It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Last night, Moose started us a fire and all the boys cooked marshmellows. They had a blast and were bouncing off the walls! While waiting for the fire to really start going, we heard singing outside our door. We opened the door and found a singing Christmas Tree singing "Rocking around the Christmas Tree." It had a note attached to it that said we would be receiving a gift on our door step each night for the 12 nights before Christmas. Pretty cool! Included each night is a part of the Christmas Story of Jesus' birth. It is a neat way of telling the story to our kids. Stay tuned to see what we get tonight!

Payton looses a Tooth!

Payton lost his first tooth the other day. Bottom center. He not only lost it, but ate it! Moose had taken the kids to McDonalds for dinner and while eating, Payton said his tooth hurt and that he didn't want to eat anymore. We knew it was loose and Moose asked to see. The tooth was gone. Don't worry, the tooth fairy still came and left a piece of candy for him!

Pima air museum.

We went to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson this weekend and had a great time! Santa flew in on a helicopter! They did art projects and saw some awesome planes. There is a military base nearby and we even saw a few military plane fly overhead. We got to visit Santa as you can see, but the kids were more impressed with the candy canes. Overall, it was a short but great trip. Here are the pics...

A few pics and a video...

Thank goodness for Scottsdale PD

Jackson decided to have a little adventure on Sunday night. All three of the boys were outside playing and I was inside cleaning up the desk when Payton ran in and told me Jackson had run away. I wasn't too worried. He'd only been out there for 4-5 minutes, so he couldn't have gone far. I put my shoes on and went outside. Payton told me which direction he had gone, and I started out that way. After a couple minutes, I still couldn't find him. I was starting to get nervous and went straight to the pool that was closest to us. Both pools are gated, but it's not uncommon for the gates to be propped open. Luckily, he wasn't there and all the gates were shut. But still no Jackson. So I put Payton and Logan in the car and drove around the complex. It felt like at least 15 minutes had gone by. When I came back around to our apartment, I knew I needed to call for help. The 911 operator asked me when I had seen him last and that was around 5:30pm. "So that was about 7 minutes ago?" she asked. It had only been 7 minutes?! She started asking me whether I had family who might "pick him up" and she asked where dad was. I didn't realize at the time that she was trying to pick out someone who may have taken him! She told me police were beginning to arrive and block off all the exits to the complex. They would search any vehicle leaving the complex. Then she had more officers checking the pools. By this point, I wasn't doing so hot. I had asked several neighbors who were coming home whether or not they had seen him, and no one had. Two officers who finally walked up to our apartment asked me a few questions and began to search our apartment for him. Another officer took the picture I had gotten out for them and used his phone to take a picture of it. 30 minutes had passed and I finally had a minute to call Moose. When he answered, all I could say was, "You need to come home." I no sooner got that out of my mouth when two men were walking up with Jackson in their arms. I hung up on Moose and ran to him. He was crying and I was crying. One of the guys said he had made it to the other side of the complex and a couple of girls had found him. I thanked them and went into the apartment to tell the officers who where still searching for him inside that he was found. The officers asked who found him and I told them about the two men who had brought him to me. By the time we got back outside, both men were gone. I could think the worst about why it was two men who returned him and why the officers hadn't seen him, but I choose to think they were my neighbors who were pitching in to help me find my little boy. So thank you to them and to all the Scottsdale police officers who responded so quickly.

We helped out at a Halloween Block Party event with our small group from Praxis and it was a success! There were a ton of kids and we had games, bounce houses, and hot dogs. Here are some of the highlights...


Kelly and I racing to eat a donut off a string with no hands. I won :0)


Logan in the bounce house...


Moose helping me set up.

Here is Jax taking a crack at the donut game...

Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween!

Scottsdale Healthcare's Fall Festival

Two weekends ago we attend the Fall Festival at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea. It's the first time we've been and we had a great time! We will be inviting friends and family to go next year!

They had a fire truck, ambulance, and police car that the kids could climb into.

