Seattle - July 2009

I've had many phone calls and emails in regards to my lack of blog post's over the past 4 months. I love the idea of blogging, so that I can print what I've posted each year and put it in a book. Kind of like family journaling. Anyway, I guess I just didn't realize how many of you were faithful readers. So for you, I'm back at it and maybe you'll inspire me to keep up better. :)
Last week the kids and I made a trip up to Seattle to see old friends. The main reason for the trip was to get together with my old "youth group" from church when I was younger. It was sooo fun and such a treat to see old friends I haven't seen in years. We had a gathering at a park one afternoon with our kids, then a dinner that evening. Ahhhh.... what great memories.


This is a picture of part of the group of us girl's. (I don't have a picture of the whole group :()

Aimee & I

One afternoon while we were there, we went to Seattle to do the waterfront. This is one of my kid's favorites. We started out at Pike's Place Market.

The kids always love to go watch the throwing of the fish! This time they even got their picture's taken. ( McKenna was a little grossed out, but a trooper. )

Next we headed down to Ivar's on the water. This is my favorite stop!

The kids LOVE to order french fries and could literally spend hours playing with and feeding the seagulls. It was defiantly fun to watch.

The rest of the week was spent with friends and family playing, going to the lake, hanging out at the pool, and just catching up on life. Good times!

McKenna & my cousin Lauren. We stayed with my Aunt & Uncle. The kids just LoVe being there as do I. McKenna especially enjoys hanging out with Lauren. Shes off to college next year. Willamette University.

The Kids and I sure missed Steve but had great week! It was good to get away from things and enjoy a taste of summer. I'm so blessed to have the kiddo's I do. They're so good to me.

France & Italy - March 2009

What a Week!

We had quite the week last week with Blake's mishaps and accomplishments. The week started out with Blake spending the night in the hospital due to asthma complications that arose during the week. I have to admit it was the first time in a LONG time Blake has had any issues with his asthma. The shot therapy has been going great and his body seems to responding well, for the most part. You're never really "out of the woods" with any type of therapy, it's just a preventative and will help with the severity of things when an attack does occur. I'm so thankful for Blake's treatments, and know that if they hadn't been in place, our stay at the hospital that night might have been a lot longer.

Then, Tuesday morning I dropped Blake off at school. All was well and he was excited and ready for a new day. When I arrived at the school a few hours later, Blake had tripped outside and crashed his head into the cement. OUCH! He's response when he saw me was, "Don't worry mom, I just had a bit of an accident." " It doesn't even hurt!" I couldn't believe it. It was like one thing after another. As the week went on it continued to get black and blue and the scabbing was rather unattractive, but I'm happy to report it's looking much better this week.

The day after his "head crash", was Blake's school Music program. The kids had worked so hard and it was a great program to watch.

This is Blake with his teacher, Miss Kirkland after the music program. She's GREAT and Blake has really been enjoying her classroom this year. Not to mention, the kids LOVE Her!

This is a clip of one of the songs they sang. Blake really likes this one! (So did the boy standing behind him in red.) You'll have to of course mute the music on the side bar to hear.

We then finished off the week Thursday with the Blue & Gold Banquet. Blake earned is Wolf badge and is excited to move on in scouting. We're so proud of him and all the hard work he put in to earn his Wolf. Way to go Blake!

I'm happy to report we are nearing the end of the next week and things are going well. Our week has felt rather normal. Busy of course, but nothing out of the norm. No crazy crashing heads stories to report, along with unexpected trips to the hospital. Here's to many more week's like this one! :)

Meet our "Dancing Queen"

Saturday was the beginning of clogging competition season and McKenna's team took the stage in one of their dances dressed right from the 80's! Hair and all. It was a sight to see. Too fun! The crowd LOVED the dance and the girls loved shaking around those big wigs as they moved their feet to the song, Dancing Queen, by: Abba

McKenna with some of her teammates just prior to heading backstage.

McKenna with 2 of her teammates, Jordin & Reegan in the bathroom after removing their wigs. ( 50 bobby pins later mind you!)

Kenna's Friend Jenna, dressed like a NERD for her dance!

McKenna & Lauren hangin' out, watching clogging.

It was a great day and a great way to start the season! Go Idaho Rhythm!

This is a clip of Mckenna's solo. ( you'll have to mute the music on the side bar to hear it) Also, when I uploaded it to blogger it cut off her feet part of the time ( kind of an important element when your clogging.) You can still get the idea and I will maybe try to upload it to my facebook and see if that is any better.

Born a Reader!

Blake has LOVED books since the day he was born. I often tell him he acquired that love while still in the womb as I have a passion for reading a good book, not to mention the countless hours spent reading great books to McKenna before Blake was born. As an infant Blake was content to sit for long periods of time listening to me read and as he got a bit older he would spend hours looking at books and making up his own story as he went along. I remember in Kindergarten, Blake was trying to make the sounds he knew best that went along with whatever story he was reading. It was often cute to listen to what one might think was a foreign language.
When Blake started first grade he was really ready and eager to learn to read. By this time he had mastered most books in the house that contained any 3 letter words. He sometimes would hunt for the 3 letter words in books and read them...soon to find out, nothing was making sense because he was skipping all the words in between.
Then came first grade. Blake had the most AMAZING first grade teacher! Blake found out within the first few days of school that not only was his teacher a huge Nike fan, but a huge reader. Need I say anymore. From then on, he was hooked and to this day she is one of the most important people in Blake's life. He often brings up times he can remember, and how Miss McMorrow taught him how to read and what a good reader does and what strategies they use. It's too cute!
With all this, Miss McMorrow has become a family favorite and we cherish the friendships we have formed. Over Christmas break, she came over and gave the book "The Tale of Despereaux" to Blake for Christmas. I later informed Blake that after he had read the book, I would take him to see the movie as it was playing in the theatre. He was excited about the idea as he had never read a book and then been to the movie.

When it came time to head to the show, he couldn't go without taking Miss McMorrow. He said, " Can I invite Miss Mcmorrow? after all, she did give me the book for Christmas." So he made the arrangements and called her for the invite, along with getting her a treat. We had a great time. Blake loved the movie, but claims he still likes the book a "twitch" better. He told me on the way home, that in the book they describe the characters a lot better and don't leave out all the important details. I told him unfortunately thats how it usually goes when you head to the theatre after reading a book.

We hit Carl's Jr. following the movie so Blake could get his favorite. The Bacon-A-tor! he loved every bite of that huge greasy Hamburger with bacon and onion rings on it.
We had a great day and I'm so lucky to have kids that enjoy reading and using their imaginations. Thanks for the special day Mr. B.