Magoomba Monday #13

1) I really wanted to share this one last picture of us from our beach trip. I had not downloaded a few pictures that were on my other POS camera. While I do sometimes coordinate outfits amongst us, this was a sheer coincidence. Jadyn and I before heading over to the BBQ that Saturday evening:


2) Last Monday after returning from our long weekend at the beach, we took Jadyn to her first day of dance camp. Although Jadyn repeatedly told me that she wanted to take dance lessons, after such a shaky start to swim lessons, I had my doubts. I tried to take on a "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" attitude but it probably didn't help that she was also tired from our trip. So, it didn't really work out and at least now we know she is not quite ready for such an endeavor. And on the plus side, we have super cute pictures like this of her dressed up in her leotard and dance skirt:


3) On Tuesday, I was attempting to catch up on chores after being gone for four days when I completely tweaked my back rendering me pretty much useless. In fact, if you noticed that I didn't blog much last week, it wasn't because we were so busy (which we were by the way) but because I felt like a shard of bone was broken off and stabbing my right hip every time I sat down. On the plus side, while I am still fairly sore, I am feeling better and am scheduled to start physical therapy this week. Wish me luck!

4) Wednesday evening the girls and I made our way down to the Cheesecake Factory so we could have a celebratory girls night since my friend Michaela is preparing to move in a week or so. In this regard, living in a military community sucks because I hate saying goodbye. On the plus side, my raspberry-lemon cheesecake was delicious.

5) On Thursday, my Mom and her husband George came down for their semi-annual visit and we had a nice day catching up and playing in the pool before heading over to Jake's first t-ball game of the summer season. Jake was able to show off his batting and fielding skills and was quite proud to have extra fans in the bleachers.

6) Friday we took my Mom and George with us for a day trip to the river and we had a great time showing them our favorite pastime. While it was a little busier than we had hoped as everyone seemingly had the day before the 4th off, we still had a spot at our favorite sandbar and spending the day on the water was a great way to beat the 100+ heat we have been experiencing. I never did get any good pictures of my mom with the kids but Jake sure did make a new friend. Why do I imagine that his girlfriends are going to be taller than him?

7) Saturday was of course the 4th and as per tradition we headed down to my brother's for a BBQ and went to their local park to watch the fireworks. For a recap of the significance of the 4th of July in our family (besides the obvious), you may want to refer to my post from last year. This year was a lot of fun, especially after the fireworks when everyone had partook in a few beverages. My sister in-law Tawnya and I were determined to get Joe to wear this mad hatter style 4th of July hat and the ensuing battle ended up with Joe wounded and the picture in question mysteriously erased from my camera. More on this year's ode to the red, white and blue to come.

Until then, I hope everyone's week is off to a good start.

Magoomba Monday #11

1) I keep forgetting to mention this but I finally slurped all my blog posts from 2008 into a book format and am in the process of editing so I can publish a copy to keep. I am really excited about it, however, I have to say it turned out to be more work than I was expecting. Blurb automatically formats all the posts exactly the same, which presents a few problems. Some of my posts are text heavy. Many of my posts are photo heavy. They don't all ideally fit in the same cookie cutter format so I have to go through each one and alter the formats for some. The other issue is with the captions I frequently affix to my photos. Well in the book format the text is one place and the photos are in another so I have to manually go back and correct the wording for all of those posts. At one point I thought it might easier to just save the html and input it to another publishing site like Lulu but since I didn't anticipate the problems I am having with Blurb, that would be a lot of work to go back and do so I am just sucking it up and editing. As of right now the book will be about 240 pages. That's a pretty good record for one year of the Funny Noses!

2) With both the kids each just having birthdays I don't magically expect them both to start developmentally appropriate behavioral issues for their new ages BUT Jadyn was already giving me a run for my money and with Joe gone their seems to be a little bit more sibling squabbling than my patience can handle. One quick glance over my discipline book of choice (1 2 3 Magic) to polish up on technique and consider each child's temperament and age and order is in the process of being restored. I cannot recommend that book enough!

