Water in the Desert

Have I mentioned that after six plus years of living in this house and watering our backyard by hand, we finally installed a sprinkler system this year. And by we, I mean we got help from anyone who would give it to us.

We got a quote way back when from our home teacher, who is a professional landscaper, but I decided we couldn't afford that and I was sure I could do it myself. Fast forward a few years - I visited Home Depot and brought home every pamphlet about installing sprinklers yourself. Over the next couple months I read all of them, devised a plan, and then put off actually starting.

Luckily I had a push start when my brother in law called me one day and said he had to rent a trencher for work and there would be about 21 hours left of rental time. This was a huge help, being free and all - even when I realized there was no way I could handle this big machine and paid someone to run it for me.

The next weekend Aaron took the boys to his parents so I could get started on the project. Let's just say that when they got back, even with help from my parents & sil Candice, I had exhausted my budget and not gotten very far. We had money put aside in savings for this project, but guess what? Turns out it cost more than double what I had guestimated, and was pretty close to our professional estimate from years ago. And it ended up taking two months of having open trenches in our backyard and forbidding the boys to play out there.

In the end, we turned to our old home teacher for help and he gave a lot of advice, loaned a lot of tools, and did a lot of work for a very little pay. Not as much as he deserved anyway. Thanks, Jason! If anyone needs work done I highly recommend him and will give out his contact info.

I still need to cut the risers on the heads down so we can actually mow, but everything is working now, including bubblers for the trees. Here's hoping it takes less than six years to put the timer on too! The boys have been enjoying playing in the sprinklers, can you tell their clothes are sopping in the picture above?

Three Year Old For Sale

Today I finally lost it and called Grandma for an immediate rescue. After three days in a row of dropping bowls full of food off the kitchen table I finally couldn't take it anymore. I've cleaned up tiny pasta and gallons of marinara, cheerios and milk, and the applesauce that splattered in a 10 foot triangular pattern. But the straw that broke this mama's back was intervening to stop Alden from literally strangling his brother. He was trying to get a cord neckalce away from Emmett, but of course thought he could do that best by pulling from behind until Emmett turned blue and passed out. Unconscious bodies are much more compliant about sharing toys. Good thing I was in the room and semi-paying attention while I changed Alden's wet-my-bed-in-the-night sheets, or Emmett might not have lived to see three. So, anybody who lives locally (or not) and would like to have Alden over for a playdate - please call! He is a delightful child with impeccable manners.

Week in the Pines

Our family headed "up the mountain" to Pinetop Lakeside last weekend to spend some time with Aaron's parents and sisters. Aaron flew home on Sunday but the boys and I stayed all week, getting back yesterday evening. Here are some pictures and highlights of the week.

We had a great time.... during the days. The nights were pretty hard on me - I haven't gotten this little sleep since Roland was a newborn. We are glad to back to our own house, with a locked, dark room for the boys to sleep in. We put them to bed at 7pm last night and didn't hear a peep until 7:30 this morning. Ah, bliss! If we could move our house up North, we would - it is so beautiful there and we love being around Aaron's family. A huge thanks to all of them for so much help the last week - the boys love their Nana & Papa, and Auntie Mette, and Candice's family too!

Alden-isms

Alden says a lot of funny things, and I always want to record them so that we can laugh at his cleverness when he get to teenager-hood. Here's my big chance. I'm going to list a few and maybe just add to this post as more come along.

On the Monday after Father's Day (and recent Mother's Day) - "Mom, maybe tomorrow can be boy's day and brother's day and I can get a card and presents too"

He loves to describe things in the past as "a few whiles ago"

Swimming Lessons

We recently finished two weeks of swimming lessons. I did the mom/tot class with Alden when he was nine months old, and nobody has taken anything since then because I always had two kids under three. Finally Alden can move up to the bigger class. Of course, I still have Roland, but we signed up for evening classes and Aaron stayed home with him. Swimming four days a week with little boys was a bit much for me, but luckily we missed a day each week. Still fun and worth the low price of $20 each. I debated putting swimsuit pictures of me on the internet, but whatever - I swim with my sons, cover your eyes if they start burning.

