Celebrating Twenty

Yesterday, Chris and I celebrated twenty years of marriage.  No small feat in this day and age.  We are still, most happily married and that is not something I take for granted.  Especially as we watch so many of our friends NOT being happily married and moving on to divorce.  We had been talking for a few months about how we might celebrate this year.  Did we want to do a big trip?  Maybe a cruise, taking the kids along?  But we couldn't really settle on anything.  Nothing seemed to gel for our crew.  And leaving our crew for a week or so didn't gel either with us, having new drivers and what not.  And so...we decided to postpone a big trip somewhere for another 5 years.  By then...both boys will be out of the equation, out on their own and we will only have Clara to figure out.  I thought that was where we had left the matter.  I put in a great idea for a purse I am dying to have that was pretty inexpensive...along with a couple of other gift ideas, and was excited for Wednesday to roll around.  I woke up unusually early on Wednesday morning, excited about the new cycling jersey that I had to give Chris and I wanted to make sure I was awake to give him his gift before he headed out the door to go to work.  After I gave him his jersey, I expected him, in turn, to hand me my gift.  In a box of some varying size.  BUT...what he handed me was simply an envelope.  I opened it up and there was a letter there for me.  With the first sentence reading "I know you are going to be mad at me."  Uh oh!  This was NOT the way I was expecting to wake up and celebrate twenty years!  I proceeded to read on and discovered that there was no box coming.  The reason being, that you just can't box up the special gift he had put together!  He was SO sweet and planned a quick getaway for us to Las Vegas! We had plane tickets and dinner reservations and tickets to see Cirque de Soleil!   And we were leaving in THREE hours!!!!  Whew!  Good thing I woke up more than an hour earlier than normal!!! I was SO excited!  Chris had taken care of every detail.   All the kids were covered with pick ups and drop offs and he had even arranged a fun sleepover for Clara with one his coworkers and my friend whom Clara ADORES to pieces!  She was so excited!  She couldn't WAIT for us to be gone!!!  So I quickly packed and dropped kids off at school and we were OFF!  I have never taken a trip like this on the fly, at the last second...so it was a double adrenaline rush for me.  I tend to spoil it for myself with the planning and overplanning and overthinking and worrying about all of the details.  But THIS time...there was nothing to plan!  Nothing to worry over.  I just had to get in the car and get on the plane and GO!!!!

We arrived in Vegas about 1:15 local time.  We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel on the strip.  We were staying at the Bellagio and I was SO excited to see how beautiful and huge it was!  I was utterly SHOCKED when we walked into our room (get this....we celebrated our 20th anniversary, on the 20th floor, in room 20020!)  and took in the view before us!  It was GORGEOUS!!!!!!  We had a fountain view...and a view of SO much more.  It was simply stunning!  HERE is the view I walked in to find!

Amazing, right?!  I couldn't believe how stunning it was!  I took this with my phone right in the huge window of our room!  I could have stood there all day long taking it all in.  But we headed out to get a little lunch.  We walked across the street, towards the Eiffel Tower and had a great sandwich in a little french themed bakery/sandwhich shop.  Then we walked around a bit to see some of the sights.  We ran into these guys...

I LOVE the minions from Despicable me...so this was just too fun!  After walking around forever, we decided to head back up to our room and rest just a few minutes before dinner.  We grabbed a bottle of wine and returned to our gorgeous suite.  Darkness was quickly on us and THIS was the view we had...

We had reservations at a wonderful, fancy restaurant downstairs and tickets for Cirque de Soleil...but I was so darned facsinated by the gorgeous light and water show going on in the fountain below me that I was GLUED to the window!  I could have sat there ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!  I LOVED watching it!  The entire scene was just surreal.  SO pretty and sparkly and ALIVE!  But we DID manage to leave to head to dinner.  Here's a picture of the two of us right before we headed out!

Hard to believe it's been twenty years!  Anyway.  As much as I didn't want to leave the room, I am SO happy that I did!  Dinner was DELICIOUS and the show....there are simply no words to capture how amazing and truly awesome that show was.  All I could say was "Wow" and "wow" and "WOW"!!!!  I will never forget it as long as I live.  INCREDIBLE!!!!!  Just breath taking!  We made our way back to the Bellagio afterwards and then sat up in the window until the very last fountain show, just after midnight!  I didn't want to miss any of it, as I knew the fountain would not be on again before I had to leave the next morning.  It was a LOOOOOOONG but WONDERFUL and exciting day!  Then, it was time to get up and hit the road to get back home!    Getting TO Vegas seemed to take but a minute.  But getting home...seemed to suck up most of the day.  We arrived safe and sound, tired but happy.  I am SO grateful for this sweet and wonderful man that I am lucky enough to have shared the last twenty years with.  It was so special and fun to celebrate with him.  I could never have dreamed up such a whirlwind and special evening!

Can't wait to spend the next twenty years with this man!  I am blessed beyond my wildest imagination!

Good Morning from the Desert!!!

THIS is the amazing scenery I woke up to this morning!  Can you believe it?  Stunning, right?

I really think that Arizona must be one of God's most favorite places He ever created.  Why else would he repeatedly and OFTEN paint such glorious pictures for us to wake up to?  I mean...I lived in Texas for nearly three years and never experienced anything like this there.  Don't recall a lot of it in Florida or Georgia either.  Never saw any of it while visiting North Carolina.   I'm telling you....God loves him some Arizona!

THAT much is clear.  I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be able to live here.  To be able to witness the breathtaking scenery time and time again and be left utterly breathless, each and every single time.  I may not ever have mentioned this before...but I LOVE the desert.   I passionately and totally CRAZY love the desert!!!

Thank you, God for another glorious sunrise.  For the experience of being left breathless by yet another of your amazing masterpieces.  

Life is good in the desert!

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday, dear Ben!!!

I can't believe it!  Remember yesterday?  No?  Well.  It just happened, like yesterday.  It was Wednesday.  And my kid... looked like this...

Oh yeah!  NOW you remember.  Right?!  Yep.  Benjamin looked like this just yesterday.  Yes.  That was just yesterday.  I could swear that it was.  I went to bed last night.  Had a good sleep.  But then, this morning...apparently...that sweet, bright, snaggle toothed baby boy in the picture there, turned SIXTEEN!!!  Can you believe it?!  I know, right?!  Total craziness.  I don't know how it happened.  But it did.  And so...with great sadness (and confusion over how it happened overnight), I bring you...Ben.  The overnight turned 16 Benjamin.  Sweet, happy, responsible, lovable, always ready with a hug or snuggle Ben.  Sigh.  I love this boy!

This really, really BIG, tall boy!  With the killer smile.  And sparkly blue eyes.  (Can you believe I created this stunning, handsome creature?)  And the size 14 shoes.  Oy!  But the kid has some big old feet!  And he's taller than me.  By several inches now.  And outweighs me.  By many, many pounds.  Even in my advanced state of fluffiness.  Yes...this is a big boy.  A big, beautiful boy.  With a smile that lights up the room and melts your heart.  What a blessing!  Who knew how this little guy would end up rocking our world way back when when we were surprised with him and his unplanned, but definitely impending arrival?!  We sure didn't think we were ready for another baby.  But God sure did!  And I couldn't be more grateful or thankful than I am today for this sweet, sweet gift.  We are truly blessed!  Happy, happy birthday Benjamin Harrison Roberts!  Thank you for being the awesome kid that you are.  You definitely make our family a better family because you are part of it!

Happy November!!!!

Okay, so I totally skipped October.  I had the best of intentions.  Really!  And actually had new pictures to post and everything!  But then...dang it all...life just kept creeping up and getting in the way.  That...and I find it harder and harder to get to my computer when there are any children here in the house.  But...just because I didn't get them posted in real time, so to speak, doesn't mean they can't be posted NOW!  And so...on this first day of November...I bring you...October!  A month in review!

October brought us fall break.  Which is one of the things I love MOST about living in the desert!  Texas doesn't have it.  But I think it's SUCH a well timed and wonderful break for our kiddos!  For Fall break this year, we went to California.  And by WE, I mean myself, Chris and Clara.  And her little friend.  The boys had other things to do here in town, like work, and Cars N Coffee and Lacrosse practice.  And so...for the first time ever...we left them behind.  At home.  Alone.  YIKES!!! It was totally 100% nerve wracking for me and I was not a fan of it.  They did fine.  Absolutely fine.  I, on the other hand, worried through most of it.  Not exactly relaxing.  Anywho...here are some shots from our beach getaway!

