Civic Duty.

This is for all you fellow Arizona residents out there who feel the weight of our upcoming special election...

I am highly encouraging you to

VOTE "YES" ON PROP 100

on Tuesday, May 18, 2010.

If you are not registered to vote, there is still time, you have until April 19th to do so!!!

This proposition will save hundreds (if not, thousands) of jobs for educators, support staff, and let's not forget the most important people affected...children.

Should this not pass, woe to our youth and their future. They will be packed like sardines in classrooms (and yes, this includes your future kindergartner, not just high school students), without supplies (unless funded by the teachers themselves who will likely be taking a pay cut anyway...), and without, or greatly reduced, support staff, special areas such as art, music, P.E., library, etc. Face it,

if this doesn't happen now, we are really only taking, no scratch that,

we are STEALING from our children's future.

I shudder at the thought of what Abby's classroom could look like one day,

unless action is taken and "YES" is the vote!

What a 'Hair-Raising' Experience!

Umm...we brought the 80's back!

(all we are missing is a day-glo t-shirt, tight rolled jeans, and some Keds)

A Good Cry Always Wears Me Out...

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Happy Easter Everyone!

What a cutie!

...and sorry this is a few days late (well, really a few months- 4 to be exact!) and I am not going to play catch up with the past four months, so...you can just ask me if you are dying for details about other events (although I may have to post on Kyle's New Year's Day incident...).

Anyhow, our day started out like any other Sunday. Got up, got ready, went to church...

...and were met with about 350 other people (doesn't seem like a lot, but our church is small, so it was a lot for us)! It was jam-packed, but it was great! Princess Abby was none too pleased to have to sit on my lap and insisted that she belonged in her own seat, but when I pointed out that no other little kids had their own spot, she relented. Well, the baggie full of teddy grahams, animal crackers, those little Oreo crisps, and well, let's throw in a vanilla creme cookie for good measure, helped a bit too ;)

Service was great, and a terrific reminder of God's great love for us! It truly is my favorite day of the year :) If you are interested at all in hearing the sermon, click on the link below:

http://podcasts1.stretchinternet.com/cglc/podcasts/feed.php

After church, we headed to my Aunt Cindy's house to say hello quickly before heading over to Nana Kate's house for a picnic at her neighborhood park. We were lucky enough to see our friend Edward (he was working) and Melynda even stopped by with Gabriel and Kiera to play in the park (and say hi to dad!) before moving on to their family outings. The kids had fun playing with bubbles (really, who doesn't?), running around, playing on the swings, and digging in sand.

Next we went home for a nap. Oh! But not before making it about 20 feet from Kate's house when Abby tells us, "I got my chocolate bunny open!" Are you serious?!?! All white?!?! I told Kyle to pull over and that girl had a blanket wrapped around her from neck to toes!!! The whole way home, Kyle and I were telling her, "Keep your hand high in the air Abby." "Don't touch anything!" Then Kyle tells her to lick her hand...

...oh, chocolate Easter bunny, you are not my friend :(

When we got home, the Easter Bunny had visited Abby and brought her a cool, new singing/dancing bunny and a pretty, new strawberry necklace. Pictures below are of her checking them out.

What? It sings AND dances!

It took awhile to convince her the necklace was for her, not the bunny.

After nap, we headed to Papa and Nana's house for an Easter egg hunt and some yummy dinner ;) We did watch Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakwel and Abby learned some verses to All the Single Ladies ;)

I'm already looking forward to coloring eggs and eating lots of yummy food next year!

Abby's first photograph!

God Bless, everyone! Love, the Dosil family

Getting Caught Up...

Where does the time go? Out the window, under the rug, out with the trash (do you have days like that too?), just gone. Sometimes I get a little sad when all of the sudden I look back and think, "When did my daughter learn to do that?" or "How many days have gone by since I talked with my folks?" or even "Whoa, how did I get this far and not even know it?" my favorite, "What day is it?". Enough of my complaining, sorry :( Allow me please to digress a bit...

