Family Vacation

Recently, the "Chaos" family went on a short get away. We jetted down to So.Cal. for a week of fun, family, and frolic. We spent a day and a half visiting with family before heading to San Diego to act like tourists. Once in San Diego, we spent a day at Legoland. They offer a generous home school discount as long as you visit on predetermined days. The normal price of admission is $54 and up per person. With the home school discount we paid only $17 per person. WOOT! How can you beat that? We also visited the new Sea Life Aquarium at Legoland. Not nearly as awesome as the Monterey Bay or Long Beach aquariums but the kids really enjoyed the many Lego structures incorporated into the displays and tanks. We had "kids enter free" tickets for the aquarium, so more money saved. WOOT again! We spent a day wandering around the wharfs and Sea Port Village area. We also took the 2 hour harbor cruise. The boys really enjoyed seeing all the naval ships and aircraft carriers. On our last day in beautiful S.D. we visited the San Diego Wild Animal Park. What an awesome place! Although it was super hot, the animals were all out and about and we were able to see so many awesome sights. The only drawbacks were the bees swarming everywhere making it difficult to sit down and rest anywhere and the park is HUGE, making it virtually impossible to view everything in one day. This is one place I would like to go back to simply because I know there was so much more to see but we just ran out of time. One big plus of the day was that, once again, the kids were free! WOOT, WOOT! On top of all the money that we saved at the amusement parks on admission, all our lodging was also free. My Honey travels often and he earns lots of points at those hotels. Because of this, we almost always are able to get our lodging free. Thank goodness, because we spent way too much on Legos at Legoland!

Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures of our family get away. Don't forget that you can click on any picture to enlarge it. Enjoy.

The Boys, Uncle Rob and Grampa.

The Boys, Uncle Rob, Grampa, and My Honey.

The Boys with Grama and Grampa.

Off to Legoland.................

The Boys at the touch pool at the new Sea Life Aquarium.

Pretending to be underwater.

The GIANT Lego pumpkin! These are all over the park right now.

The Boys on one of the rides. This one requires you to use your own strength to pull yourselves to the top of the tower. Notice who is putting in all the effort.

Goofing around.

Little Man with a Bionicle......His favorite toys!!!

Muffin Man with a Bionicle.


Mini Land........This is my favorite area in Legoland. They have so many awesome replicas of famous landmarks and EVERYTHING is made of Legos. I could spend hours just looking.
Here is the war memorial.

The Daytona Racetrack. Look at the detail!

Excalibur. The hotel My Honey and I stayed at when we got married in Vegas

The Freedom Tower.


The Harbor Tour of San Diego.

A Naval destroyer that passed us in the harbor. AWESOME!

The USS Mercy, one of two Navy hospital ships.

The Boys on the Merry-Go-Round at Sea Port Village.




Off to the Wild Animal Park.

The giraffes.

The rhinos.

Look at the huge expanse of area they have to roam around in. Just one of the things that makes this park unique.



A cheetah

Here are some pictures of My Honey and the boys feeding the Lorikeets. That was FUN! They were landing all over us.





Here are some STRANGE, unidentified animals that were loose in the park.

The birds are loose and just all over the park but they do not leave because they know a good thing when they find it.

Here is a beautiful bird in the tropical bird area.

The lions were just majestic!



And here is a cheetah we were able to see up close and personal. We were sitting on a bench looking at our map when a side gate opened and this woman walked out with this beautiful cheetah on a leash. She proceeded to do a talk about cheetahs and we had front row seats. We are literally 10 feet from this cheetah in the picture. It was purring just like our cats only A LOT louder. Too cute!

