September Harvest

After days and days of rain, we've finally had some nice weather.  So William and I went out to investigate what is left of our garden. 

 

 After a slow start, the dahlias are beautiful and blooming like crazy.(ignore the really really long grass).  And we have an out-of-control pumpkin plant--with no pumpkins. 

 It has completely taken over the garden. 

 This little man takes over the garden too--pulling off the flowers and taking the bark from the play area and putting it into the garden.  Good thing he is so cute.  Love his little bare feet. 

This has been a terrible gardening year for us. I'm sure it was a combination of things, but I am choosing to blame it mostly on bad weather and not enough sun. (Or maybe my lack of a green thumb.) Our peas did great and we are eating lots of carrots. Spinach and beets did terrible. We got a handful of strawberries and a few tomatoes.  Our corn looked pathetic.  I almost tore it out more than once.  It only got a couple feet high. But when I looked closer, we did have some ears.  Mini-ears, that is.  And they were actually ripe (is that how you say it?  Is corn "ripe"?)  Anyway, we picked it, cooked it, and had it for dinner.  The kids were thrilled!

I love how this corn cob with a missing kernal matches Kate's mouth with a missing tooth!

Nothing is safe!

We think this boy is pretty cute around here. 

And it is a good thing, because he is into everything--climbing, unscrewing lids, pulling things out of drawers and cupboards, destroying carefully arranged toys, and playing in toilets (the rest of my kids were not so obsessed!).  Nothing is safe!

Soccer

Fall is here.  That means soccer has started again for Rachel and Ben.  Both are having a great season so far.  Their first games were last Saturday.  They started the season with a jamboree--3 games each. Busy day with 6 soccer games!  I love this shot of Rachel getting ready to pass to her teammate. 

Ben has been playing great this year.  He played goalie in one game, and loved it, but it totally stressed me out to watch it.  I like him better running around the field. 

William likes soccer too.  Or more specifically, soccer balls.  The more the better.  This is him on the side of the field.  Not sure what I'll do when he spots the ball that is in play in the middle of the field.

Today

Today I woke up, made maple oatmeal muffins for breakfast, made lunches and got the kids off to school.  I ran on the treadmill and then showered and got ready.  I did Kate's hair (no kindergarten on Friday) and got William dressed.  David called, but I told him to call back on my cell phone so I could talk to him as I drove.  Realized my phone was dead.  Grabbed my computer to plug the phone into as I drove (I need a car charger!).  Packed some food for the kids.  Loaded them in the car, along with my computer and phone.  William was screaming and definitely ready for his nap.  Finally made it out of the house for a long awaited trip to IKEA.  Drove 45 minutes to get there. Talked to David on the way.  Finally found a parking spot.  Unloaded the kids.  Reached for the diaper bag.  Uh oh.  No diaper bag.  No wallet.  Nothing.   Decide that I will take Kate to the play place anyway, since she has been excited to go for ages.  I will just walk around the store and look.  Check her in at the computer.  Take her to the bathroom.  Go to check her in at the desk.  ID required.  No can do.  Back out to the car.  Kate bravely tries to wipe away the tears.  Drive home.  Find diaper bag sitting by the door.  Two hours wasted.  Urgh!  No time to go back today. 

Ben's Best Life Events

Tonight was Back-to-School Night for Ben's class.  I had fun visiting his classroom and hearing about the things he will be learning this year.  I rummaged through his bin of folders, notebooks and books (he sits at a table not a desk) and saw his self-portrait on the wall.  Good stuff.  But my favorite by far was his list of "Best Life Events."  I would never have guess this is what he would put:

1.  Going to Disneyworld (okay, this one is not a surprise.)
2.  Beating LEGO Star Wars (really?  That is almost as good as Disneyworld?)
3.  Watching Wall-E (I'm not sure what it is about this movie, but Ben gets misty-eyed everytime he talks about it.)
4.  Getting a trampoline (yes, Ben LOVES the trampoline!)
5.  Learning how to do a flip (on the trampoline, of course)
6.  Getting my [Nintendo] D.S. (funny that he included this because he is constantly getting it taken away for bad behavior.)
7.  Getting my golf clubs  (Grandma Hales recently brought him some golf clubs she found at a yard sale.  He loves them and plays with them almost every day.  He went to golf camp over the summer, so he even actually knows what he is doing.)

So, there you have it--a picture of what constitutes the good life in my 8-year-old boy's life; his Best Life Events. 

