Penny = 1 !

My baby was one last Monday. We decided to have a party the Friday before so daddy could be there. The girls and I spent the day decorating and wrapping presents and making a cake. Buying gifts was easy.

Step one: go to garage
Step two: rummage through old toys and select a few
Step three: wash and sanitize
Step four: let girls wrap and present to baby who doesn't

care that her gifts just came from the garage!

regift

regift

regift




is it a regift?

One new toy!( I do have a heart)

Just so you know the cupcakes represent water

Don't you love our decor! Chelsea would be proud!

messy face! we had a great year and are so glad she decided to come down and join us!

Busy Bees

This has been one of the busiest springs we have had. This last week we have had every evening filled. Monday=T Ball practice( yours truly is coach and I actually like it), Tuesday=TBall game, Wednesday=TBall practice, Thursday=Tots graduation for Lily and a grand finale to Daphne's outdoor adventure group, Friday= Carne Asada dinner at the park, and today I went with Kate Rose to Build A Bear with her Daisy Troop. It was my first full day without my Penny and some one on one time with Kate. We also topped of the trip with a lunch at Peter Piper Pizza.

Lauren, Kate, Lauren





Making sure her bear has just enough stuffin'

You can tell Lauren is very excited

Groomin' their bears. ( I gave them matchy-match hair)

Dressin them up

Meet Daisy Moore and Beary Kate
This is her troop and they sure did a great job because that was one busy store. Great day and all thanks to wonderful girls, parents, and troop leaders!

My little squash!

So we just harvested our first zucchini and yellow squash. So of course I had to take pictures of my baby with them. She is so cute.

Look at those chompers!

Ocho de Mayo

They decided to have Cinco De Mayo on Ocho instead. So my girls thought it would be fun to wear their dresses that Aunt Darby bought them in L.A. Down at the Plaza they have Folklorico dancing, food vendors and activities for the kids. Ben also wanted to take some pictures with his camera so he took them over to the Curley School for some shots in their dresses.

Lily just had surgery on her eyes so they are a bit red.

This is the Curley School. It is very pretty and fun to walk around.

Lily had to pose in her glasses.

This is a Tarantula Hawk. They are huge. They don't bother you but are a little unnerving to watch fly around.

Lucky Number Seven

Isn't she the cutest seven year old you have ever seen? Well she is. And look at that beautiful cake that their dad told them it was decorated with playdough so Kate started to pull them off. My first attempt at fondant. It wasn't terribly hard to make, just tiring. It was a little too sweet but it looked cute for my first attempt.


For her birthday Ben took Kate and her friend Lauren to the Phoenix Zoo. They had a great time.

Kate got on the camel and quickly got off. Lauren was a natural. Must be from riding horses.

They came back sun kissed ( of course not burned because of course sun screen was remembered) and tired. They had a great time and even got to eat at Chili's. I stayed home with poor little sick Lily and Daphne got to go ice skating for the first time with her friend Seliah. She took lots of pictures but then accidentally erased them. She was bummed about that. I remember the thinking I couldn't love another kid after having one, because I had a whole lotta love for Daphne. Then they placed that Kate Rose in my arms and I realized it wasn't the same love, it was a completely different love for my second child. Good natured, quiet, and loving are the 3 perfect words for my Katie Roo.

Tea Parties and Spring Concerts

Kate had her annual Girl Scout Tea Party. She and her fellow girl scouts made a lovely spread of PBJ and quesadillas with fruit and veggies on the side. They were able to invite two guests; mom and teddy bear. It was lots of fun and we even ate the food that had been touched by lots of little hands and survived.

They learned about different types of painting over this last month. So during the party we could meander around and view their art. Kate received 2ND place for her water color.

Last night was the Spring Concert. Kate's class sang "It's a Small World After All". Daphne sang "I've Got No Strings". Daphne also performed 3 song with the 4Th grade band. Here is Kate and Lauren after they finished . We loved their expressions so much us moms tried to imitate it.

I don't think it turned out as cute.

Since we don't get dolled up too much I need a picture of my cute little performers.

There is a time and season...

When in our lives do we finally realize that what we really want is going to take time and effort then just getting it now and paying way more than we should. I bought Ben this beautiful Canon Rebel 12 mega pixel camera for his birthday. We have no debt except for our house and a student loan which will be paid off in August. We have a little savings but I felt that he deserved this camera because he works hard and has been talking about it for years. SO I did it. I actually totally surprised him and he loved it.
Now I am not sure who is the money obsessor in your family, but it's me in ours. I must have rubbed off on him because he suggested we wait a little while longer for this wonderful camera and he returned it and for half the price got a nice Canon point and shoot and a GPS unit for Geo Caching with the girls. We feel so good about it. We are actually really glad that we did this.
Our next dilemma was a car. We drive a 2001 Chevy Lumina and if you have lived by us in the last 5 years then you have seen this car. It seats six and we have been squeezing into it since last July since our 2 month old van was demolished. We went to buy another car and after a day of sitting in a dealership while some guy tried to convince me that he was doing his best to give me a "deal" even though his interest rate was higher than my preapproved one and he wanted me to pay 60 bucks more a month than I wanted. We walked away and do not want to do that again for a long time. My dilemma is do we continually sit on the edge where we have no debt, but a few things go wrong and I am right back into it. I want to get as far away from that line as I can. So we decided( well Ben is almost there) that if we put away that car payment for another year (sigh) and wait til next year we will have a lot to put down and have more pull at that dealership.
I just wrote a mouth full but I just want to remember this time where my view has shifted. I am learning what needs and wants are. I have gone almost a year with one car and have survived. I have received a lot of help and we have just had to suck it up and not travel a lot. It is a little easier here because it is a small town and there is nothing to do. I am grateful that I have a wonderful family and our focus is to do more things together. Which brings me to our pictures. We have joined the local community garden and I took some pics with our 2nd new camera. I thought they turned out pretty well and they girls love going and "helping". Our GPS as also been a hit except that Kate thinks dad bought it to find rattlesnakes ( not a good experience, lots of crying).

This is our plot

I had to throw in a cute picture of this girl. She just learned to clap!