Zadyball

Zander's 7th birthday

2011-08-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Zander chose WAFFLES with LOTS of whipped cream for his birthday breakfast.

The girls and I went to the school to have lunch with him. At his school, if your parent comes to have lunch with you, you get to eat outside, AND invite a few friends to join you. It's a pretty big deal.

I asked him what he wanted for lunch, and he told me he wanted a LOT of chicken nuggets. So I got the 20 count from McDonalds. He ate about 15 of them. The girls ate the rest. He was very proud.

For his party this year, he asked if we could go camping. We invited a friend, but he wsan't able to come, so it was just family this time. Gran and Papa, Aunt Jewlee, Uncle Sean, and cousins Ashlee and Drake. It was lots of fun - even with a 6 week old baby!

It was a little cold

But the kids had fun riding bikes

And playing hide-and-go-seek

And sometimes both

The fire was warm

The baby was good

And fun was had by all

Camping breakfast is always great

Especially when it's followed by a hike through the woods

The birthday boy didn't want cake. Just ice cream. Not exactly easy when you're camping, but Gran & Papa have a freezer in thier motor home, so we made it work.

Lots and lots of presents

Cute cousins

Pinkalicious Girl's Night

2011-08-21T21:12:00.001-07:00

The "boy's" went to the Father's and Son's campout, so we had a girls night. We had been reading the book Pinklicious A LOT, so when I asked the girls what they wanted to do, they said they wanted to make some pink cupcakes.

So that's what we did.

But we didn't turn pink.

And here's a few fun pictures - just because

Alizabeth with a flower as big as her head

Ainzlee being silly

And princess Adalen

Karate

2011-08-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

Zander's Spring Karate awards were a little extra special. Brandon's cousin, Daniel, just happened to be in town that day, and came over to visit. So we had one more voice cheering him on.

He earned the rank of Blue Belt with White Stripe! Which means that he'll be able to compete in tournaments! Awesome! Way to go!

Yoga

2011-08-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

After having the baby, I wanted to try to get in shape a little bit. So I started using our Wii Fit - trying to put in 30 minutes of excersise a day. Not easy with 4 kids around.
The girls thought it was great fun. Ady really liked Yoga. She had to try it - and she's pretty good at it!

Warrior pose

Downward facing dog

ATS Awards 2011

2011-08-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

So proud of my boy! He worked hard and made it to Principal's Honor Roll for First Grade! Way to go!
We got to go to the awards ceremony. A pretty big deal

He got to go up on stage and get a trophy

And pose with his teacher.

I'm pretty proud of my boy!

Easter 2011

2011-08-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny came to our house this year.

And hid some eggs

And some cute new church clothes

We dyed eggs with koolaid! (ooo aah)

More new baby pics

2011-08-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

The first few weeks of Alizabeth's life, the doctors were pretty concerned about her weight. She wasn't gaining much at all! We were trying to get her to eat as much as possible. I finally got her to breast feed, so after she'd eat her fill, we'd try to give her a bottle too - just to fatten her up!
Just a few more pictures of tiny Alizabeth

Here she is at only four weeks old - rolling over! I think it's because she was so small, it didn't take much effort.

I'm the baby

2011-08-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Not long after I found out that I was pregnant the first time (with Zander) I went to a craft fair with my husband and my in-laws. They bought us this cute little handpainted onesie that has a stick figure baby and says "I'm the baby". It is only one piece of clothing that all 4 of my children have worn.

Alikzander

Adalen

Ainzlee

Alizabeth

Grandma's visit

2011-08-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

Yes it has been more than FOUR months since I've posted. So it's time to go back in time a little and play catch up.

Honestly, the first month or so of Alizabeth's life is a bit of a blur. After we got home from the hospital, she really struggled with breastfeeding. So, every couple of hours, I would try to get her to latch on. We would keep trying until both of us were crying. Then we'd give her a bottle, and I would pump. I didn't get much sleep.
And before I knew it, it was almost time for my husband to go back to work. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to handle four kids, by myself, when I wasn't sleeping and still not fully recovered from major surgery.
I was talking to my mother on the phone, and telling her all of my troubles, and she said "I wish I could come and help you..." Well, I jumped right on that offer. We figured out that there WAS a way that she could come and help. We had some flight vouchers - thanks to sitting in the airport all day back in December - and so we decided that flying Grandma in to help was a very good way to use some of them.
So, Grandma came to stay with us for a week. I gave her the job of taking care of the "big" kids, while I took care of the baby - and myself. I was SOOO thankful to have her there! I know I wouldn't have been able to do it alone!

I didn't get too many pictures taken -- I had other things on my mind -- but here's a few...

And some that my mom took - she had lots of fun playing "beauty salon" with the girls. Their hair looked fantastic! (I don't exactly look rested, do I?)

Fun baby pictures

2011-04-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

My awesome friend Tamara offered to take some newborn pictures of Alizabeth. It was super fun, and I think they turned out FANTASTIC!
They were all so great, it's hard to choose favorites!

Hospital

2011-04-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

Alizabeth and I stayed at the hospital for a total of 4 days. It is never easy to be away from my family, and this time was no exception. But, it's also kind of nice to have time to rest, and be waited on a bit.

We had some visitors

My feet were HUGE! It took more than a week for them to go back to normal

Brandon brought the kids to visit us every day. It was a bit hard to entertain them in a hospital room. Their visits were pretty chaotic.

The nurses were all wonderful. They helped whenever I needed them to. And thanks to my little one, I ended up needing a bit of help.

Since she is my fourth baby, I figured I know what I'm doing, and shouldn't need any help. Especially with feeding her. But she had other ideas. The first couple of days, Alizabeth nursed without any trouble. But gradually, she started to get angry every time I offered. Each feeding session ended with both of us in tears, and her not getting much to eat. And she started to lose weight. Finally, I asked the nurses for some help. Even with reinforcements, she still refused to latch on, and they told me that I needed to supplement with formula. ick.
Thankfully - I had planned ahead a little bit, and brought my breast pump from home. I pumped and asked the nurse if I could give her that milk instead of the formula. They agreed, which made me happy. So, I spent quite a bit of time pumping so that my baby could have something to eat.
But, the pediatrician was still concerned about the weight she had lost. Even though my doctor said that I was ready to leave on Friday, her doctor wanted to have her stay one more night to make sure she didn't lose any more weight. My husband was pretty disappointed that we weren't coming home, but I guess it's better to make sure that our baby is healthy before leaving.
So, we came home on Saturday. At that point, Alizabeth had gone from 6lbs 3oz to 5lbs 8oz. But, she had only lost 1/2 and ounce between Friday and Saturday, so the doctor was optimistic that she would start gaining again soon. She still wasn't latching on well, so they recommended that we rent a hospital grade, double pump to feed her with. So we came home with that.

And so, for the last week my life has been pretty much focused on feeding the baby. I try to nurse her as much as possible. I finally got a nipple shield, and she will take the breast with it, be still is not willing to breast feed au-natural. Supposedly, using a nipple shield can reduce the milk supply, so I have to continue pumping to keep it up. I haven't been getting much sleep, but I thankfully have a wonderful husband who has taken time off work so I can sleep when the baby is sleeping.
The other kids LOVE their new baby sister and fight over who's turn it is to hold her.

Alizabeth Jayne - March 29th

2011-04-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

On March 29th, 2011, we welcomed a new little person into our family. Although I tried - unsuccessfully - to encourage her arrival a little earlier, she made her entrance just as scheduled. (I was a little irritated that I didn't get the day that I wanted, but we survived)

The night before, we took our three other kids to spend the night at a friend's house, and then my husband and I went home to try to sleep. I was surprised that I actually managed to sleep at all. The alarm went off at 4:00am and we showered and headed off to the hospital.
We got checked in, and got ready. A nurse came in and asked a bazillion questions, and then put in an IV to get me hydrated, since I wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink. I'm not sure why she stuck it in the side of my arm. It hurt... a lot...
And then, we waited.
For me, the WORST part of the whole c-section process is the waiting... and knowing what is coming next... Somehow, Brandon was able to sleep while we waited. I just tried not to freak out too much.
This is me - ready to have a baby

Daddy - ready to watch

Then, they took us down the hall to the operating room. Brandon had to wait outside until they had everything ready. They had me sit on the table while the anesthesiologist put the spinal in. That was the part that I was really dreading, but it wasn't as bad as I remembered it being. But, before they could do much else, the anesthesiologist looked at my IV and said that it wasn't put in right, and I needed a new one in. Then he started yelling at the nurses because apparently there weren't any IV kits in the OR. He used a rubber glove as a tourniquet and ANGERLY put a new IV in my other hand. OUCH. He mumbled about the IV for the rest of the surgery. Nice.
Once everything was set, they called Brandon in and got started.
A c-section is a really strange thing to experience. I can't see what's going on - thankfully - and I can't really feel much more than tugging and moving on the lower half of my body. At one point, I asked Brandon if they had started. I thought they were still cleaning the area. He told me they were almost done cutting. Wow.
Then, when it's time for the baby to come out, they push REALLY hard on my belly. And pull her out. They held her up so I could see. She was crying and I couldn't help but cry too. (Brandon took VIDEO of her coming out. I'm not going to post it, because it's rather... icky...)
At 8:02am, Alizabeth Jayne had arrived! Brandon went with her while the doctors sewed me up.
She was a tiny little thing - only 6lbs, 3oz

One of the things that I really don't like about the giving birth process - and I don't know if this is just with a c-section or not - is the SHAKING that happens afterwards. As soon as she was out, my whole body started shaking uncontrollably. Like I was really cold. They covered me (at least the part of me that wasn't cut open) with warm blankets, but it didn't really make a difference. I didn't even want to hold the baby, because I was shaking so bad I thought I might drop her. Finally, in the recovery room, they gave me something to help with the shaking. And, since I'm allergic to the morphine that was in my spinal, they gave something for that too. But of course it all made me feel pretty dopey. I don't remember a whole lot of the next few hours. I know that I was able to feed the baby. And they took me upstairs to my room. And our friends Hillari and Keith stopped by to visit. (Thank you!) I must have been pretty drugged up because I really don't remember anything that was said. (Sorry if I said anything too crazy, guys!)

Ready for her first bath after getting her footprints taken

First bath

After the baby and I were situated, Brandon went home to get the kids. He took Ady to her dance class, picked Zander up from school, and then came back to the hospital so that they could meet their new baby sister.

We are so excited to have her in our family!

SuperMoon

2011-03-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

The Supermoon was all over the news. I guess it's a phenomenon that only happens like once every 18 years - or something like that. So, we thought it would be fun to see it. We put the mattress from the camp trailer in the back of the truck, and drove down the street where we could get a better view. Unfortunately, it was a little bit cloudy, so we didn't get a great view of the moon, but we tried.

We hung out for 20 minutes or so. And just had a nice little evening together.

Luke Days

2011-03-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Since the girls got to have some fun with Dad, the next day, he thought it would be fun to take the boy for some boy fun. So, they went to a gun show that was being held at the Cardinal's Stadium. But, on the way there, Brandon saw a sign announcing an air show, and he realized that it was the bi-annual "Luke Days" at Luke Air Force Base. So he called me and asked if I wanted to go. I was a little hesitant, but agreed. So, the girls and I met the boys at the stadium (after daddy bought his 6-year old boy a LARGE pocket knife. Seriously. I don't know what he was thinking.) And we drove to the show.
That is, we tried to.
Luke Days is a BIG DEAL. There were TONS of people there. Traffic was crazy. Parking was worse.
We finally found a place to park AT LEAST a mile from the entrance. We followed the crowd of people and slowly made our way. We had to wait in a LONG line just to get in as they were doing security screenings as you walked in. It took about an hour from when we parked to actually getting on the base. And then we had to walk MORE to get to where the planes were on display. But, at least we got to watch some neat planes doing tricks in the air while we walked and waited.

