Blast Off

WARNING: A huge, massive amount of photos ahead. You've been warned.

Oh what fun it is to be... in southern Arizona? Well, yeah, sometimes. We might not have an Olive Garden {yet! it's already being built though, booyah} or a Michael's, but we know how to have fun!

CJ got P a rocket for Christmas, so this Saturday before we had the thrill of doing our grocery shopping {that's right, we. we all go. on a Saturday. certifiably craaazy!} we went to our park and shot off the rocket. It was pretty cool, unless you ask J. CJ let him push the launch button and J did NOT like what happened. But all in all, it was really fun. I just wish we'd had more engines so we could have shot it off more than three times.




{wiggly waggly tooth is still in place. dentist wouldn't yank it for me last week, boo.}

J trying to help by bringing the starter to CJ



poor buggy, so scared!!

so he sat with me instead. love.

I know, the shirt is short on her. But she grows constantly, I swear! It's hard to find shirts that are long enough in the shirt and not too long in the sleeves.





We also got to go on a trip to Yuma to watch CJ play in a football tournament. It was pretty fun, we got to stay at a nice hotel and eat at Olive Garden for dinner. Mmm. His team did well, they came in 4th out of 12. Not bad! We brought a bunch of Girl Scout cookies for M to sell and we actually sold about 40 boxes there, and we just found out she's reached her goal of selling 200 cookies already! Yay!! {but we're still selling cookies if you need them. seriously. we have a bunch of girls in the troop now so we need to sell a LOT more cookies.} Back to football. Lots of fun for the most part, but once the playoffs started and the sun went down, it got cold and fast. The kids were done with the day and we still had a 5 hour drive home. It wasn't fun and it wasn't pretty but we made it home in one piece, hallelujah. Some photos from the day:

Shorn

I love watching the boys went they wake up. Still fuzzy brained from sleep but so happy to see me. And to eat breakfast. After breakfast they get to watch one of their favorite shows, "Handy Manny", before we get ready for the day. Two days ago the sun was streaming in through our sliding glass doors and landing on the boys on the couch so perfectly that I had to grab my camera.

Look at those eyes! His eyes still can't seem to choose what color they'll be, but they're mostly blue. But they were greenish that day.


Rosebud mouth. Just so kissable! He'll give us kisses but after he does, he grins and says "eeewwww!!!"
Such a boy.


"Anny Manny!" Look at how much he loves that stinkin' show. {me, not so much. but it's better than a lot of the childrens shows out there.}
Wait a minute... why is his hair short around his ears?!? Laurie... what have you done...


YOU CUT HIS HAIR?!?!? Yes... that sweet, baby soft hair has been clipped. And yes, I cried as I did it. And laughed at myself for crying over it. What a sight I am.
{man, he looks like P in this photo}


What have you done to me...


Rock on, mom. Rock. On.

A Rare Treat

Tonight J is having a hard time falling asleep. He was almost hysterical when I put he and P down at bedtime, and two hours later when CJ got home from football he started moaning again. CJ went in to comfort him but he just wanted momma. Swoon.

I went in and knelt beside him, but he reached out and held my hand and said "momma" and when I asked him what he wanted, he repeated "momma", so I tucked him in a lay down beside him. I usually just leave when they go to bed, staying longer just drags out bedtime. But this was sweet, just me and him, laying in the dark. I left the door slightly open so I could still see a bit, but it was still like looking at a very dark black and white photo. Oh, how I wish I had a camera with me in there. It's something I want to burn into my memory forever. Just laying there, looking at my sweet little boy, watching him try to fight off sleep. I wanted him to sleep because he desperately needed it from the days activities, but I didn't want him to sleep because then I'd have to leave, and I just didn't want to be without him.

