Is this really January??

After we got our Christmas lights put away this year, we moved on to other winter activities.
We had a spur of the moment car wash in the driveway. It was some Saturday and we had wandered into the front yard, ran around a bit and discovered things were heating up quite a bit. JC had the idea to let the kids 'wash' the cars.
Now, we all know that spraying vehicles down with water and letting preschoolers rub wash clothes all over them is going to move the general cleanliness of the car in the other direction, but it was something to do!
They had so much fun...it felt like a nice summer day (though not by Arizona terms!), right in the middle of January!

Ben was a pro!

Look at those hard workers! (Man, won't it be awesome when they can actually do this for real?)

This is the moment when James discovered JC was chasing him with the hose.

This is a moment not too long after that.

Pretty Bethany let me catch a sweet picture of her in between all the washing and running around.

Ah...refreshing! Doesn't this picture just make you feel like summertime?

Handsome Daddy

Cheesy Mommy

James hid out in the garage a lot after JC started chasing him with the hose.

Woohoo!!!

After everyone was done with the cars and working on getting dried off (and worn out for dinner, baths, and bedtime), the kids took to running around some more...this time in our neighbors' yard. For some reason, they love to jump the little fence between our driveway and our neighbors' yard. The little plot of grass they jump into acts as a magical land or something. It is way cooler than anything on our property. Luckily, we have wonderful neighbors who endure all of this.
Ben likes to go over there to march.
He usually does this while sing-songing "I am Woody! I am Woody! I am Woody!"
Yes. He still loves Toy Story.

The brave jump into the magical land! I love how they are holding hands.

A little behind...but brave nonetheless!

Shadows!!

James has taken a liking to our Sissoo tree out front.
JC and I love this tree. We all have high hopes for our future with this tree!
He shall bring us shade, beauty, and...no leaves on the bottom half if James has anything to do with it. Um, also, he will bring us no seed pods spread around our front yard. The guy at the nursery assured us of that.
The other day JC told me that there is one reason and one reason only that he is looking forward to the heat of the summer. And it is that our Sissoo will take off like crazy. He is so excited to see this! (Though, just now when I told him we needed to take a moment and make sure we agreed on the gender of our Sissoo Tree, he ignored me and was purposely very involved in something else. I also think he laughed at me a little when he thought I wasn't looking.)
Perhaps I will document the growth of our Sissoo. You know how I like to document things
Anyway...
Aren't they both lovely?

The day itself was quite lovely.
Even if it was a strange one for January.