is this normal?

Every once in a while I ask myself a certain question as I walk around our house and see some odd things, that question is- Is this normal? I'll let you be the judge but I think I already know the answer. Our family is anything but normal and I'm actually just find with it. I don't think I've ever met a "normal" family, each family is unique and wonderful in their own way and ours is certainly no exception. So this is what I'm talking about. 

I go to sit down at our outdoor table and this is what is on the back of my chair. I guess we will call it rubber band art. 

 As I'm sitting I look across our front yard and see our kitchen stool. I knew it had disappeared but had no idea I should look for it in our front yard against the brick wall. I do remember two boys named Jadon and Camden climbing the fence yesterday, I guess this is what helped them get over it.

 This picture has double meaning. First off, our oldest son loves purple. Apparently it's a popular color among pre-teen boys. Notice the purple pencil on the floor next to the shoes? Well that pencil belongs to his little sister. She loves purple too. At least the two of them have the love of purple in common. The second thing is that Jadon's shoes have been a source of many near injuries in our house because they are ALWAYS in the middle of the floor. It is very annoying. Will he ever learn?

 There is nothing odd about this, maybe we have some normalcy about us. I'm reading this book right now and I'm really enjoying it.

 And this is my pillow, if your not my facebook friend you may not have any idea what I'm talking about here but this is a picture of my lovely pillowcase that is white and soft and made of Egyptian cotton and I love it. I'll just leave it at that.

 I walk down our hallway and I'm greeted with this. Our little home scholars are learning all their capitals and states and because they have photographic memories, this is the way they are learning them. They have 20 under their belts already. They make a mommy proud.

 And as I was walking down the hall little miss Anna, who was in trouble for something I can't even remember, gave me a not so kind look. She wasn't letting her love shine like her shirt says.

 This picture makes me smile. Both boys are now doing their own laundry. It takes such a load off of me. Their future wives (not wives as in plural but wife singular, one for each of them) will thank me.

 The boys have 4 reptiles in their room, this is Spike. And I know it's not normal for a family to have 4 reptiles.

 While in the boys room, I glance over and see this. It doesn't even cause me to raise an eyebrow. The Ray boys love taking things apart.

 This glue gun used to be mine but lately the boys use it more than me for their creations. They are constantly inventing.

 What is this I see on the back patio? What on earth is being taken apart now?

 Oh, I see! I guess there are some changes being made to Camden's skateboard. I wonder what his plans are? I'll have to ask him about this.

 Before I sit down on our couch, it's always important to do a seat check and make sure you don't sit on something like this? Not quite sure what it is.

 I open the game closet and see this. I do know what this is. The kids are doing a sweet potato experiment. Any day now the potatoes should start sprouting some green roots.

 Guess what I found on the floor? That's right. Another pair of Jadon's shoes. He only owns two pairs so it makes sense both of them are on the floor right?

 I glance down at the floor and see Jadon holding a PVC pipe, we should own stock in PVC pipe because the boys are always working on some project that involves PVC.

 See these little stickers? They are all over the house. I even found one on the hand towel in our master bathroom. Will we ever see the day when they are all gone? I'm not quite sure.

 Someone forgot to throw away their peanut butter cup wrapper. Michael and I each snuck one after lunch, not letting the kids see because we didn't want to share. That means one of us forgot to hide the evidence.

 It looks like Anna is selling "fun paper cups" she made out of origami paper for $1. Any takers?

 Oh yes, the shoe horn. Let me tell you about this shoe horn. The kids all got new shoes and they require a little bit of help to get them on so they each learned how to use a shoe horn. It feels so old fashion in a kind of fun way. And the best part, Walmart has them for free in their shoe department so I got three. And I thought nothing was free anymore.

 And last but not least I go to use my vacuum and I see that it now has a new attachment. It totally blends in but the yellow and grey thing on the right side of the vacuum is actually a nerf gun attachment. Should I be afraid to turn my vacuum on? I'll let you know!

And that folks is what I find around my house on an every day basis. That's my "normal", what's yours?

a boy, his vest, and a hat.

Every once in a while I talk my kids into doing a photo shoot, today I lucked out when our middle child hammed it up for the camera. I'm so in love with these pictures. They make my heart melt.

Remembering 9-11

I had a photo shoot at Scottdale Center for the Arts on the 10 year anniversary of 9-11. They had a memorial set up inside the Arts Center and it was so moving. I captured what I saw in a series of a pictures. I'll let the pictures talk for themselves.

Homeschool science project

Jadon is taking a science with labs class each week, and since he has a mind for science he is LOVING it. He gets so excited about the projects they are doing in class that he wants to teach them to us here at home. So my weekly grocery list has had a few add ins lately. This week I needed to buy Borax, I had no idea if they even still made it but was happy to fine it with the laundry detergents. Once Jadon had the supplies we needed (Elmer's glue, Borax, food coloring, water), he lead us through this project where we made our own bouncy balls. It was super fun!!!!!!