Alden the Photographer

After leaving the boys alone for a few minutes recently I found these pictures on my camera. Alden had taken a bunch of Scooby Doo, his favorite show. And the 2nd is Emmett, after obviously being pushed off the barstool at the computer. Alden really captured his anguish.

Emmett-isms

The other day I was playing with Emmett and I called him a monster or something. He said, "No monster, I monkey!" I guess he hears it often enough. The boys spent some time in the backyard over the weekend and Emmett has discovered that our grapefruit tree is climb-able.

This picture is from last week. I had to put Emmy in time-out in his room and it was getting close to nap time. When I went to get him I found him asleep on the floor, clutching his blanket and sucking his thumb. He found a cushion to lay his head on.

Miss Jaycee

As in, we miss Jaycee! Oh, and Candice and Stephen I guess. Our favorite playmate is up North this week, enjoying the cool pines and beautiful weather. Here are a couple pictures of all the kiddos playing together. We always have to watch them really close because Emmett loves Jaycee way too much and gets a little too agressive sometimes. Imagine that.

Our Version of Traveling

While Aaron was at KPMG he became close to a few of his co-workers, which has manifested itself by talking to them way more now that he is in a new job. Did everyone know that Aaron has a new job? He started with the State of Arizona just a week or two after Roland was born. He works for the Department of Health Services and he is the HIPPA Security Officer. Fancy.

Anyway, Aaron is friends with an Indian guy named Rajat. Rajat and his wife recently moved to Mesa, just a couple of miles from us. Last Monday they had Aaron & I over for dinner. Luckily we convinced Candice to babysit so we actually had a fabulous time with Rajat and Ina. It was mostly adult kind of talk (we tried to stop talking about the kids every second) and a very authentic Indian dinner, which we loved. This gracious couple have only been in the States a short time, so they are the complete opposite of American-ized, and the food they served us was so delicious and new for us. Aaron & I love ethnic food and trying new things - it's our way of doing a little "traveling" right now when finances and family obligations in the form of three little boys keep us from the real thing.

The Menu
Saag - Apparently saag means leafy vegetable and plain saag usually means spinach.
Another saag, with lots of other vegetables - this was another leafy vegetable, which they didn't know the English name for. This was Aaron's favorite dish, and my least favorite, although I still liked it.
Lentils - this was like a soup but still eaten with rice. Very yummy and they said it was easy to make.
Vegetable dish with cauliflower and squash I think - sorry I can't remember but this dish was suprisingly sweet and very good. It had fresh cilantro, which much of the world calls coriander. Several of the dishes had cilantro, which most Arizonans love already.
Fish curry, mustard based - neither of us had ever had a mustard based curry before and it was really good, a nice heat, but not too much. Not as sweet as other curries, but I really liked it and I'm not a big mustard fan. The fish (tilapia) was so great! Rajat said he lightly sauted it first in mustard oil, which we didn't know about.
Shrimp curry - this was like a traditional coconut Thai curry, very sweet and my favorite dish. Ina has promised me the recipe.

All these dishes were eaten with rice. Indians eat with their hands and it was neat for me to watch, having never seen it. They mix the food with the rice really well and just scoop it up. The saag dishes were accompanied by a hot mustard condiment, similar to Chinese hot mustard, but with whole mustard seeds. Rajat & Ina said they only cook this many dishes like once a week and then just eat leftovers and make one or two fresh dishes every few days. They don't have any kids yet and I wonder how their cooking habits will change when/if they do. I know Aaron & I used to enjoy cooking together and making more elaborate dishes, but not so much with three monkeys hanging on our legs.

A big thanks to Rajat & Ina for having us over! We will have them next and are debating on a menu. I made molten chocolate lava cakes with sugared raspberries tonight and I think we will choose that for desert. We are thinking of some Mexican food - any suggestions???