There were all kinds of airplanes on display. The kids had fun looking at them.

Ady liked the PINK fire trucks

Daddy was excited to show the kids a C-130 - the type of plane that he flew on when he was in the Air Force.

Then we sat and watched the air show.

They announced that the Thunderbirds would be flying soon, so we decided to wait. The kids played with the camera while we were waiting. Zander is a pretty good photographer. I thought these turned out pretty cool.

After waiting, and waiting, and WAITING.... we decided it wasn't worth it and started the trek back to the car. They were in the air more than an HOUR after they had originally said they would be. At least we got to see them fly over us a couple of times as we were walking. The kids liked that.
We were very TIRED by the time we were done! But it was a fun day, I'm glad we went.

A Daddy Daughter Date

2011-03-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Our favorite restaurant - Chick-Fil-A - had a fun event: A Daddy Daughter Date. They recommended that you had a reservation. So, Brandon took the girls for a date!

They got dressed up and went for some fun!

I told Brandon to take pictures, but this is all I got. Bummer.

But, they had fun. They had candles and flowers on the tables, and the food was served to them. They had some fun little crafts for the girls to do, and they had fun spending time together!
Zander and I hung out together at home.

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

For obvious reasons, we didn't go anywhere for Spring Break this year. But, I still wanted to get the kids out of the house and have some fun, so we tried to find some things to do.
The week before the break, Zander's class went on a field trip to the Arizona Mining Mineral Museum. He couldn't stop talking about how great it was, and asked if we could go back there. I told him that I would look into it. So, I found their website, and discovered just how inexpensive it is. Only $2 for adults, and kids under 18 are FREE. So, I figured, why not?
For some reason, I didn't take any pictures inside the museum. But here's some from outside.

It was pretty neat. They had all kinds of rocks and minerals on display. And there were some really inexpensive things in the gift shop - starting with polished rocks for $.25. So, I let the kids each pick something out. They thought it was a fun time.

When we were done, we walked across the street to the state capital mall. I thought I had remembered there being picnic benches where we could eat, but I couldn't find any. But we did find a place to sit in the shade for a little lunch that I had packed. Brandon met us there and we had a nice time.
We could hear shouts coming from the capital, and we wondered what was going on, but we didn't want to get close enough to find out.
As we were getting ready to leave, a news reporter stopped us and asked if she could ask us a few questions. We weren't sure what to expect, but we agreed. She asked if we were involved in the protest at all. We told her we had been to the museum and were just there for lunch. She said that she wanted to talk to someone with kids who wasn't involved... then she asked if we thought that people should involve their kids - as young as 1st graders - in politics. Of course, we told her "no". Brandon's "sound bite" was "politics is a nasty business. Why involve kids in something that's nasty?"
Anyway, we ended up on the evening news. Apparently, the protesters brought in busloads of kids to protest immigration and education reform. Or something like that. It was kind of silly how they made it sound like we were upset about it or something. We didn't even know what was going on. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

The next day, we had some more fun. I had my doctor's appointment in Scottsdale, so we drove all the way out there. Earlier in the week, we had gone to the library and gotten a culture pass for the Arizona Museum for Youth. Since we were on that side of town, I thought we would use it. The museum is less than a mile from the temple, so we went there first. They have a really neat art display in the visitor's center. It is Book of Mormon Images by Walter Rane. I thought the kids would like it. We spent some time looking at them, and the kids each picked their favorite. Zander's was the one of Nephi and Laban. Ady and Ainzlee liked the ones with Jesus. My favorite is Captain Moroni.

After the temple, we had some lunch, and then went to the museum.
It had been at least a year since I'd been there, and they've completely remolded since then. They have some really neat things. There's a whole section right now about Fairy Tales. The kids got to dress up as different Fairy Tale stories, and make different crafts to go along with it. (I should mention that this was St. Patrick's day - that's why the kids are in green. Ady picked the camo shirt because, it's green, of course ;)

Puppet shows

Little Red Riding Hood

Mad Hatter Hats

Princesses (check out the SHOES!)

Frogs and Fairies

3 Little Pigs

Baseball

PLAY TIME

All in all, it was a great time. They have lots of fun, hands on things for kids to do. And with the culture pass, I only paid $7 for us to get it. Can't beat that!

Family Pictures

2011-03-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

My wonderful, talented friend, Tamara Hancock, was kind enough to spend some time taking pictures of me and my family. They turned out great!

Me & my belly:

Me, my hunny, and the belly

My cute kiddos

The whole family

Happy Birthday Ainzlee!

2011-03-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is TWO years old! She has grown so fast!

We decided to keep her birthday party fairly simple. We only invited family and a few close friends. For the theme, I asked her what she wanted. He response: TINKERBELL.
So, I did the best that I could to make a Tinkerbell themed party.

The Cake:

For the cake, I searched high and low for a cute little Tinkerbell doll to put on top. I didn't have much luck. Most of the ones that I found were either too big, or not at all cute. So I finally decided that I would have to improvise. I found a few little princess dolls. One was Cinderella, and one was Tiana. Since Cinderella has blond hair, and Tiana was wearing a green dress, I decided to get them both and make a Tinkerbell.
I had to paint Cinderella's headband green, since it was blue, and I made some wings for her out of vinyl and some glitter. I attached them with a little rubber band. I think it ended up pretty good. The cake wasn't quite what I had originally envisioned, but it worked, I guess.

LUNCH

For lunch, Ainzlee said she wanted chicken nuggets and french fries. So, we invited the family to meet us at our favorite place: Chick-Fil-A.

THE PARTY

After lunch, it was time to PARTY!
We had cake and ice cream

And opened gifts
She asked for a bracelet, and a ball... and got LOTS of each!

What a fun day!

Karate

2011-03-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

Zander really enjoys his karate class. He has a goal of getting his black belt. I know it will take time, but I hope he sticks to it!

They have an awards ceremony at the end of every semester. The students get the chance to show of their moves and they get their new rankings.

Brandon wasn't able to come this time, so I tried to do the best I could with two not so patient girls with me.

Zander was a green belt with a black stripe, his new rank: green belt with blue stripe. Really, it doesn't mean a whole lot right now. He's still in the green belt class. Up until now, he's skipped a rank every time. This time, he didn't. I was glad that the teachers decided to keep him with the green belts. I think he could use a little bit more practice. But Zander was pretty disappointed. He was really hoping to move up to BLUE belt. They get to start learning to spar and their tournaments are held on Saturdays (instead of Sundays). But, next time, he'll be blue belt for sure!

Christmas 2010

2011-02-28T07:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's almost March, but I'm pretty far behind. I made a goal for myself to get this thing updated before the baby comes. And I'm running out of time.

SO, here we go.

We flew home from Florida on Christmas Eve. I was worried that it would be a terrible day to fly, but it actually wasn't too bad. Everyone was in a holiday mood, and pretty nice. We had a fairly uneventful flight.

After we got unpacked (phew!) we had time to make some cookies for Santa. The kids had fun "helping".

Then we had our traditional reading / acting out of the Christmas story. Because of the flour mess, Ainzlee didn't have her clothes, so she was a naked angel.

Then we each got to open our Christmas Eve gift. New pajamas!

Then it was bed time... and while we slept... we had a special visitor! SANTA CAME!

We had lots of fun opening and playing with our gifts

And we had a yummy Christmas dinner

What a great day!

Universal Studios - Day 7

2011-01-05T08:52:00.001-08:00

Thursday was the day we went to Universal Studios. Zander was VERY excited to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
We headed there first, but were told that there was a 75 minute wait just to get it. So, we were given a "Return Pass" to come back at 11:30. We saw Jurassic Park stuff while we waited.

Brandon and Zander went on the Jurrasic Park raft ride. The girls and I walked around. We went down the Triceratops trail where there was a "REAL" Triceratops with dinosaur experts to tell us all about it.

We stopped by the dinosaur discover center to learn about dinosaurs.

Finally, it was time to go to see Harry Potter stuff.
Entering Hogsmead

Hogwarts Castle

The original plan was that Brandon and Zander would go ride the rides and the girls and I would look in the shops for the Harry Potter things - gifts for Zander.
BUT, it didn't work out that way. First of all, they wouldn't let Zander on the ride. He was 1/4 inch too short - even with the boots we bought for him. But, he did get to walk through the castle, and there was a smaller ride - The Flight of the Hippogriff - that he was able to go on.
As for shopping - there was an hour wait JUST to get in the shops. It was SO crowded. As I've mentioned, I do NOT function well in crowds. I found a little corner to "park" in as we figured out what to do.

There were a few neat things to see - I kept having to explain to Ady that it was NOT real snow, it was not REALLY cold, and she didn't need to touch it to see. Notice ALL the people? It was NUTS!

Thanks to modern technology - texting - I was able to let Brandon know that we were leaving, and the girls and I headed to Suess Landing.
It was all decked out for Christmas.

We rode on the Cara-Suess-el

And we looked around a bit while we waited for Brandon and Zander. They waited in line to shop and got a "real" Harry Potter wand and a time turner.
Then it was lunch time and the fun REALLY started.

What do you get when you mix an already defiantly independent almost-two year old with a week of late nights, early mornings and naps on the run? NO FUN! We had to wait in line for lunch, and they wouldn't let us bring the stroller in. She didn't want to stay with us, and we couldn't exactly have her running around. She refused to be held in my arms, so I was holding on to her arm as she pulled and pulled trying to get away.
And then there was a pop, and a scream.
When Zander was about the same age, his elbow was dislocated while playing "monkey" with dad. So, we figured it was the same thing. They had shown us then how to pop it back in place. Brandon tried, and it didn't work.
So, while Zander, Ady and I ate, he took Ainzlee to the nearest first aid station. They gave him some ice for it, and told him where the nearest emergency room was.
Great.
So we left. She cried the whole way there. And screamed louder if we tried to move her arm at all.
ERs are never much fun, but at least we didn't have to wait very long before they took us back. They took her for an X-ray - Brandon went along. After she got back, the nurse gave her some Motrin. 5 minutes later, she was jumping around as if nothing had ever happened. By the time the doctor came to see her, she was perfectly fine.
Apparently, when they moved her arm to get it in place for the x-ray, they popped her elbow back into place. Brandon hadn't been twisting it far enough when he tried. Lesson learned.
Even though we hadn't done everything we had wanted to at Universal Studios, we decided that we were tired, and just called it a day. We went back to the timeshare to pack and get ready for the trip home.

Disney World 2010 - Day 6

2011-01-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was Princess Day!
Papa and Gran wanted Ady to feel like a real princess, so they got her an authentic Sleeping Beauty costume, and reservations for a Princess Tea party. I was lucky enough to accompany the little princess.
We took the monorail to the Grand Floridian where the party was taking place.

Ainzlee didn't want to feel left out, so she dressed up like Tinkerbell

Zander wore his new Indiana Jones hat

We looked around the Grand Floridian resort while we waited for it to be time for the party. It was a NICE place - Ady decided that a Princess MUST live there.

