No more pictures

A few months ago I added a counter to my blog. I know of four family members who look at it at that's it, however my hits were increasing more than they should of. So with this counter I can look at who is looking at this blog.
Lately I have had some overseas visits and they have been downloading some of my pictures. So as of today I will not be posting any more pictures of my family. All pictures will be up on facebook for family to look at. And all pictures of the kids have been removed.

On a lighter note....
yesterday was Emily's first baton competition. She competed in 4 events. Two marching and two solo's She received two first place medals and one trophy for first place. The fourth event results were to be announced at 5pm. We had been there since 9am, and Emily was ready to leave about 1pm, so we left and her coach will let us know of the results next Sunday at practice.

Michael's band season is finally over, (Yeah) his football team made it to the playoff games, and was one game away from the final when we lost. :( It was heartbreaking for everyone. This week is finals for Michael at school and he will be home for holiday break starting on Friday. We are staying home this year and with all that is going on I am quite relieved.

Nick is doing well in school and just had his Christmas concert at school. He is getting really good at his drums, and is looking forward to playing in high school with the marching band. As a fund raiser at the football games, the drum line lets members of the crowd to come down to the track and play with the drum line. Nick as done this twice and is in love.

Don and I are doing well, trying to get into the swing of things, since he has come home. Its been hard giving up some of the chores and responsibility that I have been doing the last 6 months while he has been away. Can we say control freak haha.... (but this is something we have all know for a very long time.)

Last 3 months

Well I can't believe its been so long since I posted anything. We have been super busy the last few months. When we got home from Oregon, Michael started band camp for two weeks. He said it was the hardest thing he has ever done, but loves it. We have been spending two nights a week at practice, Friday nights at football games, and Saturday practice for 4 hours every week. Our high school football team just ended their regular season with a record of 10-0 and we are headed to the playoffs. Nick has been busy with school and designing his own video games. The are alot like the old super Mario games but for a 12 year old they are fantastic. Emily has a new passion in her life. Baton Twirling!!!. She has been going to band practice with Michael and I every week. Michael's marching band has a baton twirler and Emily is in love with her. Emily follows this poor girl around everywhere. So about 5 weeks ago we started driving Emily up to Bell/Tatum for practice once a week. Emily is a natural. Her baton coach is entering her in her first competition in December. We are all very nervous for Emily, but she will do wonderful.

We have made a really hard decision to stay in Arizona this year for Christmas. We were planning a trip to Florida, however due to State Football schedules, airline prices, and that all of our Christmas gifts would have to be left in Arizona we decided to stay home. We are still planning our trip to Florida in June.

First Day of School 2009

Nicholas 7th Grade, Emily 1st grade,

Michael 9th Grade.

Good to be home!

We arrived home on Saturday , and boy is it good to be home. To sleep in your own bed, cook in my kitchen. Its all wonderful. Don has returned back to Oregon for the next 6 weeks. So the kids and I are trying to get back into the swing of things here. Michael starts band camp on Monday, so we are busy getting sports physicals, and papers in line to register him for that.

Emily is so excited to be home, she is sleeping downstairs in her room. For Emily this is big. She hates to sleep in her room. She does not like to be downstairs, while the rest of us are upstairs. Hopefully this will last and she wont come up stairs at night and sleep on the floor, like the last two years.

Nick has been enjoying his video games, and wii games. Its all he wants to do. He is not looking forward to school. But hopefully he will change his mind over the next three weeks. Because ready or not.... Yippee!!! school starts in three weeks. Can you guess that mom is excited???

Going Home!!!

Well our summer trip has finally come to an end. We are leaving in the morning for Arizona. I couldn't be happier. We have done some amazing trips this summer. It has been a long 6 weeks in Oregon. We saw Mount St. Helen's, The Colombia river gorge and waterfalls, Tillamook cheese factory and Beach. We went to the Oregon Science Museum and Zoo. I will miss Don who has to stay in Oregon until Sept 1st, but with school starting in a few weeks, the time will fly by.

Arizona here we come!!!

Twilight

It has been a long three weeks since Maui. We are in Oregon visiting Don for the summer. Our apartment is tiny, two bedroom/two bath. One TV, but it is nice. The weather has been in the high 60's but the humidity is about 200%, so we are all hot. Trying to come up with things to do with the kids is getting rough. We have been to the zoo twice, the science museum and the movies.

Fathers Day, we slept in. Sleeping-in in Oregon is really easy. The sun sets at about 10pm so we all have been going to bed at midnight or later. Even Nick sleeps in till about 9am. The other two kids sleep in later, 10-11am. It has been really nice. After lunch we decided to drive around to all the twilight locations. We got the list of addresses from a friend of Don's who daughter came up here to stay with Don while she tried out to be an extra in the new movie. She didn't get the part but gave us the list of sites. Don and I had a great time driving all over Oregon and Washington looking for the sites. The kids were a little bored. We spent 5 1/2 hours in the car and drove 218 miles round trip.

Forks High School

La Push Beach

Charlie & Bella Swan's Home

We saw five locations, and plan on this weekend seeing another two, The water fall at the end of the movie and the baseball field. Some of my friends say that I need professional help and other agree with me that this was the coolest road trip ever. I guess it depends on if you have ever read the books or not.

