Kiwi has Arrived!

Kiwi with his passport & trinkets given to him by hosts before us.



Kiwi & my big 18 pound Maine Coon named Adagio. He paid almost no attention to Kiwi at all.



Kiwi & Salem. Salem wasn't too sure about him, especially once Kiwi began his "call".



Kiwi & the girls. They both have been showering him with LOTS of affection. :-)



Kiwi at bedtime with a very excited little girl. She has waited patiently for his arrival. She was overjoyed when he finally came.

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We have a visitor for the next few weeks at our home. His name is "Kiwi" & he is a world traveler from New Zealand. Right now he is currently on the North American leg of his journey. Kiwi just arrived from Canada this past Monday.

I had mentioned his upcomming stay to my Mother recently. She found a large world map made of cloth & is accquiring it. The plan is to place a bead everywhere that Kiwi has or is visiting on his first world tour. Somewhere else there will be a log of where & when he arrived at his various hosts locations. I think it is going to be a great momento of his stay with us. Also a great, fun way to learn about the geography of the world at a later date. I am also considering making a small scrapbook of the photos we take of him as well.

This little stuffed animal has been traveling the world for over 1 year now. People host him, take him places & take photographs of him. They then send e-mails that are written by "Kiwi" & include the pictures to his "Mum". His "Mum" then posts these on his own website. You can check it out at http://kiwis-grand-world-adventure.blogspot.com

Upon Kiwis arrival, my oldest called my Mom on the phone & was SO excited that my Mom could hardley understand a word she said. It wasn't until Mom heard the word Canada that she knew what my daughter was talking about.

Given that the weather is good, we plan on taking Kiwi to the "Dinosaur" museum this Saturday. She wants to take him to the zoo as well, but it is expensive & it's too blasted HOT to do that. I'm thinking that maybe a trip down toward Tuscon may be a little better. I have the San Xavier Mission or maybe Biosphere 2 in mind. They are also places that I have been bugging my husband to take me to see as well. Since the land on which Biosphere sits has recently been sold to a developer, it may be our last chance to see it.

Back to Kiwi. My daughter took him to show her teacher on Tuesday night. She invited Kiwi to spend a day at school with Elizabeth. She thought the whole project was a really cool idea.

The teacher has invited my Grandmother to visit the classroom when she comes out from Illinois next month. Since Grandma is 85, this will be her last trip out here. How much of a thrill will that be for both my daughter & my Grandmother! I am looking forward to that. T

Basically unscathed & barley missed a microburst

We had our first BIG storm of Monsoon season 2007 last night. We had some damage to the ground in front of our home, but many of our neighbors had lots of damage.

It hit about 9:45 pm last night & right after we gathered our flashlight & candles we lost power. We turned the switches to off on everything we could & turned the AC unit off via the battery controlled digital thermostat. Then the rain hit & hit HARD! It had to be blowing parallel to the ground because we had water coming in around our doors & many of our windows! I used every towel, clean or dirty, to stop the water from coming into our house. My husband had to stand at the Arcadia door & hold it. It was jiggling around so much he was afraid it was going to break! As he stood there, our screen door was flung through the air like a feather in a windstorm. Once the rain & lightening pretty much stopped, my DH went outside. I was at the door with a flashlight & he was out in the mud with his. We found our big trash can, the kind a truck comes & empties, out by our car. The Little Tikes slide & stairs were at the opposite side of the house they started at. The little Tikes airplane see saw toy travelled down one side of our house & came to a stop in our front yard. The Little Tikes Red Coup travels were only cut short by our neighbors chain link fence. Did I mention that was the neighbor across the street& the car started in our back yard? We don't live on a tiny piece of city property either. We live on 1.25 acres of ruralish land. Thanks to the tunnels built by round tailed squirrels recently, we now have a gaping hole in our front yard as well. We got off easy though. By the way, we never found our screen door.

Most of the property is the same size as ours. The neighbors behind us lost ALL of their wooden fences The neighbor kiddy korner from them lost ALL of their CINDER BLOCK fences! Others sheds ranged from having been turned over like a toy all the way to being in twisted pieces strewn over a 1/2 mile radius. One family lost their backyard trampoline, all of their patio furniture & the metal awning that covers their patio. The front window of their truck was shattered by some large flying object & their 2nd car wasdmaged by something else in the wind. Someone else's awning survived but the wind gifted them with a full size truck bed liner & it had been wedged under the awning. Several homes have lost shingles or even have holes in their roof. Like I said above, we got off easy.

