Joey & Brooklyn

On Monday Joey drove his Jeep over to Brooklyn's house and took her for a ride.  He's been wanting to take her out for months!


They just drove around the neighborhood and Joey, who usually likes to go fast, kept the Jeep in 1st gear so Brooklyn wouldn't get scared.  He even stopped to pick some flowers for her!


He did let her drive, but she couldn't reach the gas pedal.  He hopped in and pushed the pedal while she steered the Jeep along the sidewalk.

Happy Halloween!

Macy & Joey were little gray mice for Halloween this year.  Donald took them all over the neighborhood (a 2-hour trek), while I was at work.  Did you know that Halloween is the busiest day for pizza?  There is actually more business than Superbowl Sunday!


Anyway, Macy & Joey came home with overflowing buckets of candy this year.  They are getting older and keep a closer eye on their stash, which makes it more challenging for Mommy & Daddy to sneak some bites!

Arizona State Fair

Once again I sent off for our free tickets and parking pass for the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix as part of the homeschooler days.  On Wednesday, October 27th, Donald took the day off and we headed up to Phoenix.


The kids loved looking at the chickens, turkeys, ducks, goats, pigs, sheep, cows, & horses.  This year they had a "Days of the Dinosaurs" exhibit of scale model animated dinos.  Macy thought is was fantastic while Joey was was pretty much terrified.

Then it was off to the midway to ride the rides and eat the great carnival food.  Macy had no fear this year.  She made me go on the roller coaster (where I screamed the entire time - she did not), and the Grand View ferris wheel that is over 15 stories tall (I cried).

We spent tons of $$ on rides and ate only the best sugary foods for dinner & dessert (Yes, we let them have ice cream for dinner and cotton candy for dessert).

It was Donald's idea to ride G Force, but Macy went right along with him!




Once again, we spent the entire day at the fair, had a great family time, and didn't get home until after 11pm!  The next morning I asked the kids what they wanted to do..."Go to the Fair!"

Tractor Pull

The Marana Heritage Festival was last weekend at the Heritage Park in Gladden Farms.  They had an all day event of tractor pulls, but we weren't able to stay for all of them.  Joey had fun and thought each antique tractor was amazing.

Camping Videos

Collecting Wood


Collecting MORE Wood


Teamwork


Eating Oreos


Fishin'


Hiking

Last Camping Trip of the Year

Macy wanted to go camping for her birthday, but since Donald was out of town, we had to postpone it until October.  Donald took a day off of work during the week and we headed up to Mt. Lemmon.  We were able to get the same spot that D and the kids had in April for Joey's camping trip.  


We had some unexpected trailer issues, but eventually got the campsite ready.  We were able to head down to Rose Canyon Lake and do some fishing and were met by a skunk on our way back to camp!  We escaped un-skunked, only to have ANOTHER skunk walk right through our camp later than night while we roasted hot dogs & marshmallows!


The kids had a great time hiking through the woods and climbing all over the huge boulders.  

Roof Repairs

We had a few roof tiles come off during the microburst in August.  When Donald returned from Alabama, he climbed up on the roof and replace 12 of the tiles.  Quite a scary task!

Bowling Party

We were invited to a bowling party for Tanner's 6th birthday.  Both Macy & Joey were excited to hang out with the boys!

Skyping with Daddy

While D was in Alabama we were able to see & talk to him every night via Skype.  The kids loved seeing him and playing computer games with him at night before bed.  It made the three weeks away go faster.

Random September Pics

We kept busy while Daddy was in Alabama.  On September 27th Chili's donated 100% of their proceeds to St. Jude's Research hospital, so the kids and I had lunch there.  The weather was great, so the kids spent most of their days outside.

Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures

September 25th was Smithsonian Museum Day where anyone could visit a Smithsonian affiliated museum for free.  The kids and I went to the Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures.  The kids liked all of the exhibits, but especially the Christmas room & the Fairies.

Sphinx Moth Caterpillar

Macy found a huge caterpillar under the car.  After a little research we discovered it is a Sphinx Moth and will burrow under the ground and will emerge in March or April.  Macy has put the cocoon in her room...let's hope she doesn't lose it!

