Vogue

Sadly, we lost our camera during the holidays. We grilled the children as to the whereabouts of it, especially Kendall. We tore apart the house, every drawer, every cupboard to no avail. Nobody knew where the camera had disappeared to.

Christmas celebrations, trips to the snow, new years eve celebrations...all soon to be forgotten with no documentary that they ever really happened. A tragedy, really.

Last night, as i crawled into bed, there on my nightstand was my camera! "Is this a joke?", I asked Lee. Neither one of us knew where it came from...until, we turned on the camera and saw the last pictures taken. i think we found the culprit.

The next morning Kendall pleaded her case that she was just trying to do a photo shoot of Miley and then heard someone coming so she hid the camera under her bed so she wouldn't get in trouble and then forgot all about it.

Nice.

It looks like Miley thoroughly enjoyed herself too.

By the way, I wonder if those tongs are under her bed too...I've been looking everywhere for those and gave the brothers a good lecture about unloading the dishwasher properly.

Tell us how you really feel

Camdon made this in preschool. He said with a smile, "See mom, he's so happy because he has a lollipop and his sister doesn't. So she is mad."
Sometimes it's tough having an older sister, but oh the revenge we dream of!


A picture is worth a thousand words.....

The great multitasker

As women, we were born to multitask. We even pride ourselves in it. All day long, we multitask.

One of my busiest multitask events begins when the alarm goes off in the morning.
A few days ago, my morning started like every other.
get up.
wake up the crew.
start breakfast
wake the people...again.
put on my makeup.
prod the people to keep moving along so as not to be late
help dress the little people.
get myself dressed...
oops, forgot to make lunches. quickly back downstairs to get lunches made and shoo kids out the door. check time. they're going to be late, no time for riding bikes to school. change of plans, everyone in the car, I'll drive you.

As we pull into the roundabout for student drop off, Carson looks down at me in complete horror and all he can say is, "seriously, mom? Seriously."
And that's when I realize that I forgot these...



yep, no pants. from the waist up, i'm good to go. Makeup, hair, shirt, i'm even donning a bra.

About now, Bryson starts to freak out. "Mom, the rest of the sixth graders are standing outside opening up all the car doors for student drop off! Oh. my. gosh. it's my class!"
"Quick, he says, "everyone pile into the back so they don't open mom's door!" Then he throws my purse at me and says, "put this on your lap so no one can tell you not wearing any pants."


Fast forward 7 hours. I'm driving to pick up my kids and Carson very carefully opens the front door just a crack and asks, "Do you have pants on?"
Me - "Yes! Hello, I've had 7 hours to work that out thank you very much!"
I hear 3 sighs of relief as the people pile in.

Come on, cut the multitasking mom a break, huh?

Fireflies

You know how some memories are tied to a certain song a certain smell and whenever you hear that song it takes you right back?
When I hear this incredibly weird song, Fireflies by Owl City, I think of this....

cruising around in Hawaii with our top down (the car of course)

and beach hopping all over the island...

and yummy food...

and crazy hair. My hair and humidity don't get along very well....

And anyway, this song brings back really good memories. All of the radio stations literally played the same five or six songs over and over and Fireflies seemed to be a favorite. Now wherever I'm playing taxi and this song (that drove us crazy by the end of the week in Hawaii) comes on I can't help but smile and think of my awesome hubby.

Camdon's preschool field trip...the Phoenix Zoo

The sign only read, "Don't feed the animals."

You find out who your friends are

"The better part of one's life consists of his friendships."
- Abraham Lincoln
I just wanted to take a minute and thank all of my dear friends for all their love, support and tremendous help over the last couple of months. It's incredibly touching to know who your friends are and to see these amazing people who have crazy busy lives of their own stop and do whatever they can to help, without even being asked. I am overwhelmed with emotion when I think about the people I am fortunate enough to make this journey on earth with.
It's been a crazy couple months with my surgery and move back to back. And you, my friends, took my children, you brought meals into my home, you visited, called, brought treats, threw me party's, helped pack up my house, cleaned, moved, moved late into the night, cleaned some more, and the list goes on and on. I hope to be the kind of friend that all of you have been to me.

Varney Family Reunion

Another highlight of this summer was the great family reunion we had up at Mormon Lake, near Flagstaff, with Lee's side of the family.

Once Kendall found the petting zoo, she was in heaven.

Carson and Mason got such a kick out of these little goats, they would bend over and the goats would jump onto their backs!


All the Varney girl cousins (and Camdon) got to go on a horse ride!








Once Kendall heard there were frogs in the pond, she was all over that! She stripped down to her panties and waded through the pond and grass after those bright green toads!

Flower pickin'....


and dandelion wishin', it was a great trip!

California fourth of July week...

I guess I better start posting our summer adventures! We had such a blast in California camping on the beach. So much fun to spend the week with family and good friends, making lots of great memories!

Playing games and hanging out, waiting for the fireworks....

Look at that handsome devil!

say cheese!!

lucky us, some cute mermaids washed onto shore!

checking out the sea lions in La Jolla

Kendall was in heaven finding shells and crabs and other treasures!



Camdon's and hi "buddy", cousin Dallon. Camdon calls Dallon his "buddy". Dallon has always been so good with him!


