The Goodyear Blacks

Natural History Museum

2009-07-09T08:18:00.010-07:00

Wednesday morning I woke up and thought, what the heck are we going to do all day? I have a book that lists all the museums and such in Maricopa County (with coupons) and so I pulled it out. I had to decide between the Natural History Museum or the Museum for Youth. The deciding factor was definitely the Mars exhibit at the NHM.
So we loaded up and headed to the museum. Ryan wasn't excited because he wanted to go see the sting rays. I was worried that they wouldn't find the museum fun, but we had a great time.
This statue got them excited to go inside.

A T-Rex! Everyone loves the t-rex. The Hall of Dinosaurs had maybe 10-15 dinos. They were way cool. There was a volunteer that had fossils you could touch (like a raptor claw).

An actual Mars rover on loan from NASA. It was neat to see how big it is. They also had lots of experiments set up to show what life on Mars is like. There were 2 more rovers too.

We stumbled upon the activities room where there were puzzles, books, coloring pages, etc.

The battery was low on the camera so we didn't take as many pictures as we should have. Alex took this of the ancient shark.

And Ryan took this one of the mastodon.

We stayed for nearly 2 hours and had a great time exploring. There were lots of exhibits including panning for gold, Elvis the alligator, flash flood waterfall, geology, and Arizona movies. I recommend it for your summer vacation.

Alex and Dad Outing

2009-07-09T08:05:00.006-07:00

Alex needed a little dad time so they went to a Dbacks game together Tuesday night. Here is something interesting: Dan is a Padres fan (that was the opponent) and yet both he and Alex went in Dbacks gear. Maybe he is switching his loyalties. :)

Here is Alex using his great baseball skills on the mini field.

3 1/2 Birthday

2009-06-28T08:40:00.004-07:00

If I had planned better, we would have celebrated the half birthday a day earlier so we could have some friends over, but this year we just had a few new gifts and cupcakes. Ryan said, 'This is the best birthday ever.' Well, I thought the trip to Chuckee Cheese had to be more fun, but perhpas he doesn't remember that.
He got foam swords, a new book, and Bolt. He is so big and full of fun. Love you, Ryan!

Ward Campout

2009-06-28T08:30:00.003-07:00

Friday afternoon we headed to the hills. We camped at Upper Wolf Creek near Prescott. We nearly got lost, but we found our way. It rained a little on our way there, but only a few sprinkles reached our campsite.
We played a little frisbee and catch after setting up camp. Dan set up his hammock and the boys enjoyed climbing in with Dad. We enjoyed a yummy burger dinner, a short devotional and smores by the fire.
With a little sleep, we got up Saturday for a quick breakfast and then went for a hike in the woods. We left the site at 10am. The weather was cool and it was great to let the boys just climb and explore in the wilderness.

Art and Water

2009-06-22T17:31:00.005-07:00

My painting class started on Wednesday. We had lots of fun. It was a lot of work getting the area set up and figuring out a system to get paper and paint to everyone. I'll have 10 kids altogether.

The boys went out on the lake Saturday with the Blacks and Barons. Ryan wanted to go faster and Alex wanted to go slower. Dan got flipped off a time or two with Zach and had to recover on Sunday.

For Father's Day we had our usual donut b-fast and then we gave Dad the art the boys and I had made. Dan and I had a treat to substitute teach the 10/11 yr old class. We taught them the year they got baptized and I think we went to each of their baptisms that year.

The Williams came by for some Wii and treats after the boys went to bed. A nice day all in all. This week I start the older art class and we look forward to going on the ward campout Friday.

Freak Accident

2009-06-17T11:02:00.002-07:00

Thank goodness if the boys don't pray for anything else they pray, 'please bless daddy to be safe at work, please bless me to be safe at school, please bless Ryan and mom at home that they will be safe.' It is repetitious, but apparently necessary. The boys were eating their corn dogs and Alex looked over and saw it crash. If you haven't given the bolts on your ceiling fan a thought in a few years, I suggest you look at them. Another thought, when money is tight, expect the unexpected!

Photography

2009-06-15T09:24:00.004-07:00

I'm 'working' on my photography lesson.

