00

Finally- after tomorrow night, my life will be my own again. ;) The girls have their recital, and Ryan has the Championship game for his Little League division. Got that- Championship Game and Recital are on the same freaking night! The horror! Thankfully, the girls should be done with their dances in the evening performance (there are two tomorrow) early enough for Sean and Ryan to duck out in time for warm-ups. We'll follow later and should make first pitch...

Here are a few photos taken from picture day last Sunday and a couple today. First is Meghan with her friend Cora in their cheer outfit. I decorated the plain white visors for everyone in the class (only 8, so not a huge deal):

Erin, Meghan and Cora in their tumbling costume. Yep, you almost need sunglasses to look at them, but the green looks really good on stage...

Erin in her costume for her advanced combo class. I love this costume!! Thankfully, her teacher added this dance to the competition schedule for next season, so she gets to keep wearing it and performing the stinkin' cute routine. Oh- and I made the chokers for them. Notice a pattern here? ;)

Erin in her "Rockin' to the Oldies" (RTTO) costume. This is a company-wide dance and has 39 dancers in it. It will also be on the competition schedule for the upcoming season and will open both shows tomorrow. This dance is also super cute, and it's pretty cool to see so many kids up on stage at once not crashing into each other! ;) Oh, and I made this costume, top to bottom. This isn't a brag, cause my sewing skills are crap, but I want proof of how many hours I devoted to her so she can't ever complain in the future. ;)

Our "home away from home" for performance days. This was our set-up for photos last week, and today and tomorrow for the rehearsal/recital. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate when you join a team!

OK- I know I'm getting a little Erin photo-heavy here, but one more that cracks me up. The kid knows everyone, and it's hysterical to watch her. She is constantly greeting people and hugging them. Even at school, as she passes other classes, she says hi to at least two or three people walking by- it doesn't matter which class- she knows someone from all of 'em. The older girls at dance love to pick her up (not just Erin- most of the younger team members as well), and I captured one while they were lining up backstage before their tumbling routine:

Last, but not least (and cause I have to end with a photo that includes Meghan, ;) here is a copy of the dedication we put in the recital program for the girls:

And with that, I hereby promise to take at least a dozen photos of Ryan at his Championship Game tomorrow night and post 'em to balance the scales a bit! ;)

2008-05-18T05:45:00.002-07:00

Meet Target Girl. On the way home from school one day last month, Erin altered a Target bag and made herself a costume. After getting off the bus, she put it on and ran home, yelling, "I'm Target Girl! Watch out for me!"

Where does she come up with this stuff? ;)

It's a bird. A plane. No- a principal!

2008-05-16T17:26:00.003-07:00

Now that's not a sight you see very often- your school principal jumping out of an airplane and landing in a field in front of you. It's probably a once in a lifetime sight, even.

The school had their annual reading challenge a couple weeks ago, and as usual, the principal set a high goal and offered a high reward: he would skydive for the students if it was completed. High rewards are nothing new for him- in the past, he's kissed a pig, eaten worms, sat on the roof all day and shaved his head, but this year tops 'em all. This morning, the classes walked over to the greenbelt a couple blocks away from the school, and we all sat and waited in anticipation for the big show. It was covered by the local news, and has already aired in two newscasts. Too cool! Way to go students, and way to go Mr. H.!

Where I've been...

2008-05-08T14:35:00.007-07:00

...school, the dance studio and the baseball field. The three have pretty much consumed my life the past few weeks so blogging hasn't been a priority. As Simon Cowell would say, "Sorry!" (insert British sarcastic tone...).

Ryan's fifth grade Colonial play is tonight. It's an hourlong performance, so it's pretty major. Ryan is Ben Franklin and has done very well at the three (!) performances/rehearsals I've been to so far. I helped with the stage decorations and am the official videographer (they're selling copies of it on DVD to put toward a vinyl banner we purchased for the backdrop). I'm still not sure how I got this job- but I get a guaranteed great seat tonight- up front beside the teachers. ;)

Meghan has her Author's Tea next week. The third grade students each write and 'publish' a book, then present it to the audience. I get to put all the programs together for this one. Yay, me! Clearly I'm the go-to gal for this stuff.

Erin had her final competition of the year this past weekend. It was the longest, but most laid-back of all of them. She was in two numbers, and each was of course on a different day, so we spent a good amount of the weekend devoted to this thing. We had a great time and the girls performed really well! It makes me pumped up and excited for next year! But first, we have the recital to prepare for. We have about a month and there is still a ton to do.

