Pictures in Idaho

Idaho

We headed to Idaho to see my Grandma and celebrate her 85th birthday. As soon as we arrived Carter found a broom just his size. He was immediately taken with Grandma's house and spent the evening sweeping up for her. The girls love throwing rocks in the canal and wandering around the farm. Emily found wildflowers by the potato cellar and picked a bunch for Grandma. I love it here. It's one of my favorite places in the world. It's quiet and relaxed and everyone moves a little slower. John and I decided we want to retire here, or somewhere like it. It will probably never happen, but we can dream. It was the first time back since my Grandpa's funeral and it was sad and strange to not have him there telling his stories and asking us trivia about the world. I was feeling a little reminiscent and took a lot of pictures. There is something magical about Grandma's house to me. I'm sure it's because I spent 2 weeks every summer on vacation here. I enjoyed being with my grandparents and experiencing all that country life has to offer, before heading back to the crowded city life we knew. It's even more magical to me now as I watch my kids skipping rocks, picking flowers, and walking down the dirt road with Grandma. They are enjoying the same little moments I did as a kid. Twenty five years have passed, but in this one place nothing has really changed.

On Saturday we went to the air show. Grandpa loved to fly and never missed this yearly show and we couldn't bear to be in town and not experience it for ourselves. It was really amazing!

That afternoon we went to visit my Grandpa's grave and got a picture with Grandma. I miss my Grandpa so much. He was one of the neatest people I have ever known and always made me feel so loved. I am grateful for the knowledge I have that he is in a better place, surrounded by his parents and brothers, and that I will see him again one day.

Then we headed to the elementary school for my grandma's 85th birthday party. My uncle opened the PE closet and let the kids at the scooters, balls, and jump ropes. What fun! We did a big tug of war with families against one another. John got a little too into the tug of war, not that any of us were surprised by that at all. He can't stand to lose any type of competition. He took everyone down, but ended up pretty grass stained and scraped up from it! The highlight was when the giant parachute came out. Everyone joined in that fun and Grandma was out running under the parachute with all the kids. She has a lot of energy for 85! And Carter thought the parachute was the greatest thing ever. That may be the happiest I had ever seen him in his life. He was giggling uncontrollably and running in and out. He got pulled under during "shark attack" by an older cousin and he couldn't have been more thrilled. It was a fun time! Happy Birthday Grandma!

Visit to Rigby

On Sunday we went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Peterson (my dad's parents). They live at my Great Grandpa Matson's house and work the farm so it can stay in the family, which was my Great Grandpa's dying wish. The yard has huge, old trees with a canal running all the way through it. It is beautiful. Kelsie and Travis are standing on the bridge that leads up to their house. As a kid I remember there just being some rickety boards over the canal, we would cautiously walk across them, hoping not to fall into the canal. We enjoyed a visit with my grandparents and the girls enjoyed swinging on the rope swing, playing with their dog Pepper, and playing with Grandma's old dolls and dish sets (the same ones I played with as a little girl). Oh, the memories. At the end of our visit I found Carter and my dad hanging out on the porch together chatting. I love these pictures of my dad sitting on his Grandpa's porch, with his grandson.

Kelsie on the rope swing

Emily playing dolls at Great Grandma Peterson's.

Carter and Grandpa chatting on the porch.

Soccer

We just ended our soccer season. John was Emily's coach this year. He really enjoys coaching and looks forward to the games even more than the kids. This was Emily's first season of playing and she loved it. She couldn't be prouder to finally be on a team and to have her dad as coach. She even made a goal at one game. It happenned to be into the other teams goal, but to a four year a goal is a goal so they cheered her on and she still doesn't know the difference. She couldn't have been prouder when she got her medal at the end of the season. She held it and examined it like she had just won an Olympic medal. She was so proud.

Kelsie played her third season of soccer. She likes soccer practice and the social aspects of soccer but that's about it. She came home from her game on a particularly hot day and announced that she might have made the wrong decision when she decided to play this season. We are glad she played one last season. It was fun to have both our girls playing soccer, even though it did take over our Saturdays for the last couple of months.

Quacking Like a Duck

While we were waiting for the parade to start, the kids saw these ducks that were waddling around the park. It was the highlight of the morning. Carter started quacking at them and then took off following them and quacking. I think he was trying to join the family.

City Days

Last week was our "city days". We enjoyed going to a picnic in the park with bounce houses, fire engine tours, and lots of cookies. Emily was in shock when we got to our park and she saw the bounce houses (she gasped). It was her own personal heaven. Carter was very taken by the cookies...there was a never ending supply of them. The next morning when we went to soccer games he headed over the hill to the pavilion and kept saying "cookie". He was quite dissappointed to find that the cookies had all vanished in the night.

On Saturday morning we went to the city parade. It was fun and we didn't have to camp out for two days to get a good spot. We love our young city. We have really enjoyed being a part of it's growth and watching the progress of new roads, schools, and stores. Just this year we got our own Walmart and a new High School that will open this fall. We are moving up in the world. We love it here.

Museum

These pictures are from the Hutchings Museum. Emily is very interested in old fashioned and pioneer stuff and begs to go to this museum. She chooses it over the Dinosaur Museum. Kelsie had never been with us and she enjoyed all the hands on exhibits. The great thing about this museum is that it's just tiny and we always have the place all to ourselves.

Dressing up--Kelsie, Ethan, Emily

My little engineer

Kelsie playing the Indian drum

The spooky guy that is in prison. Emily is really scared of this guy (I think she is really convinced that he is real). But she is big into conquering her fears (thus part of the reason she keeps wanting to go back). She couldn't wait to show Kelsie the prison cell and the prisoner and kept reminding Kelsie not to be scared.

