Phoenix Zoo = Black Eye

Yeahup you read that right. We went to the zoo to see animals and play in the water areas and returned home a black eye. Well not "we" just Ava!

I decided to take the kids to the zoo this fine morning at 5:30AM! We had to go early in the morning considering the end of July is heat advisory hot!! This particular day, the temperature outside was expected to reach 115 by noon time! I woke the children up at 6AM,put them in their swimsuits and with breakfast in hand, out the door we went! We arrived at the zoo right as they opened (6AM). A friend of ours met us there! We enjoyed a short stroll through the zoo before heading to the water play areas! It was great being at the zoo so early. We watched as zookeepers fed the animals! We were amazed at how many animals were out roaming their "areas" right in front of us! As we approached the tigers, we noticed 1 of the 2 tigers crouching down and charging towards us, as if it were going to leap at us and clear the safety wall which was waist height! At around 7AM, we headed to the first of 2 water play areas. This first area wasn't very busy. It did have its fair share of older kids running around. Sadly big kids running in a water zone = hurt smaller kids!

After being in the first water area for 30 minutes, Ava comes rushing over to me crying hysterically. The only words I could make out were "boy, me, bumped". I immediately started searching her body and as soon as she turned her face away from the sun I saw her black eye forming! It was an awful bump! I luckily had ice packs in our lunch sack and was able to patch her up rather quickly. Within 10 minutes of this accident by an older child whose parents SHOULD have been instructing him to NOT run in a water zone area, Ava stopped crying and went back out to play in the water! She is my little trooper thats for sure!

We headed to the second water area for a little more play and then called it a day at a LATE 10AM!

It was 98 degrees at 6AM when we arrived at the zoo, and it was 110 degrees at 10AM when we left!

Despite Ava's black eye, the kids had a blast seeing so many animals out and about so early in the morning not to mention the fun of cooling off in the awesome water play areas!

Another Cake...

A friend in the MOMS Club is due with her second child in 6 more weeks. I decided to make her a cake and had the perfect one in mind. I think it came out pretty good. What do you all think?

Before Pictures...

This morning before pictures I decided I would put the kids in their robes while they ate breakfast. I managed to convince them all to sit together and smile for a quick CUTE picture! Look at how cute they look in their robes...

Professional Pictures...

Typically for the children's pictures I take them to a local place (like Jc Penny's, Target, Walmart, ect.) and take advantage of the monthly picture package deals they have to offer! Over the years I have managed to keep up with getting the kid's pictures taken every year (every monthly milestone the first year) but its become quite the task these days! The picture rooms at these places aren't very roomy. They can be very scary at times, especially when you put someone not very experienced in front of them taking the pictures! Once the pictures are taken I have a hard time picking what pictures I like, nevermind that my children at this point are bouncing off the walls full of energy since I made them sit for at least an hour trying to capture that perfect picture!! Once the picture arrive and I sort them for the family, I find I have either a ton of extras or not enough! More money being wasted ordering more or stuck with a drawer full of extras that I didn't need to order!

So with the daunting task of getting the yearly pictures taken this year, I decided to go a different route.

This past school year, I met a wonderful girl that does photography at your home or in a public place of your choice. After knowing her for several months she offered me a deal I could not turn down! She would come to my home or meet me in a public place, take as many pictures as she could with as many people in the pictures as I wanted in 1 1/2 hrs, put the pictures on a cd, and print me a complimentary 10x13 photo. With this cd, I could then print the quantity and sizes I want/need! Since the pictures were scheduled to be taken during the warmer months we decided to have the session at home!

The kids really liked her and did well listening to her instructions! After this experience, I am for sure always going this route instead of trucking everyone to the local Target for pictures each year! Although next time we might have to consider taking pictures in the EARLY spring or LATE fall so that we can shoot outdoors!

First Dip In The Pool...

Today was another funfilled day. After doing the Lowe's Craft we headed over to Marc's parent's house for a dip in the pool! It was a really hot day (112 degrees hot)! The pool water was 96 degrees and sadly it wasn't all that refreshing! We decided to take Garrison in, just for a quick dip considering how hot it was outside! We got him dressed and stuck his feet in the water. Just like in the bath, he started kicking and splashing! Marc tried to stick him in one of those baby floats but Garrison is a tad bit on the short side and not quite big enough to use it just yet! Instead, Marc held him as he enjoyed splashing the water with both hands! Just before taking him inside I sat him on the top step of the pool, where he was able to splash a bit more. He really seemed to enjoy that!

