Coyotes, Scorpions, and Snakes--Oh My!!

Our official tally of live coyote, scorpion and snake sightings is up to 2, 2, and 2. I've seen two Coyotes about the size of a medium dog just trotting happily along across the street from our house in broad daylight while we are in the garage. We've had two live scorpions in our garage, both were huge, one I ran over with my car and the other Steve just killed with his shoe a few minutes ago. We've had countless dead scorpions inside and out of the house---uuuggghh! And the worst of all, our pest control company on their last visit found a non-poisonous snake on the side of our house and tonight when we were pulling into the driveway after a ride on the ATV, a freakin RATTLESNAKE was slithering across the road heading toward our open garage! It was rattling so loudly at the ATV, I heard it before I saw it! Steve and our neighbor managed to capture it in a large bucket and release it across the street. Steve and I's first choice was to kill it dead but our liberal, hippy neighbor said "oh, we don't kill them, we capture them and release them back into the wild." Lovely, I'm sure the same rattlesnake will be hanging out in our backyard this week! But despite all the disgusting creatures in this place, you can't help but love it here as you are floating around in your backyard pool, contemplating how wonderfully maintenance-free fake grass and rock landscaping is!

ATV Ridin'!

Brian and Steve have spent most of their waking hours for the last 3 days on their shiny new toy! Here is some pics from the fun:

Brian trying to get the Paparazi away

My excited children ;)

My cousins Jake and Noelia came over for a swim and dinner today

and Jake took a ride on the new toy too

NO pictures please!!!

Okay, maybe one picture

Brian and Jake after the day of fun, Brian would not stay in the chair for a picture!

My Boys' New Toy

Steve finally got his long-wished-for ATV this week. The thing was delivered today. It's an Arctic Cat Prowler something-or-other (it has some number after Prowler but I can't remember what and I don't want to walk out to the garage to see, you are just lucky I can remember the make and model, I had been calling it "the thing we are buying"). The community we live in is surrounded by open desert land, which should be tons of fun on an ATV (at least that's the propaganda I've been hearing for a while). Steve is promising me lots of alone time when he straps Brian into his car seat on the ATV (*COUGHredneckCOUGH*) and they ride off into the desert sunset together. Brian is SOOOOOOOO excited about the "Bebeep" that arrived today and is gearing up for his first ride just as soon as we pick up a helmet for him this afternoon. Some pics from the Arctic Cat delivery:

Brian on his "starter" ATV

Wait for me Daddy!

Who is more excited?!


Oh, and some pictures from this weekend. We had a reunion with some of our Stinger Squadron mates from Germany and we took some pics before we left the house.

Animal Crackers Loop-de-loop

A few months ago my mom bought Brian a super cute set of Animal Cracker cookies cutters and the mix to go with it, from Williams-Sonoma. Due to our alternating super hot days and rainy days, I've been searching for things to keep Brian busy inside the house. So a few days ago we whipped up the cookie mix and Brian went crazy punching out animal crackers from the dough (with a little help) until he discovered the edible dough and his interest in making cookies quickly turned into interest in eating all the dough he could get his hands on. I sympathize with his dough addiction, I too have the same problem. After I thought he'd ingested enough dough, I shoo-ed him away so I could finish cutting out the cookies. They turned out really cute and taste delicious, but Brian would rather play zoo with the animals than eat them (more for me ;)!

Look at my lion!!!

The finished cookies--seal, lion, elephant, tiger and giraffe

Pictures from the Weekend

Here are some pictures from last weekend. Lots of swimming in the pool out back because it's getting super hot here! Over 100 degrees for like 10 days or something crazy! Honestly, it's less uncomfortable than SC because as they say, "it's a dry heat!"

Brian loves jumping off the step

thinks it's super funny!

he's learning alot from swim lessons and will even swim on his own with his floaties on of course but only when he wants to

Naked baby butt running away after we swam

I spent a few hours making the red pillows from some fabric my aunt gave me a while back (thanks aunt Connie)

I was taking pictures of my finished pillows when I felt a little tug on my camera arm and a tiny "pease" coming up from below. The little guy pasted on a big grin and said "cheese." He wanted a whole photo shoot with various props and locations. Quite a change from his usual "NO!" during photo shoots and his attempting to push the camera out of my hands.

