Valentine's Date

Ty and I had our valentine's day date last night. Arizona is celebrating it's 100 year birthday so the Mormon Tabernacle Choir came down from Utah to put on a couple performances. We weren't overly excited about going to see them but thought it would be a neat thing to do since they've only come here one time before - in 1964 or something. And we've ever seen them sing in real life before. I had to laugh part way through the night. Mormons can be so dry! We were in the gigantic US Airways Center where the Suns play and it was a little big for the crowd. From our seats in the nosebleeds, we could see nothing, especially since there was nothing to be seen. The MOTAB prides themselves on not moving anything but their jaws I think! so I would close my eyes and listen - and they truly do sounds beautiful. Our favs were the church hymns, patriotic songs and classic American movie songs. Plus, the African sounding song where they actually swayed from side to side and clapped their hands. That really got the audience going! I told Tyler at that point that we may have been in over our heads as far as cultural events go. He began applauding with a gentle clap and "bravo", "splendid!" just to make me laugh.

We had taken the METRO downtown from Tyler's work so we ended up at ASU's Mill Ave afterward for a few minutes. Talk about going from one extreme to another! It was 11pm and the people, the music, the smells, the partying... It was shocking! I was REALLY a fish out of water there! I felt like everyone was looking at us like, you two chipper clean little couple, how was your Mormon choir concert tonight?! ;)

Get me outta there! It was a fun night with Tyler and another good one for the memory books. He is my best friend and Valentine forever.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Where's the Lamby?

Claire is 15 months old today. I haven't done an update on her since her 1st birthday but now that she is half way to 18 months I feel like today is momentous enough for sure. She is growing up! At 15 months old Claire-bear wears pig tails; walks well; dances; has a favorite book (I see you, you see me); can point to eyes, nose, ears, pretty hair, belly button and waggles her tongue; loves watching baby Einstein videos with a cup of snacks on her lap; waves bye-bye and blows kisses; says "hot"; points to airplanes and doggies and kitties and birdies; loves her siblings!; cuddles in the shower; loves blankie ("spot", ie. the corners) and baba; stays within 10 feet of me most all the time; and continues to bring us so much JOY! We loved her a lot then, the day we had her, but now we REALLY, REALLY love her a lot! Her personality is so sweet and she is so much fun! P.S. How do you like that popeye look she whipped out in the last picture. She's been drinking too many spinach smoothies. ;)

Cortina Jog-a-thon 2012

Child Labor

I bought two IKEA shelves this week to use as shoe shelves in the garages. After putting the first together on my own while the kids were gone at school I realized that this was a perfect opportunity for them to try putting something together themselves. IKEA instructions are so simple to read and I thought the repetition of hammering wooden pins into holes then installing shelf after shelf would be right up the boys' alley. They worked diligently on it for about 30 minutes with some help from me and Claire, of course, who used a ratchet as a hammer. Pretty cute all around. And they did a good job - the finished project is perfect.

Jill's 40th Birthday FUNeral

I came up with this poem for my BF's 40th Birthday:

Mark your calendars for a day that's big!
Jill's having a birthday and we're throwing a dig!

A girl who loves family, running and Grant
"I cannot be 40!" has become her new chant.

On top of the hill, and over she goes
Where she'll stop rolling, nobody knows

So we thought it'd be fun to do something early
A FUNeral of sorts, for this lively, bright girlie.

Let's bring flowers for gifts, come dressed all in black,
Shower her with love while she lies on her back.

Its a Surprise! At her house: January 28
6pm, don't be late, the guest of honor can't wait.

Here are the pictures of how it all turned out (hilarious!):
Her husband took her to dinner while her kids and I and some friends decorated their house like a funeral home. We lined up chairs in the family room and put photos of her throughout her life and flowers in vases all over the place.
Her husband and son had made a coffin out of a giant box and we had it on the driveway waiting for her when they arrived home. All the men in the group acted as pallbearers and carried her in. I about died laughing and so did she - she was mortified!
Everyone came along single-file for her "viewing" and said hello to her while she laid in the box. By now she was playing along nicely.
Then we spent about 20 minutes sharing stories about her and telling what we love most about Jill. It was really sweet what everyone had to say.


Then she got up out of her coffin and enjoyed being alive for her next 40 years (at least!).

Pinewood Derby 2012

Our 2nd year doing the pinewood derby. Luke raced a black and blue car with an "Eat my Dust" sticker on it (nice) and I loaded all the cars onto the track, fulfilling my cub scout den leader role (going on 3 yrs).

In the end, Luke's car placed 4th overall (good job dad and Luke). We had 28 boys 8-11 years old competing and every one of them went away with some sort of award and a smile on their face. It was another successful night at cubscouts. ;)

Ready for Pinterest?

It has been a good couple of weeks around the Hillstead house. Life is busy and bustling as usual - especially around the 7-9am and 4-8pm hours. But in between there is a lot of Claire and me time where I can regroup, reorganize and rejuvenate! Thank goodness (I don't know how home-school moms do it).

