Life is a Bit Different in Arizona

The first day I arrived in Arizona, I went to bed when Jack did.  Or close to.  I'm not totally sure of the time frame there because my mind was more than slightly hazy.  One might toss and turn in a new bed, in a new house, in unfamiliar surroundings...but I did not.  I closed my eyes and was dead to the world.

This morning I awoke to many coffee choices and when Becca ran the boys to school, I sat at the pool drinking coffee and being ever so thankful for it while I called my boys.

S2 - "Hey, Mama, did you bring our fish to Arizona with you?"

Me - "Nope.  Daddy said he would take care of them."

S2 - "Did you remind him?"

Me - "Mmmhmm, and I'll remind him later this week."

S2 - "Did you remind him to feed the bunnies too?'

Me - "Yup, your bunnies are fine too."

Very little chatting and the phone was handed to S3.

S3 - "Hi, Mama, did you pack our fish with you?"

Me - "No, Daddy is feeding them though.  He already said he did."

S3 - "Will he remember to feed them again?"

Me - "Oma will let you call him and remind Daddy."

S3 - "Oh."  He sounds unsure. Then, "Did you see a cactus yet? Don't forget a picture of a cactus!"

Then S4 got on the phone.

S4 - "Hi, Mama! Did you bring Josie with you?"

Me - "No, Josie (the dog) is home with Daddy."

S4 - "I bet she isn't happy. (Josie loves me. Jake? notsomuch.) "Did you bring the fish with you?"

Me - "No, and I already talked with Daddy and he fed them."

S4 - "Did he feed the bunnies too?"

I am glad to know that my boys who I have to remind to do chores do in fact remember their chores when they are gone being spoiled at Oma and Papa's.

And I am not so worried about them missing me now.

After my conversation with my boys about their pets (S1 was already out putting up deer stands in trees), Becca and I went for a walk.

I am thankful she is patient and kind because I took a zillion photos.

But when it looks like this, how can you not?

We tried to get photos of lizards.  Like, tried and tried.  I took video of us finding a lizard...almost.  As in, it was there, we just couldn't see it.

This was the best photo I got.  I was super impressed with this, because those lizards can move FAST.

And I was really thankful not to see a snake.

Tonight for dinner Becca and her super kind husband spoiled me yet again with Chinese food.  I am now the biggest fan of Sesame Chicken and Fried Rice. To which Jake said, "You know, they have Chinese food at home.  I could take you someplace for Chinese."

I think he misses me.  A lot.

But, does Michigan have THIS??????

I think not.

In fact, I know not.

Becca tells me that if the cactus (and she has another name for it too) has one arm it is 75 years old.  So this one is REALLY old.  

And really cool.

And I need to find new words other than "and" and "cool".

But one thing that was not cool is this....

While enjoying a leisurely morning (after our adventurous three mile walk), we sat at the pool and chit chatted the morning away.  We were back in the house before eleven.  I figured morning sun, no worries....

I think you can tell that I should have worried.

And yes, the sunburn is a little sore.

And yes, Becca's husband laughed at us.  But he should have.  I look ridiculous.

But it was fun all the same. 

Tomorrow I explore more cactus. Or is it cacti? Or something like that.  

And there may be rumors of pedicures.  

Oh yah, Arizona and I are getting along just fine.

Today is My Birthday!

Disclaimer: Writing this before my birthday

Today is my BIRTHDAY!!!!

I am thrilled because I am all about birthday week.

Hopefully, we can do a beach day today.  That is my ideal way to celebrate my birthday, so thankful I was born in August so I get beach days on my birthday.

This year, however, I don't get a birthday week.

I get birthday WEEKS.

Seriously.

Exactly seven days from today, I am hopping on a plane and headed out to meet this family.

Becca.

Michael, Becca, Steve and Jack.

I just broke into a HUGE grin writing that.

Also, I have goosebumps.  I am all cold and jittery and hot and sure my neck is blotchy red because I am THAT excited.

In my senior year in high school, I hopped on a plane with my parents and brother and we flew to Hawaii.  Yes, Hawaii.  My uncle was stationed there so we spent some time with my aunt and family.  It is one of my happiest family memories.

I have never gotten on an airplane again.

So, for my birthday this year, I have told my husband not to get me a single thing.  Because he told me to go to Arizona.  Told me to go! Because he loves me so!

Whenever I go away on any sort of vacation or day trip, I always keep it as mum as I can.  I wait until I get home and say, "Surprise! I went away! Here are the highlights!"

Not this time.

This time I am going to share as much as I want in the moments I experience it.

I think Becca will too.

So you better be following her blog.

Seven days.

In seven days I am going to get on a plane.

