My little chef

If you spend very much time in my house, you know that there are always chocolate chip cookies in either the cookie jar or the freezer. Dad pointed out to me the other day that the cookies seem to have been missing since we moved in. Since he's stopping by here bright and early tomorrow morning, we decided to make cookies. Rather than true chocolate chip cookies, the kids requested the swirled chocolate/peanut butter chips. Yum! Ryan started out as my helper. However, after cracking the eggs, he went off to play with his dad. Emma climbed up on the chair and helped out. This is the first time she's been able to help through the whole process (or at least the parts that didn't involved a 375 degree oven).

She loves the mixer...keeps turning it up higher and higher.

Who could resist a helper as cute as this?!

Self-portrait while they're baking.

Mmmmm...milk, warm cookies and a Barbie tea set. Would could be better?

She even washed dishes for the very first time. It's so nice that, at this age, they think it's fun! She even multi-tasked and washed the floor in front of the sink. :)

The finished product in my new cookie jar from Grapples. If you live and have never been, give me a call...it's an awesome place Mom and I visited this past week. Thanks, Jamee, for the information on the store!

"You're wearing that?!"

Ever since he was born almost eight years ago, Ryan's been my sweet little boy. Yes, he can be onery and a bit exciteable, but he's always been one to come and cuddle in my lap. He still lets me read to him every night, give him a kiss and hug good-bye at school (although, now that he's in second grade, that's been moved to a new location...behind the building so no one will see), and he'll still grab my hand occasionally while we're walking somewhere. In his eyes, I could almost do no wrong. Well...things have changed. We've reached a dreaded stage of our relationship...the stage where I can embarrass him.

Tonight, we wanted to do some exploring on our bikes. It was late...almost dusk...and a little chilly. There are many little hungry friends flying around at night, desperately searching for any portion of our bare skin. So, I took off my skirt and put on some sweats and a long-sleeve shirt. I came out of the bedroom, ready to go on our bike ride. When, to my suprise, I hear, "You're wearing that?!" Nope, it didn't come from my husband (I don't think he's ever said that to me). It came from my sweet little seven-year-old boy. I was a bit surprised and asked what was wrong with what I had on. He informed me that it would be embarassing to him because, Mom, don't you know that only boys wear sweats. I should really go put on a pair of jeans. He'd wait for me.

A little bit of sadness ran through my heart...I'd could no longer do no wrong in his eyes. I'm just another adult putting a crimp (or is it cramp?) in his style. So, with a long face, I turned and took the first step into the next stage in our relationship. I went to my room and changed my clothes.

After all, I'd much rather embarrass him when lots of his friends are around in broad daylight.
(Smile)

Mom! I'm bored!

"Mom! I'm bored!" I'm so happy to report that I haven't heard that highly annoying phrase

since we moved here. It came out occasionally in Oregon; it sure is a nice excuse to put the kids to work! Anyway, the kids have been enjoying their new home. Ryan had his first fieldtrip to the zoo just four days after school started. They are studying frogs, and the zoo happens to have a frog exhibit today. Dad came up and watched Emma, so I was able to go and volunteer. I tried to get a better picture of Ryan, but he just moves too fast!

Emma and I get to walk to the school twice a day to deliver and pick up Ryan. Last week, she wore her backpack every day. I think she looks so big in this picture!

We've spent a lot of time riding bikes. I'll walk along with Emma while she rides her Radio Flyer. When Ryan gets home from school, we'll put Emma in the carrier on the back of my bike and ride around the neighborhood.

My wonderful friend, Betty, suprised me with a flower delivery. What a great way to start a day! Everytime I saw them, I thought of happy times. Thanks, Betty!

Emma reading to her baby "Emma."

When we were kids, we went to the races quite a few times in the summer. I remember the

smells and sounds like it was yesterday. We joined Dad at the races...a first for Bob, Ryan and Emmalee. We knew that Ryan would love it, but we weren't sure about Emma. It's loud, long and can get kinda boring if there aren't any crashes...

Yep, Ryan loved it...

Bet you can't tell if Emma did!?

Just in case you haven't guessed yet!

Disclaimer: for those who may think I'm a bad mom for exposing her ears to this, she did spend most of the evening with ear protection on.

Even though we were about 10 feet back from the fence, Ryan liked using his binoculars.