Things to note about life during this first month of 2012 are:

1- We started a new program of no electronics (TV, Wii, Computer, Ipad...) Monday mornings to Friday afternoons. The temptation for my kids to always go to those things in their free-time has weighed on me since Luke was a baby and loved Baby Einstein. So I've fought it back and forth for years in different ways, ideas, programs... but this one is working! The benefits have been immediate and obvious:
- The kids are sleeping in later
- The kids are pulling out old toys
- The kids are hanging around me in the kitchen more, coloring, talking, driving me nuts playing tag and other games around the island..
- The kids are getting their homework done before the Thursday night crunch
- I have read 2 books
- We have been practicing the piano right when we wake up and before Claire gets out of bed so she doesn't stand there by us and want to bang on the keys
- The boys go outside all afternoon to shoot hoops, roller-blade, play football, ride bikes
- Ashley's had her nose in a book every afternoon
- We play with friends more
- We see more of each other and interact on a deeper level all week

So that has been huge for our family. Tyler comes home at night and often says he's proud of my diligence with this. It seems easier to tell two energetic boys to go downstairs and play Mario Cart while I make dinner than to pull out puzzles or paints for them. But it's not really, I'm finding. So that's really good.

2 - I've been trying to revisit my crafty side. I don't have a pinterest account, but Ali talked me in to trying it out this week. I'm scared I'll get overwhelmed with all the creative ideas. But I did request an invitation. I'm making some wooden letter boards for Brynn for her birthday and I also made a little something special out of an idea in my head, my Family Valentine's Mailbox. Go ahead, you can Pin it. ;) The kids are loving leaving treats and notes for each other.


3 - We are working on some projects around the house. Our pool gate is rusting and gross so we need to replace that and we want to extend the grassy area for the kids to play in the back yard. Our garage door chain broke this week so we've been opening and closing it manually - I like to think of it as my daily exercise - so that's going to cost some $ to fix. Annoying. I accidentally broke and then replaced and fixed by myself a part on the pool pump this week, so I felt good about that. Handy woman. Hopefully we can do a lot of these things ourselves.

4 - Things are changing at work for Tyler. Lots of shifting in positions and responsibilities going on there. So he is staying really busy and fortunately has a good group of people he works with. We liked what Obama said in his State of the Union Address last night about using, growing and building U.S. clean energy companies - go solar people! :)

5 - We are counting the days to our 12 year anniversary (Feb.24th) and trying to decided what to do for a fun weekend getaway. Vegas or Scottsdale probably - Ty's in charge - and I don't really mind where we are as long as the bed is comfy, the blinds shut tight and we can sleep in peace until 10am. :) In March we have the Hillstead Couples' cruise celebrating Steve and Shauna's 40th Wedding Anniversary. What a blast it will be to have all of us kids-free together for a week. We owe a big thanks to my mom who is going to be holding down the fort here with our and Ali's kids. yikes.

6 - Ashley is selling girl scout cookies for the next couple weeks. If you have a craving, let us know. $4/box of the good stuff. And she's the cutest little girl scout I know.


So that's what's on my mind and plate this time of year. Fun post.

With this lovely photo of Claire's chunky thighs, I bid you good-bye my friends!

Go Seahawks!

Luke is playing flag football now with a bunch of buddies from the neighborhood. He loves it! On the mornings he has practice (M/F) it's the first thing he talks about. We are grateful that another mom and I were able to throw this team together last minute, and since she grew up in Washington too, we chose to be the Seahawks! I guess a couple of their classmates are on a really good team, the AZ Cardinals, and Luke is anxiously anticipating the day we play them! Go Seahawks!

Let's go Stealers!

Jake started playing basketball a few weeks ago. He has improved so quickly with dribbling and shooting, it's incredible. I'd say he has a new passion for "hoops"! In his free-time he will go down to the basement to play on our mini-shot or ask if he can go out front and shoot hoops. It is pretty great.

Both this week and last Jake scored a basket. It's pretty tough on these 5 year olds to score when they stand so LOW under the rim, it takes a lot of effort and determination.

During the games Jake is pretty focused but does manage to pose for photos. ;) He also insists that we not take our eyes off him, but asks that we do not cheer for him at all either. What a funny kid.

Skateland

What's a better way to kick off the new year than with a couple trips to Skateland?! I can think of a few, actually. But since it had been a good decade since our last trip out to the skate-rink, we thought we'd introduce it to the kids. And we had fun.

Luke loved using his new Christmas roller-blades and, after a few times around on the carpet area, Ashley announced that she had a new favorite sport! Jake put up with the wheels and did his best to get around using the walker, but he opted not to get skates on our second visit, the next weekend. Not his thing right now. Claire was completely feeling it now that she can walk on her own. She cruised around the place (on shoes)and thought the loud music and disco ball lights were fantasic! Tyler dressed for the occasion in his bright red and blue and broke the place down, racing Luke and playing the dice game, where everyone rushes to get under a number 1-6 when the music stops and hopes the DJ doesn't roll their number on the big furry dice or they're out. It was all very entertaining to watch from my perch at the wall.

Fun times.

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HALLELUJAH! It's a miracle! The COX guy just left after installing their internet service and look at this! I managed to upload 5 pictures all together in less than 30 seconds. Bloggers, I'm back. Enjoy these miscellaneous photos from 2007.