SCORPION

Yes...we actually had a scorpion sighting. And yes, it was in our house. Christine found it when she was doing some cleaning. She was in tears. I have to admit...I was a little freaked myself, but I remained calm and fearless for my children. This photo is the scorpion after I squished him. I did call Jennia after I killed him and asked her what I was supposed to do with it-she is the pro at this. Just had to pick him up with some cardboard and flush him....Just call me "Ang, Scorpion Hunter".

Jennia and I are going to check the yards and houses with the black light tonight because when we went to go outside after lunch today there was another one right by the garage door.

Maggie

Maggie is our social butterfly. She always has been. Nothing ever bothers her as long as she has someone to talk to. This is her and Taylor's new "spot." I think they'll be having many conversations over the wall.

And here's Maggie-who is actually getting a little more aggressive-after a win on Saturday. Soccer is still about having fun with her friends and I am so grateful she is like that...even though she drives me insane sometimes...she is such a sweetheart to everyone.

I love these shots I got of her with Lauren, one of her teammates. They had played Friday night in the cold-which they won-and then had an 8:30 game Saturday. They were all a little tired but still had fun out there.

Andrew's Five!

Can you believe...Andrew made it to five! He was proud of himself today. When I drove him to preschool I was telling him how big he was and told him all the things he could do now-ride his bike, go across the monkey bars...he just sat back in his seat with a big smile.

The picture of him is a perfect picture of Andrew after a day of being Andrew. His hair is courtesy of Christine. It was wacky hair day at his preschool and she put some gel in his hair this morning to make it stay that way all day. He did start the day with a shower-and a clean shirt.

Andrew had a great day today. We came home from preschool and iced his cake...cream cheese frosting and some Halloween sprinkles. Went to BK to get an icee and some lunch. He even picked me a couple flowers. He is such a sweetheart when he wants to be. It was hard to keep him away from the cake before dinner. Of course, once he was allowed to have the cake he just wanted to play with his toys!

Thanks to all for the cards, gifts and phone calls! A special thank you to Aunt Suzanne...I thought we had talked about something that lit up...not something that made noise. The funniest thing is that it says "Approved Decibel Level" on the box. He does love it!

The last few days

I've been meaning to blog for the last few days...but modern technology does not always agree with me. I was having some trouble getting into my account. Apparently google decided that my password was too short without telling me. Not sure how this mysterious "google" decides that, but all of a sudden my password that had been valid forever was not working. I'm one of those terrible people that uses the same password for everything-well, I have maybe three that I interchange...so I was getting worried when neither one of the three would work and I knew it had to be one of them. Scary...I even asked Maggie what it was because I thought maybe old age was setting in and my memory was going...but she thought it was the same thing I did. But now the problem has been resolved-I had to use my fourth password that I rarely use for anything, so hopefully I'll remember it and be able to post after this.

This week I went for my lasik eye surgery consult. I guess it went well...they are willing to slice my corneas and shine the laser in my eyes. I'm sure I'll be happy when it's all over, but I'm just not one for having my eyes sliced open. They have offered me valium for the day of surgery. That offer came after she took my blood pressure and it was higher than it's ever been just from being there for the consult. Although, I don't think they took my blood pressure the day of my gum surgery...it had to have been high that day. So, in a few weeks I will have 20/20 vision without the aid of contacts.

It is also that time of year-Girl Scout Cookie Time. So our garage has just a few cases of girl scout cookies in it. Only one more week to go and then my garage will hopefully be empty. Maggie still has a few boxes to deliver and we have two more cookie booths to work. Andrew has been very happy those cookies are out there! He has talked me into sampling just about every flavor...the cookies are really good and I think they might be calorie-free! At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Today I made Val's day when I called her and gave her the dates for our Ohio trip. I thought my own kids would be as excited, but they had a few questions. Christine's question..."Can't everyone come here to visit?" and Maggie..."How many planes do we have to take?" Andrew, on the other hand, was very excited to fly on a plane. Oh...I almost forgot...Maggie's other question after I told her we would have to take two planes to get there and two planes to get back..."Will they send an email and change it to three right before we have to go?" She must have had as much fun flying during our fall break as I did. Christine still wants everyone to come here even if we do go to Ohio.

Lost Dutchman Marathon

After doing a marathon way back in 1992, I thought I would never do another one. After all, I could say that I did one...so what was the point of doing another one? Well, Hillary had this idea that we could do this marathon -the Lost Dutchman-for "fun". (I have even been talked into other "fun" marathons.) After finishing yesterday, I'm not sure that marathon and fun should ever be used in the same sentence! It was a little fun until about mile 21 or 22...






