Water!

Evan loves water. Yesterday we were at my mom's and I had to carry him out in the rain to the car. You would have thought he was being tickled he was laughing so hard! He loves the sensation of water hitting his face. So naturally it goes without saying that Evan loves to be in the bath. It's frustrating because in the morning when I am getting ready he is constantly climbing the steps to our master bath and turning the water on. He's fallen atleast 5 times but it doesn't stop him! Ian finally put him in the bathtub. Evan was so amazed that when he turned the faucet water came out of the spout! He must have done it 50 times and was shocked (and excited) each time water hit his face! It was so cute.

Playdate

Today was Max's first real playdate. He's been to friends' houses before and had friends' over to play but it's always been when Alexander and Ben have been playing with the older siblings. Since school is back in session Max wanted Liam to come over and play. Usually Max hates it when Ben & Alexander go to school but this morning he was excited because it meant we were going to get Liam. So far they have played with light sabers and swords and we just made play-dough. That was a hit! They loved adding the food color and are now busily making shapes. It's funny - I can tell that Liam has had many play dates because he's fine with sharing and taking turns. Max just said to me, "NO MORE TAKING TURNS!". I had to explain that is what we do when we are playing with friends. All in all they are having a great time - and have just requested that I get the costumes down.

A day in the life

Saturdays at the Trezise house usually start out busy and end up lazy. Today was go, go all day. Friday night I mopped all of the floors in my house and cleaned the boys bathroom. So it was nice to wake up to a semi-clean house this morning. Anyway after lifting weights, my mom and I went to D.I. to drop off some old stuff. I am attempting to organize my house! It felt good to get rid of some of the clutter. When I got back Ian and Alexander went with Brian and Joseph to the Diamonbacks game. I was kind of bummed because that meant I'd be home with the other kids all day which meant the tv would be on all day (it's so dang hot outside!). I called up Tiffany and we made plans to go to McDonalds with all the kids. Max got into what I like to call an "altercation" within the first 10 minutes of arriving. If I wasn't his mother it would have been hilarious to watch. Basically he was blocking the slide and growling at anyone that tried to get past. The mother of one of the kids who wanted onto the slide was telling her daughter, "Just ask the boy nicely to move". Ha, Ha. I quickly ran over and grabbed Max. We had a little talk and when he went back to play he was much nicer (atleast from what I could see). My favorite part at McDonalds was watching Evan eat an ice-cream cone.

After McDonalds I had to go to Target so Tiffany took all of the kids (except for Evan) back to her house. Liam was saying, "Mom, we're going to need mats, blankets and pillows and you DON'T need to check on us". We hung out at Tiffanys for a while. Tayler and I attempted to learn last weeks solo dance from "So You Think You Can Dance". I'm not going to lie - Tayler was MUCH better than me but we both had fun dancing around, making fools of ourselves (o.k. maybe the "fool" part was just me). Meanwhile Liam, Elliott and Max played with the hose in the backyard. The all ended up sopping wet but had a blast. Christian and Ben hung out downstairs.

Christian and Liam came home with us and played here with Ben and Max for a while. Jason came and picked them up on the way home from work. Ian and Alexander got home - they had a blast. The Diamondbacks won in overtime and they went with Joe & Brian to TED'S HOTDOGS after. Tiffany & Tayler came over around 6 and we went to Scottsdale Fashion Square and then to SAUCE to eat. It was loads of fun - Tayler is like a minature Tiffany and we had so much fun shopping and hanging out. Now I'm home and getting ready to watch Snow Patrol perform on SNL. Busy day, Great day!

TAG!

O.k. so this is the 2nd time I've been tagged (by mom & Laura!)...I promise to make this short & sweet.

