Leapin Lizards!

Yesterday Ben, Claire and I all went swimming. This is one of the things we love to do, especially in summertime when the park is just too darn hot- cool off in the pool and play! While we were swimming around, I noticed a little lizard hanging out on one of our pool noodles. This year, we've had a couple of lizards drown in the pool, unfortunately. For fear that this would turn into one of those situations I got hold of the noodle and let the lizard go free on the cement walk surrounding our pool.

He sat there for a few minutes, so we all gathered round to watch what the little lizard would do. He was so cute and tiny, and his tail matched the sky perfectly. Much to our surprise, he turned around and leaped back into the pool! He started swimming toward Ben, who got a little nervous because he's split-- he likes the lizards, but doesn't exactly want them touching him. I quickly grabbed another pool noodle, and the lizard climbed back on. The lizard just hung out on the noodle, watching us.

Torn at what to do, we put a half inch of water and a couple of larger flat rocks into a bucket, and put the lizard (quickly dubbed "Little Blue Tail") into it so we could finish our swim and not have to worry about saving any more animal lives. Ben even gave him a leaf, which he figured was Blue's favorite toy. The kids would swim for a few minutes, then they'd have to get out and check that Blue was doing okay.

The kids got infatuated with the idea of keeping the little lizard for a pet. It took a lot of talking in the afternoon and evening hours to help them realize that Little Blue Tail wouldn't be happy with us, he'd miss all his lizard friends (we must have 10 or more lizards living in our yard right now- no complaints!), and he couldn't be happy in a bucket with nothing to do but sit on a rock or swim. Plus we didn't have any lizard food, and Blue would die, and that would be too sad.

Outside we quickly went to free our Little Blue Tail. He climbed up on a rock, so I reached in and pulled out the rock he was sitting on, and put it on the ground. He sat there for a minute while the kidlets said their goodbyes to Little Blue Tail (no tears, thankfully). Then when I opened the door to go inside, Blue bolted towards the door!! I got the kids inside before Blue could reach the door (man, those lizards can RUN!!!), and closed it, hoping that Blue would go find his family, and maybe some bugs to eat.

I've never seen a lizard like him before! I almost wanted a pet lizard myself. . . . Almost, but not quite. :)

School Years- Day 1

Today Ben started his first day of Kindergarten!! I still can’t believe it. I’m missing my little guy today.

Ben cracked me up yesterday (Sunday) by being highly animated while telling a friend that he has to stay at school ALL DAY, as he heaved an enormous sigh. Wow, he’s starting the dislike of school a little early! Hopefully it changes to like quickly. He did love preschool, after all!

This morning, at 0-dark-thirty, I took extra time and made breakfast that I thought Ben would really eat well, some good food to feed his brain for the day. Fifteen minutes after putting it on the table in front of him, he came and said he was all finished- and I found his food in the garbage can! What followed was a discussion about not throwing food away until he’s consulted me first. New job title: Mom, the food consultant. Who at the school is going to play that role?!? Yikes.

After he was dressed, backpack packed, and Claire and I were also ready for the fray, the three of us left home early to get Ben to school. I’d had a lot of warnings that getting to Ben’s school in time for drop-off is a very lengthy and terrifying process. You may be waiting in line for 15-30 minutes on the main road through the neighborhood, trying in vain to find a parking space that just isn’t, while other vicious parents waiting to drop their kids off wind up turning in to monsters with glowing red eyes and pointy teeth, showing no mercy to any average human in their path . . . It all sounded like a horror movie to me. I literally had formulated three plans to navigate through the neighborhood and find a parking spot so I could get Ben in on time. Which of those plans did I use? None of them. Why? Because when I pulled up to the school, I found a parking spot right away, walked Ben in, and was back out to the car in 15 minutes.

The only hitch I ran into was Claire, who is desperate to be in school just like Ben. She’s used to being part of a pair. She didn’t want to leave the classroom (“Can I go to school too, Mom?”). She wanted to stay with Ben (“Where is Ben going?”). She didn’t want to leave the playground (“Can I play at the park?”). We got on the road to go to the sitter’s and she repeatedly asked, “Mom, where’s Ben?”. Then, when her question was answered as many times as needed to cement that response, she started a different barrage of questions that I still wonder why on earth they pop up at 9:00AM. And yet, often in the morning I hear: “Mom? Can I have a popsicle? Mom? Can I have a cookie? Mom? Can I have a candy?” Nothing seemed too terribly new except the feeling that something was different when I dropped her off at the sitter’s today, alone.