A little mani/pedi time back at camp...thanks Candi!

...poor Camdon

Watch out!



Peace out California!

My son, the business man...

My eldest is hitting is preteen years hard. He seems to think he is above all of his siblings and has no patience with any of them. He has taken up the new hobby of name calling, like jerk, idiot and other lovely names. I've had my fill so our new rule is whenever he calls anyone of his siblings a name, he must pay me 50 cents. I figured this would surely cure him quickly as money is of the utmost importance to him.
Not long after the rule was made, he very impatiently and angrily called his brother a jerk. I gave him a look and he went upstairs to get his money. He came back down and plopped a tooth (yes, a tooth) into my outstretched hand as he headed outside.
I said, "what is this?!" He said, "It's worth a dollar. I figured it will cover this time and the next time I call Carson an idiot." "What?! i said, "how is this worth a dollar?" With a slight smirk on his face he said, "You tell me, I have that one and two others that the tooth fairy never made payment on."
Dang that tooth fairy!

The square peg...

I am grateful for my non-cookie cutter kids.
I am actually grateful that not only are they all different from each other, but that some of them march to the beat of their own drum.
I can say I am glad they don't always meet the expectations of their teachers and other adults in their life that for some odd reason seem to think that because their child behaves in a certain way, every other child should act, react, and think that same way.
I am glad to have a square peg or two that don't fit into the round hole.

I got an email from one of my son's teachers at school this week. She said she wanted to talk to me about his behavior at school. He likes to talk in the halls, he sang one too many ooh-la la's and cha-cha-cha's after singing the happy birthday song to a girl in the class, he tossed his lunch box in the air and caught it right before they lined up for lunch and that he is often found dancing in line.

What exactly is one supposed to do with this information? I mean i don't email her a summary of the little quirks he does that annoy me. I just emailed her back and said, "Good to know!"

Ooh la la and cha cha cha are just fun words to say. Add a little booty shake to it and bam, you've got a good time! Random things are good for the soul. Doing random things means your happy, you're breakin' out of the same routine of simply picking up your lunch box and carrying it to the lunch room. And, let it be known, that there is always room for dancing. To my kids I say, "Oh yes, there will be dancing, however, wherever and whenever you feel the need, there will be dancing." Let's not get crazy people, that is still one constitutional right that has not been touched. Let the people dance whenever and however they may.

Womanizer....

When I picked up Camdon from preschool today he was so excited. He hopped and skipped to the car, taking the time to climb up one side of a big boulder and jump off the other side while having this conversation with me.....

Camdon: "I played with a girl today!"
Me: "How fun! What did you play?"
Camdon: "We played, she said, "Stop following me! Don't talk to me!"
Camdon: "Yep, we had fun, and she's my friend."

Dream Big

I love this picture.....

We love the Diamond Backs and my boys love watching their games. When they grow up they want to play for the d-backs. They watch the players carefully and study their moves, what they do right before they pitch or what they do right before they hit. And then, they take these little tips to their own baseball games. They've learned all kinds of superstitions they believe will make them hit harder, pitch faster. Whether it's a slight turn of the head, tapping the base, or spitting in the dirt, they watch, learn and apply.
They have some great memories that are centered around baseball and Diamondback games. I'm so grateful to my wonderful aunt for giving my boys those opportunities to dream big.

Yankees Fan

Sorry D-backs, this year I'm a Yankees fan.....

Both boys play for the Yankees this year, different divisions, but both Yankees nonetheless.

Tonight they both had games at the same time on fields right next to each other and both were pitching. They both played great games!
Tonight's game's highlights:
Carson pitched the max amount of pitches at 75 pitches in his game and Bryson hit a home run in his game. Great game guys!

Sidenote:
Unfortunately, I still cannot relinquish my "cup responsibilities" as Carson couldn't find his nutty buddy anywhere and went to the game without it while I looked all over for the missing shield. I remembered seeing it in the trunk of Lee's car (because why wouldn't a sweaty ball cup be in there?!?!) while I loaded groceries on Saturday. A phone call to Lee at work, him leaving a little early to make it to the game before it started, and whew! The cup was securely in place!
'Tis my lot in life!

Happy Birthday, CJ!!

So I'm a little late, but my baby is 3!! He has been SO excited to turn 3!! He's had his party planned for over 3 months. I hadn't really intended on throwing him a birthday party but he was so set on his little friends coming over for a party that we couldn't not have one. He slept with the party cups and plates for 4 nights before his party, saying he was excited is an understatement!

Camdon is my little buddy, he's my only one left at home so we do everything together. We're so glad he's our little caboose! He keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing all the time.
Some of Camdon's favorite things are baseball and cars. He has LOVED baseball since before he was even 1! In fact, last year he went through a phase where he sported a baseball helmet EVERYWHERE we went. We're glad he's past that, but now he needs to take a baseball bat everywhere we go!
CJ loves playing with his friends and all of his big brother's friends, as he thinks he can and should do anything they are doing!
He just started preschool and thinks he is as big as ever! He can't wait to grow up but I am trying to keep my baby a baby as long as I can!

A surprise birthday party at Nonni's this weekend!

This is how we remember him most over the past 3 years....

Happy Birthday little man, we love ya'!