Labor Day Weekend

I grew up in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington.  Every Labor Day weekend, Ellensburg has a big fair and rodeo.  It is one of the biggest rodeos in the country, so people come from all over.  The fair is probably a typical small town fair, with carnival rides, crazy people running the carnival rides, lots of yummy fair food, and barns full of animals.  As a child and teenager, I spent the entire weekend, except Sunday, at the fair.  We were in 4-H, so we spent all year cooking and sewing and canning and then entered all our finished goods into the fair.  We also ran an Elephant Ears booth with our church, so we would all work shifts at the booth and eat lots of Elephant Ears.  Fair weekend was a time that we met up with friends we hadn't seen all summer.  We rode all the rides and ate the yummy food.  We counted all our blue ribbons and tried to figure out how much money we had made.  I usually worked in the 4-H concession stand as well, which I loved.  I don't know why I thought it was so fun, but I loved taking orders and filling drinks and serving up the hot dogs and corn on the cob.  I have great memories of going to the fair. 

This year, in an attempt to share my love of the fair with my children, we spent Labor Day weekend in Ellensburg.  The weather was cold and yucky, but it didn't stop us.  We first went to the Parade.

My mom said it was the same as always and not that exciting.  But maybe that was why I loved it--it was the same as always:  lots and lots of horses, a few bands, the high school cheerleaders, smiling girls on floats who seem to be "royalty" of some sort or another, loud firetrucks and old fashioned cars with waving politicians--yep, same as always.  We especially loved the scottish bagpipe marching band and the Shriners with their little cars.  Those old men driving around the tiny cars in formation is so cute--just little boys in old bodies.  Here's William hanging out with Grandma and watching the parade.

Later that afternoon, Grandma kept William while I took the rest of the kids to the fair.  I decided to travel light, so I didn't bring my big camera, just my cell phone.  So the photography isn't all that great.  In hindsight, I wish I would have brought my camera, and captured all the fun we had.  Oh well.  Maybe next year.

We went on lots and lots of silly carnival rides.  We've never let our kids ride the rides at the fair before, so most of these rides were new to them.  They loved them of course.  The carousel, scrambler, spider, little roller coasters, fun house, and the giant slide are just some of them we went on.  Everyone's all time favorite was the Gravity ride, which you get on standing up and leaning against a pad and then it spins really really fast and you stick to the wall by centrifical force.  I thought for sure it would freak them out, but they all loved it, even Kate.  It was hillarious.  Honestly, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.   

We also went through the Pioneer Village where we toured cabins, visited the General Store and bought candy sticks (now 25 cents instead of 10 cents) and panned for gold.

We even found some!

We watched a magic show (and both Kate and Ben got to be volunteers up on stage), walked through the animal barns, and even ran into an old friend of mine from elementary school. 

Highlight of the day:  Elephant Ears.  They are still SO good.  It was a super fun day!  Thanks to Grandma for keeping William!

Back to School

Back to school this year was much less stressful than last year.  No new baby, funeral, or brand new schools.  Just back to a routine.  Except for Rachel who started middle school.  And Kate, who started kindergarten (Sort of.  More on that later).  So I guess it was new and exciting, but all in a good way. 

We had our traditional ABC pancakes to start the day. 

Then we got the middle schoolers to school.  Sarah started 8th grade.

Rachel started 6th grade.  She was a bit nervous about starting middle school and we had several nights previous where she stayed up late telling me how nervous she was.  But when it came down to it, she did great and so far has had a great experience. 

After we got the big girls taken care of, we got the elementary school kids ready.  Ben started third grade.  He was definitely ready. 

But, the most excitement of the day surrounded Kate.  Look at her--she is so cute and excited!  She's been ready for months. 

In January, she was so disappointed because she thought she was going to start school since it was a new year (that whole calendar year vs. school year is so darn confusing to a 5-year-old.).  Fall was so long to wait.  While the rest of the kids were lamenting the end of summer, Kate was counting down the days until she could go to kindergarten!  She was thrilled with her new pink backpack and lunchbox and had them packed and ready.  She had a great first day.

I got her settled into her classroom and she said goodbye without a second thought. 

It was me that made her turn and look at me for one last picture. 

And then...

that was it.  One day.  That's all.  She doesn't get to go back until next Tuesday. 

They have a "slow start" program here where half the class goes the first day, and then the other half of the class goes the second day.  And then, no kindergarten on Fridays.  Ever.  Then this weekend is a holiday, so she won't go back until Tuesday, and then not Wednesday, but finally the whole class will go Thursday.  So, it was sort of like teaser kindergarten.  All this excitement for one day.  In a few months she will perhaps wish for a day to stay home, but now, she just wants to go, go, go, and here she was today again home with William and I, waiting for the kids to get off the bus. 

She can hardly wait until next week when she can actually get on the big yellow bus.