Our "New" House

This past month our house has been invaded by painters and carpet cleaners.  When we found out what Jeremy's year-end bonus was, we decided to do a few home projects.  The first project we did was getting our exterior all repainted.  Even though our house is only 3 1/2 years old, some of the trim paint was already starting to flake off in the front and the stinkin' woodpeckers had ruined chunks of our back stucco.  Rather than have the HOA get after us, we decided to just go ahead and get it redone.  The whole project only took about 3 days and the end result was exactly what we wanted.  Same colors and no more holes!  The quality of workmanship should also last longer.

The next project we had done was painting the entire interior of our home.  When we moved in, everything was flat white paint.   Not a good thing with kids!  About two years ago, Jeremy and I (mostly me) painted a natural color throughout the majority of the house.  (I painted Max's room a light blue, the boys' room a medium gray, and the office the same gray).  However, we never could quite paint the top section of the staircase.  We tried various ladders and poles but they didn't work.  I wanted the lines perfectly cut in, so we just never finished that part.  It bugged us everytime we went up and down those stairs.  We hired Arizona Painting Company and within two days, our home AND staircase was repainted in a slightly darker color called Sandstone (by Dunn Edwards).  We love the color and how the white trim, doors and blind now "pop."

Part of the kitchen mid-paint.

Lastly, we had the carpets, tile, and living room couches all cleaned yesterday.  Those areas weren't horribly bad, but with four kids, two cats, and a plethora of people always coming and going, they needed a good deep clean.  We hired John Randall from Randall Carpet Care (www.goodyearcarpetcleaningservice.com) and it took him just about 7 hours to clean the entire house. 

Now that everything is freshened up, we can start putting the rooms back together.  My next project is to develop some of the family pictures that Caitin Nalder (www.nalderphotography.com) took of us last year to hang on the walls.  It's about time!

Baby Chicks, Round 2

Sadly, Brownie and Fluffy barely made it even 24 hours.  The following day after bringing them home, Brownie started to show some weird signs of kind of just laying on her side and stretching her neck out.  She had stopped eating and chirping.  I was holding her when her little body just seized up and she was gone.  The kids had just gotten home from school and were pretty sad about her.  That's when we noticed Fluffy had a bulging bottom (almost like a baboon's red butt).  We washed her bottom off in warm water and she seemed to be doing fine otherwise.  However, a short while later, she started acting kind of lethargic too.  I threw the kids in the car and we quickly drove back up to the feed store to see what was up.  The employee that maybe Brownie was just too little and that Fluffy was constipated, which I guess happens with baby chicks sometimes.  He took Brownie and reassured us Fluffy would be okay.  I went ahead and purchased 3 more chicks, this time 1 1/2 week old American Puritan chicks. 

 

Sadly, Fluffy barely made the ride home.  I kept her on my lap as a I drove home simply because she was just so limp and the other chicks were trampling her.  After being home for only a few minutes, Fluffy died.  Poor little chicks. 

 

These three new chicks seem to be doing great so far.  We've had them about a week now and it's been fun to see their personalities develop.  The biggest chick, Buttercup, is a crazy bird.  She doesn't like to be held and likes to flap her wings.  She also likes to make us chase her when we put her in the grass.  The mid-size chick, Lebron James, is pretty calm and likes to follow Buttercup everywhere.  I personally think she's the prettiest.  The smallest, Sugar D, is constantly being held by someone.  She is the calmest and sweetest.  Max is always packing her around.  The kids love playing with the chicks and they have already grown so much this past week. 

L to R: Lebron James, Buttercup, Sugar D.

And So it Begins Again

The sun's shining and the weather's getting warmer, time to break out the cleats, balls and bats again because it's baseball season!  This year Jackson is playing Goodyear Little League.  Their opening day is this coming Saturday.  It's going to be interesting to see how he does in a more professional-type organization.  He's already been assigned the first base position, so he's pretty stoked for that.

 

As for EYS (Estrella Youth Sports) this year, Alora decided she wanted to try and play.  She's never participated in a team sport, and Jeremy is a little wary, but we'll see how she'll do.  She is on her friend McKenna's team and she also knows several of her other teammates.  She had her first practice this afternoon and she did pretty good.  Best thing was, no tantrums! 



Catching pop-flys.


Max also wanted to play again.  Last year he was a little nervous and either Jeremy or I had to be by him almost every game, but he's told us he'll be better this year.  Again, Jeremy is wary.  His first practice was also tonight and he did really well.  Only he and another boy are the ones who have ever played T-ball before.

 

 

Guess Who's Twelve?!

It's very surreal that we have a twelve year old!  When did Noah get so big?  It seems not that long ago we were teaching him how to walk, saving kittens from his toddler-fisted clutches, and sending him off to school for the first time.  Noah is not only a great son, he's a great big brother.  Noah has always been quick to help and does well in everything he puts his mind to.  He's also very meticulous and hard-working. 

 

This year he got to have a party with friends.  Jeremy ended up taking him and some friends to play laser tag at Stratum Laser Tag in Tempe.  Afterwards, they returned to our house for pizza, cake and ice cream, and basketball. 

 

Because of Jeremy's crazy work week, we celebrated two days early with some family and friends at the park.

The D-backs jersey Grandpa and Grandma Frye gave Noah.

Noah was ordained a Deacon today in our church. 

Baby Chicks, Round 1

As if we didn't already have enough things going on, my friend Carlie and I decided it would be fun for the kids to raise baby chicks for a while.  We found a great store in Glendale, Pratts Feed Store, that actually lets you purchase the animals with a guarantee that they will buy them back when you are finished with them.  How perfect is that?!?  Not only did this store sell baby chicks, they also sold the fertilized eggs, ducks, hens, roosters, various breed of bunnies, goats, a python and many other types of birds.  It was like visiting the farm!

 

Carlie and I each chose two four-day old bantam chicks.  Max picked out the smallest chick of the bunch and named her Brownie.  The other chick I got the kids named Fluffy.  Carlie's kids named theirs Lexi and Egg Yolk.  We also had to purchase a heat lamp and special chick starter feed.  Let the adventure begin!

 

Alora holding Brownie.

A close-up picture of Brownie that Noah took. 

Jackson holding Fluffy.  She's just a smidgen bigger than her friend.

Spring Break 2014

This past week the kids have been out of school for Spring Break.  Jeremy had a pretty busy work load, so wasn't able to take off, so I decided to do some things with the kids.  The first thing we did was visit the World Wild Life Zoo.  

 



Jackson feeding the birds.  One of the kids' favorite exhibits.

The kids got to see these penguins being fed a breakfast of fish.

Alora about held a meltdown because no bird would land on her.  Finally, right as we were leaving, this bird jumped onto her arm.



Another favorite exhibit... feeding the giraffes!



Jackson feeding shrimp to the sting rays.  Alora kept trying but would chicken out as soon as the sting ray swam up.

The cutest baby otters ever!

We also decided to go camping with our friends, the Wrays and the Hobbs.  Close to midnight the winds started to pick-up, and it was decided that we would just pack up and return home.  The kids were all upset, but they still got to do all the fun camping stuff.

Spring Training with the Diamondbacks

Today we got to take the kids to a spring training game with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres.  Because Jeremy's company is a corporate sponsor with the D-backs, we were treated to a pre-game luncheon and player autograph session.  We also got to sit in the Miller Lite suite where the kids were spoiled by free sodas, licorice, popcorn and cotton candy.