The spooks came over to carve pumpkins...

Butt Prints - an art project

Warning - this art project is not for those with a Butt self esteem problem.
While we were working on the swingset (the previous post) the kids were keeping themselves busy with butt art. Now, you may need to click on the images for a larger view, but here's how it works.
1. You stick your hiney in the freezing cold swimming pool.
2. You sit down on the warm cement and make a butt print.
3. Outline the print with chalk.
4. Turn it into a beautiful design. The print will quickly evaporate.

Yes, my kids are strangely creative. And our driveway is now filled with aliens, "butt"erflies, and all other sorts of buns.

My question is this. Where do they get it from? Seriously! Ryan must have been a strange child.

The Swingset - Project of the day!

See our yard? Pretty and pretty small, too. But I was REALLY wanting a swingset. Our old neighbors across the street were in a bad predicament. They were losing their house. They told me I could have the swingset before it went up for auction, so I had my hopes up. Really high.

Well, oops! They had the day wrong, so we had like 1 evening notice to get the sucker. Luckily it was my birthday, so how could my honey say no? I wish I had a picture of my neighbor Jim, our friend Kevin, Ryan and we three wives with that HUGE structure on two furniture dollies, wheeling across the street. In the dark. And we parked it on the side of the house because it wouldn't fit through the pool gate.

Taking it apart and putting it back together was no picnic! I was tired of being snapped at, so I went and got out friend Jim, again. He is quite handy. Ryan is handy, but let's be realistic. He is a banker. His hands are lilly white and smooth. There are no callouses there. (sorry honey!)

A few hours later (with the promise of a thank you dinner) here is our finished product! It does take up the majority of our lawn, but the kids are LOVING it. That is what our yard is for. The kids! I am a little nervous that Alexa will never stop swinging, though. I will have to make time for lots of outdoor projects!

One Project Finished and off my list!

How many of you have too many unfinished projects? I do!!!

I really wanted to start painting my kitchen cabinets, but Ryan wants me to finish my other wood projects first. Who me? Other wood projects?
Well, there IS that cabinet from my grandma that is taking up way too much room in the garage. Oh, and did I mention the swingset we got from our neighbors when they moved that is sitting on the side of my house waiting to be fixed up? How about the picture frames taking up the vacuum closet?

Okay, Okay, I get it. So here is a project my friend Sara and I did in just a few minutes to get it off my list!

I bought this bench at a garage sale for $20 a few weeks ago.

Lots of potential, but I couldn't stand the green-washed wood or the snake skin - pleather fabric.
Time for a redo!


2 98 cent cans of wal-mart black spray paint and a $5 piece of clearance fabric from JoAnns later, here we go! Not bad for $27 and less than an hour! What's next?

18 MONTHS OLD! Nursery here we come!

Today is the day Alexa turns 18 months! This is a big day because she can now join the nursery at church and not have to make mommy hang out in the halls! Yay!

Alexa is the cutest thing in the world.

She loves to play, hates the TV.

She speaks Africanized French, not English. She says azja da bome ALL THE TIME. Don't know what it means, but it's sure cute!

She calls all ladies Mom and all men Dad.

She loves to laugh!

She has no fear.

She makes a lot of messes, but loves to clean up.

Screams DON"T anytime she hears me sing.

She has yet to hit 20 pounds. Just a tiny little thing!

She is my little buddy and I love having her with me all day!

Stolen Zoo photos

Today Alexa and I went to the zoo with Amy and Kiah. Alexa loved being able to take her time and enjoy it without the older kids dashing off to the next animal, hurrying her along. Alexa and Kiah are almost the same age and were so cute to watch interact.

Anyway, my battery was dead on my camera, so I stole these shots from Amy's blog. Thanks Amy!

Don't you just love those giraffe pictures? Totally worth $3 to get licked by an 18 inch tongue!

Happy Birthday to me (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

Ryan surprised me with tickets to U2 for my birthday!

We had a blast, and here's my professional opinion and critique.

We saw U2 in Utah a few years ago and loved every minute of it. It was so sweet of Ryan to try to recreate that experience!

