Our New Addition

It seems we finally ran out of excuses. Yesterday we adopted a one-year-old dog named Chanel. The kids adore her and she has brought both harmony and disharmony to our home. She is a female Shih Poo, which is a shihtzu poodle mix. She came house trained with beds, blankets, toys, food, treats, and pages of instructions from a rescue home. Hundreds of applicants for Chanel were turned away, but for some reason we were not. I remarked to Ryan how the girls' snotty noses, unkempt hair, and mismatched clothes (they now like to dress themselves), must have really impressed the woman running the facility. But truly, she said it was the way the kids interacted with the dog. She could tell that they would really love her... and they do.

Happy New Year!

When Braden became old enough to understand New Year's Eve, we began moving the clocks forward, holding our own early New Year's Eve celebration, and going to bed by 10:00. Once he learned a ball dropped in Times Square, it became a bit trickier. We contemplated taping the previous year's celebration and adding that to our treachery, but were thwarted by the addition of the year on top of the ball. We have therefore resorted to playing games until 10:00, when everyone must brush teeth, don their pjs, and gather for a movie. Everyone's asleep by 10:30.

If you come to visit over New Year's, you can join in our celebration. Only you will find we added one more frivolity this year... a polar bear jump into the pool. You may think it doesn't get cold here, but it does. And that pool was cold! There are no exemption for visitors, only non-swimmers.

Happy New Year!

Ho, Ho... Snow!

We must have been feeling winter withdrawals after our move from Ohio to Arizona when we decided to take an impromptu trip to Utah for Christmas. We pulled the kids from their beds at 3:30 a.m. and loaded them in the car for what they believed would be a ski trip to the mountains. If you are familiar with our family, you may be wondering how our little chickadees did on the eleven hour drive and what we were daring enough to feed them on the way. To spare you the messy details, I will just say that the Hoover Dam and chocolate doughnuts do not go together. Thankfully, we stopped in St. George to visit friends and were able to give their new washer and dryer a run for its money.

With family parties and dinners, sleepovers and sledding, and a visit from Santa, there are many favorite moments from our Utah Christmas. But the highlight had to be the day we spent skiing and snowboarding at Snowbird. Since it had been over ten years since Ryan and I had skied, we decided to let the experts teach Braden and Emme while we fumbled on the slopes on our own. With a little pressure from Braden, Ryan decided to give snowboarding a go, while we girls would not succumb and were pleased to be on good old fashioned skis. By the end of the day I had not one fall to account for (which means I'm either an awesome skier or took far too few risks), while Ryan's arms would be sore for the next two days from pushing himself back up to his feet. Luckily, or unluckily, it was dumping inches of snow by the hour which provided plenty of powder for cushion. Meeting up with the kids on Chickadee at the end of the day brought back memories of skiing with my family from my childhood. Riding the lifts with the kids and making our way slowly down the slopes was definitely the highlight of the day!

Christmas was spent with family for the first time in five years, which made for tricky packing, but much more fun! Super Smash Brothers, Calico Critters, a whoopee cushion, Lava Lamp, model rocket, and the timeless Easy Bake Oven were among the spoils of the day.

Of coarse there always has to be something unexpected that happens to make a trip even more memorable. For us it was the flu that Chloe passed to Hadley, who then passed it to Grammy, who suffered from the symptoms all Christmas night. Grammy's washer and dryer also got a run for their money that week. We have heard of no other casualties within the extended family, though we're assuming some are too nice to come forward.

After a week of cold weather and constant snowfall, it was with a bit of sorrow we packed up and headed south. Somewhere before Cedar City the snow had melted from the car and the roads, and the only reminder we had of our visit were our memories...oh, and our salt laden car. Usually a car covered in salt feels dirty and unkempt, but for us it was a trophy of our first ski trip home to Utah. We soon found though, that it would be impossible to get too attached to Utah. Upon returning to Scottsdale we were awakened to a new love... December in the 70s!

There's No Place Like Home

We've moved... again. We're very good at it now, so it is with a bit of sorrow we throw away the boxes for good and settle into our home here in Scottsdale. While we don't miss the skunks and silver fish spiders of Ohio, North Scottsdale has its own wild life with which to contend. We've seen a bobcat, rattlesnake, scorpions, and the beloved garbage-dumping havalenas. Our first night in our home we woke to the cries of coyotes. If the saguaro cacti were not enough, these creatures are enough to convince us that we truly live in the desert.

