Summer, Here We Come!

This is the time of year when the warm (OK, hot) weather is still fun. In 6 weeks it might not be quite as much fun. Anywho . . .

This afternoon we had a birthday party to attend for our friends' adorable three year old. She and Andy go to the same babysitter, so they are good friends too. The party was held at our city's community park Splash Pad. We've never gone before because last summer Andy was still too little since he wasn't walking yet. So, this was our first trip.

Check out our fun afternoon by clicking below!

This scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox

We had such a good time that I can see us making lots of return visits as a way to beat the heat. Anyone want to join us?

Then and Now

Last summer our friends Melissa and Jeff drove down from Washington to deliver a beautiful cradle that Jeff had made for Andrew. Here he is, trying it on for size on August 1, 2008 . . .

And here is Andrew today, July 1, 2009, in the same cradle. No sillies, he doesn't still sleep in it. We were just playing around this morning before coming downstairs.

When did this happen? How did he get so big? What happened to my tiny baby?

( I swear, Andrew is not a giant baby! He weighs about 20 1/2 pounds and is wearing mostly 12 month sizes in his clothes. In fact, these jammies are 9 months size.)

What a Week!

Have no fears . . . I haven't abandoned my blog! I haven't been away due to any disaster, natural or otherwise. Simply, life has been incredibly busy. Good, fantastic even, but really, really, super busy. So, grab yourself a beverage and a snack, because this might be a long one.

First of all, last Monday marked my return to school, again. I know, I know, I just wrote about returning to school after my family leave. And I did. However, only for one week. My district gets a 2 week fall break each year so last Monday was my return after a 2 week vacation. It was just like starting all over again. It wasn't as bad as my first week back, but it was still really busy and I put in many extra hours trying to get caught up.

Midweek marked Andrew's 3 month birthday. See what a big boy he is getting to be?

The week was also busy because we were getting ready for an event filled weekend. We were preparing the house for 7 house guests. Shopping needed to be done for a lunch we were hosting at our home and last minute things needed to be handled for a luncheon we were hosting at a local restaurant. One night we had a meeting at the church about Andrew's upcoming baptism and one night we had a hockey game to attend. Go Coyotes!

Our guests arrived on Friday. We had Eric, Kari, Ashley and Ryan, as well as B's parents and grandma. Luckily B was off of work so that he could do all sorts of last minute things around the house. As you can imagine, things were quite wild around our house that night. Somehow we all managed to get a little sleep.

Saturday morning we had to get up bright and early to head into Phoenix for Andrew's adoption finalization hearing. We had many of our family and friends meet us there. In fact, our group managed to completely fill up the spectator area of the small court room we were in. Even though we knew that this hearing was really just a formality, it was still really emotional for me. I wasn't sure if I was going to cry or throw up at any given moment! When I was asked during the hearing if Andrew was the child I wanted to adopt I almost lost it, but I held on. Afterwards our little family posed for a picture with the judge.

Once outside all of our family and friends gathered with us for a picture. This was just such a special moment for our family and I will treasure it always.

From the courthouse we went to a local Mexican restaurant for a luncheon. The food was great and I think everyone really enjoyed it. I celebrated with a margarita but didn't even make it through half of it before I was having a really good time, if you catch my drift. How sad! Here we are with Andrew's adoption day cake. Yummy!

I'm a bad, bad mom. I let Andrew have a little taste of frosting from his cake. As you can see, he really wasn't too impressed. However, my cake loving friends were, so all is good.

After our party we went back to the house. Pretty much everyone went down for a nap, except me, who cleaned the house. That evening we left Andy with B's parents and went with our friends to the hockey game.

Sunday morning came along with even more family festivities. It was Andrew's baptism day! Doesn't he look handsome?

We built many memories during the service. Our nephew Ryan kept patting Andy on the head as Pastor blessed him. Also, Ryan threw his binky right into the holy water while Pastor was reading. I'm sure everyone in the pews thought we were completely low class morons because we were trying so hard not to laugh. Even our families hadn't seen what happened and they didn't know why we were trying to contain our laughter so much. I should also mention that after Ryan's binky was fished out of the holy water he tried two more times to throw it in! Eventually though Andrew was finally baptised and it was a very special moment.