1. 4 jobs I've had
pizza maker
Chandler Chamber of Commerce secretary
office manager
mom

2. 4 movies I can watch any time
Knight's Tale
Sweet Home Alabama
Pride & Prejudice
The Italian Job

3. 4 places I have lived
Chandler, AZ
Mesa, AZ
Chandler, AZ
No where else

4. 4 TV shows I love
So You Think You Can Dance
Lost
Grey's Anatomy
The Office

5. 4 foods I love
chicken tacos
Ben & Jerry's low fat cherry Garcia frozen yogurt
miniature Reese's peanut butter cups
garlic knots at NYPD pizza

6. 4 websites I visit daily
heidiswapp.com
merileecameron.blogspot.com
randomthoughts-kristy.blogspot.com
all the lambson blogs

7. 4 places I'd rather be
Scotland
the beach
Italy
the white mountains

8. 4 people to tag
Merilee
Brian (ha, ha)
Jamie
Marcy

NOW ALL OF YOU TAGGERS - LEAVE ME ALONE!!!! (j.k.)

*note - if you want to see more pics of Michael & Alex's camping trip - go to my mom's blog (lambsonlane.blogspot.com).

Happy Campers

Climbing the lookout tower at Green's Peak

Last week my mom and dad took Alexander & Michael camping. Alexander was so excited that he was up and packed at 6:00 am on the day that they were leaving! That kid loves the outdoors! Anyway, it sounds like they had quite the adventure. My mom says that Michael kept on insisting on doing things that he dubbed "cabin experiences". Some of the "experiences" were: riding the Ranger, going to chocolate river (no trespassing signs were ignored), building a bon fire, going to Green's Peak...you get the picture. They also caught some birds, caught some fish, ate doughnuts every morning (which was a real treat for Alexander) and saw bear poop on a window (you will have to ask them about that). Alexander was clearly in his element. After he got home he talked my ear off telling me about all the fun he had. Since Ben got to go to the reunion, Max is wondering when it's his turn?

Your eyes do not deceive you...

Yep...that's Max. Learning to swim. I know! It's amazing! So after the disaster that was last session of swim lessons I decided to sign Max up for semi-private lessons through the City of Chandler. The lessons were $30 for a 45 minute lesson for 2 weeeks. The kid to instructor ratio was supposed to be 3:1 but since only 3 kids signed up it was 3:2. Pretty great. Max got lots of individualized attention and was actually excited to go every day. The fact that he dove for objects and would actually put his whole face in the water was worth the money alone. He was so proud of himself. Good job Max!

don't sweat the small stuff

Little annoyances of the past week:

1. I went to Kohl's and bought Ben school stuff. I noticed after I got home that the clerk didn't charge me for his shoes - I had to load the kids back up (including Christian who was spending the night) and go back and pay for them
2. I smeared the paint on my toes getting into Tiffany's car right after a pedicure and was too embarrassed to go back in and have them fix it.
3. I broke a glass - I don't think I have any complete sets of matching dishes
4. An ink pen leaked all over my shorts and shirt - the shirt was new and the shorts were my favorite (still trying to get out the stain)
5. Ran into a wall (bruise on hip), smashed my face on Tiffany's car window and rolled up my arm in the car the other day
6. I am only getting about 4 consecutive hours of sleep a night (see #5)

Blessings of the past week:

1. My friend Jamie brought me peanut butter fudge & played Settlers with me and Alex on Saturday night
2. Evan will sometimes take a bottle (I'll take what I can get!)
3. My boys are loving their teachers and classes and being back at BBS
4. Max is learning to swim
5. I got Harry Potter for free (thanks Mom!)
6. Ian made dinner and took care of the kids so that I could go to the movies last night
7. It's raining
8. Tiffany gave me more of Elliott's clothes for Evan - thanks to her I won't have to purchase any clothes for Evan for a while!
9. Max has went to bed on his own and stayed in bed all night for the last 5 days!
10. I got to go to a baby shower on Saturday and visit with lots of relatives who I never see.

As usual the good far outweighs the bad.

Finished!

I'm done! Yeah! Yesterday I was busy reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and was gasping and oooohing and ahhhhing...Alexander & Ben wanted me to read them the end - WARNING if you have not read the end and are going to read it stop reading this NOW! So I started at the part where Voldemort has Hagrid pick up the supposedly dead Harry and carry him back to the castle. We are were riveted. I kept wanting to stop reading because I had to start dinner and get ready to go out (I was going with friends & family to see Hairspray) but the boys would say, "10 more minutes...PLEASE!" I finally stopped reading after Harry killed Voldemort. I thought it was very interesting that Harry didn't use the killing curse to kill Voldemort - that essentially Voldemort's own killing curse (that was aimed at Harry) killed him. BRILLIANT!!!! The book left me a little sad (J.K. has said there will be no more books) and very fulfilled. All loose ends were neatly tied up. One of the reasons I love the books is because of the endless struggle between good & evil with good finally prevailing. Now I have to go back and read it again...

