Hestenes Family Blog

Busy week!

2010-05-13T15:55:00.002-07:00

Monday was Girls Scouts. I was in charge of the meeting this week and so we did the Girl Sports Try-It which involved games with balloons. Hitting balloons with badminton rackets, passing balloons around the circle with only elbows or knees, etc. Sean came to the meeting and was an honorary brownie for the meeting leaving Glen and Max at home to work on "the tin roof".

Tuesday was Maxwell's 1 year appointment. He is small for out family, weighing in at only 23 lbs, putting him in the 50-75% in height and weight. Sean and Maggie were in the 98+ percentile at this age. They remain tall but have thinned out to around the 75% in weight. Max has to go back in a month to check on fluid in his ear, a remnant of last month's cold.

Wednesday was Maggie's bi-annual teeth cleaning. She has 2 cavaties. One will be filled on Tuesday and the other is on a loose tooth so if we can wiggle it out in 6 weeks, she won't need that one filled. If its not out, the dentist will want to pull it! Yikes! So far though, the flouride treatment seems to be working in that none of her permanent teeth have troubles. Sean will have his first visit to the dentist next month.

Thursday, today, I had a meeting with Maggie's teacher, principal, and speech pathologist. She is having trouble with the l, th, and r sounds, but nothing too severe. She scored near 100% on reasoning and understanding or something like that, but a standard deviation below normal on processing, expressing and grammar. Or something like that. There were a lot of big words tossed around and not being up on my English, I really need to read through the report again. Basically, it means her processing of language is slow because she cannot attend to the task at hand. She was diagnosed with mild ADHD a few months ago and this consult confirms the same thing. We do not intend to medicate and so the psychologist has recommended starting neurofeedback to help her practice focusing and a program called PACE which meets three times a week outside of school for more practice focusing. We will be starting these this summer.

Tomorrow, Friday, is Maggie's 8th birthday. I am bringing cupcakes to school and then we will have a little family party in the evening.

Saturday morning is graduation so Glen and I will leave the kids with Nancy for the morning. Good luck Nancy! (She has never had all 3 at once) In the afternoon, Maggie is going to her first sleepover.

Maggie is almost 8!

2010-05-08T22:37:00.004-07:00

We had Maggie's birthday party today. 8 girls, a slip-n-slide, a treasure hunt, and decorate your own cupcakes. Lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

2010-04-29T15:45:00.004-07:00

Hard to believe Max has turned 1. He is such a happy guy. He loves to play and snuggle and eat. He is a speedy crawler and can pull himself up to standing and move around the furniture in this standing position. He likes to clap and wave goodbye, and knows when people notice him and will play shy or give a big smile. Favorite foods include broccoli, potatoes, zuchinni and watermelon. Favorite toys include the ball machine and toys that play music. Favorite pastime is cruising the house and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. He always has something in his mouth. If you don't see a toy hanging out, then you have to get worried and do a finger sweep to pull out something small that shouldn't be in there like a penny or a lego or a hairball. Bleh! Sean does not consistently appreciate Maxwell's company, however Maggie loves to have playtime with Max. She likes to give him wagon rides.

What's up with the Hestenes's?

2010-02-27T23:08:00.002-07:00

Highlights of the day:
Maxwell has become a competent crawler.
Glen did a major floor cleaning now that Max is mobile.
Sean took a 3 hour nap today.
Glen and Maggie biked all the way to Grandma Nancy's house and back.
Adrienne made oatmeal and butterscotch chip cookies.
Adrienne and Sean went to the farmer's market to buy veggies.
Everyone played in the backyard.
Max is sleeping better now that his 4th tooth has broken through the gums.
Max is also giddy with his mobility.
Sean has been singing a lot lately. So cute!
Ended the day with a family movie -- Brother Bear. A good choice, it even kept Sean's attention.

San Diego!

2010-02-16T12:19:00.018-07:00

We are back from San Diego! Had a great time at Sea World, Legoland, and Mission Beach. The worst part was the drive there. Everyone was cranky after a day of school and Maggie got a little car sick and we had to stop often because Max kept getting upset. And once we arrived, Sean couldn't settle down enough to sleep and so we didn't really get to bed until about 2 a.m. Bleh! But the rest of the trip went great.

Day One: Sea World. Our hotel was on Hotel Circle Drive which was about 5 minutes or less to Sea World. So it was very easy to get there. We arrived just as they opened the gates (10a.m.) and stayed until about 7pm. Maggie wasn't too interested in riding the roller coasters or any of the rides except for one. Which was good because Sean was to little to ride anything. And of course so was Max. The ride of choice was the river ride where you float and get splashed. I rode it once with Maggie and Glen rode it twice with Maggie. Sean slept in the stroller during that time so he didn't notice. He would have wanted to go too. Favorite highlights of the day included the Shamu show. We were sitting in the soak zone (against my protests as I didn't think Sean and Max would appreciate getting soaked) but we came out unscathed. Can't say the same of the people 5 feet down and 10 ft up from us though. Also enjoyed feeding the dolphins and watching the flamingos. Did not enjoy how everything cost extra, from feeding the dolphins to riding the rides. Sea World gets a "Boo!" from us for not including these in the admission price. However, we did enjoy the large Sesame Street playground area. We also ran out of time and missed the shark exhibit.

A flamingo checking for bugs in Maggie's hair.

Waiting for Shamu.

Naptime!

Feeding dolphins.

Day Two: Legoland. Wasn't sure what to expect with Legoland. I didn't think Sean would be old enough to ride any rides, and wasn't sure Maggie would be too excited about legos in general. But we had a fantastic time. I would describe Legoland as a smaller scale Disneyland, perhaps better planned to include the wee tots, with less people and lines. Not as grand in scale, but certainly fun. There were 4 cut-offs for heights for rides, and Sean made 2 of the cut-offs so there was a lot he could ride. Maggie made the tallest cut off which meant she could ride anything without a parent, so we were able to get everyone riding at the same time. Max and I rode the slow boat rides through scenic lego landscapes with everyone else. Sean was content when Maggie was riding something he was too little for because there were buttons he could push to squirt water at people on the ride or buttons that did other things. So waiting for Maggie was no problem. We watched one show and Maggie and Sean participated as Egyptian Dancers. We also saw Dan Marjale, ex-Suns player and current assistant coach. He is one of Glen's favorites because they are the same age, height, and have the same hair. We thought it was funny he was spending his Valentine's day at Legoland like the rest of us family folk. Hee hee!

Hey! Thats not mommy!!!

It was so funny watching Sean try to drive his little car the first time. He pushed the pedal down and the car started forward, which startled him and he turned around to see who was pushing him. After the third "startle" he put it all together and was able to drive his little car around.

Here is Maggie at the big kids version of the car driving ride. A definate favorite for both kids. Maggie even has an official drivers license with her photo on it.

Here is Glen showing Sean how to get the helicopter to rise up.

Everybody loved the water cannon ride. Don't stand too close or you will get squirted while taking a picture!

Here is Maggie as an Egyptian Dancer. Can you see Sean on the far left? Not dancing, just watching the mummy get her groove on. :)

Although you can't tell, Sean is splashing Maggie while she is on the ride by pushing this button.

Taking a boar cruise through "miniland". Here is the Sydney Opera house made of legos.

Day Three: Mission Beach. We had breakfast and dinner at our hotel each night since kids ate free. Lunch was out and about. On our last day, we headed down to Mission Beach and Belmont Park. We couldn't stay as long as we wanted as we had to hit the rode by 3pm in order to get home by 10pm. Maggie loved the beach, playing in the waves. Sean loved getting chased by the waves, until he ventured too close, couldn't outrun it and fell getting all sandy and wet. After that, he stayed faaaar away from the water. I ended up sitting on the grass by the boardwalk with Sean and Max while Glen and Maggie jumped the waves. We were right next to Belmont Park but didn't go exploring the rides there as we were having too much fun on the sand. Ate a late lunch at the Wave House, which was a restaurant right on the beach. In fact, the floor was sand and we could watch the ocean while we ate our lunch. After that, we had to get the kids de-sanded and pack into the car for the drive home. We had lots of fun, and can't wait to go back. But next time, we will stay longer and and spend more time at the beach. Glen wanted to go to Coronado Island, which we didn't have time for, I wanted to check out the lighthouse and Maggie wanted to look for seashells, all of which we didn't have time for. We had also reserved a spot on a bay cruise to look at sea lions, but we skipped it as we were having too much fun on the beach. We will have to bring out bikes and trikes for the boardwalk as well and visit some of the attractions we missed, like the San Diego Zoo. So much vacationing to do, so little time. :)

Poor Glen!

2010-02-06T20:36:00.002-07:00

Glen had to go in for a root canal, or something like that. The procedure on the receipt has a very long and complicated name. He was at the dentist for 6 hours and came home looking like a wreck. Poor baby! Meanwhile, I've got a cold with the worst sinus congestion and soar throat. The kids are healthy so far. However, RSV and pink eye are making the rounds at Max's daycare and Maggie and Sean's school has an outbreak of lice....AGAIN! Grrrrr. Hopefully we will avoid it. Fingers are now crossed.

More Maxwell Updates...he's changing so fast!

2010-02-03T21:40:00.003-07:00

Hmmm...where did these 5 gallon water jugs come from? Some rival water company left them at our doorstep. Max thinks they are great because he figured out how to pull himself up to standing. Max is still not crawling yet, but he can get himself from scootching position back to sitting up by doing "down dog" yoga. Max has 3 teeth, and he says "mama"!

Maxwell's NINO day!

2010-01-28T20:56:00.001-07:00

Happy NINO (nine in, nine out) day to Maxwell. He is 9 months old today!

Max is scootching.

2010-01-25T19:16:00.002-07:00

Sean's Art

2010-01-21T19:14:00.002-07:00

Sean now has an account through his school for his artwork too. You can see his art at

http://www.artsonia.com/Sean1859

Become a fan of Sean and Maggie's art and feel free to drop them a comment.

Little Walks

2010-01-18T21:27:00.002-07:00

I took this photo of Sean at the Tempe Beach Marina yesterday. He was at the top of a little . grassy hill. Maggie and Sean were rolling down it. Today we walked to Hole in the Rock. It was chilly (60 degrees) and sprinkling. We have had about 2 weeks of weather in the 70's, and while that may sound great to those of you in the cold, it is rather boring to be always HOT! I'm enjoying the "winter" weather of today and hopefully all this week. Here are a few pictures from our hike. We took a picnic lunch.

