FUNNY!!!

Finding our center

If I have learned anything during my short time as a mother of two girls it is that it is not effective to ask them why they are crying. First of all, they probably don't know. Secondly, even if they do know, it probably won't make sense anyway. When they are crying or are just generally upset I say to them in my very calm yoga voice:
"Girls. Let's breathe." (We inhale, we exhale).
Then holding my hands together in front of me, palm to palm, I say: "Now, let's find our center."(There is a moment of silence).
Well they usually stop crying or whatever it was they were doing. I don't know if they actually find their center or are just trying to figure out what the heck I am talking about.
So, the other day my oldest was on her bed crying a little bit. She looked at me and said: "Mom.(sniff)I think I need (sniff). To find(sniff). My center (sniff).
She inhaled, she exhaled and then patted herself on the chest, looked at me and said. "Okay I feel better now."
Who knew???

Happy Grandparents Day!!!

The girls making the bouquets with their good friend Raeleigh.

The one on the left went to gma and gpa and the one on the right went to Gigi.

Gma and the girls with the flowers!!

For grandparents day, a local florists held an event where a child could come and make a bouquet for his/her grandparents and for each bouquet made, the florists made one and donated it to a local nursing home for people with Alzheimer's. The girls each made one, one for grandma and grandpa and one for Gigi. They had fun and the grandparents loved them!! A big happy grandparents day to all the grandparents out there!!!

The girl has her priorites straight!!

For a class assignment, my oldest daughter was to draw a picture of her community and include the important places.
Home: check
School: check
Park: check
Target:???yes-check.

And that is it. No library. No bookstore. No grocery store. I give her this, the girl knows what's important. I'd give her an A.

Telltale signs you live with children.

1. You find stickers in random places, like the bottom of your shoe, the middle of the kitchen floor or stuck randomly to bedroom doors.
2. You spend some morning untangling necklaces and many evenings braiding Barbie's hair.
3.While vacuuming you find itty bitty Polly Pocket shoes and tops buried in the carpet.
4.You open up your cell phone to find that your wallpaper has been changed as well as a ring tone or two.
5. You know most of the words to more than 2 recent Disney movies.
6. You find yourself singing songs from afore mentioned movies when your children aren't even around.
7. Hannah Montana songs are on your iPod.

I am sure they are many, many more....

Funny conversation with daughters

A few weeks ago, while in the bathtub, my oldest daughter said "Mom, can you say touche to yourself?" to which I replied a very intelligent "Huh?"
Daughter: You know, you say touche when someone makes a better point."
Me: Yes. I know what it means.
Daughter: So, can you say it to yourself?
Me: Why?
Daughter: Because I was talking to myself and I made a point and then I made an even better point.
Me: Sure honey. If it's just you, I guess you can do what you want.
Daughter: Oh, okay. Good.

Then a few days ago, after we had gone back to school shopping we were all sitting down eating lunch when my youngest daughter said: "Mom. I love shopping." My mother asked her "Would you like it if all you did was just look around and you didn't buy anything?" She did not need to think about her answer. She answered very emphatically "No!"

Oh boy!!!

First day of school!!

Yes, believe it or not, today was the first day of school. The girls were so excited. It all went very well. They were darling, of course. Notice that they chose the same outfit for the first day. They love to match! I can't believe they are in 3rd and 1st already. The reported that they had a great day and that it will be a great year. Only 179 days to go. (Just kidding!!!) :)

John Mayer

Wayne and I went to see John Mayer again this year and it was, of course, fabulous. It is interesting to observe our concert watching skills because they are, well, very different.
Let me give you an example of the conversations we had:

(Crowd is going wild, house lights dim, stage lights flashing)

Me: Is that John Mayer?
W: Hey, what guitar is that?

(Spotlight shines on John and crowd goes wild).

Me: Oh my gosh! He shaved his head!
W: Sweet. Look at that guitar.
Me: Ugh. Look at that arm tattoo.
W: Oh man. Do you see that amp he is using?
Me: What kind of funky pants is he wearing?
W: Yea. That guitar is so great. It is a (blah, blah, blah).

Pretty funny. Some of my favorite parts were:

1) When he sang Stitched Up. I love that song,
2) When he played his version of Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" and imitated Axl. Pretty hilarious.
3) The group of teenage girls next to us. One of them said "Oh my gosh, he looked at us!"(of course we were a few rows back and there isn't any way he even saw them) and then as a group: "John Mayer is sexy!" They were pretty cute.

Rock on!!!

In the Pines, In the Pines...

We recently returned from Pinetop/Lakeside where we spent a week with the parental units and Dr. Write, Middlebrow and Son. It was a fabulous time with fabulous weather. I have some wounds that are still healing, but that is a story for another time. It was hard coming back to the heat but, unbelievably, school starts in one week so I gotta get in gear.





The cousins, ready for fishin!

Ready for the cover of Fisherman's World.

The cousins chillin' at the playground.
We ate here. I don't know how I feel about eating at a place where the mascot is a big fat pig but it was some of the best BBQ I have ever had and I shared a plate, so there is that. We are all excited here that school is starting soon. I will try to make this week drag on.....

Has anyone seen my shoes??

One of the girls' favorite thing to do is dress up in my clothes. Here are a few of their latest outfits.


The black shoes are the ones I wear when I clean the counter!!

Dressed like me and the hubby. Lookin' good!

A grumpy old man and a fancy lady??
What will they put on next??

How I became invisible in Iowa and then began to drown in Arizona.

The best burgers and ice cream in town!!

Taken at Eleanor's burial site. Beautiful.