Back To School

Today was Alexander & Ben's first day back to school. Me, being the totally together, prepared person I am, forgot to take a picture this morning so I made them take one after school. Last night we had Family Home Evening. I read some scriptures, we sang a song and then we talked about courage, honesty, being a good friend...all of those things that they might be thinking about as they start a new school year. Ian gave them each blessings. He blessed Alexander that he would be calm (he always has such a case of nerves on the first day!) and that he would be prepared to learn. He blessed Ben that he would be ready to learn and that he would use his kindness to befriend others. It was a beautiful thing. This morning as we were running around getting ready I noticed that Alexander never complained or mentioned being nervous (this is a first! on his first day of second grade he threw up repeatedly and ended up missing that day). Ian thought maybe it was the blessing and I agreed. As we got to school and started walking down the hall to Alexander's class he started to show signs of nerves...lots of his friends were waving and saying "hi" but he just kept walking, staring straight ahead. Mrs. Hurley (Alex's teacher from last year) called out to him and he ignored her too - I looked over to apologize and she smiled and said, "It's the first day...he's got his game face on!". It was so true! He was concentrating so hard on getting to class!

Both boys had a great first day. They both have lots of friends in their classes and wonderful teachers. I think it's going to be another exciting school year!

When the boys got home they immediately started releasing energy by wrestling. Some things never change!

P.S. I am almost finished with Harry Potter! So feel free to write, call or come by...

Yesterday I took Ben school shopping. Mostly he needed socks and underwear. Max could not stand that Ben was getting stuff and he wasn't so he picked up about every item in the store asking if I would purchase it for him (no matter if it was too small, too big ect). I finally caved and bought him these SpongeBob boxer-briefs which he chooses to wear as shorts. I tried explaining - the word underwear says it all - you wear it UNDER your clothes! It's funny but let's hope I don't need to go anywhere with him for the next few days...

On another note, my house is messy, Evan is crying, Max has been playing video games for the past hour (way longer than I usually allow) and I am happily immersed in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". My mom keeps calling me to give me theories (she's reading "Unlocking Harry Potter"). I tried to tell her if she just read the book she'd know what happens for sure! Don't call, don't write, don't come by - atleast until Monday!

b.f.f.

So it's after 9:30 and clearly I am too tired to be up but here I am. I'm talking to my b.f.f. Tiffany and we are randomly going on people's blogs and having lots of laughs (not at the blogger's expense of course) We started out talking about our new crush Kameron - you know from the best show EVER "So You Think You Can Dance" - and then got on the topic of funny blogs. So we went on a few and had lots of laughs. Then I got to thinking that I have been bugging Tiffany to send me a picture of herself so I can blog about her. I've been friends with her since college. We even went on a road trip around the southern & eastern United States together. I will never forget locking the keys in the van in Washington DC and having to break the back window to get them out. We then very quickly ran around trying to see all the monuments...(we left the van with only a cardboard partition on the window and were nervous our stuff would get stolen). Ahhh the memories...

Being friends with Tiffany has so many perks. She's opened my eyes to a whole new world. She introduced me to Scottsdale Fashion Square, Last Chance, outlet malls, ect. If there is a bargain to be had, Tiffany knows where to find it (and if by chance she can't find it - her mom can). She knows where to get whatever I'm looking for for a cheaper price! And if she can't find it, she makes it! The girl can do anything! When we were both newlyweds she used to call me and tell me what she was cooking for dinner. One time in particular she informed me she was making homemade tortillas, guacamole and marinading steak for fajjitas. Poor Ian, all he was getting was macaroni & cheese...(cooked in water that I had just boiled my breast pump in - but that's a whole other story).