Afterwards all of our family gathered for a picture. Doesn't my dad look great? It's the first time we've seen him this dressed up since his accident.

From the church everyone came back to our house where we had lunch before all of our California guests hit the road for home.

My words just can't even do justice, and are entirely insufficient, to describe how wonderful this weekend was. It has literally erased all of the pain of the past 2 1/2 years. I feel totally renewed and like a new person.

I'm just so excited about the life we have now. Thanks for hanging in there with me . . .

Girls Scrapbooking Weekend

My weekend away was just what the doctor ordered! It was completely awesome and I can't wait to do it again. I went with my friend, Heather, and three other girls (that I hadn't met before) for a weekend of scrapbooking up in the mountains. We scrapped, we talked, we snacked, we drank, we cried, we shared. And it was completely wonderful. The other girls were very warm and welcoming and I feel like I've been friends with them forever. We left late Friday afternoon and I think we were all settled in and scrapbooking by 7:00. We kept at it until the wee hour of 1:00 am. Crazily enough we were up with the chickens on Saturday morning and right back at it, again until about 1:00 am. Then we were up early on Sunday to clean up and head back to civilization.

A couple of my completed pages

The rest of the girls

Suzanne made hairbows for her daughter, then modeled all of them for us!

So, as you can see, a great time was had by all, especially by those who consumed tiny quantities of wine.

Marshmallow Magic

Do you remember the commercial where all kinds of noise and racket was coming from the kitchen and soon mom appeared looking all disheveled, with flour on her face, and a bunch of Rice Krispy treats? It's funny, but some people really think that there is something really difficult about making these tasty treats. For instance, my friend, Melanie cannot make a Rice Krispy treat to save her life. (Sorry neighbor, but you know it's true) She would use the marshmallow cream in the jar, and then try to firm up the treats in the freezer. The stuff in the jar? Why that's just crazy! It just never worked for her. And I would laugh at her, but in the nicest sort of way, and then make her a pan of treats. Years ago I worked in the security department of a major department store, which means that I worked with lots of guys too. Guys who thought there was something mysterious about the creation of Rice Krispy treats. Guys who would do almost anything to have some. So, I would bring them to work often. This ensured that they would chase down my shoplifters for me and keep me from getting beat up. It was a fair trade.

Why all the stories about Rice Krispy treats today? Well, this afternoon I'm leaving on a little trip that I'm really excited about. I'm going with a friend and a couple of other girls to a girl's get-away weekend of scrapbooking up in the mountains where it's about 20 degrees cooler than here. With nothing to do except scrapbook. The cost of admission? Rice Krispy treats. Yesterday I went and bought the complicated list of ingredients. This morning, at 6:30, I began the tedious process. (Hey, I have to make it sound hard for those who think it is). I looked to the back of the cereal box to find the recipe so that I could get the ratios right. To my shock and horror there was no recipe on the box! How can that be? I looked all over; front, back, side, other side, bottom, inside the lid, inside the box. But alas, no recipe. I didn't quite panic yet. I checked the package of marshmallows. However, the recipe there was different, calling for Fruity Pebbles, and the ratios were all off. That simply wouldn't do. Nearing a panic I started tearing through the pantry. Way on the bottom shelf, behind the dog treats and small appliances, I found a long forgotten about box of Rice Krispies. I spun the box around, and there was the recipe, right on the side of the box. Disaster averted. I made three batches of the sumptuous treats. I'll bring along two for the weekend, after all, there are only 5 girls going, and there will be other food available. The other batch I will share with my parent's and Brian's grandparents before I leave. (Grandma, if you read this before I get there don't tell Grandpa so that at least one of you will be surprised.)

