moo.

My latest creation (the clothes, not the kid...although I did create her too...just not lately):

back to school

Hey--What's that sound? It's almost deafening. Can't you hear it? Oh wait. That's SILENCE! The only sound I hear is the click-click-click of my keyboard as I type. Taylor is at school, Sidney is at preschool, and Stella is taking a nap. A mom could get used to this!

Little Boy was so excited about his first day of First Grade. I couldn't get the boy to keep still and act somewhat normal for a picture. This is what you get when you combine excitement and picture taking from Taylor:

My Little Boy is getting to be quite the Big Boy. He's making so many decisions and choices for himself now and letting go of that control has been hard on this Gardener! At age six, longer hair and sketcher's shoes are must-haves on his list.

Little Sister was so excited to be going to school too. She's sporting a custom number made by mom (I'm shameless!). She needed to wear her purple ring to the first day so the other kids would know she's cute. We couldn't resist this cute pink and green panda backpack to make the look complete.

Back to school, back to mom's sanity. Sweet!

camping in the rain

It's the end of summer vacation and we decided to go on one more adventure before getting back to the grind. The beauty of where we live in Arizona is that a one hour drive lets us leave the Saguaros behind and breathe in the fresh scent of pine.

The forecast called for a 60% chance of rain, but we decided to take our chances. Upon arriving at the campground it rained. We sat in the van and entertained ourselves the best way we knew how---by taking pictures. Even Little Boy joined in the fun!



It didn't take long for the rain to clear and we set up camp. Steve needed to run to town for a couple things, so I thought I'd take the kids on a little hike down to the lake. And it rained. The lake was beautiful and I even still say it was fun despite the hike back with Little Sister on my back while holding Susie on my front.

Luckily Coleman makes one mean water-proof tent because it was our shelter while it rained again. The weather cleared long enough for us to play catch, roast hotdogs and marshmallows, and snap a few more pictures. It started to rain again just before we turned in for the night, providing the best white noise to get our three tired spuds to sleep without event.

And a special announcement! After 18 months in Arizona, we have finally seen our first scorpion. It was a tiny little sucker hanging out on the wall in the men's bathroom. Of course, I had to be in charge of bathroom duty from then on since the kids refused to step foot in the men's. We all escaped without injury. In fact, everyone escaped without a single bug bite, scratch, or bump. Except me. I'm covered in itchy red bites all over my arms and legs. Oh the things we are willing to suffer for our children!

Today we are back to it. Taylor is enjoying (I hope!) his first day of first grade, Steve is back at work (probably enjoying the peace and quiet) and Sidney starts preschool tomorrow. More fun pics to come about that!

the littlest star

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Look at you, you've come so far! Baby Stella is six months old! Where has the time gone? I can't quite say "she's getting so big!" because she's still so small! At six months, Stella weighs 13 lbs 5oz. In contrast, Taylor was 20 lbs at six months and Sidney was 18 lbs 11 oz at six months.

'Stella' means Star.... And what a perfect name for this sweet baby! Her bright sparkling eyes and big smile brighten our lives every day.

We love our Little Star!

on going gluten-free

One of the many things that happened during my 9 month blogging hiatus was that Little Sister's health problems finally received a real diagnosis. If you've been a long time reader, you may remember my royal freak out in October of 2006 followed by the diagnosis. This diagnosis turned out to be wrong-- the medication didn't help and she continued to have trouble. When we moved to Arizona, we went to see a new pediatric gastroenterologist and he did another colonoscopy and endoscopy on Sidney. He mentioned Celiac Disease, but doubted that was really it since she does not fit the typical physical mold for a child with Celiac (small, thin, etc). We learned that this disease is difficult to diagnose in children under 2 (thus the reason for the wrong diagnosis the first go around).

My reaction was less than pretty. I called my mother-in-law to tell her the news and burst into tears and could barely speak. Going Gluten-Free seemed incredibly daunting and all but impossible. Little Sister existed on gluten foods! But we did it. And guess what? It hasn't been all that bad! I've learned to find hidden gluten by reading labels carefully and have learned to cook pretty well gluten-free (GF). I don't feel like Sidney misses out on much. I make delicious GF brownies, corn bread, cakes, muffins & cookies and I can buy delicious GF pretzels, cookies, bread, crackers, pastas, etc. In this day and age, going gluten-free isn't so bad. The hardest part is restaurants, but even then we've learned how and what to order and she can eat great meals.

Timing is everything, as they say, and this diagnosis couldn't have come at a better time. Twenty years ago, we would have struggled to make meals that we could all eat, eating out would probably have been next to impossible, and we certainly wouldn't have been able to buy any gluten-free baked goods. Now, Gluten-Free is practically the new Low-Carb. The LA Times is reporting that it's becoming a popular diet to try for various reasons. I don't care about the reasons, I'm just thrilled about this new trend and hope it continues because it improves Little Sister's (and selfishly, my own) quality of life with more gluten-free options available.

Go Gluten Free----It's the cool thing to do. *wink-wink*

another big idea from Little Boy

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

Little Boy asked if he could have a Christmas Party for his birthday.

"No, Taylor, that's silly."

"Please mom? It would be so cool! We could wear Santa hats instead of birthday hats and we could have stockings and my friends could put my presents underneath the Christmas tree!"

He had a good point...so the Christmas Birthday Party plans got underway:

Twas the morning of the party and all through the kitchen every creature was stirring and momma's a.... complaining. The stockings were ready to be decorated with care, in hopes that friends soon would be there.The children were bouncing all over in their beds,While visions of brownie sundaes danced in their heads. And Sidney in her elf ears and me in my cap, had just declared, "We need a Nap!"
When out at the front door there arose such a clatter, we sprang from the kitchen to see what was the matter. Away to the door Taylor flew like a bat, tore open the front door and handed out hats.
He blew out his candle, and got more toys than he could handle, And away they all flew full of sugar and candy. I heard him exclaim, with his 6th year complete, "Happy Birthday to me, this party was sweet!"

where has my little boy gone?

First Day of Kindergarten, August 2007:
Last Day of Kindergarten, May 2008: