Catch up

I have gotten so behind on blogging---that I purposely avoid it now. It's so overwhelming to think of all the posts I need to make--Cambria's Birthday, Halloween, Dance class, Lost teeth, Thanksgiving, Disneyland, and everything else in between. But I am going to try....

Here is everything---in reverse order. :/

Thanksgiving/Disneyland

This year we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. G's parents and youngest sister drove out to AZ. It was so much fun to have them here. We baked, played at the park, went to the train museum, read lots of books, saw the Mesa Temple lights, visited Great Grandma Roper, and just had fun being together!!! Unfortunately we only took three---YES, THREE--pictures and they all turned out terrible. :(

After Thanksgiving, G's parents took us to Disneyland. We met up with G's sister and her 2 kids. It was my girls' first time and we had a blast. Miss L and Miss A rode EVERY ride they could, and Miss R was pretty much scared of EVERY ride she went on. Miss C did a great job, even with missed naps.

By far my favorite thing was seeing Disneyland decorated for Christmas. They changed It's a Small World to Christmas music. The parade was awesome. And the fireworks were amazingly choreographed to the music. We also visited California Adventure Park for the first time. It was so fun to spend time together and see the excitement on the girls' faces. It was totally worth all of the sleepless nights and the miles of walking.

(These two cousins were adorable together). :D

THANK YOU G&G Roper!!!

All I Want for Christmas is my Front Tooth

Miss A lost her first tooth!!!!!

Dance

Can you believe we have 4 girls and we've never put them in dance class??? It has always been too expensive. But Arizona dance is much more affordable than CA, and my girls BEGGED to join. So Miss L, Miss A, and Miss R have been going to dance for the last 3 months. Here are some pictures I took during "Parent Observation Day." Some of these make me laugh. I HATED dance class, and I can see some similar feelings taking root.

P.S. Can you guess who is BEGGING to quit now?

Happy Halloween

This year we found an awesome pumpkin patch. It had everything--train ride, bounce house, corn box, petting zoo, slides, a place to feed animals, and of course...pumpkins.

Miss L wanted to have a "grown-up" costume---she was a witch. Miss A chose to be a bee because her teacher is Miss B (and the kids are called her busy-bees). Miss R was a cat. And Miss C was going to be a bunny---but the girls lost part of her costume while playing with it. :/ She ended up going as Fancy Nancy---and she was adorable.

We took all four girls out for a little while, and then G took the younger ones home while I took the older girls out for some more candy. When they got home, they made their piles of loot, traded for their favorites, and then gave over 200 pieces to the Great Pumpkin (The Great Pumpkin really likes candy. My kids leave him some and he leaves them a present).

In the morning the girls were excited to find that the Great Pumpkin left them a very generous gift---a trampoline. I think it's safe to say this is the most extravagant gift the Great Pumpkin will ever bring. :D

Miss C's Birthday

Yes--I am 2 months behind! Miss C turned 2 quite a while ago. She had a great birthday weekend. It started out with a carnival put on by our HOA. They had all sorts of games and bounce houses. Here is Miss C enjoying her very own snow cone (it was 100 degrees outside in mid-October).

The next day we had some special visitors (purely coincidental that they were in town on her birthday) and it made it extra fun. G's brother and his family came from Denver and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins.

We opened presents and ate cupcakes.

Miss C is a classic 2 year old---everything is "MINE," she tantrums often, she screams "NO!" and your heart melts when she says, "I wuv oo." I absolutely LOVE this picture below. She is actually pretending to pout--but she does plenty of the real pouting as well. :D

Happy belated birthday Miss C! You are truly a sweetheart and we love you so much!

Good Friends!

When I found out we were moving to Phoenix, I was pretty excited for a number of reasons. But one of those reasons is because my old college friend and her husband (also a college friend) are in Phoenix. Imagine my surprise when we learned that the house we wanted was less than a mile away from theirs!!!

This move has been so easy compared to the last 5 (yes, we've moved THAT many times). And I know the entire reason it has been so easy is because of my good friend, C. She has helped me in numerous ways, from babysitting to introducing me to new friends, from mopping my floors to bringing me treats, from exercising with me to laughing and listening and just hanging out. She is wonderful!!!

It has been really fun for the entire family. G runs almost every morning with C's husband. They have 2 kids, that are around the ages of Miss A and Baby C. We play together multiple times per week, and C & I go on walks to try and get some exercise in. It has been so much fun to be here with them!!!

