Summer Summary

The summer has flown by, as it always does. It's taken almost three months, but fortunately, Alan and Ellie are ready to go back to school. I showed them their teachers' official school websites tonight, which greatly increased their levels of anticipation. Ellie is especially excited that her teacher has a bright blonde faux hawk and a small dog named Pepperoni. Alan likes that his teacher enjoys taking pictures and has a dog named Buster. They both seem like very exciting people. Since the kids are starting a new school, they're a little nervous as well, but I think "Meet the Teacher Night" this week will help to calm their anxieties.
This summer:

*Dray fractured his right pinky finger after pulling a tall table over on himself at subway. A surgery involving pins, a handful of casts and splints, and several hundred dollars later, he still has a crooked (but functional) little finger. He's definitely the most accident prone of all three children. I'm just glad that he's okay.

* We've had lots of fun visits with family this summer, which the kids always love. Alan, Ellie, and Dray especially enjoyed Josh's extended stays.

* Here we are spending family night at Organ Stop Pizza. After a few songs, Dray plugged his ears and said, "It's too loud. Let's get outta hear!" Still, it was a fun evening.

* Abby went on a two week student tour to Europe and had a fantastic time.

* Ellie and Alan were in a summer sport's camp with their cousins for three weeks. They really enjoyed being with their cousins, but didn't enjoys the sports aspect so much. Alan even went so far as to say that, "it was like being trapped in Walmart for four hours every day." Just to clarify, Walmart is his least favorite place to be, ever. He also asked, "Why are you making me kick a ball around for hours? I want to be a scientist!" Ellie also didn't appreciate the athletic part of camp. She made me promise to put her only in swimming and drama camps next year. So, there goes my hopes for future full ride athletic scholarships. ;) Oh well, at least they had something to do for three weeks, whether they loved it or not.

* We spent a fun 4th of July with Crandall cousins in Tucson. Laurel and Bill rented a ranch in Tucson (which was a really great idea.) The kids painted ponies, went horseback riding, played on a water slide, and petted a variety of furry and feathered creatures. We ate tasty barbecue too. It was fun to spend time with family. While everyone else went camping that night, we stayed in a hotel (Dray had to keep his splint clean and dry- which would not have happened while camping.) While in Tucson we visited the Tucson Children's Museum, watched fireworks under A mountain, and went to the International Wildlife Museum. It rained most of the time, which cooled off the air quite a bit. Gosh, I love Monsoon Season. It's nature way of saving us Arizonans from insanity. Just when we feel like curling into a heat-induced fetal position, nature provides us with a brief respite that somehow tides us over until fall.

* The kids and I went to Safford (or Pima, to be exact) for Pioneer Day, where we watched a parade (which consisted mostly of people on horses throwing lots and lots of candy, a couple of firetrucks, and a few floats.) We also watched a great pioneer pageant and some incredible fireworks that exploded and sparkled right over our heads. The weather was around 70 degrees that evening, which felt wonderful. We also spent some time with my brothers. Dray roasted marshmallows and played drums at Chad and Selena's place. The kids rode a dune buggy at Aaron and Erin's house and played with his super well-behaved Labrador dogs. We had lots of country summer fun.

* Ken and I have new ward callings. I'm the ward historian, which I am super excited about. I'll just pretend I'm working at a newspaper again and take lots of pictures. And like always, I'll satisfy my curiosity by getting all up in people's stuff. :) As far as I've read, it mostly involves keeping track of big ward events, important anniversaries, service projects, deaths, graduations, weddings, missionary experiences, etc...

Ken is a Cub Scout leader for the Wolf Den, which is the most recent calling we had in our last ward. 

* We are loving our new home and ward, and as always, are extremely thankful for so many things, especially family, our health, and the gospel!

March Madness (April and May too)

