New jammies and toothpaste

Did you know that when your child gets 2 teeth that you need to start brushing them? I didn't know until the pediatrician told me at his 9-month checkup. So trying to being the best parents we can, we bought some toothpaste and a little finger brush designed for babies.  Well, Carson would have NONE of it and squirmed and cried.  So we tried our toothpaste, and he hated that more! (I think the mint flavor was too strong). Third time around with Little Einstein's "Rocket Berry" flavor - it's a totally new and fun experience. He has 5 teeth now, and loves to suck all the toothpaste off the brush.YUM!  Here he is having fun brushing his teeth while wearing his new camo jammies.

Brushing away, eating all the toothpaste I can!

Time to wash it down with some water!

Walking it off now.

Boy I'm sleepies!

Camping at Flowing Springs

I've been dying to go camping for years, and finally we had a chance to go.  While I was hoping for a good 4 days, we were only able to fit in 2 days/1 night. But it was still great!  Not many spots to set up camp (this was just 5 miles north of Payson), so you have to snag one early or you are pretty much out of luck.

Carson had his first Happy Meal when we stopped in Payson.

Our friends had this fantastic little pop-up trailer that we borrowed. It was perfect!

 Dinner was hot dogs and left-over pizza wrapped in foil and heated up over the fire. Quick and easy, and still yummy!

Cutie!

Danny and Carson having a good time in the hammock

Who taught this kid to lounge like this?! I think he was waiting for his hot dog to finish cooking. What a goof!

The leaves were changing colors and it was a gorgeous location.

 I love fall foliage!

Carson did NOT love these rocks because he couldn't walk on them very well.

Maybe we'll try again next year!

Although we froze our little tails off and Carson woke up as cold as an icicle, we still had a good time.

Carson Turns 1

Hooray! Carson turned 1 on Oct 10 and the year has just flown by. We had a family birthday party for him and it was lots of fun. I originally wasn't going to do a "theme", but one day while singing "Old Macdonald", Carson started to repeat the "E-I-E-I-O" (though not as clear as that). So - we went with a farm theme.

Here's the invite:

Thanks evite for doing the design work! hehe

Food served was:

Bratwurst and hot dogs

BBQ Bacon beans

BBQ Meatballs

Garden vegetables and dip

Potato salad

Chips

Pig Muck (chocolate pudding w/ crushed up Oreos)

Fishing Pond (blue jello w/ gummy worms and goldfish tied to ends of pretzels as the fishing poles)

Fresh squeezed lemonade

Carson sat with his cousins at his little picnic table (our next door neighbors gave it to us for FREE!)

This is his first time eating Jello and chocolate pudding.
It would be an understatement to say he LOVED it!

Then because Carson loves to dance, we had a little dance party:

Rockin' to the beat - right next to the speaker!

 

The conga line

The cake was milk chocolate cake with cookies n' cream filling, and buttercream frosting.  It was delicious!
The design was a pasture with a fence around it (pretzels for the posts). And a little cow and sheep piggy bank were "grazing".  I had a fabulous idea to do something else, but when it came time to decorate, I was out of time! So this was a quick idea that my mom and sisters helped come up with. And they decorated most of it, too!  Thanks fam!

 

He got some great toys and cute clothes as well. But he had no interest in opening any of them :(  Guess that saves me from wrapping at Christmas time!

 

Happy Birthday, son!  We love you and are so glad to have you in our family. You are a sweet boy, you're a good sleeper all through the night, and you make us laugh every day!

What's Your Excuse?

Kinda makes you think twice about your lame excuses, huh? Count your blessings.

Love Without Boundaries

This NPO is trying to get the word out about what they do. Check out http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/ and the video below to learn a little more about them. Lachelle does work for them and they do some amazing things. She's constantly showing me pictures and telling stories of children that they help. It's hard to understand that so many innocent children are abandoned, often because of health issues that are easily fixed here in the U.S.



Every child wants to be loved.

The Cheerio

"Hmm, I seem to be missing a Cheerio. Where could it be??"

 

"A-ha!"

Hiking the Houston Brothers Trail

Saturday we took a family hike up to the Houston Brothers Trail, which is north of Payson (past Clints Wells and then nearly 20 miles on dirt roads). Because I'm short on time I'll just post pictures and write about it later.

Snack before the hike. Bundled up because it's cold! (62 degrees)

Strapped in my new backpack (thanks to a great Craigslist find!)