We started off with some local Sushi at a quick place down the street and were out of there by 6:30. The concert was in Glendale (about 50 miles away.) We figured it wouldn't hurt to miss a few minutes of the Black Eyed Peas. We saw them open for No Doubt in Vegas YEARS ago when I was prego with Ainsley. They're not my fave.

So off we left. No joke, the traffic was HORRIBLE TERRIBLE AWFUL. Ryan was starting to stress our at about 9:00 when we were still on the road. And people were not taking to heart the U2 lyrics on Beautiful Day when he talks about the traffic is stuck and you're not moving anywhere. Because they were not treating it like a beautiful day.

We got close to the stadium (Yes, I said stadium) and there was a huge sign that said PARKING $20. Are you kidding me? Ryan looked at me and asked, "How much money do you have?" $10. We are screwed! There was no turning back, though. Seriously. You couldn't move anywhere. I was about to offer the attendant my earrings or camera when we heard the best news yet. The lot was FULL! So they let us park with the limos in the $50 lot for free!

We walked in and (of course) had to take a potty break. I was laughing at the passed out girls getting medical attention in the corridor to the bathroom. Whoa!

We finally made it to our seats (Awesome ones, too! Thanks babe!) RIGHT INT TIME for U2 to come out. We missed not a thing. it was 9:20 pm. Everyone around us was already TOTALLY drunk and my camera ran out of batteries or I would have video taped some awesome dancing for you. :)

There were at least 4 times the number of people here than at the Delta Center, and it was at a stadium, so the sound was awful. Half the time Bonno was on some random key, off from the band. But it was still AMAZING!!!! Totally different thatn the little cozy concert in Salt Lake. I was in AWE at the number of people there and sound and the effects.

I learned some awsome political lessons about Iran and Burma (You know Bonno!) and loved the whole experience. I even TRIED to stay awake on the way home.

Great concert, great company!

block party 2009

We had the best block party ever this last weekend. It was over 100 degrees out, so we rented a dunk tank.

Which was also used as a front yard swimming pool.
We had a bounce house and a pinata...

Even face and body painting. And let me tell you, this was no ordinary face painting. She was GOOD! Even all the teen agers got in line.

Lots of food. Lots!

A cupcake walk and a prize walk. Bobbing for apples. Cookie decorating.

Lots of babies.

And LOTS of FUN!

Thanks to everyone for helping out! We had a blast!

Columbus Day Hike

As we were all feeling a bit jealous of the colorful leaves the rest of the country is enjoying, we followed the advice of the newspaper and set off to find our own beautiful fall landscape here in AZ. The paper suggested Globe (the Pinal mountains.) Why not? It's only an hour away.

We were a bit disappointed. No color changes. ;(


The trails we followed (per the newspaper) were overgrown to say the least. We had to leave these trail markers everywhere to remember how to get back to the car. See that brush behind the kids? We inched through that. It's a trail. haha


Of course Alexa wanted to walk most of the way. Such a big girl.

Brandon was funny. He wouldn't touch the leaves or bushes and screamed like a girl everytime Ainsley teased him about seeing a bee or a snake. He constantly kept asking us what species of animals we were going to see.

Speaking of species, I was fascinated with the piles of scat we saw everywhere, wondering what wild animals were wandering around. I settled on Javelinas, but Brandon was sure they were mountain lions. So we disected the poop with a stick. No bones or fur, just berries. Am I gross or what? I have a video, but I will spare you.

We had fun together, but I wouldn't recommend Globe to ANYONE. Maybe next year we will try Payson or somewhere else. Anyone else doing anything fun for fall break?

Who needs a dog?

Yesterday I heard Brandon telling Alexa, "If you think you can, you can do ANYTHING! Just try." So I peeked around the corner to see this. And Brandon was then saying., "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Can I tell you how little this doggy door is? It's about 6 inches by 12 inches. I think it looks way bigger in this picture than it really is. And in case you ar wondering, Alexa wouldn't even try. :)

Also, we saw Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs on Saturday. I posted this pic because I got yelled at for taking the picture during the previews. WHATEVER! Like anyone cares during the previews. Stupid teen workers. :) "Mam, there are no flash photography pictures allowed during our films." Have any of you gotten in trouble or yelled at in a public place? My kids thought it was funny!