Photos!

I'm going to try not to get far behind. These are about a month old probably and Amar'e is probably 2 months old in these. Now he's 3 months old today so I will try and get the turn around faster and get some recent pics up soon.

Love this one!

Marce lost his other front tooth a while ago and now has a big hole in front. It's pretty funny. Amar'e is no longer allowed to just kick it on the couch because the 3 month old is rolling over everywhere! What a big boy! He swings, sits in his bumbo, rolls all over the floor, plays on his play mat, and sits in this...his exersaucer. He's so cute and still looks just like his daddy! Look at those eyes. We took the boys to the Children's Museum of Phoenix and after these two shots, my camera died. Nice. That thing does not stay charged long. The boys had a blast and I'm glad we got to take them, even if Phoenix ended up with a dislocated arm...ha ha These guys are best friends. Marcelus is your typical big brother. Protective, Nurturing. Bossy. Phoenix is definitley a 2nd child personality and does exactly what Marce tells him to most the time. He's quieter and seems like he'd be lost without a big brother to show him the way. The boys share a room and bunk beds and sometimes Phoenix wakes up early in the morning and climbs up to Marce's top bunk. I find them like this every once in a while. It's so cute!

The Story of one bi-racial Family

Let me preface by saying that nothing like this has ever happened to us in our 6 1/1 years of being a family. But there is a first for everything, right?

About a week ago we were running errands. We were walking out of the mall, exiting one of the big department stores. I was holding Amar'e with Marcelus walking by my side. Sharrid and Phoenix were walking about 10 feet behind us. As they came up to the doors leading out to the parking lot, Phoenix said "where's mommy?" and Sharrid grabbed Phoenix' hand. He couldn't see me because we were now probably 20 feet in front of them on the way to the car. Some older lady, probably late 50's or so saw all of this and said something to Shar about whether he was Phoenix' father or something. I wasn't there for any of that, I was still walking ahead. The thing that I heard and saw was Sharrid walking with Phoenix by the hand with a lady at his side trying to talk to him while he totally ignored her. I stopped and turned around wondering who this was and what did she need or what was she trying to talk to him about...so now we are all together, standing there. Sharrid looks annoyed to say the VERY least. This lady blabbers something like "I'm sorry, is this your son? I just was making sure, I thought...I was worried, I just wanted to make sure he was..." I could tell she was at a loss of words and just trying to close the situation. I was confused and said "Yes, he's my son." I was still confused and kind of gaping trying to put the pieces together when she tried to apologize to us. Sharrid was still trying to walk muttering under his breath that this lady was crazy and a star rating fool. He was NOT happy. Sharrid's pretty cool headed but this boiled his blood and he was as upset as I've probably ever seen him on the inside anyway. I could tell he was just writhing inside. I didn't figure out what happened until she said "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, just...being a mom you know,...". Sharrid was CLEARLY offended while I figured out in my mind what had just happened.

Basically, the lady saw me walk out the door with the boys in tow. She saw Sharrid grab Phoenix' hand and she heard Phoenix say "Where's mommy?". She thought that Sharrid was stealing Phoenix from me. So, she was trying to make sure that Sharrid was his dad and therefore would believe I was his mom, I really don't know...all I know is that Sharrid was pissed, and this lady heard the wrong thing and saw the wrong thing and had doubts that we were married. The funny thing about is is that Phoenix clearly looks like a bi-racial child. In fact, he probably looks like he belongs more to Sharrid than to me. He's darker, he's got very dark brown spiral curly hair, he's got the black facial features...maybe the lady didn't get a good look at Phoenix, cause he should have been the missing puzzle piece for her. I'm white as a ghost right now and I have Auburnish hair, really lady?

It was a situation where she probably felt awkward and dumb at the end of, but better to be safe than sorry at the same time. She's probably a mother and a grandmother and maybe a little protective and a little sheltered, or maybe she just acted on an instinct...an instinct that was wrong. It took me quite a while to calm Sharrid down. This really upset him and I finally had to say "Let's just not talk about this anymore, okay?" Agreed. We'd been hashing at it for long enough. He told me hia feelings. I told him mine and there was no need to stir the pot anymore.

