July 4th, 2012

What a great day! 

It rained all morning here in Arizona.  A nice change from the July heat!  And then it cleared up in plenty of time for the fireworks fun!

Our fourth of July this year included a morning fill with rest and relaaxation and crafts for the kids. Then dinner of hot dogs, homemade salsa and chips, watermelon, and cake with star sprinkles.  And finally, fireworks at night!

A good time was had by all.  And here's a picture to prove it!

And follow this link for a video that documents the fun!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/42887041/2012-07-04%20After%20the%20Fireworks.AVI

I am so very thankful for the great country that we live in and for the freedoms that we enjoy!!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2012!

 

Overheard

My dear, sweet Allison speaks in run-on sentences and goes from one topic to the next without a pause... 

She and Carter are watching a TV show and the "big bang" theory was mentioned...

Allison says to Carter, "That's the one we don't believe in unless God made it." Then without missing a beat she looks at Carter's foot and continues, "Oh! You should have used a toe band-aid. There's one in the variety pack upsatirs."

First, her simplistic translation of our beliefs amused me and then, her ability to jump immediately to another topic cracked me up!

 

Animals in Art Class

Allison took a class at Estrella Mountain Community College this week called Animals in Art.  I thought it would be about drawing animals...  Turns out, she drew a dolphin then made a stencil from her drawing which she used to make a dolphin sculpture!  They cut out two pieces of cardboard using their stencils, then taped them to s stick, stuffed them with paper, paper mached on top, painted it all white, then painted it with colored paint today! A very cool project!

They also did "Chinese printing" which, according to Allison, is the "oldest form of printing."  For this they drew a picture, then put the picture on top of styrofoam and poked holes around the outline of their drawing.  Then they covered the styrofoam with ink, pressed a paper on otp of it, and wa-la! They had a printed image of their picture!

And finally, today they painted with watercolors (probably while waiting for their sculptures to dry!).

Here are some pictures from they Art Exhibition at the end of class today...

 

Allison is Knowledgeable

Allison's 1st Grade Promotion and Awards Ceremony was this morning...

 

All the 1st Graders received a promotion certificate

 

Ten of the scholars received certificates for being the 1st grader who best exemplifies each of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profiles. (The IB Profiles include: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-Minded, Caring, Risk-takers, Balanced, Reflective.)

 

My amazing, wonderful and SMART little girl received an award for best exemplifying KNOWLEDGEABLE.

 

Here's what her teacher, Mrs. John, had to say...

(It's very heard to hear, so turn the volume up!)

 
And here is a picture of that amazing little girl with her Promotion certificate and her IB Learner Profile certificate.

I am very proud of you, Allison!!!
 
     

Mother's Day 2012

Today is Mother's Day and my 42nd brithday.  It's bittersweet as it's the end of what is affectionately known as "Amy Jo Week".  Usually Amy Jo Week is the week between my birthday and Mother's Day.  But, since my birthday falls on Mother's Day this year, I declared Cinco de Mayo as the official beginning of Amy Jo Week... and my husband (who knows what's good for him!) dutifully played along.

Saturday, Cinco de Mayo, the beginning of Amy Jo Week, began with margarita's (my favorite!), fajitas, pico de gallo, a guacamole. A great homemade dinner!  One Tueday, my sweet husband brought me a bunch of flowers.  On Wednesday, during a power outage we celebrated with a birthday cake.  (We'd planned on being out of town this weekend, so he'd gotten the birthday cake early!) Thursday Jim had taken off work so we could go to breakfast together, but alas, motherhood interfered and we ended up with very little sleep and a very sick Carter to take care of. We rescheduled our weekend trip and spent Friday and Saturday resting and caring for sick/recovering kids and even Mom didn't feel so great.

And now we're at Sunday.  Mother's day.  My birthday.

I was offered breakfast in bed, but I decided to get up and enjoy the morning with my family.  Breakfast included copious amounts of bacon (a Maruschak family tradition for all celebrations!).  And for a follow up they showered me with gifts.

Thirty-three posts (so far) on Facebook wishing me a happy birthday...

I am feelin' the love.

What a nice day.

Card from Allison

Another card from Allison

 Cards from James

(with art by Allison, James, and Carter)

Cards by Carter

Pandora Bracelet from James & the Kids

Cookbook from Allison's Class

Picture made by Allison at School

 

DUST STORM!

Wednesday afternoon at Carter's soccer practice we noticed some dark clouds off to the south-east.  I was excited... maybe it would rain?! By the end of practice the dark blue and grey clouds had turned an orange-ish pink... DUST STORM!!  It was close so we loaded quickly into the car to get home before it was on top of us...  But we were TOO LATE!  We didn't make it even halfway home when it was on top of us and after near zero visibility as we were driving by a dirt field, I elected to pull over into a neighborhood and "hide" behind a wall. 

