Gianna Finishes Swim Lessons

Gianna finished her lessons for the summer yesterday. Here are some great shots we got of the big day. We are so proud of her and can't wait to spend the summer swimming with both of our girls.

My Scorpion Collection

Let me start by saying I HATE scorpions. I don't care if they were here first, I hate them, I want them all gone. I will squeeze them with my hands if I have to keep them away from my house and my kids. This week I have had to pretty much do just about that. In 3 years here we have seen a number of these disgusting creatures. Usually they are dead in the garage, in the street, or on sidewalks, we have NEVER seen one alive in our house....until today. I have our house sprayed inside and out every 4 weeks. My exterminator is coming in about 15 minutes for a scheduled service, looks like I could have used him early this month. When it starts to get hot in AZ the scorpions start looking for cool dark places. Well, for those of you who haven't seen it on the news, it is 110 degrees at my house right now, it was 85 last week, so this was a huge jump. My house is a cool 79 degrees and has all the shades drawn in order to keep it cooler. I guess it is a scorpions dream hide out right now. Let me show you my new friends.....

This was a tricky one to get rid of. When Nate was in Florida he spent the entire day in my courtyard up on the wall in front of my door. He was there for at least 8 hours until I went to my neighbors house and borrowed her butane gun they use to kill weeds. With Nate gone, and her husband on shift we had to get creative. We got a ladder and sprayed fire on him over our heads until he fell to the ground. Somehow he was still squirming so he got a little butane fire shower. This is a CRAZY state we live in!

This creepy critter was on my garage floor a couple days ago just waiting for Gianna's bare feet to step on him when she was crawling out of the car after swim lessons. When he started to move I saw him and quickly squished him with my flip flops.

This is the one I just found running in the hallway in between our playroom and Gianna's bedroom. She was sleeping and I was so afraid that it was going to run under her door where it was dark and I wouldn't be able to find him on our scorpion colored carpet. I chased him with a can of hairspray and then smashed him with my shoe. I hope my collection never gets any bigger and when the exterminator gets here he will take these little souvenirs with him.

Gianna's First Haircut

The time finally came to get Gianna a haircut. She has so much fun, of course didn't make a peep and thought she looked very cute when it was all done. I'll have to get a better shot of the finished product.

Mother's Day - A little late

I had the most wonderful Mother's Day. It started with coffee right next to my bed and no one coming in to wake me. We went to church and then a wonderful Mother's Day brunch with some friends of ours. The girls did surprisingly well in the restaurant and when they did start to act up Nate took them for a walk. When they returned they had flowers for me and my girlfriend. (nice touch!) Nate then loaded the girls and the other dad in our car and left my friend and I to drink champagne on the patio child free. It was lovely. When I got home my girls were sleeping so I was able to float around the pool and relax for a bit. The entire day was perfect.

Kailey Completes Swim Lessons

This is Kailey's 3rd year in a swim program called ISR. The purpose of the course is to train children 6 months to 6 years old how to survive in the water under any circumstances. They recommend that each year your child takes a refresher course to remind them how to swim and to adjust to any growing they have done over the past year. I HIGHLY recommend the program to anyone who is willing to give it a try. If you are curious about ISR, The Today Show will be doing a segment on Wednesday the 14th and you can see some amazing examples. These pictures are during Kailey's last week where she had to swim in her shoes, regular clothes and a sweatshirt. She thought it was pretty funny, and did a great job thanks to Teacher Cari! Gianna's final day in class is creeping up on us, so I'll have similar pics of her posted soon.

Gianna's 2nd Birthday

Gianna Turns 2!

As you can see birthdays in our house last all month. G's actual b-day was on the 30th and Nate had to fly to Florida that morning. Here are some pictures of the night before he left. Poor Gianna, we are a little burnt out on birthday's, so the pics aren't so great. :) Kailey picked the cake, the gift and the wrapping. She was hilarious doing all of it, but Gianna was THRILLED to get a new Snow White dress, exactly like one she already had. I guess her sister knew what she wanted. The next day we went to Build a Bear and Gianna made a cat that looks just like Butterscotch. It was a great day, but great to have an end to the month long celebration!