Something strange happened to me on the way to finishing a cake…

This past month has flown for me.  I don’t even know what has kept me so busy (okay, that’s kind of not true…you can see what I’ve been doing lately on my updated crafting/cooking/homemaking blog).  Another thing that I’ve been up to is I started teaching piano lessons this month.  I have been really blessed to be able to have found a friend who isn’t apposed to bartering who has agreed to watch Christian and Vivian one day a week while I teach in exchange for me to teach her girls piano.  So far, I have nine students, and I hopefully have more that will sign up once school starts.

I started out this month making a cake for the kindergarten graduation for the little boy next door that Christian plays with.    I got the idea off the the Wilton Cake website.  But I decided to do it in the school colors and I had to modify the little people on it so I didn’t have to buy any more stuff (one complaint I have about making cakes is the initial cost of doing them).  Anyway, to talk about the strange thing that happened to me, while I was finishing this cake is that I had taken a break from making all the little people (15 to be exact) that go on the cake, I was holding Vivian up in my left arm while we sat on the couch and she decided to throw a fit and do “the fling” into my right arm.

My arm hyper extended and hurt for just a minute and then made a “popping” sound and I looked at my wrist and there was a bump on my wrist under the skin.  Gross!  The strangest thing was that it didn’t even hurt.  So Jared ran to the closest store and picked up a brace for it.  The next day, I was lucky enough to find a friend who was sweet enough to take me to the doctor’s and then to get it x-rayed while she was thoughtful enough to offer to take my kids over for a play-date too so I didn’t have to wrestle them during my visit.  There is no break in my arm/wrist so I’ve been told to baby it but it doesn’t even hurt.  Any of my friends who are in medical school or are P.A.’s and or some kind of doctors think it’s a cyst.  Gross huh?  I guess I’ll need to get it looked at if it doesn’t go away….

So after going to all these doctor’s appointments, I came home and finished the kindergarten graduation cake.  Because I wasn’t able to make as many things ahead of time because of my odd accident and spending a hunk of time in the doctor’s office, I ended up staying up until almost 2 a.m. to finish this cake.  The  next morning, I got up and took the kids and cake to the school by about 7:15 so that I could assemble it before any kids showed up.

 

Christian and Vivian in the classroom with me while I assembled the cake (notice how far away Vivian is strapped into her stroller).  We stayed for the Kindergarten Graduation with my neighbor and friend Tonya and then went home.  I was exhausted to say the least but I have to say that though it took extra time out of my making a cake, I am so very, very grateful to my sweet friend Julie who took time out of her busy day so that she could take me to the doctors office the day before.  Hopefully we will be able to get a car #2 soon so that if anything else happens, I’ll be able to take my own self!

Becoming In-“Cultured”

I have a confession to make. Until last month, I haven’t gotten a new library card for our new city.  But last month Jared and I went and finally got our cards.  Our city has culture passes that allow us to go to places like museums and parks for a family of four for free twice a month.  We have had fun using our culture passes so far.  We went to the Mesa museum of modern art, where I came to the conclusion that I should make a rust farms in a Ball jars and try to sell it for $500 in the name of art ;). And I also decided that I needed a dirt collection of all the dirt in Arizona including mile markers.  I could become a famous artist….actually the dirt was really cool and I think I will get baby food jars and collect dirt just to display.

We also went to the Pueblo Grande Archaeology Museum where there is a site where Hohokam native Americans had a compound.  They’re not sure if it was a temple or a giant home/living place but it was pretty large.  It was pretty neat to see.     Here’s Jared, Christian and Vivian in the middle of the trail by the sight.   Here’s one of me with the kids by the site.   Here’s a better view of the site.  You can see it looks kind of like the foundation of a house when it first is dug.     Because of the various erosion factors, on top of improper excavation techniques and the noise of the city (the airport is right next door to the sight and the vibrations are breaking it down), it is not what it once was though they are doing what they can to preserve it.      Here’s Christian standing by the “Ball court”.    Here are some replicas of the single family dwellings that the Hohokam lived in.

We also went to the Desert Botanical Garden this past week.  It was nice to see that even though we still live in the desert, there is still hope for beauty.  They also had a cool bingo game that the kids could find as many things as they could and receive a prize at the end of it.  This kept Christian pretty occupied.  It was a really fun day and actually there was a nice breeze so it wasn’t too hot to be there…not that I recommend going there in May in a regular year.  Maybe if you look at these photos you’ll want to visit us and see this gorgeous place too.  *Wink* *wink*!

   

Little Miss Personality!