Max is sprouting teeth!

2010-01-16T21:49:00.002-07:00

Max is 8.5 months old now and is getting his first two teeth. Poor baby has had a couple of rough days and nights but he seems to be cheering up now. One tooth has broken the gums and the other is about even, ready to sprout any day. Both are on the bottom. Max is also sitting very well by himself. I don't feel like I need to place a pillow behind him, but he doesn't know how to sit himself up yet. He tends to fall forward onto his hands and knees, and then onto his tummy. He is still a long way from crawling. So big and heavy, like Sean was, I think it will be another few months before we see some action. However, he can scootch himself across the floor slowly on his tummy. Sean has been very gentle with him lately but still gets urges to grab Max's face, so we have to be careful when they are in close proximatey.

Maggie's Art

2010-01-15T10:28:00.002-07:00

You can now view Maggie's art at the following website.

http://www.artsonia.com/Maggie1632

Her school is uploading art to the site, and you can become a fan of her art or order paraphenalia with her art on it, proceeds going to her school. Be sure to leave a comment for her.

Girl Scout Cookies Anyone?

2010-01-11T22:04:00.004-07:00

Maggie wants to ask if you would like to buy some girl scout cookies from her. Orders are due next Monday (1/18). Send me an email if you'd like me to sign you up.

(Yes, Sean is trying to pose like Maggie. He was being very serious. I almost laughed.) Here is Sean playing with the "Wok and Roll". He likes to sort all the pieces by color.

Here is Glen and Maggie playing chess.

Here is Maxwell helping me make dinner.

Not much going on. Just though I'd post a few pictures.

Lots of walks

2010-01-03T21:57:00.005-07:00

The weather has been beautiful. We've been taking lots of walks. Max loves it.

Sean loves any excuse to ride his tricycle. Glen attached a small rake to make getting up those hills around the back of the zoo more do-able.

Maggie has been on her bike too, and she doesn't want to stop for pictures. Can you see the bighorn sheep against the sky?

Christmas Break!

2009-12-29T15:21:00.005-07:00

The days are flying by so fast! Let me update you on a few things we have been up to this last week. Christmas Eve we went to Zoo Lights with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David.

Yesterday we drove up just north of Paysen to play in the snow. Doesn't Max look cute in snow bibs?

We pulled off the side of the road past Christopher Creek where it looked good for sledding. There was another family there with twin girls that Maggie played with. The dad took this picture of us.

Sean didn't want to sled at first, but after Maggie and Glen went down a few times, he was ready to give it a try.

He loved it! Sean and I went down a bunch of times.

Our Christmas was good. Favorite presents include Sean's tricycle, Maggie's Batik game (see video below), my bread machine and various cookbooks, and Glen's snake light. Sean loves to put all his little trucks in the back of the tricycle and ride around. Maggie loves this game below. We have played it about 30,000 times. I still have the throw the game for her to win, but that is what happens when your mom is a math teacher. She is starting to learn how to use up her big pieces first and save the small ones for the end game.

Today has been remarkably calm. Maggie has played by herself in her room with her new toys for long stretches and Sean has been nice to Max. I'm making my second loaf of bread with the bread machine, this time trying kamut flour to see if I can get a loaf a little less dense than the last one. Max and Sean are currently napping, Glen is outside playing with his frisbees and Maggie is playing with her dollhouse. Time for me to go play too...

Are you ready for Santa?

2009-12-24T14:45:00.002-07:00

The key to surviving the pre-holiday crazies has been divide and conquer. Glen and Sean versus Maggie, Max, and Mom. Sean and Glen have taken numerous drives and visited Grandma a lot these last few days, while the rest of us have been at home. I've been wrapping, cooking, cleaning and nursing while Max mostly sleeps and Maggie mostly watches holiday movies on tv. One day until Christmas and maybe life will calm down after that. (Yipes!)

When the whole family is together, its best to stay active so no-0ne has a chance to bug, hit, annoy, scratch, grab, or bite anyone else. Here we are on A-mountain in downtown Tempe. Sean walked all the way up and down despite Glen bringing the backpack. I carried Max in the front carrier. Maggie ran up and down like 4 times in the span of our ascent. That girl has so much energy. The only time I have seen her tired is after a 12 hour day at Disneyland.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Pre-Holiday Crazies

2009-12-21T21:54:00.002-07:00

I think the title of this post says it all. The kids are wound up! Help!!

Brrrrrrr!

2009-12-13T21:50:00.003-07:00

Its been cold here. A little rainy, but not much. We've all had to break out our sweaters. Here is Maggie sporting the red sweater I crocheted her earlier this year. She looks like a little Christmas elf with her green corduroys on.

I finally finished a sweater I've been working on for Max. It came out a little misshapen and definately too big.
So I was taking it off and putting it away for next year when Sean spotted it and said he would wear it. Its too short in the trunk for him, but he loves it. He wore it all day. His belly button peaks through when he is standing.

We had a busy weekend. Friday night we went to the train park and saw the Christmas Lights. It was opening night so we stood in line to see Santa too. Sean was a little wary but was won over by a candy cane. He absolutely loves the trains.

Saturday night we went to the marina and watched the boats light up and head out onto the lake for the Tempe boat parade. We didn't actually stay for the parade as Glen had to go chaperone the Christmas dance so we had to head home. But I think we saw enough to get the idea. The parade didn't happen at the marina, but on the other side of the lake down by the bridges. I think it was more fun being at the marina because we could watch all the action.

2009-12-12T17:21:00.001-07:00

Soccer Tournament and Xmas Trees

2009-12-06T22:30:00.006-07:00

Maggie had her soccer tournament on Saturday. 4 Games in a row. Ugh! I went home using the baby escape but Glen and Sean powered through. Maggie's team won the overall tournament thanks to one boy on the team who is a soccer champ. So we are done with that now until next season. (Maggie is in black on the left with the ball)

Saturday night we had dinner out at Bostons. I had a 25 dollar off coupon that I bought for 2 dollars. It was great! Sean slurped up his maccaroni and Maggie lost her tooth while biting into her fettuncini. Her tooth didn't seem loose enough to fall out from a soft noodle. Oh...that reminds me...I had better go be the tooth fairy.... Ok I'm back. Maxwell was a big boy in the restaurant and sat in the high chair.

Afterwards, we went to our favorite tree lot at the local nursery and picked out a noble fir. The guy said he cut it himself and brought it all the way from Corvallis! It was a lot cheaper than our standard tree because its more of a Charlie Brown type Christmas tree. Its not quite symmetrical and a little blobby on one side, but you can't tell with all the decorations on it. The guy said it was a "number 2 tree" as opposed to the "premium" tree's on the lot. It was pretty nippy that night so we felt like we were really in the mountains (as long as you ignored all the noise from the generators which kept their lights on...) It was 8 o clock by the time we got home, so we decorated the next day.

Sean is pretty excited by the "mis mis lights".

Soccer Trophy

2009-12-01T21:07:00.003-07:00

Maggie's soccer team had a party at Peter Piper Pizza tonight. This weekend is the tournament. You keep playing until you lose. I am secretly hoping they lose early, but the coach wants everyone to bring a lunch because he thinks they can "go all the way". Yipes! Everyone got a participation trophy. Maggie wants to bring hers to school so she can show her friends. We compromised on her bringing in a photo of her holding the trophy. So this is the photo.

Maxwell is going very well. He is starting to sit up pretty well. Still needs a backup pillow (or mom) behind him for when he flops over while reaching for toys, but he is getting there. We also call him "Mr Roll-ee" as he will roll all over the living room floor. Sean thinks its hilarious when Mawell's leg flops into his train track set up. But not so funny if his foot knocks a train off the track. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T22:11:00.004-07:00

We had quite a feast. I gave Max a few peas to play with while we ate.

He tried, but none actually made it to his mouth.

I did save some sweet potatoes for him, so maybe we will give that a try over the weekend. He is 7 months old! I'm not ready for him to be eating!

Maggie was happy to have Carbon over. (We all were)

Sean suprized everyone by eating the sweet and sour cabbage and the spaghetti squash. He didn't eat anything else though, except the olives.

Sean seems to be over his fear of Grandpa.

Survived the dentist...

2009-11-25T21:36:00.002-07:00

Maggie had her teeth cleaned a few weeks ago and today she had a cavity filled. She was NOT happy about it, but somehow we made it through. The good news is she did not have any cavities in her permanent teeth which means our flouride treatment is working. The bad news is that her 6 year old molars haven't fully erupted so we can't put sealants on them yet. Hopefully they will make it through to our next checkup in May. In the mean time, Maggie is faithfully brushing her teeth in the hopes that she will not have any cavities next time.

Tonight Maggie helped me make the pumpkin pie for tomorrow. And I just popped the apple pie in the oven. The house is still a wreck and will perhaps remain that way. At least the Thanksgiving tablecloth will look pretty. Now its time to do some mainainance on my pc...

Nice day for a walk.

2009-11-22T21:31:00.003-07:00

Sometimes I forget that my camera has "movie mode" until Maggie reminds me to take a movie of her.

Train Park

2009-11-21T21:00:00.002-07:00

Our first family picture with all 5 of us! I know, its not the greatest, but its a start. Thankyou to the guy sitting in front of us on the train.

Sean's favorite thing to do on the playground is still swinging. It makes it very easy to keep track of him. Poor Maxwell has a runny nose and the chilly 65 degree air made it worse. By the time we got home, his face was all red like he had been out in the snow. I guess the acid from the nose mucous plus all his drool is irritating his sweet little face.

After school fun!

2009-11-18T22:23:00.004-07:00

The kids were so busy after school today. From playdoh, to arts and crafts, to blocks, to face painting. They were so busy that they (shock) were able to sit still at dinner and actually eat! Max and I just kicked back and watched the whirlwind around us.

Quotes from the day.