A giant gingerbread house - with a sweet shop INSIDE

The princess in her throne

Lots of pretty flowers outside

A beach

More flowers

At last, it was time for the party to begin.
They had all of the princesses line up to be greeted by the hostess - Miss Rose Petal

They announced each princess as she entered the tea room and gave her a new crown and sprinkled "magic" rose petals on her head.

And of course they had to pose for a picture with the hostess

When we got to our seat, we found a new friend waiting for us. At first, Ady was just happy to see a pretty doll. But when I told her she got to take her home - she was THRILLED!

After everyone was seated, Miss Rose Petal told them that before she could serve them their tea, they needed to take out their napkin and place it in their lap. But, when they pulled out the napkin, there was a surprise - a new bracelet!

Then they served the "tea" - apple juice. Ady told me that this is how princesses drink - they have to hold the plate under the cup.

Yum!

Giving dolly a hug

Then it was time for the food - yummy!

Miss Rose Petal went around and talked with each girl and signed her note card.

The Musical Baron talked with us too

We listened to Miss Rose Petal tell a story about who she is. She was once the most beautiful flower in the garden of the king and queen - Sleeping Beauty's castle. When Princess Aurora was born, the good fairies wanted to give her magical gifts - of beauty and song. In order to make the magic, they needed a petal from the most beautiful flower in the land. Miss Rose Petal willingly gave of herself, and was then magically transformed into a human. (ta-da!)

Then it was time for all the princesses to get up and dance

And then... SLEEPING BEAUTY arrived!

SO Excited!

Sleeping Beauty went around and talked to each girl. While we were waiting for our turn, we got some cake.

And we had our picture taken

And then Sleeping Beauty came! She gave Ady a rose.

And they chatted a while

When she asked Ady what her favorite thing she had done at Disney World was, Ady's response was "coming here today and seeing you." Awesome!

After Sleeping Beauty left, the princesses lined up for a princess parade.

And we posed for some pictures

It was really a fun party and I'm very glad that we were able to go.

After we left, it was time for another thing that Gran and Papa wanted us all to do - family pictures. So we rode a BUS to the Wilderness Lodge and had pictures taken.
It was quite the event, but we got some good ones, I think. Here's some of my favorites

After pictures, we went to Magic Kingdom. I decided that it is really just a bad copy of Disneyland. Disneyland is SO much better. We went to the Tiki Room - one of my all time favorites from Disneyland. They have pretty much destroyed it by having it "Under New Management". The annoying parrot from Alladin interrupts the show. Not cool. They did have the Hall of Presidents which was pretty neat. I was surprised that the kids (except for Ainzlee who fell asleep) really liked it. And we saw the Country Bear Jamboree - it just didn't seem as magical as it did when I was a kid. (Why is that?) I really wanted to do the Peter Pan ride, but the line was too long. We rode the train to Toon Town and found out that the line to see Mickey was only about 15 minutes long. When we had been there a few nights before, it was over an hour. So we decided to see the Big Cheese. Minnie was there too!

Ainzlee was actually willing to "cheese", as long as she didn't have to get too close to them.
Zander and Daddy went on the Toon Town roller coaster again.
It was getting pretty late by then, and we didn't want to fight the crowds again, so we decided to call it a night.
So long Disney World!

Disney World 2010 - Day 5

2011-01-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

After getting some much needed sleep, we headed to Hollywood Studios. They have some really fun shows that we wanted to see. The first one was Playhouse Disney Live on Stage.
Waiting for the show to start

It was a fun show with puppets from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. The kids really liked it.

We met up with Gran and Papa and went on the Backlot Tour. They started with a little demonstration of how they do special effects on water for movies. There was explosions and fire. And Ady cried. And cried and cried. (She is a very sensitive princess)

We rode on a truck that took us around the studio backlot. We got to see how they created special effects and saw a "boneyard" of large movie props.

After the tour, we ran into Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. Ainzlee was too scared to even get out of the stroller.

We had some FastPasses for the Tower of Terror. Since I'm pregnant, and Ady's not big enough, we gave our passes to Gran and Papa, and they went with Brandon and Zander. While we were waiting, I noticed that there was a Beauty and the Beast show about to start. So, the girls and I went it. Ainzlee fell asleep, but Ady thought it was great.

There was lots of singing and dancing - as good as a Broadway show, just not as long. It was great fun!

After we found Daddy and Zander, we decided to check out the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones with that idea. It was VERY crowded. And Zander took off as soon as we went in and got lost among the crowd of children. Brandon went to try to find him and left me with the girls. I do NOT do well in large crowds, especially where my kids are involved. So, I wanted to get out of there are soon as we could. But the girls got to ride on a giant ant first.

Then it was time for Jedi Training Academy. We had actually planned to go to an earlier show. We saw a show the last time we were in Disneyland, and they chose kids from the audience to be the trainees. We figured that's how it would work there too. But, we found out that they actually had a sign up list, and there was still an opening in the 4:30 show - the last one of the day. We hadn't planned on staying that late, but since that was one of the main things Zander wanted to do while we were there, we signed him up.
We were told to arrive 15 minutes early.
This crazy girl had fun jumping off of rocks while we waited.

Ady was scared before it even started. She didn't even want to watch the show because of the bad guys.

Waiting for the show

Lined up with the other trainees

Getting a Jedi cloak

Ready to begin

I thought that I had a good seat - right in front of the stage - but I didn't realize that they would have some of the trainees on the floor. Naturally, that's where they had Zander stand. Right behind some other kids, so I couldn't get very many good pictures.

Ainzlee got a little scared when the bad guys came out.

Zander got to fight Darth Maul

These are pictures taken by the Disney photographer. Not great quality, but the best I can get without paying $15 each. (yikes!)

It got dark not long after the Star Wars show. We left to have dinner, and came back a bit later with Gran and Papa so that Zander and Daddy could see the Indiana Jones stunt show and Gran and Papa could see the lights.

Disney World 2010 - Day 4

2011-01-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Monday we started at Epcot. We got there a few minutes before they opened, so we got the "fun" of waiting with the crowd. Ady wanted to take some pictures of the flowers while we were waiting.

We headed right to the "Seas with Nemo and Friends" and got on that ride first. We got to ride in a seashell and watch the fish search for Nemo. Then we looked around at the fish tanks while we waited for the "Talk to Crush" show. There was a little play area in there with the sharks from the movie, but Ady was TERRIFIED and wouldn't go anywhere near it - even though they were plastic. Silly silly girl.
The Talk to Crush show was awesome - I would highly recommend it. The kids got to sit up front, and Crush came and talked to them. He took questions and it was totally interactive. Pretty neat. Our kids were slightly disappointed that they didn't get picked to ask a question, but they enjoyed it a lot anyway. And they tried to follow Crush's advice and use the word "Dude" as much as possible.

Then we went on the imagination with Figment ride. It was silly, but cute. And they had some interactive activities for the kids afterward. Here, they are trying to step on the lights to make sounds.

This part of Epcot is all about Innovation and the Future. The kids really liked this "Upside-down water fall".

Then we headed to the other part of Epcot - the World Showcase. They have areas that are transformed into different countries around the world. Here they are in Canada.

And Great Britain

We saw some princesses - Ady was thrilled, Ainzlee wasn't scared, Zander wasn't interested.
Princess Jasmine in Morocco.

Belle in France

We had lunch in good old America - at a Colonial style diner. They had hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets -- foods our kids like to eat.

We met up with the rest of Brandon's family. And we saw Alice in Wonderland - in Great Britain, I think.

Ainzlee fell asleep and stayed with Gran while we rode on a couple of rides - a little boat ride in Mexico, and a Viking voyage in Norway. We saw Donald Duck along the way - in Mexico.

We also did the Soarin' ride. The kids were scared to go on it at first, but they LOVED it. Ady told me it was her FAVORITE. Especially since you see Tinkerbell at the end.
Later, we ran into Chip and Dale - notice Ainzlee's "angry eyes". She didn't like any of the characters.

And we had to pose for a picture in front of "Spaceship Earth" - what Epcot is known for. (And in case you've never been there, there is NOT a fast roller coaster inside. Just a slow-moving, informative ride about the different technological advances made by the human race. So don't get too excited about it.)

We left Epcot to take a break and go have some dinner. Then we decided to go to Magic Kingdom for the evening. Something that we didn't know - but found out... The parking lot (at least where we ended up parking) is NOT at Magic Kingdom. After we parked, we rode a tram to the "Transportation Station". Then, we had a ride the Mono-Rail about 1.5 miles - across a lake - to the entrance to the park. Crazy.
Sleeping Beauty's castle was beautiful lit up at night.

Ady wanted to see what was INSIDE the castle. Most of it is not exactly accessible. There's a little beauty shop, a fancy restaurant, and the backstage area for shows. So we took this picture outside of the restaurant - inside the castle.

We rode on the carousel - this was Ainzlee's favorite.

We rode on It's a Small World - NOT the same as the one in Disneyland (sad).

And the spinning tea cups

(Ainzlee didn't like it so much after it started moving

We took a trip through Toon Town. Zander wanted to ride the little roller coaster there, Ady didn't. So we visited Minnie's house while we waited.

Zander LOVED the roller coaster (surprisingly). Then we stopped by Mickey's place.

We thought it would be a good idea to stay late for the fireworks show that started at 10pm. We found a pretty good spot right in front of the Dumbo ride with a great view of the castle.

The fireworks were very impressive, and they launched them from two different locations - one in front of us, and one behind us, so we kept having to turn around to get the full view.

The neatest part of the fireworks display was when Tinkerbell herself came out and flew over the castle - just like at the start of every Disney movie.

After the fireworks, we decided it was time to head out. Afterall, it was after 10 and our kids were pretty tired. Well, apparently, we weren't the only ones with the same idea. We had to fight with the THOUSANDS of other people leaving at the same time. Because of the way the transportation system is set up, we not only had to find our way out of the park, then we had to wait to get on the monorail. And THEN we had to wait to get on the tram to take us to our car. It took about an hour and a half to get from where we watched the fireworks to where we parked. It was after midnight when we finally got to our beds. NOT much fun. at all.

Here's what we learned, and if you are planning on going to Disney World, this might help. DON'T EVER PARK AT MAGIC KINGDOM. It is the most popular of the four parks, and the most frustrating, transportation-wise. The best alternative is to park at EPCOT and take the mono-rail from Epcot to the transportation station, and then to Magic Kingdom. Also, DON'T take the "Express" mono-rail that goes directly to Magic Kingdom from transportation. There is also a "Resort" train that stops at a couple of the resorts along the way. While it may take slightly longer to get there, the line is a lot shorter and makes it worthwhile.
Finally - USE THE TRAIN INSIDE MAGIC KINGDOM to get around. It stops in Frontierland, Toon Town and at the Main Gate. What we SHOULD have done instead of fighting our way through Main Street, is take the train from Toon Town to the main gate. Would have saved us a lot of time and trouble.
Anyway, now we know. I'm glad we saw the fireworks, because I don't have to do that ever again.

Disney World 2010 - Day 3

2010-12-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

Day 3 was Sunday and we decided to make it a day of rest. We figured out where the temple was, and there was a chapel right across the street. Church started at 11, we got there at about 10:15. So, we decided to wander around the neighborhood and see what we could see. It happened to be a VERY nice part of town. Right next to a lake. Big, fancy houses. We found one with a for sale sign - with a .com of the address. So, just for fun, we looked it up. It was going for $8,000,000. Yikes! There was another house right down the street that looked like a castle. With a draw bridge and everything. Crazy!