Since Vivian became 16 months and even more now that she is 17 months her little (or shall I say big) personality is really coming through!  She is a very delightful little girl to get to know.  She has a real obsession with boxes and being in them, as well as dressing up (or down).  Here is a photo I took on Jared’s birthday as she sat contentedly in the box that I mod-podged for Christian’s baby doll before she was born and he was constantly borrowing my laundry baskets for his baby’s bed. I love how sweet and innocent she looks in this…she’s actually showing me her boo-boo with her right pointer finger. She was very concerned, though she doesn’t like me to kiss her boo-boos because she wants to do that herself. Vivian is also a BIG fan of coloring.  She and Christian sit up at the counter most days and color and color and color, unless of course I need them to stay occupied, then they follow me around ;).  

Vivian is also a shoe-hound.  The first thing that she wants in the morning is to have shoes on (I’m wondering if this is because then she knows I will let her play outside before it gets too hot).  She also wants a barrette in her hair first thing.  Of course we usually have a fight to actually get her dressed in the morning because who needs clothes when you have accessories?!  Here are her favorite little pink cowgirl boots. And her little pink bow she picked out for herself.   Vivian also keeps doing something that cracks me up and that is to stuff things in her shirt all day.  If we can’t find something, it’s probably in her shirt….i.e. batteries, barrettes, my cell phone, keys….  This is one reason why with her I prefer tee-shirts…except for one little thing….The belly-button obsession!

Here are some more photos of Vivian in boxes…    

These photos are from the day I discovered (and so did Vivian) that she can open marker lids….she sat and colored on papers and the box, and then decided to practice her body art skills ;).

The next few pictures are from a couple of weeks ago while the boys were at Father’s and Sons and Vivian and I went to the Peach Festival with my friend Julie and her four kids.  It was really the first time I’ve spent on an outing where it was just Vivian and I together without Christian there.  I’ve taken her shopping alone with me before, or hung out at home but never really something fun (unless you consider shopping fun).  She was so good there and really enjoyed being carted around. She really enjoyed all the things I gave her to try in the tasters tent and wasn’t picky about them at all.

Julie’s girls picked the pony ride for their fun ride rather than the train or the hayride.  I wasn’t sure how Vivian would react because she is usually much more nervous about things than Christian is.  I guess I didn’t take into account that Vivian LOVES animals and will just come right up to big dogs and give them hugs around the neck with no fear. 

Well, when approached the pony rides, she got so excited that she started running straight for those ponies!  I grabbed her fast but the guy there commented that she was fearless for one so small.  Here are a few pony ride photos (since I had a difficult time picking one).  She’s wearing a bonnet that my mother brought when Vivian was born that use to be mine.  I think I get more comments on this bonnet than any other article of clothing that she has.  I really like it because it stays on and shades her face.  

After the pony ride Vivian was quite upset that it was over and cried and cried for the pony until they were out of sight.   Vivian also has lots of fun with her big brother though I’m not sure how much she trusts him…since she always screams in mock terror when he smiles a certain way.  But she really loves her brother and attacking him with hugs!  Here are some photos that were taken at the Mesa Temple Easter pageant that show her cute little personality too! 

Here’s my handsome boy.  Isn’t he cute?  I think if he keeps having looks like these, he’s going to be a heart breaker….

Especially if he gives the girls looks like this! LOL!

They are both such fun kids!  It’s great watching them grow and I feel so blessed to be the one who gets the private view of their development and their interesting personalities!

The joys of grass…

A couple of weeks ago, Jared and I noticed that the water company was offering free classes on drip and sprinkler systems.  I talked him into taking a class so that we can get our backyard in shape sooner than later.  Well, because of that class, Jared figured out the reason we have an oasis of grass in our back yard (while all the rest is dying) as well as lovely mineral deposits on our fence directly behind the oasis.

The Ginger and the kids have really enjoyed the patch of grass as it’s one of their favorite places to play (and one of the only places they can hide in our yard).  

Here’s Christian showing off some his new gardening things that I found in green and he just had to have!  I’ve been trying to talk him into helping me with weeds…so far he’s interested for the first two or three as he “slays” them, but after that, not so much….   I love how almost buried Vivian looks in this photo!

Yes, I know this shows just how hideous our yard looks right now, but at least we’re working on it ;).  Here it is easier to see how high the grass is  next to Ginger and the kids.I absolutely adore this photo of Vivian in the grass!  She’s just like an elfin cherub with her sweet little grin!    I think someone’s planning some mischief!   Here’s Jared’s foot and a shovel while he digs out the valves which the previous owner had buried in landscape rocks… (what the?)

Notice all that lovely wet clay below the valve?  Hence the source of our leak…I’m so glad it’s not some obscure place somewhere along the line.

And now for a closer look.  Once Jared dug out the area, I put a bucket under it and it was full within half an hour.  No wonder our water bill has been insane!

If anyone has any tips/pointers/thoughts for Jared on drip and sprinkling systems, we’d love to hear them as Jared still hasn’t finished all the repairs that need to be made.

Even though all this work is a bit of a pain, at least we’re learning something and we have our own yard for the children to romp around in!  That’s the important stuff right?