Joe's New Pet

Before you get all upset, Mom, please know that this new pet is absolutely the sweetest and easiest pet to take care of...ever! It doesn't eat, drink, or jump up on guests. It doesn't smell, shed, or poop in your hand.

Joe's new pet is an invisible cricket.

I'm not exactly sure where this new pet came from. It may have sprouted from a book that we read months ago about a boy who caught a cricket only to let him go again so he could hear it's sweet song. Who knows.

What I do know is that we now take along our new pet wherever we go, and I even let Joe take this little guy to school with him, as long as he keeps him in his backpack. Joe's new pet often lets out a little song for me coming from the backseat in the car, and often has to have a place to sleep when it's time for bed.

Sometimes Joe's little cricket disappears for a few days, only to surface a few mornings later, ready to go to school with Joe.

This is one of the very few invisible friends that either Joe or Joci has produced, and those that have come around in the past have quickly disappeared, typically in the same day. But, our little cricket has persisted, and I love it when he sings to me sweet songs that sound peculiarly like my baby boy.

Gilbert Luau

We had lots of fun Friday night.

Our town was hosting a Luau party as part of their National Turn It Off week. They had some crafts for the kids, and a couple of games inside. Outside they had bubbles and Joe's favorite, cotton candy. If you can believe it, Joci was SCARED of the cotton candy. I mean, how is that even possible? It's candy and it's pink, and she wanted NOTHING to do with it. In fact when we would offer it to her she would back away like we were trying to shove something vile in her face.

Later they had a local dance company put on a show with Hawaiian dancers. Before they started I went out and did a dance with the kids, it was so much fun just holding their hands and dancing with them.

To say the kids were ENTHRALLED with the Hawaiian dancers would be an understatement. Especially Joci. I was so proud of them both as they both volunteered to go down and dance. Joci was so graceful and at home trying to learn her dance, it almost made me cry. Admittedly, Joe seemed a little bored most of the time that he went there, but he did get into it, and take his hands out of his pockets, towards the end.

Even though we did end up turning the tv on during the week, and played a couple of video games, we did get out and do more things together as a family, and we definitely watched less of the ole boob tube. So I guess this little experiment was a good one for us. This next week, it's going to be stay in and do some work around the house week. Ü

2 Way French Braid

National Turn it Off Week - Day 1

So this is National Turn it Off Week. At the beginning of the week I was, like any good diet, excited and filled with confidence in our ability to turn off the tv and the games and limit our computer use. Naturally as the week wore on, it became harder and harder to abide to my technology diet. And, it was definitely me, mostly me, that had the most difficult time quitting cold turkey. By Friday all bets were off. So, while we absolutely reduced our dependency on the digital mediums, we did end up giving in to the siren call of the boob tube.

Monday we did go to an event sponsored by our town. It was considered a tailgate party held at one of our local recreation centers and was sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings. Sparky (ASU's mascot) was there and the kids had a great time playing with him.

Can you imagine someone drawing you a bath that looks like this?

Oh, how I wish I could climb right into this picture!

Random Thought of the Day

From Joe:

As I was sitting doing Joci’s hair this morning in the family room Joe gave me a big bear hug. That’s when he proceeds to tell me, “Mommy, we have to get you some sunscreen, you really need it.”

He was talking about my ‘red neck’ from this last weekend of football fun.

Too cute. He sounded like such a young man.

Double Header

We had a really busy day on Saturday.

It all started out with a bit of confusion. Some of us thought our flag football games started at 8am and others thought it was 9am. Some thought we were playing home, and others thought we were playing away. Come to find out, both were right. Apparently, we had been scheduled for a double header and hadn’t realized it. So, first we played the Dolphins, and lost. Then we played the Falcons, and barely lost. I think we would have won the second game, but the boys really started show a lot of fatigue during the second half.

Bye-bye Steelers, Hello Ravens! It’s still hard getting used to being the Ravens when we had been the Steelers for so long. Unfortunately, Arizona seems to be a Ravens hating sort of place. We have not been able to find any Ravens gear in stores except for a couple of hats. So, we are going to have to go online and buy some t shirts to show our support.

After the Raven’s two games, my parents took the kids for the weekend…so wonderful of them. Jon and I hung around the field for a few hours until it was time for the Bears to play. Jon is coaching a 7-8 team because none of the parents were able to do the coaching responsibilities. Although, you wouldn’t know it. There are so many armchair quarterback Dads on that team it makes me crazy having to listen to them on the sidelines. Jon and his assistant coaches all volunteered to coach a team in which none of their kids play because none of the parents on that team could or would step up and do it themselves. They have taken time away from their families and their own team to help out the kids on the Bears, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of criticism these Dads whine about on the sidelines during the game. There have been so many times when I just want to shout at them…”If you think you can do it better, than step up or shut up!”. It’s really frustrating for me. As many of you know, I can be a bit, ahem, outspoken, and so for me to not be able to say anything is almost like torture.

We were at the ball field from 7:30am, till almost 2 in the afternoon. Even with sitting in the shade, I was still sunburned. I took a huge amount of pictures that I hope to get posted on Jon’s blog very soon. We were so tired by the end of the day. It was a good thing my parents took the kids. Jon and I were able to relax and bit that evening.