Summer Memories

Summer is over and tomorrow is the first official day of Autumn, although here in Arizona the Summer sun blazes on. We are still having triple digit heat and I am anxiously awaiting Autumn temperatures. We started our new school year back on August 4th and things are going really well. I switched to a new curriculum and I love it! Even better, the boys seem to really be enjoying it! P.E. begins this next Friday and I am looking forward to getting the kids out to the park early on Friday mornings. I am going to use the time to get a bit of exercise myself and walk the path while they are in class. Although I am glad Summer is over, I can look back fondly on all our activities. We stayed busy every day and really had a wonderful few months. We were so busy that I seldom made it to the computer to blog about any of our great adventure's. So without further ado, here is a synopsis..........

The boys and I made a solar powered S'more oven. What better way to cook s'mores than in the 120 degree heat of the sun! After about an hour in the sun, the chocolate was well melted, the graham crackers were toasty crisp, and the marshmallows were warm and soft. MMMMMM!


We spent quite a bit of time at the bowling alley this summer. Our bowling alley generously gives every school aged child in our city a summer pass that is good for one game and shoe rental per day for 100 straight days. Being able to get out of the house and into a well air conditioned building AND have something fun for the boys to do is quite a treat in the summer. Both Muffin Man and Little Man made great improvements in their bowling this summer.




We always met friends at the bowling alley.............




And we usually spent at least part of our time goofing off or acting like a super hero................



Sometimes we even dressed like them....................





And sometimes we learned lessons on why it is a bad idea to run while carrying a 7 pound bowling ball...................(if you can not see the photo well, just click on it.)


You have NO idea how scared I was when I saw Muffin Man go down face first on the ball! And the sound of that ball and face connecting was just sickening! I thought for sure he was going to have no teeth left, or a broken nose or jaw! God was looking out for my little guy that day and all he ended up with was that nasty bruise and a sore chin. AMEN! I think he learned his lesson about running in the bowling alley.

We had a wonderful visit from good friends from New Mexico. It was so fun to visit with them and see their little ones. The kids had a great time playing and we hope to visit them at their home SOON!


We celebrated both of the boys birthday's at home with family.............



And we had a slumber party in the middle of the month with friends......





We started taking Karate lessons and just love it! The boys are doing so well. Both have gained so many new skills over the summer and are working hard toward that yellow belt!




Along with all the activities shown above, we also spent many days lounging in the pool, playing with friends, playing with video games, and just hanging out with each other. And that about covers it. The lazy days of Summer have passed and we are back to the grind of school and schedules.......But honestly, it really isn't so bad!

Find Your Wings

Every once in awhile I hear a song that just touches me deeply in some way. This one just happens to be the song of the moment for me. I am not sure if she is the first one to sing it but the version I am familiar with is sung by Sheila Walsh. She just happens to be one of my favorite Christian singers. She is an awesome author and speaker as well. This song says everything I want to say to my sons. I have not found the audio version of it to upload to my playlist as of yet but I wanted to type in the lyrics for you to read. Enjoy.

It's only for a moment that you are mine to hold.
The plans that Heaven has for you will all too soon unfold.
So many different prayers I'll pray for all that you might do.
But most of all I want to know you're walking in the truth.
And if I never told you,
I want you to know,
That as I watch you grow,

I pray that God will fill your heart with dreams.
And that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things.
I'm here for you whatever this life brings.
So let my love give you roots and help you find your wings.

May passion be the wind that leads you through your day.
And may convictions keep you strong and guide you on your way.
May there be many moments that make your life so sweet.
Oh, but more than memories

I pray that God will fill your heart with dreams.
And that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things.
I'm here for you whatever this life brings.
So let my love give you roots and help you find your wings.

It's not living if you don't reach for the sky.
I'll have tears as you take off, but I'll cheer as you fly!

I pray that God will fill your heart with dreams.
And that faith gives you the courage to dare to do great things.
I'm here for you whatever this life brings.
So let my love give you roots and help you find your wings.

And Then I Blinked Again.......