Mom and Dad have beautiful, huge gardens on the farm. They are always kind enough to share their bounty.

Mom and I spent one afternoon putting up 35 bags of corn for winter. Yum!

The tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes! So much better than the ones available in the stores.

To welcome us to our Wednesday night Bible study, Katheryn shared her blackberries with us. I made a yummy cobbler.

We went exploring one Friday evening. We headed downtown to the MK Nature Park. The kids loved it. They had so much fun running around a blind corner to see what treasure could be found. There are fish throughout the park...sculptured metal fish, live fish in the streams, and huge tanks filled with huge fish. We also found a great playground. The kids did a little swinging.

Whee!

My afternoon soundtrack

Because I love fresh air, I've been trying to avoid the air conditioner as much as possible. That means that my windows in the house are open for most of the day. After Emma goes down for her afternoon nap, I move from room to room unpacking boxes and putting things away. There's a sound that follows me from room to room that brings happiness to my heart.

From about noon to 2:45, the sounds of children's laughter can be heard coming from Ryan's school. They alternate their recesses, so there are kids out playing the entire time. I love the image that the laughter brings to my mind. I imagine the quite playground...abandoned as the kids sit in the classroom (hopefully) learning. Then, the sound of the bell. I love that Boise still uses the old noise-as-can-be school bells. (Beaverton's were very quiet...not even sure they could be heard outside). Before the bell has even stopped ringing, the doors open and the playground is flooded with kids moving as fast as they can. I remember trying to fit as much fun as possible in those fast 15 minutes. As I watch from a few blocks away, it looks like monkeys crawling and running all over.

As they play, there's no holding back...kids are so good at just letting out what they are feeling. We adults tend to hold back, just in case someone is watching that might not approve. Kids let the laughter out and think nothing of it. To me, there's no other sound like the sound of children laughing. There's a certain kind of freedom in it that seems to be lost as we get older. Wouldn't it be great to get that freedom back? To feel something...to show it...and not worry about what others might think?

A few tidbits while taking a break from unpacking

I meant to put this at the end of this post, but goofed. Oh well. We are soooo excited to be able to see sunsets like this again. This was the view from the picture window in our living room (just ignore the street sign).

Bob started work yesterday. He's taking over another person's clients, so he's jumping in with

both feet right away. The comute is great, the hours will be very nice once he's up and running, the people are nice...sounds like it's gonna work out. He told me last night that one of the ladies that works in the office told him to warn the kids and I that we wouldn't see much of him during tax season. Bob laughed and said that, since we are used to not seeing much of him for nine months out of the year, this will be a nice change. So looking forward to more family time!

Ryan started second grade yesterday. It's so hard to believe that my little boy is no longer

a little boy! The school is just down the street (I can hear the kids at recess as I type this). He told us that he made a new friend and almost made another. He plans on finishing making the second friend today. His teacher seems nice. He's already got a field trip to the zoo this Friday!

Meet Tella. Don't worry about remembering her name; Emma changes it several times a day. We told her that, once we moved, she could get a fish. She decided she wanted a pink one. We happened to find one yesterday. Emma loves to watch her eat.

I-D-A-H-O

After living out of suitcases since August 7th, we've finally made it to Idaho. We moved everything (well, almost everything) from the garage to the house yesterday and spent quite a bit of today finding homes for all of our "junk." According to Dad (he drove the moving van and took it through the truck scales), we have 4000 pounds of "junk." I think that the piano, our books and my scrapbooking albums and supplies probably account for half of that. Whew! It wouldn't break my heart to never see another box.

Thanks so much to Mom, Dad, Max, Amanda, Ron, Jamee, Betty, Jenny and Diana for all of your help with the move and with watching the kids! Couldn't have done it without all of you!

Off to bed. Bob starts work tomorrow, Ryan starts school and Emma and I are going exploring. I'll upload pictures later this week after Ryan's first day. Hope all is well with all of you.

Send Mom flowers on your birthday

Today is my birthday. Whenever this day rolls around, I think of my mom. Since I've had two kids, I know what she went through with the pregnancy, the delivery and the baby years that followed. I'm sure that it was very easy to love me when I was nine months old and cuddly-cute. Then, the terrible twos and threes came along. Since Mom had all four of us within five years, I'm sure that she had a delightful time dealing with a two-year-old daughter, a four-year-old son, a five-year old son and a newborn son. Besides the kids, Mom and Dad worked. Oh man, did they ever work! Talk about someone that deserves a medal!



