Laundry Baskets

Connor has had an obsession with laundry baskets for as long as I can remember. At first he would lay in them with the clean clothes still inside, but I would tell him to get out because he was wrinkling my clean clothes. He quickly learned to dump the clothes out of the basket before he would get inside, so instead I now tell him to pick up the clean clothes off the floor. I don’t know if he didn’t sleep in a crib long enough as a baby or if he just thinks he is part cat. Either way, I have to constantly tell him to get out of my laundry basket. I hope he outgrows this desire before he gets any bigger. I don’t think my laundry basket can take it much longer.

Waterfall Hike

Today was a great day. After church we went to the White Tank Mountains and hiked the Waterfall Trail with some friends, Scott Roe and his kids. It is a simple one mile maintained trail hike. Along the way we saw some beautiful cacti blooming, petroglyphs, and stunning desert scenery. Zander did the whole hike by himself. Connor did most of the hike, but after a while he told us that his legs were so tired and he couldn’t walk anymore. Lee put Connor on his back like a backpack and packed him the last ¼ of a mile to the top. Once we reached the top of the trail we stopped for a quick snack and some pictures. If it has rained recently the top of the trail will have a waterfall (hence the name, Waterfall Trail), but today it was just a pool of water. Zander and Connor enjoyed climbing over all the rocks while Scott, Lee and I enjoyed sitting in the cool shade and talking. After our snack we headed back to the car and headed home. During dinner I asked the boys what their favorite part of the hike was for each of them. Connor said he didn’t like hiking, but after some encouragement he did admit that he enjoyed throwing rocks in the pool of water at the top. Zander said his favorite part was climbing on the rocks. Either way, rocks seemed to be the favorite part of the hike. Lucky for us we live in a desert… rocks all around.

Firestation

Today Connor’s preschool class went on a field trip to the Sun City West Fire Station. The men at the fire house were awesome! They show the children everything. The bedrooms, bathrooms, storage rooms, kitchen, control room, break room, and the living room. They even let them touch as much as possible. After the tour of the inside they took the kids to the garage and showed them the trucks. The kids got to see all the equipment that goes inside a fire truck and then got to climb inside. After the fire truck one of the men put on the entire fire suit on to show the kids what a fireman would look like if he had to rescue them. When the kids has seen everything there was to see the men had the kids go back to the kitchen and gave them cookies and juice and coloring books, fire hats, and all kinds of little trinkets. These are wonderful men that serve our community!

Recycling

Today we went on a Cub Scout field trip to Waste Management Recycling Center. When we first arrived we were taken to a room made especially for tour groups. Around the sides of the room were Plexiglas boxes of the different materials that can be recycled and at the front of the room there was a display case of things that were made with recycled materials. It was very interesting to learn what can and can not be recycled and what those things can be made into again. After a safety briefing the boys had to put on bright orange safety jackets and hard hats as well as safety goggles because they were taking us into the plant and right next to the actual machines and workers to see up close and first hand how things are sorted and processed. After the tour each boy was given an insulated soft lunchbox that had a small plastic football and chap stick inside. All the the products were made of recycled materials. (I hope the chap stick case and not the actual chap stick was recycled!). The Cub Scouts had a great time! But then again, only a boy can enjoy looking at trash.

Doorknob

Last Saturday we were about to leave the house and go grocery shopping when Connor slammed the front door closed as he ran out ahead of us. When we tried to open the door the doorknob was stuck. The door would not open. We tried wiggling and jiggling the knob, but it still would not open. Lee got a little more forceful with his wiggling and jiggling, but it still would not open. Round One: Doorknob 1 / Lee 0. The next step was a screwdriver. He tried to take apart the doorknob. As he unscrewed the doorknob we soon found out that the knob was not only stuck in the locked position, but the pin that holds the knob in place was stuck too. We could not take the doorknob off the door either. Out came the hammer. Lee now has a screwdriver and hammer and he is hitting and prying on the half disassembled doorknob. Round Two: Doorknob 2 / Lee 0. At this point I tell Lee to just leave the door and let’s go shopping. If we can’t open the door, surely a burglar can’t either. But Lee was not about to give up. He goes into the garage and comes back out with his Saw-zall (a power tool saw) and cuts the doorknob off. At this point, you might think Lee won the round, but no… the door knob was off, but the locking pin was still holding the door shut. Round Three: Doorknob 3 / Lee 0. Out comes the hammer and screwdriver again. After some more prying he finally gets the door open. Round Four: Lee wins! Now the problem is that we still need to go grocery shopping and eat dinner, but since we were already late for the grocery store before the doorknob problems we don’t have enough time to add Home Depot to our list. So, doorknob becomes a door hole for a couple of days until we can buy a new doorknob. It is a good thing the deadbolt didn’t get broke too. The good news… I got a new doorknob installed by my favorite handyman… Lee. This time: Doorknob 0 / Lee 1.

