{Homecoming Dance}

I just love this picture! It is so much better than the stiff, posed, “I can’t believe I am touching you” look that most formal dance pictures have.

Was My Face {RED}

Earlier this week Morgan's class learned about body parts. The worksheet had a picture of a boy on one side and a blank square on the other side. Morgan said her teacher read a story about the boy and they circled body parts like nose, hands, feet, etc. Then the teacher asked them to draw a picture of themselves with all of their body parts.

If you have not guessed already, Morgan took these instructions literally and drew a private body part. I think the teacher asked her to then draw clothes on her picture because she had a nice pencil-colored dress on, but the body part was still noticeable.

I asked her if other kids had drawn this part of their bodies and she said, "No Mom! I was the only one!" She then raised her hand for a high five which I gave her before leaving the room to cry. What does her teacher think of us? She has never drawn a picture like that before. Why did she draw it at school? What was she thinking?!

That night as I helped her in the bath we had a discussion about PRIVATE body parts that need to be kept private. It seemed to go well so hopefully we won't have another picture like this come home. I don't know if I can ever face her teacher again - I am so embarrassed!

Fun Date

Saturday morning Scott and I snuck out of the house while the children were still sleeping and headed to Idaho Falls. We stopped for breakfast at the ever popular Denny’s restaurant and then wandered around Idaho Falls looking for the Dodge dealership. After a phone call to the dealership, we found the used car lot and began the adventure of finding Scott’s perfect truck.

Two weeks ago Scott came home and announced that he had sold his pickup to the feedlot and the search was on for a new one. We test drove a couple – the red one looked way cool but the white one seemed to run better and had all the features he was looking for. We talked them down on the price and actually got a pretty good deal. (They seemed to be happy we were putting money down and not doing a trade-in.)

There was a JoAnns just down the street so I convinced Scott that we need to go there while the dealership got all of the paperwork ready. I have been dying to make these pumpkins that my sister-in-law, Rachel, made (thanks to Holly and her easy tutorial.) I have to say I was very disappointed in JoAnns. It was mostly quilting supplies and fabric and I really had to DIG to come up with some fabric for my pumpkins. Then, they only had Christmas ribbon so I had to use what was in my box and it does not look so good. I am on the hunt for some cute, festive ribbon.

I am almost embarrassed to share this picture because my pumpkins look so blah compared to Rachel’s. Keep in mind this is a work in progress. I have a soft, brown pumpkin waiting to be stuffed and I want to make a couple smaller ones as well. I will post pictures again when I get them all done so this is kind of a before shot. It has to get better – right?

All-in-all it was a good date. Scott got the pickup he wanted, I got an excuse to be crafty, and we drove home in seperate vehicles. ;)

What is it?

If you said a bowl full of cherries you were right. If you said a bowl full of chokecherries you were more right.

How many chokecherries does it take to make 5 pints of syrup? Let’s just say LOTS! Our neighbor gave us a jar of syrup last summer and we were hooked. We licked that jar clean and wondered if we would ever taste the sweet syrup again. So, when one of the guys Scott works with asked if he wanted chokecherries he jumped at the chance.

Last week, when we had nothing going on (HA-HA), Scott brought home a huge bag of chokecherries and asked me to make some syrup. The bag sat in the refrigerator for a week and I finally pulled them out yesterday. It took me all day, with a couple of interruptions, to sort through them and make the syrup. I wondered if it was really worth all of the work. But after that first bite of pancake with chokecherry syrup it was definitely worth it.

Yummm!

Powder Puff Football

Last night we watched Brittany play in the annual Powder Puff game with the Juniors against the Seniors. The Juniors were short on numbers so Brittany played the entire game, both offense and defense. She was exhausted by the end of the game but she played well. She made a couple tackles, had some good blocks, almost did the splits, and only got slammed a few times. I have to admit I was worried when the game started because she was the thinnest girl on the field. I thought she would be injured for sure. But other than sore muscles and a few bruises she survived. Of course the Seniors won with a final score of 28 to 6.

Morgan and Zane had fun dancing to the music in the stands. (Just don’t look at Morgan’s hair. I never intended to cut her bangs that short but she turned her head as I was cutting and the more I tried to even them out the shorter they got. I never claimed to be a professional.)