Extra Pictures of our Maui Trip

Michael on the rope swing at twin falls.

Our last night in Maui after dinner at Bubba Gumps.

Boy do we look tired or what.

view of waterfall from our helicopter ride.
Emily all ready to head out on our snorkle trip.

Emily hiking to twin falls.

Nick in the helicopter.

Maui Holiday Day 6 and 7

Day 6

We decided not to head to the beach first thing in the morning, but to sleep in and relax. But when I woke up about 10am Don and nick and Emily were at the beach. Michael was still asleep on the couch.I headed out to the beach leaving Michael sleeping off and on watching tv. When I got to the beach Emily was in the water with Nick. She was up to her waist and jumping over all of the waves. YA HOO...

Don and I even got Emily on the boogie board riding the waves. She rode about 4-5 waves before a big wave knocked her off and that was the end of the boogie board. She stuck with just playing in the water. At least she didn't stop getting in.

About noon we left and decided to head out to Twin Falls and Jaws beach. From what the locals had to say about Jaws, in the winter the waves can be 60 feet tall. Its where all the big surf contest are. We found the twin falls and walked to the smaller of the falls. There was a group of kids cliff jumping into the pool below the falls. The boys did not want to do this, Thank goodness.

After hiking about 2 more miles we found the bigger falls. You could walk back behind the falls in to a cave. There was a rope swing and each of us, except Emily who was to short to reach the rope, swung on the rope. Yes I did it, Don got it on video and boy is it funny.

After a long hike back we went back to the beach and swam until dark.

Day 7 Our final day in Maui.

Emily had been quite upset that when we went to the blowhole nothing was happening. So we decided that we would head back up the road to see what was going on. The waves at our beach were much larger than they had been, so we figured if they were big here, they might be big on the other side of the island. And boy were we right. We found the correct pull off for the blowhole this time and walked down to it. The water was shooting out of it about 20 feet up in the air. It was amazing. We spent about an hour playing in the water, watching it.

After we left the blowhole we headed back in to Lahaina for dinner at Bubba Gumps. We had a great time sitting outside watching the sun set eating great food. After dinner we headed home to pack up and get ready to check out in the morning. Our flight was to leave at 11am. However, when we got back to the timeshare, Nick was sad that we didn't get any beach time in today, so we headed back to the beach and let all three kids play in the water till way after dark. In the morning we finished packing and returned the lawn chairs and boogie board we had rented and headed to the airport. We had a wonderful time in Maui and can not wait to go back again soon. We have taken many family vacations and we all agree that this holiday was the best we have ever had.

Maui Holiday Day 3, 4, 5

Day three in Maui started really early, about 5 am. We had to check out of our hotel, because our time share was ready to be check in to. However we could not check in till 3pm. We packed up everything, checked out of the hotel and headed to the harbor to catch our snorkel ferry. We had to check in at the harbor at 630, and the boat left at 7. We spent the day snorkeling with "Dorie" fish, as Emily called them ( from the movie Nemo) and sea turtles. We had lunch on the boat and returned to shore about 1pm.Emily who is still afraid of the water did great. She laid on top of a boogie board and floated around Don and I and only used goggles. She did not like the mask because it "Crushed her nose". All I can say is Drama Queen...



After we finished at the harbor we drove to our time share, which was a block away from the hotel and unpacked and settled in. Our timeshare was an older place in major need of a makeover. But Don kept telling me to get over it, we were in Maui and just be happy. After we settled in a bit, we headed to the beach, across the street and stayed until sunset. We had dinner at a fancy steak and seafood restaurant that was recommended to us, by someone at the hotel front desk. Nick ate is first sushi and liked it. Michael of course turned his nose up at it.

We were in bed exhausted by 845pm.

DAY 4

We slept in and went to the beach around 9am and stayed until 11am. Went back to the hotel and got cleaned up. After talking to my dad on the phone, we decided to head up to the 7 sacred pools. It was about a 3 hour drive on a bad road. Emily ended up getting car sick on the way up. The road was one lane and very curvy on the side of a cliff. When we got to the pools, the ranger suggested that we not swim. So we walked the 3/4 mile down to the pools and with the little rain fall this spring the 7 pools were now only 2. We saw lots of people swimming, but the water was green and we didn't get in. We only stayed about 1hour. On the way home, I was the one who got carsick. Once we got back to the timeshare we swam in the pool and made dinner and headed out to the beach for a walk at sunset and went to bed. It had been another long day in paradise.







Day 5

Once again we were one the beach by 10am, well most of us. Don and Michael stayed back at the timeshare to sleep in and relax. Nick who could not get enough of the ocean and Emily who was just starting to play in the water. She would get up to her knees then run back to shore when a wave came. Hopefully she would get in the water before we left. About noon Don came down to the beach and said it was time to go. Today was our helicopter ride. All the kids and Don were excited about this. Me not so much, but didn't complain. We drove over to the airport and got in the heliccopter. I was fine until it lifted off the ground. Thanks goodness Don was sitting next to me to hold my hand. I am afraid of heights and get motion sickness very easy. I was terrified. Emily fell asleep. The boys loved it. We saw about 50 different waterfalls and went to an island that was nearby. I could not wait for it to be over. I felt awful, I could not decied if I was going to throw up or pass out. So after the 45 minute ride we went back to the timeshare and I took a nap while Don took the kids to the beach and we all enjoyed a sunset walk along the beach and again we were all in bed by 8pm.

