December 2012

I know the title of this post is just ridiculously vague...but at this point, lumping the whole month into one post is the only thing that 1) I have time for and that 2) really makes any sense.  This has been a real whirlwind of a month for our family with lots of ups and lots of downs.

On December 4th, our beloved Pee Paw went home to be with Jesus.  He had developed a case of pneumonia and the doctors were just not able to get it turned around.  He fought it long and hard, but in the end, his body was just worn out.  Words cannot express how much he will be missed.  On December, 14th, Gigi arrived to spend some time here in the desert with our family.  We were so happy to see her after nearly 6 months of being apart, but sad knowing what had brought her to us.  On December 17th, we held a memorial service for PeePaw at the National Cemetery in Phoenix and said goodbye to one amazing, sweet, generous, sparkly, sassy man.

The days since have gone by in a blur.  Gigi and I have been keeping busy with finishing up last minute Christmas shopping, volunteering in Clara's class grading papers, volunteering to help with Clara's class Christmas party and shuttling kiddos to their various activities.  The last day of school for our kids before winter break was Thursday, the 21st.  We have enjoyed the slower pace of life and relaxing and visiting with friends this holiday season.  It is SO good to be back here in the desert this year!  I never thought I'd see another Christmas, Tucson style...but God is good!

We started out our Christmas Eve with a hike through Honeybee Canyon with lots of friends, including our BFFs, the Emch gals and our favoritest EVER pediatrician!

Look at this sweet little heart cactus we found along our trail!

These two are SOOOO happy to be back together again!

Stopping for a rest along the way!  The jackets have been shed!

Three of the sweetest little girls I know!  Hannah, Claire and Clara

Absolutely, hands down, the BEST pediatrician in the universe!  LOVE her!!!

All the mommies and Gigis and doggies too!

A shot of our crew hiking through the canyon.

Our whole crew as we near the finish line!  What an awesome way to start a Christmas Eve morning!!!

After a glorious morning of hiking with our sweet friends,  we headed home and proceeded to prepare for Christmas day.  We had a couple of groceries to be purchased so we could smoke our Christmas Day rib roast, and there were a few gifts left to be wrapped.  We decided to attend the 3:00 pm Christmas Eve service at church.  I should have known we were in trouble when we sat down and the "while you wait" music that was playing was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".  The service got underway and was a ridiculous blend of very, very bright flashing lights, and very, very, VERY loud  music...NONE of which was either traditional OR beautiful.  There was NO CHRISTMAS STORY in the message and NO SCRIPTURE.  I am STILL angry about this.  Mark my words that the Roberts family will not ever, ever set foot in that church for any form of worship ever again.  Disappointed and sad, and very shocked, we headed home.  I was very much missing our Pensacola, or even our Texas church right about then.  I decided to see if either of them had a live streaming service going on.  LUCKILY, when the window popped up, there was a Christmas Eve service starting in 34 seconds!  Hallelujah!!!  Gigi and I proceeded to put our feet up and have us some REAL church right there!  We enjoyed the candlelight service and the beautiful, beautiful music.  There was scripture after scripture telling the Christmas story and a Christmas message FULL of love and hope and the wonders of the season.  Most importantly, it was full of GOD and JESUS and the very reason for the season.  Something sorely lacking in the message at the other church.  We felt better after having a "real" service!  As expected, the kids were excited and anxious and we could not get dinner cooked and eaten and cleaned up and put away quick enough for them.  They were SO excited about the presents waiting under the tree for them.  I tried to slow it all down and just savor it a bit.  But the kids drew the line at my suggestion for doing a quick scrub of the toilets and grout!  And so...the evening festivities proceeded!  Here are a few snapshots of our evening!

She's READY!!!

Oscar was VERY interested in Gigi's gift!

And soon Cooper was also interested in Gigi's gift opening!  I guess they were hoping there was something in there for them too?!

This was one of our boy's FAVORITE gifts!  The roll of cash!  They had a blast unrolling it!

Ben was delighted with his cash scarf!

And THIS was one of Clara's favorite gifts!  A SUPER cute cowgirl outfit for her American Girl doll!

Later that night, when all the festivities were done and the kids and grandmas and daddies were all tucked into bed, I found THIS under my Christmas tree.  

Have you ever seen anything as sweet and as cute as this?!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  Killing me with the cuteness and sweetness here.  He is most definitely a pain, but seriously...SOOOOOO sweet!!!!