I guess we now have 4 little fishies in the family!

Another Craft...

The day started with a craft at the local Lowes! Today was the much anticipated "Helicopter" craft!! I managed to snap a few photos with my phone (yes I once again forgot my camera, I am not sure what is with me lately!).

Homemade Baby Food...

Back when I had Ava I was introduced to a wonderful book. Its called Feed Me I'm Yours by Vicky Lansky. Its a great book that shows how you can feed your child without buying all the prepackaged food items out there! The beginning of the book starts with homemade baby foods! Making homemade baby food isn't as hard as many think! Its actually quite easy! Somedays I will sit in my kitchen and make big batches to freeze! Other days I will make a seperate meal using most of the ingredients I am using to make the rest of the family's meal for that evening! For example, if we are having a chicken and veggie dish for dinner, I will take 1 piece of chicken and cook it seperately. Then I will do the same for the veggie(s). Puree and feed! Not hard to do at all!

One thing I will point out, notice I reused gerber containers... a friend recently gave me all her leftover baby food and after using it up I saved the containers! Once I fill all the plastic containers I will use breastmilk bags and ice cube trays to make perfect size portions!

So today I went to the local farmer's market and bought a nice batch of really fresh vegetables. I decided to make up some batches of food and freeze them! On the menu... squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots!

I can't begin to tell you all how much Garrison LOVES his veggies! He doesn't like fruits for some reason but LOVES his veggies!

Car Seat Cooler...

Today I completed my first car seat cooler. For those not familiar with what a "car seat cooler" is....

Its an item that is used when a child is NOT in their car seat during the summer to keep their seat cool! Out here in Arizona where the car can get as hot as 140 degrees, a child's car seat gets dangerously hot as well! A fellow Arizonan, came up with the concept for a "car seat cooler" and I decided to make my own version instead of paying $60 for one online! The one I made was much nicer considering I could make the fabric custom! When the car seat cooler is not being used it folds up and has handles to tote it in and out of the car!

Lowe's Craft Day...

Marc and I finally made it to another Lowe's craft event with all 4 kids! It has been a few months since attending the last craft. Obviously Garrison didn't do the craft but the other 3 did. This weeks crafts was a treasure box. The kid included nails and small wooden pieces. The kids were to use the hammer provided and put the kit together as instructed. It was quite a task to help 3 kids put together their treasure box considering there was only 2 adult but we managed. Marc assisted Liliana while I moved back and forth between Ava and Dillon. Somehow I got the short end of the stick though... while helping two kids I also had Garrison needing a bit of attention before he finally closed his eyes for a morning nap! 30 minutes after arriving, it was time to show off their completed project, collect their certificates and patches! Patches, which I then had to sew onto their aprons later that afternoon. For obvious reasons, no pictures were taken this funfilled morning as both hands were busy hammering treasure boxes together! Maybe next time we can convince Grandma and Papa to tag along like in the past!

Arizona Museum For Youth...

Arizona Museum For Youth (AMY for short) was where Dillon, Ava, Garrison and myself ended up for a little time away from the house and out of the heat. We didn't take Liliana since this particular museum is more for children 5 yrs of age and younger. She was content not going since Papa and Grandma offered to take her to breakfast and let her play at their house while we were out! The museum isn't too far from our home but the entire car ride (20 minutes) the kids were asking all sorts of questions. They were very excited. This would be their first time going to this museum and new places always get the kids very excited! The museum has 2 areas, Artville which is for interactive play and the themed Museum area. This month the theme is Monsters. Its VERY cute. The museum section is split up into rooms...

Reading, Drawing, and Lounge Room (Easils, long craft tables with rolls of paper and markers, books, and fun chairs filled this room)

Lunch Room (they actually let you bring your own food into the museum)

Movie Room (the kids can stand in front of the projector dressed up and see themselves on the wall above)

Doodling Room (paper, crayons, and a doodling guide on the wall for kids to copy)

Blacklight Room (this was painted all black with accent colors that lite up with the blacklight, then for added fun there was glow in the dark monster toys and hats for the kids to play with)

Velcro Dinosaur Monster (the kids LOVED this one, it was a big dinosaur with velcro limbs that the kids could stick on the body)

Local Art that was then created life-size for the kids to look at

Velcro Wall Area (this had a velcro wall with monster velcro parts the kids could put up on the wall)

on the other side of the museum is Artville

Artville is VERY fun for all ages. Its a huge playroom. There are themed playareas for the kids to not only play in but learn in. There is a craft room, dress up room, house complete with a kitchen area and living area, treehouse with slide, and imagination room! In the center of this play area is the baby zone. Its a decent size SOFT crawling/beginner walk area for the babies 1 yr and under! There are no big kids allowed in this area which makes it very safe for the little ones to have a bit of fun! Garrison is still not crawling just yet but in a few more months it might be a fun place to take him for a morning of fun!