The three little lovelies should be walking in the door any minute, so it's time to prep for dance. Happy Mother's Day to all! You know I won't be posting before then... ;)

Have a Nice Day!

2008-04-12T00:21:00.003-07:00

Bet ya can't guess where Sean and I went tonight! ;)

Ahhhh- that Bon Jovi gets better and better with age. What an awesome show! We went to their concert when they were here two years ago and had just as much fun. You know it's a good show when a band can mix Bad Medicine with Shout (You know you make me wanna SHOUT!...) and totally rock it. Love me some Bon Jovi!

More later. I just had to post while I was still in my euphoria...

Still Slacking...

2008-04-03T09:27:00.005-07:00

Clearly I'm not much of a blogger anymore. Maybe I'm overwhelmed by the amount of pictures I took over spring break? Nah. I'm just lazy. ;)

So here's a photo from Disney as a peace offering. Lynne and I took the kids one day while we were in California and had a blast! The whole day worked out really well, and we had a fun day together. The Matterhorn was the group favorite of the day and we went on it three times. Plus, each one of us got to ride our favorite rides- Dumbo for Erin, the Orange Stinger for Meghan (she was finally tall enough- she's been waiting years for this!), California Screamin' for Ryan and Space Mountain for Lynne and me.

Oh, and since I've been slacking, I'll just take this opportunity to wish Ryan an early happy birthday now, and save myself the guilt if I don't post tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Kiddo! Eleven is heaven! ;)

Just call me Slacker

2008-03-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Alright- so I haven’t updated in forever again, but this time I really do have a sort of good excuse. My sister came in to visit for Spring Break a week ago, we’ve been to several doctors appointments, CVS multiple times for antibiotics- me with strep, Meghan with a sinus infection and Erin with strep and a double ear infection. Yeah, it’s been a sick ward here, but we were all in very good spirits, and you’d never know we were sick… We attended the usual baseball and dance practices (seriously- we didn’t act that sick. We’d been walking around undiagnosed for two weeks, so we’d been living with it and must have been used to feeling crappy and thought it was a really long cold/cough, so we were able to carry on.) Erin performed at the Ostrich Festival last Saturday with her dance team (so fun! pictures later…), Lynne and I have been blinging flip flops (my new addiction, hehe), and we drove to California with Mom’s new living room furniture, which involved a 17ft Uhaul truck which Sean wants me to mention had no radio, no cruise control, no cigarette lighter to charge his phone or plug in his iPod, and the portable DVD player wouln’t play a new dvd I bought for Ryan to enjoy on the drive over. Yeah- the men weren’t happy. Oh- and there were gusting winds all through the desert near Indio, so Sean and Ryan thought they were going to blow off the road. Meanwhile, Lynne and I and the girls were in my car, having a blast with the new media system we had installed in my car, yet we couldn’t figure out how to make it work- stupid technology. What a tease…

So there ya have it. We’re now at Mom’s, and I’m waiting for everyone to wake up so we can unload the furniture and get rid of the truck. We arrived Friday night, and yesterday we took Riley to a dog park and met up with some family friends- one of whom has a special shirt he bought just to wear to the dog park- a number 7 Falcons shirt, aka Michael Vick. Classic. Riley was great! She had a good time at the park, yet the rest of us froze our rearends off. It was 49 degrees, windy and it started to rain. Ugh. But we hung out as long as we could manage while Sean and the kids went back to the car since they were so cold. Oh- and Sean got the media system to work, so Ryan was finally able to watch his video. Better yet- he was able to watch in the back with headphones, while Sean was able to listen to music in the front- woohoo!. So the rest of us finally got back to the car, and we headed to Starbucks to warm up for the drive back to Mom’s. Awesome.

After a long nap for me, we went to “the pub” for dinner and watched a fun British/Irish/Scottish band in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Erin was dancing in her seat, and finally moved out into the aisle and started dancing. Some of the dancers came over and showed her what to do, so she followed along. Eventually, she moved over to where they were, and Meghan joined in and they danced their feet off! So cute! The girls had so much fun, Erin said she wanted to “go back tomorrow and do it again”. Oh- and she was a walking billboard for the band, since she plastered the bumper stickers they gave the kids all over her body. They loved her.

So it appears everyone is stirring, so we may be moving some furniture in the near future. Tata for now!