3) Speaking of books, we went to our local library this past week and I signed both the kids up for the summer reading program. For every 5 books they read or have read to them, they get a prize and if they check out 30 books each before the deadline, they get to participate in a party at the end of summer. While I was there, I was happy to find Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box by Anne Dunnewold, which has been making the rounds amongst by blogging circle and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which was recommended by another friend. As soon as I finish the June Cleaver book, I will definitely be writing a post about how I feel about the whole extreme parenting phenomenon and how the book has (hopefully) helped me to let go of some of my mommy guilt.

4) With the weather still unseasonably mild, I was able to take the kids to another local treasure we have somehow managed to overlook previously - The Big Morongo Canyon Preserve and Covington Park. What an amazing treat it was! It is yet another desert oasis, boosting one of the ten largest cottonwood and willow stream habitats in California. Translation: For the duration of the 3 hours we were there, it was easy to forget that we live in the desert. We were surrounded by huge towering shade trees with green everywhere, boardwalk trails with lush vegetation tickling your legs along the way and the sound of trickling water. This on top of the fact that right next store to the preserve is a beautiful brand new playground for the kids to play and climb until their hearts content. Now that we have visited the preserve, I am certain we will be frequenting it often.

5) On Saturday, Jake had closing ceremonies for t-ball, which was rather anticlimactic given that his last game was 2 weeks ago. However, it was nice to see all the Grasshoppers unite one last time in order to receive their trophies. Jake, of course was excited to add to what is sure to become quite the collection of trophies and metals throughout his adolescence. Jadyn just had to be in the picture. I guess it is a good thing she was dressed in orange!

6) After closing ceremonies, I had promised the kids we would stop by the shelter to visit the kitties. We have gone a handful of times lately but Saturday turned out to be different because a litter of gorgeous 7 week old kittens had just become available for adoption and they were all cute, cuddly, playful and litter box trained. So after spending an hour or so playing with all of them and assessing their little personalities, and of course getting Joe's blessing, Jake and Jadyn each picked out their favorite and we are now the proud owners of two new female kittens - a chocolate point named Jasper (Jazz) and a tabby calico named Mambo. We are introducing them to our house and doggies very slowly and the kids are super excited to have the baby cats joining our family.

7) Finally today is the first day of swim lessons. I am extremely nervous about how Jadyn is going to do being in the water without me for the first time but I am hoping for the best and preparing for lots of tears. Who knows, maybe she will surprise me.

Hope everyone's week is off to a productive and great start!

Magoomba Monday #10 (a day late again)

1. ) I can't believe that with all the commotion going on after last weekend that I completely forget to mention how much I loved the New Moon trailer unveiled at the MTV Movie Awards. I was squealing like a fangirl and yes, I rewound it and rewatched it several times. You can definitely tell that the budget is bigger and therefore the special effects are going to be much better. I was really worried how they were going to do the werewolf transformation and although I cannot say it completely compares to the vision I had in my head while reading the book, it came pretty darn close. I am so much more emotionally invested in how this movie turns out because it was my favorite of the series. Just watching the trailer made me want to go back and re-read it for the 5th time but I am trying to wait until closer to the movie release. November 20th can not come fast enough!

2) Although I am not good enough to stop giving my business to Kaycee and Kimberly, I finally figured out how to make hairbows for Jadyn! Kimberly tried to show me once but I just think she wasn't dumbing it down enough for me. However, today my sister in-law Tawnya was able to break it down for me and voila - I can now make bows to match Jadyn's outfits. I even have a burnt thumb from the hot glue gun to prove it. And man, I am not a crafty person but it can be addictive.

3) I took the kids to see the movie UP last Wednesday. We went the extra mile (or 50 miles but whose counting) and saw it in 3D. The movie was as good as the reviews have been saying and the animated short before the movie was amazingly cute. Right up my alley. Even the previews were in 3D. Jake wore his 3D glasses the whole time and although the movie kept her interest, Jadyn took her glasses off about 1/3 of the way through. Although I don't think you would lose anything essential if you didn't see the movie in 3D, Jadyn is still talking about the dog at the movie theater who licked her in the face so I know it had an impact.

