YUMA

We went down to Yuma as a family with all 6 of us plus Tater.  It was a fun two night trip with lots of cookie baking and decorating.  The kids decorated tons of Christmas cookies and I made my famous pink chocolate chip peppermint cookies.  We had a nice ham on Sunday and Steve and Chris came over.  Markie got a bb gun from Nana and Papa and had a great time target shooting.  Tater had a blast playing with Sadie, his litter mate. 

Bells

Bella, Bell, Hells Bells, we call her lots of names, but rarely the one we gave her the day she was born, Isabella.  I am having trouble recalling some details of her birth after having Michael earlier this year.  My brain can only retain so much information it seems, and with 4 kids, I am forgetting important memories, so I think I will use this blog to remember some of the details.  Today it is details about Bella Cadella, my third born and so far most mischevious child. 

Before I left on this trip, on the night of Dec. 12, I kissed Markie and Bella goodnight and told Bella I would be back lter after she was asleep to lay with her, I did stop into her room at about 2 a.m., but only covered her up with a blanket and left again for my own bed, my alarm was set for 4:20 a.m. and I had been asleep in Lizzy's room for three hours.  So some time between 2 and 4, Bella comes into my room with her pillow, blanket, and corn bag, and says very loudly as she climbs into our bed, "You never came into my room to sleep, you said you would."  I tried to convince her I had been in there for a bit, and she wouldn't buy it, just kept saying, "YOU SAID YOU WOULD."  I reassured her I had stopped in, and finally said, "then if I didn't come in, who covered you up with the blanket?"  She said "humph" in a loud grunt that only Bella can do and proceeded to immediately fall asleep with her head on my stomach. 

The picture above is from her gymnastics performance on Dec 4.  It was her first one and she got to show off everything she has been doing in preschool gymnastics class.  She was so proud and loved showing off.  When she got awarded her medal along with the other kids from her group she saluted the crowd so proud.

Bella is so much fun to have around.  She loves to boss around her older brother and sister.  She loves our cat Oreo, she loves all of our pets, she is our animal kid.  We are homeschooling her for preK as we just love to have her around and didn't want to have her away at school part of the day already.  She takes a soccer class once a week at Kiwanis Park and does gymnastics now twice a week as she is in Rockets, a pre-team class that she loves and is really shining in.

Bella, you are a darling third child and a wonderful part of the Phipps family of 6!!!

Halloween

Halloween 2010 is on the books.  Another successful night of fun and trick or treating.  With Halloween on a Sunday, it was an early night and lots of houses in our neighborhood were "dark", but that didn't stop the kids from having a blast.  Michael was the only one that did not dress up, couldn't find the baby costume that Bella wore a few years ago.  Tamra, Nick and his friend came over too to trick or treat.  Tamra passed out candy while Kim, Bill and I took the kids around the neighborhood, Bill, Alex and Bella came back early, and then Mark met us out with the big wagon for some of the kids that were tired of walking. 

Kim and I were a street over and participated in a chili cook-off, we tried 6 different chilis in someone's driveway and voted.  We promised to contribute our own chili next year!!!

Our kids just love Halloween and it has become such a tradition for Kim and her family to join us in trick or treating, it is great fun!

Michael Hawk's Baptism 10-16-10

Michael Hawk was baptized on Saturday night.  It was awesome.  Lots of friends and family came, the furthest being Heather, Bobbie, and Charlie from Cleveland, Mark's sister, brother in law and our newest nephew. 

Michele and JK Kash were the Godparents.  They were awesome and Michael is so blessed to have them in his life, as are we.

My mom and dad and brother came from Yuma, and Kim and her family came as well.

We had lots of other friends come with a great party afterwards with the most fabulous homemade food prepared by Mark, including pulled pork and homemade baked beans. 

Welcome to the Catholic Church Michael and welcome to St. Timothy's.

Lizzie hits Double DiGiTs!!!

Lizzie turned 10 on September 8!

Nana and Papa came up and we celebrated at Oreganos.  It was a fun dinner and Ben and Aunt Kim surprised her and stopped by.  She got a new phone for her birthday with a full keyboard, so she was busy with that phone most of the afternoon, we made her put it away for dinner.  She is becoming quite the texter.  Lizzie loves pasta and Oreganos is her favorite restaurant.

Things about Lizzie:

Lizzie loves mac n cheese, Kraft preferably.

Lizzie loves Cherry Coke Zero.

Lizzie loves ice cream, anything with chocolate.

Lizzie excels at school and loves 5th grade so far.

Lizzie's favorite day of the week is the day she goes to ELP.