2009-11-15T22:22:00.004-07:00

"Sisters are for loving, not for hitting." -Me, Glen
"Uh oh, now you have milk in your sausage" -Me (after Sean dumps his milk onto his plate)
"I want to wipe it" -Sean (Discussing the milk on his sausage)
"Don't throw your trains at Maggie. Throw them into the toy bin!" -Me
"Yes Maggie, you have to wash your hair." -Me
"We'll clean your room tomorrow." -Me
"Daddy killed a rat in the garden." -Maggie (A rat??? Yipes!)
"Mommy, theres poopy on my fingers" -Sean
"I have monster book" - Sean (Wanting to read his favorite, "Where the Wild things are")
"I'll never lose this!...Oops" -Maggie, reliving her favorite line from the movie "Up"
"I think we had better go to Chuckbox for dinner" -Glen

Up

2009-11-13T21:45:00.002-07:00

Maggie's school had "Family Movie Night" tonight. So we packed everyone up and headed out. I wasn't sure how Sean would do. He isn't really into watching tv or movies, but they were showing it outside on the playground so I figured he could play on the swings (which he did). Once I bought him some popcorn though, he settled down on the blanket next to Maggie and ate and watched the movie. Max fell asleep. A good time was had by all. The movie was really good too. It was called "Up" and about an elderly man trying to live the dream his wife and he always had but never got around to. I'd definately recommend it. Tomorrow we have a soccer game and a birthday party, but otherwise, a nice slow weekend.

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T20:15:00.004-07:00

So all the kids' schools were closed today, and Glen and I had to work. Well, I decided to take the day off and I took the kids to the Tempe Veteran's Day parade. The big parade is in Phoenix. The one is Tempe is mostly girl scouts, shriners, and highschool marching bands. There were more people in the parade than watching it, but we had a great time.

Despite Sean's expression here, he was very happy at the parade. Especially when the police motorcycles drove by and the brownies handed him TONS of candy.

Look how grown up Maggie looks here! In the car on the way home, Maggie said "This is how you spell Jeep; J...e...e...p. Do you know how I know? Its right here." WHen I glanced at her, I expected her to be pointing to a sign outside, but she was pointing to her headband. At the stoplight, she showed me a fuzzy blue headband than Grandma Carolyn used to wear. I hadn't realized she was wearing it. I guess she had been exploring my box of past hair paraphenalia. So her next question was why the word Jeep was on her headband, so I told her how that was Grandma's camp name, and how Grandpa use to drive a jeep. She was very interested in it.

Sean had fun with playdoh today. And Maggie had fun watching the new "Electric Company" on PBS.

We had a fun day. We just missed Glen as he actually went to work today.

Pumpkins and Cranberries

2009-11-01T21:11:00.002-07:00

Maggie and I decided that two holiday foods, pumpkins and cranberries, should be enjoyed more and not saved for only Thanksgiving. So, we made pumpkin pancakes this morning. Even Sean liked them. They are more dense and hearty than regular ones. We added extra spice to make it more fun. Maggie was also quite thrilled that I let her flip the pancakes over in the pan. For dinner, Maggie made cranberry sauce to go with our roasted chicken. I didn't help her at all, except to tell her the recipe. She washed the cranberries, put everything in the pot, and cooked and stirred them to perfection. Maggie is becoming quite useful in the kitchen. Sean's contribution to dinner was helping to open and eat the can of olives. Holiday foods have come early this year.

On the menu for later this week includes cranberry and peanut butter sandwiches as well as pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies (yet to be made). Yum!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T22:02:00.003-07:00

The most frightening thing about our Halloween this year was that we didn't have a pumpkin until 4pm today! Scary! We went to 5 stores before we found some.

Maxwell's Sweater

2009-10-28T20:59:00.003-07:00

Its done! And it fits! Well, I had to roll up the sleeves and its a little snug around the tummy, but who needs to button all the buttons in Arizona anyways? It has a really nice texture. I'm pretty pleased considering the fiasco of my last attempt. :)

Busy Day

2009-10-24T21:26:00.004-07:00

We started out early with an 8 a.m. start time for Maggie's soccor game. Glen cheered from the sidelines proudly wearing the team color (black) while Sean, Max and I went to the playground to swing. Afterwards, Maggie changed out of cleats into sandals and we headed to the Hall of Flame for their big party. They were giving rides in some of the old fashioned firetrucks around the block with sirens wailing. They had some parked outside the kids could climb all over. THere were also modern firetrucks, police cars, helicopters, and forest service trucks. And there were lots of games and goodie bags and kids were dressed up in Halloween attire (although we weren't). Maggie even won a box of donut holes at a cake walk which was good because Glen and I didn't have time for breakfast as we were rushing out the door that morning.

Sean was a little nervous. He stuck to us like glue and didn't want anything to do with going inside any of the trucks. We were a little suprised by that since trucks are right up his alley. But I think all the horns, and sirens, and water and character mascots running around made him a little cautious. He warmed up about the time it was to go home.

Here is Glen pumping water so Maggie can put out a "fire".

Here is Glen chatting up the helicopter pilot, asking him all sorts of aviation specific questions.

Here is the airforce fire truck watering the desert beside the museum. Maggie was impressed by the rainbow all the water created.

We had a good time. After the excitement, we came home for nap. We had tried to meet up with a friend at the Hall of Flame, but they weren't able to make it. However, she invited us to their school's Halloween Carnival. Maggie didn't need much persuading! Here she is decked out as Cleopatra.

Sean, on the other hand, was a little grumpy we drug him out of nap (at 4 pm!!!) in order to cram him into a Halloween costume that is tooooo small. This is the only picture I was able to get of him as a NASA astronaut (or rocket boy as we called him). I'll be sure to do better on Halloween.

Lots of fun at the carnival. Maggie went through the Haunted House and played all the games. Sean pretty much hung out on the school's swing set. Maxwell slept. I think everyone will sleep in tomorrow.

Bouncy Max

2009-10-22T21:41:00.002-07:00

Monday

2009-10-19T22:12:00.002-07:00

Went to work Monday, dropped the kids off. Got a call around 11 a.m. saying Maggie had a fever. Grandma Nancy picked her up and I finished the morning and then picked everyone up. Maggie has a field trip tomorrow to the farm and she thinks she is going. I highly doubt it. I left sub plans for my students as I anticipate staying home tomorrow. Maggie was doing fine on Sunday! Sean was the one I was worried about. Other than a cough, he seems fine.

sickie update

2009-10-18T21:14:00.002-07:00

Well, the kids stayed home for 3 of the 5 days last week. Maggie is much better but has a lingering cough. Glen is still suffering through and Sean is exceedingly grumpy and has a cough also, but at least everyone is fever free. I wish I could keep Sean home another day but I cant use all my sick days at once. At least I can pick him up early. Max and I are so far unscathed.

More sickies...

2009-10-14T21:00:00.002-07:00

Glen stayed home Tuesday sick. Sean and Maggie currently have fevers. So far Maxwell and I are healthy. I'll be staying home tomorrow with all three kids. Lets hope everyone is feeling better soon.

We did it again.

2009-10-11T21:40:00.002-07:00

We made it through another week. Grades are due Tuesday, 8a.m. and I am happy to say I just posted the last of mine online so I am done. Glen has a tad more grading to do but he will be there soon. Lucky us, we have Monday off. We drove up to Payson again today for a little rest and relaxation in the "tall trees" as Glen puts it. We took our chicken teriyaki rice bowls to the local playground up there and played. Everyone had fun. Sean is really into swinging now. I pushed him for about 40 minutes before I had had enough and tried to get him interested in something else. He also sat quite happily on the swings for the entirety of Maggie's soccor game yesterday while I pushed him. Glen is getting into Maggie's soccer games. He stood the whole time on the sidelines cheering her on. Maggie and Glen went for a jog yesterday to the lake and back and they have been playing a lot of soccer in the backyard lately. Maggie wants to run faster and Glen is happy to "coach" her. Its nice they have something to bond together with.

So since we were out and about today, Monday I will be doing the laundry and the grocery shopping and Glen will be mowing the yard and washing the dishes. Divide and conquer! Maggie will spend some time on her new list of spelling words (antenna, slope, planet, machine, muscle, and 5 others), and Sean and Max will just be hanging out. The two of them have been getting along great. Max has been rolling from back to tummy lately and Sean gets a big kick out of it. Sean will sit next to him and hand him baby toys that are out of reach and sweetly talk to him. They are becoming good buddies.

Grandma and Grandpa were here!

2009-10-04T21:32:00.003-07:00

We had a busy weekend full of star parties, soccer games, train parks, science museums, swimming, and lots of take out. In fact, not long after grandma and grandpa said goodbye tonight, Sean threw up all the fried rice he ate at dinner time. Glen spent the next 40 minutes cleaning the bed, Sean, and himself. Everyone was happy to see grandma and grandpa and sad to see them go.

Here is a picture of Maxwell sporting his new jammies courtesy grandma.

Robbie the Robot at the museum with grandma and grandpa.

A little robot car action. The set sort of vibrated and clunked in time to an animated video clip from the "Robots" movie.

Maggie's first soccer game. She is the one in the baby blue shorts kicking the ball.

Watching the game.

Our attempt to make a set of dominoes fall.

Beware!

2009-09-30T05:55:00.002-07:00

Our kids are getting sick, just in time for grandma and granpa to visit. Sean had a 102 fever Friday and Saturday. He missed the long anticipated nation celebration, so I have no cute pictures of him in lederhosen. Maggie wandered into my bedroom this morning at 4 a.m. with 102.8 fever. Glen won the toss and will be staying home with her today. I'll be with her tomorrow. Hopefully Max doesn't catch this bug and everyone will be well by Friday so we don't infect my parents. Yipes!

Busy busy busy!

2009-09-23T21:15:00.003-07:00

We went to the Chinese Cultural Center over the weekend. (Well, Maggie insisted she didn't want to go because we were also stopping at Costco, so we let her hang out with Grandma. They sewed a doll and stuffed it with rice and beans) Sean had fun looking at the fish and we bought some jasmine tea.

Maggie has recently enrolled in a ceramics class and is immensely enjoying it. She always comes home with clay on her face.

We have a busy next few days. Maggie's first soccer practice, Nation celebration at her school, and a birthday party over the weekend. We will be dressing up as Germans for Nation Celebration, but bringing Norwegian food. Check back for pictures of the boys in lederhosen!! Ha!

Payson

2009-09-13T22:43:00.003-07:00

Well, the kids were driving us crazy this weekend, so Glen thought we needed to get out of the house. Boy was he right! We drove up to Payson (60-80 minutes away) where the weather was significantly cooler, brought a picnic and played at the city park for several hours before coming home. Maggie was having loads of fun on the swings so Sean really wanted to try them. But as you can tell in the video, he wasn't too sure about the whole swinging thing.

