Summer Has Come and Gone

Can you believe it? There is some activity in this little corner of the blogosphere? Seriously, I never intended to just vanish, it just sort of happened. A couple of months ago I said to myself, "Self, you simply must get back to blogging". I had every intention of getting back to it as soon as summer vacation presented itself. Then a funny thing happened. Summer vacation DID present itself, and blogging never happened. So, here it is the night before school starts and I'm finally fulfilling that goal of getting some blogging done over the summer.

Here it is, in a photo journey, and with the exception of a couple of 3 day conferences for school.

Early on, right after the first conference, we hit the road to California for our nephew Ryan's birthday. We had a few days to visit and the boys were able to play.

All the kids have so much fun together and this picture is a rarity, all three of them in the same spot long enough to actually get a picture!
Andy ended up with a queen size air mattress all to himself, while I slept in Ryan's racecar bed. I think I lucked out.
Auntie Kari makes tasty pancakes!
Ryan, Kari, Me and Andy before heading out to Ryan's 4th birthday party.
We also visited Knott's Berry Farm, and got passes so we can go back whenever we want. Andy was a huge fan of Camp Snoopy and can't wait to go back.
On a later trip to California we were able to visit with Mick Mick, Andy's favorite rodent ever.
On yet another trip to Southern California, Brian and I were able to spend some much needed and appreciated time at a lovely resort in Carlsbad. We'd love to be able to go back!
We also had a trip to Legoland . . .

And also to the Long Beach Aquarium, where the Skittles may have been more interesting than the fish.

One of Andy's favorite past times is making coffee with Papa. I swear, between my mom and Brian's dad this kid is going to grow up to have coffee coursing through his veins.
Then there was the 4th of July celebration with the Kohl's. The boys are really getting to be good buddies.
My favorite picture of the summer . . . my guys!
Locally, we were able to go to the Children's Museum with friends. Love, love, love to go there because afterwards Andy always has a fantastic nap. Plus, it is really cool.
Oh, did I mention we had yet another trip to see the Mouse?!?!?!?
Andy celebrated his birthday in style, with yet another mouse, and his cousins and friends.
Plus another family party later. Note to self: 2 birthday parties for a 3 year old on 1 day is utter insanity. Let's try to plan better next time.
But the hugest part of summer vacation? Or so it seems . . . potty training. This is what seemingly most of my time has been about.
Oh, and just hanging out letting a boy be a boy.
And now, here it is, 11:30 PM and I have kids finally showing up at school tomorrow after having spend the better part of the last two weeks working to get ready for this. Now that I am all caught up here, hopefully it'll be easier to stay caught up! I hope a few of you are still around!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring in Arizona is a marvelous thing! However, if you dawdle, or blog, you will miss it. Sooo, we've been taking advantage of all that spring has to offer, and it hasn't left me with much time. I guess that's a good thing though, to be so busy living life that there isn't time to record or ponder it. To get everyone caught up with us I've got a special treat of a picture parade for you. In other words, I'm taking the easy way out and doling out eye candy rather than writing anything of any real substance.

