Max is a tree-climber.

He's my little monkey. Always has been.

He would scale the shelves in the pantry when he was barely one year old.

At the older kids' baseball games, I'd turn my head for a second & he would be on top of the backstop fence......other parents would be gasping & asking who's child that was & ready to call the fire dept. or something. And I'd very calmly say, "Max, climb back down right now." Never really worried. He wasn't going to fall.

He has mad climbing skills.

It's spring in our backyard.

I love spring. And I love our backyard.

The peach & pear blossoms are in full swing.

Soon to be followed by all the orange blossoms.

My favorite !

Right now our oranges are ripe & there's oodles of them......since we have 9 mature navel trees.

Please feel free to stop by if you want some. We have way more than we could ever eat or juice.

But it makes me so happy to look out our windows to see our trees polka-dotted with oranges.

They are super-yum.

It's raining right now as I type this, and I love it! Like most Arizonans, we all love it when it rains, because it's such a treat.

It doesn't happen that often.

Something about gray skies & raindrops makes me want to bake bread.....or brownies.

That's why Brian & I were so excited to go to Seattle for Dental School. It rains like 95 % of the time! It sounded absolutely dreamy. The complete opposite of Arizona!

And it was. For the first year or two......

I made alot of soup & bread in our tiny apartment's kitchen.

And then it got old.

Really old.

We craved the sunshine.

Brian would practically have a panic attack when a sunny day would come along when he was stuck inside at school!

We had Marlee & one of her first words was 'wet', and the very first phrase she learned to say was 'its' cold out there'. We spent alot of time at indoor playgrounds like the mall & McDonalds.

It was raining the day we packed up our U-Haul & left for our next adventure in Los Angeles. So happy to be leaving the miserable rain behind us.

Then our first year in California ended up being an El Nino year & L.A. got more rain than Seattle! Go figure.

So that was a long time ago & we're desert people again......and loving the rain again.

Bring it on!


The Stapley Talent Show

We were a little surprised when Mars told us she & her friend were going to sing & play the guitar in the talent show.

Because she doesn't know how to play the guitar.

She just got it for Christmas & hasn't had any lessons!

They practiced mostly at her friend's house, so I had no idea what they were going to sound like.

We were a little worried, I must admit.

So we go to the Talent Show and......

they

were

AWESOME !

I really believe I'm being objective here.

They sang & played 'Jesus Take the Wheel' by Carrie Underwood.

We were so proud.


I never posted this picture of what Marlee got for me for Christmas.......

The belly's alot bigger now.

Gus turns 4 !

Holy Cow!

I don't think there's ever been a kid more excited for his birthday party!

A train party, of course. At the park. Right before Preschool.

With all his cute little Preschool buddies.

Apparently I didn't quite learn my lesson the last time I decorated a cake like this.
About 10 years ago...... when I wanted to slit my wrists before I was even half-way done.

Just like a pregnancy, I guess. You forget the pain & misery, and then one day you find yourself doing it again!!

I barely finished it in time!

Cursing myself.

And I don't think Gus really truly appreciated it.

Of course he loved his train cake...... but I think he would have been just as happy if I had stuck a couple plastic trains on a sheet cake.


It was a big day for this little guy.

Who's not so little anymore (sniff).

Happy Birthday Gus!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I'd put a little more effort into the kids' Valentines this year & my friend Leigh found this cute idea, so we did it.
Do you love? We did.


And we always have to make Valentine's sugar cookies (my fave), since I can't ever pass up all the pink & heart sprinkles at the grocery store......and I was extra excited since I'm pregnant & am eating for two!!

YUM!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY !!!

They're almost home......

.........the kids.

from school.

and I wanted to take a picture of the cute Valentine's M&M jar before it's attacked......

......like that scene in 'The Christmas Story' where the Bumpus's dogs get into the kitchen & attack the Christmas turkey. Just like that.

I don't know why I even did this!



And here's our FHE project last week........

......showing our love for each other.

Loved this one from Zane.

Gus really got into it. His all had drawings on them & most of his are taped on the lower cupboards & weird random places.

We thought the pets would like one.

But I don't think they really cared.

They really only want a can of tuna.

We've thrown them too much people food, so that's all they care about.

The cats are especially disappointing. They don't want us to touch them.

Only give them a can of tuna.

Good for nothing.

Anyone want a cat for Valentine's Day?

Disneyland!

This is what our day at Disneyland looked like..........

Wet and cold.

It rained the entire day.

OK....... I'm exaggerating, it stopped for about 10 minutes while Gus & I waited outside for everyone else to do the Indiana Jones ride.

But the kids were little troopers in their wet sweatshirts and squishy tennisshoes.

Max even said, "This is the best Disneyland trip I've ever had!"

And we hung out with the Bakers all weekend, which is always super fun!

And there is nothing better as a Mom to watch your little ones' faces on their first rides at Disneyland......... nothing!

I only took my camera out a couple times, which was rather nice.

The boys were so funny doing different tricks & poses for me to take pictures of each time they came around on the Carousel.

And what's a trip to Disneyland without buying a bunch of junk!

That was always my favorite part!

So the Magic Kingdom was a little wet for us, but it was still magical.

The lines were short or non-existent & we hit every ride we wanted to.......some of them several times. Who can complain about that?!!

Sexy

This is what a sexy Valentine's gift looks like to me.

I've been trying lately to educate Brian about the 5 Love Languages.

Specifically that mine is Receiving Gifts.

We'll see if he catches on.

Who needs Words of Affirmation anyway?

Here's hoping.....

I just got this from redletterwords.com.

I optimistically hung it on the wall by the Xbox and Wii, hoping it might have some kind of influence..........unlikely, I know.

But I love it!

Two exciting things happened today.....

Zane lost one front tooth......

then the other one right after that!

Then.......

Something happened that's never happened before.

The ice cream man found our neighborhood.

This created excitement the likes of which I haven't seen since Christmas morning.

I wish I had gotten a picture of half the nighborhood in line.

I'm thinking we might be seeing more of this ice cream man in the future.

And the change in my wallet has mysteriously disappeared.......

hmmmm.