I'm Expanding

I can't imagine where your thoughts just went with THAT title!  My waist?  My butt?  My family?  The answer to all of the above possible expansions...NOPE!  I am expanding to a new blog.  People keep asking me what I'm up to...and now you will be able to read about, and SEE what I'm up to!  Hopefully!  Life is fairly boring these days, which has left me a little extra time to pursue something new...my pole fitness! And so...I've decided I'll be blogging about it.  Now...deciding it and DOING it...two different things!  But the wheels are in motion and the first entry has been written...complete with both photo AND video documentation for your viewing pleasure!  Hop on over there to check it out!  Here's where to find me!


Confessions of a Pole Mama

The Sunday Edition

I'm BAaaaaack! AND it's only been a few short days since my last post!  It's a great Sunday morning here in the desert.  Why?  Well, for one, it's UBER dark cloudy.  So there is a POSSIBILITY of rain!  We will take that!  It's much cooler this morning...another win for the desert.  The coolness is a double perk for Chris, who, at 6:12 a.m. is currently out running his 22 mile distance run this morning as part of his marathon training that is coming up next month.  These runs have been a booger for him with the heat and humidity of the desert this month...no matter HOW early he's been starting.  So this morning is a blessing. 

Turns out my broken toe is actually TWO broken toes!  You know what they say..."Go big or go home!"  I guess I did it big all right!  The bottom of my toes are ugly, ugly blue and bruised...one toe is still totally blue.  The top of my foot is also showing some bruising as well.  Ugly as it is though, on this, the fourth day after breaking it, it hurts a good bit less and I feel like I can ALMOST walk a bit closer to normal?  Maybe not full on...but it's definitely better!  I have still been going to pole class.  I refuse to lose my muscles in my upper body now that I am finally getting them back!  Toes play a minor part in pole exercise anyway (unless you manage to slam them into the ground like I did!), so it hasn't been too big a deal.  I've had to modify a couple of exercises to keep myself off my toes on that foot...but it's worked out just fine.  My own personal pole has arrived in the mail.  Turns out, our ceiling where I plan to place the pole is slightly slanted,  and the pole can't snug up against the ceiling like it needs to.  So I had to order an additional part for it.  As soon as that arrives, Chris will get me all installed and I can get some more practice time in!  I LOVE the ab exercises we do on the pole as well, so it will be nice to be able to do those at home, instead of once every few days at the dance center. 

I'm restarting my Weight Watchers program today.  I have been off for a while, trying some other things...but nothing has worked like the WW program so I am heading back to what I know works.  Or I should say...will HOPEFULLY work?!  If this doesn't work, then I guess I'm going to have to have a visit with my doc to have my hormone levels checked.  I'd prefer to avoid that route at all costs! 

Cooper has kept us on our toes this week.  We came home the other night to find that Cooper had totally raided the pantry!  He'd had a buffet that included several tortillas, some Keeble Elf fudge cookies, some beef jerky, a half a jar of Nutella, and he had ATTEMPTED to open a can of peanuts, but hadn't gotten too far with that one.  All of this I found in my family room when we arrived home!  Upon further investigation, I also found what was left of a package of Lemon Oreos in our master bedroom.  For the LOVE!  Needless to say, Cooper was running on a wide open sugar high!  Chris and I were ready to throttle him before he finally was able to settle down for the night!  He was racing all over the house and was restless, restless, restless!  Ugh!  Not a good time, that's for sure!   That crazy dog will probably be pooping tortillas for days to come! 

Clara's Gettysburg Address rewrite has come along nicely.  My girl has a way with words and she never ceases to amaze me.  She's crazy smart.  I am really, really impressed with the work and thought she put into her words.  AND the Civil War playset has arrived in the mail!  So we are armed with plastic soldiers, cannons, canoes, covered wagons, and all sorts of other militia supplies!  I just have to find the appropriate sized box and we can begin our construction of the Battle at Antietam diorama!  Ah, the joys of middle school history!  I shouldn't complain.  By this time last year, the sixth grade teachers had already assigned SEVERAL hands on, intensely laborious art projects...like creating our very own math board game, etc.  Know why there are not really any math board games on the market for sale?  Because that's NOT fun.  And noone wants to play those games.  Anymore than their mothers want to MAKE those games.  At least I got an A, Clara did very well on that project, earning very high marks.  It was a LOT of effort, so it would have been disappointing NOT to do well after all of that!

I guess that about wraps up life around these parts.  It's hardly exciting, but it IS current!  Depending on what time Chris finishes his run, we may, or may not make it to church this morning.  I definitely have to go to the grocery store.  And I imagine my afternoon will most likely NOT be homework free because, with Clara in the house, that RARELY happens!  I might try to sneak into the gym and see if my toe will cooperate for a workout!   And that's our big day around these parts!  Have a great day!