4) Amongst all her new toys from her birthday, Jadyn got a new baby doll she had been wanting. One night last week I found her putting her baby to bed and "reading" her a bedtime story. I thought it was the cutest thing.



5) Another example of what a great big brother Jake can be - when we are trying to get out the door and Jadyn is having trouble getting her shoes on, he stops and takes the time to help her. Now that's love. Or impatience. Or a little of both.



More on our weekend coming!

Magoomba Monday #9

1) Well we made it through our busy weekend and I am currently working on editing photos and writing posts for Jake's graduation, last day of t-ball with the Grasshoppers and Jadyn's third birthday. Meanwhile, I scheduled our first "free" Monday with an eye appointment for Jake, a well-child visit for Jadyn, the mandatory McDonald's for lunch as a reward, swim sign-ups and finally a haircut for Jake. Now I am definitely exhausted. So here's the scoop:

2) Jake gets to be two beloved movie characters/superheros all in one summer! It turns out he has refractive amblyopia in his left eye, which is also known as a lazy eye. It has nothing to do with how his eye moves or his eyes being crossed. That is called strabismic amblyopia. His vision in his right eye is so good, there is nothing forcing his weaker left eye to get any stronger. Sooooo, he will be a) getting glasses for the time being to correct his vision. He picked out a pair all by himself and he does look like Clark Kent (aka Superman) if I do say so myself. b) once his glasses come in around 7 to 10 days from now, we will be patching his GOOD eye for 2 hours a day and have him participate in vision training exercises to force his left eye to work harder, therefore making it stronger. Hence, Jake will get to be a pirate just like Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. This is the bad news. The good news is that the doctor was optimistic that it could take as little as a month or two to strength Jake's left eye so the goal is for him to not need "patch time" OR the glasses by the time school starts.

3) Jadyn had her 3 year well-child visit today. She roughly weighs 30 pounds and is 36 inches tall and is otherwise healthy with no major developmental concerns. But, I have to say her measurements are rough because despite having never received anything other than routine medical care, she screams bloody murder and refuses to do anything the nurses or I ask her to the entire time they are checking her in. She was better when she was in with the doctor but only because I am able to hold her more. Obviously I can't hold her on the scale. I just don't get it. By this age Jake was over fears like this but Jadyn hates going to the doctor, getting her pictures taken or getting her haircut. Basically anything routine is a nightmare with her. It just goes to show you how different each child's little personality can be. When Joe asked her why she protested so much at the doctor she replied that she wanted Mommy to be the doctor. Now that is funny! Since it will be her first experience solo with a teacher, swim lessons this summer are going to be interesting to say the least. Here is a picture of the birthday girl yesterday before we made our way to the park where we had her party. The shirt is from Carter's and my friend Kimberly made her bows to match.


4) This is the buzz on summer. I just couldn't stand the idea of dealing with Jake's little boy's cut all summer so we took him in and got a low fade. I absolutely love it. Jake's is lukewarm to the change but definitely much better than 2 years back when we last tried a shorter cut for summer. Jake is getting quite the makeover between his cool glasses and new hair cut.



5) While the rest of this week is not nearly as busy as today, we do still have places to go and people to see pretty much every day this week, not to mention that fact that Joe is leaving Thursday and will be away on business for 2 weeks. And people say there is nothing to do out here in the desert.

Hope everyone's week is off to a productive start!

Magoomba Monday #8

1) As the spouse of a veteran and someone who has lived in military communities for the last 10+ years, I would like to take pause to remember and give thanks to those who gave their lives for our country. I know what a sacrifice it is for those who serve our country and their families and I am thankful for them everyday and on this Memorial Day, I especially want to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. You will never be forgotten.

