Where's Mom?! 17/52 Photos of Me!

Are YOU a mom? Are YOU missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, but here is a fun meme that brings us moms out from behind the camera and puts us into the spotlight! Carin over at Forever In Blue Jeans is the hostess for this year long picture project! It is lots of fun, and just think after 52 weeks there will be at least 52 pictures of YOU in them! It can be scary, but com'on, give it a try! It's easy, all you have to do is hand over the camera and smile (or not, it's completely up to you!). And the best part is, you can jump in whenever; for me this will be my 17th week!

Can you believe that I was in 3 pictures this week...yep 3! How amazing is that?! My hubby is really getting into too, which makes me *giggle*! Every time there is a photo op he asks, 'do you need me to take a picture of you and the boys for your blog?'...isn't he the greatest?!

Picture #1...me and the boys at Westgate. This is a really cool outside mall that has lots of fun shops and restaurants as well as AMC theaters, and dancing fountains. Here we are standing outside of a super fun restaurant where we specifically went for dessert this past weekend. If you saw my WW from yesterday, then you saw the s'more platter that the boys ordered. It was very fun, they brought a platter full of marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate bars and 2 kinds of dipping sauces! They also have bull riding too, which the boys loved! They were bummed that they were too little to try!

Pictures #2 & #3 are from our family fun day that Ryan surprised us with after church on Sunday. I will blog more about that day tomorrow (so make sure to come back and read all about it!), but for now in these pictures we are playing putt-putt! Now normally in AZ it is hot hot hot during this time of the year, but these last couple of weeks have been fairly moderate...in the 90s instead of the 100s. This is a HUGE difference! We had lots of fun on the course! And I won if you were wondering!
Now it's your turn to join the fun! It's easy, hand the camera over, smile and say cheese!

WW~ We Want S'More Please!

This is What Summer's all About

I remember summer when I was their age...and it was THE best! We, my friends & I, were all over the neighborhood; riding bikes, playing games, swimming and eating! Isn't that was summer is all about?! Brendan and Colin are finally getting to the age where they are able to do all the those fun things that I so fondly remember! I was the house with the pool, so all the kids would be swimming in my backyard and my mom was the one feeding them...well this weekend, it was my turn!

It started out with riding bikes and playing at the park and then ended back at our house for swimming. I thrive on days like this! They had so much fun playing; I loved listening to the laughter!

After swimming came a lunch of hot dogs, french fries, & fruit! When all the bellies were full: more swimming and then more play at the park!

I love summer!

I Pledge...

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States Of America,

And to the republic for which it stands

One Nation under GOD

Indivisible, with Liberty, and

Justice for ALL.

Happy Flag Day...Fly it Proudly

Another You're Gonna Miss This Moment

Now that summer is here, I am trying to find fun that is affordable! We are very lucky that the theaters around us host Summer Fun Movie Days! Not just one theater, but ALL of them, so I actually get to choose which one we want to go to depending on the movies and price! The theater that I choose was Harkins; and I did for a few reasons...1.They have Summer Fun Movie Days all 5 days and we wanted to go on Friday, and 2.My parents are frequent movie goers and had already purchased the souvenir cups and fan appreciation t-shirt' and since they are snow birds and are gone for the summer...WE get to reap the benefits!! What might these do you ask, well the cups get you refills on soda for only $1 each and the t-shirt gets you a free regular sized popcorn, just enough for me and Colin to share as Brendan is not a fan. We also stock up on $1 movie theater candy from Wal-Mart...who doesn't love Wal-Mart?! For the price of 10 movies for a mere $7 per person, we have a very affordable way to spend our Friday mornings at the movies with friends!
The movies that are on the agenda include:
Space Chimps
Nim's Island
Horton Hears a Who
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Madagascar Back 2 Africa
Kung Fu Panda
Kit Kittredge
The Tales of Desperaux
Hotel For Dogs
IGOR
On our way!
There are usually about 15 of us that make the trek and take up an entire row or 2, but it just is so much fun!

They were getting very antsy with me about all the pics...I know, I know!

What's a blogger to do?!

Since I was so preoccupied with getting all of the goodies and then making sure everyone had what they needed, I forgot, can you imagine, I forgot to take a picture of them before the movie started & chowing on their grub......SO this is a picture after the movie was over right before heading to the bathrooms...where everyone else was headed!

After the movies we either grab a bite to eat or shop at The Children's place or both! We are on summer vacations for goodness sakes! Whatever the impulse, I am usually up for it, even if the kiddos are not! On this particular day we all invaded AppleBee's!!

It was fun and good! (Doesn't that make it Good Fun?!)

I will miss the times when they get to be too old to go to Summer Fun Movie Days with mom; soon it will just be the movies with friends! So for now I will treasure our Friday morning maddess at the movies!

For more You're Gonna Miss This Moments visit Pam.

So...This Is What It's Like To Have A Baby Sister!!

