the ongoings of my life

Peace. Quiet. Solitude.

at least for a couple of hours. my kids are gone. in miami beach with hanifa's mom and aunt. the will not return until the 21st. it's strange. no one is yelling "mom!". i don't hear video games turned up to the max and automatic firing nerf guns are gathering dust. it's so quiet here. how have I spent the last 30 hours? hmmm...as soon as I dropped the little buggers off at the airport I joined my friend mandy jo for a day of leisurely fun by her in-laws pool. it was heaven. i took a nap. drank some champagne. napped. that lasted from approximately 11am-11pm. (hanifa joined us after work.) then, we woke up this morning, mandy was texting...she may have injured herself in the pool last night. er, urgent care? decided to wait and see. went to brunch with the lebers...mandy decided the er. she's ok, just banged up and bruised. not a very good ending to an otherwise perfect day! we met her at the hospital...where on her discharge notes, the dr said "no swimming with dr jones". then we went to see hangover. funny, funny movie. especially the end. cracks me up just thinking about it. tonight? hanifa works...i...not sure.

so we are a couple of trips in already this summer. first it was italy...a whirlwind tour really. 1 week is just not enough with the traveling to and from. my kids were absolutely perfect. couldn't have asked for a better bunch of troopers. the little village we stayed in, corfino, was picturesque. watching grayson attempt to speak italian, pay for his sodas in euros and try to be as independent as he can was fun. here are a few photos... this is the entire gang with the skyline of florence in the background. we were traveling with the marcuzzo family who had already been there for a couple of weeks.

a really cool door in a little town called castiglione...this was a shot of all of the kiddos.

it wouldn't be italy without our nightly limoncellos!

so, we got home from italy late on the 3rd, kids were in a swim meet on the 4th and then we woke up bright and early and started the trek to puerto penasco, mexico. 10 adults. 15 kids under 11. what were we thinking? we weren't. but, it ended up being the perfect way to end the hectic traveling week. sitting by the beach, drinking mexican beers and hanging with good friends.

these boys were the reason we went. both have may birthdays and wanted to spend them in mexico. it's a love/hate relationship.

just wait until these little rascals are dating. we're all gonna be in trouble.

tres amigos.

just the adults. and duke.

next up? hanifa and i leave for iowa for brangie's wedding on tuesday. yep. we're going to iowa. did i mention hanifa is performing the ceremony?

and so it goes.

my summer is about to begin. it should. the weather is already over 100 degrees. being the travelers that we are, i see no reason to stay here and sweat all summer long, so this year (having been declared an "off" year for traveling) our itinerary is as follows:

May 27 -- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
May 27 - June 3 -- Corfino, Italy

June 5-7 -- Puerto Penasco, Mexico
June 8-12 -- Camp for all 3 kids
June 13-21 -- Kids in Miami Beach with Hanifa's mom and aunt
June 16-20 -- Hanifa and I in Cedar Falls, Iowa for a wedding
June 22-26 -- Camp for all 3 kids

July 5-12 -- Kids and I in Seattle, WA to see my sister and brother in law
July 18- August 8 -- Whole family in San Diego, CA...woo hoo!
August 10 -- SCHOOL STARTS!!!

After seeing my itinerary written down, I'm getting a little nervous. I will be spending a total of 6 weeks out of town and 4 weeks in. I hope I didn't over do it.

What's making me nervous? A flight duration of 16 hours, 46 minutes. Granted, we stop for an hour in Minneapolis and then 2.5 hours in Amsterdam, but having to entertain my little kidlets for that long will be a stretch. Ideas? Suggestions? I'm thinking...movies on their iTouches, books, psp's, nintendo ds. Can we bring snacks on the plane? I know I have a week to pack and get ready -- but I'm still stressed. In the end, I'm sure it will all work out fine. Then I just have to worry about the turn around from 1 trip to the next! Maybe I'll pack for that one before I even leave!

Photos soon...I promise. Especially of our 80s prom we had at our house!

The last time you will ever see this smile.

