August birthdays . . .

Today is my mom's birthday.  Happy Birthday Grammy!  We were lucky enough to have her stay over last night.  She joined us for pizza and and an old movie.  The girls and I had fun decorating the house with balloons and banners to surprise her this morning.  We made her breakfast, took her to a garage sale, made lunch and then had cake and ice cream before she headed back to Mtn. Home.  Happy Birthday Grammy!  We love you.

Her big day ends the week of birthdays for several mother's in my life.  Mary Beth, or grandma Aloha as she is known by Katy & Emma, celebrated last weekend while in Portland.  She was there to see one of her granddaughters, Merrit, start medical school.

On the 24th, Kem threw Etta a party in Index to celebrate her 70th!(her actual birthday is on the 25th.)  We were unable to make it due to school starting on the 23rd(me) and the 25th(Katy & Emma) but we hear it was a fabulous day.

We hope that everyone enjoyed their special day.  We wish you many, many more!

Hitting the books . . .

Here is my current reading list--Should be done by December 17th if anyone wants to borrow them.   My "classes" began on Monday!  Wish me luck and also the ability to stay awake while reading . . .

The girls heading out the door this morning.  They are both wearing shiny silver shoes--Katy's Chucks are called All Star Sparkle and Emma's are cheetah print.  So cool!  

The yearly tradition continues--pics in front of the school.  Katy started 6th grade today and Emma is starting 3rd.  Junior High for Katy next year--yikes!

Wait, let me take a picture . . .

I was scrolling through iPhoto and I found these.  Makes you wonder what Emma was thinking when she dozed off.

One Safe Sitter!

Katy with her new bag from St. Luke's.  It has all of her safety training cards with room enough for games, books, toys, etc., to entertain her future charges!  The card she is holding is her "certification."  She had to take and pass a test at the end of the class in order to claim graduate status.  Pretty spiffy!  She is excited to try out her newly acquired skills.  

Just a quick note to let you know what Katy did today.  She attended a Safe Sitter class given at our local hospital, St. Luke's.  Check out the link and learn more about the program.  The emphasis on the safety of children was fantastic.  Katy learned so much, including how to negotiate pay and keep herself in safe situations with adults.  We had gone over some of the information before, but never in as much detail.  I liked that the nurses talked about starting slow, not taking on a baby or multiple kids too soon. (Get in some practice with one pre-schooler to get used to the idea.)  One of her friends from school also attended and they had a really good time.  The class lasted for 6 and a 1/2 hours and ended with a "graduation" ceremony.  More than 20 girls participated.  That is a lot of well-trained sitters new to the market.  As it happens, Katy lined up her first job shortly after we left the hospital!  She will be taking care of a really cute 5 year old girl next Saturday.  Give her a call on Sunday and see how it went!

Meteoric night . . .

Our set up in the backyard.  

They closed their eyes so that my flash would not blind them!

This morning, roughly 2 a.m., Eric came home from work.  Nothing really noteworthy about that--he works that late at least once a week.  What made this morning special was that fact that there was a pretty fantastic meteor shower occurring at the time.  When I heard him, I woke up and helped rouse the girls from their beds and worked on getting them into some warmer clothes.  While I was getting the sleepwalkers ready, Eric placed an old rug out on the grass in the backyard and covered it with a sheet so we could lie down and take a peek into the night sky!  I grabbed a few blankets, as it was a bit chilly, and we headed out.

We had heard that the Perseid Meteor shower was to peak at 3 and we had about 45 minutes to enjoy the "show".  As luck would have it, the sky was clear and the stars were shooting!  We were able to see nine meteors.  It was Katy's first time to see one!  All this without a telescope, in our city lit backyard.  (I can only imagine what it would have been like if we had been out in the middle of nowhere.  Made a note to try and secure camping reservations at the Bruneau Dunes during next year's display.)   Emma was lucky enough to have "accidentally" seen one last summer while we were camping at Redfish Lake.  A late night stroll to the restroom provided her with that opportunity!