June Week 2

2009-06-14T07:48:00.006-07:00

Last Saturday Dan stuck his head in the house and said, 'keep the boys inside.' I assumed that meant there were wasps about, but then I saw him out there with the camera. This is a long nosed snake, nothing to be worried about. Dan scooped him up and kindly threw him over the fence! (No, not into someone else's yard!)

Ryan has decided he CAN swim. What joy we have shared as he has overcome his fear of the deep and has started to brave the water. He is a little fish now. If only he could see the need to roll over and get a breath from time to time!

I took Alex to watch his swim mates race on Thursday. I tell ya, I don't enjoy the thought of sitting in the heat for hours on end waiting for him to race, but he seemed interested in doing it. Maybe in a year or two. At least now that he has seen it done it won't be such a big deal when we decide to do it.

Sleep. Ryan has been wore out all week from his swimming exertions. He went to bed at 6:30 a couple of nights and napped a couple of days. This was from last night. The boys spent a good deal of time swimming the day away and went to bed at 7pm. I'd love to know what was going on when Ryan grabbed Alex. We let them fall asleep together and then put Ryan in his own bed. Ryan was in my room by 6:15am begging for food. I ignored him as best I could, but he climbed in bed upside down and was kicking me in the head. And they wonder why I'm grouchy early in the morning!

Making Bread

2009-06-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

June

2009-06-06T07:09:00.002-07:00

With summer here we have started our summer lessons and projects. Ryan has already started his swim lessons. There was slow progress the first 5 lessons, but Dad came to lesson 6 (the last for that session) and bribed him with a Bakugan. Ryan complied somewhat, enough for us to allow him to continue for two more weeks.
Alex went to one lesson in the class he'll start on Monday. The other kids are on swim team and when we got home he said, 'I don't want to race.' After he understood that they were on swim team he was relieved! He will be learning to dive and improving his strokes. He won't get the endurance the other kids have, but at least he can have fun diving in and racing across the pool against Emily and Zach this summer.
I am planning a tour of the west valley public pools. When we went to Litchfield Park yesterday, Ryan was a fish! He loved the 1 1/2' baby pool and was trying to swim on his own. We'll probably head out on Friday afternoons if anyone else wants to tag along.
I am now 24 weeks (6 months) along with number 3. I've put on 12 pounds and am starting to endure the side effects of having my insides squashed together. My weekly preventive shots are getting more painful with each visit. But I try to be brave since I have have a kid or two with me when I get them. I am planning the nursery and can't wait until Alex goes back to school for me to get started on converting the toy room back into a baby room.
I have really been enjoying working on my art lesson plans. It feels good to be 'Finding Flow' (a great non-fiction book about finding more pleasure in work/hobbies than vegetating on a couch) learning skills that will help me teach but also help me parent.
What a long entry without pics. I'll get some shots of our swimmers to put up soon.

The end of Kinder

2009-06-06T06:49:00.004-07:00

Kindergarten has come to a close at our house. Our big kid is now a 'grader' as he calls it. He was sad to see kindergarten end. He loved his teachers and some how he has realized that being a grader isn't all fun and games! Towards the end of the year his class had a program. They sang a few songs, got gifts, and ate cupcakes. I was running late, but Dan had come as a surprise so Alex wasn't too worried about Ryan and me.

Here is Alex with Mrs. O'Brien. She has been a very kind and peaceful teacher. Both she and the aides in the class have been very good to Alex. He has had a fun year. Alex is a bright kid and they have kept him interested and challenged throughout the year. Alex will have fond memories of this year.
Now we have 8 weeks to enjoy together. The first day off was horrific! But hopefully as we all get used to having Alex home during the day it will get better.

Black Lines Art Studio

2009-06-02T07:57:00.003-07:00

This summer I have taken on a project that I felt compelled to do. After offering to teach one young lady at church some art skills, I was approached by other willing students. After some consideration (and studying on my part!) I've decided to share my talents with young artists. And by my talents I don't mean to say that I'm a gifted artist. But I have basic knowledge in several art forms from my college days and since I need to share with my own children these skills, I'm opening it up to others. Below are the classes I'll be teaching. They will start June 23 and go until the last week of July. If you are interested send me an email or give me a call (or post a comment) and I can give you the full information. I wanted to see what the demand is before I commit to times. There will be a limit of some sort, but I don't know yet where I'll draw the line (har, har.) For those of you already lined up for the art lessons, no need to reply. Your time and slot are the same.

