Good morning from Jenna and Olivia!

Meeting the Master Lego Model Builder (and IKEA)

So after a half and hour of hair styling on Jenna (see the next post) we left for a local mall. Well, it wasn't super local to us since it was in another town, but it wasn't too far. We got to go and meet the one and only official Master Lego Model Builder. They have Master Lego Designers, too. This guy does designs also, but primarily he is sent out by the Lego company to these events to build intricate lego sculptures. The project he was working on that day was building an 8ft tall R2-D2 with the help of all the children who came.

Each child was given instructions to build one or more giant lego bricks.

As seen above...

Then they gave the "big brick" to the builder and he added it to the R2-D2.

You can see the small model of the R2-D2 that he is copying in picture to his right (to our left as you look at the picture).

This guy was totally cool and talked to the people as he built and even posed for a picture for us. You would think that being a Model Builder would be a kid's dream, and for many it is, but this guy did mention that most people don't stick with it because Lego doesn't pay that well. That's too bad because I know one little boy who would see it as his dream job. I guess it's one of those jobs where you do it because you love it!

Our second stop of the day was to IKEA. I was prepared to have a great time wandering through the paths of Swedish goodies without children in tow, but I was totally annoyed upon entering the store that the play area does not accept children until they are 37" tall without shoes on. Jenna was 36.5" and they wouldn't budge! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! The worst part was that I had told Jenna before we arrived at the store that she would get to go to the play area there, and so much of the time we were shopping she wailed about the fact that she didn't get to go to the play area. I realize they have rules and regulations, but I see this as an injustice for short people! Okay, Jenna's not super short. She's more like average height, but even so, I know that there are children who are younger than her and taller who would have been able to go in the play area. They should do it by age! How unfair!

Okay, so there is my vent. I feel better now.

It turned out that it wasn't all bad that I had them tagging along with me in the store. I am considering buying this junior loft bed...My intention is that we will use it in our soon-to-be playroom (assuming that we don't rearrange our room ideas before we move). It won't be a bed for us, though. Instead we will use the top as a lego play space for Li'l Robby, and on the bottom, I would make a curtain to make a little play house for Jenna and Olivia. This is mainly so that I won't have to worry about younger siblings (namely Olivia) around Robby's legos. Of course, we are still trying to examine the budget and decide if we have the extra money to make my idea reality.

So anyway, having the kids allowed me to take a picture of them next to the bed for perspective. We are trying to decide if the clearance under the bed will be enough for Jenna to enjoy the space. (This bed is reversible - either a low bed or a loft bed - and it was upside down in the store from the picture in the catalog.)

I'll let you know if we get it.

Stylin'

Okay, so my sisters-in-law have succeeded in getting me interested in improving my hairstylin' repertoire for Jenna by posting all the cute hairstyles they are doing on their girls. Here is our last creation. I actually started with another hair style in mind, but realized halfway through that I had forgotten how everything was supposed to go, so I created my own with the twists. I don't know if I will repeat the feat anytime soon, but it was cute for one day. It's funny because now Jenna insists that all she wants is a simple clip in her hair! I think she is tired of her perfectionistic mom yanking on her head in the attempt of creating a masterpiece.

And how did I get Jenna to remain still long enough to do this style (especially since I had to start over a number of times to get it right)? I let her play with the water spray bottle till she spilled it all over herself. It was one of those moments that I was glad that we live in a super dry climate, so I didn't change her shirt. Instead, I figured it would be added air conditioning until it dried.

Swim Lesson Time

This last week Jenna had a great time going to swim lessons (while Li'l Robby, Olivia, and I had the not so fun time of baking in the scorching hot of Arizona waiting for her). At least, one of us had fun! On Wednesday, Robby couldn't resist the pleadings of his little girl to "come and watch my swim lessons, daddy!" So he relieved all of us and went to watch Jenna at her swim lessons and scorch in the heat. While there he followed orders to take pictures and here is what he got...

Blue-eyed baby!

That same afternoon that Jenna and Robby played in the sprinklers we had a good time capturing Olivia's baby-blue eyes in pictures. Here's our cutie-pie #3...