The prison cell is very realistic. It is an original jail cell with heavy doors and cement surround. Really cool. This is my nephew Ethan locking my kids in the jail. It went over better this time. Last time Emily totally lost it...thinking she was going to be locked up with that prisoner guy forever. :)Don't they look studious? Examining butterflies and other insects with magnifying glasses.

Opinions on piano programs....

I'm looking for opinions on what piano method to use for a beginner? I've looked into Faber (Piano Adventures) or Alfred. Any opinions on which is a better program? Or which programs your kids have used? I'm wanting to get Kelsie started in lessons but I'm having trouble finding a teacher. In the meantime, I thought she could start at home and have something a little more productive to do this summer. If you have any advice/opinions I'd love to hear it. I know I've got some talented pianist friends out there.

Reading

I was hoping that Kelsie would get into chapter books. She is a great reader but had a hard time sticking with one book and would read the first few chapters of a lot of books or preferred to read shorter books. But the combination of new books for her birthday and lots of free summer days helped her to catch the chapter book bug. She is finally immersed in the stories and doesn't want to put her books down. (She also can't take her eyes off the page long enough to answer my questions.) I wake up in the morning (thinking she's still asleep) and find her cuddled up on the coach reading her latest book. That is one of the most beautiful sights a mother can see.

Rain

I love rainy days, especially in the summer. I am always taken back to my childhood and feel the carefree peace of jumping in the puddles, reading all afternoon in front of a window, or sitting on the porch in Maryland watching the rain pour down in sheets every evening during the summer. The rain and summer go hand in hand to me. Today I was savoring the heavy rainfall that is so rare here. I love to watch it fall, smell the freshness, and listen to the pounding rain as it hits the roof and windows. It is so beautiful and peaceful. I was standing at the window telling my kids how much I love the rain.

Kelsie seemed to be enjoying it too and then she looked up, distraught, as she watched the rain pound against the glass doors and said, "but I just shined those windows." She was annoyed. :)

It was kind of fun to trade positions, even if just for a moment.


Note on Carter: Carter was very impressed when he went outside in the rain. He kept saying "whoa! wa wa! and pointing to the sky.

Water falls from the sky. Who would have thought? He was very taken with the idea.

I love the curiosity and wonder of this stage. It's like seeing everything for the first time again, through his eyes.

Too much time on the computer?

This was my wake up call that I spend way too much time on the computer. I sat Carter down for lunch and wanted to check facebook and blogs while he was occupied. After awhile I realized he was really quiet and turned around to see him snoring away. The poor kid had to give up on mom putting him to bed. Sad. I felt really bad. I'm getting off the computer now!

Cookie Cutters

Carter was in desperate need of a good hair cut and I felt I needed to spare my friend Virginia the pain cutting his hair (He screams his head off the whole time and she has to recruit her whole family to entertain him during the cut). I decided to check out Cookie Cutters. I am a total sucker for cutesy kid stuff and this place was adorable. He got to sit in this little airplane with a steering wheel for his hair cut and watch Baby Einstein (his personal favorite). He thought he was all that-I wish I'd got a picture of him. They also gave him a sucker, balloon, and blew bubbles to keep him entertained. Talk about over stimulation. But is was pretty impressive. Despite all their antics he still screamed every time the girl touched his head. Oh, well. The place is really cute if your up for a pricey ($13) kids hair cut. But beware: my sister took my 4 year old nephew there and when they went to great clips the next time he refused to get his hair cut and screamed "I want to go to Cookie Cutters." Pretty funny--if it's not your kid!

Bittersweet

The final days of school came and with them the bittersweet feeling of another year ending. I had been so excited for summer this year. We had been really scheduled with me teaching preschool two mornings a week, Kelsie gone to school all day for the first year, and trying to fit in time to be helpful in her class. I could hardly wait for the long summer days with nothing planned. I really thought that for the first time in my life I would not be nostalgic at all, but, as always, when the final days come there was a bittersweet feeling. The excitement for the fun of summer tinged with tears for the end of another year and another chapter in our life. At our preschool program Emily said good-bye to her preschool friends. Emily really didn't understand that they wouldn't all be coming back again. She was really sad...I guess in her little 4 year old mind it seemed reasonable that they would all come to preschool in our basement forever. Luckily, she still gets to play with some of her dearest friends.
I will miss these little guys. It was a fun year for me... finally being able to teach again and do something I've dreamed about since the day I walked out of my 1st grade classroom. But, I also found it was harder than I thought to balance my family and preschool during this first year. Through it all I grew to love these little guys. I will always remember the first time they wrote their name alone or sounded out a word in a book. I love to see their pride in their accomplishments and I will miss those eager smiles.

On Kelsie's last day of school Emily was so excited. I told her Kelsie would be home by lunch time and would be home every day for the rest of the summer. Emily's shocked and happy smile said it all. She has missed Kelsie so much this year and would start asking at 10:00 am, "How much longer until Kelsie gets home?" Those were some long days.

Kelsie leaving her first grade classroom. She had a great teacher, Mrs. Richins, made great friends, and loves reading and spelling. Her teacher taught them to work together and help each other to learn. She was so excited for summer and has been counting down the days so I was surprised at how sad she was that evening. She was sad that she couldn't go back in the morning to her teacher and her class.

It was a bittersweet day, but now we are thrilled to have our Kelsie home with us all day. We love the freedom and calm of summer.