I apologize for not posting the past week or so. Things have been a bit busy.

Just a quick recap...

Monday, Niko turned in his Gila Monster report. He was proud of it and did a great job.

On Wednesday, Mike's mom came in for a visit for a few days. We had a great time and it was a lot of fun having her here. She came with Matthew to Kids Club on Thursday and on Friday we took the older two out of school for lunch and then went swimming in the afternoon. We also had a good time playing at the park and making peanut butter play dough and reading new books. By Saturday we were at 98 degrees, so the warmer weather was a nice switch for Pam, being that Idaho's winter is still lingering. Our neighborhood picnic was Saturday as well, so we went over there and met some of our neighbors and played a while.

Sunday, Mike had another shift with Medcare. He really looks forward to those shifts.

Yesterday Mike had his interview with Tempe Fire. He seemed to do well with it. We will find out mid-May if he gets called for a second interview...Also, yesterday it hit triple digit temps briefly in the afternoon.

We'll try to keep up a bit better. The kids are done with this school year on May 22nd. So, we should have more excitement to keep you up to date with.

Taking advantage of the 'Spring Holiday' today with the kids, we had a fun day 'out', providing some peace and quiet for Mike as he worked and got some interview practice in with his buddy.

The kids and I ran to the library and did some research on Niko's Gila Monster report. Then we headed over to the Super Saver Theater and saw The Water Horse, a movie about the Lock Ness Monster in Scotland. We all really enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed the fact that it was only 8 bucks for all of us to get in! Woo-hoo...It was a great day enjoying one another for the most part and the time we had to be together.

Do you ever have those moments where you're not thinking of two minutes before or two minutes later, but in that very moment, you just want to freeze that moment...Everything seems right, you are perfectly content...you are full of love and appreciation...and you jsut want to hold onto that moment forever? I've been having a ton of those moments lately. I am totally and completely in love with my family. I adore my husband. He's my hero, he's hot...sizzling hot...he's strong, he's committed, he's responsible and caring. I am just so in love with who he is and he is just so...delicious!...Then there are my kiddos. Each one of them individually, i have just fallen head over hells in love with. They are so funny and precious and challenging. They have everything that I absolutely love about Mike and love about me seeping out of them....I know that Mike or the kids are far from perfect, but that makes me love them even more. Gosh-I think I am the luckiest woman on earth, truly and sincerely. I may be a bit bias, but my family is the absolute best! They rock!

Just wanted to share that with the world :)

Matthew was center stage today at Kids Club helping Dewpert the Prairie Dog with "The Wheels on the Bus" and he was the duck for "Ol' MacDonald". Then afterwards, we of coarse rode the carousel where he insisted on riding his favorite horse, a plain brown one on the inside. Go figure. You have your choice of dinosaurs, cool eagle, ostrich a tiger...but he sets his heart on a plain Jane brown one-Easy to please...

Bethany presented her Science Project today in class. I walked in just as she was done, which was a bit disappointing. But I know she did well...

Today was Tuesday, Library Day. Matthew went to his story time this morning and the kids went to a Science fun afternoon where they did experiments using their 5 senses. It looked like a lot of fun.

Art Night

Here are the displays of the kids art. They had the elementary grade artwork showing as a slide show on the screen throughout the awards presentation. Bethany's actual picture got mixed up with her classmates. But we figured it out. So The one that says Benjamin is actually Bethany's and vice-versa

kids eating their goodies afterwards

Matthew's New Do

Before...Shaggy locks

After...

The boys all got haircuts today. Matthew's shaggy locks are no more :(...

The kids had a art show at the Higley Performing Arts Center tonight. They only awarded the middle school and high school art work, however a few choice pieces from elementary grades were displayed and both Niko and Bethany had pieces chosen. It was fun to see every one's talent and the fun projects that everyone had.

Tonight, Mike also had a great time at the station again, working on interviews and 'hanging out' with the crew. The City of Phoenix Fire Chief-THE Chief- stopped by the station on some business, but took the time to chat a bit with everyone. Fun stuff...

Bethany's Science Project

Today's high was 95....So after finishing off the weeding in the front yard, we hit the pool.

Mike and I came home and did some yoga.

Bethany finished up her science fair project.

Fun times!

So, Mike got home at about 12:30 this morning completely jazzed about his evening at the station. In between running calls, he got some awesome coaching on his interviewing. Good stuff...