Lizzie joined the band and plays the clarinet.

Lizzie does gymnastics 4 days a week and is a level 5 gymnast.

Lizzie's ultimate favorite b-day party is a slumber party.

Lizzie can be very loud at times, which is odd because she used to be so quiet.

Lizzie's preferred spelling of her name is with an ie.

Lizzie still loves her mommie to lay down with her to help her go to sleep.

Lizzie sleeps with a minimum of 5 stuffed animals surrounding her, her favorites are Pinky, Mr. Puppy, Mr. Monkey, Claire, and Buckeye.

Lizzie's favorite store to shop in is Justice.

Lizzie is now a tween, watch out world!

Visit to Kansas City

We took the whole family and headed to Kansas City to visit the Masons for Labor Day Weekend.  It was a lot of fun.  It was also a great way to have a little get away before I went back to work, as I was scheduled for my first trip on Sept. 9.  We had not been to visit for 3 years.  Wendi and Buddy are in a new beautiful home and they were great hosts. 

The plane ride went surprisingly smooth.  We had to change planes in Denver on the way there and the pic of Markie in his tanktop is from the airport.  He insisted on wearing that with a button up shirt over it, however the button up came off and he was left in his funky tank top.  We have a name for the tank top but we won't put it in this blog.  Anyways, even the baby was a great traveler on his first plane ride. 

Once we arrived, the kids spent a lot of time on their new trampoline, playing video games, and just havin fun!  The guys got to golf twice.  Wendi and I got away too to our favorite shopping area, Zona Rosa, and discovered our favorite new store, Charming Charlies,  AND I just found out they have one of those stores that just opened in the San Tan Shoppping area in Chandler.  I am soo excited.  They have tons of cheap fun jewelry.  So much stuff it'll make your head spin!

We had a great trip and stayed the whole weekend and came home Monday afternoon with no problems non revving.  Wendi is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in January for 9 months, so it was good for our families to be able to spend time together before she goes.

Back to School

The kids started school on September 13, a Wednesday this year.  Why a Wednesday?  Can the teachers only handle three days with the kids to ease back into the school year?  Personally, as a mom I was ready for a 5 day week the first week, to ease back into MY schedule.   The mommies went to lunch at Macayos, which is becoming a tradition for the first day back to school.  We do this to mourn, or celebrate, or a little of both, the beginning of another school year. 

Markie started 2nd grade with Mrs. Moser and Lizzie started 5th grade with Mrs. , of course I forgot the name of her teacher.  Anyways, they were excited to go back with their new lunchboxes and backpacks.  Off on the bus they went, happy to start their school year.  Even Tater saw them off!  And so we ended a summer of lots of changes for our family!  Even though it was only August 13, and still felt like the surface of the sun outside, summer was officially over for the Phipps Family!  I hope Marike and Lizzie have the best school years so far!

Bella turns 4

Bella had a great birthday.  We went to her favorite place the day before her "actual" birthday, Chuckee Cheese with our family and her cousins.  She had a great time.  Then on her "actual" birthday we had a cake at the house and Jayna came over to play and have cake.  She is thrilled to be 4!

Things about Bella:
She loves chocolate milk.
She loves all dairy, yogurt, cheese, etc.
She rules her older brother and sister.
She was pottytrained completely a few weeks before she turned 4.
She loves Dora and Sponge Bob.
She loves to swim.
She can't wait to go to kindergarten.
She loves being a big sister to her brother Michael.
Her best friend is Alex.
She loves soccer.
She smiles this adorable closed mouth smile when she wants to convince you of something.
She is very, very smart.
She shares a room with Markie.
AND she is the Best Dancer EVER. 
Bella's got the moves!

Sedona July 30 - Aug 6

Sedona was fun.  We stayed in the Morris House this year.  It was a great place with a cool loft and lots of large sky lights.  We had a lot of rain the first couple of days and it was nice and cool.  Two nights it rained all night long.  We went into town one day and took the free trolley and got fudge.  Markie's first time eating fudge, he declared he wanted a chocolate fudge cake next year for his birthday.  Kim, Ben and Alex visited for a night.  We swam and went in the jacuzzi while they were here and made a nice steak dinner.  Lizzie and I played Bingo a couple of days at the resort pool.  We had a great relaxing week.  Mark and I drank starbucks coffee every morning in our cool kitchen.  The kids got to relax and chill for the week, which was a great break from their busy schedules at home!  It was Michael's first time to Sedona and he thinks he likes it and is anxious to go back again.   Until next year Sedona, we love you!