Spring Break with the Gang

Another Spring Break has come and gone and what a blast we had! This year we decided that we’d hit the town of Tucson. Look out Arizona, here comes the Filley Family!

We stayed at our favorite place ....La Posada. Steve found it during one of Sean’s basketball tournament trips. It’s nestled into the side of a hill, has quail and lizards running around for the boys to find. It has a great pool and hot pool....which is what John calls a hot tub.

The boys were so excited about going and the main reason was not only because of not having school but because there is an In- n- Out burger in Tucson. Yep, you heard me. All that really matters deep down is good food!

We learned early on that traveling with our gang meant learning how to keep them all busy and entertained. This of course means ELECTRONICS and food…lol. It also means we all have to have patience with one another and work as a team. It's just a given that John is going to dominate the DVD player with something the boys have seen a million times…probably Clone Wars. Not everyone is going to want to do the same thing or eat at the same place, occasionally the truck will smell really bad, there will probably be some fighting but majority rules and Steve and I have the final say. I think the boys understand that we start off as a Democracy but can swing to a Dictatorship at any time. It works!

The drive wasn’t too bad. Sean even drove for a little bit. It was nice to have another driver in the group. Steve could rest for a little bit and I could catch up on Clone Wars...lol. We took our time getting started and even stopped off in Las Cruces so Steve could give the boys a tour of Digital Solutions. This is the company that has worked with Steve and his partner to create OrganizeMyDad.com. All of our boys are computer savvy so this was right up their alley.

Once we got to Tucson we took it easy and swam. The next day started early…we hit the Pisam Air Museum. Austin is going to be our pilot and Jason loves WWII so we figured this would be exciting for both of them. He was in heaven! We saw every type of plane imaginable, rode the flight simulator and even had dried ice cream like the astronauts would eat. The afternoon wouldn’t have been complete without our first stop at In-n-Out Burger.

Our second day started out with the fun trip to the zoo. We saw lions, tigers and bears…oh my! During our trip around the grounds, we met 2 of the funniest people. They were an older couple that were the sweetest and friendliest people we’ve ever met. They were so funny that Sean (our aspiring comic) wanted to follow them around just to be entertained…lol
Steve and I discussed what to do for dinner and figured what boy wouldn’t want to go to an Old West Town for a Steak. We decided to go to Pinnacle Petes. It’s a huge area of land that's made to look like a small western town. It has gun shows, little shops, a train and even one of those old photography places where you dress up and take old time pictures! I’ve been wanting to do one of this pictures for several years now. Steve and I had talked about it ahead of time and decided to not tell the boys about it. It’s better to take them by surprise…..they do out number us. After the gun show, we walked over to the photography shop and went in. The boys were a little thrown off, but surprisingly they all went along with it! Yeah!!!! We all enjoyed stepping back into that era and taking a traditonal western family picture. The photographer and his wife were great at dressing us, teaching us about that time and reminding us not to smile. That was hard...how do you take a family picture and not smile?!?!? The picture turned out great !

Our trip ended way to fast but we have so many new memories to look back on and many pictures to embarass the boys with...lol

OMD and snakes...yep snakes

Last weekend the boys and I supported Steve and his partner (Richard) at Generation 2000 Kids Fair. OrganizeMyDad.com (their new company) had a booth there. It was so exciting to see all of their hard work paying off. Everyone that came by the booth seemed very impressed with the whole idea. All of the boys (dressed in their OMD shirts) jumped in and helped as well as Grammy and Poppo. The boys seemed geniuly excited about seeing people's reactions with the website which thrilled Steve and I.

We cruised around the fair and came across the Petland area. Well, what was there took all of us by suprise. Austin was thrilled. They had 3 pythons. You could hold 1, 2 or all 3 of the snakes and they'd take your picture. Blake stood his distance, John left with Steve and Austin jumped at the opportunity.

Our Latest Project

Steve and I are often asked to do a new project for Eharmony. This time it was to do a blog for them.