Max tried the swings too. This little road trip was his first time out of the Phoenix area.

Glen happy to hit the road. (Also happy that all three kids are asleep!)

Labor Day

2009-09-07T20:33:00.005-07:00

Here are what would be cute pictures if I had a decent camera. If you have noticed the quality of my photos have gone down since February, its because our house was broken into and one of the things they took was my camera. :( Need to get a better one before the kids are grown!

And finally, my first attempt at crocheting a sweater. It came out way too big through the shoulders. In my defense though, the pattern was pretty vague and thus hard for a beginner to follow. But Sean seemed to like it. Now we have a reason to go up north to the snow this winter. If nothing else, then to give the sweater a test run.

So Cute!

2009-09-05T23:11:00.002-07:00

No Star Party Tonight.

2009-09-04T22:19:00.002-07:00

Its cloudy here. Maggie was disappointed. She wanted to come to the Xavier star party with me. At least we had a nice drive out there and back. Max slept the whole time. We will try to reschedule in a few weeks.

In the mean time, I've got lots of laundry to do. I volunteered to take home a bag of laundry from Sean's daycare room every Friday. And I figured I would do Junior Elementay A's laundry too (Maggie's room). Its mostly dishcloths from the kids cleaning up at lunch and snack. But its 2 extra loads a week. Between this and 3 kids, wet sheets, toothpaste covered towels, 2 kids in cloth diapers and of course the everyday laundry, the washer and dryer is pretty much running nonstop all weekends long these days. Its not such a bad chore. I like it better than doing dishes, which Glen has taken over these days.

Now for a few pictures. Maggie's hair is always so frazzeled in the pictures. I guess thats because I mosly take them on the weekends when I have a little more time. We just let Maggie's hair roam free on the weekends.

I'm so happy!

2009-08-29T21:32:00.003-07:00

Max is so happy he can grab his toes!

And speaking of toes, his little tootsies get cold in the air conditioning so I made him some baby booties. How retro am I???

Everyone is doing well here. Glen has been riding his new bike to school everyday. Max is into grabbing things and singing. Sean was a little sick this morning (threw up!). But he seemed fine otherwise. I think he found an old milk sippy and chugged it. Poor little guy. He recovered quickly and played in the kiddie pool with Maggie this afternoon. Maggie has entered the realm of spelling words and tests. Her first set of words includes "calf". I can't seem to remember the other words at the moment. I'd better head to bed...

A moment of peace!

2009-08-23T21:59:00.003-07:00

Finally, an activity that a 2 year old and a 7 year old can do together with minimal ruckus...trains! Grandma Nancy brought over a bunch of tracks she found at the thrift store the other night and this evening, the kids were so engaged with it, that Glen and I were actually able to sit on the couch together and have a conversation. Shocking, I know!

2009-08-17T21:06:00.003-07:00

Such a cutie! A little hard to tell from the photo, but he is sitting up against a pillow...sort of. :) Max is such a happy baby. He smiles and coos for just about anyone. Still not taking his bottle in the morning at daycare, but makes up for it when I pick him up at noon. Max is really starting to work his hands too. He will reach out and grab anything that is near him...toys, hair, fingers. Totally sweet.

Sean has adjusted to life at Montessori. He no longer cries at drop off and seems happy when I pick him up. He enjoys walking into Maggie's room to pick her up, and is so proud to carry his own lunch box. Today the toddlers tasted jicama. And Sean tried it too! Nothing like a little peer pressure to widen a kids pallet. He actually ate pretty well today, now that I think of it. He ate his chicken and his corn and his rice at dinner (left the spinach). Usually he eats maybe 2 bites of one item and then runs off. Guess he was hungry today.

Sorry I don't have any new photos of Sean and Maggie. I took this one of Max tonight after the other kids were asleep. I need to get the camera ready during the day...

Start of the new school year...

2009-08-12T22:04:00.002-07:00

The school year is starting to shape up. Sean is enjoying his time at his new Montessori school, although drop off is still full of tears after a summer of all mommy (and daddy) all the time. He seems happy at pick up. His teacher really seams great. Maggie has been good at keeping him company and trying to make him feel better those first few minutes in the morning. She hangs out with him for the first 15-30 minutes before she goes to the playground with her buds before school starts. Meanwhile, Max is ok in daycare, although hungry. Although he took the bottle from Grandma a few times, he has yet to do so at daycare. He isn't completely ravenous when I pick him up at noon though. He nurses, but not with the gusto I remember Maggie and Sean nursing when I picked them up as babies. It sure is nice that i get to go home at noon.

Maggie will be busy with ceramics, art masterpiece, ballet, brownies, and either soccer or ice skating this Fall. Everything is at school during the hour between the end of the school day and when Glen will pick her up from school (except soccer/ice skating which is on Saturdays). Sean will be coming home with Max and Mom after he gets up from nap (3pm).

Maggie's school is AWESOME! I am so glad we found it.

I should be sleeping...

2009-08-09T22:21:00.002-07:00

...since I have to go back to work tomorrow, but I just had to post this cute picture of all the Hestenes men.

Happy Birthday Glen!

2009-08-05T21:11:00.004-07:00

Happy 49th birthday Glen! Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David came over for ice cream cake.

The kids were excited to have visitors and were dancing around in the yard. Sean is into the "upside down leg kick in the air" move.

Maggie is into the "cat eyes" move. What is that move really called anyway? Someone taught it to her in Kindergarten and its her favorite!

Max is 3 months old!

2009-08-02T22:48:00.003-07:00

Max is 3 months old and soooooooo big! He is 18 pounds, and none of the small diapers fit anymore. He is wearing size 9-12 month old clothing, with not a lot of leeway. Its amazing. Noone believes he is so young. He is such a happy baby. Always smiling and cooing at people. Even Sean has started to warm up to him a bit. He likes to "share" his little trucks with Max by piling them all around him. Max is starting to swat at things. Today, his little hand caught in Seans hair and normally, Sean would have reacted with a slap. But today he sweetly said, "Uh Oh Maxwell". I breathed a sigh of relief. Sean has been very gentile with Max for the past 2 days. The past month though its been a Jeckel and Hyde relationship. Hopefully we are moving past that stage onto gentiler sibling relationships!

This is out last week before school starts. I left Max with Grandma Nancy for 2 hours the other day and he took a bottle of breastmilk from her. He was happily cooing at Tesla when I returned. I'm telling you, this baby is happy! That was our first separation. We have plans to do 2 more Grandma visits this week to get used to the bottle and separating. I start work on August 10th and will be leaving Max at our usual daycare. I will pick him up at 12:30, and then pick Maggie and Sean up at 3:00 pm from their school, at least to begin with. Maggie will have some later pick ups one certain days for afterschool activities. Glen will probably pick her up on those days on his way home from work.

And how will he be getting home from work? We bought a "new" car. Its a 2006 Ford Focus. A little commuter car for Glen. I will try to remember to get some pictures of it for you. Its a sort of pale green color.

Its hard to believe Fall is almost here. Even though its summer, starting school always switches my brain to Fall. Maggie and I are going school supply shopping tomorrow. I'm looking around at my crazy mess of a desk thinking, how was it possible that I spent three months NOT at work and didn't find a single moment to organize? Then I remember that I was busy trying to raise 3 new humans. Its a lot of work, and neither Glen nor I got any projects done. Maybe next summer? Or maybe in another 10 years. We've decided to not try and think about our lack of progress on that front. :) As for the Fall, Maggie is still in Girl Scouts, and an after school dance class and art class. She also wants to try soccer, which I'm trying to figure out how to enroll in. Lots of soccer organizations in the valley, but I can't seem to find one in our area and the last thing I want to do is drive around schlepping 3 kids to and from practice after work. So hopefully I can find something in the area, otherwise Maggie may enroll in ice skating again. We need more physical activities for her...she has so much energy!

Latest crochet endeavors

2009-07-24T23:49:00.003-07:00

Circles to squares afghan. Trying to use up the old scratchy yarn of 10 years ago so I can buy the new soft kind of today.

The Julie cuff. A bracelet crocheted of thread.

More dinosaurs

2009-07-23T21:52:00.005-07:00

Well, we may not have gone on a vacation this summer, but we have seen plenty of sights. We've been touring McDonalds. Every week we go to a different McDonalds, comparing their play places. This week brought us to one where the dinosaurs watch you eat.

It received 2 thumbs up from the kids, but it was a half hour drive away, so we probably won't be back until next summer when its really hot and the kids are bored and driving us crazy. (Ha!) Ok, they occasionally get along. Like this evening, after dinner, while Glen was watering the front yard, Maggie rediscovered her roller skates and Sean was happy to walk around following her.

And here is Max, wide awake! He is still a very sleepy baby most of the time. And has been doing some very sweet cooing lately. Hard to believe he will be 3 months old next Tuesday!

Lost another tooth!

2009-07-17T22:22:00.003-07:00

Maggie's front 2 teeth have already come in, but her baby teeth haven't fallen out yet, until today. She lost her top right tooth (left in the picture) at girl scout day camp today.

She did lose the tooth down the bathroom sink while at camp, so she left a note for the tooth fairy on her door. The one next to it is also very loose. Perhaps another tooth fairy visit will be later in the week.

Max has been a very smiley baby lately.

He is over 16.5 pounds now and wearing size 9 months clothes! Eep! Sean and Glen have been spending a lot of time in the backyard. The heat doesn't seem to bother them. (Note, he is still carrying around the logging truck postcard.)

Sean's been growing too. He is 28 pounds and exactly 3 feet tall. His feet have been growing, and I keep buying the same style shoe each time. He is currently in a size 7 but I fully expect him to outgrow those by the end of summer or maybe by the end of September. He is still wearing size 24 months or 2T.

Another museum visit

2009-07-06T21:45:00.003-07:00

First Sunday of the month is free at the Arizona Natural History Museum, so that's where we went last weekend. We call it the "Dinosaur Museum". Maggie has gone several times with Grandma Nancy, but Sean has only been one other time and was too little to remember it. So it was all new to him, and he LOVED it. He was very interested in the dinosaurs.

Maxwell thought the museum was a great place to take a nap.

Inspecting the triceratops head up close.

