Phoenix: Part 3

In July we went to my sister's wedding in Phoenix. We drove there and took as many photos of vintage signs as we could. Here's what we got on this trip.

This was a police car parked right outside of (a very small) town, but when we looked closer we realized there was a dummy in the driver's seat. We did slow down.

birthday catch up OR a long post about my children

Well I promised some updates and then I didn't do anything. I guess I shouldn't make promises anymore.

I did post Sam's birthday. But I didn't post anyone else's. So here they are.

Luke's birthday was this summer. He still had that crazy hair back then. He made several different faces when asked to smile. He also wanted a monkey cake. I used one from Martha Stewart.

A few things Luke's up to:

He LOVES Henry. Or as he calls him - Hemry. He's always trying to play with him and help him out. Usually he is helpful.

He asked me to teach him how to play the piano. I tried, but Charlie was better at it and Luke knows a song now - which he plays over and over again. I think he's ready for more.

He's starting preschool here pretty soon. It's sad to have him gone, but it will be good for him. He's starting to recognize letters and numbers and he will have a lot of fun.

He is still very attached to his blankie. But he will take substitutes. Which is nice because the blankie gets pretty gross. He calls it his little spot blankie and he has a quilt on his bed he calls his big spot blankie. I love it.

Luke has started pronouncing things correctly. Things like

"Luke" - used to be Wuke or Wukie.

"Charlie" - used to be Chay, then Charwee, now Charlie.

"blankie" - used to be bwankie.

I guess they're all L things, but he over pronounces the L - which I love.

Luke has also started helping around the house. It may take him a while to get a job done, but he can pick up the toys or take out the garbage. He's also a pro at wiping things with a wet washcloth.

Charlie had a birthday recently too. His and Sam's birthdays are entirely too close together. He really wanted a killer whale cake. I wasn't that impressed with my rendition, but I think Charlie was. I used black outline frosting and black sprinkles.

Some things Charlie's up to these days:

He's into duct tape. He's been making bookmarks that he plans to sell at school.

He really loves video games. Most of my time talking to him is spent trying to get him to think of other things to do besides video games. Thankfully there's duct tape.

He LOVES little Henry. All my kids have always loved the babies that come to our house, which I really appreciate. They all talk about when they are going to be dads and have their own kids. Cute.

He loves his math homework. I'm not sure if the teacher has talked him into this or if he really likes it - but every time he comes home with it he tells me how much he loves his math homework. It's pretty funny.

Charlie has also been going to a Jiu-Jitsu gym with Jack and Sam, learning the fine art of arm bars, choke holds and the like. He seems to enjoy it. Although he did take a break for a while and complained to Dan that he thought it was supposed to be more hitting and punching people. (There really is none of that.)

Just a cute photo from Charlie's birthday. We were waiting for some of the kids to arrive so Sam (who also loves duct tape) started showing everyone how to make wallets. One girl didn't want to stop even though we were starting the games.

And while we're here I'll tell you a few things about Sam, since I didn't do that on his birthday post.

Sam loves his duct tape as well and spends a lot of his time making wallets, ipod cases, and iphone cases. He plans to sell them at school soon and has amassed a quite a collection. He has also given many of them away.

Sam likes to do things with his hands and has just learned how to cross-stitch. Some of you may think that's just for girls, but if he turns out to be a surgeon - he will be a very good one.

Sam loves his little brother Henry just like everyone else does. He often gets him up and plays with him if I'm busy sleeping, on the computer doing something else. He can also make him a bottle.

Sam has been helping me a lot lately. I asked him just today to unload the dishwasher. He did it happily. Then I asked him to sweep the floor. He did it happily and when he was done asked if there was anything else he could help with.

Recently Sam saved up a bunch of money. About $50 - a lot for our house. I think he got a lot of it for his birthday, but he had some big plans for it. It has slowly been spent, but always when he buys something for himself, he buys something for his brothers too. Especially the ones with no money.

On to Jack. His birthday was this summer and it turns out I don't have any good photos from it. Dan took a video of us singing Happy Birthday, but I'm not sure I should post a video of a bunch of kids who aren't mine.

So these photos are from Spokane - which I still haven't blogged about.


Here he is with his best friend/cousin Jordan.

A few things about Jack:

He's been taking private cello lessons for about a year now and is almost finished with Suzuki book 1. He enjoys it - which means he's sticking with it. We love it too, but it's hard to get in all the practice time.

He's also taking piano lessons and loves it. He's been playing a lot of Jazz lately which is something I never played. So it's kind of fun to have something different.

Jack is very helpful and an excellent older brother. He makes bottles for Henry, puts his pjs on, changes his wet diapers, and does a lot of jobs.

