November started out in the BEST way possible!! A visit from Miss Rachel Shaw herself!! This was her first time to my hometown hood and I was super excited to show her the titillating features of Mesa. ;)
She flew in bright and early on a Thursday morning. After getting the kids off to school, we started our {weekend of eating} at Henhouse Cafe. Very fitting that my favorite thing on the menu is the Texas Benedict! We went halfsies on that and the lemon mascarpone pancakes and then rolled ourselves outta there and on to San Tan Mall to do a little shopping!
Olive was out of preschool by then so we grabbed her, made a caffeine stop at Sodalicious, then drove to Trav's office to give her the official tour.
Got some girl talk in while Olive napped then she helped me tackle homework duty when the boys got home. A true friend. :)
Rach is a Beachbody fitness coach and she whipped those kids into shape! Haha! Olive's buns.
We met Travis at our FAV, Gecko Grill, for dinner, then headed to my parent's house. I had invited all my siblings over to have dessert and visit. She has met most of them, but not all, and it was just fun to have all my favorite people together in the same room! Poor girl had been up since 4am her time though so she was falling asleep sitting up. We were quick to bed once we got home.
I just started a new gym called Team Fit Bootcamp and have been loving it! It's crazy hard and I know Rach appreciates a good burn so I was excited to take her. Biggest bummer that it happened to be one of his lamest workouts to date. Boooo. But here's a good friend for ya... even though I'm always the weakest link at this place, Rach was trying to convince me I had shoulder muscles. After my 4th eye roll she grabbed her phone to say she was going to prove it. And here is her "evidence". She got a 5th eye roll as I told her those are bones. We all have them. But I love her for trying. ;)
Exercising is infinitely more fun with a friend! SOOO wish this was a daily occurrence. We went home and fueled up on acai bowls before hitting up our second workout... High Fitness! Another class that I've been dying to do with her. This one is more fun because there's upbeat music and dance moves. It was at the park, so Olive could come with us and play.
Denyse saw Rachel's Instagram post about breakfast and commented that she was in town too so we made a last minute lunch date at First Watch! Haven't seen Denyse in forever. It didn't take us long to cover the surface level stuff before we could get to the real deal. ;) It's so refreshing to have those kinds of conversations. I'd say we all walked away filled. Buffalo ties forever. :)
It was finally time to shower and get this show on the road! Rach couldn't come to Arizona and not experience Snobsdale! Travis got off work early and snagged the kids to go swimming with.... the Shaheens!! Yup, I had found out the day before that they were coming to town too. Perfect timing! Rach and I checked in to our hotel then headed to Scottsdale Fashion Square. Turns out, a mattress company that I've been researching has their one and only U.S. office at that very mall! I think it was fate. It was super helpful to lay on all the models and figure out which one I liked best. Turned out to be a softer model than the one I would have picked if we were just going off online reviews.
Nappy nap time.
We shopped for a few hours after that (Oh the stores at that place! It reminds me of the fancy malls you see in movies. And all decked out for Christmas too! It's been a loooong time since I've been able to shop like that without kids. And I hardly even bought anything.... but it's the activity of it, ya know ;)
Megan met us for dinner at Culinary Drop Out. Where the pretzel fondu is off the chiz-ain. But I'm learning the entrees leave a little more to be desired. Humpf. I should add that Rachel's voice had started to give out earlier that day and by now it was almost non-existent. Which was super frustrating when all we were supposed to be doing was TALKING!! She was an A+ listener while Megan and I did most of the chatting. ;(
Sprinkles was a 5 minute walk away, so what are three, full girls supposed to do?!
Use them as bras I guess, lol.
She couldn't talk, but she could mime. ;)
The next morning we got breakfast at The Chop Shop, then laid pool side for many, many hours. This is my lazy girl HEAVEN. I really can't think of anything I'd rather do than sip pina coladas, read a book (or in this case gossip magazine) and soak in the sun. These are the "pinch me" moments that make up for endless dirty bathrooms and dishes.
