Art Festival and Shoe Shopping...

OK so we have been MIA for a while. Things have been a little bit on the hectic side at the Smith house as of late. With the introduction of Fannie Mae's HARP 2.0, Momma has been putting in 50+ hours at work and is DOG TIRED when she gets home. We did manage to squeeze in a little family fun on April 21th. Keep reading for the story.

Ranger had come home earlier in the week with the flier listed below.

His art project had been chosen to be shown at the School District's Art Festival. Not too shabby for a 3rd grader. Ranger was so excited and I love to support his hard work, so Saturday afternoon we went over to the festival despite the unseasonably warm weather (100+ degrees that day).

It didn't take us too long to locate his school's submissions and find his drawing. 

Can you see how proud he is?

 Here is a close up of the picture.

He didn't win any prizes or ribbons, but that wasn't the point. My son was recognized for his hard work. Something that does not happen very often outside our home.

After we were sufficiently hot and sweaty, we ran off to continue our errands. One of those errands was to the shoe store to find the boys some shoes. While looking around the clearance shoes, Liam found a pair of Pixar's Toy Story boots that had Woody and Bullseye on them. There was only 1 pair and unfortunately they were 2 sizes too small. He tried his hardest to convince me to buy them for him. Even after I told him they were too small. He tried to prove to me that they weren't too small and put them on his feet.

See Mommy, they fit!  NOT!

I was finally able to convince him to put them away. He went home with a brand new pair of Crocs instead. A small consolation to Woody boots yes, but with the summer heat coming on already, he appreciates the Crocs more every day.

Starting a Garden

We have been talking about starting a garden for a LONG time now. Today, we finally took action. It's a small start, but we plan on adding to it as finaces allow.

We went with the raised be box garden with all fresh dirt since the Arizona dirt leaves a lot to be desired.
The box was put in the best part of our back yard that we could find, the south west corner. This way it get the soft morning sun and has shade in the hot afternoons from the neighbors large tree.

Both the boys were VERY anxious to help with the process.

We had to move rock out of the way to lay down our box. When Chad was moving the rock back, the boys thought it was great fun to play in the box.

As soon as the dirt went in, Liam went inside and grabbed a spoon and a knife and started digging.

The face says it all!

The finished product. We planted onions, bell pepper and tomatoes today. We still have zucchini to plant, but I think that will get it's very own planter.

I hope that we actually get some food from this garden.

An Afternoon Hike

We decided to take advatage of the beautiful spring weather and went for a family hike. I have live in the valley for 30 years and have NEVER hiked South Mountain. I have been missing something spectacular!!!

This was the view from the top of the mountain just as we began our hike on the Buena Vista Trail. Looking north into Downtown Phoenix and beyond.

Everyone was all smiles and looking forward to seeing 'Fat Man's Pass'. For those of you not familiar with it, basically it is two huge rocks set so close to each other that there is only about a 2 foot gap between for you to pass though. I guess some where along the way some one thought it resembled a large persons bottom. It was about a 1.5 mile hike to the pass and Liam walked the whole way. I was so surprised and proud of my little man.

As you can see, Liam got pretty dirty from all the spills he took jumping off the rocks along the trails. Ranger on the other hand was like a mountain goat and we kept having to remind him that he had to stay with the family.

This is Liam and I in the pass. Let me tell you, it was a TIGHT squeeze. I had to take off my hat and my Camelpak to get in there. Liam wasn't too sure about going through the pass, but his curiousity got the best of him and he soon went through.

This is Ranger in the pass. I took the pic while stradling the two rocks.

Liam and Chad went up the 'cheek' to see the beautiful view.

All in all, it was a GREAT adventure and we all are a bit tired tonight. Liam crashed pretty much as soon as we got back to the car.

We are already planning more family outings. I think the next hike will be up to Flagstaff to enjoy a hike through Walnut Canyon and see some Indian Ruins.

Perfect Day for Yardwork

Yesterday we took advantage of the cool weather before the storm and gave out backyard some much needed TLC. Liam mostly played. And got himself stuck in the pay kitchen that we have outside.

It was a good thing he had his helmet on. That way if he would have fallen, his noggin would have been saved. He did help a little though. Daddy's job was to thatch the grass to get all the dead grass up so that we can prepare to reseed for our summer bermuda grass. Liam thought it was great fun to help daddy bag up the grass after he had thatched.

We also had to dig around in our front yard, our big Chilean Mesquite tree has gotten so big that on of the roots actually desroyed the drip line that carries its water. Liam got a kick out of that as well.

We made a trip to Home Depot to get the replacement hose for the drip line and new sprikler heads. Liam brought along his orange construction hat. It was a sight to see. Unfortunatly my phone died by that time so I don't have any pictures of it.  



Liam is starting a New Chapter

Recently Chad and I made the tough decison to pull Liam out of the in home daycare that he has been going to since he was six weeks old. The decision was one that we have wrestled with for some time but we feel that it is in Liam best interest to make the change now. Since he is now 3, we want to start preparing him for school.
Last night, I was talking to Liam trying to prepare him for the change and told him that he would no longer be going to Miss Pam's house, but would be going to school. The first question he asked was "Do I get to ride the bus?!?" Sadly I had to tell him that Mommy would be his bus.
We go in to meet his teacher on Monday and then he will start the following Monday. Fingers crossed that all goes well and he doesn't totally freak out on the first day.
Pictures to follow.