Happy Birthday Our Little Sicily!!

She's finally 2!! She was so excited for her little party. Rubber Ducks this year folks, it's all about the Ducks. They won out to Winnie the Pooh even. SICILY LOVES DUCKS!!

This is our sweet little next-door neighbor, Leah. Aren't they just the cutest little girls?

Stick the Duck in the Bathtub. Turned out even cuter than I thought it would. I had to keep taking all the ducks back off to the little ones could have 2 and 3 turns each. They LOVED it!

Then, of course, you have to catch a duck. As soon as we stepped outside and they all saw the pool they ALL tried to get naked so they could go swimming. Some still ended up a bit wet, but no one actually "fell" in.

Look, she caught one!!! So exciting!
Here's the cutest little Rubber Ducky cake you've ever seen. His little fuzzy self was made possible with a bit of dyed coconut. Isn't he cute?!?

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear SICILY, Happy Birthday to you. When she blew out the candles she spit on his tail, needless to say that's the slice she got to eat.Gotta love the cake! And let me tell you, 9 little 2 year olds can make quite a mess when it comes to cake and Kool-aid. Thank goodness we have a dog to help clean up afterwards. And, my table and all the chairs got a thorough wipe down afterwards. :) Cute little kids.

It didn't take her long to learn about unwrapping presents. She got puzzles, a microphone, puppets...etc. But her favorite by far was a baby she can take in the bathtub, complete with rubber duck toy.
Happy 2nd Birthday our little Sicily! We love your sweet smile, how much you dote on all of us. Every time you "chase" us with your little "claws" it's just the cutest thing ever. We are so happy to have you in our family.

Snake Drama

Drama in my neighborhood. I got a phone call from my next-door-neighbor. She'd just seen a 2 inch thick snake cross her driveway and go into my yard. We met at the fence with a hoe and a shovel, and found this under their garbage can.

Now, I have a 4 ft pet Corn Snake that I KNOW is NOT poisonous, but I have no idea what this is so I was not about to touch it, even with a shovel. I thought about Jared's Shot Gun, but I don't even know how to load that thing. So we called Animal Control who said they couldn't do anything about it unless it was IN your house. I was not about to shew it into my house. So we called the Fire Department who transferred us to the Police Department who sent out a deputy.

That wonderful Police Officer took my hoe and shovel and chopped off it's head. He's a native Texan and he didn't know what it was either. This picture isn't the best, I know. But if anyone has a clue, let me know.

Back to Soccer

Well we're back into Soccer season, and loving it. Had our first game this Saturday and tied 1-1. Lucky Aspen, got the Pink jerseys which are very coveted among the ALL girl teams. We are the PINK PANTHERS, cute huh?
They have goalies this year and Aspen got a turn 4th quarter. She did really good, and loved being able to touch the ball with her hands.

Check out that kick. She's got a mighty swing with those legs. Years of practice kicking her brothers pays off on the soccer field.

Hard to choose if you want to play soccer, do ballet or gymnastics. Especially when you're rather good at all 3. We'll see what next year brings. Karate? Never know.

He's Coming Home, He's Coming Home

Jared's work has always taken him away from home, and it never gets any easier. This week he left for Gaylord, Michigan Weds. morning and will get home tomorrow afternoon. Then he's off again next week on Tuesday for Columbus, Ohio (I think) and will be back Friday night, just in time for Sicily's 2nd Birthday Party on Saturday.

We sure miss our Daddy when he's gone, and we're sure grateful we've finally reached that stage in his career where we KNOW when he's getting home. It used to be, "I'll be on the rig for 3 days." Then 2 weeks later he finally drags himself through the door. This job has definitely gotten better over the years.

A bonus this week is we thought the 2 trips might mold together. Which would have been a HUGE bummer since the kids have their Primary Program this Sunday and Jared's one of the teachers. So we're EXTRA glad Daddy will be home for the weekend.

Still Sick

But on the mend.

