Peaches & Pioneers

Last Saturday we decided to try out the Peach Festival at Apple Annie's Orchard in Willcox. Unfortunately we didn't get up very early & so by the time we got there, IT WAS HOT!!!!Andy was busy picking when I noticed what Jack was up to.

Who needs peaches when you can get fiber this way?

It looks pretty, but we were all about to die of heat stroke. What is it with Arizonans- it's July, dummies!We happened to run into some friends while at Apple Annie's & invited them to follow us on down to Pima for the annual 24th of July Pioneer Celebration. I think they were amused by our super-cool small town parade, but the food was good & the fireworks were AWESOME! I love how the fireworks are always directly overhead for the 24th. It doesn't get any better than that.

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Emma helped Jack out when the fire trucks at the end of the parade scared him half to death. Why do they insist on blaring sirens for blocks & making every baby & toddler within half a mile hysterical? Yeah, that's fun.Nana totally spoiled Frank's appetite for dinner, but I guess that's her right as a grandma. Pie & ice cream, yum! While we waited for the fireworks, Jack was completely content to eat the grass & smash the various bags of chips the cousins had left on the ground.

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Nope, no hearing aids. His ears were hurting & I was out of energy to fight him on that particular issue. Did I mention that he's also teething? Check out the drooly shirt.All in all, another great 24th!

Awesome & Awful

It's been a very busy week, full of ups & downs. Here are some of the more recent happenings at the Merriman house.
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AWESOME:

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Emma finally got to have an all-out, girly playdate. These 3 ransacked Emma's dress-up box & kept themselves busy ballet dancing & planning the wedding of Princess Emma & Prince Frank for almost 3 hours. Emma was in heaven. Frank was hiding behind Mommy, begging me to save him from the mass of frilly, pink girly-girls.

AWESOME!AWESOME:

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A trip to the park with no skinned knees, bruised shins or other injuries. And we rode bikes for an hour, so I was impressed that no one came home with Band-Aids on!

AWESOME:

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Making pioneer crafts & talking about Pioneer Day.

AWFUL:

The bloody nose that Frank just had all over his bed.

Apparently Emma kicked him in the nose.

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FYI: If you climb into Sister's bed when she's trying to take a nap,

you might get kicked in the nose!

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AWFUL: EARS UPDATE

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Ugh! What am I going to do with this kid?

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Today we made the trek into town for the 3rd Dr's appointment for Jack in the past 4 weeks. Ear infections. AGAIN!!! When we finish this latest round of antibiotics, Jack will have been on medication for 6 weeks straight.

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Like this kid doesn't have enough problems with his ears as it it, right?

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Luckily we have an appointment with his ENT doctor next week (another copay!) & we're going to be pushing big-time for tubes for this kid. I have a hunch there won't be much argument from the Dr.

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Because his ears are bothering him so much, we've been using all the little tricks the staff at ASDB have taught us to keep those hearing aids in.

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Distracting with toys- yeah, right!

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Keeping his hands busy with food or other interesting objects- nope, try again! (How much time do these people think I have?)

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I call this the ear leash. It's supposed to at least keep track of the hearing aids after he tears them out & tries to throw/suck on/smash them- another miserable failure.

(We came DANGEROUSLY close to losing one of the hearing aids in COSTCO last week. EEK!)

Fine, you wanna play rough? I can play rough. The pilot's cap it is, then.

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I can't even tell you how many strange looks we get when he's wearing this. I think people might think he's a little alien or something. Whatever the case, we're lucky when people just ASK. As much fun as it is to have people openly stare at your kid, sometimes just explaining what's going on is so much easier.

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At least it keeps the hearing aids in. And now I don't feel as bad when he wears it in the car, because I just point an A/C vent straight at his head & all is well. (I love rear A/C!)AWFUL:

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Did I mention all the medication we've been administering at our house? And we all know what happens when you give a baby antibiotics.

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Nice.

We've been experiencing this for the last 4 weeks. Daily. And not just daily, but I have been cleaning up messes like this AT LEAST 3 times a day, usually more, for the last 4 weeks. And now we have another 10 days of this mad, crazy fun on the horizon.

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Anybody wanna trade?

It's Getting Closer!

AAAAHHHHH!!!!

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If you can't tell, I'm insanely excited about the temple being built in the Gila Valley! I just got this link about 30 seconds ago from my grandmother, and I had to post it!

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When I looked at the first few photos, my heart just started to burn & all of a sudden it was REAL! I can't even explain how I feel about there being a temple in my hometown (or near it, at least). It makes me want to cry just thinking about it! I thought some of you other Safford-ites & Thatcher-ites that live far from home might appreciate seeing what's going on in our home valley.

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So, again, follow this link & go see the pics of the progress on the temple. It's AMAZING! Also, while you're there, you can join the mailing list to get updates of this & other temple construction info & new temple announcements. Isn't technology amazing?