These last few months have passed like a whirlwind. We moved at the end of March into our new home. We love it and hope that we live here forever, both because it's perfect for us and the extreme pain of moving is still fresh in our minds. We hope to have lots of extended family over once the weather cools off and we have a landscaped backyard for cousins to play in. We're right across the street from a park, which has been a paradise for the kids. Now that summer is upon us (108 degrees today, aye aye aye) it's not so much fun, but we do have a community pool that we'll be taking advantage of. Our ward is wonderful. Neighbors are great. We feel very blessed.
Alan is doing great in school, but is beyond excited that the last day of school is Thursday. Ellie has been a social magnet for the neighborhood kids. I had to make a special sign that says, "The kids cannot play right now. Please don't knock or ring the doorbell," for homework time, chore time, and very early Saturday mornings. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but after 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and all weekend the most common sound in our house is often "BING BONG! BING BONG! BING BONG!.............." Ellie is loving it.
Dray is growing up so quickly. He's said so many things that have made me laugh lately. The other day he was holding a toy microphone and told me that he wanted to sing. When he wouldn't start singing after a few seconds I asked him when he was going to start. He responded with, "Mom, my song is still woading (loading.)" His favorite song is "Tonight" by the band "Fun." He asks to hear it repeatedly and sings along in a very cute, loud, and high pitched voice. He knows all of his colors and most of his letters. His favorite activities are looking at books (especially "The Thinks You Can Think" and "Are You My Mother?"), playing with play dough and painting. He and Ellie play really well together most of the time. She's very good at keeping him occupied. His favorite TV shows are Little Bear, Rugrats, and Wow Wow Wubzy. We've noticed that he's a very friendly, polite little guy most of the time. He makes sure to say "please," "thank you" and "I'm sorry," on a regular basis. When we respond with "you're welcome," he says, "you're welcome too!" He is still quite obsessed with outer space. He can name all the planets and frequently wants to talk about the characteristics of each one (Mercury is hot during the day and freezing at night!) He's also very interested in super heroes (his favorite is Hulk.) Best of all, he's very close to being potty trained! We love hims so very much.

 Bikin' at Jeepers

 Dray's illustration of "Tommy" on "Rugrats"

 Wearing Ken's favorite Christmas present (Knitted Instant Beard)

 Our new home

 Ken blowing our his birthday candles

 The family having a grand time playing Kinect

 Iron Man de-masked

More wild family fun

Life Lately

It's been quite a while since I've posted. Here is our lives over the last few months in a nutshell.

* We're having a home built in Gilbert (Meritage at Lyons gate.) The price is fantastic, interest rates are low, and the best part is that it's very green. Okay, I just visualized a house with a neon green exterior, so I'll clarify; super energy efficient. The community that we are building in was just listed as one of the top three green communities in the world. With Ken's work equipment constantly running at home, we have a $500 utility bill on average, so the idea of having a smaller utility bill is super appealing. We feel very blessed and excited! The house should be done in March sometime.

*Dray is loving Nursery

at church. He calls his leaders "Nursery Mommy and Daddy" and when we pick him up after

ward, he spends quite a while telling us about all the exciting things he does there. The most common topics are his favorite song (Once There Was A Snowman), snacks, and bubble time. He's become quite the conversationalist. He loves playing with play-dough, drawing on the Magnadoodle

and singing. When he has a terrible two's tantrum he shouts "Momma, Please!" over and over. He gets frustrated when we can't understand what he's saying, which is the cause of most of his tantrums. He still calls Alan "Aggie." We are working on that. He's very snuggly, opinionated, determined, and lovable.

* Ellie is still the socialite of the family. Every day, several times a day, many different neighborhood kids knock on the door requesting to have her come over and play. She spends most of her afternoons trying to diplomatically split up her time between all of her friends. Her friends from school also are constantly calling, asking if she can come over. I can always tell where she is in the neighborhood by her extremely audible and unique laugh (which sounds kind of like a machine gun, and just as loud.) She's very sad to be leaving the neighborhood, but will no doubt have friends lining up at the door of our new home in no time.

* Alan is on the Principal's Gold List for getting all As. He is most often very kind and obedient a home and school, and always tries his hardest. He's especially sweet to Dray, who several times a day yells, "Aggie, play with me!" Alan will usually stop what he's doing and take some time to play with little bro. He's especially good at boosting Dray's confidence. Dray was drawing today and Alan stood over his shoulder and enthusiastic praised every drawing he made. It was so cute to hear him say, "Dray, that picture is so good! I love it so much!"

* Ken and I are Cub Scout leaders. I've been a leader for a few months, but my companion just had a baby, so Ken got called in with me. The scouts are rowdy, cute, and fun. I'm enjoying the calling.

* In December, Ken and Abby where once again patient and sweet enough to let me be in another play (ANNIE.) I played Cecille (Daddy Warbucks' french maid), a homeless lady, a fancy New Yorker, and FDR's secretary. Lots of costume changes and lots of fun. I am thinking that maybe I can pull off one play per year? I have so much fun singing, dancing, and getting to know fellow cast-members. The nice thing about Copperstar plays is that they are only around four or five weeks from start to finish.

*Ken has been very busy lately at work. On many days he'll see multiple clients and he's been working lots of overtime. His job is such a blessing, which we especially appreciate at a time when still so many people are out of work.

*My mom, brothers, and sisters are coming to visit this next weekend for my mom's 60th birthday celebration (Feb. 9th). Mostly we'll just be hanging out and visiting, but I'm excited that we'll all get a chance to be together. It's been a while since all of my siblings were together in one place. Ken's mom's birthday is also on Feb. 9th, which is a fun coincidence. They are both wonderful ladies and I'm blessed to know them.