Remembering The Real Meaning...

I heard this today in Young Women's and it made me cry... I wanted to have my family listen to it too. What a sweet little boy with such great knowledge. I hope that we can all remember what Christmas is really about!

http://ktisblog.skylightradio.org/main/2007/12/21/logan-the-nebraska-cowboy/

Breakfast with Santa

We had a fun ward Breakfast with Santa. It was actually raining that day so it did feel a little more Christmasy. The kids were excited but notice we are short one picture...Hmm, I wonder what he is asking for?
Madison didn't want to have anything to do with Santa...maybe next year!

Rain, Wolf and Dream House

Rain Rain Come Again

Last weekend it rained and rained and rained .... it was so much fun! I loved it! It made it feel a little more like the Christmas season (even though I'm dreaming of snow - rain will suffice). The kids were excited to take pictures...Tanner was glad his pumpkin plant got all the water that it did! Unfortunately Nate was trying to put the Christmas Tree lights up on the house and the rain/ladder combination wasn't working. Good thing no one got hurt! I'm secretly praying that the weather forecasters are right and we'll see a few more drops this weekend.

• Wolf

We've got a wolf in our house! No, it's not Jacob (for all you Twilight fans!) Way to go Tanner - he earned his Wolf last night at Pack Meeting. I am glad for the Boy Scout program and for the things his is learning and doing! A big thanks goes out to all his leaders!

• Dream House

Ok, so maybe the dream house is still a dream, but the boys had a great time building this one! I think it looks pretty good considering it really was done by all the boys in the family. I do have to admit, Nate really is much better at this kind of thing than I am! This is a fun tradition we have done the last couple of years and the kids always look forward to it!

Let the Holiday Season Begin...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1135993051

Favorite Alexisms

Alex has been cracking me up lately... he is turning into a funny little guy! The other day he mentioned to me that Madison was doing something she shouldn't have and so he took it upon himself to put her in "time-out" but he says, "I did give her some toys, Mom!"

This morning I was fixing breakfast for everyone. Alex was in the other room and I asked him if he wanted to come into the kitchen and get something. He replies to me, "No, Mom! I'm not in business with you right now!"

I guess I'll have to come up with a new business plan! I love the little guy even if he won't be my business partner and he does my parenting for me!

12/7/07 I just had to add another cute thought Alex had yesterday so I could remember.... He was getting pretzels out to eat and said, "I know what pretzels are made of. Really, I said, what? They are made of part wood and part snack!
I asked him if he was sure and he said "yes" and then went about eating his part wood part snack snack!

Friday Confessions & Ramblings

• I really shouldn't be blogging today. We are trying to leave out-of-town this afternoon for my Father-In-Law's big Birthday Bash and I haven't packed!
• We just had Christmas yesterday, unfortunately it was at the Dentist office! Bah Humbug! My favorite oldest child had 6 cavities - yes, 6! What happened? And why is it that dental work is sooo expensive?

• I feel like I have been running around like crazy trying to get things done but have nothing to show for it! And, my favorite youngest child is doing her very best job of undoing most everything I've done!

• I started a week ago my assignment to make 5 scrapbook pages for Grandpa Glazier's birthday party, but I still haven't finished them!
• I'm in an Arizona dilemma - we are heading to colder territory for the Birthday bash and Thanksgiving and I'm now realizing at the last hour that my kids do not have any warm coats or clothes. We are still wearing flip flops and shorts around here.

• I still need to mow the lawn , take out the trash and find a frog sitter before we leave - are those REALLY my jobs?

• Why is it that car repairs always come in multiples and just right before Christmas?

• My house is a mess and I still have piles of laundry to do! Does the laundry ever end?

• Thanks for letting me vent! I feel much better now!

• I'm off to pack, clean, mow etc... I can get it all done by 3pm Right? :-)

• I am looking forward to a relaxing and grateful Thanksgiving (hey, I don't have to cook this year!) and wish you all the same!

Trunk or Treat, Pre-Trick or Treat Parties and Finally Trick or Treat!

