It's a Miracle!

Last night at dinner we witnessed a miracle.

Emma ate a bite of dinner.

Just a little history- when Emma turned two, on advice of her doctor, we stopped serving her her own meals and only gave her what we were eating. Since that day, over two years ago, she has not touched a bite of what we've given her unless it was bread, mac n cheese, or grilled cheese. I've tried everything that everyone has suggested to get her to eat, and nothing has worked.

So yesterday, I thought, since she's older now, I'd try some of those methods again. I had her help me print up a chart with Mickey Mouse on it, and I told her if she took one bite of dinner, she could choose a sticker to put on the chart. If she gets 7 stickers, she gets to pick out a small toy at the store. Ahhhh- bribery. Anyway, it worked. Last night she picked up a lasagna noodle, put it in her mouth, and ate it.

The goal is to increase the number of bites after each reward. We'll see. I may not even be able to duplicate last night's success. But after two years of pulling my hair out over this issue- even one day's success had to be documented.

Wish us luck the rest of the week....

Honesty

Don't go shopping with a 4 year old.

Unless you want them to be brutally honest with you.

I'm looking for some maternity clothes- capris and dresses- and as I tried them on, Emma said the following things:

"That doesn't look right, Mom."
"That's too tight on you"
" I don't think that's pretty"
" You don't look good in that"

Whether or not she really meant what she was saying (where'd she learn to talk like that anyway?), I walked away from the stores without buying anything.

I'm not sure if I next time I should go without her or take her along for an honest opinion.

Play Ball!

On Saturday, Marcus got D-backs tickets from work, so we took the kids down to the ballpark to see the game. It was Justin Upton Bobblehead Night, so of course we had to go early to ensure we got one. Actually, we got four- two for friends, one for Marcus, and one to sell someday if Upton becomes the star he is supposed to become.

Anyway, we got there an hour and a half before the game started, so we took the kids to the Peter Piper Playhouse and the Sandlot to play for awhile.





When the kids got bored, we made our way to our seats. We were in the section behind home plate, about 25 rows up. Nice! The kids were really only interested in eating (nachos, hot dogs, soda, and ice cream- oh yeah!), although Emma did get into it a little later. First I had to convince her that the Diamondbacks ARE the Dbacks. Once she go that figured out, she liked cheering and clapping for the team, so I amused myself by having her shout things like "Go Upton!" "Throw a strike" and "Let's go Dbacks!" She also said "Slaten sucks!" though I didn't mean for her to repeat that one..... oops. She's right though- and now he's down to AAA, thank goodness.

Kyle amused himself by flirting with the people behind us and of course, gorging on all the food. The kid is pretty cute- I have to admit. He makes the funniest faces and delights everyone.

Unfortunately, the Dbacks lost to the Giants (keeping up the tradition of losing almost every time I come to a game), but we had a fun time. Maybe we'll go back for the next bobblehead night- we can collect all five!

Sprinkler Fun

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but it was 102 degrees the other day! Okay, I might have talked about it once or twice....

Anyway, we thought the kids might like to cool off in the sprinklers.

Being as it was evening and the kids were running around madly, the pictures aren't great. But I thought they were funny despite the quality.

Kyle loved getting soaked and trying to drink the water. Emma didn't really like getting her clothes wet, but enjoyed running around in the water.

And that's one way to stay cool in Arizona.

All is Well, All is Well

We picked up our beautiful new car. The a/c is working....for now. (We need to replace it but don't have the money so we're praying it makes it through one more summer). It's only going to be 85 today instead of the 102/100/99 degrees this week. The kids are playing nicely together. I did some laundry AND cleaned my kitchen.

Life is good.

Murphy's Law

It never fails- just when you make a rather large purchase, something else requires your money.

Our A/C isn't working. And even though it's only April, we're supposed to hit 100 degrees tomorrow. Summer is pretty much here already. So, this needs to be fixed.

Let's hope it's nothing major.....

The Car

It took phone calls, emails, waiting on a sales appointment for a salesman who never showed, a few test drives, a "tent event", and finally several hours working through the details with a good salesman. This is what we have to show for it:

A new 2009 Nissan Pathfinder- super black with cafe latte interior.

We didn't set out to buy a new car. We were going for an 07 or maybe an 08, but these are apparently very hard to find in Phoenix. Also, turns out right now is an incentive period, and the end of the month, so we really got a decent price for a brand new car.

I've never owned a brand new car. My parents never made payments on a car growing up, so I drove things like an 89 Olds Cutlass Ciera or a 93 Ford Taurus. They did the job, but hey- I'm kind of looking forward to driving a car with no history, no unknown problems, etc.

Overall, the process wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I highly recommend buying a car through the Internet sales division if you work with a dealer, as they have a completely different approach than a lot salesman.

The car should be here Wednesday. We're looking forward to driving it.

Now does anyone want to buy a 97 Nissan Altima?

Welcome

Welcome to our new website. I'm having fun playing with it... so don't be surprised if things change here and there.

This weekend we are working on buying a car. Can I just say how much I dread the process.... We have chosen the make and model, we've done all the online research, and now we just have to visit the dealers and try to find the actual car we want with the price we want.

That's the tricky part.

Wish us luck.