Happy late Father's Day to all the dads out there! This last week has been a busy one here. Big R had a birthday. I can hardly believe that he's so big already! Seems like yesterday he was just a little baby. Now he's 7! Whew! So, he had a little party but unfortunately only 2 of the kids he invited could come. That's one problem with having a summer birthday. Lots of people head out on vacation. But he had a fun time. He chose a Star Wars: Clone Wars theme and I made a banner with some of the different characters on it and a "pin the light saber on the Jedi" game. I think the highlight of the day might have been when we went to get the balloons filled with helium. We went to the store where they do it but it's a hardware store so you get the helium but not too much else. So, they filled 20 balloons and stuffed them into 2 big garbage bags for transport. I didn't realize I would need ribbon and didn't bring any. But the kids thought that the 2 big bags floating as I carried them out to the car was hilarious. And I found it pretty amusing to watch 3 big men fill up the balloons and then struggling to tie them all. LOL "HOW many of these do we have to do, again?"
And then Big R's T Ball team had a pizza party. (on his birthday, actually) The coach had ordered 8 Panormous pizzas not realizing how big they are. Each one is approximately the size of 2 large pizzas or something like that. So, there was a TON of pizza! We were all pressured into eating more, more, MORE! And all the kids on the team got a little trophy. So, that was pretty cool.
In the garden, things are going well. We've got some cucumbers starting, yellow squash, and tons of peas. In fact, I think we're going to pick some for dinner tonight. But no tomatoes, yet. We have a bunch of sunflowers almost ready to bloom and I have some more lilies that bloomed. MoMo calls them the polka dot flowers. They are pink with black speckles. If you didn't already know, I LOVE lilies!
And we are trying to get ready to go camping. I don't know what's up with me lately but can you believe I haven't made a list for that, yet!? I better get on it! DH has been busy today getting the truck ready for the trip. Changing the oil, checking the fluids, etc. That truck has definitely been worth every penny. It's got over 200,000 miles on it and it's still going strong! Of course, DH is very diligent when it comes to maintenance and upkeep. That certainly helps. Well, I guess I better go start making some lists! LOL Bye!

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Hello again! So, we just got back from a bit of exploring in the desert. First we checked out this awesome rock formation. Rumor has it that it is the site of an ancient geyser. Then we found the site of an old mine and searched through the dumps. Unfortunately, we didn't find any gold (much to Big R's disappointment) but we did find some really cool pyrite specimens.
Little cubes of pyrite embedded in the rock! How cool is that!? Well, we think it is. LOL Since we've had some rain recently there were some puddles. MoMo got to try out her new rain boots. On the way back we also saw a herd of wild horses.
It's kind of hard to see but if you look at the pic enlarged, just behind the 2nd horse from the left is a baby horse. It is light tan so that makes it harder to see. Unfortunately, I don't have a fancy camera with a nifty zoom lens so this is the best pic I could get. Even from this distance they were very nervous about us. They definitely weren't going to let us get any closer.
Anyway, not too much else going on here other than it's been quite a wet week. And that's very unusual for this area, especially this time of year. Usually it's hot and sunny but it's been cool and rainy. I'm liking it, though. Haven't had to turn the a/c on. And then there's the smell of rain in the desert. That's pretty nice. And, of course, the garden is loving it. My other variety of lilies which I thought was stargazer (and actually isn't) is blooming and my yellow squash are growing and we're getting tons of pea pods. So far I haven't found any tomatoes. I've got blooms but haven't seen any tomatoes yet. Here's a pic of my lilies.
Alright, well, I better go get my kids under control. They've gotten to that after-dinner manic stage where they start bouncing off the walls. Ok, then, until next time...

Just so you know, June happens to be Fight The Filthy Fly Month. So let's all do our best to fight those filthy flies! LOL So, this week here has been quite a stormy and wet week. Thunderstorms and rain have kept us indoors for the most part. But our plants are loving it! We've got several yellow squash growing, some teeny tiny pea pods and the tomatoes are blossoming as well. My lilies are also blooming. So far just my Lollipop variety but my Stargazers are on the verge of bursting into bloom as well. We discovered that we have some calla lilies in the front yard. The bulbs came up last year but never bloomed so we weren't sure what they were. But we just got a white calla lily! Lilies are my favorite! I also have a big pot mixed with blue flax and johnny-jump-ups in full bloom. And a mix of flowers that came together in a tin. Not sure what they all are but they sure are pretty. So, I'm very happy that I have vegetation in my yard at last!
I also forgot to mention that last weekend after Mom and Dad left we dicided to go to the Big City. There is a giant sporting goods store there (touted as the biggest all sports store in the world!) that actually has a big ferris wheel inside. The kids have been wanting to go on it so I finally took them. Here is a video DH took (he didn't ride) and some pics. The kids loved it. from the top there are great views of the Big City!

