Christmas Day

Just photos for now.

PHOTOS

THe kids had a great day. We ate, we played, we spent endless hours building Lego sets while sitting in Jammies and watching movies. Good Times.

Waiting for Santa

Yes, I am delayed in posting, but it is all good. We have spent the better part of 3 weeks explaing to Trevor that the following day was not Christmas. The day of his preschool Christmas party, he was positive that it was Christmas that day and Santa was coming. It took a lot of convincing to make him understand. So finally, the last candy from the advent calendar is eaten and he so excited he cant stand it. We got ready (distracted) by having our good friends the Murphy's over for dinner (minus Thomas who was playing a gig). Such a good time. The kids had fun playing mostly with Connor's gift of Toobers and Zots.

Had I known they would be such a hit, I would have bought 2 boxes. After all of the excitement we wished the Murphy's a Merry Christmas and I allowed the kids to then open one gift.

Pajamas and the Wall-E movie. Luckily they fell asleep very quickly so Santa could make a quick trip into deliver the goods.

More Christmas Eve Photos

My Boys

 

I just love this photo. Rick and Trev were goofing around and having alot of fun and I managed to get a great photo before the fun was over.

Annika's Holiday Program

Annika had her Holiday Program last week (yes, I realize I have become a terrible blogger). Annika and her class did a dance and sang "I want a Hippopotomus for Christmas" - which is my very favorite Christmas song. The entire school also attempted to do Silent Night. Each class was supposed to sing in a different language. Annika's class got Swahili We have no idea how that was an option compared to the rest of the language list - French, Spanish, German, Japanese and of course, Swahili. It was very difficult to really know what anyone was singing. We were pretty sure most of the classes forgot the words in any language entirely. So it sounded more like muttering in foreign tongues, but some of the time we managed to pick up a word or two that we could understand.

During the program to our suprise, Annika got the outstanding Art Student award for her class. She did this beautiful shadow frame which is in the picture. It is the bright blue piece. We will get it framed as soon as we get it back from school. It really is beautiful.

Trevor managed to sit very calmly and watch the entire show with minimal complaining or trips to the bathroom. He was a very good audience member.

I love JibJab. They have tons of these fun videos you can make with your own photos. I keep laughing every time I watch them. I am sure the kids will be mortified.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Disco Trevor and Annika

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Charleston Annika and Trevor.

Enjoy!

This is Halloween

After spending way too much time sewing by hand 2 costumes and cursing the fact that I didnt go and just buy them, the kids were ready to go out and beg for candy, I mean Trick or Treat.

Annika was Sally from the movie Nightmare before Christmas

Trevor was a very handsome Jedi. Annikin Skywalker and yes, he corrected everyone who called him Luke.

They looked excellent. The Murphy's arrived to go hit the neighborhood and off we went. Trevor and Ian didnt last too long. Annika and Daddy walked for a while longer. Trevor was not super thrilled with the fact that she had more candy, but it was not a huge deal. He went to bed early due to the toilet incident (see previous post). They had a few pieces of their loot and Trevor went to bed. Annika stayed up and watched Ghost Hunters.

Here are some additional Pics

Happy Hallow...what the?

Ok, so there is a toilet on what should be a Halloween posting. We are getting ready for Trick or Treating when I notice the toilet is not flushing quite as quickly as it should. My concern about a toilet not working is high, because our other toilet is suffering from the same thing. So, I ask Trevor, did you flush something down the toilet. I am thinking he is going to say band aids since he was playing with some earlier. When we finally do get an answer, we come to find out that he has flushed a wooden toy train down the toilet. No, we cant get it out. It is a solid block of wood with wheels. After trying to flush it out backwash with a hose and a feeble attempt to pullit out with a coat hanger, we give up and buy a new toilet. Install the toilet and then see the hose to the toilet tank is broken....sigh.... All would be well with that except the valves are not working and we cant just shut off the bathroom water. So after spending the night and morning with no water, a very nice plumber came to fix the valves.

Moral of this story - Toilets are only for the 3 P's - Pee, Poop and Paper. Trevor is now well aware that trains and toys start with the letter T.

Eight

Happy Birthday my Annika.
A wonderful year that will be great,
Upon waking up this morning, you have officially turned eight.
To wake you we used Birthday presents as bait,
So you woke up early to open them and were not late.
A another year of fun, love, friendship and laughter is your fate.
Dont grow up too soon, adulthood can wait.

Speech News!

As many of you know, Trevor goes to preschool in order to improve his speech. He was given 3 goals to master and as of today he has just about mastered one of them.
The second goal is Will pronounce all final consonants where they are omitted for improved speech intelligibility.
We got this note today from his Speech Therapist:
"Improvement seen - Trevor almost never deletes final consonants - :) Goal near Mastery"

Yay!!!!

