The Water Bottle

Today in church Grant's teacher wasn't there, so I sat with them through music and lesson time. It was a hard day from the time he got up, so by the 2nd hour of church, you can only imagine what state of mind we were BOTH in. He was sitting on my lap, sitting in his chair, taking his shoes off, laying on the floor, was hungry, wanted something to drink, etc, etc. I was about to LOOSE it right then and there. He reached over and picked up the water bottle (that I had given into and just let him keep at his chair at that point), took a drink, then put his finger in the water and said, "Look Mom, my finger is getting baptized!" What else could I do but laugh?

Last Summer Getaway

Yummy ice cream enjoyed outside, on the beautiful shores of South Lake Tahoe

This ice cream was SO big!

Our little billy goats

Our little clan

Next to some water--that NO ONE fell into

High above Emerald Bay

One cute brother and sister

Beauty!!

Slippery Slope

This story deserved a post all by itself..........

We decided that we needed one last getaway before school started for Emma & Grant. So we quickly located a hotel and headed off to South Lake Tahoe. On the way up we stopped along the roadside to throw rocks in the American River. Now, you all have to know that this was at the insistence of my hubby. The kids were content, just had lunch, and were tucked in for the long haul watching Harry Potter in the back. But Jamie dragged them out of the car and said, "Come on, it will be fun!!"

First we have to traverse down the mountain side, over fallen trees, and over rocks. Jamie and I are wearing flip flops, and I insisted that Emma and Grant at least put on their water shoes. So after getting down to the river bottom, we look up river and see a nice little area that has large flat rocks with a little waterfall like thing. So Jamie convinces the kids that is where they should throw rocks--even though they have to walk about 50 yards to get to that spot. I stay on the shoreline, with camera in hand, and Jamie takes off carrying Grant (because he didn't want to walk in the water) with Emma following close behind. While looking through the lens I catch a glimpse of Jamie slip, Jamie and Grant fall down, Grant get completely submerged under the water, and then both come back up. Grant was NOT happy!! Not too much longer after that incident, Emma took a spill of her own. Now may whole family was wet--and had not thrown a single rock!

**Side Note**After making it back to the car, we discovered that Grants bag had NOT made it in the car. So we wrapped him in a towel for the rest of the drive, and hit Kmart for the essentials for the rest of the trip.

First Trophy

When we talked to Grant about playing soccer this summer, the first thing he asked was if he would get a trophy. After he heard that a trophy was part of the deal, he was ready to go!! So the season finally ended and he got this trophy. Doesn't he look proud?










Coach K and THE trophy










Grant and Sterling
(Double Trouble)

Where did THAT come from?

Today while driving in the car Emma asked, "Mom, do you think at Christmas time, when Santa goes to a house that has a dog inside, that the dog would bite him? Or do you think that the dog would know that Santa is a good guy and just leave him alone? I said, "I think that the dog would leave him alone." Emma replied, "Yeah, your probably right." End of discussion. Where did that thought come from?

Not a Pioneer Woman

Do you have one of these gigantic bowls from Tupperware? Mine is actually white with a blue lid, but my mom had an orange one growing up. If you ever need to do a BIG job--this is the one you get out--it holds 32 cups!!

Today I made salsa--32 cups worth! We had a TON of wonderful Roma tomatoes in our garden that needed to be used ASAP, so this was their resting place. Fiesta anyone, I'll bring salsa??

**Side Note***I just wanted to say that this is one more reason I'm not cut out to be a pioneer woman. There were many other things that needed to get done today (or just sit around and do nothing since my family has been sick all week). But the tomatoes had to be used, so this is what we did. I love having a garden, but it is a little demanding on the schedule. Now I have to figure out what to do with all the carrots! Any ideas??

Sick........and tired!

Sick and tired of throw up, laundry, barf bowls, cleaning toilets, Sprite, cleaning carpets and no sleep!! This has been my world off and on for the last WEEK!!! I don't know what kind of bug this is---but I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Just had to vent!

Daddy's Big Adventure

So I mentioned in the last post that Jamie had gone on a High Adventure trip with the Scouts. This is one of their activities:

The whole group-DRY!

Entering the water. I was supposed to point out the big rocks they had to carry the boats over!

Entering--"The Chute"

Jamie is the one front right

Going, going..........

GONE!!

Emerging triumphant

Victory!!

**Don't ask about the schmuck on the back of their boat taking a drink. That was their "guide". Jamie was beyond pissed then they got these pictures back. And he assures me that it wasn't as easy as the guy is making it look. And to his defense, I saw the pictures of the other boat from their group and their guide was working hard not just to keep them from smashing into the rocks!**

Exhusted

This week has been filled with a lot of fun. Jamie took off Wednesday with the Scouts to go on their High Adventure Camp. They had white water rafting, hiking, swimming at Lake Tahoe, and a few other things on their list. So me and the kids have been holding down the fort. We swam at the lake one day, went to the movies, rented movies and had an indoor picnic, and stayed up later than we should have. I think it all caught up to Grant.