With football being a year round sport, I have blogged this before, the players and coaches have practice from 7am-10am Monday thru Thursday and then once a week at night for a 7 on 7 passing league during the summer. What they do during this time, is, weight training and then drills and lastly 7 on 7 scrimmages.

Because some of the other coaches wives have real jobs, can you imagine, and there are little ones around, I get asked to watch them during practice sometimes, which I love. This happened in the last few weeks with Little O and Baby E. The boys really enjoy when there are other kids around, no matter what their age! Two days this past week we got to watch Little A! She is a cutie patootie who is 15 months old and is everywhere!! Her smile lightens up a room!

Brendan had the most fun with her yesterday playing all over the house with her!

We loved having Little A over to play and we can't wait until she can come again!

Maybe one day Bren, you will have a little sister of you own!

Where's Mom?! 16/52 Photos of ME!

Are YOU a mom? Are YOU missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, but here is a fun meme that brings us moms out from behind the camera and puts us into the spotlight! Carin over at Forever In Blue Jeans is the hostess for this year long picture project! It is lots of fun, and just think after 52 weeks there will be at least 52 pictures of YOU in them! It can be scary, but com'on, give it a try! It's easy, all you have to do is hand over the camera and smile (or not, it's completely up to you!). And the best part is, you can jump in whenever; for me this will be my 16th week!

Here are me and the boys in the movie theater waiting for the movie UP to begin. We have been going to the movies on Tuesdays since school got out since it is discount day and instead of paying a redonkulous amount of money for a movie it is only $5.50 per ticket. (I know it is not the dollar movie, but no such thing exists here) Still a lot of money, but much less than the alternative! Today the boys and I headed to UltraStar to see UP, just in 2D though; for 2 reasons...1. I am very cheap, and 2. 3D makes me sick! We had lots of fun and it was a surprisingly good movie. I had heard what a good movie it was, but was pleasantly surprised at the plot and what a touching movie it turned out to be. If you saw my WW post yesterday, you saw that both boys gave UP, 2 thumbs up!!

Now it's your turn to join the fun! It's easy, hand the camera over, smile and say cheese!

WW~ 2 Thumbs Up for UP!!!

True Story Tuesday

I have seen this meme over at MiMi's blog and this week, I have a story that is JUST TO GOOD NOT TO SHARE!! First off, let me tell you that I am A.F.R.I.A.D. of bugs...big bugs, little bugs, mean bugs, nice bugs, ANY BUGS (except lady bugs that is!).Well last Thursday we were getting ready to go to the city pool, or aquatic center, if you please, when I asked to boys to bring in some towels from outside. Since we have a pool in our backyard, we have hooks where we hang up wet towels, and that is just where they stay! SO anywho, they brought in the desired towels and plopped them on the counter.I picked up a towel, shook it out and then proceeded to start folding it, when what did my wandering eyes see but.......T.H.I.S......

ARE YA KIDDIN'ME???!!!! If you are NOT familiar with this bug, IT IS A SCORPION!!!

AAAHHHHHHHHAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

(insert me screaming this at the top of my lungs here!)

I happened to be barefoot, so I threw the towel on top of it. WHAT! What was a towel going to do? I didn't know, hopefully crush it? Yea, right! (seriously I am shaking as I write this and it has been hours since the whole ordeal!) I turned on the lights to make sure that it stayed put as I called Ryan. Yep, Ryan was NOT home. He was golfing and I called him on his cell phone. (and if you don't golf, it is a cardinal rule, that you DO NOT answer calls on your phone while golfing)

You can imagine my delight that he indeed answered his phone and I began SCREAMING at him that a scorpion was in our house.

I. WAS. FLIPPING. OUT.

And please let it be known that Brendan and Colin were in the living room as their mother flipped out from having a scorpion in the house. (Colin was flipping out a little too! I lost patience with him and asked him to go into his room if he was gonna cry, cuz I just couldn't take any more anxiety!! Poor kid!)

So Ryan told me to handle it and I told him that I was handling it...by calling him and telling him to come home and kill it! I could hear the other coaches in the background yelling that he needed to be on the tee....so he said GOOD BYE. WHAT...I had to do this by myself. I couldn't do this by myself! What was a girl to do...kill it by herself...uuummm...NO....

...So I called my friend Kari...I know... I am a BIG FAT WIMP!! She was my bug, I mean LIFE saver! She was over in a matter of minutes to 1. make fun of me. and 2. kill the nasty thing! Then she proceeded to laugh at me when I told her that I needed to take a picture of it (for blogging reasons, of course!) before she gave it a proper burial, oh I mean flush it!

I can't tell how long this will traumatize me...I may have to go into counseling. I am now constantly looking for them EVERYWHERE and I still feel all eeby-jeeby!! YUCK!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Gotta true story to share? Link up with Rachel...cuz we all want to hear about it!

Everyday is a Fun Day...