Not all resort food is made equal, people! Having the Shaheens stay at so many resorts and invite us to swim with them has taught us this well. I should probably make a spread sheet to keep it all straight. But let it be known that Scottsdale Plaza and Resort has BOMB nachos. With drippy, white queso you'll want to marry.
Around 3pm, we reluctantly changed and headed to the other fancy Scottsdale mall.... the Scottsdale Quarter. Because that one has True Food Kitchen!! Girl trip food Mecca.
Cheers to juices you don't know all the ingredients of and Summer squash pizza. :)
We cruised home just in time for our ward's big fall party at Barney Park. The party that has a bounce house, dunk tank, cotton candy maker and BBQ steaks and pork. Perhaps the only ward party I've been to where I was sad I was already full.
We ditched out a little bit early to make it to a movie... Keeping Up With the Jones.
Don't go see it.
Dumb movie.
(But dumb movie that we laughed quite a bit at.)
The next day was Sunday! 8am church is soooo fun! Especially when you agree the night before to sub in Primary. ;)
We had our traditional "Puffed up Pancakes" for brunch when we got home and Rach got Collin pretty good with the whipped cream. Having Rach around is like having the "fun aunt" visit. She'll spray whipped cream in your mouth and do funny face filters on her phone with you. The kids were eating her up.
We spent the afternoon doing a little bunting banner craft and falling asleep watching Hello Dolly. When 5pm rolled around we were ALL so sad to be taking her back to the airport. Suddenly, I hate Texas. It was such a wonderful trip with her and I owe so much of that to Travis. He was Mr. Mom all weekend and I'm so grateful. He always does it happily and without holding it over my head. I know I'm a lucky duck for that.
I laugh out loud every time.
These girls and their shenanigans at Grandma's house.
It was finally November 8.
Donald Trump vs. Hilary Clinton.
Initially, I was just so glad to know it was almost over.
I happened to be at the store and even grabbed the kids a patriotic, after school snack!
Then I was making dinner by myself for about 30 minutes while Trav took the kids to Collin's soccer practice. I had the TV on in the background (something that NEVER happens) and election news was filling my ears along with sound bites from all the debates this past year. And all of a sudden I was crying. The tears started slowly, but then I was full scale, despairingly sobbing. I didn't even know why!! I was trying to analyze my feelings. Was I sad from fear that the person I DIDN'T vote for might win, or sad because the person I DID vote for might win?? I think we all see the problem. But deep in my soul I just felt this hopeless ache that nothing good would come from this. I had to mop up my face though and head to Cub Scouts.
And the bad news kept coming. I got a call from Travis near the end. That was weird, I thought. He wouldn't call unless it was an emergency.
And so it was.
Weston had taken a flying leap off a swing set and landed on his arm. Trav suspected it was broken.
He dropped off the other two while I finished up with scouts and took Weston to Urgent Care.
I went home and ate my dinner.. ribs and homemade mac and cheese. Comfort food. Meal planning with vision.
We got a call from the radiologist not long after they got home that it was indeed fractured near the elbow. On the radius to be exact. Swell. He had a really rough night, crying off and on from the pain and not able to get comfortable. That made two of us.
I was able to get him in to a place called Kids Fracture Care on Thursday. He was one tough cookie. Every time the doctor touched or moved his arm and asked if it hurt, Weston would flinch as pain crossed his face, then shake his head and say, "no, it doesn't hurt". One orange cast and $1000 later, he was ready to take on the world again.
Or at least McDonalds.
Thank goodness it happened at the end of soccer season! He only had to miss his last game. That sling lasted one day before he was done with that nonsense.
Collin at his last game! He scored a goal and I even got it on video! Mom win!
Travis didn't have work on Veteran's Day for reasons other than it being Veteran's Day, but whatever, I'll take it! We met my family at downtown Mesa for their annual parade. Not to be rude, but it a little on the drabber side. Trav had to remind me that most of the participants aren't exactly spring chickens. We'll just say the occasional high school marching band really livened things up!
