the burch jerks

cousins and instagram

2012-01-20T11:27:00.002-07:00

just a little outing with our cousins and some fun with instagram. ruby and finn were having a lot of fun "doing the trees" on instagram to change all the different filters on the pictures. finn declared he always liked the black and white (he's old school, like that) and ruby just insisted on seeing every single filter before choosing one at random when she was done. my, it is fun to have cousins to grow up with. and bagels. it is good to have bagels in your life also.

old sweatshirts and embarrassing your kids

2012-01-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

last week i went on a field trip with jack's class to the science center.

the morning of, i was getting lunches together and breakfast made while sporting my always stylish morning attire of pajama pants and one of pete's old baggy sweatshirts.

as i was finishing things up, jack walked up next to me and asked, "you are coming on our field trip today, right?" "of course," i responded, not seeing where this was going. he gently tugged at the elbow of my sweatshirt and in a very concerned, but sweet voice, asked, "you're not wearing this are you?"

oh, my.

and so it has happened. i have entered the days of my appearance mattering to my kids.

part of me wanted to show up for the field trip still wearing at least the baggy sweatshirt...

*pictures are totally unrelated to the field trip. just a few random snapshots from a family walk one weekend.

wednesdays at PAM

2012-01-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

this afternoon we met up with our friends, the crosses, for some free museum action at the phoenix art museum. my kids love going to this museum and i love that it is free on wednesday afternoons. i really do love this museum, actually, not just when it is free. they have an amazing frank lloyd wright exhibit there right now that we barely got to peek at since there is a lot my kids insist on seeing. a nice quiet date night at the museum might be in order next time...

dissecting nursery rhymes

2012-01-17T21:58:00.031-07:00

my kids (as all kids do) often bring up the most random topics of conversation. they seem to be out of nowhere, but i am sure they follow some little train of thought in their own heads that i would love to be privy to. yesterday morning finn and i went on a walk down to "the big trees" because he was hoping the mini canal that runs by it would be empty and maybe i would let him climb down in it (it was and i did). on our way there we were talking about going to the grocery store when suddenly he started telling me about how two nights before he had a dream that he was in a boxing class with george and they had a boxing uniform that was blue shorts and a red shirt and they had boxing gloves and were practicing punching... the story went on for a few minutes, then jumped right into the question, "in that one song, what does it mean when they say, 'pop goes the weasel'?" uh? weren't we just talking about boxing? "you mean the song 'all around the mulberry bush?" i asked. "ya. does it mean that the weasel caught the monkey or, like, ate him or something?" what?! "i think it just means that he hid from the monkey who was chasing him and then popped out of the bush to scare the monkey as a joke." are we seriously talking about this? "no, mom. it says, 'the monkey thought it was all in good fun,' so then when they say pop goes the weasel that means its something that's not fun." are we really trying to dig to the deeper meaning of this? i tried my last time. "i think it just means that maybe the weasel wasn't having fun being chased, which the monkey thought was fun, so the weasel decided to have fun too by hiding from the monkey and then popping out and saying boo and i bet they both laughed and then they both had fun." *sigh* "no, mom." clearly, i just wasn't getting it.

i don't know if i was a stupid kid, but i certainly don't remember taking things for more than face value as a kid. especially at 4. or even 10. a song was just a series of words strung together to a catchy tune that you can sing along to. who cares what the words mean. or in the movie seven brides for seven brothers you are just supposed to accept that it is ok for seven brothers from the back woods to sneak into town and kidnap women from their homes at night to take back to their secluded cabin and marry. you are not supposed to question this as strange or bad. apparently my kids didn't get that memo either...

rock-n-roll marathon

2012-01-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

this weekend was the rock'n'roll marathon in phoenix, so we got up yesterday and headed down the street to watch some of the runners go by. our neighbor dina was in the marathon, so lucy and finn wanted to make her signs to hold up as she ran by us. lucy got a little impatient waiting for her to come by, but the boys seemed to enjoy the ordeal of it all. jack decided to see how many people he could get to high five him as they ran by and finn enjoyed anyone who was dressed funny or doing something out of the ordinary, like dribbling a basketball while running. i just love being out early this time of year with my family, going on a walk and sipping our coffee. might fine, indeed.

and, yes, all my boys are in desperate need of haircuts...

mindy kaling

2012-01-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

for christmas this year i was the very lucky recipient of two fantastic gifts (ok, i also got a milk frother and a new blender and some other goodies, but these two seem to be at the top of my list at the moment... ok, really the milk frother is amazing). anyway, i received an i-phone and mindy kaling's new book. the phone is rad, obviously. no need to elaborate on that one. but, this book is fantastic. i laughed out loud excessively and finally had to walk out of the room so as to not continue to read excerpts aloud to pete. like when she goes on a mini-rant about how, for some reason, everyone seems to know all the words to the song "jack and diane" without ever having chosen to learn them. and she can't help but wonder why these kids aren't at home doing homework, or helping with chores around their house. she suggests a new song, a little ditty about "nguyen and ari," as a new song to inspire the youth of america. i love it. i loved this whole book. let me know if you want to borrow it. or you can just come over for coffee and i will be one of those annoying people who tells you so many different parts of the book (and in not nearly a funny enough re-telling) that you will finally get frustrated and say, "looks like i don't have to read that book myself now." but seriously, pick up a copy and enjoy yourself.

instagram

2012-01-06T23:05:00.000-07:00

for christmas, i was the lucky recipient of an i-phone. it is extremely wonderful in general, but really what i love the very most of all is the app, instagram. if you have an i-phone get this app. then tell me you are on instagram so i can follow your photos and know where you are at all minutes of the day like a good stalker...
and, yes, i went to california right after receiving my new phone, hence the excessive balboa pictures.

ten years

2012-01-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

pete and i have been married for ten years today.

crazy to think everyone was ok with letting these two little kids get married.

or at least nice enough to keep their mouths shut or whisper about it behind our backs...

anyway.

life is good. very, very good, indeed.

i love you, pete.

i also came across this picture of pete and i in high school.

i think we were 16.

since we met when we were 15,

i now have known pete longer than i have not known him.

if that makes sense.

anyway, yes, i had braces.

and, yes, i have lots of "i am very self-concious about my braces and

therefore, smile awkwardly with my mouth closed" photos from high school.

i also noticed how very pale i look in this picture.

apparently, i knew being paste-y white and sickly looking was cool long before twilight...

we're back... kind of.

