Backyard Inspiration

Not long after spring had officially sprung (though not actually officially, since the first day of spring always comes quite a bit after it feels it should...), we spent the day outside.

March is glorious for entire days spent outside.
Glorious.
(Spring is the time of year that I start to use the word 'glorious' a lot. Usage of this word goes downhill quite a bit once we start spending a lot of time with 100+ degree weather.)

Dirty feet, dusty hair, toasty skin, thirsty lips...March is bursting at the seams with these things. I love it. LOVE it.

Is there a reason I was born in March?

Well, anyway, we had spent lots of time outside and I started to feel superbly inspired. Considering I'm already operating as a full-time this and that 24/7 with very little room for much creativity these days, when I feel inspired, I usually just start taking pictures. No oil painting, tune composing, novel writing or poetry penning (that last word is a stretch I think) for me...
Yet.
(And no fancy camera equipment yet either. Which is fine, considering it would take me a year or two to learn how to use it all...)
So, here is what was leaving me feeling joyful on this particular day...and nearly every day since...

Beautiful kiddies playing in mud puddles. There was one really good one they all gathered around to scoop muddy water out of.

sharing...

gathering...

pouring...

Then the peaches caught my eye.
Oh how I love my little peaches. They are so delicate and so strong.
They're like sweet little babies.

That I will someday eat. (and maybe share)
There are so many this year! Last year there were five.

Through the branches of The Peach, I noticed The Plum.
Blossom-filled and gorgeous. The Plum makes me think of a wedding.
Anticipation, joy, and beauty.
About this time, we started wondering if every blossom on this tree would turn to fruit and we decided there was no way that would happen. Look at all of them!
(Guess what? We were wrong. Oh, the plums we shall have!)

Lovely Lady Pomegranate (or Queen Anne as I like to call her) was in her beautiful red leaf stage. I just think it is gorgeous, set against the grayish-brown of her branches and the green grass underneath.
Since then, those leaves have turned greenest-green and little red blossom bulbs are everywhere!
I love looking at the kids through the branches of our trees. It somehow makes them feel like part of nature. And makes me happy.
(I am not sure if I qualify more as a hippie or as a nerd.)

Mr. Tangelo over in the corner takes lessons in blossoming from his mentor, the neighboring Grapefruit. Ah, the blossoms. They were just starting here. A few on theirs, a couple on ours.
Now, it is full-blown orange blossom season here. And oh my does it smell glorious! (there it is)


I love watching them play together. I love when they swing and interact with each other without me and I can just listen.
They definitely inspire me.

I especially love watching them swing and play under this gorgeous tree we have that has decided to reach out its branches this year to nearly encompass the swing set.

And our roof.
(For this reason, we unfortunately will have to do some trimming!)

But, for now, it provides this gorgeous view off the balcony.

And this one.
Something about having such a lush tree makes our backyard feel so cozy and protected.
This is one of the reasons that I call this tree "Mom-Mom." She feels like a nurturer, a protector.
(This name actually comes from our Grizzly Man days when we used to watch Timothy Treadwell interact with Bears from a distance, giving them all sorts of endearing names. One of my favorites was Mom-Mom. It was all just so adorable. It was also a little annoying at times. Just like my ranting about my trees, yes?)

But I can't stop there.
Because here is one of the sights that inspires me most, on a daily basis.
You can see our tree (Mom-Mom) stretching in from the left side of the picture, like she is trying to hug that prickly ol' pine tree in our neighbors' yard. And, just a few feet away from Prickly, in the bottom right corner, is a sweet little palm tree.
I don't know why but this picture of all these trees who are so different, planted in such close proximity to each other, makes me giddy.
Our own little Melting Pot.

Toys strewn across the soft grass...one of those things that remind me that someday I won't have such messes to cherish. :)
And, in the distance, a lonely fence around an empty garden space.
Reminds me that someday I will have all too much time to garden.

I peeked through at Scout, who was eating grass contentedly. Grass that he would probably throw up later on my carpet.
But, alas, our sweet Scout inspires me nonetheless. He is a special guy.
"Scout's a good cat."
(James' favorite phrase)

A cute girl.

