Memorial Weekend 2011

We had a lot of fun spending Memorial Weekend with the other Marquette's up at their house in Prescott!

Sunshine Breakfast!

Hayden had an exciting, challenging, productive 1st grade year. She had a wonderful teacher, and really progressed well. School is always going to be such a struggle for her, but having a great teacher-parent partnership was key to a lot of her successes.

Mrs. Jaramillo chose her for the Sunshine Breakfast award for the second semester. This is an award given to 2 students per class..the students who exemplify all of the attributes of the TRIBES. Way to go Hayden!

Girls Weekend!

Breaking away from the valley, we went up to Show Low for the weekend. The dads hung back at home and kept down the fort (no split chins this year, thankfully!). We had a great weekend with lots of laughs. LOTS of laughs!

Last Day of PRESCHOOL!!

Taylor finished her last days at St. Tim's preschool with a water day and an adorable program. As much as we're going to miss Ms. Monica and the whole crew there, we are NOT going to miss a monthly tuition and commute! We're looking forward to having both of the girls' at the same school on the same schedule when that time rolls around! As Taylor's class sang...."We're moving up, to KINDERGARTEN"!!!

Sanborn's 5th Annual Fundraiser

So! This year, I was the chairman for Sanborn's 5th Annual Fundraiser. Dinner, Auction and Golf Tournament. Boy howdy....if I didn't coordinate another event like that for 15 years, that would be too soon! As much as I love doing that type of stuff, working with volunteers is quite a challenge. However, it turned out wonderful! Complete from a sold out golf tournament (the first time in school history), to a helicopter ball drop..winner taking 50/50...a sold out dinner (they ran out of room for us at Ocotillo Golf Resort), and over 130 items in the silent auction; I'd say this event was a success..even if I did want to throw it over the side of the Grand Canyon! We raised over $16,000 for the kids' school, we fulfilled our goal..and then some, and we had a really great time that day/night!
Becky, Me and Shannon

Brian, Ron, Conal, Bill and Tom

Helicopter Ball Drop

Tom and Conal Me, Shan, Becky and Lisa

Mother's Day!

Conal always allows me the most fabulous Mother's Day! It's a day of rest, relaxation and doing whatever I want. I chose to take the kids swimming at Mesquite Groves, enjoy an awesome dinner...and an even better dessert! He made it all by himself :)

2010-2011 Running Club Comes to An End

Hayden signed up for running club because she wanted to participate in the swim party at the end of the school year. What we didn't know when attending our first RC meeting back in October, was that we actually had a good little runner on our hands! She had a lot of fun...even though there were races where her little ol' self was exhausted, she still finished, and finished hard! Hayden had 5 races and placed 3rd three times, 2nd once and 4th once. We also didn't know that the swim party was going to be held on a cold day in May after the heater was already turned off at the pool. Brrr!! Here are just a few more pics from this years RC season!

Easter Saturday

The Gross family invited their friends from the 'hood over for an Easter Saturday brunch/put the new awning on the trailer party! Good food, a little egg hunt and some festive beverages were enjoyed by all!

Conal chaperones a field trip!

Conal took the day off to chaperone his first field trip with Hayden's 1st grade class. They went to the PHX Zoo. Hayden, Kira, Michael and Anthony were in his group. Looks a little more like he was chaperoning a double date...strange! ;) Regardless...he had a great time keeping these monkey's in line, and Hayden was soooo happy to have her Daddy along on her field trip! He's such a great Dad!

2011 Pat's Run

We've been wanting to participate in this event every year since it started, but there seems to be a conflict in our schedule every year. Until this year! What a fun event. The girls had as good of a time as we did. 4.2 miles around Tempe, with a finish at the 42 yard line in Sun Devil Stadium. What a great way to honor such a hero!

Taylor

Birthday Girl

Taylor turns FIVE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!

Taylor's day kicked off with our traditional birthday breakfast and a trip to Hale Theater with Hayden and I to see Cinderella!

Our family came over, after the show, to help us celebrate Taylor's 5 years!

5 Year Stats:

Height: 42 inches

Weight: 31 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde
Soul: kind, joyful, respectful, caring

Favorites:

Food: Ribs, Hummous, Sour Worms

Artist: P!nk, Taylor Swift, Lady GaGa

Color: Pink

Activities: Dancing, Singing, Swimming, Watching TV

Movie: Lemonade Mouth, Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure

CRaZy hAIR DaY

Our own personal Cindy-Lou-Who!

Uncle Bubba comes to Sanborn!

Uncle Bubba offered to come and visit Hayden's 1st grade class and talk about fire and water safety, and get dressed up in his 'turn outs' (I think he calls them!). Hayden's school has a firepal..but he's never put on all his gear and let the kids check it out so closely. Bubba is an awesome uncle, to say the least!

Demolition Therapy

When the boys are away, the girls will....

Rip and Shred and Smash and Tear

We were sitting around a dining room table on one of our mimosa mornings, when Amy mentioned that she wanted to tear up her carpet. She didn't have plans or direction of what to do or when, but just wanted the carpet out of there. Well, making a statement such as that, around 4 other women who think they can do just about anything, especially after a couple of cocktails, shifts from idea to plan in a nanosecond! Thus, the wheels were in motion! The dudes had a hunting trip coming up. The Saturday that they're gone, we'll get a babysitter for all 11 kids, send them down to Becky's and start tearing up some carpet! A few days after the plans were made, Amy decided she wanted to tear out her pony wall too. I was thrilled! It's cheaper than any shrink I've ever been to!

Death

Hayden is obsessed with death. OBSESSED. Those of you who know how Hayden's obsessions completely consume her, can truly grasp the definition of 'obsessed' in this case.

She talks about it all day, all evening. Gets up in the middle of the night to talk about it. And I don't have the answers to the questions she has. I've tried to sugar-coat it. I've tried to be blatant. She doesn't understand any of which I'm telling her. Simple or otherwise. She cannot wrap her mind around it. I'm sure that's fueling the fire. Every time I turn around "And just one more question...."

It's making me crazy. C-R-A-Z-Y.