2) Switching gears, you know how some people get baby fever? Well not me. Don't get me wrong. I have been aching to add to our family, just not in the form of another baby. Or at least not a human baby. I have pet fever BAD. I love our dogs. I love how much they enrich our lives. So much so that I have desperately been trying to convince Joe that we should get either another puppy (which I realize is highly impractical) or a couple of kittens. Joe likes to torture me by having us go down the hill to the pet store on a Saturday, like we did this last weekend when he knows they will be having adoptions events. He says he likes to pet and play with the puppies and kittens that are looking for a home and I don't doubt him. But all I want to do is bring them all home. We may have come home empty handed this last weekend but just you wait. One of these days................... In related news, I may not get baby fever but I have been mourning the end of toddlerhood in the Funny Nose house, a milestone that will be reached this Sunday when Jadyn turns 3. More on this to come.

3) Friday was a day of lasts. It was the last day Jake attended preschool in his regular schoolhouse and it was the last Friday Jadyn and I will be attending storytime at the library before they switch gears for the summer reading program. I think this has definitely added to my nostalgic mood. I took a few pictures of Jadyn at the library during show and tell and craft.

4) We made another day trip to the river Sunday. With it being Memorial weekend there was a stark contrast in the number of boats and water toys racing up and down the river so finding a good spot to park and hang out was a tall order. We went to our favorite sandbar before it was invaded by a multitude of boats, our favorite cove, which was crowded as well and finally drove for awhile down river until we could get some peace from all the traffic on the water. It was still a very nice relaxing day on the water. Despite how it looks, Jake really does like being on the boat, as long as he plugs his ears because he is not big on loud noises.

Hope everyone has a nice short week. Ours will be eventful and busy to say the least!

Magoomba Monday #7 (a day late)

1) Despite the fact that I am a day late posting my Monday roundup of random happenings, things were actually quiet this last weekend. For the first time in as long as I could remember we had no birthday parties, baby showers or other commitments to attend other than Jake's t-ball game on Saturday. I recall a post in December when things were kind of quiet as well, but I was anticipating that to change rapidly as we had a lot of holiday activities scheduled one right after another. I believe I called it the calm before the storm. Well this is definitely the calm before the storm because although we again have nothing big planned for Memorial Day weekend (and that even includes t-ball), the week following the long weekend is going to be CRAZY with Jake's preschool graduation (sniff, sniff), his last t-ball game and end of the season party and Jadyn's 3rd birthday. So right now I am trying to stay on top of things and brace myself.

2) This last week we hit triple digit temperatures and then had some scattered thunderstorms. I had to do a double take. This is the weather we usually see in August not May!

3) The kids and I did a little project where we replicated the greenhouse effect to start a small vegetable garden. We had a lot of fun transplanting our budding tomato, green bean and sweet pepper plants but I have to admit that with my black thumb, I did not have very high hopes. Well those hopes were quickly dashed when before the poor spouts even had a chance, some brave bunnies squeezed through our fence and ate them. On a positive note, it is nice to see the cute little guys hopping around even if I am still a little cross with them.

4) My Twilight obsession had waned quite a bit with nothing new really going on in Stephanie Meyer's universe. That was until they unveiled the new poster artwork for the movie sequel that is currently being filmed. I absolutely LOVE it. For someone who has never wavered in her conviction of being neutral (aka Switzerland), it is like a dream come true. Oh, and the rumor is they will be showing a clip from New Moon at the MTV Movie Awards on May 31st, which happens to be Jadyn's birthday. Esmilse is coming out of hibernation and once again squealing like a fangirl. Whoo Hoo!

5) This week I have three posts already planned showing you some cute pics of Jake playing t-ball, a photo shoot I did with Jadyn in anticipation of her birthday and some of thoughts on this season's TV now that finales are winding down. Speaking of which, this week will conclude the seasons of both American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. While I am lukewarm about who wins on DWTS (not because I don't like anyone but because I like them all), I am super excited about American Idol. While I think that Adam Lambert is extremely talented and cannot wait to see what he comes up with from week to week, I have been rooting for Kris Allen since very early on in the season and I am eagerly anticipating their showdown. I am also eager to have all these shows ending because I can only imagine how productive my evenings will become when there is nothing good to watch on TV. LOL! And true to my word, I am NOT watching the new season of the Bachelorette. I am done, done and done with that show.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Magoomba Monday #6