Maggie found an exhibit that mentioned the infinite vastness of the universe. It had some lights and mirrors to simulate infinity.

We stayed home for fourth of July. It was actually a long, hard day parenting wise. Glen put Sean to bed early that night as he had refused to nap earlier and was completely wiped by 7pm. So it was just Maggie, Max, and I at the fireworks. We walked down the street to the park to view them from the distance. Maggie was ready to go after 10 minutes, so we came home and went to bed. I could still hear the fireworks show going on after she was asleep. I had bought some glo sticks for the kids to play with in the dark since sparklers are illeagle. But with everyone either too tired or too grumpy to enjoy them, I tucked them away for another night.

Meanwhile, I'm having fun crocheting this summer. Here is Max trying out a little baby blanket I whipped up for him to have at daycare when I go back to work in August. Its definately the softest thing I've ever crocheted. He was happy with it...well, until I flipped him over for some tummy time.

Here is some Japanese "Amigurumi". Bascially little crocheted stuffed animals using only the most basic stitch in crochet. I whipped this up with some leftover yarn from a blanket I had made mom 8 years ago. Its a little alien. Maggie has since absconded with it.

Arizona Science Museum today!

2009-06-30T21:44:00.003-07:00

Well, the awesome Star Trek exhibit is gone. I never got to post the picture of me sitting in the captains chair on the bridge of the Enterprise (against the rules, by the way. photos were not allowed) I don't have that photo anymore because I hadn't downloaded it to my computer before my camera was stolen during the break in earlier this year. Darn! The new exhibit is all Legos! Trevor would have loved it.

Here is Maggie aiming a catapult at a virtual castle and trying to build a wall that wouldn't be knocked down.Everything was set up in and around a Lego castle. They had costumes the kids could wear such as a princess, a dragon, or a knight. Here is Glen and Max inside the castle. Hey mom, can you tell Sean is holding the postcard of the logging truck you sent him? He carried it around all day.

Here is Max and I next to a dragon built out of Legos.

Spent lots of time building with Legos. Maggie had more interest building with Sean in the "under 3" area. She just wasn't into the regular legos they had for kids. She eventually wandered off to a computer and was doing something on that.

Sean had fun knocking his creation down also.

Came home for a late lunch. Sean only slept for 30 minutes (ack!). Then Glen took Sean and Maggie to the public pool while Max and I stayed home and made meatloaf and nursed in peace. We've been going to the public pool quite a bit. Bought a summer family pass. It has a couple waterslides, a zero depth entry in the kids area which Sean loves to walk into. The shallow area has some playground equipment right in the pool so Sean has a waterslide his size and some things to climb on. Push some buttons and turn some wheels to make water squirt here or there. Sean loves it. Maggie always makes friends with some other girls around and mostly hangs out at the waterslide and diving boards. Can you believe she dives off the low dive and jumps off the HIGH DIVE!??!!! I couldn't believe it. I didn't realize she was heading for the high dive or I would have told her to stick to the low dive, but she just jumped off and had no problems! She really had the lifeguard on edge though. He saw her up there and immediately stood up and had his life preserver ready. But Maggie had no problems. I made sure she knew not to try diving though. That girl is FEARLESS!!

Growing like a weed...

2009-06-29T22:02:00.001-07:00

Maxwell is 2 months old, 15 pounds, and 24.5 inches.

Is it just me? or.....

2009-06-27T14:56:00.003-07:00

...is Sean GIGANTIC???? Here he is playing in a pirate ship playhouse at the mall.

And here he is eating dinner after a bath. Every day he seems less and less like a baby/toddler and more and more like a little kid.

Stress levels have been high here at home. Maggie is completely bored and just like when she was 2 or 3, when she is bored, she is destructive and agressive. We've decided to send her off to some more daycamps where she can play with kids her age. She is excited about it, but I feel like a bit of a failure as a mom being unable to meet her needs this summer. Maxwell is a very easy going baby, but throw a toddler into the mix and I am constantly busy. Anyway, after 4th of July, Maggie has a weel of zoo camp, a week of brownie day camp, and 2 weeks of smart camp (at her Montessori school). After that, we have a week off at home and then school starts again.

Here is Maggie trying out the new afghan I crocheted. It was intended for Sean to take to school this fall for naptime, but I used too large a hook and the spaces are too big (I think) and Seans little feet might poke out. So I'm going to try again. I threw it on the couch and Maggie immediately fell in love with it. Nevermind that its 110 outside, she snuggles into while watching tv. You can't tell in the photo, but it is a very rich turquoise colorway with flecks of amber, purple, and green. The color is called "lagoon".

Pink eye is back...booooooooo!

2009-06-25T13:14:00.002-07:00

Pink eye is the Hestenes nemesis. It seems as though everyone in this house gets it at LEAST once a year. We were feeling pretty good when Max was 2 weeks old and we kept Sean's pink eye from him. But now, at almost 2 months old, Maxwell is the latest casualty. He has a stuffed up nose, red throat, ear infection, and of course the goopy eye. I've been trying to heal it with breast milk. A little squirt in the eye sometimes helps as it has antibacterial properties. But I took him to the doctor today as it was getting worse. We are now on eyedrops and Augmentin for the ears. :( Sean also has the the stuffy nose and sore throat, but we are taking a wait and see approach with him. I hate to give my kids antibiotics as it wrecks havoc on their little digestive systems. So unless Sean starts complaining of sore ears, we'll just ride it through. Since Max can't talk, and I'm not sure the extent of his suffering, we decided to give him the antibiotics for relief and hopefully knock this thing out of the ball park.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-20T21:37:00.003-07:00

Ok...I've been meaning to get a picture with all three kids in it, which has proven far more difficult then I thought. I finally was able to get some pictures today, but only while they were sitting on Sean's bed. I wanted to take some pictures outside, but the sprinklers (oddly) were on at the time, and Sean amd Max had a low tolerance for photo ops. So, this is the best photo I got. I'm going to put it in a small frame for Glen for Father's day.

Maggie took this photo of me and the boys.

And here is a picture of my latest crochet project. Maggie is modeling her little cropped cardigan for me over her jammies. I'm pretty happy with the end result considering this is the first piece of clothing I've ever made, and it actually fits. I didn't have any buttons, so its currently closed with a ribbon.

I've got a massive headache tonight, so I think I will blog more another day.

Sean and his love of shoes...

2009-06-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh...hand me downs

2009-06-12T22:24:00.003-07:00

Well, Maxwell wore his first hand me down today. Here he is at about 6 weeks old in Sean's groovy tie dye shirt.

And here is a picture of Sean at 3 months old wearing the same shirt.

Sean has been having a rough week. The newborn novelty has worn off. Sometimes he is sweet to Max, but just as often we will slap, try to step on, pinch or bite the baby. Usually when Max is in the bouncy or nursing. So, Max is rarely in the bouncy. Can't do much about the nursing except try to nurse on the sly when Sean is occupied.

Carbon (Sean's cousin on Glen's side) just left for Alaska to spend the summer working on a fishing boat. He was playing around with Sean the night before he left and put his hat on Sean's head. And there it has stayed, through naps, walks, and errands. Sean loves to wear that hat. Sorry Carbon! We will keep it safe while you are gone.

I finished off another little crochet project. I really don't have time to do entire blankets or sweaters. Maybe next summer. So for now I've been working on smaller projects. Its very satisfying to finish a project. Here is Maxwell posing with his new rabbit blankie I made.

I chose to crochet with wool so I could try a new technique (well, new to me). Felting! I didn't come out quite symmetrical, but hopefully everyone will be so distracted by the cuteness of the baby holding it that they won't notice. Did you?

Horseback Riding

2009-06-07T22:29:00.004-07:00

Maggie's girl scout troop went horseback riding in Cave Creek (just north of Scottsdale) the other day. Grandma Nancy took her as I didn't want to be hanging around outside all day with a newborn in this hot weather. It actually only got up to 94 degrees that day, so it wasn't too bad. Grandma took all these pictures. There were definately other little scouts there, I just only post pictures of Maggie alone incase other kids parents object to photos on the internet. Anyway, the "little kids" did an hour and a half ride, had lunch, and then took a hike while the "older kids" did their ride. Maggies troop is a mix of brownies, juniors, and cadets. She had great fun. I heard more about the frogs in the stream and feeding the pig crackers than I heard about the actual horse ride.

Ready to go! In her bag was water and carrots for the horse.

Off into the wild desert. I guess the horses all know where to go and just follow the leader. Maggie said she passed someone when their horse stopped. She was excited about that too.

Grandma didn't want to risk riding a horse, so she hung back and "guarded" the food.

I included the next picture so you can see the tooth on the right sticking out. Maggie's front tooth is coming in an making her baby tooth loose and also stick out. I keep reminding her to wiggle it so it will fall out faster as it looks really wierd.

Feeding the pig crackers....

Sean is 2!

2009-06-06T22:23:00.005-07:00

Happy birthday to Sean! My sweet baby boy is now 2! It seems so old! Here are some pictures from his party. First up is him with his loot.

Maggie kept "helping" him open his presents because he wanted to stop and play each time a new toy was discovered. It was late in the evening, so Sean didn't get a lot of time to play with his new stuff, so its hard to tell what his favorites are. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow what he likes. Grandma Nancy, Grandpa David, and cousing Tesla came over. (Tesla is staying with G&G over the summer while she interns at ASU at the BioInstitute recombining DNA or something like that. She is going into her senior year at a science and math magnet highschool where I believe she is on her way to being Valedictorian. Brains and Beauty! Maggie looooooooves Tesla)

Poor Max. He is usually slumbering around 8 or 8:30pm. So by 9:30, he had had it.

This is the toy Maggie picked out for Sean. He loves the 6 little cars that came with it. They would get scattered as new presents came over to be unwrapped and I saw him later on hunting them all out and lining them up together.

I planned on making Sean an applesauce cake with cream cheese icing, but Glen reminded me that Sean doesn't really eat cake. We saw him eat the icing and a bit of icecream at Maggie's party. So we ended up buying an icecream cake from Dairy Queen as I was running out of time today. I was a little sad not to have a homemade cake for him, but Sean was ecstatic about the car painted on the cake.

Love that hyper-dyed blue icing. Even though we washed him after this, a faint blue tinge remains. Eeeewwwwww....

Trying out Sean's new ball in Maggie's room.

Phew! 3 birthdays and an anniversary in the past month has left us party planned out. Now we can relax...

