Summer News (May, June and July)...

Cone Flowers from Aunt Shirley's Summer Garden - Thank you!

 

Amazing friends; summer nights;
Chocolate ice cream; mud slide fights;
Half the summer is gone already
So lets spend the rest of it; slow and steady. 

- Anonymous - 

Well... what can I say. I am about three months behind writing in my family journal blog.  I started this  blog post in June and it is already the last day of July before I was able to finish. Life has been very busy to say the least. Anyway, here is a small glimpse of some of the more noteworthy events this summer...

MAY 2010

 Three kids in grandma's tree

End of School and Summer Break...

The last 2 weeks of school were very busy. Caitlin's class had both a Luau and a Water Day. I hung out and helped for awhile at the Luau where the kids had tropical fruit salad & punch that they drank through a red vine licorice - I will have to remember that one for the next party. They also danced, tossed beach balls, made a necklace and performed the limbo. The following week and last week of school in May... Caitlin's class had water day. I stopped by for a few minutes and it looked like the kids had a blast getting drenched. The teachers were such good sports and also allowed the kids to drench them as well. Fun Times in first grade!!

 The chicken Dance

Making a necklace

 Water day fun

Caitlin and her friend

Ewan celebrated his 5th birthday in May. We celebrated both in his class... as well as at home with songs and goodies.

Ewan with Mrs. M. on his birthday

His favorite gift was Star wars toys

Birthday Song and wishes

School's end came quickly. The kids helped me pick out and make gift baskets for their teachers. The theme for Ewan and Aidan's teacher's was pancakes and for Caitlin's teacher... we went with a western chili  and corn bread theme. The gifts seemed to go over well... i am sure they were excited to get something other than apple-related items as a parting gift.

Mr. S's (Caitlin's teacher) gift included Old fashioned root beer, a chili kit, cornbread mix, bandanna and a cowboy hat.

 Aidan and Ewan's teachers gifts included large spouted mixing bowl, pancake mix, a bottle of syrup, hand towels, a double sided mixing spatula and a griddle spatula for flippin' the jacks.

The kids were excited to start summer break... but about 3 days into the summer... I think they were all bored enough to want to return to school. Even though we stay pretty busy, there is nothing quite like school to occupy their time.

Swimming Lessons... 

The last week of May, I enrolled the kids in swim lessons. The kids did really well despite how cold the water was. The funniest part was watching them barely be able to walk over to me after the lessons because they were shivering so. Poor things... guess that shouldn't be so funny to me in retrospect. All three kids moved up a level and I am very confident in Aidan's swimming skills. Ewan still worries me as he is over-confident, fearless, and thinks he is superman. Unfortunately... I did not get pictures during lessons.

Aidan swimming (at another time )

 JUNE 2010

Sleep-Overs...
Our summer has been full of friends and sleep-overs. On one sleepover I had my three, a long with 5 other neighbor children. the kids had a blast.

Fish Sticks and Cheese Curl Smiles

All 8 kiddo's spending the night- 7 of them boys

One of the kids made a Lego creation and made it attack Zoe.

Don't hammer your thumb...

We have attended and loved these great little children's workshops hosted by Lowe's and Home Depot all summer. My kids love to build the fun projects and earn badges/pins for their aprons. I first heard of these workshops through my friend and Caitlin's Kindergarten teacher, Katie. Thanks Katie!! If you have young kids at home I would highly recommend them. Lowe's Build and Grow Workshops are usually scheduled several times a month and Home Depot's Kid's Workshop is the first Saturday of each month. Check my links bar for details.

Aidan and Caitlin building projects

Ewan and his projects

C

Caitlin making a see through planter

On a funny note, Caitlin and I apparently take after each other. Caitlin was trying to hammer a nail in  a project and hammered her finger. She did not cry... so I kissed it... handed her the hammer and said "try again". She did try again and promptly hammered her finger a second time. I gave her finger another kiss and said, "Here... why don't I give it a try." Can you guess what happened next? You got it... I hammered my finger! Caitlin offered to kiss my finger but we both still had red , throbbing fingers that day.

Vacation Bible School...
The first week of June the kids attended Vacation Bible School at Horizons Church and had a blast. The theme was Joseph in Egypt and the staff did an excellent job transforming the church into an Egyptian Market place. In addition to learning about God through dramatizations and participation, the kids had plenty of fun singing, dancing, playing games and making crafts. The kids really loved this VBS camp and are thrilled about attending next year. We are also considering making this church out home church.