And then about three hours after finally going to bed, the alarm went off for Mike to get up to take his dad and Carol to the airport, as they are off to Washington DC for a week (can I be just a tiny bit jealous of that? :o) Only kidding, we hope that they have a safe and wonderful trip!...So, Mike crawled back into bed about 5:30 this morning and got a couple more hours of shut eye.

I got up and made a big Saturday morning breakfast as if I didn't have anywhere to be today. After we finished up eating at about 9:00, Bethany says, "Mom, isn't your Women's Brunch this morning?"...Uh....oh, yeah...I was supposed to be at a brunch from 9-11:30 this morning and somehow completely forgot! So I jumped in the shower and got there as quickly as possible and was still able to catch most of the speaking...It was a great morning.

It got even better when I got home and saw that my fabulous husband had washed all the dishes from breakfast, cleaned up the house and even mopped the floor while I was gone. He's the best!

This afternoon, we worked in the yard and chatted for a while with our neighbors, who are transplants from the inland Northwest and have plans of moving back to Spokane soon. It was fun to talk to them and get to know them more. Other than the whole Northwest thing, we found out that we have a lot more coincidences that we could not have imagined...crazy small world....

Mike and I got our at-home work out done this evening as well. Feel good about that.

And the kids had a great day too. Matthew was particularly whinny today, but other than that, no complaints. We have successfully kept our sanity one more day despite the incessant whining and more than occasional bickering...Hooray

Today Mike got the green light to start working at Med Care, an ambulance company in our area that contracts through Southwest. He will be picking up shifts on the weekends. He is so excited to get back out there and start using his skills again. There is just such a HUGE difference between the person who has his EMT and sits behind a desk all day, every day and focuses attention on something else, than the person who is actually sharpening his skills by putting them to use. Don't know if that made a whole lot of sense to anyone, but oh well...He is ecstatic to be getting out in the field again!

Tonight he is doing a ride-a-long/interview practice with some guys in Phoenix. Hopefully he'll get some calls, but if not, he is building some good relationship and having a blast.

He got his letter from Tempe a couple days ago letting him know that he passed their written test. Today he got the letter for his interview. He called to schedule it and got in on Monday, April 28th at 10:15 in the morning. So that's a deadline to work and get ready for...

My time on my run today was 26:12...Working on chiseling 6-8 minutes off that number, down to, at the most, 20 minutes...Doesn't seem too extreme of a goal...So, we'll shall see...

Kids finished off the week with a bang. Matthew had some challenges at school today, being that his teacher was gone today. He listens very well to her, but has issues when she is gone. It's a testing the limits thing...Ugh...

Tonight we washed the truck, played at the park and watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. It was a great flick. We enjoyed it.

Kids Club Thursday

At the Kids Club today with Matthew, they had a special guest. He was a reptile man. We were running late, as usual, and snuck in just in time to get a seat on the carpet up front and right along the center isle. It was a perfect spot for Matthew to see all of this guy's friends as he brought them up and down the isle. He had this European Legless Lizard that was quite interesting. Looked just like a snake, but it could close it's eyes, had ears, and the lower half of it was actually a tail that if lost would regrow-all characteristics of a lizard...

He also brought an Australian Blue Tongue Lizard, that really odd as well. The one we saw looked more like this, kind of snake-ish as well, but in a different way.

We also saw and learned about the Bearded Dragon that looked a lot like this one. His name was Tivo. And we saw two different kinds of Boa Constrictors. One was so big that two people had to carry him over their shoulders. He was a good 10 inches in diameter. The guy said that he ate pigs for meals...Crazy....

It was a fun morning for Matthew (and me too!) He got to ride the carousel after also, which was an added treat!

So, Bethany finished up with her AIMS testing today. And so tomorrow is a free-day for them after such a hard week of testing.

I know you all were just DYING to watch Matthew eat his lunch from today, right? I took his picture because of the outfits he's been putting together lately. He wore this hat and goggles all day today, even running errands. And the 'cool mom' (yeah, whatever)that I am, let him wear this gig in the stores...Even though it's been pretty warm lately, he insists on wearing his snow gloves everywhere and his big bomber jacket...and now he's dug out his snow hat to go with it. Trust me, he sweats a ton, but refuses to let go of this winter wardrobe. Silly man.

Speaking of errands, I think I saw the difference between Idaho and Arizona today when I ran into Sportsman Warehouse to check on something...I was the only female within 100 yards of that store, let alone in it! I don't think I would've been so outnumbered with the Idaho gals :)

Matthew went to the library today to do his pre-school reading time. That was fun as always. Mike went into work today so it was a quiet afternoon at the home front with naps and cleaning in the afternoon.