When Hillary first had this plan to do this marathon, there were supposed to be more of us...slowly everyone dropped out. Niki ended up running the half because she was smarter than us-no...just kidding...she was sick during the week so she decided to just do the half. Gwen also dropped down to the half and her husband was going to run the 10K-they ended up having to drive up to the mountains Saturday night because of an emergency with one of their kids. (The pic is Hillary, Niki and I before all the fun began.)


I do have to say that the scenery was incredible. The race was up in Apache Junction near Goldfield Ghost Town where we take a lot of our visitors. Because of our chilly weather lately there was even some snow left on one of the mountaintops. The volunteers at the aid stations were also super nice-almost all senior citizens...except the last few aid stations were the local football team. (They must have been out there in case anyone needed lifted up.)







I did forget to mention that for the marathon start we had to take a 45 minute bus ride into the mountains. It was pretty cool. When we got up there they had at least 30 fires going for everyone to stay warm...and even though you see everyone in shorts it was cold! I know it didn't get above 50 while we were running...that is why there was no way I was wearing shorts.







Of course, everyone thought we were tourists because I brought Christine's camera with me. It was interesting to talk to all these people that were running. The one guy from Pennsylvania we talked to because he had a "50 States Marathon" shirt on. After thinking that nothing bad could happen to me from running a marathon, he set me straight. His previous marathon before this one had been 2 years before that. He had formed a blood clot during the race in his leg and ended up having to have an artificial artery in his leg and they had told him they he would probably never run again. The one couple from New Jersey was around us for a lot of the race. Around mile 22 maybe, Hillary was saying that she felt better than she thought she would. The husband was laughing because I replied that I felt exactly how I thought I would-horrible. There was even a 13-year-old boy running! He even had a cast on his arm...we had to make sure that we beat him. He is from a family with a lot of runners and I guess one of his cousins ran a marathon, so he wanted to be the youngest in his family to finish a marathon. I can't imagine Christine having any desire to run with us next year.







Yes...I did say that we would be running next year. Hillary wants to do it again. Niki wants to run the full marathon since she only did the half this year. Hillary's husband, Steve, wants to do it...so I can't miss out on all the "fun"! We figure it would be better next year if we actually train a little more to do it. So, if anyone is up for a February marathon in 2010 we are getting our team ready.

Soccer

The second of I'm not sure how many weekends of soccer games. The problem was that it was pretty chilly this weekend. Definitely no fun for mom when the wind is blowing and the sun is not out at the soccer field. Maggie played pretty aggressive but her team lost-of course, they don't keep score but everyone knows what the score is. She had fun and her best friend is on her team this season. The first photo is the two of them together out on the field.

Andrew's games are turning out to be interesting. After being in for a few minutes he realized that a little boy from his preschool was on the other team. He was yelling to me to make sure I knew. It was quite comical. I'm still not sure they know what they are supposed to be doing out there, but they do run up and down the field and try to score. They just need a little help knowing what goal they are supposed to go to. You'll notice from the picture that Andrew does not like the shin guards on his skin. So, he is starting the new trend of wearing them on the outside of the socks.

Soccer

Yesterday was Andrew's first soccer game. I wasn't too sure what to expect. It was amusing...I'm not sure the kids have any idea what they are supposed to be doing. The coach stays on the field with them to steer them in the right direction. They get a snack at half-time and after the game...so Andrew was happy and liking soccer.

Touchdown Divas!

There was a powderpuff flag football tournament at the club the day before the Superbowl. I had said I would not play and then somehow caved into the peer pressure. It was a lot of fun. I might even be willing to play again next year. Of course, it helped that we won. It was a little rough. I think partly because we didn't know the rules and partly because people just wanted to tackle....it's easier to do that, than grab those flags. Our team was the Touchdown Divas. I was on the team with some of my friends. And other friends were on the Seville Sweethearts team. They were the nice ones who painted my car. It was all in fun. (They actually came over Sunday, took my car, washed and returned it before the big game.) There were four teams and we ended up having to play the Sweethearts the first game. I escaped that game with no injuries. Our championship game I did something to my leg...I was not nearly as banged up as other people on our team though. Now there is talk about a co-ed basketball tournament for March Madness...that I am not going to get talked into!

Busy!

We are now in our new house...still getting all of our stuff here, but that should be done by the end of the week. There were just a few hiccups in getting our keys. After signing all the paperwork and handing over our check we were informed there was a mistake in the last transfer. The parcel number is 60 and somehow it was never noticed in the previous transfer there was a typo and it said parcel number 6. So, it had to go through the legal department to be corrected. Ugh!

Never fear...correction made...painters came in...carpet cleaners in...and finally our furniture. Once we are a little more settled I'll get some pictures. Things have been crazy here as usual. Here's a picture of the front of the house and my van...painted by the opposing flag football team...more on that one later. Time to get the kiddos up for school!

