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!

 

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!

 

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

 
 

Quiet...

It's almost 5 pm and both kids are home. I am getting ready to make dinner. Usually this time of day is punctuated by noisy squabbles, occasional squeals of delight and constant noise of raucous play. But today, all is calm. There is the soft sound of carnival-type music and the occasional calm conversation between the kids.


My normally loud evening had been replaced with peace, calm, and quiet.

The kids are absorbed in playing the Nintendo DS.

Thank you Uncle Brian. THANK-YOU.

Oh wait... now they are back to arguing.  Ah, but it was nice while it lasted.

 

Today, is a beautiful, sunny spring day in Arizona.

Our precious children are playing in the back yard... The farm machine that scoops up the cut grass and pours it into the truck goes by periodically. Both kids yelp in delight and watch it go by. So cute!

Earlier, Carter took his remote control car out and put it on the lid of the toy box and let it drive off the edge... then he picked it up and did it again and again.

Now, they've retrieved their scooters from the garage and are riding them in the backyard.

All this in between climbing on their slide to talk to the over-the-wall friends.

This is what childhood is all about...

 

In the Digital ______?

Allison and Carter remember everything they see on commericals.  Remember when Allison would repeat the Snuggie commercials to me?  "Mom, you can knit in the snuggie!  It's the blanket with sleeves!"  Then, one time, Carter came downstairs to let me know that he figured out how Nana could buy a Pillow Pet for him.  "Just go to w-w-w-dot-pillow-pets-dot-com!" he told me.  And once, Allison told Daddy that she knew a place where he could "name your own price" for car insurance (Progressive). 

Well, the latest commercial to bring a smile to my face is the Cox cable company commercial.  Their slogan is:

Cox: Your friend in the digital age

The kids have liked the Cox commericals for many years.  Their mascot is the Cox Digi.

But in our house he's known as a buh-buh-buh because of this commercial.  Cute little guys, aren't they?

So, one day recently, Carter was walking around the house repeating the commercial:

CARTER: Your friend in the digital age.
ME:  Who is your friend in the digital age? 
CARTER:  Buh-buh-buh.
                Your friend in the digital age.
ME:  Your friend in the digital egg?
CARTER:  No!
ME:  Oh, that's right.  It's "your friend in the digital age".
CARTER: No! Your friend in the digital H!

Digital age - Digital H... 

Hahaha!
Jim and I got a good chuckle out of that one!

 

Peeking...

We received this present in the mail and, as with any package that rattles, Carter immediately declared it to be "Lego".  (In an attempt to throw Carter off, if Daddy had been home when we got this he would have declared it to be "Soap" or something equally not likely to rattle...  So far, Carter's not buying it.  Anything that rattles is "Lego!")

So, having decided it was Lego, Carter tried to peak into the wrapping paper seam to see if he could tell which set it was!  STINKER!

I knew he wouldn't be able to see anything, so I let him look while I took these pictures.

I remember how exciting Christmas was when I was a kid...  It's fun to have a 5 year old and 7 year old this year.  They are both so very excited!

Carter is especially excited about all his "Lego!"

 

And the Winners Are....

...Allison and Carter!

Back in October Allison and Carter entered an essay contest to "Name the Shrunken Head" at the Buckeye Museum.  Allison won in her age group for 'best story' and Carter won is his age group for "Best Name".  The Buckeye Museum kept their entries and they will become part of the permanent recods at the museum... so I can't reprint Allison's essay here, but Carter's winning name for the shrunken head was 'Little Guy'.

The big question is... 

Is it a real shrunken head or a fake?

80% of shrunken heads are fakes.

It doesn't matter to us, though!  The kids did a great job on their contest entries and we are very proud of them!

 

Carter Loves Lego

CARTER:  All I want to do is Lego.
              I dreamed that my Lego are real.

ME:  Like the TV in the Lego store that makes them look real?

Carter leans back in surprise...

CARTER:  Yes! Like that!