2012-01-04T21:20:00.001-07:00

we're going to try and make a comeback.

no catching up on the 6 months we missed, just planning to jump in from here.

this is for those 7 people who have been harassing me about the lack of posts.

(erin, kim... you all know who you are...).

its a new year, so we'll see if i can stick with it...

road trip 2011 - dallas

2011-07-08T09:26:00.012-07:00

our last major stop for the trip was dallas. dallas is one of my very favorite places because it is home to some of my very favorite people. we still have tons of friends in dallas from college, but two of my very closest friends and their families live there and it makes me sad we don't get to see them more often... but we'll take it when we can get it. we went on walks, played with our friends, rode bikes, swam, ate meals together, stayed up late drinking and chatting into the wee hours... it is really great to have good friends. (oh, and if you are wondering what happened to finn's eye, he fell and split it open in our hotel in chicago, the one night i didn't have pete with me - he probably should have had stitches, but there was no way i was taking all three kids in a cab to whatever downtown hospital we were closest to at 10 at night. so, now he has quite a scar. scars on boys are cool, though, right? in case you can't tell, i'm still not over it...) also, while in dallas, jack had another top 3 moment when he got to spend the night at jon and katie's house all by himself. in jack's world, you really don't get any cooler than jon bird. take that and throw in a sleep over and star wars wii, and you have the makings for the best night ever. jack has also been super close to katie ever since he was a baby, so our usually hesitant child didn't even bat an eye at being away from his parents for the night. and once again, lucy and eva acted as though they had never been apart. i hope those little friends will be able to maintain their friendship despite their distance... we miss you already, simeks and birds.

road trip 2011 - chicago {part two}

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

city. park. picnic. fountain. art institute.

i think we covered a lot of ground in one day.

especially for two moms with nine kids.

that night we took all the kids out for pizza. one of my very favorite moments from the whole trip was when the waiter came to take our plates away and sam asked for his in a to-go box. sara and i weren't sitting close enough to sam to see what was left in his bowl, but the guy took it away and when he came back, he gave same a little plastic container that would maybe hold a side of parmesan cheese or something with his three noodles in it. sam was very pleased and most certainly ate those three noodles later.

our last day in chicago was beautiful. we took all the kids to mass, walked around the city some more, saw the water tower and walked down michigan avenue to the river. we finally met back up with pete (who was the winner of the purple this year) and said good-bye to our cousins. (and there may have been some tears on jack's part, not getting to say goodbye to uncle al who was leaving for alaska straight from chicago...). that night we stayed with the petersons and had so much fun hanging out with their crew. so much fun, we didn't even think to take out the camera. but, i promise you, we were there. it might have been jack burch's favorite night of the trip... definitely top 3 anyway.

road trip 2011 - chicago {part one}

2011-07-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

after some unfortunate circumstances that we need not discuss, we finally made it to chicago late thursday night. thanks to some fantastic family members we were given the dreamiest place to stay right downtown. chicago was an extremely important destination on this trip, since it was the location of the 2 day annual golf tournament with all of pete's college friends. pete and al stayed up late that night... i think they were a little giddy about the purple. friday morning the kids woke with the extreme urgency of seeing their cousins. after all, we were in chicago, so some cousins better surface immediately. we got to go see brian and sara's new house (still under construction, of course) and then we all headed to cantigny, a military museum with amazing outdoor grounds and gardens and even old tanks for the kids to play on. the kids were all so happy to be together. i loved catching finn and sam holding hands as they walked around.

that afternoon we all hit up the horse track. good times had by all...

and that evening we headed over to the kewell's house for a party for all the purple attendees (and their families... which i think was a bit of a bummer for all the guys...). it was so great to see so many old ud faces and to see everyone with their little ones now. crazy how time really does seem to fly...

the next morning we said goodbye to pete and the guys and hit the city with sara and her kids...

road trip 2011 - south dakota

2011-07-06T09:10:00.001-07:00

we headed to mount rushmore late in the afternoon and had a very "fancy" early dinner before heading into the park. mount rushmore was the top spot on the kids list of places to visit (hence the drive rather out of our way in attempting to get to chicago...), so they were very excited to finally be there. and it didn't disappoint. there is a surprising amount to do at this national park. we kind of expected to walk in, look at the mountain and then sit around waiting for the night show. there is a ton to do here, however. i almost wish we had had more time. jack loved all the museum aspects of it. how it was built, about the workers and the techniques, about the different presidents and why they were chosen for the monument... the history and the facts. lucy had her favorite moment of the entire trip - becoming a junior ranger. the kids are given a booklet they have to fill out based on things they see around the park and questions they have to ask the rangers (it took shy little lucy every bit of courage she could muster for this part) and when their tasks are complete, they hand in their work and are sworn in ("raise your right hand and repeat after me") and receive a ranger badge. finn did this also, but for lucy it was her proudest moment. and mr. finn enjoyed the trails you can walk around the base of the mountain. lots of stairs to climb, paths to run down and rocks to climb on. perfect release after hours on the road. pete, al and i found the whole place to be rather fascinating as well. after dark, they have a ceremony where one of the park rangers gives a little talk on freedom and what it meant to each of the four presidents represented on the mountain. then they ask all veterans to join them on the stage as they take down the flag and fold it. i couldn't believe how many veterans there were. everyone stood and applauded them and it was all quite moving. then they sing the star spangled banner and light up the mountain. it all makes you feel very patriotic indeed.

