Thursday, June 29, 2006

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!


Wow!! It's my birthday! I love my birthday (my friends say that's a sign of mental illness, and I have to say they're probably right!!). I am not scared of my birthday. I love it; the anticipation, the fun, the food, the friends, the CAKE!!! I have resloved to eat cake once a year from now on. Because cake for everyone's birthday? Hello!?! Can we say fat pants? And who wants to wear fat pants in the summer? So I am really lookin' forward to my cake tonight.

Because my husband had to work today (no he did not take the day off...this should count as a holiday or something...sheesh, I'm thinking about dumping him! The nerve!) my best friend Sarah (yep, same name...even same initials! Scary huh?) came over this morning and made me my favorite breakfast, which I have also resigned to eating once a year, biscuits and gravy! Oh, the yumminess! And there were balloons, and cards, and a cute (*cough* hideous *cough*) pink princess crown that I HAD to wear or I couldn't eat the yummy breakfast. How much fun was that?

The fun doesn't end yet! I get more royal treatment tonight when I go to dinner at my parents place! I love my birthday, it just never ceases to be fun for me...Until my brother reminds me how close to 30 I am. But I really don't care. REALLY, because when I start to look like I'm 30 and act like I'm 30 I should be about 45 years old, and I am totally ok with that!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

What's That Falling From The Sky??

So, I'm driving home from picking up my prescription (I have a sinus infection caused by allergies caused by the incesant blowing dust out here), and the strangest thing happened. First of all, there were clouds in the sky...enough to block out the sun - can you imagine the sun not shining out here?...and they weren't white, they were dark grey and BEAUTIFUL! So that was hard to deal with. Then, as I'm driving, these little specks of water start hitting my windshield. I'm thinkin', "Gee, the sky must be fallin", but I think if the sky were falling it would make a dent in my car or something.
So I call my husband and tell him what going on and he asks if my windshield wipers were on. Now, the only time I use the wipers is when I get a particularly nasty bug on my windshield and have to try to get it off with the spray that simply manages to smear gutst all over the place so I can't even see anymore and the wipers make that rasberry sound as they travel to and fro.

Um...anyways...I suppose I might be exagerating a little about the whole thing, but if you don't live in Southern Arizona, you just don't understand the importance of rain. While in line at the store (to pay for my prescription) a lady told me that her horses FREAKED out because they had never heard the sound of rain on the tin roof of their corral before.
So along the lines of freaking out, I would like to let you know how my 19 month old reacted to seeing rain for the first time ever...
As I was getting Mr. B ready for bed, I could smell the rain coming, and when I heard it falling outside his window, I jumped at the chance to have a little fun. I was changing his diaper right then and thought, "Who needs a diaper when we're going to play in the rain?". So I run out on the front porch with my nakey boy in my arms and say "Look! Look at the rain!!" He took a look at that water pouring off the roof and said "What is dat?" "Rain!!" I exclaimed. He promptly buried his head in my shoulder and clung to me like a little spider monkey. "But Sweetie, LOOK!!" I said, "RAIN!!!" but he would have no part of it. I decided that I could not let my child be afraid of the rain. No way. So I ran out on the front sidewalk and hopped up and down a little. He looked up, buried his head in my shoulder and started to whimper. I went back and set him on the covered porch (though he protested) and ran back out on the sidewalk, doing a little "rain dance" for him. I jumped up and down in the (teeny tiny) puddles, waved my hands in the air, and twirled in circles so he could see how much fun I was having out there. My jammies were now wet, but by then I was having so much fun that I didn't care. He looked at me and edged closer to the sidewalk. Then took another few steps until he could put his little, pudgy hands out touch the drops of cool water as they plummeted from the roof. And then, he smiled. A big beautiful smile of a child who has just done something amazing. Of course, if you live out where we do, touching drops of water that are randomly falling from the sky is amazing, so I guess he had something to smile about.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Foiling Dad

Ok...so here's what happened with Mr. B getting all muddy and wet...
Since we live so close to my parents (10 minutes) we are able to see a lot of them and they are able to be a big part of our son's life. I invited them to dinner last week and while I was cooking, (and my mom was chatting with me), the men (and Mr. B) all went outside in the little yard. My dad and husband eventually gravitated off in the direction of the shop, which of course contains various power tools. 10 minutes later, dinner is done and I'm callin them in to wash up. "Where is our son?" I ask "Um, he's somewhere here in the little yard." (when my husband says "UM" when answering a question, I know something is up...)
I don't panic - the entire 2 acres is fenced w/field fencing and he's in the little yard inside that big yard, but still...I hear him laughing in the front yard and realize he's up to no good - I know that laugh! Sure enough, when we round the corner, we encounter a sopping wet little boy, drinking out of the hose on a warm summer evening. How can I be mad? I rush inside to grab the camera so I can capture this moment - that of a fun loving little boy, enjoying life in the country...getting dirty, getting wet, being a child. I love the look on his sweet little face...see the smile below...

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Oooooh, The Arizona Sun...