1) Jake had his 5 year well-child visit at the doctor's on Wednesday. He is 40 1/2 inches tall and weighs 39 pounds. Everything went well except that he seems to be having some trouble seeing out of his left eye so I will be taking him the optometrist for a general eye evaluation as well as consulting with a surgeon about the need for him to have his umbilical hernia repaired (he has had it since birth, as has Jadyn). Meanwhile, he was completely up to date on his shots, which made for a nice visit. We will be going to his elementary school this week to get him registered for Kindergarten in the Fall. I absolutely cannot believe that I have a 5 year old who will be going to school next year.

2) We have a birds nest in the underside of the roof at the back of the house and the Mama bird just became the proud parent of at least three little babies. They sure do make a lot of noise but are very good at staying pretty well hidden from sight. However, if I have our master bathroom window open and look out the window indirectly through the mirror, I can see all three babies awaiting for Mama bird to return and feed them. The second I try to approach the window to get a closer look, they dart further back into the nest out of sight. Joe was able to get a couple good pictures of the braver baby bird though. The kids are absolutely loving our bird family.




3) Ever since Jadyn gave her pacifiers up, her and Jake have been falling asleep together on Jake's bed. Most nights they go to bed without a fight but occasionally, Jadyn in particular likes to try her luck at stall tactics and most of you are familiar with the standards: I need to go potty, I need socks on my feet and I'm thirsty. However, Jadyn has invented a new one. She will kick her blanket off and then when she can't get it properly adjusted back around her she calls out, "My blanket is not working" and whines until we come tuck her back in. Cute but frustrating all the same.

4) I plan to devote a blog post about this but just in case I get busy, Jake read his first book this weekend. He was so excited and we are definitely proud of his accomplishment.

5) We took our first trip of the season to the river on Sunday. Again, I plan to devote an entire blog post to this but just in case, here is my favorite picture from our trip. My two little river rats chillin on a sandbar:


Hope your week is off to a great and productive start!

Magoomba Monday #5

Things have been crazy around the Funny Nose household, pretty much as expected.

1) Jake started playing t-ball last week. Because his team got a late start, we packed in 3 practices last week in preparation for opening ceremonies and his first game this last Saturday. But you haven't even heard the best part yet. His team manager needed some assistance and due to my increasingly unhealthy need to have as much information as possible, what started out as an innocent offer to help turned in to me becoming the assistant coach. What's even better is because of the limited free time his team manager has, I have already attended a coaches meeting, picked up and distributed uniforms and fund raising materials, copied and passed out the schedule and snack roster and had the responsibility of managing in his absence at the game tonight.

Now some of you may be surprised to hear this, but despite having kids of my own and loving them dearly, I am not exactly a "kid" person so being put in charge of 10 rambunctious 5-7 year olds is not exactly my idea of fun. And still some others of you may be surprised because I doubt I come across as the athletic type and I am really not. However, growing up I did play both soccer and softball so I am not completely ill-equipped for such a task. Despite the amount of work I have had to put in, I do find myself enjoying being involved and volunteering my time. It's nice when you can see that you have made a difference.

Here is Jake with a few of his teammates before opening ceremonies. I just thought all the kids looked adorable in their uniforms:

Here is all the pomp and circumstance of a Little League opening ceremonies. Jake and his team had their hats over their hearts and then Jake quickly covered his ears because he thought they were going to fire off the gun, which they didn't:

Jake and "Coach Jenn" after our first game. I have had to teach Jake that he can question Mommy why but not "Coach Jenn". He then asked if I was done being coach for the day and when I said yes he asked why:

2) We had Jake's 5th birthday yesterday at the bowling alley. It was a striking success. All the kids had a blast bowling and it was really nice having it somewhere where the entertainment was included. I got really antsy yesterday morning because I felt like I didn't have enough to do. Basically I just showed up and decorated the tables that were already set up. It was super stress free. It also just so happens that the mom of a friend of Jake's from school is a pastry chef, so I asked her to design and make cupcakes to fit in with our Star Wars theme and they turned out really cool, not to mention delicious. Definitely not South Beach friendly but I had to have one for myself. This is just a preview of the pics and tales from Jake's party. I will have a separate blog post later this week with much, much more!

