Park day and out to dinner on a Thursday night

We spent the good part of the middle of the day at the park.  I am sad to say that the weather is not as nice as it used to be.  Summer is forcing her way into my life and I am not happy about it.  The hot weather brings out my worst traits.  Why is this so?
A man who watched Mike's trial over the past two weeks wants to take us out to dinner.  It's a very nice gesture and we accepted.  This man spends his winters in AZ (a snowbird) and summers in Utah.  He is a retired defense attorney and enjoys watching criminal trial while here on vacation.  Go figure.  Anyway, he happened upon Mike's trial and became fascinated with it.  He thinks Mike did a bang-up job (of course he did).  Sadly, or maybe not sadly, the jury's verdict was:  Hung Jury. In a few months, Mike will have to retry the case.  I sure hope he is able to win the 2nd time around.  Second time is a charm, right?

EDIT:  So, I was totally wrong on who this guy was that sat in on Mike's trial that week.  He turned out to be a really awesome man.  He is an attorney but I am not sure what kind of law he practices or practiced.  We ate at Pinnacle Peak Patio with other members of his family. It was a great night of good food and good converstation.  The funnest part about dinner:  everyone we met that night knew a member of my family or a friend or a co-worker. It was fun making all the connections and associations to other great people.

Monday, Tuesday

What a weekend!
I spent Friday and Saturday morning with my sister-in-law selling our old/no longer needed goods at a garage sale. We were able to get rid of a good amount of stuff that just cluttered our homes. As far as making some money, we did alright.
Sarah and Mary were invited to separate parties and spent the afternoon having fun celebrating their friend's birthday. For the first time, Mary was invited to an all-girl party and went, sans Joe. I was worried she was going to miss him and act up and be naughty. When I picked her up she was happy to see me and show me her Build-a-Bear dog she made at the mall.
Later that afternoon (5:00pm - is that late afternoon or is it considered evening?). Anyways... Later that afternoon, the entire family went to Costco to eat pizza and do some last minute necessary shopping for Sunday dinner.
We had a quiet Sunday morning, followed by a typical Sunday meeting(meaning the kids were a bit roudy at church) and topped the day off with Sunday dinner with Mike's family. Yum!

Another week is over

Now that the school week is over, I can rest. Rest from getting up early, making lunches, bathing kids (yeah, I know), driving kids to school, picking them up and making sure homework gets done! I am so excited!
I decided to do a spontaineous (sp) BBQ. I ran to the store and purchased charcoal, hotdogs, buns, chips, and soda. I rushed back to the house and grabbed mustard, apples, catsup, plates, cups, ice, a lighter, napkins, two kites and tongs. Mike helped me pack the van and off we went to the park! It was a wonderful evening. The weather was sooooo nice. Of course I forgot lighter fluid so, while Mike ran to the store to pick that up, I flew a kite. Why is flying a kite so relaxing?
Mike got back quick and soon the dogs were ready to eat. Yum, yum.
I am sad that I didn't get my camera out. The kids played well with other kids at the park and Sam's friend, Annabelle, was with us.
Joe and Sam played with the fire, sort of. These kids have the pyro gene on both sides of their family.
Okay, it's late. I must rush off to bed.

Pinewood Derby...

Tuesday night was a blast! Why? Pinewood Derby!

This was Sam's second year participating in the derby and second car designed with his Uncle Jake in mind. This year's car theme was "Don't Tread On Me." Mike found a picture of the flag on the internet so, he printed it out in color and cut around the edges and inside the snake's coils. Then, after making the car by cuting off excess wood and sanding it down smooth, he painted it the flag's colors: black and yellow. Oh, Sam did help sand the car.
After the paint was dry, Mike installed the tires and it was ready for the detailing. I simply mod-podged the lettering and symbol on the car and let it dry. By 6:00pm on Tuesday, it was ready for weigh in. The car happen to be lighter than standard weight so a few weights were added to the bottom of the car. By 6:30pm the car was ready to race. Grandma Whetten was right there with us in the first row cheering Sam on. It was so cute to see his siblings cheer him on, especially Sarah! She is his biggest fan.

There were 13 cars racing in a total of 78 (?) heats. Sam was (almost) consistantly in 2nd place the entire night. He didn't win, place or show in the finale, but he didn't care. The night was AWESOME.

Oh - the little kids had a blast, too, because one smart mama (not me) brought a mini race track and cars - just perfect for Hot Wheels!

Spring break is gone....

Wow! What a week! The kids and I enjoyed spring break, most of the time.
We tried to do a lot so the kids wouldn't feel cheated out of 'fun times'. We were able to squeeze in a park day, visiting with cousins, and random other outings to keep us all busy.
The kids favorite day was Friday. Aside from Sam having to do a fasting blood test, it was all-good. We spent the morning at the park with cousins and a friend of mine who has triplets (this is when I am really glad I only have twins). After the park, we met Mike downtown for lunch. We decided to eat at a yummy sandwich that was both fast (the kids were very hungry) and loud (party of 7, we tend to be loud). We had to walk more than a few blocks to get there so, thank goodness the kids enjoyed walking and looking at all the tall buildings that downtown has to offer.
After lunch we walked Mike back to his office and the kids and I set out for our last adventure de spring break: Smeeks. Smeeks is a little candy shop in Phoenix. It's known for vintage flare and candy. When we got there, I was a bit nervous that the kids would go wild or that something was gonna get broken. Seriously, this candy store is small with candy from wall to wall. I described my first impressions of me with my kids in the store as bulls in a china shop. But, I can proudly say, these were tame bulls in the candy store. The kids did very well picking out their own candies, each child had a $2 limit, and not one thing got broken.
We are all back to our usual routine and I couldn't be happier!
I have some wonderful pictures (taken with my cell phone) that I will post as soon as I figure out how to download them from my phone.

