Vida. Risa. Amor.

The Arizona desert sure has a way of forcing us inside this time of year.  I see my kids a lot.  My kids are home every day and  I spend a lot of time around my kids.  All 5 of us are around each other sometimes....but a lot though.  Summer break means we're together more.  Arizona summers are a strange twisted version of cabin fever for Illinois winters.  Summer is here.

So with 2 girls and 2 boys around they each have a unique way of keeping our home interesting: (Disney channel / Superhero cartoons)...(Hair styling / action figures)...(Facebook / Club Penguin)...(Fashion disasters / Fist fights)...

And as we knew these freakishly hot temperatures of 110 degrees or higher would eventually come, the reality is it's painfully hot outside.  Dry your eye-balls hot.  Make you tired and mad hot.  Why bother to go out hot.  So with extra "quality" time for all 5 of us to spend together, we've found that there are about 3 things that work for my kids and I to keep cool and make it through the day happily:

Go to a pool, watch movies, or stay home and watch TV and play endless hours on the Wii and computers.
Or a 4th option:
The kids stay home and Mom goes shopping...or finds a project.

So, in an attempt to feel productive and spice up my home-decorating skills, I decided to finish painting my bedroom today.  My life makes sense when all my rooms are painted and have furniture that matches...(thank-you Ikea).  I guess our internet was disconnected, so the kids seemed to suffer from Club Penguin and Facebook withdrawal, and were a little confused as to what else to do.  Someone seemed to have figured out how to make patriotic chocolate covered pretzils though, (is that holiday really tommorrow?), while the rest of them quit on the couch and sat through Zach and Grody re-runs.  I know how to fix the sprinkler system, shovel barrels of dirt into my caravan, or cut in the finest edge of paint next to the high-vaulted ceilings standing on the top rung of a ladder, but I am definately the wrong parent to ask to reconnect, download, upload, or rewire a computer.  The kids were extra happy to see Daddy come home from work today.  My room looks nice though.

My favorite time-filler-upper and a great way to blast the energy out of my kids is spending the afternoons at the Lifetime fitness center.  I can get a great air-conditioned work-out in while they play in the child center...(which puts all child care centers to shame....they love it there).  After that, we go to the pool and cool off for a few hours so when we get home I am pretty much guaranteed a few hours of silence and calm.  On the days we don't go here the boys jump all over the furniture and whip their toys all around the house while the girls start pulling each other's hair...and then mine starts to fall out.  Lifetime fitness:  Best energy blaster place ever.

We've also seen a lot of good movies, and summer brings out the best ones!  If we're not renting movies from the library or the Redbox we're always thinking about the ones we want to go see next at the theater.  So far we've gone out to see Shrek #4, The Prince of Persia, Karate Kid, Robin Hood, Toy Story 3, The A-Team, The Prince of Persia, (again), and the long-awaited Eclipse!  It's fun to be entertained!  And bring on the popcorn!

For our family summertime is for staying up late, and sleeping in.  Playing more, scheduling less.  Parties, Camps, Get-togethers, Ice-cream & Popsicles.  Splashing, tanning, dancing.  Worrying less, laughing more.

            Summer break usually means we're all together more...