I love this shot of her cartwheeling her way across the beach!

Clara and her friend, Lux

Have I mentioned she's growing up WAY too fast?!

The girls also went to California Adventures and I think I have some shots of them...but they are on my phone and I will have to e-mail to myself to get them on here! A task for another time!

There hasn't been too much happening besides fall break...EXCEPT for Halloween!  Another milestone for us.  Clara spent her first halloween without us.  Spent the night and trick or treated with a friend.  And we weren't invited along to participate in the festivities.  Sniff sniff.  But I DID hold her captive before she left long enough to snap a few pictures of her!  Here's my beautiful little witch!

Tell me she isn't the cutest little witch you've ever seen?!

A very giggly witch!

Help me Rhonda, she's just SO gorgeous!

Did I mention she's gorgeous?

She seriously melts my heart!  Don't you love her witch "bling"?  She was working the spiders!

Of course...she can't be too serious for to long!

She's ready!

Seriously...total cuteness!

I could eat her up!  Sweeter than ANY candy she could possibly collect in her trick or treat bag!

And THAT is about all I have for October.  I wish I had tons of really exciting things to post...but alas...life just isn't quite that exciting.  Oh...and we DO have two other children.  They are just terribly camera shy creatures that I have a rather difficult time hunting down for pictures.  You will simply have to make due with the little one featured here.  She loves the camera!  Thank goodness!  Happy November!!!  I'll be back SOON!  (here's hoping anyway!)

Goodbye September!!!!

I couldn't let this month go by without a post!!!!  Life has been crazy (as you may have guessed from my lack of posting?!)  Nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary...but the pace of life during the school year certainly keeps us on the go and on our toes!

Here is some of what we have been up to....

I am wearing CONTACTS!!!!!  How is it going?!  MOSTLY successfully!  I am not having NEARLY the trouble I had with them in Texas.  I am a pro at popping them in and out on my very first attempt (generally), and for the most part have not had any trouble.  We are experiencing a wee bit of an allergy season here with "fall" in the air...and so every now and again I have a day where my eyeballs are just too itchy to pull of the contact thing for more than two or three hours.  But for the most part...it's a success!!!  So WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Here's me with my pups!  They miss the kids while they are away at school all day.  Isn't it so cute how they both look like they smiled for this picture?!  Cooper has been unusually behaved here lately.  I probably just totally jinxed myself with that comment...and all heck may break loose now...but as of TODAY...it's been a fairly uneventful month of September!  Which...after that whole bird eating thang last month...is a nice change!

What else?  Well...Clara is still swimming four days a week.  Though I don't expect that to last too too much longer.  The weather is cooling off.  And though they heat the pool, my girly with about zero body fat just can't really take the chill of the water.  She is signed up to swim through the end of November.  She is wishing she weren't.  I kind of am too.   But maybe we can get another week or two out of all this?  She is really interested in archery right now.  Her PE class teaches it.  That and clown college!  How totally cool is that?!  I would have LOVED PE back in the day if they had coursework like that!  We just did the basic run till you drop, play sports you hate, try to climb the scary as hell fat rope attached to the ceiling in the gym, square dance with boys you'd rather die than have to touch.  The usual old school stuff.  Sigh.  It's a whole different world today!  Anyway...she now wants to join archery club at school.  AND take a tumbling class at the gym so she can work on her handsprings and other assorted stunts.  AND do Odyssey of the Mind.  But she's willing to quit swim.  Who knows how life will play out with my little busy bee!!!

