It was sooo nice having Mike home to enjoy the Saturday together. He didn't even have early Saturday morning coffee in the morning with his guy-pals...So we got to sleep in! The kids slept in until 8 also! they never do that.

After getting a slow start, we finally got out the door. First stop, Costco for hot dogs (lunch-fuel for all the running around we were about to do)...Next stop, Milano Music Center, to get Bethany's violin for orchestra. I had called around for prices and this was the best deal. I am so glad we found this place. It's right in the heart of historic downtown Mesa. This place is rockin'. It has every instrument you could think of...very friendly, family-owned atmosphere...been around forever...in it for the heart, not the business...I called other places and they were just machines spitting out instruments with minimal knowledge...We were impressed with this place. And the most affordable too, imagine that...Highly recommended to local people reading...Bethany was/is soo excited to have her violin in her hands finally. She loves picking it up and playing with it. Pretty smooth sounding too so far. She will not be using the bow in class for a while, but it's fun to experiment anyhow...

So, from there, we went to the Mesa YMCA to go swimming. It was refreshing and fun family time. After a good hour of swimming, everyone's late night was catching up. When nine year olds are hanging on you in the pool falling asleep, you know it's nap-time...

So, once we were home, Matthew went down for a nap with few problems considering...Bethany 'quietly' played with her violin. and Mike and I moved furniture around and got rooms all switched out...

That was just enough time to get things switched and then cleaned up and ready to go to dinner at a friends house. Matthew got up shortly before the sitters came and then Mike and I were off.

We had a fun spaghetti dinner with several of our friends hosted at one of their houses. It was great to catch up and see old faces. And, oh, gosh, the food was fabulous!

Again, a late night. We got the sitters home and were in bed by 11:30. Mike's gout started acting up in his foot, so we were up for a bit soaking and getting pain killers...he got to sleep though and his foot is much better when he woke up.

This afternoon, my mom and Dave came by to pick up Niko for the weekend. So he's off to cooler weather and fun times with Grandma and Grandpa.

Mike went to his CR shift and had a particularly slow shift, meaning he didn't get any calls. Still time well spent though...

Bethany, Matthew and I went over to a gal-pal of mine, Mrs. C. She's a different neighbor so it was close enough to walk since mike had the truck, but she picked us up anyhow. He hubby was out with the guys so the four kiddos had fun swimming and 'bowling' with their Wii video game thing and watching movies and playing. And her and I chatted and made peanut butter bars and made our shopping lists together, what fun! While we were there yet another huge storm blew through dumping a ton of rain. We ended up getting home and in bed about 10:30. The kids and I were beat, but it was alot of fun...

By the time Mike got home and we got in bed, it was 2:30 am! Oh yeah, fun times tomorrow!

Great Find!

Thursday morning, one of our friends/neighbors who live a couple streets up on the other side of the greenbelt, called us asking for an "odd favor". This next week is bulk trash pick-up in our neighborhood, where you can put large items out by the curb and the city will come by and haul it all away for you. Well, she had seen this really cool big ol' solid wood antique butcher block out by the curb one street up from us with a free sign on it. She was stuck at work all day and it was way too heavy for jsut her to move and her husband was unavailable, so she asked if we could grab a dolly out of their garage and wheel it either to our house or up to theirs before someone else snatched it up...

To be honest, I kind of moaned and groaned at the thought of pushing a 400-500 lb butcher block through the neighborhood in 110 degree humid weather-UGH!...But I did happily say we were more than willing to attempt to get it for her.

So, because Mike was working, from home, but nonetheless still working, we waited for his 'lunch break' and then went over to pick up the dolly from their garage. We grabbed the first one we saw and headed over to the pick-up spot...The thing was still there and was ridiculously heavy. We got it mounted up on the dolly and ready to go, but then noticed some other things in the 'free' pile that looked like a headboard and a foot board...

Reminder that we are in process of creating another bedroom that is in need of furnishings to create that extra bedroom-dresser, bed, etc...

So we see a drawer/bookshelf thing also, "Should we throw this in too, Mike?"..."Sure, why not?"...Wait a minute! we realize now that there is also a desk and another shelf that actually all go together to form a loft bed unit! It is clean and in relatively good shape. While we're there pilfering through the garbage, the cleaning ladies are there and the house is empty, realizing that people must've just moved out and were not able to bring it all with them...So we load it all up in the truck and we'll figure out how it all fits together later (OH, and Mike found a baggie with all the screws in it too)

So with that all loaded up in the truck, we began our journey with this butcher block down the street, over and across the muddy greenbelt over to the pathway on the other side that runs up the greenblet to our friend's house a couple streets up...