Happy Birthday Macy!

Donald had to travel to Alabama for 3 weeks in September and missed Macy birthday, but Nana & Papa came over for the weekend and we celebrated.  On Friday, we saw a magic show put on by the science club of our homeschool group. Saturday we ventured out to Toys R Us for a little shopping spree and then an early birthday dinner at Chili's!

AZ Cement Plant Tour

Marana Parks & Rec has set up some great free field trips to locations around the community.  On September 17th we were able to tour the Arizona Portland Cement plant that is located down the road from us.  We went with our friends Tracy and her boys, Tanner & Cash.  The kids had a good time and we learned quite a lot about how cement is made.

SIX YEARS OLD!

Our Macy Sue is SIX! 

All I want for Christmas

North Pole Experience, Greer, Arizona

For the past 5 years, I have dreamed of taking a trip to the White Mountains during "winter vacation".  I really do miss the snow and the cold temperatures (if only for a little while).  We have planned trips to Sunrise Ski Resort, but we have never been able to actually take the trip.


As the kids get older, we are able to experience more things.  Last summer we took the opportunity to travel up the Pacific Coast from Malibu, California to Newport, Oregon.  We spent 19 days camping and exploring and it was the best quality family time!  


This year, all I want for Christmas is a trip to the North Pole!  A couple of days in the White Mountains, snow falling gently to the ground, a steaming cup of hot chocolate, the smell of gingerbread in the air, and sneaking a peek at the Elves in action at Santa's Workshop!  The magic of Christmas practically in our back yard...

Microburst

The monsoon storms are not over yet.  We had a huge microburst occur in Gladden Farms this last Sunday.  


Donald and the kids were at the park flying his plane.  He happened to lose is fancy spy camera in a freshly plowed field and they were searching for it when then noticed a huge downpour was heading their way!  They abandoned their search and headed for home.  Just as they were pulling up to the house, the kiddie pool flew out of our back yard, across the street and almost into the neighbor's back yard.  Trees were uprooted and roof tiles were blown off.  Luckily, our trees survived.  Our roof was not so lucky.  Our roof is still intact, but we are missing 5 or 6 large roof tiles and have an additional half dozen askew.   We are not looking forward to the roofer's bill for this one.  

At the Marana Regional Airport, several hangars were damaged and two small planes were blown across the field!

Out of Round

We had the tires rotated and balanced on the Yukon last week and discovered that we had a problem with the steering linkage that caused serious uneven wear on the tires.  It was not a happy day.  It will be a few months before we can afford to replace the tires, but in the mean time, Donald had fun trying to round them out!


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Apple Annie's Orchard

Last weekend we headed to Apple Annie's Orchard in Willcox, Arizona.  Their peaches are amazing and we came home with 35 pounds of them!  We also drove up to Apple Annie's Farm and bought some amazingly sweet corn, some cucumbers and picked beautiful tomatoes off the vine.


Can't wait to go back in September for apples!


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Joey

Joey and Macy are loving school.  They actually fight over who gets to go first!


The other morning I came downstairs to find Joey lounging on the kitchen counter reading a library book.  I was shocked...for many reasons.  He didn't know I was there, so I was able to snap a quick picture.  (And, yes, he did get in trouble for being on the counter).
 
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Dirty Boys!

 Donald and Joey replaced the rear drums and brakes on the Yukon a couple of weeks ago.  It was a hot, dirty job!  
   
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Macy's Hair Cut

I cut Donald and Joey's hair every 2-3 weeks.  However, Macy and I get our hair cut only about every 6 months!  Great Clips had their back to school special, so Macy & I both got $8 haircuts in July.  She looks so grown up now!

                                

 

                

Joey's New Ride

Joey loves all kinds of trucks.  I think his favorite is a combine harvester, but really any kind of farm tractor, monster truck, construction equipment, or regular ol' pickup truck will do!  


