Ten on Tuesday!

1. I thought I would blog way more with Ross gone to keep him updated with stuff, but I have found it way easier to just take pictures with my iPhone and then automatically send it in an email to him from my phone as well! I can be talking to him on our home phone and take a picture as I talk of what we are doing and send it and he receives! Amazing technology!

2. Which means, I haven't blogged or read blogs at all. I am hardly on the computer lately. Sorry, I have missed you bloggy!

3. My birthday was yesterday (happy birthday to me!) and the kids were just about as sweet as they could be! They made me origami presents weeks ago and wrapped them up and gave me hugs and smiles all day! Each of them sang me happy birthday separately before eating cake! Under the circumstances, it couldn't have been better!

4. Any Chili Peppers fans out there? I'm totally digging the new song, ">Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie!

5. But how about this for feeling my birthday? I have been of fan of the band since some guy in 10th grade (91-92) was passing out cassette tapes (what?) to everyone around him saying we needed to hear this band! Cracks me up! 20 years ago? Are you kidding me?

6. My birthday was another time passage... Ross has been officially "in country" for a month. We've been separated for like 8 weeks though, so that makes the first month ETERNAL! Hurray for a month though, right?

7. And, well, I meant to come back and finish this up but totally forgot, so ...
Happy Wednesday:)

Back to School

The kids first day of school was last week! It was hard to get back into the whole rise before the sun is up deal! One morning we even had to get ready in the dark completely because the power was out from a storm. It made for an interesting morning anyway.

Maxman our first grader! going the full day for the first time! Yikes!


And Zoey, kickin' it in fourth grade!! I mean, hello? I remember fourth grade!

(oh, we are aware of the non-matching patterns going on here, she was just cold in the morning for the picture, not that she cares!)


Ready to face the first day!

Pictures for Ross

Ross received our package with this gift in the mail today, so I wanted to post this neat photo accordion we had made. It magnetically closes and is double sided and actually very small, so it is portable. I think it turned out well! I got it from Mpix...

Day 210: Bicycle Chain

For what it's worth... my picture of the day, back in July... Zoey took apart an old bike and had plans to make all kinds of stuff (think- unicycle or exercise bike!) I love her creativity and vision though.

Her bike chain even has little Z's on it...

Diamondbacks game!

My dad and I took the kids to a Diamondbacks game one evening! The coolest thing we did was before the game. They have a TGIFriday's that is open to the public and you can eat out on the balconey, which is in the outfield of the covered, air-conditioned stadium and watch batting practice. The prices were reasonable, the food was good, and the seats were awesome! It was fun to be up there. The kids really were impressed with it. You can pay for these seats during actual game time, but they are pricey, so we just ate and enjoyed batting practice and then went to our seats above home plate. The game itself was so pleasant too being air-conditioned.

They had a kids section where the kids played and took turns batting and running the bases on a mini field. My camera was set on some funny settings, so our pictures just came out bad! But here they are anyway! Max took the one of my dad and I!





Thanks, Dad! So, so Fun!

Pedicures and Fountain Fun

Zoey and I went for pedicures one day in Phoenix. It was her first one! She said she liked it, but I am not how sure she really did! She liked the end result, but I am not sure if she thought it was worth all that sitting still! HAHA




And later the kids played in the fountain at Westgate.



Zoey karate kicking the water


This was nice for me. We had been actively swimming most days, which was fine, but this day, I just got to sit under the shade and watch them play. It's amazing how 99 in the shade in the dry heat is so much better than the humidity back in Ohio. I didn't stop sweating for a week once we got home!

Author Booksigning

While I was in Phoenix, Diana Gabaldon was doing a book signing for her 20th Anniversary edition of her novel, Outlander. I love this book, so I was glad to go and experience this! It was in the author's hometown of Scottsdale.

Before the signing, my mom and I went to a super yummy Thai restaurant and walked around the Scottsdale Arts District. This one particular street was filled with all kinds of art studios. It was amazing... An entire street!




