Hieroglyphics trail x2

Since the kids had enjoyed the hieroglyphics trail so much, we decided to go again so Ryan could come with us. Let me tell you, it is SO much easier hiking with 5 kids when there are 2 adults to help! We did not go without typical crying or whining about something, but it was still a lot of fun. It was so refreshing to be outdoors!

We started out late in the day, so we ended up spending the hottest part of the day hiking up the mountain. It also happened to be the hottest day of the week, hitting a full 76 degrees in January. Even for Arizona standards, I was pretty warm.

When we finally reached the end, we went up a little more until we were past most of the water pools. There were a lot of bees all around the water, so we were just trying to avoid them. It ended up being really nice, though, because we were able to sit in the shade of the mountain and just enjoy being in nature.

This was our view to the NW. Lots of shade is just what we needed after a hot trip up the mountain.

We sat and had a few snacks to help with our low blood sugar. (Some children, who will remain anonymous, admitted to not eating any lunch before we left. Silly kids.) Afterwards, Ryan and I sat and enjoyed sitting while the kids explored the water ponds and climbed the rocks. I don't know if there was more water this time or if I just noticed it more since we had to walk past all of it, but there were quite a few little pools all around the rocks. The kids enjoyed looking for snails and tadpoles in each of the little pools.

Jayke was overcome with confidence as he climbed as high as I would allow.

Kate wanted to follow, but lacked the skills. Ethan really just couldn't care less about climbing.

(Yes, that is Jayke at the top.)

Aimee, poor Aimee, fell and hurt her hand, so she couldn't be happy and play with everyone. Thankfully, we had bandaids and we could fix her up pretty quickly.

After that, she was as happy as could be! (Note to self: always have bandaids ready, even if there is no blood involved.)

Kate wanted picture after picture. On this rock and that rock. I think she just loves the attention.

 Ethan needed a little coercing, but he finally let me take a picture.

 And, as is usual, V was only happy if she had mommy and milk.

 Since everyone else had a picture taken, Jayke thought he needed one, too.

We couldn't call it a day until we had a group shot. 

 (Aimee thought she was so funny with the food hanging out of her mouth. She actually sat there and posed like that intentionally. Silly girl.)

I am also happy to say that both of my potty-trained girls learned to pee outdoors on this hike. Aimee was more than happy to trust me after her mishap on the Lehi trail. It's no fun having to hike with wet clothes and shoes. Kate, on the other hand, took a lot of convincing and even a bit of wet clothes. :-(

And, as always, the desert was gorgeous as the day was coming to a close. Beautiful clear, blue skies stretching from horizon to horizon. The desert beauty is one thing I might actually miss when we finally settle down elsewhere. It really is amazing that anything can live in such a harsh environment. Thankfully, I can always look at pictures. Also thankfully, pictures can't show you just how hot and arid the environment really is.

Cheese

She. loves. cheese! Ryan let her have a piece of cheese and all she needed was one bite to convince her that she couldn't put it down. She gobbled it up so fast that she had chipmunk cheeks.

(surprised by the camera, entirely too concerned with the cheese)

 (after realizing I had the camera, wanting to smile to show her absolute approval, yet not willing to put the cheese down)

Now, we keep a baggie of cut-up cheese in the fridge just for her. This girl needs her cheese every day!

In the kitchen

I made aprons and chef hats for the kids for their Christmas presents (from me) this year. Kate also received a cakepop maker from an anonymous person (thank you). All the kids were thrilled and wanted to get started with cooking right away. I gave them a cake recipe and told them to get started, while I just sat back and enjoyed watching them learn.

Through this experience, I learned that I love independent children and my kids are growing up way too fast. I think they are so adorable trying to read the recipe and figure out what everything means. I loved watching them try to problem solve and work through their interpersonal conflicts. And I thought they were just adorable in the aprons and hats!

pretzels or ears

"Look, Mom! It's just like my ear. It has a hole in it."

When she was eating a pretzel for her lunch last week, she pulled the inside breading out, leaving a hollow center. She thought she was pretty crafty coming up with a model of her eardrum.

While we were leaving Papago Park in December, Aimee had sneezed and complained about a pain behind her ear. I thought nothing of it at the time. Later that night, she coughed really hard while she was going to bed and complained about her ear again. This time we could see obvious signs of infection, so Ryan took her to the doctor. The doctor informed them that she had ruptured her eardrum, most likely when she sneezed and then again when she coughed, which was why she complained about the pain at those two moments and then felt fine afterwards.