Before you could say Merry Christmas the night was done.  The gifts were opened, loved, played with, put on, etc.  Everyone was tucked in for some anxious dreaming about whatever Santa MIGHT be bringing for them.  The Christmas tree was all clear and ready for Santa's drop off and the stockings were double checked and declared READY for stuffing.  We barely closed our eyes before we were greeted with sounds of Alvin and the Chipmunks blasting  Christmas Time and the overhead lights were blinding us.  Just the subtle way our sweet little angelic children chose to wake us this year and invite us in to the gift opening.  Sigh.  One year they are going to sleep past 6 a.m.  But this was not the year.  More gift opening commenced.  Here is the morning in review!

I love it when Max smiles like this!

New road biking Jersey for Max!

And a new string bag for Ben with his high school emblem on it.

Clara found a new watch in her stocking!

And a SOCK MONKEY!!!  Man has this girl wanted one of those!

What would Christmas be without a new video game?

One happy boy with his new iPod Touch 5

And an equally overjoyed girl with her own IPod Touch!

Oops!  Looks like Santa dropped off the wrong sized helmet!

All in all, it was a beautiful, beautiful day.  We wrapped up the evening with dinner at our good friend's house, celebrating both Christmas and Jason's birthday!  It was a wonderful, wonderful way to spend a wonderful, wonderful day!  Merry Christmas Ya'll!  And happy new year too!!!!

A Bug Amongst Us

It's been a rough and rocky few days in our house.  We've been excited for and anticipating our Thanksgiving break pretty much since Fall break!  The thought of having a whole FOUR days in a row off with nothing but relaxation and friends and feasting...well...thoughts like that make us giddy around these parts.  I had everything planned.  We collected our friends that are here without family and plotted the Mexican menu we are so fond of at these Thanksgiving gatherings.   We grocery shopped and had it all ready to go.  All that was left to do was the BIG house cleaning on Wednesday while the kids were at school so it was all gorgeous and shiny for Thursday's big gathering.  We were giving thanks for the little things.  For example...the orthodontist put Clara's braces back on again Tuesday afternoon. And also added a chain to the mix to start drawing in her side teeth to come up beside her front teeth (oh and...less than one week later...mission accomplished!  It's AMAZING to see how fast teeth can be moved!).  Getting all of this contraption put on is not a painful process.  However...the pressure that results IS quite painful within about two hours of being installed.  So we were grateful that 1) they put all that on towards the END of the day so she could sleep through the worst of the adjusting to it all.  And 2) that they put in on TUESDAY so that she could hopefully eat at least SOME of the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday!  Yes...it's the little things.  And so...with a LONG list of house things to take care of the next day swirling through my head, I tucked Miss Clara into bed with her ibuprofen for her teeth and shortly thereafter tucked myself in so I'd be well rested to tackle the tasks of the next day.  About 1 a.m. I hear Clara sputtering and coughing and I assume she is awake and miserable with her teeth and needing her next dose of ibuprofen.  So I jump out of bed to get her some and find her on the floor in front of the toilet quite sick.  I can't imagine where this has all come from.  Poor baby.  She was covered in vomit.  As was her bathroom.  And by covered, I mean the floor, the toilet, the shower doors, the side of the tub...well...you get the picture.  If this is too much information, you should stop reading now.  Because it gets worse.  I realized I needed to get her cleaned up.  But was trying to figure out how I would manage it since there was so much vomit between her and the tub.  I started the water running, then told her to hold still while I went to her room to get some fresh clothes for her.  I figured I would wipe down the bathroom while she was showering.  I grabbed her pajamas and turned around to leave her room and THAT'S when I saw it.  The whole wall there by the door of her bedroom....covered.  The side of the dresser, her pictures, the wall, the carpet...absolutely covered.  Apparently she woke from a dead sleep and didn't feel it coming on until it was all too late.  She couldn't get the door open in time.  And so...the wall became the target.  All the way up to the ceiling.  I kid you not.  Three kids...16 years of parenting and we have NEVER seen the likes of a mess like this. I was so overwhelmed I wanted to cry.  About that time, Chris got up to see if I needed any help...took one look at the room and set to work.  We cleaned walls and floors and little girls.  Door knobs, cabinetry, bathrooms.  An hour later, we finally tucked an exhausted and shivering, clean little girl back into bed.  Then put ourselves back to bed.  For one whole hour, until it all started over again.  Only this time...without the crazy, insane mess.  Our sweet girl was throwing up for 10 hours straight.  I felt so bad for her.  She was so pitiful.  My hands were full taking care of her.  We worried all day and wondered if we were going to have to cancel Thanksgiving.  But by that evening she seemed better, so we thoroughly disinfected (again) and went on with the party.