Add that all together and it = way too much candy! Tanner dressed up as Jango Fett from Star Wars, Alex went as a green Power Ranger and Madison, well Madison is a whole other story! She really wanted to be Dora The Explorer, but I was too cheap to spend $30 dollars on a over-priced costume when we had a perfectly fine ladybug at home! She told everyone that asked, that she was going to be Dor(la) and so, in typical girl fashion, when it came down to getting ready for all the fun events, she put her foot down and would not dress up at all! Stubborn!!! We started the mass candy collecting on Friday night with the ward Trunk or Treat. A couple of neighbors threw a great pre-trick or treating party with lots of fun games and activities. The kids really loved it! Then off to the annual street party for a BBQ and then the long awaited real trick or treating! They all came home with so much candy, it should last us another two years! Madison is constantly asking for her "Pumpkin Treats" which really means "I don't want just one piece of candy, I want the whole pumpkin, so I can shove all the candy I can in my mouth before I get caught!" The boys have been pretty good about asking for only 1 or 2 pieces a day and I have been able to bribe them with "you can have a piece candy if you eat 3 carrots or strawberries, etc., FIRST." They are totally buying into it! Luckily, the schools have offered to collect "unwanted" candy for those less fortunate and I think I'm really going to encourage the kids to pick out some (ok, lots) of the candy to donate. All in all, the kids had a great time this year and we are looking forward to enjoying the upcoming holiday season!

Washington, DC

Fall Foliage - DC Style

I love FALL! And one of my favorite places to take it all in is on the East Coast! Luckily, Nate and I got to do just that - we took it all in! We had a GREAT trip to D.C.! I don't know if it was so fun because we could reminisce about the good 'ol days or if it was because we weren't lugging our 3 children around. Hmm...maybe a combination of both! The fall colors were gorgeous and the weather was absolutely beautiful even with a day or two of high humidity (we aren't used to that anymore!). We were able to catch up with lots of old friends and do some things we never were able to do while we were residents rather than vacationers! We laughed hysterically because you'd think after living there for over 5 years, we'd know our way around. Needless to say, out came the map and it was attached to our nose for a few days until the cob webs began to clear!

Some of our highlights:

• Behind the scenes tour of the Supreme Court Building by Dave Moore (an old roommate of Robert's and currently clerking for Justice Alito) Who knew there was a full size basketball court right above the courtroom? I walked by the this building everyday on the way to work and yet never went in for a tour!) It was absolutely beautiful!
  
• Eating dinner down in Old Town Alexandria with some old friends and then getting completely drenched on the way back to our car. It was the only time it rained the entire time we were there and it happened to be right after we finished up with dinner. If we would have stayed in for 10 extra minutes we would have missed the whole storm! Oh well, it made for a great laugh, right Robin?
  
• Going back to the Jefferson Memorial where we tried to recreate our engagement picture. I'm almost certain we haven't aged a bit! :-)
  
• Eating at Chevy's! I know that doesn't sound all that exciting and cultural, but it was a fun place that we would frequent when we lived right across the street from it in Pentagon City!
  
• While we're talking about eating, another place we hit was the Peking Inn Gourmet on Rte 7. The Lemon Chicken is to die for! The funny part about this place is that from the outside it looks like a complete dive, but when you go in and see that there is a 45 minute wait and you are surrounded by pictures of all the dignitaries and diplomats that have been there, you know it is a good place to go!


• Spending a good portion of our time on the mall at the Smithsonian Museums and art galleries including the new American Indian Museum, Natural History, National Gallery of Art, Portrait Gallery and then a new Spy museum (which is not connected to the Smithsonian - ie, they make you pay to go in, but it was worth it!) We also went to the Edward Hopper exhibit which was very fascinating!


• Getting to see Hans and Jody (our world travelin' friends who found themselves back in D.C.) and their newest arrival, baby Garrett!
• Last, but not least (and our main reason for the trip) was going to the "Colonial Ward" reunion - what a blast from the past! So fun to see so many familiar faces. Hopefully it won't be another 10 years...