jack was extremely interested in how they made the mountain and was fascinated, after learning the drilling technique they used to remove large pieces of rock (something about a beehive), that you could actually see rocks all along the base of the mountain with the lines and holes on them from this technique.

the next morning, the kids had a lot of fun at our camp site shooting arrows and playing tether ball. even if the kid whose family was staying next to us informed me that his parents didn't think we were responsible... thanks, kid.

for some reason, when we started out on this trip, i was determined to find a little diner somewhere that served pie. good, homemade pie. i did not find the little road side diner i had hoped for, but we couldn't very well pass up an establishment called the purple pie place. a little more over-the-top in appearance than i might normally care for, their pies didn't disappoint. they even had rhubarb plants growing out front with a sign specifically advertising their rhubarb pie. jack got apple, al got blackberry and i got strawberry rhubarb. they were all amazing. and so i got my pie on our road trip. even if we did eat it at 9:00 in the morning...

the next morning we headed to the crazy horse memorial with these two intense junior rangers...

i find everything about this memorial to be fascinating. we watched the short film all about how they started the project and all about the man who was hired to head it up. he came from new york, a well-dressed sculpture, hired by the tribe chiefs for this memorial and lived at the base of the mountain all alone. in a matter of a couple years he had a long beard and overalls and barely resembled the young artist who was commissioned for the project. somehow he met and married a young woman who agreed to move out to south dakota, just the two of them at the base of this mountain. they had 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls who were all raised working on the mountain, cooking, cleaning and homeschooling right there. 7 of their 10 children still work on the project to this day.

oh, and we had a very intense license plate game running the entire trip. by the end, i think we only came up missing a handful...

road trip 2011 - drivin'

2011-07-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

its amazing how different the scenery is as you drive across the country. its fascinating to watch it all pass by. lucky for me, i got to be the passenger, while my trooper of a husband drove us on and on. we spent a night in colorado at a place called tiger run, that my kids continued to ask to go back to, then we continued on north to south dakota. what a beautiful part of the country we crossed.

road trip 2011 - goblin valley

2011-07-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

goblin valley was one of the excellent suggestions we were given and so decided to drive through this little state park on our way to colorado. it was insanely windy (like knock you down, blow dust in your eyes windy), but it was still incredible. finn and lucy didn't last long in the dust, but jack wanted to stay there climbing and exploring and with pete's sunglasses on, the wind hardly bothered him. he and al dreamed up schemes of playing hide-n-go seek with walkie-talkies through the mushroom shaped rocks. i must say, it is another impressive site. there is something so interesting about driving along looking out over normal hills and valleys and desert and all of a sudden there is just one huge area covered in these strange rock formations. the world is an amazing place.

road trip 2011 - bryce canyon {part two}

2011-07-05T09:05:00.003-07:00

sunday morning we got a good start, ate breakfast and rode our bikes to mass. after lunch we packed snacks and headed into the park for the rest of the day. we took the shuttle to the main lookout point at the far end of bryce canyon. the view was incredible. i have never seen anything like bryce canyon. it is truly amazing. lucy, of course, spent most of her time close to the walls and far from the lookout points, but the rest of us enjoyed just standing there and taking it all in. then we headed for queen's garden trail and headed down into the canyon, which was even more impressive. if you have never been to bryce canyon, i could not be more encouraging that you make the trip. i think i could spent an entire trip just in this part of utah. it was a wonderful day.

and, of course, we had to make smores one night...

then back on the road monday...

road trip 2011 - bryce canyon {part one}

2011-07-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

we rolled into bryce canyon on saturday afternoon and set up camp for the next couple of days. the kids enjoyed exploring, collecting firewood, watching al's inventive takes on gathering firewood, building a campfire and general lazing about. after dinner the first night we walked over to the little town and hit up the rodeo. finn and jack loved it. i found it rather entertaining myself. lucy was interested for about 2 minutes, then could only think about getting a snack from the snack bar. and, pete? well, pete liked it even less than lucy. he can be quite a big baby about things sometimes.

road trip 2011 - grand canyon

2011-07-04T09:00:00.001-07:00

we left in the wee early hours of saturday morning. loaded all the kids into the rv, pete and al hopped in the front and started us towards our first destination, the grand canyon. we decided to go to the less-touristy, slightly-harder-to-reach north rim. it was amazing (obviously... it is the grand canyon). the kids loved it (mostly... ok, i don't think we can use the word "love" in terms of lucy's feelings toward that great canyon). jack wanted to climb on everything and give me many a mini heart attack. as long as he was with al, he was happy. i think jack would love throwing rocks in the canal, if he was doing it with his uncle al. not to take anything away from the grand canyon, of course. lucy was terrified. she spent most of the time clinging to rocks and holding tight to hands. she did "love" the phone booth she discovered, though, so there was that. and finn really loved it. he was determined to walk the trail to the very end, and thus ended up being the only kid to make it all the way to the end of bright angel point. he was very proud.

shaved ice

2011-06-30T16:58:00.009-07:00

the other day jack and lucy were both off somewhere having fun and exciting summertime adventures and finn was stuck with me and the errand of going to the grocery store. i told him while we were out, i would stop and get him a shaved ice in an attempt to make our outing seem "special."

it worked. easiest $1.50 ever.

thank you, water connection.

happy birthday, pete.