It was a LOVELY day with sweet friends.  The Emch family joined us, along with our favorite and fabulous pediatrician.  It was such a fun day!  Clara was a bit puny and run down...but enjoyed playing with her best friend.  She barely ate anything at all and was exhausted by the time it was all done.  But it was fun!

On Friday, we woke up to quite a mess post Thanksgiving.  Everyone was so worn out from running around with all the sickness that we just collapsed Thanksgiving night.  Friday morning it looked like a frat party had happened in our kitchen overnight.  It took a bit of washing and drying and putting away, but before long, all was restored to normal.  That accomplished, we moved on to pulling out Christmas decorations to see what was going to work in this house and what will not.  Most of it...will not!  We just don't have as many walls here.  And we don't have big mantles or staircases.  We DO have a place for our tree.  Although...when we set it up and plugged it in, only every other section seemed to want to light up.  Nice!  Despite our best trouble shooting, we could NOT figure it out.  And so...on Saturday morning, Chris headed up to Walmart and just bought some lights that we could use to fill in the areas that refuse to light.  In the end, it looks beautiful and you can't tell that big parts of it are burned out!

On Saturday, Ben and Clara and I headed over to the tennis courts at the high school to hit some balls while Chris and Max headed out for a nice ride on their road bikes.  We played tennis for an hour and a half.  It was fun, and a great workout chasing the balls everywhere.  We all rotated in and out and took turns being ball boy...the morning was gloriously cool and sunny.  Man, I love living in the desert!  When our arms were all jello-like and worn out, we headed home.  I was starving for some lunch.  When we got it all ready, Ben decided not to join us.  Said he wasn't feeling well.  Well...just a few hours later, Ben was in the bathroom and I was grateful that he had passed on lunch.  Poor kid had been hit with Clara's bug.  He spent a miserable day and night and spent most of Sunday just achy and worn out and sleeping.  He's home from school today...head still killing him...but we are hoping he will kick it and be back at school tomorrow...especially since it's a short day for them.  As for me....I am the Lysol queen...just trying to get this under control.  Hoping and praying noone else gets it.  Especially ME!!!!  And so...now you know what we are up to THIS week!  Pray the bug stops here!

In A Nutshell...

Long time...no post.  I know, I know.  I stink at this sometimes.  Life is a whirlwind...what can I say?  This post will be short and sweet.  But at least there will BE a post, right?!

Here's what's been happening.  First of all...I just looked back over my LAST post and saw all the gorgeous pics of my family enjoying Apache Lake, and I have to just say...that post MAKES ME SMILE!!!!  I love seeing the gorgeous scenery and my sweet sister and the bright smiles on all the faces of the family I cherish.  Especially the non smiley teenagers!  It makes me SO happy to see that..so I'm beyond grateful for those pics!

Next...We've had visitors!  Chris's dad and stepmother came from Montana and were here with us for three days.  We had a great time seeing them, despite all the kiddo's very busy schedules.  They headed out on Thursday afternoon and took a huge piece of my heart back with them.  Max went with them to spend a couple of days there in Montana hunting.  He didn't bag anything and will be home late, late tonight.  I will be SOOO happy to have all of my kiddos back under the same roof.

I am looking forward to this week because it's Thanksgiving week, and therefore just a three day week at school!  Woo hoo!!!  There is SO much to cram in in those three days though.  Clara has a huge spelling bee, Max has Spanish presentations and Ben has tests.  Yikes!  Add in the unexpected circumstance that I need to get Clara in for an x-ray because we think her wrist may be broken.  Ugggh!  I know you are asking..."WHAT HAPPENED???", and so...I will tell you.  The little neighbor girl got a little too excited...tackled her with a linebacker quality shove and caught poor Clara totally off guard.  Because she didn't see it coming, she did not dodge or brace for it and was sent airborn.  She landed on the concrete, on her wrist, in a bit of an awkward position.  24 hours later, it hurts to move the wrist at all.  And by dinner tonight we notice some bruising and swelling.  We are hoping it is sprained...but having been down this road with her a few times now, we are realistic in acknowledging that we could be looking at her third break.  This would be the first break on the right arm.  Good...in that the left arm isn't compromised AGAIN.  Bad in that she is right handed.  I hope to know more about this tomorrow.