After the storm subsided , we were all without power. We saw many flash lights & heard neighbors shouting to us & others, "Are you okay over there?" & "Do you need any help?". I think most of the clean-up has to wait until insurance adjusters make their way to the homes here. The Direct TV repairmen were busy as bees here yesterday. Power did finally come back on at 6 am. We got Liz ready for school & proceeded as usual. I did allow extra time to get to school though because I didn't know what condition the roads would be in. I tried to approach her school from the south & found the road blocked off. The northern approach was blocked off as well. Several power poles were down or falling down. Even those HUGE, thick metal ones were down. I drove to the district office & found that school was being held for my daughter's school someplace else. We got directions & headed that way. She ended up being 20 minutes late, but due to the extreme weather, she won't be counted as tardy. There were many others that were late as well. It will be a complete zoo going to pick her up from school today. I told her I may be a little late, but I WILL be there to pick her up. Since she is so little, the school doesn't let kids go home without a parent or without being walked out to their bus. They put stickers on each little one's shirt that says the bus they get onto or if they are being picked up by a parent. Then they check off the students names as they are picked up from school. I will be leaving an hour before school gets out, allowing for extra time to get to the school at the opposite end of the city & probable traffic detours. It looks like classes for her school will be held at the new school for at least the next 2 days.

Let's just hope we don't get pummeled again tonight. If we are, I don't think we will be lucky again. We have a lot of earth to move this weekend. Neighbors would probably help, but their homes are in need of attention as well. I know that if the little one would have been even 2 years older, I would have been helping a neigbor collect all of theri scattered wood fenncing. I did help for about 20 minutes with one hand by picking up single pieces of fence post. The little one was holding of my hands or was riding on my hip while I was doing that. I fit is cool enough, I will probably be picking up misc. shingles of all colors that were depositied in my yard. Items also in my yard are a metal realtor sign, a large piece of bubble wrap, large pieces of cardboard & full cans of paint. What fun huh?

She likes it! Hey Mommy!

Day One



Day Two

The first day of school was a success! She had some ups & downs but overall it was good. She forgot her lunch box...twice. Both times she was either taken to it or it was returned to her. Good thing I put her name on it.

She made a new little friend named "Madison" & a little boy was nice to her. She made sure I KNEW that he was NOT her "BOYFRIEND". !LOL! She fell down on the sidewalk & skinned her knee. Then she told me that she didn't cry & it wasn't bleeding either. She was excited because they got to go to the library & have 2 books read to them by their teacher. They got to color & sing songs as well.

After school we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I let her choose a folder to put her papers in & keep them nice. She chose pink & decorated it with stickers.

The second day she made another new friend named "Jasmin". Jasmin helper her tie her shoe & sat next to her at lunch. They read a story called "The Kissing Hand". It was something about a racoon that has it's hand kissed by it's Mommy. They made & colored a book & she was proud because she got to cut out her own pages. She also told me she had "gym" class. She didn't call it that. She told me they were running & playing games. I didn't know it was "gym" until she said that they played in the room where they eat lunch. When I opened her backpack to see what she had done, she said that the kids liked her folder decorated with stickers. Everyone did, except for one boy that said it was stupid. When I asked if she said anything she told me "No! I acted like he wasn't there". Then she said it isn't nice to say the word "stupid". That is something we had been working on this past summer. Nice to know it worked...at least for now.

She told me that she, not Jasmin, was the only one that didn't have money for milk OR chocolate milk. I told her I didn't know how much milk was & would have to ask someone, hoping she would forget about it. She didn't forget & reminded me today as I was packing her lunch that she wanted chocolate milk for lunch. I dug around my bottomless pit of a purse & found $1 in change. I promptly placed into her Hello Kitty coin purse & placed it on top of her sandwich container. I figure that would tell me how much milk costs at school. When I was little it was only 10 cents...if memory serves me correctly. That was only 25+ years ago.

It was comforting to see her not stop & ask me for a hug before I dropped her off at the playground today. Instead I said "Good-bye!" & she turned with a quick wave & said "Bye MOM!". Then she was rapidly met by, who I could only assume was, "Jasmin" due to the description I was given of her yesterday. My little one however had to stop & "see" her sister 3 times over the wall before we could return to our car.

The first day the little one cried & screamed. The second day there were a few tears but they ceased before I could finish fastening her car seat. Today there were no tears at all. Thank GOODNESS for that. We came home & immediately I hear "Pay MOMMY PAY!" She hasn't mastered the sound of the letter "L" yet. For the first time ever today she helped me pick up toys in the playroom without me asking her to. Maybe there is hope for her yet. :-)

With the end of "Summer" comes school days!

