Arizona Winters..Good ole Globe

 So many of you know that Arizona does not have normal seasons. While the rest of the nation has this season called Fall Arizona has Summer, where it snows in winter Arizona has Summer. So now on December 14th we have fallen into winter. Many of my transplant friends have experienced the bitter winter, the golden fall, and the brightly colored spring, but we beat them all with our summers. Now I know you ask, wait? What are transplants? people that did not grow up in Arizona but moved here willingly after reaching their legal independence because of weather, love of swimming pools or just good old fashioned rebillion.

And to my transplant friends please know there is  place in this Copper State that does have all four seasons. It is the near dear home in my heart, Globe AZ. I remember having snow in the winter, beautfiul gardens in Spring, and football in the Fall ( I sound like a Kenny Chesney song). It's days like this that miss the small mining town, where everyone knows your name...wait that is a small bar in Boston called Cheers. But still I am so excited to be going to my grandparents in Globe for Christmas day. 

  Here are some pictures of the front of my house to show that Arizona can party down with the best of them :).

 Alex crunching fallen leaves outside our house.

front of the house decorated for Christmas.

Apparently the Three Wise Men were Cowboys

So today on the ride home from school I asked Alex the usual how was school, what did you do questions. This was the convo:

Me:So what did you do at school today?
Alex: I watched a movie at school today!
Me: Really what was it about?
Alex: It was about God.
Me: Really? and what else?
Alex: and a the baby Jesus, they had to run away with the baby.
Me: Who ran away with the baby?
Alex: The three kings they took the baby Jesus on their horsies.
Me: They did what did they say?
Alex: Yee Haw Cowboy

Moral of the story Alex knows the story about the baby Jesus and his correlation to God. Revelation, apparently the Three Wise Men were Cowboys!

Re Gifting

So recently Alex and I had a discussion about Santa Clause. He wanted to know why Santa has reindeer, why he says Ho Ho Ho, why he is so big. Well during this conversation Alex also told me that he wants new everything. He would show me his existing toys and say "I want this guitar but new one." "I want this buzzlightyear doll but new one". So in my infinite wisdom to educate and guide my child to be morally sound I came up with this idea. I took some of his older toys and re wrapped them for Christmas. Tee hee hee insert me twisting my mustache..NOT that I have a mustache I mean I do keep up with that kind of maintainence. Anyways and it was only a couple toys the remainder are new things he did want from Santa. I will keep you all posted on how that develops on Christmas day.

Guilty Pleasure's...I am a NERD

So I recently added a new "gadget" to my blog, Guilty Pleasure. It's basically a breakdown of the books I have read in the past couple of months. Some of them I have read for the 3rd time. This post is a little embarassing becuase it is showing my inner geek-dum (I just coined a new word). I read ALOT I typically have read one book in a one day period. This is something I have only recently found as my passion in the past couple years. I hated reading in school and would not be caught dead reading as a past time, but now I find the smallest pleasure in reading with a good glass of wine (I am also giving away to just how single I really am). This list also reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a coworker this week. The backstory she was telling me that over the Christmas weekend her and her husband are having a marathon of his favorite movies that she has NEVER seen. Here is how it went.

Coworker "we are watching all the Star Wars I have never seen them."
Me "what you have never seen Star Wars? Not even the new ones with Ewan McGregor?"
Coworker "OH WOW you sound like my husband when I say I havent seen Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter."
Me "WHAT? are you kidding me? I wish I could go backpacking through middle earth with legaless. AND Harry Potter is really a Cinderella story of sucess, the boy grew up in a closet."
Coworker " he lived in a closet?"
Me "Yea his parents were killed by Voldemort and his stupide muggle aunt and uncle raised him."
Coworker "what is Legaless?"
Me "Just the hottest Elf with kick ass archery skills"
Coworker BIG eyeroll as she turns to face her computer

To sum it up I realized I am a bigger nerd than I thought, also I have the same interests as a 16 year old boy....FANTASTIC no wonder I am still single lol

Making HomeMade Cinnabon Rolls

So tomorrow is my dear friend Laura's birthday. The only thing she asked for was a pan of my homemade Cinabon Cinnamon Rolls. Now I can not take all the created becuase I was introduced to this recipe by my aunt Heather years ago. It is an amazing recipe very yummy but you do have to make everything from scratch, bread and all. So here is the process.

 My bread baby, this is after mixing and kneading the bread.

This is after flattening out the bread baby and putting the filling of butter, cinnamon, sugar. Then you roll it nice and tight. Using string I sliced out all the rolls.

This is the end result. They look sort of choatic but OH so YUMMY

The Reason for the Season

Alex recently started going to a local Christian School and has been learning alot about God, and Jesus. So today while we decorated the tree I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about the purpose of Christmas. Now I warn all the theological scholars, and philosophers reading this blog that this conversation took place with a 3 year old who thanks God every night for making nana, mommy, and Buzzlightyear so please do not judge.