One of my favorite questions that I hear from people, "How can you spend 3 hours of your Sunday at church? Don't you want to be at home with your family?" Well...it is the only time that I know I have guaranteed to slow down and focus on something not me, or my husband, or my daughter, or my house, or my job, or the laundry that needs to be done, or the toys that need to be put away, or the emails/phone calls I need to make to my students' parents, or dinner that needs to be cooked, which always makes me think of the groceries I have to buy. It is the only time I really, truly give myself to let God fill me up, because shamefully so, I don't give Him all that attention as much as I should throughout the week, and I need to. He gets the backseat sometimes and I think it's easy for me to push Him there because I know He is going to love me know matter what and not give me grief about it. He's just waiting there for me to slow down and drink Him in. I love Sundays. Why can't we have 7 of them?

I know that amidst all my craziness and hayday is that, despite it all, I'm alive, I have a wonderful, seriously amazing husband who comes home to us everynight to eat and play and give baths and read stories (I love you hon!), I have a sweet little girl who melts my heart even when she's being a stinker and especially when she's having a wonderful conversation with me about her dress up clothes and what they match and ... this could go on forever, I have a home to come home to, I have an awesome job that I believe (aside from parenting) trumps most others anyday, I've got clothes to wear, my daughter has toys to play with, I love my students' parents so I don't mind talking with them anyhow, we have food in our pantry to cook, and money to buy the groceries that cooks the meals we eat. Yeah, I'm done complaining...thanks for walking me through that theraputic moment :)

We are blessed. I have some wonderful moments to share with you all over the past month with our family. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Picking out the perfect (little) pumpkin!

Hauling it away in the wagon ;)

Decorating with Mama.

Obviously done with the craft...she's now stacking markers ;)

The finished products. Abby's on the left, Mama's on the right

(she did draw the face on her's all by herself-eyelashes and all!)

Carving the big pumpkin with Daddy.The finished product.

Tinkerbell, Leonardo (I think), some football player, and another Tinkerbell.

Abby, Daddy, and Mama with Miss Spider.

She talked about that cake for months before and is still doing so now...thanks Hol!

A visit with Grandpa Kelly!

Abby helping me and Kyle (see below) make a pumpkin pie for

her preschool Thanksgiving feast.

Michelle (my awesome sister) and me on Thanksgiving.

All dressed up (minus shoes) for her preschool Christmas program.

Oh yes, she is the only one standing up throughout the entire show ;)

Papa got it all on film!

Getting a candy cane from Ol' St. Nick.

Abby with Mama PJ.

Abby and Nana Kate.

Papa, Nana Mary, and Abby.

Because Grey Matters.

Many of you know that my father-in-law, Jim (Kate's husband), was diagnosed with brain cancer over 13 years ago, 1 year after they got married. Through many procedures, treatments, the help of amazing doctors and nurses at Barrow's Neurological Institute, rehab, and support from countless friends and family members, we were extremely joyful to celebrate Jim's current state of being- he's here with us today. What a blessing. Simply being.

The guest of honor, Jim, and Abby.

When my mother-in-law, Kate, found out about the Brain Tumor Walk held in Tempe, she jumped at the chance to invite as many people as she could to walk in support of Jim and those who are fighting their battle with Brain Cancer, and in memory of those who aren't. She also planned a lovely coffee hour at her home that evening, filled with yummy foods (see the cake below!), great fun, and amazing music sung/played by Kate, Gavin, and some of their dear friends who have been singing in coffee houses with Jim and Kate for a long time.

The cake.

Kate, singing "the Pal song" to Jim. It was incredibly touching ;)

Many of the people there have been there from the beginning of this long journey- sometimes disheartening, but also many times of triumph and joy and hope. I, for one, have only known this family as one that is surviving and growing in spite of this disease and the changes it has forced upon their dynamic. Having watched this family make their way through this, I am still utterly amazed, awed, and inspired at how resilient people can be and how really, no matter what, they rally around as much as they can, putting their faith in God that He will see them through.

Just some of Jim's many fans and supporters.

Nana Kate and Abby.

Kate and me, sporting grey.

Me and my wonderful family!

