Jumping on the band wagon

Well, we have finally decided to jump on the band wagon and make a blog that everyone has access too. As many of you know we do both have "blog spots" on Myspace, but some other people don't have it, and you can't read anything on there without an account, so to be nice....

Many of my sister in laws and friends have blogs and frankly with as often as we move and have new information, we find this the easiest way to disperse it.

As most of you know we have just moved to Mexico. Well...as good as...lol... we are literally 15 minutes from the border and as far as the way the buildings and surrounding landscape and locals, we might as well be in Mexico, but we have moved back to Sierra Vista, Arizona. YUCK! The area just sucks! There is no grass, except at the local park, which is all fine and dandy except it's infested with fire ants, harvester ants, and scorpions. With the crazy heat the park equipment tends to be so hot your kids don't even want to play unless it's really early in the morning or really late at night, needless to say we don't go often. We do have a really cool wave pool with an island theme and two wicked water slides, so when we want a change from the pool at the house we go there, and the kids LOVE it...that includes the biggest kid of them all.... JON..hehe.

Jon is still on leave which has been so nice having him home to move us in and help unpack and just have " AT HOME" vacation time. Every time we have vacation someone in our family is having some activity that requires our attendance, so our vacations tend to be 6 day road trips and sleeping on couches and air mattresses. Obviously not my favorite way to spend a "vacation". So this is the first time we have just spent a few weeks at home as just "us". It has been wonderful.

We have spent the last few weeks going to the library almost every other day. Cody has discovered a GREAT set of books that anyone with kids 5th grade and down to about 3 will love. "Horace Splattley and the Cup Caked Crusader" . There are at least 6 of them. So far we have read "Horace Splattley the Cup Caked Crusader and the Invasion of the Shag Carpet Creature" and have moved on to "Horace Splattley the Cup Caked Crusader and the Pink DoDo Bird Balloons" by Lawrence David. They are so funny! My whole family has been rolling at the hilarious characters and the colorful writing. I have been able to sit and read "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Seabold, SOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOODDDD!!! Of course "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" LOVED IT, and am currently working on "The Nanny Diaries" by Emma Mclaughlin & Nicola Kraus, yet again. I have read it a few times before but since the movie will be coming out next month (starring Scarlett Johanson whom I love!) I am reading it again. I loved this book the first time I read it and love it again and again. Other than reading and swimming we have a pretty boring existence right now, but I am loving all this down time. We have met a nice family just two houses down, which around here is two football fields away, who have two children, a boy and a girl the general ages of our boys and they have already had a play date! THANK HEAVENS for lovely neighbors who give you the first break from your kids in a month! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Jon's school starts on the 5th and school for Mikey and Cody start on the 8th, so within two weeks the house will quiet down and Matthew and I will be back to our normal schedule. Keeping a house up is 10x easier during the school year than during the summer! Or maybe it just seems that way because you get to see it remain clean for at least 6 hours while they are at school before they come home and set off a nuclear blast throughout the house.

Well, it's off to do the never ending cycle of laundry, put the little imp down for a nap, and call the pool guys to come and take care of the chemical levels in this bad boy, because there is no way we are messing with it! Too much of this and not enough of that can make kids really sick and I don't want that! Welcome to our blog! Hooah! It's an Army thing. *wink*

Rachael