Meet Rachel

Shanda gave Kira a Gift Certificate to the "Build-a-Bear Workshop" for Christmas. It is a fun place to make your own friend. Much to her father's shagrin, she chose the pink poodle. She named her Rachel because that is her favorite name right now.

Lipstick

This is when he found my lipstick. I'm not sure why my make-up is so fascinating!

Tea Time

Kira and I hosted a tea party for a group of her friends that have been trying to get together often. Jodee (our photographer friend and mom of Kylee) came to take pictures of the lovely ladies. I gave them an etiquette lesson, they dressed up and then we had "tea" (lemonade) and cookies.

Wild Things!

On St. Patricks' Day we went to the zoo with some of our friends from church. We were fortunate that just the day before Grandma had sent these matching outfits that would make it really hard to lose track of the kids (some how I still managed to when they were playing with hundreds of other children at the play area). The kids had a great time, although Trenton really wanted to ride the go-karts that the zoo employees drive.

Zoo fun!

Kira talked me into letting her have a ride on the carousel before we left the zoo. She went all by herself.

There is a small river running through the zoo right by the playground area (I think it was designed for older children). Trenton--my "water boy" couldn't be content until he waded through it, but wasn't too content after when his shoes were filled with cold water.

With a capital T...and that stands for TROUBLE!!!

Trenton has been giving me all kinds of headaches lately, but he’s so dang cute, it is hard to stay mad at him for long. He is proving to have the same stubborn will as his sister but is physically stronger than she was making things like getting him in the carseat a near impossibility when he doesn’t want to be there. (He really thinks he should be the one driving!) He is endlessly fascinated with toilets (dirty and clean), and has started throwing random things from the house in our recycling garbage can. As you can see here, he found my mascara one day. It was either cry or grab the camera, so I grabbed the camera. I made the same choice a few days later when he found my lipstick and painted his face. I think I was closer to crying though, when he found sister's nailpolish and decided that we should have a pink carpet. (Do you think he has too many female influences in his life? :-)) The most recent disaster caused by Hurricane Trenton happened last week. Remember that he thinks he can drive. He always makes a b-line for the front of the van and presses buttons until we manage to pry him away and get him in his seat or out of the car. He had been playing in the car one day after dropping the kids off at school. I didn't use the car again until the next morning when I went to take the kids again and there was zero power in the battery. He had turned the lights on and they had drained the battery. Fortunately my neighbor was able to come down with her car and with a little coaching from Barry on the phone, we were able to get it charged again and only be 15 mins. late for school.

Trenton has turned into a little parrot and will say back most any word you say. Our favorites of course, are “thank you” and “please.” Our least favorite is "stop it" that he learned from his sister. But it is pretty funny to hear him say “poof” when he has a messy diaper. He likes food so will ask for “pizza”, “hot dogs”, "candy" often in a hungry monster voice. I think since he can use his words to make himself understood, he is a little less frustrated and more cheerful, although he still can’t understand why we won’t let him play in the toilet, walk around with scissors, mow the lawn, or drive the car. We are mean parents!

Kira & School

Kira finished another term with her performing arts class through the City of Tempe, in March. They had a gallery exhibit for the parents to view. Our favorite this time...the elephant puppet!

She has now begun attending preschool everyday at Faith North Montessori school in downtown Phoenix. It is part of the Phoenix School District, so not only is it free but they feed her a snack and lunch for free each day. She attends from 8:15 to 12:15 each day and it is a good breaking in time for full-day kindergarten next year (for Mom, too.). A couple of our friends in our neighborhood started attending as well, so we have a three-way carpool going. So far, everything is going well. Kira enjoys school, her teachers are impressed with her readiness to learn, and Trenton and I have a little more time together in the mornings.

Happy Spring!

I'm not sure it was ever really winter, but nevertheless, we feel the temperature rising, things are growing, and I am determined to enjoy our three weeks of spring--even if it is a signal of the impending inferno around the corner. Ah, Phoenix!

Barry and Kira have been hard at work planting and caring for these seedlings. Now if we can be sure the neighborhood cats will leave them alone, they will plant them in our little garden.

Park and Play

The weather here has been beautiful, but we would gladly trade it for a little rain (It's been somewhere over 130 days with out any rain). Aside from the pollution, it has been great for going on walks and playing at the park. Barry took these of Trenton one day. Don't tell him he's not big enough to push the stroller...or the vacuum...or the lawn mower...

Kira got the ring pop at a birthday party. Nice that her tongue is color-coordinated with her shirt.

Book buddies

Kira has really started reading well. She's turned the corner to where she wants to read to us instead of always asking us to just read to her. I was worried about Trenton since we haven't been as consistent about reading to him as we were with Kira, but he will bring me a board book and snuggle up to read with me several times a day.

In the picture of Kira, she is reading to me from the illustrated old testament (I am wearing my t-shirt from the crazy Valentines date).

A mile in our shoes?

Trenton is fascinated with shoes. I think he knows that wearing his shoes might mean that he gets to go outside, so he gets very upset if I try to take them off. But he is happy to try on everyone elses shoes for size. Once again, Kira must be in on the act, too.

Helmet heads

Why is it that if Trenton does something cute, Kira must do the same thing?

Water Boy

Kira

Kira gets smarter everyday, and doesn't she know it! She will be starting preschool in a couple of weeks that will be everyday as a sort of transition to get ready for all day kindergarten in the Fall. Yikes!

Kira's new primary teacher graduated from Harvard Law, but I think he was stumped for a minute last week in primary class when Kira asked him, "Does Heavenly Father love Satan?"

Big Helper

Trenton has obedience issues lately. Here he wants so badly to help Dad install our new wall fountain--especially if he is using power tools. Sometimes when he climbs up on things he says "get down" because he knows that is what we will say, but it doesn't dissuade him from what ever mission he has set out to do. He is getting really creative about moving furniture for his purposes. At church last week, he moved one of the primary chairs to the podium so he could climb up and sing into the microphone (and wave his arms, too--just like Mom!).

All Dressed Up

The Symphony

Barry's boss had bought season tickets to the Phoenix Symphony's Youth Concert Series. His boys are a little older and have grown tired of it, so we got the tickets. We got dressed up and went to Symphony Hall in Downtown Phoenix. We were too late for some of the before concert activities (instrument petting zoo, etc) but enjoyed the program a lot. The theme of the concert was machines. They had some fun numbers like a song with a typewriter soloist, and a movement from "The Grand Canyon Suite" using a wind machine. The final number was "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" with narration, much like "Peter and the Wolf". I think Trenton liked it better than Kira who started to get bored by the end. Still, it was fun to expose them to something like this. I think Trenton really liked the percussion. We were on the second row, so we got to see everything up close and personal. After it was over, Trenton just wanted to explore the auditorium.

Valentines Day Love Bugs

No pictures yet of the crazy date that Barry and I had for Valentines. But here are the kids dressed for the season (and who do you really want to see pictures of, anyway?)

After-Christmas Antics

Aunts like to do crazy things with hair and Kira has crazy ways of watching movies!

Kira's second Christmas