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March 28, 2008

Anja's Field Trip

So I also went on a fieldtrip with Anja's Class and the other preschool/kindergarten classes at their school on March 17th. We went to the Wildlife World Zoo. Google it if you like! (-=
We have been there before but not for a couple of years. This was of course Liam's first time to a zoo. Nika, Liam and I drove to the zoo since it is on our side of town and waited for Anja's school bus to come. The first animals we saw were these cute baby tigers. There were three of them, two were white and the other was normal. Here are the two white ones.
We liked this monkey. He had a boo boo on his tail and I managed to catch him licking his tail better
Here are the three of them. I forgot my stroller and had to rent the weird little strollers there. The two front wheels were broken and I didn't notice it at first. I spent the whole day tilting him back on the rear wheels just so we could walk. The handle was too low so I was stooped over on top of it all. Yeah my back didn't appreciate this field trip too much. Oh well next time I won't forget mine!
You can feed the Giraffe's at this zoo and Anja really wanted to try.
She got a little scared when she saw that tongue so I ended up feeding it. But after she saw me do it once then she fed this other guy below.... Isn't he cute he looks like the Toys R Us giraffe

This is me in the petting zoo trying to get a picture of this deer without getting my sweater that was tied around my waist completely eaten. I had to wash it when I got home it was covered in deer saliva! *laugh*
I had to post this one because I caught Liam making his kissy face.
They had a playground so we stopped and played for a bit. And of course I had to get a picture of the three of them looking so cute! Although Nika has started making a face for pictures...that totally fake smile. I can't wait for her to grow out of that one!
We took a whirl on the carousel and I guess Anja was so thrilled to feed the giraffe's she needed to sit on one too!
I love this school. We have so many fun adventures!

Taxes

Just wanted to vent. This year is the latest we have ever put off doing our taxes. It is such a drag and this year I just kept saying "oh I will get to that next week." Well I am almost done and plan on mailing today or tomorrow. Thank goodness it is over. Anybody want to have a, "Got the Taxes Done" party!?

March 26, 2008

This makes me laugh

BOX BOY

Liam was playing with this empty box and put it on his head. The combo of his stick out ears and large noggin allowed it to remain stuck on his head without him holding it. It looks like he is trying to keep it on but actually he came to me to try and get it off. Mean mom that I am I took pictures first...and to answer your question...yes there is no point to these pictures except to show off his cuteness. ... and yes I thought three pictures necessary!

Yeah FREEDOM!

Thus ends the saga of my little box boy...

March 25, 2008

Escapee...

I didn't think we were doing too bad as parents until I found one of my children trying to escape...

and the other one just sad she can't get up there with him...
Really he saw his friends four houses down and was trying to get to them. Uncle Kevin was visiting so he got to witness this spectacle. Triston was stuck and Daddy instead of rescuing him, told me to get a picture. Ah yes these are the days I live for as a parent!

My garden

So I don't have much in the back yard but I do have a nice little garden on the side yard. Here is an example of my carrot bounty. Ahhh it's cute they like each other! Separated only in eating... not life.

South Mountain Fieldtrip

So on March 6th I went on a field trip with Triston's class. They were going to go hiking to the South Mountain which is a 15 minute drive south of the school. I volunteered to be one of the driving chaperone's. One of Triston's classmates has a grandfather who is a petroglyph expert so he came along to point out some petroglyph's in those mountains. Now since I took Liam hiking on President's Day I figured I could handle taking him on another hike. Ben decided to have a take your daughter to work day with Nika and so it was just me and Liam. I had looked up the hike path that morning before we left and was a little worried since the path they were hiking was listed as Difficult - fairly steep and long 2.5 miles. I thought well that can't be right these are a bunch of 1st through 3rd graders. Well thankfully we didn't hike the whole trail we just walked back a little and looked at the petroglyph's.
It is funny how I always get the speech from Triston about how,
"youuuu haveeee to commmmeeeee mommmmmm."And then get pretty much ignored the whole time I am there...
Oh well it was still fun. The expert is the guy holding the large stick.
Actually it is a Saguaro hiking staff made from the skeletal remains of an actual saguaro cactii
like this one right here.

