Walking with Dinosaurs...

This year for Lil' Expert's birthday we decided to forego the large birthday party and instead he invited one friend to go to Phoenix and see the live show "Walking with Dinosaurs."

The show has been touring across the country and it is definitely worth the investment. Both of my boys loved it.  

During the show, my five year old was jumping up and down with excitement and the two older boys were completely enthralled with the large dinosaurs coming to life.   

Here is a little snippet of the T-Rex, a crowd favorite.

It was great timing because the next week my son's kindergarten class started a unit on dinosaurs. He was still excited about the live show and really participated well in the class discussions and assignments.    

The show is very educational and entertaining. It presented a lot of scientific facts about dinosaurs.  

I would definitely recommend it for kids and adults of all ages!

Wonder Twin Powers Activate...

My twin sister and I in 1972.

My mom and her twin brother in 1948.

My mom is in town visiting while the kids are on fall break from school. It is great to have her here. She has been helping me so much.  

My mom has a twin brother. She was first born and is older by three minutes. 

I know how important these three minutes are because I am also a twin.  I have an identical twin sister and I beat her into the world by two minutes.  I  reminded her throughout our childhood that I was the older sister. 

Anyway, we have a lot of twins running through our family. I always wanted to have twins, or at least maybe hoped that one of my siblings might have them. No such luck. I guess since my mom was a twin and then had twins, we were the generation to skip.

In honor of my mom, I salute the twin experience.  It was so fun and zany growing up and I can't really imagine life as a singleton without my partner in crime.  

Through the years, people have mixed us up, called us the wrong names and asked us funny questions about being twins. 

My favorite recurring question has got to be, "How do you tell yourselves apart?"  

My grandmother always told us not to look in the mirror at the same time because one of us might be disappointed.  We thought this was so funny and we would turn to each other when we were getting ready and brushing our hair and say, "Are you disappointed?"

My mom didn't know she was pregnant with twins and she kept telling the doctor that this baby has too many arms and legs, but the doctor assured her that what she was feeling was normal. When we were born, the story goes that the last thing my mom remembers hearing was the doctor saying, "Oh my god there is another one," before she passed out. That was our grand entry into the world, me two minutes ahead of my "younger sister!"

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Faces... I Love those Mugs!

Happy

Silly

Sad... 

Can you please put away the camera and just let a guy have a moment?!

Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

September Birthdays...

This was recorded for Cousin Katie, but we want to extend 

the sentiment to all of our September Family Birthdays!

Cousin Katie

Cousin Kelly

Cousin Chris

Uncle Ted

Aunt Linda

Grandma Anna

Lil' Expert 

Ruth

We wish you all a Happy Birthday!

We're not going to be the Jackson 5, Osmond Family, or Jonas Brothers...

But we sincerely extend best wishes from us to you!!

Note:  The howling child was having her foot stomped on by her brother during this fabulous birthday rendition.  Adds to the charm, don't you think? 

Reaching New Heights...

Big Girl!

Sisters!

I'm so Strong!

Triple the Trouble!

Lil' Red has learned to climb.  

She's climbing into the sink and onto the countertops.  

She's climbing up to the top bunk bed and up on the barstools.  

She's climbing the ladder of the play structure and sliding. 

She is most proud about sliding...

She loves sliding!

*More Silly Monkey Stories here!

*Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

Kids Understanding the World

It is amazing to see the world through my children's eyes. At times they have such complex questions and such astute observations.  

As a grown up, it can be hard enough to make sense of the world sometimes... hearing my kids fresh viewpoints and their innocent ideas is so bittersweet, but gives me hope for the future.  

The other day, my husband had forgotten something he needed for work. I picked up my kindergartner from the bus and we headed for my husband's work to drop it by. On the way, we passed a weathered looking man selling newspapers. I rolled down my window and gave him a dollar for a newspaper. 

My son was interested in the exchange.

"Mom, does that man have a home?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he camps in the trees."

"How does he get clean?"

"Well, he probably doesn't get to take a shower as often as we do."

"Oh, I know he has to get clean outside when it rains."

"Does he have any money?"

"He gets a little money from selling newspapers."

"Oh, I know when money is blowing around he can run and catch it and then he will have more money."

"Well, I don't think money blows around too much."

(My son has been studying Johnny Appleseed in class.)  

"I know, next time we drive by we can give him some of our apples and then he can plant the seeds and grow some apple trees and he will have more food."

"Mom, will we ever see that man again? Can we buy another newspaper from him the next time..."

Happy 8th Birthday Son!

Really, I tried for a different picture. 

One with my child smiling and sane, 

but this picture seems to capture 

his goofy eight year old spirit!  

This morning Lil' Expert was up before 6:00 AM.  