The kids had a BLAST and it was fun to see them not only have fun playing but also picking up on all the things they could learn about while visiting the museum!

Uncle Jarrod...

Random pictures from Uncle Jarrod's recent visit. Such a fun uncle he is. The kids can NEVER get enough of their Uncle Jarrod. Oh and as you can see by this first picture, Marc can't get enough brotherly bonding time!!

Ice Skating Again...

Yes everyone there is ice skating in Arizona! Why wouldn't there be?! The question you should ask is... how do you dress to go ice skating when its 110 degrees outside the building?!

Today we headed up to Aunt Jeneen's house in Scottsdale to hang out with our cousin's Matthew and Jason. Erin (another cousin that lives near us) and Uncle Jarrod tagged along. Usually we go ice skating here in Gilbert (literally 5 minutes away from our house) but we decided to drive up to Scottsdale for the day since Liliana spent the night! I planned on Ava and Liliana ice skating but to my surprise Dillon asked if he could skate once we arrived at the rink! I was so excited that he finally wanted to give it a go, especially since we have taken him 3 times this year and each time he didn't want anything to do with it! As soon as everyone's skates were on their feet off they went. First Jarrod and then my 3! Soon all the cousin's were on the ice as well! Lucky for the kids all these relatives were around, as I was stuck off the ice with Garrison!

Two hours later it was time to turn in our skates and take off a few layers of clothing before heading out.

Happy 4th of July...

Happy Birthday America!

This is the one time a year that I miss living back east. Foxwoods always put on one of the BEST fireworks shows, especially in comparison to anything they do out here (Arizona). We always had the perfect spot to watch the fireworks, the best place to park, and the best exit strategy so that we weren't stuck in traffic all night long! Arizona, well lets just say its MUCH different... 110 degree heat, almost all streets closed down and/or with construction, and worst of all... the crowds. There never seems to be enough room at any event for the amount of people in attendance! With all that being said, its probably obvious, as a family we do NOT venture out on such a fun holiday with our 4 young children! Instead we have family come over, bbq traditional summer foods, and wait for the firework show to begin with a front row seat in the comforts of our air conditioned home!

This year Aunt Jeneen offered to have the family over her house for a fun holiday celebration! Normally getting together at any relatives home isn't an issue but this specific get toghether posed its challenges. After thinking carefully we all decided it would be best to postpone getting together until Sunday July 5th! With no big plans for a family gathering on the actual holiday, I decided to invite the inlaws over. Uncle Jarrod was in town, so of course he was also invited over. Earlier in the week, I came to discover a good friend and her family had no plans for the evening. So they were also invited! Mandy, Marc's cousin, had no plans so she decided to pop by along with Erin, her younger sister. It was a simple but delicious meal. The kids enjoyed having friends and family over for a very fun evening. As the night came to an end they set off their poppers. I am sad to say that I was unable to capture the moment with the camera. However, I was able to snag a couple pictures of them all dressed in thier homemade firework shirts!

After all our company left, jammies were on and it was time to watch some of the firework shows on tv!

HOMEMADE July 4th T-Shirts...

Today the kids made matching t-shirts for July 4th. I decided this year it would be fun and cute to have all 4 kids dressed similar. Since they are all different sizes and knowing it would be near impossible to find matching shirts in all their sizes, the solution was to make our own. I bought 4 plain white t-shirts and found the cutest age-appropriate craft for them! Pasta shaped fireworks stamped onto white t-shirts! I think they turned out really cute and I look forward to taking a group picture of them all wearing their new HOMEMADE Fourth of July t-shirts!

Supplies Needed:

Plain White T-Shirts

Red and Blue Paint

Pasta Noodles (we used Rotoni)

Dip pasta noodle in red or blue paint and stamp onto shirt in firework shaped pattern! For the younger kids I drew with a pencil, the shape for them to follow.