I understood her somewhat, thinking of the safety of my children and being a mom myself. I also thought of if the tables were turned and someone was doubting me or even trying to accuse me of not being my children's mother. I put myself in that place and it immediately made me angry and in a fighting mood, ready for anything. It was interesting. We'd do anything, we'd fight for our children. So I understood where Sharrid was coming from and what that felt like for him. It was not a good feeling when someone doubts that and your children are everything you've got. You'd have to take some time and close your eyes and really think about a situation like this to bring that feeling into play, but I promise you, it's one of the worst things you can feel.

Last night I had a dream that Sharrid and I were on a date to the movies. Shar left for something and I was saving his seat. The movie started and I was starting to wonder where he was when my friend said she'd call him. Just then he walked in. I saw him first cause he's the biggest. His head kind of ducked under the door and then I saw. He was escorted by two cops on either side and he was handcuffed in front. I was gaping and as he walked by I said "Shar?" as if to ask what was going on or what happened. They walked him to the back of the theater past me to talk to another cop who was back there and look over some paperwork. That's when I woke up. The dream was so real that it was one of those "Oh my gosh. I'm in my bed. That was just a dream." I think sometimes in our dreams we know we're dreaming...but sometimes we don't, and I definitely thought this was real while I was dreaming it. The look on Shar's face was so typical of him. Angry, irritated, and annoyed, and sad. But at the very same time, submissive, complying. The injustice I felt in that dream was terrible. I've felt that feeling before and it brought those feelings back and made them all fresh. Some feelings in this lffe are just awful and they hurt from the inside. Obviously Sharrid was innocent and they had the wrong guy, and to know that and still see somebody cuffed like that is one of the worst feelings for me. That's one reason I don't watch any videos of the crucifixion of Christ. I don't want to watch a video of Joseph Smith being martyred. And in our time,....it killed me to watch Michael's trial. Actually I didn't watch it, it killed just to know it was happening. It hurt my heart so much. I just ached inside for months and months. And really, the damage had been done before, long before. That pain was icing, but it still stung like a hard slap in the face. To see a person you love like that, the dream sucked. I woke up and grabbed Sharrid who was laying in bed awake. I told him about it, he knew someting was wrong. He joked that he went out and got into it with the popcorn lady but it was still so real for me. The visual of him cuffed in trouble, at the mercy of these men, and the future, our kids, what was going to happen? It was scary, you know. Sharrid has been in that situation before in real life. Good thing I wasn't there to see it. He was released after a few minutes or something but still.....it was weird to see that because Sharrid is the one escorting. He's a corrections officer. He's the one in uniform with the cuffs on his belt. Maybe that's why the dream was so shocking to me.

My Last Netflix...

I liked this, but at the same time I think it could have been a lot better. Somehow it bugged me, but...I'm still thinking about it. I think what I liked is not nessesarily the movie but the story. I have grown up with the music. I know all of the songs but I had never known the story behind them. I really liked this as a story. One thing this movie did for me was solidify the fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber is a fantastic song writer both musically and lyrically.

I liked Christine. She's really beautiful. On the other hand Raoul is a dog. He was brave but so unattractive to me that I could never want her to be with him, which is why the end was so sad for me. As much as the Phantom is violent, I still wanted her to be with him and change the situation. And no, it wasn't the hairdo, Raoul just has an ugly face and his voice wasn't anything special either. No offense to whoever plays him in this movie...

The music in the film is okay, sometimes they made stupid faces or I just didn't believe them for instance when they were singing a really hard part and it didn't look like they were trying at all. I don't believe that. If you are hitting a note beyond the heavens, you'd better look like it or it's just not believable. I liked Christine's voice for the most part. Like I said, Raoul was expendable. The Phantom's voice bothered me because he had no vibrato in his voice whatsoever. I don't like a ton of vibrato (unless your last name is Gibb or something...) but he had none. When he hit those really high powerful notes, it just sounded like he hit a brick wall. It sounded so strained. It could have been a lot looser of a delivery if he just would have let it go and sung with a little vibrato.

All in all, I'm glad I saw it just so I could know the story, it makes the music so much better than it already is.