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!

I'm BAaaaaack!!!!!!  Are you shocked?!  Do I need to give you a minute to gather yourself and recover from the shock of seeing this blog updated?  I get it!  Day after day, month after never ending month of checking in and seeing nothing, and then SUDDENLY, you check in and BOOM...a new post!  I apologize for being remiss in my posting efforts.  I wish I could say that I have a great excuse.  But I DON'T!!!!  Life has just, you know...been happening!  For a while, I could blame it on Max because it seemed like every time I turned around, the kid was either on my computer, or in front of the TV right beside my computer...and I need to limit my distractions while I blog!  Otherwise I can't think straight and all kinds of crazy, disjointed, nonsensical stuff ends up on here!  BUT...Max moved out a few weeks ago.....soooooooo.  But hey...that's a GREAT place to start the catch up!

Max moved out three weeks ago into his own apartment.  He is living with three roommates, two girls and a guy.  They seem to all be getting along nicely and he's happy over there!  And that makes this mom happy!  He is working at a burger place, Jack in the Box and is putting in about 30 hours a week at this point.  He seems to like it well enough, though told me that when he works his longer, nine hour shifts, he is pretty uncomfortable.  Max has one leg that is shorter than the other by a little bit.  We had him checked out by an orthopedic surgeon  when he was in the 4th grade due to a severe limp he developed while we were walking all over Europe on vacation.  The discrepancy in leg length was the culprit.  It really hasn't troubled him too much since.  UNLESS he spends a good deal of time on his feet, in which case, he does have a good bit of pain due to being "off".  This weekend we are going to try to find him some better shoes, along with an insole for the one foot to see if we can even him up a bit and hopefully, make him a bit more comfortable.  He also has pretty flat feet....which isn't helpful from a comfort standpoint either.  But other than his sore feet/hip/back, he is doing quite well and seems to like living on his own.  He is getting life figured out, bit by bit.  He's cooking and cleaning up after himself.  Tackling his own laundry and hitting the stores when his supplies dwindle.  Clara is "starting to miss that kid", as she says, and is hoping he will get to join us for dinner one of these nights that he is free from working. 

Benjamin is working at Office Max and is liking it.  He seems to find it a bit boring, but "wouldn't want to go get a hard job like Max has."  So there you have it.  He prefers little to no action and getting paid for it.  While Max much prefers the faster pace!  Who knew?!  The adjustment has been a bit tough for Ben.  He's such an early to bed guy!  It's not unusual for him to be out like a light by 8:30 or 8:45 during the week, but then is an early bird, getting up again around 5:30 a.m.  His usual shift at the Office store is 4-9:30 pm.  Which is no big deal and not that late.  But when he has to come home and do a half hour to hour of homework, he's not getting to bed until between 10 and 11 pm.  Again...not an issue for your average high schooler...but it's throwing poor Ben for a loop!  He just doesn't operate well past 9 PM!  I'm sure as he continues the schedule, things will get easier for him!  He's gotten really into photography and has gotten QUITE good at it.  His passion is photographing cars.  The faster and fancier, the better!  He's gotten paid a couple of times for some of what he's done and is starting to get invited to car gatherings to take pictures.  He is also starting a photography club at school! 

As for Miss Clara...she's delightful as ever.  As intense and serious a student as ever any 7th grader in history could be.  She's after straight A's and nothing else will do!  She studies SO hard and it is paying off for her.  Her favorite subject this year seems to be Spanish.  She's soaking it up like a sponge and seems to have wiggled her way into the favorite star student spot with her teacher!  She takes after her mama!  In addition to school, she's dancing up a storm and LOVING it!  She got her very first pointe shoes!  OH MY!  She is SOOOOOO excited about that!

And yes...that's my little ballerina there on her toe!  SO proud of her!  In addition to her regular ballet classes, the studio she dances at called and requested that Clara specifically dance in the Nutcracker this Christmas!  We had not planned to participate due to all the extra practices and the craziness of the holidays...but since they specifically asked her to...AND made an exception and let her skip the warm up because we can't be there after school quite that fast, then we agreed. So far, she is dancing three dances in the Nutcracker performance.  I can't wait to see her up on the stage!  Her dancing makes me happy, happy happy!  She's growing up so fast!  Can't believe she is 12 already!  Here's a picture from her birthday....this girly just makes me smile!

These are her in her new room we made over for her birthday! She was in heaven! 

What else?  Well, Chris is working CRAZY long hours right now.  It's really crunch time with their company and he's burning the candle at both ends these days.  We don't see him too much, except to watch him sleep, poor guy.  This too shall pass, and we are hoping the worst of the push is behind him and he can just work regular now!  Not that that in and of itself is a cake walk.  But we will gladly take anything less than 90 hours a week! 