Breakfast before my 1st day of school


Outside on my 1st Day of Kindergarten


The "ladies" love Mr. Bear

The bubble picture I MEANT to post


Yesterday was the "end " of summer for us. How did we spend our final day?

First we went to the park. Next I read the kids a book. After lunch the little one took a nap & my oldest one & I made cookies. I measured every thing & she dumped it into the mixing bowl. We have a Kitchenaid so she knows how to move the bowl up & down. She also knows how to increase the speed of the mixer...always starting with speed 1. The first batch she helped roll into balls & placed them on the pan. Then she went into her room to play with her Barbies. I wanted her to have something special for her lunch so we made butterscotch chip cookies. She REALLY liked them too. :-) Hopefully, lunch will go well for her today.

This morning started REALLY early for this Mom. I got up at 5:45 am. I sat on the edge of the bed for 10 minutes trying to wake up. At 6am I woke the kids up & I had breakfast on the table waiting for them. *note to self* this works well*. While my schoolgirl was eating I removed the foam rollers from her hair & put it in a ponytail. After breakfast she brushed her teeth & then got dressed. It was a no hassle morning! I expected to cry my eyes out as soon as I reached the car. I got misty just thinking about dropping her off at school for the first time. I did well though. I took my pictures. I had the little one on my hip. I didn't shed a tear. I felt much better when I saw some other Kindergarten Moms taking pictures of their kids as well.

My biggest problem was a much unexpected one. My little girl! She cried & screamed & screamed & cried when I put her in her car seat! I think it was because we left her sister in a building & returned to the car without her. In her little 2 year old mind she probably didn't understand the events of this morning. The poor little thing. It had to be hard for her. She has only seen us leave her sister with her Grandparents or her Uncle.

Now as she is down for a nap I find my home to be uncomfortably silent. It is a silence I have not heard for 5 years. In my single days I would have cherished this silence. I may have even taken advantage of it by reading a good book or finishing up a craft project, but not today. Today I turn to my blog. My much neglected blog in recent months.

This silence that I must reaquaint myself with will be over in about an hour. Shortly after that, it will be time to pick my girl up from her first day of school. I hope to see the sparkle in her eye I saw as she entered her classroom today. I hope to her the excitement in her voice that I heard when she met her teacher as she tells me about the days events. I hope she likes it so much that she can hardly wait to return to school tomorrow. I hope I don't cry when I return to my car tomorrow. I probably won't cry becuase I'm shedding a few small tears now.

Why the tears? Well,because as I write this it finally hit me that my firstborn is beginning to start the process of making friends & becomming independant. Don't get me wrong. I KNOW I'll be number one for at least a few more years. I KNOW that she will be dependant on her parents for many years to come. Today is the first step she is taking out into the world. It is how I took my first step into the world. One day, before I know it...she will be out in the world, going to college, getting married, having babies. It's all comming & today was just the first step.

!!! Sedona !!! +1

Not the one I meant to post


Lounge Lizard in Sedona


Snake Charmer


My Girls


"Javelina's on Parade" with a guest appearance by our beloved "Mr. Quackers"

I don't see HOW my blog got this rating. Oh well!!!

Mingle² - Houston Singles

Say A Prayer

Say A Prayer....

I ask that we all say a prayer for those that need them, if we know them personally or not. Everyone is important to someone out there.

Say a prayer for my blogging buddy & her family...in hopes that their newest family member, a kitty named Dexter, returns home safely. He has been missing a few days now.

Say a prayer for the families of the chopper pilots that lost their lives in a horrible accident that occured in Phoenix last Friday. They were doing their jobs, bringing us breaking news & lost their lives doing it.

Say a prayer for the public servants that risk their lives to keep us all safe. No amount of money could ever begin to repay them for what they do on a daily basis.

Say a prayer for the victims & the families of those affected by the bridge collapse in Minnesota. Also pray that those that are missing may be found soon.

Say a prayer for our men & women serving in Iraq & around the world. You don't have to support the war in order to support our troops.

Say a prayer for a friend or family member, even if they don't think they need it. WHY? Well, because they are important to you & what you put out into the world comes back to you. At least that is what I tend to believe.

Lastly, say a prayer for the people that come into our country, either legally or illegally that simply want a better life for themselves & their familes. I may not want the illegals here, but I don't wish for harm or worse to come to them either.