He still loves Legos. I don't think he'll ever stop loving them.

He is still attached to that hat. If he could wear it to school and church he would.

And even though he hasn't had a birthday - here's what Henry's doing:

He loves to reach up to the piano and play.

He loves to eat food by himself. Lately he loves sweet potatoes, peaches, and bananas.

He is usually a pretty happy guy. But he really hates it when he can tell we're all out here and he doesn't get to be with us (like for a nap). He doesn't want to miss the party.

He loves to find cords and chew on them. I should just put all our old, shorter (non-strangulating) cords in a basket for him to play with. The kids spend a lot of time barricading him or the cords - like in the photo below.

He has the biggest thighs of any baby I've ever had. Not sure what that means for him in the future.

And there you have it - my 500th post! If you got to the end and read that part - I feel like you should get a prize or something. But what would the prize be?

a birthday and some catching up

Well, I've been gone from the blog for over a month. Things were much busier during the summer than I expected them to be. I thought that once school started, I'd have a good chance to catch up - but then we decided to paint the living room and I've had some really horrible headaches - so here I am finally getting around to something.

Sam's birthday was last week. He requested an ice cream robot cake. I tried to talk him into having a robot dance contest, but he wouldn't even consider it. They did destroy a pinata, eat pizza, and watch Rio. So that was fun.

I'll be updating some more soon, very soon.

these guys

Cute, right? They're even cuter since they're at my mom's for the week (except Henry).

Today I stripped some paint in the stairwell - a difficult task with all the kids here. I also spent way too much time on the interwebs. Did I tell you I started pinning? I also tried to get my pouch done for the pretty little pouch swap, but couldn't finish because I didn't have the right size or color of zipper. Lame. I also went out to dinner with Dan and Henry. That was nice.

There are about 100 things on my list to do - so I won't be getting them all done. But hopefully I get something done. I'll give you a report after the kids get back.

progress

I spent the better part of last weekend painting the basement. It looks so much better and brighter down there now! I also moved 3 bookcases and their books down and put them where they'll be living. It's starting to come together! Maybe by the end of the year we'll be able to watch TV down there.

More progress - little Henry is getting himself up to standing! He's been crawling around finding every cord he can get his gums on (he only has 1 tooth that he got last week) and it won't be long before he's even more mobile. It's going by way too fast!

Phoenix: Part 2

One of my best friends lives in Phoenix and she invited our family to stay at her house. It was so much fun. The kids played together and swam as much as possible. They're already asking when we can go back. Sara and I played the piano duets we used to play together and played Rock Band with the husbands and talked and had a great time. We'll have to go visit again some day. Thanks for letting us come Sara and Aaron!

Sara's oldest is just a few days older than Jack. They had a great time together.


All the kids together. They all got along really well.


I just thought this was a cute picture of Henry.



I used to live in Phoenix when I was in high school. I thought it would be fun to go see the old house and neighborhood so we went. In that neighborhood, right around the corner from my old house are 2 Frank Lloyd Wright houses. This first one was completely leveled and they are rebuilding it. I guess it will look like this.



The next house had a construction gate around it. I'm not sure if they're leveling it, or if it's just part of the same property as the other one. I have always thought this house was awesome. I don't think I could ever see either of them very well when I lived there. It seems like they used to be covered up with a lot of plants. Maybe so people like me weren't driving around trying to look at them.

Still on a Frank Lloyd Wright kick we decided to check out Taliesen West. There are quite a few tours available and I would love to do any of them, but we had all the kids and it was about 115, so we just walked around where we could (which was just the parking lot).

I love these little square details on the roof.

This design is all over (at least where we could see).

Here's the super cool gold sign Luke's standing next to. Can you see TALIESIN WEST in gold lettering?

Christmas Letter Back Issues

Just in case you want some extra laughs, I have reposted (with a few edits) our previous 4 Christmas letters. There's one from 2003, one from 2005, one from 2006, and one from 2007. (We skipped 2004). They are listed under the label Christmas Letters. I plan to post 2009, but it could take me a while.

Phoenix: Part 1

My little sister Emily got married a few weeks ago near Phoenix. I hadn't been there for 20 years. It was hot. But not as horrible as I thought it would be.

Here are Emily and Cy.


Isn't her dress adorable?

Here's our whole family minus Zach and fam - who weren't able to come. I made most of the yellow ties in this photo.


Charlie cooperated on photos. I think he was bribed by my dad (who loves to give out dollars to grandkids.) Plus - I think he really loved his tie.

Luke was pretty mad about something.

Then he got happier. Dan probably gave him candy.

Henry with my dad.