Heavy Lifting

Some heavy machinery visited our house this week. Jackson and Sadie thought it was pretty cool, and couldn't wait to climb aboard.

However, at 11, it did not meet Megan's coolness standards, and she refrained from having her picture taken. Understandable. I suppose.

A Girl Named Sue

I have been searching for a dress form for Megan for over a year. They are incredibly expensive! But, just this month, Home Goods (a store I never shop at, but was there on a fluke), had some. And being Home Goods, they were fairly inexpensive. And what is even better, is that Megan was with me and decided to buy one with her own money. Woot-Woot. We (or rather I, and Megan agreed), named her Sue.

Let the creating begin!

Household Tidbits

1. Did I mention that I received a Kitchenaid for Christmas! From my in-laws. I was thrilled, and totally surprised. Since then, I have been a bread making fool. White, wheat, banana.

But am having a bit of trouble. The middle of the bread comes out of the oven seeming almost doughy. Not to the extreme, and by the next day it seems fine, but if you have any helpful hints, I would love to hear them.

2. My dishwasher has given up the ghost.

Honestly it has been on the outs for about 2 years, but I have refused to entertain the thought it would eventually die. It is original to the house and thereby is 10 years old. So, this past week I have been hand washing everything, and am not enjoying it much. But I am torn. Do I buy a nice dishwasher, or the cheapest? My natural inclination is to go cheap. After all, my last cheap dishwasher lasted 10 years.

3. I am working on a Blurb book for 2011. It is fairly torturous, and time-consuming. I am currently on July, and am worried that is going to be 500 pages. I have no ability to edit out pictures. I want to include them all. But I can't wait for the finished product!

"Any bread making tips?"

"Do I buy a nice dishwasher?"

"Have you used Blurb, or another company to make a blog book?'

"Was it user friendly?"

Jackson & Sadie Said

1. Jackson found an old XBOX in the garage. He was thrilled and couldn't wait to set it up. I told him he would have to wait until his Dad got home to hook it up, and he responded,

 "No I don't. I'm a technological genius!"

And apparently he is. He had it hooked up in under 5 minutes.

2. On our most recent bike ride this past week, baby Sade fell asleep. Two minutes before I took this picture she told me, "Mom I'm not tired at all. I'm just sitting like this because I'm cold."

Have I ever mentioned how much harder it is to bike ride pulling this bike carrier? It is ALMOST difficult enough that I won't go out at all. ALMOST.

12 X 12 - January 2012

This is my 3rd year of 12 X 12's! They are some of my very favorite posts (certainly not because they are so enthralling), but because they so accurately capture our daily life. And this 12 X 12 is no different.

Jackson. He is a bit ball obsessed. If he is at home, he has a ball in his hand. Bouncing it, throwing it, kicking it. I allow it to a point. Bouncing, and throwing a ball in the air don't bother me too much. But throwing a ball across the room and kicking tend to get him in trouble.



While Megan and Jackson got ready for school, Sade and I did a little bit of playing on her Barbie computer.  Many of the games require the user to be able to read, which means I also get lots of playing time too.



Megan applying her lip gloss before school:



It was my turn to carpool (insert frowny face emoticon). The kids and I hopped in the car, crossed our fingers, and prayed it would start. Luckily, with quite a bit of key pushing and jiggling, it did! My starter seems to be going out, and I am just trying to keep it working until Eric gets back into town and can fix it.



When I got home, I cleaned the house. I usually do all my cleaning in the afternoon, but am trying to turn over a new leaf and start it earlier.



Then I took Miss Sade to pre-school. While taking this picture she said to me: "Really Mom!? I am just going to take off my seat belt and you are taking a picture of me!"



After running a few errands, I had some time before Sadie was finished with school, so I was able to read for awhile in the car. I was parked in the shade, with my window rolled down, and it was near perfect. I am currently reading the Bible (which I have never read, cover to cover!), and I have to say I am loving it! Who knew?



Jackson has been asking me all week to take him to the park so he could play with all of his different balls, and kick them as high as he wanted to. He also wanted to make sure a friend that loves sports as much as he does, could also attend. So yesterday afternoon, his dream came true:



On the way home from the park we picked up Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner. I enjoyed it so much on Christmas Eve, I wanted to have it again.



Captured Jackson with another ball:



The kids conferring over something at the table:



Before bed they played a little ping-pong on the table. More ball fun!



Just another day in paradise.

The Grand Canyon - Day 1

Eric was asked to do a job at the Grand Canyon the week after Christmas. And since we were already going to be in Arizona, and since the kids didn't have school, and since we were going to get a free hotel room, and since our gas was going to be paid for, we went with him! We arrived late. Now you may remember that I was having a rotten, no good day, so when we checked into our hotel room and discovered they had given us a room with one bed, even though we were told multiple times we would have a room big enough to fit our entire family, I was livid! You may be thinking to yourself: "Well, Sarah it was free, and beggars can't be choosers." But to that I say: "We were very specific and told them that our entire family was coming, and they promised us a bigger room." Deep breathe. Long story short, they brought us two roll away beds to fit into the tiny room, and ended up moving us to a big room the next day (after I threw a bit of a fit). Anyway, the good news was that we were at the Grand Canyon! Woo-Hoo.

The first day, while Eric worked, the kids and I ventured out. Sade wasn't happy. I suppose it was her turn to have a no good, rotten day. The first half of the day she was difficult, as evidenced by the first couple of pics I took. I am kind of in love with them:

But then we went to the Visitors Center to watch a movie about the Grand Canyon, and Sadie fell asleep. She took a 20 minute nap and woke up a different girl. Happy as could be.

The Grand Canyon was packed! The first day we had to drive around for half an hour to find a parking space. We then ventured onto a shuttle bus to visit a few overlooks. It was a bit of a mistake. Due to the crowds, the buses filled up fast, and people had to wait a long time to get a ride back to the Visitors Center. Luckily the kids and I were at the right place at the right time, and managed to snag a ride.

Jackson and I waiting at the bus stop:

We spent the rest of the day exploring and taking pictures:

Looking over the edge:

That evening, after dinner at Wendy's, we went back to the hotel for some swimming. Although I had my complaints about the hotel, it was actually super, super nice.

See Day 2 below..............

The Grand Canyon - Day 2

On Day 2, we checked out of our hotel room, and then waited for Eric to finish his job so he could explore the Canyon with us.

While waiting, we had lunch, and played lots of games:

And then we were off! It was very bright:

We decided to take a drive on a road that is only open to cars during the months of December, January, and February. The rest of the year it is only open to shuttle buses. It had 9 different "official" overlooks.








It was quite snow-packed in places. Not comforting when you could slip on ice and plunge to your death:



The Grand Canyon has awesome hiking opportunities, but the only hiking we did was on paved walkways to and from our car:



The Grand Canyon is beautiful! And not to worry, my orneriness had subsided by this point.