Ewan (did not dress up this day) in the front

Ron's House... need I say more?

This is one of our favorite haunts for swimming and playing... and Ron is so kind to have had us out several times. One of our visits had us reconnect with a high school friend - Shawn and her kiddo's. We had a great time eating, swimming, playing at the Anthem park and visiting!

 Ron's a big kid at heart!

Riding the wild dinosaur?

 JULY 2010

Proud to be an American

Play Time at the Children's Museum...

This is also a great little museum for children under 12 years old. We met Merri and her kids there and had a blast. There were tons of activities including building forts, riding trikes, racing cars, art projects, climbing a huge indoor jungle gym, pretend shopping and cooking.

Our favorite was the noodle forest were even Merri and I ventured in. I have to say... I am not sure why but the noodle forest felt very therapeutic. The Children's Museum has free admittance the first Friday of each month. Also check the link at the side for more information about this museum.

 The Noodle forest

 Drawing with Van Gogh's Starry Night as inspiration

Shopping

Lights in the sky on Independence Day...

 Fireworks

The kids and I celebrated fourth of July at my Aunt Shirley's house. We pot lucked the dinner with classic American fare...  hot dogs, baked beans and corn on the cob. Later that evening we went down to my Aunt's "spot" where we could see the city of Peoria's fireworks from across a huge ravine. We enjoyed our time  on the fourth with Aunt Shirley and are thankful she had us over to celebrate.

 The kids with their Nannee

Caitlin and Ewan with Cody (A. Shirley's Dog)

Scouting in the desert...

Camp Pueblo

Aidan attended the annual boy scout camp at the Heard Pueblo Camp. The theme this year was Knights of the Pueblo and had a medieval theme. The camp went for three days  from 3 - 10 pm and I attended one of the days to help. To keep cool the kids all had water bottles and would spray each other down.Aidan learned to shoot BB guns, archery, swimming, did crafts and played games. I also got a chance to shoot the BB riffle and was amazed at how well I did (if I can brag a bit). I hit the target all but the first two times I shot the gun. (learning curve, right?) I think it would be fun to get one for Aidan and take him to practice shooting it.

Aidan shooting the BB Rifle

Aidan shooting the bow and arrow

Krispy Kreme Donuts and the Heard Museum...

 The box of donuts

I love Ewan's grin

Last weekend we met with some friends to have  a morning of fun. I learned online that Krispy Kreme donuts will give you a free donut for having A's on your school report card. We were pleasantly surprised when they gave us a dozen donuts for free!! Breakfast was on Aidan's hard work this morning! Apparently, they give children a free donut for EVERY "A" a child gets.. and we ended up with a whole box. We ordered a bunch of drinks to try and compensate, and thanked the Krispy Kreme staff profusely.

We then headed over to the Heard Museum. This is another museum I would highly recommend. and shows how Indians of Arizona and the Sonoran dessert lived (check out the link). Every July... they open the museum to the public for free on Saturdays. In addition, they have Indian dances, performances, and related crafts for the kids to make. The Saturday we went, we saw members of the Hopi tribe perform the Corn Dance. This Dance is performed this time of the year to bring rain to the corn crops. It worked... see below.

The Hopi corn dance

Swimming  in our new lake...

We received out first real Monsoon downpour of the summer in our part of the valley a few days ago. What a refreshing moment of joy and coolness. The kids enjoyed swimming with their friends in the newly formed lake in front of our house. Only in Arizona will you see kids excited to put on water goggles and go play in large puddles after a rainstorm! For those of you thinking of e-mailing me with a "gross" right about now... Please think back and remember the joy involved with jumping in puddles as a child. Besides... it was nothing a little bath couldn't clean up. :) Pictures coming soon... check back!!

Bugs and four legged critters with tails... 

While picking grapes off of my grape vine, I found the largest, chubbiest caterpillar I think I have ever seem. He had been feeding on my vine for some time apparently and was quite happy about it. I showed the kids and they promptly picked him off and let him crawl about their hands. Mike is not a bug person... so he was officially creeped out at the "plump squishy-ness" of the caterpillar. Later in the day, the kids agreed to let the caterpillar go so it could pollinate our garden as a butterfly and placed him back on the grape vine.