Poor girl went through 10 days of eardrops to no avail. Her ear infection kept getting worse. We went back to the doctor and she was put on 10 days of Augmentin. She is now halfway through it and her ear canal still looks terrible. I cannot even see an eardrum anywhere in there. Either she blew a big hole in it, or the infection is so bad that it is fully covering her eardrum. So sad. I am hoping that another 5 days will show a lot of improvement so she can actually start repairing her eardrum.

What is a vacation without sickness?

Here are the stats:

6 with a stomach bug and mild fever

1 ruptured eardrum and ear infection

1 strange rash (probably roseola), two weeks of food/water refusal

2 colds

1 virtually untouched: yours truly (amazing since she was the barf-cleaner and child-consoler through it all)

and to finish it off, on the last day of vacation, we started a round of pharyngitis (with its accompanying voice loss, fevers, and joint aches) that would continue to spread once we were back at our regular schedules.  

I love vacations!

Papago Park

Santa brought the rest of the family hydration packs this year, so we decided to get a lot of use out of them before it was too hot to leave the house (which is coming up very quickly-already mid 70's this week?!!). We had first planned on going to Papago Park on Saturday, but because of illness we had to reschedule for Monday. Monday was the calm between storms, as one set of illness was just finishing and the other didn't start until that night.

We started out by packing the wee one in the backpack. She was not happy about it and made her opinion known to the whole world. Poor sad girl. Once we started walking, she perked up and seemed to enjoy the ride.

We walked across the park to Governor Hunt's tomb. We learned about the tomb when we visited the state capitol for a home school field trip a couple years ago and the kids have been curious about it ever since. We entertained their curiosity and let them see it up close. They weren't as curious once they actually saw it up close.

I never realized how close the tomb was to the Phx Zoo before. I guess I just never paid attention, but it is right next door to it. We could see the mountain goats, giraffes, gazelle, and everything on that side of the zoo. Ethan was wishing that he had his binoculars, though, so he could see things a little better.

Being on that hill made the whole valley look so miniscule. We suddenly realized that the mountains were just a bump in the middle of civilization, not at the edge of infinity like we had previously imagined. Even the zoo seemed so small from up on the hill.

 After the tomb, we found some tables and had a sack lunch. The boys wanted to go off on their own to eat.

And V enjoyed all two sips of applesauce that she was willing to eat.

After lunch, we climbed Hole-in-the-Rock.

 We saw the hole in the top that was supposedly used by ancient civilizations to tell the seasons and time of day.

 Then we went out to the "cave" opening and looked at the teeny civilization that surrounded it.

The surrounding area no longer looked expansive to us.

Here is the view of the "cave" from the inside.

After we left the main area, we walked around and found another spot for the kids to play in. Jayke was excited to climb up the face of the rock.

Kate got stuck halfway and Ryan ended up pushing her the rest of the way up. Then it was Ethan's turn and when he got to the same point as Kate, he was just done. He didn't want to go any further and started climbing down. Ryan stepped in and blocked him. It took us quite a while to get him up to the opening. When he was finally pushed up there, he was so mad at us. 

He just sat there and cried for a while, angry that we made him do it.

And even more upset that I was taking a picture of his silliness.

He was so upset that he went to the back of the cave and sat there, looking at the wall.

Until he discovered the crack at the back and thought it was interesting. All the while, Jayke thought he was awesome for climbing 7 feet up a wall.

 Kate did a little exploring herself so she could get a picture "alone".

When Ryan climbed up, he had instant flashbacks to the train at Pioneer Park. He said it had the most pleasant odor of urine in the cave. ;-)

After much coercion, we finally got Ethan to make muscles for us, only on the condition that we drive by the Ferrari dealership on the way home. (Sadly, the dealership had moved since they last went, but Ryan made good on his promise and took the boys there today instead.)

By the time they were finished playing, Ethan actually enjoyed being up there.

 On our walk down the hill, I noticed my water was not on my shoulder strap anymore. I think V was watching everyone else sucking on their water and wondered what it tasted like. It was surprising that she was able to reach it from inside her pack. She thought she was so funny sucking on my water.