The family before heading over to the bowling alley:

3) Jadyn has been acting like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One minute she is this super sweet preschooler singing songs, making jokes, telling me she loves me and just generally being cute. The next minute she is clingy and whiny and purposely defiant for no apparent reason. I think part of the problem is the nap/no nap issue stemming from no longer having the paci. I also think it is partly just a normal developmental stage.

4) I feel like I am never going to catch up! I still have so many stories and pictures to share on my blog but with t-ball now taking up 3 days a week for the next 2 months, I feel like I am never going to have the time. I figure its better to have blogging material and no time to blog then the other way around.

5) Spring was really weird again this year. It went from cold and windy, to warm and windy to just plain old hot. I know we may not have seen the end of the mild temperatures (at least I hope not) but having the temps in the 90s this weekend was yet another reminder that summer is just around the corner.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their spring as well.

Magoomba Monday #4

1) First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all the compliments on the kids professional pictures. I have to say that we are lucky to have gotten any shots at all because Jadyn was not being in the least bit cooperative. Thankfully, however, I have found a great photographer at our local Sears who knows how to get good pictures regardless and I was therefore very happy with the result. Also, I have to mention that the matching greens was just one of those fortunate coincidences as Jadyn's dress is from the Carter's Outlet (which I purchased first) and Jake's button down is from the Tony Hawk line at Kohl's (which I bought after realizing it was almost the exact same color as Jadyn's dress).

2) If you read my fairy tale blog post over the weekend, you know as of Wednesday last week Jadyn is pacifier free. While the nights continue to get better and better with each passing day, her naps have left something to be desired. I knew this was a very likely result of her losing the pacifier. Most days she has taken power naps while in the car or fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion at an awkward time (like 5pm). I think with the proper amount of sleep at night, she could get away without a nap and although I would miss that break in the afternoon, I would be fine with her dropping the nap. However, if she continues to need it, I am not sure how to ensure she gets it. This will have to continue to be a work in progress and a stage I had not looked forward to as I remember the "in between period" with Jake occurring at about this same age. He dropped his nap at 3 1/2 but prior to that we endured late afternoon naps that interfered with a decent bedtime, exactly why I would rather Jadyn drop the nap then be up too late.

3) Jake had his first t-ball practice last week. His thumb is fine and did not bother him at all. For those who have not heard (and try not to laugh) but I am assistant coaching his team. There was a severe lack of volunteer participation and frankly I am pretty involved with the kids activities anyway and I did actually play softball for many, many years growing up. I just hope I have the patience. This league has been a little disorganized so far (we don't even have a game schedule and opening ceremonies are April 18th) but I know Jake will have a blast regardless so I am really looking forward to him being in a sport again. Soccer season was simply too short.

4) So far this spring we have already managed to complete four trails in Joshua Tree including Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Mastodon Peak and just yesterday, 49 Palms Oasis. The best part about our hike yesterday is that Joe was finally able to accompany us AND we finally, after 5 years of living in the high desert, was able to hike the trail for which our street was named after. It was by far my favorite and the wildflowers continue to be in full force. I will be devoting an entire series of posts to the three trails I have yet to blog about but until then, I just had to share this group photo of our family at the Oasis:



5) I am back on the beach, that is the South Beach Diet. While I had not exactly gained any weight back, I started to feel my clothes getting tighter as I got further and further away from the principles of limiting sugar and processed white flour. The great news is that this time around, I have a partner in crime as Joe is joining me. We are half way through Phase 1 and I know that once we go on to phase 2 we will be able to adapt the diet as it was truly meant to be - a lifestyle change complete with meals where we throw all rules out the window and eat whatever our heart desires.

