Thanksgiving in Phoenix

We just got back yesterday from a week long trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. Since Spenser only had to miss a few days off work and it was time for a break from the wet weather here, it seemed like the perfect choice. We all enjoyed being able to spend time with family and of course the highlight of the trip for the kids was playing with cousins outside in grandma's backyard. 

The start to the trip wasn't exactly ideal. An hour before we were due to leave for the airport Spenser called me to say that he had gotten into a car accident and it was HIS fault! I didn't show my finest self in the response I made to this news, but after that I didn't say too much. I was only sad that his Christmas bonus would be going to pay his deductible instead of the in car DVD system that I was hoping to get installed. Never mind!

After collecting Thomas from school and placing the badly damaged car in the garage we drove down to the Portland airport. We were a little later leaving than we had hoped, but fortunately traffic was good and the plane also ended up being delayed. We then enjoyed a good flight to some warmer weather.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

Enjoying a sunset walk with dad in the nearby desert.

Playing lots of pool on Grandpa's new pool table

Hanging with dad at Grandma's house

Feeding the birds at the park in warm sunny weather

Eating suckers at the park

Being together (I'm everyone's favorite!)

Getting to see the new Harry Potter movie with cousins

Visiting the Phoenix Children's Museum

Playing with lentils (did you know that they

can entertain a kid for HOURS quite literally!)

Making a pizza in the kitchen

Working in the grocery store

Running through the yellow noodles

Pretending to ride a bike

Serving ice cream 

Pretending to sleep in our fort

Riding through the 'car wash'

Being with siblings

Getting to ride on grandpa's real bike

Spending the evening climbing around with

Matt, Jen, Eliza, Jane, and Lucy

(Zach was very sad about having to leave that event)

We enjoyed a fun game of soccer on Thanksgiving Day

Mike and Devin helped Spenser grow a few inches

Olivia and Zach loved running around the pitch

Thomas scored the winning goal

(and the other two played pretty well too)

We were happy to have Clay, Jorden, Dusty and Bella arrive 

part way through the match to bring some fresh blood to the game

We got to spend time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Cammack

We got to eat yummy food

We got to eat Spenser's yummy peanut butter pie

And lots of other pies too!

All in all it was a pretty great Thanksgiving day

Of course no trip to Phoenix would be complete without a trip to Chino's

We had a great break filled with lots of fun. The only bummer for the kids was that we missed a snowstorm in Washington while we were away. They were sad that they didn't get to play in the snow. I wasn't! I was just glad that since they used a couple of snow days at school the kids only ended up missing one day instead of three. I'm sure there will be more of the white stuff to come. 

Buzz Birthday

Today was Zach's birthday. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then opened presents when Spense came home from a morning meeting. He was pretty excited with all of the toy story related gifts he got. 

Zach loved his new Buzz Lightyear

Olivia also loved the Buzz and was sad

that Zach got it and not her!

The older two kids told me that they thought that since they had been allowed to have friend parties when they were 3 it was only fair that we did it for Zach. I was a little worried about how it would turn out since Zach isn't always great with kids his own age. He loves 'babies' and he loves to play with older kids, but I think that he sees kids his own age as a threat. They want to play with the same toys as you and that would mean having to share (which can be pretty tough when you are awful at doing that!) I mean this is the kid who shuts the front door when his friend Luke comes over to play because he doesn't want him to have his toys, and Luke also previously hit him on the head when he had had enough of Zach's meanness. That kid never forgets a thing.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Zach acted when everyone came over and how well he shared the new toys that he had received only a couple of hours earlier. We let the kids play for a while and then they came down and enjoyed some carnival games that Spense and I had worked together on setting up.

There was pin the tail on Rex

Here is Zach getting ready to pin that tail

We worked together to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg. We had the kids take it in turns to throw darts at the balloons to pop them. Unfortunately, since I thought it wise for a bunch of 3 year olds to use blunt tip darts that didn't work out too well and I just ended up popping the balloons with a pin when they managed to hit the 'Z'

 We had a shooting gallery set up and we

shot at the green army men

There was a "Stuff Mr Potato Head's" face station too.

After all the playing it was time for cake and ice cream. Zach enjoyed everyone singing to him.

We got to enjoy these pretty fun alien cupcakes.

 Blowing out the candles

 Olivia and Zach's friend Luke

 Thomas and Olivia were sure to help

out with opening the presents

At the end of the party everyone got to take a fun favor home

Later in the evening we went out for dinner to celebrate the day. Since Dusty was in town for some dental work he got to come along too, which worked out especially well since it was his birthday only a few days earlier.

Desert was pretty much the most enjoyed part of the meal

Thomas and Dusty

What do you say about a kid like Zach? He challenges me almost every day. He has a strong personality. He never forgets things. The other night he wanted to read another book before he went to bed and I told him that it was time to lay down and go 'night night.' He was pretty insistent that we read, but since he was so tired he feel asleep pretty quickly. I chuckled to myself though when the first thing that came out of his mouth the next morning was that he wanted to read his Toy Story book. I hope that we will be able to channel his determination in the right way as he grows up! 

He loves to be around his brother and sister. He loves his 'olila' and will always go into her room and wake her up in the morning if he gets up before her. He loves his 'money' a lot too, but dad is becoming a much better option (thank goodness!) It has been fun to see his personality grow this year. He thinks that he's pretty funny and will often do things to try and make you laugh. He has a wide cheeky grin too, which he uses to try and get himself out of trouble. When he has done something he knows he shouldn't have he always tries to turn it into a joke by telling me 'that's funny!'

His speech is still a little delayed, but he has made huge improvements over the past month or so and has finally started to enjoy having stories read to him. I hope that his increased exposure to language will start to show in his communication.

We love this boy. You kind of have too!

Tradition

Some traditions are never allowed to die. Bonfire night is one of them. We save sparklers from July 4th every year, and then go out back and get crazy! There is smoke everywhere. Every year Spense talks about how he can't wait until we have property so that we can go out back and have a bonfire too. I'm sure that the neighbors wonder what we're up too, but I love bonfire night. Olivia hated it as usual. She stayed inside and freaked out every time she saw Zach with a sparkler in his hand.

A sparkler pose

The caramel apples were good

Here's the part that Olivia enjoys!

Baskin and Robbins

Because we haven't had enough sugar over the past few days, we went out to Baskin and Robbins for ice cream tonight. We had promised Thomas and Olivia that they could go in celebration of a great soccer season. Since we were all soaked to the skin on Saturday we thought we would go when it was a little drier. Cookie dough is the best!