Funniest part of the day was when this little wagon came by handing out water bottles advertising my dad's company! Bahahaha!! When we realized it, we started laughing and pointing at my dad, telling them he was the owner. I think they got a kick out of it. Way to keep us hydrated, Senergy.
We all convened at SomeBurros for lunch afterward. Quite the treat to get out of the house AND have my dad join us for all of it too! Even baby Della made it!
Date night with my Travis. We went to the temple and then Zinburger where we made some excellent choices in their Buffalo fries and special burger of the day. I forget it's name. Something with pastrami and cole slaw. We got DQ for dessert but my eye candy was all I really needed.
I don't know if any other mom's are like this but I'm go, go, go until about 4pm. That's my wall. It's SO hard to be productive after that. And yet, Travis walks in the door from work (and I can count on one hand in 10 years that he's been grumpy doing so) and happily wrestles with the kids on the floor. I don't know where he gets the energy but, they.love.it.
I really should start a separate blog for hair styles... sorry!!
Well, the next day, Marcie send this to me and Shelley in a group text and I about fell on the ground laughing, then took a picture of where I was to send back.
It's alllll true, lol.
It's gone, it's gone! The mattress from hell is gone!!
I almost feel bad giving it to the poor people. They might choose the floor over that thing.
Travis said when he called the charity to see if they accepted mattresses, they said they did unless it was a "specialty" mattress. He replied that it was a Purple mattress. She paused and said, "I don't think it matters what color it is".
Hehe. I could have made the same mistake 3 months ago.
This little turkey sang some Thanksgiving songs at preschool that I unfortunately missed because I messed up the time. (Didn't hear the end of it that day.) So here is her reenactment. Gosh, she's cute.
(Did I catch an accent at the end there??)
The boys wanted me to come eat the special Thanksgiving lunch with them at school but I wasn't able to do both of them on the same day, so Collin won out for this meal.
I like to think I have high food standards, so I'm not sure I should make the following statement, but this food was GOOD. Maybe I'm judging it by cafeteria standards, but I ate every last bite.
I brought Dilly bars for dessert. It bodes well for you when the closest fast food to your school is DQ.
One thing about Collin is his love language is quality time. He soaked up my attention until that whistle blew and was so proud to have me on the playground watching him play basketball and soccer.
Two bows for open gym! Not the best picture though.
We did a duel celebration of Jenni and Jessica's birthdays at Mi Amigos and had the whole party room to ourselves for the majority of the time! The kids ran amok, picking the plastic flowers and generally staying out of our hair so we could consume the copious amounts of chips and salsa we were meant for. It was a super fun afternoon with some of my favorite ladies.
It needs to be documented (if it hasn't already... my memory is really slipping) that Olive can PUMP all on her own! And has for several months. I didn't teach her either. Her eldest brother, on the other hand, was still pumping deficient until about a year ago. You go Glenn Coco.
Two parades in one month?! Who are their crazy parents anyway? This was the Gilbert Days Parade and I have to say, it knocked the pants off of the Veteran's Day Parade. There was candy and handouts galore (we even got real flowers) and tons of bands, dancing and floats. My kids are scavengers though and took every paper handed to them. We went home with oodles of junk I didn't want.
This was a super last minute lunch date, but our friends, the Ulibarris, were in town for a CE course so Yolanda and I got together at Crackers. There is ALWAYS time for Crackers and catching up with old friends! Bring on the bread pudding! I'm realizing we're pretty lucky to live here, as so many people come into Phoenix or Scottsdale for business and it gives us opportunities to keep in touch!
When the FRIEND magazine has a Dragon Fruit and the kids beg you for weeks to buy one....
$6 and 3 amazed, then disappointed children later...
It wasn't very sweet but had the texture of say a kiwi. Collin was the only one that thought he liked it, then changed his mind. I thought it was pretty good. Will never buy it again, buuuut....