As I cleaned up the kitchen, 'cuz you know how much of a mess this makes, I made sure to save the recipe. What gives with Rice Krispies taking a time honored and classic recipe off of the box? And now I have a confession to make, because when I'm wrong I like to admit it. The alternate directions included that the marshmallow cream in the jar can be substituted for fresh marshmallows. My bad. So Melanie, my dear friend, I'm truly not sure why you struggle so greatly in the creation of Rice Krispy treats. However, I'll be sure to munch on, and enjoy, some in your honor this weekend. Wish you could join us . . .

Birthday Weekend

Last weekend we celebrated my dad's birthday with the big shin-dig at our house. This weekend we celebrated my birthday with a little shin-dig at our house. Our friends Melanie and Jim drove out from California. Last night the guys cooked carne asada on the grill, as well as corn on the cob. We also had homemade tortillas, guacamole, salsa and salad, not to mention a couple of pitchers of margaritas. Not bad for a bunch of gringos!

Here are the guys grilling:

It was a beautiful evening and we were able to enjoy our dinner on the patio.

Me and Brian, with our margaritas.

Seriously, the corn was amazing. Cooked on the grill, basted with butter, chili powder and lime juice. Super yum.

Even Molly enjoyed the corn!
Today, after watching the new Indiana Jones movie we spent a couple of hours at Margaritaville, with yes, more margaritas!
Melanie and me, between the fins.

All of us on the balcony of Margaritaville, and me complete with my birthday headpiece courtesy of the balloon man on stilts.

As you can tell by the alcohol consumption theme of the weekend I'm no longer avoiding alcoholic beverages in the misguided attempt that it may improve my fertility. I guess I've officially said "goodbye" to all chances of getting pregnant again and "hello" to adult beverages. What is your drink of choice?

Another Week Gone By? Say It Isn't So!

I must be getting old because I can't believe that yet another week has gone by! And another week without posting. However, the week was mostly productive, except for one major area, and the evidence is displayed below. Our living room looks exactly as it did a week ago Sunday when we lugged in all of the Christmas stuff from the garage. I've just been busy with other things, and not really motivated to get it finished since I got spooked last week by the ornaments that we *should* be hanging this year, but we aren't. Anyhow, I didn't get called to sub today and it's time I quit my pity party, so I will get down to the business of finishing up today. By the way, that's a 9 foot tree that needs to be decorated, but at least it is pre-lit so I don't have to worry about lights.

You might also be able to get a glimpse of the bed in the guest room that still needs to be made up. And tucked behind the end of the couch are 4 crates that need to be stashed away in the garage. And what you can't see is how badly everything needs to be dusted (one of the joys of living in Arizona), the bathrooms that need to be cleaned, and the vacuuming that needs to be done.

And what did I do rather than chores and decorating this last weekend? Why, I did what any girl who is missing her girlfriends would do! I left Friday morning on the edge of a giant storm to drive 350 miles to Southern California. The first 200 miles of the drive were great. The sky was very gray and threatening, but that was it. However, the last 150 miles were through heavy rain and California traffic. Ick! I did make it to Orange County by 1:00 so that I could meet 7 of my teacher friends for lunch. Oh I miss that bunch so much and it was so wonderful to see everyone again. After lunch I drove to another friend's house and surprised her with a short visit before heading to my brother's house in south county, which took 2 hours in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic and rain. My brother was gone to Hawaii for a guy's weekend, so I stayed a couple of nights with Kari and the kids. On Saturday afternoon I went to my friend Melanie's house for her annual Christmas Open House and it was absolutely wonderful and so much fun to get caught up. Even though I stayed all day long she still didn't want me to leave to we agreed to meet at the bagel shop in the morning before I left town. Anyway, here's a picture from the party. And this was before the wine and champagne started flowing.

The rest of my week looks pretty uncertain, as I don't know when I might be called to sub. I won't be working on Thursday, which was our due date. Instead, I have a dental appointment and an appointment with the principal of the school over here to discuss my concerns, wants and needs in a teaching position for next year. Oh, and I'm trying to get an appointment with an adoption agency. We like what we know about them so far, and we have a good referral, but I want to see if we get the warm fuzzies from meeting with them.

Oh, and my next *project* is to make an extra effort each day to find things that I am grateful for because I really hate the mood I get in when I just focus on the really cruddy things that have been happening over the past year and a half.