2011-06-29T22:56:00.008-07:00

well, my young whippersnapper of a husband finally made it to 30.

i have no need to go on about how great he is.

he already knows.

hope you had a great day and know how much we love you!

side note, pete's sweet nephew raph asked if i would take a picture of him and his "uncle dude" as pete is known by the kids in that family...

future novelist

2011-06-28T16:56:00.007-07:00

jack informed me last week that he is going to write a book.

a book which he plans on typing on our old typewriter.

he is already trying to figure out how he can bind it when he is done.

i should just buy him a beret and sit him down in a coffee shop somewhere.

big earl's

2011-06-27T16:52:00.016-07:00

being the adventurer she is, my sister erin convinced us all to head out to cave creek last weekend to eat at big earl's greasy eats. she is always finding some new place to try and this was the recent one on the top of her list. an old gas station turned roadside diner. i have to say, it was mighty delicious.

then, for some crazy reason we decided to walk around in cave creek (middle of the morning on a hot day in phoenix... not my favorite plan). i did, however, really enjoy this painted wall. not sure if they were trying to decide on a color to paint or just thought this looked cool, but either way, i was a fan.

and so were these cute boys...

mom, can you take a picture of this?

2011-06-24T10:19:00.011-07:00

jack is big into having me take pictures of the things he builds and sets up. he spends a really long time setting up each and every detail and then requests i take a picture before he starts actually playing with it and "messing it up." he has not once ever asked to see those pictures after the fact. i have a whole file on my computer of these "set-ups" and can't bring myself to get rid of them. i should probably just make him a book of all his set-up pictures... in the meantime, he can view them on my blog.

and, of course, lucy couldn't be left out of the photo fun...

best thing you ever got in the mail?

2011-06-23T13:06:00.001-07:00

when i was a kid we used to get big boxes of hand-me-down clothes from our cousins in indiana and those were some pretty exciting packages to receive as an 8 year old. however, i just got this box in the mail the other day...

and i think it clearly beats out a big box of old clothes (however, if anyone wants to send me hand-me-downs, i am sure that would still be an exciting box to discover on my doorstep...). anyway, we took our box of treasures and had a fantastic first-day-of-summer-ice-cream-party. my kids declared it our "best party ever," so i would say it went over rather well. i posted a bunch of pictures of our fun over here, if you want to take a peek.

i sure do love summer.

sports camp

2011-06-22T16:14:00.001-07:00

this year jack decided if there was no al at sports camp there would be no jack either (pete's brother al decided to take a job at a salmon factory in alaska rather than be a camp counselor this year... much to jack's complete and utter disappointment). however, not even her own brother's absence could keep lucy away. she woke up bright and early monday morning ready to go to sports camp with her buddy isaac from across the street. she managed to get mary elizabeth as her counselor, just as she had hoped and has been spending her free-time beating the other counselors at serious staring contests. mighty fine, indeed. she comes home exhausted, smelling like sunscreen and chlorine with her eyes glazed over and her hair matted and frizzed at the same time, but happy. good way to spend a hot summer day in lucy's world. (pete and jack would greatly disagree, however...)

summer!

2011-06-21T20:01:00.004-07:00

for those of you who don't already know, june is my very favorite month. if i could move my birthday, i would pick it up and plop it right down in the middle of june. we missed out on a lot of our lazy summer days, being gone for two weeks, so i am officially celebrating summer solstice as the beginning of my laid-back summer days.

*i apologize to all those who think it is too hot. i recommend swimming, popsicles and lots of air-conditioned reading. good times. you just have to set your mind in the right direction.

never thought your 4 year old would say...

2011-06-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

"mom, do you know what facebook is?

lucy said george is on facebook and can look at pictures of his friends."

something about the term "facebook" coming out of mr. finn's mouth that just didn't sit too well with me...

stop growing up, please.

happy dad's day

2011-06-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

getting back just before father's day makes for a rather thrown together morning, but luckily we were able to give our dad breakfast in bed (even if it wasn't homemade) and still make our annual "all about dad" book. the kids basically answer a series of questions about pete ranging from his favorite food to why they think he is funny to what they think he does at work (you can only imagine some of the amazing responses...). i ask them the questions separately so as to avoid repeating one another's answers and yet somehow for the question "what is dad's favorite thing about you" they each, individually replied, "my chubby cheeks." however, my personal favorite answer to any question was probably when i asked finn who pete's favorite golfer was and he immediately responded, "not tiger woods." then after some thought said, "oh, yeah, rory mcilroy." needless to say, this project is always good for a giggle. i highly recommend giving it a try...

the kids laughing at their own hilariousness...

and i guess it is only appropriate to also give a little shout out to that dad we love so much.

you are our favorite and our best and we love you the very most.

thanks for being so good to us.

Mesilla

2011-06-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

almost home...

friends

2011-06-16T22:59:00.001-07:00

its been good to catch up with some really great friends...

passing time

2011-06-15T20:53:00.001-07:00

where to next?

2011-06-14T10:47:00.001-07:00

farewell chicago...

2011-06-13T20:52:00.002-07:00

we didn't ever want to leave.

Chicago!

2011-06-11T20:39:00.001-07:00

God bless the petersons...

2011-06-09T20:02:00.001-07:00

We left the rv in south dakota (long story), but thankfully we have family to take us in...

mount rushmore

2011-06-09T07:24:00.001-07:00

or mountain rushmore, as finn calls it...

take that urban picnic...

2011-06-09T07:22:00.001-07:00

swimming and laundry

2011-06-08T07:20:00.001-07:00

a much needed little stop...

oh, happy paris.