My baby turns six today! It is so hard to believe that 6 years have passed. How did that happen?
Six years ago today I woke up knowing that I only had a few hours until I held my new son. Due to our living in a rural area, our hospital does not allow v-bacs so I had a scheduled c-section. I spent the morning relaxing with Little Man knowing that it would be the very last time that he would be my only child. My Honey and I left for the hospital at 10 in the morning. I was scheduled for a noon c-section but due to a few emergencies at the hospital I was pushed back. They began prepping me around noon and then I waited until nearly 1:30 to be taken to the OR. I was very nervous!!! Thankfully, everything went smoothly and at 2:11 in the afternoon my baby boy was born. He was a healthy 7 pounds and 11 ounces. He had a head full of blond hair! That was a surprise. Today he has a head of dark brown hair just like the rest of the family. He was perfect.
A few hours later, my mother brought Little Man to meet his new baby brother. He sat down in a chair in the room and my mom placed Muffin Man in his arms. He took one look at him and in the most adorable voice said "OH! He is my BEST brother!" It was just about enough to make me cry. He was smitten with him from minute one. I have a picture of the two of them at that moment that is one of my favorites to this day. After about an hour of visiting my mom was preparing to take Little Man back home. She told him it was time to leave and he asked "What about Muffin Man?" My mom explained that Muffin Man needed to stay at the hospital and Little Man got this horrified look on his face and said "We have to leave him here? But we just got him!" We all laughed. After a bit further explanation that I was staying with him and we would both be home in a day or two he was OK.

From minute one Muffin Man was so different from Little Man. Little Man had been my lazy nurser. He would slowly nurse, taking little cat naps along the way and was content to be held all day long. Muffin Man was my efficient nurser. He was all business, filling his tummy as fast as he could and then fussing until I put him down. He never wanted to be cuddled or fall asleep in my arms. I can count on my fingers the number of times he actually let me rock him to sleep. Each of those times is precious in my memory. Little Man was rolling over by 4 months and crawling by six. Muffin Man was content to just lay there and let life be brought to him. He never did anything until he was good and ready. As an example, Muffin Man did not even roll over until he was 10 months old! But then a week later he was walking! He had few words to say until he was nearly 2 but then he started talking in sentences. Little Man was interested in the potty chair around 18 months and was at least sitting on it and occasionally managing to put it to use. Muffin Man never even tried to potty train for me until his 3rd birthday. On that day he suddenly announced that he was 3 and a big boy. That day he potty trained and never had an accident after that! Everything Muffin Man does is like that. He doesn't do anything until he is good and ready and once he is ready he just does it and never looks back. He amazes me with this personality trait every day!

Muffin man in my comedian. He is so funny and he can make me laugh all day long. He loves to be the center of attention. He is my academic child. He has always been more interested in letters and numbers and using his little VTech computer than with action figures or cars. He has become a bit more of a cuddle muffin as he has grown older. He will now climb onto my lap and ask me to tickle his back or rub his tummy but he still doesn't like to just cuddle up and be held the way Little Man does. I treasure the time that he does spend in my lap because it is not often. He loves school and picks things up quickly. Once I explain a concept to him he pretty much remembers it. He LOVES bugs and frequently saves them from certain death at the paws of our cats. His favorite bugs are pincher bugs. We almost always have a jar with a few in it. I have yet to have figured out how to keep them alive for him. He is a very active child and has the attention span of a flea. LOL! He wears me out totally and love him to bits!

I was thinking the other day how with 18 being the age of legal adulthood, Little Man is 1/2 way to adulthood and Muffin Man is 1/3 of the way there. This seems so impossible to me. There is so much I want to teach my children and I just do not know if I will have enough time! Once again, I pray that God will lead me in my parenting and help me to teach them what is important. I pray that someday Muffin Man will know how much I love him and see how every decision I make on his behalf is based on that love. I pray that he will become a happy, productive adult and that he will not make the same mistakes I have in life. I pray that I can improve as a parent evey day. I pray for patience and wisdom.

Thank you Lord for the beautiful gift you gave me when you gave me my sons. Please help me to honor You each day as I raise them. Please allow me to learn the lessons you wanted me to learn from them, I know there are many.