halloween 2011

This was the year of borrowed costumes!

Brandon (age 9) as Harry Potter
(thanks to Vikki for the Harry Potter robe, Carrie for the tie, and our eye doctor for Brandon's REAL glasses).
And I remembered to add his forehead scar after we took the photos. But he wasn't very happy about taking pictures, so I didn't want to make him re-do them.

Tyler (age 6) as a zombie skeleton monster
(thanks to Buffie & Max for the costume)

Natalie (age 4) as Sleeping Beauty

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
We had a fun night trick-or-treating. Even though it was 90 degrees today, it was a perfect 70 degrees outside tonight. I am finally remembering why we live here. Now I'll go back to eating the kids' candy!

pumpkin carving

We survived another year of pumpkin carving. As I have mentioned previously, I don't like it. Pumpkins are not cheap, I feel like I'm just throwing money away, and carving them is messy. But for the sake of my children I buy one, grit my teeth through the carving session, and pretend to be excited.

The boys were more helpful this year. Brandon was good at scraping:
And Tyler who loves to have his hands dirty (and really wanted roasted pumpkin seeds), was in charge of picking out all the seeds:
Natalie was pretty grossed out by it all (she must get that from me!):
Kevin was in charge of carving (he hates carving pumpkins as much as I do, so thankfully we never disagree about this tradition):
Each of the kids were in charge of designing one of the features (Natalie - eyes, Brandon - noes, Tyler - mouth).
It was nothing fancy, but the kids had a fun time and it was nice to spend the evening together as a family.

tucson staycation - day 2

Our second day in Tucson we went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I had read that it was actually more like a zoo than a museum, and according to Trip Advisor it was the #1 attraction in Tucson, so we decided to check it out.

To get there you drive through the Saguaro National Forest. We were a bit surprised when Tyler (age 6) shouted, "Hey, those are Saguaro Cactuses!" I'm so proud my children know their cacti types...they are definitely Arizona kids!
We arrived at the museum around 9:00 a.m. and it was already pretty hot outside. We had brought water and there were drinking fountains, but I wish we all would have had hats since most of it was outside and not shaded. (and yes, I did go on this staycation, but there's not a single photo of me to prove it!)
We attempted to watch the first show, which had raptors in free flight. But there was no seating, and standing out in the heat with large crowds of tall people trying to see birds flying around did not go over well, so we only stayed for part of the show. It was at this point I was beginning to wonder if this museum was a huge mistake. But after getting away from the crowds and a snack break in the shade we were all doing better. We decided to head over to another show to get good seats (which was thankfully inside an auditorium with seats and air-conditioning).

The man who was doing the next show was outside and letting people touch a chuckwalla (large lizard).
We got great seats and really enjoyed the next show called "Running Wild!" We had an up-close view of animals you don't usually see (these photos are not zoomed!). A porcupine:
A skunk (did you know Tucson is the skunk capital of the United States?):
A pelican. This thing swooped in for some fish and had an impressive wingspan!
The guy that did the show was great and it was geared towards kids so they really enjoyed it, but I learned many things also.

We stayed for the next show, which was called "Live and (sort of) on the Loose" which they said was a venomous reptile show. I wasn't sure what to expect and was a bit nervous when we ended up with front row seats! Unlike the last show (which had probably a dozen animals), this show only focused on two animals - the gila monster and the rattlesnake. Obviously they couldn't let them "loose," but they kept them on the table and they were not in any kind of a cage. It was mostly just informational and probably a bit boring for the kids, but I found it fascinating.
This guy is the snake handler and has been doing it for 18 years and has never gotten bit. He moved to Arizona because we have lots of snakes (18 types of rattlesnakes alone!). He gave us good information about how to avoid rattlesnakes, what to do and not do if you encounter one, and what to do if you get bit (did you know it costs about $150,000-$200,000 to treat a rattlesnake bite?).
I cannot believe I was a few feet away from a rattlesnake! But when the guy told me their range is only 2-3 feet (the length of his handling sticks) I felt a bit more safe.
We got some (very overpriced and not good) lunch at their cafeteria and saw a bunch more exhibits. But this time it was 3:00 p.m. and it was almost 100 degrees outside. We didn't even see the whole place or all the shows in 6 hours! We had hoped to stop one more place on the way back, but we were all exhausted (and probably bordering on heat stroke), and Natalie fell asleep after about 10 minutes in the car, so we called it a day and headed back home.
I had to laugh because after growing up with a dad who dragged us to every museum in the western United States, I swore I would never take my kids to museums! And look what three places I took them this trip...International Wildlife Museum, the Children's Museum, and the Desert Museum!