2011-06-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

i briefly interupt our phone blogging from the road to tell you about quite possible, no, most definitely, the best giveaway i have ever come across. a one-week trip for two to paris. so, you should run on over to oh, happy day and enter. if you win, i will gladly go with you. and if you don't want to go, enter anyway and i will go for you. and, if you don't already read oh, happy day, you should because her photos and stories of paris will make you want to buy your own ticket, if you don't win...

goblin valley

2011-06-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

"bryce canyon" by lucy

2011-06-06T19:31:00.002-07:00

On the road

2011-06-05T20:28:00.003-07:00

Learning...

2011-06-01T17:54:00.002-07:00

Attempting to learn to blog from my phone... Ver interesting...

roadtrippin'

2011-05-31T22:38:00.001-07:00

*via pinterest

so, we are about to embark on a two week roadtrip from phoenix all the way to chicago and back. this is where you (by you, i mean absolutely anyone reading this) come in. i am desperate for some advice on roadtrippin' with kids. give me some suggestions for the best car games, the best healthy car snacks, the best roadtrip music, the best places to stop in arizona, utah, colorado, wyoming, south dakota, minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, missouri, arkansas (or are we driving thru oklahoma?), texas and new mexico. do you know websites with good ideas for random stops along the way? the best piece of pie you ever had in a diner off the highway? area specific coloring pages for kids? where is the world's biggest ball of twine? anything you can suggest would be greatly appreciated!

*via motherland

come on, you stopped by to see what we had to say, so please do share a little love...

last day!

2011-05-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

i don't even have words for how excited i am that school is over.

the kids' school had an awards ceremony this morning that really was quite sweet, as usual.

they make sure each kindergartener wins some sort of award, so it can sometimes seem like a few are, perhaps, made up. lucy got the award for "industriousness." she looked a little confused, but very pleased to walk up and accept her award. she still hasn't asked what industrious means, though...

jack and lili each won the academic achievement award for their individual classes.

they were so excited to have both won it.

(and can i just note, once again, that jack still considers lili to be his best friend...)

so, i guess allie and i should get the award for successfully raising such cute little nerds.

and such goofy little nerds at that...

now, let summer begin!

a jedi in my house

2011-05-25T10:05:00.001-07:00

did you know i have a jedi living in my house?

he is awfully cute, but awfully serious, too...

so, in case you were wondering, late night jedi robe making does pay off.

posers

2011-05-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

these kids sure all know how to strike a pose...

goofballs.

thanks for always keeping us laughing!

jack's first communion

2011-05-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

oh, sweet jack, where to begin. we were so proud of you on your special day. you looked so handsome in your all-white suit. you were so excited to receive your sacraments. it amazes me how much it all meant to you. you truly have a faith that i am envious of. lucy and finn are so lucky to have you to look up to, as i know they both already do. and you were so excited and so proud to have your godfather be your sponsor. you sure do love your uncle al like crazy. and, i love you like crazy, kiddo.

mr. four

2011-05-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

i really cannot believe my little mr. finn turned four years old this weekend. i'm in a bit of denial, i think. to fight off the tears i am blinking back, let's go to finn's new favorite face to flash me whenever the camera comes out...

(was that a little cheek rub? yes, i think it was...)

we love you so, so much mr. finn!

happy birthday!

finn's party

2011-05-16T21:44:00.001-07:00

like last year, i decided to have a little weekday morning party for finn's birthday. just moms and little kids over for breakfast while the big kids are at school and the dads are at work. we were gifted a star wars cupcake set, and so we decided to run with that as our little theme (and it helps that finn has been a bit of a diehard star wars fan since we forced him as a baby to dress up as r2d2...). on a super random whim, i decided it would be fun to make jedi robes for all the kids... a little crazy, i know, but luckily i have a mother-in-law who is always willing to jump on board with these ideas, and so we had them made in no time. they are unhemmed and a little rough looking and i may have been sewing the hoods on the morning of the party... but it all turned out great and (most of) the kids loved them. and so it was that each goody bag came with your very own jedi robe (just don't judge my sewing skills by them)...

clearly finn was (and definitely still is) very pleased with his jedi robe...

i made waffles and breakfast burritos and everyone just ate and played in the yard.

as usual, when it is my own party, i don't get as many pictures as i would like, but you get the idea...

bev made this book with a "secret compartment" cut into the middle.

it has been finn's prized possession since...

i think morning breakfast parties might be my very favorite.

cuteness... and crazy.

2011-05-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

aren't these guys the cutest?

but, just for good measure, you should know they are pretty crazy, too...

giants 2011

2011-05-11T09:47:00.020-07:00

i finally got out my camera for one of jack's baseball games.

as usual, he loved every minute of this season and took it all super seriously.

i am thinking i should have had pete write this post, as i am kind of at a loss as to what to say...

jack played first base...

he always looked really cute with his socks pulled up and his white belt...

ya, pete should have written this one.

oh, well.

that jack burch sure is one sweet kid. that's all.

mets 2011

2011-05-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

what can i say, i'm a sucker for pictures of my kids playing baseball...

i mean, come on, how cute is lucy out there?

a happy weekend.

2011-05-09T09:25:00.002-07:00

this past weekend was just about perfect. saturday we went down to the field for back to back ball games for jack and lucy, which (i must admit) is actually a lovely way to spend a saturday morning. that evening we attended a fabulous cinco de mayo party at pete's parents house where everyone ate, drank and danced the night away. and i woke up the next morning to coffee and pancakes in bed for mother's day... see, perfect.

the kids and i usually make one of these little books for pete for father's day where i ask the kids questions about pete and write down their answers. this year, my sweet husband made one for me to enjoy...