"Mom is it official?  Am I officially eight years old?"

I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus.  "Yes, honey it's official."

Lil' Expert did an early morning birthday dance.

He informed me it was going to be one of the "best days ever!"

And so it will be.

It's PhotoStory Friday

Remembering 9/11...

Seven years ago we were a small family of three.

We were looking forward to our son's first birthday which happened to fall on September 12, 2001. The day after the horrible terrorist attack on our country, but at the time we were unaware of what was to come. 

We were busy making plans for the happy occasion. His first little cake. Celebrating his first steps. Our family joined together to marvel at what a big boy our little baby had become.

On that crazy 9/11 day, I remember holding my small son close and watching T.V. along with the rest of the country. All thoughts of my son's birthday chased away by events that I could hardly understand, or comprehend.

Seven years later, our family has grown from three to six. We have four rambunctious kids and tomorrow our son will turn eight years old.  

Life is completely different than it was on that day, but the memory of it will be forever etched and entwined with the celebration of our son's birthday. A bittersweet occasion to remember the great losses individual families in this country have experienced and endured. A day also to celebrate and watch my first son grow up.   

Here are other stories from the past at Sincerely 'Fro Me to You

Too Many Cooks in the kitchen...

Top Chef!

Best Assistant!

Top Tasters!

I Wanna Help too!

Mmmm... That's Good!

It's wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

My First Bloggy Art Exhibit...

Shark Dive

Birthday Bear

Hot Air Balloons over Mt. Lemmon

Knight with the Kingdom

Lighthouse of Light in Charcoal

Olympic Mascots

My five year old Storytellin' Boy just completed his first session of KidzArt an after school activity program.  

 My budding artist loves to draw and really enjoys art.  

  "When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college- that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, "You mean they forget?"   

~ Howard Ikemoto

Chess Update

Lil' Expert played four rounds of Chess yesterday.  

He lost the first round and tied the next three rounds (which is called a draw.) 

He moved up this year from the Kindergarten/1st grade division to playing opponents all the way up to 8th grade. He is currently in 2nd grade.

Each draw counts as a 1/2 of a point so he ended up with 1.5 points for the tournament. The points add up throughout the year and figure into a player's over all ranking. 

He was excited to get a ribbon and happy to tie three of his rounds considering the harder competition!

Way to go Lil' Expert.  

 

I've got all the moves!

Concentration!

Focus!

Today is Lil' Expert's first chess tournament of the year. An all day tournament at the Raddison hotel.  

He continues to enjoy being part of the team at his elementary school. His skills are improving as he gains confidence and maturity.   

We are so proud of you. Good luck today son!!

More positive stories to make you smile here!

More Pets?

A large furry friend.

Hello there, Mr Spider!

Did you come to play?

Yikes, he moves so quick!

Big eyes when he comes too close.

Will he crawl on me?

Tarantula, eek!

My little boys think he's cool!

Mommy's not so sure!

Of course, there's this guy.

Lives in our aquarium.

A big wolf spider.

What about this one?

Tarantula? Wolf spider?

I am not sure which!

I love Arizona living, except for the creepy crawlers that share our land. What's a mom to do? This is my buggy life. We found all three of these eight-legged friends in our yard this week!

I remember in graduate school, I had some little tiny bugs in my apartment in San Francisco from construction going on in the neighborhood. I called the owner several times and I was freaking out... If only I knew then what I know now, those bugs were nothing. All these spiders are probably some kind of bad karma due to me driving my landlord crazy!

I try not to analyze it too much, or think about what else might be out there...  

Haiku Friday! See more poems at A Mommy Story

More pictures PhotoStory Friday

Go ahead and click on the photos it you want a closer look at these new pets!

Are you going to put that on your Blob?

"Mom, Mom there's a tarantula in the yard. You've got to get a picture of it so you can put it on your blob."

"What?"

"It will be really cool to put it on your blob."

"You mean to put it on my blog."

"Yeah, yeah- that's what I said."

I'm glad my kids are taking an interest in my blob blog hobby.

Tarantula pictures coming soon...

 

Sonoita Rodeo Days

My Little Buckaroos!

A boy and his horse dog!

Ride em' Cowboy!

Lasso em' Lassie!

Way to ride!

Who's riding who?

Hold on now Pardner!

This weekend we attended the Sonoita Rodeo, a Labor Day tradition. The kids enjoyed the Jr. Rodeo and were amazed to see kindergartners through 3rd graders riding sheep, racing horses, and getting bucked of lil' steers and calves. 

My husband took these great shots of the days events. See more of his photography here.  

It was a fun weekend and nice to get out of the heat and to visit Sonoita.

One of our favorite places in Southern Arizona.  

More Silly Monkey stories here!