Gilbert Days Parade

Watson’s Flowers is a family business, started by my Grandparent on my dad’s side. The business has been in existence for 75 years and they are well known throughout the valley.  Each year they enter a float into the Gilbert Days parade.  The tradition is for the 5-year-olds in the family to ride the float.  I got to ride it with my cousin and grandma when I was five, only back then the parade was in Mesa.  I still remember the green velvet dress I wore and the beautiful pink flowers on the float. 

This year was Stephen’s turn.  He was thrilled!  He got to dress like a farmer cowboy.  Shhh don’t tell him he was really supposed to be a farmer….

 

If you look closely, you can see that the float is covered in real rose petals, even the giant sunflower petals are filled in completely with yellow rose petals and the stems are covered in rose leaves.  The night before the parade we went down to the flower shop to help glue the petals to the float.  It really turned out spectacular!

Here is Stephen, ready to roll.  He had practiced his “medium wave,” the small wave being too small and the big one too big.

 

My brother, Allen, Scott, and I, along with many cousins, aunts and uncles walked along side the float and handed out flowers to the crowd. 

Yeah…all those flowers.

It is so much fun handing out the flowers.  Everyone is delighted when you hand them a flower.  We heard “Thank you!” over and over again.  We were a little generous at the beginning perhaps because we ran out of flowers a block before the end of the parade!

 

Here are the little farmers, posing for pictures before the parade.  Four boys and one girl!

 

Stephen insisted that the hat was more comfortable this way…backwards.  There is that notorious flannel, plaid shirt we went to D.I. for…

 

A rare photo of Scott and I …

 

After the parade Stephen was ecstatic that he got to choose a few flowers to keep.  We also got to take a lovely arrangement home with us.  A happy little farmer!

 

We had so much fun!  Only two and a half years until Boston can ride the float!

How I learned that D.I. has very clean floors

I took Stephen and Boston to D.I. earlier this week to look for a few items.  Both boys insisted on ridding in the back of the shopping cart.  I had just found the perfect plaid shirt for Stephen to wear to dress like a farmer when WHAM, out of the corner of my eye I saw the shopping cart tips sideways and crash to the ground.  Both boys had been reaching for something and caused the cart to tip over.  It was right at my side when it happened and so I was very quick to bend down and “pick up the pieces.”  Stephen was unhurt – didn’t even cry - but Boston was crying really hard.  Two other customers rushed over to help and I kept saying that Boston seemed fine, he was just scarred.  Then the lady pointed out that his eye was swelling.  She ran off to find an employee to get some ice.  When she came back she asked if she could look at Boston’s head – she said she was a nurse.  She asked if it felt mushy!  Well, fortunately his head was not mushy but he did end up with a lovely shiner and a bruise along his ear.  At this point three employees had rushed over and one brought ice.  They were all so concerned.  Honestly I felt really stupid because it was my fault for letting the boys sit in the back together.  The whole event was rather traumatic.  I was sitting on the floor, cradling Boston in my lap for what seemed like forever (This is when I noticed how clean the floors were.)  He probably cried for less than five minutes but then we just sat there for a few more minutes while the employees and other customers fussed around us.  They even filled out an accident report.  Eventually, Boston recovered his usually cheerful personality and even managed to pull a bunch of shirts off a nearby rack while the employee was filling out the form. 

I got a phone call from “Brian, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” two days later asking if Boston was doing ok.  Yes, Boston is doing just fine.

Well, lesson learned: no more giant boys riding in the back of shopping carts together.  Boston gets strapped in the front seat and Stephen has to walk.

Brushing teeth

Daddy is in charge of brushing Stephen and Boston’s teeth.  Most nights are a typical battle but they do have a little fun too.  Scott gets them to open their mouths by saying the cutest little chant.  I can’t really convey the way it sounds in writing but he basically says “teeth like a tiger, a scary fierce tiger…”  “ahh like a hippo, a mighty mighty hippo…” “tongue like a snake, a slimy slippery snake…”  The tiger gets them to bare their teeth, the hippo is so he can reach their molars, and the snake is so he can brush their tongues.  Scott is so clever to think of a way to make brushing teeth a little more fun. 

Teeth like a tiger:

 

It cracks me up that Stephen is trying to tackle Scott and pull him over in these pictures.

From drab to fab…our backyard

This is what our backyard looked like when we moved in in July… a barren wasteland of dirt and old rusty nails and screws.  (Apparently, whoever lived here before liked to work on cars back there). 

After a few months of faithful watering and care…

Monsoon storms are rolling in in the next two pictures…hence the funny sky and light color.

Ta da!!!  Lovely green grass!  It covers most of the yard though there are still a few holes on the sides.