(for the record, i've never actually had a bloody mary...)

and, then, there has to be the answers that make you feel like a terrible mom...

yup.

forget all the i love you's i say throughout the day.

oh, well. at least they think i'm really good at doing laundry...

happy mother's day to everyone!

the food truck trend

2011-05-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

i have to say, this is one trend that i am on board with. i love all the new food trucks popping up in phoenix. my personal favorite is the aiko hot dog from short leash, but my kids are big paradise melts' fans. good, good stuff. if you haven't ventured out to find one of these snazzy little trucks (i think you can follow them on twitter and they let you know where they will be each night), then you should definitely hit up wednesday nights at the phoenix public market. there is always a little something for everyone. perfect for the indecisive crowd.

ahh, lucy and her collections.

these were all the smashed bottle tops she found in the parking lot amidst broken glass and cigarette butts.

yes, i made her wash her hands.

yes, she still has this collection.

and while there, who could pass up a visit to royal coffee?

i never seem to be able to...

more swimming...

2011-05-05T22:02:00.001-07:00

finn is still loving swim lessons.
despite every single time having a minor panic attack about having to go under without goggles. every single time. he knows its coming, he's done it a hundred times before, and yet every time he thinks about it, it freaks him out. funny little man.

finn was mighty excited to show lucy his ribbon...

"playing nature"

2011-05-04T21:15:00.007-07:00

lucy made up a game she calls "playing nature."

somehow it has caught on with all the neighborhood kids.

it consists of basically collecting anything within the "nature" category from around the yard, then organizing it into more specific categories.

"oh, i'm just playing nature," is a phrase i hear from lucy often...

seven springs: part 2

2011-05-03T20:22:00.014-07:00

we drove on a little further and explored some more...

you may notice that lucy is slightly wet in the below picture because just seconds after the above picture she slipped in some moss and totally wiped out. i thought the trip was over at that point, but she was determined to walk all the way across the water...

it was a great little day trip and a wonderful way to spend one of our spring break days.

(thanks, baabee for making the trip with us!)

it has me very excited for road trippin' to come...

seven springs: part 1

2011-05-02T13:58:00.030-07:00

for spring break last week, my dad and i took the kids on a little day trip up north to seven springs. when i was a kid it was a common occurrence for my dad to throw all 4 of us kids into his station wagon and take us somewhere in arizona for the day (and occasionally, overnight). i loved going on these little road trips and was so excited to venture off on one with my own kids and my dad. my dad thought it was funny that i didn't recognize the drive at all, but i realized i was usually in the back staring towards the clouds and the sky, daydreaming and listening intently to each and every lyric of whatever beatles song was playing at that moment (i recall only ever listening to the beatles, until we were old enough to know there was other music in the world). so my memories are all of destinations, not on the directions for getting there (that's more erin's thing and she always wanted to have her own thing...).

my dad spotted this little friend in the road on our way in.

two run-ins with snakes in a week is not my idea of very fortunate circumstances.

my kids would disagree.

i love the way kids just take to wide open spaces and nature.

my rock and stick collector, mr. finn, was in collection heaven...

lucy sat pretending to fish for most of the time...

(until she remembered we packed a picnic and then couldn't stop thinking about eating...)

and jack was in exploring heaven.

hence, most of the pictures he managed to be in, were him off in the distance in a blur as he ran by...

and, as i mentioned, we packed a delicious little picnic...

i want to hold your hand

2011-04-29T20:37:00.005-07:00

i just love these two little friends who are constantly holding hands.

even while swinging.

so sweet.

bathtub safari

2011-04-28T16:39:00.013-07:00

finn has been a rather huge fan of morning baths lately. still a little groggy, he likes to sit in the warm water and play and relax. he has been insisting lately that i sit on the floor and read a book or something just to be in the room. fine by me. i love having those little moments where kids lose themselves in play and you can sit by and listen. i love hearing them talk to themselves and hear what make-believe they create. i need more constant reminders to sit and enjoy these moments rather than using the time that my kids are preoccupied to get things done. so, thank you mr. finn for making me stay close.

lightrail, lux and burton barr

2011-04-27T21:40:00.035-07:00

top of my kids list for spring break activities was to ride the lightrail. they didn't really care where, they just wanted to ride it. so, we headed down to central and camelback and rode the light rail to lux for a little afternoon treat and then on to the burton barr central library to stock up on some new books and movies for spring break.

"that's just her face."

my kids love the downtown library. not sure if its the fountain inside, the glass elevators or the fifth floor bathrooms, but this is the library they always want to go to (even over the scottsdale library with its fancy castle). and it certainly is always an adventure in people watching and a lessen in homelessness. two highlights including a man trying to sell me a digital camera, while my kids stared wide-eyed and then asked, "didn't he know you already have a camera?" and another man, as we sat waiting for the light rail, asked me if i smoked and did i have a cigarette he could bum. this actually horrified my children and jack couldn't stop asking, "why would he think you smoke?" good times.

i love spring break.

possibly more than most kids.

its like a little teaser for summer and all the goodness ahead.

bring on june!

easter!

2011-04-26T20:43:00.026-07:00

happy easter!

our morning was the usual around here.

find easter baskets.

eat insane amounts of delicious food at our neighborhood breakfast at 7 a.m.

hunt for eggs with all the neighbor kids.

then off to mass to rejoice!

another good year.

(almost) all the neighborhood girls...

lucy and her beloved katie...

and after mass we went to g.g. and grandad's for more delicious food, egg hunting and goofing around with cousins. we sure are ~~spoiled~~ blessed. (oh, and i might have gained 10 pounds in that one day...)

and there may have been an incident with a snake that really freaked me out...

dyeing easter eggs

2011-04-25T20:26:00.010-07:00

i have to say, i love decorating easter eggs.

nothing fancy, just the good old $1.99 paas easter egg kit.

