Desert Fun

We took off in search of warmer weather, and Arizona was perfect!!

Ben's parents are snowbirds, and surrounded by mountains, so we did some hiking.

And had a little fun with the cacti!

I made Ben a little nervous. He kept telling me to get down, he afraid of heights...

This Saguaro was quite a character!

On our last day, we took the boys hiking, or "mountain climbing" as they called it.

We were pretty impressed on how well they did. They went a lot further than we thought!

Miles taking a look around.

Me with the Superstition Mountains in the background.

Awwww...

Our wonderful guide, Bob (Ben's dad).

Miles REALLY close to the edge of a cliff, Ben would have had a heart attack if he hadn't been back in the car!

Crazy Miles and Crabby James.

We got a kick out of the Phoenix weather reports telling us a cool down was coming (a high of 74!)

More to come!!!

A Relaxing Holiday

Usually the holidays are are too busy. We're rushed, running around from celebration to celebration. This year was so relaxing!It helped that we spread the family get togethers out throughout the month. Lists were made, shopping started before Thanksgiving. It just felt sane.
We even managed pictures!

The it was a great family holiday, family month.

Come to think of it, why should any other month be different? I'm not saying the whole gift thing, more the relaxing family weekends.

Good food, games, playing. What were we doing before?

Here's to 2011, I'm calling it a year of family firsts. We have a lot we want to do!

Have a fabulous year!!

Macy's

After Thanksgiving we went to Macy's to see, A Day In The Life Of An Elf, and of course, Santa!

The guys were in awe. Miles rushed through, pointing at EVERYTHING. He was in a rush to see Santa.

James was was amazed! There were a couple elves nearby and he was REALLY nervous to let go of my hand for this picture.

Miles decided to draw Santa a picture.

James was stressed trying to sign his name on his letter to Santa.

These doors and the many escalator rides were a HUGE highlight of downtown.

Happy Holidays!

My Super Heroes

Miles has a great imagination.

A while back he created a super hero alter-ego, Super Volcano Boy.

(He watched a National Geographic show on volcanoes)

He has hot lava (or "laba" as he says it), fire, and sting powers.

For a while it was a secret we couldn't tell anyone about. But he decided to let the cat out of the bag for Halloween.I used my Red Riding hood cape from last year. Took off the hood, made some alterations, added the "V", and WALLA, a super hero cape!
Miles was made sure to let me know what colors volcanoes are. He was pretty excited!

James loves Superman, but we decided to make him his own super hero identity as well. He likes Superman's ability to blow cold air and freeze the bad guys, so we went with it.

Introducing, Super Cool Boy!

They look a little Super Goofy and Confused in this photo!

Ben and I went out Saturday. Lots of fun. I had a little trouble fitting through doorways with my giant wings though...

Due to a technical glitch I didn't post my little secret yesterday. I didn't forget! Check back this evening, and I'll finally be out with it!!

Where've ya been??

So much has happened since February.

My camera had broken and it was going to cost more than its' worth to fix. And prior to that our laptop had hit the dust, so I was using my work laptop to continue blogging when I had time at home. My job at the time was sucking the life out of me. Seriously. I was working almost 50 hours/week, and it was stressful work. I was loosing weight (not the right way), having a ton of stomach pain, sleeping whenever I could and not eating. Ended up with ulcers. We decided my job was not worth the stress and strain on my health. I interviewed and was offered a position at the clinic in town with the OB/GYN. I had to take a huge pay cut, but my health and sanity were well worth it. I was so excited to get back to OB! Lovely clinic hours, plus I have Monday mornings and Friday afternoons off, very nice. Of course I then had no computer at home.

Our other stressor at the time was selling our house back in Blue Earth. We had been trying to sell it for almost 2 years, and were living and paying rent in another town. Things had a wonderful way of working out, because within 2 weeks of my new job we got an offer on our house! And have sold it!! WAHOO!!

So since then, I've been enjoying my family, friends, health, and my new job.

Time certainly doesn't stand still.

Miles turned 5 in August. We decided to wait 1 more year until kindergarten. But he's already started reading Bob Books, and loves math. He thought he was pretty hot stuff when he realized 1 plus any number equals the next number. He is a very sweet and helpful boy. And getting tall!

