Gloomy Day

Poor Alex. Last night he woke up about 11pm and was more than alarmed to find his dad at the computer that sits outside of our bedroom on the upstairs landing area. Alex was so disturbed (and obviously not feeling well to be waking up at that time of night) that he started yelling, "Go away Alan! You need to go away from me!" and some other not-nice things that I don't want to actually record here. When he finally made it past Alan and into our bedroom where I was in bed, he was crying and he told me in a very soft voice that his ear was on fire. The kid has only had 2 ear infections in his life, both when he was an infant, but he did have a small tumor growing in his right ear that was removed by our ENT specialist while we were living in Dallas, so I was worried. Alan thought it was fine to wait to take him to the doctor in the morning, so we gave him some Tylenol, a blessing (once he would let Alan touch him) and we snuggled up for the night in our bed. This morning when he woke up he was in a lot of pain and told me that he could hear trains in his ears. We headed to the doctor. Poor baby has a massive ear infection! The doctor said it was the worst she has seen and it was about to burst, so it was a good thing we were there. Three doses of different medications and $75 later, he is happily cuddled up with dog-dog, a Jamba and mulitiple episodes of Bob the Builder recorded on Tivo. It's pouring rain outside, so really, it's the perfect day to be sick.

Blow to the self-esteem (sigh)

My self-esteem took a bit of a blow the other day when Alan told me that my haircut makes me look like Sentator Hilary Rodam Clinton. He's been calling me Hill for short, I'm not kidding. So let's just say that today-- I got kicked while I was already down. I went to the mailbox expecting the usual junk mail and bills, but surprise- a package, how exciting! Open the package, find a book- sent from my sweet mother who is living all the way down in Guatemala, but who is obviously still thinking of me here in Arizona. Thinking of me here in Arizona- but what is she thinking of me? "Mood swings? Mental fuzziness?" Are these problems I'm having? I guess the title of the book says it all- though I think they mean it in a very different way than I am taking it. They mean controlling your sugar intake should be your solution to your health/mental health problems, but I've decided it is sugar itself that I choose for my solution. Which is why I just polished off an old box of See's Candy from Christmas. Yum. I feel better already.

Baby Brooke Brenchley has arrived!

We are so excited to welcome our new little niece Brooke to the world! Alan's sister Caroline gave birth to her 4th child yesterday (what a champ) and she could not be cuter- tons of dark hair and pink full cheeks. We all headed to the hospital to tell her happy birthday!! It was so amazing to hold the little cutie just hours after her arrival. Holding baby Brooke sure made my baby Will seem enormous. It just goes by so quickly.

Little friends

Alex and Lily

We had such a great week with the Cardalls. It was honestly like no time had gone by since our years together at UCLA- except there were all kinds of children running around and making noise. They headed back to St. Louis on Tuesday, and we were sad to see them go. Our hope is that they had as good of a time here as we had having them-- and that Arizona was moved up on the "where we want to end up" list. I feel for them-- it's a hard decision.
ps- Like Alan's photoshopping? He was going for the look you see on the posters in most freshman girls dorm rooms at BYU. I think they look precious together.

Homemade Pizza Night!

The Cardalls have arrived!

Some of our best friends from our years at UCLA, the Cardalls, are in town! Tonight we hit an Alan and Seth favorite, Native New Yorker, for wings. We were sitting there with our four kids and Alan said, "Who would have thought 5 years ago that we'd be sitting here with 4 kids between the four of us." I think it was Seth that commented back, "I'm not surprised about the kids, but I am surprised that we're sitting in Arizona." We are doing some heavy recruiting this week, hoping we can convince the Cardalls to settle here in AZ when Seth is done with his residency in a couple of years. On the agenda for later in the week... searching for sites for "The Compound" that Alan and Seth have been planning since the first year of dental/medical school. We're so glad they are here!

Playing T-ball in the Cold

Alex working on his batting stance with Coach Prussia.

Standing on first!

Most exciting moment of the game: post-game snack.

Alex's friend Parker played T-ball last season and had a great time, so his mom asked us if we wanted to join the team. Of course Alan and I were so excited and jumped at the chance. The first practice went pretty well- Alex had a great time running around with the kids and made some nice hits as well. Last Saturday was the first game: NOT so successful. Alex cried the entire time. Alan actually spent a good portion of the game holding Alex in the outfield. Granted, it was unusually cold for Arizona so he was shivering, and he had never actually been to a t-ball game before so the routine was foreign to him, but Alan and I went home very discouraged and wondering if he was ready to be involved in an organized sport. We talked about it a lot over the past week, asked him if it was something he wanted to do and if he could decide to be a team player. Alex kept telling us "I want to do it! I love t-ball! I won't cry!" As we headed to the game on Saturday he was all smiles. I bundled him up in 4 layers of clothing (it was again strangely cold on Saturday!) and filled him up with hot chocolate. Total success! He had a great time playing and we were, of course, so proud.