Arm Update

Annika's arm is healing nicely. It didnt move out of place too much and does not need to be reset. She has 2 more appointments and her arm will straighten out more as she grows (it is by no means crooked).

Birthday Madness

Ah, the annual Annika birthday party has come and gone. This year's theme was Nightmare Before Christmas Birthday Sleepover - costumes were required. We had in attendance 2 witches (actually, one was a glamour witch, but I dont know really what that is, except the costume was sparkly and tight), a diva, Sharpay (High School Musical) and one regular person. The regular person was given a pirate costume by Annika who said costumes were required.

They played Mummy wrap and Musical Chairs. Annika won, but was gracious enough to give the prize to the 2nd place person because after all, she got a bunch of gifts already and didn't need the prize. Once the costumes were off and the family room was sleeping bag city, they decided to do a fashion show. It was interesting/hysterical listening to Annika discuss how the models posed and if they were really believable or if they used good facial expressions. I think she is watching too much Project Runway. Anyway once 1:30 am rolled around they were all finally asleep for the most part. Unfortunately, they woke up at 6 and I didn't have my coffee fast enough to form coherent sentences. The girls all had a great time and even let Trevor participate in most everything.

How did she do that again?

Ok, I heard some screaming out of Annika's room last Friday evening. I assumed it was a bug and didnt think much of it. The screaming didnt stop or the crying. Bad Mom! No, normally it is a bug. This time it was not. There is Annika, laying on her floor asking for ice, clutching her wrist. She slipped on a blow up hammer from some kid's place and landed hard. I assumed a jammed wrist. I took a closer look and her arm didnt look quite right. So, I called Rick and summoned him home. He looked and looked - nope, that doesnt look right. Off to the ER. Apparently some brilliant nurse asked if her arm was deformed - had she looked at the chart? That would say I would hope possibly a broken arm. After 5 hours of text messaging between Rick and I, Annika was home with an arm in a splint, a Snoopy sling (Linda loves it) and a referral to an orthopedist. She fractured her radius bone right below the wrist (that is the big bone in the arm).

Orthopedist got it pretty close and Annika picked out a pretty blue cast color. Very high tech - has gortex in order for her to take it into the shower with no issues. She goes back to the doctor on Monday to make sure the bone hasn't shifted. Let's hope the answer to that is no...

Tonto Natural Bridge

A day of hiking started with alot of complaining about how long it was taking to get to the spot. When we got there, Annika said it was worth the drive because it was pretty cool. Trevor insisted on leading the pack, but after a spill decided holding hands was a good idea. The Tonto Natural Bridge is really a neat place to hike around, provided you wear appropriate footwear (which we did not have). Their website says sneakers are fine. They are not. After Rick slipped into the water, we decided not to be as adventurous, but did manage to climb around in the caves for a while. Annika's favorite thing was seeing "wild ice" for the first time. Arizona doesnt have alot of ice, and apparently if you see it outside in non-cube form, it is wild. Trevor loved the caves and begged Daddy to take him inside so he could climb. We spent about an hour exploring before heading back up to the top. After eating lunch and hiking some other trails, it was time to hit the road. Out cold before we left the city limits.

More photos of the bridge here

Those locks!

So Annika comes home from school the other day and took her hair out of her ponytail. It looked a bit odd, but you know, it could be bunched up from PE and playing and such. Not the case. I guess she decided it would be a good idea to cut her hair in the school bathroom so she could have a stubby pony tail. Well, that worked, but once the hair was cut, she decided it was not a good idea. Luckily I have paid attention watching her grandmother give haircuts over the years. She had to get a mom cut. It looks pretty straight and she is happy with her cute little bob. Such a cutie.

Birthday Traffic!

We celebrated Rick's birthday on Sunday. The kids were given the task of decorating the cake. They decided on a race track cake. I made the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting as requested and drew the race track around the edge. Trevor's job was to put the race cars on it and Annika did the M&M's and sprinkles. Annika did a great job. Trevor added 2 cars and it looked pretty cool. Next thing I know, there are 6 or 7 cars on it. None of them are race cars. So instead of a race car cake, we came out with a scene from European Vacation when the Griswolds are stuck in a London traffic circle. Can anyone say "Big Ben, Parliment?" Rick got a really great laugh out of the cake, but more importantly, it was pretty tasty.

Don't I have a few more years?

And so the day arrives when our precious little girl gets a phone call. Not just any phone call. She got a phone call from her friend at school so they could just talk about....."stuff". She wandered around on the phone and then went in her room so she could have privacy. She had to closer her door in order to keep Trevor out. When I asked why her friend called, the answer I got was "Just to talk about stuff". He wanted to talk too. We were pretty sure that was not supposed to happen until at least the age of 13 maybe 12. She has already asked if she can have her own cell phone..... I guess they do grow up way to fast.

Why this works...