A happy guy.

(Ben apparently didn't want his picture taken this day.)

I just love this time of year. Did you know?
I am completely beside myself wondering how any on this earth fail to see our Heavenly Father's hand in all of this. It is just beautiful. And it is all for us.

Every last bit.

Kitchen Table Paleontology

A while back, JC's mom AKA Grandma Teri gifted us a cute little dinosaur egg kit. It comes as an extremely compacted bunch of dirt shaped like an egg. The whole idea is to pick away at it, break it up, and find all the little 'dinosaur bone' pieces inside. Then, a proper miniature dinosaur model can be put together.
One Sunday morning recently, JC went ahead and busted out this little project.
The kids were intrigued...

In this picture, Bethany is giving Ben some attention as he expresses his worry that the dinosaur that they are digging out is going to get him.

James, fully confident in the situation, gives Ben the rundown concerning the state of the dinosaur we will be finding and what a non-threat it actually is.
This was really really amusing.
James is usually more than willing to be in his own world, but when he is excited about something he becomes Mr. Information.

Hard at work.

And everyone gets a turn digging at the egg...

When James gets excited about something he also turns into Mr. Affectionate.
Attacking JC is one of his favorite ways to show affection. :)

Mr. Information is back, filling me in on all the different kinds of dinosaurs.
Um...he is so cute.

A couple of curious brothers.

Bethany finally got the chance to get her hands dirty and dusted off the first dinosaur bone we found! (We meaning...everyone else but me...I was lazily hiding behind the camera.)
Her excited face is so cute!

The end result was a nearly-complete small dinosaur skeleton. I didn't get a picture of it because, let's be honest, something small and fragile doesn't last long around here no matter how hard we worked for it!
But, the excitement that came from the process was quite worth it all.
(Gotta love the breakfast face)

Birthday for a Big Girl!

Somebody has a five-year-old in the house.
Um, yes, it's us. It took me long enough to get used to not being able to reference my kids as babies (though I still do sometimes). Then, they kind of outgrew the toddler phase and I couldn't really call them that in good conscience anymore. Preschoolers still feels right for the boys but heavens almighty, we have a five-year-old. Who, technically, is still in preschool...but five sounds so much older! It qualifies for kindergarten!!! So, anyway...it is all very strange.
Don't even start me on James turning 4 next month. 4.
But, first, let us focus on Lovely Lady Bethany and her Marvelous March Birthday...

Her birthday fell on a Friday, which is a school day. Best kind of birthday, yes? Well, actually, there was another little girl with the same birthday who happened to have family visiting and they were coming to the preschool that day...so...she celebrated her birthday on Friday and Bethany didn't until Monday, but that just meant two birthdays, right? Right.

Here she is, ready for school!
You can tell she is feeling fancy.
(new birthday outfit from Grandma Trudie helps...)

As, of course, do hugs from Daddy.

One of our first activities of the day actually had very little to do with her birthday and more to do with our good friend being in town. Kristyn had made her way back to the valley for a few days and since she had her new little one in tow (new to me at least), a get-together was a must. She, Ali, and i made plans to meet up at "The Butterfly Park" aka San Tan Village's play area. Bethany was at school so I felt a little badly for her missing out but she had friends and celebrations of her own to attend to. :)

Ben was super cute conquering the slide. Backwards.

James just wanted to jump off everything possible.

Ali's little Staten and Kristyn's little Liam got to know each other to our amusement.

They are both SO cute!!
(as are their mommies of course)

It was really fun to do a little catching up with my friends and let the boys play. After a while it was time to get the boys to Grandma Trudie's house so JC and myself could go pick up Bethany from school for a special lunch, just the three of us. She was super excited. We had plans to go eat at The Rainforest Cafe which I thought she would really enjoy. We have only been out to eat as a family a handful of times so it is quite the exciting concept for her! Plus, a jungle environment...so it was looking like a rather fun experience.

