BIRTHDAY WISHES!

My parents have the same birthday. September 26th (no- not the same year, my dad is one year older than my mom) Well this year with the anniversary of Disneyland, you get a free one day admission on your exact birthday. (the only time I ever wished Keaton was born on my birthday instead of one day later) Neither of my parents have been to Disneyland -can you believe it? No we never went as kids, but we did go to Sea World once, in case you were thinking I was a totally deprived child.

Anyway - my mom convinced my dad to go, then the debates about how much to pay for a hotel, two night or three, how close their hotel should be etc. We weren't actually sure they'd go, but they did. It was funny because I talked to both of them from Disneyland and they sounded like little kids really just giddy with excitement. I think they even surprised themselves because they were there from 8:30 am to 11:30 pm...way longer than they thought they'd have energy for. They had fun on most of the rides but were also impressed with the cleanliness and friendliness of Disneyland. They really enjoyed the shows too like Honey I Shrunk the Audience, the parade, fireworks and Fantasmic! My dad said it was fun to watch the kids eyes light up every time a character came around.

I am so glad they got a chance to go away and have fun. They spend so much of their time taking care of and serving other people. Not to mention how much they do for each of their kids. I am truly lucky to have had their support the last few years and their help with Keaton.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD!

My Worker Bee

Keaton loves helping grandpa outside. When given the choice of going to the store, swimming, the gym, etc with me or mowing the lawn with grandpa he will always choose the lawn. He has to be just like grandpa. If grandpa wears a hat so does Keaton, same for gloves etc. On this day they were moving some rock out from behind the planter.

I just hope that when he's a teenager he still loves to do yard work just as much. I will need his help for years to come!

What the ??

So a few weeks ago my friends Mary and Jill were going to take me for a pedicure for my birthday but I had just gotten one so we postponed...then my toe nail came off which was the result of an injury in late May. So instead we decided to take in a little baseball. When we got to the game we realized our tickets had no section number. Jill new we were in an "All you can eat" section so they directed us to the Diamond Level suites....well after consulting the ushers there, they called a manager and that was not where we belonged and they sent us to the Picnic "All You Can Eat" section.

(at our outfield picnic area)

Ok great, but there are no tables? We asked the usher people again and she tells it looks like they over sold the section, go ahead and get our food and stand at one of the bar top tables while she makes a call...well like 40 minutes later they give us new seats. He tells us we are welcome to come back and eat throughout the game still and moves us to the lower level. (plus gives us 15% off vouchers for the team shop and his business card so we can email him and he'll hook us up with tickets to another game) We decided not to take trips back and forth so we load up with drinks, hot dogs, peanuts and popcorn and head down to our new spot (of course it's almost the 4th inning and we've been wandering around or standing the whole time.)

We didn't receive the warmest welcome because other people had moved in etc. But finally we got seated. In these seats we had a really badly smelling man to the left and a hairy butt crack right in front (no pics sorry) Enjoyed the rest of the game together from our new spots, almost caught a foul ball but the man behind me brought his glove, darn it.

One of the great things about this game was that there was a Montgomery Gentry concert and fireworks after the game. We move a few sections in for the concert and end up sitting in front of some really excited people who really wished they had field passes. Well the man, who may have not had full mental capacity and who was really drunk, went down to try to get onto the field, but when he was sent back he climbed over and made a run for it. The lady was mortified especially knowing that we had pics of her husband being tackled and hauled away.

This all happened in the first song but it didn't ruin the rest of the concert for us, we had lots of fun singing along (beside the wife continually saying she's so embarrassed and is going to kill him and dropping the F-bomb like 800 times) Mary is not a big country music fan but Jill enjoyed herself.

And the music was good too...Lucky Man, Something to be Proud Of, My Town, Hillbilly Shoes, What do ya think about that, and Hell Ya.

After the concert were fireworks presented by Gila River Casino, which were pretty decent. One funny side note, a girl with the group that was behind us very secretively asked me to email the pics I got to her. She took my phone number and sent me her email in a text... and now she has some serious black mail for her friend or family member.

What a fun and crazy night lets recap - wrong seats, no seats, smelly people, crazy people, fun concert and fireworks to end it all. And I'm just thanking my Heavenly Father Jill's crazy driving on the way home didn't end it for all of us.

As they said at the game, firworks on the field courtesy of the D-backs victory, fireworks on the stage by Montgomery Gentry and fireworks in the sky from Gila River Casino.

My Big Boy

Took Keaton to the doctor last week for his 3 year old check up. People are always telling me he is big but I wasn't sure how true that is. Well the verdict....97th percentile in weight, 93rd percentile in height. So average that out and we can say Keaton is in the 95th percentile. I guess he is a big boy relatively speaking :)

And he's a swimmer now too, a month of swim lessons this summer and now check him out!

Beat L.A....Beat L.A.