Today was the last day of school and a half day at that. It was a Field Day with everything from a big inflatable pirate ship slide to face painting to watermelon seed spitting. Big R had a lot of fun but he's glad to be starting summer vacation! Well, I guess that's it. Big R has been asking me to take him to Wal Mart so he can browse the toy department for things to add to his birthday wish list. I hope he can find a few less expensive things than he's got on it so far. He already told me he wants a tv for his room and a Wii. Yikes! I guess we're past the stage where he's not that into video games and electronics. And of course, little sis echoed him by telling me that for Christmas she wants a swimming puppy, a tv for her room and a "week." (Wii) LOL She cracks me up (almost) with the words she mispronounces. One of my favorites it "sun scream." (sun screen) ROFL Anyway, I better get going! Later!

Hello, everyone! Hello, everyone! Ha! Ha! Happy Repeat Day! Happy Repeat Day! LOL Ok, I KNOW I'm silly. But you still love me, right!? And it really is Repeat Day. Promise. Anyway, I hope you all are having a great week. Mine's been pretty good so far. This is the last week of school for Big R before summer vacation. His last week as a 1st grader. Then he'll be on to 2nd and my "baby" will be on to kindergarten. Yesterday I took MoMo to her school for a kindergarten screening. They just want to see what the kids know and they'll make up the classes and all. She was very excited to go to her "new school." Our appointment wasn't until 1:30pm and ALL morning long she kept telling me to "C'mon, get your shoes on so we can GO!" On the way there she chatted nonstop about her "old school." When we were in SD (and she was 2 0r 3) she went to a toddler class at the park and rec center. She still remembers all the details! How they had play doh and a water table and got snacks and apple juice. I was pretty amazed at all the detail she remembers. Anyway, they took the kids back individually yesterday for the screening and parents waited in the cafeteria. As soon as she came back she had the biggest grin on her face and immediately she told me, " I did SOOOOOOOO good!" And she really did. Before we left they went over the results with me. WARNING: BLATANT MOMMY BRAGGING AHEAD! Feel free to skip on ahead if you wish to avoid it. LOL Keep in mind that she's not 5 yet. She'll turn 5 the day before the cutoff date so she'll be the youngest in her class. They test different areas like how well she can copy a figure (triangle, plus sign, etc) with a pencil, the teacher built different towers of blocks for her to copy ( 3 blocks on the bottom level, 2 blocks on the next, one on the top, forming a pyramid, etc) and problem solving (the teacher would say something like, "If you were thirsty, what would you do?" She would have to reply something to the effect of, "get a drink.") She tested at or above the age 5 level for all of them except for letters where she still tested right at the age 4 level. On a few of them, like the block building, she tested at like an age 7-8 level. So, she's all ready and excited to start kindergarten. Of course, we have summer first which will be packed with all sorts of things this year. It will be a busy summer for us. Camping in June. Grandma Camp in July. Possibly the reunion in July as well. Visiting the other grandma and grandpa in August. Hopefully SeaWorld in August and I'm trying to talk DH into Disneyland, too. This might be the last year we can get discounts for those since it looks like DH probably will be getting a new job soon. More on that later when things are more concrete. Whew! Like I said, a busy summer.
Oh, and I got my first coupon for a FREE Mars candy bar yesterday in the mail! If you haven't heard on Fridays through September, I believe, Mars is giving away 250,000 free candy bars. Go to www.realchocolate.com/ on Friday to get yours. And if you've got a Sonic near you TONIGHT from 8pm till midnight you can go and get a FREE rootbeer float! I love free stuff!
So, today I'm feeling very grateful that we have food to feed our kids. Yesterday a couple of girls that live down the street were over to play. It was getting to be dinnertime and I began to make dinner. DH asked one of the girls what sorts of things they ate for dinner and the girl said they don't have dinner because there wasn't enough money left after bills to buy food. I guess maybe they eat breakfast and lunch through the school's free lunch program. Anyway, we were a bit shocked to hear that and we immediately invited the girls to stay for dinner. Not that it was the fanciest meal (SOS/hamburger gravy with mashed potatoes) but it was food. I just can't imagine not being able to feed my kids dinner. I'm so grateful that we have the means to buy food to eat. We're not rich but I am able to be a stay at home mom and raise our kids and we still have enough (plenty and then some) to eat. This has been weighing on my mind since yesterday. I'm all too aware of how fortunate we are and I'm just so grateful.
Well, I didn't really mean to throw that last part in there when I began this post but there it is. Anyway, I guess that's about all for now. Don't forget your rootbeer float tonight!

