Photo taken August 2008 at the farm

What a lovely day it's been.

After dropping Ryan off at school, Em and I headed to the YMCA. We just recently joined, so we decided to see what they had to offer for the two of us. While I walked my two miles on the treadmill, Emma got to play in the gym with 15-20 kids her age. Afterwards, we put on our swimsuits and splashed around for a bit. I love to watch Emma when she's with children she doesn't know. She thought that one little girl needed help getting out of the pool, so she offered her hand. Three children were sitting in a circle in the pool. Emma plopped down next to them and put her arms around two of them. One little girl looked lonely, so Emma went and played with her. It turns out that this little girl had asked the other girls to play with her, but they had refused and "given her mean looks." We discovered that this little girl is at the pool every Tuesday morning, so we've decided to make Tuesdays our "Y" day.

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We drove through a rain storm on the way home. When we pulled up to the house, Emma was so happy to see that Dad was here. He watched her while I ran to Costco. When I left, the sky was black, hail was coming down and it was thundering. Twenty minutes later, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I love spring in Idaho...the weather changes so quickly. Luckily, compared to Portland, we have much more sun than rain. We are so looking forward to less rain this year! It will be refreshing for no moss to grow on our cars this year...not kidding...moss grew on our cars in Portland.

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I hope that all of you have a fabulous day. I'm off to tackle the disaster that is Emma's bedroom. And then the moutain of laundry that has taken up residence in our room.

Hope you're able to see a little sun today.

Moppet Togs Spring Sale

For all of you in or around the Boise area, Moppet Togs has announced their hours for the Spring sale. It will be at the same location on Fairview March 19-21. I went last year for the first time and found tons of really nice clothes for both kids. If you need more info, please let me know or you can Google their name to find their website.

The kids and I had a fabulous weekend. I got Ryan out of a school a little early on Friday, and we headed to Mom and Dad's.As soon as we got there, Dad and Ryan headed on down the road for a quick bike ride.

Emma and I packed the kids' things into the house. Dad had very bravely volunteered to watch the kids for the entire weekend.

Emma was very excited to be able to spend some time outside working in the garden, digging holes and swinging in her swing.

Ryan was a big help as he and Dad cleaned out last year's garden.
They told stories, went to A&W for dinner and had a great time.

Meanwhile, Mom and I drove to Union (near La Grande).

This picture doesn't quite capture the beauty of the sun shining

on the snow-topped moutains.

They were a beautiful shade of pink. Lower down in the valley,

we could see green starting put it's way back through the brown of winter.

Just off of the highway we took from the freeway, we came upon the windmills. I've seen these from a distance, and I've seen pieces of them as they transport the parts on the freeway. Nothing can compare to the enormous size of these when you see them up close. If the wind had been a little calmer and the daytime not leaving us so quickly, we would have stopped. As it was, we did a quick drive-by photo.

This is the lovely little cottage where we slept Friday and Saturday nights. Just as you come around the corner into Union, you are met with a beautiful sight...a 100-year old farmhouse with lights shining in every window, and this cute little cottage just behind it. This is "Another Place & Thyme Bed and Breakfast." We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. As we walked in, we were met with the wonderful scent of lavender. Homemade quilts are everywhere. It was perfect.

As we settled in, Mom and Leasa (the owner) started talking about massages. Leasa has been a massage therapist for about a year and has a place in La Grande and also gives massages at the cottage. I happened to mention that I had only had a five-minute massage once. Before I knew it, I was on the massage table...thoroughly enjoying an hour of perfect contentment.

If you're ever in the La Grande area and need a place to stay, consider Leasa's cottage.

I'll post the website on my sidebar.

The reason we were in town was for a fundraiser for Leasa's two youngest children. Britta and Caleb were selected to travel to Europe this summer.

Leasa and the kids arranged a craft day at a church in Cove. We were able to spend Saturday from 8 am to 9 pm working on any craft. Mom and I took our scrapbooking supplies and accomplished quite a bit. On the way to Cove, we stopped first at Aggie's in Union. They have the best mochas....they beat out Starbucks anyway! We got to Union around 8:30 and discovered a beautiful breakfast layed out for us. I'd list everything we had, but I don't know what all of it was called. My favorite part of breakfast was the

strawberry lavender scone. Delicious!

