Moving on up.....

So yesterday we met my longtime girlfriends Liz, Meghan, & Karla for lunch. Liz and her husband are moving to LA for his job. We are extremely sad to lose Liz...her feisty jokes add much color to my life! Liz...I will hold you to your promise to post pics of all of your adventures in the wild world of LA on your blog. If you dont, Meghan and I will rent a VW bus and come steal you away in the middle of the night. You think I am kidding don't you?

On the way home from our girls lunch, the kids and I stopped at our favorite dollar store (is it bad to admit that we have a favorite dollar store?). Hallie has been very smitten by doing puzzles lately, so I got her a few new ones. She works her little puzzles over and over for hours on end, and is extremely good at them. She must get her patience from Randy. Anna would like to like puzzles I think, but she must get her patience from me. Enough said.

Yesterday Anna took this pic of Randy and I before he left for work. I love you Honey!

Summer reading

I am a girl who loves organized activities for my children that I don't have to organize (following me here?). So naturally, my children are enrolled every year in the local summer reading program. It suits us well....they get little chintzy prizes, I don't have to organize it, and in the end they win tickets to a Diamondbacks game, which makes Randy as happy as a clam. This year, however, the reading program is starting to drive me bonkers. Here is how it goes:

Tuesday Morning- We pack up, head to the library with mounds of books. Turn them in while Anna and Hallie fight over who gets to put what book in the little slot. Trudge around the library shushing my very loud kids, trying to find books that are not too babyish, but definitely not too long (yes, I am a bad mom who doesn't want to read to my kids for hours on end). Check out, continue to shush kids. Head to the HOT car, continue to shush kids. Get through the door with kids, baby, and books....immediately the girls start bugging me to read to them.

Tuesday Afternoon- By now, I have read them all of their books (which is a feat, as they ask questions the whole way through. Why is she doing that? Whats that? Where is she going? Why is she wearing socks? Where is her mommy?....the amazing thing is that I rarely have answers to these crazy questions). They immediately want to fill out their forms, which requires my to write in the names of the books we read and them to color in some circles. I politely decline.

Wednesday morning- I have politely declined their request for me to help them fill out their reading forms about 157 times now, I finally give in to the peer pressure and fill out the dang forms. They realize that they now qualify to get a sticker....amidst their jumping up and down with glee, they decide that we must go to the library right this very second to collect our fabulous stickers....and start the whole process again.

Veggie Tales.....

So one of the things I have looked forward to after finally getting a house was having a vegetable garden. Back in February we started planting in our dirt backyard (yes, we have a garden but still no grass! Someday...). We planted watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, radishes, and one mystery plant (the verdict is still out on that one, I will keep you posted). It has truly been the best family project. The kids love to be out there poking around and Randy is reliving his childhood growing up on a farm. I find a lot of happiness knowing that we are growing cheap, organic, healthy snacks for all of the little munchkins running underfoot! Here are some pics of our successes:

My cute little gardeners

My cute big gardener


Watermelon....this one was picked a little too early but we are still proud of it!

Did you know that green bell peppers turn red when left too long on the plant? Yum!

Birthday Guy....

Last weekend our little Linc turned 1!! Lincoln has been a huge joy to our life. Some of the things that I love about Lincoln are:

• The huge smile that he has....hello cheeseball!


• That he lets his big sisters carry him around the house, poor kid


• He sleeps for 12-13 hours straight every night (thank heavens)


• He is so ticklish....its great


• He is a big Mamma's boy!

Truly, I can not imagine our family without Linc. I can't believe how fast the year has gone. I just can't manage to hold on to these little babies for long before they start getting big. Here are some pics of him growing up...a tribute to Linc!!