We watched the storm from the safety of our car and got a little nervous about the blowing trees near us...especially after we saw a limb break on a tree just a short block away from where we'd parked! 

And then the rain started... first one drop on the windshield, then another, then another, then... just like that the rain was over leaving nothing but dusty drops on our car!  After 15 or 20 minutes we decided it had calmed down enough to driving home... but it was still dusty and windy!

When we arrived home the garage door wouldn't open! YIKES! The power was out! It was still daylight, about 6 pm, but it was dark because of the storm. So we lit some candles and let the kids choose something from the pantry for their dinner. Allison had cereal while Carter chose poptarts. Then, my wonderful, sweet husband who had planned on celebrating my birthday early because we were going on a weekend trip and wouldn't be home on my actual birthday, declared that all the CANDLES had given him an idea! He brought a birthday cake out from its hiding spot and we had CAKE for desert be candle light!

The power came back on after an hour or so and the wind calmed down. Fortunately, none of our trees lost any limbs. One of our corn plants was blown down, but we propped it back up and I think it may be alright.

And here are the pictures from the storm...

The front edge of the dust storm about to roll across the road in front of me.

Blowing dust and whipping trees in front of us as we waited out the storm.

Blowing trees and dust to the west of us as we waited out the storm.

My awesome husband with my birthday cake...

A perfect desert during a power outage!!

Remnants of the "rain" we got during the dust storm.

(And a cute little boy inside the car.)

 

Bloomin'

Spring has SPRUNG!

 I was out watering the garden yesterday and was amazed by everything that is growing back there! 

Here's the grass looking pretty good (thanks weed & feed!).

Sissou tree is getting big.

Octopus Agave with its giant stalk!

And the hose that is perpetually stretched across the yard so I can water the garden daily.

Blooming hibiscus!

Each flower blooms for only one day. 

This is the most flowers I've ever seen on it!

Look very close and you'll see a couple of buds on my
gardenia bush.

There are at least 12 buds so far...

They smell so good when they bloom!

This bush was my mother's day present last year. :-)

Oranges on the orange tree!

I love this orange tree!

It blooms in February and smells so good.

Then we get to watch the oranges grow.

They will be ripe and ready to eat on Christmas.

Ears of corn are already growing!

(And it's not even July!)

A small "slicing cucumber" is growing.

I LOVE garden cucumbers!

Here's our first "burpless cucumber"!!

And here is our "bottle tree".

Every spring it starts to green up...
and then it loses half of its leaves.

This year, with some extra TLC from Mom,
it is looking really good.

But let's face it, everything grows better
 with extra TLC from Mom.

And that's the end of the tour of our Bloomin' backyard.

 
 
  

Eager Helper

This morning I told Carter that after school today we were going to vacuum under the cushions on the couch.  He responded with and very enthusiastic, "I want to vacuum!"

So I let him!

Here's the story:

This is what happens when a family of four eats chips, crackers, etc. on the couch...

YUCK!

Any this is my wonderful son using the vacuum to clean up that mess... 

He did so well cleaning the couch that I "let" him vacuum the floor as well...

(The vacuum was a little bit hard for him to push.)

 

Then we moved on to repairs.

This is a dead Hex Bug...

 

This is Carter performing surgery on the dead Hex Bug...

(Battery needed replacing.)

And this is a fully repaired Hex Bug...

 

Ahhhhh.  That was a lot of work for one day. 

Thank goodness I had such a good helper!

 

"Green Eggs and Ham" at the Phoenix Symphony

On St. Patrick's day we went to the Phoenix Symphony to hear a dramatic reading of Green Eggs and Ham.  This was part of the symphony's family series - and it was perfectly delightful for kids!  Amazing music, a very fun acting out of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, and best of all, the "Instrument Petting Zoo". 

Set up outside the theatre were musicians with several different instruments for the kids to try!  Wow!  What an amazing opportunity for kids to experience how each instrument works. 

Allison tried everything while Carter only wanted to try the things you can bang on... drums and the triangle.

Here are some great pictures from the "Instrument Petting Zoo"...

Allison playing a trombone.

Allison playing a french horn (her favorite!).

Carter playing the drums (his favorite!).

A proud Mom watching Allison squeek on a clarinet.

Carter playing the triangle.

 

These Pajamas Aren't Too Small!

The kids love to dig to the bottom of their drawers to find their clothes...  One night Carter find these PJ's.  when he came downstairs I said, "Carter!  Those 'jamas are too small.  I think this is the last time to wear them."

And my darling son replies...

"They're not too small!

I like them tight!"

So what do I do?  I took a picture to prove my point. 

January 17, 2012