Now it was Weston's turn for a lunch date! Happened to be a chilly, rainy day, so I bought hot chocolates at Dutch Brothers as their treat. It was quite the ordeal to get the drinks and food for all of us and then Weston was gone in about 7 minutes with a quick kiss and a "Bye, Mom!!" Sigh. I think it will be a while before I do this again.
I guess this school divides up performances by holiday and grades. So 2nd grade does the Thanksgiving concert. For how much Collin loves attention, he completely changes personalities when it comes to singing performances. He barely moves his lips or acts interested in it at all.
Two days before Thanksgiving I went in for my first ultrasound. I was only 13 weeks so they couldn't tell me the gender yet. I felt like a crazy person though because the second the baby came up on the screen I started freaking out a little bit! Haha. In a good way! It was just the CRAZIEST thing to me for some reason! I hadn't even heard a heart beat before this so to see a baby moving around absolutely floored me. I kept hearing myself say like an idiot, "Oh my gosh! There's actually a baby in there!!" You'd think by the 4th pregnancy, this wouldn't be exciting, but it felt like it was the first time.
That night, our ward had {pie night} at the Perkins. Apparently this is the most anticipated night of the year around here. I didn't anticipate it enough, however, and made my chocolate cream pie RIGHT before. It didn't have time to set up and was basically chocolate pudding with crust. Ugh.
Lucky for me, I couldn't sleep on Thanksgiving and was up at 5am baking pies! This is a "before" of the berry.
My fav of Grandmother's.. custard.
I took a little baking break so we could run the Gilbert Turkey Trot!
Another fun year. I'm liking this tradition.
I love how they hand out donuts before.
You run along the canal for part of it and they must be doing some sort of construction because all these dirt mounds were lining it. Collin saw this as a fun, hurdling activity.
Impressed with these kiddos! Collin ran the entire time and Weston ran about 1/2 the time.
Free donuts to start and free churros to end. This is striking me as oxymoronic.
We met at my parent's house for the big lunch! These girlies.
Casey made magical, exploding potatoes!
The pie spread! I think Marcie and I did a mighty fine job!
My only complaint was that my sweet potatoes weren't soft enough!! Bugger bug BUG!! Why am I still figuring out this cooking thing?! So annoying. Everything else was mmm, mmm, delicious.
While everyone was dishing up their plates and sitting down, I ducked into the bathroom and changed into a shirt similar to this.. (Don't ask me why I didn't take a picture. I'm just smart like that.)
I walked back in and sat down at my place and Marcie immediately read it and then jumped up while screaming her head off. I guess everyone else thought something terrible had happened while she ran around the table to give me a hug. It was the PERFECT reaction and made me smile so big.
The rest of the afternoon we spent playing volleyball in the backyard. My dad rigged up the net and it turned into quite the fun activity! Perks of having 7 children, I guess. Full volleyball teams. I would have thought we were all of average skill level, but the guys were tearin' it up! I was especially impressed with Jefferson and Travis. And while my dad is not a sedentary kind of guy, he was jumping and leaping way more than I think a 56 year old should. Always keeping up with his kids.
That evening, we went over to Trav's parents house. I just kept the shirt on, but it took quite a bit longer for anyone to notice. Not exactly the same reaction, either, but then, they aren't quite as expressive as the Lindbloms. ;)
Tiny tot got herself a BIG GIRL BED!!! Pretty much just the consequence of her parent's getting a new bed and needing a place to put their old mattress. Don't even get the boys started on how unfair life is at this point. It's been about a month and she's only rolled off once. I love that all the space means I get to snuggle with her at bedtime. She wraps her arms around your neck and begs, "No, please don't go!! Stay and sleep wiff me!" Well, how do you say no to that?!
Bike season!! Love our family bike rides. Weston will be back in the saddle soon enough.
I was sitting on the toilet when this came around the corner.
The times I'm grateful I pushed these goofballs out.
Happy November to you.