Caitlin holding the caterpillar

I also found (er... almost crushed) a baby gecko on the porch while looking at the stars one night. Fortunately, it was a quick mover. He stayed long enough to pose for my camera before running off into the yard. On the lizard subject... I am still trying to get a picture of Liz - Zilla (named so by Aidan). He is a very large and cautious lizard, living at the side of our house. I am guessing he is a foot or so long and I just can't get within a close enough distance to take a picture before he scurries off.

Backing Up and breaking Down...

We had some serious issues with plumbing this month that required two visits by  professional plumbers and cost several hundred dollars. The Plumber snaked out the lines and managed to pull out a pair of underwear. The plumber came in and said, "Well... I think I found the problem. I pulled out a pair of underpants." The plumber was really embarrassed when I asked him what they looked like. Laughing moment! He looked at me funny for a minute... and paused... then said, "well, they were white with a blue stripe and..." I decided to spare him and said... "I just need to know if they are girls or boys!" It ended up being Caitlin's underwear... however... Ewan flushed them. I remember a day a few months ago when Ewan decided to run Caitlin's room... grab her clothes, giggle and run to the toilet to flush them. Caitlin was crying hysterically and I had to fish her clothing out of the toilet. I did not realize the underwear went down though. Pesky little brother!!!

When the plumbing backed up... it also took the pumps out on our dishwasher. We then had to find a new dishwasher. We ended up finding a decent one on craigslist for $50 and decided that would work for now. I do feel the lord looks after us. The total from the plumbing repairs / dishwasher came to $540 and during the same time period I was awarded a cash scholarship from Rio Salado in the amount of $500. Although I would have rather paid down my Spring's tuition costs, the money was a much needed blessing to fix a problem that had to be dealt with.

On to dilemma number three... because all things happen in three's right? The alternator decided to go out in the car leaving Mike stranded at a QT at midnight on the way to work. A friend picked him up and took him to work and the next morning, we had the car towed home. Fortunately, Mike is great at tinkering and was able to replace the alternator and put in a new battery saving us the labor charges of a mechanic.

Other Interesting Tidbits...

Little Eyes and Voices... 

Despite our concerns about the likelihood of Ewan's eye's improving because of his penchant for disposing of his patch, our recent visit to the eye specialist showed that his left eye made a two line improvement. He is now seeing at a 20/50 range in the left eye and 20/20 range in his right eye with corrective lenses.The doc is still having us patch the right eye to continue to help stimulate the brain to use the left eye. and had a little talk about the importance of wearing the patch. So far so good and we have not had any complaints about wearing it. We are hoping that we still have some time to to improve one-two more lines before his brain/vision becomes fixed (sometime around 5 - 6 years).

September '09:  Right Eye - 20/40, Left Eye - 20/400

December '09: Right Eye - 20/20, Left Eye - 20/80 (a HUGE improvement)

April '10:  Right Eye -20/20, Left Eye - 20/70 (1 line improvement)

May '10: Right Eye - 20/20, Left Eye - 20/50 (2 line improvement)

Ewan's speech therapy is going well too. He made six improvements between when he started with the private therapist and now. Like his patch, Ewan often fights speech activities and visiting his therapist... so we are pleased he has made improvements. She did say she was hoping it would have been more... so I need to find ways to make speech activities exciting to encourage Ewan's participation and do them everyday. Wish me luck!

Life can be backwards sometimes...

I have learned that life can flip flop. So all of you who new me as a child and teen probably remember that I had very clear skin with only occasional outbreaks or blemishes. I have been having some problems the last year or so and finally decided to see a dermatologist where I was diagnosed with Rosacea and adult acne in the areas affected with the Rosacea (they go hand in hand). Four prescriptions later, I am hoping to get it under control. UUGGHHH!! I would have much rather dealt with a little acne as a teen, than Rosacea and adult onset acne the rest of my adult life.

Healthy Big Feet and Little Feet...

Mike followed up with the foot doc about his injured foot. Although his foot is often in pain after working all night, all looks well, but the doc did put in for permanent disability as far as medical care goes. He still can work full time doing his regular job, but this allows him to get the medical care he will need later in life. They also set him up with some custom orthotics to help with his non-existent arches. That makes four out of five of us with orthotic inserts now. Yes... the kids inherited Michael's flat feet and all have inserts too.

and the final picture to share...

Yes! I sat on the chair and it collapsed backwards. The chair had been wobbly for awhile from the kids stepping on the leg supports. Then one day I sat down and went all the way down... to the floor. The kids weren't sure what to do and looked like little deer eyes in headlights... until I started laughing. Then they laughed too. Good thing Zoe wasn't sitting at my feet like she usually does.