Anyway, we attended Sacrament Meeting, and then spent some time on the temple grounds. It was in the 50s and the wind was blowing. A little chilly for us. There was another family there from Wisconsin. They thought the weather was perfect. All about perspective I guess.

Zander wanted to take pictures, so a lot of these are his.

My sweet kiddos

We took the rest of the day to catch up on sleep and get ready for the rest of the week. It was nice to have a bit of a break.

Disney World 2010 - Day 2

2010-12-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Our original plan had been to wake up early and get to the parks as soon as they opened. However, with our late arrival, those plans changed. We slept in a bit, went to breakfast, and made a stop at the grocery store to get essentials for the week. Then we headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was raining pretty hard that day, so crowds were fairly light. Nice for us.

The first "ride" we went on was the Safari ride. They took us all around to look at the animals. It was pretty fun.

Then we walked around on some of the exploration trails to see even more animals.

There was a petting zoo

There was a building where they showed some of the animals and how they cared for them.

And we saw FLICK from Bug's Life - ironically, the kids watched this movie on the airplane the day before. So they knew who he was. Ainzlee wouldn't have anything to do with him.

The "centerpiece" of the animal kingdom is the "Tree of Life". It has animals carved into it. It's pretty neat.

Brandon took Zander and Ady on the raft ride. They got wet, but the LOVED it.

We watched the show "Flights of Wonder" - lots of really neat birds.

Zander and Brandon went on a super fast roller coaster. Zander cried at the end and said he wouldn't do that again.

Ady and I took some pictures while we waited. Ainzlee slept.

Then we went to Dinoland

Ainzlee slept - the other kids played in the "boneyard" where they got to dig for dinosaur bones

Then we rode on a triceratops

And saw Goofy and Pluto. Ainzlee was scared.

We were pretty worn out by then and decided to leave and have some dinner. Then we headed to Hollywood Studios to see what we could see.

They had an incredible lights display - with lights that "danced" along to the music. Really neat!

We went on a few rides - like the "Great Movie Ride" where you get to be "in" the movies. I thought it was pretty neat. There was a gun fight and an explosion - all three kids cried at that. We also saw a Little Mermaid show. Very well done.
And we met Lightning McQueen and Mater.

It was a pretty fun day. We really enjoyed it!

Disney World 2010 - Day One - Getting there

2010-12-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, Brandon's parents gave the whole family a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. We have been looking forward to this for a very long time and were very excited to go. We left Friday, December 17. Zander was supposed to have school that day, but since our flight was supposed to leave at 11:30, we didn't have him go that day. So, he missed out on his little Christmas concert and party.
However, as the day progressed, we realized that maybe he should have gone to school for part of the day anyway. It would have been better than spending the day at the airport.
We woke up to FOG that morning - something that's rather rare for Phoenix. And apparently, we weren't the only ones to have it. Most of the West Coast was covered in fog too, so many of the flights were delayed - including ours.
We got to the airport a little after 9am. When we checked in, we were told that they couldn't print our boarding passes, and we would have to check in at the gate to get them. Strange...
We made it to the gate and found out why. Our flight was overbooked and they were trying to move people around so that we would be able to sit together. Nice. Were were scheduled to be on the same flight as Brandon's sister and her family, but his parents were taking a later flight. Not only was our flight overbooked, but it was about an hour and a half late because of the fog.
The airline worker finally figured out that they were overbooked by 4 seats and offered an incentive to anyone who was willing to take the next flight. Since Brandon happened to be right there when the announcement was made, and his parents were on the next flight anyway, we decided to take it. They gave us back the price of our tickets - plus $300 per person - in flight vouchers. We thought it was a pretty good deal. Especially since we were thinking of taking a trip to visit my family next summer.
So, we got our tickets for the next flight, which was supposed to leave at 2:40.
It didn't. It was after 4 when we finally boarded the plane. The kids - and the rest of us - did not enjoy sitting in the airport almost all day.
One nice thing was that Santa was visiting the airport that day. The kids got to have thier picture taken with him for free. Ainzlee didn't want to sit with him when Zander and Ady did - she was scared. But, with a bribe of a candy cane - he convinced her.

We were scheduled to have a layover in St. Louis. A very short one. As it turned out, with our new flight time, the plane we were scheduled to be on there would leave before were got there. We talked to the airline, and they made some calls. Somehow, they got approval for our pilot to fly pretty much as fast as the plane would go, and they had the other plane wait for us in St. Louis. We sat at the very front of the plane and RAN to the other one. We didn't really get to sit together, but we were happy that we didn't have to spend the night in St. Louis.
We arrived in Orlando just before midnight. After getting our bags and rental cars and finding our way, we arrived at our timeshare at about 1:30am. Needless to say, we were VERY tired and ready for bed.

I love to see the temple....

2010-12-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

We went to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights. In the past when we have gone, the crowds have been so thick that it's just all we can do to move. We rarely have time to really take in the spirit of the place. But this time, we timed it just right. It was the first Saturday of December, and we got there just as it was getting dark. There were very few people there, so we were able to take our time. Of course, we had to stop in the visitor's center to "hear Jesus talk" - the kids love that. And they had nativity sets from around the world on display - mommy loves that.
It was really a beautiful experience. I'm so happy we were able to share it as a family.

November Random Events

2010-12-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

Just a few more things that happened in November

Ainzlee had minor surgery to correct her urinary reflux. It was really much more stressful on her parents than her. Brandon took the day off work and took her to the hospital. I stayed home with the other kids and worried.

Afterwards, she came home and slept most of the day. When she woke up, she acted like nothing had even happened. I am thankful for modern medicine.

We had a few major projects in November. First, kind of on a whim, we decided that we were sick of the yucky carpet in our family room. So we tore it up.

Then we realized that we needed to actually DO something with it. So we decided to put in laminate floors. Thankfully, we have a WONDERFUL friend who is an expert at putting in floors. He was so wonderful to come and help us with it. (THANK YOU BILL!)

It turned out beautifully and cost less than we thought it would. I LOVE IT!

The other project that we spent a lot of time working on was the new house that we purchased. We decided that it was better for us financially to buy a house to rent - and stay in our current home - than to find one to move into. So, after a process that took MONTHS and plenty of stress, we finally closed on the property. We then spent a little over a week fixing it up before our tenants moved in. I think it turned out great and I think (hope) that we will enjoy being landlords. It's something new for us. I meant to take before and after pictures, but didn't.

On Veterans Day, the kids and I went to the Tolleson park for the annual event that is held there.

It was fun... until Zander decided to wander to the other side of the park without telling me. With the hundreds of people that were there. It is not fun as a mother to suddenly realize that you don't know where your kid is. And frantically search for him in a large crowd of people. When I found him, I decided that it was time to leave... He wasn't happy, but that's just life.

And I think that's all folks...
Moving on to December.........

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

I'm falling behind! I figured that before I post anything about Christmas, I need to get caught up, so here's what we did for Thanksgiving this year.

We DROVE to Idaho to visit my family. We managed to time things pretty well the whole trip.
We left Tuesday evening at around 6pm. Crazy, but it worked. Thankfully, I have a wonderful brother and sister-in-law in St. George who were willing to let us barge in on them for the night. It was fun to see them too, even thought it wasn't for very long.
On Tuesday, most of Utah and Southern Idaho was hit with a blizzard. Not in St. George of course, but we were a bit nervous about what the road conditions would be like as we drove. So we checked the Internet before we left and there was one section of road that said that snow tires or chains were recommended. So, before we left St. George, we decided to find some snow chains - just in case. It took us about an hour and 3 different stops to find a store that had any. As it turned out, we didn't actually need them, the roads were completely clear the whole way. But now, in case there's every a blizzard in Phoenix, we will be prepared.

The drive was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Preston just before dinnertime on Wednesday. This is what it looked like as we drove into town. Pretty!

That night, my dad took my husband and my sister's husband to a Utah State basketball game. They had lots of fun, I'm told. I got to stay home with my mom, sister, brother and sister-in-law... plus 14 kids. It was a crazy fun time! We had fun playing dress-up. All of us. There were quite a few pictures taken, none of them with my camera, and I have yet to see any of them.

Thursday of course was Thanksgiving. We spent the day making yummy food. The kids had lots of fun playing together and playing in the snow. Being Arizona children, snow is quite the novelty. It was lots of fun, until they realized just how COLD it was.

Then it was dinner time! Yummy!

We had lots of fun with family. The kids liked playing with their cousins, and took turns holding baby Skyler.
On Friday, some of us went sledding. I stayed home and played cards.

We went to the electric light parade that night. It was cold, but fun. We stopped by Gavin & Callie's house afterward for some hot wassail and cookies. Yummy.

Saturday was the annual Bed Races. I had heard quite a bit about this event, but had never actually witnessed it. So, we went to see what it was all about it. Basically, there are teams of racers. People to push the "bed" (pretty much just a bed-like cart) and a couple of riders. They start at one end of the block, then stop in the middle to switch riders. The riders have to exchange the "nightgown" and helmet, then hop back on for the pushers to push them to the finish line. Pretty exciting stuff. My dad was the official announcer. It would have been more fun to watch if it hadn't been so COLD. The kids weren't very happy by the time we left.

From there, we headed home. We decided to stop in St. George again. The whole way there, we saw signs telling us that there was a winter storm warning. Another blizzard would hit between 12 and 3 am. We got to St. George at about 9pm. It actually snowed there that night, but by morning it had pretty much all melted.

It was really a fun trip and we were glad that we went. We were also very happy to be back home!

3D Ultrasound

2010-12-16T13:29:00.001-08:00

Even though this is my FOURTH pregnancy, we've never done a 3D ultrasound. I always thought it would be fun, but never was willing to spend the money to do it. Well, since it's Christmas time, and we didn't find out the baby's gender at our regular ultrasound, we decided it would be a fun thing to do. Plus, this is most likely our LAST baby, so it's our last chance.
So, today, we went and had it done. The first thing we did was check the gender. Brandon was NOT pleased.

I have mixed feelings. I'd pretty much convinced myself that it was a boy, so I was a little surprised. But, I think I'm okay with having 3 girls. At least we have one boy, right? And really, I had a hard time picturing a boy for some reason, even though I thought that's what it was... And now I don't have to stress about coming up with a boy name. (Although I'm a bit disappointed that I won't get to have my Jesse - not that Brandon would have let that happen anyway.)

This one's my favorite

She was playing with her hands the whole time. It was really cute! It was such an unusual experience to be able to watch my unborn baby like that.

Tiny Dancers

2010-12-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

Ady had her last ballet class of the year yesterday. The teacher invited the parents to come and watch, and they showed us their "Winter Dance". The class is made up for 3 and 4 year olds. There were five kids there, and two of them did not want to participate. (I'm glad my kid wasn't one of those!)
Ady really loves dancing, and you can tell!

I tried to post my video of the winter dance, blogger won't let me. oh well.

(Sometime soon I'll post about Thanksgiving... but probably not until AFTER Christmas. Somehow, I think you will live)

Halloween 2010

2010-12-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Halloween is big-time fun!

Carving pumpkins

Making ghosts

All dressed up!

Harry Potter and two fairies

Messy after the ward party

More Catch up - September 2010

2010-12-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

A trip to the zoo

(I'd forgotten about this until I found the pictures on my camera!)