And lastly, I took this video before his party. He was having fun this afternoon rolling his big truck down the ramp. He is a little chatterbox nowadays, and is getting very good at repeating words you say to him.

Last night I have a 1 year old!!

2009-06-05T21:07:00.006-07:00

As much as I hate to admit it, cheerleading suits Maggie. She has been asking to be in cheerleading for about 3 years and I've put it off until this summer. On the first day, her coach tells them how important it is to yell really loud so everyone can hear them. And as we all know, loud is one thing Maggie can be. In fact, the coach had her call out the start of the cheers since everyone could hear her. Anyway, she is having a great time.

Sean is currently enamored with shoes. He loves to wear shoes allllllll the time. He wants to wear them to bed, although we have convinced him to wear slippers at night. He likes to try on everyones shoes. Today we got Maggie tennis shoes on and wore them for several hours. It was so funny to see his little clown feet. The shoes were big enough to look funny on him, but small enough that he could move around in them. Tomorrow, Sean will be 2. He has definitely embarked on toddlerhood in a big way. Complete with independence, tantrums when misunderstood, loving smooches, and dirty face smiles.

After the kids are in bed, and if Max will sleep, Glen and I have a few moments in the evenings. He has been watching the basketball playoffs and I have been keeping him company while crocheting. Its been awhile since I have picked up the hook. Here is the first project I completed.

Our 8th Anniversary!

2009-06-02T22:07:00.003-07:00

Thanks to Grandma Nancy, Glen and I (and Max) went out to dinner tonight for our 8th anniversary. We went to Monti's and had steak, walked around downtown Tempe, and had Coldstone icecream for dessert. The kids had fun at home pulling all the books off the shelves. Okay... that was probably just Sean. Maggie read a little for Grandma and she was duly impressed.

Earlier in the day, the kids had fun in the mud.

And Max is beginning to smile! Three times for mama and once for Maggie.

Adorable kids!

Zoo Trip!

2009-06-01T11:51:00.002-07:00

Sean woke up at an ungodly hour. Well at least for most. But since I was already awake nursing Max, we just got up. So here it is, 7 a.m., and everyone is already dressed and had a breakfast of eggs, banana bread, and peaches, and played for quite awhile, so what should we do? Go to the zoo before it gets too hot!!

Maxwell Leif is 1 month old today!

2009-05-28T12:40:00.002-07:00

Max is growing fast. He is now 12.5 lbs and 23 inches long.

We've been using the double stroller for evening walks. Everyone likes it.

I carry Max around quite a bit in the sling when we are indoors, but it is so hot outside that I am glad to have the stroller so he won't get over-heated.

Yesterday Maggie had her ballet performance. They did a flamenco style dance complete with castanets to "Phantom of the Opera". It was cute.

Rough Day

2009-05-23T21:39:00.003-07:00

Yup...Sean didn't take his nap and Maggie was at a sleep over last night so we had some grumpy kids today. Fortuneately, Glen was able to cheer them up after dinner with a ride on "the machine".

Everyone is asleep now. Now I can get to work on reading my 5 magazines, 3 books, or working on 2 crochet projects, or asundered clean up/organizational projects around the house. .... or I could sit at my computer and blog and waste time on the internet. So much to do, so little kid-free time.

Kiddo Updates

2009-05-23T13:40:00.002-07:00

Glen is officially done with school now and is starting his summer off mowing the lawn. He is always so industrious. I went into school yesterday to turn in my grades. Maggie and Sean have one more week of school, then everyone will be home for the summer.

Maggie went on a "camp out" with her girl scout troop last night. It actually was more of a sleepover at the school. It was raining so they slept indoors. They had their little badge ceremony as well. Maggie earned 4 Brownie Try-Its which are the little triangle badges and a patch for selling cookies. According to her troop leader, Maggie was the last Brownie awake (fell asleep around midnight) and everyone was awake by 5a.m. Needless to say, Maggie hasn't been too pleasant today and so I've just let her veg by the tv.

Sean hasn't been sleeping too well lately. A combination of teething and getting used to his new role in the family with Max I think. He has been waking up crying in the middle of the night. Glen has been taking care of Sean at night so I think I am actually getting more sleep taking care of Max than Glen has been taking care of Sean. Sean slept in until 9 a.m. this morning. He is usually up between 6:30 and 7:00. He is currently riding around in the backpack while Glen mows the lawn. After which is nap time. Who knows if he will sleep. After nap we will take all the kids to Grandma Nancy's for a swim, if they aren't too grumpy. Otherwise, we will go tomorrow.

Sean's vocabulary has been really growing. I heard him call "Mommy...help me" from the other room when his train came unlatched and he couldn't get it back together. He has a lot of 2 word sentences. "Hold him" (refering to Max), "don't want that", "daddy's here". Its very cute. He has also branched out on footwear. For the past few months he would only wear one pair of shoes but recently, he has let me put him in teva like sandals to play outside. Yay! No more struggling with socks and sneakers.

Max still has trouble with baby acne, but he is sleeping for longer stretches at night. He will go down around 8pm and wake at midnight and 4 a.m. to nurse. Totally do-able!! He likes to take warm bathes and still hates having his diaper changed. But at least he hasn't peed on me recently. ;) Speaking of which, I hear him waking up...

Swimming!

2009-05-18T10:38:00.004-07:00

Its been around 103 all week. Supposed to be 107 today. Definately pool time. I, sadly, cannot partake yet, nor can Maxwell, so I sat and tried to take pictures from a shady spot. They didn't turn out to great. Next time Grandma Nancy will have to hold the baby while I take pictures, but Max didn't want to do that this time.

Sean is an official water baby. He absolutely loves swimming, just like big sis Maggie, and daddy.

Even though he couldn't swim, Max was all tuckered out afterwards anyway. :)

B-day party!

2009-05-16T22:12:00.003-07:00

We had 5 girls over for Maggie's birthday party today. Three from school, one from down the street, and one from Maggie's old preschool we still hang with on occasion. :) She had a great time. You would not have believed the loud and shrill squeals all afternoon. We set up a slip-n-slide in the backyard and let them go to town. They had fun playing in Maggie's treehouse and working on the treasure hunt I made for them. I took a bunch of pictures, but there aren't many I can post because I don't want to put up pictures of Maggie's friends without their parents permission. Here are a few though.

Sean watching the slip-n-slide flood the yard. We should have nice, green grass in about a week.

Max looks totally relaxed on Grandma Nancy's lap in the 103 degree heat.

Maggie decorating her cupcake. The girls really enjoyed that. They each decorated 2 or 3 and I sent them home with their parents all sugared up. (Sorry) But at least they spent 2 hours running around the yard.

Happy Birthday Maggie!

2009-05-15T11:23:00.002-07:00

Maggie is now 7 years old!

She got dressed up for her family party in her cinderella dress. She wanted to wear it to her birthday party on Saturday, but I said it probably wouldn't work since the main activity is the slip-n-slide.

Here is Maggie getting into her new toys the morning after before school. The kids had to eat breakfast with everything still on the table from the night before. Sean is battling pink eye and is teething. So he is grumpy because I wont let him touch the baby and has been waking up at night crying from teeth pain. He wont take any tylenol for the teeth pain. :(

Here is 3/5 of the family. Sean didn't want in the picture. Happy birthday Maggie! Max is now 2.5 weeks old.

Here is a photo of Sean loving Max pre-pink-eye. One of Sean's new phrases is "hold him" or "hold Matt" (He can't quite pronounce Max).

Max is 1 week old!

2009-05-06T11:20:00.002-07:00

Maxwell Leif Hestenes

2009-04-30T07:18:00.003-07:00

Announcing the arrival of Maxwell Leif Hestenes! Born April 28th, 12:28 a.m., 9 lbs, 8 oz, and 22 inches long. I went into labor on the way home from work, although I thought they were Braxton Hixx contractions. By dinner time, things were picking up. We went to the hospital around 9 pm and I was 6 cm dialated. And by midnight it was time to push. Maggie watched the whole birth and was fascinated. Thankfully, Sean slept through it. Baby Max came in a hurry with only 1 and a half pushes. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck which the docter was able to untangle. We are happy to be home now.

Made it through the week.

2009-04-25T13:45:00.003-07:00

Busy week. Took Maggie to get 4 fillings on Monday, Tuesday I had a doctor appointment, Wednesday was the Dad's Club BBQ that Glen and I had to work. Took the kids with us after school and they had a late night. Friday was Maggie's school talent show. And fortuneately, I didn't go into labor during this time. Things are a little calmer this week. One doctor appointment, a parent-teacher conference for Maggie, an end of the year field trip and dinner in Phoenix for Maggie which a parent has to come with, and of course my due date is in there somewhere. We will see what happens.

My feet are killing me! I can barely squeeze into my Tevas when they are on the loosest setting. So thats what I wear to work. But by the end of the day, the straps are leaving huge marks on my feet and my feet are all puffy around them. :( Glen has been rubbing them at night and keeping them elevated does help but the skin is so tight! They really do hurt! I'm also moving pretty slow and having a lot of Braxton-Hixx contractions, especially in the evenings, but other than that I am doing well.

It reached 104 degrees here the other day. So we had our first sprinkler play. Maggie happily got into her swim suit, but Sean had no clue what was going on and did not want me to change him so I just let him play in his clothes. He did let me slide off his overalls once they got wet, but he insisted on leaving his shoes on. :) Hopefully next time he will understand the benefits of a swimsuit.

A few pictures...

2009-04-17T21:19:00.002-07:00

A few pictures of the kids...

Here are all the Hestenes guys discovering that Sean likes watching monster trucks on tv.

Easter baskets! Notice how Maggie decorated hers ahead of time with pipe cleaners.

Sean found a top and little magnetic trains in his basket.

Oh! THere is another egg! Maggie was hard to capture on film during "the hunt".

Sean was able to find some eggs too.

Here I am 9 months pregnant. Hiked up "whiney mountain" (Papago Park) to watch the helicopters fly over up close. Sean is enamored with them currently.

Sean wasn't interested in dying eggs, but he enjoyed putting easter egg stickers on his egg carton. (Look at all those teeth!)

Dying easter eggs.

Maggie at her first science fair. She is holding her thermometer she made and her poster is the yellow one behind her.

Ice cream!!

