Last Week/Weekend

What a week!

Ava was off of school and sick. Noah got sick on Wednesday and is still sick. I started to feel sick Saturday morning, but have hopefully bypassed it. Mike started feeling sick on Sunday and it is still up in the air if he will get it or not. I guess it just comes with the territory!!

We went up to Prescott this past weekend for my grandmas 85th birthday.  It was nice to get out of the heat, but I realized that I am not quite ready for the cold yet. I know, can you believe it?!? I am sick of the hot hot heat, but I can deal with the current weather. We have been able to go for walks in the mornings. It will be nice when we can go at night too. Anyway, the kids always have a great time in Prescott. They like to check out grammy's garden and pick all her flowers!!I didn't get any pictures, but this one.

Grammy reading to the kiddos

Ava held a "pill bug" in her hand. She was so excited.  

The Friday before we were leaving to go up there, I put in one last load of darks into the washer and it broke on me. It wouldn't drain or finish the spin. Soooo, I was off to buy a new one. We have had it since we moved in and it wasn't new then, so it is at least 7 years old.  The hardest part was pulling all the wet clothes out and ringing the water out. Of course, Mike had jeans in there. geez! Those were tough! So now we are the proud new owners of a washer.  

Ava is back at school today and it has been a nice break. The kids were getting on each others nerves last week and mine as well. Noah really enjoys some time to himself. We put on "Toddler Tunes" on TV and he dances like a goon and just plays by himself for a little while.  

A What What Wednesday

I had to think about what day it was. Ava is off from school this week!?! What!?! What!?! I mean she is only in preschool and they already have break. I guess it was good because she has been sick this week. It started on Saturday after her nap. She woke up cranky (not unusual), but the cranky continued all evening. We just shrugged it off as Ava being Ava and maybe she had a case of "hanger" (hunger anger), because she ate a great dinner and was good for all of 5 minutes after. Then it started, 9 pm that night, she woke up crying. We put her back down and then she woke up again at 1am. This time we put her in our bed and Mike slept in the guest bed. So all day Sunday we watched TV and listened to some whining and had another rough night. But she seemed to be better the next day.  And much better by Tuesday. 

BUT... now Noah has a runny nose. What!?! What!?! He kept putting his finger in his mouth yesterday toward the back of his mouth and saying "hurt". I just thought it was his teeth, but now I am guessing that his throat was hurting him. Boo:( Sick kiddos=No fun!

We went to Walmart yesterday. What !?! What!?!(Not sure why I still go there, because I have a bad experience every time). Oh well, I had to return a humidifier that I bought there. The kids saw all the Halloween stuff and wanted to walk through the aisles. While there Ava found a Minnie Mouse costume that she said she would wear for Halloween. She was so excited to put it on when we got home and as soon as we got it one, she went into full on meltdown mode. Like, take this off now. So I did. I realized later that the sleeve has glitter on it and is itchy. Sooo, if we put on a long sleeve shirt and long pants, it is all better, right? So what we now have is hotness at it's finest.

What!?! What!?! Yes there are 3 headbands in her hair.

She won't wear anything else. I guess I will get my money's worth, but not sure it will hold up til Halloween at this rate. She wants it on as soon as she gets up and then we change for nap and she wants it back on right after. It makes going out in public and humorous experience. Of course we shower he with how beautiful she looks. 

Noah loves puzzles! His favorite right now is a puzzle of the United States. We give him a state and he puts it where it is supposed to go. He is so smart. What!?! What!?! He will work on a puzzle for days until he masters it.

I am soooo into fitness gadgets. What!?! What!?! I have recently bought a Heart Rate Monitor (polar FT4) for my workouts, a Fitbit for steps and sleep (more in a minute) and a Foam Roller (aka the green mean machine).  I love my new fitbit. You can wear it at night and it will tell you how long it took you to fall asleep and how many times you woke up and total hours slept and then gives you a sleep efficiency percent. The first night I wore it, I woke up 21 times!! No wonder I am so tired some mornings. The next 2 nights were when Ava was sick, so I don't count those, but it has gotten better. Last night I only woke up 7 times. 

The green mean machine is a foam roller that I have been using for my IT bands and boy does that thing hurt. It is like rolling on metal, but is supposed to help. I try to do 10 minutes a day.

Sandbox 2.0/Redux

If you remember from a previous post, we found cat poop and termites in our sandbox. That meant, it was time to redo the sandbox. This time we built it bigger to fit 2 kids and an adult. Mike also built the seat a bit bigger too.

The kids have been enjoying it this week. Me, not so much. I now remember how much sand that things tracks in my house :(

September So Far

September so far in pictures.

I don't have a picture for this, but this morning, while Mike and the kids were outside cleaning up the backyard for the beautiful weather we are going to be getting soon, he found termite trails up the side of the sandbox and cat poop. Boo. I think we are going to take it apart and build another one and we for sure have to get new sand. Boo, again!

Ava has been sleeping through the night for 6 nights in a row. yay! I think it is because I decided to take the monitor from Mike. Anyway, we have been rewarding her and the other day, we went to Michaels and she picked out a crown and wand. (She told me the wand makes rainbows. Oh, such innocence)

I am not sure if I have mentioned that Ava likes to play doctor with her animals. (Thanks Doc McStuffins) and many times Bobo gets sick and throws up. Here he was the other day.

Face down in the potty that came with one of those dolls and goes potty.  Poor Bobo

The other night we got into the Easter candy. That's right, I said Easter. I figured with Halloween just around the corner, we better start eating up this Easter candy. They ate it as if it was the air they breathe.

