Alex the Author

On to the reason for the special family get together. Back in January a group by the name of Stories That Soar came to our school and asked our students to write stories. When they were done they got to put their stories into a magic box and received a piece of candy and a sticker in return. Some of the stories would be chosen to be acted out on stage as a play and some would be made into a book. Our school turned in a total of 193 stories and out of those 22 were picked to be published or performed. Alex got her book published! It was an amazing story that almost didn't get turned in. The last week they were able to turn in stories Alex couldn't find hers. She thought it was at home, I thought she had given it to her teacher. We looked for days with no luck. I let her teacher know how upset she was about the whole thing at our Wednesday morning meeting so maybe they could search the classroom. By Wednesday afternoon, with the help of her teacher, she had a story to turn in. Not a moment too soon either because the next day was the last day to turn them in! Alex wrote an awesome story titled Oh, Sally! It was about a very naughty dog who does lots of bad dog things but in the end is still loved by her owner. There was a professional illustrator that chose to illustrate Alex's story for her. She had a dog of her own and loved her story right away. She asked to meet Alex and get a picture with her. Alex (along with the entire family) was so excited and proud! The illustrator told Alex her illustrations were inspired by her own dog.

Here are just a few pictures of her book. Not the greatest pictures but it is one of the greatest books!! Alex is an amazing story teller!

I'm so proud of her and her abilities. She always says she wants to be an author when she grows up and now she is one! My little girl is so amazing!

I will always treasure her sweet little book. We gave a copy to her teacher with a thank you card and a picture of Alex. We wanted her to know how much we appreciated all her hard work and patience as a teacher. I was so grateful that so many of our family members (Nana, Papa, Uncle Will, Colin....and Daddy even took the day off!) were able to come and show their love and support for Alex. I think it will be a day she will never forget!

Alex the AMAZING Author!!

MAKE youth arts festival

This past weekend was a very special weekend. I'll fill you in as to why in a later post. We had the whole family together for a fun weekend. We went to the MAKE youth arts festival (I can't remember what MAKE stands for....). We found some of the girls art projects that were displayed. In the picture below Alex made the snail and Sydney made the picture below it. If you click on the picture and zoom in on it, Sydney's picture will crack you up! Uncle Will said it looked like she was moving and I thought she was packed and ready to go to Sea World!

There was so much to see and do and it was all free. No wonder the event started at 10 and went until 4 PM. We made it there, we did not get to see everything. We did get to make a t-shirt tote bag, The girls had a lot of fun with that.

Alex was so proud of her fish! We looked at all the displayed projects. The girls were running around trying to show us all their projects and at the same time trying not to miss out on any fun activities. I'm not sure what the rest of the family thought of the TRUE BISBEE event but I had a good time!

Just like my Dad!

I am so much like my Dad! What does a hammer have to do with this? Nothing really. Growing up my Dad worked in Tucson and we lived in Benson. He had a good 30 minute commute on I-10. He would find some pretty amazing things on the road. He always stopped to pick them up. He brought home moving blankets, ice chests, tools, tires, toys, you name it. We were even pulled off to the side a few years back waiting for my mom to catch up and he had me pop the trunk so we could put a whole exhaust/muffler thing in!

So the other day we were headed to school early in the morning and what do we see in the middle of the road? Yep, you guessed it, the hammer. We locked the brakes up, flipped a u-e and picked that bad boy up! The girls thought I was nuts, Clay thought I was a dork, and I thought Oh man, I am soooo like my Dad! (Clay liked his new hammer though!)

White chicken = white eggs, right?

At one time we had three chickens and a beautiful rooster. Well, the rooster found his very loud voice one day, so we decided he needed to go to a new home. His new home turned out to be Papa's house. From there he ended up right in the jaws of a coyote and he was never heard from again. We couldn't have an uneven number of chickens for our family, everyone needs their very own. Papa sent us home with one of his chickens since he had just gotten about 20 of them from a friend. Our little ladies didn't take to kindly to the new chicken. We finally had to lock them all in the coop for a few days and make them get along. They still bicker at dinner time but the white chicken is very fast so she gets plenty to eat.The cold weather came around and the egg laying production slowed down a bit. The white chicken is younger than our chickens. Our chickens have been laying for sometime now. We never got white eggs so we thought the white chicken was still to young to lay. Now I had heard, from a reliable source that white chickens only lay white eggs. We checked daily and still no eggs from our white hen.
Yesterday when I threw out some bread for the chickens, I noticed that the white chicken wasn't acting like she usually did. She didn't want to eat much and she was moving around pretty slow. If you know me, then you'll guess what I did all that day. Yes, I WORRIED about the darn chicken. When we got home from school the kids checked for eggs and did their homework. When Dad got home from work he went outside to play so naturally we all followed him. I had noticed the white chicken had been over in a corner of the yard most mornings when I went to check on the chickens. After worrying about her all day I went looking for her.

