Birthday Week

We have had the pleasure of celebrating two birthdays this week, Mommy's and Tucker's!!!
This is Sammy giving me my birthday kisses. She had just gotten off the phone from talking to her dad and started to spank me, as she was counting, I got 28 spanks. Then, she proceeded to do the same counting from 1 -28 as she kissed my cheek. I am wearing my birthday crown that Eve made me. I enjoyed wearing it all afternoon and evening.

My newest and latest accomplishment... the pinata! Bob the Builder was the theme for Tucker's birthday today. I stayed up WAY too late last night decorating with balloons and finishing this pinata I started on Monday. Glueing those pieces of tissue paper on all around took a little while. I was fun, and I confess that I am glad I did it, Tucker loved his pinata. I think in putting up streamers, I used enough tape to wrap all our Christmas presents! However, last May, for Sammy's birthday, I discovered the best way to hang balloons: Tie a cheap thin ribbon or string in a knot at each balloon base. Use a thumb tack to secure the ribbon to the wall, and there are no balloons falling off the wall each time you turn around. It works great for clusters!
In addition to the pinata, we also ate pizza, played Pin the Wrench on Bob's toolbelt ( a pin the tail on the donkey variation) and ate cupcakes.
Our Birthday boy, THREE years old! Where has the time gone? It doesn't seem like he was only a little baby, 9 pounds 4 ounces, just three years ago. Okay, I know a few of you may be laughing and choking about me calling him "little", but compared to his 40 pounds now, he WAS little-er. He is a wonderful boy and I am so glad he is my son. He brings a lot of laughter into our home. One such comment was today while opening his presents, "Oh, a beautiful bat!" in exclamation to the baseball and bat he received from a buddy. Or in response to me asking if he had a good day, "That was a wonderful day, mommy" Or, "I want to watch you, can I watch you?" meaning that he wants you to watch him do something, but he was too excited to get the sentence straight; he does get that one right half the time.

Clouds, Student of the Month, and Haircut

Day Dreaming. A picture I took for a photo challenge. I liked it. (We were challenged to take a picture with our child and the clouds. I got second out of about 10.)

Eve and her friend Mary Clare, each of them were Student of the Month Character Award for August with the character trait "Trustworthiness". Hooray girls! Mary Clare is one of the girls we carpooled with last year and she was in Eve's Brownie Troop last year too.
Eve and her certificate.
New haircut for Eve! She has been telling me for a few weeks that she wanted a short haircut, she doesn't like it when she is hot, obviously, but also doesn't like doing her hair with ponytails. So, this was the result. She LOVES it. She couldn't see in the mirror for the first 2/3 of the haircut, the mirror was scooted over. Then, we fixed this oversight, and she LIT UP! I had no doubt that she liked what she saw, without any words needed. These were taken when we got back from the haircut, and now she has been practicing using the bobby pin and learning how to comb it and fluff the back. It sure makes her pretty eyes pop right forward!

Someone else wanted his picture taken. This is his "smile".

New week, New pics!

Open House Night at Desert View Academy! We went and re-met the teachers, checked out the classrooms, and saw things they were working on. I even had the privilege of reading some journal excerpts for each girl. Those can be enlightening.=)
Ms. Brandon (the teacher's assistant, and the daughter of Eve's First Grade Teacher last year), Eve, our 2nd Grader, and her Teacher, Ms. Armas. If you look just over Ms. Armas shoulder, on your right, you can see Eve's Family Tree that she made for a Social Studies assignment. It is the blue background with the tree, just to the left of a yellow poster.
Mrs. Johnson and Samantha, our 1st Grader! She is another military wife. Sammy's Kinder teacher last year was also a military wife. I enjoy knowing that they understand our life.

What is this??? She is such a silly Sammy.
Eve is smiling like this quite often. I guess she is growing out of the always cheesy phase.
I walked into Tucker's room the other night to check on him. The light was on and he was sleeping like this. He hasn't wanted to sleep under the blanket lately, too much like his dad I guess. The room isn't even hot. I like what he was wearing most of all. I didn't put it on him for bed.=)
Awwwwww......
Tucker's standard answer to a question.... "I don't know!"

Summer Fun, back in Yuma

It is still plenty warm to swim and play in the water. We are still having temps over 100, yes.... HOT. We went to a Luau Party thrown at the pool in housing and the kids had a very fun time. It was catered by Famous Daves and I really enjoyed the food. The kids thought is was only okay though, I think because of the extra spice they seemed to have in each item. I think Roland would really like the food.
Yes, these kids of mine have always loved playing in the water. I don't know what we'd do without it.

Tucker and his dogs. He sure loves to just lay on them and hug them always. He even puts his hands in Jace's mouth when playing with them, and then gets a little sad if he gets scratched by Jace's teeth in the process. He trully lives by the saying that "dogs are a boy's best friends".