Oh, and the movie also made me think of this: The Phantom of the Opera was one of the first pieces I played in concert on the drum set. What a cool song it was on the set! I remember it being hard though because I couldn't just "do my own thing" or memorize this one, I had to actually read the sheet music. I can read drum set sheet music, but seeing it was a different story. It was enlarged for me but still...It was great though and oh, how I miss Orchestra! We were so good and there were songs like this that only a full Orchestra could play. Next time you hear the title song, pay attention to the drums and think of me...get it, ...think of me...ha.

This Is Me Busy

I'm sorry I have done my 30 Day Song Challenge sporatically but that's the way I've had to...and yes I will post them til it's done. I have been busy to say the least! With what you ask? I'm trapped here from Monday to Friday, how could I possibly be so busy? Yes, well there is the occasional appointment on any given weekday morning but the gyst of it...

I have been trying to work out during the day. I have realized if I don't get to this by early afternoon, it does not happen. By late afternoon, I am winding down for the day. I am happy to report that I am for real starting INSANITY on Monday. I will be working out first thing in the morning because with this...you can't skip days. It is a scheduled calendar workout. I'm excited...and a bit nervous.

I have been reading like crazy and LOVED my latest read, The Book Thief. My review (without spoilers) is on Goodreads, check it out. It is a must read in my opinion. I am now reading a quick read, Ella Enchanted, and I'll be following that up with...oh the possibilies are endless because I have been collecting books like stickers lately. I buy a book like you'd buy a Sonic slushie. It's my thing. The thing I buy, you know. What to you spend you're extra money on? iTunes, clothes, shoes, nail polish, soda, make up ?.....well, for me it's books right now. It's fun to get them in the mail and just be itching to read them. You can just take a whiff of that new book smell! If I could just read faster! I can't get enough though and I haven't even watched one of my Netflix in forever because I am just soaking up my books. Who would have thought I would become such a reader. That was the last thing I wanted to do as a kid (unless it was a Goosebumps book).

I have been catching up on So You Think You Can Dance online. My sister is hounding me to talk about it so I'm almost caught up and then I'll only watch it once a week like normal. IT IS SO GOOD. My favorite show on TV by far. This season is incredible. I could go on and on about this. Why is this show not sold on DVD? I really need to relive some of these dances. AND I must say that dancers are seriously the best looking, most beautiful people in the world (for the most part...not Ryan) but seriously. Look at the dancers from just this season. Hello! So many good looking kids, it's just really beautiful to watch them. My favorites this season so far are Marko and Melanie, I liked Miranda a lot. I like Mitchell and Tadd, Jess and Caitlynn. But, the rest are so good too. It's a great group this season. Can't wait for Project Runway! Less than 2 weeks!

Feeding Amar'e takes up plenty of my time too :)

What A Long Day

Today was Sharrid's last day off for the week he took off. First thing today, we did a couple of small errands, then we headed to the Children's Museum of Phoenix. I don't know what my problem is but I have had VERY low energy this past week it seems. Sharrid wants me to get my Thyroid checked. I feel like just being awake, let alone doing anything is draining me. Whatever it is, it's not good. Anyway, the museum was good but like I said, I was a zombie walking around. The boys had a good time. I got one picture and then my camera died. I was so bummed. The boys loved the climber, the grocery store area, the noodle maze, and the trike car wash. Although Phoenix was tired, he did not want to leave when it was time to go and kind of threw a fit. Sharrid somehow pulled his arm the wrong way, and he cried off and on all the way to the car. He was leaving it limp and holding it, and all I thought was "Here we go again..." Something was wrong and I knew it when Phoenix wouldn't get in the van. When I did get him in, he wanted me to sit in the back seat next to him and hold onto his arm. He kept wimpering about it. We were starving because we didn't eat lunch but I told Sharrid to find an Urgent Care. Phoenix did pretty good there through the vitals and the poking and prodding. The doctor said that his elbow/arm was a slight dislocation and that he could easily pop it back into place which he did before Phoenix even noticed. (The doctor was awesome) Phoenix then half heartedly cried for a bit, the doctor said he felt it pop back into place and after confirming X-rays, and a $40 dollar co-pay, we were on our way. They didn't splint it or anything but said to be really careful with his arm for 6 weeks. 6 WEEKS! Great. On the way home we stopped by On The Border for dinner. We are finally home. The boys are in bed. It's almost 9 o'clock and I'm just waiting for Amar'e to fall asleep before I hit the sack! I am beat. It was a long day! The boys have a play date tomorrow with a friend, and I have GOT to work out! Goodnight everybody!