The extreme heat in October was unexpected and made things a bit frustrating, but I think we all had a good time and we will definitely be back to Tucson to see the things we missed. And I've decided staycations are the way to go. Less packing, less planning, less travel costs (which means more money to spend on fun activities!), but still fun to get away and spend time with your family and escape "real life" for a few days. It's surprising how many great things there are to see and do in your own state!

tucson staycation - day 1

Because we spent most of Kevin's vacation time & our vacation budget for this year on our trip to New Zealand, we decided to stay home for fall break. But we did take two days and explored Tucson (about 1.5 hours south). It is much smaller than the Phoenix area, but there is still plenty of fun things to do there and we will definitely be back to see the rest someday.

The first stop on our list was the International Wildlife Museum. It's basically a taxidermy museum with every animal you can think of.

Tyler has loved pandas ever since we brought him a stuffed panda from China last year!

Anything that wasn't behind glass or ropes the kids could touch! It was quite fascinating to see the details on and the real sizes of some of the animals (and their sizes compared to the other animals) since usually at the zoo they are far away.

Natalie looks far too happy with her head in an alligator's mouth!
This was our favorite room. There were hundreds of animals in here, including a giraffe that they could walk under.
There were lots of displays with skeletons of the animals, and interesting information (like the difference between horns and antlers).
This elk was enormous! For reference sake, Kevin's arm span is about 6 feet and he was several feet in front of it. I would guess it's antler span was about 10 feet.
I thought it was a great museum and the kids really enjoyed themselves. And the best part was that it was all indoors, so the heat did not bother us (seriously, will summer ever end here???).

Our next destination was the Tucson Children's Museum. My kids love children's museums because they are fun. I love that they are learning and that everything is kid-friendly and safe and I generally don't have to do anything besides sit & keep an eye on them (and attempt to take pictures while they are running by). They had dress-up clothes and half of a real firetruck. This area was one of the boys' favorites. You were supposed to hook yourself on and try to make your way through the rope maze, but of course they turned it into a WWF wrestling ring! There weren't too many other kids around (Tucson schools were still in session and we were there in the afternoon) so we let them get wild & crazy. Miraculously, neither of them ended up hurt and nothing got broken!

There were lots of different rooms including: a veterinary clinic, a grocery store, a train room, an electronics room, a building room, a music room, an art studio, an underwater room, and a dinosaur room.
After almost four hours we (meaning Kevin & I) were getting hungry & tired so we finally were able to convince the kids to leave. But when we walked outside, they found another building area and another dinosaur to climb on! I thought it was a great children's museum, especially if your kids are under about age 11.
We checked into our hotel and of course the kids wanted to swim. They spent most of their time playing in the jacuzzi because it was warmer and more shallow, but there were no other people at the pool so it wasn't a problem.
We had dinner at Denny's because there was a serious lack of restaurants near the hotel. But eating out (no matter where it is) is a special treat to our kids and after a fun day of playing hard they ate more than we've ever seen them eat. None of us slept very well in the hotel room so thankfully we were only staying one night!

brandon got glasses!

About a month ago, Brandon had some strange things written on his homework agenda. When I asked what they meant he told me he didn't really know since couldn't see the board in class very well (they copy their assignment list from there). I passed it off lightly (as with most children, he often exaggerates or makes excuses) since two years ago at his last appointment his vision was near-perfect. But after his teacher moved him closer and when he mentioned it to me a second time, I decided I would be a responsible mother and take him in.
I'm so glad I did! We have an amazing eye doctor (who happens to be a good friend of ours that we've known for a long time)! When he put up chart after chart and Brandon couldn't read any of them (he could barely identify the largest E), I felt a bit guilty that I didn't take him seriously the first time he complained! He has the same issues as Kevin (near-sighted)...almost perfect vision up to 2 feet, but anything beyond that is blurry. Which explains why he never had problems with reading, writing, or piano!

