First Days in Prescott

We moved up all of our stuff to Prescott the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Knowing that the temperature here was going to be below freezing, not really sure what we were thinking.  However, after moving to Phoenix I thought that the last thing I would ever hear in the morning was “Mommy it’s snowing, can we go play?”  After convincing the kids that snow is actually cold and that would require long pants, jackets, and mismatched socks for gloves the older three went out to make snow angels.

You can see Jackie’s at the top, Erik in the middle and they even taught Saige how to make one.

After this none of the kids wanted to head back to Phoenix.  We did have to go back for school and for my work though.  Thank you to all my great friends that gave us a place to sleep and for watching the kids while I put on a seminar in Scottsdale.

Though we did come back up a day earlier than expected, which was great to finally be “home”.  Prescott and our house reminds me of growing up on the East Coast with the parades and the cold, and of course the parades.  The kids and I attended the Annual Prescott Christmas Parade.

Not sure if Saige is scared or confused.  But it didn’t take her long to figure out that there was music to dance too and people throwing candy, and she had Erik there to help her figure it out.

Alex joined in from back on the grass with Mom.  He did start dancing when the marching bands came by.

Saige is patiently watching Erik & Jackie play basketball out front, while eating candy from the parade waiting to go to story time down town Prescott.

We are all still trying to get used to the cold, the actually having a yard and to the small town, I will try to post more as to how we adjust.

The Preston’s Move to Prescott

Back in October Tom got the job of Executive Chef at the Wyndham Garden Inn in Prescott, Arizona.  While I thought that I could handle all 4 kids until the end of 2010, I couldn’t have been anymore wrong.  We moved all our stuff up Thanksgiving weekend, then the kids and I followed the following weekend. 

Our first weekend was a lot of fun.  We went to the annual Christmas parade downtown that everyone seemed to enjoy.  We even managed to keep Saige from running out into the street.  Then the kids and I decided to go to the Christmas Story reading and the Annual Lighting of Downtown Prescott.  While the idea behind this is great, unless you hung out all day and had a seat right up front then you couldn’t hear anything.  Erik and I decided that next year if Dad can’t go then we won’t go either.

Today Erik started at Granite Mountain Middle School.  This is a complete change.  He now has a locker so he doesn’t have to carry around his backpack completely full all day.  He has a class schedule that even I can understand.  I did drive him to the bus stop where I was quickly informed I could leave.  We did have a misunderstanding of the Prescott School Districts bus schedule for after school.  We discovered that he is to take one bus to the High School then another to his stop.  Due to this he missed the bus and I had to pick him up from school, but at least now we know.

Jackie also had a great day.  She had two buddies to show her around today at school.  Her classroom is right inside the front door of the school.  It was a bit different not having half the neighborhood hanging out right outside the doors waiting to pick up their kids though.  She managed to go through the day with no bumps or surprises.

As for myself, Saige & Alex.  We did find a home for drop in daycare that is extremely close to the house.  I also think that we have decided to enroll Saige in pre-school for 3 days a week for a few hours.  However, for my first day working from home with two babies I would say we did pretty well, considering I FINALLY got them both to nap at the same time  This is a major accomplishment.

We are all now home at the same time with Alex sleeping, Saige curled up with Daddy, Erik & Jackie having a rare moment of getting along with a fire in the fire place.

Good night all, Plan for tomorrow is to do a recap with the pictures that I have since we have been here.  Check back later for more.

Day Two

I guess the first two really don’t count since we have been up in Prescott with Tom.  Today we went to breakfast at the hotel with Tom and were able to meet some of the people he now works with.  We did get some good insight into the neighborhoods and the schools which was a definite plus.  The kids and I then went and got lost attempting to find a house that we found online but had no luck.  We will try to go out again later today before we have to drive back home.

We are now home safe and sound.  The drive isn’t too bad, just not something I would want to do every day.  I am now hoping that everyone goes to bed early and that this week flies by.

Day One

Today we attended Erik’s football game.  Thank you to Krissy & her family for coming out to help me with Saige & Alex.  This was definitely an interesting game with the snack bar attempting to charge Jackie $7 for Nachos.  Unfortunately, Erik’s team did not win, but having fun is the most important part.  Saige entertained herself by running up & down the handicap ramp for the entire time that we were there.  Luckily she only tried to run out onto the field once.  Both Saige & Alex fell asleep on the way home from the game, and slept for about 2 hours after we put them in bed.