The thing is heavier than who knows what even with the dolly, in fact, we leave the sidewalk and begin our journey over the greenbelt and one of the wheels on the dolly literally crumbles and snaps under the weight of the thing, so we got it up across the greenbelt on one wheel...While I brought the truck around to the other side, Mike tried dragging the thing for a bit but ended up that he ran back to the house to see if they had another dolly (She's a mover by trade, so we figured they probably had others) Sure enough he found one with bigger wheels and a bit sturdier...So we got that piece delivered to the garage and went home to check out to see if we could find this bed thing on the Internet to get an idea of what is was supposed to look like...

Sure enough we found at least one identical piece of furniture on Craigslist. It at least gave us a good picture of how the thing went together and what is was supposed to look like....and how much people were selling this particular one for, $500 (1100, new) Wow! So we made out!

See, go help a neighbor! You may be rewarded in very unexpected and surprising ways!

The Things They Say

Bethany and I were talking while I tucked her in for the night. She was sharing that her teacher said something to the class out of the Bible and she thought that was cool because of all the hoopla that they have to deal with about feeling like they're doing something wrong for even thinking about the Bible at school-UGH!...Anyhow, I said, Oh, so what did she say?...B-"Do unto others as you would have done unto you"...M-"Oh yeah, that's the Golden Rule"...B-"Yeah, the Golden Rule, she said it so she doesn't want us to be 'unto' to people"...Ha! I thought that was funny. What does she think 'unto' means?

Matthew and I were in the truck running errands to the library and such. He was sitting in the back and says, "Mom, you glad you have a boy to talk to in the truck?...You glad you have a boy to pick books with you?" He was aware that he was keeping me company and thought he was doing a noble thing. Too funny.

Saying goodnight to Niko, tucking him in...Niko wanted to look at my wedding ring. He says, "that is beautiful...I'm going to get my wife a diamond as big as your eye ball."...Me-"that's a pretty big diamond, you better start saving for it now"...he says," I've got a lot of money in my penny bank"...Me-"Well, you'll probably need a bit more than that"...So now he's decided to start saving for his future wife's wedding ring-ha! How long will that last before he sees a Transformer that he'd rather save towards?

Matthew was in the bath scooping up cups of water with bubbles on top. He told me he was serving "coda-coda" (coca-cola)

Fun Times

Another week has flown by. I guess this is a sign that school and activities are in full swing. By the time we go through the day, get people to where they need to be, do homework, do all the "extras" and get the kids in bed, it's a couple minutes of wind-down time for us and then we're hitting the hay as well. Where does blogging about it all fit into all that? That is the million dollar question of the day...

I think I mentioned that I got all set up to start at the county and I began transcribing again on Monday. I have a full schedule already in the week that I've been back. It's fun and I love doing it again. Everything came back really quick and I just picked up where I left off. We're working on a more consistent, scheduled day this coming week with doing Matthew's schooling.

Although, Wednesday, it wasn't that that took time away from the school table. He and I went over to visit with a friend of mine around the corner who has a boy the same age as Matthew. Our visit was probably longer than it should've been and then it was early out for the other two kiddos so we went straight to pick them up and the day was pretty shot after homework, playing and dinner. After dinner we ran out and took the boys to Royal Rangers. My friend's two boys came along and while they were there, us moms had 2 hours to chat...It was a long exhausting day, but fun. the boys really like Royal Rangers. Matthew did a bit better, so next week is his last shot at seeing if he is mature enough to participate-this is per mom and dad, not the leaders of the group. They will take in any little boy who wants to be there, but Mom and dad say if he can't respect other kids and his teachers then he'll have to wait until he can...

Thursday was a very fun day...I need to just make a separate post about some of the exciting fun and funny things that went on...We got an absolutely spectacular storm come through. It was lightening upon lightening, one not waiting for another to finish (kind of like my labor with Bethany, now that I think about it-haha) But the sky just lit up with a constant rain of bluish white light flashes and ground/wall shaking thunder to go with it and SHEETS of rain pouring down, huge drops of rain-huge...We drove home in it and had to walk from the truck to the house and when we got in, it looked like we had stood in the shower for a couple minutes fully clothed. Fun, fun...

Today Matthew went in this morning for his Speech Therapy at the school. He did very well and got some homework to work on. I finished up some work and got Niko ready to go to my mom's for the weekend. Mike has a CR shift with the Phoenix Fire Department tonight. We're supposed to have another fun storm tonight.