Step 1: Add two spoonfuls of elmer's white glue to a bowl.

 Still adding the glue.

 Step 2: Add one spoonful of water.

 Step 3: Mix glue and water together.

 Step 4: Add two drops of food dye.

 Step 5: Mix together.

 Step 6: Get 1 Tablespoon Borax, possibly 1 1/2 tablespoons.

 Step 7: As one person spreads the borax into the glue mixture, the other starts stirring right away.

 Step 8: A chemical reaction takes place the the mixture immedietly clumps into a ball, I believe it's called imploding.

 Step 9: Remove ball formation from bowl and shape it in your hands.

 Step 10: You have a bouncy ball! It may not bounce evenly but it sure is fun. (You may have to add a little more borax to your original mixture if the ball seems sticky or you may have to add a little water if you need to reshape your ball.) Once your done playing with it the ball gets a little soft and loses it's shape so it's really a one time use ball but it sure provides several minutes of fun!

 Jadon helping his sister make her ball.

 She made a green one.

I can't believe I let them....

...play in irrigation water. If you are not from Arizona you may not know what irrigation is so let me explain and then you can be grossed out with me. Several homes, schools, ball fields, etc... use a watering system called irrigation. Basically, reclaimed water is flooded into the grassy area a few times a month and that is how the grass gets watered. We back up to a school yard/ball field so every few weeks in the summer months the fields get flooded with this disgusting water. It smells, it attracts the mosquitoes, and it's just plain gross. However, you would be amazed how many kids play in the water. I've even seen them bring body boards to play in it. I'm disgusted each time I see it therefore I have never let my kids participate in this activity, until yesterday. I don't know what got into me but I caved. It started with Camden and Anna asking to go to the field so they could put Camden's blow dart gun to the test and see if they could hit a bird. Birds love to bathe in the irrigation water so I said they could go out there thinking that they would not step foot in the water, just stand on the sidelines. 5 minutes later they came back with wet shoes, and soaked up to their knees. I started to get mad and then I thought, you know what just go have fun, get wet, but don't get ANY of the water near your head or face. They looked at me like I was the coolest mom ever, I sort of liked that, and off they went. They spent the next hour playing, laughing, and having a blast. I only snapped pictures before they got totally drenched so these ones don't give you the full effect of what they actually looked like when they were done. They were wet from the top of their shoulders down. When they were all done, they had to be sprayed off with the hose while wearing their birthday suites and that brought on even more giggles, it was done in the privacy of our back yard. I'm glad I said yes, they sure had a lot of fun! However, the first question this morning out of Anna's mouth was, "when do we get to do that again?" I'm in trouble now.

Heading towards the water to find some birds.

 YUCK! I had to get my feet wet just to take a few pictures.

This picture doesn't fit in with this post but it cracks me up. Whenver something is placed on Pepper's back like a sock, a blanket, a dish towel, Pepper becomes a statue. I'm sure it's totally out of fear because Pepper is a fearful dog and a big baby! Since he doesn't know what to do when something is on his back, he just freezes. I can't bring myself to time him to see how long he would freeze for but I have a feeling he would probably hold this stance for quite some time. He won't move until the object is removed from his back. So Anna put her blanket on him and he froze in time, just like this. Such a silly dog.

Growing up

I walked by our 10 year old this morning while he was playing a video game and was stopped in my tracks. I swear he grew over night. There is a new found maturity about it him, I can't pin point what it is but he just looks and acts older all of a sudden. I had to take a few pictures of course, I guess that's the photographer in me. I sure love this boy and I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. I have also had a few proud mommy moments this past week as he has been helpful with strangers when we are out in public, totally unprompted by me. There is nothing greater than seeing your child helping another person and bringing a smile to their face. A few days ago as we were driving, Camden scolded me for laughing at an elderly man riding a hot pink bike with a basket attached to the handle bars. As I laughed, he told me I really shouldn't laugh at him because it might just be the only way he gets around and that maybe he and his wife have to share the bike because it's all that he could afford. He sure put me in my place and I sure felt bad for laughing at an elderly man in front of my kids, so not my proudest moment. It's amazing the things your kids can teach you, and believe me I learned a lesson that day. I'm so thankful I get to be Camden's mom, he brings a huge smile to my face.
The lighting in my house is so hard to shoot in because of our solar screens. I set the manual setting to an ISO of 1600, a shutter speed of 1/30 and the F stop at 5.6. They might be a little grainy but I love the natural lighting so much better than flash.

His shirt says Rock Legend, the way the lighting is in the picture below it leaves a mind wondering what his shirt really says.