Scares me to death.

Baby steps, baby steps...

And then I get to spend FIVE days with Becca.

There are NO words to how excited I am.  How thrilled I am.  How annoying I have been squealing around my house and to anyone who will listen to me.

Can. Not. Wait.

Embarrassing Moments

Ever have those super embarrassing moments that are so horrific you simply must share them with someone?

Becca looooooves THIS horrifying moment I experienced and will forever be scarred from. I believe Becca may be slightly evil. (not really, she's just thankful it didn't happen to her.) Yes, this really happened to me. Yes, I still take S4 camping with me.

The other day I was at work and wore one of my favorite twirly skirts. The one thing I love about the library is I have to dress up and I find that fun. And this skirt is one of my most favoritest, PLUS my Dad picked it out so I love it even more.

After my hours are fulfilled at the library, I drive across the road and pick the boys up from school. Because it never fails that just before three is when the library is busy, I am nearly almost always the last parent to arrive at school.

While the sun had been shining all day long, I had not realized just how windy it had become.

And I had on a twirly skirt.

The principal had to chat with me for a moment and we stood outside the front doors of the my boys elementary school - large, floor to ceiling huge glass doors - and a gust of wind came down the roof, one came from around the corner and I swear that one gust of wind came right from below me and .....

..... POOF ....

I seen my panties reflected in the glass doors.

There is really no graceful way to recover from this. Just like there was no way to gracefully recover from being caught naked in a public campground shower, (oh, NOW you want to go read Becca's FAVORITE BLOG POST, don't you?). I simply looked at the principal whom I was chatting with, told her I am so sorry but the wind just blew my skirt up (she was nice and nonchalant about it - cuz it hadn't happened to her). I then held my skirt down all the way to farthest corner of the parking lot where we were parked - refusing to even take any of the boys hands to cross the school drive as I normally would, slid behind the wheel of the suburban and ......

........prayed to God no one else had seen me.

But it is such a horrifically wonderful embarrassing story I just had to share it all with you.

You're welcome.

Blog Swap - Meet Becca!

Becca is one of my most dearest blogging friends...you can read how we met today over on HER blog, we are a regular blog swap today. :) She has a lot going on with Max Moms and if you teach, you want to check into it. But other than that, Becca and I keep each other sane day after day and I am blessed to have her as a friend.

Howdy!

(That’s what ya’ll say ‘round these mid-western parts, raaaaaight?)

I’m Becca from Our Crazy Boys.

Denise and I thought it would be a great idea to guest post on each other’s blogs for a day.

“Blog swap,” if you will.

(It’s nothing like “Wife Swap,” I promise).

I’ve been singing this in my head all day:

Oh give me a hooommeeee

Where the buffalo roaaammmm…

because I knew I would be sitting down to write this post tonight.

And when I think of Denise, I think of… the country.

And farms.

And tractors.

And walnuts.

And boys.

You know, I have two boys.

And one of those boys? He’s actually like two boys.

But still. I can’t imagine having four boys AND a husband.

Seriously.

When I see things like this:

and this...

and this in my house....

the only thing that keeps me sane is knowing that Denise is dealing with double.

I’m a talker, and I’ll apologize now for that. I probably should have started off by telling you a little about myself.

I was born and raised in a very small town in upstate New York. For some crazy (insane) reason, I decided to join the Air Force right after graduation.

Crazy.

Did I mention that I failed PE class every year I was in high school?

And that basic training required just a little bit of physical activity?

Anyway, I met my husband while we were both stationed in Louisiana, then we moved to Japan for a year and had Michael, our ten year-old.

Quiet, shy, well-behaved Michael.

Michael was such a sweet kid that we wanted to have another one.

So we moved to Arizona and had Jack.

Not so quiet, completely outspoken, not very well-behaved Jack.

Do you know that saying, “You don’t know Jack?” It hit the nail on the head.

So I took action.

Anytime I felt like I wanted to lock myself in the linen closet and cry, I would blog.

I blogged about Jack getting banned from using the bathroom without supervision.

I blogged about Jack getting those little capsule sponges taken away. Forever.

And I blogged about the time Jack’s preschool class killed their class pet.

I felt better.

Less stressed, you could say.

I learned to pick up my camera and laugh rather than yell.

I didn’t leave Michael out of it, though. His posts are just… different.

I blogged about eight year-old Michael climbing a mountain.

I blogged about Michael getting ringworm from wrestling and a welt from his Mom.

I blogged about the wonderful lunches we have now that I work at his school.

Now, I have a place in my little corner of the internet where my memories are stored.

A place that in 20 years, the boys can go to and read about all the fun they had as kids, and how much their parents love the heck out of them.