Oh, and today is Auntie Sarah's birthday! Is it 26? Pretty sure, but I could be wrong, maybe 27? Anyhow, Happy Birthday to you! You know you share your birthday with Sen. John McCain, right? And today is also the wedding anniversary of his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin...What a day! have a great one!

And as for our three day weekend...looking forward to relaxing, although we'll be picking up Bethany's violin and salvaging what's left of the yard after the storms and Mike will be getting ready for his Gilbert interview on Tuesday.

Declaration Of Independence

We were sitting on the couch watching the boob tube the other day and something came up where we were giving Bethany a brief explanation on communism and as we were explaining, she must have concluded from our explanation that it was the opposite of 'freedom' because she responded by monologuing the declaration of Independence, word for word! Mike and I looked at each other, turned the TV off and said, Whoa, whoa, when did you learn that one and how the heck can you recite it word for word just like that?

It was pretty amazing and cool.

Well, today I came across this link here. You can order your own pocket-size copy of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence at no charge. Completely free-no shipping or handling or anything. Of coarse if you want to make a donation, they do have a separate link provided where you can go ahead and do that. But they encourage you to order it for groups that you are in as well-Boy Scouts, classrooms, etc....I think every adult should have a copy and read it to be reminded of the rights we should be enjoying as we live in the country that we do.

Drama

So we started today with 'The Meeting' for Niko. Mike and I had discussed prior that we wanted Niko in the other class where the teacher was going to be more consistent and there would be more structure throughout the year. AS it stood before the meeting, his regular teacher has gone on maternity leave two months earlier than expected. the sub he has is kind of on a week by week until they find someone permanent. and then his teacher will be back after she has the baby, which is due in mid-October, so six weeks after that...

Last year a team of people worked up a plan to help Niko succeed. This is what the 504 plan is. It is accommodations made in the classroom to help the teacher and Niko and the rest of the students accomplish the ultimate goal of learning, preferably in a positive environment. Last year at the meeting when we developed this plan the following key people were there-his teacher, myself, the school psychologist, the school counselor, the vice-principle, the principle and his speech teacher. We developed several strategies from desk placement in the classroom, to small goal charts, to discipline strategies, to communication avenues to keep everyone on the same page, to preventative plans...It was all put into this 504 plan and is supposed to be implemented. Last year was great. Everyone was so positive and supportive and really genuinely wanted to see Niko succeed...

This year, we have a new principle, vice-principle, teacher, substitutes...NOBODY had a clue as to what was going on. And there's Niko in the middle of it all completely failing, getting frustrated and angry because everything was just surrounded by this negativity.

So, the meeting really put us all on the same page. I was enlightened on the bigger picture of how the other class was set up and the challenges that are in that class. The principle actually said that she was offering the sub the permanent position this afternoon and hopefully she would take it. This would mean only one more change back to his 'regular' teacher. I got a chance to talk to this sub a bit and she has an rich background in special ed and was very apologetic at how she had handled situations with Niko not knowing about the 504 plan. I think overall, the meeting was successful. I feel like I am working with a team again and that we do have a common goal. I think that the meeting was imperative to get to where we are now. This isn't over though. We'll have to see how the follow through goes. I think it will help when the teacher gets going and I am able to go in and help in the class too. Then we can follow through with stuff from her end also. Positive, good meeting today.

After that somewhat exhausting meeting first thing today, I went straight to Matthews Speech meeting where we signed and finalized his ISP to get him going in Speech Therapy. He will be starting next Friday morning and going in for 45 minutes. He is very excited to go see Miss Kelly.

This evening we started our babysitting co-op. I watched our friends two boys while they went out on a date. Then in a week or two, Mike and I will be able to drop our kiddos to them and go out. Pretty good set up when you're working in a budget and don't have 30-40 bucks to pay a sitter. Mike, being at work tonight, made out like a bandit...Actually the kids all played together well and were very calm and peaceful. It was a fun night.

Also, yesterday I got the go ahead from the county t come in on Monday and get all set up to go. So I will be officially re-employed on Monday, transcribing once again. Fun, fun!

What a crazy week this has been!

We started carpooling with a friend/neighbor of ours from a few streets up. That should work out well.

