She'll appreciate this someday....maybe?

Sorry, I just had to! How cute are those rolls? I hope she's as proud of the ones she has in her 30's as I am of these.!! :)

I just wanted to quickly record some of Beth's measurements and milestones for posterity...

9 months:

Height: 27.25 in.
Weight: 19.9 lbs.
Physical Development: sitting unassisted (barely, like just now)
Language Development: screams like she's on fire...oh, and babbles mamama & dadada, though not in context

In other words, she's PERFECT!!

Proof is in the picture! ;)

Farm Days

YeeHaw!! Doesn't Beau make a cute farmer/cowboy? He had a "Farm Day" at school a couple of weeks ago and loved every minute of it! They had a great petting zoo (way better than the one at the Phoenix Zoo, sadly) and while Beau was intimidated initially by all of the baby pigs and bunnies running around him, his nerves did finally ease up enough for him to really enjoy and pet each of the animals. I think his favorite was the miniature horse and baby calf.

There were so many fun activities set up for the kids to participate in: pseudo cow milking, stuffing their own scarecrow, square dancing, etc. Fun times for Beau!

I'm so happy we put him in preschool this year. It's been really good for him...and me! :)

Apple Picking in the Desert

That's right! Only in Arizona will you find and an apple and a pear orchard in the middle of the desert! We had a great time spending the day with some family and good friends of ours. Even though the "apple schmaple" stench lingered in my van for days, we can't wait to go again next year! Right, Daniel? :)

GoldiLUKE

A couple of months ago we tried moving Luke to his "big boy" bed. Let's just say....he's not ready yet! :)

This is what we found when we went in to check on him not too long after putting him down. He loves Beau so much that once he fell asleep he thought he'd snuggle in close to him, pull up the covers, and settle in for the night. When I first walked in, Luke was actually lying there, sucking his thumb, trying to go to sleep. When I came back with Tom and the camera he greeted us with a mischievous smile.

Apparently, Beau's bed is juuuust right!!

Monsters have God in their Hearts, too!

Beau has become quite the artist lately. Since I can't even draw a decent stick figure, I'll admit to having not given him much direction in this area, but he seems to be figuring it out all on his own....and loving it! He's drawn SO many adorable things for me in the last few months that I wish I could save them all.

This particular drawing was accompanied by such a precious commentary that I just had to take a picture of it. He brought the Magnadoodle to me and said, "Look mom, the monster's got God in his heart."

Aw, isn't that sweet?

Blogging, Menu Planning, and Scrapbooking

Blogging: Okay, so I'm a horrible blogger! I LOVE to read others' blogs, but keeping my own has been super challenging. I think my last entry was in July. BUT, I'm making a comeback! Blogging is something I really, REALLY want to do for my family, so I'm going to start taking the time to get it done. I have a problem not doing things unless I know I'll be able to do them perfectly and with 100% confidence. Yes, this is exactly why I don't do much at all! :) I'm going to have to settle for mediocrity and a substandard level of confidence on this one.

Menu Planning: I know how to do it, have the desire to do it, but never quite accomplish it. I want to be domesticated.....I really do! I feel like I need to be a good steward of my family's money and grocery shop on a budget, plan meals, and actually cook them once they're planned! We eat out WAY too much! So much that I can't even bring myself to confess just how much. My friend Brooke knows, and she still loves me, so maybe there is hope! It would be easier if Tom didn't want to eat all healthy and stuff, but whatever!!

Scrapbooking: I don't necessarily want to manually "scrapbook", but I would at least like to find a way to get my photos organized and easily shared. Digital scrapbooking?? I don't know. Just another thing that I'm stressing out about lately. I don't want to be buried in pictures 10 years from now that I have no recollection of when/where they were taken or who's even in them. I've seen this happen. Not good.

These are just a few of the MANY things I want to get the ball rolling on. Baby steps....

Family fun? Not so much!

My mother-in-law (Rita) wanted to have a family camping trip, so we conceded and went along, although I have to tell you, it's not something I was looking forward to with and infant and well, Luke.

Rita and Ron went up Friday to find a site for us all at Woods Canyon Lake and we were to meet them on Saturday morning. We drove up early Saturday morning, caravan style, with Ray and Amanda (brother-in-law & sister-in-law) and the girls. It was about 20-30 degrees cooler up on the rim than down here, and the 3 hour car ride went pretty smoothly, so I was excited for that and thinking it might not be too difficult of a trip after all.

Weeeeellllll, after driving around for well over an hour looking in every campsite in Woods Canyon, we were unable to find them and ended up finding a site of our own. The natives were getting seriously restless and needed to get out and expend some pent up energy.

The camp site was SO rocky that the boys fell down, on average, about 4 times an hour.....EACH! This means that I was dealing with a tired, cranky, crying child every 7.5 minutes! And so the good times began! We hung out, the kids walked out to the rim with Tom and Ray, we went to lake (though briefly), played some cards, and while everyone slept, I tossed and turned over the large "cliff" beneath my sleeping bag that was in just the right place to seriously encumber my sleep. I tried to turn upside down and sleep that way, but the incline made the blood rush to my head. Needless to say, I was pretty happy when Luke, my early riser, was up and ready to start the day.

And boy did the day start! Tom woke up and felt queasy. We decided to pack up camp early and while he was off in the woods getting sick, I did just that. 20 trips to the van and 20 child-centered "interruptions" later we were packed and ready to go home. What a bummer!

Even though the trip was sort of a bust, I did learn a few things.

1.) Never camp up on the rim again. At least not until the boys have grown a right foot to replace one of their two left feet and are capable of staying upright for longer than 15 minutes.

2.) Make sure that I get in on the planning to make sure important details (like where the rest of our family can be found) are taken care of! Grrrrr!!

3.) OR, send the kids camping with Tom while I stay behind and sleep in until noon, just in time to make it to my massage and pedicure appointments, only to return home with P.F. Chang's take-out and a half-gallon of coffee ice cream!