Our Boy is Growing Up . . .

On the way home from our Memorial Day festivities, we planned to looked at "big boy" beds for Ian. The toddler bed seemed to be steadily shrinking and Ian was outgrowing it.

So, on the way to Chandler, we stopped at In-N-Out to "re-fuel" ... (great idea, Jon!!) then we were off. Stopped at a couple of stores and then found it ... A great bed, a great price and we were done! Hooray. A quick call to Mimi & Honk meant we could take it home right away. (Thanks Honk for making the special delivery.) So, Jon & Honk loaded it and Mimi, the boys and I headed to target for new sheets, et al. We made it home, moved the toddler bed, set up the new bed and then, wrapped up our Memorial Day with a let dinner at Chen's Chinese Restaurant with Mimi and Honk.

The toddler bed left our house for it's new home ... a little girl who is so, so happy to have her very own "big girl" bed.

Speaking of growing up ... Ian has a little friend who lives a few houses away, named Emma. (He calls her "Mina" Today, I thought I heard the doorbell, but looked out the peep-hole and didn't see anyone ... then, I saw braids down below. Wow. We've reached the stage where kids come to play without their Moms. LOL. It was Emma coming to see if Ian could play. So, they hung out for a while, and long story short, Emma stayed for dinner. (this happened as she was talking to her Mom and I overheard her asking if she could stay for lunch ... then she hollered to me, "Can I be invited??") It was a funny moment, and par for the course when you're a kid, right? Now we know that Emma likes spaghetti without sauce and doesn't seem to be a fan of mandarin oranges. But, she IS a fan of Ian, and that's good enough for me! :)

Memorial Day

Make a Smilebox photobook

This weekend, my step sister Ashley and her family were visiting from San Diego. So, we thought we'd spend the day in Phoenix with everyone before heading north to Payson for the rest of the weekend.

We met first for lunch a favorite spot called Saks Sandwhicherie. Great sandwiches and a fun reunion to see Ashley, Dan and little Calvin who is now a whopping 9 months - he was just a little newbie when we last saw them in September.

From there, we headed to Last Chance for a little shopping. If you're not familiar with this little gem of a store - it's where returns and overstock from Nordstrom go to die. You can find screamin' deals there ... and I mean screamin'. (although you often have to deal with crowds, ill-mannered shoppers and merchandise on the floor.) This trip we found some cute things for the boys (the outfits they are wearing in the pictures - since we'd packed long sleeves for the cool weather up north) and Jon found a beautiful new Blue Burberry Suit for $100 -- I found myself a new pair of earrings for $2.98. Overall it was a successful trip. From there, we headed back to Dad's for a BBQ ... A game of tennis with Ash & Dan, and a movie (August Rush) later, we ended up staying the night ... which turned into the weekend. So, Payson will have to wait. Our weekend vacation turned into a STAY-cation and we had a great time. Window shopping, visits to the park and pool, and much more... A great time...

Adventure Land Playground

We spent last night and this morning at the new Adventure Land Playground. It's fun - and dare I say I got a little tossed around myself going down the green tube slide. LOL We've been so anxious for this to open and let me tell you, it is worth the wait! there's the "big kid" playground and a smaller toddler area as well as the water/spray park area. What I love about these areas is that they really lend themselves to interactive parent/child play!

The pictures are really self-explanatory... you'll see at the end, Campbell was pooped and crashed by the time I strapped him in, walked around to strap Ian in and got myself buckled. I turned around and he was out ... cookie in hand. LOL

Ode to Anthem ...

Why I LOVE our new community ...

Sidewalks. Sounds odd, but many of the neighborhoods out here don't have sidewalks. Which you don't really notice until you have kids and talk frequent walks.

Kids. lots and lots o' kids. There are a handful a youngin's on our street that are a year or two older than Ian. (of course he loves to run with the big kids, so this suits him fine) Often, when we're out in the evenings, there are kids outside to play with and other parents to visit with. And as always, Ian is devestated when play time ends. We have some great neighbors, to our right, a young family in our ward, to our left a couple of young bachelors, one Firefighter and one finance guy. I figure you're always in a good place with a medical guy in your house and a fireman next door. HA!

Parks. Many, many parks. Each neighborhood in the community has a smaller park and ours is just around the corner. This weekend "Adventure park" opened - the BIG community park with huge slides, swings, etc. Hooray! In addition, there are fish and release ponds, soccer fields, more.