We've been friends for over 13 years and I know we'll be friends for life. We just understand each other. Our kids are all the same ages (except for our babies). After we had our first kids we used to load em' up and take them everywhere. I think I even have a picture of Alexander holding Tayler's hand when they were babies (a sign of things to come?). Anyway, she's always been there for me whenever I've needed her. She gives me great advice and doesn't let me feel sorry for myself - although she's always sympathetic when I need her to be. She shares my love of pop culture, good music, sappy movies, shopping, good food...we have the same sense of humor and she humors me when I get crazy. In short, Tiffany is my sister from another mother.

*note: I originally wrote most of this weeks ago but was waiting for a picture to post with it.

Rock N' Roll

Last night I saw Max's favorite band in concert. Not the Wiggles - Snow Patrol. It made me remember the first concert I ever went to. I was in junior high and I went with my cousin to see The Throwing Muses and New Order. I thought I was so cool. I've been to tons of concerts since then but not so many since I've had children. I felt like I had outgrown the smoke filled rooms and blaring music. Another reason was it is too hard to find a babysitter. Anyway, a few months ago I got an e-mail that Snow Patrol was coming. I quickly called up my b.f. Tiffany and we very slyly purchased tickets for ourselves and our spouses. We teased Ian and Jason that we were going to buy new outfits and go to the show while they stayed home and watched the kids (hey-they've been to atleast a dozen shows without us!). We ended up giving them the tickets as Father's Day presents. Anyway, I have loved Snow Patrol for years and my love was cemented even more when I heard "Chasing Cars" on the season 1 finale of Grey's Anatomy...but I digress...

The show was AWESOME!!! I totally didn't feel like a middle aged poser - like I thought I would. It was at the Dodge Theater and we had great seats. Hot Hot Heat opened for them - they were decent but Snow Patrol rocked! It was so fun to dance and sing along to the songs and just to be out with my husband (we haven't had a date night since Evan was born) and my best friend. Tiffany and I had so much fun people watching and speculating on whether Gary the lead singer was married (he definitely has a girlfriend - we saw him sneak off stage to kiss her). We were cracking jokes the whole night. The highlight for me was when they played their new song "Signal Fire" and Ian and I kind slow danced together to it. They even sang Max's favorite song, "Shut Your Eyes".

Thanks to mom and Kim who watched the kids. You guys are the best and I owe you BIG time (just put it on my tab!). Sorry to Jared Ammon - I really should've bought you a ticket too...

Here's the video for "Signal Fire". Funny, it reminds me of Max...the video is a little distracting.. the song is better if you close your eyes and just listen.

A favorite...

Like any other woman my tastes change weekly. However, The Scientist by Coldplay has been one of my favorite songs for a long time now. The lyrics mean alot of different things to me...I just love the way Chris Martin writes (plus if there was ever a reason to have my boys take piano lessons...). Anyway, since I can't figure out how to do a music bar on my blog, I am posting the video. It's really quite clever....

Big Surf

Ian had yesterday off work so he took the older boys to Big Surf. He wanted me to go but standing in the sun with a 8 month old and 4 year old all day didn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me...Anyway they all had a blast. Ian said when they got there they raced to the slides where there were no lines. As the boys zoomed down he could hear them screaming. He decided to go on the slide Ben went on. On the way down it occurred to him that the reason there were no lines for those slides is because they were fast and scary. He got to the bottom and Alexander says, "Feel my heart...it's beating really fast!" Ian looks at the slide Alexander had went down and sees that it is an almost vertical drop. Ben says, "I thought I was going to pee my pants!"

They met up with the Ganems and had a great time all day. The only mishap being when they lost Christian. Luckily Christian's a smart kid and went to the first aide station where he had them page Jason over the loud speaker. Ian said he's never been so scared as he was when he saw the look on Tiffany's face...

Evan is no longer just crawling. He is climbing, pulling himself up on things, even standing for a few seconds...He is obsessed with standing. Yesterday he climbed into the dishwasher and stood! Scary! I can hear Ben right now saying, "Evan! You can't stand up there!" He is definitely keeping me on my toes. I took these pictures yesterday of him climbing into the drawers on our tv stand. It was pretty hilarious. First he emptied out the drawer and then proceeded to climb right in!

