A Winter's Day in Arizona

I know my kids are pretty scroungey in these pictures, but I couldn't resist the oppertunity to show off a typical, beautiful, Febuary day here in Arizona- that and I want to be able to look back in two months and remind myself why I'm tolerating the heat.

Viva Las Vegas

It's a little late but I didn't want to forget about our mini vacation to Las Vegas. Kyle had a business trip there and so last minute we decided to throw the kids in the car and drive up with him. I was reluctent because we had quite a few things that we had to rearrange, but as soon as we got there I knew it was worth it. I love Las Vegas- well, Henderson anyway. Kyle was a little busy with something called responsibilites, but thanks to Jake, Amy and Luke, who were such wonderful hosts, the kids and I had a blast. The highlight was by far BouncU!

The many shades of beauty

Just thought I would document all of Licity's creative ways of wearing "lip gloss" (a.k.a. paint, nail polish, markers and mascara). It's been an obsession that I thought she would have gotten over by now, but she continues to amuse me. I may need to be concerned that she seems to favor black.














After painting her own lips she decided to also paint Maci's head-poor Maci.














Licity in mascara.
Licity in marker.

Licity in nail polish.

Licity in... hmm? What exactly is that?

Really... Blue?

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Blue

You're blue — the most soothing shade of the spectrum. The color of a clear summer sky or a deep, reflective ocean, blue has traditionally symbolized trust, solitude, and loyalty. Most likely a thoughtful person who values spending some time on your own, you'd rather connect deeply with a few people than have a bunch of slight acquaintances. Luckily, making close friends isn't that hard, since people are naturally attracted to you — they're soothed by your calming presence. Cool and collected, you rarely overreact. Instead, you think things through before coming to a decision. That level-headed, thoughtful approach to life is patently blue — and patently you!

What are you? http://web.tickle.com/rd/50651/color/index.jsp?testname=colorogt&resultid=E

Christmas Break Highs and Lows

It was fun uploading the new pictures from my camera today. Having the kids in school, as well as me teaching preschool, we find ourselves locked into such a tight schedule. Now that we've had a little time off things got a little more interesting...

1) Maci is always finding new and interesting things to try from the floor. Pine needles are the most curious but usually cause her to throw up later. All her hard work of scouring the floors finally paid off when she found her first candy cane... and loved it!

2) Christmas morning was perfect! 4:30am is a little early, but once Kyle and I realized there was no stopping it, we were forced to give in. By about 5:40am all the presents were open and our house was pretty well destroyed.

* You might notice that one of the highlights of Christmas morning was the cute baby bunny that Santa left for us to care for... we had two wonderful days before that sweet little bunny died. Apparently they can't have carrots that young. Poor little bunny, his name was Nibbles. :(

4) Christmas evening, after the toys and friends and stopping by to say "Merry Christmas" to Grandma and Grandpa Rees, we headed down to Casa Grande for dinner at G and Papa house. Before the festivities began we decided as a family to visit the grave site of Kyle's oldest brother, Troy who died as an infant just days after he was born. G (Vicki) had arranged for each of us to lay a pink rose on the gravestone. It was a very special experience.

5) Remember when I talked about Licity and how anything can happen as long as she's wearing a white bow? Well, pink bows count as well. This is actually nail polish on her lips but she couldn't be more proud of how pretty she looks.

6) Licity is potty-training. I have nothing positive to say about that yet so I won't get into it, but I did need to explain why Licity may not have any clothes on in some photos.

) We decided to head to the cabin for New Year's with the Trejo's. I love that you can drive a couple of hours North and still find snow in Arizona! Besides the near fatal blow to Rechelle's head from a falling 80lbs. beam- we had a great time! Rechelle is okay and actually opted not to have stitches even though the gash in her head said otherwise. They stuck it out and we were able to go sledding just a few miles North of the cabin. Your such a trooper Rechelle! (I wish I had a photo of that- why didn't we think to take a picture!)

And that brings us to today... more potty training, and still nothing good to say about that. Maybe tomorrow.

Hope you all are also having an adventurous winter break!