I hate money.....

...or rather I hate my lack of it. I just scheduled my first surgery appointment and called to inquire about the copayments. It's going to cost me $250 to remove my silly IUD. Plus I have to go under general anesthesia and have my very first surgery ever. I've never broken a bone or been admitted to a hospital for anything other than the births of my kids. And now I have to have a pre-op visit, lab visit, surgery, and post op visit (all requiring babysitting) just to get rid of my hassle-free IUD. Gee, having a baby starts costing money before you even start trying to have a baby. Oh, state insurance, how miss you.

Big Boys

I felt a little bad today when I realized that Keahi has had a birthday party with other kids every year since his second birthday and this is Jarom's fourth one and still no party. Maybe next year. Not that he's complaining. He doesn't have a lot of friends here yet. And he loved his birthday crown he wore all day long. And we went with the moms club to Anderson Dairy Factory and got to tour the place and meet the animatronic animals (since, yeah, this is Vegas so there are no cows grazing around here), see the ice cream getting packaged and most importantly eat free ice cream. Now we can save his free birthday ice cream from Coldstone (seriously, you gotta join their birthday club) for next week. He also got to watch his favorite movie. One guess. Yup, Cars.

Then we went to Chuck E Cheese "where magic happens" after picking up Keahi from school. We played the online ticket buster game so that both boys has coupons for 30 tickets each to use for prizes. At one point Jarom got stuck on the bicycle that goes up in the air when you pedal. He sat up there for a while as I tried to make it seem like he was so lucky to get such a long ride until the tech guys got the thing to come back down. Luckily the ruse worked. Freak out averted. Keahi was really sweet to his brother on his special day, always calling him birthday boy (for the 4 days leading to his birthday he'd call Jarom Almost Birthday Boy and sing him Happy Almost Birthday each day) and saying, "Of course I'll share my treat for after lunch with Jarom. He's the birthday boy. He can do whatever he wants." Which lead to a latter conversation we had to have with the birthday boy about how it doesn't actually mean he can do whatever he wants. But, mommy, Keahi said.....After Chuck E Cheese we rushed home to make the pancakes and bacon dinner he requested while Iz finished up the Cars cake (red velvet, of course). Then it was off to Keahi's soccer practice and back for cake and presents.

Sadly, the present I ordered for him (from QVC, mom, can you believe that?) won't get here till next week and Popo is sending money for a piano for the boys which will take time find and we'd already bought him a bike from a garage sale 3 weeks ago for his birthday so he only had one actual present to open on his special day. Keahi picked out 3 things from the dollar store which he paid for with his own money (mostly coins he's found over the last year and his first dollar in allowance). I had packed them into a Fruity Cheerios box and I love that Jarom was so excited when he ripped off the paper to find cereal for his birthday gift. When I told him to open it he was like Yes, I get to eat it now. Then he was even more excited to discover a Cars harmonica, Cars stamp and sticker set, and a Cars tic tac toe game. One day when (if) he grows out of his Cars obsession we're going to have a lot of things for a themed garage sale.

The next morning we headed back to the soccer field for Keahi's second game (which they lost pretty heavily but they all still had fun so it was great) and Jarom's second practice. He's definitely more athletically inclined than his big brother. Then we headed over to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Another free event for his birthday since we used our voucher from the only time we spent the $10 to go to the pool and some kid pooped in it after 3 hrs. This time there were hardly any people there so Keahi went on the big slide about a hundred times and Jarom on the little one fifty times (after we finally convinced him to try it). By the end Jarom was sliding down by himself and going under and bouncing off the bottom before I caught him up. A huge improvement. He also loved Iz flying him over to me and did it repeatedly until Iz did it super high and a life guard asked us to stop. By the end we were all exhausted and ready to go home and play video games till dinner. All in all, it was a good birthday weekend. And now my youngest is 4. Wow.

