They are Coming! They are Coming!

After several years of ups and downs, and my brother in law, Brett, being out of work for months, my sister, Lisa and her family are moving HERE, to Phoenix... THIS WEEKEND!

They have been trying to find a place to move, and were looking at St. George, Utah for awhile, but nothing panned out.  Housing was one scam after another (the FBI is investigating!) jobs were no where to be found.  Nothing was working out. So, they decided to look here.

They decided to look here, LAST weekend.  Yes,  A week ago. Everything is falling into place. So in the past week, Deb and I have been on a rampage of errands and phone calls.  We were able to find them a cute condo to move into, that they were approved for, in the same area for Keera to go to the same high school as Cody - So Keera wont be as intimidated going from a small Idaho high school to a huge Mesa High School.  Someone dropped out of Dobson Academy in 5th grade to change schools, so that left a place for Jace at the same school as my kids.  We had to get a special exception for Ali to get in there too, but that turned out to be no problem either (Dobson Academy likes to keep siblings together.) So all the kids have friendly faces at school!

Brett and Jace got into town last night with the truck full of their stuff.  Lisa and the girls will get in, today! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we all are!  Lisa, and Jordan will be here for a week and head back to Idaho.  Lisa has a job, and will continue to work until Brett finds one here.  Jordan will stay and finish her Senior year in Idaho.  That was, of course, a tough decision.  But, she is a good kid, can stay with family there, and bc she will be 18 in November, is editor if the yearbook (something she has worked hard for). They are allowing her to stay. Besides, it much easier to do that than, say, have her be an exchange student around the world.  (tee hee)

So this week will be very crazy... regular Widdison craziness, but helping them out too. But I LOVE IT!

Apollo

Introducing, Apollo. He is our newest addition to our animal kingdom. Not really planned. Sort of felt like we needed to do something... let me explain.

 

Some of the neighborhood kids have been running around with little kittens - adorable, cute kittens. Amazingly, I wasn't that sappy about it.  They said they were for sale for $1, so I started wondering if they were selling strays or something.  Then one night, at midnight, I could hear the teeniest meowing outside - that made me worried. (we have TONS of black widows out right now). So even with my paranoia of scorpions, I went out searching for the scared little kitty.  I couldn't find it after searching for about an hour. (I was very brave - really!)

So, the next day, when the neighborhood kids came around with the kittens again I asked more questions and they took me to the owner. Their cat had given birth to several kittens. They refuse to spay her, so she is constantly pregnant.  (the momma cat is Siamese - I love genetics bc obviously Apollo takes after his daddy).  She just sells them (keeps the owner is"business") and the conditions were really bad. I was really upset, but not sure how to handle it. If she doesn't sell them, I think she just lets them wander off and contribute to the stray population in the area. She was really callus.

We went home, furious actually.  We debated different options and decided that we had to try to save at least one.  I put a call out on facebook to see if anyone was interested in a cat.  No luck.  We decided to barter with her and offered her less than she was asking for our cat.  She took it, but insisted that if I tell others to tell them about the original asking price.  

Apollo, our white little cat, wasn't very white, so I gave him a bath, got pretty clawed in the process, but he smells better and looks better.  He is around 8 weeks old and has different colored eyes, one green, one blue. He is very cuddly, and very playful.  

As for his name... There are many reasons we chose Apollo.  We have dog with a Greek god name - so why not a cat.  Zach is very into Mythology, thanks to school and the Percy Jackson series.  After doing some research, I found out that among other things, Apollo was the god of Animal Welfare! - I figured it was pretty fitting!!

Poseidon, is super excited about this new little cat.  Nox, our other cat... does not share the same sentiment.  

The boys are very excited. They don't like his sharp claws. So we clipped his claws.  Should have done that before I dowsed him with water and Dawn soap! LOL

Welcome Apollo!!

First Day of School

The First Day of School was Wednesday, August 4!  Wahoo!  The kids met their teachers 

Monday night before, filled out some forms, found their desks and who was in their classes.  

 

Zach is in 4th grade now. His teacher is Ms. Newburgh. She is probably in her mid 30's, has 3 kids and really fun.  We are really liking her a lot! She is fun, but strict.  Zach was sad that his best friend, James, was not in his class, but his other really good friend, Zachary, was. Turns out... their are a total of  3 Zach's in his class this year!! That will make things interesting for sure.  He has some big projects during the year, including his first Science Fair project, which he is SO excited about.  And at the end of the year, the 4th grade goes on a SLEEPOVER field trip to the Phoenix Zoo! David and I are "discussing" which one of us will go with him.  Such a fun experience.

Cannon, is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Walker - Zach had her for 1st grade also.  We couldn't be happier. She is the funnest teacher.  She is a bit older, ALWAYS happy, and always dancing around to music in her head.  You can't help but be happy around her! I have signed up to be the PTO liason for their class too.  His best friend, Daniel isn't in his class this year either, but one of his other good friends is. There is only 1 Cannon in his class this year!

Elliot is NOT liking that his brothers are in school with out him.  He keeps telling me that HE is going to school and I am staying home.  Its so hard being 3.

David's birthday

I'm so behind on my blogging again. Ahg! I last left off At Elliot's birthday... Which brings me to David's Birthday... The big 33 at the end of July.  The kids had fun watching him open his cards and presents.  My friend Chrystina had recently gone to Cancun, and I had her buy a new bracelet that he wanted.  I had given him one a LONG time ago, but it wasn't good quality, and changed funky colors.  So he got a silver one from Mexico this year.  He really likes it... (sorry no close up pics tho...)

(David had fun putting on his bracelet for the first time)

Happy Birthday David! We love you!