The Many Faces of Ju-Ju

In our family, we four children who we have discovered are all hams.

To the core.

We are genuinely amused by this. We laugh and then give each other the look that says, "That's your child."

The amazing thing is that they come out this way. There's no training here, no teaching about how to behave when you have a captive audience.

I swear it's in their DNA. The paternal side.

Here's one of the hams in action.



Scene One: Ju-Ju is eating like a horse, as usual. We're celebrating Gi-Gi's ninth birthday and so everyone is there. Yet no one is paying attention to him. Cue the tears.




Scene Two: He's got our attention, but he's still mad. Notice the evil eye being used on his Nonnie (my mom).




Scene Three: Immediate cessation of the tears because everyone is laughing at him. He's looking pretty pleased.




Scene Four: What you don't see is that in between shots, he's screaming. As soon as he here's my camera focus (it chimes when it focuses), he immediately stops and smiles. In fact, I was trying to get more of the mad faces, but he kept smiling when he heard it.



Scene Five: Repeat of scene four. Screams until the chime and then smile for the camera. How did he learn this?




Scene Six: Repeat yet again. By now we are all laughing hysterically.

Yup, we've got a comedian in the family.

This is going to be interesting.

Easter Happenings

Better late than never, right?

I really, really, really love celebrating Resurrection Sunday! Last year, we weren't able to celebrate it as usual due to Hubby's nephew getting married, three kids in the wedding (they really were so darling, but three kids in one wedding?!) and a one month old.

This year was so much more meaningful simply for the reason that we had time to meditate on what it all means to us every day.



Funny how tricky it can be getting four kids looking and semi-smiling nicely at the same time. Can we do it?




Yes!! Got it! Everyone smiling semi-nicely, looking at the camera and not tackling each other to the ground. Miracles do happen!



We spent the evening before making Resurrection Cookies with our kids. Our recipe didn't really turn out well, so I won't share the recipe we used, but you can google them and hopefully have your turn out better than ours. It was a really powerful object lesson for little ones. It was worth it even if the cookies didn't turn out. Maybe next year, we could find a way to add chocolate in there. Hmmmm....

On Sunday, we spent time with Paco's familia after church and had such a wonderful time being outside in our gorgeous Arizona spring-time weather. Apparently, orange was the color this year. Nobody told me. Could it be because I look absolutely hideous in orange? Nah!




And then, of course, the egg coloring tradition. I love how my children have no patience for this (as in waiting for the color to set) and yet we HAVE to do this. Then, they won't touch them with a ten foot pole when they're done! I'm still eating them a week later. How long are hard-boiled eggs good for, anyways?

I'm just praying away the salmonella, folks. {shudder}



How did you celebrate this Easter?

Has It Really Been That Long?

I just looked at the last posting and I about fainted when I saw the date. Okay, maybe not really almost fainted, but I think there was an audible gasp coming out of my mouth.

Yikes!! It's been way too long, my dear little blog. And for that, I humbly apologize.

If only there were more hours in the day...

Know the feeling?

So, in a whirlwind-kind of way, I'll give you the lowdown on the monkeys and their latest antics:



Yes, that boy is walking all around the house. Officially one year old, he's a hefty24 lbs. 4 oz. and 30 inches tall.



Mr. Personality, he is. He's a friendly, happy, smiley kind of boy who lights up when he sees someone he knows and loves. A mama's boy to the core, which I'm sooo not sad about, he's a fantastic snuggler and is usually found in the vicinity of my legs while I'm working in the kitchen.




Ya-Ya, sweet Ya-Ya. She's always had an artistic bent and it's really been coming out lately. This art masterpiece is (in case you're not sure) a bride and a groom getting married. Can you see it now? Ya-Ya is the type of girly-girl who dreams of growing up, getting married, and having babies, just like her mama. {sigh} We must be doing something right!



Bubba is growing like a weed, both physically and in personality. His vocabulary has exploded, he's teaching himself to read, and his favorite phrase is, "Speaking of..." He's a pretty smart dude! Still working on the two-wheeler, though.



