Big day for Max!

We signed Max up for T-ball this spring. He has been BEGGING to be on a sports team for quite some time now--I just had to find someone else with a boy his age that I could carpool with (THANKS Mary Rae:). He's been watching Carlie and Ethan play softball/baseball for over 3 years now and it was finally his turn! Max finally got his OWN team jersey and hat and has worn them almost everyday this week. He was SUPER excited for this opening day. Max got to march in his first parade this morning!:



Take team pics: (I'll get a real team pic in a few weeks--I just thought these little guys looked cute--Max is #7:)


AND play his first REAL game! It was soo fun to watch all of these little guys (ages 3-6) figure out all this organized game stuff. Max was the catcher (the one who stands behind home plate and watches all the grown-ups do all the work of raising/lowering the tee and getting the balls). He did his job without complaining the first inning. About half way through the second inning, Max came to a big realization....I could TOTALLY see the light come on in his head. He turned to look at me in the stands and said, "I DON'T DO ANYTHING!!!!" (He wasn't really happy about this situation--he wanted in on all of the action). This is Max in his VERY important position as catcher:)


Well, the coach AND everyone else in the stands heard this--we were all laughing hard! I made sure to tell him that he was doing a FANTASTIC job at his position. He did get to change positions the next inning:) He did such a great job! I am sure proud of you Maxwell!!!

This is what happens....

So this is what happens when the kids are together 24/7 for a week straight and then left to play on their own for 20 minutes while I clean up the kitchen after dinner:)

Yep! It's that time again:)

Day one of break and my kids are just DYING to get into the pool. No, we don't have a heater on it. It's flippin' COLD. But that didn't stop them.


Ethan was the first one in.



I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is NOTHING cuter than a baby girl in a swimsuit! Here's Tatum doing her best Mick Jagger:)

Dang! I recorded it WRONG!!!

Carlie has now decided that she wants to try her hand at music theater. Okay...so I'm trying my best to NOT drag my feet anymore when it comes to her musical talents:) So I signed her up for a "Super Singers" class and this was her final performance--and I RECORDED IT WRONG!!! UGH!!! BUT she still sounds AMAZING!!!

Her audition is at the end of April and it is for "Annie." One of my all-time favorites. Of course she wants to be "Annie" but this whole music theater thing is WAY out of my zone. So we'll see what happens. We would be thrilled if she could just be one of the other orphan girls like Pepper, Duffy, or Molly. (I need to get her into a few acting classes this month too). So here is Carlie singing, "Maybe" from Annie. (It was breaking my heart to hear my OWN daughter singing this song--like she wasn't loved or anything--Carlie...I would SOO adopt you if you weren't mine:)

Ethan's First Pinewood Derby!

So both Chris and I missed Ethan's first Pinewood Derby!!! Chris was in L.A. and I was in Michigan and we were both really sad to miss and stayed VERY close to our cell phones all of Saturday afternoon. Donna saved the day by bringing Ethan to the event and my good friend Danika saved the day by taking pictures for me. A HUGE thank you to both of you:)

We were SUPER nervous about all the things that could go wrong--weigh too much, not enough, etc... Poor Donna was quizzed over and over again about what to do in any event. I even had a couple dads on the lookout just in case:) Well, we did everything we possibly could to get Ethan ready for the big event and it PAID OFF!!! Ethan came in 3rd place!!! Oh my gosh! I almost cried when I heard!!! I was SOOO nervous that something would go wrong but everything went AMAZINGLY well! Donna is such a good grandma (for millions of reasons) but she took Ethan out to dinner at his favorite restaurant (T.G.I.F's) that night to celebrate! Way to go Ethan! We are SOO PROUD OF YOU!!!

Here's the crew:


Here are their cars: (Ethan likes everything simple and plain. I tried talking him into spray glitter, numbers, ANYTHING--his is the solid red car:)


The Race:


The 3rd place winner!

Great-Grandpa Frank's 90th Bday!

So, my father's family is....complicated to say the least:) No hard or bitter feelings, just not the tightest knit group and with LOTS of divorces--my dad is the only member of the church and the only one married just once. So I was very close to my dad's mother and step-father--Grandma Helen and Grandpa Paul (who were also divorced later in life:). Both of these wonderful people have passed on and so the only living parent my dad has is his biological father--Frank Bellows Knoop Sr. My dad is his oldest child and so he is named Frank Bellows Knoop Jr. I guess Frank Sr. would be considered a "Dead-beat Dad" nowadays but I don't know anyone else as golden as my dad--he is good and kind through and through and I don't think he's even capable of holding a grudge against anyone. My dad has worked hard to maintain a relationship with Frank Sr.