Poor little Bubba. I drug all 4 kids to the Dr. this afternoon, for Sicily's sake. A teenager in the neighborhood has Swine Flu and I was not taking any chances. Sicily's showing some symptoms; high fever and chest congestion. They did a swab up her nose, which she was non to pleased about, and 15 mins later the test results were NEGATIVE. Thank goodness! It's not even the Flu, just a cold, treat the symptoms...you know...the regular.

So we're on the mend, but not quite 100% just yet.

My Little Sicky

We spent the day at home today because someone threw up at 11:30 last night. When we got her up this morning she was on fire, such a hot fever, 101 under the armpit. She was just looking so pathetic on the couch I had to snap this shot.

Lucky for Sicily she has the best big brother in the world. She was just feeling miserable and obviously dejected and her sweet Phoenix came over and just held her while she did her sad sick little cry. I love that my kids love each other, it makes my life so much easier.

She picked a fine day for being sick though. Our Moms and Tots group, at church, was going to the Temple to do Initiatories. I was really looking forward to it too, but hey, in the end I got a lot of things done around the house.

I think she's feeling better. After a 3 hour nap this afternoon and an early bed time tonight, we'll see how she's feeling in the morning. I'll never understand how she's the only one NOT in school and yet she's the only one that ever gets sick 1st. Just does not make sense.

Green Lizard

Jared was out back trying to kill the grass by the fence and brought in a little friend for the kids.

Crazy Kid

I've been told I have a rather calm and contented little girl. But most people don't always get to see this side of her. The crazy side that only comes out at home.

Sneaky, Sneaky

Sicily had bread and jam for lunch, Phoenix had chips and salsa. But when all was said and done, Phoenix preferred bread and jam and Sicily REALLY wanted some chips and dip. She's just so stinking short, I was impressed she could even reach the salsa.

First Day of School

Well actually the 1st Day of School was Sept 1st, but I've had computer issues so we're finally getting it Blogged.

Phoenix is in Little Feet Preschool this year and absolutely loves it. If you believe all he says it's just him and 3 other boys. But there are actually 5 girls in the group too. He is very much a boys-boy this year, and loves everything from Transformers to Wrestling, so having boys to play with in Preschool is the best thing ever.

The 2 most important things he tells me when he gets home from school is #1 What they had for snacks that day, and #2 Who got time outs. He's always very proud of himself that he did not get a time out, like I'd expected him to or something. Such a funny kid!

Lost Another One

Love the toothless grin, don't you? So we currently have a HUGE lisp, and can't eat apples or corn on the cob.

But the best part of it all is she lost it at school, and gets all the prestige that goes with that. My favorite part was when she walked in the house singing, "All I want for Christmas is my 5 front teeth." Too funny!

What is this?

I was out on a walk the other morning and found this fruit. It was everywhere and had fallen out of a tree. What is it? I've never seen this before and wasn't brave enough to actually taste it. Any takers?

The Many Faces of Sicily

I tried to get a second shot of this but as soon as the flash went off she just ate the grape. Sicily has a habit of doing crazy things at the table, making sure everyone has a good laugh at it, then eats it. She's such a nut!
Tomboy Sicily. I think she was trying to work out. I love when she tries to pick up the 8 lb weight with a big GRUNT!! Cracks me up.

Labor Day

Jared hard at work on Labor Day, so it wasn't all play.
Our back neighbor had this beautiful bush sprout up all by itself. So like most of us would, he let it grow. It ingrained itself into the fence, thick vines wrapping in and out. We had the same amount of bush on our side as he did on his. Well, he was getting a bit sick of doing his own gardening for a while, so he hired someone for a few months. The first day these men came they started hacking down this beautiful bush. He came out to complain and was told it was actually POISON OAK! So after they killed off his side, Jared donned the gloves and ripped it out from our side.
Sicily was non too happy that her Daddy had to take a shower and change his clothes before he could hold her, after he'd been outside for all that time with out her. She just did not understand that the "dirt" on her Daddy was not just dirt. Poor little Daddies Girl.

A Day at the Beach

Some good friends in our Ward invited us to go to the beach for Labor Day. It's only an hour drive away and we had SO much fun. It made me downright homesick for Dongara, Western Australia. Just like North Beach, the wind, driving on the sand, seashells, even an occasional crab in the water. Man, I miss Australia!

