December

Autumn has her own Christmas tree in her room.

We made gingerbread houses!

Thanksgiving.

At the movies, we saw Arthur Christmas.

Jack and Kyle were elk hunting on Thanksgiving, Rachel had to work so we went to the movies. We didn't get any turkey dinner this year maybe for Christmas. Karen went to a friends house and it was me and Autumn. Autumn fell asleep and I did a crossword puzzle. Karen was worried about hurrying home so I wouldn't be alone, but I was enjoying the quiet.

habanero anyone?

Jack took his habanero plant to work and it grew like crazy. He picked about 30 peppers off it and made some hot sauce.

Autumn is three!

I know I'm late with November. But Happy Birthday little three year old Autumn. We had planned on doing a bounce house and pinata for her birthday but all of a sudden she decided she didn't want a party. She insisted that she didn't want one! So the 6 of us just went to Chucky Cheeses and had cake after. She is a funny thing. Keeps us entertained. She had a fortune cookie and I asked her what it said and she 'read' it saying "You break the cookie and take out the paper and don't let the dogs eat the cookie." The real fortune said ' Your sense of humor is a joy to all.' That is the truth, she is a joy to have around. I had thought about naming her after our good friend and neighbor Joyce, would have fit. She has a best fried, the five year old neighbor boy. She is kinda picking up some of his naughty habits but loves to play with him. The other day I had a meeting for work and she was kinda shuffled around the three older kids between work and school someone is always leaving, but I came home and asked her "You had a lot of babysitters today, who was your favorite?" and she said YOU and hugged me. So glad I only work part time. Rachel got her a Sing a ma Jig and Rachel's friend got her a drum set, yeah!

Wow December already!

I didn't realize the whole month of November just passed me by. I didn't even get in the Thanksgiving mood and now Christmas is around the corner. I applied, interviewed and got my old job back. Put in 70 hours the first week! Worked 7 days straight and I'm a part timer, LOL. Sure can use the paycheck with Christmas coming. Kyle went to an agility test with Scottsdale PD and passed. Went to a oral board and passed now he needs to pass the polygraph and background check. I will let you know how it goes.

dance class

Here is a video of Autumn's dance class. They usually don't let the parents in but on the last day of the session they show us what they have been working on. You don't have to watch the whole thing, but the reason I posted was when they act like cats Autumn's cat always seems to have broken legs. It's at the beginning of the video.

New addition

We got a new addition to our family. Rachel found this little dog and brought her home. I wasn't too happy at first but she is a sweet dog. Rachel named her Kitty. Autumn is glad she has a dog to carry around. But the other day she told us she wanted her own puppy. We told her 3 dogs was enough! Then she said "Rusty is a dog, Scrappy is a dog but Kitty is a puppy." Then suggested we take Rusty and Scrappy to the 'animal shelf'. When we told her they were part of the family and we couldn't do that and how would she like it if we took her to the 'animal shelter'? She said "I'm not a dog, think about it!" Then we said maybe the kid shelter and she yelled "NO" ran down to her room and yelled "that's not fair" and slammed the door. Five minutes later she came out happy as can be but the next day suggested we get a cat!

Twins

Dbacks

Jack and I went to the Dbacks game last night. Great game! NL West champs! Sent a pic of Autumn and my nephew Jacob and it was on the jumbo tron. We are going to tonight's game and Autumn can't wait. We finally got Rachel and Karen to go too. Kyle is going also. Will be fun and it's a bobble head night. What to do with 6 bobble heads, assuming we get there for one.

Big Surf

Quik Trip had an employee party at Big Surf. The family's were invited too. Since we had two employees this year we all went. It was fun. They had lots of food, including snow cones and cotton candy. Autumn wasted no time and got both, and we wonder why she has cavities.

They had lots of prizes . Rachel won a large duffel bag with some Product T-shirts. This t-shirt shaped in a water bottle was one and we thought it was cool. It sure was wrinkled when we opened it. Kyle didn't get a prize.

Ballet and Baseball

Autumn all ready for dance class. She has a little recital tomorrow, should be fun.

Autumn with her new DBacks shirt. She got it Autographed by Baxter. They put this picture on the Jumbo Tron. She loves going to the games, she claps and says "Let's Go DBacks!" the whole drive there.

Autumn makes us laugh.

Autumn is talking just like a grown up and of course she does allot of repeating of what we say. Somewhere along the line she thought it cute to say " I like your hair, I like your shirt....I like your boobs". Well we thought it 'cute' and funny (especially the two teenagers) until...We did a overnight trip to Tucson when Rachel was in California just as something to do. We visited my grandma and wen to the zoo. We got a hotel and went for a swim. Well of course a man was down there swimming and Autumn had to tell Karen "I like that man's boobs". We tried to talk to her about how we shouldn't say that to people etc. Well a little later here comes a larger man.
We could see Autumn staring at him and tried to keep her at the opposite end of the pool, but every time we went close she tried to say it and we had to distract her, not funny any more. So we get home and I do a long talk to her about being something we don't say. Later she sits on my lap and lays on me and says "I like to lay on your boobs, but I am not to say I like your boobs, you're not to talk about your boobs so... I like your face". I was laughing and trying not let her know I was laughing but she kept repeating it until I said "thank you". Boy she says something new every day and of course she has the audience too! Jack told her she was crazy and she says "thank you!"

