Grandma Atwood's House

One of our favorite visits on our trip was with my Grandma Atwood, who lives in Pingree, Idaho. My two aunts, Debbie and Sally, came to visit, and my cousin Charlyn, her husband, and new baby came also. When I was growing up, we would visit my grandma almost every summer. There were certain things we would do almost every summer with our aunts and cousins, like go to the Pingree store and buy penny candy, play games, set up a pool, have a hot-dog roast, and sometimes even an Easter egg hunt! We felt so spoiled, because my aunts made sure that Darren, Claire, Miles, and Sammi got to do all those same things! They even got to go over and feed the animals on my uncle's farm each day. Jerry and I spent the afternoon playing a fun game with my aunt Sally and Grandma while Debbie played with the kids. We are blessed to have such wonderful families and such good memories of our time together.

Here are a couple funny stories from our visit there:

#1. My grandma had several older kittens at her house. I guess my kids had never really seen a cat before - I know, it's weird. Anyway, the first thing that Miles noticed was that it had a tail. He said, "Look. It has tail! And we have bottoms! That's funny!"

#2. My grandma's bathroom has an opening above the door. It is right off of the kitchen. I walked in and saw Claire trying to stand up on the bar. I said,"Claire! Someone's in the bathroom right now. You need to get down and wait your turn!" She repied, "I know. I just wanted to see who was in there."

Softball and Baseball

Both Darren and Claire were in sports this fall. (Unfortunatly, we didn't take any pictures of Darren!) We had Monday night games, Tuesday and Thursday practices at two different places, and Friday and Saturday games. I guess we are fully entrenched into the lives of soccer (or baseball) parents. It was very stressful for me, but they both had a good time. This was Darren's first year of coach-pitch. That is when they no longer hit off of the tee, instead the coach pitches the ball. It took Darren a little while to figure out that he shouldn't swing at every pitch, but he got the hang of it, and was able to get a hit almost every time. For Claire's age group, they got to swing as many times as it took to get a hit, and everyone ran the bases. The girls were cute to watch. The weather was nice most of the time, and Miles and Sammi had fun playing at the park during the practices.

At the beginning of the season, there were some "mean girls" who were older sisters of one of Darren's teammates. For some reason, they didn't like Miles or Claire. For example,they would bring their puppy, and one day, Miles asked if it was their dog. The older girl said, "yeah, it's our dog. And she's fast. She could catch up to you if you ran away." They also spanked him once. I started hanging around and just giving them looks so they knew I was watching. I also made sure that Miles and Claire were always nice to them, and they eventually became friends, although these girls would still whisper to each other and give me mean looks! Yikes! Anyway, I am so happy to see that my kids are not shy like I was. They always find friends to play with during the practices and games.

A big week for us!!!!

This was a very exciting week for us - Miles is potty-trained, and Sammi finally took her first steps!!! My babies are growing up . . .

Here is Miles sporting his new undies

. . . and Sammi, so proud of herself!

Updating Blog

I've been updating the blog for the past couple of weeks, so if you want to see what's been going on, scroll down. Everything is post-dated according to when it actually happened, so a lot of stuff is in previous months.

Miles' First Day of School

FINALLY!!!!! Miles was soo excited to start school, and has loved it ever since!!! I neglected to mention these things on Miles' birthday, so here are a few special things about him:

Miles has always been a great imitator and is very good at doing many of the tasks we do, like fixing cereal or making a sandwich for himself. He has been getting himself dressed since he was two. He is a great helper. Whenever I vacuum, he gets out his vacuum and follows me, and when Jerry mows, he mows. He is even pretty good and giving himself a bath and washing his hair. He is so pleasant most of the time, and almost always does what I ask him to do. He LOVES treats. He is a great climber/jumper/scooter rider, too. He can coast a long ways without having to put a foot down. He takes care of business. One day all of the kids were screaming hysterically. I walked in to find Darren and Claire cowering in a corner because there was a big spider. Miles had already gotten the broom and was ready to smash it! Just the other day, he pulled his friend, Preston, in a wagon all the way from the Crawford Farms park to Preston's house!

After watching Darren and Claire go to school for several years now, Miles has been soo excited to finally get to go himself! All summer long, whenever we would drive by his school, he would yell out, "There's my school! There's my playground!" Darren and Claire thought it was really funny to tell him that it wasn't his school, and Miles would get so mad and yell, "I ARE going to school!!!!!" I will miss Miles, but I know he will be having a great time!!!

Back to School Brunch

What better way to celebrate the start of school than with a party?! I think I might have hurt Darren and Claire's feelings when I told them about it. (Either that, or they just wanted to come.) Luckily Jerry jumped in, and told them that the moms were all so sad that we needed to comfort each other by having a party. Look at all the yummy food that everyone brought! I am lucky to have such wonderful friends to help me get through this hard time ;)

First Day of School

Wow!!! It's hard to believe that summer is over already! We had such a fun summer, and got back from our trip just in time for school to start! Darren will be in Mrs. Waldman's 2nd grade class, and Claire has Mrs. Lassen for her kindergarten teacher.

Little Fashionista

Cool 2nd Grader

Napoleon Dynamite
(he just found out that preschool doesn't start for two more weeks!)

As excited as I am to get the house deep-cleaned and have a little more time to myself, I will really miss Darren and Claire, and I hope they have a great year. They grow up way too fast! My goal for this year is to live in the moment and have more fun with my family.