Then came the early school years. Looking back at the pictures of my sweet little smile, I must have been an easy child. But then....the years when my "evil" side came out. I remember yelling at Mom, running to my room and slamming the bedroom door. Slamming the door at our house had quite the affect because the doors are solid wood with nothing to slow them down. The whole house would shake!



Next came the teenage years...she stuck with me through horrible PMS (sorry if that's too much information!), through hating boys, through liking boys, through sports, through learning how to survive three brothers and their wresting obsession, through so much. I spent the first two years of college at home, so she had to put up with my attitude that I knew everything and she knew nothing. She had to worry about me when I was out late, knowing that I was getting older but that I was always her little girl.



Then, I moved to La Grande to finish college, and she had to do all of the same things long distance. I remember calling her once in the middle of the night because my boyfriend had broken up with me. She wasn't able to do much over the phone, but it just felt good to talk to Mom.

Just out of college, Bob and I got married (10 years just last week!). That was probably the easiest time for my mom and me so far. She'd come visit and we'd go shopping. Bob would always side with her on any of our arguments, so that was nice for her. I'd come home and we'd do some more shopping or scrapbooking. It was a fun time getting to explore our new relationship with me as an adult.

A couple of years later, Ryan was born. Emma was born four years later. I know that I snapped at her several times when she'd offer helpful suggestions regarding the kids. She was right, of course, but I wasn't willing to admit it. I remember one night when Emma was less than a month old. Emma spent her first month crying...it was delightful! Anyway, Mom was there visiting. I'd been walking the living room and kitchen with Emma for hours, trying to get her to go to sleep. Mom was sleeping (or trying to sleep) on the futon in the living room. She offered to take Emma and try to get her to sleep. Can you believe that I told her no?! Pride is a powerful thing. I like to think that, if faced with the same situation today, I'd hand her right over with a smile and hug.

I don't know about Mom, but I love the relationship we have now. We have so many of the same interests: the kids, scrapbooking, card making, visiting the Farmer's Markets, taking photographs, decorating, combing the beach, berry picking. Whenever we're together, we are enjoying ourselves. She's a wonderful Nana to the kids...always willing to sit down and read "just one more story." She's a wonderful spiritual example to all of us. I love that the kids will be able to look back at Mom and Dad and know that they shared the same beliefs.

So, as I sit here, one year older, I'm thankful for Mom. I'm so thankful that I was born to this mother. I'm thankful for the endless, unchangeable, unrestricted love I've always received from her. I'm thankful that she's put up with us for all of these years. I'm thankful more and more each day that she's my kids' Nana.

A couple of years ago, I read an article from a lady that decided to thank her mother every year on her birthday, not the mother's but the daughter's. She sent her mother flowers each year when the date of her birth rolled around. I decided to do the same.

Mom, you've got your flowers on the desk at work. Each time you look at them, please remember that I love you and that I'm thankful for you each and every day.

**Disclaimer: This tribute to my mom is not intended as an exclusion of my dad. I love my dad and am very thankful for him. There are many stories about Dad from my childhood that I plan to share in a future blog. You turn's coming, Dad!

Summertime...

Sunny days

Sun dresses

Watermelon dripping down her chin

Sweet summertime.

Why do I scrapbook?

I've been asked many times why I scrapbook. Why do I take perfectly good photos and cut them? Why do I spend whole Saturdays once every month or so sitting in a store piecing together things that I've just cut apart.

One reason is that I get to spend time with my friends while I'm scrapbooking. This is Jenny. She and I spent part of the day today scrapbooking. I have other friends (Betty, Tammarie, Denise, and Diana) that I scrapbook with also. Being busy mothers, there is seldom time when we can just sit and chat. Most of the time, there are many other things that need to be done. When we're scrapbooking, we can get caught up on each other's lives while we are accomplishing something. It's a great way to spend time with friends, getting to know them even better.

Who can resist all of these colors? I love to look at a photo and try to find papers that will enhance the photo. It's easy to overdue a page, to overpower the photo. I like to have very simple pages so that the main focus are the photos.

Once you've chosen the photos, there is an amazing variety of embelishments you can add. Some pages have just paper...some have brads, buttons, ribbon, stickers, die cuts, flowers...