We enjoyed a quick weekend visit with my Eric, Kari, Ashley and Ryan. As usual, Ashley and Andy are the best of buds!
Everyone likes to pile up on Uncle Brian, and I don't think he really minds either.
Baseball is still in the air, and the weather is perfect for bike riding. Or bike scootching, as the case may be. Andy's feet still don't reach the pedals on his trike.
What would spring be without a trip to the mall to see the Easter Bunny? Let me tell you, Andy has some serious Bunny love this year. Later, when he told my dad about seeing the Easter Bunny he said, "Papa, I saw the Easter Bunny at the mall and I liked him!"
Remember the whole bunny love thing I just told you about? Well, we also took Andy to see his very first movie. He was awesome! He sat and watched the entire movie, and ate his weight in popcorn.
The weather has been so nice that I couldn't resist getting Andy a little playhouse. He loves it! He invites everyone to come inside and begs for his friends to come over to play. Seriously, every day he plays here.
Andy just started taking swimming lessons. We've spent so much time in our pool with him playing that I felt he would do better learning with us not right in the pool with him. Obviously, he wasn't down with this plan.
He made a quick recovery and is now a big fan of playing with Miss Eileen. We go every Saturday morning and I'm super excited for our pool to warm up so that we can have more fun.
Even here in the Valley of the Sun we get some spring showers. OK, it was only one, but we did get a really nice rainbow out of it. This is what we saw when we came out of church. Andy told everyone about it for a week.
Lest you think that I think my boy is perfect, here's proof that he's not. Naughty little boy climbed up on his table to steal car keys. Good thing his feet won't reach the gas pedal yet.
I'm loving the extra sunshine left at the end of the day. I can relax on the patio while Andy plays. We've even enjoyed dinner out on the patio a couple of times. Andy would eat every meal out there if I'd let him.
Remember the whole bunny love thing? Well, last weekend my school district hosted an Easter event for employees and Andy couldn't get enough of a certain special guest. Other kids cried and wouldn't pose for pictures, but not my boy.
Oh, and here's us. Our happy little family of 3.

Yup, these are some pretty good times right now!

Spring Break is Breaking

Yesterday morning Andy woke up and seemed to be feeling much better, so we took him to our babysitter's house. Yippee! Brian and I got to have our date day! We spent some time figuring out what we wanted to do, and finally settled on going to the Phoenix Art Museum since we haven't been there before.

We also decided to have lunch at a new place (for us!), called The Farm at South Mountain. It's an actual farm and they have three restaurants, one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. They feature fresh organic produce and all sorts of yummy things. It was a beautiful day yesterday, perfect March weather, and perfectly perfect for the exclusively outdoor seating.

We enjoyed a delightful lunch, and some quiet time afterward to just sit and relax. I could have stayed there all afternoon sipping iced tea and hanging with Brian.

By the time we left and began to make our way to the museum we were both very relaxed. Suddenly the museum wasn't seeming very enticing. It seemed like a much better idea to go to the nail shop. Brian wanted a pedicure, and I wanted a gel manicure. Now, Brian is still pretty new to pedicures, I corrupted him a little over a year ago. You also have to understand that Brian is totally freaked out by feet. All feet. I know, it's weird, and I don't even get it. Minutes after we got there we were surprised when my mom walked in. Brian was ready to die! As it turned out, he and my mom were sitting right next to each other in the spa massage chairs soaking their tootsies.

It was really a special bonding moment. As luck would have it, I took a picture with my cell phone. I can't post it here because I posted it on Facebook yesterday and Brian was pretty upset about it. But trust me, I realize how lucky I am that my husband and my mom get along well, and I really like it.

Today didn't go nearly as well. Andy woke up early and was just feeling really punky again. He was coughing and congested like crazy, and certainly not his normal self. We had a follow up doctor visit scheduled for today and Brian met us over there. Mind you, this was his third doctor visit since Saturday. Now we find out that the problem is that he has Strep Throat that triggered a 5 day asthma attack, bordering on pneumonia. He's now on antibiotics, another 3 days of prednisone, and continuing with albuterol three times a day. Hopefully this will do the trick. I feel bad that he has been so sick when I've actually had time off.

We have a long family filled three day weekend, and then I'm back to school on Monday. Hopefully I won't be taking Strep Throat back with me!

Spring Break

One of my favorite things about the district where I teach is that every year in March we get a two week Spring Break. While two weeks off is in and of itself pretty great, it is made even better by the beautiful Arizona weather. We also reside within the Cactus League, so we are surrounded by major league baseball spring training. Typically it is also our busy season for house guests, which is really fun. So, we tend to stay home rather than travel, which means that Spring Break is the my most restful break of the school year, other than summer break.

To get the ball rolling, my mom and I took Andy to Thomas the Train's Day Out. It was held in Globe, which is a tiny town way east of here. Andy had a blast, even though the event was a complete dud, simply by virtue of it's locale and complete disorganization.