Tuesday we got Bethany all oriented to start orchestra at school next week. She will be playing the violin this year. It was fun to meet the orchestra teacher and find out everything we needed to know about all that. They had instruments there to pick up and try and she ran the bow across the violin several times and it sounded smooth and pretty, no screeching yet. Maybe she'll be a natural. :)

We also have been having some issues at the school with Niko. He seems to be lost in the shuffle of new teachers, new administration and nobody seeming to know what's going on with his 504 plans and things that are supposed to be being implemented in the class and with us at home. Lots of communication failure and lack of follow through. So we've decided to keep him home until they can get a meeting together so that we are all on the same page. We haven't been getting any response from anyone until we took that action. Now all of a sudden every one's pushed this to top priority-imagine that. So we have a meeting planned for Friday morning now.

Wednesday we made and delivered a meal to a family. Then we had to swing by and pick up Bethany's violin book. She was SOO excited to get her hands on that. And then the boys went to their first Royal Rangers meeting that night. They had a blast and are so excited about doing this this year. Niko did really well in the class and participated and listened well. Matthew was a bit restless. We (Mike and I) told him he's on probation. He gets to try it a couple more weeks to see if he can listen and follow directions, otherwise he'll have to wait another year. It's supposed to start at Kindergarten, which age-wise he's fine. so we'll see if the threat will produce some change next week :)...Sounds like a lot of fun things planned. They are a lot like the Boy Scouts.

Thursday Niko was home again. We did a lot of school work with both of the boys. It was also curriculum night at the school. I went in and was the only parent that showed up for Bethany's class so her teacher and I visited for the 30 minutes and talked about everything under the sun, only about 5 minutes about the class and Bethany-haha. She said that Bethany is doing very well this year so far. She knew the kids from last year just from being out on the playground and interacting around school. She has noticed a huge difference in Bethany's maturity and handling situations this year over last year. We're proud of her...

I then went to Niko's class and sat in on their little schpeal. I really didn't interact with his 'teacher' a whole lot because I knew that we were meeting the next day. To be honest, I'm really not that fond of her at this point and kind of avoided her to prevent making a fool of myself...Hopefully things will be resolved tomorrow at the meeting.

Monday, August 18th

Today we got Matthew all ready to get started with his speech again. He'll be going in on Friday's for 45 minutes to the therapist at the school. I am so glad to get all that worked out and set up. We decided to spend another week on Bb. He still needs the practice and still calls it a T (and NO, this is not a speech issue)...

Mike was home today working. We squeezed in our workout and after work we got some more yard work done.

I spent the rest of the day brainstorming on how to arrange these rooms in the least money output way. Our goal is to give the boys their own space. Niko is especially needing it. As much as we've discussed the social benefits of sharing a room with a sibling-working through the issues that come with sharing space-for the sake of peace and harmony in our home, we are going to give this a try. We have the front room that is actually a den, no closet and a big opening into the living room with another door entry into the hallway. We'll be moving Bethany into that room and Matthew into her room. We need to find a solution to block the opening between the den and the living room...this gap here:
I've though of maybe a Murphy bed backed up against it for Bethany's room...too expensive though for right now. We'll probably end up with some sort of curtain. Just don't want it to look too tacky from the living room and still give Bethany privacy....Fun stuff...

Niko's pregnant teacher due in October had to take off way early. She's taking her leave starting NOW so Niko's got a new teacher for a while.

Here's more BIG NEWS...Mike got his Gilbert letter today inviting him to an oral board interview on Tuesday, September 2nd. They are hiring 6 people and these interviews are going to be very competitive. We'll keep you posted on that.

He's at the fire station tonight. So it's just the kids and I doing homework, having dinner, and wrapping up the evening.

We welcome comments if you have any suggestions on what to do about our doorway issue :) Please suggest away!

Exhausting Day

Today after church Mike went into work and we ran a TON of errands. We stopped by IKEA to get some ideas for moving rooms around at our house. That place was an absolute madhouse! The boys had fun playing in the kid watching area. Bethany is too big now to go in there, can you believe it!?! So us girls went shopping...We didn't really see what we were looking for but it was fun anyhow.

From there we went to the library and then to the grocery store to pick up a potato for Bethany's Potato Olympics that will be starting at school this week. Then off to Home Depot and FINALLY home!

Today was also my 'little' sister's 23rd B-day! Happy Birthday Amber!

It was a busy day and a late night after heading back out at 10 to pick up Mike from work. It's all good though and worth the trouble.

And of coarse after we got the kids to bed at 11, Mike and I settled down to get caught up on some of the Olympics. So we hit the hay at about 1 am. Good thing these games only come around once every four years.

