I betcha didn't know...

I betcha didn't know all the U.S. Presidents by the time you were 5 years old. Well Hannah does. She just finished a remarkable year at her pre-school, Discovery Club. It was amazing the things the kids learned. The teachers challenged their little brains and these kids came up big.

Hannah was immersed in varying habitats throughout the year: outer space, oceans, the forest, the arctic and antarctic, the desert, the rainforest and the savannah. They also learned about kids' cultures and traditions from all over the world.

Today was her culminating program and they sang a song from each of the habitats ending with the presidents' song. They learned all the presidents in order and Hannah can tell you a little something about each one. Amazing!

I only wish she was more of a performer. I try to get her to show off her skills, but to no avail. She refuses to sing in front of people. I also hope she never forgets what she's learned.

Thank you to Mrs. Freebairn and Mrs. Fletcher for such an amazing pre-school experience!

Hannah is dressed up as a girl from Switzerland and is doing a Russian dance, I think. It was cute.

Hannah with Mrs. Freebairn, her fantastic teacher! She was a fireball of energy!

Hannah and Mrs. Fletcher, she is such a sweet teacher and so fun.

The sun came up today

A wise man (my dad) used to always say after a tough loss, a bad game, a hard test, trial... "There are two things that are for sure - The sun will always come up and I will always love you."

Well last night I had to give that same difficult pep talk to Jake. His team, the Riverdogs, lost to the Riverbandits in the Four Peaks Little League Minors Division Championship - check that, they got run ruled. It was ugly. Our team threw about 6000 wild pitches and pass balls and that many bases were stolen on us. I think only 2 of their many runs were a result of batted balls. Jake was devastated, heartbroken and emotional. He puts his all in every sport he plays, so it hurts that much more when he loses.

I had to be on the other end of the pep talk. I took Jake in my arms and gave him the biggest hug, which in hindsight wasn' t the smartest thing to do, it got his emotions all worked up again. I told him I was proud of his hard work, his good sportsmanship, his wonderful season. Then I told him the sun will come up tomorrow and that I loved him.

Do you know what? The sun came up this morning. Jake is happy and he has moved on.

And I still love him.

Fashion Update

Sometimes I think my blog is simply to update everyone on my kids' most recent fashion trends. Well this won't disappoint.

Today for church, I came out of my room, asked the kids if they were all ready. They all said yes, then I did a once over on them. This is what I got:

-Jake had really bad deacon's collar and he's only 9. Bless his heart, he wears a real tie now and can tie it himself. Way to go!

-Abby was wearing her old jellies that now fit Annie. Her toes were hanging a good inch off the front.

-Hannah had on ballet slippers.

-Annie was wearing mismatched shoes - one white, one silver.

This is what I deal with daily. Annie is the worst by far! She rolls out of bed and dresses herself immediately. She often wears multiples of everything. She came out of her room the other day with an undershirt, a dress, a tanktop over the dress, a skirt, a pair of zebra print tights and a pair of hot pink tights that have been cut off at the knees over that. Oh and then there were the shoes, a boot with a maryjane. That's pretty typical, but after my haul of laundry last week, I've been cracking down. Only one shirt and one pair of tights (or shorts) at a time. It's been really hard for poor Annie who so likes to express herself through her outfits as the following picture shows:

Yep, she put panties on over her pants. I didn't see it until we got to our destination. Luckily she was asleep and I was able to pull them off without a fight.

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