One of our friend's from church works for Forest City Developer who happens to own Gladden Farms.  Forrest knows of Joey's obsession with trucks and was able to get one of the construction foremen to give Joey a ride in the road grader while they were working on a new subdivision.  Joey talked non-stop to Mr. Bill while he rode along one morning in July!

Monsoon 2010

Monsoon 2010.  These are pictures from the Santa Cruz River that is less than a mile from the house.  I think the pictures can speak for themselves!

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Work Day at Community Christian Church

We participated in Work Day at church back in July.  We are getting ready for the building expansion of the church and some work needed to be done before the groundbreaking.  Donald and Forrest replaced many shingles on the roof, I provided fresh blueberry muffins, and the kids looked cute and ate the muffins!

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Our groundbreaking took place on August 7th and our new building should be ready just in time for Christmas!

"Joyful Noise" Band

Macy & Joey have been the star performers at church recently.  We are changing things up during the first service, and after the Children's Sermon, the kids get to play instruments while we all sing Jesus Loves Me.  Macy & Joey are the constant band members and sometimes Brooklyn (18 months old) helps with the tambourines.  Recently three new children have started coming to the early service, so the band is growing.  Macy is trying to learn how to play the recorder in addition to the xylophone, glockenspiel, and piano!  Joey is going through an "opposites" phase right now and is taking a break from the band for a couple of weeks :)

Happy Birthday, Grandma Dodie!

The kids wanted to make a video for Grandma Dodie's birthday.  Joey decided he didn't want to be on the camera, but Macy composed a little song for Grandma.

Box Day 2010

The FedEx guy delivered TWO large boxes of Sonlight books for Macy & Joey on Friday!  The kids were so excited that Joey couldn't wait for the box opener, he just ripped the tape and tore into it!

We need to buy a small bookshelf for our classroom and a couple of binders for my lesson plans & instructor guides and then we hope to start school on July 6th (the kids would like to start NOW!)

Joey's Preschool Books

Macy's 1st Grade curriculum!!!

"New" car

Donald decided to finally trade in the Neon.  The motor mounts have been shot for a long time and that was causing some serious damage to the transmission/radiator/etc.  He picked out a 2005 Nissan Sentra (manual transmission!) with low miles.  We hope this will be a reliable car for the huge amount of miles that he puts on it going back and forth to work (plus the occasional trip to TX to visit family).

(Macy took this picture)

Vacation Bible School #1

Our church teamed up with a church in Continental Ranch and hosted the "Avalanche Ranch" Vacation Bible School from June 7-11.  They needed volunteers, so I attended a meeting and found that there weren't many others volunteering!  I thought I could help sign kids in or pass out snacks.  Instead, I ended up teaching crafts to 40 kids ranging in age from 4 to 10!  Behind the scenes it was very unorganized, but the kids had a great time and I truly enjoyed the few hours I had without Macy & Joey.  However, at noon when the VBS day was over, I was exhausted!  

B

 Back Row: Michelle (wrangler), Joey, Jackson, Jesse, Tanner (Macy's "best boy"), Crystal (Wrangler).  Front Row: Burnee, Raquel, Megan, Paige, Macy, Kalie (Wrangler)

The kids will be attending another VBS in July through another church.  I won't be volunteering for this one and I am looking forward to a couple hours a day to unwind!

D's Trip to Del Rio

Donald flew to Del Rio, Texas in May to visit his parents.  He was gone for 6 days and he had a great time fishing with his dad!  Here are a few videos he took while fishing.

 



 



 



 



 

D's R/C Plane

Donald bought a new "spy" camera for his plane.  It's pretty amazing.  Here are some videos from the first few flights.

M.O.P.S 2010-2011 Coordinator

I am the new coordinator for the 2010-2011 Lord of Grace MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group.  I'm a little nervous about taking on this responsibility, but no one else would step up and without a coordinator, there is no MOPS group.  Luckily, we have an AMAZING steering team this year and we have some great speakers lined up to talk to us about a wide range of subjects.  I'm really hoping that with our competent group of leaders, my job will be a little less demanding than it was last year as Membership Coordinator!  We meet on the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays of the month starting in September and ending the first week of May.  I'm not sure how much this will interfere with the schooling of Macy & Joey this year, but they love attending Moppets (the childcare part of MOPS).

