We have a Pool!

We came home last night from our Thanksgiving trip to lake side property. JJ walked out back to check the temperature outside and found our sprinklers going full blast and inches of water covering our entire lawn.  Our sunken trampoline was completely submerged and the hatch door was floating open. Exactly  how long they had been going we'll never know but long enough to fill the trampoline pit, our lawn, and pool up in the surrounding rocks. He had to turn the water main off to get them to stop spraying.  Considering they were set to come on at 5am and we came home at midnight-- well --you do the math--I try not to think about which day on our four day holiday the malfunction might have happened.

  I just wish I hadn't been too tired and cold last night to try and snap photos in the dark. We were pleasantly surprised this morning when we woke up and found  the water had soaked into the lawn and is slowly going down underneath the tramploline.

So everyone who wanted us to put in a swimming pool in our backyard, come on over we've got one now!

What? No?   ....We can take the cover off!

Our wall is still soaked from back spray, even 10 hours after turning them off.

The sad thing is after two years not having winter grass. I decided we weren't going one more year without grass during the season the kids are actually outside to enjoy it.   I am ashamed to admit, with it being late in the season, a broken lawn mower and busy schedules- I hired a couple of guys to over seed for us. Unfortunately they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. A week later, while checking the watering schedule, we found they set it to a 7 day interval schedule not 7 day daily schedule. Our new seedlings had been watered once in the week after they were planted. No wonder we had to chase literally 40 pigeons out of our yard every half hour --the seeds were easy pickings. And although the sprinklers were working fine the days before our trip, some mystery malfunction must have caused them to stay on and so...

 our poor grass seed has been starved, eaten, probably frozen with this cold spell, and now drowned in it's first two weeks of life. It will be a miracle if it survives. I fear we will have a third year devoid of luscious grass for the kids to frolic on. 

But at least we have a pool for them to swim in for the next week.

Halloween Mayhem

 With the Church Halloween party hours away on Saturday night,  the kids had their costumes ready, but JJ and I didn't. After a fruitless ransacking of our closet and under the influence of last minute costume panic, we mistakenly decided to take a family outing to Easly's Costume Shop. An hour meandering the aisles of admittedly great props and every imaginable disguise, still only confirmed what I had already known, we were way too cheap to purchase so much as a fake eyelash from that place. But what I wasn't prepared for, were all the bona fide law enforcement officers directing traffic in the parking lot.  Appearantly the most pressing task for the police in central Phoenix was ensuring each costume shopper would be able to find a parking space. I also didn't expect Party City to have a line of 30 people waiting outside the door to get in.  Did you know those little maximum capacity signs are actually legit? We drove by that line and kept on going... next door.... to Wally World. I couldn't believe it, from 7th ave to 75th we ended up grabbing a couple cheap wigs and some halloween candy from Wal Mart. We raced home with just enough time to get ready and gather the van full of stuff we were bringing to help set up the party. I tried not to think about what we had accomplished in well over 2 hours could easily have been done in a 15 minute trip to the Wal Mart a mile from our house. And the worst part is I didn't have time to take any nice pictures of the kids in their costumes. This is what I did manage to snap in a few free minutes during the party.

Harry Potter

I love the blood red scar Jordan drew in the middle of his forehead. 

You can barely see them in the picture, but he looked so cute in glasses. Good thing too, since he has our DNA we will most likely be needing them in the future.

Ginny Weasley

Harry with his hippie father. JJ's costume turned out quite convincing.

Me, not so much, but it was better than nothing.

The Hogwarts attendees with their rock star sister.



-I think Isabel should really dye her hair that color

Happy Belated Halloween Everyone!