The Novelty

Just as I was beginning to dread summer and the step-into-an-oven heat, the weather changed. Just like that, we went from near 100 degree heat, to a cool 79 degrees yesterday. Boy I tell you what, the whole neighborhood came out to celebrate the coolness.

We got a few sprinkles and a lot of wind, but who really cares? It was so nice outside. I believe everyone under the age on 16 was outside, there were even a lot of adults chillin in the coolness, myself included. Jeremy came home, I followed him to our room and then bam! It hit. Like only AZ rain can do, it was coming down in buckets just like that. I went outside and every single kid in the 'hood was doing a dance in the cul-de-sac. No joke. They were celebrating, cheering, and singing. It was like they had never seen rain before. I think they liked the 20 fabulous minutes of rain even better than Disneyland. The kids have rainboots and umbrellas that normally collect dust and daddy-longlegs. It was a real treat to get to bust them out, and not as church shoes (as Hannah has worn before).

If there is one thing I have learned living in AZ, that is to never complain about the rain, even if it hits at the most inconvenient times, as it often does (camping, after washing the car...). We pray for it all the time, so I'm grateful for it anytime it comes. It was funny living in New Orleans. When I first moved there, I spent months cheering the rain and expressing my gratitude in prayer for it, until I realized that there it was kind of a nuisance. Rain everyday for months can get on ones nerves. One weekend in NO, I think we got like a foot of rain (more than an entire year in AZ), everything was flooded, though nothing like Katrina. It was awful and I always wondered why we couldn't invent a funnel to direct all that water to the west where it is always dry.

But until that invention happens, I'm gonna do a jig right along with my kids with each and every sprinkle! (sorry, no pics of me jiggin')

(Abby Bronson, Brenton, Geddes, and Rylee a-celebratin')

(Abby- who wouldn't be all smiles in the AZ rain?)

Geddes and Hannah - what a pose. I gotta keep an eye on her)

All about Abby

(my scanner is not working still, so here is a picture of our coach/player picture from this season with the Nightmares)

The other day Annie told me, "Mom you are so lucky. You are Hannah's teacher (primary), you got to be Jake's coach, and now you're Abby's coach." Sometimes as I'm complaining I don't see it as being lucky, just another job or assignment, but Annie's right, I am lucky to be involved in my kids' lives.

This season I was lucky enough to coach Abby's coach-pitch softball team. She had never played softball before and I definitely had my reservations about coaching my child. It would be much easier being on the sidelines watching as a parent. But it was for sure a lot of fun. I got to watch her interact with the other girls. I got to watch her learn all the little chants and ditties that have now been running through my head for 2 complete months now. I got to watch her get better and love playing. She could hardly hit or catch at the beginning of the season, but she improved so much. Not only was she improving at practice and games, but she wanted me to play catch with her sometimes and to pitch to her in the yard. I gotta to say, I LOVED THAT! Her Grandpa Goodman obviously taught her to bat left-handed and that is all she knows. Someday she'll be a great slapper. She made outs in the field, and she always smiled - when she got a hit or even when she got out.

(Abby with a few of her teammates at the ASU softball game)

Last week for Mother's Day I got to go to Abby's class to be honored along with all the other Mother's from her class. It was a great time. I laughed because she announced that she thought when she was at school that I was at home on the computer. As much as I try to deny it, she's probably right. I was showered with many gifts, poems, songs, hugs, strawberries, a rose, muffins... It was a great day. Thanks Abby for making my Mother's Day so special.

(This is where I would insert the pictures that I took at the Mother's Day program, but I can't find them. They've disappeared. They're lost somewhere in the vast unknown of my computer. If I find them, I'll post them)

Another thing to note about Peanut: She loves gymnastics. She has improved so much since starting a few months ago. She almost has her back handspring down, she can do a back walkover and is constantly doing handstands and round-offs. In fact, sometimes she tapes her homework upside down on a cabinet by the wall she likes to do handstands on. She reads her words as she's standing on her hands. It can drive my batty, but I admire her spunk and her love and determination to be the best hand stander around.

I love you so much!

Cali -part 3 Disneyland Princesses

I figured I should do a whole separate post just about our fun with the princesses. On Sunday we watched a coronation ceremony (or something like that) and got to dance with Cinderella, Snow White, and Stinky Bootie (Sleeping Beauty). The girls learned to dance, wave and move like a princess.

