Panda Stephens

Meet "Panda". Panda is the well loved comfort item of a 3 year old boy. His soft, fluffy fur has been loved down to short, nubby, tufts of fur. He is the 6th member of our family. He goes everywhere with Trey. He sleeps with Trey, dances with Trey, goes to the store with Trey, plays in the dirt with Trey, sometimes to my dismay he is even in the bathroom with Trey. Trey and Panda are inseperable.

Ocassionaly I'm forced to talk to Panda and ask Panda questions. During family prayer we have to hold Panda's hands I mean paws. Some of us handle this better than others. Logan sees it as it is and refuses to include a stuffed animal in our family prayer circle. Aaron will reluctantly roll his eyes and do a side smile as if he can't believe he is actually doing it. Avery and I have no problems with it, what's the big deal? I lost any self dignity and self pride along time ago so I'm at peace with holding hands with Panda and treating him like my own child.

Lately our freezer has been filled with a year supply of "panda soup". "Panda Soup" recipe is as follows, hose water from outside, dirt, a spinkle of fresh grass and a dash of plastic action heroes. Put in the freezer and freeze to perfection.

Today was a sad day for panda, he lost his nose on a grocery cart. He's taking this allot harder than when he lost his eye. The eyeball could be rationalized by Trey because hey... Trey had surgery on his eye so this was in some way Panda's eye surgery as well. But we have yet to come up with a good excuse for the nose. I'm sure this bear will be loved until there are only threads left or until he is included in our family picture. That just might be the last straw for Logan and Dad and I'm sure Panda will end up "lost".

Hibernating

It's that time again. The date has been chosen and I have now gone into my yearly hibernation of writing the primary program. With over 140 primary children it can get a little tricky to make sure everyone has a seat and a part and is happy. If you have any tips or ideas or would love to sing a solo let me know. Say "hello" to the sun for me while I'm in my cave working for the next couple of months.

Howdy Doodey

I took the kids up North this weekend to enjoy the cooler weather, the cabin and a little bit of this... and this...

We went to our first official rodeo and boy howdy did we love it. It was such a fun time and amazing to watch. I think I discovered a little bit of cowgirl in me. I found myself getting a little bit emotional during the barrel racing. I was in awe of how fast and beautiful the horses looked and the control and concentration that the riders had. (And no I am not pregnant.)

The bull riding was crazy! Why would anyone subject themselves to that type of beating. I can only imagine the aches and pains that those riders have the next day from being thrown around on the bull let alone stepped on by it in tender areas.

The cow roping was manly to me. Loved it. Logan is determined to learn how to lasso and rope a cow.

They let all kids 12 and under come out into the arena to chase down a calf that had $200 on it. The boys thought it was fun to run and roll in the dirt and I thought it was funny watching over 100 kids run in one direction and then have the calf run right threw them. I was so proud of Logan for finding Trey when it was over and bringing him back. He's such a good brother. Better luck next time on the $200 Log's.

Avery put on her own little buk'n bronco show when she crossed over not one but 3 rails to get into the main arena. I ran and jumped over the rails as fast as I could and grabbed her just in time. She then put on a show of throwing her body around while I was trying to hold her. Can you see the similarities in this between the bull riding? Security came and told me what a horrible mother I was. Well, that's not exactly what they said but that's what it felt like. How boring would it be if we didn't get in some form of trouble every time we went some place.

Logan asked if "rodeoing" was a sport. He was so delighted when I told him it was. I can only imagine what he was thinking. He has already come up with a plan to practice roping Grandpa Stephens' cows and ride horses next time we visit.

It looks like we all discovered a little cowboy in us this weekend. Yeehaw!

7 Things That You Will Never Hear Me Say

I saw this on a friends blog and thought it was too hillarious to not copy. Thanks for the idea Stacey.

7 Things that you will never hear me say.
1-I love waking up before 6:30 a.m. it gives me such a great start on the day.

2-Could you please scream some more in the store, I love all the attention we get from everyone. And when that strange lady comes up to us and says "it looks like you've got your hands full", I want to give her a big fat kiss and a hug.

3-Don't worry about picking up that mess that you just made or cleaning the fingerprints off of the window, it adds such artistic character to our home. Besides, I am here to serve you!

4-Does that have any form of sugar in it? I think I'll pass this time.

5- Honey I wish you would snore more often. It creates such a rythmic melody that lulls me to sleep every night.

6-Please no more decorating or craft projects. I have had enough.

7-Can we please spend all day trying to find your glasses that you ripped off of your face and threw in some random place. I had absolutely nothing planned today and it will be such a bonding experience.

What are some things that you will never say?

Where Did This Come From?