BRRrrr!!! Ward Campout Pics

Did I mention it was COLD! Just thought I'd post a few pictures from our latest adventure.... our first Ward Campout in AZ. We decided to be brave having been warned that the nighttime temps might near the low 40's (I think we are officially acclimated to the warm Phoenix weather!) and try to tough it out! Did I mention that we were sleeping in a TENT? I know we are turning into whimps - but we do have a TWO year old. Isn't that a good enough excuse to be a camp whimp? :-) I seriously thought of just sending the boys, but who would want to miss all the fun? And besides, after our Christopher Creek campout, Madison has been asking to go camping ever since! Unfortunately, we got up to the Payson area fairly late which left us setting up the tent in the dark in an unclaimed spot way at the edge of the campground. Good thing for a few flashlights and lanterns! In addition to sleeping bags, we brought about every blanket we owned (thanks Carey for the excellent tip!) and we needed them all! Luckily, the kiddos and hubby crashed pretty quickly. As for me, I couldn't quite go under between the shivers, the fear that the kids were going to freeze to death and not knowing where we really pitched our tent. I found myself getting up several times to make sure they were still in the sleeping bags (we do have a few crazy sleepers) and make sure Madison hadn't kicked off all her blankets. Oh, the life of a worried mother! :-) It sure seemed like the morning would never come! Luckily, the sun finally peaked out and the ward cooked up a yummy warm pancake breakfast (did I mention it was nice not to have to pack food? Subway for dinner, ward breakfast and home for lunch!!) It was a quick trip but all in all, I think the kids had fun and that makes it worth all the work to pack for 1 night! Did I mention that next time we go it has to be just a few degrees WARMER? Brrrr!

We Love Grandma & Grandpa!

Yeah for Grandma & Grandpa! We enjoyed a great week with Grandma & Grandpa! The kids loved having them around. Even Madison got up this morning and told us she was going down stairs to find Grandma! She was so sad to realize Grandma was gone! I wish we could see them more often! We are glad that Grandpa has entered the world of retirement so maybe we can talk them into a few more trips down this way (we promise we won't ask you to come in July or August!) The kids had a great time roasting marshmallows at San Tan Flats, making sugar cookies with Grandma and playing board games and watching Star Wars with Grandpa. Grandpa was nice to help refinish Grandma Tueller's old rocking chair for Madison's room. Grandma was patient in helping me find material for drapes and then having the know-how to put them all together. I promise I'll get them finished Mom, but I may be calling you every day! Thanks again for a fun week. We miss you already!

My Baby is TWO! Happy Birthday!

Madison just had her 2nd Birthday . . . I can't believe how fast these two years went. Oh where oh where did they go? I also can't believe how much she "gets" it. I don't remember the boys being so aware that it was going to be their special day at this age or aware that there were presents involved. She was singing Happy Birthday to herself several days in advance! I thought I had a little more time to get away with minimal efforts - apparently not so with this little princess!

Luckily, we did have a fun day. She got to open Grandma & Grandpa's presents in the morning (which had painfully been on top of the fridge for several days!) Then lunch with Dad and the boys! And as all good girls should do - a nice long nap in the afternoon! Our next door neighbors came over later in the evening for some cupcake decorating and of course, eating! She was covered in chocolate (and so was my house!) but loved every minute! We love our Madison and can't believe how grown up she is getting!

My Favorite Words

I realize I haven't posted for awhile . . . it's been a little bit crazy lately with things I didn't feel like posting about like paint, poop, throw-ups, box of bandaids in toilet, inability to poop, etc ... you get the point! There was, however, one bright moment today when Alex shared these words... "Mom, I'm so glad that Madison has learned to hug me!" I love that he loves her and she loves him! Those were my favorite words today!

PS: I should mention that GOLDEN was reunited with his family that same afternoon the boys found him. Phew!

DOG Days!