ArtEssentials 9+

A sampling of photography, graphite drawing, figure drawing, and painting for the motivated student.

Preschool Painting 2 1/2+

Painting exploration for the youngest artist.

Grade school painting 6+

Painting for children who have a basic understanding of colors and drawing. They will be guided according to their skills in topics, color, tone and stroke development.

Pinetop

2009-05-28T15:28:00.002-07:00

We went off to Pinetop with the Williams for an awesome weekend get away. We stayed at the Roundhouse Resort. It wasn't exactly 5 stars, but they had a rec center that made the resort worthwhile. The weather was cool and overcast. We had a few rain drops fall on us, but nothing to dampen our spirits.
Fun activities: racquetball, billiards, ping-pong, basketball (yes, Dan is healed), swimming, bocce ball, mini golf, a hike around Woodland lake, the park at the lake, the movies in the hotel 'theatre', ice cream, church (If your ward was empty, rest assured they were probably in Pinetop. It could have been stake conference. A RM gave his report and he did awesome in spite of the enormous crowd!), Wii in the room, 'Night at the Museum II', paper airplanes, water coloring, drawing, puzzles, checkers, Trivial Pursuit (the girls won!), and duck feeding.
Alex pouted on the way from throwing out the last bag of trash. He said, 'Do you know why I was going so slow? It's because this is the best place ever.' Which, it was a great vacation, I'll admit! I however was not pouting to leave. I was more anxious about the nauseous ride down the mountain!

Archive discovery

2009-05-21T15:55:00.007-07:00

I am working on a lesson plan to teach art lessons to a small class of third graders this summer. We'll spend a few sessions doing photography so I was scanning through picassa and stumbled upon these pictures that were long lost in some old journaling folder from college.I'm not in the pick, but here is part of my Archi class in Florence, Italy. I thought Val would find this fun.

This is us chicas on our way out of Rome. We stopped to throw our coins into Trevi Fountain. Yes, we lived around the corner for 3 months and never did it until the final day. But it was early and there were no tourists! so we got to be in front of the fountain!

Living in Rome was wonderful, but studio could be mind numbing and challenging. We found a postcard of Naxos, the Greek island we were going to spend our final days in Europe and posted it by our desks. When we needed a break we would clang the lamp and yell, 'Naxos' and just enjoy the thought of us on an island with nothing to do! This is a picture taken on the island.

Ok, this is one of my favorite stories. Before leaving the USA Mere and Timmy got international drivers licenses. We never used it on the continent with public transit being so abundant, but here on Naxos we needed adventure. Meredith rented a tiny little jeep for us to go exploring.

This was a classic Visa moment. Here we were on this little back road when we stumble upon these goats. $5000 a semester in Rome, $80 to rent a jeep, 4 girls stuck in a jeep behind a goat herder, priceless!

Space Camp

2009-05-18T10:40:00.002-07:00

I am so excited that Alex will get to go to space camp this summer! We applied for a scholarship from the Arizona Association for the Gifted and Talented and Alex was selected. So, Alex will be headed off to the AZ Challenger Space Center for a week of afternoon fun in July. He will be attending the "Living in Space" session where "Little explorers could be the next inhabitants in space. They’ll learn about planets, space suits, helmets and what is needed to live in outer space." I hope he enjoys going. I hope he gets to go every summer because they do way cool stuff the older you get. I hope I'm not limiting his career goals by reinforcing space. He loves to write; maybe he'll aspire to write novels about space exploration! It is exciting to have these little boys that can grow up to be ANYTHING!

Father and Sons Camping

2009-05-18T10:34:00.002-07:00

The boys left on their adventure Friday afternoon. I had had a long and unplanned for day and didn't get to enjoy my evening alone as I planned, but did manage to get to the temple Saturday morning and off to the Chandler mall for some shopping for me and baby. Who can pass up cute summer dresses?
The boys say they had a good meal Friday night. They slept in the back of the pilot. Dan didn't blow up the air mattress, so did not get as great a night sleep as our little boys did. Saturday morning they went for a hike around the lake, did a service project at a cemetery and then shot off 2litter bottle, bottle rockets. They came home wiped out and with lots of pictures.

