There is a lot of strange work out regimens in this house. I have seen James on more than one occasion pull matt on his razor while running or letting matt sit on his back while doing sit ups. Fun and fitness. Well, one sunny morning we decided to ride our bikes to target and starbucks.  Matt preferred to rollarblade. However, I saw him sneak a piece of rope in my basket. Hummm... I bet I know where this is going.



Can I get a pull here?

We always love taking the gang fishing. Well, let me re-phrase. I love sitting in the shade watching the whole event while James manages all the fishing poles. I don't really like putting the worm on the hook.  And you spend so much time un-tangling all the fishing line.
(i do help, i promise, maybe just not as much as i should)
So this particular day was hilarious. We told the gang we would met up at the polar ice park to fish. This is the same park where there is an ice skating rink. When we arrived the boys had a puzzled look on their faces.
Apparently they thought we were fishing inside the ice skating rink.. "ice fishing" in arizona.  Minor details.

Hard to believe that Matt as a first grader did his first oral presentation. Yes.. 3x5 cards allowed. He had to pick a topic, make a poster, bring in props and speak to his class. Personally, not my thing.
So we did a few practice runs.... he seems pretty good with the whole ordeal. I'm very concerned with the opening line and closing lines. He promised he would use "good morning class, today I would like to talk to you about shadow puppets". And he also assured me he would remember to sum up his speech and throw in a conclusion. We ran through this twice. And honestly, we made the poster the morning of. He was insisting he didn't really need one... then changed his mind at 7am.

Here is the video of his demonstration portion. Just in case you forgot how to make shadow puppets.  I love it. I love that he went for something creative. His original speech was going to be how to make coffee.  It was awesome watching him and his class mates. 

(hope this works)

Well, I have to report the outside of the house is pretty much done. The rose bushes have been planted, the grass has taken. The flowers are all protected by this cute little mini picket fence James built. It really came together. I think we just have to replace a couple more trees on the sidewalk and we can rest. So ride on over to check it out. Don't worry you don't have to Vespa. Golf carts and bikes are acceptable.
The inside however.. is another story. I have finally picked the color for inside after about 20 sample stripes painted on the wall. I'm still not sold. I just have to take the plunge. Nothing seems to really work inside. Hopefully I will have pictures soon. The walls are so barren... very boring inside. That and the lack of furniture. We really didn't own very many pieces of furniture because of the size of the other house. So, it looks a little sparse around here. I have so many ideas and thoughts.. now I just need the energy to get it done!!
Hope you enjoy catching up with us....

Its that time of the year!!! Only 11 more days of school.....
 The count down for summer is here. And the end of the year parties are beginning. This past week the kids all got to go swimming together. It was a big deal. Close second to Christmas morning. I heard reports from other kids (Sam) that he couldn't even sleep he was so excited. They wear their swimming trunks to school and leave for the pool after lunch. Which brings me to the second most important part of this field trip. THE SNACK. Oh.. Matt had a special request. So of course... I had to make that happen. I can still remember my special snacks while on a field trip to Alcatraz. (strange field trip huh?) Bay area.
So James took some pictures of the fun times so I didn't miss out. I just love the simple joys the kids get from these kind of activities.

Look at the satisfaction on his face. O'well.... reinforce later.