 Ben's school year is trucking right along.  He's getting good grades and seems to be showing an interest in LaCrosse.  I have no idea how all of that will work out...but it's something we are currently exploring.  I have no idea what the game is about.  What kind of equipment one needs to play the game.  Nothing.  I only know it's played on a field.  Outside.  In the winter here in Tucson after the football team is done with the field for football season!  His birthday is just over a month away.  He's gunning for a camera.  He's been quite interested in photography.  SPECIFICALLY, photography of fast, expensive cars!!!  There is an event here once a month in Tucson called Cars and Coffee.  The owners of flashy, expensive vehicles all meet up in the parking lot at the outdoor mall here and ogle each other's rides.  Ben LOVES to go.  LOVES to see all those cars all in one place and LOVES to photograph them!  He has an instagram account devoted solely to cars he sees around town and photographs and posts.  He is even considering NOT going on fall break with us when we go to the beach here soon because it falls on a Cars and Coffee Saturday.  Sigh.  That boy is just too much!

And THEN...last but not least, is my big boy.  Max is doing great!  Here's what we have been up to with him.....

 Can you say SENIOR PICTURES?!

 That's right.  It's that time!  Can you believe this boy of mine is a SENIOR????!!!!!

 I mean...seriously.  Just let that word roll off your tongue a few times.

 Just doesn't seem possible, does it?!

 And yet...there he stands.  In all his SENIOR glory!

Two months of his senior year is officially behind him.  2014 is just ahead of us.  And May of 2014 is the month we've been dreaming and having nightmares about for years now!  Yes.  My boy is a senior!   The countdown to launch is ON!

I'm trying to think if there is anything else that I have missed.  Anything earth shattering, new, original, or awesome.  And I'm coming up blank!  So I guess I have covered the bases.  For now!  Anyway.  That's all the news from the desert for this day.  I'm sure something else will come to me.  In the meantime...life is GOOD in the desert.  Terribly, impossibly busy.  With time moving faster than I ever thought possible.  But good, good, good all the same!

Two Weeks Into the School Year AAAAAAND........

All three kids are sick.  The mommy is feeling it come on too.  Max fought a cold and nasty sore throat Sunday and Monday.  He actually stayed home from school on Tuesday.  Not fun.  I was relieved when he was able to jump back in on Wednesday.  But that was short lived, because this morning I have both Clara and Ben home with raging sore throats and upset tummies.  As I sit typing this, I am acutely aware of my own sore throat.  Not fun.  I am thinking it will be a very, very quiet weekend around these parts.  Got to love the return to the germ pool, huh?  THIS is the part of back to school that I just hate!

In other news...Cooper has been keeping me busy.

What's that on his face you ask?  Those would be feathers.  Yes...feathers.  Note the excessively GUILTY look on his face.  Also note that he is is INSIDE and not outside.  It was a CRAZY monsoon weather day yesterday.  One of the biggest and fiercest storms I have seen sweep the desert...here is a shot of the action...

See the wind playing havoc with my swing?!  It was raining all kinds of sideways!  And the wind gusts were just insane.  After it was all said and done, I discovered this this morning...

 It's hard to tell in this picture but this cactus is sizeable.  It's nearly up to my shoulders!

And this little tree just couldn't stand up to the wind either.  It was even staked to a sizeable pole (which doesn't show up in this pic but is there).

Anyway.  I had to fix this this morning.  The tree is easy enough to set upright and all...but the cactus...that's a sticky situation!  (Get it?!  Sticky? Ha ha)  Anyway.  I had Clara helping me with a towel kind of made into a sling around the cactus while I attempted to get it back into the ground and tamp the dirt down around it when we heard a huge SMACK on the window.  I could immediately see where a bird had flown into the master bedroom window there on the porch in front of the swing.  But I DIDN'T see any bird.  So I ASSUMED it knocked itself silly and flew away.  This is actually a common occurence here in the desert.  Big windows reflect lots of blue sky and the birds just fly right into it.  More often than not they just fly away.   I finished untangling myself from the cactus and headed over to the porch where there were LOTS of feathers, a huge streak of blood...dragged across the patio...but NO BIRD.  I knew immediately what had happened.  To my dismay, the back door was open and I immediately shouted to the kids to get eyes on Cooper STAT!  It's an order that we are all too familiar with in our house!   Everyone jumped to their feet and started looking.  There was a trail of feathers leading through the house, so that gave us a hint and we set off running in that direction.  They led all the way back to the master bedroom, through it and into the master bath and into MY CLOSET.  There is a small vanity chair stored in the back corner of my closet and it is under this chair that MUCH mischief seems to take place at the paws of a certain puppy by the name of Cooper.  Ben dove under and brought out a feather covered Cooper...