Rachel turned 18!

Wow can't believe Rachel turned 18. We cooked a nice big Italian dinner for her on Thursday the 14th. On Friday morning her and my niece Courtney and two of their friends drove to California to go to Disneyland and the beach. Rachel wanted to spend her birthday at Disneyland and they did! They had a blast. It was hard to let her go on her own, so hard to see them grow and be so independent. She is enrolling at Phoenix College, wow another college kid.

June 2011

I can't believe how fast summer is speeding past! Already July! We didn't do a whole lot for June but it sure went fast. Kyle returned to Arizona June 2. He had a slight worry about his diploma which could have caused him to return to Iowa for school for another month, but all turned out and his diploma should be in the mail any day. He moved right across the street! He's getting a good deal on a three bedroom house that some very good friends and adopted grandparents are renting him. We will miss our friends. We thought it would be awkward to see him move in but all seems to be going well. He has made it his little home already and just bought furniture. We had to get vanilla wafers for him to keep there for Autumn because the lady Joyce always had them for her. Kyle is still at Quick Trip until he finds another job in his field.
Rachel is also still at Quick Trip and is planning her birthday trip to Disneyland in two weeks. Kyle was so nice as to give her his old car. She paid for a friend to fly out to Iowa and he drove it back along with Kyle and his tuck and she will keep the car. Nice brother!
Karen wants a job and is looking other wise she helps out with Autumn and hangs with her friends.
Autumn is still a hand full. She is in swimming lessons and loves it. We are still looking for a good friend for her to play with but until then she has her older siblings to occupy her. We have been doing summer movie fun, 10 movies fore $7! So every Wednesday we have a movie. She is into Despicable Me now and has seen it so many times! She says the funniest things and keeps us laughing. She kept her ears covered the whole drive over and up until they started the fireworks. It was funny seeing her walk with her hands over her ears and once they started she says " see they are not so loud, they are beautiful".
Jack has been riding his bike to work three times a week even in this heat! Been saving gas money and with me not working! Hopefully July will slow down and we will get some rain.

Rachel's big month of May

Rachel has had a busy month. She had her Senior prom, Senior Banquet and Graduation.

Iowa

Baby geese Autumn was trying to scare.

Autumn had fun playing with her big brother.

Kyle pulling weeds in his backyard.

Jack, Autumn and I went to Des Moines to see Kyle graduate from college. We flew and had a two hour layover in Denver both ways. Autumn did fairly well on the plane. She had a hard time keeping her seat belt on during take off and landing. She also chose this time to show her independence by not wanting me to help her and to open/close window and tray on her own and scream when I tried to help. She was sick on one of the days we were there, running a fever and throwing up. We figured from sucking on the plane seat belt or rolling her gum on the arms of the airport chairs. Luckily she was better before our flight out. I was kinda concerned she might have an ear infection. She was a little fussy on the flight home, half asleep half awake and wasn't happy when she found out she slept through juice time. Of course all the time I used transferring videos to the Play Station Portable was a waste, she stayed occupied with ordinary books!
It was windy, but not as cold as it looks. Graduation day it was nice, warm.




Autumn learned how to roll down the hill.
La Crosse WI

Kyle's girlfriend got us a great deal on a Hotel. It was a suite and had a kitchen with two microwaves, full size fridge and dishwasher. We didn't need it though as they had a breakfast buffet and comp dinner. Autumn had fun in the pool and seeing the wildlife at the pond behind the hotel. Kyle let us use his truck so we saved on car rental. He left Thursday for a game in another part of IA, and stayed the night before heading to WI. On Friday we drove over 600 miles through Minnesota to Wisconsin to see his team play ball. Kyle didn't play but we at least got to see his team play and meet the coach. We also spent more on gas than hotel and food. Wish we would have had more time to see WI and walk by the Mississippi.

His graduation was nice. Short and sweet. There were 400 graduates. We got to see our son get his BA in Criminal Justice. So proud! Autumn slept through most of it, she was running a fever. My brother Paul was in Missouri and him and his son Reid drove over to IA for his graduation. We didn't realize until later that Kyle's girlfriend played flute in the band, and we were sitting next to the band. We then went to Kyle's house for a BBQ. His roommate Sean's family lives in Des Moines and they brought food and we had a nice visit. It was fun being at my son's house. A bat flew into the house and everyone was running and screaming. It landed on Kyle's back and kids were hiding under the table. My little nephew Reid tried to hit it with an empty water bottle but then someone else hit it with a shoe. One of the girls tried to reassure Reid that the bat was OK and they took it outside, but that was the highlight of Reid's trip!