There were eight of us there, plus the most mild mannered 2 1/2 month old baby I've ever seen. She almost cried once, but it sounded more like a laugh. :)

Most of us were scrapbooking, but Lori and Leasa were sewing up some wonderful creations.

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Every hour, door prizes were called. Mom was chosen first and chose the purse that I had my eye on...I tried to smuggle it out later, but she caught me. Hmmmm....wonder if I'll ever have anything like that someday.

The best part of the day was spending time with my mom and my friends. I was so glad that Betty was able to dirve over from Portland. We got to scrapbook next to each other the whole day. Her sister, Lynette, was in our group of tables also. It's always nice to spend time with her...such a sweetheart.

More food...this was our lunch spread. It was such a good idea to have finger food. Rather than choosing one or two things, we were able to sample everything. My favorite was the fruit salad there in the front right part of the photo with the kiwi on top.

Luckily, Leasa was sharing recipes!

I don't have a photo of dinner...but it was tenderloin, an awesome cous-cous dish (not sure that's spelled correctly, salad, bread and asparaprass.

Needless to say, we ate very well on Saturday!

We each got one of these huge tables, so Mom and I spread out all of our supplies on one and shared the other. It is going to be so hard to go back to using 4 feet of space at the

scrapbook store!

Lori is a childhood friend...I've known her forever. She's also Leasa's sister. She

had been sick all week, but luckily felt well enough to join us on Saturday.

Mom and I...she's looking a little tired! :)

We packed up at 8:30 and headed back to our cottage.

We had such a wonderful time. We're both so glad that

we live close enough to each other that we can do this more often.

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Thanks, Dad, for watching the kids for me and for arranging for Mom to

spend the weekend at the craft day.

Thanks, Bob, for working so hard for all of us!

We missed you this weekend.

Can't wait to see you again in mid-April! :)

Finally!!

I woke up last night to the sound of rain pounding against our windows. So far today, we've had hard rain, horizontal hail, snow, wind gusts up to 50 mph, dark clouds, sunbreaks...just about every kind of weather you can imagine. As Mom says, welcome to Spring in Idaho. Spring? This is spring? It seemed so wintery. Here's what it looks like now.

There's a window in our kitchen that looks out over the flower bed where I planted some bulbs last fall. All winter, all I've seen is the bark chips. And there's a lot of them. Every day, I look out the window, hoping to see a bit of green sneaking up through the brown. After today's weather, I figured that today was not the day. But, oh, look at what I found!

They grew!

This is my first time planting bulbs. As some of you know, I did not

inherit my mom's green thumb.

But, apparently, I can put something in the grounds, and it will grow!

The trees are trying their hardest to believe that spring it on the way.

Some perennials coming back from last year.

WELCOME SPRING!
So glad you decided to come for a visit!

Emma's Fieldtrip

Emma's preschool class took a fieldtrip today to the Discovery Center. It was a lot of four-year-olds running around pushing buttons. They had a blast. Some of it was too old for her, but she didn't mind at all. As long as there was a button to push, she didn't care if it was creating an electrical charge, changing the color prism or testing her hearing. There were a few exhibits that were her favorites.

Both she and Wyatt really enjoyed the grocery store. Checker Amy was quite speedy. I'm thinking she could replace quite a few of our checkers at the nearby Fred Meyers! Here's Emma giving her money to Amy after all of the groceries were scanned and "bagged." The part that confused her a bit was when we told her to put them all back on the shelves after she paid for them. I'm curious to see what happens the next time we go grocery shopping...will we have to put them all back after paying?

She LOVED how the air would grab the ball from her hands and throw it up in the air.

I think she stood still the longest for the tornado. She doesn't know what a tornado is, so she wasn't afraid of it...watching it move around mesmerized her.

Here is she looking at a part of a dandelion in the microscope.