The other day Avery bursted out into song and I was shocked that she knew all the words (okay kind of) to the song. Where did this come from? Where have I been? How long has she been doing this for? I wish I could take all the credit but I'm sure it's from her fabulous nursery teachers (Jessica Young and Danielle Davis) who found it to be there calling in life to help Avery not only come to nursery but enjoy nursery as well. Ladies you did it! She is a success story and I couldn't be more proud of her and thankful to you. She's a changed woman with confidence galore and I'll always credit you for helping her adjust(Pause the music on my music player so you will be able to hear her.)

Fun On The Fourth

We went up North to my parents cabin to celebrate the Fourth of July. The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. We have developed the tradition of always going to the cabin to celebrate. I love the cold, wet, green grass on my bare feet, the sound of the sprinklers, the wind blowing in the pines making a soft howling noise, afternoon rainstorms, barbecues, watermelon, playing croquet, starry nights, late night talks outside on the porch and of coarse the Heber parade and fireworks. Avery is fixated with holding things in her cute little hands. She will grasp on to something and hold it all day long. Her favorite things to carry around are forks and toothbrushes. We never can find either one at our house. She found some jump ropes and cool animal flashlights that she carried around with her and hoarded them in the bed.

Trey had such a fun time exploring and pretending. This pile of burnt, cut down trees from the Rodeo-Chedeski fire became his space ship. He loved climbing on it and making blast off noises. As soon as we got out of the car after arriving Trey asked for his boots and off he went exploring.

This was our favorite place to play. What a beautiful view.

"Operation Noodle Attack Uncle Nate." All of the kids hid in the basement waiting for Uncle Nathan to come down so they could jump out and noodle attack him. It took the adults awhile to catch on to what was going on. One kid would come upstairs and ask Nate to come down, his reply would be "in a minute," 10 minutes later someone else would come up and ask Nate to come down. After about the 3rd or 4th child we caught on and told Nate to go downstairs.

"Operation Retaliation"

I love Heber's small town parade. Anyone and everyone can be in it. This was my favorite float if you want to call it that. What a sassy little grandma, I love it. I want to be like her when I'm older.

All tuckered out. Good thing daddy is so strong.

Waiting at the parade for the big fire trucks to come and spray us with water. The kids love forging for the candy that they throw out as well.

Avery and Trey fell asleep on the way back to the cabin so Logan and I got bored and decided to make funny faces in the back seat to make the time go by quicker. Logan is always so much fun to do things with.

Here we are in our all american outfits getting ready for the best fireworks show Arizona has to offer.

Our little All American Beauty Queen.

Logan and Blake (Logan's cousin and most favorite person in the world) lying down watching fireworks.

Avery and I oohing and ahhing at the beauty. To say Avery loved the fireworks would be an understatement. She screamed with delight and commentated the entire time. "One, two, three, go" and "woo-hoo" were her most common reactions.

I love this country and I am so grateful to be free. I often don't think about all the freedoms that I have and take it for granted. There is no place like the good ole' U S of A. I love that the Fourth of July brings all Americans together. It's something that we all have in common no matter how different we are. I love the feeling of unity that the Fourth of July provides.

We also celebrated little Miss Claire's 3rd birthday while we were at the cabin. The party was a hit, complete with a princess pinata as you can tell by Claire's stash that she is holding.

Wet and Wild

Trey finished up his second year of swimming lessons with Ms. Judy. She is the best and both my kids have told me on different occasions that they want to be swim teachers when they grow up. They love her. I love this stage that Trey is going through right now. He gets to do all the things that he has watched Logan do. He embraces each new moment with such enthusiasm and joy.

We have been swimming at Grandma's trying to stay cool from the hot 110 degree days. Logan has been such a great help when we go swimming. All my kids love to swim but the "ankle biters" (Trey and Avery) still need supervision. Logan loves to hold both Trey and Avery in the water and splash around with them. He is such a good big brother to them.

Ms. Bathing Beauty herself.

Trey's motto "no fear".

Heavy Metal

Before... After...

Logan got braces put on to correct his anterior cross bite. He was so excited. I stressed over finding the right Orthodontist. I have had the opportunity to work for some of the best doctors but unfortunately they were not in this state. After about 3 months of research and consultations we finally found one that I agreed with. Logan loves having braces on, even if it is for just a couple of months. He was thrilled to be able to get Diamondback colors, black and red of course.

Take Me Out To the Ballgame

What better way to start off the summer (I know it was a month ago) with a baseball game. Aaron and the boys can't get enough baseball. This was Trey's first time going. He did great minus the fact that he got kicked out of the "play place". I don't think anything can humble a mother more than when someone screams to the public "whose kid is this?!"

We waited the entire game to watch the fireworks at the end. Finally in the tenth inning Chad Tracey (Logan's new favorite player) scored a home run. Woo hoo! 1-0 Diamond Backs.