Then on Monday, we went to Ariel's Grotto to eat lunch with the princesses. We were greeted by Ariel, and then graced to dine with Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. I'll be paying off that lunch for the next 10 years -ooh doggies it was pricey, but I guess we were paying for the experience and the chance to see the princesses without waiting in line for an hour and a half (as was the case with Rapunzel, which is why we didn't see her- boohoo). The girls were excited to visit with the princesses. They were amazing and looked just like they do in the movies. They also stayed in character the whole time. They were sweet, proper, classy and graceful.

Sleeping Beauty- she prefers to be called Aurora she told us.

Snow White likes all the dwarfs the same - she said it would be like picking your favorite child. I told her I could pick my favorite. She snickered, but went right back to being sweet.

Notice the girls holding their hands properly like a princess. Cinderella taught them that. I think Cinderella was my favorite, she seemed so sweet and elegant.

Ariel was quite the gracious host. Letting us all dine in her grotto. She was so soft spoken and kind.

Belle told us the Beast was back at the castle with Prince Charming. They're good friends you know. She was the least concerned with her dress. She sat right down and let the girls come in close to her not caring if her dress got dirty. Darling.

Annie wore her Belle costume so she was extra happy to see her. It was cute.

Hannah's favorite -Belle.

Abby loved Ariel the best.

Annie of course loved Belle best.

Cali -Disneyland!!!

We did it. We finally broke down and took our little family to the happiest place on earth. It was the kids and Jeremy's first trip there. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation. It was amazingly fun and amazingly tiring. My shins are still aching!

-My Mother's Day picture with my kiddos

We spent 3 days there and basically did it all on Monday. For crying out loud, we got there at 8:00 am and didn't leave until after 11:00 pm. We shared the day with all the freaks. I guess it was Batman day and our kids were exposed to all the freaky Goths.

We got tons of pictures, but I'll just list the highlights and only post a few pics.

Karrie's Favorites: The Aladdin show - the genie was hysterically funny and witty, and Toy Story - so fun! and Screamin' of course

Abby's favorite: Screamin' - She's my little thrill seeker. I'd happily go on that with her a thousand times

Hannah's favorite: Tower of Terror - so she says, but oh so freaky. I think all my internal organs got rearranged on that one. She also loved the Thunder Mountain Railroad

Jake's favorite: Grizzly River Ride - It was fun and wet and not too fast for his and Jeremy's sissy tummies. He also loved Matterhorn and Big Thunder Railroad

Annie's Favorite: The Matterhorn - but the "white guy" was scary - aka the Abominable snowman, and the Winnie the Poo ride - poor girl couldn't go on many of the fun rides.

Jeremy's Favorite: Grizzly River Run (see Jake above)

We also all loved the World of Color show, Buzz Lightyear, Soarin', Indiana Jones, the Teacups...

-Jake, Hannah and Abby posin' with the castle in the background

-Jay, Hannah, Annie and Kate with Jessie

Annie with Tigger - one of the perks of missing all the fun rides, she got to chill with Tigger

(The Grizzly River Run -too much fun -oh wait, there's no such thing as too much fun!)

-The girls on the Teacups

-Our family with the big guy -none other than Mickey Mouse himself

Cali - Huntington Beach (Day 1)

We started our big Disneyland trip with an afternoon at the beach. We got to Huntington Beach on Saturday around 1:00 and the Ricedorff's were already there going strong. I honestly didn't expect my familia to want to stay all afternoon. After all, it was quite chilly and the water was freezing! But I was wrong and we all now have the sunburns to prove it.

We had a great time at the beach - jumping waves, boogie boarding, building sand castles, collecting shells, looking for sharks, playing whiffle ball, burying each other - you know, all the stuff you do at the beach.

We ended the day with a walk down to TK Burger. The Ricedorff's talked it up and it didn't disappoint. The fries were my favorite with the special dipping sauce. Yummy!

The Riverdogs

Jake is nearing the end of another great baseball season. I've gotta be honest, I kinda dreaded minors because, instead of an accurate machine, the boys are the pitchers. This year, score was kept, by a scorekeeper, not by Jake who went about 40 and 0 in coach-pitch because he kept his own score each game. It is a little more intense, even more so when Jake is on the mound pitching.