Maui Holiday Day 2

Friday it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy so we choose to go to the Maui Ocean Center for the day. It was a huge indoor aquarium. We saw every type of Hawaiian fish there is. After about 2 1/2 hours we had seen it all and decided to head out to west Maui to check out a blowhole someone had recommended. We didn't know much about the blow hole, except that we were to stop driving at mile marker 38 and hike down to it. We we stopped at mile marker 38. There were stones stacked in piles from visitors who believe there is some significance. There is none, however we stacked out pile of stones overlooking the ocean.

We saw a couple of hikers following a path, so we thought they were going to the blow hole, which they were. However they were taking the long way. 2 hour long way. We hiked over lava rocks and boulders down a side of a cliff. Emily did great on this hike. She was so excited to see the blowhole. She had bought a postcard at the Ocean Center of the blow hole and was carrying it, so we made sure we knew what to look for. After this long and hot hike we found the blowhole. However it was low tide and nothing was happening. Feeling sad that we would have to make this long trip again at high tide we headed back 2 more hours back up to the car.

By the time we got back to the car we were starving and tired and decided to head back to the hotel. But Don wanted to drive just a few more miles down the road. Not 1/2 mile down the road was a big pull off and tons of cars. Don pulled over to see what everyone was looking at. Maybe another blowhole? The kids and I stayed in the car, while Don ran down to look and guess what he found??? He found the same blowhole we had been at with only about 5 minute easy hike. We laughed and laughed. How silly of us, to walk all the way around the cliff. Oh well at least we knew it would be easier the next time.
After leaving the blow hole we decided to stop in Lahaina for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Lahaina has a great wharf village full of fun shops and restaurants. We parked our car at the largest baynon tree we had ever seen. It took up a hole block.

After walking around some of the shops, we stopped to watch someone wood carving . Don loved this. So we bought one. We had the guy carve our names in the back of ours. And the one we bought stands for family protection.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, where Emily, Michael and myself all bought tee shirts. After dinner we walked over to Bubba Gumps restaurant and looked thur their gift shop. They have some of the cutest tee shirts. After we finished shopping we headed back to the hotel to swim in the pool again and go to bed early. We had had a busy day, but tomorrow was going to be even longer. We had a snorkel trip planned and had to get up at 530am to make a 630 boat. Yikes that's early when your on holiday.

Maui Holiday day 1

Well we have just returned from a week in Maui. It was the best family vacation we have ever taken. We left on Thursday morning and fly from Phoenix to Honolulu, a 6 hour flight, and had about a 2 hour layover. But by the time we landed and got to the gate it ended up being a little more than an hour wait. We grabbed something to eat and ran to the next gate to catch our next flight to Maui. Our next flight was only 35 minutes long. As soon as the plane took off, I started feeling sick and before the plane was even level I was running for the back of the plane sick. Let me tell you that throwing up in an airplane bathroom has got to be the worst place to get sick in the world.

Once our flight landed we grabbed our luggage and rental car and headed to our hotel. It was only about 2:30pm which was nice, that we had the after noon still to do stuff. After checking in to our hotel we went to the front desk and inquired about tours and stuff to do the rest of the week. We already knew what we wanted to do, but it was just about money. We did not want to go broke this week. We booked our three big items, one every other day and we headed out in our car to take a drive down the coast.

We found this cute cove and we stopped to take pictures and watch the sunset. As we are climbing around on the rocks, Don yells that there was something in the water. It was a giant sea turtle. We watched him for quite a bit and looked for others. We found about 2-3. The kids found black crabs climbing on the rocks as well.

Did I mention that is was rainy and cloudy the first day. But that did not dampen any ones spirits. After spending about an hour watching the sea turtles we drove back to the hotel to check out the beach that was across the street from our hotel. Emily who is still afraid of the beach wanted nothing to do with it. She pouted on a blanket for several hours while the rest of us played in the water.

That night after the sun set we grabbed a bit to eat at McDonald's and headed to the pool at our hotel. The kids enjoyed swimming. About 8pm we headed back upstairs to our hotel room and went to bed. It had been a long first day in Maui and this was only the beginning.

Kindergarten Graduation

Last night was Emily's Kindergarten Graduation. The kids sang songs from performances they had done throughout the year and then in groups of 4-5 the kids read books for us. After the readings we watched a slide show from all the activities for the year then had cake and punch. Emily's teacher was so stressed that she forgot to give out the certificates to the kids last night, so she handed them out in class today. OOPS, but that is ok.

Tuesday night we joined Michael at school for his academic award ceremony. He received two awards. One for having a 4.0gpa all year long and the other was for a good citizenship, with that award he received a $50.00 savings bond from the school.