Yuma, AZ

Space Age Restaurant

Creative Playground

Flying a Bomber

Coming down the slide out of the tremendous fort
wall climbing
Playing in the fort
Ready to go cool off somewhere

Rock Climbing and Swimming

Matthew with his silly b-day glasses from his card

Getting ready
all harnessed up
Up she goes
Matthew climbing up
Waiting on the buckets
There goes the bucket overhead

Another week flown by...

Friday I turned 31.

We all headed down to Yuma for the day. We've never been down there so it now we can mark that one off the list. It's an interesting little town. Growing fast, but a different kind of growth than here in the Phoenix Valley. GM is moving their entire plant from here to there over the next few years and so the economy there is getting a huge boost with all the people relocating. We went to a really cool park while we were there. The kids had a blast in the HUGE fort. Although it was in the 90's there, the heat was still intense, so we found the library to cool off in and escape the blazing sun. We ran out of time, but wanted to go to the historical state prison there and Quartermaster monument. Who knows, maybe we'll have to go back someday to do that. On the way home we stopped at Gila Bend for an ice cream at this Space Age Cafe place. It was a fun place with a fun atmosphere...We all had a great day and it was nice to not just be at home doing the routine daily stuff.

On Saturday we checked out the YMCA in Awatukee. It was so cool. The kids went rock climbing and Matthew got a go at it. He was so funny and was so proud of himself for making it four feet off the ground. We also went swimming in their cool pool with a water feature thing and separate play pool from lap pool. It was a really nice facility.

The White Trash Mom Handbook

This book is definitely one that I would love to read. If I don't win it over here on Blissfully Domestic's giveaway...I will definitely be checking it out from the library. Or better yet, buying it for my own bookshelf.

Authors definition of "White Trash Mom" would not be referring to Brittney Spears' mom (dogh!) simply referring to being imperfect and the realities of the expectations put on moms and being stretched thin...

'Somewhere there's been a disconnect, where moms think they have to not just have it all, but do it all.'

Anyhow, just thought I'd share this find with you. Go over to Blissfully Domestic's website and enter to win one of the two copies they're giving away. Just leave a comment on the giveaway post to enter.

FIrst Day of Second Week

More Olympics yesterday and today...We were all excited to watch the Men's and Women's qualifying for gymnastics. I remember going to an event at the 1984 Olympics when they were in LA. I remember thinking that the Olympics WERE gymnastics! My mom told us that my grandparents were taking us to see some of the Olympic games. I was so excited at the thought of seeing Mary Lou Retton! At some point I found out it was a Women's basketball game with USA vs. Yugoslavia. I was so confused and someone must've explained it to me and enlightened me that the Olympics were more than just gymnastics because I was okay with it all by the time we went and remember having a great time. It was a big deal.

Anyhow, so we watched that and the syncro diving and archery...and swimming. Phelps won a gold in swimming and if you didn't see or hear about it, they totally messed up the national anthem when he was on the podium. It was a real bummer and kind of ruined the feel of the moment. UGH...

Other than that, the first day of the second week of school went well. Niko did much better in class. Bethany had a great day also. Matthew started on Bb's. Much harder letter to form then the Aa. But he'll get it by the end of the week I'm sure...

I witnessed a pretty bad accident today that was just two cars in front of me. Our light had turned green and a truck pulling a trailer came plowing through the intersection on the red light and plowed into a Suburban that was just ahead of me. The trailer went flying all over the place and ended up hitting another truck that was stopped at the left hand turn signal at the cross traffic. It was all kind of crazy...Been a while since I've seen an accident happen. Everyone appeared to be okay. There was what looked to be an off-duty fire fighter that had stopped and was assisting...

That all was crazy, but not as crazy as Mike's sister's day...
http://www.krem.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=271844&shu=1

We went to the library after I picked the kids up from school today to get some books and some movies for Mike...Gotta love the library.

After homework and dinner, the kids got an ice cream from the ice cream truck...fun stuff.

Niko's new bike, "Wipeout"

Matthew being cool

The rest of the week went really well. We had a great first week of school.

Bethany received the only 100% in the class on one of her reading papers. Smartie pants!

Niko had a good week too. He-and from the sound of it, the rest of his class-are adjusting to being in class again. He missed quite a few recesses this week for failing to sit still when he was supposed to. Being too silly and who knew playing ninjas wasn't appropriate in Art?...He's not being 'bad' per say, just being too 'wiggly'...

Matthew did really well with his homeschooling this week too.

We've had a couple good storms this week also. Thursday night we had a really good one with lots of lightning and thunder and a good down pour of rain. Kept the kids up pretty late that night.