Well- I typed this up this morning, but wasn't able to post it till now. We've since moved in all the furniture and Mom and I just arranged it. Woohoo! And I've painfully realized that it's time to get this mass of blob back to the gym- pronto! ;)

Update of sorts

2008-03-04T08:05:00.007-07:00

Well, the fans are gone, thank goodness. After feeling like I was on a 48 hour airplane trip (those suckers are LOUD!), they were picked up on Friday, and the kids moved back into their bedrooms. Our construction superintendent is coming out today to start the work order so things are moving right along. The good news is, our whole ceiling in the kitchen and family room is being repainted, so my leftover paint splotches from painting the walls four years ago will finally be covered. ;)

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that our school hosted the final Running Club Race and Ryan and Erin were both participating. They both had fun and did a great job! Ryan didn't get a ribbon (the 5th grade boys division is the most competitive), but placed 22nd in the boys (about 30th overall- awesome!), while Erin placed 170th for the girls. There were over 400 kids participating, so Erin was toward the back, as expected- but not even close to being last. I'm happy she finished and had fun!

Erin had her second dance competition on the 24th and had a blast! This one was so much more easy-going since we knew what we were doing. Plus, she was only doing one number so not having to change her costume or hair made it easy on me. The girls did really well and notably improved from three weeks before. Yay! Her next competition was supposed to be this weekend, but it was cancelled. Instead, they'll be performing at the Ostrich Festival Saturday afternoon. If any of you locals were planning on going, let me know, and I'll give you the details!

The good news is, nobody got hurt. Yet...

2008-02-27T12:24:00.003-07:00

So Ryan got up this morning, started his bath, then went back to bed. Oh, crap. The water filled the tub, his bathroom, and moved into Meghan's room. All in a matter of ten minutes.

After some high decibel yelling from both Sean and me, some quick action getting ready for school from the kids (on class picture day!), and a bunch of towel laying, Sean and I thought we had it under control. Thought being the key word here. About an hour later, I noticed a big puddle on the kitchen island and asked Sean what he'd spilled. Huh? Nothing. We looked up. Oh, cool- there's water dripping from the recessed lighting. Knarly. About now would be a good time to turn off the kitchen lights, huh? Not only was the water dripping, but the ceiling had started to bubble. Yep- we need help here.

So we made a quick call to an emergency flood clean-up company- followed by our home-owners insurance company- and they were out here within 45 minutes. Six fans and three humidifiers later, we should be dried out in about 3-5 days. The guys said we did good. We had ripped up the carpet in Meghan's room to get towels down and put on some fans to start the drying process, so we were able to prevent the molding, walls and furniture from getting wet, but we weren't able to stop the water from seeping into Meghan's room, her closet, the hallway outside her room and Ryan's closet. Ugh. Thankfully, we're only out our deductible, which is surprisingly low. A little more than the cost of a boy's birthday party, coincidentally. ;)

Crap. I'm supposed to update this thing?

2008-02-21T11:43:00.011-07:00

Regularly? ;)

Sorry I've been so quiet! Not much to say, or too much to say. Either way, I find the best thing is to just avoid the blog and not speak lately. Ha! But here we go with an update as to what we've been up to:

1. Erin lost another tooth a few nights ago. The girl was insistent on pulling that sucker out, so she did. Right in front of me. The sound effects will not be re-hashed. Yuck.

2. Ryan started baseball this week. His try-outs were a couple weeks ago, and the coach's draft occured over the weekend. We got a call from Ryan's coach on Saturday, and he immediately called a practice. This guy is a dedicated coach who loves to practice. Get a load of the upcoming practice schedule he emailed out the other day:

Thursday 2/21 4pm-6:30pm (Please arrive by 3:45pm)
Sunday 2/24 Time and Field have not yet been determined. Potentially 4-6:30pm. (I will update you on Thursday)

Monday 2/25 6pm-8pm Field #7 (Please arrive by 5:45pm)
Tuesday 2/26 4pm-6:30pm (Please arrive by 3:45pm)
Wednesday 2/27 6pm -8pm Field #7 (Please arrive by 5:45pm)
Thursday 2/28 4pm-6:30pm (Please arrive by 3:45pm)
Saturday 2/30 8am-10am (Please arrive by 7:45am)
Sunday 2/31 Not sure yet

What? We get to take Friday off? Huh. His wife must have insisted on a date night or something. Otherwise, you know he would have scheduled something then, too. And do we get to skip Saturday and Sunday since those dates don't exist? ;) All kidding aside, I really like the coach. He wants to get things done and teach these kids some baseball, so I'm good with the time factor. And one other thing- Ryan skipped a whole division and is now playing in the Majors with the 12 year olds. He is the youngest on his team by 8 months! There is one kid who is two full years older than him. He was a little intimidated at first, but seems to be fine with it now. He thinks it's kinda cool that he's the youngest... ;)

3. I scrapped a layout and a couple cards this week. Woohoo! I also finished a project, but I'll wait to post it. I have to make a couple duplicates and send them on their way...