...especially during the summer! We may have a pool in our backyard, but it is never as much fun as this place....

...our city's aquatic center!

It is such a fun place to hang out for the afternoon. They have diving boards, slides, whirl pool, fun pool and lots more!

Brendan off of the diving board! These boards are in 13ft water. Both of the boys have become amazingly awesome swimmers!

Colin getting dumped on by the water dumpers!

Colin walking through the line of sprinklers

Brendan and his friend, Terrell, in the whirl pool. This is such a cool pool! The current is so strong that you can actually just float with the current. Every so often the life guards make you turn and go in the opposite direction! Now that's funny to watch!

Hanging out, just chilaxin'!

And Colin takes his turn jumping off the diving board!

We used to spend almost everyday at the city pool before getting our pool; now it is fun to hang out there for a change every once in a while!

Here are to lots more fun days!

Random Photo Tags

Since I didn't have anything fun and exciting to post today, I am tagging myself from MiMi's blog (since she never plays by the rules!) to post some picture tags! I thought it would be fun walking down memory lane looking for the required pictures! So here we go...

The first tag was to find a picture from 1 year ago today or as close as you could come to, and then explain!

And some explaining I have to do! I had an awesome point and shoot digital camera that my MIL gave me for Christmas the first year we moved to AZ. I loved it, but sadly it didn't have a long life! We moved to AZ in May of 2005 and I had my Minolta, which I love, but it is a 35mm camera; so for Christmas I received my Canon PowerShot. Loved it, and so did she, since now I could down load pics and send them via email for her to see! This is turning into a long story...so long story short, we tried to move back to MI (which only lasted 9 months) and while there, my beloved camera broke. We did not have enough money to buy a new one, so back to the 35 mm camera. With that being said, I have a year and a half with only 35mm pics and no digital. It was hard I tell ya! My digital camera died Christmas 2006 and I didn't get a new one (my one that I have now, and LOVE) until September 2008.

Sorry for the interruption...back to the tag! Since I didn't have a digital camera a year ago I have posted 2 pictures, one before and one after the date. (did I just make up my own tag!?)

The before picture...Brendan and Colin in October 2006, while we were living in Michigan. This was taken right after one of Brendan's soccer games.

After picture...Brendan and Colin September 2008, living back in Arizona, right after their football game.

For Tag #2...go to your 6th picture folder and find your 6th picture and explain.

This is a picture of Brendan at his first T Ball skills class. In our city, you have to be 5 years old to participate in sports, but they offer skills classes for 4 year olds! This picture was taken in January 2005 when Brendan was 4.5 years. He was so excited to be "playing" sports. On the first day of class, it rained...it NEVER rains in AZ! So instead of cancelling the class they had it inside! Funny I know, but he still had fun! The entire family went to watch, including grandma & grandma!!

Brendan is the one in the M hat and navy sweatshirt! They were standing in a circle practicing 'fielding' the ball!

Hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane, I know I did!

If you would like to play along, consider yourself tagged!

Another I'm Gonna Miss This Moment...

I love the fact that my kiddos do not need technology to entertain themselves. Don't get me wrong, they LOOOOVVVVE to watch TV and video games ARE a daily occurrence, but they find their imaginations quite often!
One of their favorite things to do is to build forts in the living room. They have such a blast figuring it out in their minds, and then finding the right blankets for the right 'rooms'! It is a VERY planned out thing, don't ya know!?!

Here is Colin with his last super fort; sure it takes up both chairs AND the couch and where am I to sit? BUT I wouldn't have it any other way! They have such a blast...that is until they start wrestling around and it comes tumbling down!

So for now, I will let them use every blanket in the house and use every seat in the living room to build their super forts, cuz I know that this probably won't last very long!

For more You're Gonna Miss This, visit Pam.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks!

I wouldn't call him old, but my thirtysomething hubby IS learning new tricks!

Once upon time, Ryan was afraid of the water. Couldn't stand it. Didn't swim. Didn't boat. Didn't tube. Nope, Nothing! And then we got a pool. WHAT, you say...a pool!! Yep, so now what was he gonna do when the boys asked him to go swimming? He slowly, oh ever so slowly, made his way into the pool. First on the baja step, then in the 3 ft end and then the 4 ft end to eventually the middle of the pool, which is 5 ft. Last summer he practiced dog paddling back and forth and back and forth and back and ...well you get the picture! He also started putting his face in the water, which he is still not a fan of, but masks are wonderful things! He soon graduated to having fun! Yes, you heard me right, Ryan has fun in the pool!

This past weekend, he even got up the nerve to CANNON BALL!!!! It took lots, I mean LOTS, of coaxing and practicing and bribing, and ...but he did it! He finally did! And he was sososo proud, as were me and the boys! Lots of cheering goin' on after this splash!
This is pretty awesome for someone, who a year ago, wouldn't even let his feet leave the bottom of the pool!

Way to go Ryan, we are so proud of you....now onto the high dive!!!