Seven Springs, Spring Snow!

I have come to almost rely on the fact that there will a final whopper of a spring storm before the summer heat sets in. Winter wears off and the temperature starts to climb, but then comes one last cold, stormy, wintery day. Thank the heavens! Usually in March, but occasionally in April. This years was in March and it left a mark on the desert that few Phoenicians can ignore. White capped mountains and cactus.
This year when the storm rolled in on a Friday night we of course woke up Saturday morning and piled in the car. We were first off to have lunch with Grandma and Papa, then on a family adventure to find some snow. We ended up in the Seven Springs area with Getman and Josh. It was fun. There was enough snow on the ground for all the kids to have a snowball fight and for Abi to realize nature was almost touching her... we all know what that now means. The sad, but coolest thing was the recovery mission we accidentally stumbled upon. I took a few pictures before I realized exactly what was going on, then I felt bad. Apparently the night before there was a small aircraft that crashed in the mountains. We got to "our spot" just as the helicopter carrying the wreckage came over the ridge in front of us. Crazy. ...

The helicopter made probably 4 trips back and forth loading wreckage onto the flatbed that was waiting in clearing there. We saw engines, wings, the whole plane get gently placed on the trailer and then they just drove off. After looking into it apparently it was a plane from a flight school here in the valley. There were 4 people on board. Sad, but we won't dwell on the morbid. We have desert snow to play with!

Emi and Squish, before she realized nature was all around her.

...and after. In tears on the way to the safety of the car.

A final farewell.

Emily noticed on our way in that all the cars on their way out had little snowmen decorating their hoods. So that meant she just had to make us one too. She named him, I forget what it was but he survived almost the whole way home!

Girl Scout Backyard Campout!

We hosted the Daisy Backyard Campout at our house for Emi's Girl Scout troop this year. All 14 girl scouts came and got their crazy, I don't have any parents here, on. Thank heavens for the troop leaders and Devon the big girl Girl Scout that came to run the show. No girls allowed in the house! Their rules, not mine. Poor things too. As it happens it was a freezing cold day and there was a big storm headed our way. I borrowed heaters from Papa and put all the blankets and beach towels I could find out, but it was to no avail. I forget that little people have no thermostat. They were so excited to be there I don't think they cared it was freezing. The adults, now that was a different story!

A little prep work by the "men" of the house and a curious chicken or two before the girls arrived.

Can you see what I mean? These girls are so truly not campers. A few were properly dressed, but most were not and one even came in a party dress with knee high black boots...

Thanks to the boys hard work the girls had a beautiful campfire to roast hotdogs and marshmallows on. They learned a couple new songs and I borrowed Grandma Bette's fabulous hot chocolate makers to keep them toasty warm. Those hot chocolate makers really are fabulous. Remember Squishy put them to the test around Christmas? Well, they've still got it. Those suckers cranked out a ridiculous amount of hot chocolate without any trouble at all.

So I suppose these campers are ready for the real deal now...Girl Scout Camp here we come!

1st T-Ball Practice...

Welcome to the Bee's T-Ball team!

- from the office of the Director of Operations

Billy is playing on his first team ever. T-ball for High Desert Little League and his Daddy is coach. He might not get to go to school like the girls, but I am pretty sure this is WAY better in his head. He even has a few buddies from church on his team and a potential love interest say 20 years down the road. There are 13 kids on the team, Travis has his hands full...

GO BEES!

Abi's 1st Day of Preschool!

Squishy started preschool on Valentine's Day. She was not excited at all, can you tell? This is her "happy dance" She was over the moon excited to start school, but even more excited to ride the "scoos bus."

To bring the story up-to-date, Abi qualified for the developmentally delayed preschool because she currently has a "moderate speech delay" according to the myriad of district specialist's that assessed her. By their professional opinions she needs to go to preschool 4 days a week at no cost to us. Yay! In all honesty I will be so sad when her minion speech is gone, but at the same time I would hate to think she was starting kindergarten behind the other kids her age.

Her fancy new backpack Grandma Trisha bought for her. It of course has her initials on the front and her name on the matching lunchbox. Of course.

Billy is not so sure how he wound up being the only kid in the whole world that doesn't get to go to this fabulous place called preschool everyone keeps talking about.......

Waiting patiently for the "short bus" and practicing singing her ABC's at the top of her lungs on the performance rock. I can officially use the term "short bus" because I have a very special little girl now! She rides Mr. Mark's bus in the morning and Ms. Joan's in the afternoon. She gets picked up (right at the front door) at 11:30 and dropped off at 3:50. I know she loves her teacher Ms. Randi, but the bus is totally her favorite part of school. She is so cute. She falls asleep every afternoon on Ms. Joan's bus...

** Just a warning, the bus is about to arrive and Abi is about to go into orbit.....

It's hard to tell in the small version of this picture, but NONE of her little feet are on the ground at this moment. She is SO excited!

A camera savvy person might also notice from this picture how far away I am now standing... She didn't even care to wave goodbye to me. I can't be certain, but I am pretty sure she forgot I even existed for a minute.

The aide from the bus, bless her heart, tried to get her turnaround so I could take a picture of her on the bus, but Abi was having no part of it. She was focused, focused on getting to her seat and riding away from her mother on a scoos bus. I guess there are no attachment concerns here...

There she goes! And then there was one.......