 After we left Papago Park, we went searching for the pioneer monument that Ryan was curious to see. When he was describing it to me, I was completely confused about what he was talking about. I had never heard anything about it. After driving on a few roads to find a connecting road, we finally crossed over the freeway to a dead-end at an orange grove. We saw a teeny sign off to the side that said "Lehi trail". We figured we were in the right place.

We walked down the trail a little way and found the monument Ryan was looking for. What was even more amazing was how close it was to the freeway and I had never really noticed it before. We were literally right over the fence from it. We were close enough that people driving by probably saw Aimee's bum as she was peeing. ;-)

 The monument was right next to the dry Salt River bed.

Kate wanted another "alone" picture.

In the parking area, we saw remains of christmas tree bonfires and lots of junk dumped around. It reminded me of "the pit" that was down the canal from us growing up in Gilbert. (The pit is now filled in and turned into a neighborhood.) It was obvious that this is a very active teenage hang-out spot. That fact was even more obvious as we were leaving and a few cars started showing up, full of teen-aged kids. There was one group target shooting over the dry riverbed, another group was golfing over the edge, and more were still coming as we were driving away.

All in all, it was a nice day, the weather was perfect, and we actually got out of the house during our vacation. It was a nice start to our vacation that was quickly coming to a close.

December

We had a very long and busy December this year, just like we do every year. We went on a field trip with some friends to the Commemorative Air Force Museum, which was really interesting. Probably more for me than it was for the kids. The kids loved the planes and the huge engines and propellers, and I loved the history and stories. It is surprisingly a really good museum if the history interests you. The (smaller) kids were able to ride in a pedal (car) plane and loved it. Seeing the kids ride it made me want to have some sitting around for when I have grandchildren. I know, my oldest is only 11, but I will have grandchildren before I know it. Time goes by so fast!

While we were at the museum, we also got to walk through a B-17. There was a spot right in the middle where you had to walk across a narrow bridge with netting on the side. The bottom of the plane was open so you could see straight to the ground. When we went through, Aimee was terrified of this section. After much coercing, she finally crossed. When we finished going through, Aimee asked to go again. She must have forgotten how much she disliked the center section. It was a really fun and interesting field trip to go on with the kids' friends.

Kate has been bragging for several weeks that she has a loose tooth. I had checked it and it was barely wiggly. I guess she either convinced Ethan to help her or he grew tired of her bragging and tried to play dentist with her. We found both of them in the bathroom. Ethan had tied a string around her tooth and was ready to pull it out by slamming the door. Luckily for Kate, the string slipped off her tooth before it came out. Oddly enough, we haven't heard her bragging since.

We also did gingerbread houses again this year. It was a lot more fun this year than it was last year. The kids understood what they were doing this year, so I didn't have to do as much helping. I did try out a new recipe using sugar as a glue. Basically, I had to boil sugar and water as if I was making hard candy and then dip the edges of the gingerbread in it. It was perfect! Next year, I think I will add a little flavoring to the sugar to make it more fun.

Ethan really enjoyed seeing Ryan's icicles hanging from the roof.

Sadly, V didn't get to join in the decorating fun. She didn't mind, though. She was fully occupied with a candy cane (or two) I gave her. I know, it is just terrible for me to give candy to a future dentist's infant daughter.

It at least kept her happy while we were working.

We also had a wonderful Christmas. We were blessed to receive a large delivery on our doorstep Christmas Eve. The kids loved opening their presents and received so many fun toys, games, and books.

The kids got some Care Bear toys. At first when V opened hers, it terrified her so much. It took quite a while for her to not scream when she saw them. Here is a video of her a few hours after initially seeing them.

 It is just terrible of me, but I find so much enjoyment out of seeing her reaction to the bears. I am happy to say that shortly after this video, she started to scratch at their eyes and, realizing that they were just plastic, quickly fell in love with the bears. She can now be found walking around with one bear hugged in each arm. She just loves them now and it is darling!

A year already!

It is official. She CAN walk. Just in time, too. She did it 10 days before her first birthday. She still prefers to crawl since she is a speed demon with those hands and knees ;-) but occasionally she is brave and wobbles around on her little feet. So cute!

At her one year appointment, she was almost exactly 19 pounds and 30 inches, tall and skinny. Her head is still quite petite at 44.5 cm. Her favorite sound to babble is ba-ba-ba and she loves to say it while she is dancing to music. Seriously, this kid loves music! I find her dancing all.the.time! She has been mumbling things that sound a lot like hi and mom, but last night she said her first official word when she wanted a book that Aimee was taking from her: mine. There was no mistaking it. :-( The word that we treated as a curse word for our first child is now our last child's first word.