The other best part of Spring Break is that I get to spend tons of time with Andy. Sometimes we do things that are fun for him, but sometimes we do things that are fun for me, like the day I went for a manicure and pedicure.
We have a little park nearby that Andy loves to visit. Every time we drive time he asks to go. Well, we've had lots of time to play!
Unfortunately, Andy has also been sick. We took him to the doctor on Saturday morning where he was diagnosed with a common cold. However, things changed drastically by Sunday afternoon. Andy's coughing was constant and thick, and he was wheezing and breathing rapidly. We took him to urgent care where he was promptly set up on a nebulizer. Let's just say that this didn't make him a happy camper.
By the end of the treatment he was feeling much better and thrilled to have his favorite treat, a "lollibot".
Here's a little video of him in all his cheerful "after treatment" glory, obviously feeling much better.



We were able to leave after Andy had one more treatment, and sent home with three prescriptions and still a diagnosis of a common cold, complicated by what may be asthma. The past couple of days have been rough around here, with very little sleep for anyone and grueling nebulizer treatments several times a day. We have a visit with our regular doctor later this week to see how things are going. While this isn't my favorite way to spend time off from school, I'm glad that it is break so that I don't have to be taking any sub days.

Brian is off tomorrow and we are having a date day for just the two of us. I'll have to report back later with whatever we end up doing.

Missing Baby!

Where did this big boy come from? And what happened to my baby?

Falling in Love

It's been no real secret that I don't exactly love Arizona. Our move here was a rough adjustment from all that we had known in Southern California, and our first couple of years were filled with challenges the likes of which I hope to never know again. That being said, little by little I think I'm coming around to Arizona.

The changes began to happen slowly. First and foremost, Brian has been my rock through all of this. But then, I began to make friends and not feel so alone. Then, I adjusted to teaching in Arizona, but that's a whole other blog post. I learned to keep from dying of the heat in the Arizona summer, and to enjoy the monsoon storms.

My latest challenge has been learning to enjoy what Arizona does have, instead of what it doesn't have. Today was a rare treat. Brian also had the day off and it was a beautiful day, sunny, clear, and cool. We decided to take Andy on a little family adventure, and we went somewhere we had never been before, and we never got further than an hour east from our house.

We drove out to Saguaro Lake though some beautiful scenery, and absolutely no traffic. Along the way we eyed the snow in the mountains and the beginnings of spring blooms. Once we arrived at the marina we looked around briefly, then enjoyed lunch on the patio of the restaurant while enjoying the views. Even better, we had a $10 off coupon for lunch. The little quote on the coupon didn't lie . . . this place is certainly one of Phoenix's best kept secrets.





I think it's safe to say that little by little I seem to be falling in love with Arizona. Who knew?

This last picture is simply a gratuitous picture of Andy from the recent past. Yup, we are still on the potty bandwagon.

He Loves Me

Brian does, that is. And while he shows me this every day by all the little things he does, like cooking dinner & bringing ice water to me at bedtime, it's nice to be shown in more traditional ways. For Valentine's Day he got me a dozen chocolate covered strawberries, and they are quite wonderful.

T Bear

Andy received a giftcard for Build-A-Bear at Christmas, and then last week I found $10 off coupon in a magazine. So, it seemed that the weekend was the perfect time to head to the mall for a little fun. The whole drive Andy talked of nothing but wanting a bear that talks, so we were on a mission.

Andy thought this one might make a good friend.
Upon closer inspection, there are lots of possibilities!
The stuffing process was quite intriguing for Andy.
This whole kissing the heart before stuffing it in the bear thing was a little confusing for Andy. I did it to show him how it's done, so now the bear has two hearts.
Checking the stuffing before stitching him up. Quite huggalbe!
Bathing, brushing, and fluffing.
Getting dressed.
And now a post-dressing bath, brush, and fluff.
Completing the birth certificate for T Bear.
Cuddle time on the way home.
Andy has become fast friends with his new buddy, T Bear. Andy loves to squeeze his paws to hear him giggle and talk, and he carries it around by the straps on his overalls. T Bear naps and sleeps with Andy at night, and is an all around welcomed member of the family.

It was such a fun day that I think we are both looking forward to going back another time.