Arizona

We drove up Mt. Lemmon to Rose Canyon Lake. It was really pretty and not a cactus in sight. :) On the drive up there is a very clear dividing line, it must be the higher elevation, but all of a sudden there are no more cactii. There is a cactus forest that is hundreds, maybe thousands of saguaro. They almost look like people (or aliens)  marching down the mountain. But, anyway we hiked around the lake and it was so nice to be outside. I loved the smell of the pine trees. Jeremy picked me some wild flowers and had Andrew give them to me. It was so sweet. At the edge of the lake, I was sitting on a rock. He found a big log and brought it over and said, 'There's room for two.' These are small things, but I felt loved. We have been married for almost seven years. It was fun to feel like a couple sitting there looking out over the lake and watching the boys throw rocks in the water. We saw fish and even crawfish. Here they call them crawdads.  Jeremy jokingly told me I had to call them that now that we are in Arizona. I think I will always feel like a Texan.  Then we stopped on the way down and climbed on these huge rock formations. The boys loved it. I like the picture with Jeremy's shadow in it. I kept trying to take a picture with him and the boys, but he wouldn't let me. He says the shadow counts. :) Oh, and notice my bangs? I needed a change. :)

What a day

This picture is a little old, but Andrew is reading to Michael all about dinosaurs

Michael is zeroing in on Jacob


The picture is a little blurry, but Michael is attacking me. He loves to grab my hair and pull me.

After bath time - my three cute boys - aren't they huge!

Michael is part of the wrestling action!

Today, I am thankful for:
Resolve carpet cleaner
disposable diapers
little boys
fruit
dentists
antibiotics
Today has been crazy.
I am thankful for all of those things, but I wish they didn't all have something to do with my day today. I woke up with a sick baby. Michael has strep and is on medicine, but he just doesn't feel well. When he was awake today, he really just wanted to be held. He didn't have much of an appetite, poor guy. But, he did still want to play and smiled in between the sad times. I took him to the doctor and he is 21 1/2 lbs without clothes or a diaper and 29 1/2 inches long. He is getting so big.
One of the side effects of the medicine came through today and his diaper totally exploded out every way possible all over the rug. He and the rug needed a bath after. It was the first time I used Resolve carpet cleaner today.
At 9:00, I took Jacob to the dentist. It is a children's dentist, they even have a small mcdonalds style play ground for them to play in and small toys are given when they are done. But he still didn't want his teeth worked on. :) I hate the dentist, too. But, they are very good with him. Poor guy, he was so sad when he was done. They take the child back for part of it without the parent. They say the kids handle it better without Mom standing right there. And they have a one sided window parents can look through to watch what is going on. I wish I could go back and erase all the times I probably let him have too much apple juice. Oh, the mom guilt. But, he is all fixed and goes back for a check up in six months.
I bought some cherries and Andrew asked if he could have some. I told him to wait until after lunch - I was making it right then. We were having spaghetti. He said, 'Okay , Mama, I'll wait'. A little later, I heard the bathroom door close and didn't think much of it. Until I realized that I hadn't heard it reopen. I found Andrew in the bathroom with the bag of cherries. Ugh!
We had a talk about how he could hide from me, but Heavenly Father knows what we are doing and knows when we disobey.
Then after lunch, when he was carrying his plate back to the sink, he dropped it and spaghetti sauce all over the carpet on the way to the kitchen. Why do dining areas have carpet? Resolve carpet cleaner, take two.
He is also learning to read. I bought the book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and he is doing great. Today he read - am, eat, ram, see, rat, at, sat, sam , seed, me, and. Yea, Andrew. I told him today that he was a reader. He said in an astonished voice, "I am a reader?" So cute. It is so fun to be a part of this learning and growing. I am so grateful to be their mother, even when they accidentally smash cherries in the carpet when they are pushing the exersaucer around, which they aren't supposed to play with. Enter Resolve carpet cleaner for the third time in one day. I think I want a house with all tile or wood! :)