Here I am with the author!


And driving home, just playing with the camera and the lights and the desert night!





I had just read about making the starburst effect with the lights... not ideal while driving, but it worked. (basically small aperture)


if you haven't read the book (and you're a girl) check it out!

Fun in the Sun

The day after we arrived in Phoenix, the kids, me and my parents, headed to a resort in Scottsdale for a little fun in the sun! Hours by the pool and a little jet lag, made for a tired me! But it was nice to just relax and hang out! One day we stayed 6 hours straight by the pool, only to stop for drinks and snacks! My parents would get a shady spot by the slide at the lazy river and we just played and played.

Since most of our time was in the water, I didn't get many pictures. I actually didn't take my camera out too much on the trip... I just wanted to enjoy it without trying to capture I guess...
One morning at breakfast outside we had a guest...


Here we are at breakfast...




The grounds of the place we stayed (it was a JW Marriott) were lovely...


all these outdoor seating areas and fire pits for cooler evenings...



I was taking these pictures right after breakfast, and the kids were just really anxious to swim!

Ten on Tuesday

1. We were driving to Taekwondo the other day and Intergalactic Planetary, by the Beastie Boys came on the radio... I turned it up a little bit and Zoey said, "Mommy, can you turn it up more?" So I did. And then she said, "Come on, Max, we need to listen to this and move around and get PUMPed for Taekwondo!"

2. This is classic Max humor- We were at the pool the other day and the kids were taking turns jumping in. One would tell the other one what kind of jump to do. They were doing puppy jumps, and letters, and twists, and cannon balls, and then Zoey told Max to do a HIGH jump. You know, jump as high up as you can go? Max gets to the side, and as he jumps off the edge, he waves and yells, "HI!"

3. We got some new scooters!! They are the malibu cruiser scooter with bigger wheels! And both kids got one, so no more fighting over one scooter! hooray;)


The bigger wheels are nice for going over the cracks in the side walk!


4. We returned from our vacation to this!


5. And this picture is just for Ross... we were trying to grow grass here... and it succeeded while we were gone as well!



6. Ross left us a sweet gift... He put tiny little love papers all around the house for us to find once we got home. 60 for each of us. They have brought many smiles for each of us as we randomly find them!



7. I'm not sure what it means, though when lots of mine are in places involving domestic duties...

8. I'm actually hoping for a thunderstorm so that I don't have to water the grass tomorrow.

9. If you have any book recommendations I will take them... something light, easy reading and not scary or anything, would be great. I can't handle anything else when I'm alone in the house!

10. The kiddos got their haircut this week. Here is before:


And After:


Happy Tuesday and Hooray for August!

Zoey Getting Her Blue Belt

I don't always post about Zoey's Taekwondo progress but she is moving along and doing really well... Here she is doing a warm-up kick on the big bag...


And getting her new, blue belt...


Max has joined now, as well, so they have a test at the end of the month!

Bubbles, bubbles...

Playing with lots of bubbles one evening a while back... it just doesn't get old for me:)



A little bubble bokeh for you...

Marc's First Birthday

Our nephew celebrated his first birthday on the Fourth of July so we went up to celebrate, and I got to do a little photo shoot with the kiddo.



Zoey is a proud cousin...





Ross' parents were there too, so here are the Johnston boys and their parents.


Happy Birthday, little dude

Playing in the Rain

We have had quite a few storms rage through this summer! One evening, it was so hot, and we get a little relief with a fun, gentle rain. We took the opportunity to play in the puddles and with chalk... The chalk colors were so brilliant and bright, it was a nice change.

Later the kids mentioned how fun it was. I thought so, too. Instead of running inside from the rain, we made a lasting memory... love...

Daily Pictures...

I haven't forgotten about my daily pictures, but I definitely have been distracted... still, I have a couple from way back that I never posted...

Day 166 - robin's nest

I love the colors



Day 171 - spider web