Ava has a ring pop and some jelly beans and Noah is eating Pez candy from a buddy dispenser.

I finally pulled out my juicer that I got for Christmas. It was really good. We used a bag of carrots, an apple and a bag of thawed mango pieces. Yum.

Here are just some pictures of the kids being cute...

Weekend in Prescott

This weekend we made a last minute decision to go to Prescott. Mike took off on Monday so I figured that we could get away for 2 days and come home and still have a day to get some things done, like fix the sprinklers.

We drove up Saturday morning. The drive wasn't too bad, Ava watched a video and Noah just hung out.
(The drive home, not so much. After sleeping for 1 hour each, the melt downs started around Scottsdale)

When we got up there, Mike and I decided to go for a walk. The weather was gorgeous and my mom lives in neighborhood that has lots of hills. We walked to the end of her street and back. (3.5 miles).

Nap time was a bust. Noah usually cries for about 15 minutes, which this time was no different before he passes out and sleeps about 45 minutes. Ava didn't even sleep. Oh well. Such is life. I can do that for a day!

My grandparents came over that evening so that they could see their great grandchildren. Ava couldn't wait for them to come over.

The kids found my moms jewelry box and loved it.

Sunday morning, Mike wanted to explore on our walk, so we decided to take a new route. It ended up being about 4 miles and we pretty much went to the top of the mountain area where my mom lives. Now, I have a small fear of heights and this was definitely high up. Going up the hill, I told Mike to stay far away from me and I had to look down on the street that I was walking on. When I wanted to stop and enjoy the scenery, I had to stop and get myself rooted in my spot and then look up. And then I would feel dizzy and have to keep going. Such a shame because it was pretty. I did stop to take some pictures.

You can see the other part of the road that we were climbing up. 

At the top. We started down at the bottom.

Another view from up top. It is hard to see, but there are houses down in the middle before you see that next mountain.

The way we went had mostly downhills, so I told Mike when we go in October, get ready to pull up your big boy panties, because we are going the opposite way!!! I. Can't. Wait. I know a sickness. I had my Polar FT Heart Rate Monitor on and while my heart rate went up, it didn't go up enough for my liking. 

It was nice to get away, but as always, we are paying for it with cranky kids today!!

The Aquarium and Ava's New Trick

Today we decided to visit the Sea Life Aquarium. We went about a year ago shortly after Noah was born. I forgot how small it is and how expensive it is for how small it is. But, nonetheless, we went because Noah and Ava love going to Petsmart to see all the fish. Noah has been especially fascinated with sharks lately too. We were one of the first people there so it wasn't that crowded. We went fast through the first half to lose the other kids, but quickly realized that we were at the end and had only been there 20 minutes. oopps... There really isn't much to see but fish, sharks and sting rays in each exhibit. I guess once a year is good enough. I can't wait until it is cool enough to start going to the zoo again.

So Ava. What can I say, she is a "dandy". The past two naps she has been so funny. Yesterday, I put her down for her nap and when I went to get her up, I realized that she had a different shirt on. I asked her if that was the same shirt that she had on when I put her to bed and she said "no". She told me her other one was too itchy so she got out of bed and changed her shirt. She did it again today during her nap. Too funny. She has really been into picking out her clothes and putting them on by herself. She changed 4 times this morning and changes all day long. She will come up with some reason for changing either her top or her bottoms.

Now, when we tell her that if she has to go pee in the middle of the night that she is big enough to go on her own. Her response: "But mommy, I am not as big as you mommy. Look at me, I am small."  Ummm, so I see, you are big enough when you want to be and not big enough when I want you to be.. Oh the joys of parenting. (p.s we are still working on the night wake ups. It is becoming a nightly thing)

Leptuch Update

Here's what we have been up to:

We had a great Labor day weekend filled with family and friends.

Saturday night we met up with some of our friends at World of Beer in Tempe while my mom and Dwayne babysat. We had so much fun. I can't remember the last time we went out for drinks with friends. We all said that we need to do it more than once a year! ha! ha! So true!

Sunday we had all the family over for a BBQ and a fun game of Apples to Apples. Again, we need to get everyone together more often. It was a lot of fun.

Monday, Mike and I were both so tired that we just hung out at the house. Took Ava down to the cul-de-sac to ride her bike.

Ava has hit a stage where she wants to get dressed "all by herself" with NO help from anyone. She also wants to pick out her clothes. It makes for some interesting choices. The hard part is that on Chapel days at school, which is twice a month, she has to wear her school shirt and this week she really didn't want to wear it.  Oh, the battles are going to begin. Maybe Mike is on to something wanting to send them to a school with uniforms.

Noah is talking so much more. He is saying 2 and 3 word sentences. He is also very vocal in what he wants and doesn't want.  He is our "no" kid.

Ava is STILL waking up most nights of the week. Last night she woke up twice to go potty. Mike is so over being in charge of her monitor at night.

The weather is getting a little bit cooler so we went for walk each morning this weekend and on one of our walks we saw the littlest frogs. Mike picked one up and Ava wanted to hold it, so we put it in her hand.

This morning was nice enough that I took the kids to the park first thing and they had a blast. 

I love watching them run from behind! So Stinkin' Cute!

Since going, dairy free, I started making my own ice cream and loving it. I bought an ice cream maker and some great recipes. I also make the best dairy free chocolates. 

Ice cream cheers!