Evidence of her naughtiness.

Sprinkles cupcakes, what to do what to do. I know, lets smear them over here!


The attempt at clean-up.


Who can resist her?


Out the doggie door for some more destruction.

Owie is nine.

Breakfast of choice; waffles, eggs and sausage. Crown details this year, lots and lots of legos.


Dinner of choice; Lasagna (he just barely stopped calling it basagna), cheese bread, salad and chocolate cake, of course.


It just wouldn't be a party without a balloon launching, now would it.


She was not about to let go so easily. She held onto it for about twenty extra minutes. Then when it was only she and daddy outside she let it go. For gifts this year Owen got a Ripstick (a funky skateboard) and lots and lots of legos. He is very into them lately. Around ten o'clock at night we caught him still up in his room putting them together with the help of a flashlight.

Owen is such a good son, a great first child and example to his younger brother and sister. He's thoughtful and kind, determined and driven, Chad and I couldn't be prouder of him and just love him so much.

Scoripions are horrible, abominable. creatures.

They are a new part of our lives since moving to the desert. One that I could very happily do without. On day two of living in Arizona I was stung on my arm while breaking down boxes in the garage. Owen was stung on day thirty-four while playing outside. Prior to Mr. Mead scorching the earth with pesticide, literally, we were seeing about two per week. INSIDE our home. Those little bastar****'s! This is my home.

The final insult came when they stung Lily one night while she was sleeping in her bed. Take a moment and imagine that! Peacefully sleeping while poisonous insects crawl up from the floor, get under your sheet and BAM, begin an all out assault on you. Now that you are thoroughly creeped out I am satisfied that you can sympathize more fully.

Around three in the morning Lily came in saying her foot hurt. The previous day she had stubbed her toe badly and I was a teensy bit worried that her toe was broken. But being the excellent parent I am I watched her walk, felt it and decided it probably wasn't broken. So when she came in I gave her some Motrin and put her back into bed. She came back into our room about thirty minutes later complaining more and more. I went and laid down by her in to try and settle her down.

At this point I thought she'd kind of woken herself up and was simply having a hard time putting herself back to sleep. I laid there with her as she moved and flipped over and over and over again. That should have been my first clue something was amiss. After about fifteen minutes of her constant movement I thought maybe a bath would soothe her. By this point I was getting concerned that something was wrong and I woke Chad up to see what he thought.

He came into the bathroom and we watched her in the bathtub. She was in constant motion, it was like she couldn't stop moving. We both thought it odd and thought if this keeps up once it's a decent hour maybe we should call the doctor. We tried to lay her down again. Fifteen minutes later she was in our bedroom. I laid her down to try to sleep with us. She was getting more and more agitated. Chad took her out to turn on her favorite cartoon. I tried to fall back to sleep.

A few minutes later Chad came in and suggested I take her into the emergency room. She couldn't sit still for Tom and Jerry! Something was definitely off and now we both recognized it. Chad put her in the car and I got dressed. She was hysterical the entire car trip, trying to move and flip over while strapped in, arching her back. We got to the hospital and thankfully we were the only ones there. We got right into a room and what followed could only be described as a one hour long wrestling match.

She was up on the bed, flipping over and over and over, with no regard for the consequence of falling onto the floor. I was holding her while she was turning and turning all over the place. Then, it progressed and she started having seizures. Okay, officially worried now! This went on for about another hour until a nurse thought that this might be an allergic reaction to a scorpion sting.

"Do you live in a place where you have seen scorpion's?"

"Yes, we've seen about two per week for the past month and a half."


Thankfully the hospital we went to was involved in a research study for a scorpion anti-venom. Otherwise, we'd have to wait for it to leave her system, which can take DAYS. It took five people to get an IV line in her. At this point the only way to describe her is a possessed person having seizures. It was crazy crazy stuff, just trust me on that. Once the IV was placed they moved her over to the neurological observation rooms and began her first of five doses. The antiscorp drug is miracle stuff I tell you! Chad and I are still trying to wrap our brains around the fact that it's manufactured in Mexico.

Within ten minutes we began to see her calming and slowing down. After three doses she fell asleep, never mind that she was surrounded by three doctors a gaggle of nurses. We all stood around her bed watching her, her little arms and legs were still twitching. They gave her two more doses, the maximum dose she could receive. And then, she was back. Back, back to herself, we were so relieved. She opened her eyes and saw Chad sitting next to her bed.