Community Center. This huge place has stateof the art fitness center, tennis courts, basketball courts and any other "court" you might need, a 3 story rock wall, game rooms, and... a favorite ... the "Kid Zone" where the kids can hang while Mom and Dad enjoy the facility. They offer swim lessons, dance/tumbling, karate, etc... they bunco one a month for the ladies and so many other activities... I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see the calendar each month. Last Friday,the "Dive-in Movie" was nanny McPhee ...but of course, being Russell's in a new house, were planning yet another Yard Sale. The good news is that this time we set up the night before and just had to put up signs and pull the table out into the driveway from the garage. LOL

Splash Park Water Park. Last night for family Home Evening, we went to the water park. It opened last weekend and will be open until mid September. They have 2 slides, 24' high. One is a "tunnel" and one "open". Jon did the tunnel slide and I did the open slide... When I got to the top, the two "jr life gaurds" (who weren't more than 12) told me to lie down. I was like, "Lie DOWN??" "yeah, or you might fly off the side." "FLY OFF THE SIDE???" it was so funny. Of course, I didn't really want to lie down...and was worried the whole time that I was actually going to fly off the side. LOL The splash park also had a smaller slide/playground area in the pool for the little ones. It was awesome. Ian was a little startled on his first ride down the slide when he landed in the pool. But seemed to enjoy it. ever 5 min or so an enormous bucket would dump hundreds of gallons of water onto the the toddler area and he that was pretty cool. In truth, I think he may have enjoyed the post-pool shower more, because when we left today, he tried to go back into the locker room shouting "Shouwa, shouwa"

This morning, I took the boys to the kids zone to play with the other kids and I went straight to the pool. I layed there in the sunshine with my book and enjoyed 30 minutes of "me" time. (It was all I dared as I didn't want to ruin the experience by charring my pasty white skin. LOL) Felt a little guilty leaving them there to just lounge at the pool, but I'm sure that will pass. Why don't I feel guilty leaving them to workout? hmmmm.

Long story short, as much as I love Oregon and miss my friends, the silver lining of returning to AZ is being close to our families, a job that Jon loves, and living at Anthem. ;)

So... if you're passing through Arizona any time soon, be sure to stop by because there is much fun to be had at the Russell's!

**my disclaimer...the photos are from the Anthem website, but don't worry, you'll soon these fab places with some familiar faces pasted throught! **

Happy, Happy Birthday, Campbell

We celebrated Campbell's 1st Birthday Last weekend - Isn't that first year so crazy - some of those sleepless nights make you feel like the days drag on - but you turn around and poof, a year has flown by. You blink your eyes, a year's gone by and yet you can still feel the "joyous pangs" of labor. LOL

Well, in a year, Campbell has had three mailing addresses in three town, in two states. Is that a record? Otherwise, he boasts the usual stats ... 6 teeth, walking while holding onto something (he just won't let go of the rope ... unless his hands are full, in that case, he's actually taken a few step due only to the fact that he can't hold on to the furniture. Otherwise, he just drops to the ground for the speed crawl.) He's decided that he will take the lead during meals, not allowing anyone to feed him - I suspect he may drop a few ounces until he masters the shovelling process. Loves to turn to TV on and off and wait for the reaction. Loves to pretend he's going to bite my knee - opening wide and watching me from the corner of his eye... It's actually quite funny... He loves to torment Ian when he's asleep... poke Zoey in the strangest places, and give teeny, tiny, painful pinches to whoever is holding him at the moment... The rub, is that's it's always done with the biggest smile. LOL!!

Happy birthday, Campbell!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Catching some Zzzzzz's

It's around 3pm ... I just put campbell down for an unusual 2nd nap. Jon's home early today and taking a much deserved little snooze... When I walked upstairs to put Campbell down, I found Ian in the loft ... asleep on the floor with a book. OK, what Mom would complain that her son is out of his bed - esp. if he's found reading. (Of course, it is possible the book just fell open while he was playing LOL)

Anyway, I just thought is was cute, so I ran for the camera and then started snapping pictures of the family napping. even Zoe was crashed out on the couch. Jon will killl me for exposing him, ha..ha... but, while I could have/should have taken the opportunity take catch some zzzz's myself, I opted to capture the moment and return to reading my RS lesson for Sunday.