Mother's Day Weekend

On Friday, Andrew's preschool had a program for the end of the year. He was going to sing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' with his class. He was so cute practising. He knew all the words and was so excited. I was really excited to see him up there with his class. Then right before we left to go to McDonalds - then the performance, he said, 'Mama, my tummy hurts, I'm sick'. We went to McDonalds anyway, he didn't want to eat - just drank his chocolate milk. Jeremy dropped us off and went to find a parking space. I took him in and helped him get his special shirt and then....
He threw up all over his preschool room. Chocolate milk throw up everywhere. Somehow he did manage to only throw up on the tile. And then he was fine. Happy, not feeling sick. I am not sure, but maybe it was just nerves. Who knows. I asked his teacher if I could stay with him and see if maybe he was okay now and decide later. But they said he needed to go home. I was so mad. I understand that they didn't want to expose the other children, but it felt like no one came in to assess the situation before they decided. I have gotten over it, but I was so sad that we missed that event in his life. It wasn't anyone's fault, but I was still upset.
We left that night for Phoenix and went to spend the weekend with Lynne. Andrew was feeling fine. :) Jeremy and I went to the temple on Saturday morning and it was wonderful. I felt so close to Heavenly Father, like my prayers were so much clearer and closer. We grabbed some lunch at Taco Bell (what a date! we even went through the drive thru) and then took Lynne to get her Mother's Day present. After Jeremy put up the blinds, he took Andrew and Jacob to buy me a present. We had a great dinner and then put the boys to bed.
Mother's Day came bright and early with Michael waking up at five, Jacob at six and Andrew at seven. SO, at seven I asked Jeremy, if I could please sleep in since it was Mother's Day. So, I slept until ten o'clock. It was wonderful. The boys did keep coming in to ask me questions, but I did sleep most of it. :) We went to church at 11- a great time, the boys game me a food processor - Jeremy asked what they liked to do with me and they told him they like to cook with me. So , he took them over to that part of the store and helped them pick something out. They really wanted to give me a red race car and a T Rex Dinosaur. Can you guess who contributed which answers? We had dinner and watched Enchanted. It was a cute movie and fun to watch it with Lynne. Jeremy watched it while he played a computer game, not enough movie to keep him occupied. :) It was a nice day. I am grateful to be a mother to three sweet little boys and to have such a wonderful mother, even if she lives so far away from me.

Summer Time

Jeremy has finished teaching the classes on his original contract. He still has to administer a final, but otherwise he is done. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. It has now been almost a year since we left Austin and that doesn't seem possible.  But, things seem to have gone well for Jeremy here. They have asked him to teach a class this summer and he was cast in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'.  He will perform in June and August.  He will teach two classes in fall and assist with a lecture, just like this year. And just recently they asked him him to cover another professor's two classes while he is away touring for five weeks. So, he will teach two of the advanced classes in the BFA. Which he thinks will be good to put on his CV, that he has taught Acting Shakespeare and another Advanced Acting in a great BFA program. So, hopefully all these things will help as he applies for tenure track positions for fall '09. 

Andrew is officially enrolled in Whitmore Elementary School. The principal was great and took us on a tour of the school and I think Andrew will do really well there. I am excited for him. He is really ready to go. He is confused why he went back to preschool after we enrolled him. 

Jacob is busy sounding out letter sounds every where we go. We went to Old Navy the other day and he sat there sounding out the sign. I think he is ready to be five years old, too. :) I may try to find a two-day preschool for him next year.

I am excited for summer to begin. We have a new niece to be born in June, a family reunion in July and Michael will have a birthday.  And who knows what else is in store! Good things to come and very high temperatures! Oh, well - I will focus on the positive. 

A long one!

I don't know if anyone remembers but, the neighborhood school where Andrew is supposed to attend isn't a very good one. The test scores are not good and I haven't heard good things about the teachers and I didn't feel good about the school when I visited. So, I was putting a lot of faith into the open enrollment even though we filled out the form past the deadline. The deadline came before we found we were staying in Tucson. And just the other day, I checked the mail and Andrew was accepted to Whitmore Elementary School! Hooray! He didn't have to take tests or anything, we were just lucky that there was an opening. Funny thing is, I put it as my third choice and I didn't even know why, I just had to have one more and the name stood out to me.  Then later, I was talking to a friend at church and she said she loves the school, her daughter goes there. And I heard other great things and it isn't too far from our house - about an 8-10 minute drive. It is a real answer to prayer, I feel like the Lord has His hand in the little details - like a good place for my baby to start school. I have been praying that Andrew would have the right teacher that could help him to grow and progress and give him a exciting beginning to all the years of school. He only has two more weeks of preschool.