Me "Alex who is Jesus?"
Alex "Jesus is God's son, God is Jesus's daddy."
Me "Alex whose birthday is on Christmas?"
Alex "its my birthday!!!! "
Me "No your birthday is in September, its Jesus birthday."
Alex "NO Jesus cant share my birthday, Its my birthday too"
dramatic pause to evaluate how to handle this
Me "Alex who is Jesus?"
Alex "He is God's Son"
Me "Jesus was born on Christmas"
Alex "OH cool I love Jesus"

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

 So Alex and I got this tree from my mom when we moved into our first apartment in 2008. Alex was one years old, and this tree was originally my moms first tree way back in the 1992. I call this tree Charlie Brown because all the poor pine needles fall with the whisper of the wind(overly dramatic). I plan to buy a nice 7 ft pre lit tree after this Christmas but I wanted to give him a proper fairwell by including him in our first Christmas in our new home. However even if he is replaced he will never be tossed out he will hold a dear place in my heart even if that means Alex will enherit it when he moves out.

 This is the Sesame Street Branch

Alex was in charge of hanging all the Sesame Street figurines this is him in action.

"Mommy do you have a boyfriend?"

I started working on my super secret surprise present that I am make for a very close family to me. It involves patchwork, cut outs and sewing. One patchwork has a pink heart that I was pinning for sewing when Alex comes over this is the conversation:

Alex "mommy is that a heart?"
Me "yes it is"
Alex "OH COOL. Is that for you boyfweind?"
Me (shock face because I havent heard the word boyfriend since I was like 16 jk) "NO"
Alex "oh mommy do you kiss you bowfriend?"
Me (again shock face with nervous laughter, can my 3 year old know about my non existant dating laugh?) "No I dont have a boyfriend, and how about this if I get a boyfriend, I promise you will be the first person I tell."
Alex "ok thats good"

This was the funniest conversation he and I have ever had. I knew that the Mommy why are you single? Mommy why doesn't a daddy live with us? conversation would happen one day but not at 3. I am sure as his language skills get better I will need to do more explaining.

Alex's first day of Pre-K...hey that rhymed

So today was Alex's very first day of school, he is in the 3 year old pre k class at a local Christian school. We toured the school last week and he cried when we had to leave. So of course he was excited about today and I was a wreck and nervous. This is how the day went:

530AM: Alex woke up right away and sat up ready to get dressed and out the door (pic above) I actually had to make him eat a banana at the door.

6AM: arrive at new school-the school doesnt start til 7 but they have the early kids go in to gym and eat breakfast and play sports. I kiss Alex good bye and he waves "see ya" and takes off without looking back.

605AM: I feel my insides die as my hypothetical cord is ripped from my body and my 3 year skips into the real world without me. (ok that was overdramatic)

9 AM: call for an update from the teacher Alex is doing great

4 PM: get to school for pick up and meet with his teacher about his first day. This is the feed back I received "Alex cried during our Christmas pagent rehearsal (which is at 7 PM this Friday at his school all ar invited) because he could not have a talking part in the microphone, they were all assigned in the weeks before. Then I took him to the boys potty and he tried to sit in the urinal, I assume that you potty trained him sitting down (insert embarassed single mom smile)."

5-8PM: Alex non stop talk about his new friends and his new school. He can not wait for tomorrow.

It was a success, and to all my blogging moms, family and friends I really hope that as the days go by my nerves and stress will calm about him becoming so independent.



Deck the Halls.. and all that, that implies

Now that all the triptophan has long left our bodies, my sister Katelyn and I felt overtaken by the holiday spirit and decide to do some shopping and decorating. We went to Michaels, with the innocent intention of finding supplies to make homemade wreaths, and hit the mother load. As we were shopping with only our hands (all the baskets were taken), we were stocking up to our elbows in 50% OFF decor. All of a sudden I felt overwhelmed  by the savings and crowds, and said out loud "I need a freakin' basket" and the ghost of Christmas present must have heard because a lovely woman says, "would you like my empty cart? This store is too busy for me.. Oh and here is my 20% off coupon that is only good for another hour." I pull a tiny Tim moment "God Bless Us everyone" and dump our loot into the basket. We were able to buy two grapevine wreaths, cranberries, leaves, fake birds and so on for only $30. From there we went to Walmart and then went home to decorate the outside of my house with lights.

Here are some pics of our wreaths, and me hanging lights with a tall ladder all by myself for the first time in my life (playing Kelly Clarkson "miss independent").

Lil' Chef

So this year we are spending Thanksgiving with my family at my aunts in Camp Verde. I am super excited because it will be cold like the Fall/Winter should be. I am making a dessert, chocolate covered cream filed strawberries. That is right I took a homemade cream cheese frosting and piped into a strawberry that was dipped in chocolate. I made extra for the Fousts and they loved them.