And then there's me!  What am I up to now that the kids are back in school and Max has moved out?  Well....Clara keeps me busy reading ten thousand different homework reports, etc.  I am currently in Civil War hell.  She just sprung a new two part project on me to be dealt with in the next couple of weeks.  For one part, she has to rewrite the Gettysburg Address in her own words and deliver it to the class.  She wants to take it up a notch and dress as Abe Lincoln to do it.  Okay.  Check.  Thank goodness it's Halloween time and there are beards and hats galore easy to find!  I got this.  Then she springs part 2 on me.  None of the choices are good...but I went with what I THINK may be the lesser of all the evils.  We She has to construct a diorama of a famous civil war battle.  ARGH!  Can you say "PAINFUL"?!  But it's better than the map with umpteen battles and their descriptions labeled or the 5 minute newscast interview at a famous battle.  Ya know why?  Because I looked on Amazon and this mama can purchase a civil war plastic soldier playset, complete with soldiers, flags, covered wagons AND scenery playmap for $16.  Soooooo, with that in hand, all I will need will be some fake grass, some boulders (and let's face it...I live in rock heaven) and a whole lotta glue and BOOM!  Project complete!   Wish me us her luck.  She's never constructed a battlefield, and neither have I...so this could get touchy! 

And when I'm NOT doing 7th grade civil war homework?  Well...I have a new fitness passion!  Pole Fitness has recently come to Oro Valley.  Before you get all excited, let me tell you that the class is taught in a children's dance studio, by a very strict mormom MOM.  So it's not a spicy, sexy, crazy kind of class!  Two or three days a week I go to Pole Fitness where we do lots of pushups, tricep dips, squats, every kind of sit up and ab exercise you can imagine and pull ups.  Then one day a week, I do a Spins class.  In that class, you get to USE all the muscles you've been building up in the fitness class.  And boy do you need muscles!!!  I had NO IDEA the kind of strength involved in this sport.  And I have a new and healthy respect for pole dancers...I don't care WHAT kind of dancing they are doing.  That pole stuff is TOUGH!  I am amazed at the strength I have gained in that class in just a short time.  Of course...it hasn't all been smooth sailing.  Three weeks into my classes, I dislocated a rib.  OUCH!!!!!  Talk an injury that is HARD to forget.  I pretty much thought about it with every single breath for three weeks straight!  I FINALLY felt better and go the go ahead to try it again on my birthday!  I was SOOOOO excited.  Couldn't get to class fast enough that morning.  Of course...I had lost all my muscle in the three weeks I was sitting out and couldn't really do much and was no longer brave on the pole.  As a matter of fact, I was a total chicken and could only manage a couple of spins!  Spinning does NOT come naturally to this mama.  Throwing yourself around a slick, HARD pole and spinning at wild speeds while you try to hang on and not get completely dizzy...THAT has taken a LOT of mental exercise!  Everything in my head says "DON'T DO IT" sometimes.  And when it comes to time to let go of the pole with one hand...while you are spinning...my head is like "Oh NO YOU DON'T".  Sometimes the workout is WAY more mental than physical!!!  I am just not a naturally brave person!  Apparently I'm not the most coordinated either!  I've only been back in class for one week since my dislocated rib.  Today was my second spins class since the rib.  And what happened?  I managed to break my toe!  That's right.  CRACK!  Don't ask me how I did it because I'm sure I don't know.  I'm guessing one of my landings was a little less than graceful?  But who can say.  Now my toe is throbbing, swollen and a nice shade of blue/gray.  I also have a major "pole kiss" on my inner thigh as my instructor calls them...translation: BRUISE.  And it's a doozy!  I can only imagine what it's going to look like tomorrow or in two or three days!  I'd like to say I'm bringing sexy back like the Justin Timberlake song.  But let's face it...it's not going well!  I'm battered and bruised and my pole work is anything BUT sexy.  As a matter of fact, I'm sure the vast majority of the world would have themselves a great laugh is they could see me there swinging er, attempting to swing around that pole!  I have a LONG way to go!  I need a stronger grip, more muscle strength, WAY less body weight would certainly help, oh, and I need to work on being able to do some splits.  THAT would be useful as well.  Just, you know, the regular goals of a 43 year old mom!  Anyway.  That's what me and the rest of this household has been up to!  Hope you enjoyed this update!  I am off now, to tape and elevate my pretty blue toe!  Then it's a full afternoon of dance for me with the princess as she works her Nutcracker magic!  Hopefully, I will be back soon!  Until then!  Enjoy one of our STUNNING recent sunsets!

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!