"Hi daddy! Whatcha doin here dadddy? I'm thirsty, wader pwease daddy!"

The moment that you realize everything is going to be okay after a period of uncertainty is an excellent space. They watched her for a bit more and then we went home.

. . .where I proceeded to have what can only be described as a nervous breakdown.


When you are in a crisis, there simply isn't time to address how you're feeling about what is happening. You just deal. Keep moving and suppressing all those emotions that would distract you from your goal of taking care of business. But the aftermath? That is the time for all that to come out. And then, then Lily and I laid down together and fell asleep.

I've now sucessfully potty trained three children.

I may just have that engraved on my headstone when I die. It is that big of an accomplishment for me. I am terrible at it. I'm SUPER impatient and nothing can cause me to turn into the green monster faster than an accident on my floor. If I had a resume I would definitely put this on there. Right under the skills section; Has successfully potty trained a three and half year old. Many would sneer at the age of competency but I assure you, I have been trying and failing at it since she was two. Play dough was my secret weapon this go round.

Three down, one to go. I'm already dreading it and he isn't even born yet. Maybe I'll do what I did with Luke and hire it out. I seriously did and he was potty trained in two days. Now that was some excellent delegation.

Easter's money hunt.

Look at the panic! "I've got to get to those eggs before Owen does!"




More fully explains Luke's look of panic, right.


See the egg?








This year we continued our annual Easter tradition of the money hunt. With the grand prize of $5 dollars going to Luke. Last year Owen scored the grand prize, yes, Chad and I rig the competition. Chad carries the grand prize around in his pocket until he is near and alone with whichever child we've decided "needs" to win. Then he deftly lays the grand prize down that child's path. Viola! Peace on earth, love at home, all those things ensue.

Lily and her fashion choices.

Lily is a woman of fashion, when that is, she chooses not to be naked. Which is not all together that often. Her main wardrobe choices fluctuate between princess costumes and her swimsuits. Now that it is above 100 degrees the swimsuit is on for 89% of the day. Ready to swim at the faintest suggestion, she is. Even on errands about the town, her swimsuit is on. Just waiting there, underneath her clothes. Who knows, maybe in her mind the probability of swimming is, that high. Oh, how I love her optimism.


Back in April my girls came to the desert for a visit. Oh! I sure miss my friends. We had fun for the weekend though. We hung around Scottsdale for the afternoon and then proceeded for our spa weekend in Sedona.




Thank goodness for good girlfriends. I'd be lost without you. Enriches this journey of life and motherhood we are all on. Love you guys!

Luke and some of his observations.

Months ago Luke gave me a tip on girls that I thought was quite insightful for a six year old. Luke is our child who keeps us on our toes. I cannot tell you how many times Chad and I lay in bed laughing at the stuff he comes up with. Some are less insulting than others though. His latest smug statement could have affected a lesser woman than I. It was a typical day in the Mead home, I was on the computer buying something online. Luke breezes in the room and asks what I'm doing. I tell him. Then, he gives me what can only be described as a smirk and says, "Oh, did dad give you money to buy that?"

Which the statement in and of itself doesn't sound that bad but I swear he had this arrogant tone of condescension. I then explained to him, again, that there is no dad's money or mom's money. We just have 'our' money. He was not having it though.

"No, no mom. Dad gets paid to be a lawyer and we don't pay you for making us lunch and going to Target."

. . .what I'm thinking, "go to hell and have you been talking to dad?"


A less insulting observation he gave me a couple of months ago regarded the female nature. He and Owen come breezing in from school and Luke had this look on his face. One that communicated, "I'm going to burst, I've got to tell you something!"

I asked him about his day and what he learned.

Luke replied that he had learned something very very important. "MOM! Do you know the easiest way to get a girlfriend?"

"No, son please tell me." I cringed

"You just gotta be supba hot."

Yes, son, who am I to argue with logic like that. Owen then interjected on the importance of being, smart, kind, funny, courageous as a means to getting a wife.

Luke settled that he was just going to be hot to get one.

. . .have I mentioned how terrified I am to have teenagers?