And lastly, we have a picture of what Olivia does everyday. She is a big roly-poly and rolls all over the place, and when she gets near blankets she will grab a hold of them and then roll over and over till she is all wrapped up. Then she will continue to roll in frustration because she can't see where she is going, all the time whining that she is in the dark.

Rain, rain come today!

Well, we couldn't get the rain to come to the Valley of the Sun, so we decided to make our own with the sprinkler! Once it was turned on and going, Jenna decided she wanted the umbrella. We thought it was so that she could stand underneath it in the sprinkler and not get wet, but at first she refused to go in the water! Now, when it is 110 outside, you'd think that she would gladly get in the water without the umbrella, but no. Dad had to show her how she could use the umbrella and stand under the water.

Once she saw daddy do it she was all for standing in the sprinkler...

Chap chose to play in the water without the protection of an umbrella. (By the way, this message is for David... take note of how green our grass is. Aren't you proud of us?! It has NEVER looked this good, especially not in June - at least not since we have been here! Of course, I won't tell you what our water bill looked like last month.)

Singing in the rain!

Now I just need to teach her to twirl it.

Sleep over at the cousins

As many of you know, I went down to Andra and David's last week to babysit their kids so they could have a fun over night excursion alone. I am sure some of you are wondering how we all fared since it was just me and six kiddos. Robby was busy working on that all important dissertation that night. (Sometimes I think we need to make more room in our family for our big child, Dissertation. He is my fifth and most invisible child - Li'l Robby, Jenna, Olivia, Big Robby, and Dissertation. Did you know that Dissertation is almost 3 years old?! I must admit though, Disseration is an unruly sort of child, and to be honest, I will be glad when he leaves our lives for good. No, we won't have his adoption finalized. Sounds heartless doesn't it!)

Back to the story, yes me and six kids for 29 hours! First off, I was under strict orders by Andra to "spoil them!" Yippie! Spoiling other people's children is fun, but of course that meant spoiling my own in the process. Oh well, they know that they shouldn't expect this kind of treatment at home.

So, what did spoiling entail? Letting them make a big mess dumping out just about all of the toys in the playroom, playing restaurant and pretending to eat everything they served me (even Audry got in on the action and fed me random toys, Aunt Sharon says, "Yum! Yum!"), having pizza for dinner, getting as much ice cream as they wanted both for dessert the first night and after lunch the next day, playing out on the big playset till after dark, and watching 3 movies in less than 24 hours! I think they had fun. Even I had fun staying up a little late to watch a movie from Andra's collection - Sense and Sensibility (I had always wanted to see it and never had... Robby's not into chick flicks.)

So here are a few snapshots from our time together...

Jenna had a great time playing with Audry. I thought it was cute that they sat down in the corner together to read books while the boys horsed around.

Jamesy seemed very interested in little Olivia.


Here are my two restaurant operators. The food was delicious boys!

I think Olivia was fascinated watching all the goings on around her.

Vegging out...

in front of the tube.

In classic Jamesy style, he avoided eye contact with my camera everytime it was turned in his direction. That's okay James, I know you are super cute even without a picture!

I came home thinking, I could do six kids. It wasn't that overwhelming. And then I crashed on the couch. Boy did that feel good!

(Yes, I still want 10 kids. Will we get there? I don't know, but that's what I want.)

By the way, it was my pleasure, Andra!

My 3 foot tall shadow

Okay, I really haven't been intending on neglecting my blog, I must admit that with everything else on my plate recently I have been feeling a little overwhelmed. We spent a month getting ready to list the house, then since it has been on the market I have had to keep it "clean, pristine" or very close to that at every moment of the day. You know, I do enjoy a clean house, but its no fun when you feel like you have to treat your house like a museum.

Of course, my three foot tall shadow doesn't seem to understand all this. No, this shadow follows me through out the house creating new messes where I just cleaned up. Like smearing yogurt all over the table right after I wiped it down, or pulling books off of the shelf in the room I just picked up, or deciding to pull out all of the dress-up clothes to find the right dress and leaving a trail of dress-up items along the way (yes, we have a very talented shadow who can wear clothes). I must admit that it is a very cute little shadow (especially in dress-up clothes), but this shadow keeps me busy all day. Well, almost all day, at least the shadow takes a nap now and then.