He is fun to watch, he's made some definite web gems. Like the time he made a diving stop at short stop (his primary position), he looked very Jeteresque, but no one was covering their base for him to throw it. Then the next play where he turned 2, it was sweet! But my favorite was the diving catch at short stop. The ball was hit over his head and he turned around to track it down and dove/kinda stumbled and came up with the ball. He pumped his arms and was all grins the rest of the inning. (He's never been one to hide his emotions well, everyone knows exactly how he's feeling)

Hitting has been a new challenge. He has always had pitches right down the pipe, so it's a little more difficult when the ball is elsewhere in the enormous minor's strike zone. But it's been fun watching him get better. The highlight of the season came a few weeks ago. Bases were loaded and he came up to bat against his best friend Brenton who was pitching, he hit the ball opposite field right up the 3rd base line. It was hit just hard enough that it got past the 3rd baseman and past the left fielder. He circled the bases for a grand slam. He was so happy. He got to the dugout and took off his helmet and wouldn't you know it, his cup fell out. He exclaimed, "I did that with my cup in my helmet" Later, he tried to tell me that he was going to put it in his helmet all the time because it was lucky. Baseball players, you gotta love 'em. They are so superstitious. But luckily for him and everyone, he has forgotten and just puts his helmet on, and usually his batting gloves in his back pocket when he comes up to bat (but not all the time).

Jake is an amazing boy and great son. He works hard at everything he does and I'm happy for him when he succeeds because I know he's worked his tail off to be good - including making me or Jeremy or Grandpa Dale daily play catch, pitch to him , or him pitch to us.

My Thoughts

Wow! Last night after putting the kids to bed, I was getting on the computer and I read on the Yahoo home page that the U.S. killed Osama bin Laden. I rushed to the TV, turned it on and called for Jeremy. I smiled. I wanted to shout out loud. I wanted to run outside and bang pots and pans. I wanted to cry. I wanted to fly an American flag. I think this is the only time in my life that I've been happy to hear someone died. The cynic in me even wondered if this was even real, but rather an attempt to rally a divided country together once again as we were united 10 years ago.

My heart was racing thinking back to that fateful day almost 10 years ago. I don't think I have ever documented my thoughts, and though they are not quite as sharp as they were then, it's amazing how much I can remember.

I remember waking up and getting ready for school. I was 6 months pregnant with Jake, teaching at Emerson and coaching at Mt. View. I came back in our room. Our alarm had gone off and I thought Jeremy had turned the radio from our favorite morning show on KMLE (Ben and Brian), to a.m. talk radio. I was annoyed with him, until I started listening and it began registering what was happening. We quickly turned our TV on and my eyes barely even blinked from then on. What was happening? We watched live as the second plane flew into the tower. It was so grand I couldn't quite grasp it. Then we saw the towers fall to the ground, one at a time. It was gut wrenching. Then the phone calls started. I spoke with my mom and I think Dyan. What? A plane hit the pentagon? It nearly hit The Mall in DC (not realizing it wasn't a shopping mall, but the big field in DC where the monuments are)? A plane was headed for the White House and crashed in a field? The magnitude of what was happening was sinking in. I cried, I worried, I prayed.

I couldn't go to school, not today. I couldn't face my innocent 11 year old students. Did they even know? What was I going to tell them? How was I going to explain how evil people were? Should we watch coverage in class? Should we discuss it? There was a definite soberness in room 30 that day and the days to follow.

I remember the sky being eerily silent as all aircraft had been grounded that day and week. I remember feeling Jake kick and wondering what in the world I was bringing a child into? I remember thinking about Debbie who had just had Durham 5 days earlier, not even realizing that this would eventually take Dale Jr. to Iraq, and later Matt.

I was grateful that all sporting events had been cancelled that day. My brain was too tired to go to practice and it seemed insensitive to try to practice. I needed to veg and stare at the coverage that played over and over and over again.

The whole country was devastated. Patriotism abounded. No matter what, we were all Americans! Flags waved non-stop. We put our paper flag in our window that came in the newspaper. Patriotic songs were played over and over again.

Obviously, I have not forgotten, but time is strange. We all moved on. Since that day, I have had 4 children. I have lived in New York where I got to visit Ground Zero several times and feel the reverence. I have worried for my family. I have miscarried 3 times. I have wondered time and again since then what I'm doing bringing kids into this frightening, mean world. Then I have been amazed at the goodness of people all around. I have voted in 2 more presidential elections. I have wondered why all politicians are so crooked. I have coached my kids teams. I have made a few trips to ER's that somehow remind me of what is important in life. I have been self-centerd. I have been able to serve others. I have been happy, sad, confused, lost, numb and tired.

But last night, seeing the news coverage that the evilest man on earth has been killed, made me overjoyed. It brought back all these feelings and emotions.

I am proud to be an American. I love the freedoms I enjoy here that are nowhere else on earth. I am grateful for all those that have served, sacrificed, and given all they have for me and my greatly blessed life. Those people include, in no particular order: service men and women, especially my brothers and dad, my parents, the prophet, my ancestors, pioneers, my family, Jeremy's family, my kids, friends, neighbors and the list goes on....

God Bless America!