Another cute one from our on-demand photo shoot, he looks sneaky here!

Weekend Pictures

We had a busy weekend so here are a few pictures. First thing Saturday morning was Brian's swim lessons at our community pool, followed immediately by the community pool grand opening party. Brian's lesson are in a heated lap pool but the pools that just opened are not heated and were too cold for Brian's liking so Brian and I just dipped our toes in, but Steve was brave and did a few trips down the giant water slides. Then Saturday night, we dropped Brian at our friend's Katie and Mark's so he could play with their son Mason and we could go out for a night. We met our friends Jen and Adam at a piano bar to celebrate her birthday. A good time was had by all (especially Steve who doesn't remember anything after 9:30 pm and was too hungover to get up for the first half of Mother's Day). He redeemed himself slightly with dinner out at one of my favorite restaurants, BJ's brewery, where we finished the meal with one of their famous Pizookies--a cookie pie topped with ice cream--shear heaven and the perfect dessert for Steve and I as a couple because I don't want the ice cream and he doesn't want the cookie, so we both did our part to finish it and of course Brian pitched in with a bite here and there.

Walking into swim lessons, matching outfits not done on purpose

At the piano bar (kelly--sober as always, Steve--after a few drinks)

Me and Jen, the birthday girl

Jen, getting her dirty birthday song from the piano players

Brian and me before heading out for Mother's Day dinner

A Hairy Problem

I've recently received many comments about my hair in our blog header picture on this blog, facebook and through email and would like to face these rumors head on. No, there was no wind machine, fan or jet engine blowing my hair back. Just a combination of thick, long hair and Mother Nature on the day the pictures were taken in an windy alley. My hair is an ongoing problem for us, one that we face head on and deal with as a family, despite the numerous pictures it ruins and gobs of hair down shower drains, on bathroom floors, and tangled up in the vacuum cleaner. Brian has learned to stay still and smile for as many takes as we need to get a family picture where Mommy's hair behaves. Steve has learned to keep his comments to himself when he has to cut my hair out of the vacuum cleaner just to get it to work again. However, the real victim here is my dad, the poor man lived with four women, all having hair with a mind of its own. Through some miracle, he has only had the house replumbed once, probably due to his diligent monthly use of a pipe snake to remove the massive hairballs from the plumbing. There is no real solution to my hair problem, short of shaving it off, so we press on, ruined pictures and all. Here are some other pictures that have been ruined by my hairy problem:

We never did get a good one of Brian and I that day

The look of annoyance on Brian's face is probably due to the many takes necessary because of my crazy hair

You can't see it, but a strand of hair flew into my mouth, rendering me unable to smile

And the worst one of all, my high school senior graduation picture, I'm in there somewhere

Elmo Live!

Saturday morning I took Brian to see Elmo Live with our friends Katie and Mason. The show was about an hour and 20 minutes, which is about an hour and 19 minutes too long for Brian's attention span. His supply of cookies and interest in the dancing sesame street characters only lasted a few minutes and then he wanted to walk the aisles, climb the seats, scream, grab the heads of the people in the row in front of us. We made it to intermission during which Brian ran some energy out in the lobby. Then back into the theater, but this time we sat in some empty aisle seats where he could see a little better and got to touch Zoe. He enjoyed that. But still more fighting with me to run the aisles and bounce around like a wild animal. I don't know how he knew, but when the final song started, he knew the end was near and you would think happiness would overwhelm him, but no, he started crying when it ended and cried almost the whole way back to the car. Meanwhile, his friend Mason sat quietly, taking in the show and eating an entire bucket of popcorn himself. Maybe next time I will try the popcorn trick, if there ever is a next time!

Giving Elmo a kiss

Brian and Mason and his popcorn

Sitting still for a few seconds