Since April we still have been fighting with Emily on her hair color. Well she won. I have decided that this is not the fight I want to waste. I am saving that fight for the dating and clothing fights. But hair is just hair. So on Friday I picked up Emily from school and took her to the gal who does my hair and we had red highlights added to her hair. However with Emily's hair being as dark as it is, the highlights did not show up like Emily wanted. You could see them in the sunlight, but inside they were very subtle. Emily was very upset by this. So after talking with friends, they suggested that we head to a store in the mall called Hot Topic for temporary hair color in bright colors. So Sunday we headed out to the mall and bought her flaming red and hot pink. Don and I redid the highlights in her hair and she loves them. Again they look great in the sunlight, and not to bad inside. Emily is very happy and in 4-6 weeks after they wash out maybe she will not want them redone, But again we are talking about Emily and I don't think this will be the last time for highlights.

Three Weeks

The last three weeks have been a little crazy here. Don has been gone for 5 weeks now. He is home almost every weekend, but the weeks are really long and busy. This is the time of year the kids are so excited about, three weeks left of school and lots of fun activities for the end of school year.

Michael school has a field trip at the end of the year for those kids that are A/B honor roll all year, no discipline issues and few absent days. This years trip they went to San Diego for a weekend. Michael had a great time. He is looking forward to the 8th grade dance in a week, and his last field trip, a day at Sunsplash water park, on the last day of school. Last week was the last band concert for the year, and both the boys did a great job. In two weeks is Michael's 8th grade graduation and he is looking forward to be a high school student.

Nick got to enjoy patriotic day at his school. A huge performance by the band, choir ,special speakers and the kindergarten from Emily's school. Nicks has been less busy with end of the year activities, which is fine with Nick. He is just ready for school to be out.

Emily got to sing in front of the 6th and 7th graders at the boys school. Her class put on Donuts for Daddy, however she was sick on this day and was unable to go. Next Friday her class will enjoy Mom's spa day where she will get to do my hair, nails, and I will get a massage all given by Emily. The following Monday we will enjoy her Kindergarten graduation.

We have had our first trampoline accident the other day. Emily was jumping by herself and over extended her knee causing a loud popping sound and lots of tears. After a few hours in Urgent Care and a diagnosis of sprain knee, Emily is walking around but not yet running and not back on the trampoline. We will have to give that a few more days.

Three weeks from today will be the first day of summer vacation. I am just as excited as the kids. Every year we have a very quiet, relaxing summer around the pool with friends. This summer we have so much planned in a small amount of time. We will just spend one week at home relaxing before we will leave for Maui. We have been planning this trip for over a year now, and we couldn't be more excited. After Maui we will be home for two days then we will leave for Oregon. The kids and I will go stay with Don for about 6 weeks before coming home, so Michael can attend band camp at the high school. He has three weeks of band camp before school starts. And before you know it it will be August. Just thinking about it makes me do a double take and wonder what happened to our quiet,relaxing summer??

Yes It's Blue!!!

Emily has decided that its time she did something with her hair. She is not happy with the color or cut. She is mad that we cut all her long hair off and she can no longer put it in a ponytail. She also had decided that she wants a different color. When I asked her what color she wanted, I was thinking blonde highlights like mine, or black like her brothers, or red like her cousin. The answer I got made me think for a moment. She wanted red. Not like her cousins natural red hair but punk rocker red like Allison on American Idol. Not only did she want it red, but she only wanted red highlights. We told her when she is older.

Well a few days later she brought it up again, and again. She was not going to let it drop and boy will she be a good lawyer when she grows up. So finally we gave in. We told her she could color it for the summer, something temporary that would be gone for school in the fall. After talking with all my friends, who suggested coloring it in cool aide or semi permanent dye at a salon, I found at toys r us a tool that puts washable hair dye in your hair. Crazy colors too, red, blue, gold, and silver. We gave it to Emily for her birthday and what a big hit. The morning of her birthday party she had red hair. Then on the 15th, her birthday she put blue in her hair and went to school. The school didn't say anything about it. Since then she has gone to school everyday with a different color hair. She loves the blue.

I have gone to school to see performances and have lunch with her and other parents look at me like I am crazy. I let my 6 year old color her hair blue?? If I let her color her hair now , what is she going to be able to get away with when she is older?? I see no difference with the hair color than a temporary tattoo. Its washable, just for fun. How many parents put those on their kids and thats ok. But add some washable haircolor and now my kid is out of control?? I don't think so.

Happy Birthday Emily

I hope all of our family and friends had a wonderful Easter. We sure did. Easter weekend for most of you know happens to fall on Emily's birthday almost every year. Don was able to come home for the weekend on Friday night and we went to Red Robin for dinner. After dinner we went home to open gifts. Emily's big gift was a new art desk. She loves to paint, draw, play playdoh, anything arts and crafty. So now instead of having her art supplies spread all over the house they are neat and organized and she can play with them anytime she likes.

On Saturday was her birthday party at Jeepers Indoor Amusement Park. We all had a blast. About half of her class from school came to the party. It was a great turnout. After her party at Jeepers we had to go to Don's parent's for dinner and another birthday party. Emily had a great birthday weekend and received lots of money and gifts. She has spent all of her money on a 12 foot trampoline for the backyard, something even the boys can have fun with.