And here I sit. Braces are being adhered to my little almost 8 year old's teeth. And by the way, I'm in Tucson. Gotta love the Lebers!

and i interrupt this silence...

to bring you a short, but sweet post.

busy, busy. that's my motto. it just doesn't slow down. not that i expect it to, but jeez..sometimes the idea of having NOTHING to do seems sooo appealing. to be a kid again and be bored. that would be ideal. for about a day, on summer break.

what has mrs. jones been up to? that's us with the lebers in park city, ut. what a great trip. however, my knees do not appreciate skiing 4 days in a row. and...even though i absolutley LOVE skiing, i have decided i'm not into steep inclines, speed, terrain courses or anything other than a nice easy green run. see the little one in the blue helmet? that's lindsey..who has officially skied 6 days in her life. (that's 1 more than me.) she's a speed demon. she HATES it when i say "slow down, wait for me!" at the end of the trip, she did the blues and met me at the slow down signs. no fear. (notice we are all wearing helmets...except for nat, but she has one behind the scenes. she just wanted to look beautiful for the photo.)

the creative side of me has been screaming to get out. not that i want to get my fingers covered in glue or glitter (but i will soon), but the weather here has been so unbelievable that i have been spending hours working in my yard. my dad (superman) and brother (does superman have a sidekick?) have been helping me on occasion when i flutter my eyelashes and promise them unlimited beer from our tap. my courtyard is almost complete...flowers are planted, roses are in...now i'm just waiting for the trellises for the roses to climb. this photo is from before i put some furniture out there...tomorrow when it's sunny i'll take another photo...i'm obsessed with this little area..and luckily it's been overflowing to my back yard as well. planted 14 rose bushes out there and dozens of annuals...maybe i'll photograph that too.

on the inside, i've been changing things too. i've never had the interior of my house "done". i mean, i haven't hired anyone to do it and the furniture i have is a mixture from old houses, family and recent purchases. my style of house also gives me some problems. while it's very mid-century contemporary (think frank lloyd wright), i'm not. my taste has evolved...probably a lot differently than my husband's, but i'm trying to change my house a little at a time making it more "me"...with a little of "him" thrown in. :) My first two projects were 2 of my bathrooms. (I have 4.) When a lighting fixture became useless, i used that as the catapult to do a lot more. this bathroom has a shower, but it's never used. it's probably the most used bathroom being the closest to the kitchen, family room, bar. i wanted funky, shabby chic. here are some photos, just minus a print i'm having framed... ideas, suggestion on how i can improve it? i do love it...i just think it needs a little more.

tomorrow i'll try to post the other one. (towels were in the laundry when i was taking photos.)

oh yeah..and i should tell you what pta stands for.

and so i skied.

or at least my version of skiing. for the anniversary/valentines/presidents day weekend we decided to take the extended family on a little trip up to the mountains. attending were my clan as well as my parents, brother, nephew and 2 dogs. we left thursday (my fifteenth anniversary - which by the way my husband rewarded me with something very sparkly) around lunchtime and made the 3 1/2 drive up to the pinetop/lakeside area of the state. we found a very comfy cabin on vrbo that had all the amenities. most important was the snow. the kids (and dogs) had an absolute blast playing in this foreign substance! how they could stand to have their little hands (and paws) so cold, i have no idea!

on friday we drove up to sunrise so the kids and men could have some time on the slopes. lindsey, chase, dad and nathan were set up in lessons and hanifa, noah and grayson hit the chairlifts. while waiting for their lesson to begin, my dad (who last skied 25 years ago) showed my brother a few tricks. unfortunatetly, that meant by the time lessons were to begin, he really didn't need them any more. so after about 1/2 hour, they ditched their class and headed up the mountain. mom and i sat in the lodge, snapping photos and watching for our relatives to come flying by. eventually we called it a day and i realized  - hey, if it was that easy for nathan to learn skiing, i should really give it a try. (i had attempted snowboarding for the first time last year and thought i was going to die!)

saturday we spent the day sledding, dining in town, and watching movies. (happy valentine's day!)

sunday - woke up early - ready to bail out of the whole skiing plan. this can't be a good idea. but i did it. we all (minus mom) headed back to sunrise, put lindsey in lessons and dad started showing me the ropes. hey...i'm not falling! after about 6 runs down the bunny slope, it was determined i should try a green run. so off hanifa, my dad, chase and i go. (chase's first run down a green on his snowboard too!) I LOVED IT! it was so much fun. decided that the faster i go, the more control i have on my direction, etc. i'm totally hooked which is a good thing since we are going to park city in march! i only fell 3 times the whole day and once it was because my big loaf of a brother was out of control and ran into my dad who was right next to me.

i know it's not that impressive when you watch the video, but hey! i'm proud!

i was a dancing queen.

at least for a couple of weeks. every year my kid's elementary school puts on a variety show. this year i was asked to be in the parent act -- and grayson was in a skit with me prior our debut. he was adorable - me, not so much. we practiced twice a week, sometimes more and often with a little liquid courage. (ok, a lot of liquid courage.) our act was a dance to mama mia by abba. here we are after our last performance....

we actually had our makeup done at the mac counter at the mall. we were serious. i'm kind of sad it's all over. although, i do wake up with the routine going through my head. watch out -- if i'm ever in public and that song comes on, I'VE GOTTA DANCE!