This post feels incomplete with a picture of C & I, but the only picture I have is completely embarrassing. :D

Thanks C & Family for making our life in Phoenix so much fun!!!!

Hodge Podge

This update is long overdue. I haven't really felt like blogging recently. But here is a compilation of what we've been doing for the last month or so.

1. After the first week of school Miss L got sick. First we thought it was the flu; then we thought it was strep; it ended up being MONO! She was miserable. I was miserable. It was a terrible way to start off the school year. She spent most of her days sleeping and watching movies--and insisted on doing her homework every day.

2. My sister recently moved to NYC and took my niece's American Girl Doll, Lanie, in for a new hairstyle. Once Miss A saw it, she begged for the same thing. (She is obsessed with American Girl, Kit Kittredge).

3. We found a huge blow-up turtle on clearance and have been playing on it every spare moment.

4. It has finally cooled off enough that we can play at the park down the street. It's still in the 90's, but that feels like heaven compared to the 115+ degrees of last month!

5. This week is Spirit Week at school. On Monday the girls dressed like pirates for "Talk Like a Pirate Day."

And today is crazy sock day.

6. Last, but not least, we finally decided where we will be going next year. G is almost finished with his 10 years of medical training and has been offered a job in Visalia (my home town). He signed the contract last Monday, making it finally OFFICIAL! We will be moving back to CA next June. I am so excited to live close to my parents, G's parents, and my brother's family. It is going to be AWESOME!!!!

Happy Birthday Miss A!

Miss A turned 6 yesterday! I cannot believe it! She is growing up so fast!

Since her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we decided to have the celebration the previous Friday. It started with cupcakes at school, then early release from school. Then she opened presents, played like crazy, and then went to a Diamond Back game with Daddy and Miss R.

She LOVES baseball!

A "real" purse and wallet. :) And for some reason we didn't get a picture of her favorite gift--a small Rapunzel tower (yes Grandpa--she finally has it).

On Sunday we had some close friends over for dinner, cake, and ice cream. Miss A couldn't decide about what kind of cake she wanted, so I surprised her. It was a little more difficult than I expected--I'm just not a cake lady. I was worried because it was a little lopsided, but when Miss A saw it she started jumping up and down and yelling, "Thanks Mom! Thanks Mom!" That made it all worth it! :D

Happy Birthday Miss A! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

P.S. Unfortunately the day ended with some overtired, sugar high girls which led to some sibling rivalry. I found this picture this morning---and laughed like crazy. I just had to include it!

A New Pet

We found this rattle snake on our porch last night! Luckily my wonderful husband was brave enough to smash it with a giant rock. I had nightmares all night! Get me out of Phoenix!!!

OH, and a special thanks to my father-in-law who provided us with the long reach, grabbing thing-a-ma-bob. It is the most useful tool EVER!!!!

SCHOOL

Miss L and Miss A started school 3 days ago. They were excited and nervous, but I think I was more nervous than they were. I did cry a little bit, but only after I said good-bye and the girls couldn't see me (I didn't want to scare them). I can hardly believe that I am doing this. Most mom's send off one child at a time...for 3 hrs of kindergarten. But I sent off 2 kids for 7 hrs, and it is so....weird. It has been hard to relinquish control of my children's education. I feel so lost in the public school world---I'm sure I'll figure it all out eventually.

My house is very quiet. I LOVE IT! Miss R and Miss C are loving the attention. In fact, Miss R has not asked for her older sisters once! Haha! I admit that I do miss my girls, but I know they are having fun and learning lots of things (not just academics).

Our afternoons have been nuts. Our extra-curricular activities don't start until next week (Ballet & Art) and I already don't know how kids have enough hours in the day. Luckily the girls won't have too much homework (I'm guessing it's b/c they spend 7 hrs at school---that's a long day for a 5 and 7 year old).

Here is a picture of my beautiful school girls:

Love, love, love these girls. I miss them when they are gone, but I know they are in good hands.

Photo Shoot

A few weeks before we left CA, a friend of mine who is a professional photographer offered to take a family photo for us. It ended up turning into a little more than that---she took TONS of photos and they ALL turned out adorable. I am so excited about these. They are helping my AZ house feel more like home. Thanks friend (you know who you are)! :D

*The resolution of these is not that great---I had a hard time getting blogger to accept my gorgeous full-resolution pics. These are some of my favorites. She also took the family shot that is above (as our new header).