Swinging through life

Like most kids, my boys love to be outside. We vowed when we moved from Utah we would buy a house with a yard already. No such luck. We fell in love with our house, a spec home at the time, and there was no yard. We live on a corner, so that meant view fencing, it meant only one neighbor to the north of us and it meant a basketball court and greenbelt behind us. We payed to have this premium lot...and it was worth every penny (even if it was thousands and thousands).

But, because of the equity we made on our house in Utah we were a lot quicker about getting our yard in. About 6 months after we moved in we had our backyard. Suddenly our house felt a gazillion times bigger! Tons of grass to race in, plenty of room to play baseball, lots of space to have "car" washes, picnics, camp outs, birthday parties, play dates, barbeque's, water games. It is honestly where we spend most of our time. I have my patio furniture and beautiful annuals surrounding the orange tree and Austin has his three gardens--yes three! (the man is Mr. McGregor). The boys are happy, I'm happy, and Austin is happy.

Christmas came along this year and we are all even happier. Santa brought the boys got a play set. It could not be more perfect. It has the best combo: swings, a glider, monkey bars, a slide, a picnic table, a clubhouse, and a look-out deck. To say the boys love it is an understatement. They play outside everyday for hours. Dax mastered the monkey bars within a few days, Wyatt claimed his captain's wheel and periscope the second he got them, and the have managed not to kill themselves when they ride that crazy glider together. It really was the best Christmas present ever...for all of us.

Today Dax finally figured out how to pump his legs and swing on his own. I was so proud. I love seeing him learn new things and grow.

And all of a sudden, in a blink of an eye, I was disappointed. Horrified actually. Because for all these months I was actually counting those 30 minutes of pushing him on the swing as my physical workout for the day. Some may say that would be a stretch, but in my little world, I also count vacuuming as part of my "workout" routine. I say it's legitimate, but whatever. All's I know is now I can't because he figure out how to swing on his own.

Rats. It's back to the gym for me.

Undies

"Yook at me. I go wee- wee on the potty." --Wyatt, age 2 and 1 month

And in case you were wondering we have an appointment with a booking agent tomorrow.

Yup, I'm pretty sure he's gonna be the next Calvin Klein model with this pose.

Where do kids come up with these things?! What a crack up!

Rainy Days

Rainy days in AZ are sparse. That's not much of a surprise, we do live in a desert! The most rain we've seen since we moved here three years ago have been during the summer monsoons when rain comes and goes in a matter of minutes. We typically wear short sleeves and sandals all year around. So you can imagine our surprise when this winter we've had more rainy days in history and tornado warnings. What?!

Growing up in California I remember the excitement I felt when rainy days came along. It meant lunch in the multi-purpose room, cancelled softball games, walking home from school with no umbrella, sopping wet, and finding popcorn and hot chocolate waiting without fail. My mom always had it ready for us and a movie of her choice...think Anne of Green Gables and Shirley Temple classics. I haven't had much of an opportunity to carry on with one of my favorite childhood memories living in this desert, but finally, this winter we have. The boys now know when it's raining, it's popcorn for snack and hot chocolate to wash it down. Dax trapes around in the rain walking in circles in the backyard just listening to the falling rain pitter patter on his umbrella. Wyatt actually gets to put his rain boots to use and splash in puddles rather than just wear them in 75 degree weather and shorts looking like a fool (a cute fool that is).

I love the dreary, dark days of Arizona showers. I know they are few and far between so I soak up every ounce of it that I can. That means no housework and no errands. It means puzzles pieces and board games all over the floor, piles of laundry to be folded and dishes in the sink. I happen to enjoy the feeling of being cooped up and nowhere to go on these days.

So, you're welcome to visit. We'll for sure be here and we love visitors. But just don't be surprised when you find the three of us under a blanket with buttery popcorn fingers watching Hotel for Dogs in our jammies. We're just enjoying eachother and these rare occasions with no sun.

Oh, and sorry babe, it's Ramen for dinner tonight.

Car Caddy

Before I blogged about how great these little inventions are, I wanted to make sure the boys actually liked what I made them for Valentine's Day. Well, they do, hooray for me! I can't ever seem to come up with things to make boys. I'm learning to love to sew, but seem to only find projects for them few and far between. If you have boys and have any suggestions let me know! And if you have boys and like to sew, these car caddy's are so much fun. They roll right up and fit in my purse. I actually intended for them to stay in my church bag, but they have fished them out every day. Oh well! I found the idea at homemadebyjill.blogspot and fell in love. I changed things up a bit from the tutorial she gave but they were still so simple. Just some fun (boy) fabric, duck cloth, a little batting, felt, rick rack and embroidery thread and off I went. I hand did the numbers on the pocket and the little dashes on the street but the rest just took a lot of pinning and a little bit of sewing.

Wyatt's is the pirate grey and yellow one and Dax's is the race car navy and brown one. I bought Wyatt the cutest little VW bug hot wheels and Dax some super cool Insectible race cars. I actually got it right this time for who's is who and they never fight over playing with the others! Oh happy day! They are fun, you should try them!

L.O.V.E

I never planned on falling off the face of the blogging Earth, but somehow for the past few months I've managed to only blog on major holidays and birthdays. I'm not sure why, probably an assortment of reasons, , but whatever it is, I'm promising here and now to be better...for posterity sake.

I love having this journal. I've gone back many times to old posts to read about experiences and feelings. It makes me frustrated when I know I haven't done as good as job as I can to record all the fun, crazy, growing moments we have had as a family and for me as a mother.

These boys make me hysterical, in mostly good (see pictures above), but sometimes in the bad hysterical kind of way (note- you do NOT want to see pictures of me in the bad hysterical kind of way). Either way, I love them. Unconditionally. Completely. Unwaveringly.

So please excuse me if you see posts dating back to December. Posts where we are stomping around in rain but the current temperatures are 75. Posts where the boys hair hasn't yet grown over their little ears. I want to record it. All of it.

So, I figured, what better day to kick start this blog again then on Valentine's Day. The day where if I truly believed in all this Valentine's Day shenanigans, then I am certain I have been shot by Cupid's invisible arrow. These little guys will always be my Valentine's.