So according to completely rational child logic, this outfit totally matches. Why you ask? Two reasons:

1. It has dinosaurs on the shirt and the pants
2. Both have green.

Different dinosaurs and non matching green tones make no difference to this ensemble. I see all the kids wear this come winter....

First Day of School!

Cool new sneakers aside, Annika had a great first day of 3rd grade. Yes, I did say 3rd grade. I dont know when she got that old. I am a bit in shock at the thought of having a 3rd grader. Anyway, much excitement to see her friends. Great new teacher. More importantly, this year, they can wear any color polo shirt in stead of the 4 colors they had as options last year. Annika is not super thrilled by her additional options and would prefer to wear whatever she wants. Until she goes to a regular public school (not in Arizona as far as I am concerned), she is stuck with her dress code. Trevor will feel the pain next year when he got to the same school for kindergarten. I would have preschool pics for Trevor - (rant starts now) considering his first day was supposed to be on August 6, but gotta love the Gilbert Public Schools bureacracy for screwing his placement and busing all up. We dont have the crappiest schools in the country for nothing. Sigh. Thank goodness school choice is alive and well in Arizona.

Trouble Dolls

Way too many years ago, I went on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (my favorite museum). While I was there I purchased some trouble dolls. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these dolls, they are less than an inch tall, come from Central America and you tell your troubles to the doll and they then have the trouble instead of you. For some reason I still have them. They have sat in a box along with some other odds and ends. Well, on Sunday, I opened this box to find a postcard my dad wrote to my mom about being in Haight Ashbury during the Hippie Years (see Rick's post). The kids decided to look in the newly unlocked treasure box and found the trouble dolls. Now, you would think that I opened up the secrets to the universe or at least the upcoming Christmas Toy Catalog. Nope, 20 year old dusty trouble dolls. Trevor and Annika played with these dolls for HOURS!. When it was time to put them away, I had to assure Trevor that he would be able to play with them when I got home from work the next day. At 6:30am this morning, I hear the pitter patter of little feet coming into my room. For those of you who don't know, Trevor doesn't rise before 8 for anything - really, never is he up that early. He comes to me wanting to know if he could just look at the dolls to see if they were still there. I let him play with them for a while and went to work. The minute I pulled into the garage, Trevor and Annika were at the garage door wanting to know if they can get the dolls out. Who knew that was all I needed.

Summer Fun 2

Finally some slip n slide photos. Trevor spent most of the time running back and forth and using the streams of water as a water fountain. Annika practiced her slide technique. She was doing ok by the end. Still a bit afraid to fully slide down on her belly. She did get some good sliding in. Click on the photo for some additional photos.

The Dog Days of Summer

Well, here we are once again in the midst of summer here in the southwest. It not only gets hotter. It's as if the Earth moves a few hundred thousand miles closer to the sun. This, of course means that Annika and Trevor don't feel like going outside unless there is a pool involved. So, the other day Cindy arrived on the scene with a few backyard hydrologic novelty items. That's water toys to you and me. A Slip n' Slide by WHAMO! and something else that can only be described as a neon water snake. (I guess?) A contraption which, when hooked up to the garden hose, emits water in a sprinkler type fashion. Well, the thrill of this "water eel" wore off quickly and I was asked, no commanded to retrieve the Slip n' Slide from its box. I could feel their anticipation growing as we plugged in the hose and completed our final setup. Not knowing if my kids had ever used one before, I gave some quick instructions that were lost in the excitement. Annika was first. She didn' t run very fast and therefore didn't get very far. But the giggles were there and that's all that mattered. Trevor preferred the knee slide technique as if he were some rock star. Both had a blast and by the end of the session, were proficient sliders. Of course Dad figured he'd give it a shot. I, like any other Dad in the whole world, wanted to show the kids how we old timers used to do it "back in the day". "Old School", if you will. So I got up the nerve and dove onto this flimsy piece of 2 millimeter plastic and flew straight to the end. Only once I came to the end it wasn't the end. My jelly-like mass hurled itself over the bumper and into the grass to the delight of my two young spectators. I am glad they got a laugh out of it. I, on the other hand have found out that throwing myself chest first onto the ground is not like it was when I was ten. I think I'll leave it to the professionals from now on. Go Annika and Trevor!

Bragging Time

Last school year, Annika took a standardized test called the TerraNova. This is a national test and the results are based on a National Average, not local or state. Well, the brillian Miss Annika received a 99 percentile in Math and 91 in Language. Yay Annika. She will be working at NASA any day now.

Arizona Science Center

I thought this place would be AWESOME. However, I was mistaken. Sort of the feeling I would expect most kids would get upon entering Epcot Center today. It was created 20 years ago about what the future would be like and now is completely outdated and lame. This was my experience at the Science Center. Now, what about the kids? you say. Their opinion was not too much different. Aside from the top level that had exhibits on geology and weather, they were totally unimpressed. They got to make spinny tops on one level but aside from that - it was fairly lame. They did have a pretty cool weather exhibit that had heat and rain and tons of fans to make wind to simulate tornadoes and hurricanes. (that was on the geology floor). THey also learned about different types of rocks and clouds.

