Alex's Art Gallery

This post is for my friend Jan. Here's your solution to the never-ending artwork your kids bring home: Create an Art Gallery in your garage. Your kids will love it. Every time you pull into the garage they feel special as their masterpieces greet them. We even talked about having an official exhibit opening and inviting the grandparents over for appetizers and drinks but that never happened. I was really great about putting everything up last year, I must admit I have become a slacker and now it all goes in the trash. But Jan, you have me inspired and I hung some recent artwork tonight. We are going to fill the wall!
Note: this was not my brilliant idea, my friend Allison got it from a magazine and I copied her.

Will's birthday party...a few weeks late.

I don't have many great pictures, but it was a success. My boy dug in the sand with his buddies, ate his fill of Chick-fil-a, and felt special. And now he is officially 3 years-old.

My Boy

Will has been going to a weekly music class since September. The big performance was last week. They sang, "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands." It was disastrous. Let's just say these kids don't have what some would call Stage Presence. There was a highlight. As they marched onto the "stage," Will caught sight of the microphone and introduced himself to the audience... twice. Here's the quote, "Hi, I'm Will-Guy Curtis." And then once again, in case anyone missed it the first time.

Have I mentioned lately how madly in love I am with this child? It's a bit of a problem because his father gets jealous sometimes.

Playing Catch-up

Brandon's trip to Germany=Sister and Ellie's trip to AZ!! (no pictures of us all, how sad is that?)

Sister's trip to AZ=Sister and I driving to LA to see Mom, Dad, T & Jen (oh and WICKED!)

Mom and Dad in the USA=Boys, Sister, Ellie and I flying together to Utah and having the chance to see Kate, Chan-man and Sommer (there was a highway wave to Steve as well- missed you Steve... let's hang out next time)General Conference weekend= Mom and Dad in Park City for a whole week and finding time to do all of our PC traditions (Kamas pool, Cow's on Main Street, candy store, trolley ride)

Will turning 3=Excuse to buy Huge chocolate cake (can't bake since we we're on vacation)

Having so much fun in Utah with my family= Great Depression upon coming home to the heat in AZ

How will I make it through the summer? I'm seriously having a panic attack almost daily when I think about it. I know I survived last year, but why do I start to cry every time I think about having to do it again?

Wicked

My parents arrived in California this week to spend some time with Todd and family before heading to Utah for Conference. Debbie suggested they see Wicked since it's playing at the Pantages. The girl knows every word and has been dying to see it. Her husband Brandon had to go to Germany for a last minute work trip, and so she decided to bring Ellie down to visit from Seattle, since it is snowing there and it's 90 degrees here. That way we could all go to Utah to meet up with my parents on Monday as planned. Except that Debbie and I sort of invited ourselves to California to crash Todd's party and see Wicked with them. We drove all day Saturday (and listened to the soundtrack the entire drive) and met up in LA in time for the show. Alan was on kid duty (our boys and Debbie's girl) and is the hero who made it all possible. We drove back this morning and are now furiously packing to meet up with my mom and dad in Park City tomorrow. Can't wait to see you Mom and Dad!

Easter Morning

Major bed-head and two happy boys.
Happy Easter.

Easter Hike/Hunt

Nana and Papa planned an Easter Hike/Hunt at South Mountain. We all met there this morning and had fun on a short hike up to the egg hunt. Alex was a champ- not a word of complaint, nor did he ask to be carried. Will, on the other hand...not such a fan of hiking just yet. But he was a fan of the donuts- he ate 5.

I find myself becoming more like my own parents every day. I remember going on family hikes various times during my childhood- and I remember thinking to myself, " This is NOT fun. Why does my dad make us do this??" There may have been a time or two that I even said that out loud and maybe some whining and complaining were involved. Today I kept having thoughts that I'm sure my own parents had as they dragged all six of us around on different family adventures. I kept thinking how good it was for my son to be out in the wilderness (okay, so maybe there were some fancy condos that we passed on the hike, but at least we were outside!) and using his little body to climb a really big hill- I wanted him to know that he could do it and we could make it fun. We held hands the whole way and talked all about how it felt to have our heart race from pushing our body to do what we needed it to and how good it felt to be outside in the sun looking at the cactus and rocks and hills and at the top of the hike- we saw the entire city of Phoenix spread out before our eyes. Alex loved it and was such a great sport- I'm so proud of him.

Spring Break Day #5

Searching for eggs at our church Easter-egg hunt.