On Thursday I got a job offer from the county to transcribe again. It's exactly what I was doing before I went on full-time.

Friday morning, mike and I did a overhaul on our front yard, trimming bushes, weeding, 'manicuring'...Hopefully we'll satisfy the HOA Nazi's this time!!

Friday evening we went out and got Niko's bike-finally! He has been happily riding a little bike for too long. Now he has one that fits him right. He is very excited about it.

This weekend we'll get caught up and enjoy not having to be anywhere. Today we also watched a lot of the Olympics. We've Tivo'ed them so we were able to fast-forward through what we weren't that interested in.

Our favorites were the equestrian, rowing, wmns jousting that all three medals were taken by the US, wmns air rifles, the wmns heavy lifting that China won the gold in, volleyball....Good stuff!!

Matthew worked more on his Aa's and the sounds it makes. We found this really cool website with a lot of good pre-school and Kindergarten resources. I plan on using it for practice sheets. We read Officer Buckle and Gloria today. Very cute book about the value of friendship and how working together can be more fun and productive than doing things by yourself. It also had a lesson about how rules are for your safety and listening to and following the rules is important. So as follow up to the story, we sat down and he told me all the rules we have in the house and why we have them. I wrote them down on a paper and then he circled each rule and drew a line to connect it to being "safe and happy"...He came up with some pretty funny ones, but I wrote them down anyway-"Poop in the toilet" ?!?! (that should be a given, shouldn't it?-hehe) He also drew a picture of what friends can do together-ride in a boat, and a jet airplane, and ride bikes together...We'll be doing Math (practicing numbers recognition and writing) this afternoon.

And...They're Off!!

This morning was Niko's First day of Second Grade! He was kind of nervous, but he is really happy that his friend from down the street is in his class. When we got to school, we got there at the same time, so they met up right away and were out of sight on the playground. No chances of getting a photo of him with his class...

All ready to go

Bethany with her "cool" hat Niko (Nana and Popo) brought back from D-land for her.The three hoodlums
Last photo I got of him before he took off.

Bethany did really well today. She came home with a banner assignment for her to decorate to represent who she is ot hang in the class for the year. She said she had a really good first day and a lot of the kids in her class were in her class last year also. She said her teacher, Ms. Wild, told the class that they could be a little "wild"-haha...

Matthew had a good day with school today also. He worked on his writing and learning how to hold a pencil :)...We went to the library and got some books to use for his school. We have projects planned around them. The rest of the day, he had fun having the house to himself to play in.

Niko got home from CA shortly after Bethany got home from school. Nana and Popo were beyond exhausted. It was a long weekend for all of them and a long drive. But they had fun with family celebrating Great Popo's 91st b-day and had a BLAST at Disneyland yesterday. It wasn't that crowded so the lines weren't too bad and they were able to go on a ton of rides. He really liked the roller coaster/fast rides though. He said he liked the Matterhorn and Thunder Mountain Railroad A LOT. He said that Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones were scary. He really liked Star Tours too. I asked him what it was all about, if it was on tracks or what the deal was with that ride, he said it takes you up to space and gave all the details of where it went and who the Captain was and everything. It was so funny...That ride is the best at foolin' the kids as to where they are. I remember Sarah on that ride, looking at Dad and saying "We're not in Disneyland anymore, are we?"...So, I guess Niko thinks he took a ride into space too. And if he doesn't quite believe that much, he still doesn't understand the whole simulator concept of staying in one place and feeling like you are moving...

He also had a lot of fun playing with his cousins (actually second cousins) this weekend.

So now that we have all our family in one place again, we celebrated that fact and the first day of school with ice cream sundaes at McDonald's.

"We're from Arizona..."

It is official...Mike has lived in Arizona longer than he ever lived in Idaho! Crazy, crazy how fast time flies.

This milestone wasn't as big of a deal for me because I was only in Idaho for 2 and a half years, so this milestone came and left quick and I was too busy having babies to acknowledge it at the time...It's a bigger deal for Mike because he had the time to establish history in Idaho to an extent that I simply didn't have the time or opportunity to do.

Mike moved up to Idaho from California the summer of 1992. Over the next eight years, he graduated High school, worked at nearly every place of business in Coeur D' Alene at one point or another :) doing all sorts of things, completed his AA at North Idaho College, started his own business, moved into his first apartment, met his adorable wife (just kidding)...met and married his wife thus becoming a husband, became a father and entered adulthood/manhood...