First, she said hesitant hello to the alligator guarding the outside. (Crocodile? Cue one of my sisters correcting my choice of species. Haha)

Then there was the snake.

And, here, heading in to the actual restaurant. This took much persuading since we had to pass under a tunnel-like aquarium. I feel your pain, my dear.

She and I shared a fabulous salad. I love chopped salads. It makes me so happy that my kids will go out of their way to eat vegetables.

We ate our meals, then someone asked if it was Bethany's birthday. We said yes, to which the waiter replied "Do you want me to get her sundae ready?" and ran off to do just that. And so we figure they do the whole free dessert, sing her a song type thing. Which, both JC and I HATE but thought there was a chance she might enjoy it so decided to give it a shot.
She hated it too. Here, she is all huddled against me while they are singing to her.

(Um, also, they totally charged us for the sundae. Not a big deal to pay for a sundae, don't get me wrong, but considering we don't really eat dairy so we wouldn't have otherwise ordered it and since the guy barely gave us a choice in the matter, it seemed odd. Rainforest Cafe - cool effect, okay food, kind of lousy service. There is my review. Um...and we will totally go back with the boys someday regardless.)

Here she is being super cute eating the cherry off her sundae and here I am being a goofus showing her how to do so apparently.

When we got back to Grandma Trudie's house to pick up the boys, it was the moment we had all been waiting for. My sister, Monica, has taken up cake decorating. And when I say taken up cake decorating I mean has seemingly become an expert overnight.
Bethany had been throwing cake ideas at me for weeks and it came down to the day before and I had nothing. So, Monica stepped up and took over the project. This is not the first time she has rescued me in the birthday cake aspect.
Anyway, when we picked up the boys, the cake was ready!
Here is the moment of reveal. Look at that face.

A Princess and the Frog cake.

Wow is all i can say.

We packed it up to take home for later enjoyment and James carefully guarded it.
This picture has no real relevance except LOOK at those EYES!

Bethany's aunts had presents for her, which is always a treat. Bethany is always so kind and lets her brothers help her open her stuff.

Aunt Laura displays her easily-amused side with the gift bag. I love my family.

Later, after some playtime with her brothers, Bethany gets a visit from Grandma Teri, bringing by some fun stuff in present form. Here, she is reading a piece of paper that reveals to her that she is going to get to go see a play at Hale Theatre - "The Princess and the Pea" with Grandma the following week! What a fun present!
(If you notice, we were indulging in lesser entertainment at the time - Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse)

Later, after dinner, the cake fulfills its purpose...
(look at that detailing on the side!)

JC lights the candles and we all get ready to sing but due to her earlier experience at the restaurant, Bethany has decided that any type of birthday singing is not on her list of fun activities. So, she sweetly asks if we can please not sing. It was a little sad. But, upon my agreement, she returned to her normal happy birthday self!

So, in a rather non-traditional move, we moved right into blowing out candles.

And, of course, eating.

The next birthday event of the day was a fun one - Grandma Trudie and Aunt Laura took her to see Annie, put on by a local theatre company. It was a version of the musical just for kids, so it was somewhat shorter and just right. Bethany was so excited...she even let me fix her hair, curled and all (never before happened) and we got her dressed up in a new outfit, put on some lovely little sticker earrings and a ring she had just gotten from Grandma Teri, and she posed for a sweet little picture. (with her new stuffed animal she had picked out at The Rainforest Cafe - Roary.)
Such a pretty little lady.

She made sure to give Scout some attention too so he knew that her priorities were still straight and he was still the favorite animal in the house.

Then, she waited patiently on the porch for her ride to whisk her away to a fun, rather grown-up activity. :)

Ben was a little less formal for the occasion.

Bethany had a great time at the play and really seemed to enjoy her whole day. It was really fun to spend the day celebrating her and doing things that she liked, watching her have a good time. She is so important to our little family. She is an excellent example to us all and definitely keeps us on our toes! There is much to be learned from her in the way of compassion, kindness, and fun. She keeps us all doing our best, and is never lacking in giving affection or kind words.
We love our little girl! We can't believe she is growing up so fast!