Spring Fling in the Park

Our neighborhood has a park day every April. There is free food, music, an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, and bounce houses. Michael helped out all day making popcorn and cotton candy. He had a great time. Emily enjoyed the day by getting her face painted, playing in the bounce house and eating all the free snow cones she desired.

We enjoyed the day at the park, but what made it special this year, was that Don was home for the weekend. It has been a long two weeks with him gone, but the kids and I are making it work. Don will be home again this next weekend for Emily's birthday and Easter.

Open mouth insert foot

I am famous for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. I need to slow down and think before I speak. Yesterday I took the kids out to lunch and to run some errands. On the way out we stopped to pick up the mail. We are all in the car and sitting at a stoplight and I am thumbing through the bills and junk, when we get a letter from the boys school. I am thinking that this cannot be good. Report cards don't come out for a couple of days, so I open this letter. I read the letter out loud for the boys to hear.

"Congratulations to Michael Hadder who will be awarded student of the Month at a Special Assembly on Wed. at 9am." Stop.......

I didn't read anymore of the letter. I congratulated Michael and continued driving. Well Michael asked if he could see the letter. Sure why not, I hand it over to him and he continues to read the letter where I left off. Next sentence of the letter.

"Remember that this is a surprise to Michael so do not say anything until the assembly on wed. We hope we see you there."

OOPS...
We sat in the car all of us speechless.

This week has been a little crazy here. Don left on Thursday morning for Oregon. His first trip home will be April 3-4th. Nick is still recovering,and stayed home from school all week except for Wed. I am still trying to unpack and do laundry. This weekend was so quiet but crazy. I have a new respect for single parents. I rented the kids some movies for the weekend and got my self the movie twilight. I started watching it about 11am yesterday and finished it around 11pm. I had to keep pausing it to make lunch, clean up lunch, answer the phone, answer the door, take Emily to a birthday party, help kids with computer, start Emily's bath, get her out of bath. etc. . . You get the idea. All the things I would normally do, but had an extra set of hands (Don) to help out. I am thankful that this is only temporary, but know that the next 5 months will be very long and exhausting.

Hopefully this week with all the kids in school, I can get back to cleaning my house, which has not been done in two weeks. Thank goodness for Flylady who helps me every step of the way. For those who have not heard about Flylady.net you should check it out. It has been a huge life saver for me and my family. My friends, who do not use Flylady, all think I am crazy with my control journal but all I can say is that different things work for different people and this works for me.

More pics from our trip

Pictures from the lighthouse. Fishing at Grandma's pond. And from St. Augustine Beach pier.

Florida Holiday/Uncle Augie's Wedding

We had an amazing time in Florida. It was so good to see family that Don and I had not seen in 15 years since our wedding. We left on Saturday afternoon arriving in Florida around 11pm. Sunday we hung around the farm and the kids played football and Emily road a Power Wheel 4wheeler. She had a blast. On Monday we drove to St. Augustine Beach and hung out for the day. It was about 75degrees and the ocean was only 66 degrees. Did that keep Nick from swimming?? No it didn't. We also took a tour of the St. Augustine Light House. Tuesday we hung out at my mom's again with family who had started coming in for the week. Wed. we set out again for the beach. Wed night we had a birthday party. My sister's hubby Bob, his bday was on Sat, the day of the wedding. His daughter's bday was on Monday, Emily's birthday is in a month.

Thursday Emily got sick and we had to take her to urgent care. She ended up having a double ear infection and lung infection. So we spent the rest of the resting with her. Friday was the rehearsal dinner at the farm and all family was in town, so most of the day was spent cooking and setting up for that. Friday Nick also started getting sick, so we headed back to Urgent care with him to find out that he had Bronchitis. He spent the rest of the day in bed. Saturday was the wedding, by this time Don was sick, and I was so stressed out that I was starting to get sick, but I was making my self sick by the amount of stress.

The wedding was beautiful. I was so proud of my little brother and wish him a life time of happiness with his new bride. At the reception my family who was still sick. tried to put on a happy face, but they were miserable and wanted to go home. So after about 45 minutes we said our goodbye's and left. We all went home and climbed into bed. Sunday our plane left at 6pm so we left my mom's about 3 and stopped on the way to say goodbye to the bride and groom. After a long flight home, we finally got home around midnight and dropped the suitcases by the front door and all collapsed into bed.

Today, Tuesday we had to take Nick and Michael back to the doctor. Nick now has pneumonia, and Michael has a really bad cold/flu. Don is still not feeling the best, and trying everything to beat his cold. He is leaving on Thursday for Oregon so he has lots to do before he can leave. He will be in Oregon for 6 months. I have not gotten sick yet (knock on wood) I am trying everything possible. I would hate to get sick after Don leaves. Next time we leave town on a airplane we will take plenty of airborne before, during and after the flight so we don't get sick again.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

Happy Birthday Nick, who is 12 today. I can not believe how fast time goes by. Seems like yesterday he was taking his first steps and off to his first day of school. Tonight we will celebrate his birthday at Brooklyn brothers restaurant as a family, then have cake and ice cream at home. Tomorrow night his friends will spend the night and we will have our surprise trip for him. For Nick's birthday he got a new drum set. It is beautiful and he loves it. For all of you who told me I was crazy for getting my kid drums, and for those who said it would drive me crazy. Yes you were all right. Now lets all say it together once and be done with it. I told you so....LOL

Road Runner Hockey

Saturday night we took the kids to a road runner hockey game. Emily's school district had a fundraiser to help raise money for music and art programs at the schools. We had a great time. The boys who were a little hesitant on going, had a blast. Emily really enjoyed screaming and cheering on her team. It has been a really long time since Don and I have gone to a hockey game, and the kids had never been. This is something we will have to do again with them.