Basketball pictures

Maggie's Favorite Weather

No....there has been no snow in our part of Arizona. Maggie was "star student" last week for her class. We had to fill out this poster of all her favorite things. And, of course, Maggie, my child who never wanted to stay out in the snow for more than 15 minutes, picked "snowy" as her favorite weather. How quickly she forgets that being cold is absolutely no fun. So I had to dig through all the files on my computer and find some snow pictures. These were from our last few weeks in Canton. Four snow days in two weeks...and since I wasn't going to get much done with everyone home from school...we had fun playing in the snow with the neighbors! I miss the neighbors, but not the snow.

So, Wednesday night last week I ran to Walgreens to pick up a snow picture for Maggie and somehow, someway, when I got out of my car I left the interior lights on. I'm not sure where my mind was. @#$%&#!!!

I thought it was a little odd that my key chain would not open up my doors when Andrew and I went to leave Thursday. I knew it was really bad when I manually unlocked my door and the rest of the doors wouldn't unlock. @#$%&#@!!! Hopefully, Andrew will never repeat what he heard. So, no big deal, Andrew and I were just heading up to the club...so, I had him put his helmet on. He rode his bike and I ran next to him. Of course, Hillary had planned on bumming a ride home from me...sorry Charlie...I told her Andrew would ride her home on his bike.

We had plans to meet Pamela and the boys at the park in the afternoon, so I called her to pick us up. She brought over some jumper cables, but we could not get my van out of the garage. I learned later from the tow truck driver the trick to getting the van into neutral.

Anyway...Andrew and I went to the park for awhile. When we got home I called AAA and they told me someone would be over in an hour and 15 minutes....plenty of time for me to take a shower, right? Of course, the first time in my life that I haven't had to wait hours for AAA. As soon as I turned off the shower I could hear the truck outside...so with my hair slightly dripping I explained the problem to the guy. He got it started easily, but told me I needed to take it to get a battery right then-which I had been told might be the case, but did not believe. I asked him if I could turn off the van and then take it in an hour for a new battery. Nope. Unless I wanted to call him again for another jump. Wonderful....So, I left the van running in the driveway and tried to dry my hair a little before going to Sams for a new battery. Life would be so boring without all these little hiccups.

This weekend Christine started her basketball season. They played well, but still lost. Christine had fun. The more games I watch, I can almost understand parents yelling at referees. I contain myself though...after all, it is 6th grade basketball. I'll wait until junior high basketball to help out the refs. I did get to play with my new camera.

Of course...big football weekend. Go Cardinals!!!

Andrew's Preschool Performance

I couldn't get any pictures during the show, but these were some from after.

Christmas Day Pictures

Maggie with new clothes for her Bitty Baby and Andrew on his new bike.

We're Moving!

No...Not back to Ohio. We are just moving less than a mile away from our house now. Same neighborhood, same school, bigger house, more room for guests....and a loft so I don't have to see all the kids' toys! While we are all excited about the move, I have a lot to do in the next month-or less now. Find boxes, pack everything up, meet with movers about all the big stuff, pick paint colors, figure out what light fixtures we want (foreclosure and the former owners took all the light fixtures with them), find a renter for this house, sell our extra freezer, go through all the junk in the garage and figure out if we really want to move it...plus the regular running the kids around to practices, with the added bonus of now having to stay at the soccer fields for Andrew's practice. I'm sure it will all somehow get done!

Christmas Break

I'm not sure where our Christmas break has gone to. Right now the kids are exhausted and all hanging out watching Hannah Montana. Andrew is currently laying next to me with his head resting on my right arm as I type.

The last two nights they have run around with the neighbor kids up and down the street playing tag and hide and seek and anything else they could think of to continue moving...I'm not sure where they get all their energy, but it may actually be starting to run out! Last night we could not find marshmallows anywhere...our neighbor Marcie even made a special trip out because no one believed Steve that our grocery store didn't have any. She came home empty-handed. Steve found one lone bag at a grocery store a little further away tonight...but there was a reason it was left. All the marshmallows were stuck together. The kids didn't care. They ate them anyway.

(Andrew is now out cold..)

New Year's Eve we headed to the zoo for zoo lights. It was fun. The kids love walking through and seeing all the lights. I talked everyone into sitting through the "tree show" twice. After we went through everything I had Christine talked into going back and sitting through it one more time, but everyone else vetoed that idea. Andrew FINALLY got to ride the shark at the carousel...all the times we've been to the zoo he has never been able to get on the shark, so he was happy. My little man is so sociable though it was hard to get a picture of him. Every time he came around he was talking to the boy next to him!

Other than that we have kept busy with renting movies, playing with friends, Christine's basketball practices, having sleepovers....Steve actually took the kids to the pool to swim for a little bit today.

Now to just get back to our normal sleep schedule by Monday. Andrew has school Monday and the girls start back Tuesday.