Stone Soup

Emma's preschool put on a production of Stone Soup. If you are unfamiliar with the story here is a quick summary...

Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travelers go to the neck of the stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with carrots to help them out, so it gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.

Emma and her friend, Ashlyn, were the hungry travelers. Our girl was such a little star! She said her lines loud and clear and wasn't shy in the least. The video below isn't the best and it is about 13 minutes long, but if you want to see her in action you can!

Here are a few pictures from her acting debut.

Mom and Tyler's day out

I know I have been slacking terribly when it comes to blogging. It seems like every day I am either at Tyler's school or Emma's. And if I am not there, I am busy running errands or cleaning. I told myself that today was the day that I would sit down and get you all caught up on what we have been doing.

On Veteran's Day Emma had school but Tyler did no, so he and I had a Mommy and Tyler Day. He got to choose the activity and he chose the zoo. After the zoo we went to Marshall's office for lunch and then capped the day off with a play date with one of his best buddies. Here are a few pictures from our zoo trip.

The last time Tyler fed something in the water he fell in---this time he stayed dry!=)

The Mama Lion recently had three cubs. She came right up to the glass and looked everyone in the eye letting us know that we were NOT to mess with her babies!

I love this boy SO much!!!!!!

Halloween 2011

This year Emma was Alice in Wonderland, which she was the spitting image of, and Tyler was a Police Officer.

We trick-or-treated with out fabulous neighbors and got so much candy that I am going to have to add a mile on to my running for the next few weeks!=)

A wonderful visit

Uncle Matt, Aunt Nancy, Kelsey and Logan all came to see us last week. We enjoyed having them here more than I can even begin to explain. It was just so wonderful having another girl in the house for Emma to play with. Kelsey was awesome with her and when she finally did get sick of Emma dragging her around Logan stepped up to the plate and let her climb all of him like a jungle gym! Logan was also great with Tyler playing lots of ball and video games.

We went to Tombstone on Friday and thankfully it wasn't too hot to enjoy it. Here are a few pictures from out day.

Waiting for the gun fight to begin.

If those boots didn't cost $50 she would own them!

Bellied up to the the bar at Big Nose Kate's for a shot.

Uncle Matt loading Tyler's new cap gun.

We had nice enough weather out here that the kids all got to swim. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of that.

Saturday evening Matt and Nancy went with Marshall and I to a friend's Halloween party. Here we all are in costume.

Uncle Matt even pulled out Tyler's 2nd tooth. This isn't the best picture of Matt but Tyler feels that this is a blog worry event!

We decided to make Potato Head pumpkins instead of carving. Here are the kid's

masterpieces.

It was a wonderful visit. Both kids have been so sad all week that Matt, Nancy, and the kids can't move in to our neighborhood. I love Arizona but I sure do miss being around family!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Tyler's class went to the Pumpkin Patch for their field trip. Emma and I went along as well so we also counted this as our family trip. Going to the Pumpkin Patch in 90 degree heat isn't all that fun but we did it with smiles!

Click here to see how much the kids grew since last year!

Newport Beach Part 2 (lots of pictures)

We really did have a fabulous week in Newport. We could not have had better weather so we were able to get in lots of beach and pool time.

Our biggest downer of the week came Monday morning when Tyler woke up with his asthma cough. He hadn't had so much as a sniffle before this so we were unprepared. Thanks to Oro Valley Pediatrics prescriptions were called in and $150 later he was breathing easy.

Our second BIG downer was that I forgot my camera. I was really wanting to use my good camera to take some family pics for possible Christmas cards but it was not meant to be. Thankfully Marie brought us Bill's old camera so we were able to capture our memories.

Here are a few pictures showing some of the highlights from our trip.

These are all from Crystal Cove. This beach was just across the street from where we stayed. There was an AMAZING tide pool there so the kids got a great science lesson that day!

Feeding the fish at the resort was a favorite activity (that is until Tyler fell in!!!!!).

Marshall made the kids chocolate chip pancakes a few mornings which made Emma a VERY happy girl!

If you are ever in Newport, a FREE and fun activity is the Newport Sports Museum. You won't be surprised to read that this was a favorite spot for Tyler. It was filled with ALL kinds of sports memorabilia so it was a hit for both he and Marshall.

We went took the ferry over to Balboa Island and spent the day checking out cool shops and playing games. I even rode the Ferris Wheel (my eyes were shut the ENTIRE time so no pictures) to make Emma happy.

On Saturday The Morash Family and Uncle Jake and Miss Danielle came up and spent the day with us. We had a wonderful time hanging out, swimming, laughing, and cooking out. Every time we get together with them we always try to figure out how we can possible get together more often. We enjoy them so much and can't wait till we go back in July and they spend a few days with us!

It was a wonderful vacation and we are counting down the days till we get to go back and do it all again! We love California....just look at this sunset and you will understand why!

A BIG THANK YOU to Marie and Bill for not only saving us with the camera, but for watching Winnie all week. She was in good hands with Bill and I am pretty sure he spoiled her rotten with attention because she was a bit naughty when we got home Monday and I had to be gone all day.=)