4. Erin has another dance competition this weekend. We're trying to stay healthy cause everyone around us is dropping like flies with strep, bronchitis, stomach bugs and the flu- we're popping Airborne like crazy. Meghan's home today with a sore throat and headache. No fever though, so I'm hoping she's just run down...

5. One more soccer game for Meghan and she is officially retired (her words).

6. Today is our last Running Club Race. Our school is hosting, so I'm helping out with it, then Running Club is over for the year! Praise be, I'll get my Tuesday and Thursday mid-afternoons back! ;) Ryan is hoping to place so he can take another ribbon home, and Erin is actually going to run today. I'm letting her skip her dance class (not affiliated with the competition), so she can participate. And by participate, I mean walk-not-run-while-talking-to-G-and-G-and-S-and-making-
kissy-faces-at-the-boys-as-they-run-by. Such a butterfly...

7. It's still Christmas at my house! I thought I'd put everything away by January 2nd, but I forgot the garland over our bedroom door. For some reason, Sean nor I see it anymore, and never think to take it down. At this point, why bother? It's just going back up in another nine months... ;)

8. I don't really have an 8, but I hated to end this with a photo of my slacking clean-up skills. ;) Have a good one!

What a GAME!!

2008-02-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! We are happy campers here tonight! It's not that we're big Giants fans or Patriots bashers, but we wanted a GOOD game. And that's what we got- a game that wasn't decided until the last minute or so. Yes!

That play by Manning to Tyree was phenomenal- getting out of being sacked, throwing to a barely open man, and catching the ball with one hand and a helmut? Awesome.

I think we were Giants fans today because we know someone on the team and we were at one of their games when we went to New York- It was personalized. (see photo below...) And after the Bears fiasco last year, it was nice to come out ahead. Plus- it was fun to see the Manning brothers win back-to-back Super Bowls.

I wonder if Tom Brady is laughing now? Tee hee. I must admit, I chuckled a bit, knowing that Buress ended up giving Brady an extra three points in his prediction. Good for him for following through! And does anyone else think Giselle should be blamed for the loss like Jessica Simpson was blamed for the Cowboy's loss in the playoffs? Ha! :D

How many days till baseball Opening Day?

165...

2008-01-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

I had to change into my comfy pants and grab a beer for this post. Whew! If it took me this long to type up the sayings- one hour and 18 minutes- I can't imagine how long it took to actually put them together! Thanks girlies!! *Muah*

(Drumroll please):

Bet if I asked for ____ you would have it
don't you have this exact pair?
Swiss Army Beth
How many of these things did I make?
You rock girl!
Wii will, wii will Rawk You!
Kiss me- I'm IRISH
I've never seen you without flip flops!
"Why is everyone so surprised when I wear shoes?"
If the flip flop fits...buy it in every color!
Arizona- the land of year-round flip flops!
We *heart* Beth
"I can do it."
Is that your tongue in my ear or are you just happy to see me?
Let's plan a trip!
You would have had 300 of these whipped up in under an hour.
Thank goodness AI has started! McGrath out.
A day without sunshine is like, well, night.
Next year for your birthday I'm making a CD of me singing all the HSM songs.
Stoppin' at Sonic!!
I am an American Idol-izer!
Flower Power!
free Simon
Can I borrow some skewers?
Maybe you should stop having a birthday. These are hard to do without our Master Planner!
Not that you aren't funny...but you are too nice to make fun of.