All of us and Grandpa George.

The girls, some kittens, and their cousin Morgan.

The barn that Wayne worked on. It is coming along!!

We have returned from Iowa and I think I ceased to exist the minute I arrived. Let me make a list of the things I did NOT have in Iowa:
1) Cell phone service
2) Email
3) Internet (okay to be fair I did have dial up but that is the same as not having it all, right?)
4) Stores

Wow! I did not know I could survive a whole week without all of that. However, here is a list of the things I DID have:
1) Family
2) Friends
3) Beer (see #1 and 2)
4) Laughter/Tears
5) Bugs

So when I "reappeared" in Arizona, the monsoons started and it rained, HARD, for about 3o minutes. (I don't have any pictures of that.)The streets were flooded and the temperature dropped to 75. Wow. What a crazy, crazy week. The above pictures are from our trip. Thanks to all of our Iowa family for making us feel at home. We love you all!!

In Memory Of....

Wayne's stepmother, Margaret Eleanor (Hamman) Harrison passed away today. She was 80 years old. I dedicate this post to her. She was a gentle, loving person and she will be dearly missed. Enjoy these pictures of her. They were taken two years ago when we went to visit them out at the farm. Our family is headed off to Iowa to attend her memorial. Rest in Peace Eleanor.

Joe Bonamassa

Wayne and I went to Joe Bonamassa's concert. (For a guitar solo, go to about 2:45 on the video that comes up on the above link. It is of him singing Sloe Gin-FYI my favorite songs are Asking Around for You and High Water Everywhere.) If you have ever played guitar, touched a guitar or heard a guitar (and guitar hero does NOT count) than you have to hear this guy play. He is amazing. He toured with BB King when he was 12. I mean really. It is almost like a religious experience, hearing him play live. We saw him at the Tempe Center for the Arts which is an architectural wonder. The whole thing was fabulous and if you ever get a chance to hear Joe in concert, go. You will be a better person.

Hot, not that I'm complaining.

I got into my car and the thermometer said 100 degrees. Now that would be okay if it were in the middle of the day but it was 9:30 at night. That's right, night. Now some of you people might need the sun to actually make it hot. But not us......I mean come on. How can it still be so freaking hot when there isn't any sunshine???? Are you kidding me? I can take 100 during the day cause I blame it on the HOT SUN. I saw a man jogging tonight too. Jogging?? Why wait?? So you can be hot and not be able to see anything?? It really is unbelievable. Now mind you, this same thing happened last year, and the year before that and chances are it will happen next year. But every year I am just amazed that it can stay so blazing hot without the sun. But time will pass, winter will come, it will be in the 70's and I will probably forget this little tirade until, well, about a year from now. I hope you are all enjoying cool summer evenings. And by cool I mean NOT 100.

Recent conversations with the girls

(In Costco)
S: Mom, I can't go to college. I don't even know how to divide yet.
Me: Well honey you wouldn't go now. You have about 10 years. I'm pretty sure you'll know by then.
E: Yea mom I can't go either. I barely know how to add and subtract.
Me: Dear, you have about 12 years. I wouldn't worry about it.
Both: Hey mom, get those chips!!!

(In the car-sometime later)
S: Mom. A kid in my class told me that sex was when a boy and girl kiss in bed. Is that true??
Me: Um. Yea...
S: Mom, that. is. disgusting!!
Me: Um. Okay...
S: Oh, turn up this song!!

Never a dull moment.

So long Socal

The girls with their friends Natalie and Tiffany.

Girls Night Out: Tamara, Dorothy and me!!

The girls with their friends Allison, Kristen and Lauren.

Well we are back home from CA. We had a great time but we were all extremely exhausted. It was great to spend time with my friends and for the girls to be able to spend time with their friends. Now we need a vacation from our vacation.

Laguna Beach

My daughters and I are currently on our annual California summer trip. We went to the beach the other day and, even though I am not a beach person, it was a wonderful day. The weather was perfect and the girls thoroughly enjoyed body surfing and going to the tide pools. It was a great break from the hot desert. Surfs up!!!

Mt. Lemmon

We took the girls down to Tucson to go camping for the weekend. Thank goodness because it was 109 in Phx but only 75 on top of the mountain. It is 111 here right now-it feels like hell, I am not joking. I am glad we were able to get away and cool off, at least for a few days. We took the girls to Lemmon rock, where their father and I had one of our very first dates (awww). Anyway, we all had fun. Enjoy the pics.

Misc. Etc. Whatever

I have not been good about posting pictures of the girls' life events so I thought I would post them together here.



The singing program of Mary Poppins songs.

The girls right before their piano recital. They both memorized their songs and are becoming quite the piano players!

Miss E's Kindergarten graduation. This is her teacher. She put together a very sweet program. My babies are growing up!

My Uncle Paul was in town and had rented a Mustang convertible. My daughters LOVE these so he took us all for a ride. They loved it!! Thanks Paul.
Here they are swimming at the pool at our gym. It is a great pool and they have lots of fun. We will go here a lot over the summer.

It's Been Awhile

Since my last post lots has happened. We celebrated mother's day :) , I finished my third year in the program, wrote a paper, graded papers, tried to get organized and helped my daughters say goodbye to another school year. That's right, yesterday was their last day. Now they are 1st and 3rd graders. Hard to believe. We have been busy busy so we are glad it is over, at least for awhile. It was 113 here on Monday and yesterday it rained and was about 75. Today it is cool and cloudy. Weird!! I am not going to complain though because the triple digits will be back soon. I hope everyone has a fun summer. I know I will.