And then there's our Gi-Gi! She's up in the trees every time we let her, like a true monkey. She's still our little bookworm, working hard through third grade, helping me take care of Ju-Ju, and staying busy with her Literature Club (plus reading my blogs). She's loving spending time hand-sewing and crocheting, just like Laura Ingalls Wilder, dontcha know?




We've been keeping pretty busy, what with Saturday-morning dance party, and all. This is truly one of our kids favorite activities and they find that they have very willing parents.




Here's another one of our favorite things: acting out Bible stories as part of our family worship. This was Bubba and YaYa acting out when Jesus washed the disciples feet. They did a great job but we're still having to work at implementing this into our daily lives. Does it ever get any easier? Not only did I get to get my feet cleaned, but I also got to be the servant who clean the basin full of dirty water. Ugh! How lucky could I be? But I guess I was practicing servanthood.




And then we come to Miss Buttercup. Every year, our hummingbird comes to her little nest on our wind chime to lay her eggs on the nest she so lovingly made. Sure enough, this year she showed up, made a few improvements and settled down to lay her eggs. We waited with anticipation and lo and behold, the eggs hatched and out popped two little babies. But, they don't stay little for long! In no time, they've gotten big enough to push mama out of the next and she hangs out (literally) on the wall next to them. It's incredible to me how trusting she is of us. She buzzes (or is it hums?) around us whenever we're in the back yard and even follows Hubby around when he's mowing the lawn.

Now you've caught up with us all. And I promise I'll do better keeping this updated.

Cross my heart.

This Is Why...

I don't let my three year old dress herself:



What if Laura Ingalls Wilder had become a go-go dancer?

History would have never been the same. {shudder}

*I would just like to say that she does NOT get her fashion sense from me. It must come from her father.

Birthday Thanks!

Today, I'd like to thank my parents, my mother, especially!

You see twenty-nine years ago, she gave birth to my sister.




Isn't she lovely? The munchkins beside her aren't too bad, either.

Because of that most auspicious day years and years (and years) ago, we got to partake of:


Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas (drool, drool)

AND


Shirshee's homemade carrot cake!

FYI: My pants still haven't forgiven me. {It was so worth it!}



It also gave Ju-Ju his first opportunity at eating carrot cake. You never forget your first experience with it...

And, as it turns out, she's been a pretty good sister through the years.

I guess it was a win, win situation.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Just Another Day at the Park

If you live in Arizona, you know that this is the time to be out of doors!


We spent last Saturday watching our children (with one exception) running up and down hills chasing after rockets. Alas, none of them were ours. The rockets, I mean. Not the children.



Before you feel too sorry for the little boy without the rocket, let me assure you that he was just excited watching them launch and then come down to earth (despite what the picture may look like).

Up and down, up and down.



Some of us got a little tired.



And maybe a tad bit distracted by the really cool drain. (Mama's always holding her breath around these things.)



And one of us was just enjoying being outside laughing at everyone else's goofiness.



Yup, just another beautiful day!

Holding Our Heads Up

Finally! After years of waiting, crying out, praying for a miracle, dropping our heads in defeat...

It's happened!

You have to understand the passion that reigns in this house around this time of year. The earth stops spinning, time as we know it ceases except for that one-eyed monster that spews forth either the euphoric ambrosia that we drink or the grimy stagnant liquid that we are forced to swallow.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Does this happen at your house?

I'm talking about football. At this time of year is there anything else?

Well, now we finally have something we can be proud of out here in good ol' Arizona.

It's the:




Just for honesty's sake, I will admit, I am a fairweather fan. For years I would shake my head in disgust at our home team as they fumbled and tumbled. But then...Kurt Warner.

I think my husband just sighed with delight at the very thought of the hope Kurt Warner (and all of his wonderful partners in crime) has given us.

Years ago, I thought that all Cardinal paraphenelia should be banned forever from any kind of store willing and wanting to make money on these poor souls who couldn't even score one touch down.

This year, I went and actually, purposely purchased a Cardinals hat for Bubba.

Boys, you made a believer out of me!

*And also a wife who prays you continue to win because I don't want to have to drag my poor, mopey hubby out of the depths of despair. Again!