And I knew what I was looking for was also bound to be under there.  Sure enough...upon investigation, I discovered the dove that Cooper was trying to hide with.  I quickly removed her and then set to cleaning up the mess.  There are feathers EVERYWHERE in my house right now.  This dog never lets life get boring.  He keeps us hopping.  Always!  He's a quick one, for sure!  After two sick kids, two felled tree/cacti, and a crazy goose (well, DOVE) chase...I think this Friday is starting to feel a lot like a Monday.

The mommy's throat is hurting and I feel a headache coming on.  I need some drugs...and something warm to drink.  And so...off I go.  Have a great weekend!  Life is NOT dull here in the desert!

FRUSTRATED

It is only the 6th day of the school year.  We are officially ONE week in today.  And this momma is feeling frustrated and aggravated with Clara's math class.  Shocker, right?  Considering how I myself totally suck at math and have never been a fan of the numbers game?  But no...THIS frustration is directed at the teaching.  And Obama.  And his cursed new Common Core standards.  This is the first year that the new curriculum is being taught in the Arizona schools.  I was warned this summer by her previous teacher that I could expect some bumps in the road.  That the gifted children, especially, would struggle with the new program.  The idea is that it is not enough to just learn the math concepts.  You have to be able to EXPLAIN them.  And not just put into words that the rule for, say example,
7 - (-4) =11, is that when you MINUS a negative number, the minus sign becomes a plus sign and you actually add them.   While CORRECT, it is no longer the RIGHT answer.  NO.  This very correct answer is now a wrong answer.  Clara's teacher told her that she needs to pretend she is explaining it to her MUCH younger sister so that she can understand it.  Clara has wracked her brain and she can't simplify it any further.  It's totally stressing her out.  And as her mom I'm thinking...not so much about how to simplify the answer...but rather...well, here's MY line of thinking.  For one...we don't actually HAVE a younger sibling.  And even if we did...because the imaginary sibling is YOUNGER she wouldn't be sitting in an ALGEBRA class because she'd be in her OWN class getting the appropriate foundation and background so that when the day came that she SHOULD be sitting in an algebra class and learning algebra concepts she would be able to grasp the perfectly correct and acceptable explanation that two minuses make a plus sign.  The end.  What can I say?  I'm a rebel that way.  I did try to be more responsible and I started researching ways to further simplify and explain what that concept means.  I sat through countless videos and tutorials, math raps (ugh) and dry explanations.  And here's what I discovered.  Pretty much NOTHING that will help her.  Nearly all of them arrive at the same correct conclusion that is now NOT the correct conclusion.  And I am officially more confused than ever and convinced this math stuff is a racket!  I have always just known what I know...what I was taught.  I was TAUGHT that two negatives make a positive.  It always WORKED in the equations exactly the way it was supposed to.  And that was that. Many, many years later I STILL know that two negatives make a positive.  But now...now I'm beyond confused and have no idea what I know anymore and am starting to suspect maybe I don't actually know anything?  Or maybe I do know it...but don't know I know it?  Or maybe I THINK I know it but don't actually know it or maybe only know parts of it or only know it to a certain degree?  I think, that in trying to help simplify this one math concept the first week of school, I may have, in actuality, wiped out SEVERAL years of my own math schooling.  I understand that the schools want the kids to learn to think differently.  I get it.  But you can't just undo 6 years of educational training and fix it by telling them to FIGURE IT OUT, which is what her teacher did.  Nice.  If you want them to think differently, you have to TEACH THEM TO THINK DIFFERENTLY.  Grrrrr.  I'm fired up this morning and ready to go have a little sit down with a math teacher.  I'm sad that all of this is going into place this year and messing with my girl and her confidence level.  It's so frustrating to be the parent on the sidelines who can't even really help her because WE don't know how to think that way.  I suspect it is going to be a long year and a rough ride on this common core train.  I hope this week is not an indicator of what is to come, but is simply a little bump in the road.  I don't want her to hate math and all it takes is one year with the wrong teacher to kill it for a kid.  Here's hoping this isn't the year of the math slayer.