Where did I find her. Sitting on her HOARD of eggs! We must have found 20. Are they white?? NO. So much for a RELIABLE source, Dad! We had no idea how old the eggs were or which one had been laid that day. The girls collected all the eggs and we disposed of them. Now we know where to look for her eggs and we can stop looking for white eggs! I no longer have to WORRY about the white chicken. She's laying eggs like a chicken, she's as healthy as a horse, and as always she thinks she's a dog!

Movie night with Harry!

On our last night at Grandma's house for Spring Break we decided to watch a movie. The kids watched Despicable Me while the adults (Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Colin, Amy, and myself) played Farkle. I won the game! Alex went to bed early despite the protests from Harry. He wanted to play with her so bad but she just couldn't stay awake! Then we decided to watch the movie RED. It was good, I didn't make it through the whole thing. I made Sydney go to bed when I did, even though she thought she wasn't sleepy. I think Harry may have wanted to watch Despicable Me a little more. He did enjoy the popcorn and the bowl the popcorn came in.
So in a nutshell Spring Break was exactly how it should have been..... Relaxing, fun, and spent with family and friends!

It seems like yesterday...

It seems like it was jut yesterday that my good friend Amie was my maid of honor at my wedding. In truth that was almost 13 years ago. It seems like yesterday Amie was coming to visit me when I had Sydney, that was over 10 years ago. Many times have seemed like yesterday over the years. Weddings, funerals, memorial day weekends. I've seen bits and pieces of her over the years. I think the last time I saw my good friend was four or five years ago in Benson. Well, I decided it had been too long. I don't think I'd ever even met her kids. It was time to hang out! So we did! Peter Piper to the rescue. The kids got to play and the mommies got to visit. It seemed like we had just seen each other yesterday. We picked up right where we left off. It's amazing how friends can do that. I had such a good time. It made me really miss high school and seeing my friends on a daily basis. I look forward to hanging out again and catching up with Amie and her family.

Then there's the kids! She has boys, I have girls. We both have an Alex. She has an Alexander who is 7, I have an Alexandra who is 8. Her boys were so well behaved and polite. My girls got along really well with them. All they could talk about after we left was how cool their hair was! They were cool kids and we want to have more play dates with them soon.

We can't forget the baby Ashten! He also had cool hair! He was a great baby and didn't fuss a bit when his mom was busy visiting. I have no idea why it took us so long to get together. I won't let it go that long again, we had way to much fun! Heads up Amie, you'll be getting more calls from us to hang out soon!!

Spring Break 2011

Spring Break was a blast. It seems like it was just yesterday we were sleeping in! It went by way too fast, as always. Now it's back to school again and time to look back on our fun activities. After last Monday's hike to the "B", we all needed some rest and relaxation. All of us but Daddy, he was ready to hike some more. While he was at work we went to Glendale to visit family. Aunt Chalice and her kids came, Uncle Colin and Amy and Harrison were there too! Aunt Tara and the kids didn't make it, they have a later spring break than us. We missed them lots. We had a great time visiting with family at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

While we were up there we got to help Shayn celebrate his birthday. These balloons were a huge hit with both the young and the old. The big huge one sang Happy Birthday when you tapped it. Adults tapped it to get it to sing, the kids punched it. It held up very well. We all had that silly birthday song stuck in our heads for days!

The whole gang! What a crazy bunch. We went to Peter Piper Pizza one day and played for hours. The girls love visiting with all their cousins. We can't wait for summer to get here so we can spend weeks on end with them!

Even Sophie got in on the action. She loved all the attention she got while everyone was there. She's just one of the girls when were at Grandma's.

Poor Autumn! She has four brothers and no sisters. Good thing she has girl cousins. My girls loved having another girl besides their sister to play with. We had a blast!

Uncle Colin and his awesome wife Amy rock!! We had such a fun time playing at the park and watching a movie with them. It's not a family party without them! Aren't they cute?

Then there's Harry! What a great kid. He played ball with Alex. It was so cute to see him lead Alex around by the hand. Alex is going to make a great babysitter/mom someday. She was so patient and sweet. What a perfect way to spend a week off of school. Now the countdown has begun for summer break. I CAN'T WAIT!

B Mountain Hike!

Yesterday, to kick off our spring break, we hiked up to the B.I of course got winded going up. I'm not the best at hiking but I enjoy doing it with my family. Clay said this would be classified as another grandma hike. At one point during the hike, he was running up the mountain! He was even carrying my backpack in addition to his own! This grandma needs to get in better shape!
We made it to the top. The views made all the huffing and puffing worth it. We saw parts of Bisbee we never knew existed. I didn't know Old Bisbee was that big. The roads in Old Bisbee are so narrow, I've never really been exploring. I've pretty much stuck to the main road every time I've gone there. It was quite a sight!
If you look closely behind the girls you'll see the mine in the background. We saw so much of the Lavendar Pit mine it was amazing. The view of the pit from the highway or up close from behind the fence is nothing compared to what you see from B mountain. The girls spent time up on top looking for acorns. We sat and enjoyed the views for close to an hour. The girls picked up acorns while Clay and I visited, explored, and just sat enjoying nature.