I got a culture pass and decided to take the girls. We went first thing in the morning, but it was still HOT!!

Watching the monkeys

The petting zoo - Ainzlee was scared of the goats and wouldn't get near them. Ady had a great time.

Then we decided we needed to cool off, so we went to the splash park. If I'd been smart (like most of the other parents there) we would have brought swim suits. Instead, my kids just got wet in their clothes. Oh well, at least they were cool and happy.

Ady liked the zebras

And the flowers

We only stayed for a couple of hours because of the heat, but we had a good time anyway. Next time we will plan better.

Hall of Flame

The Hall of Flame museam is located right across the street from Brandon's office. We've driven past it many, many times, and I always wondered what was inside. So, on a day that Zander didn't have school (teacher in-service or something) I decided that we should go check it out. It was a fun time!

There LOTS and LOTS of fire trucks - some of them hundreds of years old.
There was one that the kids were allowed to play on

And an area with lots of fun things for kids

Zander liked climbing UP the pole - he is really strong!

We had a good time and I'm glad we went. But, it was a little pricey, so it will probably be awhile before we go back. But, the best part was that we got to have lunch with Daddy after we were done!

Random pictures

just like Mommy?

Ellie the Elephant

Catching Up - August 2010

2010-12-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

I've been really bad at keeping up with blogging lately. I mean really, really bad.
So, I decided it was time to catch up. I went through the pictures that have been hanging out on my camera and found some new ones. So I thought I'd post them.

Here's some from way back in August
Uncle Bryan came for a visit and Ainzlee hung out with him

Everyone says that Dave and Bryan (brothers) look alike, so we got some pictures of them together.

They switched glasses - who is who?

Kids getting ready for church

A missing tooth!

Coming up next.... September!

(I'm only a few months behind!)

Black Friday - Cyber Monday Sale

2010-11-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

I hope that you have had a great Thanksgiving. I know that I have. I got to travel to Idaho to spend time with my family. It is VERY cold, but we are having fun.
I'll post pictures... eventually....

One of the most exciting things about Thanksgiving weekend is the sales, right? So, I decided that I should have one in my shop. Until Tuesday, November 30th, I'm offering

25% Off

everything in my shop.

Prices will NOT be this low ever again. Because of the wonderful economy, and rising cost of materials, I'm going to have to raise prices after the new year. So, if you want to get a really good deal on "Your Baby's First and Favorite Toy", now is the time to get it.

Have fun shopping!

Shopping Queen

2010-11-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm lame. I haven't posted in over a month, and this is what I post. Maybe someday I'll be better.

But today, I have to brag.

This is what I got at the grocery store today:
7 boxes American Beauty pasta
2 boxes Stovetop Stuffing
2 cans Campbells Chunky Soup
2 cans Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cans Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 cans Hormel Chili
5 cans Swanson's broth
1 cookie mix
1 bag marshmallows
1 can baking powder
1 Activia
2 Cool Whip
10 boxes Tyson Chicken
14 bags Green Giant frozen veggies
2 Toothbrushes
1 Colgate Toothpaste
1 Clorox Bleach
Bananas
Bread

Can you guess how much I spent for all this?

Did you guess yet??

$26.85

That's right. I'm awesome.

Here's the proof:

Pinching Your Pennies is AMAZING. If you haven't tried using coupons, you are spending too much money.

Okay, that's all I have to say. Time to find some room in my freezer...

Saying goodbye to Granny

2010-09-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

On September 9, 2010, a wonderful woman left this world. Mary Jane Chisler Neville - a.k.a. Granny - was born on April 5, 1925. She raised seven children, including the mother of my dear husband, and was loved by all who knew her.

While I have only known her for about eleven years, I felt genuinely loved by her and I truly loved her too. She will be missed greatly.

The week following her death, I took on a rather large project that I had been meaning to do for some time, but hadn't gotten around to. Back in 2001, her daughter, Judy, and daughter-in-law, Linda, sat down and interviewed her about her life. They video taped it, and transcribed it and turned it into a book that they distributed to the family members. I'm so thankful that they did that, because by the time I got around to trying to interview Granny (and I had been meaning to for some time) much of her memories had already left her.
Anyway, after my failed attempt, I found out about the book, and they gave me the original video. This was really a priceless gift to me because while the book was great, and I enjoy reading the stories, actually watching her tell the stories with her fun, cute personality... amazing.
Of course, the video was just raw footage. On VHS tapes. I thought it would be neat to have it converted to digital and make DVDs for anyone who wanted it. I SHOULD have started the process as soon as I got the tapes, but that didn't happen. I waited until she passed, and then I felt I couldn't wait any longer.
I found a VERY helpful friend who had the technology and was willing to convert the tapes to digital for me. (THANK YOU SO MUCH CURTIS!)
Then I started the process of editing. The audio wasn't quite as loud as I wanted, but I figured out how to separate the audio from the video and amplify it. The trouble was, it was trickier then I thought it would be to put them back together. So, that was frustrating... and time consuming...
Then we ran into some problems with getting the DVDs burned. The stupid program that came free with our computer let me get through the whole aggravating process of making the video exactly how I wanted it... and THEN told me that in order to actually finish it, I needed to upgrade to the full version. Nice.
Anyway, after we finally got all that figured out, and I missed about a week of sleep, the video was finished. Just hours before we left to go to the funeral. I didn't get very many copies made, so if you want one, please let me know!

But, even though it wasn't easy, I'm SO glad that I did it. I learned so much about who Mary Neville was. She grew up during the depression and didn't have much, at all. They were happy if they had some potato soup and a little bread for dinner. Her mother made her clothes out of flour sacks. Once, they waited for HOURS in line for government issued shoes, only to get to the front of the line to find out that all they had was BOY'S BOOTS. Mary and her sister cried the whole way home, but they had to wear them because that was all they had. She never had a Christmas before she met her husband.
She worked in an airplane factory during World War II. That's where she met her husband, Russell.
She was so very strong and survived so much. A rare, amazing woman.

The funeral was held on Saturday, September 18. The one thing that I enjoy about funerals is that it's a big family reunion. We saw family members that we hadn't seen in years. But, it was of course a very sad, difficult day. Granny's favorite color was purple, so there was a lot of purple being worn. All the girls had a corsage made of tissue paper, and everyone was given purple beads to wear.
Brandon was given the job of being Grampy's escort. Basically making sure he stayed upright. So, I was on my own with the kids. (Nothing new for me, really)

I was surprised at how emotional my kids were. Before the funeral started, during the viewing, Ady and I were sitting together. She told me that she wanted Granny to get up and dance. Granny did talk about dancing in the video, but I've never seen her dance. I don't know where Ady got that from. But she was very insistent. So, I talked to her about what it means to die, and about spirits and resurrection. It's a very hard thing to explain to a four-year-old. And she cried and cried. All I could do is hold her. She asked to see Granny, so I took her up to the casket and let her look in. Some well-meaning relatives (and I really know they only were trying to help, so please don't think I'm upset with them) told her that Granny was sleeping. That just confused her more, and we started the whole process over again. She kept asking me if Granny was sleeping in heaven.

Then, the actual funeral began. It was good. Not quite what I expected, but good. Zona, my mother-in-law, read a letter she had written to her mother several years ago for Mother's Day. I had held it together pretty well... until then...
At the end, they asked if anyone wanted to come up and say anything. Zander told me that he wanted to go up. Maybe I should have let him, but my first reaction was to tell him no. And then he started to cry. A LOT. So, I asked him what he wanted to say, and he just said he didn't know. And cried, and cried. He didn't really stop crying until we were in the car, 15 or 20 minutes later.

So, needless to say, it was a very emotionally draining day.
Afterwards, we all went back to Grampy's house for a dinner. I was AMAZED at how much food was there. I don't know where it all came from. One of the stores that Zona works with donated quite a bit. I think most of the people that came brought something. There was plenty to go around, and quite a bit left.

The kids had fun playing with all their cousins. We enjoyed visiting with relatives that we haven't seen for many years.

The burial was held on Monday. I didn't go, but Brandon and Ady went. I'm very glad that they did. Brandon took our camera and asked his dad to take pictures. I really appreciate it. I'm glad that we have some documentation of the event. But, most of the pictures I feel are very personal, and I don't think it would be appropriate to post them here. (If anyone - family members - would like to see them, you can contact me)

Farewell Granny. We love you!

My 4-Year-Old Princess

2010-08-31T08:49:00.001-07:00

My little girl turned FOUR on Sunday! She is getting SO big!
She is very much into all things GIRL these days. So of COURSE we had to have a Princess party.

The Invitation

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
All Princesses, Princes, and Knights in Shining Armor!

Her Majesty, Princess Adalen of the Royal house of [Our Last Name] requires your presence at the magical celebration of the 4th year of her birth.
The celebration will be held at our castle at [Our Address] on Saturday, the 28th day of August between the hours of 9:30 and 11:00 in the morning.
Royal attire is encouraged, but not required.
As we need to prepare for your arrival, please alert the Queen and King of your coming by phoning [Our Phone Number], or sending an email to [Our Email Address]

The Decorations

I spent about half a day making this banner. A little excessive, but I thought it was kind of cute.

The rest was just balloons and streamers. Lots and lots of pink, of course.

Anticipation

Mommy and Daddy like it when everything is ready before the guests arrive. The kids don't. Even if it's only 5 minutes, the waiting is torture!
So, we took some pictures while we waited.

The PARTY

As the guests arrived, they each got to pick a "royal cape". I got some really cheap costume satin fabric from Wal-mart, cut it into rectangles, finished the edges and added a little piece of velcro. I had blue and brown for the boys and pink and purple for the girls. They weren't super fancy, but I think the kids liked them.

I also had some foam crowns I'd ordered from Oriental Trading. They came with stickers and some little jewels. The kids got to decorate them. Some of them were more interested than others.

We had another game where we had the kids "Dig for the King's Treasure". We had trays of rice set out and we had buried candies in it. They had to try to find them. We gave each of them a paper bag to put their finds in. They were pretty good about it, for the most part. (No pictures, sorry)

Next, we moved on to "Musical Thrones". The kids didn't really get the concept, and some of them were more interested in playing with toys.

Then, we built "Castles" out of sugar cubes, gum drops and marshmallows, with frosting as the mortar. Some of the kids thought it was more fun to eat the building materials than build with them. I'm sure their parents appreciated that.

Then, Ady opened gifts. Of course this was her favorite part.

Then it was time for the cake. I made it... I made a few cupcakes too, and my original plan was to put the candles on the cupcakes. But, I made the mistake of leaving the cupcakes alone with my husband and children. They didn't survive. So, Brandon asked Ady where the candles should go. This is what happened.

We also had some pink punch - Sprite and raspberry sherbet. Quite tasty.

We still had a little time left, so we played "Freeze Dance". I played the music, and when it stopped the kids had to FREEZE. They had fun with it for a while. Then they got a little too wound up. We played duck, duck goose. Crazy results there too.

I think the party was pretty much a success. I think the kids had fun. I was pretty worn out by the time it was over.

After the party

After the party, we went to lunch at chick-fil-a with Gran & Papa, Ashlee & Drake, and Uncle David & Aunt Lois. Ady insisted on wearing her princess dress and princess crown. It was fun.

Later that day, we were driving around and it started to rain a little. We don't get a lot of rain here in Phoenix, so it's kind of exciting when it happens. Then, we saw something REALLY rare around here. A RAINBOW. Ady got really excited and said "I wished for a rainbow for my birthday, and I GOT IT!" So sweet!

