Rain, Rain

When we moved to Arizona I gave the boys a speech about how precious water is in the desert. I told them they wouldn't see rain nearly as much as we did in Wisconsin. Then ol' Mother Nature made a liar out of me. We had quite a bit of rain in November and December. I joked that it rained more in the two months since we arrived than it did the whole 12 years we lived here before. I was exaggerating, of course, but it was a lot more rain than I expected. It was actually kind of nice because it made it feel a bit more like home and helped ease us into desert living. Mid-December we got rain for two days in a row. Jerry happened to be in Green Bay on a business trip so he missed it. But we took lots of pictures so we could show him just how much rain we got while he was gone. It was a lot!

Our yard had standing water...

(At least we had rocks so it wasn't mud.)

But it was nothing compared to the neighbor's yard...

The playground was flooded...

Lots of rain with a bit of sun means RAINBOWS!

We even saw a double rainbow! Click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll be able to see it better.

Go Pack Go

I mentioned in my Christmas post that Roz was not with us this Christmas. What could possibly keep Roz away from her family on Christmas day??

Go Pack Go! :)

Revised Christmas Traditions

This Christmas season we had to mix things up a bit because of the big move. We tried to keep up with our usual traditions, altering them as needed to fit Arizona instead of Wisconsin.

We still hung the stockings "by the chimney with care" despite the fact the rental does not have a chimney. We've were fortunate enough to have a fireplace on Trotter but that was the only house we've ever lived in that had one. We missed it. I thought it would be fun to turn one of the moving boxes into a little fireplace. I cut it out and the boys helped me color all the "bricks". Then I used construction paper to make a couple logs and the flames.

The stockings, and some garland for good measure, were easily hung on our nice "new" fireplace with thumb tacks. (Only when the stockings were empty though!) Speaking of stockings, I had to make another one this year for Annabeth. I was pretty proud of myself because despite moving 2,000 miles and not having made one for a few years I found the needed patterns and supplies in about 2 minutes! You'd never know it wasn't made at the same time as the others, it matches perfectly!

Another tradition we didn't give up was looking at Christmas lights. And even though we didn't really need a warm beverage we still took hot cocoa along on the ride. Since we weren't sure where all the good lights were we printed out a map I found on the internet (it was mostly useless). We put the map, drinks, and candy canes in a container and drove off.

We did end up finding one neighborhood that is definitely worth driving by. The whole neighborhood puts lights up but the star of the show is one house that is completely covered in lights. They have all the lights flashing to Christmas songs and you can tune in their music on your radio. It was insane! It was the only house we went back to again when Roz got into to town. We just had to show her how crazy it was.

I think overall people in Arizona decorate a bit more for Christmas. Probably because it doesn't look like winter at all and if it weren't for the decorations you wouldn't even know it was Christmas time!

Since there was no snow we had to make our own! I showed the boys how to make paper snowflakes then we taped them to the back door so we could enjoy them.

We still decorated the tree, went to a holiday parade, went to Christmas Eve service, and spent time with family. The only thing we really weren't able to do was play in the snow. We'll fix that for next year because we'll be back Wisconsin for Christmas. Roz graduates December 23rd so we're planning on staying for Christmas.

Take a Hike

Saturday we took a little family hike at the San Tan Mountain Regional Park. Even Annabeth came along. Jerry carried her in a baby carrier. She dosed off and didn't make a peep the whole time!

Jerry and the boys have been out to the park before to do a "moonlight hike" which they all said was a lot of fun. It was the first trip there for the girls (me, Roz, and Annabeth). We have a park pass so it won't be the last time we visit. In fact, they have a homeschool day once a month where you can watch a presentation and then take a short hike with the ranger. We're planning on going later this month.

The hikers

Littleleaf Trail

The view

As you can see Jerry was loaded down with a baby on the front and our water bottles on the back, but it didn't slow him down a bit!