We are finally getting her to tolerate more foods. She can basically have all the veggies and we have already tried apples and pears with success. She either does not like or does not tolerate bananas. Every time I feed them to her she screams and then refuses to open her mouth. I am sure her mouth itches with them like everyone else in the family. She loves chicken and turkey-even the pureed babyfood kind. Her all-time favorite is still sweet potatoes.  I plan on trying the grains again over Christmas break to see if she tolerates any of them.

She still does not sleep really well. She will go a good 5 hours before she first wakes up but then the rest of the night is terrible. Her naps are usually only once a day for an hour, but on really good days she might go two hours but it is very rare. She must have inherited the same sleepless genes as Jayke--he is finally sleeping past 6am now that he is 11.

V is so cuddly when she is sleepy but if she wants to play Mom had better not even get close to touching her. She is so busy all the time and constantly exploring and emptying.

One thing about her that I love is her hair. The lower part at the back of her head is still just baby fuzz and over that she has about 2 inches of hair growing over it. I think it is adorable. I also love the way she scrunches her nose up when she smiles. Cutest thing ever!

She is super ticklish on her feet and armpit/shoulders and just laughs and laughs when I tickle her. She loves it when Kate and Aimee play with her and will often get into laughing attacks where she just laughs at everything! I love her giggle!

We just love her and are so glad she is part of our family!

Show Choir Concert

One of the classes we signed Jayke up for this semester was show choir. He was really excited about it since he loves singing so much. At meet the teacher night he was already volunteering to sing a solo.

Tonight was the end-of-semester concert. It was a typical elementary music concert, where most of the time parents find it quite difficult to listen to. Very cute, yes, and the kids were all so brave singing their solos. All the kids had the opportunity to sing a solo if they wanted to, and most of them actually did. Overall, they did a fantastic job, even if parts of it were off tune.

Here is a video of the song that Jayke sang a solo for. Way to go Jayke! We are so proud of you and so happy that you love singing so much!

(As a side note, the girl that sings her solo last is the girl that Jayke has a crush on. So cute!)

Thanksgiving break

We don't have Daddy home very often, so this last week was a special treat for us. We had him for the entire week! V was so thrilled to wake up each morning and see Dad still at home. She just kept touching him, looking at him, and smiling. I'm sure she was in complete disbelief at what she was seeing. Sadly, that was his last full-week Thanksgiving vacation. 3rd and 4th year of dental school don't offer that luxury.

While he was home, we had plenty of projects for him to do. He replaced the tile in our bathroom shower. (We've only had all the materials for a few years now, just waiting for the time to do it.) We even had a play day at Bass Pro Shops. The kids love to go there every Christmas season to play with all the toys. It was nice just being able to spend time with Ryan again. Oh, how I miss him every day!

We had Thanksgiving with Ryan's family on Wednesday. Then with my family on Thursday. We even had our own turkey on the weekend. I don't think I have ever made so many dinner rolls and pumpkin pies at one time before. It was so much fun for the kids to play with so many cousins all in just a few days' time!

We were also so happy to have my sister Amber move back from Florida with her family. They will only be an hour's drive from us now! We also said goodbye to my baby sister Deanna and her husband. They will no longer be a 12 hour drive from us. They are moving to the Caribbean for Luiz' med school. The most sad part about it is that Ryan is still in school so we won't have a chance to visit them while they are living there. When we see them again, Luiz will be a doctor!

Aimee also took full advantage of the fact that Dad was around more. She somehow convinced him to paint her nails on Sunday. I think this was probably the second time in his life that he has done it: once for Kate and now for Aimee.  I just love seeing Ryan play with the girls!

Aimee was so excited that Ryan painted her nails blue and even added black polka dots! Way to go, Dad!

Now Thanksgiving break is over and I am once again going crazy with 5 kids to manage on my own. So crazy that I decided that each day of home school will only consist of reading for an hour, writing one page of something (either fiction, non-fiction, or poem), and one science activity along with a write-up in their science notebook. I am pretty sure this will continue all the way through December. I am guaranteed an hour of silence while they read and V naps each day now and it is definitely an hour that my brain needs! Only 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas break and we will have Dad back again...I can do this!