Playing Catch-Up

Somehow, some way, I've gotten way behind on writing blog posts. Another day will pass and I'll think, "Oh, I need to write about the strange rustling-about noise we heard in the middle of the night ... or how the boys have decided to take up flag football in the off-soccer season. Or how Zach and Allie's latest bedtime ritual involves Brett holding them, in turn, like a little baby and singing "Rockabye Baby." But somehow the daily routines seem to swallow up my time and energy lately. So to get caught up ... some highlights of late:

• Blake and Nick's soccer season ended about a month ago. And while I love watching their games, I was kinda looking forward to a respite from the weekly grind of practices, broken-up dinner times, scrambling to do homework and providing chauffeuring. That little sigh of relief was short-lived, however, as both boys decided to give flag football a try. So now Nick practices on Mondays, Blake on Tuesdays and both have games on Wednesdays. Sigh ...
• Allie is still enthralled with her weekly dance class. She loves practicing her stretches and the five ballet positions. Recently when I was playing little-kid baseball with Zach and Allie, it was Allie's turn at bat. I told her to choke up on the bat, turn her feet around and to "get into position." She then proceeded to turn her feet and get into her ballerina first position. Priceless.
• Zach, who had about an 18-month obsession with all things pirate, has now progressed to all things Star Wars. Light Sabers and action figures and endless showings of our collection of Star Wars movies keep this little boy going these days.
• Although it's starting to heat up here, the pool is still a little brisk for most of the family. There have been three or four times where Zach and Allie will ask to get in. Zach will stand on the top step with his life jacket on and just dabble around a bit. But Little Miss Adventure, I mean Allie, will gleefully run to the side of the pool and jump in without even testing the waters. And she's done this more than once.
  
• School is in the home-stretch now. Our last day is May 21 ... three weeks and two days. Always mixed emotions. I am excited that we can say good-bye to 3rd-grade homework and that I don't have to pack lunches (yippie!).

"The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one."
~Erma Bombeck

Autumn -- What's That?

This picture wasn't taken in June ... or July ... or August. No, this picture was taken last year on our first Halloween here in the hottest city on the planet Phoenix. While the calendar tells us we're days into "fall," apparently our little cul-de-sac of the world didn't get the message.

We're STILL hitting 100, sometimes 101 or 102. Our lows are "dipping" to a cool 76 or 77. By 10 or 11 in the morning, it's a good 90, 92.

The good news is that it's all on the downhill from here. Just like kids in early December counting the days until Christmas, we're eagerly holding out another few weeks for the beginning of the seven months of nice weather. Where we can actually go outside comfortably for more than 15 minutes at any time of the day, not just mornings and evenings.

But the bad news, for me anyway, is that there's no such thing as fall in Phoenix. Of all the "things" I miss about Northern California (excluding people), fall tops the list.

I long for the cool, crisp autumn mornings. The gorgeous hues of crimson and gold spanning the tree-studded suburban streets. Sitting out at evening soccer practices with the leaves of those trees whistling in the wind.The kids playing in the crunchy, fallen leaves. Putting on the sweatshirts as soon as the sun goes down. The trips to any one of dozens of area pumpkin patches.

And of course, the seasonal trip up Highway 50 to Apple Hill, or as Brett tongue-in-cheek called it, Apple Hell, referring to how crazily congested the popular fall tourist area had become over the years.

On Halloween last year, the twins ran through the sprinklers. I wore a short-sleeved shirt taking them trick-or-treating. On Thanksgiving, Allie wore a short-sleeved dress with no socks or tights.
Nick even wore short and a t-shirt to get the Christmas tree the first weekend in December last year.

So, now as we're about to welcome October, I'll reminisce about the nippy fall days of the past when I loved to make tummy-warming chili and bake a cinnamon-infused apple crisp on October Sunday afternoons as the voices of NFL commentators volleyed in the background (OK -- that part hasn't changed in Phoenix).

And as I reflect on autumns past, I'll light my Yankee Candle Spiced Pumpkin candle and watch the kids run through the sprinklers.

Nicky turns 8!

Yea, I know it's been like forever since I last posted. But somehow with the massive amounts of homework inflicted on poor Nick routine of school and soccer settling in, and birthday parties and visiting parents, and grocery shopping and cleaning and making meals and endless loads of laundry and cutting out butterflies and playing with pirate ships, the spare chunks of time seem to get eaten up like Tina Fey gobbling up Emmy awards (I guess I need to start watching 30 Rock).

So the big news in the Dawson household over the past couple weeks has been Nicky's 8th birthday. I guess I should correct myself -- "Nick." Nicky decided when we moved to Arizona that he wanted to be called Nick, rather than Nicky, which was what he went by in kindergarten and first grade in Elk Grove.

Not because it sounds more grown up, mind you, but, he readily confessed, because it's one less letter he has to write when doing schoolwork. Classic Nicky ... yes, he's still Nicky around here.

