SuperKids!!!!

My sister is queen of getting the unusual, non-commericalized gifts for the kids. They are just about always hits. This year at Christmas, she got Trevor got a great Klutz book in which you can make yourself into a superhero. Annika and Trevor spent about an hour getting the proper clothes and designing their outfits. They even came up with names.

Super T Starman

Hawkgirl (yes, I know taken by the Justice League, one of the masks looked hawkish).

This kept them so busy that there was no fighting, yelling or bickering. I could not believe it. Being children, after the pictures were taken, they moved onto Barbies and then the fighting started, but I had at least 2 hours of calm, so that chalks up to a great gift.

Merry Christmas

Annika started the day at 3 am. I asked her what Santa brought and told her to go to bed. She said she was cold and that was why she was awake. After a few more hours, I was able to get up and make coffee, set up the video camera and then drink some coffee before the chaos ensued. Annika woke up Trevor who once realized it was Christmas, ran out of his room yelling "It's Christmas, it's Christmas!!!!" over and over again. Santa brought him a pirate ship. He was very excited. Annika got a magnify thing you plug into the TV.

I think the most prized gift for Trevor was a 2$ light saber I got after Halloween. Why do I bother worrying - I just need to get about 10 things that cost 2$ and I will be all set. That and boxes.
Annika got more Little Pets which I found out brings her collection to 130. I had no idea she had that many. I guess I know what she doesn't need now. WE had the Murphy clan over for dinner. The boys were too busy playing to eat. We had to sit them down and tell them no toys until they ate something.

Trevor asked me it if was Christmas still today. I told him no, but that he still got to have all of his new toys.
'

Not funny, but wait, it is...

This isnt that funny, but it is. Here is the Trevor homeless series. One day a box was his house and the day before he fell asleep on his picnic bench.

Three Cheers for Annika

This month's student of the month for 2nd Grade is.......

ANNIKA WINES

Ok, bad mom, I missed most of what the principal said because one un-named 3 year old was busy talking and sitting in front of my face. Also I was taking pictures. Based on what her lovely teacher, Ms. Tuterow said, Annika got the award this month for being - helpful, responsible and compasionate. What is interesting, is that the winner gets this really great job of putting the chairs on the desks in the classroom. Personally, it sounds a little fishy - "How can we get kids to pick up their chairs? Make it an award!!!!" Regardless, we are all very proud and Annika is excited about chair duty.

So what prestigeous gift do we give our winner? A trip to Cold Stone!!!

Annika had cotton candy with marshmallows. Don't worry, Trevor was not left out! He had strawberry with gummy bears. I had coffee with heathbar. No way I was missing out on Cold Stone either.

Sleepover

My friend Linda, needing some much needed rest, took a weekend away with her sister-in-law. Her husband wound up having to work so I had a few extra bodies at my house over the weekend. Ian and Connor (my favorite little boys, aside from Trevor that is) had a fun sleepover with Trevor and Annika. We blew up a big air mattress. They played with Legos and K'nex. They thought sleeping in the family room and watching movies was the best idea ever. Connor just liked climbing up and down on it. The next day they used couch cushions and pillows to make a tunnel in between the couch and the mattress. This was a short lived fort since Connor would climb under and immediately stand up, destroying the tunnel each time. I found it highly entertaining, as did Connor. Annika, Trevor and Ian did not agree.

Connor wore this hat most of the time he was here.

Auntie's favorite quote from her visit

"Trevor, I'm not going to lay on the floor. I'll be a shark who sits on the couch."
~ Cindy Wines, November 23, 2007

Our Next Investment Banker

I think Trevor watched a bit too much CNBC while Grandpa was in town.
Watching his stocks... Apple is up !!


SELL! SELL! SELL!!!!!

He makes his mother so proud.

Smores!!!