James turned 3 in March, and I'm telling you, age 2 has nothing on 3! This kid has inherited his mother's stubbornness on top of it. Don't get me wrong, he is VERY charming. Quite a ladies man. Really, he was hitting on teenage girls at the pool this summer. But we have had quite the battles lately. More on that at another time. I'm sure I'll be asking for advice.

Ben and I have had some wonderful weekends away. I am blessed to have a husband that likes to shop. We've been working on the yard and house. And he is very supportive in my newest endeavor, to be announced in a month. So excited. I am REALLY bad at keeping secrets, so if I can manage not to spill the beans early I think there will be a lot of amazed people.

WHOA! I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you!

I got a new camera!! A beautiful Canon Rebel T1i, with a Tamron lens. I'm still learning about it, and need to learn more on editing. But it is really, well, it makes me tear up with happiness.

November Randomness

Just some random photos from November... Here's James all "clean" after supper. Like the face. Seriously we can not keep up after these two. Yesterday I found a little chicken drumstick bone in the cupboard next to the cereal. And greasy fingerprints on the computer. I have to say I was not home for supper last night, so this was not under my supervision...
A rare photo of Ben and I. And yes, this was in November... at the park!!

Sweet Miles.

...and an innocent looking James...

See his cheek? That started a a tiny scratch from his daycare girlfriend. But he won't stop picking it. So it's last over 2 months now. I've tried putting a band aid on it or distracting him, I don't know what else to do. It'll be a scar for sure now...

There'll be many more, I know.

California 2009

We had a wonderful time in California! It's good to be home and back into a routine though!

No airplane jitters, even though James looks a bit freaked in this photo!

The ocean was NOT as big as a hit as I thought it would be.
The waves were huge (as you can see there were TONS of surfers out and those not in the water were calling their friends to come out). James was afraid of the waves and quickly became protective of the whole family and would cry if any of us went in the water.

That's as far in as he got... once. Miles on the other hand got knocked down and tumbled around, so his fun ended there. But playing the sand was fun.

And James especially liked to eat the sand! He found a shell and used it to spoon LARGE quantities of it in his mouth. And after 3-4 mouthfuls, which he swallowed, he became angry because I wouldn't take my eyes off him. What is lacking in his diet??

Later that night we took a walk downtown Huntington Beach. Miles was wired!

This was along the beach.

The next day we went to Disneyland!!!!!!!!

Here's the guys in the O of California...

And we quickly ran into Mickey Mouse! James couldn't take his eyes off the characters!

It was Halloween at Disney, and again James couldn't stop staring at Goofy!

We all went to a 3D show. It was a little too scary for the boys so they had their eyes covered for a lot of it.

Great Grandpa and Miles just weren't strong enough to lift these weights!

Seriously, that look is way too guilty!

Finally, he pried his eyes away!

We spent a good chunk of the day in Toon Town.The boys were so excited to go to Pixie Hollow and meet Tinkerbell, but we missed her by 30 minutes! Oh Man!

James eventually was overloaded and crashed in the stroller.

The next day we "relaxed" with a ride on this bike! It was a lot of work and as you can see the boys beat on each other!

Sunday we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Funny to find a bird house there, but we were able to feed them nectar.

The boys were getting pretty wild at this point and James was overdue for a nap so I told them the birds didn't like loud noises and if they screamed they might bite them. Hee hee!

The guys were able to touch manta rays, sting rays, sharks, starfish, sea anemones, and all sort of other little creatures. James frequently touched these things then stuck his fingers in his mouth. Why bother with the wash stations! I'm curious if those poor sea animals caught anything from him!

Outside James there were pigeons everywhere! And James liked to suck on the rails they stood on! Great! So far he hasn't come down with any strange illness. Who knows whats festering though!

Oh and the highlight!! NEMO and DORY!!!

And Monday we went to the La Brea tar pits. They are amazing!

A little over Miles and James' heads, but they seemed to like it... even though Miles is yawning.

All in all we had a fun!

Did I mention we came back to 45 degree weather! Brrrr!

And before our drive home from the airport, James picked a french fry up off the Eden Prairie Center floor and ate it! So, if he can survive this flu year, I think we'll be okay!