And one last thing, I will post another picture once I get the living room cleaned up and decorated. No promises when that might happen though . . .

I'm a Lucky Chickie!

Lookie! Lookie! Lookie what I got in the mail today! My super wonderful friend Melanie sent me this oh-so-special surprise today. I swear, she is always doing the sweetest things for me and sure knows how to make me feel loved. And that wasn't all she sent me! She also sent me this toe ring expressing the same sentiment.

Let me explain why it means so much to me to get this jewelry from Melanie, besides the fact that it is so cute and such a wonderful surprise. Several years ago she took me down to a tattoo shop in Laguna Beach and we turned my idea for a tattoo into a sketch and the next thing I knew it was on my ankle. It's a cross, with a heart in the middle and angel wings for the horizontal arms of the cross, with a little burst of light from behind. I'll try to post a picture of it sometime. I wanted to make sure that I always had love, hope and faith with me. Sometimes it's a little weak, especially lately, but it's always with me and it's a great visual reminder for me to focus on what is really important.

Thanks Melanie! (It's reasons like this that I would never, ever post one of those unflattering pictures of you!)

Just Too Cool!

Our nephews just had these recent pictutes taken. Aren't they just too adorable! Both boys are so much fun, and super smart too. Logan (on the left) has been doing some modeling work. If you happen to be a purchaser of Shrek 3 toys check out the backs of the boxes, you may see Logan. And Kaiden (on the right) likes to cook, just like his Uncle Brian.

And who, you may be asking, took such wonderful pictures? That would be our friend Cathy, at Photos by Cat. If you are lucky enough to live in Orange County just click on her link on my sidebar and you can see more of her awesome work (including some of our wedding collages!). Cathy took our engagement photos, wedding photos, and loads of family photos. Her work is amazing and we are thrilled to count her among our friends. In fact, she is definitely on the list of things I miss about living in California.

Party Time

I knew that Brian had a party planned for me for my birthday. However, I didn't know about the surprise that he had planned. Yup, he arranged for some of my girlfriends from California to come out to celebrate! On Saturday morning we got up early to grab bagels for breakfast and to run a few errands. After stopping at Costco Brian started driving us on a mystery mission. As we arrived at the airport arrival zone he told me to start looking for someone I knew. And there was my friend Glenna! After we arrived back at the house we visited and had some lunch, then I went upstairs to shower. When I came down more friends were waiting! Connie and Melanie (as well as their families) were hanging out waiting for me to come down. What a surprise! Soon after the Lava Flows started flowing and we were having a great time.

A couple of hours later the local guests arrived, including my parents, Jan and Bud, and some of our local friends, including our friend's newborn baby! We had the whole tropical theme going, hence the parrot and palm tree on my sunglasses (courtesy of Melanie). Brian ordered island grill food, prepared all sorts of tropical drinks, played Hawaiian music and the pool was in full swing. It was quite a day, and I was sure glad I had cleaned all of the bathrooms and extra bedrooms since we had so many overnight guests.

And here is the guy who made it all happen.

And as you can see, he picked out his clothes himself.

Days of our Lives

Despite the title of this post you won't be subjected to any sappy drama, I just couldn't think of a title to sum up the past several days. Actually, I'm having trouble putting too many thoughts together at all because this is my really tired time of day.

Life has been really busy since my last post. Thursday night several of Brian's friends came into town to spend the weekend with us and go to the Nascar race. On Friday I had my first OB appointment and all is well. My next appointment is 2 weeks down the road. So far I am still feeling pretty good. I have a few moments of queasiness throughout the day and a few moments of exhaustion as well. However, no complaints from me! Later on Friday 2 more friends drove out from California and we all enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Brian. I didn't really enjoy the clean up, but the meal was tasty. Afterwards they all headed out to the local dive bar and I went to bed. Saturday was race day, so the guys were occupied with that all day and night. Wendy (one of the wives) and I spent the day shopping from one end of the Valley to the other and we had a great time. On Sunday morning, once 10 gallons of home brewed beer was gone, everyone left to drive back to California.