They also had a teddy bear clinic. Each child got a "sick" teddy bear that they took to the Pediatric Emergency Department. The bears got check ups, medicine, and bandages! So cute! Notice they even have hospital bracelets on! They decorated cookies...

and Logan's bear even needed to get an echo cardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) by our fabulous echo tech Mike, who works on our NICU preemies.

We had lots of fun!

Moose-athon

Moose did his first full triathlon last weekend...and boy did he pick a doosy! It was a 1500 meter swim in Bartlett Lake, 24.8 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. Both the bike and run were uphill all the way up with no reprieve! These "hills" were actually being called mountains they were so steep! Bartlett Lake Triathlon is called, "the toughest most beautiful triathlon in AZ!" And Moose chose this one to be his first! Mom and Dad brought up their camper and we were able to spend the night up at Bartlett Lake. Kelly and Robert came up too to help us cheer Moose on! I even made us shirts :0) The back says "Team Moose".

He did fantastic in the swim! He was one of the last ones to start but quickly passed many of the swimmers. He finished with 20-25 swimmers still in the water. Look at that stud!

This is after the swim, headed back to transition where his bike was. And changing out of his wetsuit...

Then, off on the bike! We saw him off at the transition station and then hiked up to the spot where they do a turn around. Here are some pictures...Check out that hill!

Unfortunately, Moose's bike wouldn't switch into the lower gears needed to make it up those steep "mountains". He went as far as his bike and body (and the race director!) would let him before they drove him back to the transition area. He pushed himself so hard he didn't even realize he had pulled his left hamstring. Because of his injury he couldn't start the run.

We are all so incredibly proud of Moose! He made it through the swim and 20 miles of the grueling bike! Butch, a friend we made and a fellow competitor who does about 6-7 triathlons a year, said he would never do this race again because it was so difficult!

Moose is already scouting for his next race...and I don't doubt he will finish it. And who knows...maybe he will attempt this one again sometime in the future. And just for kicks, here is a picture of Moose just 11 months before this race. What a difference!

Shrine Circus

Amazing balancing acts...

Trapeze artists and elephants...

Snow cones at intermission...

A bear pushing a stroller and lots of tigers

And even more amazing balancing acts...this was by far the best! It's hard to see, but the man in the last picture is jumping rope!

And I love Caillou for keeping my kids intertained while I posted these!

Is it Fall yet?

I guess I should ask is it winter yet since we typically get about a week of fall in AZ! We are about done with the heat. The rain last week was great but I was ready for it to bring cooler weather for 2 reasons mainly. One, I can put the kids outside to play and two, we all get new wardrobes! Not brand new, but at least not the same stuff we've been wearing for the last 6 months. Although with the cooler weather comes the holiday season, which I cannot believe we are 3 months from! Anyone thinking of Christmas shopping yet? It won't be long before you will start seeing it on retailer's shelves. Michael's already had theirs out!

I am taking the boys to the circus tomorrow with my parents, Kelly and Robert. I will post pictures later...

Here's what we've been up to the last couple weeks...

"How to Train Your Dragon" watching in our fort

"First day of school, first day of school!"

And just being...well. silly :0)

Here is Jax dancing to his favorite song "Monster" by Skillet
And I must say he has the cutest air guitar ever!

Has it been a month...

Really? Almost a whole month since I last posted? Wow! We've been as usual. Work, A&P, work, and work some more. The kids met their teachers this week in preparation of school next week. Yeah! Logan has his same teacher, same class this year. Payton will be attending a new school for full day kindergarden. His class has 11 kids and 2 aids and he will be attending specials, like art, music, and PE. He is growing up so fast!

In case you were wondering, Jax has no interest in the potty we bought a month ago. We're just letting him tell us when he's ready.

Moose is doing well at work. He still enjoying providing (aka purchasing) merchandise for the store. Unfortunately, the store is moving again. Don't have details yet as to where they are going but that just means more work.

I am due to finish my 29th (and final) week of my Anatomy & Physiology class this thursday! Yeah! I'm debating whether to take my last prerequisite class this semester, which would start Aug 22nd. It's a physics class which sounds difficult. I don't know...we'll see.

Hope all is well with the rest of ya all! See you guys soon for Moose's Birthday!