Our Week Off

Sharrid has this whole week off (except the 4th) and we have been LOVING it! Over the weekend we bought a Van. I'll post pics soon. It's a forest green '95 Dodge Caravan. It's huge inside, has cold AC, and new tires...so we're happy with it. The interior is in great condition for it's age. The outside paint is faded. We love how roomy it is inside since we have been squished in the Taurus with 3 car seats across the back. Don't get me wrong, I HATE minivans. I voted to get a Suburban, but Shar was in charge this time. I picked out the Taurus so it was his turn. It's old and almost comical to us, but we still love not having a car payment. It's totally old school. You really have to slam that van door shut just like the old days. No power door. No power lift gate. And forest green....this thing screams 90's! I want to name her Bethany, McKenzie, or some other name that reminds me of that time period, that I hate by the way. Ugly car...ugly name, that's how it works. Sharrid wants to call her Mabel, but she's not THAT old! Since Monday was the Holiday, we went to the DMV on Tuesday to get it registered, a measley $38 bucks. Later that night there was a huge dust storm. We were in the Water and Ice store near us getting Thrifty's ice cream. YAY! Near a Thrifty's ice cream again! This one has a lot more flavors too!
On Wednesday, we got up and cleaned the whole apartment (except the bathrooms) and did all the laundry. Sharrid, Marcelus, and me had Dentist appointments in the afternoon. Marcelus did great for his first time. He has a small cavity on one of his back teeth but the dentist is just going to keep an eye on it in 6 months. I also have a small cavity on one of my back teeth. I wasn't surprised since I've felt a little sensitive sometimes. Sharrid had no problem rubbing it in. He had no cavities. Phoenix had to have blood drawn for some 3 year old screening for his doctor. He did great! I was trying to distract him by asking him questions about the train he had while I held it away from the needle. It would have worked if they were faster but he saw the needle anyway. They took their sweet time cause it was a student learning. Phoenix cried, but he didn't scream and he didn't kick or anything. He just sat there and cried. I just hugged him the whole time. As soon as it was over, he wanted dad. He's such a daddy's boy! After all of that (it was a hefty afternoon to say the least!) Sharrid took us to one of his favorites, Whataburger. It was good. It reminded me a lot of Chick-fil-a. They had really good chicken sandwiches and great dipping sauces. They aren't cheap though. It normally costs us about 10 bucks for our family to eat fast food. Our total was $18. I guess Whataburger will be a bit of a luxury ha ha. After that we came home and swam in the complex pool. I'm going to start taking Marcelus whenever I can before school starts. He does pretty good and he's not afraid at all, but he takes forever to get somewhere and wastes a lot of energy. I didn't learn how to dive or do strokes well until I was in 4th grade so I'm happy as long as we can keep him above the water. Hopefully next year we can take the floaties off...After we got back from swim, we all showered up and then we let the boys watch their Netflix, 102 Dalmations. DUMBEST. MOVIE. EVER.
Today has been a total relaxation day. We really haven't done a darn thing worth posting about. I think we're going to take the kids to the Children's Museum of Phoenix tomorrow. It looks like a blast! We have been loving this week. We've all needed the break and it's just been nice to be together all week long and to get out whenever we want, in a big enough car!
Hope you're all having a great week.

Quick Update

Why is it that I'm always a day ahead of everyone else. I must really be itching for the weekends because I am always thinking I'm a day or two ahead. It's kind of depressing when I figure out what day we are actually on, and that it's not a Friday or Saturday. At any rate, I've been plenty busy in the house with the kids and just my "To Do" list.

Yesterday was pretty out of the ordinary though...well let me back up a bit...

I have been working out the last couple weeks trying to wake up my dormant muscles. A few days ago I popped in P90X Plyometrics. I had forgotten it was the hardest P90X workout. Needless to say, I only did half of it and I can hardly walk. Keep that in mind while I tell the next story, oh and by the way I am NOT starting INSANITY on Monday like I had said. I'm not ready of course.