Here’s hoping that Ben’s school day finishes the way it started—easily, and with fairly good results, and that Claire can adjust to being on her own. Hopefully her independent spirit resurfaces quickly!

Ben, All Ready to go! (Really glad I got a smile out of him today!)

Claire had to have a picture too!

Ben - Music style!!

I have noticed that since birth, Ben has grown up loving music. From the time he was just a little guy, he's always loved dancing around, and finding a new song with a new beat! Looking back to the start of all of this coolness, I decided to create a Ben chronology of music. Enjoy!

* Sublime- Why can't we be friends

* Michael Jackson- Thriller

* Gwen Stefani- Sweet Escape

* Panic at the Disco- Nine in the Afternoon

* MIKA- Lollipop

* Black Eyed Peas- I Gotta Feeling

* Taylor Swift- Love Story

* Black Eyed Peas- Dirty Bit (Time of my Life)

* La Roux- Bulletproof

* Rednex- Cotton Eye Joe

* Selena Gomez- Who Says

* Robyn- Call Your Girlfriend

On any day, at any time-- Ben loves to listen and dance to the music! I love my little guy- a mover and a shaker. :)

Summertime!!

Just wanted to drop a few lines today, since we have enjoyed our summer so much! There are only a few weeks left before "Summer" is done, at least by the local School Districts' standards. That's not to say that the temperatures will decrease any come school time! Amazing, but Ben starts Kindergarten in only three weeks!!

We have been able to do a bit of traveling this summer, which has been fun. In June we went to the Oregon coast with most of Emily's brothers and sisters and their families (we really missed you, Lynn and Nathan!!). It was SO FUN! We enjoyed the beach, an awesome dune buggy ride, whale watching, the aquarium, tide pools, and Josh loved the seafood! It was great to see everybody, and for Ben and Claire to spend time with their cousins! We played some games, chatted a LOT, and just had a blast! By the end of the week, Josh and I were ready to come back home to the heat- 107 when we left Phoenix airport, and when we arrived in Portland it was only 57 degrees and rainy, and stayed around that same temperature all week. I suppose we've grown accustomed to having the "cold" water tap run lukewarm water over the past year!

A couple of weeks after that, we went to Utah for a week. We enjoyed Riverton's parade, carnival, fireworks, etc. with Josh's family! Had a barbeque with Emily's family, a baby shower for Josh's sister Amanda St. Clair, went to Lagoon, and just had another good relaxing week!

Back in Phoenix now, not to leave for a while, we're enjoying the use of the pool a LOT. It feels so good on the days when we've worked so hard and are hot and tired to go jump in and cool off! Ben and Claire are getting better at swimming all the time, thanks to Lacey being willing to help them with their swimming skills. :) Lacey rode home with us from Utah, and we've loved having her here to visit!

I've definitely enjoyed watching Ben and Claire grow this summer. They are so funny! Claire is my little music lover. She's always humming, or dancing, or singing a song! Her favorite thing is to turn on music and put on a "princess" dress and dance away! We've put her in a dance class starting this fall, and she could not be more excited about it! She talks about it every day. Ben is my little smarty pants! ("Mom, I'm SO smart, my teacher's going to say, "Why are you in Kindergarten? You're so smart!") He's SO excited to start school that he can hardly wait for the next three weeks to pass! He loves to do math, he likes to spell things and sound out words. He's also asked to start Karate, since Soccer is not his passion, and we're pretty excited about that!

The kids can't wait for their new baby brother to arrive. They ask every week how much longer till he comes! Ben and Claire both love to feel him kicking around in Mom's tummy (Claire loves to "hear" him kick and put her cheek on my belly). We're all excited!! Only 10 more weeks. . .

Josh and Emily have been fighting a battle in the yard with the weeds, and hopefully will win soon! It brings to mind a quote from the movie Megamind, if you've seen it-- "He would win some, I would almost win others. . . " That's how I feel our weeds are! Every week new ones spring up. We've pulled, raked, sprayed, repeated, and done all we could think of. So far the only good news is that they're growing slower each week. Josh is so good to take care of our yard, keep the garage clean so we can park in there, and help with the housework! Emily does the best she can, but can definitely feel her energy draining faster than before.

To finish off, we have had such a great summer! We're reluctant for it to end, and yet with the end of summer brings some new beginnings for our family, and the only thing to do is look to the future and get excited!!