The girls started collecting the little acorns. We had an empty water bottle, we told them whatever fit in the bottle they could bring home. When we hiked D hill Sydney brought home a boulder for a souvenir, so we limited their treasures this time! They did not want to leave once they were on a roll picking up little acorns and filling their water bottle. I think they would have filled the entire bottle if we had let them stay that long.

Getting down to the B was a little tricky. We bushwhacked through some bushes and had to hike down a little bit to get to it. It was pretty steep. I fell, we had come that far so by golly I was going to see the dang B! I cut my hand and sat on a really sharp really hard rock. I have a nice strawberry on my bum. It hurts. It was worth it.

Clay is an amazing hiker. He is so patient with his slow wife, teaches the girls a lot, and we all have such a great time doing things with daddy. It was a perfect day to hike and spend time as a family. There was a breeze when we needed one, it wasn't too hot or too cold so we were really able to enjoy nature. Clay pointed out several deer tracks to the girls, he helped us down the steep and scary parts. I'm thankful we have a husband and daddy that likes to take us on outings. This is something I would never do with the girls on my own. It's an added bonus that Clay hikes every day and he has a lot of experience when it comes to hiking.

The view of the Lavendar Pit mine was amazing. You could see the whole thing, from top to bottom, something I had never seen before! I loved being up that high and seeing everything from a different vantage point.

In the above picture, you'll notice a little pull off spot from the highway. Many people stop here and take pictures of the old buildings in Old Bisbee. It's a nice little spot to see Bisbee from. This is where we decided to have lunch once we hiked down the mountain.

We found a nice shady spot, spread out our blanket, and ate lunch with a bird. We played eye spy with Old Bisbee directly in front of us. There was so much to see. We played the game all through lunch and still had tons of new things to spy when we were leaving.

What an amazing hike. I would love to hike it again just for the views! I may not be the best or the fastest hiker but it is something I really do enjoy doing with my family. I hope the kids will always remember the fun things we have done as a family. I think they'll remember the acorns the most. Maybe they'll remember my hurt bum the most since I've done nothing but complain about it hurting since we got home. As long as they remember something. Spring Break 2011 is off to a great start!

Papa's Turtle

This weekend we spent time with my family. We went out to dinner with Nana and Papa and Uncle Will. After dinner we headed back to the house to watch MegaMind. We didn't make it through the whole movie, we were all tired from our fun day with each other. The next morning we decided to feed the turtle. He was slow moving in the morning because he was a little cold. Once we opened the blinds and let the sunshine in he was ready to eat.
The girls had such a fun time feeding him and watching him eat. He ate a lot and he would eat right out of their hands.

He's grown a lot since Papa got him. He's going to be huge one day, like the turtles in the zoo, or tortoises I should say.

I even enjoyed feeding the little guy. After he ate he was exploring the kitchen. The cat didn't like him touching her but it was funny to see a big cat run away from a little turtle. Th cat was just mad she had to share her sun spot.

The turtle (I'm not sure if he has a name, maybe Paco or something) must have eaten for a good twenty minutes. While we fed the turtle, Nana made us pancakes and sausage. After breakfast was cleaned up we went to a garage sale up the street. I got some cute quilt material for free and a step stool. I love finding good bargains!

Once the turtle's water warmed up in the sunshine, he decided to take a bath. He would get his front foot wet then rub his head. He was really liking his bath. We had a great weekend with Nana and Papa and all their animals.

On a side note, SPRING BREAK officially starts in 5 days!!

Bookfair time!

It's bookfair time at our school again! It's our favorite time of the year. We don't have to go anywhere to look at the newest titles of books. The buckets below are the teacher wish lists this year. The teachers put books in them and when parents or students come in looking for a book for their teacher they just get a book out of their bucket. Our theme this year is Bookfair carnival, your ticket to read! The girls and I went in last weekend and decorated for the event. They had a lot of fun. I think it turned out pretty cute. Sydney usually is a little slow getting out of bed in the mornings. All I have to do now is remind her that the bookfair is at the school and she's up and ready to go!
We've been open for business for two school days now and we have three more to go. Bookfairs are a lot of time and work. This year was my first year being in charge of setting up and decorating by myself. It was a little stressful but in the end it all came together. Based on our first two days of sales we're gonna come darn close to last years totals, if not surpass them. That means more new books for our library!

I'm glad the bookfair is here and so many kids are getting good books to read at home. I love the bookfair but, come next week when it's all packed up and gone and spring break starts, I'll be one happy person!