Well, here we are! All three of us adults in the pool with 5 children in our arms. Are we crazy?? YES!!! (There I am in the back with Mr. B and Mikey kicking like mad to get out of my arms.) Sheesh. I don't know how two boys raised in Arizona with the heat and the lack of rain can be such water bugs.
Here's the deal...my Mom's pool is kinda small, so the rule is that only the kids can wear sunscreen - not the adults. Fine, right? Cuz how much time do we really spend in the water anyway? Maybe an hour before the kids get tired and start swallowing so much water they look like little Etheopian children with their protruding bellies. We get out of the water, sit in the shade, and open our picnic lunches - PB & J sandwiches, YUM!!! Then, while the children are playing in the little water table, the three of us decide that we want to get a tan and LAY OUT IN THE SUN. Yep, you heard me right. We set up the lounge chairs, took off our towels and actually layed outside while the sun was shining.
I have to tell you that all three of us are wearing our brand new swimsuits, and they just happen to be bikinis. This is the first time ANY of us has worn a bikini. So just sit a minute and imagine the whitness...oh yes, it's a disturbing thought.
There we are, in the sun, whitness glowing, skin burning. "Hey", I ask. "Did either of you put sunscreen on when you got out of the pool?". "Nope", they both answer. I announce that we better get out of the sun and we did - not a moment tooooooo soon!! We are all fried to a crispy crunch. I haven't been able to sleep for two days; I can't roll over because of the burn between my shoulderblades. The other Sarah can't sleep 'cuz her shoulders are so crisp, and Kristi can't really move 'cuz of the redness on her legs. The kids are fine though - not a bit of color, and that's good thing here in AZ.
This morning, Sarah calls and says, "What are you doing tomorrow?" All I can say is "I'm NOT swimming!"
But it's funny how I had to think about it for a minute because out here, the water is soooo alluring; almost hypnotizing...maybe if I put on a shirt....

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Here's The Picture...

I don't know what I did wrong, but the picture didn't upload so here it is (now the next blog will make much more sense!!).

A Little Late For Memorial Day, But...

A Little Late For Memorial Day, But...

This here is a picture of little Mr. B sitting in a ball turret, cute and comfy as can be. Can you imagine a full grown man fitting in there, with his knees at his chest, shooting at the enemy and knowing if anything goes wrong, he will probably die? When I went to church on the Sunday before memorial day, I got up to lead the music and I realized that we didn't have one single patriotic song on the list to sing. So I asked if we might sing a patriotic song - they are in the hymn book, so I thought it would be very appropiate. "No, we don't sing those songs on Memorial Day, that's not what the day is for. Today is Sunday". That's what I was told by the leaders in our church.
I'm not one who ususally bucks the system, but I do have a little brain of my own and I like to use in once in a while to keep the cobwebs out and the gears from sqeakin' to awful loud when I think. NOT WHAT THE DAY IS FOR?!?!?!?! Then what is it for? Having BBQ's and picnics, and eating greasy, fried food until we burst? Sheesh...in light of that moment of anger I felt in church (and have since repented of) I would like to give a little info about our (well, my husband's) Grandpa Delbert's ordeal he went through during WWII when his big bomber plane was shot down over Germany (or France occupied by Germany)....
I went into the service on Jan 6th 1943. We were shot down on our 19th bombing mission, near Laon France on February 25th, 1944, (Maxine's mother's birthday) and I was in The American Memorial Hospital in Reims France (Under German occupation) for three months. Then we were moved to Stalag Luft IV near Kolberg, way up on the Baltic sea in what is now a part of Poland.
We left Stalag Luft IV on Feb 6 1944 and marched six hundred miles in the dead of winter, sleeping on the open ground and in hay barns and surviving on a starvation diet. Out of the 6000 who left the Prison camp only 2000 of us walked across the Elba River to freedom 87 days later, around the first of May. I was a prisoner of war for 14 months. After we were liberated, I spent three months in France waiting for a ship to bring me home. I was discharged on November 25th 1945. I was in the service just one month under three years.

I am so thankful - really, truly, thankful for what he has sacrificed for the freedom that my small family enjoys every day. What an amazing man. And he makes up a particle of the men who served then and who serve today. I put up my big flag for every occasion, and I always have a few little ones flying around the garden. My favorite color is red, white, and blue. Really. I try to go out of my way to thank my service men & women - I am scared to think "What would I do, where would I be, without them?". So THANK YOU to everyone who has served - in ANY way to help us keep what we worked so hard to gain - our most precious and beloved freedom.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Wow! Now Everyone Can See Us!!!

Hello All!!!! I posted blogs and pictures and updates on our Yahoo! 360 site for a few months, but nobody wanted to log on to see them, so we are now on a site that anyone can see at anytime with out signing in. HORRAY!! Helaman suggests that I cut and paste the other blogs from our 360 site, so I'll work on doing that. The thing is, right now we are having strange weather...clouds and wind and HUGE dust storms, so the internet is somewhat un-reliable. We haven't been able to connect on a regular basis, but it should be must better now. Check back often to see what's going on in Sunny Southern Arizona with the Lambsons!!!