Dinichthys

I know this may be hard to read but this is the report and diorama Bubba made at school last week. The Kindergartners had gone to the Arizona Museum of Natural History the Friday before last (JP was a chaperone!). I just wanted to share the good work he is doing!

Water

If you were paying attention to the national news last week you were probably aware of the heavy amounts of rainfall that soaked the western U.S; The Weather Channel called it - Western Wallop. In the close to 10 years I have lived in Phoenix I don't think we've had 5 straight days of rain nor seen the forecast with a full week of rain predicted; it was certainly odd. Having grown up in Louisiana where you get inches of rain by the hour, I giggle every time we have rain here. It is always a HUGE news story and last week was the most coverage I have ever seen here.

This "storm" was a big one and it was actually 3 systems that moved through dumping a lot of rain and snow in Arizona. I use the word "storm" lightly because there was not any thunder or lightning, but there was a lot of wind. The tragedy of that much rain here is that our ground is just not prepared for it so it collects quickly and we have flash floods in many of the washes right in the middle of town. We only had one night of strong wind and thankfully no damage was incurred at our house. The gardens and grass got a good soaking and we are finally drying out; yesterday was one of the prettiest days we have had here in Arizona in a long time.

The biggest problem we have is that our kids are very used to being able to go outside whenever they want but this kept them house bound for a whole week. Even on Saturday when it wasn't raining, there was complaints that everything is still wet. Oh, if they only knew what we dealt with when we were growing up in the south . . . no wonder we watched so much TV.

In other water-related news, Pickle started swim school last week! She is a true fish but has no idea that she can't swim. Her pool style is to just walk right in from any edge and wait for someone to retrieve her off the bottom. She always comes up with a huge smile on her face, but we'd really like to get her to a safer status before this next summer. JP took her for their first class last week and she enjoyed the "up and down," splashing, and kicking; but at the point of back floating she became pretty upset. This also happened to be when I showed up and I think she was a bit distracted. Pickle and Daddy have been practicing back floating on the floor so we'll see what happens this week.

As for the other little girl floating in water . . . "Flora" as we are now calling her is doing fine. She is moving a lot and growing steadily. Flora was the Roman Goddess of flowers and spring. Her festival which was celebrated in early May to celebrate the cycle of life is marked by dancing, drinking, and flowers. It is a perfect name for this little Goddess who could easily be born on May Day! Please note: this is just her "in-utero name" and will not be her true name once she is born. We have previously had a Thor and a Zeus.

Life is becoming more uncomfortable but I keep reminding myself it is just for a few more months. Pickle has finally noticed the growing belly and understands there is a baby in there. She likes to lift up my shirt and say "see baby."

Growth Spurts

Yesterday The Little Guy ate 4 waffles for breakfast, 3 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch, and 2 pieces of fried chicken and a helping of macaroni and cheese for dinner. I'm thinking we are having a growth spurt. He has been eating like this for several days now!

Pickle has finally climbed out of her bed. As a born climber I have been anticipating this since she learned to walk but surprisingly it has taken her over 2 years to make the leap (pun intended). While in Louisiana for the holidays she regularly climbed out of the pack 'n' play but she is pretty tall and that was an easy feat. During Friday's nap JP heard her doorknob rattle and when he went to go check on her she quickly shut the door. On Saturday morning we were awakened at 6am to a very panicked cry and JP found her balancing on the end of her bed not sure what to do. This morning as I was getting ready to get into the shower I heard, "I'm out. I'm out. I'm out." And from our bed JP says, "I haven't moved." She was quite proud of herself!

Thanks Popsi!

This Fire Station set is unbelievable. It has garage doors that open and a sliding door. It even has a coffee maker for the Firefighters! JP and the Boy had a lot of fun putting it together and it is providing hours of entertainment in its current state too!

First Lost Tooth

The Little Guy lost his first tooth while we were in Alexandria. The Tooth Fairy brought "a dollar this big." He was (and still is) pretty excited. The tooth really started to become loose on Christmas when we noticed a very large tooth already pushing its way through the gums.

Happy New Year

It's been nearly a month since our last update and we have been busy! There have been 5-6 Christmas celebrations, various sicknesses, and plane flights. I have some pictures to share and will catch up on blogging this week. Let me give you a quick summary . . . .

Christmas started back on the 13th with a small celebration with our friends Cathy and Kris. In December we also took the kids to meet Elmo and to the Railroad park to see the Christmas lights and ride the train.Of course my birthday was also thrown in there. This year I asked JP to make me Lobster Bisque, asparagus, and Bananas Foster. It was a fabulous meal but JP came down with a stomach bug that night and he is blaming the Bisque; I assure you that is the last Lobster Bisque he will be making for a very, very long time. The kids had a fabulous time picking out the live lobsters that he would use . . . it took the poor gal at the store a long time to wrangle the lobsters which gave the kids a lot of time to watch the fun! JP took the critters out and let them crawl around for further inspection. The rug in this picture was one of my birthday presents. It is made of recycled plastic and is perfect for our kitchen as it will be easy to clean and will resist mildew, etc.

Christmas was celebrated by just the four of us and most of us stayed in our PJs all day . . . the Little Guy got dressed so he could go ride his bike. JP and I spent most of the day playing Wii!

On Saturday the 26th we flew off to Louisiana to begin our Four Christmases! The trip going to Alexandria was surprisingly easy and other than arriving about 1/2 hour late there was not much stress (translation: Pickle was well-behaved.). We spent four days in Alexandria celebrating Christmas with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and niece and seeing friends from high school and college, having some dental work done (JP), and even having a bonfire and roasting hot dogs! It was a fun trip.

On Wednesday of that week we drove the 2 hours from Alexandria to Shreveport to begin the final leg of celebrations with JP's family. It was great to get to celebrate with his Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, and Grandfather as well. Surprisingly this was the only rainy day we had the whole time we were there (but the ground remained pretty soggy for a while). The time in Shreveport was spent eating, shopping, playing, and even included a trip to their Science Center. Sadly we also watched LSU lose their bowl game . . . .

We traveled home on Monday the 4th which was a very long day. We had to drive from Shreveport to Dallas and then fly Dallas to Tulsa to Phoenix. I was glad to be able to have lunch with my best friend, KB, before we took off. The flight seemed never-ending and Pickle seemed to get more hyper as the day progressed; of course, that could have been the jelly beans we used to bribe her into sitting still during takeoff and landing.

Now we are home and we are still unpacking the Christmas gifts we shipped from Louisiana. I was finally able to get Christmas decorations put away yesterday and am focusing today on getting the house in order, putting away all these new toys, and cleaning out old items. The new year is going to bring lots of busyness to our household since we still have many projects to complete and new ones to begin before Baby arrives in May.