Waiting to hikeTriston's cute teacher...
Some authentic petroglyphs from the Hohokam Tribes. Some I would have never noticed if we didn't have a guide pointing them out. Others were quite
bright!


All in all it was a fun trip and a nice hike!

March 19, 2008

Feeling Dated...

There are moments when I feel older than I should. Today was a half day at school so I picked up the kids and headed to Costco for a little shopping. Something about store bathrooms make my children need to pee. So after we got done paying I took them to the bathroom. Triston was taking a little longer then the girls so we stood waiting for him by some water fountains and a pay phone. Nika being Nika, she picks up the receiver and starts playing with it. Anja being the little mommy that she is told her to stop and then proceeded to try and hang up the phone. Except she wasn't sure where the receiver was supposed to go. I told her hang it on the hook. So she tries to hang it on the change returner hook. I calmly showed her exactly where it was supposed to go and then spent the next five minutes reflecting on the fact that my children don't know what a pay phone is. Don't live with any land line phone in the house and probably don't remember when we did. Besides we had cordless telephones so they just sit in a charger. So even if they could remember it wouldn't help them in this situation. I have already had to explain what a cassette tape is. What will be next?

March 16, 2008

Which one is not real...


Nika fell asleep practically kissing her doll. I couldn't help taking a picture. The lighting was bad because I didn't want to wake her.
It is times like these that I remember the days before she learned to say "No"

March 7, 2008

Sunday Naps

So Sundays we have church in the morning now, which we love. After meeting 1 - 4 pm last year it is nice to meet in the mornings. But with early church comes the Sunday dillema of naps. I noticed that when we make everyone take a nap so Ben and I can take a nap well the kids have a hard time falling asleep in the evening. So last Sunday we put the baby to bed and told the other three to have "quiet time" in their room.
Someone found a marker and decided to decorate his sister's.He also let them color on him. He was really pleased with himself so we had to tell him to make a sad face.
They of course were "quiet" so how does one get mad at them.
He even made sure that we would be able to identify them after we killed them. He lovingly wrote "their" letters on their feet. Can you guess whose foot this is?
Yep it is the "Nikanator"
You can not get mad at a face like this. It is impossible.
Long lost brother?


So I think naps are out for now, either that or I will have to scour the room a bit better looking for all that contraband that gets past me.

The new Playground

So after a few months of toil and a husbands hard work, our Christmas playground is finally up! Now we just have to do something with the dirt and we will actually have a fun backyard!Liam figured out the rock wall yesterday and even though I am proud of his ability it scares me to watch him scale that thing. So needless to say I am stuck outside making sure he doesn't fall off. Soon we will get some wood chips to soften the fall should there be any.
Liam is loving the slide!
Not sure if he is the biggest fan but I would say he is pleased with this new development!

March 3, 2008

Yuck

Can I just say yuck! Why is this back in?

The jelly sandal is back -- and this time it's not just the floppy rubber shoe in the bins at the 99 cents store. Luxury brands such as Givenchy, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Fendi are all making jelly shoes for spring that cost vastly less than anything else they make -- and yet, so much more than the jellies you ran around in through the 80s.

Some of the top-dollar styles -- such as the $165 Mod peep toe sandal from Givenchy (LINK) -- have great thick straps, which add an architectural element (a big trend in spring shoes). And the shiny rubber makes them look sleeker than your average jelly.

A great Video

This was made a few years ago for the media before the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. It is a good one and I hope explains the church a bit more to my friends and family that are wondering about it.

March 1, 2008

Church

So today was filled with a lot of prep work church wise. I was able to give a baptism talk at our Stake baptisms today, so there was the procrastinated talk prep a few hours before. Then I remembered that Triston was asked to give the talk tomorrow in Primary, so the again procrastinated talk prep and fun trying to get a 7 year old to decide what he would like to talk on and then get it to be something coherent for the rest of Primary. I love that when I ask him about a favorite gospel story he has a ready answer!
Also I have sharing time tomorrow so yes again, the procrastinated prep time for that lesson. I guess the theme for today was Esther is a big procrastinator.
I hope to get it together this week since I have sharing time for the rest of the month. I vow that it will be thought of, prayed on, and finished by Friday!

On a happier note I can say that Ben finally finished assembling our backyard playground. I will post pictures soon! Our backyard is finally getting some work done on it! Yeah!