 

We took advantage of this especially beautiful November day to enjoy a picnic.  November is the month that reminds us why we love to live in Arizona.  The temperatures in the mid 70’s all day and nice cool evenings charm our memories are and we forget those rotten summer months.

Hot Air Balloon Spooktacular and that day called Halloween

A few weeks ago I snagged a Groupon for a $12 admission for a family of four to a hot air balloon festival.  It was also a Halloween carnival/trick-or-treat kind of thing.  We packed up some dinner (so we wouldn’t spend $$ on over priced food) and headed off on our adventure Friday after Scott got home from work.  The boys got to wear their Harry Potter costumes.  They both insisted on being Harry Potter this year so I had to make a second costume for Boston to wear.  Actually, Boston wanted to be a Dementor…ummm, no, I think not. 

Being Harry Potter is very serious work.

I think this face says, “let’s go trick-or-treating already.”

Ha!  I love this fake, cheesy smile from Stephen.  Boston is just done.

 

On to the festival!

We got to the festival just as the balloons were being inflated.  It was so cool to watch!  There were 30-40 hot air balloons of many shapes and sizes.  There was a butterfly, two bees, a haunted house, a “spider pig,” (from the Simpsons), a clown, etc, etc.  It was impossible to take good pictures of the balloons so here is one from the website. 

There were bouncy slides and a zip line and other kid games, as well as tethered hot air balloon rides if you wanted to pay for the tickets.  We didn’t.  We were content to walk around and look at the hot air balloons and trick-or-treat at the baskets.  How fun is that?  My boys were intimidated by the blasts of flame that would suddenly burst up and they felt it was a little too loud sometimes.  Luckily I came prepared with a pair of ear plugs for Stephen (he doesn’t do well in noisy places). 

We also took a golf cart ride along a “haunted trail” and were surprised by some spookily dressed high school kids who jumped out at us.  It was fine at first – Stephen, who was sitting on the back with Scott, kept saying “I’m not scared.” and then after a while he was found to be staring at the ceiling of the golf cart.  Then, by the end he was curled up against Scott with his face completely hidden.  I am happy to report that he has had no ill effects from his experience.  Boston and I dealt with it by pulling out his wand and casting spells to get rid of the “dementors” and witches.  He was very intense about this job.

 

Over all we had a great time!  We did do a little jack-o-lantern carving and trick-or-treating on Halloween and Stephen informed us that he wanted to go to every house on the street (what kid doesn’t) and then he said that he would like it only if we carried him.  Today as Boston was chowing down on one sucker after another (he likes to lick them a few times and then throw them away and get a fresh one) he informed me in a delighted tone, “I love trick-or-treating!!”

Scott, posing for the yearly “pumpkin gut grimace.”

My sweet boys!

Planting seeds

When we first moved into our house this summer I gave Stephen a pack of pumpkin seeds to plant in the backyard.  It was meant to keep him busy for a while but it did more than that…by the end of the summer we ended up with a tangled mess of pumpkin vines, cantaloupe vines, and watermelon vines.  (The cantaloupe and watermelon seeds were given to Stephen by his Great-Grandpa Thatcher).  In spite of our lack of gardening expertise and much to our delight and excitement, we were able to harvest a few pumpkins and a few cantaloupes. 

 

Stephen and Boston’s faces crack me up in these pictures!

 

Those weren’t the only kind of seeds planted this summer.  We have finally managed to develop a habit of family scripture study.  We are certainly not perfect and have nights where we don’t get to it but we are progressing.  I have been happy to find Stephen like this on a few occasions:

I couldn’t get it in the picture but his little hand is propping it open…

Sure, I know he can’t read yet, but he is showing an interest in it.  I love this kid!  Here he is, planting his little seed of faith. 

My clean house

This is how clean my house would be all the time if I could manage it.  Even the bathrooms are clean.  Sigh…. So unrealistic but hey, makes for a good opportunity to take some pictures!
View from the front door…I know, the TV is right there but really there is no other place that works. 


Looking the other way from the front door:


There is the front door from the other side of the room:


The dining area just off of the kitchen and view of the backdoor:



Our itty bitty kitchen:

One side…

Aaand the other side:


I am very proud of this room since Scott made these shelves himself.  (Except the Ikea cabinets).  When we moved in all of this was blank walls – we turned it into the laundry/pantry/ oh yeah, weird random bathroom.
Laundry:


Pantry:



Aaand weird random bathroom.


Yeah, not sure what they were thinking when they decided to put a third bathroom into a 1,300 square foot, three bedroom home.  We don’t use this bathroom much since we keep the food in here…and the washer and dryer.

After an entire day of cleaning.  Literally - all. day. long.  This is how I felt:

I always take pictures of my boys when they fall asleep on the couch because it happens so rarely.  I can't remember what tuckered Boston out this day but he sure looks sweet.