So I think you can see why I haven't been a diligent blogger as of recent. I will try and do better. But, try and be patient with me as I have to pack a house over the next month, shadow and all. (No, I won't pack the shadow in a box, but I won't be surprised if the shadow climbs in one.)

Our house is for sale!

We just wanted to let everyone know that our house is for sale! If you know of anyone who is interested in moving to Mesa, AZ and is looking for a 3 bedroom 2 bath home, please send them our way. We are willing to sell without a realtor for a reduced price, but we will be listing with a realtor this week. When we list I will provide a link. For now, here are pictures of the house. Please email us at sharon@robertandsharon.com if you know of someone who might be interested.

Jenna started her first dance classes!

Ever since she was born, I have been waiting for Jenna to get old enough to take dance classes. I was so excited to sign her up for a creative dance camp for 3-6 year olds this month. For her birthday, she got some dance clothes for her class, and on her first day she was so happy to put them on and admire herself in the mirror.

Here she is at the end of class. She finished her first week this week and has had a blast!

Jenna is practicing for that big day

With the preparations we are making to move to Indiana, I have already started packing things. In the process, we have been sorting through old stuff and trying to decide what to take, what to trash, and what to donate. Jenna was really excited when I was looking through my closet and she saw my petticoat from my wedding dress. Immediately she wanted me to wear it, so I modeled it for her (the petticoat, not the dress... I don't think I would still fit my dress). After I took it off, she insisted that she get a chance to try it on so we slipped it over her head and grabbed her dress-up wedding dress to help out with the fun.

Here's our future bride!

Of course, don't let those boys get any ideas about her yet, she has to be 26 before she can get married.

Okay, I will make an exception on the age, but only if the guy is extremely special, and I like him a lot!

Indiana here we come!

I mentioned this in my last blog entry, but I think that some of you may not have caught it... We are moving to Indiana this summer. Robby is taking a position as a visiting assistant professor in management at Purdue University next year! We are excited for the upcoming changes. (Or at least some of the changes... I'm not sure I'm ready for the snow. Li'l Robby, on the other hand, is thrilled! Of course he is also going to learn to love shoveling the snow ;) About two weeks ago we (Robby, Olivia, and I - Li'l Robby and Jenna stayed in AZ with friends and family) took a trip out to West Lafayette to sign a lease on a house and check out the area. We traveled out there right at the end of May and were surprised to be met with temps in the 50s and 60s. Unfortunately, I had already packed away all of our coats back in AZ so we couldn't bring them. I really wished I had had mine!

Here is Robby standing on the campus of his future employer. Did you know that Purdue's sports teams are called the Boilermakers? The school is represented by a steam locomotive called the Boilermaker Special, although they have a separate mascot for their atheletics teams called Purdue Pete (a creepy looking mascot if you ask me!)

One of the things that we, or rather Li'l Robby, is most excited about is the pond that is kitty corner to our rental house. It is quite picturesque if you ask me. This is view from our backyard. Li'l Robby has developed a love of fishing, and I think that we are going to find him at the pond quite a bit. One of our new neighbors caught two 21" large mouth bass in this pond not long ago.

Now we especially loved this about our house...

We live at the corner of Matthew and Elijah streets, and we have a nephew Matthew and a nephew Elijah!

Okay so the sign says "Welcome to the City of West Layafette." Robby really wanted a picture next to this sign with the field behind him, so we pulled over on this rural road about a mile from our house. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea because I felt silly pulling over to take a picture next to this sign, and for good reason. When we stopped no one was coming, but just as I snapped the shot this car turns on the road and as the guy driving (very much a hick-type)approaches us, he stops right next to our car and gives us this goofy smile like we are the strangest people he has seen in a long, long time. If I had been quick on the draw I would have taken a picture of him, too, but instead I was embarassed.

And here is Olivia with Daddy at the airport. She was a great little traveler.

" Mmmm... Yummy finger, Daddy!"

Olivia was happy on the flight as long as we made sure the bottle was always handy.