the golden crescent

David and I are fortunate enough to be watching my brother's kids for a couple of days. They don't really need a "baby-sitter" cause they're 13, 11, 10 and 7. Totally too old for a "baby-sitter". However, I must say that it's really fun to play Mom.

Last night, my nephew had a Little League baseball game and as soon as I walked in the front door I heard, "Aunt Liz, when will David be here? Will he be here like before 7?" I told him that David had Scouts that night and wouldn't be home until 7:30 or 8 but that I would call him to see when he left to drive over. He let it go for a few minutes and then piped up with, "Has David left yet? Did you call him? Do you think he'll be here soon?" That's when I realized that it was almost time for the baseball game and my nephew was really wanting David to see him play.

(Sidenote: all the nephews in my family - all 17 of them - love David. I know this is because whenever we have dinner at my Mom's, David goes right outside and starts up a game of Kubb or some other game to play with the boys. My sister said that her oldest, and shy, son once told her, "Mom, I really like Uncle Dave cause he doesn't treat us like kids. He likes to play with us . . . it's not like he's doing it just to be nice." He's going to be such a great Pappy.)

David finally showed up at around 8 and thankfully made it just before my nephew went up to bat. It was cute to hear him shout, "Good eye, Buddy!" I know that it meant a lot to my nephew to know that we were there when his parents couldn't be.

Amongst loving their children, we also love their home and neighborhood. The live in the best area in the Phoenix Valley (in my opinion) - Arcadia. Why is it the best, you ask? Let me just say: remodeled ranch style homes from the 1950s, huge lots with large front and backyards, orange trees and beautiful landscaping and it's just about one of the only neighborhoods left out there where you can leave for a Little League game on a Tuesday night and not lock your door. Now, if only we could afford to live there. For example, take this little 4 bedroom house on my brother's street. A quaint country home that might need a little updating, right? What would you guess would be the price of such a home in this area?

You're wrong (probably).

a different house in the area

It's almost $1,000,000. Did you get all the zeros there? Oh, what I wouldn't give to live in some of the houses in their neighborhood. If you read Blueprint (RIP) and adore that kind of style, then you would most assuredly love each of the homes in Arcadia.

another great house in Arcadia

This house is 3 bedrooms/3 bath and nearly $700,000. It almost makes me want to barf when I think about us trying to buy a house in California soon (because you all may remember that California residents moved to Arizona to buy this house because it was "cheap". Barf.) My brother and his wife just bought an empty lot across the street from the Phoenician Resort. I'm not even going to think about how expensive that must have been - instead I'll concentrate on the awesome view they'll have of Camelback Mountain.