Then the last week of July 2000, eight years after he had begun a new life in Idaho, he got on a plane and headed to Arizona to start a new chapter of his life. He found a job within a couple weeks and moved his pregnant wife and toddler down to make a new home.

Now, eight years later, realizing that we've crossed over the mark in the timeline...we look back over the past years with appreciation. God has truly blessed us here in AZ. Although it has not always been easy, we are so glad that God brought us down here. It has been a great place to raise our children and grow as a family and as individuals.

We have grown roots here and have grown to love this land we live in. It is a beautiful state with beautiful people.

Yep, it's kind of bittersweet to say, but I guess we're official Arizonians now...

Hey, it's even crazier to think that Mike's family has been in Idaho for over 16 years now...Sounds like his sister is hitting a milestone for living in Idaho longer than CA!...

And....She's Off!!

All ready to go

The fourth grader, walking up to school
Catching up with friends
Getting ready to go in(that's her teacher with the brown hair)
Matthew ready for his first day of school :)

Bethany was off to a good start this year as she started her first day of FOURTH grade! Can you believe it?!...

It's been a gloomy day today. I was looking at the photos from last year and it was so bright and sunny the first day of school. This week is supposed to be gloomy and rainy and this morning definitely was. But it didn't keep the smiles off of Bethany's face.

Her bag is loaded up with all the school supplies she had to bring in for the classroom. Otherwise, her bag shouldn't be that full. She was excited to see her friends that she hasn't seen all summer.

We'll update on how everything went this evening. But so far so good.

As for Niko, he'll be getting back from CA this afternoon and so tomorrow will be his unofficial first day of school.

Matthew started school this morning too...at our kitchen table. This week we're working on writing Aa and the sounds of it and the number 0. We're going to the library today and then we'll have some reading time and a project to go with it.

Fun In Idaho-Bethany's Big Trip

Haven't really made a post for Bethany's Idaho trip. We just kind of got right back onto the swing of things without missing a beat when she got home...So, here is a brief overview of her trip last month.

Bethany had a real fun time in Idaho. She got to make a lot of great memories with her cousins, aunt's, uncles, and grandparents. She did a lot of real fun things and was spoiled to death. :)

She came home with a ton of stories to tell us and enough excitement to keep us occupied for days. She had fun swimming in the river off the dock at Papa's and Nana's house. Even though she said that the water was 'cold', she seemed to not be affected by it. They peddled around in the peddle boat, went tubing out in the river in Papa's boat, and jumped and swam some more...

She had fun going garage sale shopping with Nana and to the movies to see the American Girl movie, Kit Kittridge. She told us that she really had fun helping in Nana's preschool class too.

She had fun playing with her cousins at Uncle Justin's and Auntie Kim's house. She said that at times they were "just like her brothers", not sure what she meant.

She also got to spend some time with the Biddle's. She got to spend the night one night and had some fun times and memories with them. They went shopping, hiking, she got to eat grandpa's famous BBQing...And as coincidences would have it, Greg, Jen and Ava were in the area and so she was able to spend some time with her other cousin, Ava, also. That was a real treat also (not only for Bethany but for Grandma and Grandpa to spend time with both their granddaughters for a little bit)

Back at Nana and Papa's...Bethany really had a blast at Silverwood, the Pacific Northwest's Biggest Theme Park. She can't wait to go again sometime and already is telling Mike what roller coasters she's going to take him on.

When she got back on the plane to come home, she wasn't thrilled about returning to the heat. But she is happy to be home with lots of tremendously fond memories of her time in Idaho.

Gearing up...

Yesterday morning, early, we started our day by sending Niko of with Nana and Popo heading toward CA for a fun-filled weekend. Saturday was Great Popo's 91st birthday celebration and the family was gathering for that. Then today he is off to the happiest place on earth! He has been so excited the past couple weeks anticipating this day. We've gotten on the website and scouted out the "coolest" rides and attractions. We're anxious to see how their day went :)

After we got him off, Matthew Mike and I headed over to Ultimate Frisbee free-play. Mike played for a while and had a great time getting back on the field.

We took Mike to work yesterday so that Matthew and I could have a day to pal around. We ran some errands and had a fun day with little special things throughout. He got to pick out any one item at the dollar store. I love that place, you can tell them basically that the store is theirs to choose one item out of-price not an issue-hehe. He chose a little pirate thing that will be sure to break within the week, no doubt. But it's still fun nonetheless...We also found some workbooks to start Matthew with tomorrow for homeschooling. It's his first day of school too.