There have been two things Braden was excited for upon our move. The first was a dog. He is our animal loving child (definitely not a trait acquired from his mom). He is still waiting for the dog. The second was the pool. Unfortunately we moved in the winter, though that was not what hindered him. His casted arm prolonged the plunge until December 3rd. The swim lasted only a minute, as even in Arizona it is not swimming weather in December.

The babies have acclimated about as well to the new house as Braden to the pool. Where the girls have always been wonderful sleepers, we now find them crawling out of bed seeking a better sleeping location. They'll initially climb in with each other or Emmry, but eventually insist on a nightly stroll into mom and dad's room. It only took a couple times pulling both two-year-olds into bed to realize that that was not a good solution. Our nightly visitors now have sleeping quarters on their parents' floor.

Ryan and I have acclimated quite well. The only thing we are missing here are our friends and family. If you find yourselves missing the sun, desiring a polar bear swim, or yearning to know what a havalena is, we would love to see more of you here!

The Big Reveal

Today the casts came off. Hadley has been talking about it for a week... I'm sure without a realization that it would ever actually occur. Braden also couldn't wait. The novelty for him wore off the first day when he was sent to the school office to read during recess. As the casts were coming off I feared what fun things we would find inside, but they were relatively content free. Hadley's had just a bit of sand and small rocks from the sand box visits we weren't supposed to make and Braden's held a small round plastic disk. I'm not sure about that one.

Our fame at the orthoped had not diminished in the five weeks we had been away. Our two broken arms still provided us notoriety in the office. Emmry, not wanting to feel slighted of her past fame, was compelled to tell the doctor that she and Chloe broke their arms at the same time last year. Initially I thought our move across country between our sets of broken arms benefited us, but in hindsight I think it makes Ryan and I look more guilty.

In the end, I'm not sure what the cost will be, but I like feel we got a two-for-one with Hadley. It seems that five weeks with a cast on has cured her of her arm sucking habit!

Joy in the Journey

Every day I try to take time out to enjoy my day. Not easy as it is full of making meals, cleaning up meals, preparing snacks, cleaning up snacks, taking out toys, cleaning up toys... and wiping bums, washing hands, making sack lunches, driving kids places, doing laundry...

And of coarse managing the teasing and fighting. Every once in a while there will be that time when I look at one of my kids and think, wow that was sweet. Like the time Braden volunteered to get Chloe the milk she was complaining for. I remember thinking as Braden handed her the cup, "That is a sweet boy I have." Then I saw Chloe's face. It seems my sweet Braden made a concoction of barbecue sauce, lemon juice, water, and Hershey's syrup, and gave it to his little sister.

I have no doubt that there is joy in the journey to be found no matter how burried it may seem. The key is making the effort to take the time to find it.

A Scary Weekend

The ghouls and goblins came out in a real way to our home Halloween weekend. Perhaps it was a hex, a jinx, or someone needled some Huffman voodoo dolls. We thankfully came through it relatively unscathed, and I use relatively very loosely.

It will not surprise anyone that the day before Halloween Braden fell while swinging from a tree. He landed on his outstretched hand and broke his left wrist. With a splint placed by urgent care the next day, we were waiting out the weekend to see the orthoped when Hadley tripped on the stairs and broke the tip of her radius and ulna. Hers was a visit to the emergency room. Monday morning when I called to make two appointments with the orthoped, I had the nurses betting on the cause of the injuries. They were disappointed to find that the incidents were totally unrelated.

There are only a few things that can't be spoiled by a broken arm, and Halloween is one of them. But this day proved to be full of "tricks" right from the beginning. Upon returning from my morning run, I found a tow truck in front of our house prepared to repossess Ryan's car. Ryan's attempts to convince the tow truck driver that there was a mistake turned out in vain. The car was taken right out of the garage. After a week the "trick" was finally over, the car was saved from the auction block, and it was returned it to its rightful owner.

I don't know that there is a Halloween trick that can beat the wrongful repossession of your car, yet we set out Halloween night just the same with quite a cast, including a storm trooper, vampire, and two Cinderellas. The weather was a pleasant 80 or so and we were delighted to not be wearing thermal underwear under costumes or coats over the top. With four trick-or-treaters this year, we definitely took in our fill of candy. The babies were spectacular, following the lead of their older siblings, standing at the doors side-by-side dressed as two adorable Cinderellas. What candy-basket-holding adult can resist dropping an extra treat in those bags?

Halloween brings with it wonderful memories and though we faced some frightening events this Halloween, the holiday will continue to hold a special place in our hearts. Ryan and I met on a blind date Halloween night fifteen years ago. Though there was nothing really memorable about what we did that night, it is thanks to that Halloween that we have had many memorable ones since.