That Hair!

I have been collecting pictures of Olivia over the past couple months because her hair is a constant crack up. Nine times out of ten it is completely out of control and unruly. I can comb it and put it in pretty bows in the morning but by 9:00am it is a giant red, frizzy Afro once again. So while it is cute it is also frustrating and I just thought I would share a couple of her best looks.

OH! This is what happens when we round brush it... cute huh? Or just weird..I haven't decided. Anyways, it only stays like this for about 30 minutes and then it springs back up again. We have however flat-ironed it before - NOT CUTE... (think Christopher Lloyd in Back the the Future!)

keekee

Hi, my name is Olivia and I have an addiction.... I am addicted to Junk Food.

..Hi Olivia..

I can't seem to help myself. The first thing I say to my grandmothers is not "hello" it is "keekee" (aka - cookie) I run straight to their cupboards and throw myself on the floor in a fit of rage if they do not have what I desire. At home I have mastered the art of opening the cereal boxes and consuming large quantities of dry coco-puffs before anyone knows. I have even stooped as low as to dig out my brothers uneaten chocolate pudding out of the trash. I just need a little help... Or grammas with a better supply.

Kids!

We Will Never Forget

Can you believe that it has been 8 years? It seems like yesterday, but yet a lifetime ago. A time before Ethan, Olivia, North Carolina, Texas, Iraq, Oregon.... a time when we felt we were invincible because we lived in the United States Of America.
Our kids came home from school last week telling us that on Friday (September 11th) they needed to wear Red, White & Blue because it is Patriot Day at school. They had no idea why they needed to wear these colors or why this day was when it was. It occurred to us that even though we remember that tragic day like it was yesterday, they have absolutely no recollection of it. Eight years ago, as a nation, we promised that we would never forget. Many already have. Dan and I decided that we wanted to teach our kids about the importance of this day and why we will never forget. So we took them to Tempe Town Lake for The Healing Field.

This was so breathtaking. They have nearly 3,000 flags standing in remembrance of all the victims that died that day. You can not be there and not feel the emotions, the weight, that this day in our history brings. Some of the flags had a little note card with a story about a person attached. Even my children, who often seem so aloof, were in awe of the amount of flags in the ground. It gives some much needed perspective.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

Hysteria

Last night we rocked out! Because Dan is an Iraqi War Veteran we get all sorts of crazy perks and last night was one of them. We got FREE TICKETS to go see Def Leppard, Poison & Cheap Trick at Cricket Pavillion (which is outside.....in August?) We had a dang blast! Since Dan's brother, Adam, is also an OIF Vet he was able to get tickets too and then we got a couple extra for Dan's sisters Nicole & Kaela. Here we are waiting for the show to start. Our seats were lawn seats so they we not the best- but since we got there early we were on the first row! The seats were actually not too bad.... for a while. Once Poison came out people started smushing their way forward and crushing us in. Why do drunk people have no personal bubble?

Yesterday we tied the record for temperature at 113*! It was pretty warm, can you tell? I am glistening. Once, the sun went down it was not as bad cause we were on the grass...but then when all the people started smushing their way in it got hot....REALLY HOT.

Poor Dan has some eardrum issues (thanks Army!) and so he HAS to have earplugs. He forgot to bring some from home and so he was going to try to tuff it out but after the very first note I could tell that he was not going to make it. He had a look of serious pain on his face. Luckily guest services will give them to you for free. phew.

Okay, they would not let us have cameras in the show so I tried my best to capture everything with a cell phone. So here is some video from each band... its a little shotty. Sorry

Cheap Trick:

okay, poor Cheap Trick. They seemed a little bitter that they were the opening act. They kept saying over and over that they were the best band ever, and they kept telling us that they were the only one with a top 5 Elvis hit... blah blah blah... The crowd was pretty sparse for Cheap Trick.


Poison:

Ahhhh Poison... I LOVE POISON!! I always have, I probably always will. They sounded really great live and they put on a good show. They thanked our Military more than a couple of times and they were awesome! I love poison!




Def Leppard:

This band holds some serious childhood memories for me. So it was really fun to see them live. They put on an AMAZING show! I just wanted to dance the whole time and Dan kept laughing at me. YEAH FOR SUPER FUNNESS!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

First Day!

It is already that time for us! I can't believe that school is back in session. This year my poor kids only got about 6 weeks of summer because in Oregon they didn't get out until June 11th! Oregon kids don't go back to school until the week after Labor Day. They didn't seem to mind at all though. In fact they were MORE THAN READY to get back to school. They all rode their scooters to school this morning with their cousins and then I met up with them to make sure they knew where to go. It was total chaos this morning. We are coming from a school with less than 200 students and this school is at least 3 times that!

I think Ethan was the most nervous this morning. He was not very chatty, like he normally is. I can't believe he is going to be in second grade. His teacher is Mr. Fetsco this year and he seems pretty great. I just hope that he will be able to challenge Ethan.

Spencer was his usual care-free self. He always is so good to just go with the flow. I think inside he was a little nervous but he doesn't let us know. He has Ms. Murray for 3rd grade this year and she seems very organized but relaxed which is exactly what Spencer needs.

Ryleigh was, I think, a little embarrassed to have me at the school. She was fine to go find her own teacher and line and stuff. Adios MOM! It does my heart good though because next year is Junior High and she will need to have a little bit of that independent confidence. She is in 6th grade and has Mr. Moore and evidently he is awesome. Everyone was telling Ryleigh that she is so lucky and at meet the teacher night he had more past students in visiting him that new students from this year.