April Camping...in the snow

We had planned on going camping for Joey's birthday, but that didn't work out.  Instead, Donald took the kids up to Mt. Lemmon towards the end of April for a 3-day camping trip.  It was slightly cold and had snowed the day before they arrived.  The great news was that there were no other campers at Rose Canyon and the cold weather meant NO BUGS!  The kids had tons of fun with Daddy and I had a couple of days of quiet, even though I had to work.

 

Santa Cruz River

After the fun of the Easter egg hunt, we rode our bikes down to the Santa Cruz River.  Shelby loves to swim and fetch sticks.  I think she could do that all day!  We relaxed under the Sanders Bridge and tried skipping rocks.  The water was still a little deep to wade across to the other side.

Easter 2010

After church, the kids came home to a back yard full of hidden Easter eggs.  We were so busy this year that we didn't have time to dye eggs, so I bought some confetti-filled eggs from Walmart.  Macy and Joey each found a plastic egg filled with mini Reese's peanut butter cups.  Donald thinks they should hunt ALL plastic, candy-filled eggs, but the kids don't seem to mind.  In fact, they each ate ONE peanut butter cup on Sunday and ate the second one on Wednesday.  yes, they only had TWO. They loved breaking the eggs in the driveway and Macy scooped up the confetti and saved it in her Easter basket for almost two weeks (until Mommy found it, tossed the confetti, and put the Easter baskets away).

Dentist

Back in March, the kids had their 6-month dentist appointment.  It was the first time that Joey had X-rays taken and he was a great patient!  Macy also had x-rays and we can see her adult teeth are growing nicely.  She also has her 6-year molars in already.  The best news was they are both Cavity Free!

Joey's Birthday Video

Not only does it take a while to upload the videos to youtube, but we must first format them.  Here is a cute video from Joey's brithday...way back in March.

Finally updating the blog!

Amazingly I've found a little time to update the blog!  It takes quite a bit of time to upload pictures to slide.com and even longer to upload the videos to youtube.  Now let's hope I can finish these postings before children come knocking at the computer room door :)

Enjoy!

Too Busy to Blog

I know I have so many events to post about and pictures to upload, but I have just been so busy.  I am trying to keep some sort of structure in the house, and if I get on the computer to upload pictures or compose an entry, I'm afraid I'll be on the computer all day!  

Donald will be heading to Del Rio in a couple of days and perhaps while he is gone and the children are in bed at night I will have some free time to update the blog.

Here is a teaser:

Happy 4th Birthday, Joey!

Our little guy is already FOUR!  

Yesterday, Donald took Joey to town and Macy and I made Joey's birthday cake.  Once the kids went to bed, D and I placed the final decorations on top and put it back in the refrigerator...hoping that Joey wouldn't see it. 

Today Macy and Joey spent most of the day (from 9am to 2:30 pm) on the patio playing with play dough.  Joey was so thrilled to not only be outside - his favorite place - but was also able to spend endless hours smooshing play dough.

Donald came home from work a "normal" time and Joey was finally able to open his presents.  He was so excited about everything and I wish we would have had the camera in video mode to capture his enthusiasm!  

Tonight I asked Joey what he wanted for dinner and he told me oatmeal.  He has oatmeal almost every day for breakfast, so I didn't actually believe that was what he wanted.  Big mistake.  He was devastated when I put the dinner on the table and it wasn't oatmeal!  Needless to say, I made a bowl of oatmeal just for him.

After dinner we revealed the cake.  I think he wasn't quite sure what it was, but then he realized that the monster truck and smashed cars weren't part of the cake.  He ate a good portion of cake, ice cream, and chocolate mousse.

Now Daddy is trying to put the mouse trap car together while Joey plays with his new Junior Mechanic Motor Works set from Discovery Toys.  All in all, a fantastic day for our Joey!

Our own private Air Force!

Donald made a couple of paper airplanes for Macy & Joey tonight and they are now in the living room playing "Air Force".  They are having dog fights and then helping each other make "safe" landings!  So far, no one has needed to eject!