Cafe Rio with the Zollingers

Annie and Alex kept saying they will be "friends forever!"

Katie, Will, Alex, Annie

The Zollinger's came down today to hang out and we had such a great time! We wish they lived closer so we could do it more often! Lisa was in shock that we have a Cafe Rio here in Gilbert, so it was a necessary stop for us today. The 2 of us took the 4 kids for dinner, and it was quite a workout. Our oldest children, Alex and Annie, are these sweet, obedient children who listen and obey. Will and Katie on the other hand---not so much. I can't believe how brave Lisa is to be having #3 in June. I was so embarrassed at the mess we left behind us, even though we did all we could to pick it all up off of the floor. It was still a blast and we were sad to see them head back to SoCal so soon!! Come visit again soon you guys!!

Swimming in Scottsdale

Yesterday the boys and I went to see our good friends the Zollingers who are staying in Scottsdale at the Westin. It was 75 degrees and great weather for putting the pool and waterslide to use. The boys had a great time- Alex just totally hit it off with Annie, as you can see from the pics!!

Painting Project: the red bench

Curtis family moments on the red bench...

About an hour before Will was born- our last family photo before we were 4.

First mother's day as a mother of 2.

The picture we used on the flier to sell our cute house (which no longer exists). Don't you think the red bench just makes the house?!?

Before

Alex working on his own project- a toy box to match the bench.

It's impossible to get a normal looking smile for the camera out of this kid. Totally impossible!

Our favorite "souvenir" from the two-years we spent living in Dallas is the red bench that was on the porch of our home there. We bought it from the previous owner and really, it's what made the house cute! Alex and I (and Will too, once he was born) spent many evenings waiting for Alan to come home from school while sitting on our front porch on the red bench. The bench came with us to Arizona, and was in desperate need of a paint job, so we turned it into a reading bench for Alex's room. I just need to make some cute pillows to match the quilts on the bunk beds and we'll be set!

The best gift I've ever recieved

Each Christmas Alan's siblings do a gift exchange- we rotate and each family is assigned another family. This year Alan's younger brother Steve and his wife Sommer were assigned our family. Sommer asked what I wanted: I told her a Chick-fil-a gift certificate and I wasn't kidding (we love Chick-fil-a!) On Christmas Eve we exchanged gifts. First each boy opened a gift- a Thomas book/puzzle for Alex (score- he was thrilled) and a cool wooden puzzle for Will. Then they handed us a gift for Alan and I- a Cheesecake Factory gift card with a coupon for a free night of babysitting on them! We were so excited- free babysitting is one of the best gifts ever. At this point I knew they had gone over the limit. They were so generous and we were all excited about our gifts. Then Sommer handed me another present. I felt it and instantly knew what it was. Sommer had finished the second quilt I had started months ago for the boys bunkbeds. I had been working on it at her mom's house (her mother is this amazingly talented seamstress) and it was taking me forever because it was so hard to find the time and it's just hard to accomplish anything while my kids are around. I can not even imagine how much time she spent working on that gift for me- hours and hours I'm sure. I cried and she cried and it was the best, most thoughtful, most giving present I've ever received. (The picture just doesn't do it justice since Alan has our good camera at work--the colors are off etc.) Thank you Sommer! You made my Christmas.

Happy New Year!

December has come and gone. We've had a great time celebrating over and over and over and I think I am ready to get back in to a normal routine! For New Year's Eve we had Alan's parents, his brother and sister and their families over for appetizers, games and hot fudge sundaes (somehow we didn't take any pictures!) The boys didn't go to bed until 11:30pm! We were all asleep by the time midnight came around. Today was totally relaxing- we didn't even leave the house until 5:30pm when we headed over the Alan's parents for one last party. Julie made a turkey and we had a great New Year's meal with Alan's siblings. The Curtis' have historically made "snowballs" (as pictured above) every Christmas, so we capped of the evening with that tradition. It's been a fun month, but I think I'm ready to toss the Christmas tree and get this house back in to shape!