Setting Records

This summer is now officially one of the HOTTEST summer's on record for Phoenix. How is it that we moved here and experienced one of the coldest winter's on record with frost that killed all our plants and trees and now 30+ days of temperatures over 110 degrees? All this coming from someone who has an internal heater, I must say this pregnancy has been a little less than comfortable. I've been thinking a lot about where would be a great place to be right now and the best I can come up with is Alaska! I guess considering I've got about 19 days or less to go, I can probably suffer it out, but not without my fair share of complaints each day. The forecasters are saying that Summer 2007 is far from over as the latest observed day over 110 has occurred as late as Sept. 15th. So for all you Zonies reading it looks as if there is still more to come. As for me I guess I'll continue to run the AC at full speed ahead along with the ceiling fans and oscillating fans.

A picture of the family taken at the Grand Canyon March 3,2007. It was a whopping 10 degrees that day, wow what I wouldn't do to experience a little bit of that bliss right now! That particular day I remember being frozen to the bone, even though we all look pretty happy :o).

Also notice we were not dressed for the cold weather as only 3 hours South at our home it was 80 degrees and Spring training was taking place.

A New Rank

Today Bennett was tested and awarded the rank of yellow with white stripe belt at his dojo. He has been practicing Okinawan Shorin Ryu style karate at Asian American Karate School since January 2007.

With friends from L to R Carson, Bennett, Aidan, and Dean

Bennett sporting his tats in natural stance just before class. His Sensei Jasmine always says, " put your fighting face on, no smiling in karate :o). "

Bennett being awarded his new belt by Sensei Bill while his Little Kicks class mates look on. All which happen to boys!!!

Sensei Jasmine and Carson congratulating Bennett on his new rank of yellow belt with white stripe.

One happy little boy!!!

He was sooooo excited all day to test for his belt and was a little nervous when the time came. He did great and was so proud of his new accomplishment. He has a tournament coming up next Saturday Sept. 9th and is looking forward to taking a one on one kata class with Sensei Jasmine.

Freezer Cooking

Tonight I went to Dream Dinners and made 9 meals to store in the freezer for after the baby comes. I will go Saturday to Chef Dane's and make 8 more. This time I will be ready with food on hand to just be thawed and cooked. If you have not ever tried a meal preparation center, you are missing out. They have everything you need to assemble your meals and best of all you don't have to clean up after yourself. Their staff cleans each work station after you make your meal and they get it ready for the next person with all fresh bowls and utensils. It took about 1 hour for 9 healthy meals and will take about another hour as well on Saturday. We are lucky here as there are 6 different meal preparation places all within about 10-15 minutes of our house to choose from which is nice because somebody is bound to have something we like. Here is what I made tonight: Pesto Cheese Ravioli with Chicken Ranch Style Buffalo Grilled Chicken Parmesan Crusted Chicken Dijon body+soul Chicken with Papaya Mango Glazed Pork Chops Asian BBQ Pork Roast Grilled Salmon with Lemon & Garlic Butter Summer Grilled Sirloin Steaks Ham & Potato Strata Here is what I'm preparing at Chef Dane's on Saturday: Mixed Grill Tilapia Fish Filets with Buttered Leeks Sizzlin Chicken Fajitas Quiche... "Create Your Own" Baked Pecan Encrusted Salmon Pomegranate Pork Tenderloin Portobello Mushroom Raviolis Lasagna Rolls Yummy, it looks like some good eats are in the very near future!!!

Brayden singing his ABC's

Here is a viedo clip of Brayden singing his ABC's!!!

Chuck E' Cheese

Bennett and Brayden at Chuck E' Cheese, Where a kid can be a kid!"

Brayden in the race car, you can tell by the huge smile on his face he is having a blast!

Bennett driving the Monster truck, one of his favorite rides there.

We went with some of the boys friends Zachary to Bennett's left and his brother Benjamin to Bennett's right. Zachary and Bennett are just about the same age and were in the same pre-school class together last year. Benjamin and Brayden are only like 8 weeks apart in age. (Brayden is standing just above Bennett in the background.) The boys have so much fun together and get along really well. It was an awesome day to go as we were the first ones there and it was pretty much all pre-school age children there since all the big kids have gone back to school. In this picture they were doing the Hokey poky with Chuck E' Cheese and at the end he threw a huge hand full of tickets into the air. The kids thought the free tickets were the best!

Brayden in on the Rocket ship ride. Blast off!!! Only problem he wanted to get out before the ride had stopped.

Bennett holding up his prize from the tickets. Yes, $15 later and all he got was this Superman pencil and Brayden got 2 rubber lizards. Oh well they sure had fun collecting their tickets!