Bethany has been doing the AZ AIMS testing this week. It's the BIG state test that they base all the curriculum off of. She seems pretty confident with it all and the school is big on not letting the kids get all stressed out over them too. She's off the hook for homework this week though, so that's a nice break for her. She got herself grounded though, so all that free time isn't filled with a whole lot of fun...bummer for her.

However, after school, she did luck out when she got to tag along with Niko to the library and do the after school activity there. I could hear Niko's laugh from the room they were in across the library, so i knew they were having a good time.

D-Backs Opening Day

We had a great surprise yesterday afternoon...Mike was taking his Phoenix test all morning and so had the morning off of work. Work was trying to contact him all day. When they finally did at about 1:30 (when Mike was done with the test) it was because they had two tickets to the Diamond Backs OPENING DAY game. They had been holding them for him.

In order to get to downtown Phoenix to meet up with everybody by 5, he had to leave at 4:15. He immediately called his dad to see if he wanted to come, but both him and Carol have the flu. Bummer...Then he asked his friend, Brian, but being that he had foot surgery a week ago, the stairs would've been a bit daunting...So I guess I was next on his list. And so we scrambled to find a sitter. Being that our sitters are in school until 3:00, that only gave us an hour margin to work with in our frantic search. The phone rang just as Mike was about to send out an email to a bunch of his friends saying "first one to get back to me can come with"...So, it was an awesome babysitter which meant WE HAD A DATE! Woo-hoo.

So by 6:00 we found ourselves hiking to our seats with the group of Mike's work-buddies. It was awesome...The D-backs were playing the LA Dodgers, which made for an interesting crowd, being that the majority of the population here are fresh CA transplants. It was great! We didn't have to worry about getting up throughout the game or anybody by us getting up throughout the game because our seats were quite literally the very last row in the ballpark. We were in the elite group who held the highest tickets of the 49,033 that were sold :) .





Our team played great, winning with the final score of 9-3.

Starting Line-up and teams

Mike's co-workers

Kindergarten Dilemma!

So thought we'd let you all in on the scoop...

As most of you know, Matthew makes the September 1st cut-off for Kindergarten for this coming up school year (2008-09). Most people's initial reaction is, "Oh, yeay, now you get all three in school!" And when they hear that our district is going to all day Kindergarten, there are even more kudos and applause and "lucky-you's"...

But, here's where the parent aspect of all that kicks in...We are not that thrilled about sending Matthew to Kindergarten this next year. Being that he will be turning five just three weeks before school begins we were REALLY, really wanting him to take another year of pre-school and have him start Kindergarten the following school year (2009-10). So we had pretty much made up our minds that that is what we were going to do. This was for numerous reasons, one being that it would give him the advantage of being a bit more mature in the years to come and a bit ahead of the game, rather than always trying to catch up.

Now here's the big wrench in all that wonderful thinking...Being that he is in Speech Therapy and has an IEP with the school, his speech services could be discontinued if he does not go to Kindergarten next year. It's a funding issue. We cannot risk loosing his IEP, because once you loose an IEP, it's extremely difficult to get one back. So after meeting with his therapist and his teacher this morning, we are pretty much backed up against a wall. They both whole-heartedly support our wishes and our plan, but the decision making is not in their hands...

It is really disappointing. You try to do what's best for your child and you can't, because your hands are tied behind your back.

So, as it stands today (things could always change), we will be enrolling him in half-day Kindergarten this coming up year (2008-09) and then having him go through full-day Kindergarten the following year (2009-10). It's the best solution that we can come up with right now.

The only foreseeable problem with this plan is that space in the half-day classes is VERY limited and they anticipate waiting lists to get into one. So we are really hoping that this plan will be able to stick. If not, we'll have to brainstorm once again...Ugh....

Upper 80's again today, but with a nice breeze. We decided to hit the pool and go swimming. It was a blast and refreshing.

Oh...and more studying for the Phoenix Fire Test TOMORROW!!

Mike spent this morning with his buddies doing some odds and ends- "honey-do's"- for some ladies in the area. There is a group of grandmothers who are now raising their grandchildren for a variety of reasons, who have formed a support group. Mike and his friends connected with them and asked them for lists of things that they needed done around their houses that they either did not know how to do or were unable to do. So this morning, they got a lot done. Some of the things on their list was fixing kitchen faucets (leaking and loose), caulking tub, replacing screen door, hanging pictures...Here is the email Mike sent out when he got home...