And here is Zane saying, “I not gonna say cheese!” He didn’t have time to have his picture taken – he had stairs to climb.

Real {Cowboys} Wear Flip-flops

Scott brought a horse home for the weekend. Sunday he saddled it up and let the kids ride. Soon we had many of the neighborhood kids waiting in line for a ride too. Schlitz is our biggest horse but probably has the best manners. The kids weren’t intimidated by his size at all. It was better than the pony rides at the circus and a lot cheaper too.

Painting the House

I convinced Scott to paint the house now instead of waiting until next spring. The thought of driving home to a house that looks like it is under construction until spring just made me queasy.

We borrowed a sprayer from the neighbor which made the job go much quicker. We sprayed all the green on Saturday afternoon. (And that included a trip into Lowes to get another 5 gallons of paint – we kind of underestimated.)

I worked on the trim yesterday afternoon and got most of it done. I was excited so I tried to take some pictures last night as Scott was cleaning up. The setting sun doesn’t provide the best light but I think you can see that our house is now LIGHT SAGE GREEN with DRY PLAINS BROWN trim. I pictured the trim a little darker but I am happy with the way it turned out. Scott thought our house was going to say “Merry Christmas” with the red door but I love my red door.

Here is a picture taken this morning in the rising sun. It is not so good either. I think I need to wait until the sun moves to the other side of the house and then try again.

Today I am going to try to finish the trim and do a little touch up. I might even paint the fence.

My Big Brother

My big brother was your typical older brother. He was always “in-charge” you know, the “boss” of everyone. He liked to keep us in line. When he was about nine my parents left him in charge while they went to a short meeting at the church. He convinced us that he heard something in the basement and soon had us all scared. We called our Grandpa and he came and got us.

Lloyd also was a handy-man, like our Dad. He thought he could fix anything. The bikes were always being torn apart for a re-build. A pile of scrap lumber would soon become the coolest fort. One summer he was helping our dad dig holes to construct the gigantic swing set in our yard. I stuck my foot in the hole to check his progress and he dropped the post-hole digger on my toe. I learned to stay back when he was working.

He was also a mighty hunter. He went on many hunting trips with our dad and uncles. He also shot a couple windows at our house. And there was the time we were camping and I was walking peacefully a short distance from our campsite. Lloyd said to our younger brother, “I bet you can’t hit her with your BB gun.” They got me and they lost their BB gun for many moons.

He really was a good big brother. He protected me in High School and even took my friends and I cruising downtown a few times. He also got me my first job at Albertsons and helped me buy my first car. And now that we are miles apart I know I can still call him when I have a problem with my computer or need advice on what carpet to get for my house.

Happy Birthday Lloyd! We love you!

The Real Me

Here I am at my best . . . playing with the kids.

My sister captured this shot when we were at the coast this summer and I have to admit this is what I do best. It was so much fun building sandcastles with the kids!

Riding Bikes

Since we have nothing else going on . . . I decided to take Morgan’s training wheels off and teach her how to ride “like the big kids.”

Actually, we walked over to the neighbor’s house and while I was talking she jumped on her friends bike which is a little smaller than hers. I reminded her that it didn’t have training wheels and she informed me she knew that. I continued talking to my neighbor and Morgan took off, riding the bike with no training wheels.

Brittany even came out to give her a few pointers.

When we got home she begged me to remove the training wheels on her bike and I finally gave in. Bigger tires go faster with less peddling so it was harder to ride her bike. Her friend agreed to trade bikes for a couple weeks.

Zane also asked me to take the training wheels off his bike. :) He tries to keep up with Morgan and wants to do everything she does. He follows her down the street saying, “Wait d’me Borgan! I coming!”

I hope summer stays a little longer!

Remodel Update

August was a stressful month – on my schedule and on my budget. In my next life I will plan better and not have two children born in the same month, right before school starts.

In between birthday parties and school shopping we have managed to START on our remodel project. (Yes, I got my garage cleaned out!)

We now have a wall with a window where the garage door was. Scott and I worked on getting the siding up and have a few more pieces to go. He went bow hunting this weekend but hopefully we can work on it this week.

It’s exciting to see some progress but overwhelming to think about how much we have left to do.

Someday this will be a great room!