Being a Mom

The secret is out.  It's out there everywhere.  Moms of newborns and moms of teenagers.  Elementary school moms, and grandma moms.  Single moms, working moms, stay at home moms.  Moms of one, and moms of seven.  We are all busy, tired, and drowning in everyday life.  But the secret is out….if you haven't heard, I'm letting it out now.  Being a mom is awesome.  Exhausting, yes.  But awesome!

It wasn't awesome when Jonah dumped the 17th handful of dirt onto his head today. But, watching him play in the tub….Awesome!

 Look at Caleb's reaction to the chicken dance at Octoberfest last weekend….Awesome!

And listen to mom's crazy screams in response to Noah's first ever experience at penalty kicks as the goalie during the first round of soccer playoffs last weekend. After double overtime…Awesome!

Play Date at the Beach

Just a few picture from our play date last Friday at Shriner's Beach.  So many kids...and so much fun!

Although it's not much of a body surfing beach....the boys made me go back to the car and grab their boards so they could paddle out over the reef to look for sea creatures.

 So many new friends!  Our group basically took over the entire beach.

 And of course, Baby Jonah ate lots of sand. :)

Soccer Again

Finally, our kids are involved in sports here in Hawaii.  I was not very good at researching and preregistering them for leagues while still in Arizona.  And by the time we arrived here in January, the spring league registrations were over.  But alas, the time has come, and the boys are once again on some sports teams making new friends.  By the way, kid's sports has been the best way for Eric and I to meet people as well!

Finding a league was a bit challenging.  Luckily, our neighbor is a coach for his son's i9 soccer team so Caleb was able to jump on that team.  I also registered Noah for the same league in the 8 year old age group.  Caleb's team is great.  They are organized.  They have weekly practices.  The field size and the goal are appropriate for 5 year olds. Caleb did great on Saturday.  He played hard, had a couple of assists and two good shots on goal.  He is so fun to watch.  I think he is starting to get a little competitive.  A little girl on the other team was starting to ruffle his feathers and he was going to have none of it!

Noah on the other hand has a motley crew team.   None of which, I don't think, have ever even seen a soccer ball before, much less touched one.  The field is the same mini size as Caleb's....as well as the goal.  Tiny.  Mind you, Noah has played on a large field for 2 years now and knows actual positions in soccer and loves playing goalie.  No such thing in this league.  Tiny field. Tiny goal. 4 on 4. Noah scored four goals in a matter of minutes and Eric and I were feeling about this big.  We were proud, no doubt....we just know what it feels like to be on the receiving end.  Noah, with his big heart, continued to try hard, but laid off on the goal scoring.  I think coming from teams in Arizona FILLED with all-star soccer players, and Noah always playing in their shadow, this experience is actually going to be great for Noah.  I can not even imagine if some of his soccer friends in Arizona moved here and joined this league.  It would be unreal!

Go Mighty Angry Birds and Aloha Sunshines! (Yes, Noah was all for the Aloha Sunshine team name.  I love it!)

Here they are on the way to the game....Noah is too focused on the movie!

 Here is Caleb's team during warm-ups.  He is in the red socks.

Kid Loves

Just wanted to share a few things that my boys are currently doing that I LOVE!

• calling Parmesan cheese Papa John's cheese. I do too, therefore I'm not really sure they know this is the wrong name.
• playing The Lion King. You know.  Acting it out. With their own twists.  More like playing house with a theme.  Caleb is usually Simba, Noah is Scar, and Baby Jonah is Rafiki.
• when Baby Jonah gets on all fours and rocks like crazy!  I am obsessed with this.  I could watch this all day.  Neither of my other boys did this and I love it.  On that note, his army crawl is pretty amazing too.
• calling Cool Whip, cool lip. Haha.
• playing house.  Which they call "mom and dad." Funny enough, there is never a mom or dad. Only a teenager and a dog.  Sometimes just two dogs. Which means I have to play too.
• having random dance parties. Enough said.
• taking silly pictures and telling me to "put it on facebook."  It is how I bribe them to take decent pictures too. Seldom do they end up on facebook.

Action!

The Phoenix kids have been reunited....and it didn't take long for them to organize some quality entertainment!  Stay tuned.  These videos keep getting bigger and better!



Kid Food

Okay, so here is my latest rant. Everywhere I turn, people are preaching/bragging about healthy foods for kids. No kidding. Every magazine article in the doctor's office. Every mommy blog I stalk. Everyone seems to be stuck on the same theme of how healthy their kids food is....or what my kiddos should be eating (if I were a good mom). What's the latest 18 grain, granola, whole wheat organic, unbleached, natural spring, fruit of the vine, vegetable salad that their kids scarf down when they present it like a monkey face. Really? Then I suck.

Lets face it. I grew up on hostess ding-dongs and Twinkies. Oh, and don't forget star crunch. Mmmm. Sugary over processed cereals, little milk jugs of "juice" (aka sugar water), raw cookie dough, and white bread. Don't get me wrong, my mom always cooked. And when she did, she used real butter, heavy cream, full fat sour cream and cheeses, and real bacon (later re-using that grease). And I survived.

