Her Favorite Place

Thought I was going to have to call the Fire Department . . .

The Little Guy spotted this Gato in our tree this morning . . . she did look a bit panicked . . . .

Me and the Kids at the Zoo

I took the kids to the Zoo on Sunday . . . just me and the kids. We went really early (left the house around 7am) to avoid the crowds and the heat; not as successful on the latter as I would have liked. The Phoenix Zoo is an ever-changing place which makes it fun to go because you will always see something new or different and you can see the improvements constantly being made. The Zoo is now offering a new Giraffe experience where you get to feed the giraffes! Giraffe's are my favorite so I was totally excited about this.

The "experience" takes place every day from 9 am to 10am so we made our way around the zoo and ended up in the area around 8:40. I knew we were in the right place because we were greeted with this:

Can't you just hear them saying: "Nack, nack, nack . . . ." I am pretty sure they know what's about to happen. It was a really awesome experience.

After seeing the farm animals and playing with the "Little People" we were pretty close to melted so I let the kids play in the "Yakulla Caverns" but it was a bit stressful for me because I kept losing Pickle in the cave area. I know she can hold her own because she was usually the one pushing the kids (bigger and smaller) out of the way, but I didn't want her to hurt herself (or someone else) since we know she is pretty skilled at that. The Little Guy was pretty nice about helping me find her and then sliding with her or guiding her to another area. They had a lot of fun but she was clearly exhausted at this point so we headed home!

August

This month has been wierd for me . . . I can tell you more about what's NOT happening than what is happening since we got back from Colorado.

What's not happening?
1) Blogging - just not in the mode . . . have lots of vaca pics to share but no motivation
2) Working out - been giving my mornings to work, or sleeping, or reading
3) Working on the house - can you say stalled?

What is happening?
1) Hanging out - had some good times with friends (and their pools) over the weekend
2) Playing the Wii - we go through phases and we're in a Wii phase
3) Baseball - watching, playing, thinking . . . seems to be the hot thing in our house

I'm trying to be more . . . how shall I say it . . . "chill" since getting back from vacation. I was working such crazy hours before we left that I am trying to be okay with relaxing and doing nothing. Maybe I'll post some pictures . . . maybe I won't . . . .

The First Day

School is back!

The Boy returned to school today but this time it is a little different. It counts now! Everything from now on will be on his permanent record.

Although he still attends the same Montessori school he has frequented for the past 3 years, today begins his kindergarten year. I guess he has to officially color in the lines and share more or else there may never be a first grade post like this one.

The send off was not all smiles for everyone involved. Although I was grinning ear to ear to have the little guy ensconced in something that will stimulate him enough mentally to ward off the bad choices born of boredom; Pickle was not so happy to see her "bubba" leave the car this morning without her. There were tears and cries of "bubba, bubba". She cried like I just sold him to gypsies! it was made worse because she grabbed her lunch bag on the way out the door and thought for sure that she too was going back to school. A quick trip to Target though erased all memories of the Boy and she played with all the forbidden toys of the summer upon our return home.

The day Benny died!

Every quarter the bulk trash crew swoops into the alley with their "backed open" garbage truck, as the Boy calls it, and "Benny", yet another personified digger from "Bob the Builder". This event is anticipated with almost as much vigor as Christmas. Sometimes we see the garbage truck crews at the Burger King down the street and the Boy lights up with excitement and questions about when "Benny" is coming. he almost passed out with joy last week when we saw a parade of garbage trucks with their Benny counterparts on trailers behind them headed to our neighborhood.
Well today was the day they came. But it was a little different.
The whole clan went out there to watch the huge pile of junk that I have thrown in the alley over the past week and then it happened. Benny broke down. He just failed right there in front of the Boy. He was a little distraught with how Benny was just left behind but I assured him that he would be fixed.
About an hour later when we had just sat down for lunch a new truck grumbled down the alley and the Boy went running from the table. He rushed back in and asked if he could eat outside. It was well over 100℉ by now. He was allowed to go out and put lunch on hold. I bet the two guys working on the loader would have liked the Boy to stay in and have lunch as they were fielding questions for about 20 minutes. Mickey got in on the interrogating too.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

Last night was one of those nights where I had the thought, "what have I gotten myself into with these kids?" Let me set the scene . . . .

It's the end of a VERY LONG work week, dinner is being served, and the kids are running around the house wearing capes (blankets chip-clipped to their clothes). Suddenly there is a *BOOM* as the boy hits the ground and erupts in crying. It appears he slipped on a stuffed rabbit that was left in the hallway and has hurt his head and back. I try to console him but he doesn't really want to be held or touched so we tell him to "buck up," stop crying, and get to the table to eat.

JP takes a stab at being compassionate and decides to check him out . . . . It seems I missed the two large scrapes on his back and the large growing knot on the back of his head. Now when the Little Guy is hurt he does not like us to touch his wounds or come near him so it was tough to truly gauge how bad he was hurt but we got some ice and all seemed to be well enough for dinner. Dinner was pretty normal which for us means that at least one kid was crying and/ or yelling; it just so happened that it was the elder child. He alternated between eating and whimpering.

We make it through dinner and get Pickle successfully in the bath tub where she happily plays for a few minutes. I grab the soap and shampoo and get ready to clean her up when I peer into the tub to find . . . POO! Yes, I did just share this lovely information. With a team effort I get her into our shower and cleaned up while JP disposes of the bath toys and other foul elements left behind. And my VERY LONG work week ends with me scrubbing the bath tub.

But then we tuck them into bed and get to gaze on their sweet sleeping faces and it is all worth it.