Big yawns, drooping eyelids.
Little hand reaching out to brush my shirt, a whispered "mama". Making sure I'm still there.
Blink. Blink. Another yawn.
Little hand searching, found the beloved toy fish.
Pulls fish close to him, snuggling it tight to his chest.
Eyes close.
Is he asleep? I can't tell... no. He turns over.
Finds his blanket, the blanket he's snuggled with since he was a few months old. The blanket I couldn't resist buying even though we had plenty of baby blankets. So plush and soft.
Turns back to me, saying "ma" and hands me his blanket.
Sigh.
I snuggle the blanket in between us so we're both touching it.
Stroke his newly shorn, not so babylike hair. Still soft, but I miss that tie to him still being my baby.
So sweet, still so innocent.
Whisper "I love you" over and over. Try to hold back emotional mommy tears.
Try to move away a bit so he can finally drift off into dreamland.
Another reach out, this time to pat my face. Yes I'm still here, little man.
I want to be here in this moment forever.

Oh, how I wish I had a camera to capture that, but a blog post will have to do.

Potpourri

I used to love potpourri. Before the days of Scentsy {inventors of Scentsy, you rawk.} and way back when I was in high school, my mum used to use potpourri to make our condo smell pretty. I loved just looking through it and seeing the random stuff they would add scent to. Now I get why they call a mishmash of random things combined into one purpose "potpourri", and here is a post of random stuff with a pretty name, because there's no real "theme" to this post. {how was that for a random paragraph too?}

Mum came out to visit for the weekend and to take Isis {the 18 year old wonder cat} back with her to Santa Fe, and we decided to go to Bisbee. CJ found something while at work and wanted to bring it in to the Bisbee Museum. If anyone ever comes down here, definitely check out the museum, it's really neat! They let us go through it for free because he "donated" his find, but seeing the amazing rocks that have been found by miners are worth the admittance fee! They're on my other camera, so I don't have any to post, sorry. But they're so neat. And reading the history of the area was pretty cool too. Who knew this county had such neat history.
We also hit up the Copper Queen Mine Tour. We've never done it before, and while it was really interesting, next time I don't think I'd bring the kids. The kids thought it was really neat, especially the train/tram you ride down into the mine, it was a lot of standing and listening to the guide talk about the history. Interesting for us, not so much for the 2, 4 and 5 year olds in our company. J ended up falling asleep on me, which was a sweet relief since he was NOT happy to be in the cool, frigid mine and having to wear a slicker and helmet. P had fun if only for the flashlight they gave each of us to wear. Anyways, here's the photos from the mine tour:

The entrance to the mine. Our guide is in the jean jacket at the front. He worked in the mine for I think 30 years when it was still open, and was actually the very last miner to come out of the mine when it closed. So he definitely knew what he was talking about.

P listening to the guide talking about dynamite.

I know this is blurry, but I LOVE it anyways. Such a serious boy sometimes.

J asleep on me. Again, sorry for the blur, but it's hard to take a photo 1500 feet underground while hefting a 25+ lb boy and trying not to wake him.

M looking at her flashlight pack. It kept slipping off her. Not surprising, since it weighed 8 lbs.

Home and asleep. I just love the face of a sleeping baby. So sweet and innocent...

And because I haven't posted any photos of her in awhile, heeeeeeeere's Macey! She's 8.5 months old now, and oh my gosh, she's gotten so much taller. I won't say bigger because that implies she's wider, and I swear this dog only grows up, not out. But she's adorable. Jumpy and playful, and adorable.

Macey and P. She's still just a bit too jumpy for the kids most of the time, but they find her hilarious with how much she just bounds around. Leap, leap, jump, stop. Leap, gallop, stop. Rinse and repeat and you've got Macey.

Oh yes. One last thing.

That's right. That is UNDERWEAR you see on P. Fistbump! The boy is about 98% potty trained. Yesssssss!!! I say 98% because he still has teeny tiny accidents, about once/twice a week. But I'll take that over diapers any day. {and yes, my boy is sporting Calvin Kleins. But before you get all "pshht, that Laurie." on me, Marshall's had a bunch on clearance so I only paid $12 for them. That's cheaper than Old Navy AND Circo, thankyouverymuch.}

So that's what has been going on here lately. It's a new adventure every week!

Lucky.