I think this was great.....Jim, myself and other guy, his name escapes me had a great time.
Projects that we thought were going to be easy ended up being more difficult. Our tasks were changed from worker to troubleshooter. We helped Anita with her light fixture. She actually had a short in the light fixture, it could of arched and continued a with a fire eventually.

We got a new fixture installed for her. The simple bulb change turned into a fixture change. We also had the task of changing her florescent light bulbs. This turned into another troubleshooting exercise. We got it working for her was the end result. The thing I thought was cool was that she learned from us too. I was doing the caulking, in the tub, and she was quite impressed with how clean I got the lines. So I showed her how to do it. After this she commented on how the sink needed caulking. I had her do it. I guess caulking is an art vs. a skill. It turned out nice and Jim said it appeared a professional did it! Well thanks guys...made me feel good!

Finally, Anita's grand-daughter was climbing all over me like a spider monkey. I am excited that we were able to have fun, do good, and really take our skills and talents and be a blessing to someone else. Thanks for the invite and excited about doing this again!
Mike

And then another response from one of his buddies.

Thanks everyone for helping out. I know Anita really appreciated it and was amazed that there were guys who would actually come over and help someone out in need. Her husband had died a few years ago and since he had done all these types of things she didn't really know how to do them. I think she also really appreciated having other adults to talk with too.

We will have to do it again. Don't forget we will still need to help Janice move out of her storage unit before the end of the month. I'm waiting to hear back from her when she's ready to do that.

So they were very productive and made a difference and had a great morning!

While he was off doing that, the kids and I were trying to get a photo of the three of them that was frame worthy, per request, but because it needed to be done as well. It's been a while. Here is one of my personal favs from what we got.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning, studying for the Phoenix Fire Department test that is on Monday, and running some errands.

Mike took Bethany to go use some of her gift cards. She got some clothes and a My Generation Doll, very similar to an American Girl doll, but about a third of the price. They had a fun time together.

Mike studied some more when he got home and I BBQ's pork chops for dinner and did some yard work outside with Niko's willing help.

The kids and I attended the Muffins With Mom breakfast at school this morning. It was a lot of fun. Don't know if you all remember Mike going to Donuts with Dad, but the kids really like going to these things and something so simple is a big deal to them. Kind of fun...

After we got the kiddos off to school, i enjoyed some grown-up time with one of my girlfriends as we chatted over a great cup of ice tea at our favorite coffee shop. It was a beautiful morning to sit outside, sip our drinks and get caught up.

Then Mike and I headed to the Apple Store and got the gadget that allows us to watch the media on his Mac-media he has bought off of iTunes and downloaded from Hulu.com and other sources-this little gadget allows us to watch it on our TV. It works GREAT. And we are so excited about this, especially since we've had an Apple TV on our wish list and quite frankly, it's just way beyond our budget right now. This is a great improvisation around that and a HECK of a lot cheaper.

So, then it was off to get Matthew from school, then our Friday Favorito Burritos...

When I got back from grocery shopping today, we had a very pleasant email from Mike's Aunt announcing his cousin, Chris', engagement. We are so, sooo very excited and happy for them. Looking forward to another wedding. From the few times we've spent with her, she is such a wonderful woman and looks like they make each other so very happy. We are so excited for them!

So now we're off to watch a couple movies and have a lazy Friday night.

Matthew and I checked out the Kids Club at the mall today. It turned out to be so much fun! We sang songs and heard stories and Matthew got a chance to go up on stage and dance with the groundhog character guy. After getting our See's Candy "waddy-pop", we headed home for lunch and naps.

Matthew dancing on stage

Coming back to his seat in a big hug...

Tonight was breakout for the older two at church. They of coarse look forward to that every other week. Matthew was disappointed he couldn't come, but he got a "pop-a-kisser" (Popsicle) for dessert and so he was then okay to stay home with dad.

Fun times....fun times...

So today was April Fool's day...Anyone get made a fool of? We weren't big on the jokes this year. Mike and I thought of repeating the same on we do nearly every year that people still fall for...The one where we call and ask how people feel about being a grandparent again, or send an email out of a photo of the two lines on the home pregnancy test...But we decided against it this year....Maybe next year.

We did spend a lot of time at the library today though. Matthew had his preschool story time in the morning, which he thoroughly enjoyed. And then the older two had a craft time in the afternoon. They made spring flowers. After the library, Bethany went to a track practice with a friend of hers. She's been quite the busy bee lately. We are going to have to cut her back a bit to keep her grounded and keep her priorities in check. But it's a good thing that she's not at a lack of things to do.