Ah, my new clock is chiming.

I'm enjoying the chiming of my new grandfather clock!



Last month for my birthday, Matt bought me a beautiful, full-sized floor clock that he found on Craig's List.



When I came home from a fun dinner outing at 5 & Diner with my girlfriends (and Sergio and his little buddy Jace), Matt had secretly set it up in the living room, and I arrived just in time to hear it chime midnight, its full repertoire of sound.





He also brought home a chocolate cake and some gorgeous red roses.

My neighbor friend Andrea also had us over on my birthday for a play date. We ended up going to the park and had a great time of Red Rover and Red Light, Green Light.

Nicolas had the idea to bake a cake for me all by himself, so I stayed out of the kitchen and let him at it. It was beautiful AND tasty! What a sweet son.

And my cute William serenaded me with a birthday song on his guitar:

Thank you, Lord, for my precious family. Amen.

Finally, caught on camera!

Fighting like Cats & Dogs?

Our rat terrier dog and house cat have a strange relationship. They wrestle around like siblings, or predator and prey.

I have tried in vain to capture a photo or video of these shenanigans since we got the kitten more than a year ago.

(If you look in the background of this photo, you'll see I happened to catch this on camera a couple of weeks ago, too. Imagine my surprise when reviewing the pictures!)

Here's a cute video of the wrestling:

Anyway, a little humor for your day. It's not just the humans that get silly around here!

Friends and Butterflies

Other fun stuff we've been up to... These have been busy months.

These pictures are from March.

Sergio is newly 7 months here.

Sergio's buddy from across the street came for a visit, and gave him some pointers on crawling.

William enjoyed perfecting his stilt-walking skills with his friend, and later hitting some baseballs with McKenna.

McKenna figured out she can ride in her baby buggy without anyone having to push her.

William thought that was cool.

I am often serenaded by kids at the electronic piano...

And I think McKenna took this picture of me and Sergio goofing around. William was nearby as the "spotter." (Old gymnastics class jargon.)

McKenna is practicing her ballet with her buddy. Aunt Donna sent the cute videos, and we got leotards from cousin Alyssa. McKenna and I plan to invite a few of her little friends over for some "classes." They're all looking forward to it!

One morning we saw some pretty butterflies flitting about in the sissoo tree out front, which was in bloom with tiny yellow flowers. We happened to have found a little plastic butterfly net at my mom's store when we visited in February! The kids were able to catch several butterflies, but only two ended up all the way into a jar. (We use a lot of pickle jars in our homeschool science!)

In other news...

I would just like to say how cute I think it is that William (age 4 1/2) still messes up a lot of his words... Like using "human" when he means to say "person" -- this week he was making up a long song that included a verse or two about being a "good human" and not a "bad human". Hee hee hee. He also says "lose" when he means to say "use". "Are you going to lose that toy, or can I lose it?" Overall, though, his language and clarity has really exploded this last year. His stories and songs are priceless!

Cute kids & Hassayampa

Still catching up...

In March, while still 6 months, Sergio started sitting unassisted. Big brother and sister were very pleased with him!Mom thought it would be fun to help Sergio "walk" with McKenna's baby carriage (thanks, Aunt Donna!) that same night. His first steps, sort of! =O)Also...

McKenna and I hosted the March Keepers at Home meeting at our house. I helped all the girls make homemade glycerin soaps, with scents and coloring and even blueberry seeds for scrubbing texture. The activity was a hit! Here they are having a snack at the end of the meeting.

Hassayampa:

Our first trip to the Hassayampa River Preserve went great. I was very excited to find a little oasis in this desert. Lots of great, big trees, and ponds, and a little river the boys could poke their toes into. I can't wait to go back! We went with the Evans family to check it out.

(It is interesting to note that where we live, most of the rivers are either seasonal or have been dammed and diverted into canals, leaving dry riverbeds. This river, on the other hand, apparently runs underground for most of its trek through the desert. Then in Wickenburg, it runs above ground for about six miles, providing an oasis of water and shade for the critters and people lucky enough to find it. This preserve is a very refreshing change from our usual moonscape-like desert experience.)

What's that? Goats in the desert? It seems there is a goat ranch on the adjacent property, separated by an electric fence (ack). The goats came rushing to gawk at us, and we enjoyed gawking at them. The kids did a great job not getting electrocuted, too!

(Sergio was here.)

Can you guess what kind of tree that is behind me?? I had no idea until Matt saw the pictures and told me. (It wasn't in a very nice way, however. Ha! Ask me later.)

I don't remember if in this picture the kids are looking at ant hills, stalking a butterfly, or catching "fluff" that was falling from the nearby cottonwood tree.
"McKenna-Cam" I love these kinds of pictures. =O)

We found a humongous roly poly on the grass in the picnic area. This particular insect met with a very unfortunate and mortal accident, however...

Aside from that, it was another fun day in My Life with Littles! Thanks for reading.

Catching up from the last couple of months...

These cute pictures are from visits with/from friends in March...

The Perez family came to see us one day, and their daughter wanted to dress up in our cowgirl costume... turns out we had two! And we happened to have a cool parent saddle that makes whinny and clip-clopping noises (thanks, Aunt Maureen!). We had such fun.

Later that week, our other friends the Evans family came to visit. McKenna was in a dress-up mood by then! These girls decided to be princesses (thanks, Aunt Nicole!)...

The Evans family got to be there for William's surprising and amazing new stunt:

Now he loves to do this feat of strength all the time, and show off for anyone who will watch.

Later in the month, Nicolas and his best buddy set up a lawn croquet game in the Evanses' back yard. He makes some pretty elaborate courses!

We love Spring in Arizona!! My friends and I made a point to get outside as much as possible these past couple of months. Next I'll share the pictures from our trip to the Hassayampa River Preserve, in Wickenburg. We loved it!

Sergio Stands!

My first attempt to share an embedded video from another source... I hope it works! Enjoy.

This was taken 2 weeks ago, just 2 days after Sergio turned 8 months old. My baby is growing up too fast!


Sergio stands- 4-20-08

In other news, life has been hectic and we've been enjoying this gorgeous weather by taking numerous outings and field trips. I'm wanting to post pictures, so hopefully I'll get to that soon.

The kids and I are doing well. With all the outings, we let the house get out of control, but now we're starting to dig out and get a handle on things again. There's even a nice, new schedule to start the month off right next week...