My kids have been driving me crazy lately. Between them each getting sick and then the bickering, whining and all that comes with having a long holiday, I was at breaking point. It's not that we didn't have fun during the Christmas holidays, but towards the end we were all just ready for a return to routine. I love them, but sometimes I'd find myself drifting away from the sounds of chaos and dreaming of when I used to be single or when we were first married, and how freaking awesome it was. {I know... totally seeing the past through rose-colored glasses.} My feelings were starting to spill over into reality too much. I was getting too frustrated when M would ask me to spell Willow (her BFF) or another friends name for the 1,000th time, I was being too short with my temper when P would ask me to yet again put Bumblebee back into his car form and I was ready to cry at J spilling his water. It's all calmed down a bit in the past week, but not a ton since it was my turn to teach Joy School and I was stressing a bit over that.

And then I found Natalie Norton's blog from someone on Facebook.

My heart crumbled. Her little baby boy, who was fighting so hard for his life, passed away today from Pertussis combined with other factors. Her beautiful little Gavin was born October 24, 2009, the day before J celebrated his second birthday. He wasn't even three months old. I can't imagine what they are going through right now. Babies should never die. Children should never die. It's not fair, and it's not right. My heart breaks for them, these strangers in so much pain, anguish.

Natalie's faith is in every word she's written, and she has shown amazing strength through her writing and for that I need to thank her, because in her fight for her sons life she's shown me how much I have, and how much I need to be grateful for:

This girl, this mini lady. Who teaches me as I teach her. Quiet but loud, friend to all. Ballerina in the making, with legs meant for an antelope. Full of attitude and love. Imaginary queen. Beautiful blessing.

Sweet, smiley boy. So happy, so friendly. Coming into his own, yet still thinks it's cool to be BFF with mom. Ridiculously athletic, shy to the nth degree. Friend of dinosaurs and Autobots alike. Sweet surprise.

Little man. Wise yet young. Fiesty, opinionated, adorable. Quick to get angry, quick to forgive. Laugh of an old man. Has already overcome a lot for someone so young. So proud. Adoration complete.

I'm also grateful to have such a great family, both immediate and extended.

I'm grateful to have a courageous mother who, in spite of being told she was making a huge mistake, decided to keep a baby she never expected, and raised her alone while working. And also managed to get her degree, get amazing job opportunities, and still find time to kick some disbelieving butt to those who thought she couldn't do it all.

I'm grateful for a stepdad who has never been anything step-like, who worried and looked out for me even when I thought I didn't need or want it. Sarcastic and funny, fits right in with us. His gentleness and love with both me and, later, my children is something that we have all been blessed because of. Thank you.

I'm grateful for a husband who loves me no matter what, no matter when, no matter anything. His unwavering faith in me and in us has made me a better person, a more complete person. Wonderful father, adored by the three short ones that trail after him. Stands tall and stands strong, and I couldn't be more lucky. Simply could not be.

I'm grateful for inlaws who raised a little boy into such a great man. Adopted him and treated him as if they had birthed him themselves. Taught him as best they could, instilled in him wonderful virtues and strong beliefs. Fought with him and fought for him. Stood by him as he grew, and now stand by us as we grow. Treat my children as if they were treasures to behold every day they spend with them. So very lucky to have them.

I'm grateful for a sister in law and then two brother in laws that make me realize how much fun it is to have siblings. So many laughs, so much great conversation. Endless playing with my children, so much love from my children for them.

I'm grateful for the wonderful, huge extended family that marrying CJ gave me. As someone who was an only child with a small extended family, coming into the Humpherys and the DeMartini clans was just so awesome. So awesome. So many cousins, aunts and uncles, so much love. I love following everyone's lives, I love the family reunions {we're coming this year, woo!! anyone else?} and getting to laugh hysterically with the family. So grateful for the examples and the fun that they all bring.

I'm grateful for friends new and old. SO grateful for friends. {and yes, family falls into the friend category as far as I'm concerned.} Friends have lifted me up when I was down, cheered me up, made me laugh at the world and at myself. I'm grateful to "re-find" some of those friends through Facebook or other channels. I'm grateful to look and see that I've surrounded myself with some truly awesome people. I wish you all lived closer, much closer, so that I could play with you more often. I'm grateful for "invisible friends", you know who you are. You are most DEFINITELY not invisible to me. I'm also grateful that this town has given me some amazing people to know, whether they live here still or have moved on.

