the wilderness man returns

Nate came home on Friday night.
He even brought me (a picture of) a flower. See:

He had days of adventurous adventuring under his belt.

He faced sheer rock faces, crossed the river several times a day, bouldered and climbed rock (and I mean BIG rocks), he got up early and looked at birds (can you say 'Peregrine Falcon'??)

And he did all of this while keeping track of 14 year-olds and ensuring that no one met a rattle snake teeth-to-skin (there was an "encounter" but a "safe distance" apparently was kept).

See, he had a good time:

A highlight was the coatimundi tracks (and scat, which you should say, "thanks Sarah for not posting the several pictures you have of said scat," and to that I will say, "you are more than welcome" and then restrain myself from going all TMI about the scat; but I will add, "yuck."):

And here is another close encounter. This one is only a bear:

Hi bear,

Thanks for coming by and not tasting anyone.

Don't come back now. Y'hear, Mr. Bear?

I'm glad Nate went, because he was so excited to go. I'm glad he's home because I need him. He's a necessity around here. And I'm very glad he came home when he did, because thanks to him I am now in recovery mode from the dang-bronchitis rather than the dying-mode of the dang-bronchitis. Also, he plays a huge role in our Pokemon-ing and Nintendo playing around here (that would be "vintage" Nintendo in case you were wondering).

Now, if I can will myself better to give the guy a decent Father's Day tomorrow...

romance

According to James, when you give a bunch of flowers to Your Woman when you get Married and she stops to smell them, they will all turn to butterflies and fly away. That is True Love.

the doctor has left the building

This is my doctor. He is old now, like me. He chose Texas sheet cake to celebrate that fact. It was swoon-fully delicious.

He is now in the midst of the wilderness, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, on a 3 day hike. He could not have been more excited about this trip. It is a passion he and I do not share. He loves the outdoors and the creatures one sees. I on the other hand enjoy the outdoors only if I know I can come back inside whenever I want, and frankly most creatures terrify me.

Every night when I go to sleep, I am grateful to be sleeping in a very comfortable bed all the while being cooled by divine a/c. I think he is probably grateful to be up 3500+ feet, covered by a blanket of stars (and a blanket of insect repellent).

He will be home soon. He will be dirty, the laundry will be almost as scary as woodland creatures, and he will be very happy. I will be too! We miss him around here!

We already have a date night lined up to celebrate his return from the wild. I'm looking forward to it.

visiting the past

Once upon a time, we lived not too far from this place (like a 10 minute drive) (now we live a mere 6 hour drive from it).

A few weeks ago the stars aligned and we were finally able to go back.

A few things have changed since our last visit, namely that Jimmy actually likes the ocean now.

Don't get me wrong, he still loves the sand too.

Grace has always been our water baby. Her love affair with the beach is not ending anytime soon.
Her latest passion has been digging up sand crabs. Mmmmm, tasty.

Oh dear beach, why can I not find you here in Arizona? There's been rumors about ocean-front property in Arizona, I just can't seem to find it.

all in a day's work

Grace has found her sport - Lacrosse. She's done two seasons. Thankfully they see fit (at this age anyway) to take the summer off because, well, because it isn't too fun to play (or watch for that matter) when it is 104 degrees outside.

LAX is a mystery sport. The rules seem to combine hockey, basketball, and football all in one.

There is plenty of flicking, scooping, and running to keep one busy.

Did I mention the running?

It requires serious teamwork and communication.

It is also exhausting!

sweet dreams

When I peeked in at the kids tonight before going to bed I found Grace, all snuggled in her bed, dreaming the night away. I found Jimmy completely cover-less, freezing, and crouched up into a human ball.

As I covered him up and snuggled him down, he said:
"Do you know which song I want to hear?"
"Which one?" I ask.
He replies, "The one that says, 'American Woman!'

I suppose we all have our own individual tastes in lullabies, now, don't we?

morning solitude

We had 5 children for part of the last 4 days. It was so fun, and so very exhausting. Nate and I did a weekend swap with his brother. We take their kids for a long weekend and they will take our kids for long weekend. So under my care was a 10 year old, 8 year old, 6 year old, 4 year old, and a 1 year old.

We did fun games, fun crafts, ate lots of kid-friendly food (which is why I have a ton of Swiss chard and beets in my fridge from the CSA. I just didn't see that going over too well). We even had the Page Cousin Olympics, complete with synchronized swimming, water basketball, and a crazy game involving shaving cream and Cheetos (pictures to follow soon).

So this morning as the children left for morning summer camp, I breathed in a huge sigh of relief. It is so quiet here, I can hear the whir of the washing machine (I cannot even tell you how much laundry there is). I am savoring the moment.

school's out for summer

Just wanted you to know, I now have a 5th grader and a 1st grader. I'm still reeling in shock.

sparkling water is bad for your pc health

Last Wednesday as I was preparing my 4th grade art lesson on Cubism, I totally spilled a bottle of Perrier on my keyboard. As you might imagine, this was not a smooth move.

It has been 9 days and I now am writing on my new computer (with no liquids in sight). I am very impressed with the squad of geeks who retrieved and saved my data without making me feel like the idiot I am. And yes, a few of them actually resemble geeks. One even looked like Napoleon Dynamite.

So to kick off the start of a new computer, let me embed a clip I found to be hilarious:


Happy Weekend!

it was the weekend

When it is Sunday night and one cannot even remember what one did on Friday night, one realizes
a. one has been drinking far too much
b. one has over-scheduled their weekend
c. one has not been drinking enough (water) and has attended far too many sporting events in the recent past

My answer is c. and b. Not a. But you probably guessed that.

Lacrosse is over (for now). Grace scored the first goal of the game on Saturday. She is loving the sport more and more with every practice and every game. In other sporting news, there is one TBall game remaining for this season.