Ostrich Festival

Last weekend my mom took our family to the Ostrich Festival in Chandler. The Ostrich Festival was more of a fair than an ostrich attraction. Actually, we never even saw the ostriches. Instead, we watched pig races, a wild west dog show, and let to boys go on all the rides they were tall enough to ride. It was a very fun day and they boys can’t wait for next year to go again.

Pinewood Derby

Zander participated in his first Pinewood Derby this year. He was so excited! He had Papa Leonard cut out his car and then they sanded his car to get it real smooth. Then they painted it, sanded it, and painted it again. Zander wanted to paint flames on his car, but no one wanted to be the one to paint the flames, so we took a trip to Hobby Lobby for flame decals, weights, and graphite for the wheels. I helped Zander place the decals so he could transfer them to the car. Daddy helped place the weights on the car to meet the weight standard. By race day, this had become a multi-generation family event.

On race day Zander got to wear his new Cub Scout uniform for the first time. He looked so handsome. His car did well in the races. He did not come in first, second, or third, but he didn’t come in last either. His car won the Hottest Car award and he received a Pinewood Derby badge. In the end he had lots of fun and can’t wait until next year to do it all again.

The back end of the car...

Lee told Zander that is all anyone will see anyway.

The finished product.

The proud Cub Scout!

Bloody

The other morning Connor came downstairs and told me that there was a mosquito upstairs and I needed to come and get it before it drank his blood. He ran back upstairs ahead of me and exclaimed, “He is gone!” Then he started to look for the mosquito and started calling, “Here Bloody. Bloody, where are you?”

I asked Connor if he named the mosquito Bloody. He told me his name was bloody because he drank blood. Curious at this point as to how his mind worked, I asked him what was a bee’s name. He replied, “Stingy” with out even pausing. Now I was amused and wanted to see what else he would come up with for names. The rest of the conversation went like this…

Me: “How about a spider?”
Connor: “Leggy”
Me: “How about a worm?”
Connor: “Maybe Crawl”
Me: “A cricket?”
Connor: “Hoppy”
Me: “An ant?”
Connor: “Biter”

At this point I couldn’t think of anymore bugs so I asked what a mouse was named. Connor replied, “Cheesy.”

I love the simplicity and creativity of a child’s mind!

Birthday Fun

Yesterday was Zander’s 8th Birthday. What a fun time for him. He got to have his first friend birthday party, joined Cub Scouts, was able to participate in his first pinewood derby and next month he will be baptized.

His birthday party was on Saturday, March 5, 2011. He had a fishing themed party. I had to get a little creative to come up with games for this theme, but in the end there was fishing games for all to play. We had Hook the Fish, a game similar to pin the tail on the donkey. I drew a fish and then printed some different lures and hooks on stickers. The children were blindfolded and they had to try and stick their hook in the fish’s mouth. Next was the Casting Competition. The children were given a fishing pole and they had to try and cast their lure into a small play pool. Most of the children and never held a fishing pole before, so I had to demonstrate and then help them a couple of times before they could do it on their own. The next cage was Digging for Worms. This is one of my favorite to watch. We got 2 buckets and filled them with dirt. Then we put 12 live fishing worms in each bucket. We had 1 child at each bucket and gave them 30 seconds to dig for the worms. The one who had the most worms won. I had 2 boys refuse to play this game, but all the girls willingly dug for worms. Our last game was a piñata. Lee was the one holding the rope for the piñata. He said that the girls in general hit much harder than the boys. Way to go girls! Then for dessert we had cupcakes, ice cream and of course worms in dirt (chocolate pudding, crushed Oreo cookies and a gummy worm on top). Overall we had a very fishy day.

Plate vs. Floor

Yesterday we were working at one of our rental houses all afternoon and into the evening. Because I didn't have time to make dinner I stopped off at Fry's and bought some fried chicken. After dinner we ask the boys to take their plates to the kitchen. As Connor gets off his chair with plate in hand, his greasy fingers drop the plate... CRASH! Stoneware plate verses the tile floor... the floor won. Shattered stoneware and greasy chicken bones are now all over the floor. However, it never even phased Connor... all he said was, "I know, I will clean it up." Now if only I can get him to pick up all his other messes to easily!