Go Hawks!

Football season is well underway and I haven't found the time yet to post a picture of our little cheerleader cheering on her Hawks.  

Last year I put Isabelle in the following outfit and thought, "my doesn't she look so sweet?".

  This year when I put her in it she said, "Mom, I'm so pretty!"  

Isabelle, I agree whole heartedly! You are beautiful.  

While our Hawks suffered a really sad loss a couple of weeks ago to that other state school, we still cheer them on and bleed black and gold.

Here's Bellie admiring herself in the mirror... She was trying to figure out how to see the back of her skirt.  

Never mind Dad's shirt in the background calling for me to iron it. 

Here Isabelle decided accessories aren't all they claim to be, so off went the necklace.

and minutes later, off went the bow and headband.  And soon, my Hawkeye photo shoot was over.

Oh well, we'll still cheer for our favorite team.

Go Hawks!
Angie

7 HABITS

The school the boys go to was awarded a Leader In Me grant last year from the Stephen Covey foundation.  Being a Leader In Me school, means they focus on the teaching the children leadership skills and the 7 habits highlighted in Stephen Covey's books.

As a parent who sees the messages they come home with, I'm impressed. I love it.  And while the teachers do a great job reinforcing it at school, we try our best to model and implement the same habits at home. 

As part of their leadership curriculum, Michael had to memorize the 7 habits and do a presentation in front of his peers using the actions for each habit.  Michael worked very hard on memorizing his habits and we tried together to come up with hints to know what order the habits go in.  As a result, Mom is pretty well versed in the presentation and actions as well.

Here's Michael showing us his 7 Habits presentation...

Habit #1: Be Proactive: I'm in charge of me!
       This habit focuses on being responsible for our actions.   Make good choices!
Habit #2: Begin with the end in mind.  Always have a plan.
         Set goals for what you want to accomplishment and then create a plan for how to get there.
Habit #3: Put first things first.  Work, then play.
    This habit encourages the kids to be responsible and make sure they take care of their        
    responsibilities before they play.
Habit #4: Think win-win. I win, you win, everybody wins!
    This habit encourages the kids to play nicely.  To think about how they can get along with others
     and find solutions to disagreements they may have.  Compromise is key!
Habit #5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.  Listen before you speak.
   This habit is, my own admission, the one I'm the worst at.  It talks about the importance of listening      to other view points, instead of just thinking the way you know it is best.
Habit #6: Synergize!  Together is better.
  This habit focuses on the good old skill of teamwork.  Working together, you can achieve more.    
    They focus on skills to help the kids work well together and to encourage an environment of
     thinking as a team.
Habit #7: Sharpen the Saw.  Balance feels best.
    This habit reminds kids about the importance of balance.  Living a healthy lifestyle.  The importance of eating healthy, getting enough sleep, exercising and spending time with loved ones.

The qualities we have seen the boys develop as a result of this program is so encouraging.  While I believe the academic curriculum they are learning in school is very important, learning life lessons of leadership, team work, and treating others with respect, is just as important.

Michael, we are very proud of you for embodying and living these habits. I hope you remember and use these habits for the rest of your life.  They will help you as you face many challenges or situations in the future.

Until next time,
Angie

Baseball, Buddies and a Bag of Chips

Now that fall is supposedly here, (no one told Mother Nature here in the desert), that means the fall baseball season is officially underway.  A couple of weeks ago Gabriel has his first baseball game and we all headed out to support the team.  

We seem to still be in the middle of our monsoon season.  On the Saturday before the first hurricane (the one that brought us the 100 year Phoenix flood I blogged about previously), Michael, Isabelle braved the 100 plus degree temperatures and the 50% plus humidity and sat outside from 11:30-2:45 for Gabriel's noon game.  Now if that doesn't spell LOVE and SUPPORT, I don't know what does.

Simply put, it was miserable.  No not the game, sitting out there watching the game.  Thankfully some wonderful friends, upon hearing our plans for the day, loaned us their pop up tent and said, "Here this will help, please use it!"  and it was wonderful, but still miserable.

I tried to present the idea of a noon game to Isabelle and Michael in a way, that would make them believe it was going to fun!  Michael's too smart and knew immediately I was trying to pull one over on them. "Mom-do we HAVE to go watch Gabriel?" Can't we just stay home?"  Even he's tired of the heat.  Knowing he wasn't going to get the answer he wanted to hear, he thankfully didn't put up too much of a fight when I denied his request.