Well, hello again. I just saw this very interesting article on MSN. The headline reads, "Giant Blob Under Nevada." Nice. You can read it here. You just gotta love living in Nevada! LOL
Anyway, we finished off Memorial Day weekend with a day at the reservoir. We fished and roasted weenies. This time DH was the only one to catch a fish. But it was a pretty large carp. He let Big R reel it in and MoMo helped out by manning the net.
The kids have been in the pool almost every day. They just love it. They are like little fish. I bet by the end of summer they will have gills!
Our garden is doing well so far. It look as if our cucumbers are about to blossom! Yay! The (many) sunflowers are getting very big! And my lilies are blossoming!
Well, that's what's happening in our neck of the woods (or desert!). Later!

Hello, hello! Well, we just got back from a lovely little expedition. We had planned on going to the reservoir to fish and spend the day but this morning it was pretty windy and the other family we were going to go with decided they'd rather go to the indoor pool so we scrapped that plan. Big R wasn't too keen on going to the reservoir, anyway. That kid's got GOLD FEVER! He wanted to go look for gold instead. LOL So, we went to the Truckee River with our gold pan, metal detector and our fishing poles. Unfortunately our gold pan and metal detector didn't find us any gold and our fishing poles didn't get us any fish, except for one. And I was the one who caught it! Ha! Ha! But it was too small to be a keeper. It was a trout, though. Cutthroat. And, sadly enough we didn't think to get a pic before we turned it loose. BUT we did catch something in the river.
That is a crayfish, AKA crawdad AKA crawfish. We saw them crawling up near the edge of the water and we started swooping them up with a net. We had a lot of fun, searching for the little critters, trying to sneak up on them and get them in the net. We caught 11 of them, not counting a few that slipped through the net before we could get them into the bucket. And, no, we didn't have a crawfish feast and suck all their brains out. We actually let them all loose before we left.

Here are a few more pics from our outing.
Yeah, so that was day 1 of out Memorial Day weekend. Hope yours was as good!

P.S. Oh, and I just wanted to add that I also saw a river otter while I was sitting there fishing! It just swam right past me. Pretty cool to see one in the wild.

Hello again and happy Frog Jumping Jubilee day! Got your frogs ready to jump? LOL Anyhoo, we've had some company the last few days. My in-laws came to visit. We spent some time showing them our favorite rock hunting spots one day. It was pretty hot out there, though. They bought the kids a big pool to keep cool in.
I imagine they'll spend a lot of time in there this summer. My MIL and I took the kids (while the men folk were setting up the pool in the hot sun) to the antiques block party they had here. We found some treasures. Little MoMo found a trinket box she "had" to have and also a couple of Christmas mouse ceramic figurines. Here she is showing them off.
Big R first saw a truck that he fancied. I guess it used to have booze in it. It was a decanter, apparently. But then he found a Darth Vader voice changer mask and got that instead. I got some blue and white patterned plates and also these 3 plates. The sales lady assured us that she could get $100 a plate in Arizona since "everyone in Arizona knows who De Grazia is!" (Is that true? I didn't really believe her) Anyway, I didn't pay $100 per plate, just so you know. I don't know anything about the artist but I did like the plates.
Yesterday was DH's birthday so his parents got him a new BBQ and we BBQ'd steaks to try it out. They were very yummy. We rounded those out with corn on the cob and baked potatoes. Stuffed ourselves and it was quite awhile before anyone wanted cake and ice cream. I made his chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. That's what he ALWAYS has. I decorated it to look like the boombox from Yo Gabba Gabba. (A kid's show on tv) Partly because he likes Yo Gabba Gabba but also because he wanted some ridiculously expensive boombox for his birthday and I didn't get it for him. He got a cake boombox instead. LOL I just realized that I don't have any pics of the cake lighting part of it but here are a couple of him opening gifts.
Big R really liked the card that DH got from his parents. It plays Star Wars music. Kaos is going to be very sad, I think, when they leave. They brought their dog, Yoda, with them and they are best buddies. Kaos has always wanted a buddy.
Well, anyway, that's what's been happening here. Talk to ya later, gators!

P.S. Ok, so I Googled this de Grazia and perhaps the lady was right. I bet Mom's sister knows who he is. Apparently he lived in Morenci and graduated from the high school there. I guess he is somewhat well known and on the website for his gallery (thought he is dead now) one of the plates I bought sells there for $130 and one of the others I got sells for $250! I paid $10 for each plate so I guess we got a bargain! :0D