Mom not prepared, Dad suffers

Kenny has been banned from eating gummy fruit treat things in the nursery because he choked on one and vomited all over. Mike came into my CTR5b class and asked if I had any extra clothes for him, ahhh no. So, Mike and Kenny walked the halls for the last hour- oh well.

Heart Break Hill

This hill has been my nemesis since we found it. It feels like it is straight uphill- it really isn't. The first time I went up it, people walking their dogs passed me- great. Today I didn't even have to go into granny gear. Woohoo.

Warm fuzzy

I went to Back to School Night for my first grader, Adam. His teacher said that yesterday Adam came up to her and asked if school was almost over because he missed his mom.

Zucchini ball

The perfect game of squash ball is played with an over-grown zucchini from the backyard, a potato or a lemon cucumber or bell peppers. Toss the "ball' and swing away. Patrick is the champion- he hit them all. (Even my horrible "pitching".)

Ken's perch

It was a boring day of lots of laundry. It sure is quiet with 5 of the children at school and Kenny naps from 11:30 until I have to leave to get the kids. Mary does whatever she wants.

Backpack, lunch, and cartoons

Mary eats her "school lunch" all morning in the chair watching PBS Kids. Kenny tried to pilfer the chips but she tugged them away from him and told him, "You don't go to school, Kenny!"

Tradition

Kenny

Mary Jane preschool

Adam 1st grade

Kelly 3rd grade

Patrick 5 grade

Megan 7th grade

Jonathan 8th grade

Beth

Mike

It's the first day of school and we take pictures in front of the mailboxes.

Magic wand

Accio candy! Quick before Mary Jane catches me with her princess wand.

Genealogy

Mike was looking for a hat for his hike. Megan brought him this Pocohontas beanie cap and Mike put it on. Yet, as me and the kids are related to Pocohontas (she is my 11th great grandmother on my dad's side) he did not want to wear it (he's only related by marriage and all). Oh, and it is small and purple with a Disney Pocohontas on it too.

T-shirt

According to Mary, her shirt says, "No boys allowed in my room!"

All uphill from here

So, Mike and I took a bike ride today that felt like it was all uphill. He had the gall to tell me that the 5 mile (55 minute) ride was effortless. I so started wishing we did not live in Smoky Hill but in Smoky Flat. Did the dork vomit not see my hat hair stuck to my forehead and all the panting as I was in granny gear, not to mention the walkers passing me? Effortless!

Pumpkins

We have 7 pumpkins on the vines. These are supposed to be 1,000 pounds.

A guy from Mike's work gave us the seeds from his 1,000 pound pumpkin from last year- I saw the pictures of his (actually grown in Denver). At this point I'm hoping for 50 pounds. Megan likes to put big rocks at the end of the runners so she can see how much they grow every day.

The rains came down

Yesterday evening a little after five, we went on a family bike ride to the reservoir to feed the ducks. After the ducks had their first course, it started raining, lightening, and thundering so we got under a picnic pavilion and we were going to wait the storm out. Five minutes became 30 minutes and still it poured. Megan suggested we pray. We had a family prayer and we came up with the plan that Mike and Jon would ride home and come get us with the minivan. The rain and wind became more and more forceful and everyone got colder. I guess that plan wasn't going to work, so we called Mike's brother Ken instead. He came with a truck and a car to bring all of us ducks and our bikes home. We made a thank you card that we thought they would enjoy.

Kenny's b's

Kenny loves blogs, bottles, blankets, Beth, Babar, bed, batteries, board books, bacon, bubbles, bread, back yard, big brothers, bathrooms, balloons, bikes, balls, beaches, brooms, brushes and Belly Buttons!

Dinner ideas by Beth

Another great idea for Zucchini (other than giving many to friends who stop by) is to put steak rub or teriyaki sauce on sliced pieces and grill on the bbq. If you squint real hard you definitely think you're eating poor-man's steak or flavored zucchini.

It's all in the bag

Next time I'm at Vitamin Cottage, the bring your own bags or take a box store, I'm going to bring out this bag and have them put all the groceries in. Go Rams!

Slip N Slide

Mary tries to go down the Red Sea at the Primary Activity.

Mike's bike girls

At the Cottonwood trail head, the boys didn't want to come. Oh well, it's their loss.

Check-in

Before: Plain bottom locker.
After: we pinked the locker- this year we brought all the stuff with us to 7th grade check-in.

Bike Repair

Before: the guy I liked had a pink bike- I knew I should get to know him.
After: sporty husband style- not out to catch the way babes. (Just to pull the way babies in the kiddie carrier.)

Mike and I went over to the sporting good store to pick up his bike from a maintenance. The repair guy asked if Mike was the original owner. Mike bought the bike in 1988 for $250. The guy said these vintage bikes are in demand and Mike could get at least what he paid for it. In the parking lot Mike kept saying, "Vintage? My bike is vintage?" Then we came home and Mike took the pink handle bar tape off and put some blue "gel" wraps on. I guess we're both vintage.

Date Night

The sign behind my head says 3.14 equals pie. I don't think Jon would agree.

So, Mike and I went out alone tonight. We went and saw the Julie & Julia movie. It was a movie about food and blogging- how could it go wrong? I enjoyed it, Mike says he had no opinion if I was going to blog about it (he must have loved it!) After watching all that food and flops we had to go get some pie at Village Inn. It's nice to get out and talk about the kids when they aren't listening.

Kenny's a curly Q

A curlhawk (the cousin of the mohawk)

What have we done this summer?

Play games like hide and seek- I'm not happy when the game centers around my car keys.

Clean the floors and the house.
Mary says,"I can't do the password!"
Eat zucchini's every meal.
Jon plays computer games and listens to books downloaded from the library.
Kelly is the girl with the insatiable desire to ride her bike. It shouldn't surprise me when she was the child who rode off after we took her training wheels off her bike a few years ago.
Patrick bought a Star Wars game for PC with his birthday money. (His b-day was in January- he parts with his money slowly.)
Kenny is such a sweetheart he waters his brothers and sisters with the hose. Kenny!
We have splashed around at the pool. We have had our pool cards since 2002- the life guard was impressed that we hadn't lost them. (Megan's picture is when she was 4 and looks like the Dotes but we have it.)

Bargains

We rode up to Albertsons to get 10 boxes of cereal for a $1 a box (after the mail in rebate.) Mary was squashed with cereal on the way home.

Fruits of our labor

After all the dirt, plants and water we have put in our garden we finally got some...

$500 tomatoes

Bike ride

Before: at the trail head at Parker Rd. and Orchard
After: 16 miles around the reservoir