Fun Anniversary Get Away

For our 10 year Anniversary (!), we went away to the Gold Canyon Resort for a night this weekend. My parents came up from Yuma and took over the kids for about 24 hours - thanks M & D!! We had a nice time just relaxing, going to a nice dinner and having a quiet drink in the bar - see me with my Margarita! We also had a private jacuzzi outside our door - it was very nice and an enjoyable time. Also - Bill surprised me with . . . a 2 caret diamond ring. . . .oh, yea, nevermind, that was a dream I had - I actually got a space-saver under the counter coffee maker. Which was also nice. . . .

New Circus Band

With the other kids in school all day, we just have little Alex and Bella during the days! Here is the NEW Circus Band with Jay, Alex and Bella!

Look what he can do!

Yes, that is my boy, about 8 feet up, climbing on a rock wall!! We all went for cousin Matt's 11th birthday party - - they had a "mini" wall upstairs - - I turn away, and Alex is half way up it!! I guess it's a practice wall, the other ones are all huge and require ropes and equipment. I was pretty impressed with Alex's strength! All that Physical Therapy must be working! Way to go Alex!

No More Olympics . . .

Heavy sigh. . . the Olympics are done for another 2 years until the winter Olympics come next. I guess I will have to go back to working at night instead of watching T.V. Here is a photo of some beautiful PartyLite product, which reminds me I need to email some hostesses . . . . .

Busy Social Life!

Ben's social calendar is busier than mine and he's 7 years old!!! He was invited to a birthday party last night for a classmate - right after school with "the guys" as he calls his friends from school. The bummer is that he's getting more "boy like"; getting the details last night after I got home, was like cross examining a hostile witness! Actually, now that I think of it, it was more like getting details about something out of Bill!! Then today he's going to a rock climbing place for cousin Matt's birthday and then a sleep over at Matt & Mitchell's! Busy, busy - maybe I can text him to be in touch - don't laugh - it's coming!!!

My favorite girls!

As you know, no girls are ever born in Bill's family - so we were not destined to have one (yes, my mother-in-law had 4 boys and has 8 grandsons!). So therefore, I enjoy my nieces for their "girlness"! Here are 2 year old Bella with my dogs - she loves the animals. Here is the"show-off" Lizzy - the gymnastics queen - she is showing me a "scorpian" move - - can you do that??!!

Busy Weekend

We had an unusually busy weekend - I can tell I wasn't home by how my house looked last night (crap everywhere!). On Saturday I was in Tucson for a candle party and didn't get home until late due to riding with Nancy - too much drama to tell here, but her goddaughter's mom is in the hospital in Tucson due to a severe asthma attack and Nancy was there to do some things to help the family while she dropped me at my show. Anyways, Sunday we had Jayna Durham's baptism - - they tried adopting for almost 3 years before they were blessed with baby Jayna from South Carolina - I'll have to tell the story sometime about how they connected with the birth mom through a friend of theirs - a remarkable and amazing story that definately had the hand of God in it! Then .. . .after that, Alex had a play group at Toy Town in Ahwatukee for the Down Syndrome Network group, so I took him, Ben and Lizzy to that! Then it was a trip to the grocery store and home for dinner - we didn't eat until after 7:00 and then a mad rush to get the kids to bed for school. Of course, guess what I did for the rest of the night - - Olympics!!!

Olympic Fever!!

Do you have Olympic Fever like me??!! I've been staying up sooo late every night to watch - I have bags under my eyes and Bill is barely talking to me due to my nightly date with the TV, but sorry - I'm obsessed - - gymnastics, swimming, tennis, beach volleyball, Michael Phelps. Nastia, Shawn, Fedderrer, Torres -- - I love them all! I'm going to be so sad when it's over...oh, gotta run - the marathon is ending, Phelps is in the pool and oh, I bet some track and field is coming on - - don't forget more women's gymnastics tomorrow!!! This photo had water and it reminds me of swimming, so there you go . . . plus, it's about how fast I can go in the pool (thanks Lynn).

Alex too!

Alex also started school this week! He goes to 3 days a week pre-school - in the afternoons. He has the same teacher as last year - Ms. Kelly - she is great with the kids! Alex has a friend Zachery - he said goodbye to him today - it was very cute. Alex takes the bus from day care and then I pick him up - he's always excited when I get there! Here he is getting his back pack to go home. It will be neat to see what he learns this year and what school he'll be in next year for kindergarden.

Fun at Bell's Party

Once again, the kids had a great time together. The gathering was Bella (aka Stinky Pete)'s 2 year old celebration. Games, food, drinks and of course Bingo!

Circus Band

Jay is Alex's music therapist - he plays a song that Alex sings to called "circus band" - joining in the circus band today was Lizzy - she was spending the afternoon with us as Lynn got called to work (yes, she actually answered her phone today - way to go Lynn!).

More than life itself

Here is my Champers - I like to say I love him more than life itself - I know if sounds whacky to some, but if you had a pet for 14 years, you would be a little attached too! He's old but young at heart! I've never seen a doggy who loves to snuggle with people more than Champ! He'll always be the first man in my life - before Bill, before kids, he's just been there for it all!!

And so it begins . . . .

Here we are, the first day of school for Ben . . . .weirdly, we were both a little bit sad - I couldn't even get a smile out of him for a photo. He was sad when he said goodbye, but was happy when I picked him up - a very good sign! Here are the pics - - -

One Thousand Degrees!

It's been REALLY (or, fill in your own descriptive colorful word here) HOT!! The kids cooled off at Ward's Water Day - a nice event to get the kids excited for back to school - - Monday for Ben!! Let me confirm - the kids cooled off - not me! I stood in the heat from 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. watching them play on water slides . . nice . . . then the power went out at 11:00 p.m. last night at the house - Man, I wish Bill would make those payments on time!! No....actually...it was a transformer or something - no a/c, lights or TV for 2 1/2 hours!! At least we had plenty of light via the millions of candles I have in my house!! Yea, the candle lady saves the day!

The Little Ones

The little ones aren't so little anymore.....Bella is almost 2!! And Alex has one more year before kindergarten! Here they are in the back bedroom, they are watching an Elmo movie and hanging out together. Alex doesn't torture her all the time anymore, just some of the time, that's a good thing!