I dont think we will head back, but at least we got out for a bit and escaped the terrible heat.

Weekend at Tucson

After a long wait - more photos. We spent the weekend away from hot sweltering Phoenix and traveled down to the just sweltering Tucson. Yes, the 5 degree temperature change did make a difference. Also at night, it does actually cool down quite a bit compared to Mesa. We had a wonderful time, as we always do when we head down for a visit. Mostly spent, swimming, relaxing and watching Disney and Star Wars movies.

Trevor doing an awesome job with the swimming lessons from Aunt Joyce.


Annika happy to be cooling off in the hot, hot, hot summer sunshine.

Drying off in the new hoodie towels made by Aunt Joyce. Annika has a bunny towel (notice her bunny teeth).

No Cavities

Trevor had his first dental appointment. He of course charmed the hygenist with his cuteness. His dentist is Dr. James. Dr. James is very funny and asked Trevor lots of silly questions. He answered all questions in a way that made the dentist laugh. He asked lots of detailed questions that required long and detailed answers by everyone who worked at the dentist office. Let me stress the word lots. Mostly it was "what is that?", but then there were "How does that work? Can I try it? Can I do it? Can you show me this?" Then there were multiple questions about Lightening McQueen because there was a poster of him in the exam room. It was hilarious. They get 6 months to rest up before his next visit.

Annika also had a visit today, but Rick didn't have the camera so I have no photos. Also no cavities. She does need to visit the orthodontist regarding braces. We will keep you posted on the braces updates.

New Bike!!!

All kids love getting a new bike. Even in these iPod, XBox, Nintendo DS world they are in, no child can resist the idea of getting a new bike. It is one of the more simple things that make kids still kids. Ok, I do realize there are bikes with shocks and mini engines and things that I cant name because I dont know the purpose, but lets just pretend that all kids have normal foot powered bikes. Annika out grew her old bike. After scouring craigslist, we found the perfect bike for her - Not girly, not pink, no frilly streamer things.


The great blue schwinn bike with stars on the seat. She loves it and goes riding (with no training wheels - see earlier blog entry), just about every morning with Daddy and Trevor.

Makes me want to get a new bike. I guess I had better hit craigslist myself for a similar, larger non-girly bike.

Budding Photographer

Annika always likes to take pictures. Usually they are of stuffed animals on display. Today she decided that Fitz would be her subject.


Personally, I think it is one of the better photos we have of beloved Fitz. Fitz is always a cooperative subject. Annika definately has an eye for taking a good shot.

Good Poetic Advice

Annika had a play and poetry reading at school last night. She was the 2nd grade winner of the poetry contest. It is "How not to Dry the Dishes" by Shel Silverstein.

Happy Mother's Day!

And what does every mother want? Cards? Flowers? Expensive jewelry? Of course.... Actually it is calm, quiet, well behaved children who are not fighting, hitting or yelling at each other.

Mission Accomplished!

Ahhh - they have aged 4 weeks!!!

Wow, I havent posted any of the children's escapades:

1. Trevor had a b-day party: Pics here
2. Trevor had his first soccer game of the season (imagine herding cats) Pics here
3. Trevor went to meet his pre-school teachers. If you dont already know, Trevor is finishing the school year at Neely Traditional Academy's preschool. He qualifies for speech therapy since his articulation is not what it should be. Now, he met his teachers today. He used his "cutie" voice and both teachers melted. It is this higher pitched voice that he uses when he wants something. It is very effective. Sorry, no pics, but the classroom has a trampeline, a Lego table and many other cool things, so T was pretty thrilled.

At this point, he has now had his first day, rode the bus and has a new backpack specifically for school. It is official, he is a big boy. Do I have photos of such a monumous event? No, but I will get photos on his next day, which is Thursday. I swear. If I am lucky, I will get them posted the same day.

Annika did do things as well, but not the same milestone type things to report on. She of course has drawn lots of fabulous art pieces and spent the weekend curled out with my aunt's greyhound. I promise more pics of her soon.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

Our boy is 4 today. Officially, he will tell you that he is now a big boy. Very big.
He is a boy of mischief and loving devotion. He is a boy that has you sitting on eggshells as he plays and puts you in awe as he peacefully sleeps. He is a boy who enjoys keeping all adults on their toes. He is a loving brother to his big sister and giver of some of the sweetest kisses and strongest hugs. He is a fierce friend and a protector of all those who are smaller than himself. Trevor is everything a little, or now big boy needs to be.

First Friends

First Smiles

Risky Business Tribute




Quiet time with a friend

Loving Little Brother