That night, she got to sleep in her new "Princess Bed". We put a new mattress on the top bunk, and she got new princess sheets. She was pretty excited about it! (Gran and Papa gave her the new princess nighty. She doesn't like to take it off!)

So, now I offically have a Four-Year old girl. Who sometimes acts like she's 13. It's hard to believe it's been four years since she was just my tiny little baby girl. Only 5lbs 11oz!

Happy Birthday!

An update, news and stuff

2010-08-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

We aren't moving.

We didn't get the house we made an offer on months ago. They bank wanted $30,000 more. We told them "No thanks".

We have decided that it will be a better financial decision for us to buy a house as an investment and rent it instead of buying one to live in and renting our current home. So, we are still looking. But we won't be moving any time soon.

We are expecting

I'm pregnant. Again. This baby is due March 27, 2011. I've known for a while, but haven't told anyone until recently. I'm feeling ok. Mornings are pretty good, but I hit a "wall" at about noon and get very very tired. And then kind of sick. But, I will survive. I've done all this before. I can get through it. (Or so I keep telling myself.)

So, now you know.

The End

I had a dream...

2010-08-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

The night before last, I had a dream. And it was strange. I'm not sure that I could really even explain it if I tried.
There were floating hexagons everywhere. And the number SIX. And, I saw myself using hexagons to make Zadyballs with SIX sides instead of FOUR.

When I woke up, I couldn't stop thinking out it. So as soon as I could, I went into my work room to see if I really could make a Zadyball with SIX sides - and a hexagon on each of the ends.

Unfortunately, my super duper light box is in the shop. (Translation: It needed fixed, my husband promised me he'd make me a new one, it hasn't happened yet)
So, these pictures are terrible. But maybe you can at least get the idea. I just tried it with the black, white a red since I wanted to see the contrast. But I think it would look pretty good with other colors. There are also 50% more Zady strings than most of my Zadyballs - because there's more room to put them in!

So, what do you think? Good idea? Was it inspiration? Or just a crazy dream?

Fun with Uncle Quinten

2010-08-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

My brother, Quinten came to visit us for a few days. He is in the USAF and stationed in Germany. This was only the second trip home he's made in the four years he's been there, so we were very happy he took the time to come and see us. We tried to have some fun with him while he was here.
We had lunch with Zander at his school. He got to invite 3 friends to come and sit with us.

On Friday, we went to the Arizona Science Center.

We did some other things that we didn't get any pictures of. Brandon took Quinten golfing, and shooting. (I wasn't interested, especially since it was 108 degrees out). He also took him with him to the Single's Branch (church) where he was speaking on Sunday. Which meant that I went to our ward by myself... with the kids... again.... (I've gotten pretty used to it)
I really hope that he had a good time. It was lots of fun for us to have him here!

The kids had lots of fun hanging out with their uncle!

Green Belt with Black Stripe

2010-08-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Zander loves karate. And he does really well with it. Last week was the karate awards where they got their new rank/belts. The students put on a little show for us so we could see what they had learned this semester.

Zander went from Green Belt to Green Belt with Black Stripe. He skipped a rank again - he went right past Green with White Stripe. We are very proud of him and happy that he tries his very best at everything he does!

First Day of School

2010-08-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

My big boy is in FIRST GRADE this year! It's so hard to believe how fast he is growing up! He was so excited to start school.

And while summer has been fun, I'm very happy to be back on a schedule and back to "normal" life!

First Haircut

2010-08-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

Ainzlee's hair was getting quite long, especially in front, and kind of driving me crazy.

So, I decided it was time for a haircut. I probably could have done it myself, but I was a little scared that I would mess it up. Plus, I had a coupon, so I took her to Cost Cutters to have it done.

She was very well behaved and sat still the whole time. In fact, the only time she cried was when I told her it was time to go!

Take me out to the ball game

2010-08-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind, I know...

The day BEFORE Zander had his tonsils taken out, we decided to have a fun night out as a family. Thanks to the Phoenix library's summer reading program, each of the three kids had earned a ticket to the Diamondbacks game.

We didn't stay for the whole game since the kids were getting a little tired and cranky, but I think we all had a good time!

Goodbye Tonsils

2010-08-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Zander has been sick quite a bit in his life. As a baby, he had an ear infection about every other month. It got a little bit better as he got older, but not much.
And he snored. A LOT - LOUDLY. When we were were in Washington DC last year, he fell asleep during the video portion of our tour of the capital building. He snored SO loud that all the school kids in there were laughing hiserically. When the lights came up and they saw it was a little kid making all that noise.... sheesh...
Anyway, he had a problem.
In June of this year, he got strep throat. When I took him to get checked, the doctor told me that his tonsils where HUGE and I should really have them looked at by a specialist. This wasn't the first time I had heard that, so I decided that it was time to get something done.

So, I made an appointment with an ENT. He took one look at Zander's throat and said, "That's not normal. Those should come out."
This is what his tonsils looked like:

So. It was time to take them out. I wanted to have it done BEFORE school started so that he wouldn't miss any school. The first day that they could get him in was August 9. ONE week before school started. Talk about cutting it close!

Naturally, he was a little nervous about the whole thing. So we tried our best to get him ready for it so that he would know what to expect and not be scared.
We got this book from the library. I would HIGHLY reccommend it to anyone who has a kid getting thier tonsils taken out.

It is written from a little girl's perspective. She describes everything that happened to her, from the beginning to the end. We read the book over and over. I think it helped all of us.

A couple of days before the surgery, we had a little "Goodbye Tonsils" party - just like they did in the book. I made a cake and decorated it with carmel topping. It didn't look very pretty, but it was pretty yummy.

On the BIG day, we had to get up pretty early. We were supposed to be there at 6:30 am. I had a friend who volunteered to watch the girls for me, so Brandon and I were both able to go. (Thank you Jennifer!) Brandon's dad came and joined us in the waiting room.

It was almost 8:00 before they called us back. Zander got to sit in a big chair and put on a nightgown with clowns on it. (In the book the girl wore one with elephants, but Zander was happy with the clowns.)

The doctor and the anestegiologist both came and talked with us. Then it was time for him to go. A nurse came and walked him back to the surgery room. We were able to give him a kiss and a hug, and then he was gone.
It was a little hard to sit and wait while they were operating on my little boy. But, it was over before I knew it.
The doctor came out and talked to us. He said that everything went perfectly and that he was doing just fine. Then, we got to go see him.
He was sleeping, and I started crying a little at the sight of him lying there with an IV running out of his arm. But soon, he woke up. The nurse kept telling me how cute he was.
It wasn't long before he was eating a popsicle.

Then we took him home.

We had a rough few days, but it hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be. The worst time is right after he wakes up, when his medicine has worn off and his throat is dry. But, as long as we keep his throat wet and cold, he's been doing really well. We went to visit Gran and Papa yesterday - and he got to play with his cousins. He was VERY tired by the time we went home, but I think he did pretty well.
I think he'll be ready for school on Tuesday, but I'll probably be worried about him all day.

Curls

2010-07-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ady asked me if we could make her hair curly.
Does anyone else remember wearing pink sponge curlers to bed in order to have pretty, curly hair? These aren't really anything like the pink curlers I remember, but they sure do bring back memories.

The crazy curly results

This was just for fun since we went swimming a few hours later and the curls all went away. But, a few days later we did it again so that she could have curly hair for church. (We used a few less curlers so it wasn't quite so crazy!) Having girls is so much fun!

Embroidery Machine is back - At last!

2010-07-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

As you know, I got an embroidery machine as an early Christmas present to myself. Well, last month, I started having some issues with it. The thread was pulling too tight, and the results were not pretty. At all.
After searching the instruction manual and trying everything I could possibly think of to try to fix the problem, I finally took it to get repaired. Sadly, it took over two weeks before it was finished, but now I have it back, and it is a good as new!
AND it was under warranty, so I didn't have to pay to have it fixed. Yay!

Here's a few custom Zadyballs that I have made since I got my machine back.

Eat Mor Chikin

2010-07-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that we love Chick-Fil-A. We were really looking forward to Cow Appreciation day and the dressing up and free food fun.

Ady wanted to be a ballerina cow. I entered this picture in the "Show us the Cow" Contest. (You should go vote for her - NOW)

My three little cows

Walking in to get our free food

With our fellow cow friends

MOOOO!

Swimming Lessons 2010

2010-07-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, one of my favorite parts of summer is taking the kids to swimming lessons. It gets us out of the house every day, and gives us a little exercise, and helps the kids learn an important skill.
I love that the pool offers a "Parent and Child" class for babies. Mostly because it means that I get to get in the water and don't have to sit in the 110 degree heat while the kids swim.

Ady started the summer in Level One and moved into Level Two after two sessions. Zander was a little disappointed when his instructors thought it would be best if he stayed in Level Two for the whole time. But, they have had fun being in the same class.
Ainzlee has been doing amazingly well in the baby class. She has NO fear of the water at all (not always a good thing). But, she would much rather do her own thing that listen to what the instructor says.

On July 5th, Brandon was home from work, so he got to go in the baby class with Ainzlee and I took pictures.

July 4th Weekend in Las Vegas

2010-07-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

(I'm behind in my blogging, so I'm playing catchup. Sorry)

Brandon and I had the opportunity to get a "free" two-night stay at a resort in Las Vegas for July 4th Weekend. We decided it would be fun to get away without the kids since we had never really gone any where without them since before Zander was born. So, the kids stayed with Gran & Papa. We invited my parents to meet us in Vegas since we had some extra room and we don't get to see them very often.
We had a great time! (I realize that we were in Vegas just a few months ago, but it was most definitely a different experience without the kids)

We got there Friday afternoon. We got checked in and settled, and then went to the temple. We spent about four hours there doing work for Brandon's ancestors. It was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed it!
Mom and Dad at the temple

Brandon and I at the temple

Then, we went to a resturant that came highly recommended: Memphis Championship BBQ. It was and interesting experience. We were told that we HAD to try the fried dill pickles. They were surprisingly tasty. Slightly too salty for my taste, but good anyway.

Then we got changed and went down to the strip. (Dramatically different atmosphere than the temple).
We went to the Bellagio and visited the flower gardens. It was so full of people we could barely move!

This giant chocolate fountain was pretty neat

Then we went outside to watch the water show. The view across the water is stunning!

Looking up at the Bellagio

The water show was pretty amazing!

Then we stopped by the Silverton to see some fish

On Saturday, we went to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. The production was closed for the weekend, but we still got to take a self guided tour.

Outside of the Chocolate Factory, they had a cactus garden. We wandered around a little bit. It was hot.

We made the required stop in front of the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. I was amazed at how many wedding parties we saw in the just the 15 minuted we were there. (FOUR!)

(Taken by a stranger who didn't know anything about photo composition...)

We wandered around the strip a little more and saw things not worthy of taking photographs of. Like people shoving pictures of naked ladies into our faces... stuff like that.

Here's some flamingos and the Flamingo

A pretty flower

Then we took advantage of some of the coupons the resort gave us. We each got $25 loaded on a card to use in the slot machines at the resort across the street. So, we played the slots for free.
Brandon won a whole $0.10

Daddy won $45

And I won $40! Yippee!

Then we pigged out at the buffet - yummy!