Both Emma and Wyatt enjoyed throwing different weighted objects onto this fountain of air. Some would hover above the air and some were so light that they would shoot out of the exhibit. Wonder how I could rig one of these up here at the house...I could see hours of entertainment!

Beautiful days ahead

I haven't looked at the forecast lately, but I feel that there are beautiful days ahead. This weekend was a perfect end to the week. Friday, after Bob got home from work, the kids and I convinced him to put on jeans instead of pajama bottoms. He'd been up since before 4 a.m., but he put on his jeans and came outside with us. It was in the 50's and was simply beautiful.

Emmalee tried out the tennis racket she received for Christmas. We are all looking forward to lots of hours on the courts this summer.

I think this one wacked Bob pretty hard...if she connects with the ball, she's got a
pretty good arm.

Ryan and Bob played catch for a while. I love to see the two of them outside spending time together. The guys normally got fishing once a year for the annual fishing weekend with Grandpa, uncles and cousins. This year, however, since we're back in God's country (as my Dad would say) we plan on going fishing as often as possible. Ryan received a tackle box complete with tackle for his birthday...he's spent the last three evenings organizing it.

Here's me and my sweetie. Ryan took the photo for us, but Emma really wanted to be in it. You can see her little head hiding behind the tennis racket that's sneaking into the picture.

That evening Mom came to spend the night. We enjoyed BBQ chicken with bacon and cheese, roasted asparagus, and hummus with homemade pita chips. Yum! After dinner, Bob was kind enough to watch the kids while Mom and I took a quick trip to the book store and the scrapbook store. Saturday morning found Mom, the kids and I at the YMCA by 9 a.m. The kids had a blast playing in the pools. Emma and I went back and forth between the kiddie pool and one of the larger pools. Ryan passed one of the swim tests, so he was able to go on the slide. He must have went up that thing 35-40 times. There were quite a few stairs to climb to get to the top, so he was exhausted by the time we left. Mom treated us to a yummy lunch afterwards. Watching my kids eat, you would think that I never fed them. It was quite entertaining. Then a quick trip to the mall and then back home. Sunday was a quite day with morning and afternoon meeting and meeting Daddy for lunch.

*****

What a wonderful weekend it was.

*****

And now, tonight as Bob and the kids are sleeping, I sit here with a heavy heart. I received two e-mails today that made me sad. For totally different reasons. There are two people that I care very deeply for that are in my thoughts tonight...I feel like there should be something I can say that would help them. As I've been baking cookies this evening, I've been formulating a reply to one of the e-mails in my head. I feel like there is so much I could say to justify what I believe...to maybe make them understand and believe too. But that's gotten me into trouble in the past. I know that I cannot make someone believe or have faith. That can't come from me. So, I've learned that it's often better to say nothing at all and just pray.

So happy to be posting #140!

I'm so happy to be back on my blog! It seems like it's been a long time since I've posted. I've so enjoyed catching up on all of the wonderful blogs on my sidebar.

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First and foremost, I'd like to direct everyone here

Please pray for this sweet little boy in Texas. He received severe burns

from a burning barrel accident.

We pray that he fully recovers.

*****

About 3:00 in the afternoon on Valentine's Day, I called Bob and asked him, "Sweetums, would you rather have waffles or prime rib for dinner tonight." There was silence. I just knew that he was quickly comparing the two, deciding which sounded better after being at work since 4 in the morning. Hmmmmm... Finally, he was able to make up his mind. Waffles!

Just kidding...he chose the prime rib. So, we spent Valentine's evening at Max and Amanda's.

They sure can cook! If you're ever in a position to do so, please invite yourselves over for dinner at their house. Delicious!

Afterwards, the kids flew (crashed) WWII planes on the flight simulator, Bob slept soundly not two feet away, and the rest of us played Cranium. Chris was staying at their house, so we played girls against guys. Poor Amanda was handicapped (her partner), so she lost. Sorry, Amanda!

*****

I have a wonderful friend with a February birthday (several actually).

I made my first apron without a pattern and box of cards that holds 10 homemade cards.

(if any of you crafters would like a template for the box, please let me know)

One of these days, I've gotta make myself an apron. Mine are just plain and boring! Something like this has gotta make cooking more enjoyable, right?