My friend, Sarah who I knew from Austin came into town with her mom and sister for a spa weekend. (Mama and sisters - doesn't that sound like fun?) So, I was able to see her and have a fun night catching up and she met Michael for the first time. I was 8 months pregnant when we moved away from each other. 

Jeremy and I went on a date for the first time in a long time. As part of his job, Jeremy is expected to attend all the theatre productions.  This one was a musical, Urinetown. Thankfully, they give him comp tickets because even with a faculty discount the tickets are 25 dollars. The funny thing is I just found he gets the comps when I called to get the tickets, which means he has paid for four other shows! Oh, well. But, I loved the show. The cast was great, most were seniors ready to head off to NY.  It is a really unusual show all about fighting for the right to pee for free. It is really funny. Not inappropriate, just funny.  I had a funny experience in Europe when I didn't realize I had to pay and had no money on me, thankfully Daddy walked up right then!  It was fun to go out with Jeremy and know the kids would be fine without us. We have some friends now with kids the same ages as Andrew and Jacob. They had a great time, too. We went and grabbed some pizza before the show at a place close to campus called No, Anchovies. It is super casual and doubles as a bar. The artistic director of the Arizona Rep. Theatre took Jeremy and another cast mate there after rehearsal late one night when we first moved here. And they carded him! He is 31 almost 32 years old in June and he thought it was so funny. Ironically he was the one only drinking Dr. Pepper. :) It was nice to hold hands and walk to the theatre together just the two of us. 

Validation

Yesterday, I met with an agent here in town.  I spent over an hour there and left with a contract to sign and an offer to teach some workshops periodically. It was really good for me! It felt nice to be validated that I was good at something and had some knowledge I could share with others. Tucson doesn't have much of a film market, but I think that will be good. Hopefully, every now and then I can audition and maybe get cast in a few commercials or whatever is around. Just the idea that there is a possibility of something sometime is exciting. I have friends out in LA where auditioning can be a full time job. And I already have one of those! Maybe this way, I can just get a small break from the kids every once in a while to do something to fulfill a different part of me. 

The agent suggested I get new headshots - I knew that was coming- because the hair is too long and too blonde and ... it is too sexy. :) I thought that was really funny.  I don't really feel sexy, so it was kinda nice to hear it like that. But, she thought the picture would limit me. That there were other opportunities beside the sexy roles. 

Another validation - this one sweeter. I bore my testimony in church a couple of weeks ago. Andrew waved to me from his seat and as I came back down the aisle, the boys said really loudly, " You did it, Mama! Good Job, Mama. " It was so cute. I love them so. 

Jacob Thomas Selim

My little man is three years old. We celebrated his birthday with Lynne and Emily when they came down on Saturday. It was a great day. We went to the Zoo and had a train ride. We came home and had a red Lightning McQueen cake and opened presents. Jacob loved all his gifts and wanted to watch all the shows, play the music and play with his blanket and toys at the same time. Then we went to Peter Piper Pizza, ate pizza, rode the carosel (Michael had his first ride, he loved it.) and played games. We came home and Jacob fell asleep on the floor during the first few minutes of a new Thomas the tank engine show. Jacob said he had 'such a fun day'. 

I am such a cliche mother, but I couldn't help the flood of memories of the labor and when he was born.  I kept remembering the moments just before he was born and how different that life was than where we are now. The labor was pretty quick, we arrived at the hospital at 9 something and he was born just after 11. But, it was hard. Jacob was almost two pounds bigger than Andrew was. There was a moment when I told Jeremy I didn't think I could do it, but I am so glad I did. He is such a special little boy and I am so glad he is ours.