Oh, I fogot that on the way back to Mike's work, we stopped at the Wells Fargo Musuem. We saw vintage and previously used bank boxes, stagecoaches, telegraphs, coins and even replicas of gold bars. It was AWESOME!

Spring break is here, random photos to enjoy

We are having a blast (notes of sarcasim and stress) this week while the kids are out of school. We spent Monday morning at the park and then ate at Cici's Pizza 'till our bellies were full. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home. I was too tired to do anything else.
On Tuesday, Sam and Sarah had a well-check visit and, well, everything checked out well (so says the doctor). Later that day I took the kids to the dollar movies to see Tangled but we didn't get in. Sadly, the movie was sold-out! We opted for Megamind as an alternative with hopes that we'd like it. The movie was cute and funny but did not hold the attention of Joe and Mary (thank heavens the baby slept through the entire movie). Again, we spent the rest of the afternoon at home. I was too tired to do anything else. Sam, on the otherhand, helped run a lemonade stand with his friend, Annabelle, on the sidewalk in front of her house. Sarah joined in later and I followed with the younger 3 and we enjoyed the late afternoon outside. We came home exhausted and ready for dinner and a quiet wind-down.
It's now Wednesday. What's in store for us today? Who knows? I am up for anything as long as I get some quiet time this afternoon.

The weekend has gone bye, bye. Hoorah!

It was a long and tough weekend. On Friday, I knew what Saturday was going to be like. At least, I had an idea of how I would feel and behave. I would feel like my entire world crumbled in on top of me, just like it had a year ago on the 12th and I would behave like a stressed-out, distressed, depressed, inconsolable mom and wife. Wanting to prevent this from happening, for the sake of my husband and children, I had a thought (more like a wish) Friday afternoon. I thought that if I held my breath long enough, Saturday would just disappear - not to be seen until next weekend. Although, I knew that the next weekend was going to be (almost) just as hard. What I really wanted to do was to go away for the weekend. Ignore the date, ignore the anniversary, ignore everything that happened last year in March.
Our family has a favorite place in Tucson where we like to go to and relax. I looked up the place, checked dates and almost made reservations. I felt guilty about spending the money, using a tank or two of gas to get there and back, and making my husband, Mike, drive 2 more hours after an already 1 hour commute. Wresting kids, trying to decide what to drive-thru for dinner, and then trying to tame the kid's excitemnent of staying in a hotel (my kids really dig that), had me thinking twice about packing up to leave. While pondering this decision, I remembered that Mike had something very special planned for me on Saturday. He, along with the help of my brother, planned on installing a flag pole in front of our house as a tribute to my brother and as kind act for me. I knew that Mike took a great amount of time thinking about what he could do to show me how much he cares about me and my feelings and to make my day a little brighter. I decided not to make reservations and to stay home and let Mike carry out his kind deed.
While he and my brother fetched supplies, I took the kids to eat lunch with the in-laws. By the time we got back, this greeted me at the door:

Later on that day, under the encouragement of the kids and before the cement was dry/set, Mike installed the remaining posts and the flag. Just look at it wave in all its glory! Ain't she beautiful!

We ended the day with a trip to Jump and Shout and dinner at a Greek eatery. I survived the day, barely.
Sunday was better. A little better. Next weekend? I may wish it gone before it comes.....

Track and Field Day at Franklin

Sam and Sarah participated in their school's Track and Field Day. It was awesome. They had a great time. Here are some pitures to prove it.
Sadly, my camera's batteries ran out after only a few pictures of Sarah.

It's almost 'that' day

I won't mention it right now. I'm just going to smile at this picture and think of how fun and amazing Jake was.

Double swing

Don't you hate it when you ask your kids to come in, wash their hands and sit at the table 'cause it's dinner time and they ignore you? I sure do. It really irks me. So, on my way to yell at the kids for the who-knows-how-manyth time, I spotted the twins doing this and I just had to stop and take a picture. They were having so much fun. I couldn't possibly stop
1. the non-crying play, and 2. the getting along play. I just couldn't.

here is something funny to read....

My friend, Edna, is funny. I've known Edna for over 20 years and she is a riot to be around. I teased her about her blog and how she should dedicate a post to me. Well, she did. It's more of a tribute, in a round-about funny way. Read it here to find out more about me as a teenager. Boy, was I silly.
I wish I had a picture of her to post on my blog. Instead, I will post a random picture of my kids. Enjoy!

Love this little boy!

David has been such a blessing to our family! He is the most calm, sweet, mild-manner boy I've had the pleasure of parenting (so far). In fact, he is the most clam, sweet, mild-manner child I've had, period! All the others were balls of energy from the moment of conception! This little one was fiesty in the womb, came out screaming like the dickens, and has been cucumber-cool ever since December 13th. Not one complaint. Nope, not one. Just look at this face. PER-FEC-TION!
And this one, Sarah, is the best little mommy to David! They get along great!

Keeping busy at a slow pace....

Is it just me or do other people have the same problem as I do? Case in point: I've been buried up to my neck in laundry (clean, thankgoodness) for the last week and a half. Seriously. There are piles of clean laundry here and there, on my bed, on the couch, on the floor, in baskets (already sorted and folded). Everywhere! I've been working on these laundry piles everyday but don't seem to make any progress. Finally, today, I focused on getting the laundry in my room and on my bed PUT AWAY! I ignored my twins, my crying baby. It only took me all but 10 minutes to get it done, uninterrupted. Minus the basket of socks. Yes, only 10 minutes, UNINTERRUPTED! I've figured out that ignoring the kids is the key to getting things done.
Yep, I learn something new everyday.