Ode to a Van!

There once was a van whose color was blue

It drove and it drove all the day through
It drove near and far To the Wal-Mart, To the sea
To the mountains; To Chick filet, and even to school.
From Wyoming to Utah and back again three.
From Wyoming to Arizona where it paid a high fee.
Here in the land of the dust we must part,
Before for we hear another service man singing his lark,
“It’ll be so many dollars to just fix this.
And so many more dollars if you want that fixed too.
But don’t worry, don’t get too blue,
I’ll fix it up right. It’ll be good as new.”
So long little van, good you have been.
To our little family during car seats and boosters.
But the time has come to part our ways.
May the Automobile Goddess grant you more life
As you find a new family with a cute little wife
Or a family of many who need a ride
Down the highway of life with a van by their side.

Sick days...

The week started off crap-tacular! On Friday I was on my way home from filling out all my paperwork and taking my drug test to start my new job (I will be the newest administrative assistant for Mortenson Construction, sayonara TSA.) when as I was cruising along the van completely turns off and I can't get it re-started. Luckily I was in the left hand lane and was able to pull over safely. Bill was only about 10 minutes away, and I had a friend who picked up the kids. We had the battery tested and it was good. So we went back to the car and waited for the tow truck driver. After 3 days in the shop they couldn't find out what was wrong. BUT they did fix my driver window so I can drive through again. Yippee...Then on Monday night I woke up vomitting and then Billie woke up vomiting and then Bill started feeling sick to his stomach. It was not a pleasant rest of the night. Bill was able to take the boys to school and then we all layed on the couch all day sleeping and resting. (I think Bill was even able to work from home a bit.) This morning we all had Chiropractor appointments bright and early and so we got up and were at em bright and early. Billie is definately better. I am feeling better and Bill is getting there. He was able to work from home again today. Here are some pictures of our early dinner at 3:00pm. We had Bear Creek Chicken Noodle soup and french bread. Yummy!

One Reason To Love Living Here

As many of you are well aware, Arizona is not my most favorite place I have ever lived. It does have some perks and I thought I would share one of my favorites.

GRAPEFRUITS!
This is the season for fresh grapefruits here. Bill works with someone who has a tree, so in the last 3 weeks we have had a constant supply of fresh yummy grapefruit. We have enjoyed them for breakfast sliced and sprinkled with a little sugar. Yumm-O! On Monday we received a big bag so Grant helped me juice them into delicious happy juice. I have researched a couple of recipes that use Grapefruit juice so I am going to try out a couple this weekend.
Happy Grapefruit!

Straw-nana-go Smoothies

There is nothing better after a hot walk home from school then to walk into the house to a cool Straw-nana-go smoothie.  I love making smoothies and I am always mixing up my ingredients.  This was 2 cups frozen strawberries, 1 banana (not too ripe), and one RIPE mango.  A little orange juice, frozen vanilla yogurt and a shot of milk to make it straw friendly.  The kids loved it and it got rave reviews!  

Spring has sprung

Now that the temperatures have reached the mid 80's I thought I would post some pictures of my newly potted plants.  Here is my disclaimer:  I am not so good at gardening.  I have tried for 3 years now to grow tomatoes and I haven't had any luck.  I am going to give it one more go.  This time I did a little research on line and found that if you plant Marigold, Thyme and Sage it helps them grow.  These flowers are pretty new.  I am hoping they will still look pretty and bright when Bill's folks come to visit in May.  

So far so good.  I have two little tomatoes growing. Yeah Me!  

My little cluster of plants.  Two tomatoes and a marigold. 

Doesn't this just say Welcome.  I found the pot on clearance last year and I just love it!  

Snap Dragons and Marigolds.  Supposed to be desert hardy. Lets see if they are Lexi hardy! (the big tall plant is a bouganvilla...In the summer it has bright pink flowers.  When they drop it is a mess, but I love the bright colors and so far I haven't killed it yet!)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  Today is my day to go back to work after being home with the kids all week.  So I thought I would update this before my week gets away from me.  We had a good morning.  The kids are so excited and didn't want to wait while I changed the batteries in the camera.  We had a small easter egg hunt in the back yard.  The easter bunny left us with awesome automatic nerf guns and a ribbon craft kit for Billie.  The dogs were more confused why the kids were running around the yard shouting gleefully!  This week has made me appreciate my children even more.  As we go back to school and back to work I am so blessed as their mother and I appreciate all the things they are willing to help out with at our home.  They are the best kids.  

It's Tuesday

I joked with everyone at work that I would be ready to come back to work by Tuesday.  HeeHee!  We had a pretty good day.  Billie was up to her good ole shenanigans again.  She spend some time on her bed and also some time in a chair for time out.  Bill keeps telling me it is because we are sooo much a like.  This afternoon we went out to work on our bike riding.  Grant is a total expert and he is a little daredevil.  James and Billie are such another story.  Grandma and Grandpa gave them bikes like 3 years ago and they did great until we took the training wheels off last year. 

 ***Well, truth be told Billie was terrible even with her training wheels on.  But I was terrible on my bike when I was a kid.  My folks can probably remember how many bikes i went through and I am sure my mom's hand is still cramping from all the thistles that she pulled out of my body when I rode down the hill into the thistle patch. ***

So we went into the back yard first because it is fairly flat and the grass is a much softer landing than on the hard sidewalk.  I worked and worked with Billie and James until I was quite confident we could go down to the park to ride (where Grant could have more fun)  without a trip to the emergency room.  After about 20 minutes Billie got the hang of it and she actually rode around the circle 3 times.  I was so proud of her.  She is still not so sure of the start up and get going part, but we have a couple of more days to get the hang of it.  James is a whole other story and he "really really wants his training wheels back on because this is hard." 

My list of things to do hasn't really gotten done, but I have spent loads of time with the kids, I managed to get a run in today and I am caught up on the laundry.  I guess that's not to shabby for Tuesday.