Yesterday may parents had invited us over for dinner. I struggled with Grant to get him to eat anything (which isn't all that unusual), but then he started to complain that his tummy hurt. And it's ALL gone DOWNHILL from there. He threw up at my parents house (thanks Grandma Redfearn, for helping clean up the floor, Grants clothes, etc, etc), and this is what he looked like on the way home (we only live 4 miles away):


Poor guy made it in the house before we had another "incident" but he held the bag the whole way home--just in case. Since then, about every half hour or so, he gets sick. He has been such a trooper though--hitting the bowl every time but ONCE!

Daddy should be home soon and can assume the bowl duty!

Family Talent Show

Tonight my family decided to have a little impromptu concert.


First it was Grant...



Then it was Emma...........

And finally it was Jamie...........

And she with no musical talent (Mommy) was behind the camera. I decided that MY talent was blogging about THEIR talent!

The Strauss Festival

This is where I have been spending my evenings and nights since last Wednesday. This a is local event held in the community every July. For the past 5 years I have volunteered. The last 3 have been as a dresser backstage. Its not the most glamorous job (the pin pricks in my fingers go to show), but it is fun. And last year I roped my mom into doing it with me. It is a crazy whirlwind for 5 days, but pretty fun too. Now I just need to hire a house cleaner to get my house back in order, and convince my kids to let me sleep for about----12 hours!! See you all next July.




Check out more about the Strauss Festival at:http://www.straussfestival.com/

Wiggles Concert

Tonight we went to an impromptu Wiggles Concert. Jamie called from work about 4pm to say that someone had won 4 tickets to a Wiggles Concert, and did we want them. Well, Emma was staying the night with a friend, so it was the perfect opportunity. When we asked Grant if he wanted to pick a friend to go some where special--he picked Sterling! And we were off....

Hand in hand in the parking lot:

Hand in hand up the walkway:

Red Ropes in hand-ready for the show to start:

Trying to get the "new" Wiggle, Sam's, attention:

Getting some Wiggle groove on (kind of hard to see, but worth it):

Ride Em' Cowboy/girl!

If any of you have been around Grant for--um, 2 minutes, you can probably guess that he is obsessed with cowboys, horses, or anything that is western. So when he got to go on this little adventure yesterday with Grandma Redfearn, he was so excited!!

Grandma has a friend named Karen, who has horses at her house. Grant has known about this for awhile and kept reminding us that he hasn't got to go over to ride the horse. So everyone's schedules finally worked out and Grandma called to see if Grant could go to Karen's house with her. The first thing he asked was, "Do you think she'll show me her whap (whip) and her gun?!" We had to convince him that she probably didn't have those things--even though she had a horse. And then he ran to the fridge to get an apple, "Cause' Mom, horses like to eat apple you know!" (I guess Grants' eat apples too, because it was half gone by the time they got out the door)

Well, I think from the look on his face his dreams came true:

And for those of you who have been around Emma for---um, 2 minutes, you might know that she is deathly afraid of most animals--big or small. But she is getting better lately. So she went along too. She hadn't committed to going on the horse at all--and we all expected her to huddle close to Grandma. But she surprised us and took her turn on the horse--"But I only went one time around!" she was quick to say. But that's okay, it was a big step for her.

Thanks Grandma and Karen!!

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody do their share.....

Yesterday after all of our company left, we had toys EVERYWHERE!! I guess I never realized how much stuff we had accumulated when it was all tucked away. But once it was out in the open I decided it was time for a MAJOR clean out. Emma and Grant were amazing!! I expected them to put up much more of a fight in getting rid of "their" toys, but they did pretty good. We had to haggle over a few stuffed animals, make some compromises to keep some toys they just "found" while cleaning, and so forth.

Here is the give away/trash piles.

Here is the finished product.

RELIEF!!!! GOOD JOB GUYS!

HELP!!!

THIS IS WHAT I WOKE UP TO THIS MORNING:

ANTS IN THE MICROWAVE!!!

We have had a little ant problem for about 2 weeks now. They show up in the most random places (they love my dishwasher, and the shelves with my shoes on it in my closet), I clean them up, kill them, put out bait stuff, they go away, then they show up in another spot. YUCK!!! Any home remedies for getting rid of ants??? Throw them my way!

PS--Grant asked if we had ants in our house because they were trying to find food for the grasshoppers. (Bug's Life reference for all you non-moms) =-)