As for Thanksgiving...our wonderful friends, the Emch's are coming over to celebrate with us.  Once again, we will be bagging tradition in favor of a fun fiesta theme.  We will be having a taco bar, guacamole, salsa, white queso, refried beans, margaritas, and various yummy desserts!  We are looking forward to being able to celebrate with dear friends and relish all we have to be thankful for this year.  I am feeling more thankful this year I think, than any other year.  Here are a few recent shots of things I can add to my incredibly long list of blessings I have been counting!

So thankful for friends, old and new, that made this Halloween SO much fun!!!

Thankful for a sunrise that will take your breath away.

Thankful for the opportunity to see...and photograph this VERY huge and cool owl I came across on my morning walk!  Very surreal to watch him through the lens obviously watching me!

It's really and truly been another amazing month here in the desert.  I love Arizona SO much.  There will never be enough words to say or express it.  My heart is SO at peace here.  And each and every new day seems to dazzle me.  I never know when or where it's going to happen, but without fail, there is a moment in each and every day that just steals my breath away and I marvel at the beauty that is right before me.  Thankful, thankful, thankful.

And...because I have been SO delinquent...here are several miscellaneous photos from the Fall Break-ish period I thought I'd share with you!  Enjoy!!!

I found this guy on the step outside of the Biosphere2.  Very cool!

Is this guy stunning, or what?!  

A baby FLAMINGO!  Isn't he just a precious mess?!

She's SO camera shy, bless her heart.

The giraffe was being very coy with me!

It ain't easy being King of the Jungle!  Zzzzzz

LOVE the otters at the zoo!  SO much personality!

Visited whatever this place is called.  De Grazia something or other I think?

Loved the gate...but not nearly as much as I love the girl standing by it!

And that's a wrap folks!  You are officially caught up on life now!  I will TRY to do better next month FOR SURE!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Well!  Halloween has finally arrived...thus wrapping up an incredibly busy month here in Tucson for the Roberts family!  Clara is CRAZY excited today because 1) she gets a party at school.  2) She has piano lessons.  (Okay...scratch that.  She DOES have piano lessons but I doubt she's very excited about them!)  3) She gets to go Trick Or Treating tonight with her BFF and 4) She gets to wear this ridiculously cute costume that we made this year.  That's right.  we MADE it!!!!  Behold...the miracle!

Our very crafty washing machine costume!

In addition to some crazy crafting for our big Halloween night, we managed to squeeze in a weekend getaway to Roosevelt Lake.  It's just a short two hour (or so) drive over the mountains but is OH so beautiful.  We have camped there before...back in the days before we left for that other state that I will not mention.  We're back now...and that's all that matters.  Anyway...we have camped Lake Roosevelt before and it's lovely.  But THIS time...we camped at Lake Roosevelt, but DROVE up over the crazy mountain on the very tight and winding and very bumpy DIRT road to get to one of the most beautiful places I have been.  Apache Lake!  If you've never visited, you have missed out!  My oldest sister and her husband made the trek over and joined us for a beautiful day of boating and sightseeing out on the lake.  Such fun!!!  BEHOLD...Lake Apache...

Our boat captain for the day!

Clara talking her Uncle Grady's ear off!

Beautiful rock formations surround this lake.  

The water was SO gorgeously blue!

Co captains!

Ben chilling and enjoying the scenery.

And a very rare smile from this one!

My sister and her hubby!

Trying his luck at landing "the big one".  

Fishing is his happy place!

This one is just silly.

Oscar REALLY liked Grady!

I love this boy of mine!

Seriously gorgeous here.  

Stunning!  

Did I mention that this one is silly?

Hellooooo whole family!  This is a rare shot!  I'm IN it!

Aren't these two just too cute?

Everyone loved driving the boat!

More smiles!  Being on the lake just brings out the best in him!

My man!

And she's back at the wheel!

This was the view from our campsite.  Beautiful...but nearly as dramatic as Apache Lake!

Clara did a beautiful job of decorating our campsite for us!

What else have we been up to?  Well...I've had a couple of huge photo shoots.  Boudoir and newbie.  I LOVE the newbie sessions.  Here's a peek from yesterday's session...

Miss Scarlett is the third addition to this sweet family...so I was SO excited to find this super fun bucket with No. 3 stenciled on it!

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And THAT is what we have been up to!  Or at least...THAT is all I have time to tell you about right now!  Life is nuts around here with all the Halloween festivities and I have managed to find myself scheduled into nearly every one of them!  I will try to do a better job of keeping catched up next month!  Until then!  Have a SPOOOOoooooky sweet day!