God has been so good to me, to us. So many blessings in my life that I've not realized and not shown enough appreciation for. I'm {strangely} grateful for my calling as a Relief Society teacher. When I was first given it I didn't understand why anyone would want ME teaching anyone else about the Church, but I've come to realize it's not so much about me teaching them, but about me being taught. I've learned so much through this calling, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share what God is teaching us. If anyone wants to read a beautiful piece of work, read The Love of God from President Uchtdorf. It's one of those pieces you can read over and over and get something new out of every time. Better yet, listen to him give the talk. With his accent... it gives you chills but makes you feel so utterly warm and loved.

Life is good.

No, life is great.

An almost, sort of white early Christmas

Yes, I realize Christmas was a few days ago. But considering how late I've been lately at blogging anything (if I even blog it).... I'm blogging this first.
It snowed here!!!! I know most of the country has way too much snow already for the end of this year, but we're in southern Arizona, so bear with us. The kids were SO excited. So so excited. There wasn't a ton, and it didn't stick around our yard for long once that toasty AZ sun rose, but they had fun with it. So much fun that I called up our super cool friend Jessie and her super cool girls and asked if they wanted to hit up one of the canyons to play in the snow, and they said yes! They brought their cool friend Jen and her cool sons, and it was seriously a blast. The kids had their very first ever snowball fight, they built their first ever snowman (and baby snowman for mister J) and did snow angels. It was already starting to melt by the time we left Ramsey Canyon, but that was fine, by that time the kids had discovered the downside of snow: The icy cold numbness it gives you!

M and our snowman! Yes, that is a leaf for its hair. You improvise in Arizona.



This kid just had NO interest in staying with everyone else. Nope, he decided to explore everywhere, and could have cared less where I was. Boo... where's my baby gone??


Funny M!


Baby snowman, just for J (sorry, you have to look kind of hard to see it.)

Wilderness explorer J!

The only photo I got of all three kids

Building a snowman

Eating snow. Such a delicacy.

Still eating snow.

All done!

Maile throwing a snowball. Such concentration! I see a future in softball perhaps!

The road up to the canyon

Bah Humbug

I. Am a grouch. Sad, especially considering the time of year, no? Why am I grouchy, I have no idea. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a moron and I've lost/misplaced/lost my iPod Touch, and I really don't think I have any hope of finding it, because I'm fairly sure I lost it outside the home {wwwaaahhhhh...} . Maybe it's the lack of any Christmas decorations other than a {very festive and pretty, if I do say so myself. and I do} garland hanging around the low wall around the kitchen. There's nary a Christmas tree in sight. It's all for a good reason, of course. I'm very grateful for the really pretty tile that's almost completely installed. But the timing is just plain sucktastic. One of my favorite things about Christmas is decorating, it makes it *feel* like the holidays. Know what I mean? Plus the fact that half of our furniture is in the garage and our fridge is in the backyard. It makes for a grumpy Laurie. Hopefully it will be completely finished by tomorrow night, and CJ thinks putting the Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve after the kids go to sleep will make Christmas morning even more exciting for them. Which may be true... he's obviously feeling more festive than I am.

But now that at least the oven is back in the kitchen I/we can start Christmas baking! I've already made one batch of Christmas cake pops with Jessie, Susie, Maria and Christie, and while they were a pain in the patootie at first {the cake pops, not the company} we finally got the rhythm of them... right when we ran out of cake. Doh! So hopefully I can get some cake made tonight and maybe make some cake pops tomorrow or Thursday. The kids absolutely love cake pops though, all three of them just snarf them down whenever allowed. And when they're not, as seen right now in my room. J just stole another one and is running away from me. Little cheeky monkey.

Photographic evidence of the deliciousness of cake pops:

J biting into cake pop #1. It started out as a Christmas tree, but little mouths make things look messier than they used to be.

P eating a santa hat cake pop


M finished too fast for me to even get a photo of the Rudolph cake pop she was eating, but apparently it tasted as good as it looked.


Lucky for you, I took a photo of it when we made them!