Check it out:

http://advice.eharmony.com/article/an-eharmony-success-couple-blog-meet-the-filley-family.html

Traditions

On Friday, I turned 35 again. I know, I know I'm not really that old, but as Steve described it I am now into the second part of my 30's. I wasn't too upset about turning 36 until he mentioned that. I mean, I still think I look young, even though I've started making that horrible "Uhhhhh" sound when I try and get up from sitting on the ground too long...and sometimes the boy's music does sound a little loud and I'm not quite sure what the singers are saying. Oh yeah and there is the fact that I have started waking up at night just to go to the bathroom. lol...ok so I'll admit it...I am getting old.

I did have an amazing b-day. I have the best friends and family, I will say that. Since moving from S.A. to El Paso my mother in law, Marti, and Steve have taken on the main 2 traditions that my mom created many, many years ago.

Every year on my birthday I would receive tulips. My dad brought them to my mom when she was in the hospital after having me. Every year, my mom gives them to me and I give them to my mom. Steve has graciously taken on this role.

The 2nd tradition is kinda a silly one, but I thought this year it had actually ended until tonight (2 days after my birthday). I absolutely love strawberry cake...whether it's strawberry shortcake or the good old Betty Crocker boxed mix. I have either one or other on my birthday. This year was a little different.....we were busy and my in laws were sick so the bday "party" didn't quite happen. My mother in law gave me my cake so that we could at least have it here. It was a beautiful little cake that was so adorable and made me feel like it was personalized just for me. I didn't cut into it and put it in the freezer. I was a little disappointed about it not being strawberry but was so touched by her generousity that I thought maybe that tradition needed to pass and more would take it's place. To my suprise today, when I cut into that delicious looking cake I noticed that it was STRAWBERRY! I was so excited! It took me back to when I was little and my mom would make my cake every year for me! Thanks Marti!

Latest News

Since my last post:

1. Jason has made his middle school basketball team. Go Warriors!
2. Steve has launched www.organizemydad.com It's still in the beta testing phase, so check it out!
3. Sean is now about 6'1 and the doctor said he still has growing to do.
4. Austin is back to playing soccer. He is with Coach Miguel who coached Sean and Jason.
5. Blake has contacts now and is so excited!
6. John is doing TUMBLEBUS every Friday and loves tumbling all over the place.
7. And me....the most exciting thing I've done lately is re-organize our bedroom.

Austin turns 11

It's hard to believe Austin is now 11. December is always a crazy month for us. Not only because of Christmas but because we have Jason's bday on the 8th and then Austin's on the 21st. We always make a big deal of the boys birthdays so that they don't feel like because of Christmas it's downplayed. This year my mom was in for Christmas.
Austin and both our moms.

LOL....we didn't even think of regular candles so we had to wing it with big ones.....they kinda look like an 11.

Austin and Blake. The helium brothers. They love to suck the helium out of the balloons and go around the house talking silly to all of us.

Austin, Badad, John and Blake.

The week before school let out we had Austin's bday party with his friends. We had to do it on a Wednesday night and I wasn't sure if all the kids would show up.......all but 3 didn't!

Santa visited Clubbie

On Saturday Santa came to the Santa Teresa Country Club to visit all the children and pass out gifts. Since John was the youngest we figured he was the only one that would "sit" on Santa's lap. Well, we actually got all the boys to do it. Blake and Austin were easily bought off when we told them he had gifts. John kept reminding me that this was not the real Santa but just his helper.

Afterwards, we even were able to get the boys in some pictures with Grammy and Poppo

as well as Mimi and Badad.

Of course, once it got to our time with the boys all of our patience went out the window.

Boys will be boys

Living with 5 boys, I have seen more silly moments than America's Funniest Videos. One thing about our boys that I hope never changes is their uniqueness. They each have such a funny sense of humor and have no problem embracing it.

Jason turns 13

We have one more teenager in the house. Jason turned 13 on Monday the 8th. We had a great time with family over. Jason was very sweet and read each and every card out loud.