Hiking the trail

I'm loving this!!!


One of the ascents of our so-called "easy" hike

Which to eat? Graham cracker or pine needles?

Asleep at the wheel

Overlooking the rim

Family shot

Stretching the legs. "I'm on top of the world!"

Piano Lessons

I wanted to announce that I will be teaching piano lessons beginning in August, and still have openings available. If you, or someone you know is interested, please visit my website for more details:

www.LachellesStudio.com

Swimming Lessons

I went swimming at the gym for my morning exercise. First time I've hit the pool since the little guy was born. These are some lessons I learned this morning:

1. I'm not as young as I used to be
2. People twice my age could swim longer/farther than me
3. The size or flab on your arms (or gut) is no indication of how out of shape you are (evidenced again by the older people in the lanes next to me)
4. Lack of carbs and sugar at the same time makes me more tired (yay South Beach Diet?)
   
5. I felt like this after swimming 3 laps:

3 hours later, I'm still struggling to function because I'm so exhausted (fyi - I swam more than 3 laps!). Looks like more swimming is in my future! It's a fabulous cardio exercise. And legs. And arms :)

Fat Max and I

Meet Fat Max:

Today, Fat Max and I accomplished a big task that the hedge trimmer and garden shears couldn't. I tried both of these tools; they each failed me. So Fat Max came to the rescue!




The Task: trimming our neighbor's unsightly Mesquite tree that has been growing over our backyard wall for about a year now. (Please note that there is no "before" picture of the tree, as I was too eager/annoyed/irritated by this ugly beast, and so I just started without the camera)

But here is the debris from our massacre:


You might have noticed that I strategically placed 2 branches standing up against our brick wall. Yes, these branches are TALLER than our back wall. Now if you use your imagination, you can probably picture what the before tree looked like. Because here's what it looked like when Fat Max & I were done:



And here is were Fat Max & I did the most damage:


It was very fitting, too, that as we finished slicing off the last of the branches, the "Hallelujah" chorus of Handel's Messiah was being broadcast over the loudspeakers from the elementary school down the street. Yes, "hallelujah" it is done! (And "hallelujah" to the kiddos who's last day of school was today.) But unfortunately, my "hallelujah" will not last "forever and ever," as the tree will surely grow again... and our neighbor will likely not do anything about it either...and Fat Max & I will likely have to go back to work.

Unless -- we pray for a huge monsoon to come and wipe it out! Like what happened to our other neighbor's nasty palo verde tree 3 years ago:


Suh-weeet, huh? Totally uprooted! (As were about 20 other trees in the neighborhood). Can I also wish that the same thing would happen to our backyard neighbor's palm tree?


Seriously! What's up with our white trash neighbor's and their trees?? It's like we live in AJ or QC or East Mesa...or something!

Air Force One Photo"chop"

The official photo released of the April 27, 2009 fly over:


The White House has obviously never heard of Adobe Photoshop before, and instead spent $328,000+ in trying to get the photograph with the Statue of Liberty in the background. So while the White House might be in the dark about the advancements in photo editing software over the last decade, some of these people below are really talented with using Photo"chop". Maybe Obama should hire them for his next big photo gig. It'll certainly save us a lot of money in the end.

Photo"chop" #1

Photo"chop" #2

Both of those look pretty darn good in my book! I would also say I think they look better than the original because the color is a lot brighter. Worth saving us taxpayers $328,000, wouldn't you agree? But Obama loves spending the money in a time of economic crisis. With a national debt of $11.3 trillion, what's $328k? Pocket change! But I digress... back to Photo"chopping".

The following 3 Photos"chops" are more for laughs.

Haven't seen this new movie yet. But I think it a clever movie poster. Who do you think would be the director for this? Any guesses??


I never saw the movie "Soul Plane" either, but I love this artwork. You have Obama, Clinton and Snoop Dogg. Ooooh yeah!


And this one makes me laugh the most. Obama having the time of his life, while Biden is Mr. Poopy Pants. That's okay, though. It's actually better that Biden keep his lips in a frown, because everytime he opens them, something stupid comes spilling out of his mouth.

I'm not an Obama fan, and yes, I'm a proud conservative! I love this country, and hate seeing it turned into a Socialist nation, one day at a time. I'm positive our founding fathers are all rolling in their graves, several times over.

God bless the USA!

photo by Danny Green; Washington, DC; July 2007