Sunday morning, we went to church with my Dad's cousin who lives in Vegas. Then we made the trip home. It was kind of nice to travel without kids screaming in the backseat. But I missed them, and was glad to be with them again.
We had a great time and were very happy that we were able to go!

No More Scissors for Ady

2010-06-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

She "didn't mean" to cut off her hair. Really.

At least hair grows back....

The House Again - Lots of Pics

2010-06-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it - We made an offer on a house.

Since we didn't get a chance to look at all the details the first time, we asked our realtor if we could go back to check it out again. We wanted to see the upstairs without people in the beds, and have the chance to take some pictures.
We went today at 4pm, and thankfully, everyone was awake. They did know that we were coming, but I guess they didn't feel like they needed to clean up for us... as you can see in the pictures.
Oh - and the owner was very proud to tell us that he did ALL the painting himself. *we did our best not to snicker*
(As far as we can tell, they are not vampires, but they have 8 children with #9 on the way.)

The boy's room - very colorful, of course. My son likes blue, but I don't think I could look at THIS much blue for long.

Upstairs bathroom - I didn't get a picture of the second part of it with the shower and toilet. It's a "lovely" aquamarine color.

Girl Room #1 - I might be able to stomach this purpleish-pink color. Compared to the rest of the house, it's lovely.

Girl Room #2 - Ady of course declared this one her room. I really don't like the border. And notice how it almost (but not quite) matches the paint on the door panels and around the window? Beautiful.

This is what you see when you walk into the master suite. I thought it was an... interesting choice.... I think I would like to paint it all one color (obviously) and put a nice portrait of Christ there.

Master Bathroom - yes, they did know we were coming.

The master bedroom, aka "The Cave". This is seriously the best picture I could get. It was DARK in there! And they have very large furniture that takes up a lot of space.

There are his and hers walk-in closets - something that my husband has always wanted. (He doesn't like to share). I had to get a picture of the PINK "hers" closet. Nice, huh?

Downstairs bathroom

Downstairs bedroom - aka, MY office (paint will have to go!)

Zadyball will find lots of uses for this walk-in closet!

Love the cabinets in the laundry room!

The garage - 3 car, floor painted (yippee!) AND the owner told us that he MAY leave the cabinets. My husband was very happy about that!

And that's all folks. Now you have a much better picture of the house.
I know it sounds like I don't like it, but really, the only thing I don't like is the paint color choices. We really like the floor plan. The neighborhood seems nice. It seems to be in really great shape...
But before we move in, we will be having an serious painting party. Any volunteers??

The secret is out - so here's the scoop

2010-06-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

We've been kind of hush-hush on this since we didn't really know what we were going to be doing, but since my husband can't keep his mouth shut (I love you, dear) and most of the people we know already know anyway, I figured I'd post the details.

A couple of months ago, my friend, Hillari asked me if we had considered moving at all. They had decided that with the housing market the way that it is, it was a great time to upgrade. Well, at that point we HADN'T considered it, but I told my husband what they were doing, and he got all excited and started looking into it.
What we found out is that this is pretty much THE best time to buy. The prices are very low AND the interest rates are very low. So, we discovered that we could get a BIGGER house, rent out our current home, and STILL possibly have a lower payment than what we have now. Even if we can't get rent to cover the total current mortgage. So, we figured why not?
The thought of moving does not exactly sound like fun to me. We have accumulated a LOT of stuff over the last 8 years that we have lived in this house. Plus, I really like where we live. We have good friends close by, and I love our ward (local congregation). So, I agreed to look, as long as we didn't go to far out of my "comfort zone". (yeh... I need to expand... I know, I know)
So we started looking. We saw a lot of "nice" places. Some that we kind of liked. But none of them felt "just right". There was one that I liked a lot more than my husband. It was right next to a park, in a cul-de-sac, and right down the street from some friends. But, it did need a lot of work, and he didn't like that.
We were actually considering making an offer on that one, and we asked our realtor if we could go back to see it "one more time" before we decided. The day before we were going to go, she sent us another listing that we might like. The price and JUST been reduced so that it fit into our price range. So we agreed to see that one too. We were going to see the one we had liked FIRST, but as we were leaving to head over there, the realtor called to tell us she had lost her key! She had never had that happen before, and was searching frantically for it. We were supposed to meet at the house at 10:30, but she told us to meet us at the other house at 11:00 instead since we had an appointment with the owners then. (She did find her key)

Here is the house we met her at:

Notice the fancy car in the drive way? That was our first clue that we may see some "interesting" things inside.

We knocked on the door. No one answered, so our realtor used her lock box key to let us in. (She had talked to the owner's realtor previously and we had an appointment - at 11:00am). We went in and this is the first thing we saw:

Notice how umm... pretty(?) the purple paint looks with the lovely burgundy carpet? (yikes!)

Here's the kitchen:
I LOVE the cabinets and the counter tops. The green paint... not so much....

The backyard is an odd shape since it is in a cul-de-sac, and it's just dirt, but it is a decent size and has potential.

Then we went upstairs and saw this HUGE "bonus room". It would make a great play room for the kids, once we get rid of the RED paint of course.

So then, things got REALLY weird. (as if the paint choices and such weren't strange enough.)
At this point we had been in the house for at least 20 minutes. Our kids had been running all over, we had been talking about how awful the paint was.... Not being quiet, at all. We went to the first bedroom, opened the door and turned the light on. As we looked around the room, I happened to glance at the bunkbeds and realized there were KIDS sleeping in there!
We didn't know what to do. This was another first for our realtor. Remember, our appointment was at ELEVEN o'clock. Not exactly early if you ask me. So we all run back downstairs, and kind of "pretend" that we are just walking in the door. My loudmouth husband started yelling "HELLLOOO"! Trying to get some response. Finally, one of the kids stumbled out of bed. We told her why we were there, and she went and knocked on the master bedroom door. LOUDLY. For about 5 minutes. And we stood there and waited while they used the bathroom... and got dressed.... just a little bit awkward. Finally, we were able to go check out the rest of the upstairs.
There are a total of 5 bedrooms. Lots of crazy colors. The master bedroom is something of a cave - very dark paint, not much light. (I guess that is necessary if you sleep that late). But the bathroom is very large and beautiful. We really, really like the floor plan.
(I have no more pictures as I felt pretty weird taking pictures with them standing there, in their pajamas and such).

So anyway, that's the story of the house. We hate the paint colors, but that's pretty much the ONLY thing that needs changed to make it very liveable for us. The price is right. So we made an offer.
We got a call Monday morning to let us know that the seller's accepted the offer. But since it's a short sale, we still have to wait until it gets approval from the bank. This could take two weeks, or two months. Possibly longer (hopefully NOT!)
So, if all goes well, we will be moving. It's only about three miles or so from where we live now. Sadly, it is out of our ward, but it is in the Crystal Gardens ward, and we have lots of friends there. It's in the same neighborhood as the guy that Brandon carpools with, so that works out nice for him.

I guess that's it. I'll try to post an update when we know any more.

Zadyball Giveaway

2010-06-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

I love Facebook. I really do. I probably spend way too much time checking to see what all my friends are up to. I also have a lot of fun updating the Zadyball Facebook Page. It's fun to know that people "like" me. (They recently changed from "Fans" to "Like" - kinda weird if you ask me)
Anyway, I'd like to find some more "likers", and it's been a while since I've done a giveaway, and I thought it would be fun.

So, here's the details:

The winner will receive their choice of ANY Zadyball. They can choose one from my webpage or Etsy Page or I'll design a custom one, just for them!

To enter - leave a comment, either here (on the blog) or on Facebook. Tell me WHY you "Like" Zadyball.

Only ONE entry per PERSON will be counted

Entries will be accepted starting NOW until we reach 350 "Likers" on the Zadyball Facebook Page.

Winner will be randomly selected and contacted via email or Facebook.

So, there you have it!
Here's the easiest way to tell all your facebook friends:
On the Zadyball Facebook Page click on "Suggest to Friends"

Then select "ALL" friends. You can even include a note to tell them about the giveaway! The sooner we get to 350, the sooner we can have a winner!

Have fun!

Here's the latest Zadyball, just for fun:

Memorial Day Weekend - being sick sucks

2010-06-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to St George, Utah this weekend to spend some time with family. My brother, Brady was blessing his baby boy, and we thought it would be a great time to get away and have some fun.
Brandon thought it would be fun to borrow his parent's motor home. It made travel pretty comfortable - we had a bed anytime we wanted it. And with the way things turned out, those beds came in handy.

We got a pretty late start Friday evening. We got everything packed up and left our house at about 8pm. We headed up to Brandon's parents where we unloaded everything out of our van and into the motor home. It was about 10 before we got everyone in bed. That was when I first started to feel a little "twinge" in the back of my throat. I tried to ignore it, thinking it would be gone by morning. It wasn't.

We left early the next morning, at 4am. Our plan was to get pretty far down the road before the kids woke up. We thought for sure they would sleep for quite a while since they had been up so late.
They were up before 5:30.
The motor home doesn't go nearly as fast as our van, so the trip that usually takes us about 6 hours took closer to 8. I wasn't feeling great, but I thought it was just because I was tired, so napped for about an hour. Then Brandon thought that he should be able to take a nap too, so he made me drive for a while.
I did NOT enjoy driving that beast. Especially down a steep hill...
My fingers were numb from gripping the steering wheel so tight.
I pulled over and made Brandon drive the rest of the way.

It was fun to be able to spend time with family. My parents came down, and my sister-in-law, Anna's parents were there too. The kids had lots of fun playing with their cousins.

I had been trying to ignore my sore throat, but by Saturday night, it was pretty bad. And I started shaking and realized that I had a fever. No fun.
Sunday, we got ready and went to church. I was determined to make it. But, by the end, I was feeling pretty terrible.

By the end of church, I was really feeling sick. We went back to the motor home where I slept for a while. Then, I decided that I wasn't going to get better without some help, so I had my husband take me to Urgent Care.
After waiting for what felt like FOREVER (about 2 hours), I was finally seen by a doctor. Found out that I had a fever of 103, and strep throat. No big surprise. They gave me a shot of penicillin and sent me on my way.
The next 24 hours are kind of a blur. I think I was asleep for most of it.
We left St. George at about 4:30am on Monday morning and drove back home. I don't really remember much of the trip. We dropped off the motor home, got in our van, and got back home at about noon.
Then I slept. Pretty much all day. And all night.
Today, I'm feeling quite a bit better. Not completely back to normal. I haven't eaten much for the last few days, so I really have no energy. But, I feel much better than I did.
I am glad that if I did have to get sick, at least it happened while I was able to have some help. My parents were able to watch the kids while my husband took me to the doctor, and since he was off work on Monday, he was able to take care of the kids while I slept.
Anyway, not the best weekend ever, but I'm still glad we were able to go. But, I don't think we will be doing any traveling for a while.

