Andrea and Julie's visit

It has consistently rained whenever we've had visitors...it's such a strange phenomenon.   Andrea, Julie and baby Emma flew to San Diego and then drove over to Yuma on Monday.  Of course it rained all day and they were bummed as they were expecting bright, sunny skies.  Since our house is impossible to find, we waited outside for them and I even had to walk around the block to help navigate them to our house.

 The kids were so excited to have visitors.  Eli came down at 7:00 and said, "I'm dressed and my bed is made...is the baby here yet?"  He was ready for that baby to be here!

Andrea asked Alison if she would like to make an apron together.  Andrea has started her own little apron shop  and taught Alison the ropes.  First stop, Joanne's.

Andrea has a great eye and is really good at knowing what people will like.  This is also true in gift giving but jokes that Ben Shear is the only person that completely throws off her game.  While shopping, she said, "Oh no!  Alison's a mini Ben!  I can't read her at all!"  It made me laugh...I'm glad someone gets what it's like shopping with a very picky and very hard to read person.

 

They ended up making two because they couldn't narrow down fabric choices.

 

Tuesday afternoon, a friend came to watch all the kiddos and we went to get pedicures and ice cream!

 

Then we picked up the kids and took them to Asian Star (Alison's request).  The kids could not let the baby out of their sight.

Wednesday we went down to the river and played at the park.

Somehow I missed Eli getting in the car dressed like a ninja.

After soaking up some sun, we walked around downtown to find some souvenirs for the girls to take home to their kids. 

The ninja loved pushing the baby.

Get ready for lots of baby pictures.  It was so fun having a baby in the house.  She is the sweetest and the kids constantly wanted to be playing with her and feeding her and holding her and basically anything Ms. Julie would allow them to do.

 

 

It brought back so many memories toting around a baby with me.  One afternoon I took Emma with me to the store while Julie took a nap (this little babe still thinks it's necessary to get up every 2 hours) and I had to stop and process how to do this whole shopping with a baby thing again.  

The baby in the house made the kids ask and ask and ask if we could have another baby.  There was so much I loved about having Emma in the house, but I also saw the reality of a sleep deprived momma and a life that revolves around an eating schedule.  I don't miss that part.

Thursday, Julie and I went for a jog.  Julie had a goal of soaking up as much sun as she could before going back to dreary Michigan.  I'm thankful Arizona gave her a few days of sun before she had to go back.

I had a few things I wanted their help with while I had extra hands.  I really want to make a measuring chart for our kids that can make many moves.  The sticky one on our wall is not tall enough and is barely holding on.  I almost bought one off etsy but backed out when I realized it would cost me $80 and half of that was shipping.  So I asked Julie to help me buy a big board and I'll stain it and paint numbers on myself.  I thought I would need help carrying a long board, but she just picked it up and carried it out like no big deal...then I felt silly thinking I would need help.

Oh well.  It gave us a good laugh and the sales clerk an even bigger laugh as he watched us try to scan it in the self check out.

That's what I love most about these friends; how they make me laugh.  Before the visit, the kids would ask me what we were going to do.  I told them that I didn't know our set plans, but I knew that whatever we did would be fun because it always is when I'm with these friends.

This week

I took Colin on a date.  He couldn't be left out of shoe shopping at Target, or the store with the big read circle and dot, as he calls it.

This kid did not stop talking the whole time.  I just sat in the middle of the aisle and listen to him banter on and on about the shoes.  Whenever I have one-on-one time with him, I always realize how hilarious he is and how much I miss of what he says when the other two are around.

We also stopped by Ross (for me) and Colin SUPER wanted to buy this purse. 

The boys really want to build a tree house.  I finally convinced them that we don't have the right tree for it...so they built one on the porch.  Never did I think the scrap wood on the side of the house get so much use in these boys games.  And don't worry Ben, they just laid the wood and netting out to make a little fort.  Eli did attempt to put some nails in the wood, but it was harmless.  I loved seeing them out there trying to be little men.

It is very common that Eli is the only one up for awhile in the morning.  I'm sure I have a million pictures of these moments, but it's just something I love documenting.  This particular morning, we had eggs and prosciutto and played Uno.

I made lasagna, biscuits (Alison is currently in love with homemade biscuits) and salad for dinner one night.  Colin finished his salad and asked if he could finish mine.  I handed mine over and when he was done with mine, he asked for Alison's.  He ate 3 salads, with a spoon.  And this is the face he makes a lot when he wants to be silly.

 

Remember how scared Maya used to be?  It's so cool to see her melt into our family!  This week was the first time that she jumped into my lap to snuggle when I sat down.  Or maybe it was more of a "rub my belly now" gesture and I don't really allow her on the couch, but I thought it was sweet for the moment.

Eli SQUEEZED into Colin's costume.  HA!  He comes down and says "I'm only wearing underwear because I can't fit in with clothes on."  Well okay then.  Not that being naked has ever stopped him.

 

Colin was a bad guy.  

Also on my list of "Never did I think" is how much my boys love dressing up.

 

 Roasting marshmallows is a favorite thing around here when daddy is gone.  This week we tried mini marshmallows and they were super yummy.

Right of passage in 1st grade: making a tornado.

Annie!

I signed Alison up to participate in the local children's theater play of 'Annie'.  Aline decided to jump into the fun and I am so glad she did!  We prepared the girls that they would most likely just be on the crew or help with costumes or maybe just be an "extra" in the scene.  I personally was not prepared for how seriously Alison would take this and was super surprised when I realized she had the entire script and every song memorized before auditions!