It was a wonderful night. A night full of hope, joy, thankfulness, and love. I am so glad that I was there to witness the love and affection everyone had for Jim. What a way for God to witness to us that He has a plan, one we may never understand, but one none the less. He tells that He never promised it would be easy, it would only be worth it. I just want to end this post with one of my very favorite scriptures, one that brings me so much peace and hope in God is this,

"I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." - Phil. 4:13

So it's been awhile...sorry :(

I really would like to apologize for lapsing on my posts (there really is no excuse, but I'll try anyway...). We get busy. Is that good enough? Maybe not? How about, "I was trying to get ready for the 1st quarter to end, and be away from my classroom right before on a business day, plus taking care of a child who is now on her 9th round of croup."? You'll settle...I truly appreciate it ;)

To be honest, nothing super exciting or worthy of some magnificent revelation has happened since I last posted, but I'll share what I can rummage up:

1. My 29th birthday. It was a blast! We had some of our awesome and amazing friends over on Friday night and had yummy food and drinks. And I must give major credit to my darling hubby for organizing the treats with my girlfriends. You can see the beautiful (and delicious) cake my friend Holly made for me. It had daisies, my FAVORITE, thanks Hol!

2. Julian's 4th birthday. What a great kid to share my birthday weekend with! He had such a great time with all of his fun cousins and friends- pinata and all ;)

Me and my little cousin, Greggy- he's a firefighter in a far-off, distant land...

If you look carefully, you can see the worm my daughter spotted (it's to the left of her sucker).



Here is Julian, holding the worm ;)

This is Abby and Julian examining the worm after moving it halfway across the yard.
They decided he must not have been happy where he was before...


"Woo Hoo! You've got a worm!"

Abby & Maeleigh: These girls are trouble!!!

What's a little football when you are in HUGE yard!

Hello, down there!

3. Round 9 of croup with Miss Abby. Never fails, October weather settles in and I begin to count the days into the month until I hear that distinctive bark, I mean, cough... this time we made it 6 days into the month- woo hoo! Oh well, it doesn't scare me anymore, it really is a way of life for us throughout the months of October through March :( I woke up at 2:07am on the dot to one, count it, ONE barking cough and knew that we were in for it. At least it was before Fall Break and not during it so we could enjoy our time together more!!! This time, her doctor even prescribed a nebulizer for us to keep at home so no more trips to Urgent Care for a breathing treatment in the middle of the night- I am sure on some level you can understand why this is so exciting and such a blessing for us. If you can't, well, thank your lucky stars! So anyway, all of you gambling folks out there...Kyle and I are taking bets as to how many times Abby gets croup this winter. Is that terrible? Maybe so, but we need to find the humor in it somewhere...Please keep her in your prayers ;)

She wasn't too sure about this...

...but she's a pro now!

4. Fall Break!!! Does that say it all? It should ;) Sadly, I do not have any pictures of how I spent my first few days of Fall Break. It was amazing, seriously, I'm not kidding. I don't know if I have an illness in my head or what, but it is the one break I really look forward to because I know I get to CLEAN MY HOUSE!!! There is nothing like the satisfaction you get from scrubbing your house from top to bottom (except blinds and our 'junk room'- not touching that one with a 10 ft. pole without Kyle's help!). I did it all (again, with the exception of those said items listed above): baseboards, door frames, the faces of the doors, moved couches and cleaned the floors beneath them (oh how embarrassing it is when your husband asks if the dust you are holding in your rag is chinchilla hair- nope, just plain ol' dirt honey), moved some pictures around, donated a car load of stuff to Goodwill...I really could go on and on, but it is just simply beautiful, and SOOOOO satisfying ;) How long do you think I can keep my husband and daughter tied up to keep it this way?

I HAD to add a picture of my favorite cleaning agents!!!

(from the left: Holy Cow Glass Cleaner, Holy Cow All-Purpose Cleaner, Orange Glo- for wood, and my NEW favorite...Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day in Geranium scent!!!).

Tools of the trade: a small Clorox scrub brush, a microfiber washcloth, and a pet hair remover ;)

Anyhow, enough about my craziness ;) The 2nd half of Fall Break will prove to be more fun to 'normal' people like you- hanging out with the cousins, getting our ceilings textured (what? that's not fun to everyone?), and camping with our friends. I'll post pictures of that later!

Ciao! 'Til next time (which won't be this long...)