We took a quick tour of Grand View University. It is in walking distance for Kyle. We had a nice lunch with Kyle and his girlfriend Dollie and then was dropped off at the airport for home. At the Iowa Airport they have automated toilet seat covers, we had never seen them before and Autumn wouldn't use them. We arrived to a house still standing! So far no complaints from the neighbors that Rachel and Karen had any sort of party!

New Room

The jungle animal wall hangings.

Farm animals.

I finally got around to painting Autumn's room. It was Rachel's old room and I hadn't painted since she moved into Kyle's room 2yrs ago and it was jumbled with every ones left over room decor. Yellow paint and brown curtains. But we painted it a couple of weeks ago and added a tree on the wall. Autumn loves the tree and says "my tree". The girls helped make wall hangings which I had seen on Martha Stewart, but the lady who makes them charges $140 each. We made 8 for $20. I am in the process of making her quilt, hopefully get started sewing today the blocks are cut, they are from Autumn's baby receiving blankets. I just hated to get rid of them they were so cute and didn't know if anyone would want hand me down blankets. Hopefully turns out okay. When Karen gets her room clean and her bed made I will post pics of her room which we finally finished! Her and Jack made a nice bookshelf.

Nice day to fly a kite.

We went to the Japanese Festival at Margret Hance Park. Autumn made a kite and yesterday was a perfect day to fly it. We also had her sponge bob kite which Jack put on a fishing rod so it went really high.

It was a pretty warm day while we were at the festival and Autumn was disappointed that the sand and slide were too hot to play.So we went to the Phoenix Central Library and she took her shoes off and went jumping from one air vent to the next, it was nice and cool on her feet. The air vents are in the floor.

April Fools

We were getting Autumn to tell April Fools jokes and she was having fun doing it. After she would say "April Fools" we would all 'laugh' and then she would hug all of us. She would make sure we laughed too! When I first told her to tell Jack a joke and then say "April Fools, joking" she did asking him if he wanted a bite of her 'candy bar' then she told him a 'joke'. Her favorite one is why did the gum cross the road? It was stuck to the chicken's foot. She made up the joke in the video, "why did the poop cross the road? It was stuck to the chicken man foot." Nice!

Rodeo!

David had a Rodeo and we went to watch him. Autumn immediately wanted to ride the horses. She got right on with David and he took her for a ride. She seemed quite comfortable on the horse.

Grandpa Phil was also here and went with to the rodeo too. Autumn had fun getting to know him, he had only seen her once before when she was a baby.

Getting up to date.

At Enchanted Island in Encanto Park. Autumn on the bumper boats. She had fun doing the rides by herself.

Rachel and Karen never miss a chance to do a photo shoot. They don't remember going to Enchanted Island when they were little but we did take them.

I guess it's been awhile since my last post. Autumn keeps me busy and we have had a busy month. I haven't been to work in a few weeks, waiting for them to find us some new clients. Rachel started working at Quik Trip and has already put in her first week. Kyle had springbreak in Daytona Beach again this year and has been dealing with the same cold weather in Des Moines that he always does.He also started playing games, some of them they put on GrandView radio, if I can ever find them. Karen has just been busy doing school work. We have had some nice visits with family from out of town! In 3wks Jack, me and Autumn go to Des Moines for Kyle's graduation. Rachel has prom coming up and graduates May 25. She is hoping to go to ASU after graduating, we sent in financial so we will see what they can do. Kyle is looking to move back to AZ in June.Looks like we have a busy couple of months ahead . . At the Wild Life World Zoo with cousins.

At the Phx Zoo thanks to culture passes again! Autumn got into my lipstick. She does pretty good applying it so had to put up this picture. Cover Girl will be glad to know that it doesn't wear off!

At the Museum of Natural History, also culture pass! Autumn had fun panning for gold and climbing through the logs. She had fun there! It's a kids hands on place. She was so tired after we left that she fell asleep while eating an icecream cone.

Culture Pass

For some reason Autumn felt she had to crawl.
Then she kept running to the little cactus tags to 'read' them right next to them. I thought she was going to face plant into the thorns. She would 'read' them out loud saying, "stay on the path", then run and say "sign sign I gotta see words", when she would get in trouble for being off the path she would cry to go home.

Thanks to the Phoenix Library we have been able to enjoy some of the sites of Phoenix that we may not of other wise go. We did The Desert Botanical Gardens last week, it was quite serene and relaxing.

Childrens Museum

We took Autumn to the Childrens museum of Phoenix. Boy was it crowded, but she had fun. She climbed the tree house and played in the bathtub with wings! They had a double decker bus outside and it had lights and music. Autumn climbed aboard and danced and danced.