Children's museum of Phoenix

This place is amazing! We went twice last week. Well the first time we went the air conditioning was broken so they gave us all free passes to come back. Hot as we were we still had a blast.
There is so much for little guys to do there it can't all be done in a day. This little grocery store was a huge hit for all the kids. Miniature shelves were stocked with groceries & produce complete with scales for weighing. Jack & Nolan loved pushing their little carts around and loading them up. It is so awesome to watch them imagining and pretending. Jack was looking at the canned goods and saying things like "hmmmm, what should we have for dinner mommy?" and "Do we need cereal?" All the kids there were pretending to be different employees of the store; cashier, restocking the shelves, sweeping up.



Jack got to make his very own pizza then bake it in the brick oven. Then he made some soup in the completely stocked and decked out kitchen.




The museum is very hands on, however I was awed by the creative displays of art all throughout. These pictures don't do it justice, it is pretty impressive and everything from the light fixtures to the stair railings has an artistic element. There was a two story high wall of CD's hanging and glimmering in the sun coming in from the two story high windows. Huge origami birds & bugs dangled from the ceiling. You have to see the giant wall of shoes that spans down one hallway. In the "kitchen" there were several really neat sculptures made from hundreds of twisted and tangled silverware, and chandeliers made of cups and cookware were hanging from the ceiling.



Nolan LOVED the ball room. There were so many different things they could put balls in and watch them roll, plop and hit a Levy and go through a funnel and come out a tunnel, too cool. Even the hallways were filled with things to do.

Happy birthday to me...

My new D&B bag.
Jim & I were out having lunch & shopping around at westgate last week and we went into my favorite store, Apricot Lane. It's the coolest little boutique with really unique clothing and accessories. I saw a giraffe purse there that I fell in love with. It was only like $50. I gathered up every last bit of my self restraint and didn't get it. Then yesterday, I came home from work and we celebrated my birthday a week early so my mom could be there and made me a yummy lemon cake. Jim brought home dinner from Babbos and I got to open my birthday presents too! I was completely surprised by this Dooney & Bourke bag! Jim had gone back to Apricot lane to get my bag but it was gone. He spent all day searching for a giraffe bag and luckily for me found this one, I LOVE it! I also got a really pretty wallet from Fossil and a Sirius radio for my car and the house. What a spoiled girl I am! We are going out to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant with several friends next week for my official birthday :-)

thought for the week

Bee part of the solution...

not the problem!

Did you know that Americans buy more than 25 Billion single water bottles every year, and believe it or not, 2.5 million of them get thrown away every hour! A water bottle takes more than 1,000 years to break down in a landfill!!! Don't BEE a water snob, use a reusable glass or sports bottle & drink filtered water out of your fridge or from a filter system like Brita. Landfills are overflowing and at their limits. Where will we dump all of our unnecessary trash next? Don't leave it for our children to figure out. Start making more environmentally friendly choices when you shop, not convenience based ones.

Yummy Vegetables

O.K. this post was supposed to be about something funny Jack said about eating his veggies, but the picture is pretty interesting all by itself. Jack is a man of a million expressions. He was just making one of his usual silly faces when I snapped this and the dot was on my camera lens. It looks like he is being attacked by a large bug or something, he just so happens to be looking that way.

Anyway, back to the point... Jack now asks me what is for dinner. In my best attempt to make it sound interesting I say " noodles and yummy yummy vegetables!" In the same excited tone he says "well I do not like yummy yummy vegetables and your driving me crazy!" Oh well I tried. They were blended up and snuck into his noodles anyway with a few on the side to "instill healthy eating habits".

Any ideas on how to get awnry 3 year olds to eat their veggies I'm all ears. Nolan is a great healthy eater. He will eat just about anything we put in front of him! Even gazpacho (tomato juice & blended onions & veggies) and salad, most veggies, tofu and pickled beets. If you think that's odd, the only thing he refuses to eat is chicken nuggets of all things! Go figure!

MUSIC STIMULATES THE MIND...

We had a musical play date at our house today. It was very fun, in a loud crazy way. There were about 15 little musical masterminds here all displaying there unique musical talent. Jack found that he has a gift at the harmonica, and everyone enjoyed his songs the ENTIRE time.