Alex always wants to help me cook when I am in the kitchen he says "mommy I want to cook too." Normally I will sit him on the counter and let him stir or mix but this baking experience was a bit more sticky. So to help Alex cook i threw some flour and sugar in a bowl, gave him a spoon and let him go to town. Here are a couple pics of Alex in his cooking comfort zone. Above was a pic my aunt used in her daycare newsletter last year. Below is alex in action tonight.

Darn Toys R Us wish book

So Alex has been in love, and by in love I mean obsessed with the Toys R Us wish book we got in the mail a couple weeks ago. Everyday we come home he says "mommy I am going to read my book" and secludes himself to his room. Now as a mother that believes in education I am ok with his want to read, however every 5 min I hear "mommy I want this one" my robotic reply "ok great". He has grown into the Christmas spirit of giving however because now instead of skipping the girls section of the magazine, he comes over and points to the Barbie castle, or Dora makeup table and says "mommy you want that one?" I say "oh yes I love it" his reply "ok I will buy it at the store". Only if I knew about his secret bank account when I was buying my treadmill a month ago. :) He is such a super sweet heart here is a picture of Alex reading the "his" book. Notice that my son reads the Toys R Us wish book just like old men read the newspaper.

All the beautiful butterflies

I have been wanting to post about this one for a while. My aunt (she watches Alex) has a small in home daycare and in her back yard she has planted some "butterfly friendly" vines. That was me quoting the Homedepot label. Well they have lived up to advertising because each plant has about 7 or 8 catepillars and in all stages from an egg to a small catepillar to a crysalis. Well for weeks I go to pick up Alex and I spend about a half hour with the kids observing, and holding all the new buggies. We have yet to see a butterfly.....Until today. We found a butterfly toward the bottom of the plant and we all took turns letting it crawl all over our hands. At first the kids were nervous to hold it but once I assured them it was safe and my adult mother knowledge eased their fears it was butterfly mania. This is a pic of Alex holding the butterfly, and yes he is making an unsure semi constipated face :) he kept saying "eww its sticking to me"

No Sleep for the weiry

So day 2 of the bed time routine is not as shocking to the soul. Last night between shuttling Alex back to bed maybe 5000000 (oops put one extra zero) time I heard everything from "mommy dont weave me, mommy puh-wease (please) wet me way wit you. Mommy I have to got pawty. Mommy I hungwe" and no I am not a terrible speller that is my phonetical interpretation of Alex's speach :) Tonight was not as bad during the 50000 shuttles all I hear was "No mom you can't I have to sweep in your bed". He is starting to grasp at straws now.. could this be a breaking of the will's. (insert ah ha moment). Below is a pic of Alex sleeping when he was a normal managable child. Yes that is him at a few weeks old and what appearse to be a bit of my cleav-ahge (that is my fancy way to say it).

Thank God, Good Will

So I went to Good Will for the first time about two weekends ago. Aparently twice a month they have half price Saturdays. What is this you ask? Well it is when they mark everything in the store at half price. So you can imagine my shock and aw when I went to get a couple things for Alex bathroom and ended up with tons of stuff. This is the breakdown.
7 long sleeve shirts for Alex (brands:Jumping Beans, Old Navy and Gap)
2 12X12 white molding frames with blue mat boards (bed, bath and beyond still tagged at 39.99 each)
1 white Ikea Shelf
Total price 1
$18.00.

Here are a couple pics of Alex Bathroom after decorating. It was already blue. The shower curtain, towels from Ross and the pics in the frames are of Alex in his first bath and a current pic I got blown up at Costco and printed in Sephia to look fancy. I destressed (distressed?) the frames and shelf with sand paper to give it a rustic look.

Terrible 2's my aunt Fannie

Alex turned 2 on 09/16/09 and that year was full of fun and eventful things for us, he started talking more (so cool, umm mommy?, just because), He started attempts at potty training, I graduated with my BSP and we bought our first house. Of those things it was anything but terrible, not even unpleasant.

Alex has now reached the ripe young age of 3.What they don’t tell you is that 3 is a nightmare. They should call it the catastrophic 3’s, because at 3 children decide to stop sleeping at night, they learn the powers of manipulation, and they have developed the right to talk to you as an adult.

Alex has decided in the last few weeks that not only does he need to sleep in mommy’s bed but he also wants to play the “name game” until 10 PM. Since I wake up at 445 AM for work this is not something that works for me. For those that are interested the “name game” is a game Alex created where he yells out descriptions and you have to guess what he is thinking about. Pause for and AHHH moment but at 10 PM it’s an UGH moment.

So thanks to my good and wise friends Josh and Ally, I have devised a new bed time plan that we will execute tonight. Wish us luck (fingers crossed). Also below is a picture of Alex's preimptive nap today since he did stay up til 10.