Well, my dad called me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to go up to Michigan for Frank Sr.'s surprise 90th birthday party. I figured, "Why not?! He's 90..I'll probably not have another chance to meet him." The birthday party fell on the same weekend as the Scouts Pinewood Derby and Ethan did not want to miss it. So I decided to take Carlie and Max and leave Ethan and Tatum (because she's too much work:) with my mother-in-law.

Carlie and Max were SUPER excited to be going on an airplane again so they didn't mind getting up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning to catch our flight to Chicago.



We left the perfect weather of Phoenix (77 degrees the day before) and headed off to Chicago where it was 22 degrees and snowing!!! FREAKING COLD!!! HOLY COW! We had a little time before my dad arrived from his flight so I got our rental car and was scared out of my mind to be driving in the snow in a completely unfamiliar town. I picked a road, and I drove straight in one direction until I found a place to eat. We found a nice little sandwhich shop, ate, and went back to the airport to get my dad off his flight.


We then drove on to Holland, Michigan. BTW--I drove the ENTIRE time and never killed us! I was soo proud of myself:) It snowed the entire time we were in MI. This place was absolutely breath-taking with the snow, I imagine it's even more beautiful in the summer. Holland, MI is named after the country and apparently they have a huge "Tulip Festival" every year--would LOVE to see that someday. Here is Holland in it's winter glory:


Well, my grandfather had NO idea about this party. It was completely planned and carried out by my dad, his brothers, and Virginia--Frank Sr.'s wife. He's a funny old man. He is 90 years old, still works a 40-hour work week, and is only on 2 medications. Healthy cuss he is. My dad is the spitting image of his dad, so now I know what my dad will look like when he's 90--except my dad doesn't drink so hopefully he'll be in a little better shape:)


This is a picture of my dad and his only "full" sibling, Tom (whom I know well). They NEVER miss a chance to pick on each other:)



We had a fabulous time. I met a couple of half-brothers and sisters that I honestly didn't know existed--Frank Sr. was quite "fruitful:)" Everyone was super nice and I LOVED hearing stories of my dad when he was younger. There were about 5 boy cousins there that were quite smitten with my Carlie Mae. It was quite funny actually because we all stayed at the same hotel and those boys were surrounding Carlie CONSTANTLY! Each one trying to keep her attention. Umm...I hope their moms explained that A) They are kinda related and B) They were too young for her anyways:)

We got up early on Sunday to go hang out with Frank Sr. for a little while before we headed back to the airport. He is quite the craftsman! He had an AMAZING train set that the kids could have played with all day.



He also loves to build model ships. Here is some of his handy work--I find this funny because Frank Sr. is very detailed oriented in his work, my dad, who is a farmer, is NOT!




So we had an awesome time. I am so grateful for my dad who sets the perfect example of loving your family no matter what. He has NEVER spoken ill of anyone in his family. I know that my dad is not the most successful financially as some of his half-siblings but he is DEFINITELY the most content and happy with his life. I was soo proud that Frank Jr. was MY DAD this weekend (and everyday for that matter:)

Mini-Me

Okay, so I all think we have a kid that reminds us most of OURSELVES:) This kid for me is Carlie. I totally understand her--what motivates her, what her passions are, where her talents lie. She made the Chandler 6th grade Honor Band (as a 5th grader). And she LOVED every minute of every rehearsal and especially LOVED performing up on stage at the Chandler Arts Center.

She, along with my boys, go to Chandler Traditional Academy. The MAIN reason I have her there is because in this fast-growing area of Chandler, school boundary lines are CONSTANTLY changing--we would be on our 4th elementary school if I kept changing schools when we were told to. So I put her in this school when she was in 1st grade because I knew we would NEVER have to change schools again--I'm really big in consistency. The CTA schools kinda have a snotty reputation to them and yes..they have GREAT test scores but I don't LOVE the curriculum there, truth be told. The school main focus is their reading and math programs--all good--but the fine arts really lack in my opinion. There are 5 kids in her band at school and Carlie is always looking for MORE. MORE things to do in music, MORE things that challenge her in her area of interest, MORE reasons to keep going in music.

I know this all too well. I grew up in a small town and didn't have access to a lot of quality music training. But I LIVED for things like Honor Band/All-State band where I could go and be with other kids like me. I would play in my mediocre school band during the school year and then every summer, I was off to every band camp I could go to! The summer of 1993, when I was 16, I got to go and tour 10 countries in Europe for a whole month because I was ranked top in the state of NM for oboe. It was the trip of a lifetime! I toured around with other high school kids from all over the U.S. (And I worked my BUTT off to make the money to go:) So anywhere I ever got to go was because I loved music.

So, like I said...I get this girl. She is amazing and I am soo proud of her and her accomplishments thus far. I can't wait until she starts all of her music travel/adventures. And Carlie....just so you know....I'm going to chaperone every chance I get:)