Since the end of baseball tryouts our house had been pretty quiet. The kids have two weeks of school til Spring break. And two weeks till we leave for Uncle Augie's wedding. This kids keep asking if we are going to Disney world, sadly the answer this time is no. We plan on spending plenty of time at the beach and will be busy with wedding stuff.

Nick's birthday is this week, a big 12 years old. He has already received his birthday gift from us. A new drum set and ear buds for his Ipod. Thursday night we will go to dinner, Nicks choice. Then Friday night he will have some friends spend the night. I am going to surprise Nick and his friends by taking them to play laser tag Friday night for his party. He will be so excited!!!

The perfect little black dress

For the last 3 Fridays, I have been shopping for a dress for my brothers upcoming wedding. How hard would it be to find a black cocktail dress?
Now I do not consider my self over weight, but I could lose about 10 lbs. I have plenty of dresses that I have worn for hubby's work parties that would be great for the wedding, except for the fact of those 10 little lbs I can not seem to loose. Those ten pounds is a whole dress size for me, making me a size 12. Size 12 use to seem really big when I was much younger, but now I can actually fill out the dress with some curves. Anyway after today's shopping experience I have decided that the perfect little black dress is an urban legend. All the dresses in my size are either mother-of-the-bride dresses or something my grandmother would wear or hootchie momma prom queen dresses. Neither of these types of dresses will work, I fit into neither of these categories. So my quest continues for the perfect little black dress, that I now believe does not exist.

Well it is with sad news that I post this morning. For the last two weeks Michael has been trying out for the school baseball team. However last night he found out that he did not make the team. Michael says he is fine with it and he is just happy he got the chance to tryout. Well this breaks my heart for him. I know how much he wanted this, but there is always next year. His dad and I told him that he could play tennis or golf. He liked those ideas, so we will see what happens.

Emily's school performance last night was wonderful. We got to school about 615 and we took her to her class to get ready. The show started at 630 and all 4 kindergarten classes took the stage and sang 4 songs, Your a grand old flag, This land is your land, Thirteen Stripes, and Proud to be an American. Again last night, one of those moments where tissue was needed. After the kids were done singing all the parents were invited back to the classrooms for punch and cookies. It was a nice performance, and we are so proud of Emily who was in front row singing her heart out. I have added a few pictures of Michael's birthday.

As a Christmas gift from my in-laws we got season passes to the Arizona Science Center in Phx. On Sunday we decided to take the kids for a few hours, we ended up staying almost 5 hours. The kids and Don and I had a great time. The Science Center had a exhibit of Star Trek memorabilia from all of the old movies and tv shows. I am not a big star trek fan, but the exhibit was really neat. We stopped on the way home to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and came home and watched Star Trek, The Wrath of Kohn. I had never seen it, so it was interesting to compare to what we had seen earlier in the day.

Monday was a day for catching up on laundry. Its amazes me how quickly it backs up when you don't do a load a day. Yesterday I did 8 loads of clothes and still have 2 more. Tonight we will find out if Michael makes the baseball team at school, and Emily has a patriotic performance at school. This will be her first real night time performance. Hopefully this week will be quiet for us, but its not starting out that way.

Busy Week

Well this week has been very busy for all of us here, mostly Michael. Its amazing how he can run the way he does. He is like the energizer bunny. LOL. This week started out on Sunday. We had a very relaxing Sunday watching movies and playing video games. Monday morning Michael had a field trip at school that left the school at 5am. So Sunday night he spent the night with a friend of his that lives up in town. Saved me from driving him up at 415 in the morning. Monday night it stormed and driving into town was not fun. Monday night Michael did not get home until 830 so Don had to wait around at work till he called to say he was back at school. His field trip was to Bisbee, AZ and Tombstone, AZ. Tuesday started baseball tryouts for Michael. There are 27 kids trying out for 13 positions. Our odds are really good, and we wish Michael the best. Tryouts are from 4-6 so again Don hangs out at work then picks him up when he calls. This will last M - T- W- Th. this week and next. Today, Friday is Emily's valentine party at school, so I am going to go and help out in her classroom. There is no tryout practice to night. So hopefully we will all have a quiet night, playing video games or movies. Tomorrow, Emily has a birthday party at Pump it up. I am not fond of this place. For a party with the boys this place is great. A party for Emily, its pretty bad for her asthma. Most likely after her party she will spend the afternoon in bed resting.