Filler saying.....Happy Birthday!
You're driving, right?
Totally brain dead. Me, I mean!
No- these aren't your shoes.
"anyone need anything?"
I think you may have enough flip flops now.
Don't even pretend you didn't know we were coming.
I just love your dog---really, I do!!! Did I convince you?
flip...flop...flip...flop...
got ?....anything I can think of.
You're too perfect. There's nothing we can make fun of.
Really running out of stuff now.
still- nuttin...
Beth + Bon Jovi
Once over the hill...you pick up speed. Happy Birthday!
Do you have any black brads in your purse?
When are you going to invite us over for Wii??
No children were harmed in this attempt to heart attack your yard.
Mother of 2 dancin' queens!
Flop...
!!!!!!!!!! (I actually counted)
I wanted to buy you these ones
Happy Birthday!
I still got nothin'
Man I'm going to need a boat load of skewers!
Hillary who?
Crack ho!
My son is a sports STAR!
Who should I make fun of?
If a cow laughs hard, does milk come out of its nose?
We really should create some sort of Super Hero of you.
Junkie? No I don't believe it.
Oops! Too high--you never would have made that mistake.
Crack is whack!
Life artist! Not.
Wii wants to play
Can you watch my kids?
I got nothing!
Tour kitchen smells so yummy-- is that eau de fried dough?
When does baseball season start?
I, love, commas!
You rock ho!
Flip...
+ (Swiss flag decorated flip flop)
Are your scissors pink and green? Or green and pink? Is it the one with the ribbon? OH WAIT! They're both totally different!
what the hell?
wow- this is a lot of flippers
I made way too many
comma alert
Seriously?
If it rains, do we still have to decorate the yard?
Powdered sugar SNORTER!
happy b-day
who the hell are we going to vote for?
How long until you get in a car that I'm driving again?
Thank you for having a lawn. It makes it easier to poke the sticks in!
No- we didn't forget Beth!
shouldn't it be "Irish Army Beth"?
That would have been cool if I would have taken pics of your actual shoes.
Mmm. I'm in the mood for fry bread. Got oil?
Beth's one vice: Starbucks.
hello, there, how, are, you?
Beth's daily to do list (pictured earlier)
McAverage for president! '08!
I haven't gotten to say it yet: Happy Birthday!
Obama is whack
Happy Birthday!
Halfway thru making these, I realized I was putting the toe part up too high
Is Riley going to make the Christmas card picture next year?
You da bomb. Seriously. Yo.
"people getting punched in the face before they eat" -best SNL skit! (I still think of you when I see that)
Happy Flippin' Birthday! (I didn't see this till now, yet I used it for my other title- jinx!)
Starbucks doesn't give away paper flip flops, do they?
Martha Stewart is a chump! But Beth rocks!
Next year Riley should get her own Christmas card! (only for Shanna and Maddy! ;) )
love U!!
Don't you wish you had these?
bling+flip=uber cute shoes
More happy birthdays...
You thought we forgot didn't you?
Kate is on her way over!
Da Bears!
You know we love you because you have grass
"Evil Mom" is ba-ack!
Junkie? You? no way.
Feet cold? Put on some flip flops
I'm bringing sexy back.
Hold on, I've got my camera!
Soccer ribbons for the hair...a MUST!!
Can you drive?
Martha=Beth wannabe
Are U an AI junkie too?
Seriously- you rock!
flip flop addict
Don't forget your Birthday BINGO!
Wii love you!
I know you have "normal' shoes.
Hit the return key- damn.
Over achiever extraordinaire
Are flip flops actual shoes?
Seriously?
S.A.B. for prez (it took me a minute for this one. duh.)
"I'll bring it."
Okay maybe you're a bit of a junkie.
love you bunches and bunches

And skads more with photos of flip flops and "happy birthdays"... :D

Oh- and Ryan and Meghan send out a big "thanks" for ringing the doorbell twice and the intercom bell once (seriously loud PITA contraption...), cause they got to wake up and partake in warm brownie goodness. ;)

Yo- me love you guys. Seriously.
Beth out.

Slowly but surely...

2008-01-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

...I'll get caught up on here. First, I'll post photos from the dance competition. It all went smoothly, starting with awakening to one of four alarms set for 4:30am (clearly, I have paranoia issues of malfunctions). Erin was very cheerful at 5:30 when Sean got her up, and we were both thankful for that, hehe. She never complained about the early time or the discomfort of false eyelash application or the poking bobby pins in her hair. I think the kid was born to perform and endure all the discomforts that go with it. And how stinkin' cute is she in her warm-up "uniform", complete with homemade matching flip flops? I adore this photo.

We picked up one of the other girls from her trio (and her mom), and off we went for our 7:30am call time up at a high school in northern Phoenix (they were #4 to go on). The three girls performed their Mother Goose Rocks dance and were awesome! Erin was completely into it and had a blast on stage. Their teacher said that they were all on cloud 9 after they came off stage, and she was so proud of them. Woohoo! Afterwards, Erin told me she couldn't wait for the next competition. Good thing, since she has three more over the next three months. ;)

A few photos. Erin and her pal Ainslee getting into character, and Erin with her "Big Buddy" Hailee:

Chilling in between numbers:

Erin and the rest of her team posing before performing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun":

Like I said, the girls all had a ton of fun, and that is the most important part, but they also scored well for being a brand new group to competition. The trio placed first and the group placed high first (this is based on individual points, so there were multiple groups in the same bracket that placed the same). To place high first, you need to score between 278 and 300 points, so they did really well!

More to come: Birthday and Disney

Happy Flipping Birthday!