What will we do with all our free time?

I really don't know, but I'm sure it'll fill it up quick!

Other highlights of the weekend:
1. Swimming party for the Primary children on Friday afternoon where the moms all agreed one planning a spa day this summer. These ladies don't mess around! They don't mean, "let's get together and make homemade facials and paint our nails," NO, what they mean is, "Fairmont or Montelucia? All day or half day?" Um, yes please!!!!!

2. Date night with my favorite guy
When we realized that we couldn't remember the last time we actually went out together without the children, we realized we were in trouble! Our favorite babysitter was available (it helps that her lacrosse season has recently ended as well), and we headed out to try a new-to-us Mediterranean restaurant. We at on the rooftop patio and had a view of Camelback Mountain. A fun Saturday night to be sure!

3. My Sunday nap
Sunday is the day of rest, y'know. The Sunday nap allows me to rest up and be ready for whatever this next week may bring, be it teaching art to the 4th grade, assisting in literacy centers in Kindergarten, watching a friends' kids for 5 hours one morning, possibly doing lit centers in Kindergarten yet another morning, and cheering at the final TBall game. Yes, I am ready, thanks to my Sunday nap (and the knowledge that next Sunday I can have another one!)

the yo yos I live with

These pictures were taken about a year and a half ago. I find them a rather accurate series of portraits of the other three who live here.

After TBall and the illustrious band concert (btw, Grace played a duet at the concert - Hedwig's Theme - of course it rocked!), we went out for frozen yogurt.

We had to convince Jimmy to actually try it. He loves yogurt and he likes ice cream, but he was not sold on the notion of yogurt being frozen. Once he tried it, he dug it. He dug it a lot; so much so that mid-bite he called out, "Ouch, my head! It is hurting!!" Grace replied, "Oh, its just a brain freeze. As humans we did not evolve to eat frozen foods. Our blood vessels just can't keep up."

That seemed to satisfy him.

typical wednesday

The following will take place later today. Yes, these pictures were taken before today, but that does not matter in the least. These have all occurred several times during the months of March, April, and now in May.

We only have three games left.

And right after tonight's game, instead of ending up in the tub where he belongs, he'll end up at the 4th and 5th grade band concert.

Last night I realized a deeper understanding of the notion, "Calgon, take me away." That understanding will continue to deepen through the remainder of the school year (which incidentally is in a mere 3 weeks) (crazy, crazy, crazy).

To cap off this post, I will relate to you what occurred this morning at the bus stop.
1. The bus pulls up.
2. Jimmy reaches in his mouth.
3. The bus doors open.
4. Jimmy hands me a tooth.
5. Jimmy gets on the bus.
6. His front tooth remains with me.

I hope the Tooth Fairy remembers this happened tonight after homework wrangling, Tballing, and concert-listening!

field trip

One day we went on a field trip. It was really more of an adventure. I convinced two other moms and their kids to go with us. We headed East towards the thriving metropolis of Superior, AZ (yes, we did feel quite superior when we arrived).

Rumor was that though this arboretum was well over an hour away, it was so much better than the Botanical Garden (of course not better than the Missouri Botanical Gardens - 'cause really, is there any garden superior to the BoTan? I think not).

This place was great. And we managed to only see 1/3 of it. It had birds galore (poor Nate, the ornithologist, he was sad to miss out.) We're going to have to take him back there with us (but we'll have to wait about 7 months until it is cool enough for me to handle). (Yes, it is now officially summer here). (Heaven help me).

Look, it even had some petrified wood. And a toad who looks remarkably like Jimmy.

There were also very informative maps (which helped us determine that we had in fact only seen 1/3 of it, and that we had best turn around and leave to find lunch before the younger crowd melted away from dire hunger) (turns out fruit snacks will only get some so far).

I would love to have this tree in my backyard.

But I'll take these instead.

All in all, a fun adventure. I'm so glad I found some friends out here that I can call and ask them to traverse to the unknown to check out an adventurous spot.

Yay!

the weekend and its recovery

Poor Nate had to go to San Diego this weekend. He had to miss our first two days of 100+ weather.

He also had to miss Jimmy's first REAL baseball game  - it was Little League night at the DBacks. So grateful to Grandpa Jeff (really known as Poppy around here) to accompany my slugger to the game. There was an on-field parade of Little League-ers (and their grandpas!), a dinner of hot dogs, popcorn and Sprite (the nectar of the gods for some little boys), and lots of friends in the bleachers. Speaking of the bleachers - when I was telling Jimmy of his good fortune to go to the game with Poppy, I mentioned that he got to sit in an excellent section call The Bleachers. Grace broke in and said, "THE BLEACHERS!!! You are so lucky!!!" She really meant it.

That left Friday night as a GNO for Grace and I. We dined as only one dines with Grace, on pasta. Then we perused the pet store and admired the kitties, guinea pigs, hamsters, parakeets, lizards, snakes, and more kitties. Then it was movie time - Mirror, Mirror. So fun!

Saturday morning was lacrosse - not just practice this time, but a real scrimmage. Grace plays hard. Its so fun to watch. By the time the game was over it was over 90 degrees. So we "opened" the pool for the summer. In the afternoon, the three of us went to see The Lorax, took another dip in the pool, and then had make-your-own pizzas for dinner. Our after-dinner entertainment was The Best of Boris and Natasha and the Best of Dudley Do-Right.

All was well until Sunday morning when everyone woke up with terrible coughs and sneezes. So we spent the day as a sick day and the fun continues today - Grace has a fever and Jimmy won't stop coughing. The Disney channel will be on for hours and after that I'm afraid there will be a repeat of Boris, Natasha and Dudley!

Lucky for us, Nate is back. That always makes everything better.

monkey see, monkey do