Maggie and the Dentist -- epic saga part three

2009-04-13T15:37:00.002-07:00

Maggie had her teeth cleaned today and it has been confirmed that she has the worst teeth possible, cavity wise. The dentist said she seems to be prone to cavities and will probably need a lifetime of dental work. (Just like Glen) Wah! We are going back for 2 fillings next week and 2 more the week after. She also may need a crown, but the dentist is trying the filling first to see if that will hold. Even her 6-year-old molars have cavities and they aren't even fully erupted yet!!! The dentist is being conservative and putting watches on all but the 4 most serious. (That means he is not doing anything about them for now unless Maggie develops pain or the cavities are worse at her next check-up.)

Poor Maggie. And poor us too. Our dental insurance is soooooo lame. Its not even really insurance. Its basically a 20% off deal. This spring break has really drained our finances. A new carseat for baby, small cloth diapers (since I had already sold Sean's), trip to the ER and several doctor visits for Maggie, and now major dental work. Yippee.... At least I also got our taxes done and our federal refund should just about cover the entire bill. Phew.

Now I am going to wash all those sweet little diapers and the new baby clothes we have accumulated in order to mellow out. As much as laundry can be a pain, I have always found something soothing about folding baby stuff. :)

Must...post...before...family/friends...revolt....!

2009-04-12T11:52:00.002-07:00

My poor little blog has suffered. It has been an exceedingly busy and challenging few months, and I completely dropped off the internet. Hopefully this will change as we come into the summer months during which I will NOT be working. Yay!

Baby boy Hestenes is due in about 2.5 weeks. Everyone else will still be in school until the end of May so me and the baby will have some downtime at home alone the first few weeks. Then our family of 5 will have the summer to get used to the new order a baby brings to the house. I'll be back to part-time (with full-time pay, Yay!) in August, so I will be working from 7:45 to about 12:30. Less time in daycare for the new baby. I will also have more time in the afternoon to do such things as blog! And chill out before everyone else comes home from school.

I will post some recent pictures soon. I need to upload the software for my "new" camera. (My old one was stolen during a recent break-in to our house) Once I get that figured out, pictures will abound!

Anyone still reading?

2008-11-01T20:10:00.002-07:00

I haven't posted in a long time, mostly because I've been feeling pretty rotten. I've got morning sickness which tends to peak in the evenings when I normally post. Yes, thats right...morning sickness. I'm pregnant! Due May 1st, 2009. Yipes!

A few other updates...Sean is taking a few steps, but not really walking yet. He is almost 17 months. Maggie has lost another tooth and is loving Montessori school. For Halloween, Maggie was a flower fairy and Sean wore an old witches hat and got pulled around the neighborhood in a wagon during trick-or-treating. I've been teaching an astornomy class online and its taking up all my free time...well, that and sleeping. Glen picked out a "new" car for us which I love. Its a 2005 Dodge Caravan and its red. We had to increase the size of our car since we have a new little Hestenes coming soon.

We went to the train park today and Sean *loved* riding the train. We went a few months ago and he was indifferent. But today, he was sitting up and smiling and waving to everyone as we rode by. He has really been into saying "hi" and "bye" when people come and go. He also says "no" a lot, but not many other words. He continues to be a very happy and easy going baby who prefers dad. *sniff* :)

Not much else to report that I can think of.

Car update.

2008-09-16T16:52:00.002-07:00

Its toast. Apparently the water pump broke and the engine overheated and died. It will cost more to fix it then the car is worth so our little car is headed for the junk yard in Camp Verde. *sniff* We are currently using a rental car until we buy a *new* car.

Our "Vacation"

2008-09-14T19:58:00.002-07:00

So Glen entered in the Jerry Garcia Frisbee Golf Tounrament near Flagstaff and played this weekend. Maggie, Sean and I tried to drive up on Saturday to camp overnight with him, but, our car broke down on the highway! Yipes! Still not sure what is wrong, it just stopped moving. So we played with the tumbleweeds while we waited for AAA to send us a tow. Got towed to Camp Verde where the mechanic is closed on the weekends, of course. The tow truck guy was nice enough to give us a lift to McDonalds where we waited for Glen to come and rescue us. Glen was driving a rental car as the VW is still not fixed. Glen took us back to Phoenix, and then drove back in the wee hours of the morning to finish the competition. So now we are extending our rental car contract as our car is stuck in Camp Verde where the mechanic there will hopefully fix it. I don't see how we will be able to pick it up until next weekend.

Pictures from the past month.

2008-09-06T22:20:00.006-07:00

Mmmmm...cottage cheese...

Working on the tree house.

First day of school!

Making monster bubbles.

And finally, Maggie and the trampoline. I was tired of her jumping on the couch while watching tv. (When things get intense, she gets jumpy....literally) So the trampoline has really helped.

I know I don't have a lot of pictures of Sean in this post. We'll focus on him next time. He does have 2 more teeth (total of 7) and now says "hello", "bye bye", and "uh oh". Everything else he just gestures for in his cute baby way and says "dah" and then waits for us to give him what he wants. He is still a crawling speed demon with no interst in walking. And the mosquitos love him. He probably has 30 to 40 bites on him right now. Mosquito repellant makes his skin break out in hives, so our only hope is to leave all the fans on high and hope the mosquitos are blown away.

Appliance Update

2008-08-30T09:46:00.002-07:00

Glen was able to fix the washing machine. Yay! However, our dishwasher is still broken. Boo.

Stormy!

2008-08-29T22:04:00.003-07:00

Phew! Last nights storm was a doozy! 100 mile an hour winds left trees blown down onto roads, houses, and cars all over town. Our house remained relatively unscathed. Several 2 foot long ceramic roof tiles blew off and shattered and several more are askew across the roof, but all of our trees remained upright and intact! Yay. Our cable and phone are dead, but the internet and the power (the important things) still work. Lots of trees in the street in our neighborhood and all across the valley. Driving to school we came across many intersections without power. In fact, when we drove in to Sean's daycare, they turned us away. They had no power and so couldn't care for any kids by law. This was a minor glitch for us as babies and teaching don't usually mix. But Friday is our half day and we had several unusal activities happening at school which meant I was only really teaching one class so I could probably bring Sean to work ok. However, when we got there, the power was out as well, and school was cancelled! Woo hoo! So Sean, Glen and I went home! (Maggie had school all day -- shhhh! Don't tell her we were off!)

I used my time wisely. I cleaned the bathroom (finally), graded some tests, and completed some assignments for my online class. Sean and Glen kept busy outside and in the laundry room. Sean definately prefers daddy these days. When I finally brought him in for lunch around 11:30 am, he fell asleep after only 2 bites! Right in the highchair. So I put him straight to bed where he slept for almost 4 hours!!! Yes! Glen and I got lots done today. :) And amazingly, Sean went to bed ontime as well.

Looking forward to the next 3 days off. Hooray for long weekends.

Sean's big puffy eye!

2008-08-23T09:21:00.002-07:00

Sean woke up this morning with his left eye completely swollen shut. It appears a mosquito was feasting on him in the night as he has 7 bites on his cheek and one on the eyelid. Poor little guy! He looks like a drunken sailor. Called the doc and she recommended benedryl but we are holding off on that and just trying to keep him distracted so he won't rub his eye and make it worse. Its cracked open a little bit now so I think its on the mend.

Maggie, Sean and Glen are all outside in the backyard right now on this lovely Saturday morning. I am online (of course) and just booked the Candy Cane Inn for a quick visit to Disneyland in October. Driving out the 17th for just the weekend. I thought we would wait until Sean was out of diapers, but I was out voted. So off we go! Should be fun!

In other news, I went to wash a load of diapers this morning and the washing machine is broken! Wah! So Glen is going to go out this afternoon (after Maggie and I get back from her ice skating class) to go and scout out a new washing machine. We are still working with only one car. He is hoping he can fit a new washer into the back of the Taurus. I don't think it can be done and since the VW isn't working, well, we might just have to pay to get it delivered.

We are loving life without homework for Maggie. Yay Montessori!

Yipes!

2008-08-15T14:38:00.002-07:00

Its been a few weeks since I last posted! Time certainly has gotten away from me. All is well here in Hestenes land, just busy. Glen and I are back to work. I also picked up a section of teaching astronomy online for some extra bucks hence my lack of computer free time. Maggie is loving her new school. Today when I was dropping her off, we walked in and found a rabbit in a HUGE cage (big enough for several kids to be inside -- I guess it was more of a fenced off area). She was soooo excited. School doesn't start until 8:30 for her. There is recess from 8-8:30, but we have to drop her at 7 a.m. so we can get to work. So she had an hour before school to pet the bunny. She was also proud to tell me she held a hissing cockroach during class the other day. In Geography, they are focusing on China (of course! Olympics!). In Zoology (science) they are focusing on Fish. Maggie was telling me all about gills and oxygen in the water. Maggie didn't have much interest in discussing the focus for math, reading or writing, but it should be in her friday folder which I should get today. Heck! I was excited she told me what she did! I never got a single thing out of her last year. She is also learning to play four square and soccer (with the big kids) at recess. Grades 1-3 are all at lunch and recess together. School is over at 3 and they have snack and recess until 4:15. I'm usually picking her up at that time. Daycare goes until 5:30 and Maggie will stay until then on Tuesdays and Thursdays because they have special classes you can take. Maggie wanted to do art and ballet so we signed her up and will pick her up late on those days.

Sean isn't adjusting as well to his new surroundings. He is back in daycare while we are at work and SCREAMS when I drop him off. He is soooooooo not happy. It totally breaks my heart. However, the daycare worker told me today that he finally had a good day. He was happy and took a good nap and ate his lunch, so maybe there is a silver lining. He gets picked up ASAP (between 3 and 3:30) and thank goodness for our half days on Fridays. ;)

Looking forward to this weekend as a good buddy of mine has moved back to town and is having a house warming party. It will be good to him and meet his fiance! Maggie, Sean and I have a playdate with some friends to check out the new children's museum in Phoenix as well. So busy weekend.

And Glen finally got my panty built! Woot!!!

Scenes from our Oregon Vacation

2008-08-04T22:05:00.005-07:00

Lost a tooth!

2008-07-15T16:19:00.002-07:00

When Maggie heard the dentist mention he might pull out her tooth if it didn't fall out soon, she got straight to work on wiggling it. She was complaining that it hurt today and wanted some of Sean's teething tablets. It came out when she bit into an extremely soft peach. At first she cried a little. I thought she had bit her lip. But then she reached into her mouth and pulled out her tooth! Here she is showing it to Sean.