So off we went.  I set up the tent, pulled out the lawn chairs and set up for a picnic lunch.  I looked around to see our always-in-motion Isabelle, lying on the tent bag on the ground.  YES- She was lying on the ground, with sweat caked on all parts of her body.  For a minute I was thankful, and then I thought, "Should I be alarmed?"  She never sits still, was she overheating?  I gave her some water and opened up the sandwiches. 

Meanwhile the game went on in front of us.  While the two little ones ate their lunch and entertained themselves on the ground, I wondered how long we'd be able to stay and watch the game.  I feared not very long, until I opened up the bag of chips.  

They both went from being horizontal, sharing a tiny portion of the tent bag on the ground, to sitting up right, along the fence, taking turns shoving their hands into the bag.  They'd compare the size of the chip each one of them got and then Isabelle would try to give Michael her smaller chips, so she could stick her hand in the bag again to pull out a larger one.  They played so nicely together, I often found myself watching them more than the actual baseball game.

As they almost devouring the entire bag of BBQ chips themselves, I many times thought about stopping them.  And then I stopped myself.  I told myself, the salt from the chips would be good for them to keep them from getting too dehydrated and I reminded myself how nicely they were sitting, playing together, allowing me a chance to watch the game.  And so, I decided to let them keep on, keeping on.  I picked my battle and this time, I let it all slide by.

And the end result...

It ended up being a fun time.  No not the weather, the weather was still miserable; but everything else was nice.  The younger two had a lot of fun, they sat still in the shade and played nicely with each other.  We were there to support their brother and his team went onto win. And I got to sit and enjoy an entire game.  This hasn't happened in... well, it hasn't EVER happened.

Who knew baseball, buddies, and a bag of chips could make a hot, humid afternoon so much fun!

Until next time,

Angie

Grandparents Day!

Last Sunday was Grandparents Day, and while our grandparents still haven't received their cards (oops, sorry about that), I did want to share that the kids worked hard in creating a special message for each one of our special loved ones

Sadly Mom didn't get her act together in time to get the cards mailed out early last week.  So instead we did it late last week, one day after school.  Better late than never right?!

The kids, all of them wrote a personalized note to each of their special grandparents.  While some notes were shorter than others, (ahem, Isabelle's rainbow picture), some notes went on an on.  The truth is we all feel so blessed for the 6 grand and (great) grand parents Gabriel, Michael and Isabelle have. 

Here are a few pictures of them working hard to express their love and appreciation.

We love you Grandpa Chip and Grandma, Nana and Papa, Grandpa Ray and Grandma Doris.  We feel so blessed to have you in our lives and we can't wait to see you in person again to tell you.

Until next time,
angie

Should we build a boat? The 100 year Phoenix flood!

So last night we got some rain.  And by some rain, I'm talking 5.28 inches in less than 8 hours.  Yes, this is EPIC.  I can say it, because the local weather man I've been watching since 5 am has said it about 50 times.  This storm is EPIC.  There, I said it again.

For those who are not currently living in this state, the one that currently resembles the state of Minnesota (as the land of 1,000 lakes), I'm not exactly sure how to describe it.

Around midnight last night, I was lying in bed (because I still seem to spend more of my night awake than asleep), when all of a sudden I heard a loud crack and the reflection from the lightening strike peer through the crack in our bedroom blinds.  Seconds later, I heard a downpour begin that I believe last until the wee hours of the morning.  While I drifted in an out of sleep, the sound of the rain pouring down outside was continuously heard and a part of my alertness and my dreariness.

Waking up for good a few minutes before 5, I looked out the bedroom window and could hardly believe my eyes.  Our swimming pool was full up to the brim top of the deck and with the rain coming down so hard, I couldn't tell if it had already breached the top of the deck.  I stumbled to the kitchen and flipped the back porch light on.  I opened the back door and stepped outside, still in a state of sleepiness.  The moment my foot hit the cool rain water, I was awake!

Why yes that is my foot stepping right outside my back door.

And while hard to see, that light reflecting is on the 4 inches of water that completely covered my backyard as our pool overflowed.  In the far background is our pool, running level with the 4 inches of standing water in our "lake front property."

After accessing the back, I had to go check out the front yard.  I opened the front door, again to the noise of the downpour hitting our house and looked out to the road.  Or what use to be the road in front of our house.

Where our road had been previously, there was now a lake.  Our neighbors trash can floated gently down the stream and with the crack of thunder I decided to head back inside.

I turned on the TV in our bed, and just like I was an elementary school kid, I prayed for a snow day.  Or I guess I should say a "rain day."  I thought for sure, if we were THIS flooded, they'd have to cancel school and work.  Turning on the TV and catching the images/stories of the mess that was everywhere in the valley, I wasn't sure what to do, as it was way worse than I ever thought it would be.