May Flowers

2009-05-10T09:01:00.003-07:00

This is Ryan's sunflower. He goes out everyday to see its progress with Dan. I thought it would grow taller than him, but I guess it was stunted in its growth. We have two more plants growing so maybe they'll out grow him.
Today is Mother's Day. I got cinnamon rolls and milk in bed and the boys gave me cards. Dan had the boys decorate a pillow case with markers. It has drawings the boys made of them selves. Dan's is clever with a busted pinky and all! I am looking forward to having Dan home from some of his meetings today.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you ladies! Whether you are a mom or not, you are making the world a better place for the next generation. And if you are of our faith, just think, when you get to be a mother in the next life, you will be perfect!
I am always thinking, 'ugh, why can't my boys just... fill in the blank...' and then I remember, if they were perfect then they wouldn't have had any reason to come here. I love my boys with their imperfections! I just hope I can make them into men that their wives will love with less imperfections!

The Lake

2009-05-10T08:52:00.002-07:00

Mark and Kirsten had us out on their boat on Saturday. We headed to Lake Pleasant around 11am. The boys were complaining the whole way: are we there yet? and I'm so hungry! Ryan loved the speed of the boat with the wind in his hair. He lost interest in this towards the end of the trip because it was too bumpy and he was tired. He actually fell asleep while we were out riding around. Alex refused a ride on the inner tube. He climbed in it while we were anchored, but let Dan have the fun of being bounced off the tube! Both boys loved the swimming. You can certainly see my tummy has expanded in the last couple of weeks! I don't think my 'high risk' cargo and I will be out on the boat again this summer. It was a good time, but I could see that it would be a little too much jostling for comfort in a few weeks. I am so glad we got to go out as family and create these fun memories. Thanks to M&K for a good time!

No Ice

2009-05-08T08:15:00.003-07:00

I wanted to add this Ryanism because it was hilarious if you were there.
When we went to lunch Monday we had to sit outside to await the rest of our party. The host asked if we wanted drinks while we waited. I declined, Neil got tea and I ordered Ryan a Sprite. As the guy was walking away Ryan yells, 'No ice!' Everyone turned to look at Ryan. And the guy looked at me like, 'Is he serious?' I shrugged. I guess he didnt' want ice. He got some chuckles out of it, and if you know Ryan that was probably his intention all along. I have never ordered a drink with no ice before and I have absolutely no idea where that came from.
I got a drink from IN and OUT Wednesday night and he asked if it had ice in it before he took a drink.
What is really funny, is that we never have ice in our freezer because the water here is so nasty, our drinks all in the fridge, and the water cooler is certainly cold. We have some friends and family that rag on us because we never have ice. I had bought some this week just for the birthday festivities, so if you want ice at our house, you better come soon before it is all gone!

Old Man River

2009-05-06T09:41:00.002-07:00

We celebrated Dan's birthday this weekend. On Saturday we had Mark, Kirsten and gang over for pork fajitas and cake and ice cream. I got Dan some 'weekend' clothes since Mark is always making fun of Dan wearing the same clothes every time we see them! They got Dan some lottery tickets. Alas, we didn't win it big or little so Dan won't be getting anymore new clothes until his next birthday!

On Sunday our friends the Williams had us over for a Cinco de Mayo meal. The boys love to play ping-pong at their house even though neither one can really do it. Ryan really wanted to go swimming, but seeing it was Sunday and the water 70 deg, we said, 'No way!'

Monday was Dan's actual birthday. Per tradition, we had donuts for breakfast and Dan opened his gift that was on the bed. He got some new flip-flops and a bag of mini Heath bars. One of his co-workers decorated his desk with balloons and crepe paper. Ryan and I met Dan, Neil, and Dave (the guy with the transformer car) for pizza at Oreganos. YUM!