Tomorrow we will be picking up Nick's birthday gift early. He is getting a 5 piece drum set. I know you all have told me how crazy I am, how this will drive me crazy, but I think it will be ok. I grew up with Drums and band music. This will be ok. Nick is so excited. He got to pick them out,about a month ago, they are beautiful, fire engine red and black. So tomorrow afternoon we will set them up and our quiet home will never be the same. Tomorrow is also Valentine's day. We will be staying at home tomorrow evening grilling out Steaks and Swordfish steaks and hanging out with friends playing the wii. Hopefully next week will be quiet and laid back compared to this week, but with baseball tryouts all week, Nicks field trip, I doubt it.

Happy Valentines Day to all of our friends and family. We Love you all. Hope you all have a great day with your Valentine.

It is tradition in our house, that on the night of your birthday, we will go out to dinner. Any place the birthday person wants to go, so we end up at places that we normally don't go; like cheesecake factory, olive garden, seafood restaurants. Michael choose this year to go to Teakwoods. Now don't get me wrong, we like this place, we eat there all the time. Its the only nice restaurant we go to in our small town besides pizza. We had a great time at dinner. Then came home to open gifts and have cake, however when we got home we were so full from dinner we skipped the cake and ice cream and will have it tonight. Michael is having a few friends over tonight for a video game marathon as a birthday party. Then on Saturday we will travel to Scottsdale to have lunch with his grandparents. Birthdays in our house always seem to last several days.

Happy Birthday Michael!!!

Well today its official. Michael turns 14. Can you believe it? I sure can't. Seems just like yesterday he was so tiny, well I guess not so tiny for being a ten pound baby. Who would of ever thought that this ten pound chunky monkey would ever be so tall and thin? Michael is an amazing kid with so many accomplishments under his belt. He is such a great kid and will go far in the future. Happy Birthday Michael. I love you. XOXOXO

Michael was invited to attend the Honors Choir & Band Festival at Desert Vista High last evening. This is a huge honor. The concert was wonderful. The choir sang first, singing 4 songs, then the band played 5 songs. During the intermission the percussion played steel drums. Again wonderful. I am so happy for Michael that he had this wonderful opportunity. He did an amazing job.

So I am guessing that the antibiotics are working, Emily is back to normal, running around singing and dancing and enjoying being a 5 year old. How someone can be so sick, but not act like it. She slept well last night, only getting up once for her asthma meds. It amazes me that children can bounce back from illness within a day or two, but adults the smallest cold will drag on forever.
Today we ran to the store to buy Don his early valentines gift, a cardinal football jersey. I will give it to him tonight, so he can wear it on Sunday for our Super Bowl party. Wishing all our friends and family a happy Friday and good super bowl weekend!!! GO CARDINALS!!!

The Wedding of Mr. Q and Miss U

Have you ever seen something that was so adorable that it made you teary eyed? My kids are always doing something that brings tears to my eyes. First day of school, first dance class, first school dance.. you get the point.

Yesterday was the wedding in Emily's class. She was so excited about this. The wedding started at 10am, All the kids had a part, whether it was reading a story about the letter Q or U, they had a band, bridesmaids and best men. All the boys had on top hats and the girls all wore veils. They had a real wedding. So cute.

Emily,is very shy in front of a crowd, had a speaking part. I was a bit nervous that she would see all the parents in the room and she would freak out, because it has happened before; Dance recitals, preschool graduation, birthday parties. Any time she is the center of attention she will start to cry. However yesterday she stood so tall and read her lines. She refused to look at me or smile, but she did it. I was so proud of her it brought the tears to my eyes. Later after the wedding she said she was biting her tongue so she would not cry. She said she was afraid but didn't want to seem like a baby, crying at school and all. After the wedding they had a reception with a real wedding cake, juice, party favors and a dance stage. After all the kids got all sugared up, they were running around the room dancing to music.

Later that night was the school nite at skate land. Emily and Nick and I picked up Don from work and went to skate land. Emily has never been so it was interesting to see her try and skate. She has the Fischer price skates that go over your shoes, so she can skate here at the house, but they no longer fit and she had to use regular skates. It didn't go so well. We only stayed an hour. Once we got home, Emily was acting funny, she was tossing and turning in her sleep and her asthma seemed out of whack. She was up several time during the night for her meds. In the morning we decided to let her sleep in and call her ped doctor. Well they wanted to see her, which was good because shortly after talking with them she started throwing up. Yuck!!! At the doctors we found out that she has an ear infection and a lung infection. You would of never of known that earlier that day she was running around acting all crazy, never would I of guessed that she was sick. So we are back on antibiotics and extra steroids to make her feel better. We will keep her home from school till Monday so she can recover. By the way, never take pictures when you kid is stuffing their mouth full of chocolate cake.

It seems just like yesterday I went with my parents to my high school orientation and registration and yesterday Don and I took Michael. Its sort of scary to think that my lil baby will be in high school. I still don't know how that happened.
His new school is amazing. He has decided to do marching band, so we met the band director and some of the kids who are in the band this year. We have been working on picking his classes for the next year, so last night was an opportunity to go meet the teachers and ask any questions about them before the registration dealine which is Friday. Michael seems really excited to go to the new school and is looking forward to band camp this summer.