Anyway, my Mom and Dad came out to visit. We took the twins to the zoo, they got to see Blake's soccer game, they went to the twins' gymnastics class, they watched the kids while Brett and I went out on a long overdue date night, we all went out to dinner one night, and they were here for Nick's birthday festivities.

Nick's birthday, September 17, was a Wednesday, so he opened his family gifts and had cake that night.

His brothers eagerly helped him open his gifts (Legos and building toys, his thang):

A happy boy with his roller-coaster K'Nex (not sure why it looks like Zach is pulling his pants down ... I don't remember that happening ... but it very well could have)

Not sure what Blake's doing ... casting a spell on the cake? Who knows.

Eight candles?! Even Nicky can't believe it

Then on Sunday afternoon Nicky invited a few friends over for a backyard party, including THE game of games for Phoenix 3rd graders -- tetherball.

Then, since it's still hovering a tad above 100 (I'll complain more about that in a future post), the boys spent some time in the pool, including playing King of the Hill where they try to push each other in from the top step of the pool (lovely, eh?). Then Brett set up the volleyball net for a little team-on-team action, with Grandpa joining in.


Then the kids graciously sat still for a few seconds so I could snap a group shot ... and then the silly pose.


Hard to believe our little Nicky is already 8. I think whenever a child's birthday rolls around a mother replays the events of the day of the birth in her head. I vividly remember that warm Indian summer day when my 8 lb, 9 oz baby arrived. While ultrasound techs had placed odds on the baby being a girl during my pregnancy, they were proven wrong. I was stunned for several minutes when someone shouted out "It's a boy!" It's a what?? Luckily I didn't paint the room pink or cover the house in lace or anything. Anyway, it all worked out just as it was supposed to. My life wouldn't be complete without my playful, adores-to-build roller coasters, tetherball-fanatic, doesn't-complain-about-the-homework, picky-eating, hates-to-go-to-bed, sweets-loving, piercing-blue-eyed, freckled-faced son.

Happy Birthday, Nicky. You brighten my world.

Though His 7-Year-Old Eyes

That's me, as crafted by Nicky.

I have to admit -- when Christmas and Mother's Day roll around, my very favorite gifts are the ones the kids make at school.

The ornaments with a photo glued onto a round frozen juice lid, adorned in beads or colored macaroni -- I love it. The baby food jar with the tissue paper pieces glued on and a tealight candle plopped inside -- I'm all over it. The handmade cards and pictures ... I eat it all up. And I know lots of other moms do, too. In fact each year on my parents' Christmas tree, I search and always find it: the cute angel ornament crafted out of a pink paper plate and adorned with glitter and felt that I made in kindergarden. So this Mother's Day Nicky, in all of his 2nd-grade glory, presented me with an essay. These are always fun, too. I remember when the boys were in kindergarden, they created a story where they filled in the blanks, which were facts about mom. It was always hilarious to read these -- kind of Mom Mad Libs. Like Mom weighs 20 pounds and while I'm at school Mom's favorite things to do are go skydiving and fold laundry. Anyway, it's always good to know how your 7-year-old sees you. Here goes:
My mom is as pretty as a butterfly (I have a sneaking suspicion that the three other kids in his group might have said something similar. Reminds me of the time that Nick came home and I asked him how he did on his spelling test. "Good. I think I got them all right because I wrote down the two hardest words on my leg underneath my shorts," he told me matter-of-factly. A discussion about cheating immediately followed, but I still smile every time I think about how easily his confession spilled forth.)
My mom has gold and silver hair (blond highlights and an increasing number of grey roots ... sigh)
She is rich (Brett said it's because Nick sees me spending all the money :)).
She likes to wear running clothes. (I don't know if like is the correct word, but most mornings I put on my running clothes because that's what I do after he and Blake leave for school).
My mom makes sure we do our chores (I finally got wise to the chores game. They had been doing close to nothing until a couple months ago when they started dusting vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms. Who needs a housecleaner when you have kids who want allowance?)
I think she's the best at cooking. My mom makes good tacos (I'm a master when it comes to sloppy joes, spaghetti and hamburgers, too. If I cooked more chicken a la king, shrimp stir-fry, and other adult fare more often, I'm confident I'd lose my "best at cooking" title.)
My mom likes to go on cruises (never been on one in my life).
For fun my mom likes to play games (the most popular "How many times do I have to ask my child to make his bed and brush his teeth before it actually gets done?" game and "How do we get two kids to soccer practice, eat dinner, do homework and give baths" challenge).
My mom has a pretty smile (he's so sweet sometimes).
I make her smile by me smiling without my two top teeth. (This is true -- he's so darn cute with those two missing front teeth).
My mom is smart. She even knows what 1,000 times 1,000 is. (It's true, I was a math wiz as a kid ... but I went into writing).
My mom is special because she is good at running (gosh, what if I hadn't taken up running -- my mom is special because she is good at folding clothes???)
I love her 100 percent (the best gift of all).

Mother's Day 2008
I love you, Nicky!