Friday night I got a text from my friend Jill at 4:30 saying she had D-backs tickets but her baby was sick did I want them, I didn't reply to her until 5:15, she didn't get back to me until 6...and then we proceeded to try to figure out what time the game actually started and how I could pick up tickets at Will Call under her name. And was it even worth the effort since it was almost game time. (cuz lets just be honest I try to do fun things for Keaton on a regular basis that end up a nightmare instead of actually being fun, due to his lack of following directions and my lack of patience)

Well the game started at 6:40 so we were a bit late but I decided to go anyway and take Keaton. I was pretty worried about taking him by myself especially parking and the yuckiness of Downtown. Not that I felt unsafe just that Keaton doesn't like to hold my hand or really to listen to me at all :) The whole explanation about the lateness and rush etc is because I obviously didn't have much time to "get ready" my hair was pulled back, make-up worn off for the day etc . So don't focus on me, just my cute little man loving the game.

I had taken Keaton once last year and he was up and down the stairs, getting stuck in his seat, whining, I want popcorn, I want a drink, etc. But this year he was soooo good. He was totally into all the chanting especially the Beat LA chant, and even more once we bought the foam finger. Add a hot dog and a shared ice cream...who could ask for more.

And an even bigger bonus, after the game there were fireworks...we headed upstairs to get a better view and loved every minute of it. This was like a dream come true - for him because of all the excitement, for me because he actually sat down, listened to me, and didn't throw any fits.

THANKS JILL FOR PROVIDING US WITH SUCH A FUN TIME. HOPE BABY TREY IS FEELING MUCH BETTER NOW. I OWE YOU!

Happy Happy Birthday Children Dear...

Soooo many August birthdays...I think I have 7 friends, an uncle, cousins, Keaton and myself all in August...

On August 8th we had Keaton's birthday party. Since it's so stinkin hot, I reserved a ramada at 9 am, right when the water turns on. It was a jungle theme (the invitations I made said Calling all Party Animals...we'll have a roarin' good time!)

Since it was early we did some breakfast foods. I also made cupcakes with animals, some turned out better than others. I should have made frosting from scratch but I was lazy so I used store bought which of course isn't as thick so some of the "grass" looks melted.


The kids had a great time just running around and playing in the water and on the equipment. This is a nice park, the ramadas are really close so you can sit under shade and watch the kids play also the playground is covered, plus if you get too hot just run through the water.


Keaton was so excited to have all of his favorite people here (thanks Sara for bringing out the kiddos on your birthday) I didn't get very many pictures of our guest...sorry everyone.

And last but not least, who doesn't love getting presents. What a fun time!.

Later that night we went to a Karaoke party for my Uncle Hugh's 50th birthday. This short clip is dedicated to Lindsay and Cassie, who are probably the only ones who will see it. I wanted to get something good, but my card was full after only 7 seconds. So here they are...The Levi Family...Hugh, Jamie, Lindsey, Kelly, Cassie and Connor!




On Sunday the 9th my family celebrated my birthday, we had lots of left over cupcakes from the day before so we made some ice cream sundaes...yum.

My real birthday is August 12th - the first day of school...HOORAY! I took cookies to my class. After work I went to Cielo Salon and got my hair washed and styled for free. I had to plans to go out so I just had her straighten it so I wouldn't have to do it the next morning. Of course the next morning it rained so that ruined my straight do...oh well.

Keaton's actual birthday is August 13th. We took treats to his class but he was having a hard time with the fact it was his birthday again....you see the whole week before we were telling him his birthday was on Saturday. Then we had the party. On his real birthday he kept asking if it was Saturday. Then at school his teacher thought he was 4, because the director had all the paperwork or something. So all day they celebrated his 4th birthday and his hat even said 4 until the afternoon when they figured it out and glued that 3 on top. He told everyone he was 4 the next two days...poor kid. Here he is in his birthday crown. He was so pleased with himself. Oh and a few cookie crumbs too :)

School Days, School Days

Keaton is now a Mustang! Yes, Dobson the same school President Obama visited this year. The same school I attended many years ago...is now Keaton's school too. Today was his first day at the Mini Mustang Preschool. Here are a few pics of his first day. All he can tell me is that he played outside and took a nap :)

Today was also my official first day of work, though we got our keys on Monday, we had a meeting all morning and I was able to finish up the classroom in the afternoon. Tomorrow...planning. Just for the entertainment of other teachers, here are a few crazy things going on...we have only 1 regular kinder and 1 ELD...the regular class has 50 students....today the district finally agreed to split the class, which they were still refusing to on Monday when there were only 40. Today we also found out that for grades 3-6 our workbooks are no longer consumable meaning that in the future the district will not be paying for them, so now we have to decide if we will just make lots of copies of everything (with no extra budget for paper) or have students transfer their answers to another sheet of paper.

Anyway I think my classroom is looking pretty good except now that I see this picture that one corner may be a bit busy but oh well . I'm sure more fun school stories and educational surprises will follow! Good luck to all you teachers out there and HOORAY for all you parents who have kids starting back up soon!