New Home Pics!

Hello everyone! I finally made some time to take pictures of our new house! I'm doing my best to arrange them as though you were walking through. No guarantees, and please excuse the presence of the last few boxes, and lack of furniture/decorating-- it's all part of getting settled. We love our new home, and wanted you to see it! :)

Welcome to our humble abode!

We have two of these (the other one looks the other way)- they are our door guardians.

This is our front porch. You can't really see it from the front, it's behind that big bush that is soon to be trimmed.

This is our front entry, after you walk in the door. On the left is a living room that is yet unfurnished (and so is not pictured).

If you continue on the tile through the entry, you'll come to our kitchen, which I really love! The island in the middle has the sink and dishwasher, and to the right of that is our kitchen table, right next to two windows that look out on the back porch. Also not pictured, sorry!

Here is part 1 of our back yard-- the swimming pool! We've got it cleaned out, and we're ready for the water to warm up so it's comfortable to swim! The shed was already here, which is nice. The back porch (I'm standing on it, so you can't really see it) is completely covered from one end of the house to the other, and the arbor (is that what it's called?) was built just a foot or so away from the roof of the porch.

Here is back yard part 2-- as you can see, there is no grass. That we hope to change soon! Zero-scaping is great, but the kids need somewhere to play too!

Here is our living room- on the left is the sliding glass door to go to the back yard. On the right, there's a built-in desk (love it!!) with the same counter tops as the kitchen has. You can see, just past the desk there's a little hallway- that goes to the downstairs bathroom (below), the laundry, and the garage door. There's also a little close that we like to call the "Harry Potter room" because it's a cupboard under the stairs.

This is the bathroom that's down the hallway by the living room-- I LOVE the old-fashioned sink!

Moving back toward the front of the house, this little nook by the staircase is yet to be used-- we're debating between a reading nook and a music nook- a place for my piano, music books, etc. It would be pretty neat acoustically I think.

Foot of the stairs-- going up!

There's a little landing at the top of these stairs. Straight ahead is the kids' bathroom (below), first door on the right is Claire's bedroom, and second door on the right is Ben's bedroom.

The sinks are separate, and in their own part of the bathroom. If I were to turn around, you'd see a door behind which is the tub/shower and toilet room. Yay for being able to multi-task, even in the bathroom!

Claire's room!

Ben's room!

If you turn left on the landing (see the rail at the left, that looks down on our to-be-determined nook), you'll run into our master bedroom. I didn't think I would, but I like the double-doors!

If you turn left before my dresser, you'll go into our master bathroom.

Our bathroom has a lovely, deep tub, and the toilet is in it's own room to the right after you enter. On the left is the walk-in closet.

If you exit the master bedroom, there is a hallway on the right- that rail at the end of the hall overlooks our front entry. :) Love it!!

At the end of that hall, to the right-- a linen closet, and the guest bedroom/office.

Aforementioned guest bedroom/office.

This is the guest bathroom-- its just to the left of that railing that overlooks the front entry.

Sorry for the skewed picture, but this is the last bedroom, to the right of the guest bathroom. It's the biggest, other than the master. The windows look out over the front of the house. It's open!!

So, now that you've all seen it, come have a visit! As you can see, we've got space for you! And now you also know what a terrible photographer I am, hee hee! Guess it's time to take a class- I'm confident that the house wasn't given it's due by my pictures. :)

To Life!!!

My kids just put such a smile on my face!!

Today, Claire was being particularly stubborn. I had pretty much given up on the fight, but instead of letting it go, Ben took matters into his own hands. He went to Claire and talked to her quietly for a few minutes, and in just a short time the two of them had finished what I asked them to do!

It's little things like this that remind me just how precious my children are. The lessons that I learn from them every day are just amazing! I cannot believe sometimes how much I love them. They remind me that the little things in life are important, too. Some of the best moments with my kids are when I stop what I'm doing, and go to them to do something as simple as fix a toy that fell apart, help them win a game, build a paper airplane, talk them out of a stressful situation, or take them on a bike ride.

It's such a simple little thing to me, but to them it's an important moment in time when they got help from someone who loves them. I hope these moments never end- they're what makes my world go round!!

To life!!

Pictures!

Hi Everyone! I know it's been ages since I've posted pictures of the kiddos, so now that I've finally got them downloaded to my computer, I thought it was time to share some! Enjoy! :)

Ben just chillin'- after his bath/shower, he really likes to keep his head warm. This particular day it was in the 90's outside. :) (Sorry that it's sideways-- I didn't catch that until it was too late. . .)