So to enjoy the experience to the fullest we brought our Trick Kite. We've had years of fun with this thing. But instead of Jared crashing it into the random passers by head, he has now mastered it enough to sweep the strings past my ear just to annoy me. Way to go honey.
Once Sicily warmed up to the idea of the beach she had a ball. Whenever we took her out into the water she'd refuse to put her feet down. And not because she didn't like the sand. She did it because she loved the waves making her float around. She'd giggle and squeal every wave.
We have the biggest sand shovel ever. It digs GREAT holes and Phoenix used it to the max. Though it is kind of difficult to fill a tiny bucket with a huge shovel.
Some of our friends brought this big ol' Sea Dragon for their kids. I think my kids kind of hogged it for a lot of the day. But they had fun, and we swapped sand toys and kick boards to make up for it.

Sicily and our little friend Bailey had to have a go. We stayed in the low tide puddle areas though. Easier to keep the under 2's on when there aren't waves trying to dump them.
As we all started to get ready to leave the beach other people were just getting to the beach. They had 2 cutest little puppies that kind of mobbed poor Sicily. I think they were going for her crackers. But Phoenix came to the rescue. Actually he wasn't trying to save Sicily, he really just wanted to hold the littlest pup.
So don't look at Sicily and think, "Oh my goodness! They are the worst parents in the world and didn't put any sunblock on that poor little red heads skin!" Now, we did put sunblock on all our kids. Problem was it was the cheap brand, and we read the directions afterwards. We were meant to put it on every 80 mins. We were at the beach for 3 1/2 hours. You do the math. Let's just say we ALL have sunburns as bad as this little red head. And all of us hurt...a lot.

Sunday Stroll

I've decided we live in the coolest neighborhood in the world. After dinner this evening the kids hopped on their bike, we tossed Sicily in the stroller, tied Charlie to the stroller and headed out for a Sunday walk. There's 2 directions we typically take: #1 the Secret Tunnel (actually a golf cart tunnel that goes under the road, or #2 Mountain Biking (a little dirt path that runs by the river. We opted for #2 tonight.

This trail ends in a bridge were there are turtles (not ducks) we like to feed. Well this evening walk turned out a little more eventful than just turtles.

As with any other walk there are always dogs in back yards that bark at you. At one corner, in particular, there is always a dog that barks. But this evening the bark sounded a little funny. So I stopped to take a look. There on top of the fence was a red and green Macaw. He'd copied the sound of the dog that lives there.

I tried to get him to come down, because we thought he was lost. He wouldn't come down so we rang the bell of the house. They said the bird was theirs, and he likes to hang out on the fence.

So we finally make it to the bridge to feed the turtles. There happens to be a duck on the bridge. Charlie made chase and the duck flew off. The turtles came out in droves as we start tossing in the bread. Then something bigger comes along to have some bread. A 6 ft long Alligator. He ate most of the bread, and didn't even go for the turtles who were crawling all over him.

Jared tried to chase the duck into the water, and the alligator tried to catch it, but it flew off. So we threw a few pecans at the alligator instead. Aspen got him in the neck and Jared got him right between the eyes. He just sat there floating and didn't even care.

All in all it was a rather eventful Sunday Stroll.

Belize

We took a bus ride over the Guatemalan border into Belize. I got so extremely sick on this particular bus ride. Thankfully crossing the border to a heck of a long time, so I got to walk it off before we got back in the bus.

Belize is a rather tiny country, the size of New Hampshire, and only has about 3 million people in the entire country. There are a lot of Black people in Belize. Apparently when the slave trade was going one of the slave ships wrecked in Belize, the slaves killed off the slavers and Colonized the country. English is the main language but they speak a form of Pigeon English that you can only catch about every 4th word.

Belize is very wealthy compared to Guatemala. There is NO Fast Food anywhere in Belize, they eat all 3 meals a day at home with their families. Kind of cool.

Marie Sharps, stinking hot hot sauce. Hotter than Tabasco but much more flavorful.Fan Palm, just cool.

Lamanai