To finish off the day we had family night with the Williams. (Julianne's bday was last family night so we swapped weeks of hosting.) We played our version of Frisbee golf and had banana splits for dessert. I think Dan was partied out. He has had a lot of stress at work as of late, and I'm glad we could celebrate him being a part of our lives. Love you, Old Man!

Alaskan Mail

2009-05-06T09:35:00.003-07:00

Thank you Chuck and Jan for the Alaskan surprise we received yesterday. Ryan LOVES to open mail and you can bet a large box on the front porch was a fantastic surprise.
They sent us some yummy candies, a cute kid book, salmon, and halibut. If anyone has a good recipe for halibut, I'm open to suggestions. Oh, and if you get invited to dinner anytime soon, you know what we'll be having!
Thanks again!

Summer is here

2009-05-01T13:42:00.002-07:00

Summer has arrived. We took out the slip 'n' slide Wednesday for some water fun. I upped the watering schedule for the yard plants and while the grass was getting some extra water Ryan and I went out to play. We coaxed and then forced Alex out. Man o man, that kid drives me crazy. I just need to accept that he is Anxious Alex and must be forced into new situations or any situation that has water involved. He is hyper sensitive to water temperature and tenses up every time he has to approach it. Yeah, that makes baths and showers really fun. And yes, Ryan is in his birthday suit. He did start out in swim shorts.

Alex was sick Sunday-Wednesday and it was great getting him back on Thursday. He had a fever that finally broke Wed night. We found him in a pool of sweat (more than his usual sleepy time sweat) and had to change the sheet and take away his new bear he made at school on Monday.

We are gearing up for Dan's birthday. He managed to get a slickdeals deal on Wii games, so he got himself 'DragonQuest' and 2 games for the fam for a good price. That will go towards his birthday budget!

Additions

2009-04-21T10:27:00.005-07:00

Saturday we traded our Accord in for this 2005 Pilot. It was owned by an old couple that took awesome care of it. The third row doesn't look like anyone has ever used it. It only has 28,ooo miles on it and was so clean when they brought it in (just for an oil change but decided to buy an '09 pilot instead) that we took it home within one day of it being on the lot. It drives just like the Accord only with a little more power and a lot higher off of the ground.
The reason I'm posing in front of this jewel is because it was requested to see a shot of my 4 month (17 weeks) belly. We found out today that this new little addition will be wearing pink! Hoorah! No, don't ask about names. I have a name I like but Dan is a bit picky in that department, so we'll see where the negotiations take us. I presume she'll have a name much sooner than Ryan did (most kids do!) OK, and as a side note Alex remembers going to get Ryan's ultrasound. How can he remember that? He was only 2.5 at the time. Oh, the things he'll be telling his shrink when he is old... 'And when I was sitting in my bouncer my mother watched this loud movie with astronauts and I have been obsessed ever since.' A little dramatic, but really it isn't all that comforting that he remembers everything. He loves me, so I guess he has overlooked my lack of patience and harsh discipline. At least he'll remember my birthday...

Game Ball

2009-04-16T15:28:00.003-07:00

Alex got the game ball last night. He had two hits and two runs. Way to go!

A great day!

2009-04-16T15:07:00.003-07:00

The weather today was fabulous. It could be the last of the below 90deg weather we'll have, and so we have to make the most of it. Ryan and I went on an adventure. Tell that to your 3 year old and you'll be starting the day off right every time.
Our adventure took us to Enchanted Island in Encanto Park. If you go to their website you can get $2 off a child wristband and a 'buy a hotdog get a free large soda' coupon. I bought 4 tickets for me to go on the train twice and I didn't have to pay to ride with Ryan to go on the carousel.

Ryan had a great time going on all the rides as much as he wanted. The Dragon Wagon made an impact on Ryan, 'I felt like I was going to puke.' Yep, he went on it again. We had a cheap lunch; only $3.50 for a hot dog, large drink, and churro. We stopped by Dad's work to show him the pics and the wristband. A great day that ended up being just shy of $20. I'm glad we did it. On the way Ryan said, 'What about Dad and Alex? Let's go get Alex.' Er, do you have a Kindergartner? I love my big boy, but we can leave him in school and it is OK! Once we got there he never mentioned them again. I know Alex would enjoy it, but I had a fun day with my Ryan.