Both Saige & Alex are now awake as we attempt to pack up the van so that we can all drive to Prescott to visit Tom.  Saige being the Daddy’s girl that she is, will be very excited once we get there.  My phrase of the day is “if you can catch a baby, change it”. 

We have all arrived in Prescott!!  I discovered that 75 is far too fast for a speed limit especially when to the left it appears I’m going to fall off the side of the earth.  As always when going anywhere with the kids it was an eventful drive.  First, we had to pull off so Erik could use the bathroom.  This must be a boy thing of seeing how far into the empty desert he could pee.  I do have to admit I laughed about it for like 5 minutes.  Our timing was perfect, we arrived at my mom’s condo about 2 minutes ahead of Tom getting here from work.  The weather here is perfect and what I have been waiting for a month to have in Phoenix. 

On our drive into town I discovered that there really isn’t anything up here.  It will be an interesting transition from Phoenix.  Though, I am looking forward to a slower more relaxed way of life.  Maybe it will force us all to slow down a bit.

We are all here now and happy to have the whole family together. 

Home Alone with 4 Kids for 2 Months

So Tom got a job up in Prescott, AZ, which is about 1.5 hours North of us.  Luckily for us my mom owns a condo up there where he can stay.  We do plan to move the whole clan up there, but I want to wait for the school semester to end for Erik & Jackie and for Erik to finish off the football season that he has started.  So in the meantime I will be down in Phoenix with the kids and Tom will be staying in Prescott.  We plan to go up or have Tom come down as much as possible.  But in the meantime it will be an interesting adventure for me and the kids as we do school, work & the demanding football season.  My plan is to blog once a day until we all move this December.  Follow me to see what it is that the kids can get into and at what point I really throw my hands up and say "if they aren't hurting themselves or someone else I really don't care."  I'm hoping that this will help me keep my sense of humor as I attempt to be a "Single Mom of 4" for the next couple of months.

Being Married To A Chef Has It’s Advantages

Being married to an Executive Chef definitely has it’s advantages.  For one leftovers take on a whole new meaning.  Take a guess at the ingredients of tonight's meal and we will send you the complete list.  More to come as to what is done to complete the meal.

Send your guesses, whoever get’s the most correct by 7:00 PM tonight gets the whole list of ingredients.  We will post more as the dish progresses for more info on the dish.

Back to School

So with the “Big Kids” all going back to school we had Saige wanted to go as well.  So yesterday we did what every girl loves to do.  We went Shoe Shopping.  Not only did she get the shoes that she desperately needed, she also got flip flops, a back pack and “Cool” sunglasses to complete the outfit.  Payless is have a great sale of buy one get one half off literally everything in the sore.
She is almost ready to go
She is now complete and ready to get in the bike trailer and head to school.

What's For Dinnter? Sushi!!

There is a great new Sushi restaurant that opened to the public yesterday so Tom & decided to take a trip with Saige & Alex.  Considering Saige will eat anything put in front of her, it was really no surprise that she would Sushi.  We all had a great time as you can see from the pics below.

Waiting patiently

Coloring while she waits

She loved the sushi one she figured out it was edible

Saige even shared her rice with Alex

Saige loved the chopsticks

Day 1 of just Saige & Alex

So with Erik & Jackie in Prescott for the week, Saige is now the "Big" sister in the house and decided to teach Alex how to properly watch a movie.  They decided Monsters Inc was it and intently watched at least half of it.

Saige Teaching Alex how it's done

My Challenge!

With Erik & Jackie on their annual trip to Prescott this week, I am going to challenge myself to take as many pictures of Saige & Alex as I can and to post at least one funny new thing that they have each done each day, and the lessoned learned.

Wish me luck and stay posted.  With a 20mth old and 7mth old this could get interesting!

Root Beer Floats

Apparently, I have been depriving Erik & Jackie of one of my favorite treats from childhood; Root Beer Floats.  I was informed the other day that neither Erik or Jackie had ever had a root beer float.  So, today was the day.  I don't think it took Erik 5 minutes to finish it.