The park was pretty busy but we didn't see too many people on the trail we were on. We only walked about 2 miles, which is about the limit for little JD. It was a beautiful day, almost too hot for us Wisconsinites who are used to wearing coats in January. We decided we better take advantage of walking in the desert now... I'm pretty sure we won't be hiking out there in July!

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was a bit different. First and foremost, this was the first year we haven't had all our kids together with us. Roz stayed back in Wisconsin and went to the Packer game on Christmas Day. Was it a bit of a bummer to not have her here? Um, yes! But she was able to be with my parents on Christmas Eve and see my family on Christmas Day so in a very real way a piece of us was back in Wisconsin so that was nice to think about.

I would say that it was hard to have Christmas without snow too but it was barely a white Christmas in Green Bay so we didn't miss too much in that regard. And I have to admit loading everyone up to go to church was a piece of cake. We didn't even need to put jackets on!

The church we have been trying out had three Christmas Eve services. We decided to go to the early service at 3pm. It was a packed house. Thankfully, the kids were great; we got several compliments on their good behavior. Even the baby was good. Here she is in her special Christmas outfit:

I think she was the best dressed of all of us! Wesley out grew his red turtleneck so we had to improvise. Guess I should have thought about what they boys were going to wear before Christmas Eve morning! (Remind me next year to plan ahead a bit better.) Here is the whole gang before heading out the door to church:

After church we came home and had steak for dinner. Not our usual mac and cheese which was nice (for the grown-ups anyway). We ate, cleaned up, and got everyone to bed.

We didn't have any early wakers. In fact, we woke Wesley up about 6:45am and Annabeth slept through all of the present opening.

Wesley was sure the big box was for Annabeth, but it was for him! I hid it in plain sight in my closet for a couple weeks. It was the only thing he really asked for: a bean bag chair. Don't worry, we got him some other stuff too!

We pass out the gifts but only one person opens at a time so everyone can see what they got. Above, all eyes are on Hayden as he opens up some Angry Birds plush toys.

J.D. asked for a "robot" for Christmas. Here he is his with his Alphie. If any of you saw my Facebook status about Walmart ticking me off for not price matching... you'll know why I feel a bit disgruntled when I see Alphie. In the end, we did get him for the lower price just at a different (less strict) Walmart!

Christmas Eve I put together two breakfast casseroles. They baked while we opened gifts. This year I did one "breakfast pizza" and one hash brown/egg casserole. They were both delicious. The boys were happy to have hot cocoa with candy canes to stir as their breakfast beverage.

Annabeth woke up while we were eating. After we finished up the boys "helped" her open her gifts. I'm sure next year Christmas will be a little bit more fun for her.

She had several Christmas outfits to wear. I called her my little "Candy Cane" when she wore this one!

Grandma Molly and Grandpa John came over for Christmas dinner. We visited, open gifts, and then had a delicious dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, scalloped corn, cranberry relish, rolls, and two different kinds of pies.

We did a bit more celebrating with Roz when she got here the 29th and with Grandma Joddy & Grandpa Steve, but I'll save those details for another post. Christmas is a fun, but busy time. I have to say I'm glad it's a once a year affair. :)

Girls!

Aunt Kim and the cousins came to play and for lunch today. Cousin Zoe was so glad to have a little girl to cuddle and hold! These two will have to stick together... two girls in a sea of (eight) boys!

Four

Four photos of my four month old!

Okay, I can't help myself, here's a bonus!

Annabeth hates tummy time so JD is trying to make it a little more enjoyable by providing some entertainment. He's such a good brother!

Cookie Crew 2011

One Christmas tradition we couldn't leave behind in Wisconsin was cookie decorating! I made the cookies and the team decorated. Jerry, as always, supervised.

Since we were working over carpet everyone had a cookie sheet to contain any spills. Those sprinkles have a way of rolling all over the place!

Annabeth wasn't sure what to think. She just sat and watched.

Here is the crew showing off all their hard work!

So Sweet

Annabeth is so sweet.

All her brothers love her, but JD is especially fond of her.

He talks to her and she listens!

When they've chatted enough he gives her a kiss and runs off.

So sweet!