We finally broke down and got a dog - NOT! The kids found this lost dog in our neighborhood today and absolutely fell in love with him. The poor thing, he looked so old, tired and hot. Arizona is not a good place to get lost! The kids were so excited to feed him some food and water. They even decided he needed a name - so we can now affectionately refer to him as GOLDEN! Our next door neighbor has a couple dogs so they brought out the chow and we provided the water (how nice of us huh!) She and the kids went around the neighborhood trying to find it's home, but no luck so far. She also put signs up so hopefully somebody will come and claim him. In the mean time the "Ol' Fella" is in HER air conditioned laundry room waiting patiently!

No longer Absent!

After a very long stretch of being ABSENT from my children's classrooms, I finally decided it was time and feasible (no attached baby) to get back in and volunteer. I was able to go to Alex's Kinderstep class this morning at Riggs (this one's for you Krissy!) Elementary. It was so fun to be in there and see what he was learning and doing each day. We all know that boys don't always give nearly as much information as we mothers would like! It was also fun to see some of the kids he has talked about and see him interact with them. He has a great teacher and he seems to really like her. She has things very organized and structured (which, with 25 4/5 year olds you have to be!) and the kids seemed to be getting into a good routine. I do have to admit that Tanner was very sad this morning to hear that I was going into Alex's class and wondered why I hadn't been in his. So Tanner, the next time is for you!

Moving On Up!

This was a great weekend . . . especially for our frogs, Swimmer and Diver! They just tripled their square footage and had their place updated and redecorated. Boy are they lucky!!! I'm still waiting for the first round of decorating to happen here! :-) Nate took the boys out on some errands and they conveniently found themselves at Petco. I guess it is good to get the boys "re-excited" about their frogs since they are all dreaming and pushing for a dog - and I just can't do it! Our neighbors who have had to pet-sit our frogs while we've been out of town will also be excited the frogs have a bigger home! They've all commented that they felt sorry for the frogs having to live in such small quarters. So here goes, our frogs are no longer big frogs in a little pond! I hope they enjoy!

Labor Day

So Labor Day weekend has come and gone. Fortunately or unfortunately, we didn't do too much laboring. I would have like to, but it was too darn hot! One of these days we will get to our "To Do" list. (I must say Nate did clean out the garage on Saturday - thank you!!) We attended our neighborhood Labor Day celebration, which was really a 4th of July party in disguise - flags, parade, red, white and blue. I'm thinking next year a halloween party might be the ticket - hmm October, we might be in the low 90's! The kids had a great time jumping on the big blow-up bounce play things and the Gilbert Fire Dept showed up to squirt down those willing with their big fire hose. And, it was the first time I had eaten ice cream so soon after breakfast. Amazingly, it still tasted good! After about an hour or so, we were all exhausted from the heat and headed back to the A/C.

We ended the holiday with a fun evening with the Bennetts. We all did a little swimming and they BBQ'd some great meat they picked up at a little mercado not too far from our place! Nate tells me that would be a good place to shop! :-)

Overall it was a good weekend. It is always nice to have Nate around an extra day and also enjoy more time with the kids!

From Beach to Tent - Camping at Christopher Creek!

We just enjoyed another fun weekend this time with several of our neighbors camping in beautiful Christopher Creek. The boys got new fishing poles and had a great time not catching fish, but catching crawdads! They LOVED it! We got a new tent that fit our family much better than the one Nate and I bought "before" kids! The weather was a nice change from the 100+ heat in the valley and it was a treat to be surrounded by green trees! Unfortunately this weekend we are back to the realities . . . mowing the lawn and working on the never-ending "to do" list!

Beach Time!

We just got back from a great little get-a-way to So Cal. It was fun to see most of the Glazier clan and celebrate with our cousin Matt as he heads out to Panama for his mission. We spent a couple of days at San Clemente beach. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time Boogie Boarding and playing with their cousins.

First Day of School!

We survived our first day of school . . . a little chaotic but still exciting! Tanner is in 3rd grade and Alex at Kindersteps! And Madison, she is wishing she could be going to school too!

Ok, so I'm stillllll trying to figure this out with formatting, etc. Maybe one day I'll get it.

Blogging . . . giving it a try!

This blogging thing seems to be a fun new trend . . . so we thought we'd give it a try. We hope it will be a great way of keeping in touch with family and friends since we are so far away.