6) Jake is on spring break this week. While I originally planned all these crazy outings, the fact of the matter is that aside from taking Jake to school, our other activities are still going and I would rather take the week to enjoy our weather and take advantage of the additional down time. With Easter and birthdays right around the corner, not to mention twice a week baseball games, things will be busy enough before we know it.

Magoomba Monday #3

Oops. I never intended Magoomba Monday to replace an entire week of posts. I just got really really busy with some projects and never found the time to blog last week. But never fear - all is well on the Funny Nose front.

1) Things are very well in fact. Joe is finally home after spending 4 out of the last 5 weeks in North Carolina. And he will be home for awhile, thank goodness.

2) The projects I mentioned - organizing and preparing for both kids birthdays (its just easier to order for both at the same time), spring cleaning, FINALLY ordering photos from the last year and yard work. With Joe gone so much lately, I took on one of his usual tasks and hula-hoed (if that is even a word) and raked 75% of the yard as well as pulled a multitude of weeds along the fence line. Out here in the desert, we may not have a lawn or landscaping but you wouldn't believe how much better the yard looks with no weeds and freshly raked dirt. Now I am sore in places I didn't even know existed.

3) I made a trip to the library to research some subjects that have come up with the kids lately. And when I say kids, I am mostly referring to Jake but obviously his interests and vocabulary rub off on Jadyn. Those subjects include what the words dead and dying mean, religion and giving them a head start on becoming financially savvy. Whew! Can you say heavy? Why do they have to grow up so fast?

4) Despite the emergence of some pretty heavy subjects lately, I am still in love with this stage of parenting. The kids are now old enough to be in our completely fenced front yard riding their bikes, blowing bubbles or drawing racetracks and letters with sidewalk chalk while I watch from the kitchen while preparing dinner. I am just in love with all this outdoor time and warm weather.

5) With our first free Saturday upon us, the Castillo Clan, Scottie and Ali and the kids and I went for a hike up in Joshua Tree. We went to the southern border of the park to check out an area known as Cottonwood where the wildflowers are already blooming. We ran into a problem when we couldn't find the 1 mile loop we were planning on taking and decided to explore a longer trail. In the end, we hiked Mastodon Peak, a trail which totals 3.6 miles and takes you to an elevation of over 3000 feet. While this would be perfectly fine if it was just us adults, it presented certain challenges with 4 children under the age of 5. I have to say however, the kids did awesome, we all enjoyed the hike and on top of seeing wildflowers blooming in oranges, yellows and purples, we also got an amazing view of the Salton Sea. Pictures will be coming soon.

I am going to try my best not to stay away the entire week again. Frankly, there is just too much blogging material to pass up!

Magoomba Monday #2

So I dropped the pile from the name and decided this is how I was going to start off each week; with an assorted variety of happenings from the Funny Noses. Because honestly, I usually have a lot I want to blog about at the start of each week but very little time to do it. This will ensure I don't miss anything important so here it goes......

1) Jake's thumb is doing MUCH better but this last week was very trying on me. We had to endure twice daily dressing changes, which needless to say did not go well but we are finally past the need for dressing and it has healed enough for him to wear a couple of Band-Aids. He seems to do everything he wants/needs to do now that he no longer has his "big thumb" but the poor guy keeps asking me when it is going to heal. I keep telling him it will get better everyday and around the time of his birthday, we should see a decent amount of his nail starting to grow back.

2) I lost my voice! Not completely but since Thursday I have been in and out of varying degrees of hoarseness. It makes yelling (um I mean scolding) the kids quite difficult. LOL!

3) I haven't forgotten that I owe everyone a post on Jake's new language. Still to come.

4) Jadyn has moved on from having an imaginary dog to actually pretending she is a dog. She crawls around the house barking, begging for treats and bones and keeps one of her play bowls next to the dogs real water dish. She yips, barks and pants. I play along. I love that she has such a vivid imagination. I think it is cute.

5) We had another busy weekend with a baby shower and birthday party. Even though I was pretty run down from being sick, we had a good time at both and are happy to have been included in these celebrations.