2008-01-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

(If you have no idea why my lawn is decorated in the above picture, go to last year's post around my birthday for an explanation...;)

This should be a loooong update post, full of photos and info as to what I've been up to, but I'm just going to use the photo to the right to illustrate. ;)

Erin has her dance competition tomorrow so we've been at the dance studio every day for a week and a half, and I've been running around getting everything needed for the costumes/hair/make-up/snacks. I've been asked to be the basket coordinator for two of the kids classes for the basket raffle at the Winter Festival (I avoided the other teacher so I wouldn't get asked to do the third, hehe), Meghan started soccer last week, Ryan has had two Running Club practices per week (and took 9th overall at the 4-school race yesterday- woohoo!), I'm leaving for a girls weekend tomorrow after the competition, and now I'm about to take Sean to the oral surgeon to have his wisdom teeth removed. Frak, I'm tired! But enjoying it all... :)

Crap- I just realized I need to get over to school before Sean's appointment to bring Otter Pops for next week's Running Club practices. Shut up- half of flip flop messages were right on. I'll post 'em later. Sorry for the tease, but I wanted to get something up here quick cause I'm such an over-achiever who needs a Super hero named after her. ;)

McGrath out.

Dance Fever

2008-01-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

I don't really have much to post about since we've been pretty busy catching up with school and after school activities, but I figured I should get something on here to let people know I'm around. ;)

So I'll show you a picture of what has been occupying most of my time. Erin is on a dance team and has her first competition coming up. They've been practicing a lot, and we crammed a bunch of extra group practices in this weekend. Besides her number with the team of nine girls (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun), she's also performing a trio number with two other girls from her team. They're dancing to a medley from Mother Goose Rocks (so cute!). Besides the at-home practice, studio practice and extra studio sessions, we got the two groups together twice over the weekend for about four total hours of rehearsal. Then on top of that, I've been working on putting the costumes together, finding ribbons to have matching hairbows made and buying tights and new jazz shoes. We've finally got everything, and we just have to wait for the costumes to come back from the rhinestoner and the hairbows to come back from the bow lady. Yay! I'll post pictures next week since she has full costume dress rehearsals during her dance classes that week.

So here is a photo of Erin and her two friends from the trio. They're making their "pouty cool" faces, although Erin's is more like her get-that-camera-away-from-me-face. ;)

And their angelic faces:

Beth out (T minus 22 hours till American Idol starts!) ;)

Normal Again

2008-01-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

The kids went back to school today. Did you hear the angels singing? Eh, neither did I. I enjoyed sleeping in and not having a schedule, so I was pretty ambivalent about them going back. ;)

I am happy to be on track again, though. The house is back to normal, and I have peace and quiet again, so that's a plus. We had a great break, but I guess it was time...

We spent a ton of time outdoors. Erin learned to ride a bike without the training wheels, and true to form she's exactly like Ryan in just about every stage of her life- She hasn't figured out how to brake and she can only turn right so far. What is it with these two and their similarities?! At least I know what to expect in the future...

Oh- and Erin lost her first tooth on New Year's Eve. She was ecstatic, because we told her it would probably be a few months before she lost it. It was barely loose in the middle of December, but she was determined to get that sucker out as fast as possible. Lots of kids in her class have already lost teeth (and listed on the chart her teacher keeps posted on the bulletin board), so it was her goal to get on that chart before school started up again. She wiggled it constantly and ate apples every day of break. She's a nut, but it worked! And she has another loose one and has upped her apple intake to two a day now. Ha!

Have a fabulous day! I'm off to shovel out a kid room or two. Bwahahaha! Evil Mom is back now that the kids are in school again... ;)

Merry New Year!

2007-12-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

OK- so let's talk about Christmas- finally. ;)

Mom and Lynne were here (still are, actually), and we managed to finish all our shopping for both food and gifts. Lynne did her usual wait-till-the-last-minute-so-she can-stress-me-out-shopping-trip, and it was actually pretty fun. We had a major discussion with the children regarding coming downstairs and sneaking peaks since we wanted no repeats of Ryan's 4am excursions from the previous two years. Also, Lynne slept in the family room Christmas Eve, so we were assured they would stay upstairs. Poor Meghan left her doll downstairs before bed, but was too afraid to say anything or come and ask for her, so she slept without her that night. Oops. ;)

So Christmas morning came, and the adults actually woke up before the kids. What the heck? The girls woke up first and had to go wake up Ryan- fear made him sleep in, I guess. Since he knew he couldn't sneak downstairs early, there was no incentive to waking up, so it seems our plan worked. Mwahahaha!

