First Day of School August 31, 2009

Well, the first day of school has come and gone...(picture me doing backflips off the couch). The kids were super excited, and up early ready to go. Dad gave them all awesome blessings, and then I set off to walk the kids to school. Here is our conversation as I remember it:

Me: Okay kids, everybody ready? We need to head down there so we aren't late!
Piper: Mom, I am riding my bike with Tatym and Josh, you don't need to walk me to school.
Me: WHAT? It's your first day, I want to come! (pathetic sniffle)
Piper: Oh okay, but can I still ride my bike?
Me: Sure, I will just walk fast and try to keep up
Tatym: Mom, you aren't going to embarrass us by taking a bunch of pictures or giving us smooches are you?
Me: I might.

The view I had on the first day....(I swear she didn't even look back!)


I welled up as I watched my kids walk off into the school again, but no worries, I made a quick recovery and found lots to do while they were gone...

EEEEK

Went down the stairs...look what was sitting INSIDE my house, by the front door...it looks way scarier in photos, cause it was actually only about a foot long, but still...eeek. Anyone know what kind of snake that is...please don't say rattler.

65

Well, Sister Rose turned 65 on August 17. Tatym made her a cake, she opened a couple presents, and it was a great day. We love her so much, and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with her.

7,8,9,10....

Wowsers...I am really behind on updating about Cooper. Here is a quick summary of the past few months. He hit his 7 month mark the end of may, and started to kind of enjoy food. He still wasn't crawling, in fact, I could barely put him down...he's like a little monkey that just wants to cling to me.





June 25th: 8 months old...okay, we were in canada pretty much for his whole 8th month. It was momentous. He started crawling...it's not your typical crawl, more like an orangutan butt scoot/bear crawl...it's weird, but because I am his mommy I think it's adorable. He also cut his first two teeth...little bottom chompers. He may have tried them out on me once, and I may have cursed under my breath or screamed really loud and scared the heck out of him, but I refuse to incriminate myself.





Coops turned 9 months right after our return from Sandpoint. He really perfected his crawl, and is fully in love with food...especially corn on the cob, pulled pork, and popcorn (not your typical baby foods, I know, but what can I say...he's the fourth, he's just trying to keep up).





10 months old...end of August. Cooper has decided to forego his father's urgent request to "crawl normal", and is going to skip right to walking. He has taken a couple steps, and loves to walk around the furniture. Did I mention he climbs the stairs too? Yikes. His hair went from short fuzz, to long, STRAIGHT, hair. He may need a haircut soon. I think the top teeth are on their way too. He says, Mama, Dada, kitty, and a few other words that only I recognize... he still does his little tarzan noise though...love that. Did I mention that he loves CORN?

Grotto Spa

I need need need this place....Anyone?
http://www.grottospa.com/

What I need

I have come to the conclusion that I need one of two things...or maybe both.

1. .

A chauffeur, a driver. I don't care if he drives a stretch limo or a '78 pinto. But I really am so sick of all the time I spend in the car. For example: last week Sis. Rose had appointments every day. Doctor, Dentist, MRI's, doctor again. Those were in the morning. In the evening Josh had football every night, the girls both had dance, Tatym had piano, then we had scouts and activity days. Then of course there is the grocery shopping, banking, and errands that need doing. I feel like the seat in my van is permanently attached to my butt. I literally have to peel myself free at the end of the day
2. Less sleep, or maybe no sleep. I actually had a moment last week where I could see the appeal of taking caffine pills or something of the sort. Not to sound TOO CRAZY, but I really did. I am not exaggerating when I say that pulling an all nighter or two, does seem to be the only possible way I will ever get my housework and laundry ever caught up.

Does anyone else ever feel like they can't possibly get everything done?
I'd love to ruminate on the subject longer, but even as we speak, things that should get done, are being neglected....arghhh...

Summer Fun

Okay, so I have dropped off the planet for the past 2 months...just a note about how crazy things have been for me. We just got home from 31/2 weeks of travel.
A Summary:
11 days of Waterton perfection witht the Dudley clan
- Bears Hump
- Golf Tourny (we won)
- Wall Lake
- Josh's baptism in Waterton Lake
- Cliff jumping and Tim's bruised bottom
- Prince of Wales
- Emerald bay, (swimming), Marquis Hole, fishing (but not catching)
- Cameron Lake
- Bertha Falls
- July 1st parade in Raymond (Kids in the chariot behind the horse)
- lots of ice cream from the Big Scoop
4 days of Raymond/Taber
- chillin, drinking slurpees, swimming, riding horses
2 days in Cranbrook
- having fun with Kristen and the gang on Jim Smith Lake
7 days in Sandpoint, Idaho with the Francis family
- Water skiing, kayaking, beaching it....repeat
Oh yeah, and Cooper learned to crawl and his first tooth made an appearance!
All in all, tons of fun...650 photos later....here are some of my favorites.