The road Jarrett takes to work looked like this...

Um yes, that is 6 lanes of the I-10 Freeway that are completely underwater.  Why yes, that is one of the main through-ways millions of people pass by daily in our city.  And yes, that is a road that is at flooded with at least 4 feet of water.   And that was just one of the roads.  The majority of the others were the same way.

This is the aaah road, I guess you could call it, I take to work.

The TV announcers warned everyone about every 2 minutes that the only people that should be out on the roads are emergency personnel.  The governor sent a message and begged people to stay home.  We received emergency announcements on our phone asking people to stay at home and that traveling is extremely treacherous.  I thought, for sure, schools going to be canceled, and for sure work will send a note saying to wait to come in until it is safe.

As the minutes ticked by and school after school canceled their classes for the day, our school instead called us to say, "Classes will begin at normal time.  Students should report to school promptly by 7:35 a.m.  Buses may be delayed due to road closures.  Again, school will begin as usually scheduled.

I thought, wait a minute.  Did they not listen to the news, do the administrators not have a cell phone to get the same emergency alerts we did?  Do they live some place else in this state?  How can they not see how flippin bad out it is.

Here is the view of the water overflowing from our pool in the backyard.


Well, I guess so much for that snow day.  And then my phone rang again.  It was our wonderful Aunt Stacey, the best pre-school teacher in the world, who teaches at Isabelle's school.  She said, "Angie, I'm calling you as my friend.  Just so you know our school was completely flooded last night and it is a mess. Please don't bring Isabelle today, we are closed."  Finally I thought, some one, some official, is thinking straight.  

Telling the boys they needed to get their butt in gear, to leave, I knew it would take us a lot longer to get to school than the normal 2 minutes it does in the morning.  Backing out of the drive way, the only way to make it down our street was to drive in the very middle of the road where the pavement is peaked.  Thank goodness we drive an SUV.

As I turned or tried to pull out of our housing development and onto the main road by our house, I had to turn into the far center lane and the rest of the road was completely flooded and pouring over the side walk.  Looking to our right, we looked over to see a sunken green belt that is at least 8 feet lower than the sidewalk on the curb, by our housing development.  It completely flooded and pouring right back into the street.  It had no where to go.

We slowly followed car after car as we made waves higher than our windows plowing through the water to get them to school.  I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to become one of those motorists whose cars were stalled in one of the 100's of roads across the valley. We are well aware of the stupid motorist law they have here, I wonder if that law applies in the great 100 year flood?  I worried, I was about to find out.

Turning the corner to head to the school, we noticed the lake was completely out of its banks and pouring into the street like a beautiful waterfall those wealthy housing divisions have welcoming home their residents.  I didn't like the welcome all that much.

After many a scary moments, when it felt like the tires on our car were floating under the water below us, we arrived at the school.  It looked something like the moats kings would build around their precious castles.  There was no resemblance of the playground and the water went almost to the front door.  The parking lot was completely flooded.  Thank goodness for the weaving cones to direct us to the least flooded route.  I couldn't help but think to myself, where again were the officials who made the call it was safe to send our children to school in this weather.  I'm not sure I want them making safety calls any more.

I dropped off my boys, who had to walk through a stream of water to the building and then they disappeared behind the gym door.  It was then my turn to begin the journey to work.
After plowing through waves of water at almost every street I found, I finally made it to the parking lot at my work.  It turns out half of the spaces were inaccessible, because they were completely under a foot of water. I parked, gathered up my belongings and set forth determined to reach my office building.

The campus, for 8 a.m. on a Monday morning, was eerily quiet. I wondered if everyone else got the alert and I had some how missed it.  As I turned the corner to my building I saw this...

Now, I don't claim to be a genius, but I'm pretty sure caution tape means to stay away.  Yes, that is the entrance to my office building, yes that is how I'm suppose to access the building.  Since I clarified that I'm not a genius, I guess than I better tell you what I did next.  I pulled up my pants as far as I could and I started tromping through the flooding to get to the front door.  Stupid, yeah, okay maybe a bit.  How else was I suppose to get in?

All the while, I kept thinking about what every emergency professional, news announcer and government official begged us to do.  STAY HOME.  Here I was doing exactly the opposite.

Soaking wet to the middle of my calf and dripping water from the top of my head to my knee, I arrived at work safely.  As I turned on my computer and put on the newscast in the background, I heard the weather man say that in the last 12 hours we received more rain that we had received in total all year. With more than 5 inches of water falling in less than 8 hours, we were living through the 100 year flood.  

