School Days

My kids have a new school which was not finished in time, so we started school a week late. Since then I have been running late myself. On the first day of school I was determined to take cute pictures of my kids in front of their new school like all of the other cool moms. As we were rushing out of the car I handed the camera to Sabrina to take in. She said, "Mom, we don't have time for pictures, we are already late." So, a month later, I have pictures to show you. Their playground is hard to recognize, but it is the picture of the dirt. (You can imagine the laundry I am doing). We are hoping to one day have some playground equipment and maybe a little lawn. Right now we are just glad to have a school.

5 Lessons Learned

1. Puncture-vine exists in the city, and is just as effective at flattening tires as on the farm
2. I am a lot less likely to jog my usual 2.25 miles when I have to pump up my tires every .5 miles... and it takes a lot longer
   
3. When your favorite book becomes your child's favorite book, sometimes it loses favor
4. Fifteen 1.5 to 3 year olds in one small room is too many... no matter how many adults you have
5. When you're used to making your own schedule, it's hard to follow someone else's
   

The old guy still has it... This was a game between coaches and high school girls. Old age and treachery overcame youth and skill as we won 4-2.

Lance, Andrea, and dog (Jetta) at the duck pond

Sabrina, Danielle Andrea, Kalea, Kyler, Milana, Lyndsey, Nicholas with the Easter Bunny

Milana, Andrea, Kalea at Haystack rock

Milana, Andrea, & Kalea at the Oregon Coast Aquarium

Crater lake

This is our family at Crater Lake Oregon

Catch the Frog

Notice the frog on the left. Kyler walked slowly and then did the alligator crawl to try and catch it.

Pond Scum

Kyler asked, "Mom, can I put my feet in the water?" I said of course not realizing that pond scum water is certainly not a scary thing to a 7 year old. Thirty seconds later Kyler is covered in pond water from head to toe. Shelby was his only friend that was daring but he had to help her walk in the water. I don't know why I was so surprised Lance and I spent hours playing in pond scum.

Finally.....Ice Skating!

For the first time in years we were able to walk onto the Duck Pond. Kyler had his first experience ice skating and LOVED it. The rest of the kids walked on the ice. At first all the kids were a little nervous and walked very timidly but by the end all were running across the ice, except for Lance's kids who are careful. Lance ran all over the ice and where it started to crack were the "no go" zones for the kids. The rule was if you see water coming to the top where you are, MOVE! It worked well and everyone had a great time.

Date: July 2005
Kyler is taking swimming lessons at the indoor pool. He actually got a time-out the last swimming lesson for not listening. Today he did great and I praised him for it. He told me that he really wanted to dive into the pool again (they already did 3 times) because the water was warm and he liked to dive. Kyler said, “The teacher told me I couldn’t dive in. I was going to anyway but then I remembered CTR, and I didn’t dive in. That’s what good kids do they CTR-Choose the Right.” Then there was a little pause and he said, “And besides she probably would’ve given me a time-out.” Kyler did great for the rest of the swimming session.

Kalea and Nicolas

Kyler, Sabrina, Ryan and Nicolas

Fairy Tale Land in Sacramento. The adults had a hard time keeping up with the kids they ran and ran and ran.