Things Jarom can do now that he's a big boy:
-play soccer with the rugrats every Saturday
-skip like a champion
-read a bit
-no more naps
-build awesome things with his magformers just like his big bro
-ask almost every day when he's going to do joy school (I'm working on it, I really am)
-show greater kindness to his brother
-whine slightly less often
-mostly be quiet for the 6 hours during the day that daddy sleeps (seriously, a huge accomplishment)
-dance like a wild maniac

He's my awesome sweetie pie. Who asks me why he's my sweetie pie. And what's a sweetie pie. And then goes, "Oh," with a knowing little nod.

This free scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

The Grand Canyon

Sooo, this is not even on the list of things I said I had to catch up on but I decided to skip all that for now and recap our latest adventure instead. Since Iz now only gets 3 weeks off during the entire year we have to make each vacation week count. This time we decided to go camping at the Grand Canyon for a couple of nights.

After a bit of stress concerning if we'd have a place to sleep since all the sites I saw the night before--but couldn't book online because it was too late--were apparently gone by the time we called it in the next morning as we were driving to Arizona, we managed to snag an awesome site near the bathrooms and on a very pretty loop of the camground. And, yes, it's still camping if there's a bathroom and even shower services ($2 for 8 min) and a laundry room--I mean, we did have to drive a few minutes to get to those facilities--and inflatable beds in our tent. At least, by my definitions.

Our first surprise was the weather. It was about 25 degrees cooler there than in steamy--but not actually since that requires humidity-- Las Vegas. And there were plenty of trees for shade and puddles on the ground. I haven't seen a puddle since Michigan.

And then we noticed all the wild life. We got to see deer, elk, ravens, condors, and even a shy ringtail. I think the most impressive one was the condor spiraling from the bottom of the canyon right over us and beyond. We took about a million pictures. We should file them next to the millions of pictures we have of the pigeons in San Marco square in Italy. We've got a thing for birds.

We explored the southern rim with the boys, which translates into several scenic bus rides and a smattering of short, easy hikes. We went looking for fossils (the boys got a kick of looking for "animal evidence" and hopping over them), made our way partway into the canyon (we got pretty far considering the kids) and watched the mules march their way back up, and ventured onto tiny ledges as the boys got more and more adventurous. I had several heart attacks. But I snapped the photos anyway.

I think the boys' favorite parts were still the roasted marshmallows and flashlight-saber fighting in the woods. I think mine were watching the sunset from Yavapai point (after all the picture taking was completed and we'd moved the car that was double-parked and were finally able to sit and relax) off the path in a quiet nook surrounded by trees. It was our private place; the boys said it was only for Temples. And I loved watching the stars with Iz after the kids fell asleep. The milky way is so lovely.

I'm so glad we were able to get away for a few days with the boy. This world is full of so many kinds of beautiful.

Free scrapbook design made with Smilebox

As for the rest of the vacation week, I took the kids on a Moms Club tour of the Great Harvest Bakery where they got to learn about making bread and even kneed their own rolls. We also all visited Red Rock Canyon together for a fun tour of their exhibits and a fun flower activity for the kids. We drove the scenic drive but I'd forgotten the camera at home so no pics yet. But I can't wait to go back during the winter and see snow again. Yay, snow! And I want to see the waterfalls in the spring. And we also attempted a fishing trip to Floyd Lamb State park. The ponds are supposed to be stocked with catfish during the summer and trout during the winter. Maybe we'll have better luck with the trout. But it was still lovely and refreshing to be near some water with shady trees around. And I love that when I asked Keahi to smile for the camera he informed me that he couldn't because he had to concentrate on the floater to see if it bobbed under. All in all, it was a good week. Now poor Iz has to go back to work. At 6am. And with not a single day off for the next 2 weeks. Yikes.