Maggie and Grandma Nancy had just made a little tooth fairy pouch to put her teeth in about 2 days ago. Here it is tied to the door knob of her bedroom awaiting the tooth fairy tonight! (I never noticed how dirty her door was until I looked at this picture!)

We are not hiding it under the pillow because I know I would wake her up if I tried to retreive it. Plus, being on the doorknob, perhaps I will actually remember to take the tooth and leave her a suprise. I'm not sure the going rate for teeth these days. I asked Maggie what she thought the tooth fairy would leave her and she said a dollar so I think that is what I will leave. ;)

Unplug Your Kids -- Stone

2008-07-14T16:07:00.003-07:00

This weeks theme from Unplug Your Kid was stone. I was hoping to make some stone soup but Maggie had other ideas, which was just fine! While we were hiking to the playground the other evening, she found some stones. And the next day she painted them. Some also have googely eyes. It was fun.

Sean spent his time trying to teeth on the larger stone. It was a little hard for his chompers so he gave up and went to unload the dishrags from the bottom drawer. Oh...and speaking of teeth, Maggie has a loose one! (First!)

More fillings for Maggie

2008-07-10T19:42:00.002-07:00

Maggie had her teeth cleaned Tuesday and the doc saw a need for 2 more fillings. She had them done this morning and it was HORRIBLE! I felt so bad for her. She didn't like the nitrous oxide gas mask they put on her and kept trying to take it off. And the dentist was fairly irritating. This was a pediatric dentist, which our insurance doesn't cover. We tried to get an appointment with her regular dentist, but after her last cleaning, when she wouldn't let them finish because the cold water spritzer hurt her teeth, they won't let her come back until she is older. I was so mad! They kicked us out! She did fine there the previous 4 times and now the receptionist won't let us schedule an appointment. Our dental insurance is lousy. It won't let us change dentists except once a year, which will be January for Maggie. So Maggie is basically without a regular dentist until then. In the mean time we have to pay for the one we used today. Grrrrr.....

On top of that, Maggie has not lost any baby teeth yet, but her adult teeth are coming in right behind the baby teeth. It looks kind of like shark teeth. The dentist said he would have to pull the baby teeth out at the end of the summer if they don't fall out. Waaaaahhhhh! Is this necessary so soon? Can we let them hang out a little longer? I've been trying to get Maggie to wiggle her teeth so those baby ones will fall out, but they just aren't loose. So more dentistry may be in our future.

Oh, and did I mention she has 7 more "spots to watch" on her teeth which may become in need of fillings? Why is this happening? The dentist said I need to have her "cut back on the sodas". I looked at him dumbly and said she has never drank a soda in her life. And I cut her juice consumption down to almost nothing last year when we first learned Maggie was having tooth problems. We are brushing like mad, use a brush on flouride gel (the $27 toothpaste). What else can we do?

Bloody Nose!

2008-07-09T18:46:00.002-07:00

Sean had his first bloody nose today. :( Maggie was running around and tripped over him, kicking him in the face as she fell to the ground. I watched the whole thing in what seemed like slow motion from the kitchen. Poor baby! I scooped him up and was tending to the blood and the screaming while Maggie started sulking saying we only cared about Sean and not her. Well...she was uninjured. Of course I'm going to take care of Sean first. *irked* Everyone is fine now. The bridge of Sean's nose is purple though.

Unplug Your Kids -- Sky

2008-07-06T22:52:00.003-07:00

Well, I found this website recently, Unplug Your Kids, and decided to join in the fun this week. The theme was "sky" and Maggie had been asking recently to look at the moon, so I finally dragged out my telescope. Its been a while...not since Sean was born. But with work a distant memory over the summer, and everyone feeling rested, it was definately time to bring the telescope out.

Maggie helped me set it up and then I taught her how to use the Telrad to sight her object in the sky and use that to slew the telescope to the correct position. It didn't take her too long to find the moon.

She learned very quickly and was soon off to view a nearby star. It was about 8:30 at night and not too dark yet. Plus with brush fires, pollution, thunderstorms, and city lights, the seeing wasn't all that great. Maggie had a great time regardless, and it was fun for me to see her getting so excited. I think, when the weather is a little better, I will let her stay up a bit later so we can view something other than the moon. The moon is cool, and a great first object, but I think she is ready for some planets and maybe a few bright double stars. We will leave the fainter objects for viewing outside of the city lights.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T22:56:00.005-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We had a fun day. I tried to get a cute photo of my kids in their holiday garb, but they weren't into it.

We had fun making a 4th of July feast. Below is our jello flag. Very tasty.

And we also tried our hand at an appetizer we had at a dinner party last week...little smokeys wrapped in bits of crescent rolls. Oh so bad for you but oh so good. We ate them as a main dish though. ;) Here is Maggie making sure that each one has a flag toothpick.

Next Maggie decorated the stroller and her bike. And we went for a "parade" around the neighborhood.

Next Glen brought out the smoke bombs. Fireworks are illegal in Arizona. We couldn't even find sparklers. This is the best we could do. Oh...and we were eating pop rocks too. So that was like having fireworks in your mouth.

Finally...its dark. We walked down to the duck pond in order to see the town lake fireworks. We had stocked up on glo-sticks at the dollar store and had lots of fun with them while we were waiting for the show to start.

Cool pictures huh! Thats "night" mode on my camera. Back home and everyone in bed at 10:30 pm. Phew. Long day.

Splash Park

2008-07-03T13:54:00.006-07:00

We've gotten into the habit recently of eating early and then going out in the evenings after hiding out from the sun all day. Last night we went to the Splash Park down by the lake during sunset to cool off.

Although you might not be able to tell from the picture below, Maggie is standing in a waterfall.

We've also gotten into the habit of grilling chicken in the backyard. Glen has figured out exactly how to cook it so everyone in the family is happy, including Sean. :) We've also grilled a lot of eggplant. Our CSA keeps delivering eggplant and none of use particularly like it, but its tolerable when grilled.

This past week we've been visiting a lot of public pools to go swimming. Grandma's pool is infested with algae and the chemicals she had to put in there to kill it make us not want to go there for awhile. Unfortuneately, the high chlorine at the public pools is really making Maggie's eyes irritated as she swims underwater with her eyes open so much, and wont wear goggles. The splash park was a nice change to give Maggie's eyes a break. However, Glen and I were still hot. Well, we got a few splashes to cool us off.

Zoo Camper and Family Fun Night!

2008-06-27T21:20:00.005-07:00

That's right! I gave Maggie hair cut. Its kind of messy in this picture, but its short enough to avoid lots of tangles, hair brushing problems, and shampooing battles, but long enough to *just* pull back into a pony tail. Its a good length for a head band, which is her preferred style these days.

And here is a picture of our little zoo camper. (If you click on the picture, you can see her face and shirt in more detail) She got to tie-dye her own shirt and all the campers got matching hats and water bottles on a shoulder strap. I was worried she might be too hot at the zoo, but they did indoor activities in the afternoon and had time for lots of water play...even set up a water slide for the campers. We also have a brush fire currently burning in south Phoenix near P.I.R. and there is a TON of smoke blocking the sun and cooling it off a bit. We were brushing ash off of our hair the other day at the pool.

Here is a picture of Sean at the Art Museum for Children. The theme was "table manners" and he was busy at the Japanese table picking up the "sushi".

Today was family fun night from 6-8pm at McClintock Pool so we went! They have a water slide Maggie loved and a kiddie pool as well as a regular pool. Glen, Sean and I hung out in the regular pool while we watched Maggie compete in the cannon ball competition off the diving board (she got extra points for cuteness and was probably the youngest kid up there and won some bubbles). We also watched her in the "dance off" where all the participants won beads. Everyone got a raffle ticket upon entering the pool and we won twice! (diving rings and splash balls). Maggie and Glen enjoyed snow cones and we all had a great time. Got home late! Everyone is peacefully sleeping now though. :)

Maggie has a camera!

2008-06-24T20:34:00.004-07:00

And here are 2 of the first photos she took with it during zoo camp today.

Not too bad for a first timer. She is very excited to have her own camera. Lets see what kind of pictures she comes home with tomorrow.

Glen spent the day fixing the vw, fixing grandma's pool pump, and fixing 2 flat tires on his bike that he got enroute to grandma's house. Poor guy. After the kids were in bed he went out again to try and buy a fuel line hose or something. He's is happiest when he is working on something though, so his plate is full.

Sean and I went to "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" this morning at the library. Its a program for little ones that involves singing and shaking musical instruments, and throwing scarves around. Sean mostly sat and watched. He will probably be more into it next year. Then we came home and he took a nice long nap. Then we picked up Maggie from zoo camp. Glen was still busy, and grandma's pool is out of comission for the time being, so I took them both to Eldorado Aquatic center. We had a blast. Maggie went down the water slides many times (even though she didn't meet the height requirement) and Sean loved the zero-depth entry to the kids play area which meant he could crawl around on his own in the water. It was later in the afternoon, around dinner time, so there weren't too many people there and the buildings cast shade onto the water. It was really nice. Oh...and since we came an hour before closing, they let us in for half price. Yeah! We will be going back.

Its so lonely here!

2008-06-23T09:36:00.002-07:00

I signed Maggie up for Zoo camp this week. She will be busy there between 8am and 3pm. I signed her up awhile ago because I thought she might start going stir crazy at home all summer, but things have been going suprizingly well. She has mostly found plenty of things to keep her busy but the late afternoons do tend to drag a bit and we rely on cartoons to keep the peace. (She tends to razz her brother around 4pm -- thats when the tv comes on) Anyway, its kind of lonely around here. Just me and Glen and Sean at home today. Glen is busy working on his vw -- its still not running. Sean is busy opening and closing all the cupboards, so I've been trying to "get things done". First task -- clean up my desk. Its a towering disaster of magazines, old report cards, post-it notes, receipts and other junk. I also uploaded about 400 photos to snapfish and ordered hardcopies. I haven't printed any photos since before Sean was born and am a little behind on his baby book. Ok ok...I haven't started it yet. But I do have all the supplies and now all I need are the photos. Ok...this computer on my desk has distracted me long enough. Time to get back to work...