So, I'd like to give a shout out to all the mom's who buy Ramen in bulk and feed it to their children multiple meals per week. To all the mom's who cook Kraft mac 'n cheese and turn it into a gourmet meal by cutting up hot dogs in it. To all the mom's who allow their kids to eat regular Eggo waffles, toaster strudels, and pop tarts for breakfast.....sometimes even all three on the same day. And, to all the mom's who warm up processed chicken nuggets in the microwave and serve it to their children in their bedroom while they play magic gorilla....Cheer's to you!

Pumpkin Painting

Saturday afternoon we kicked off the fall season with some pumpkin painting. The kids in the neighborhood all gathered in our driveway, had a blast and made a huge mess. Never mind the one bottle of acrylic paint that was mixed in with the washables....oops! Any who, we ended the night with a fire pit complete with s'mores.

Always good to be a kid, or even just to act like one.

What's for Breakfast?

Another perk of living in a warm climate is the vegetation. Not that it is any more abundant here in the desert...just different. In our backyard, we have five citrus trees! All of them seem to be grapefruit trees but only two are currently producing edible fruit. The other trees are simply adding to the greenery. Eric has made it his mission to eat fresh fruit for breakfast daily. Not sure how that is working out for him. One thing is for sure, the fruit is good!!! And the boys enjoy picking it. Here is a look at a daily occurrence in our back yard.

Arizona Museum of Natural History

Today's AZ Adventure Passport took us to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. Although, probably not the most thrilling on the list, we chose this stop next because it was the cheapest (and air conditioned)! And though my expectations weren't high, I was impressed by the interactivity of the museum for little ones.

It had a wide variety of exhibits including an entire section on Mars. Here are the boys after completing a puzzle of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system.

Outside in the courtyard, the boys spent plenty of time panning for gold. Surprisingly Noah was the one who walked away from this SOAKING WET! The main focus of the museum was a huge dinosaur exhibit spanning three floors with mechanical dinosaurs, and a real thunderstorm with flood, that occurred about every 15 minutes. We only watched it 6 times!

Upstairs the boys worked more puzzles, this time of an alligator and a crocodile. Can you tell the difference?

One thing I really appreciated about this museum was the Discovery Room. Formerly called the Exploration Station, it was a huge classroom in the basement where little ones could play and learn. They had tangrams, books, fossil impressions, coloring, activity sheets, and puzzles galore. Right up our alley!

My favorite part of the museum was a photo exhibit put together by Arizona Highways Magazine. The photos were truly spectacular and I wish I had them all to decorate my new house! I will definitely be spending some time on their website looking for ideas for road trips.
Overall, the museum was a good experience. At just under 4 hours, we maxed ourselves out and Caleb had a complete melt down as we were leaving. Something about his snack, a PopTart, breaking in half...you know, important stuff! However, he succeeded again with no accidents the entire trip.

Arizona Science Center

When the boys signed up for the summer reading program in Phoenix, I picked up a brochure, The AZ Magazine, Adventure Passport. Inside were lots of coupons for local museums, theatres, and the zoo. Each place has its own page with a series of questions, and a place for a stamp once you visit that location. The boys and I took some time out today for the Arizona Science Center!

It was super cool! Noah is getting older and is starting to appreciate the background of many of the science exhibits. He asks very detailed, meaningful questions trying to learn more about each concept. Of course I OVER answered many of his questions, particularly in the human body exhibit. He spent loads of time on several exhibits. Here are just a few.

Physiology, and the wheel chair races.

Tan-grams, where Noah completed one all BY HIMSELF for the first time ever...and Caleb finished half of one!

And, an erosion table in the weather exhibit. Here, Noah actually was observing the water's movement and effect on the sand...not just playing in the water as in years past. The weather exhibit was beyond amazing. Caleb and Noah really got into the water cycle display since we had just rented a movie on this from the library. (Thank you Magic School Bus!) They also have a video of the Earth's natural phenomena, that was comparable to a Disney ride. It spoke of lightning, complete with strobe-like flashes, tornadoes with real wind and rain, forest fires with actual heat, and earthquakes with real tremors. It was all free and truly spectacular! I loved it!

The boys both bravely tried out the "bed of nails," and challenged several competitors to a tug-of-war. They also had a HUGE Fantasy Lego exhibit where the kids could do everything from dress-up, to building, to catapulting! Good times were had by all. Only if the Center were free...just like good old STL. We did get our money's worth today after almost four hours! And for those of you keeping score, NO accidents were had by Caleb! :-)

Let the Fun Begin

While many family and friends back in St. Louis are no doubt taking part in the All-Star game festivities, here in Arizona, I've decided to begin my own All-Star Festivity....POTTY TRAINING!

Caleb has been ready for quite some time. However, I have not. Between packing, staging, selling a house, more packing, moving, floating for some time, and moving once again, I've been a bit overwhelmed. But, there is no time like the present. Today is day 2 of no diapers. We had two different outings yesterday, and all was well. Only one accident after we were home and I was unpacking the car. (I should have known better. Always head to the potty first!) Today we used the potty at the library and the grocery store. Exciting adventures when you are two!

Hopefully Caleb's potty training will be as easy as Noah's. HA!