Aerospace Days at Davis-Monthan

On March 20th we drove down to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base here in Tucson to see the free air show.   The last time the planes were on display was in the Spring of 2005 and we weren't able to stay for the air show.  

Joey was amazed at all of the different planes and helicopters.  He was a little timid about climbing into the cockpits, but Macy jumped right in!  This time we stayed until the end of the show and we were able to watch the A-10's and F-16's demonstrate their firepower and destroy "insurgent vehicles" and watched the amazing Thunderbirds.

Happy Birthday Donald

Donald worked late on his birthday, but he did enjoy the cake that the kids and I made for him.  Joey suggested the chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate mousse in the middle and Macy picked out the decorations.  It was absolutely delicious!

Runaway Plane!!!

Disclaimer:  Donald may rewrite this post in the near future.  I was not present to see the events and currently he is still a bit shaken and refuses to re-live it at this point!

Donald took the plane out for its second flight on March 13th.  He said it was a bit too chilly for the rest of us to tag along...which probably saved his plane in the end.  He swears that he wouldn't have had the concentration if we'd have been there.

His first flight went perfectly.  Again he had the GPS attached and confirmed that he broke the 100 mph barrier at 108.9mph!  He landed and let the engine cool before his second flight of the day.  This flight started out smoothly and he was able to climb higher than ever before - almost 3500 feet!  As he came down from that altitude, he hit his max speed of 151.1 mph!  It was shortly after this that he realized he lost all aileron control and had to pilot the plane with only elevators and the rudder!  The plane was 2/3 of a mile away and he lost sight of it a few times.  By some miracle he was able to bring the plane back and land it without a scratch.  As he viewed the GPS info, he learned that he buzzed a few houses at 95 mph and only 25 feet off the ground!

This time his max climb rate was 4414 ft/min and his average flat flight speed was 87 mph.  He hasn't flown since...

D's New Plane

Donald has been in the process of building a new R/C plane for months.  I'm not exactly sure what was holding him up, but he finally took it out for its maiden flight on March 6th.

I've tried to get him to blog about it (plane specs, flight details, etc), but I guess you'll have to live with my bare-bones version for now.

This plane is the same size as his previous one (which crashed in December see blog entry).  This plane has a larger engine, which translates into LOTS of power - again, I wish D would make this entry so that you can have all the details!  He put the GPS on the plane so he could track the flight path, altitude & speed.  This plane climbs at 4020 ft/min!

The following pictures show the plane before its first flight (just in case it didn't survive the landing) and the flight path.

Monster Jam comes to Tucson

Joey LOVES Monster Jam so when we heard they were coming to Tucson I bought tickets.  However, I was amazed that they chose the Tucson Arena instead of some of our other, more accommodating venues.  The Arena floor is only the size of the hockey rink.  Perhaps that is fine for concerts, but I thought it was way too small for Monster Trucks.  The event lacked the thrill that we are used to seeing on TV at the bigger venues, not only because of the small space but also because they didn't put dirt on the floor!  The drivers had to perform on concrete!

Joey liked seeing the trucks in person, but he was a little intimidated by their size when we got up close.  He was afraid they were going to drive over him.

Crafts

For an inexpensive craft project, we created colored macaroni.  Joey likes to sort the colors and Macy loves to string the macaroni and make bracelets and necklaces.

 

Allowance

Macy and Joey each have weekly "task charts".  At the end of a two-week period, if they complete their chores, they receive one dollar.  After saving for quite a while, they bought some much-anticipated items.

Joey LOVES monster trucks and bought two new Hot Wheels trucks.  Macy had to save for a couple extra weeks, but was finally able to purchase a Betta fish, bowl, glass marbles, and food.

Tucson Rodeo

We went to the Tucson Rodeo in February.  The kids loved it and were able to attend a Rodeo Education class for elementary students and learned some new things about the rodeo.  We spent most of the day at the rodeo grounds and I think they could have stayed another 3 or 4 hours watching the horses and cattle!