On a related subject ... anyone else found themselves in this dilemma? Ian has not wanted to sleep in his bed this week... The last three nights he's snuck out to sleep in the loft. he doesn't cry or act scared ... we put him to bed, and all is well and at some point, he just relocates himself, a pillow and blanket to the loft and goes to sleep. He doesn't play with the toys up thre, just curls up and goes to bed. LOL

Monday, I came home and found him there and thought Jon had let him sleep there ... only to find out he had snuck out of his bed with his bear and made himself comfy. Tuesday, I put Ian to bed. later, Jon went up to the den and tripped over a sleeping Ian... Last night, I found him there again, but he was still awake. I just let him stay. Once again, we relocated him. Not sure if he's just in a phase of exploration...or if he's simply outgrowing his toddler bed. I will say whenever we travel and Ian sleeps in a hotel bed, he sleeps like a log. But occasionally, he'll wake up at home - we think it's because he rolls into the wood rails of the bed. LOL Long story short ... if we make the jump and get the twin, will he be happy and stay there ... or am I going to keep finding him in the loft... Selfishly, I don't really put out for a new bed only to find that he's not going to stay there. If that's the case, he can camp out in the loft for now. ha..ha..

Picture perfect fun ...

A few snapshots from the other day ... yes, the boys are in new matching shirts courtesy of Mimi. We don't often dress alike - especially for a day at home, but hey, isn't everyday a celebration ... :)

Another sunny morning in AZ ... I have to say we're usually lucky, and breakfast is a happy, giggly part of the day.

Campbell is now dining at the table, and as of Mother's Day can now officially enjoy eggs with the rest of the family! Hooray! He's become quite adamant about using utensils. The hurdle is that it doesn't all get in. With Ian, I could give him a fork and he would do his "thing" meanwhile I could shovel food in his mouth and he was cool. Campbell is a different story. He wants to do it on his own terms - and if I try to sneak anything in, he sticks his tongue out to prevent anything from getting in! LOL

LLater that morning, Ian and Zoe are crashed out on the couch. (I think Zoe must have been drooling... LOL)


Meanwhile, Campbell is still on the go...

We've not yet established what toys belong to who just yet .... Zoe has tried to claim a few of the boys toys and Campbell finds her toys equally interesting. This morning, I also caught him munching one of her bones. Gross! We're still missing a nyla bone that I'm pretty sure has been hidden by campbell.
Later that evening, while I was cooking dinner, Campbell was entertaining (or possibly taunting) Zoe through the screen door with a butterfly balloon ... She's such a good, patient dog.

With Campbell's First Birthday on the horizon, we took the boys for pictures. Our last attempt was when he turned 3 months... It was battle. This adventure, however, was bliss. They were so fun. I only wish we couldn't have walked away with every shot - this visit was actually fun for all of us.

Just a few pictures from the last month...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

You traded what for WHAT???

So, we recently traded this .....

For this ....

Yep, that's right. The Russell's are back in Arizona. Hard to believe since we absolutely loved living in Oregon, but sometimes life just has other plans. In February, we decided that although we were completely in love with the beautiful surroundings and our fabulous friends, in the end, the tall, tall trees were not going to be paying our student loans and decided we would be wise to make an adjustment to our financial future -- which meant a move. We narrowed it down to Carlsbad, NM and Florence, AZ. It was a whirlwind decision - we finalized our choice the end of the first week in March and the movers were there for our things on March 25th. Let's face it, we've survived several moves, but this was quickest we've ever pulled one off.

Florence won ... My family is in north of us in the Phoenix area and Jon's brother and family are south in Tucson ... wonderful perks. But, more importantly, Jon felt really strongly about the medical practice ... a great Physician and PA supported by a terrific staff. You can read more about them at www.mainstreetdocs.com in the "meet our providers" link on the "who we are" page of the website. Although Jonathan enjoyed the Urgent Care setting in Roseburg and the people he worked with, he has really found a great fit here with Dr Lizarraga.

As for Florence ... we're getting settled. We've nestled ourselves in a community here called Anthem. The area has grown considerably over the years. (I remember when Florence was nothing but a prison. LOL) We chose Anthem because they offer great amenities for families - parks, catch-and-release fishing, water park, etc... We can't launch the kayaks, but we're excited for the water slides! ha..ha.. the boys miss the grass, as our yard isn't yet landscaped, but Ian seems to be just as happy to dig in the dirt. I on th eother hand am always on the look out for scorpions and spiders, but when in Rome...

In addition to a new locale, we have a new addition to the family. A 5 month old Schnoodle named Zoe. She's been great so far. She had lived with another family with 3 dogs and 4 kids under 6. In the end, the dogs needed a home and are as luck would have it ... we have one. LOL She's been great with the boys (the other family also had a 2 yr old boy) and has transitioned well. The first night was a little iffy, but after that she's been pretty mellow. We think we got pretty lucky with her. We'd been researching a few different dogs/breeders and stumbled upon her one day. it was a good day. :)