6) We had quite a wind storm Sunday. Jadyn was looking out the window and literally started crying because she feared for her wildflower bush that grows through the fence. She cried out, "My flowers, my flowers. But I love them and I don't want them to blow away. Then I can't pick them and smell them!" I calmed her down by explaining how strong they were and thankfully they held up to the winds. I will definitely post some pictures with her flowers as well as a few of the photos from last year.

7) For those who even had to wonder, YES I already got my copy of Twilight on DVD. Although I wasn't willing to drag my kids out at midnight to get a copy, a very good friend made sure I had my copy to watch by Saturday night. I must say however, I was really kind of disappointed with the extended and deleted scenes. I thought there would be more.

8) Joe will be home this Sunday. I can't wait to have him back home and hopefully not traveling for a little while. He will have been gone 4 out of the last 5 weeks. That is 4 weeks too many in my opinion and I am ready to have him home.

9) And finally, this Monday was the last Kindermusik class for Jadyn and it was quite bittersweet. Ms. Heather who has been a friend and the kids music teacher for the past 2 years is getting ready to move to Virginia with her family. As of now, she has not found someone to take over the program for her next year. While I hope the program is able to continue, regardless it will not be the same without her. Here is a picture of Jadyn and I with her class today as well as a picture of Jadyn pretending to be a vehicle going through a tunnel.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Magoomba Pile #1

Magoomba is a word that I think my Mom first taught me and I am not sure where she got or how to spell it but to me it basically means junk. For example Joe has a basket that we call his Magoomba pile. He is allowed to throw whatever he wants in there and I don't hassle him. Not at least until it starts overflowing with stuff. Well that is what this post is going to be - my version of a magoomba pile - an assortment of odds and ends. It is my version of something similar to Lindsay's Crawford Gumbo.

1) I am ridiculously behind on blogging. With Joe gone, I have tried to keep the kids and I as busy as possible and mission has definitely been accomplished there. Problem is even though I have plenty of blogging material, I have little time or energy to blog. I still want to blog about my birthday party but it was over a week ago. It's starting to seem irrelevant but I am going to attempt to catch up this week. It probably doesn't help that when I did have a free moment Saturday, I chose to blog about the Bachelor but I really needed to get that off my chest.

2) Joe's Grandma was in the hospital all last week for some heart irregularities. We have been so worried about her. I am happy to report that she is home with new medications that are better controlling her heart rate and blood pressure and that her heart and lungs are in good condition. We are going to try and visit her next week.

3) I have once again become addicted to the WiiFit. With Joe in North Carolina and after eating my way through my birthday week, I have been attempting to add the WiiFit into my exercise routine along with the treadmill but I am now obsessed with trying to beat Joe's high score for every one of the balance and aerobic games. I am happy to report that as of now, I have surpassed his scores for 7 out of 10 balance games and all but 2 of the aerobics and I still have the rest of the week to accomplish those. My personal favs are the soccer heading game and the snowboarding.

4) Jake has developed his own language. I have nicknamed it "Jakanese" There will be an entire blog post devoted to introducing you to this unique form of communication. Meanwhile I spoke with his teacher today about his Kindergarten readiness and her only suggestions were working with him on holding his pencil correctly and because he has such a common first name, maybe starting to teach him to spell and write his last name. She said otherwise he is good to go.

5) Jadyn has an imaginary dog. His name is Anthony. He frequently sleeps in the palm of her hand and drinks lots of water. I have accidentally sat on him twice now. I think it is the cutest thing ever.

6) While many of you are experiencing an unusual snow and cold front (including my hubby), the temps here in the desert got up to 88 today. That's right folks. We are currently in t-shirts and shorts. I only wish I could say spring was here for good but March can be particularly cruel in taunting us with warm weather only for it to be replaced by cold and rain in the blink of an eye. And speaking of spring, don't forget that Daylight Savings is early this year - this Sunday March 8th. (yeah for an extra hour of sunlight. Boo for losing an hour sleep and trying to get the kids readjusted with their sleep).

That's it for now folks. Look forward to future editions of the magoomba pile.