A Pocket Full of Kisses

This afternoon when I picked Bennett up from pre-school, he was super excited to show me a new book his teacher of only two days gave him. It was called A Pocket Full of Kisses. It is a sequel to the book The Kissing Hand, which they have been reading the past two days. He was the only child to get a book and I asked if he was supposed to take the book home and she said yes it's for him. That little stinker he sure has a way of buttering up the ladies!

He also asked if I could send him to day care so he could ride the school bus when pre-school was over with his new friends. He is the only one that gets picked up by mommy. Boo Hoo my baby wants to spend more time away from me. After I explained that he was super lucky to have me all to himself all day and that I would miss him dearly if he was gone to school every day all week, he decided it would be better to come home with me!

The Kissing Hand is a book about a little raccoon that goes to school for the first time and is sad about leaving behind his mother, friends, and toys. The mother reassures him that he will make new friends and have fun with new toys and she shares with him a secret about the Kissing Hand. She kisses the little raccoon in the middle of the palm of his hand and tells him that when he feels lonely or needs love to press the palm of his hand to his cheek and think, "Mommy loves you."It helps him to understand that his mother's love is always with him. The book A Pocket Full of Kisses is a story of the same raccoon who wants to give back his baby brother. He is upset because the little brother is playing with his toys and following him everywhere he goes. The mother raccoon explains that he just wants to be like you! She gave him a Kissing Hand and turned and gave one to his baby brother. The big brother was very upset because he did not think his mother loved him anymore. The mother raccoon reassured him that she did not give his Kissing hand away, but that they both have their own. The big brother was afraid she would run out of kisses and she told them, "That when somebody loves you, their kisses are like the sun's rays-always there and always shining. No matter how many Kissing Hands I give each of you, I will never run out." Then the mother told him that as a big brother he needed something extra special and gave him another Kissing Hand and told him to keep it in his pocket as a spare in case he needed a little extra love.

It is a sweet little story and a great reminder to the boys that even though we are having a new baby brother that my love for them is just as strong and will never run out. How sweet of Ms. Barbara Lee, Thank You!

They also made an art work project with their sweet little hand prints on it and a little poem. I'm a sucker of anything with my babies hand or foot prints on it. So far the school year is off to a great start for him and he is enjoying his new friends, new school, and new teachers.

After we finished reading this book to them tonight they both wanted Kissing Hands in both of their sweet little palms. Good night sleep tight.

A new adventure in learning

Today was Bennett's first day at his new Preschool, this pictures was taken just as we were on our way out the door. He has afternoon session, so he arrives at 12:45pm-3:15pm. This is a very different schedule from what we are use to. Up to this point, he has always taken an afternoon nap, and will still go back to bed at night. We put him to bed at 8pm last night and he was up by a little after 6am today. I hope he will adjust well, hopefully after a good week of school without the nap he will start to sleep in a little more.

His new Superman backpack. He has been quite proud of his new backpack and has wanted to take it everywhere we go.

He picked out his new shoes himself. He is very particular about what he will wear, and if he does not approve of it, you can bet he will not wear it! I thought boys were supposed to be easy with what they will wear? These shoes look like a shield of armor or something. Pretty shiny don't you think?

After a brief car ride of about 8-10 minutes my baby was asleep. Oh boy I hope this afternoon preschool session works.

The preschool program that he will be attending is at the Elementary School, Sky View.

Ready to meet his new teachers and new friends. My how my baby has grown since his first time at our church preschool in NC, where he was only 22 months old. This makes his 4th year of preschool. He will go Monday-Thursday here and on Fridays he will still go to our church Preschool.

Moon Sand. He has seen this stuff on TV and has wanted to get some for quite a while. He was so excited when he got there and found they got to play with this cool stuff. Well time to go back and get my big boy now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well I just got back from getting my Little Bug and he has to be the sweetest little boy ever. After we got in the car and I was asking him about his day and new friends. He said, "Well mommy there is a boy in my class and he is in a wheelchair so we need to pray to God that he will help him feel better and walk again." How blessed am I that my child is always thinking of others first. It really brought tears to my eyes and reconfirms that I'm so lucky and blessed with these little boys who at times can try my patience only to turn around and show compassion and love for others. I guess we are doing some things right! Well that just made my day and I needed to share it with all of you.

Mischief Maker's

Blueberry juice!!! Well when the boys get quite you know it's time to investigate. I was on the phone in our room and the boys got the blueberries out of the fridge along with cup, straws, and water and decided to make "spearmint's" their word for experiments. Granted they were being creative, but those were yummy blueberries that had to be thrown down the drain.

I came out from taking a shower the other morning and the boys had gotten into finger paints!!!! Well at least it was all washable, but they had their little hand and finger prints everywhere in the kitchen. Brayden kept saying," I not done yet" and painted so much in one area that he painted thorough the paper. They love their "ark work" :o) They also had their swimsuits on for easy clean up - straight to the pool!!!