Tomorrow is the Wedding of Mr. Q and Miss U in Emily's class. Her class along with another kindergarten class is putting on a show. All the kids are to dress as if going to a wedding. Emily is not in the wedding party, but a speaker. I am excited to see this and I hope Emily does not get nervous and not read her lines. She is famous for being all excited about something, but when it comes to other people watching her she freaks out. Wed. night is the school skate party, so we have that also to look forward to.

This last weekend the kids went to see the Lion King Broadway show with Don's parents. They said they had a great time and now want to watch the lion king Disney movie. Out of all the movies we own we do not have this one. This next weekend we will be watching the Superbowl game and cheering on the Cardinals.
Please keep Don's uncle Darrell in your thoughts and prayers as he is in the hospital right now not feeling so well. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Cardinals Going to the Superbowl !!!

Can you believe it?? If I was not there in person I still would not believe it. What an amazing game. Don and I had so much fun. The new stadium is amazing. We parked in free public parking which was about 2 miles from the stadium, and instead of waiting in line for the bus we walked. Next time we won't make that mistake. Because of traffic and walking we missed the opening ceremonies and kick off, but that was ok. Our seats were in the upper bowl and we could see everything. Don and I screamed so loud that I have very little voice left today. We are so excited that the Cardinals won and we can not wait to watch them in Tampa at the Super Bowl.

The boys did really great on their report cards. Michael received all A's. Nick got 4 A's and 2 B's. And Emily got all E's for excellent.

This last week we finished the open enrollment paperwork for Michael to go to Mt. Pt. High next year, and he was approved. Yeah!!!!! So Friday he came home from school with all of the class schedules for next year. The book of choices for classes he gets to choose from is the size of a magazine. After spending about 5 hours on Friday night, Don , Michael and I are happy with the classes he has chosen to take. One nice thing is starting next year some of his classes are college credit courses. This means if he stays on the path he is on now, when he graduates high school he will be a sophomore in college instead of a freshman. WOO HOO!!! Its a good thing he got his daddy's smarts.

Nick has finally decided that he will not be playing baseball this year in little league. He tossed around the idea all week changing his mind every other day. But now the deadline has come and gone and he will not be playing :(

Emily had a tough week at school. On Monday she was tripped at recess and fell on the sidewalk. She managed to hit her chin on the sidewalk. Her knees and hands are scraped up and bruised up. The bottom of her chin all the way to her bottom lip this black and blue. Its a good thing she didn't bite her tongue or chip any teeth. So all week she has been sore, tired and crying, which has put her asthma all out of whack. She is looking forward to school the next two weeks, as her class is putting on a play. "The wedding of Mr. Q and Miss U". I am so excited about going to see this. It should be super cute.

We are going to the game!!!

Can you believe that there is only 2 more weeks of football left?? Every weekend we spend with our neighbors and friends watching 9 - 12 hours of football. WOW that's alot. Our whole weekend is revolved around the games. Even Emily likes football.

Anyway yesterday we were with some neighbors watching tv, and a friend of theirs had extra tickets for the cardinal vs eagles game next Sunday. Well our neighbors asked Don and I if we wanted them. Well we didn't have to think about it very long. We are so excited to go. We have not been to the new stadium yet.


On to other news in our home.

Today is report card day. It will be interesting to see how the boys are doing. Hopefully they will not get into trouble. Michael started out the new semester without art and is taking art media. He is working on the yearbook. Both boys are working on science projects for the science fair in March. They are still picking their projects, but some how I am sure it will involve growing some thing in the fridge that will make my stomach turn. Hopefully they can get it done before Don leaves for Oregon. Nick has decided that he does not want to play baseball this year. This is a sad decision for Nick as this is the last year he can play for Little League, due to his age. Maybe he will change his mind in the next few weeks. Emily has been doing really well the last few weeks and has decided that she would like to try dance class again. So in the spring we will see what new classes they have at the city.


Don's trip to Oregon is coming very soon. He will be leaving March 23. Just a couple of days after Augie's wedding. However on Friday he came home and said that the dates may get pushed up a little bit. So when I asked what the new date was, he is unsure but it could be as early as Feb 16th. We have been spending our free time making sure I know how to run the pool pump and the dripper system. It should be pretty easy with his maintenance free backyard, there is not much to do.

Our newest family member!!

Well this post is not about my sisters new baby. HA HA. I wanted to share with my family and friends what I got for Christmas. On Saturday after Christmas, Michael , Emily and I went to the Arizona Humane Society and picked up a cat. Her name is Madelyn, Maddy for short. HA HA Maddy Hadder. She came with the name, but it is perfect for our family. She is about a year old, but she is quiet tiny. She only weighs about 4 lbs. The kids are in heaven and have been enjoying her as much as Don and I am. She is a great new addition to our family.

Welcome Brea Marie Matlock

Well my poor sister, who has been in early labor for the past month, has given birth finally. Brea Marie was born this morning at 4:34am ( east coast time). She weighs 7lbs 11oz and was 19 1/2 inches. I wish Aimee and Bob the best of luck with their new bundle of joy. I can not wait to meet her in March at my brother's wedding.