Look Who Turned NINE!

Our first born is 9 years old today. NINE. It crossed our minds that we are now halfway through raising him into adulthood. YIKES! Its scary. I think it will really hit us hard next year when he hits double digits. Its so cliche and I say it every time I write about them on their birthdays, but these kids are growing up way too fast! I still have vivid memories of him as a colicky baby who wanted to be held ALL the time. I remember how much he hated his carseat and would scream for hours on the 5+ hour drive from Santa Cruz to Los Angeles (remember that Jen?). I remember him building elaborate structures with megablocks at 14 months old. And now he is halfway through third grade! He is doing division! He is asking for things like cell phones and iPods (pfft, as if!) rather then legos and transformers (although he still wants those too). I don't think I am ready for the "tween" stage (which starts at age 9, I guess), but it is definitely upon us.

We celebrated J's birthday much the same as we did Alayna. Yesterday, Peter took him to the Lego store in Chandler and let him pick something and then they went out to dinner at Red Robin for his free kids' meal and sundae. Today, we picked up his free Krispy Kreme dozen and sang happy birthday at breakfast time. We also took cupcakes to share with his class (well, Peter did this since I was in school at the time the teacher specified would be ok). After school, he came home and opened his birthday cards and gifts. Then, we picked up his meals from 'the big three' (Joe's BBQ, Joe's Farm Grill, and Liberty Market) and shared them for dinner. It was a great day celebrating our boy! Tomorrow, I am taking him for his free Cold Stone ice cream. Gotta love birthday freebies! :)

Here are some pics from his day.

Sundae AND a milkshake from Red Robin




Birthday breakfast!


Joe's Farm Grill free dinner!




Presents!


Happy Birthday, J-man. We love you. Here's to the next 9 years!

Hiking the Hieroglyphics Trail

The kids were off school yesterday, so we took advantage of the fantastic weather and went for a morning hike! We had never been to the Hieroglyphics Trail, and decided we wanted to give it a go. So far, its been my favorite hike here in AZ! It was a rough hike up a rocky incline and our little non-hiker (Alayna) complained a lot, bit once we got to the hieroglyphics, all was good again. We spent quite a bit of time there, exploring the terrain. A lot of other people were there too! It was a gorgeous day in Phoenix and I guess it is a popular trail. I wish I had a better camera that would give more justice to the hieroglyphics. But, these photos will have to suffice.

Happy 2011!

Just realized I never did a New Year's post. So, Happy Belated New Year! I hope the first 8 days have gone well for all. We've been fighting the sickies in our house, and had a hard time adjusting back to the routine (the kids were late to school THREE days last week). Slowly but surely, we are getting the hang of 2011. We had a fab vacation in CA last week. Peter officiated at his best friend's wedding on New Year's Day. He did a great job and it was so fun to spend New Year's kid-free (for the first time since 2001) with our friends and Peter's parents on the Central Coast. The kids spent three days with my parents in Burbank. It was so nice to be HOME in CA with our family and friends. We're hoping 2011 might bring us back there (Peter needs a job for that to happen).

One of our family goals this year is to go "unplugged" once a week. Right now, we're having that day be Sunday. That means no TV, no computer, no video games, no iPods, and no cell phone (really, no texting for me!). Music is ok though. And so is the landline phone should anyone need to call us. We just decided that we wanted to be less dependent on those things to entertain us. We want to spend more quality time as a family. And we want to do things like read and write and draw and paint. Tomorrow, we are going to be decluttering and cleaning the house so it can be back to normal after the chaos of Christmas.

Here are a few pics from our trip to CA.

Happy New Year!


Michael and Zabrina's wedding


New Year's Day


First Family Photo of 2011