A place where people can comment, and we can connect. I have new friends that I met through my blog. Amazing friends. I consider Denise one.

A place where my Mom and Dad (still in New York) can go and keep with their grandsons. And if you have around my blog for a week or two, you’ll get to know my Mom. The kids call her Grandma Teetsie, and the “regulars” go look for her comments before they even read my posts. She’s kind of hilarious.

And most importantly, I have my sanity.

Because those moments? The ones where I question my ability to raise kids?

I know that other Moms have them.

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that I sent Denise a lizard tail (from what is perhaps my favorite post of all time). I know that she’s going to mention it on my blog.

She’ll complain about it a little, and that’s ok.

But I feel that it’s my duty to tell you, her loyal readers, that she asked me to send her boys a rattlesnake rattle. Like, a real one. From a dead rattlesnake.

So, I laugh at her when she brings up the lizard tail.

You should, too.

How I Met David Baldacci (part one)

On September 24th, I was cleaning the house and making food in the kitchen when I paused to check twitter.

Now, when I check twitter it means I have just scanned the first four or five tweets, maybe I might say something back, and then I move on.

But the tweet I read was this….

“grmagazine CONTEST: Win 2 tix to Tues night’s @KDLNews “A Novel Experience w/David Baldacci”. Reply w/your fave author to enter!”

So, I got to wondering who my favorite author is. And I just couldn’t decide. The question drove me insane as I went about my day.

Who is my favorite author? Who is YOUR favorite author? I just didn’t know.

I retweeted their contest and went on to the kitchen.

But I thought about the books that had influenced me, really stuck with me, and I realized at this time, I haven’t read much lately…

I blame four boys and a farm but I tell my kids they can’t make excuses.

I finally sent this tweet back… “Barbra Kingsolver just cuz the book The Poisonwood Bible truly stuck with me. Pick a FAVORITE author, don’t think I can!”

And then I tweeted... “Who is YOUR favorite author?”

And only Becca answered, Diane Chamberlain.

I never gave it much more thought.

Over the weekend, my Internet went out, the home line went down and it was Monday afternoon before someone could come out and fix it. It was also later in the day when I realized I had a twitter light blinking on my blackberry.

It read “@grmagazine Congrats to @life4boys, winner of 2 tix for tomorrownight’s @KDLNews “A Novel Experience w/David Baldacci”

Um, who? How?

I received an email confirming it and the rapid fire back and forth of emails figuring out if I wanted to go and whom I would go with and how to get the tickets began.

Thank goodness for my blackberry.

There was only one person I would really want to go to this with, Sue Cramer. So I emailed her saying “hey, want to go meet this author?”

She replied with “I have soccer practice for Lauren.”

Now, honestly, I thought she could pass up a soccer practice because I was looking this David Baldacci guy up on the internet and he appeared to be rather well known and I was beginning to think this might be a not to miss opportunity. And that maybe I live under a rock, because I had never heard of this guy before. Ever.

The Farmer’s Wife nearly strangled me through her message on Facebook. “GO SEE HIM! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW DAVID BALDACCI! I AM SWOONING OVER HERE!” Well, the message was something like that.

I had won dinner at a Country Club and tickets to a speech to see David Baldacci.

When Sue realized I wasn’t joking, she called me…

“How did you win these?”

“We should know by now, Sue, strange things happen to me.”

And then she squealed she would go and I squealed hooray and we squealed girly squeals together because we were going out on the town! Together! Minus the children we so love!

Squeal!

Must Read for Moms of Boys (guest blog)

Do you have boys you are raising? Then you need to read this post. And don't you dare be drinking coffee because you will, I guarantee you, spit it out.

My dear friend Becca from Our Crazy Boys posted these old blogs on her blog today...truly great.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

The Day we Got a Lizard's Tail in the Mail

Over the past some time (times get blurry for me. Since I am no longer pregnant, I can't judge time according to who was in my belly or nursing anymore so it just all becomes one long sleep deprived blur) I have gotten to be good friends with Becca.

This week, Becca sent us a package from way far out west where she lives.

Jack helped her pack it up.

It was the sweetest thing of her to do, I have been anxiously waiting its arrival.

I wasn't prepared for what we received......

Four Bottles of Vitamin Water for the four boys, one big bag of licorice in every conceivable color, Starbucks Via for iced coffee for me (she musta known I needed it) (and she has a great recipe for it), paper that says "You can't scare me, I have children", and then, in a little container, a LIZARDS TAIL.

How did she get a lizards tail?

Here's how......

Larry the Lizard

Just you wait, Miss Becca. We have plans for what we will send you in return.......