Yesterday our power went out at about 2 in the afternoon, not long after Sharrid left for work. I waited a while to see if it would go back on. After about an hour I realized it wasn't going to, so I got everyone ready and headed up to our complex office to see if they knew anything. They were closed early and gone (something that has been bugging me lately). Just then I realized we had just used up the last of our cell phone minutes. We have got to get on a plan and get rid of this dumb pre-paid crap! So, I couldn't call my sister. There are only two other people that I know that live in this vicinity. Jared and Deandra. They're my neighbors in the complex and they're in my ward. They weren't home. Great. I went upstairs and got a bit of info from my upstairs neighbor (stranger). Just then, I see Jared and Deandra pull up. They'd been to the Temple and said that the power went out at the Temple but that generators kicked it right back on. Everybody finished their sessions and what not and then they closed it up for the day. They said on the news they predicted it would be back on at about 8 pm. I asked them for a ride to my sister's house but they had to give some other people a ride somewhere. At any rate I used their cell phone, called my sister (who didn't pick up) and left a message. We hung outside with neighbors in the shade for a while but then just went home. It wasn't too bad in my apartment (thank goodness for perfect sun exposure!) We were in there long enough for me to feed Amar'e when my sister knocked on the door. She'd gotten the message and had come to pick me up. Sweet. We were out of there. I realized I had been Connie deprived for a little too long because we gabbed like crazy the whole time I was over there basically. Shar came to pick us up on his way home from work at about 10:45. I was beat from all the running around and being outside with the kids. I was hungry, so we stopped at Wendy's on the way home (everywhere else had just gotten their power back and weren't open again yet). Connie and I talked all about the 30 day song challenge I've been doing and books books books...it was great.

I was tired this morning. Amar'e had his 2 month appointment. I LOVE how everything is at the Hospital for us. My OBGYN, the kids Pediatrician, the bloodwork place, our Dentist...anyway, Amar'e had to get 6 shots (3 pokes). I knew he'd do so well! He only cried on the last one. It was a bigger needle. Amar'e gained 2 pounds from when he was one month. He is 13 pounds now and went from 90% down to 80% for weight. He grew 2 1/2 inches since his one month appointment (just a month ago!) and has grown 3 1/2 inches since birth (2 months ago!) He went from 80% up to 93% for height. Amar'e is such a good baby. He is so content and never cries. He still does bottle and breast and he's now sleeping through the night. He still cries a bit when I put him down for the night, but last night because it was so late...not a peep. He rolled over and went right to sleep. I don't think he'll cry for very much longer but either way, it's okay. He's a great baby! He couldn't be better really! The most popular comments I get from people about Amar'e: 1. "He's really big for just being (blank) old!" 2. "WOW! He looks just like his dad!" They usually say both of these things, back to back. It's so predictable but so fun.

I am enjoying my current read "The Book Thief". It's set in WW2 Nazi Germany but is lighthearted humorous and amusing. "Death" narrates the book and that is quite interesting. He says a lot of witty things. I've been buying books lately. It makes me happy when I get them, put my label inside the cover, and put them on my hutch shelves. I want to build a little library, so I've got a pretty good start and books are such a worthwhile thing to buy. I have joined Goodreads so if you're on there, look me up and we can be friends!

Sharrid has to work on the 4th of July but has the whole rest of the week off including the next Monday. We aren't going anywhere but I don't mind. It's really hard for our family to function normally so we are doing all the things that are hard for us to tackle. All of the shopping and errands and appointments could be done during the time that Sharrid was working if I could drive so that we could just have fun when he was off but this is what we have to deal with. We are going to the Dentist and getting bloodwork assignments done on one day. We are taking the kids to the Phoenix Children's Museum on another day. We're going to do other fun activities with them, and odd errands and shopping that we have a hard time getting to. I'll also be doing swim lessons with Marcelus in the complex pool.

I'm getting excited for Harry Potter 7:part 2 to come to theatres and Project Runway to start this month!

Sharrid is testing for another NV job and we will be doing the physical test in early August probably. It's all somewhat of a process but we're in the thick of it now, we'll see what happens. We've been down this road many times before so we always have 2 plans. Plan A: We get the job and move and start a new life........Plan B: We don't get the job, stay here and make adjustments to do the best we can for our disfunctional family.

I am excited for my sister Kira to come and pay a visit which will be sometime late summer!

Well that's the update. Love ya, leave a comment :) It's been slim pickins' lately.