He's still getting used to them and is a bit self-conscious, but he is already seeing the benefits and noticing small things far away that he has been missing for awhile!

fall break

We are on fall break here. While I LOVE our school district's modified year-round schedule with shorter summer breaks (when the weather is horrible here) and longer fall and spring breaks (when the weather is usually gorgeous here), we've encountered a few issues this break:

1) We spent most of our vacation budget and Kevin's vacation time on our New Zealand trip. Which I don't regret for a minute. But...that means no major family fall break vacation which we all desperately needed! And my mom is heading out of the country again, so we didn't want to go to California.

2) We had about two days of fall-type weather (which for us here in Arizona means in the 70's) last week. It was pure bliss and we tried to soak up every minute of it. But now we're back up to 90-100 degrees. So it really feels like summer break part two.

3) Two and a half weeks with three kids underfoot makes me feel (and probably look) like this cartoon! 4) We did take the kids for a few days on a short "staycation." It was not glamorous, but mostly fun and much needed. More on that to come.

5) I actually tried to come up with reasons why I should enjoy breaks. My kids don't EVER sleep in, so that is not a luxury we get on break. The only things I could think up to be excited about were not having to pack lunches and no homework battles. I have tried to do a modified version of our summer routine, but it's been challenging for all of us.

The novelty of fall break has officially worn off and we're ALL (yes, even the boys) counting the days and hours until school starts again!

school pictures

Once again, I didn't order school pictures. But I'm glad they send home proofs so I can scan and keep a copy of them! These ones actually turned out fairly well, but still not worth the ridiculous price they want.

Tyler - 1st grade - age 6

And I thought it would be fun to see how Brandon has grown throughout the years, so I did a little collage for him. You can click on it to see it larger.

natalie's first primary program!

Natalie is a Sunbeam this year so she got to participate in her first primary program a few weeks ago! She has been very excited for it all year, she knows every word to every song and sings them over & over. The primary chorister told me she should her given a singing solo this year. Get your autographs now folks, this girl is destined to be famous on Broadway someday! She LOVES to sing and dance and has absolutely NO fear of being in front of people. She was the very first kid on the program (after the intro) and didn't hesitate one bit, just grabbed the microphone and said her memorized speaking part perfectly.
In case you're wondering what happened to her nose, Brandon decided to play a game with her that involved rubbing her head against the carpet so she got a huge rug burn & scab!

The boys did great in the primary program too, though someone really needs to re-think the idea of putting the six year old class on the bouncing, folding chairs!
The best part of the whole program was that I was released from primary last month so Kevin & I actually got to sit together alone and enjoy it (plus we got a free two-hour date the day before during their practice time)!

brandon's principal award

Brandon received a Principal's Award last week!

It was for doing an excellent job on his first current event report (summarizing a newspaper article and then writing his feelings about it - his article was on the anniversary of 9/11). Though I find it quite amusing that he got such a good grade and then a principal's award on top of it because getting him to write and edit and type TWO PARAGRAPHS took us many hours of arguing and negotiating. When I heard that we have to do these current event reports quarterly this year and then weekly next year, I was seriously debating moving him to a different school! I think they should start giving parents some principal's award for their homework time & patience!But we are proud of Brandon for all his hard work at school. He is very smart and has gotten good grades every year at his demanding school.

general conference candy bowls

Over the years during General Conference we've usually sent our kids to play in the other room so Kevin & I can actually enjoy it. The last few times we've have them come out and listen when President Monson spoke. But I knew they were getting old enough to start sitting and listening more. I read this great idea after the last General Conference and actually remembered it. You get several kinds of candy and then put a word on each bowl (I also put pictures for Natalie since she doesn't read yet). Every time they hear the word, they get a piece (I chose small, no wrapper candy like M&Ms, Skittles, Mike & Ikes). The kids were SO EXCITED for conference to start!

Here's what we learned: having six bowls with very commonly used words (Jesus Christ, Scriptures, Temple, Prophet, Prayer, and Family) allowed them WAY too much candy! They were slightly ill and very sugared up by the end. Next time I think we'll only do like 3-4 bowls and pick less frequently used words. But overall it was a very fun idea. Kevin & I didn't get quite as much out of it as we normally do (having them shout out the words and jump up every 5 seconds was very distracting) but they sat and listened to ALL of the conference sessions, so I guess it was worth it!