*****

Congrats are in order for the new mommies-to-be.

Here and here and my sisters-in-law in Pendleton, OR and Michigan.

Can't wait to meet the new little ones, and Bob is so happy that there will be babies around to soothe my baby cravings!

*****

Something funny Emma said today...

I was getting ready to drop her off at school after doing the same with Ryan. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, you dropped both of your children off at school (yes, she really does talk like that sometimes). So you'll be at home alone. Do you think that you'll be brave to stay home alone like I'm brave to go up high?"

I love that she was concerned that I'd be scared to be home alone.

Little does she know...

*****

We received some good news on Ryan today. When he was in the first grade in Beaverton last year, he was tested for their TAG (talented and gifted) program. He was not accepted because his reading comprehension was not high enough. His teacher here recommended that he be tested for our district's GATE (Gifted and Talented) program. I met with the school this morning, and am so pleased to say that he's been accepted. His reading comprehension level is now at 8th grade level and other portions of his reading test were at 10th grade level. In order to meet the criteria, the Full Scale IQ must be at or above 124. He was tested at 132, which means he meets the criteria for the Highly Gifted program. For this year, he'll be bussed to another school once a week where he'll be in a class with just 12 second and third graders and two teachers. The class will be much more hands-on and have more advanced material for him to work on. For next week, we'll either continue as we are now with him attending the other school once a week and moving up one grade for some of his courses, or we have the option to enroll him full-time in the GATE school. We are so glad that he'll be challenged

a bit more in school.

*****

So, there's my update for the past week of silence.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend.

We are enjoying beautiful weather here...sunshine and temps somewhere in the 50's.

I'm off to clean house (Mom's coming to spend the night), pick up Ryan and then do a

little bike riding with the kiddos.

On conquering fear

Just after starting preschool in September, Emma was at the large play structure that the preschool uses for recess. It was a day out of school for the older kids, so it was quite a bit busier than normal. Partway through the kids' 15 minutes in the play structure, Emma came down crying. The teacher could not figure out what had happened and determined that she must have gotten scared up on the top level. If you know Emma at all, and as she'll tell you, she's not afraid of anything! That changed that day. What had happened is one of the school-aged girls had hit her when she was playing up on top. Now, if you ask her about it now, she'll tell you that a "big, huge, girl hit me over and over again." The incident has grown in her mind, and she has refused to go up to the top of the play structure ever since.

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Today, she conquered her fear.

Ryan had the day off from school, and he had never been there to play. So, we spent about 1/2 hour there before it was time for Emma's class to come in. As soon as she saw him, she ran up and grabbed his hand. (I cannot believe that I forgot to bring my camera!!!). She led him over to the climbing wall that leads up to the top level. At every turn, he was there for her. I watched as he shielded her from the other kids, as he gave her a push to help her get up through a hole in the ceiling, as he held back the big swinging bags so they wouldn't hit her in the face. They played together for 20 minutes...the entire time up on the top level. Both of them had smiles...big smiles...that showed how happy they were.

*****

Sometimes, the kids drive me nuts with their bickering and fighting. But, it's times like these that touch my heart. The times that they help each other out, the times they play together, the times Ryan will talk to Emma in the voice he uses just for her...asking if she needs help.

*****

Thank you, Ryan, for helping Emmalee overcome her fear today.

Valentine's Day through the years...

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

happy valentine's day to all

What I'm Thankful For Tonight

Cassie listed ten things she was thankful for and then asked what we were thankful for.

I'm sure tomorrow's list will be completely different...at least I hope it will.

Tonight, I'm thankful for...

the kids' bedtime

cold medicine

soft kleenex

flannel sheets

a good book

my sweet husband who tells me to go to bed

sore throat lozenges

one last conversation today with both Mom and Dad

comfortable sweats

and the reassurance that this,too, shall end.

*****

As I head to bed, I think of the tournament game that our volleyball is playing...started three minutes ago. Good luck, and I'm sorry I couldn't be there. I hope your are

victorious tonight!