Up next, once again they were quite and as I went to investigate this time I found them quietly playing and building this great town out of Lego's. You see they play pretty well for the most part and really love one another, however I'm usually telling them to quit playing so hard and being little wild boys and wrestling. It was refreshing for once to see them being creative and not making a huge mess and being destructive. They sure keep us busy and I can only imagine our life with 3 little wild boys in cahoots together.

Baylor's new room

We have been busy the last couple of weeks getting the boys set in their new rooms. We have had Bennett and Brayden together since early July and they are doing quite well together I'm happy to say :o). They have had a room make-over and we are just waiting on a few bedding pieces to complete their room. I'll post some pictures once it's all together. They choose a Superheros theme that Pottery Barn Kids just put out and it's quite cute. Bennett's bedding is Batman and Brayden's is Superman. They both just got new navy twin trundle beds as well and Brayden loves his new BIG boy bed. Here are some pictures of Baylor's room: This first picture is a crib caddy that a friend of mine Nancy helped me sew. Yes I said SEW. I actually found the bumper pad and a valance on e-bay and they were a great deal and exactally what I wanted, but I did not want to pay the outragous prices for the additional pieces, so I decided to make the crib sheets and they also had the matching fleece in the cute animal baby print so I made one of those blankets that you just hand tie. (really simple). The lady at the fabirc store talked me into the fact that I could make the crib caddy. She said Oh, it's really easy just follow the directions and you will have no problem. Well the only problem is I'm not a seamstress by any means. I just have a sewing machine that I inherited from my mother, and have taken one sewing class about 6 yrs. ago, so my skills are very basic. Lucky for me my friend Nancy happens to sew well and understands the lingo on the pattern directions, so she was nice enough to come help me get started. I did manage to finish the project and must say it did turn out pretty darn cute! It attaches to the crib and holds diapers, small blanket, wipes, lotion, passy, etc.. Thank you Nancy I could not have done it without you!!! The fleece blanket hanging on the top of the crib is the little one I hand tied, and the crib sheet is also the one I made which coordinates pretty well with the Banana Fish bumper pad which I got brand new in the package for $24.99 on e-bay a steal considering it sells brand new for about $72 else where. Man I love a deal!

I found these cute little canvas animal pictures at Target! Gotta love Target they always have great home accessories.

Baylor's room is ready for him, now we just sit and wait, and wait, and wait. Well hopefully not too much longer. Should not be more than 4 weeks from today. On a side note he is still breech and does not look as if he will turn anytime soon. How did I get 2 out of 3 kids breech? I guess another c-section is in my future :o(.

Just Keep Swinging

This morning was the last of our Summer Movie Fun and we saw Everyone's Hero. It was a very cute movie and great for Little boys. Our friends Jennifer and her boys Colin, Quinn, and new baby Kenyan joined us. The moral of the movie was to just keep swinging know matter what life throws you. So I guess that's our motto for the day! After the movie we went to my favorite fast food restaurant Chick Fil-A! One of the only places a southern girl can get a sweet tea in the West. Can you believe they drink their tea unsweetened? WEIRD if you ask me, and they always look at me as if I were the strange one when I ask for sweet tea. Well lunch went great until Brayden decided to throw an absolute fit over his ice dream as I got it in a cup this time vs. the cone and all the other boys had a cone. You see the last time I got the cone he was an absolute mess by the cones end. I guess I'm still learning that he is aware enough that he does not want to be different than the other boys. We had to exit stage left when his cries turned to screams and everyone was looking at me to do something about his fit. Oh well I guess we will just keep swinging:-) Hopefully all will be well after an afternoon nap.

Cupcake Cuties

Today mommy had a Dr's appointment in Scottsdale and there is this awesome Bakery called Chompies. I stopped in to get Bagels and they had these beautiful cupcakes that I knew the boys would just love, so of course I had to get them each one. Not to mention it was great bribery to get them to finish all their meal before they could have it :-) By the looks of their face I would say the cupcakes were a HUGE hit!

Daddy's B-Day

X-Box Brothers! 7/31/07 was Daddy's b-day and Grandma and Grandpa McKinstry stopped in on their way to California to take us all out to dinner. The boys were showing their Grandparents their skills playing Surf's Up!

After dinner at Ajo Al's ( really yummy Mexican) we went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream.

Daddy and Bennett

Brayden insisted on sitting by Grandma all night at dinner and while having ice cream.

Mommy and Grandpa

The boys showing off their blue tongues after eating Blue Raspberry Surf"s Up Sherbet! Yummy it sure was good:-)!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking us to dinner and for the ice cream, is was fun to visit, but now they are off to California, until baby brother comes! We can't wait until they come back it's always sad when they leave.