Today, Bethany got delivered after a fun-filled couple days up north with my mom. They went swimming, to The Sharlot Hall Museum, and had a cookout out in the woods last night. They got to go out in jeeps and BBQ and have a campfire and all. Sounded like a ton of fun.

So today, while Mike is working away, we're getting things ready to start school tomorrow. Maybe Bethany won't throw up this year on the first day of school....in front of her entire class...tomorrow like she did last year, poor gal. Let's hope not. We're sure they'll do great, but will give you the low-down of how it all went tomorrow.

Bethany also got her Terra Nova Test Scores from the end of last year. She did AWESOME, as we knew she would. She is so bright and smart. If you click on the image above it will enlarge her scores so you can read them. We are very proud of her and her hard work and ability.

The Last Week of Summer-the rest of the week

Tuesday Mike went into work and it was his long day. So we were confined to the house for the entire day! It was all well and fine though. Matthew rode his bike around a few times through out the day-his new favorite thing to do. The boys spent all morning playing with their legos in the living room. It was so cool to eavesdrop on them and listen to their little imaginary play and see the creations they were making. I was in shock and awe that they played for a good 3 hours without me having to referee a bickering match! Amazing. Bethany went next door and played with her friend who just got a Wii. When Mike did get home, we loaded up in the car right away and headed to the YMCA to go swimming. It was fun to get out of the house and get our bodies moving, wear out the kids so they would climb into bed when they got home; which it what they did, no contest there.

Wednesday, Mike carpooled in. It was still a low-key day for us though. Paid bills, picked up a couple things from the store. We took the kids to get their backpacks for school and Niko got his sneakers. I am amazed at how much the kids feet have grown this year. Bethany went from a 2 to a 4.5 and Niko went from a 13 to a 2...When Mike got home in the afternoon, we had dinner and then headed to the movies to see Narnia-Prince Caspian. It was such a good movie. We really enjoyed it, even though it was over 2 hours long...Of coarse while we were there watching the movie, a little kid about 18 months-2 years old started choking, like, making no noise, air-way completely obstructed, choking. The mom took her right out and I heard her whisper to the dad, "She's choking" I nudged Mike and said, "That little kids choking" He immediately got up and followed her and was able to dislodge the object for them. Yep, the fun of being an EMT, always get to nose in other's business and save lives. She was fine and not even really that excited or scared or whatever. Everyone was calm and collective and played it well...They were back in in no more than 3 minutes watching the movie again.

Yesterday, Thursday, was another shopping day. We got more school supplies and did some of our grocery shopping in the morning. After that, we headed to the library. Now that schools going back in session and the reading program is over, the shelves are full of books and movies. They get a bit thinner during the summer and reading program. We had a lot of fun picking all sorts of stories. After the library we went to the school for lunch for the last time this summer...

In the afternoon we went to the school to find out who the teachers are this year and meet them. Niko has Ms. Shrum. She was a first grade teacher last year and moved up with her class. Because there are only two second grade classes from the three first grade classes she also got some extras, Niko being one of them. Niko is also very excited to have his friend Dillon in his class this year. (That should present some challenges for us to work on. They can help each other get distracted easily) Ms Shrum is also expecting a baby in October. Niko is pretty excited about that and thinks that is cool. She already has her sub lined up for her maternity leave and it sounds like everything is good there. It's kind of frustrating though because out of the two 2nd grade classes, as of yesterday, Ms Shrum was the only 2nd grade teacher. They are supposed to hire the other teacher today! I feel bad for the kids who went to go meet their teacher last night and she/he wasn't there. Ugh!...Bethany met her teacher, Ms Wild. She hates homework with a passion and thinks that it's a waste of paper and time. I agree with her to a point, although I think there is a balance somewhere. So she said not to expect a whole lot of homework, mainly spelling. When she was saying this, Bethany looked kind of lost. It took her a bit to put her head around that concept. Bethany is our homework queen. She prides herself in her homework and loves to take it into her room and get it all done. She's always been really independent and good with it. So, this is new for her. I told her that we can always make homework for her if she really wants it (So, nice of us parents-huh?) Should be a fun year!

We went to home group tonight, the new one we switched to. Our kids are the only kids so they had fun playing with the dogs and cats and watching a movie...and eating all the snacks (just kidding-not ALL of them) It's a very informal group.

Today my mom picked up Bethany for the weekend and Mike is off at work. I'll be getting Niko ready today to go to CA in the morning for the weekend (haircut, laundry, packing) and then it's just Mike, Matthew and me for two days.