We had fun opening gifts, but hit a little snag which turned out to be hysterical. Sean and I bought the family a Wii and games to go with, but the kids had no clue it was coming. Whenever Ryan would mention how much he wanted one, I'd shoot him down telling him he already has a PS2 and a PS3, not to mention the Game Boys, PSP and DS lite we have floating around the house. "How greedy can you be, Kid? Don't you have enough?" ;) He'd agree with me and not mention it again for a week or so, but it definitely came up more than once. And each time, I'd give him "the look" so he was pretty sure a Wii was not in his future. So sure, that when Erin accidentally opened a gift out of order (a Wii game from my mom), he believed me when I covered by saying that Grammmie must have bought the game for the wrong platform- she meant to get the PS3 version. "Silly Grammie; she'll exchange it for us." He was good natured about it and moved on, simply saying, "I still think it would be cool if we got a Wii, Mom". A short time later, I passed out a gift for each kid to open at the same time:

More Wii games! "But we don't have a Wii!
Mom and Dad- can we get one now?"
"Oh, sorry guys, I guess we messed up, too. I bought the wrong version."

Ryan believed me again and looked so heartbroken, we all thought he was about to burst into tears. So I quickly grabbed a package that we hid behind the tree, and let him open it as fast as he could:

His reaction, and all the tricks we pulled, made the day and more than made up for his sneaking down and ruining his surprises the last two years!

We had a wonderful day, relaxing, playing with presents and preparing an awesome meal. Sean and I had watched an Emeril show a week or two prior to Christmas and Sean loved the crown pork roast featured. I pre-ordered one at AJ's and Mom, Lynne and I found a recipe that would work for all of our tastes and had a great time putting it all together. It turned out yummy, and each of the kids enjoyed it, too. Whew!

Later, we all went upstairs to play with the Wii, and found that we love bowling (who doesn't?), had some trouble figuring out the logistics of tennis, and spent a ton of time playing the Carnival games. Sean and I bowled first, where I wiped the floor 144-65, then moved onto tennis. Ryan was the only one who consistently did well, and it was ticking us all off. We all vowed to take him down, but his response was his typical cheeky self- "How? With all of you and Roger Federer? Good luck!" We never did beat him. And he later pummeled my bowling high score with a 223. The kid is a phenom.
And knows it.
Brat.)

Now it's New Year's Eve, and we're getting ready to fondue for dinner. Yum!
We hope you have a fabulous evening, and a healthy and happy 2008!

Whoa, Nelly! Long post ahead...

2007-12-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Lots to catch up on, huh? Long time no talk! I'll try and break this up a bit so as not to overwhelm... ;)

Let's backtrack a bit, then we'll talk about Christmas. Mom and Lynne arrived last Thursday, so we were able to hang a bit before jumping right into the holiday. The girls had a holiday performance within each of their dance classes last week (rather than one big recital), so Mom was able to see the girls in one of their classes on Thursday- Meghan's cheer class and Erin's competition team. Meghan did a fabulous job in her class, as usual, and Erin was her typical sassy performer self- too cute!

Erin's class performed their routine that will be performed in upcoming competitions, and this was the first time they had a big audience. They did great! Then, each girl was supposed to bring in music and do a routine of their own. We brought in music, but forgot to make up a routine in advance, so Erin winged it. And wing it she did! The girl is a natural, but I think we all knew that. ;) She performed to Bop to the Top from High School Musical, and even brought in a costume to look like Sharpay. She moved perfectly to the music, and even ad-libbed a costume malfunction into the routine. Ha! I just wish I'd brought the video camera...

Earlier in the week, I helped out with classroom parties for Meghan and Erin, and sent in cookies for Ryan's (I had to go to the airport for Mom during his). For Meghan, I helped out with the 'tree decorating station', and the reindeer cut-outs for Erin. No picture from Erin's class, but I hope to get a copy soon. I also ran with Erin during the K-2nd Snowflake Sprint, and cheered Ryan and Meghan on in spirit during the 3rd-6th (again- I was on my way to the airport, so missed out on that as well). Ryan came in an impressive 8th place for the upper grades. Way to go, Kiddo!

Going back even further, Ryan and two friends and I went to the girl's other dance class performances- Erin in her dance technique class (tap/ballet/jazz) on Wednesday, and both in their Tuesday tumbling class. Meghan is very limber and does exactly what she's told, while Erin whines every step of the way with a sassy smile on her face. Typical. Hee!