(i especially love the wax crayon.)

but, most of all, i love sitting on the porch, watching how hard my kids concentrate on such a silly little task. this is serious stuff, people.

finn, dirt and the mall.

2011-04-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

anthropologie is one smart store.

let me start by saying, that on the rare occasions when i have attempted to drag finn along with me to the mall, he quickly figures out when i try to take him in "a mom store" and wants little to do with it.

anthropologie had a little earth day celebration in their store yesterday, so i decided to take finn.

upon walking up to the store, he stopped and was hesitant about where i was trying to take him.

once inside, they had shovels and dirt for digging and planting flowers.

coloring pages and pots of crayons.

and even green sprinkled cookies.

finn was sold. had they had chocolate milk, he might never have left.

after the festivities, we walked around the store and admired the clothes and looked at some of the books.

he is already asking to go back to "that cool store at the mall."

see, smart.

they start their marketing good and young.

(i love that little tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he concentrates on his coloring).

(for more pictures go here).

bunnies.

2011-04-20T21:19:00.001-07:00

lucy got to bring home two bunnies from school yesterday and they were quite a hit with all the neighborhood kids. my kids immediately started asking if they could keep one. i'm not going to lie, i definitely had a moment of trying to figure out in my brain, where we could keep them, if it would be better to get two or one, etc. i mean, come on, could you get a cuter easter morning present? then i remembered that i don't like poop and animals tend to do that, so i thought better of it. but looking at these pictures again, it is awfully tempting...

loose toothes

2011-04-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

last week lucy went to bed with, as finn calls them, 2 loose toothes.

she really wanted pete to pull the looser of the two,

but he deemed it not quite ready and so she went to bed.

as tired as she was, i kept hearing her moving around, getting up for a drink, calling me in to listen to the new sound her tooth made when she wiggled it from side to side...

she was a bit distracted.

at least an hour after we put her to bed, she pops around the corner into the family room with a bloody mouth, a tooth in her hand and a big "ta-da!"

i asked her if it fell out or if she pulled it, to which she demonstrated a big yank along with a pirate-y "aarrgh!" to show us that she had, in fact, pulled it right out.

i guess she had made up her mind that she was going to school the next day to show off her missing tooth and nothing would stand in the way of that happening.

she is definitely a girl who always knows what she wants.

and so the days of missing teeth are upon us again...

visiting phoenix.

2011-04-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

on saturday, my very sweet husband agreed to my crazy plan of heading downtown to the science center and maybe, just maybe, hitting up pizzeria bianco as it is now open for lunch (11am-10pm, that's some good stuff, folks). this might not sound like anything special, but if you know pete, then you know he doesn't want to go anywhere that might have a crowd. we tend to hit up museums during the week and stay away from restaurants that average a 3 hour wait, but every now and then i like to pretend i am a tourist in my own city. and every now and then pete goes along with it. it always makes me excessively happy. i guess i am fairly easy to please... needless to say, the kids were all thrilled.

so, it was just one of those perfect kind of days.

i'm still smiling about it.

we saw the ultimate wave tahiti at the imax.

if you have never been to a 3D movie with your kids, you really should.

it allows for endless giggles.

the glasses, the reaching out to touch fish, the screaming when a shark jumps in your direction...

good stuff.

and the digital room always offers some good reasons to giggle, as well...

and then we got to eat at pizzeria bianco which is always a treat.

and, we hardly had to wait.

but, really, could you ask for a lovelier place if you had to wait?

if anyone feels like pizza, let me know. i'm ready to go back.

and, if you don't live here, come visit and i will take you there.

you'll love it.

oh, donuts.

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

i finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of making homemade donuts.

it was wonderful.

they were delicious.

and finn was so very meticulous helping make them.

i love his hands in this picture.

he always holds his fingers carefully together like that when he's concentrating.

for more pictures and the recipe we used, head over to fanciful no.2,

a new little blog christine and i started because we like to have way too many things going in our lives at one time...

but seriously, go check it out and let me know what you think (shameless plug...).

always curious.

2011-04-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

as i mentioned, i was sick for a few days this week and finn was surely the one who had to deal the most with me (being the only one not at school and all). our little lip kisser and snuggler was also a little sad at the fact that he had to keep a good distance from me.

tonight, when i finally agreed to snuggle with him again before bed, he asked me as we were laying there, "how do people get sick?"

"well, from germs," i tried to answer sleepily.

"but how do you get germs?"

"from someone else who is sick, i guess." please let that be it.

"but how did that person get sick."

"from an even different person who was sick..." hoping it would end, but seeing where it was going.

"no, no, no. but how does the first person get sick?"

"can we talk about it tomorrow?"

"ok," he agrees and is snoozing within a few seconds.

*(our flexible yoga guy striking a pose and talking to himself).

"will you build wif me?"

2011-04-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

i was sick for a good portion of this week. sweet mr. finn was such a good little sport, laying in bed next to me looking at books, doing puzzles on the floor in my room and finding ways to play by himself around and near me without too much complaining. so, this morning when i felt like i could be upright for more than 5 minutes without passing out, i told him we could play whatever he wanted. his request was to "build a school" and play with little people (never mind we have an actual little people schoolhouse...). so we built it and set it all up and he started filling it with people. then he carefully explained to me who and what everything was...

one classroom was jack's and the other lucy's. in lucy's classroom mrs. hundelt was reading to some kids while others were busy with "their favorite works." outside on the playground, was "mom watching finn and kateri and a horse drinking out of the pool." after explaining this much, he drove a car with a man and woman inside over to the playground so mr. luke could drop off miss allie.

then mr. luke drove away to "meet dad for like some beers or something."