We did have a bit of a scare this weekend. My Grandma, Inga, in Omaha, fell and wound up in the hospital again. Apparently she suffered a couple of mini-strokes. After several days of testing with not much turning up, she was released back home yesterday. She is feeling better and is really looking forward to her visit here to Phoenix next month. It will be great to have her here!

We also have more good news regarding my Dad. So I don't leave anything out, let me recap some recent developments. He can move most of his fingers on his right hand and can make a pretty good sock puppet movement with his left hand. He can also move his middle finger on his left hand. And he can move toes on both feet. And now for the latest . . . it seems he has some quad muscle control . . . he can move his legs!

Hmmm, what else? I subbed on Monday and have a full load of tutoring this week so that's a good thing. I don't know what's in store for tomorrow yet, except for tutoring. Wait, I think I may be calling Beagle rescue to see if they do pick ups. I'm trying to watch the end of American Idol and this naughty dog is barking at my feet and making a nuisance of herself. Would anyone like to have a beagle?

Wishing For a Very Happy New Year

We had a great time on New Year's eve with our friends Mike and Ginger at a party at their house. I tried to post a picture of the four of us, but blogger here just wouldn't accept it no matter how many times I tried. Not even stomping my feet and jumping up and down helped. I just had to move on. Anyhow, we had a great time snacking and drinking (a very wee bit) and visiting and playing Scene It. Even though we didn't play the 007 Bond edition like the boys wanted, us girls still lost. Oh well, it was still fun. Shortly after welcoming in the new year I began to transform back into a pumpkin, so we had to head home. I'm just not used to super late nights! By some miracle we slept until 11:30 am New Year's Day. That was weird, and left me feeling tired the rest of the day.

In the afternoon we went over to my parent's house. My aunt is visiting from Milwaukee and Jan came over as well as friends from Minesota who are wintering here in the Phoenix area. We had a great time visiting and snacking, and played quite a lively game of Fact or Crap. Big surprise, Brian won. Just goes to prove that he is, in fact, full of the most crap. Don't worry, he is proud of his title. I have many wishes for the new year, and I'm sure you know what the top 2 are, so I won't even go into them. I am definitely hopeful (and fully expecting) that this year will be much better than last. I wish for all of my friends to have a joyful, healthy and prosperous 2007!

Good Times and Better Friends

Last weekend Brian and I made a trip back to California to visit with friends and family that we may not see over the holidays. What a wonderful getaway to reconnect with old friends! I hadn't been back to CA since July, and it had been longer than that since seeing some of my friends.

We made it into town early enough for me to visit my friends at Paine and hang out at happy hour at Claim Jumper. It was so much fun to catch up with Alicia, Heather, Jen and Dave. I have sorely missed my old friends and school so much! Later that evening we hung out with Brian's friends Andy, Wendy, Mike and Shizuka to do the BBQ thing.

On Saturday morning we met friends Shelly and Earle for breakfast and great conversation. From there we went to Melanie's annual holiday open house. What a festive atmosphere that was! Jim even played his guitar and Melanie sang. If I get a chance I will post a picture here! Brian left to see some of his friends, but I stayed to close down the party. Besides, with wine and snacks being served, where was I going to go? But seriously, it was so great to get to hang with Melanie for a while, I miss her so much! That evening Melanie took me, and two other friends, to see The Christmas Carol at South Coast Rep. I had never been before and it was such a treat! What a wonderful launching of the holiday season!


I should mention that we stayed at Brian's parent's house for the weekend. On Sunday morning his grandma, sister, her hubby, and the boys came over and we all enjoyed brunch and a visit. In the afternoon I went shopping with Brian's mom and was thrilled to get back to some of my old haunts.

Our visit ended all too soon and we drove back to Arizona on Monday morning. We had to head back pretty early because I had forgotten to cancel my afternoon tutoring session. Oops! All in all, it was a fantastic weekend for catching up with old, and sorely missed friends. If we didn't get to see you, or even if we did, come on out to Arizona for a visit. The weather is wonderful this time of year!