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(Wow, there are a lot of exclamation points in this post.)(!!!!)

Garden, Garden, & More Garden

I never knew how satisfying it could be to grow your own food. Yes, we've had a garden before, but this year is special. We're literally overflowing with bounty & have some different produce that makes it exciting to go out & pick every day.

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We've got bell peppers, jalapenos, sugar snap peas, green beans, 3 types of squash, okra, eggplant, green onions, radishes, carrots, tomatoes (that have done lousy this year), strawberries, 2 types of cucumbers, a whole bed of lettuces & collard greens, canteloupe, and oh, yeah, WATERMELONS!!!

(Please excuse how scary I look. We had just gotten out of the pool.)

We have been waiting to pick this thing for weeks, and oh, was it sweet when Daddy said that we could finally try it out. It was literally the best watermelon I've ever had, and not just because I grew it. It was really good!

Seriously, this is 1 DAY of picking. Anybody need produce?

Oh yeah, we have pumpkins too! Luckily these plants are still going crazy putting off fruit, so we're going to have pumpkins from our own garden for Halloween this year! Fun!

Kindergarten Rocks!

Apparently everything about kindergarten is awesome. The playground, the toys, the books, the kids, and most especially, the teacher. I knew that Emma had a great teacher, but after 2 days of seeing her interact with the kids, I am dying of anticipation for this school year. It's going to be so great!
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After I nudged her awake yesterday morning, she rolled over with squinty, tired eyes. But it took less than 1 second for her eyeballs to fly open. She squealed, jumped out of bed & raced past me to the bathroom to get ready. This kid was READY to go!

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[A side note: I bought Emma 3 new school outfits. I purposefully went to out-of-the-way stores so that she wouldn't match anyone else, and nobody would be able to say "Oh, they got that outfit at Target." So what does she do? She chooses the 1 outfit that I picked up off a clearance pile at Wal-Mart. I don't only shop at Wal-Mart, I promise! I usually try to avoid it if I can, actually. But somehow we ended up with an outfit & a backpack from Wally-world this year. Oh, well, she's happy, right?}

So after the requisite "first day of school" photos, and 1 of the hair, we were off.

A little photo at the school & she was running for the playground to meet her teacher. She looks so small! The AWESOME teacher, Mrs. Madigan. Oddly enough, we bought our new car from her husband a few weeks ago, so we got the scoop early that we'd be in her class. Lucky us!Poor Frank is so ready to start school. He ran right out there & joined in with the big kids. It almost broke my heart to bring him home with me. Preschool next year buddy, I promise!

Mrs. Madigan was introducing Emma to some other kids when we left. Oh, my baby is so big! Actually, considering how much older she is than most of these kids, I was amazed at how small she was compared to them. Why am I amazed? I really should be used to it by now.

And after 3 hours of the most anticipated school day ever, she was done. Hmm, what was all the excitement about? When I asked her how school went, she said, OK. And when I tried to drag more info out of her, she just told me that it was fine. FINE??? How old is this kid? A little later she did manage to loosen up & gush about how much she loved everything. Thank goodness, I was beginning to think she didn't like it!

I'm just trying to remind myself that she's only going to be this excited for school for a while. (I'm imagining dragging her out of bed by her hair to get her to go to high school.)

So that's it! We're off & running and I can't wait to see what happens next.

School Already?

EEK! Is it that time already? Well, I guess I'd better wrap my head around it because ready or not, school starts tomorrow!

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I've been sitting around all night trying to think about what I should be doing to get ready for tomorrow, but apparently a lot less is required of the parents of kindergartners. All I'm expected to do is send her with a backpack & a kiss. (Well, along with the mile-long list of "appreciated" school supplies.)

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I'm actually really glad that we do year-round school here. Emma LOVED school so much last year, and she does so well with the structure & routine that it provides that I am thrilled to have her back in school. I will miss my little angel, but such is the life of a mother, no? She's been really wanting to learn to read & write lately, so hopefully she's going to thrive in kindergarten just as she did in preschool.

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So beware, world. Emma is officially a "big kid." She tried on every school outfit we bought (with the backpack) to determine which would be perfect, and she's got everything all laid out & ready.

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Until tomorrow....!

For the Aunts & Uncles

OK Dana, just for you.

This watermelon rind was ever-so-thoughtfully given to Jack by cousin Travis. Never mind that he had dropped it on the ground about 6 times, he thought it would be the perfect gift for Jack. Yuck- it was totally grimy. The picture doesn't even do it justice.

Aren't toddlers thoughtful? Thank you, Travis!And as for you, Uncle Seth, I seem to recall Frank doing plenty of snuggling with you. More than I got, anyways. I like this pic of you 2.And lastly, just for fun. This is from Wednesday morning when some of the cousins invited themselves to breakfast. The more the merrier, I say! Too cute.