Yes, it does get cold in Arizona. Finally! So we decided to make a fire and break out the marshmallows. The kids could not be more thrilled. Lighting marshmallows on fire is a big deal. I showed them how to do them just right, but Grandpa showed me up with his spinning of the skew technique. The kids were highly impressed. Trevor was very interested in throwing sticks on the fire to make it like a campfire. It was very sad when we ran out and they both started looking for other sticks that they could break up and burn. It was lots of fun and no one got burned, so it was a successful smore making evening.

More pics are here

Mousetrap!!

When I was a kid, my brother had Mousetrap. He didn't let me play that much. I always remembered it being this super awesome cool game. Annika wanted it for her b-day and she had a gift certificate so I picked it up. Brought it home and Annika and Trevor immediately began taking it all apart from the box. We got it all set up and read the instructions. Apparently part of the game is setting it up. Since we had spent 20 minute putting it all together anyway, we just moved around the board. Trevor just wanted to use the trap. We tried to play but by the time Annika got out from being trapped, Trevor was done and they just started playing with it trapping all toys that would fit in the game. The Power Rangers were rounding up the mice and the Perfection pieces to be trapped. Do I think this game will be played as a game again? Probably not, but I am sure it will be put to good use.

Slumberama!

Sleepovers are fun when you are 7. You get to stay up later than grownups! Annika had 5 friends over to celebrate her birthday. Trevor went to a friends to get away from all of the girls. I am glad that I didnt plan too much, most of the party was spent in Annika's room playing with her toys. The girls all had a great time. A few stayed until 11 or so and 2 more slept over. Annika and Carly fell asleep around 12:30. Her other friend was up until 1:30. Finally I had to tell her to let me know if she needed anything and I headed to bed. Everyone was still sleeping at 8am. No wonder. The girls all had a great time. Everyone left with Little Pets and Lollipops.

Make a wish and blow out the candles...

Sweet Moment with Fitz. Not Party related, but it was cute.

Happy Halloween

Another night of sending out kids in costumes to beg for food. We had a Pirate and mask less Power Ranger (the mask continually slipped down). I had a terrible cold but being the good sport of a mom that I am, we hit the entire neighborhood plus part of another one. The highlight of the night was the family who was walking a pug. Annika was racing from house to house to catch up so she could pet him. Everyone had a good haul and ate a few candies before watching some very kid friendly Halloween shows and going to bed.

Our Girl Turns 7!

Has it been this long? She was just a little bitty the other day. Where does the time go. She was just so tiny. Now she is the friend of animals, drawer of pictures, reader of books, protector of little brothers, player of soccer, rider of bikes, teller of silly jokes, lover of life. She finds joy every day even when sadness should prevail. She makes you know how wonderful life is and how much better it is with her in it. My girl is 7 and they have been a fantastic 7 years for all who she has touched.

Sedona

What is there to say. Sedona is beautiful. We started on the last leg of the trip with questions of whether we were going home or not. We stopped to look over the canyon for a bit and then headed down the mountain. Spent a few hours at some state park so the kids could run around and unwind. They had a so much fun and spent some time looking for turtles. All they found was some weird bug. They had no problem getting back into the car since it meant heading home.

More Photos: Sedona Photos

Vacation Right of Passage

Every child must suffer the "Never Ending Road Trip". Annika and Trevor finally got their first one. On a whim, we decided to go to Monument Valley. This was for me and my dad, so the kids had to suffer the long ride. Beautiful - Yes. Middle of Nowhere - yes. Longest drive the kids have ever done? - Definitely. We drove from the Grand Canyon to the town of Kayenta, well inside the Navajo Nation. 3 hours. From there it was another 30 minutes. We hit Utah and finally it was time to get out of the car. Monument Valley is exquisite. I recommend everyone going there. Make sure to do it without a 3 year old and to do it as part of a trip going some where afterwards. There is nothing else there but that. NOTHING.