After the party, we came across the Easter bunny who just happened to be spending some time in our local Super-Walmart. How lucky for us! Will wasn't totally sure about sitting on his lap, but did manage to whisper to him, "I be good and you bring me The Bee movie?"

(Sister, I took this picture just for you.)
We finished Spring Break by meeting Alan for burgers, then heading to our local soccer fields where the adults of the East Valley were making it happen on the field. Boys loved it.

Spring Break Day #4

Something I wonder about: Why is my 2-year old the same size as my 4-year old?

The Arizona Science Center was packed. But so fun.
The minute we got home Alex was off to see "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" with Nana and cousins. I sense a theme emerging from our spring break.

Spring Break Day #3

Swimming with cousins in cousins pool heated to 90 degrees.
Any maybe we are a little bit sunburned.

Spring Break Day #1

The Phoenix Zoo with Nana, Papa and cousins.

Jen's Visit

I had a great weekend with one of my very best friends, Jen. We met when I was living in Dallas and we were both new moms. Jen really showed me around Dallas... we had many fun adventures and also spent countless afternoons in the backyard with our babies. In many ways we taught each other how to be better mothers. I am constantly inspired by her, and had such a fun weekend with her all to myself since she left her family home. Her visit was NOT long enough- Come again soon, Jen. You know how much I miss you.

Our Sunday Afternoon....

...consisted of rolling down the grassy hill over and over and over...

...and trying desperately to fly one of these. It was so windy we broke both of our kites. But we had fun doing it.

100th Day and Star of the Week

Alex had his 100th day of school and was Star of the Week all in a one week span a while ago. I always get a kick out of school projects that are so obviously done by the parents but are passed-off as being the child's work. This poster is obviously Alex's production- the cutting and pasting, the choices of his favorites, the placement of everything, he even wanted to type everything up (which was accomplished with some parental help, I admit.) I'm very proud of this boy.

Quite the Predicament

He spent a considerable amount of time getting himself into this situation. What's your plan now, Will?

Lately...

* We've been working on our manners around here. I am sick of being bossed around by my 2 and 4-year old. About a week ago I started refusing to do anything that I was asked to do if they didn't use their pleases and thank-you's. It's working!! You should hear the sticky sweetness in Alex's voice lately- love it.
* So maybe we were robbed. A couple of weeks ago Alan had some late-night visitors to the office. They took 13 grand worth of stuff. We were able to watch the entire thing since Alan has surveillance cameras throughout the office. IT SUCKED. But Alan is discouraged by nothing. How does he do it? He was mad for literally 5 minutes. Then he was figuring out how to pull it all together before his huge open house next week. The good news: they didn't touch his computers or his server. What a huge relief that was. Also? He's getting ready to open Curtis Orthodontics Location #2. I'm tired when I think about his life.
* Am I bad mother if my my 4-year old knows every single word to Fergie's "Big girls don't cry?" We had a great duet in the car yesterday, Alex and I.
* Yesterday Alex made an announcement: "Mom, I will not be living with you forever. When I grow-up I am going to be a cowboy. And my job will be to put all of the animals in their pens everyday." I will miss you more than you know, Alex.
* I stabbed myself with a steak knife. Fourteen stitches and a week and a half later, I'm pretty sure I have gangrene. Can you get that from a stab-wound? Did you know that being a mom is a hands-on job?? I am useless without my hands.
* While driving in the car, I was chatting with Alex and called him baby. Will was furious. "He is NOT a baby, I'm da baby Mommy!" Good to know that everyone knows their role in our family.
* We got into an elevator today. A man and his daughter stepped in behind us. The door shut. Will looked up at the man and said, "My mommy is so beautiful." Thank you baby, but can you say awkward??

Obsessed.

www.freshandeasy.com

This I know.

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Savior." II Samuel 22: 2-3

It's a good life.

Friday night movie with the Curtis'.
The feature: Annie
The treat: Chick-fil-a milkshakes
The true entertainment: Listening to Will belt out "Tomorrow." It's quite amazing.

So much fun

Cari, January, Amelia, me, Marlies, Shannon

Last weekend was our first-ever reunion with my girls from our time UCLA. Since Shannon will be giving birth in a month, we headed to Seattle for our girl's weekend. It was rainy and cold and I loved every second of it. We hit the spa, shopped, baked, laughed, ate, slept and just got caught up after not seeing each other for years. The greatest part: it was like no time had passed at all. Love you girls.