Growing up...

A few weeks ago I had to go to Sam's Club to get milk. It was Saturday so luckily I didn't have to drag all of the kids with me. Alexander wanted to go, so off we went. When we got out of the car he grabbed for my hand. He never does that so I almost started to tease him but then thought the better of it. He held my hand on and off throughout the whole store. It made me wish he wasn't growing up. He's such a great kid but as he gets older he gets more concerned about what people think, ect. The next Saturday all of us (except Ben who was camping with my parents) went to Home Depot. Alexander immediately grabbed my hand again and then I saw him glance at Ian and quickly he let go. I wanted to say something but didn't want to embarass him in front of his dad. He cares so much about what Ian thinks...

Lately Xander has been giving me hugs at odd moments, telling me secrets about himself (he always makes me promise to tell NO ONE) and complimenting me. He's becoming one of my best friends. He such a bright & curious kid. Always asking me questions...some of which I can't answer (Like what does A.D. mean?) and always spewing off facts (I know more about major league baseball than I thought I ever would). I listen to him and he listens to me. I want us always to have this kind of a relationship. I feel like he respects me and I really respect him. It was such a sweet moment when he held my hand...I felt myself wishing he would never let go...

A nightly occurrence...

3:23 am
"Mooommm!!! I need a Dr. Pepper!"
Quickly, I run into Max's room (mostly to avoid him coming screaming to my room and waking the baby)
"Max, it's 3 a.m., you can't have a Dr. Pepper."
"I need M&M's! Peanut M&M's!"
"Me too, but it's 3 o'clock in the morning..."
"O.k."

Note: I think he might have been asking for the Dr. Pepper because I wouldn't share mine earlier that day. The M&M's are a mystery (but a good choice nonetheless...)

Is it dusty in here?

Well the day has finally come...Darrel & Trina and their two adorable kids moved out of my parents house. I know this isn't about me, but I feel really sad! Since they've been at my parents house I've became much better friends with Trina. Trina pretty much saved me from having a nervous breakdown after I had Evan. We would go running and she would listen to all of my rants (and never once told me I was crazy...). She also babysat for me so that I could volunteer once a week in Ben's class (that's 4 kids under the age of 4 - two of which are babies). And basically hung out with me whenever I asked. She even took Max to the zoo a few times (I told you she saved me).

Darrel is pretty much my idol. He's such a great guy. He's so stinkin' smart and funny and kind...he doesn't even yell at Max when Max hits Addy...Darrel can always make me laugh - I love his sense of humor. He also has the greatest laugh. He'll always help me if he can (Trina will too for that matter). I hope we will still hang out and play games (Pop 5 perferably...).

I have grown so attached to Addy & Rowan in the past few months. In fact, I was more than a little sad not to see them today. Addy always styles my hair for me and sometimes even lets me do her hair (which is an honor). Rowan has the most adorable smile in the world. His whole face lights up when he smiles. He's just started to talk and I'm sad I'm going to miss that.

Anyway, like Darrel would say, "Is it dusty in here? because I'm a little teary-eyed". I love you guys!

Swim (or not)

Every summer I make my kids take swim lessons. I do it because it's cheap, they are getting exercise and it helps them become stronger swimmers. Max really needs to learn to swim so I was excited for him to start this year. Ha! The joke is on me...

Alexander is excelling this year. He has improved on all his strokes, has learned the side stroke and is learning to do shallow dives. I watched him the other day and he's awesome! His dives barely make a splash! His goal is to be able to dive in and swim the length of the pool without taking a breath.

Ben is just beginning to learn to dive and is doing an excellent job. He has such self confidence. Alexander had worked with him before so his teacher didn't have to do much instructing. He is also improving on his freestyle, back stroke and learning the butterfly.