And this is how I cap off my weekend.

Edited: The following post was from a long, long time ago, but just now showed up. Weird.

Hopefully everyone had a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and what is usually about 40 people was just 15 this year. Very easy. Hanifa and I are in the midst of some home improvements (apparently the word recession doesn't carry a lot of weight in my house) and it was nice to be able to use our new bar. After the front yard gets completed, we're calling it quits for a while. So, today is the first day Hanifa has not had to work this entire Thanksgiving break. When he asked if I would like to go golfing, I couldn't really say no. Me actually swing clubs? No, but I've been looking pretty as I sit in the cart drinking my beverages. It's such a gorgeous day that I feel guilty for not having any interest in taking up this sport. However, I do not find it to be very productive except for the fact that I can shop on my iPhone. Nice feature that Internet is. I'm also pleased at the number of online merchants offering free shipping. Basically, I really shouldn't even need to leave my house for the next month or so. That makes me smile. :)

back to normal?

everyone is home. at least this week. grayson and hanifa had a blast in aspen. seeing him all bundled up is so strange. doesn't happen very often in phoenix.
they are both feeling very confident with their boarding abilities...and hopefully they won't lose the momentum when we go up to sunrise in a couple of weeks. then in march, we're off to park city with the lebers. i'm seriously considering trying it again, but it hurt so bad!

mr. man is back from tampa. i'm sure jack daniel's was very pleased with the increased production that was necessary due to my husband's recent vacations. hopefully they won't fold due to his going back to work! from all reports (or at least what he's confessed to) he had a great time. once in a lifetime experience, etc. while we were disappointed with the final results, the cardinals played their hearts out and i'm so happy it wasn't a blow out. now i'm hoping this wasn't an isolated incident and this wasn't a freak pig that learned how to fly. we've got all of our cardinal's gear ready to wear again next season!
he attended the super bowl with one of our oldest and best friends, mark leber as well as a lot of people from our neighborhood. this is a photo of them at the nfl experience.

and inside the stadium. i think they may have cried they were so happy.

current events:
this week is as crazy as crazy can get. my kid's school puts on a variety show every year and it's this week. practice tues, weds, performances thurs, fri. it's crazy! and this year...i'm in the parent act. think:
my family is going to disown me. any one have a room for me to rent?

and i wait.

a very cool thing that hanifa started about 3 years ago was taking each of the kids on a "daddy" birthday trip every year. they each get to choose where they want to go (within reason) and just the two of them go on a little adventure. grayson chose new york city his first year and then the past two years, it's been aspen, colorado for the winter x games.
what a cool adventure. this year they stayed in a swanky hotel, hob knobbed with xgames athletes, the whole enchilada. what we did learn from last year is the chance of your flight being delayed or cancelled is pretty good. so, we prepared. not only were they booked on flights out of aspen, but we also had a car reserved in case the airport closed. guess what? two years in a row, the airport has closed due to weather. so, this afternoon, hanifa drove both of them to grand junction, colorado, then flew to denver (missing his flight) and finally got on a flight about 8p this evening. so now, as exhausted as i am, i sit waiting for them to call and say they have landed so i can go pick them up. i'm thinking they may not go back to aspen next year. they seriously need to think like chase and lindsey. their choices for 2009 -- miami and santa monica. although, lindsey chooses santa monica every year because she likes the hotel.

this week will be a whirlwind. basketball practice, variety show (their elementary version of a talent show, but not) practice, teacher luncheon, early release day, and hanifa leaves for tampa to see the cards win the super bowl, honor ball, super bowl. seriously, when does it slow down??

he's going.

not me. i'm staying home. hanifa will be flying to tampa for super bowl 43. he should go. he didn't get to go to the amazingly crazy conference championship game and i did. instead, i'll go to the honor ball. solo. it's incredible how this win has energized the valley. here i am. crossing my fingers.