All the kids got to customize their very own tambourines. The little maestros chimed in with maracas. We had a lot of fun playing with all of our friends! Creativity is good for the mind (not to mention nap time!)


Nolan discovered an African Drum was the instrument he loved. He was marching to the beat until he discovered the top came off and then he was occupied only in putting small things in and out of the drum for the rest of the day.

This is starting to be a regular thing.

This kid is going to give me a heart attack. At the very least he is giving me wrinkles at an early age. I don't consider myself to be unnecessarily or overly dramatic when it comes to "normal" bumps, bruises or minor catastrophes. With 3 boys, one must remain calm and not get worked up every time there is an accident. Jack however is making sure that the Surprise Fire Department knows us well enough to remember our names and chit chat with us when we run into them at the grocery store. Slightly embarrassing.
In short, Jack got into something in our bathroom, I can't for the life of me figure out what exactly, and ate/ inhaled it. He started having a very hard time breathing, coughing non stop and gagging so I tried to take him to the hospital but he was making scary gasping noises and choking so I had to call 911. After a couple of X-Rays they decided to keep us overnight. He was scheduled to have an endoscopy surgery to look into his lungs but thank God got much better after a few breathing treatments!

Graduation Day!

Name: Britton Michael Wilson.
Age: 13 1/2 going on 26...
School: Canyon Ridge
Favorite subject: Math
Destination: Willow Canyon High School
high school plans: participate in the International Baccalaureate Program for college preparatory purposes, Play the baritone in the marching band, play lots of sports, not be distracted by silly girls.
Career Goal: NBA super star, back up plan, Architect



My handsome young man. We are so proud of Britton, he did so great all year. I can't believe he will be in high school in a few short months!!! How old I am! Cute, but old :-)

his teachers all just love him. I always get the most wonderful compliments at parent teacher conferences, except for the inevitable "he just talks to much." He keeps all of his teachers on their toes. He was even awarded "the most challenging" by his teachers. I hope that is a good thing! He also got awarded "All around most athletic" for the 8th grade!
Britton & his girlfriend Sierra. Weird huh? I'm not sure how to deal with the whole girlfriend situation. At least she lives pretty far away. Her parents drive her from Peoria out here to Surprise because Canyon Ridge is a Technological school & she is in the gifted program.

knuckle sandwich

So Jack was being his usual loud crazy self this morning & I asked him if he wanted a knuckle sandwich for lunch. He very excitedly said "YES, I sure do! That sounds yummy!" Then over & over again he kept asking for a knuckle sandwich. Finally I said well I'd be happy to give you a knuckle sandwich but I think we're out, how about a chicken quesadilla? He was insistant about having a knuckle sandwich though. He went up to Jim and said "Daddy, I want a knuckle sandwich for lunch!" We made him a quesadilla and he practically threw a fit saying "I WANT A KNUCKLE SANDWICH PLEASE!" Poor kid, what a mean mommy i am! Wait until he starts telling everyone he gets knuckle sandwiches.

i love my ball, my ball is blue!

Nolan is such a sweet little thing. He loves being outside with his ball and trucks. He is talking so much now! He is such a big boy at 19 months old. He hears the garbage truck or a motorcycle go by and says " What's that, a truck? Where'd it go, bye bye? Bye truck, see ya later!"

This is our new summer hairdo. It is already in the 90's here in Phx. We are going outdoors for playtime as much as we can before it is unbearably hot and we are stuck indoors for the rest of the summer.

Enchanted Island at Encanto Park

The boys just had the time of there little lives at Encanto park today! They ran as fast as they could from ride to ride with big smiles. Nolan especially loved this car ride, it was just his speed and he is absolutely fascinated with anything with wheels.

Feeding the ducks didn't go exactly as planned. Nolan went straight for the pond and wanted to get in. We stopped and bought bread just to feed the ducks, as soon as as those crazy birds saw the bread they swarmed us! Those geese weren't very friendly, they surrounded little Nolan and started biting his belly ( I guess they figured the chubby kid had the food :-) Daddy had to rescue the boys after about 30 seconds of the loudest duck feeding ever!



Jack just LOVED the airplane and helicopter rides! He was so happy when he found out he could work the control to make them go up and down. He is such a good big brother he will try to take Nolan's hand and say,
"Come on baby Nowen, let's go ride the airplane!"

Junior Pilot Training Camp.