Max is....well he's Max. He's fallen in my mom's pool 2 times without floaties on and so now he is paranoid around water. He did o.k. in the first session, except he would never do "bobs". Bobs are when you go all the way under and quickly come up. He attempted to try it a couple of times but could never do it by himself. The second session has went from bad to worse. He started out jumping in to his teacher from the side, trying to do bobs and even attempting to swim to the teacher. On Thursday he had a sub and Max wouldn't do anything and finally got out of the pool. Friday his regular teacher was back so I thought it would be o.k. I should've known when before lessons Max kept telling me, "You don't need to walk me over there - I want to go by myself". This is clingy, momma-loving Max we are talking about. I let him walk over there - he got really close then turned and booked it. He finally stopped then rolled up into a ball and screamed, "Don't throw me in!". I eventually got him in the pool only for him to climb right back out. His teacher suggested letting Max hold onto her back for the lesson. It worked - he loved it! (although he learned nothing and his teacher had a hard time working with the other kids)

I have tried everything to get him to learn to swim- bribes, incentives, threats...nothing works. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Happy 4th!

We have a tradition of going over to Ian's parents house for the 4th and watching fireworks from their roof. The firework show is practically in their yard it's so close. This year we celebrated Max's birthday also (Max was happy - he had 2 birthday parties!). He got a transformer (which he is playing with right now), Spiderman walkie-talkies, books, a basket full of Spidey stuff like pencils, paper, stickers, puzzles, balls, ect. and a Spiderman 3-wheeler (which he rode down to my mom's house this morning). He parked his 3-wheeler right by the van.

We had so much fun over there. Nana & Papa (Ian's parents) BBQ'd ribs, chicken & hotdogs plus we had corn on the cob, potatoe salad and shrimp. There was berry cheesecake and apple pie for dessert. It was sooo yummy... After we ate we went swimming. The boys had a blast jumping off the diving board and racing with Ian across the pool. Later Uncle Sean came in and started a water gun fight. When it got dark we headed up to the roof. The fireworks were awesome! We could even see the ones at Tempe Town Lake from where we were sitting. The boys made up names for the different fireworks (ringer, pom-pom, flower, ect). I think the adults enjoyed the fireworks as much as the kids. It was so relaxing and actually quite cool on the roof.

After the fireworks were over the boys had a great time throwing caps at the ground (and at unsuspecting adults like J.D. & Ian). John had some fireworks that he bought years ago in Scotland. Each boy got a sparkler- which they loved. We had an awesome time!

Busy Baby

Getting started...

and out goes the leg!

Now that Evan can get around, he is EVERYWHERE all at once. He leaves a trail wherever he goes - crumbled up papers, toys, crackers, binkies...whatever he can find (and then discard). Evan is such a good natured baby that I don't even care about the messes he makes. He has just started this thing where he crawls with one leg out. Like he is half doing the splits. It's always the same leg too. He'll start out crawling normal, then out goes the leg...it's pretty funny.

On Monday I taught Evan how to wave. Once he gets started you can't stop him. The boys think it's hilarious and can't believe that a baby can actually learn things. I was playing with Evan yesterday and Alexander says, "Are you teaching him more things?". It's amazing to me how smart babies really are.

This morning I was getting dressed and the boys were occupying the baby. Alexander comes running in and says, "Quick, come take a picture!" "Just a minute" I reply. Then Max darts in and yells, "Hurry come take a picture!". Ian ran in there and got a picture of Ben and Evan on the back of Max's Spiderman push-car. Then he got one of just Evan. Evan loves doing things like that - his whole face lit up! It was sooo cute.

Happy Birthday!

Happy to have Ben home

Today Maxwell Fraser Trezise turned 4. We didn't do much in terms of celebrating since we had already had his birthday party. I gave him a small DoodlePro and he loved it. He was writing letters and showing them to me all morning. I am very impressed with his handwriting! We went to church and all the kids sang to him in Primary. Alexander said he had the hugest smile on his face the whole time. He went to Primary all by himself today (that's a first!). He told me, "I'm 4 so now I don't need you to come with me". Let's hope this translates to other areas of his life.

We were walking down to my mom's house this morning and Max was running in front of Ian and I. All of a sudden he flips around and says, "I am so fast for a 4 year old". We quickly assured him that he was and then turned our heads so he wouldn't see us smile. We are going to make cookies in a few minutes and I told him he could choose his birthday dinner (steak & beans). The best part of today for him was that Ben came home. Max was so happy to see his brother!