"where's dad?" i asked.

"he is..." (long pause as he tries to decide who should be dad).

"...this guy. wearing dad's new glasses," he finally decides choosing a man with white hair.

"but he's stuck behind these cars on his way to go see mr. luke and have beers," he adds.

oh, finn burch.

i missed playing with you for those two days.

you are one sweet guy.

stinkeye.

2011-04-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

this is lucy's everyday face.

contrary to what it might seem, she is not mad here.

not in the least.

that straight mouth and intense glare are how she takes it all in.

she can go from this to hysterical giggles in a matter of seconds.

she's had this serious little face ever since she was a baby.

i love it.

{"I doubt she gave you the stinkeye

that's just how her face looks, you know?

That's just her face."}

for being so serious (seemingly), she is actually quite a goofball.

in fact, it is hard to get a nice, smiling picture out of the girl...

and when she's done, she's done.

and all you will get is this...

baking with friends.

2011-04-12T22:16:00.004-07:00

saturday lucy and her little friend katie helped me bake cookies.

these two are kind of obsessed with each other as of late.

not sure what finally clicked, considering they have lived across the street from us for as long as we have lived here and the girls never paid too much attention to one another before.

katie is a year younger than lucy, so perhaps that has something to do with it...

i don't know.

i do know, that for the last two months every spare moment lucy finds is spent asking to play with katie, playing with katie or watching out the window for katie to come home.

as katie's dad commented, its almost like they thought they were looking across the street into a mirror and only just realized there was actually another little girl with long blonde hair and two brothers who would love to play dolls and giggle ridiculous amounts all day long, standing right there on the other side of the road.

rainy days.

2011-04-11T20:44:00.001-07:00

saturday was one of those perfect rainy days.

(i can't quite explain it, but the smell of rain in phoenix is one of my very favorite smells).

baseball games were cancelled and everyone laid around reading and relaxing.

jack and i ended up going for a bike ride in the rain

and then he talked me into heading over to lgo and buying him pancakes.

it probably had something to do with him saying,

"i love just mom and jack time. can we do this more?"

lucky for me, he only requested pancakes, as i am sure he could have had whatever he wanted after that little tug at my heart strings...

lucy and finn played in and out of the rain with neighbor friends

and pete was as happy as if it were the day before the purple with the yankees and masters both on tv.

then it was back to chores, dishes, laundry, kids complaining, not listening, bickering...

fairly standard, but all in all, it was a lovely weekend.

quotes

2011-04-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

"pete post"

some overheard quotes:

finn: "jack takes like 200 minutes to go poo."

jack: "mom, do i have to go to school on thursday and friday or can i just stay home and watch the masters?"

emily: "pete, you are the best husband ever. you are so sweet, and i think you are the best looking guy in history."

lucy: "what means wimpy?"
finn (annoyed): "it means not very strong."
finn (looking at me and now not so sure): "dad, what does wimpy mean?"

luke speier: "pete, i wish i could hit home runs like you in softball."

declan (while looking at an orange tree on a walk): "baa!!! baa!! baa!!! there are 400 orange balls on that damn tree.....get me one of them....now!!!"

jack: "can we play risk?"
emily: "not right now."
jack (4 seconds later): "can we play risk?"

maisie klocek: "pete, why is my husband so jealous of you? doesn't he realize that he should just be honored to know you? he will never be half as good as you at golf or gt, so i wish he would just accept it and move on."

jack: "ms. stagg told me....."

finn (before going to bed): "what is grace? but i mean, what does grace look like?"

the little girl behind emily, lucy, christine, and ruby at 'princesses on ice': "snow white.....listen to me....DO NOT eat that damn apple......it tastes like $h^%......don't do it.....what the hell? can you not hear me? i said don't eat it!!! what a moron snow white is. she is stupider than dopey. this should be called 'idiots on ice'.....who in their right mind would eat an apple from a freakishly scary old woman in a black robe with a wart on her nose? toss that old bag a quarter and tell her to go downtown and have a rat gnaw that thing off her face, but don't take a bite of the apple.....seriously snow, have you never heard of adam and eve? apples are never ok to eat from a stranger. i would sooner eat an open snickers on halloween that has clearly been tampered with before i would eat an apple from a stranger. how about we get the hell out of here.....but first, can we stop by the toy store and grab one of those pink automatic tooth brushes with three lighted plastic tubes that slowly twirl when you push the button? and on the way home we can stop by goodwill and drop off the twirly thing because i will be done playing with it by then."

lucy (immediately upon waking up.....and doing her best rebecca black / stephen colbert impersonation): "friday, friday, friday"

jack (following lucy's singing): "partying, partying.....yeah!!"

happy masters sunday. go yanks.

cloudy.

2011-04-08T12:30:00.001-07:00

enjoying the gray skies and chilly weather today.
laying around with not much to do.
oh, except those dishes in the sink...
guess i should go do those and then read...

thought about taking a bike ride, but opted for laying on the back porch while the kids played playdough (again...).

here's to a relaxing, lazy weekend.

playdough.

2011-04-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

i don't really like playdough.

perhaps that is mean and horrible to say as a parent, but i can't help it.

it seems to get stuck in everything and squished into the rug.

i have type-a kids who freak out if colors get mixed together.

(which i can't really blame them for, as i was kind of like that as a kid...)

and cleaning up never seems to happen timely enough to avoid old, hard playdough.

yet, we have been playing a lot of playdough lately.

and then i remembered how much i loved it as a kid.

so, here's to trying to be a less uptight mom and let my kids have some good old kid fun, even if it means hard playdough in the rug that will never come out...