June 15-16: YUMA!

On our annual pilgrimage to San Diego, we stopped off for a day and a night in Yuma, AZ to visit my Aunt Johnell's family. It was so much fun! Besides eating super yummy food--I'm still thinking about the cornbread--we had a firepit and roasted marshmallows to make s'mores. Afterwards, the kids all tried to sleep in the backyard in a tent, but Warren and Kate both kept coming in for things--drinks, flashlights, pillows. Finally, they decided they were better off inside. But they sure enjoyed the tent the next morning! Here, they are trying to get out the dog door of the tent.
Left to right: Warren, Emma, Maylin--holding Amy, Johnathan, Abigail, Kate and Julie. If the child in the picture isn't my kid, it's my cousin! We had a such a fun time in Yuma! Thanks for sharing your food, your home, your hearts, your yard and your Wii!

June 11 2007: Fathers Day Prep

When I was about 10, I remember being so excited to go to "Kevin's Discount Store," in WW Plaza to buy my dad a gift for Fathers' Day. I still remember the tie: one in pink and one in dusty blue. They were made from some sort of terry cloth/cotton blend fabric and were kind of thin. In short, they were hideous. I like to think that my gifts for dad have improved since then. This Fathers' Day, we took pictures of the kids haolding the letters to spell "PAPO" and put them onto a photo collage tie from zazzle.com. Here are just a few of my favorites.

This picture we used for a gift for Andy's dad, Grandpa Gordon. We made it into a postage stamp, also on zazzle. I had so much fun making my own stamps that I made 3 more sheets.

Avery loved the rubber letters. She is chewing on one of them in all the pictures we took that day. I love her wide-open eyes in this shot.

Vintage Warren: flying through the air on a swing, roaring like a lion. I think this captures his spirit.

Warren's 4th Birthday Party: May 31, 2007

(All captions composed by Warren and dutifully typed by his mom) "Blowing out candles is fun, but I don't like when people blow out my candles and it's my birthday." (We had to sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles twice because one of W's friends stole his thunder the first time around and blew them out. I can understand his frustration--even I was annoyed.)

"I'm sliding down the waterslide."

"We're trying not to let us get touched by the water--(from the sprinkler)--and if I get touched by the water, I fall on the blood." I asked, "What's the blood?" "We were pretending the water was the blood." (This was so funny to watch; the boys would be jumping frantically, but when the sprinkler would change direction and come at them, one of the boys would sound the alarm and they all lined up against the net until it was clear again, whereupon they would resume jumping until the next time around.)

"It was fun shooting water guns."

May Birthdays: May 30, 2007

May is an exciting month at our house. First, Andy and I celebrate our anniversary on the 9th, then Mother's Day, then Abigail's birthday on he 17th--she is 2 this year, then my birthday on the 21st--I am 25 this year, then Warren's birthday on the 30th--he is 4 this year. It's pretty much a party all month long, considering we celebrate with the Lewis', the Jennings', the Peterson/Lewis Dessert Bash and often with the kid's friends and school, too. Anyway, here is a picture of tonight's celebration; even though it was Warren's birthday, Abigail and I blew out candles, too, since we were out of town on our birthdays. To celebrate W's special day, we had his favorite breakfast of pancakes this morning, then he took "Earth balls"--his favorite treat--to preschool and they did a special ceremony there celebrating each year of his life as he held the globe and walked around the wooden sun on the floor 4 times and Andy said something special about each year of his life. (I love Montessori preschool!) After school, we went to the Arizona Museum for Youth and had a great time playing. We stopped by Sweet Cakes on the way home for birthday cookies and then tonight after naps, we had one of his favorite dinners, spaghetti, followed by our carrot-cake birthday muffins. Okay, re-reading that, I realize the food sounds a bit over the top. My disclaimer is this: the pancakes and carrot-cake and spaghetti were homemade from fresh-ground whole wheat, the earth balls are 1 inch in diameter, and who wouldn't go to Sweet Cakes on their birthday to get a free cookie?

Peaches! May 15, 2007

We've had this peach tree 2 or 3 years, I can't really remember, but this is the first year we've had peaches. Last year we had a peach, but the birds got it first. This year, though, there were peaches loaded on all the lower branches of the tree.

Warren and Abigail have been watching them grow all Spring, and now it's finally time to pick them! One night before the fruit was ripe, after telling Warren about how the birds often eat the fruit off the tree, Warren prayed, "Please bless that the birds--and Abigail--won't eat the peaches off the tree."

Abigail navigating a wheel-barrow full of peaches.

After rinsing them in their bucket, Warren and Abigail enjoyed the juciy fruits of their labor. The first time Abigail ate a peach, she was a bit unsure of the fuzzy texture, but she soon got into it with the rest of us. I think Warren's face here says it all: Yum! We also filled gift bags with peaches to give to family and neighbors.