Saturday was the first meeting and they had auditions.  I was so crazy proud of Alison.  She more than rocked a new, unknown, completely out of her comfort zone, situation.

Laurel took the boys and I picked up two very happy girls.  Alison got the part of Tessie (one of the main orphans)!  She wants to surprise Ben so SSHHH!

It rained all day, so we went back home and drank tea and hot cocoa.  The girls looked over the script for the millionth time and sang songs together.

 

It's going to be a fun couple of months!

San Diego Shopping

When the town you live in has zero options for running shoes and good dress clothes, the only logical solution is a girls trip to San Diego!

Laurel and Aline came with us and Brian watched all the boys for the whole day!  I'm not sure how to ever repay Brian, but my boys had so much fun they were so sad to be home this morning and not at the White's house.

The great thing about just shopping with the big girls is they could be a little more independent and do a little of their own shopping.  Thank you technology and Aline could text us if they needed anything.

Waiting for the mom's to come out of Loft

The mall was RIGHT on the border of Mexico and it wasn't long before we realized that we were the only white people there.  It was even weirder when I realized that I wasn't even phased by everyone speaking Spanish around me...I just wish I knew what they were saying. 

We were close to Mexico and just as close to the ocean, which meant we had to stop by and say hello.  I mean, it would be rude to not at least pay a short visit.

Yes, Aline is almost as tall as me and she's 11.  It's nice to have friends who understand the tall gene/impossible to find pants that fit phenomenon.  

Alison has been dying to get a Minecraft T-shirt but they only have them in boys.  With the boys not there to see her pick it from their section, she finally braved getting one.  

P.S. Children's Place has been the only place we've been able to find shorts that fit, so we stalked up while we were there!

While sitting on the beach, we searched Yelp for dinner options.  Alison asked for pizza and we discovered the best pizza joint.  While we were searching, we saw 'Kim's Cookie Bar' that was the only 5 star option.  So after dinner we decided we had to taste for ourselves these 5 stars.  Let me tell you, Yelp did not let us down.

It was a long day, but we will most definitely be doing it again.  And Laurel wins points for joining me on 3 crazytrain trips this deployment!

Valentine's Day party

Big news!  Eli pulled out his front tooth last night!

It's been hanging on a thread since the other one came out with the car incident.  We were all taking bets when it would finally came out and we all lost!  Y'all, I was buying this kid popsicles to bite down on so it would come out!  I don't like loose teeth!  I even bribed; I told him we would get donuts when he pulled it out.

So this morning, we added more sugar to our day and went to Arizona Donuts.  Terrible picture, but documented.

working on a Valentine's Day wordsearch

Then we got ready to party!

Alison made a heart to hang for a "shoot arrows through the heart" game.

We made fruit kabobs, shaped like arrows.

And Colin made a Valentine for his bff Tolson.

Our friends came over and the kids started with a few crafts.  Actually, that's not true.  They all immediately ran upstairs and were playing vet and gun fighting.  There were happy and content doing nothing that had to do with Valentine's Day.  I love how kids are happy just being with the people they love.

Then we had snacks; fruit kabobs, cake pops, chocolate covered strawberries and fun popcorn.

When they were nice and sugared up, we played a few games.  We started with musical hearts.

This video makes me so happy.  I love seeing our house full of friends and I know I say it way too much on this blog, but I am so thankful for them!  This party was a small way that I wanted to show my kids that homeschool can be better than public school.  Instead of passing out little cards to people they barely know or care about, they get the afternoon of playing fun games and eating yummy treats with people they love.

Then we played Conversation Heart Bingo:

Oh, and speaking of those friends that I'm thankful for...Laurel helped the kids make me cards while they were at her house once and brought me flowers "from them".  It was one of the most thoughtful things ever!

The party ended and Alison and I crashed on the couch.  Great parties equal great memories...and a little exhaustion...and always leave me wondering how all those women on Pinterest do it.

P.S. Ben sent Alison tulips and me a cappuccino maker.  Now I just have to figure out how to use it :)

This week

Eli and I went on a little date.  We went to Target and he really wanted to get this jacket, but considering it's going to be 90 this week, I declined on buying it.

We got him set on shoes and socks and he ate a giant snack (Eli's love language).

Alison has continued to craft away.

 

Alison and Eli got a little cold.  Nothing serious, but Colin wasn't as fortunate and got a tummy bug, so while he was contained, these two hung out by the humidifier.

 

And Maya was right by my side as I took care of the patients.  She was almost as needy as the kids!  She had to make sure they were okay and would not rest until they were.

 

Any spare moment, I would catch Alison in the dining room working on her sewing.

 

I spent some time during our recovery days, prepping some new school material.  While I was cleaning up some papers, I found this:

The next day, I said to Eli, "I found this paper you wrote.  You did a great job trying to spell out words!  (he's just beginning spelling) What's the list for?"

Eli said, "I didn't do that."

Colin chimes in, "I did!  I'm a planning a surprise for daddy when he comes home!"

I really should video school with Colin because you would think he knows NOTHING, but then he'll read a word that Eli's trying to sound out or answer Alison's math fact when she pauses or write a grocery list for daddy's party!  Sorry to ruin the surprise Ben, but your party will include; onions, grapes, popcorn and something that starts with post and hotdogs.