I am so glad that Eric is never too tired or too busy to do something out of the ordinary for us.  Katy knew about the shower and asked me, as she was going to bed last night, if I was going to wake her up to see it.  I said probably not.  (I am not so fond of the dark.  Indoor house dark--okay.  Outside nature dark--not so okay.  Scares me to death!)  I called Eric at work and asked if he would consider setting things up for us to see the sky when he got home.  Without hesitation, knowing he would have just completed a 12 hour shift, he said yes!  I thank my lucky stars for him . . .

"Drive in" to Parma . . .

Preparing for our night at the Parma Motor-Vu Drive In Theater.

Emma and all of the stuff that she insisted on taking.   Blanket, pillow, water, Pee Wee, blanket for Pee Wee, toys for Pee Wee in the Tinkerbell tin and her own stash of candy.  

Relaxing before the show!

Just being silly!

View from our truck.

You've gotta love the dancing concessions!

We spent last Saturday night watching Despicable Me at the Parma Motor-Vu.  Parma is about 46 miles from our house.  Right smack in the middle of farm country.  To be specific, "Home of the Premium Cooking Onion!"  I have only ever seen the town at about 9:00 pm on a Saturday night.  Looks like a cute little town.  Plus, during harvest, you could pick up a good 5 pounds or more of onions that have fallen off the trucks.  I have not tried that, but I tell you, there is a lot of produce to be found along the roadside in the fall.  Sugar beets, potatoes, onions . . . I'll let you know if I am ever that desperate!    

The movie started at 9:40.  The air chilled and the mosquitoes started to buzz.  Lucky for us, a breeze blew in and kept the pesky biters at bay.  Of course, it may have also helped that the entire "theater" had sprayed mass amounts of bug spray around their vehicles!  Once that smell dissipated, we were enjoying our show.  We snuggled up under our blankets, ate goodies from home and enjoyed a really cute movie. I had failed to tell Eric that "The A-Team" was the second feature.  I had my reasons, really, mostly not wanting to see such a stupid movie.  During intermission he figured it out.  My pleas for safety(driving down a super dark farm road at 2 am) fell on deaf ears.  I ended up with Emma sleeping on my lap and Katy taking a nap in the cab of the truck.  She started to watch, but came to the same conclusion--pretty lame movie.  I did my best to sleep through it, but those chairs were only so comfortable.  Next trip,  the girls and I want to bring the blowup mattress.  That way if the movie is dumb, the girls and I can snooze in relative comfort.
 
We really did have a good time.  I think Eric is game for another round before summer comes to a close.  Plus, we only had to pay $7 for admission, with kids 11 and under free and my buy-one-get-one coupon for adult admission.  That made arriving home after 2:30 in the morning worth it!  Oh, and the view of the constellations was an added bonus.  Even with the glow of the screen, it seemed as though you could just reach up and touch the stars.  Beautiful!  

Vegas, redux . . .

The cousins together at a barbecue!  Christian is nearly 5. Valerie is 2 and Jordan will be 12 in September. 

Emma having fun with Valerie.  

Katy playing with Christian.  It was a nice day to spend time with family! 

Uncle Brennan swimming with Christian and our other niece, Jordan.  Christian was doing pretty well until he decided to try to hold on by sticking his fingers in Brennan's eye sockets.  I think he got a little nervous.  I remember trying to hold Katy on my shoulders once.  She panicked and grabbed two handfuls of my hair to keep from falling.  I guess Brennan needs to grow his hair a little longer! 

Decorations from the party we attended at Anthony and Cheri's house.  Anthony is  Laurie's son.  He and Cheri hosted a fabulous barbecue!  So much good food-- and I mean lots and lots and lots of food!  More food than one of us(Emma) could reasonably handle.  I decided I would let the girls get their own snacks instead of hovering and nagging them as I usually do.  Worked well for Katy but Emma's eyes were bigger than her stomach.  It was all okay in the end.
The girls and I really enjoyed the food, the music and the company!  

I never really got around to adding more photos from our trip south.  Here are a few more.  We really did have a good time, although someone needs to remind me to visit in the spring or winter.  What we will miss in poolside fun we will more than make up in walking more than three feet without melting.  I think I am becoming less tolerant of the heat as I get older.  Or maybe I am just getting crankier . . .