Another free picture collage by Smilebox

Too much to catch up on

So we've been in Las Vegas for 2 months now and I haven't posted about the move, visiting with friends along the way here, settling in and finding cool things to do here, our brother-in-law's death, Israel's new job, my trip to Hawaii with the boys, how our entire family has become Super Mario Glaxy 2 obsessed, visits with Rueben, Evie, and the latest with our friend Nicole from NY, or anything else along the way. And I'm not going to do it right now. I'm a bit overwhelmed and need to find a place to start--which for my left-brained approach usually means chronologically--and I don't have any pics ready yet. This is the longest I've gone since moving in somewhere without giving a tour of the new digs. And now we've blown right past the just-moved-in orderliness into the s-two-active-boys-live-here-with-their-mostly-single-mother clutter. But, slowly, I will document everything.

For now, let me just say that we're adjusting to the dry heat. I use the special lotions my mom has been sending me for years morning, noon, and night. We love having central air. The boys think The Luxor pyramid is the coolest hotel ever. Next to the "fake New York" one with the outdoor roller coaster. There are slot machines in every grocery store. I found a kind of Portuguese sausage that's mostly like back home. The ward is very nice, but full of older, established families with teenage kids so I'm really, really missing our little branch full of people just like me. But there's got to be others here, right? And I've got a drawer full of clothes I have to lose weight to fit into again. There's a depressing note to end on. Now I feel like eating some ice cream. Yay! Ice cream!

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day we started a day early and had an awesome dinner.....made by daddy, of course (isn't the honored subject supposed to provide the meal?) with kalbi (made on our craigslist smoke 'n grill gem of a find), asparagus, bell peppers, mushrooms with our favorite lime butter sauce, and the bottle of Takwan we brought with us on our 4 day journey from Michigan. Actually, we planned on this meal being on Saturday since Iz's hospital had a dinner party planned for Sunday.....which we ended up skipping because we didn't really feel like mingling with strangers and attempting to keep our kids from breaking anything valuable at the hosting doctor's house (breaking the boss' one-of-a-kind souvenier from his trip to Zimbabwe---Yikes!). So I guess dodging that party was also how we celebrated Father's Day. I also took the kids to the library for a special Hooray for Dad storytime where they made crafts from shaving cream clay. I have no idea what Iz will do with them. Maybe I'll mount magnets on them and the go on the fridge. But it's the thought that counts. And they both made him awesome cards. Keahi even asked him the night before to sleep in so he could make another one in the morning.

And he deserves it. I love my husband. He's a good man and a good father. The fact that he questions both only solidifies it. He's kind. Honest. Works hard to provide for his family. And everyone in the family agrees that he's an excellent dancer. Here's to the father of my children. Who would rescue his sons even from gorilla robot pirates from Mars (like in the book he's reading to the kids here--pretty cool one if you're interested in finding it at the library). Hope all kids are as lucky as mine.

Another Gastronomical Anomaly

I know the last post was about breakfast and not the move or the new place but I just thought this was so cute so I had to memorialize it.

Today for breakfast Jarom requested:
-4 slices of salami...no bread
-a banana
-4 umes
-lettuce

I kept offering cereal but received endless stream of "No, thank you" followed by the next bizarre request. I think if he threw in a few slices of wax paper and a side order of rubber bands he'd be Gregory the Terrible Eater.

The Oshima Stomach

Apparently my boys inherited the Oshima Stomach (we can eat anything at any time--there's no distinct breakfast food). Take this morning for example. I'm pretty lazy about breakfast so they usually have dry cereal or cereal bars. And we keep them within reach so they can get it themselves. So today while I'm trying to do last minute packing up, the kids found the chocolate granola bars that were meant for the grownups. But I shrugged my shoulders and let them have at it. Then five minutes later Jarom brings me a bag of opened spicy pork rinds that were on the counter and asks if this can be for breakfast, too. Sure, why not. So the boys' last breakfast in Michigan consisted of chocolate granola bars and spicy pork rinds. Kervin and Tammy would be so proud.