Eleven

Eleven years ago today we were blessed with a baby girl.  Third times a charm, right?  We could NOT have imagined the adventures and joy and drama and fun and silliness and drama and tears and tickles and DRAMA we would come to experience in the presence of that little pink bundle!  I am so thankful every day for the gift of her.  For her sweet and gentle heart, her determination, her smile that lights up a room, her bubbly personality...for all of this and SO much more...I am thankful, thankful, thankful.   This girl has been such a blessing to our family.  She brings one exciting adventure after another to our lives and keeps me hopping!  Today, we celebrate her 11th birthday!  Where, oh where is the time going?!

 Is this girly cute, or what?!  LOVE her!!!!!

 Eleven years of being blessed with this smile....

 She melts my heart!!!!

 Cooper loves her too!!!!

He loves her a LOT!!!!!!!  Happy Birthday, Clarabelle!!!!!  We ALL love you!!!!

Because I'm Full of Surprises!!!

Try to contain your excitement...but I do believe this will be my THIRD post in almost as many days!  I thought I would share the events of this morning with you, as they are monumental in SO many ways.  For one...it's the first day of school in the desert.  It's a monumental day for SO many reasons!  For one...it's HIS LAST first day of school!

 That's right!  My big boy is a SENIOR this year!!!!!!  How in the world did that happen?!!!

Don't you remember him being this little just yesterday?! I feel like I've been time robbed!!!

Not only is he a senior, he's a senior who can DRIVE!  So this year, instead of enjoying his intellectual banter each morning on the way to school,

He will be driving himself AND his brother to school.  Sniff, sniff.  I lose BOTH of their charming and witty company in the mornings.  This really is a good thing...I know it is.  But it was SO much harder than I thought it would be watching him drive off this morning.  I thought I'd be doing a happy dance, but mostly I just kicked into mommy worry overdrive.  Sigh. Here's Max's morning sidekick...

A sophomore.  Does this even seem possible?  I will miss this boy in the hours he is away at school.  He's a sweet one, this one.  He's thoughtful, polite, funny, always has a hug for his mom.  And is just generally a delight and easy to be around.  That high school is SO lucky to be getting him the greater chunk of his day. 

But alas...I wasn't left standing there all teary eyed in the driveway for too long because there was still a certain blondie who was BUSTING with excitement to leave and get started on HER monumental day...that's right...it HER first day of MIDDLE SCHOOL.  (Enter heart attack here)

She is BEYOND excited about this school year.  She's nervous and worried and over the moon happy and crazy excited all rolled up in one!  She can't wait to see who is in her classes, what the work will be like, if she will be able to find her way to all her classes on the huge campus and if she will make it to all her classes on time.  She has spent hours picking just the right outfit, making sure her nails are painted JUST RIGHT and picking out just the right shade of lip gloss (yes..it's her token "make up" this year).  She seemed SO grown up standing there this morning.  

Good grief!  She's off to school wearing make up and I'm still seeing her like this...

 Obviously, I need to get a grip this morning.  All this walking down memory lane is killing me!  My baby is NOT a baby anymore and she'd take offense to me thinking she is.  She's growing up to be quite the beautiful young lady.  I especially love this picture I snapped of her this morning...

So seriously beautiful.  And not babyish.  Sigh.  My heart hurt when I dropped her off at the middle school this morning.  A LOT.  I was ready to feel a total rush of excitement and freedom.  The urge to come home and clean and purge.  But I'm sitting here this morning missing her.  Missing all of them.  I feel like I have a rock in my stomach as I wonder how their morning is going.  Is she finding her classes.  Does she have friends in her classes?  Is she making any new friends?  Is everyone being nice to her?  Are her teachers nice?  I miss them all.  All the noise they bring.  And the mess.  And the chaos.  Did I mention they are messy?  I'm jealous of everyone who is getting to share their day with my children...talk about surprise?!  I don't think I've ever missed them as much as I miss them this morning.

 Seriously...with these sweet faces...what's not to miss?!  Life is good in the desert.  Changing.  Transitioning.  A good bit quieter today than it's been in a long time.  Happy first day of school!