BTW: if you want to try making cake pops yourself, I highly recommend it! Once you get the hang of it, they're really kind of fun. Bakerella is a freaking genius. We couldn't find any lollipop sticks anywhere so we got creative and cut some shish kabob sticks up instead. You can find candy melts at Walmart and at Kmart, and you can order them {and everything else Bakerella uses} online. Here's the link to Bakerella's post on how to make cake pops. Enjoy, and let me know if you try them!!

Oh Me, Oh My...

Where has the time gone.

I kept meaning to post, but it's just been such a great fall, and by the time I'm sitting at the computer with no one around to interrupt, all I want to do is veg and just surf. Lay. Zee. Right? Well... so be it.
I won't do a full on recap, because who has the time and patience to read that from me, but here's some highlights of the past few months, some even include photographic evidence!

I turned 30 {gulp} and got lovely, lovely presents. One of those being a laptop, which is another reason I haven't updated in ages, because I don't like to update without photos, and all my photos go on my desktop. But I'm always on my laptop lately. Oops...

J turned 2 years old {as seen in previous letter-post to him}. No party for him, but we took him to Peter Piper Pizza with Granny and our awesome friends the McDowells, and that was perfect in his eyes! Look how big he is. Sigh...
{mister pizza face himself}


We had Halloween, and a bunch of parties and school fun that goes along with that super awesome holiday. Seriously... is there anything more fun than walking around an elementary school on October 31st {or around then} and seeing all the costumes??

M was a queen. Contrary to what her face may be saying, she LOVED her costume. She picked it out herself and all!


P was a knight in shining armor. I have to say we got a ton of compliments on this outfit and people asking where we found it, and they're actually pajamas. Yep, I let my kids wear pajamas as costumes. But how freaking CUTE are they!!! Mum brought them back from her trip to England this summer, and they were just too cute to only use at night, when others can't appreciate just how awesome British clothing is. Hahahahah!


J was a dragon. If you asked him what he was, he'd say "RAWWWRRRRR!!!!". Everyone at once... awwwwwwwwww! P wore this costume two years ago, so yay for only having to buy one costume this year. Sweet.


We had Ps very first ever birthday party! This was the first year that he's really had his own friends that he could have a party with, so we decided to git er done. It wasn't a big party like Ms, but he had a blast with all his friends. We watched Up and ate pizza and Thomas cake. A perfect P party!


I've made cakepops about three times now, and I think I finally have them mastered! They're SUCH a blast to make, I always make them with friends because it makes it way more fun. Plus you don't feel like such a dork when you can't figure out why something isn't working right!


We had Thanksgiving with some great friends, and laughed lots. The food was so great, and it was so much fun to not have to worry about making everything. We all split up the menu so that we all could contribute. CJ and I made green bean casserole and a spiral ham. Mmm.... makes my mouth water just thinking about it.


And M was in her first ever ballet production! She was in The Nutcracker and did GREAT on both nights. We were lucky and Granny came to see her, as well as her Kindergarten teacher Ms. Wolfe and her sweet friend Willow and Willow's sweet mom Martha. I'm so proud of her, she really was great, she remembered both of her routines perfectly both nights!


And this past weekend we had a princess tea party here for Ms friends from Daisy Scouts. We decorated cookies and crowns and played, and then.... we all went to see The Princess and The Frog!! Oh, adorableness. It was a great afternoon, J even decided he wanted to dress up, and he wore his dragon costume. After all, what princess tea party is complete without a dragon protecting the royalty.
And the movie... awesome. I didn't catch all of it, thanks to a certain squirmy 2 year old, but what I saw I just LOVED. I'll be going back to see it again, but I loved that Tiana was so independant and didn't need a man. I love that Disney Princesses are starting to get attitudes! Yessss.



Currently we have no flooring in our house other than the bedrooms, because we're having tile put in! Yaaayyyy, we're pretty excited. It's bumped our Christmas decorating off because we have nowhere to put a tree, but as long as that cruddy yucky carpet is gone... I do not mind one iota.

But really, what we've done is a lot of this. Hanging out, goofing off, and laughing.

I love these kids. Love love love. They make me smile, make me laugh, make me furious, and make me melt.

What a wonderful world!