the trip...

We (just me and the kids) headed out to Phoenix on Friday to spend the weekend at my parents. We planned on coming home Tuesday - but only made it to Monday. Unfortunately on Saturday afternoon, Lily got a fever and was terribly sick the rest of the weekend. She couldn't sleep, and so I didn't either. I didn't want to have to do another yucky night there and decided to head home Monday morning (missed you John!!).

We did make it to the zoo on Saturday which was really fun. In the winter time, the Phoenix Zoo houses a Stingray exhibit. You can actually reach into the tank and touch them. They also had dwarf lantern sharks in there too. Zane and Amanda also rode a camel. Too much fun. Zane got to spend some time in G&G's pool that night and despite Lily being sick, we did have fun just hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, Meme and Justin, and Amanda and Chris.

I took Lily to the Dr. on Monday evening, and she most likely has Croup or some other really nasty virus. No ear infections (yet!) and probably not strep, so that's good. She is still fevering though, so if it doesn't get better by tomorrow evening - we will take her back in.

mmmmm...cotton candy!








Meme and Zane racing to see how fast they could run, they made it up to 9 miles an hour!







Amanda and Zane posing on the camel!








Cute Lily before she got the sickies.








Lily wants to be just like big brother Zane.








Mom and Dad: Thanks for letting us visit on short notice and hope to see everyone again soon!
John: Thank you for cleaning the house while we were gone and for taking over the sick baby job when we got home. I love you and appreciate you so much!

a story...

We just visited my parents in Phoenix for the weekend. My mom has a giant campbell soup can that she has had for years. She uses it as a base for a small coffee table. It's kind of funny. Here's the conversation that Zane and my mom had about it:

Zane: Grandma, why do you have a big soup can?

Grandma: Well, it's a long story, and I don't think you would understand it.

Zane: Why? Is it in Spanish?

I laughed all weekend over that. Seriously, so funny.

(BTW, the real "story" is just how the Campbell soup can came to it's fame a la Andy Warhol, and my grandmother purchased the can somewhere, and my mom has inherited it)

ouch!...

We went to the park today before school, packed a lunch, and had fun in the chilly weather alone at the empty park. I dropped Zane off at school, and went to run an errand. I got home, put Lily down for a nap, and noticed that I had missed a few calls on my home phone. I checked the Caller ID and it was the school! Of course, that makes you start freaking out. There was a nice message saying "Zane hurt himself today, we just wanted to let you know. He did a face plant off his scooter. He's ok, but he's got an abrasion above his eyebrow and one on his cheek, and he will probably get a black eye. He is sitting with an ice pack on it, but will go back to class in a minute." Ack! I called to make sure he was back in class and ok - which he was, but she did say he was quite "traumatized". Poor kid!!

The story from Zane was that he was on one of those square board scooters with four wheels - the kind that you sit on, hold the handles and scoot yourself around with your feet. Well, he wasn't sitting he was kneeling with his bum in the air, holding the handles, and running his feet behind him as fast as he could - the scooter slipped out from under him, and he face planted into the ground. Ouch!! He's a little embarassed about it (he doesn't want anyone to see his face) - but John told him all his cool injury stories from when he was a kid and I think he is feeling a little bit better. He is happy in this picture , but it looks like it's pretty painful!

happy valentines day...

The kids had a fun valentines morning opening their little presents from mom and dad. Lily's favorite was the candy and "chocky"(chocolate), which we let them eat a little of that morning. Zane kept asking me "How come we get to have candy in the morning?" Unfortunately, he has spent the last few mornings asking for candy. Ack. John got a video game and I got some wonderful smelling sugar scrub. Zane spent most of the day doing his Pixos. We had a nice 3 day weekend hanging out around the house. I love my family!!

sugar smiles...

What could produce crazy grins like this?

Two words:

PIXY STIX

THE v-day box...

When I was in elementary school - I remember that we got to make our own Valentines Day box to collect valentines in from our classmates. Kids would come up with some really cool boxes (some with parent help I am sure). I remember things like robots, castles, mailboxes, etc. So I was so excited that Zane got to make a Valentine Box this year. John was quite impressed with the box. He said all he ever did as a kid was cover up and decorate a kleenex box. I must admit this v-box was my idea, but perfect for my "rockin" kid. I cut it out, and he decorated it. I think it turned out AWESOME!

tucson stash...

(mom and sara outside the hotel)

I was so lucky this week to be able to head down to Tucson for the annual Bead Shows. It's really quite amazing. If you ever get a chance to go - take it. We were only going to be able to spend 2 days (you could spend a week, easy!) so we had to pack in as many shows as we could. Sara and I drove to Phoenix on Thursday evening, stayed the night and headed bright and early Friday morning to Tucson. We spent the entire day from 11-6 at 3 different shows. By the time we got to the hotel, we were finally able to eat dinner about 8:30. Next morning, up and at the shows at 10:30 until 6 again. The shows we went to on Friday were INCREDIBLE. There were ENORMOUS tent pavilions set up with hundreds and hundreds of vendors of beads, gems, jewelry, and other *weird* imported type things. I can not even do it justice trying to explain how HUGE the shows are. Needless to say by 4:00 the 2nd day - my poor 30 week pregnant body could not handle anymore and I HAD to rest for awhile (dang contractions!). We are soooo beaded out, but it was a successful trip. I was going purely for the almost free trip - but managed to spend quite a load myself. We even survived the crazy google map directions and the freeway construction. Check out my stash.... (I'll post more detailed info about the actual beads I purchased on my other blog: http://scrapbeadsew.blogspot.com/ if you are interested).