He really loves Lego.

     

Carter at Bat

Another video from a while ago...

September 24, 2011

This is Carter at bat at his first t-ball game!

 

Allison Excited About School

Allison is very excited about the sight word test she had today at school...  It was a test on third grade sight words and she only missed three!

Also, at the end there's a little clip of Carter doing his preschool homework.

 

My Guys

I sure love these guys!

Cross-Eyed!

 

Decorating Pumpkins

Carter Says

A couple weeks ago at about 2 o'clock in the morning we are awakened by a little girl standing in our bedroom doorway shouting, "Daddy! I can't see!"


My first thought was, "Then go back to your own room where your night light is!"  Fortunately, it takes me a moment to get my bearing when I am awakened in the middle of the night, so I didn't actually say that out loud.

Notice that she calls to Dad in the middle of the night...

She knows who's more likely to wake up.

And she usually shouts.

(I think she couldn't find fleecy, so Daddy had to go rescue it. Thanks, Daddy, for taking care of that so I could stay in bed!)

Yesterday Carter and I were in the car going through the pick up line to get Allison from school.  Having had a very busy weekend, Carter was a little bit tired and dozed off for a little car snooze.  Allison climbed in the car bubbling over with infomation about her school day.  She was very excited because her class had gone to the Scholastic book fair and she'd gotten the two books she'd wanted from the flyer. 

In her normal excited Allison voice she squeeled, "And guess what?!  We went to the book fair!" 

A few second later a little sleepy voice says, "Allison, you don't have to be so loud." 

My sentiments exactly.

 

Carter Can Write His Name!

Carter has learned to write his name! 

Preschool this year is very academic... They have homework every week!  And each week they learn a new letter and a new number.  They get lots of practice tracing and coloring the letter and number of the week.  It's made a big difference in Carter's motor skills for holding a pencil and coloring.  Last week part of his homework was ro trace his name...  Then he wrote his own name at the top of the page.

Take a look...

 

Carter's Karate Class

Here's a video of Carter doing a double center punch in karate class.  He wasn't testing for a new belt - just a regular class.  I think his belt testing will be next month and he'll be testing for his brown belt.

Here he is again...  Check out that tiger's eyebrow! 

Tiger's eyebrow means your FOCUSED!

Pretty cute, huh?

 

Carter's Smart

Jim and the kids are building a Lego dinosaur they saw in the Lego Club Jr. magazine. 

CARTER:  "I know that dinosaurs are really brown."

DADDY:  "Really?  How do you know that?"

CARTER:  "Oh. I'm just really smart."

(If all goes well, there might be dinosaur pictures posted later!)


   

Swimming

ALLISON

Allison grew by leaps and bounds at swimming lessons today.  She transformed into a fish and can swim with her head underwater!  I've watched everyone else's kids do this since our first swim lesson...and finally, Allison has figured it out and is having lots of fun! 

Here's a video of her swimming in our small backyard pool:

(There's a lot of splashing... but keep in mind it's a small, 18" deep pool so it's a little hard to actually swim in it.)

CARTER

So, after bragging about Allison, I have to say that Carter is...well, Carter is...that is, Carter is, um, taking swim lessons.  There's not much to brag about.  He's less timid around the water.  That's something, right?  He's cute, too. 

So, here's his video:

My sweet kids!

 

Happy Birthday to Uncle Brian

 

Carter's Prayers Tonight

Carter included the usual in his prayer tonight...
then he prayed for Japan...
then he prayed for a toy airplane.

Here's what he prayed:

God is great,
God is good,
Thank you, God, for...
Mommy and Daddy,
And Nana & Pop,
And Grandma,
And Grandma's cat,
And the Moody's,
And Buzz,
And Uncle Brian,
And please God, help Japan feel better,
And please help Japan get enough money to fix all their houses,
And please help me or Mommy or Daddy get enough money to buy an airplane from Cracker Barrel.
Any color.
Amen.