OK- I thought I'd get Christmas in here as well, but we're getting a little overloaded with photos. Plus, I had too much fun creating that tumbling montage in Photoshop, and took way too long futzing around with it, so I'll postpone Christmas till later. Sorry! ;)

Beth out.

(who is looking forward to American Idol starting soon- can ya tell?! ;) )

And this is why Riley never makes the Christmas Card photo cut...

2007-12-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Remember last year when my sister complained about Riley not being in the photo? Well- I tried really hard to get her in there this year, but it just didn't work out. And since Lynne didn't remind me earlier or fly out and take the photo herself, you'll have to be happy with what I got- one photo (out of about 40) with just the three kids. This is why Riley never makes the final cut:

It's bad enough getting three kids to sit nicely and smile. Adding an 80 lb lab to the mix? Pure frustration! So Merry Ho Ho Ho, and look for the cards in the mail sometime next week. :)

I'm schooled out.

2007-12-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Is it time for Christmas Break yet? I need it.

I chaperoned Erin's field trip to a farm out in Maricopa today and we had a blast. They had different stations set up for the kids to experience: planting seeds, making Johnny Cakes, making a bracelet, watching a movie about farms, going on a tractor ride around the farm, and playing in the hay bale maze. Super fun! And one fun fact we learned today: Arizona grows enough cotton per year to make one pair of jeans for every man, woman and child in the US. I found that fascinating!

After the trip, I went to the work room in the office to work on a big laminating project for Meghan's teacher, then helped out at the Running Club practice, took the girls to tumbling directly from school, ran to Starbucks with Ryan for some fuel (wink,wink), then Kohl's to get him a nice shirt for tonight. After that, it was time to pick up the girls, grab some McNugget's at the golden arches, stop at home for Ryan to change real fast, then go back to school for his Holiday Orchestra Concert, where the girls and I sat thru a delightful little performance.

Oh- and during Ryan's quick change, I learned how to knot a tie. After a couple attempts (and an unsuccessful desperate trip across the street to my neighbor's for some help- he wasn't home) plus a quick Google search, I nailed it on my third try. I love the internet! ;)

Now I'm going to go put the kids to bed, grab a sweet snack and watch some mindless tv. Thankfully, the rest of the week will be a cakewalk compared to today. But it was oh-so-fun!

Ta Da!

2007-12-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

It took me a trip to Target, 10 minutes and four strands of 100 count mini lights- and I don't give a flying fig that you can see the wires or the old burned out bulbs. It's done and I'm happy. I love the shape and size of this 6 yr old tree and will not replace it in the near future. My temporary fix is perfect and will be my permanent fix for years to come. ;)

So once I got the lights fixed, I pulled out the ornaments and let the kids go crazy decorating. This is the family tree, so it's filled with all the personalized ornaments, travel souvenirs, and school-made ornaments, so I let them do it all. They've been doing it themselves for four years now, and it's hysterical to watch. Erin is a clumper, Ryan's a ladder hog and Meghan's a perfectionist. (She's so much like me it's scary.) I've learned to let them do what they want, then Meghan and I go back and un-clump and redistribute once the other two become bored with the process. Everyone seems to be happy with this system, so we go with it.

Tomorrow, I'll finish up the living room tree, then get the bedroom trees out for the kids to decorate after school. Other than that, the decorations are done. The lights went up outside several weeks ago, and I hung the garlands on the stairs and on top of the cabinets last week. Whew! It's nice to have it done so we can enjoy it for the whole month. I'll try and post some photos of the rest of the house later in the week. No promises I'll be prompt. ;)

Meanwhile, here are a few favorite ornaments:

My sister brought us this one several years ago, and I think it's the most adorable thing ever. It's also the first family ornament we got that included all five of us.

These are both handmade. Sean's mom gave us the pink Noel ornament years ago that she'd bought at a craft fair. I thought it was so cool and tried to replicate it in the Joy one. Not nearly as detailed, but still fun, simply because I did it myself. ;)

This last one is always a source of drama in our house. Every year, Ryan and Meghan pull out their Blue's Clues ornaments that my grandmother gave them before Erin was born, and every year, Erin covets these things and throws a big old stink because she doesn't have one. She doesn't care about any of the other ornaments they got before her time, but her lack of a Blue one sets her off. She was a Blue's Clues junky when she was a baby/toddler, and she feels majorly ripped off that she of all people doesn't have one. It cracks me up. And every year, I tell myself I'm going to go out and buy some blue pompoms and felt and glue 'em on a silver ornament and write her name on it, and every year I forget- mainly because she forgets about the stinkin' ornament five minutes after the tree is decorated. Good times, I tell ya.