Getting back to Trevor and Annika. By the time we got there, they were unimpressed. It was way to long of drive to look at rocks. Every time I pointed something out, Annika did not care unless it meant we didn't have to be in a car. We drove closer to the peaks on a dirt road. They didn't have to wear seat belts (insert "Bad Mommy" here) which became the highlight of going there. That and buying cowboy hats. When I told them were were headed back to Flagstaff after an hour and a half, the whining began. It didn't stop until we were in Flagstaff. Patience prevailed. They did manage to keep busy. Trevor needed a bathroom when were on a desolate highway and it took some convincing that he could pee outside. He had no problem the second time we had to stop in a different but similar looking place. So after 6 hours in the car, their horribly long road trip was over.

More pics here: Monument Valley

Grand Canyon

After 4 hours of driving, stopping for the occasional pee break, we arrive at the Grand Canyon. It was so nice and cool - only 65 and breezy. By breezy, I mean windy. Really windy. It was definitely a nice change from the 95 degree weather in Phoenix. The kids had a great time. Grandpa probably almost had about 20 heart attacks making sure Trevor didn't go over the edge. He wanted to just look or climb down. It wasn't until there was a guard rail did he have hesitations about getting to close. Annika of course - totally well behaved, except for me having to tell her about 50 times to not climb on the rocks.

Sad news that a little girl Trevor's age fell at the canyon a day or two after we were there. I gave Trevor a great big hug and thanked him for not getting to close.

More pics here: Grand Canyon Photo Album

Biking...As Promised

Like they say, once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. Annika is still riding, but is having troubles getting started. She was assisted by Grandpa who got her started and gave her assorted Grandpa type advice (not sure what it is, I was busy taking pics) But she did much better after their chat.

Annika and Grandpa

Going...

Going....

Oops...
(She's fine)

Trevor had to get in on the biking action. He never misses an opportunity to ride his bike.

NEWS FLASH

Annika rode her bike - no training wheels!!! We went to the park and they have a huge grassy field. It only took a few tries and she was riding all over. She still needs help getting started, but I think her tires need more air so she moves a bit faster from the get go. I promise to add pictures soon. I didn't take any because I was running after her for a while and also because I forgot my camera (bad Mommy).

Again??????

Geez, do those kids do anything other than soccer? I am so sick of these photos of uniforms, soccer balls and running around. They really need some diversity in their activities.

Yes, they do have other things going on. Trevor is learning to write his letters, Annika aced all her subjects (except penmanship) in school. Everyone is growing, everyone is playing and doing what all little kids do. No one is sick or visited the ER lately (Yes!).

We live on the sun, or it certainly feels like it. Until we start having somewhat normal temps here, we aren't venturing out much, so Soccer is where we get lots of photos. This is my doing. I am sure the kids would be more than happy to go some place, but the thought of getting into a hot car is too much. I think I would rather be a shut in sometimes than even go run up to get the paper at the store. It is a good thing we have Netflix and a huge supply of arts and crafts.

We did make a cake




One thing...Trevor got his first goal during a game. Very exciting.

First Game!!!

Trevor had his first game on Saturday. 3 year old soccer is one of the most entertaining things you can do on a Saturday. It consists of chaos, crying and alot of confused children. The game starts and Trevor is in. Coach told him to stand in a specific spot before the ball was kicked. Trevor took that to mean he was not supposed to move from that spot. The confused look appeared when the other kids were running around and Trevor was not moving. After about 5 minutes he figured out he should run and played almost the entire remainder of the game. His buddy Ian would not play unless Trevor played. One little boy cried the entire time as his parents desperately tried to get him to play. No luck there. I am not sure who won. There were alot of goals scored, some by our team, some by the other team kicking the ball into our goal and vice versa. It was fun, even if it was as hot as the sun out.




By the time it was Annika's game, the temperature reached 100. We had been sitting in the sun for an hour already and her enthusiasm was gone (as was the rest of the teams). She did play 2 quarters and was really happy when the game was over so we could hit the car. Luckily, her game is first next week.