Margaritas, Flamingos, and Elvi (is that right for more than one?)

Brian and I took a long, four day weekend to go to Las Vegas. We spent a couple of the nights at the Flamingo, thus our opportunity to gaze upon real flamingos while dining at the breakfast buffet. We also added a flamingo Christmas ornament to our collection. Our friends were renewing their wedding vows in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary. We couldn't possibly pass up the trip upon finding out that this would take place at the Graceland Wedding Chapel and that Mike was going to dress up as Elvis! Not only that, Elvis sang and performed the ceremony! What an experience that was. We also spent some time at Margaritaville enjoying margaritas and Jimmy B on the balcony. It was a beautiful afternoon and I could have spent the whole afternoon there as long as the margaritas kept coming! The highlight for Brian was having his picture taken with Elvis. All in all, it was a fun trip, however, I am tired of Las Vegas. I'm ready for a new weekend getaway destination.

Catching Up

It seems that my life theme for the past couple of days has been "catching up", and that isn't really a bad thing. I had things like banking, cleaning and laundry to catch up on, but those are pretty mundane things, and really nothing worth writing about.

My friend Connie came out from California for the weekend. We did lots of catching up! We didn't do anything too exciting, just some shopping and driving around and visiting my dad, but mostly we just gabbed and giggled as one can only do with an old girlfriend.

Since my dad got back to Phoenix we have done lots of catching up. When he has been rested up he has had lots to talk about, and it's been great. He has had some catching up to do as well. There is a lot of adjustment involved in getting used to a new hospital and new caretakers. The flight exhausted him and he had to catch up on lots of rest. He has been settled into a new room, closer to the nurses station and with a roommate he can talk to, however, the roommate is out of the room most of the time. I brought in the little local newspaper today to try to catch him up on the local news. He likes the fact that it looks like the Cleveland Indians will be coming to Goodyear for Spring Training. Come to think of it, Brian and I like it as well since it will be within walking distance of our house!

OH!!!! I almost forgot! My dad aced his swallow test on Friday! The feeding tube is still in his nose, but he is able to eat! He is starting out really slow because he doesn't want to take any chances on getting sick again. He ate a meal on Friday night (just a few tablespoons) and 3 meals yesterday (just a few tablespoons each time) but he ate about 40% of his breakfast today. Hopefully the feeding tube will be removed in the next day or so. That will improve his breathing and his swallowing and I'm sure will give him such a boost. If your haven't sent him a postcard yet or posted a message to his care page in a while, please consider doing so. You have just no idea what boost to him these outpourings of support are. And please continue to pray for recovery and healing for him.

My mom has also been playing catch up. As you can imagine, being away from the house for a month has left lots of things to do. Can you visualize the pileup of mail? Ugh! Also remember that they hadn't really settled into the house yet either. There are still tons of boxes piled up and furniture to arrange and pictures to hang. Plus, she has catching up to do with friends and family who are all eager for news of my dad and to help. She also has tons to learn about living with and caring for someone with a spinal cord injury.

So as you can see, "catching up" has been the theme for all of us, and it really isn't a bad thing at all. I do look forward to catching up with many of you, so please don't hesitate to drop me a note or post a comment.

Introducing Jen

Jen is a friend of mine from teaching in California and an all around great person. She is fun loving and adventuresome, and funny as all get out, plus she is a great teacher. Last summer she went with a group of people to Spain to learn Spanish and teach English and she had a great time. So much so that she decided to ditch school this year and go back to Spain with a friend to live and perfect her Spanish. Can you believe that? She gave up her job (for the year) and the accompanying security (read: CASH) to go live a dream. Jen is so gutsy! She is my idol! What an incredible leap of faith she is taking. Did I mention that she will be spending some time in Asia around February or so? Jen and her friend Julie just arrived last week and have already found an apartment and they have English tutoring jobs lined up. Jen is keeping an online journal Jen's Journal to record her adventures. Check it out and you will feel like you are right there with her. I will also keep her link on my sidebar so that you can pop in on her and see what she is up to.