Claire learned how to drive Ben's tractor! She looks quite at home on it.

Ben and Claire made a hut out of Ben's bunk bed! They had fun with this for hours!

Ben and his good friend Sariah, at their pre-school Christmas trip to the rest home.

Ben and Claire's Halloween costumes-- again, it was in the upper 90's this day, Claire was ROASTING, but still refused to take off her hat.

Claire wants to be just like Ben! She thought wearing his tie might help.

Ben taped "rockets" on his shirt, so that he could run even faster than normal!

Ben and Hunter LOVED the splash park in El Mirage! Claire did too, but she was running so fast I couldn't catch a picture of her. :)

These are the moments that make being a parent really worth while-- I love that Ben and Claire love each other.

Funny stuff!

Had to share a converstion that Josh and I had with Ben last night. He wanted to tell Josh and I the things he'd like hidden in his Easter eggs this year, for our own small easter egg hunt around the house.

Josh: "But Ben, I thought the things inside Easter eggs were supposed to be a surprise!"
Ben: "I'll plug my ears while I tell you, and then try to forget."

I held in my laughter as Ben covered his ears, and pressed hard with his hands so he couldn't hear what he was saying. He listed off a number of different candies and toys.

When he finished, Josh said, "Boy, that was a lot of things. Do you think you can forget them all?"
Ben: "I'm doing my very best. I'll try to forget."

Oh, he makes me laugh. :)

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it!

Hello again everyone!

Time for an update!! :) It's been a few months, but much has happened. We've put an offer in on a house, and currently are just waiting for final approval on our loan. Pray for us!! We're so excited about this house, it's amazing, and has space enough for many visitors (hint, hint!!).

In case you missed the big announcement, Josh and I are expecting another baby! He or she is due September 28th, and everyone in our house is excited! Ben especially so, as he asks during every prayer to keep the baby healthy, and that if the baby comes out that it won't die. Sweet and macabre at the same time, I know. :) We find out if it's a girl or a boy at my next appointment in May! I went to the doctor today, and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again, which always makes me feel better during these first few months. I always wonder if the baby's doing okay in there, because I can't feel anything, but hearing that sweet, steady pulse from my belly (yes, it's officially a belly at this point) reassures me that everything's okay.

Ben is so funny! He's got the wildest imagination. He's currently obsessed about volcanoes. Luckily, our house and our car have Volcano-proof buttons! Hee hee! It reminds me a little bit about the time that he was afraid of skunks taking over the world. He can tell the best stories! He keeps me very busy, which I don't mind. At the park he loves to dig for buried treasure (is it wrong that I don't have the heart to tell him he probably won't find anything?). And he really is a good big brother, which makes me happy.

Claire is just amazing. She's become a mini-me a little, telling Ben just what he needs to be doing. She makes me laugh too- she's always asking if the baby's still in my tummy, and then she says that we need to get it out! She loves coloring, painting, drawing, and is still SO excited to go to school! Potty training is going better and better, just waiting for the day when she's finished! She loves Ben, and wants to do the same things he does all the time, which is cute! She loves riding her tricycle, but is rapidly outgrowing it! She loves to tell jokes, even if they don't make much sense. She's much easier occupied than Ben is, but definitely not any less busy!

Josh is all that I could possibly ask for in a husband, and I love him so much! He's been such a huge help every day, and he works so hard. He makes me laugh, and the kids are always so excited when Dad's home! Ben and Claire can't get enough of rough-housing with Dad.

We're all still getting used to this warm Arizona weather. Being able to swim in March is a little weird, but good! I can tell that Spring has sprung here, because the bunnies and the lizards are back, along with the birds that wake me promptly at 5:30 AM by singing right outside our window. The bugs are back, too, which I'm not so excited about, but can handle. And I really can't complain about being able to take my kiddos outside every day- we love to ride bikes (well, they ride and we walk), go to the park, and just enjoy the sunny weather we've been having.

We really enjoyed General Conference last weekend- there were so many things that made my spirits lift! I love hearing from our Prophet and Apostles, and all the leaders of our church. What a wonderful blessing it is to learn and grow in the gospel! And my kids listened too, I don't know if they paid attention, but that will come later. I always hope that I'm getting enough good habits installed before they go out in the world and pick up the not-so-good ones.

Until next time! :)