I'm thankful to say we all were safe, unhurt and have memories that will last forever.  I can see it now.  Some day, when my boys are in their 80's and their grandchildren ask them about the great 100 year Phoenix flood of 2014, I can picture what they are going to say, " It was EPIC.  There was water everywhere, we had to walk knee deep in water, our swimming pool was over flowing and WE STILL HAD TO GO TO SCHOOL!"

Until next time,
Angie

I WANNA GROW UP!!!!!

Isabelle loves to read books.  For about the past 6 months she's been really into her monthly Highlights Hello books.  In the few weeks though, mainly because I'm needing some fresh material, I've been trying to introduce her to some new books.

Here are a few of them....

Thankfully Isabelle's been open to it.  Actually she loves the new books and has almost completely replaced her Highlights book with the newest selections. Of those listed above, some she likes the most are, "Are We There Yet?" "Cooking With the Cat" and "When I Grow Up"  We read the books, cheer The End  and then she says READ IT AGAIN!  Yes, pretty much in the same demanding tone you just read that in.  So, we read it again, and again and again.  She has the words memorized to each of the books, so a lot of the time I'll just say the first word on the page and she 'reads' the rest.

The other night we read the same 5 books for almost an hour.  When it was time for bed, I put the books down, grabbed Isabelle and her blankies and told her it was time for ni-night.  She was NOT having it.  Immediately she started screaming, "I WANNA GROW UP!"

Jarrett, who was in the kitchen next to us in the living room, looked at me and we both started laughing.  While she was 100% clear in what she wanted (to read the book When I Grow Up), it came out sounding completely different.

I said, "Oh Isabelle, please don't grow up.  Mommy loves you being small"  Insert Isabelle throwing a tantrum and screaming "I WANNA GROW UP!"

"Isabelle," Daddy said, "Do you want to grow up?" now playing along.  Still adamant she was not going to go to sleep, was now flailing her arms and wiggling like crazy to get out of my arms. "Mommy, I wanna grow up."

After 5 minutes of Isabelle demanding she wanted to grow up, I gave in and told her I'd read, Mercer Mayer's When I Grow Up one more time.

Funny, after reading it one more time, she seemed perfectly fine to be just the age she is now.  I put the book on the table, grabbed her blankets and picked her up.  "Isabelle" I asked, "Do you want to grow up?"  Looking at me with her droopy eyes and her head halfway resting on my head, "I wanna go ni-night"

Until next time,
angie

A confession....

So I have a confession.  I love donuts, specifically I LOVE bear claws.   I love all of them.  From the tasty almond paste to the chocolate and almond frosting and the almond slivers sprinkled on top.  Just talking about them makes my mouth water and its way too late for a donut, criminy its almost 3 in the afternoon.

I've tasted many a bear claws, and my all time favorite bear claws are at Disneyland, the Disneyland Hotel that is.  It's been almost 5 years since I've had my last 'best' Bear Claw.  Thankfully Fry's makes themselves a pretty amazing Bear Claw too, and with two stores less than one mile from my house, I'd be lying if I said I didn't give in to the Bear Claw cravings more often than I should.  I can't help it, there just so darn tasty!

Thankfully my mini me also likes donuts. We're quite the duo. It's become almost a tradition.  Once a month, on a Friday, Belle and I drop the boys off at school (Lord knows they don't need the sugar before going to school) and on our way home,  we just happen to swing by the grocery store.  Low and behold, if you get there before 7:30 a.m. they still have Bear Claws.  It wouldn't be right not to get one, right?

Isabelle's favorite donuts are the Long Johns.  She says, "Mommy, I want black one and candy."   Basically that means she wants the chocolate iced donut with sprinkles on top.

This past Friday was one of Mom and Isabelle's donut days.  I think Isabelle enjoys our special treat as much as I do.  The truth is, Isabelle doesn't really eat much of the donut.  She spends most of her time picking off the "candy" and when she can't pick off any more, then she's done.

Here, I'll show you what I mean...

 By the end of her donut eating fun, she pretty much has a smeared chocolate frosted donut sans sprinkles.

Oh and it might be more accurate to say that there is usually more frosting on her hands, face, arms and belly than there is on the actual donut. 

While I love me some Bear Claws and Belle some Long Johns, it really is a treat for us to get a donut.  I know it isn't the healthiest of things we can do together, but for our once and a while treat, we sure do have enjoy it!

Until next time,

Angie