Soooo … we bought a house. Wait, we bought a house?! Is this for real?! Yes!!! All I can say is it sort of happened out of no where, and it still feels surreal, but we really needed to get out of the rent life and into something we could actually put our money towards that was for us, and not someone else. Something we could call ours and grow our family in. And to be honest, we needed to be more central so we weren’t spending all our time and energy in rush hour traffic. So now we’re officially homeowners, and it all just worked out. We have a square of land and a house that sits on it! We’re in the old Village Grove neighborhood in South Scottsdale .. a little pocket of life right by Papago Park, the Desert Botanical Gardens, and .. a Burger King! Our street is really quiet and we’re just a block away from the Arizona cross cut canal (I think that’s the name), I’ve been using it for my night runs and I love it. The house is darling, and thankfully, was mostly move-in-ready. Not a lot of fix up or repair, didn’t have to buy any appliances. It even came stocked with rose bushes, plantation shutters throughout, an awesome sprinkler system in the front and back, and the cushiest carpet you’ll ever step foot on. It’s an older home, with a floor plan I’ve had my eye on since we started house hunting (which was only for like 2 weeks, ha!). I’m working on a little video of our new casa, but until then, here are some shots of my first to-do’s since being in our new house.
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Have you noticed how I pair children activities with good food?? ;) Needless to say, I needed it after this outing. On to the story .. I saw a deal come through for the Children’s Museum of Phoenix on Groupon and decided to buy it, wanting something indoor to do with Jace, and something that didn’t involve 112 degree weather and a swimming pool. We set out on a Sunday morning, knowing this was going to be a crazy fun day for Jace face. And boy was it. It literally felt like we were in the mind of a child. And every room was like a different child-like dream. One room you’re in a miniature grocery store where children are stocking shelves and running the cashier. Another you are painting a castle, chasing yoga balls or running through pool noodles. In another area you’re scooping foam ice cream, driving a pickle for a vehicle, building a city out of blocks and shooting scarves out of tubes. And I’m pretty sure they recreated the tree house from Hook (see below). Pretty rad. However, it was utter chaos, every where you looked. Jace is still that age where we need to hover over him most of the time, so it was crazy trying to keep him in check without him face planting into the floor every minute. He was non-stop. My favorite room was the calmest one of all, the reading nook. Perhaps that’s what my mind looked like as a child ;) All in all, it was a great place to take the little one. Lots of things to interact and engage with. But after 2 hours I was ready to get the h*ll out of there (and also swear off any more children!).
We spent most of our time playing in these noodles. Hahahaha
The best part of this day you ask? I would have to say FEDERAL PIZZA!!! It’s been on my list to try for quite some time now and since we were close by in Phoenix, I decided to take us there for lunch after the museum. Best decision ever. It was delicious. We ordered two of their pizzas and some pasta for little boy. Great service, very family friendly and fabulous happy hour. We’ll definitely be going back. Stuffing our faces with good pizza really made all the anxiety of the children’s museum go away. Crazy how food does that;)
My friend Sarah invited Jace and I to the Arizona Science Center a couple weekends back. Yes, I’m 2 weeks backlogged in blogging! As soon as we got to the Science Center we spent a good amount of time at the first exhibit, pictured here with the balls and water slides and shoots. So much fun!! Jace was in ball heaven. From there, we went on to explore and build things… and throw balls in a nose that sneezed. We watched a cow’s eye be dissected .. until it was too gross to watch any more. Jace climbed into a heart, slid down a stomach, heard his heart beat through his hand .. walked on a bridge of nobs, watched more balls float, ran in the hallways, played in the ocean sand and created a cloud.
I think the best exhibit BY FAR was the Immersion Theater in the Forces of Nature exhibit — you stand in the middle of the stage while mother nature takes over. You really feel like you’re in the middle of the storm, feeling the rain from the hurricane, the wind from the tornado, the ground shaking from the volcano erupting and more. It was awesome. Jace hugged up to his bestie James for protection, it was so cute. No tears just excitement! Who needs Mom when you’ve got a new bro to follow around?! Next time I want to go to the Grossology exhibit — look disgusting but so intriguing!
The smile on this boy’s face – melts my heart. Love you James. 
Afterwards we washed hands and went to Pizzeria Bianco, right down the way, for some wood-fired pizza. I couldn’t have asked for a better pair to hang with this Saturday. Sarah and James know how to have fun. I can’t wait for our next outing together, where ever it might be. Love you Sarah! xoxoxoxo
And then Jace crashed hard on the couch when we got home. Best. day. ever. with my son.
Happy Sunday friends. We’re still getting up around here. Coffees are in hand and we’re mapping out our Sunday. The sun is blaring (when is it not in Arizona?!) and little boy is running around, from toy to toy. He is such a sweetheart. I thought it about time I bring back my ‘Cher Joy’ posts, because it’s so important to reflect on all the good life brings. These last few weeks I’ve found the most joy in hanging out with my boys (of course). Breakfasts and splash time downtown, playing around the house, an outing to The Perch in Chandler, Jace’s new lawn mower (I’m also on the hunt for a mini vacuum, hahaha. He likes to do busy things around the house) and grocery shopping trips as a family. Oh, the little things are so wonderful and so needed when the week gets taken over by work and traffic and day care and routine. I hope you all have a lovely week.
Now that Jace is getting harder and harder to entertain, I’ve been trying to up my parenting by planning more engaging activities for him. The girls at my new office were raving about the MIM, the Musical Instrument Museum so I quickly looked into it. It’s the only one in the country, so it’s quite the outing! It’s actually been voted as Phoenix’s #1 attraction. And even more, they have music classes for kids of all ages, called MIMKids. I immediately registered us for The MIM Music Makers — 30 minutes of song, instruments and dance from around the world with baby and toddlers. It was ridiculously fun!! Jace didn’t know what to think at first, but once all the babies started giggling and pounding on the drums he jumped right in. He was mesmerized by the instructor’s beautiful voice; she sang songs from countries from all over the world. We danced, we played with scarves, we rattled. We sang hello to everyone and at the end we sang goodbye. And Jace kept his hands to himself and didn’t aggressively hug anyone so it was a total win. The rest of the day he kept banging on things like a drum, and swaying back and forth to any little bit of music. What a cutie. Rob and I would love to book a babysitter and go back for the full MIM experience. I know Rob would have loved to go through the Beyond the Beat exhibit; me, too! No matter what, I’m definitely going to plan more music classes for Mr. Jace. He loved it!
