Hired!

It's been four long years. but we've finally made it! Two weeks ago Chris got the call we've been waiting for from the City of Mesa Fire Department. This was the department Chris wanted to get on with, so we pretty much thought it was a pipe dream. As long as everything goes well with his physical next week, the academy starts in March!

We went to Houston's with my parents to celebrate. Unfortunately Chris was at work when he got the call so it was a little anti-climactic. Chris was speechless on the phone when the chief called him, which was funny because the chief had to double-check that Chris was still interested when Chris didn't reply. And when Chris called me, all I could do was sit down where I was standing on the stairs and bawl. I needed to celebrate somehow even though Chris wasn't home, so I took the girls to Costco and bought them each a firefighter Lalaloopsy doll.

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

Over the summer I got a culture pass at the library for the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum. I thought it might be worth it to take the kids since it was free, but I was wrong. The first room was off-limits since there was "adult content." The second room was large piles of dirt and rocks that were piled and shaped in different arrangements. It was lovely, but very difficult to keep the kids away from. It's every kid's dream to kick over a big pile of dirt. The employees were all over us in that room making sure we didn't touch anything. The third and final room had some interesting art, but the kids weren't terribly interested. Overall not a total bust, but I'm just glad we didn't have to pay for it!

Amazing Turtle

We went with some friends to the Fountain Hills library where they were doing a wildlife exhibit. The highlight was this turtle who was rescued missing a foot. They cemented this wheel onto him so now he gets around without any problems. I thought it was amazing!

Ballet Under the Stars

We did Ballet Under the Stars again this year at the Fountain Park. It was amazing as usual, and so were the girls dressed up like ballerinas!

Lost Tooth

In October Molly lost her first tooth. I didn't get a picture until a couple of weeks later, which is why the tooth is already half grown in. She lost it one Sunday night when we were at Chris's parent's house. She was rough-housing on the bed with Claire and Chris's dad when she banged her mouth on Claire's head and it popped out. The tragedy was that it was nowhere to be found after that. After about ten minutes Chris suggested she say a prayer, and sure enough, about two minutes later I found it in a crack in the bed. The funny thing is, this same sort of thing happened when she lost her second tooth a couple of weeks ago. It was really loose, then we were sitting on the couch watching a movie when she discovered it was gone, and she had no idea when it had fallen out. We scoured the couch with no luck. She wanted to say a prayer, but I actually kind of discouraged her because I knew it could be anywhere in the house, and she may have even eaten it. She persisted, so we stopped and said a prayer. Right after she said she wanted to look under the table, so she and Chris went to the table and Chris found it sitting under her chair. Definitely miraculous if you ask me!

The tooth fairy brought her $1 and wrote her a congratulatory note for her first tooth.

Dates

Before school started Chris and I got took the kids on dates. I took Claire to Big Surf, where we spent most of our time on these blue slides. She's actually quite a daredevil and liked to hang out on the dark tunnel slides where you're in a tube. We had such a great day!


Chris took Molly to Big Surf the next day. She mostly wanted to be in the wave pool, although she wasn't too excited about the life jacket. When I took Claire she wouldn't go in the wave pool at all because she was so irked about the life jacket.


For the next date Molly and I went to Five guys (her choice) then to Skateland. Luckily they had a rolling walker-thing so she could maneuver a little better, but skating is a lot harder than I remember! Since then she's been saving her money to buy a pair of roller skates, and I bought a pair of roller blades off Craigs List. I forgot how fun skating is!


For the last date Chris took Claire to the Sea Life Aquarium in Arizona Mills then to the Rainforest Cafe. Unfortunately Claire wasn't interested at all in the aquarium and just kept asking Chris when it was time to go to Rainforest Cafe. It may be a couple of years before we go back to the aquarium!

Halloween

This year for Halloween the kids were detectives, Sherlock Holmes-style. The best part of the costume was the dollar store glasses-nose, even though they hardly got worn. It's way more fun to hang around the house incognito.










In kindergarten they get to do a Storybook Parade instead of dressing up for Halloween. Molly's story was Miss Hildy.



Storybook Parade spectators.


At Claire's preschool they decorated sugar cookies then trick-or-treated around the yard.



Our ward Halloween party is always really fun. This year there was a miniature pony giving horse rides and a train ride in old water barrels pulled by a quad.




This is actually one of Claire's really good friends Ellie, I just happened to look at them and they were making faces at each other.


Pumpkin carving!


Craft time at the library. I think this was a ghost?


We did Vertuccio Farms this year. The highlight for us was this enormous bouncy pillow thing. I later found out my friend's daughter broke her leg on it so I'm glad we didn't know that beforehand!




The three of us teetered on one side with Chris on the other.





On Halloween we went to our friends the Petersen's house to trick-or-treat and hang out