...and some pages are lucky enough to have a little "bling."

I made an entire 8 x 8 album today of our family photo shoot. Kyla did such a wonderful job on the photos; I wanted the pages to be simple in order for the photos to be the focus.

Because I go scrapbooking just once a month, I'm usually due for a little "break" from the kids. What I love about scrapbooking is that most of the time, I'm scrapbooking photos of the kids. So, even though I'm enjoying a little time away, the kids and Bob are foremost on my mind. I find that, when I get home, I appreciate them all even more and look forward to another month of quality time. All of that quality time gives me lots of opportunity to take more photos...so I can scrapbook them. See...it's an endless circle! :)
I love it when I get home and either Bob or the kids ask to see the pages that I've worked on.

Every once in a while, one of us will pull a scrapbook off the shelf and look at it. Usually, one of the kids is called over to look at a photo of themselves. Then, another comes off the shelf and then another...until there's a mountain of memories piled on the living room floor.

For me, scrapbooking is a wonderful way to remember the past...to put a feeling with the photos, to record the memories of a special occasion or to document just how much fun running through the sprinkler can be. I'm so lucky because I have a husband who encourages my hobby...who wants me to have a little time to myself, to give me a chance to get a little bit of my sanity back. :)

That's why I scrapbook.

Zerbits and Angel Kisses

At the end of a long, hard day (i.e. packing, "fighting" with Ryan for six hours to get him to write one page in his summer journal, packing some more), all I want to do is crawl into my cozy bed (it was cold and wet here today), curl up with my book and escape to Blossom Street (Debbie Macomber). Just the thought is so tantalizing...but then I hear something. Could it be? Yes it is. Two little voices (one not so little anymore) saying "I want my Mommy!" You see, we have our bedtime rituals that we have to go through each night.

First, I head to Emma's room. We curl up in her new twin-size bed with her "Bedtime Treasury" book. Tonight, she picked the story of the chicken with three very lazy friends who couldn't be convinced to help make the bread but were very ready to help eat the bread. They, as it should be, ended up watching the chicken and her little chicks eat the bread as they had none. After the story, the thumb goes in the mouth. Emma has learned that the story stops if the thumb is in her mouth. Once the thumb is properly inserted, we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Then, she gets to pick a meeting song. With Emma, it's always either #1 or #2. Tonight, she picked "More About Jesus." Our last song is always the books of the New Testament. Sometimes, her little soft hand covers my mouth as she informs me that she wants to sing it "all my myself." Finally, we read a short story in her Bible and pray. She's added a new part to her bedtime routine. After I pray with her, she gets on her knees at the side of her bed and informs me that she's going to pray to "God, who is Lord." She then proceeds to tell God a story about one of her favorite Princesses, ending with "we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen." Then, it's back into her bed and time to tuck her in. We exchange the normal hugs and kisses, then there's a few butterfly kisses, an eskimo kiss, an "ooh, ooh" hug (courtesy of Nana), and lastly one more normal kiss. Finally, an "I love you" and a "good night" and the lights are out.

Then, I head next door. Ryan (usually) has been laying in his bed looking at a book. I read a chapter to him from whatever book he's reading. He's part way through "My Side of the Mountain," so we read a chapter in that tonight. We talk a little about his day. Then, we sing a song. Lately, he's been picking his favorite song, #29, "God's Word is So Pure." Then, I listen as he prays. A quick kiss and hug, an "I Love You" and lights off.

How could I pass that up? How could I choose a fictional story over the one that's my reality? I love these moments with the kids. I know that they won't last forever. Ryan's bedtime ritual is already shorter...pretty soon, I might not even get the quick hug and kiss. So, I've gotta treasure them while I can.

It makes me remember the first book that Mom bought me when I was pregnant with Ryan, "I'll Love You Forever." The last pages where the elderly Mom sneaks into her grown son's room to hold his as he sleeps tears me up. Then, when the son sneaks into his Mom's room and rocks her...then goes home to his own child and starts the ritual with his child...so sweet. I love the line "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." How can we not treasure these days?

So, tomorrow, after I've spent most the day packing and arranging our move, I'll look forward to those last minutes of the day with the kids...to know that the last moments of their day were spent thinking of God, family and hearing that they were loved.