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros

The 85th Annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros (Tucson Rodeo) starts tomorrow!  We are going to attend on Tuesday, watch some Girls Barrel Racing, Tie-Down Roping, Steer Wrestling, and Team Roping.  Also, we've signed up for the free Rodeo Education & Children program that introduces K-6 grade students to all aspects of the exciting sport of rodeo, Western heritage and the working cowboy!  Macy & Joey are very excited!

Valentine's Day

The kids and I made another Valentine's craft this last week.

I had to work on Valentine's Day, but Donald had a dozen roses 
and a dozen hand-dipped chocolate strawberries delivered to Hungry Howie's!

Arizona Winner!

It was just announced that I sold the most DCD™ Valentine's truffles in Arizona.  My reward - a $50 American Express gift card!  Looks like a date night is finally in our future (providing we can afford the sitter ☺)

Craft Projects

Macy & Joey LOVE craft time.  They made these pumpkins back in October.
Joey's Pumpkin                                                                                                 

Macy's Pumpkin

For Groundhog Day, we made Popsicle groundhogs poking their heads out of their den. 

The kids just finished their Valentine's Wreaths

February

My Sahuarita party was a great success.  I'm not a fan of large chocolate parties, but it paid off!  

Dove Chocolate Discoveries™ conference was held in Napa, California this weekend and the new Spring/Summer products were revealed!  The new catalog will be available March 1st and I have a feeling that my March parties will be big.  Oh, and no, I didn't win the Daytona 500 trip :(

My overworked vacuum broke last week.  I vacuum at least every other day (usually it's EVERY day), and I was not too happy when that Hoover decided to quit.  However, because of my amazing January parties, I had a wonderful commission check come in late last week and Donald and I went vacuum shopping.  I splurged and bought an Electrolux!  This vacuum is amazing!  No paper filter to clean out and one hand canister dumping.  The suction is amazing and the carpets feel almost new again.

Last Wednesday I gave a presentation on "Love & Respect" for our MOPS group.  I have read the book by Emerson Eggerich many times and agree with his husband & wife insight.  I highly suggest this book to anyone in a relationship - his tips work!  The moms seemed to relate to my presentation and a few thanked me for opening their eyes to their husbands point of view.  Now whether or not they heed the advice given in the book is another story!

I'm still being hounded to step up to coordinator for our MOPS group next year.  I'm not sure if I can handle such an important job at this time.  Between schooling the kids, the chocolate business, and the day-to-day responsibilities, I'm pretty worn out at the end of the day!  

Poor little Joey has a horrible cold, cough and fever.  I thought maybe a little fresh air would help him, so we all went on a long bike ride on Saturday, but then he came home coughing even more!  I had a chocolate party Saturday night, and I came home to a very sick little boy and an exhausted Daddy.  Today Macy has started with the sniffles and I am hoping that it doesn't hit me!

We filed our taxes yesterday.  Thank goodness that is over!  It doesn't take long, only about an hour to do the taxes, but it is such a pain in the rear!  I'm not a fan of how the government spends my money and I'm tired of supporting their "progressive" programs.

D is working long hours again and seems to be stressed about the current time crunch for this particular project.  We are both looking forward to a camping trip in March to recharge.

Prepping for my HUGE Sahuarita Chocolate Party

Tomorrow's party now has 36 confirmed guests!  I am ready to put the guests in a chocolate coma.  I just finished frosting 40 mini heart-shaped DCD™ cupcakes.  I am so glad I made some extra because they are TOO YUMMY not to eat!

Chocolate Parties!

The chocolate business is booming!  I now have 7 chocolatiers under me and I'll be signing up another one this weekend!  I had a fantastic party here at the house last weekend and I have another HUGE party (35 confirmed guests) in Sahuarita tomorrow.  

My newest chocolatier had her first party last night that topped $1000!!!  All that hand-holding has paid off!  Sometimes I can't believe that I have this "job".  I can make more money at one 2-hour party (eating chocolate) than I can if I put in 22 hours at my part-time night job!  Amazing...

 

Kathy Flatt - My Chocolatier of the Month!