The Girls Growing like Weeds...

My Baby

Laughing Girl

Brown-Eyed Gal four years old and Lil' Red two years old

Adventures in Bicycling...

Lil' Expert and Storytellin' Boy did a great job learning to ride their bikes a couple of weeks ago. They are both now riding completely independently.

On the first day, Lil' Expert crashed into two barrel cactus and popped his tires. His Dad stopped him in the nick of time before crashing into the drainage wash on our property.

Lil' Expert has struggled to learn to ride his bike due to his Asperger's and fine motor delays. We are so proud that he has persevered and is now riding like a pro.

The same day, Storytellin' boy crashed into his two year old sister in the driveway. Luckily, we had bought her a helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads at Target because she wanted to be like her big brothers. The padding came in handy when she was sailing across the pavement. She wasn't hurt at all. Storytellin' Boy said, "I'm sorry mom, I haven't learned how to avoid yet."

A couple days after they learned to ride their bikes, cousins from California came to visit. Their cousins rode with the boys and practiced with them several times during their stay which improved the boys skills tremendously.

Here is video of their first day of bike riding:

Mount Lemmon Mother's Day 2009

The girls love water!

Boys hanging out!

The whole Gang!

Stream Walking!

Me and my last little one!

On Mother's Day we got out of the heat of Tucson and headed up the mountain. The kids love walking and hiking in the streams at Mt. Lemmon and we had a great family day together.

The Pool is Now Open...

One of the best things about living in Tucson is that we get the use of our pool from May until October. 

The kids get lots of exercise and it is relaxing to go swimming after school and before bed.

These photos are from our first big weekend of swimming April 25-26, 2009. 

Today we are supposed to hit the 100 degree mark, so there will be a lot of swimming in our future!

Future Beauty Salon Operator...

Brown-eyed Gal cut her hair with her brother's blue safety scissors!

Are you talking about me?

It's not the first time we have had hair trouble around here!

An Original Storytellin' Mama...

I love this Native American Storyteller. My mother-in-law gave it to me a few years ago. It honors the oral tradition of storytelling. My kids love to look at it and name which child they are in the storyteller's lap.

Storytellin' at our house

My kids all love books and I love the quiet moments before bed when we can read and laugh together! 

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Watch Out for What Might Come Through the Doggy Door!

Scout and Bear are inside dogs. They live the good life sleeping on one of the children's beds at night, chewing plenty of forbidden toys, and driving me crazy. Like this week when Bear ate the hawaiian rolls off the counter and a whole loaf of bread on the same morning and when Scout shredded in many, many pieces a roll of paper towels in the living room... everywhere.  

We recently put in a pet door through our back bathroom, we call the mud room. The dogs would have access to the backyard at all times. The dogs were used to going through a pet door to get to their food in the garage anyway.

Scout, our beagle had been waking me up every night to be let out at around 2:00 to 3:00 AM. On any given night with four kids I am likely to be woken up by a crying baby, or a child having a nightmare. The dog was not helping my issues with sleep deprivation.

Scout learned to go through the new doggy door right away and has not woken me up once since the door went in. Bear, our golden retriever still needs some reminders about the door and will often lie down outside instead of coming back in through the door.  

It is so convenient because now we can go for day trips, or even be out for several hours without worrying about letting the dogs out.

A friend of mine asked me if the door was sealed and if I was worried about other desert creatures (snakes, tarantulas, scorpions) getting through the door. Luckily, it is sealed and somehow we have these invaders from time to time anyway. Part of living in the Sonoran desert. 

I saw this video on my friend Jennifer's facebook page and I thought I wouldn't mind if this came through the door...   

Happy Friday!!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Crossing Gender Lines in the Work Force...

At the Tucson Book Fair, a booth for the local hospital was giving away nurses hats. The girls each wanted a hat. 

Storytellin' Boy was very disappointed that he did not get a hat. He loved the hats so much that he got back in line to get one for himself. He wore it proudly for the rest of the festival. 

Cheers for nurses both men and women!

Levitation, Shakespeare and Four Year Old Magic...

Magic Show at the Tucson Festival of Books

Shakespeare appearing out of a replica of the Globe Theatre

Brown-Eyed Gal picked to levitate before the crowd.

Approaching the stage

Brown-Eyed Gal hugging a penguin at the book festival

Two weeks ago we went to the Tucson Festival of Books hosted by University of Arizona. One of the highlights of the day for the kids was a magician that taught about Shakespeare and did magic tricks.

The magician asked for a volunteer from the audience and my four year old daughter raised her hand and was picked. My daughter is a girl who usually opts to play in her room with her stuffed animals and is not always one for the lime light. I was pleased when she excitedly went up on stage. She was a little scared before the magician made her levitate so my husband went up on stage to help... therefore we didn't get a picture of the actual levitation.

Afterwards, Brown-Eyed Gal said, "Mom I got to fly like a butterfly. Did you see me flying?"

The lesson for me is that children change and grow. The characteristics we use to label them one day may not fit six months down the road. My sister's daughter has a friend who has always been very shy and she recently made one of the leads in her school production of High School Musical. Friends and family asked, "Is this the same girl?" They were amazed when they saw her awesome and spirited performance.

My daughter is also changing and growing and I celebrate her new found boldness and willingness to participate in the fun of life.  

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Silly Monkey Stories