CCFA Walk

2010-05-25T17:45:00.001-07:00

This last Saturday, my husband and I were able to participate in the "Take Steps" Walk to benefit the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). We had planned on taking the whole family with us, but the kids hadn't been feeling well, so we left them at home with my inlaws (thank you!).
I'd never been to anything like it before. It was very cool!
They had a band playing, booths set up with information and freebies, mascots from the Cardinals and the Coyotes, the Chick-Fil-A cow (giving out coupons, yippee!), FREE food, Star Wars characters (Zander missed out!), face painting, bounce houses..... FUN STUFF!
Then they had some people get up and give some speeches. A doctor talked about the latest advances and treatments (he mentioned Cimzia - the medication Brandon just started). They had selected an "honored" member - a 15 year old kid who has had Crohn's for 5 years. He talked about his experiences - he has had it rough! He's spent almost half of the last 5 years in Phoenix Children's Hospital. He almost died at one point and they had to remove his colon to save him. Makes me very grateful that Brandon doesn't have it that bad.
And then there was the actual Walk. I really felt it was like marching with an army of people with the same goal and purpose. It was only just over 2 miles, and it didn't feel very far at all. It was pretty neat. There were at least 2000 people there.
Several of the people were part of "teams". They had matching t-shirts with their team name on them. Some of my favorites were "Clayton's Crohnies" and "Connie's Colons". One team had red shirts with an "X" over the words "Crappy Bottoms". That made me giggle a little. Next year, we'll have to put together a team.
Anyway, it was a great event, and I'm very glad that we were a part of it. We will definitely go back again next year - and we'll bring the kids, and hopefully have a team!

We didn't bring our camera along, we just had Brandon's cell phone. So, we didn't get very many pictures, and the ones we got weren't all that great. But here you go - proof that we were there!

Some random people posing with the Star Wars guys. Behind them you can see where the band was playing.

Brandon with the Star Wars guys

Howler, the Arizona Coyote's mascot

At the begining of the walk - see all the people?!

And here we are! Aren't we so cute? (uhh... sure?)

And as for fundraising - I think we did GREAT! Our goal was $250 - and we surpassed that by quite a bit! The total that we earned was $325! $110 of that was donated by Zadyball - thanks to my wonderful customers this last month!
(That's just OUR numbers - the entire walk raised at least $100,000!)

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-05-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it, but my son is now a Kindergarten Graduate!

Last week, the school had a Kindergarten Awards ceremony and invited us to attend.
It was a special day, so the kids were encouraged to dress up

The kids lined up and came in

I had three kids with me - by myself - so I sat near the back. I was a little disappointed when Zander was on the opposite side of the stage from where I was.
The kids put on a little program and sang some cute little songs. I tried to get some video of it, but since I was so far back, it really didn't turn out great. Plus, I had a very restless 1-year old wanting some attention.

After the little program, they called each class up and gave out awards.

I guess it was fun that they did something like this for the kids, but I didn't enjoy it much as I spent most of the time trying to keep three kids in line.

On the last day of school, they had Kindergarten Graduation. This was MUCH more enjoyable. Brandon had the day off work, and so did his parents, so they were able to come too.
We waited outside for a while until they were ready for us

Then we got to go into the classroom. The kids were ready for us, wearing their cute little graduation caps.

Then they had the kids go out, and they all marched in

Then, they gave out awards. First were the awards for any one who had read more than 50 books. They got a certificate AND a poster. The posters were individual for the kids. The teachers made sure they got one of something they liked. Zander's was a fancy car.

Then, the teachers called each student up and gave them a special award that fit their personality. Something that the teacher's thought was special about them. Zander's award was the "Heart of Gold" award. Describes him perfectly!

Then, they had each of the kids read a little paper that they had written about themselves. Zander's said that his favorite food is corn and when he grows up he wants to be a Race Car Driver. (Thus the poster of the car).
Then, of course, they got their diplomas

Posing with Gran and Papa

With the family

School Friends

Mrs. Baxla - his teacher for the last 3 months. (Teacher #3 for the year - Mrs. Bobbit had a baby and didn't come back, Mrs. Courson couldn't stay because of Arizona retirement laws)

We are very proud of our Graduate! We love you Zander!

Harry Potter Party

2010-05-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

On May 11, my baby boy turned SIX! Time sure has FLOWN !
Hours old

6 Years Old

This year, we have been reading Harry Potter. I've read the first three books to him, and he has gotten pretty excited about it. So, naturally, he wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party.
As his birthday gift (besides the party of course) I made him a Harry Potter costume.

You can't tell from the picture, but it is reversible, has the Gryffindor emblem embroidered on it, and has pockets to store his wand. I was pretty proud of how it turned out.

For the party, we sent out invitations that were basically an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I found the wording online - here's what it said:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore
Order of Merlin First Class, Grand Sorcerer and Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump International Confederation of Wizards

Dear Child's Name,
We are pleased to announce that you have been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for an elective spring session and feast being held in honor of Head Boy Z’s, 6th birthday.

Classes will begin at the stroke of 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, May 15th. Please take the Hogwarts Express train to our address, currently disguised as a muggle home at address. There you will find the magical door visible only to Hogwarts students, friends and families. The password is Flibbertigibbet. The last class will end at approximately 4:00 o’clock, so make sure to set your remote broom starter for that time. Capes and robes are optional. Be sure to bring your thinking caps!

Please respond by owl no later than May 12th so that we can prepare for your arrival. Send the owl to email address. If your owl is in the shop, you may use your muggle phone to call phone number.

Lots of the kids were very excited about the password and had practiced it so they could say it to get in. Of course, we had the Fat Lady guarding the door. (I found the picture online, printed it out, and put it in a frame)

For the party, we decided to have individual "classes" like they do at Hogwarts. First of all, we started with "History of Hogwarts" as the kids arrived. I had the first movie playing on our laptop. (I wanted to keep them in the front room, not in the family room where the TV is)

I was dressed as Professor McGonagle (I'm a nerd, I know)

I gave them a little introduction, and then "sorted" them into the houses. There were no Slytherin, of course, and I gave out the rest randomly.

I gave each kid a "wand" and then we headed outside for "Herbology" class.
I started preparing for this class a couple weeks ago when my kids and I planted cups of grass. (They thought that was great fun!)

Each "student" got a cup of grass, scissors, and a marker. They were instructed that for this "magic" grass, they needed to give it a "haircut" and decorate the cup. They were all pretty serious about it.

Then we went back in for "Transfiguration" class. I gave each of them "magic clay" (homemade playdoh) and told them they needed to turn it into an animal. (There were quite a few snakes)

We then had "Care of Magical Creatures" class. This one was a bit of a reach, I must admit, but I thought I was pretty clever. I found a pin the tail on the donkey game for only $1 at Walmart. What I told them was that it was a "Magical, Invisible Donkey" that disappeared when it's tail fell off. That was why they needed to practice putting it back on while blindfolded. Good, right?

The next class was my favorite. Potions!
I found the official Harry Potter Wiki where I found a list of all the potions ingredients used in the books and movies. So, I went through those and found things in my house that I thought would make good substitutes. I also found some nifty looking bottles and jars at Goodwill to put them in.

I gave them each a "cauldron" (plastic cup) and we made a potion together. Dragon's blood (water with food coloring) + Boomslang Skin (pop rocks) + bicorn horn power (baking soda) + Bouncing Spider Juice (lemon juice). It was nice and fizzy.

Then, I turned them loose and let them make their own potions. Some of them got pretty interesting! A couple of kids were brave enough to taste them! It was good, messy fun!
Then it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I tried to build up the suspense a little bit. I told them they would be battling against a very fierce, dangerous dragon, and the only way to defeat it was to hit it with a branch from a Whomping Willow.
Okay, so it was a Dragon Pinata and a stick. But I thought it was fun.

Yippee for candy!

Then it was time for cake

The cake was actually pretty easy to make. I used round cakes in a few different sizes. One was cooked in a bowl, and the top of the cake and Hagrids hut were cooked in my Pampered Chef prep bowls. I used canned frosting, and the towers are made of ice cream cones. I was surprised that all the kids wanted the "pointy" parts and fought over who got them.

The birthday boy with a messy face

Of course there were lots of fun gifts to open

And then they had time to go outside and PLAY!

It really was a great party and I think that everyone had a great time! But, it was A LOT of work and I was EXHAUSTED by the time it was over!
I COULD NOT have been able to pull it off if it wasn't for my wonderful in-laws who came to help, as well as my fabulous husband. Thank you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZANDER!

Girl's Night

2010-05-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Brandon took Zander to the Father's and Son's campout, so I got to spend time with just my girls. I wanted to make a fun day of it.

So, we made some pizza for dinner. And some cookies.

Then we hung out and watched Sleeping Beauty (Ady's choice).

Played a little dress-up

And then we played a few games. Ady's favorite is Jumping Monkeys. You have to catapult the monkeys into the tree. It's good for lots of giggles!

The boy's didn't get home until late the next afternoon, so in the morning we went shopping and out to lunch. It was a fun time and I was happy I got to spend some quality time with my best girls!

Karate!

2010-05-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

Zander has been taking karate classes for the last few months. He really enjoys it and has done very well.
This last week was the awards ceremony. Zander received a GREEN belt! It was really quite an accomplishment, I think. Most of the students went from white belt to yellow, but he skipped right over yellow and got the green! We are very proud of him!
He wants to continue to take karate and we are going to keep encouraging him as long as he wants to do it.

Before the awards were given out, all the student put on a demonstration to show us what they had learned. Zander is the only one in white because we started at a different school where they gave us "free" gis when we signed up. We decided to move to a different (less expensive) school and didn't think we needed to buy a new one until he grows out of this one. And he doesn't seem to mind too much.

Getting his award and belt

Showing of the moves

With his Sensei

CCFA Walk Coming Up - I need your help!

2010-04-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before or not, but almost three years ago now my husband, Brandon, was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. In case you don't know what Crohn's is, it is a VERY painful condition with very unpleasant symptoms. (Read about it here)
Right now, there is no cure. And in some cases, the treatment is worse than the disease. There are days when he can barely walk because the medication makes his joints hurt so bad. But without the medication, he would spend all of his time in bed, or in the bathroom. (NOT fun)

So, why am I writing about this here, now?

On May 22nd at 5:00pm, we will be participating in the Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis Walk at Tempe Town Lake. Take Steps is the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA)'s national evening walk and celebration and the nation's largest event dedicated to finding cures for digestive diseases. It is a casual 2-3 mile stroll to raise money for crucial research, bringing us closer to a future free from Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Over 1.4 million American adults and children are affected by these digestive diseases. While many suffer in silence, Take Steps brings together this community in a fun and energetic atmosphere, encouraging them to make noise and be heard.

How can you help?

1. If you live close, you can join us at the walk! Learn about it here
2. You can buy a Zadyball. From now through May 22nd, I will be donating 30% of all Zadyball sales to CCFA.
3. You can help us meet our goal of raising $250 for this cause. See Brandon's Page here

Thank you so Very much for your support!

April Fools Day!

2010-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

I had fun playing a couple of pranks on my kids on April Fool's Day this year. I think it was the first time that they really "got" it, so it was a good time!

First, while Zander was at school, I made "play-doh" for the kids to play with... and told them to eat it! It was a fun treat! (Here's the recipe)

Then, for dinner, I told the kids we were having CUPCAKES! They were excited, and couldn't believe that Mom would actually let them have a treat for dinner! Don't they look yummy?

I also fixed some special drinks for them. They thought we were having some red punch. Here we are getting ready to eat. I think the kids figured that something was up when I started snapping pictures. It took some coaxing to get them to eat.

"Hey! What is this? Why won't my drink come out of my cup?"

It's JELLO! April Fools!

Now, how about those cupcakes??

Not exactly what he was expecting! It was actually MEATLOAF with mashed potatoes on top! Believe it or not, it was rather tasty. But it didn't taste anything like a cupcake! The kids ended up liking it and the jello made up for not having "real" cupcakes.
Happy April Fools!