andy starts 9th grade

andy started 9th grade today. he set his alarm for 6:30. when i rang his bell (yes, dan has installed a doorbell down in andy's room! much better than stomping on the floor to get his attention.) he came up the stairs already showered and dressed. he ate 2 two huge pancakes and packed up his backpack and apparently made it to the bus stop on time. thank goodness! it is a little too early in the year for him to be missing his bus. that will come, i am sure.:)

these photos are from the sears portraits that were "lost" over at mom's house. andy was in 7th grade in these! time flies.

JUMP!

i have finished elles's 1st birthday jumper!!! it took me a very very long time. that's ok, that just means that it was as cool and as meaningful a present as i wanted it to be. it's not a lame knitted present... it is a TOTALLY AWESOME KNITTED PRESENT! if i do say so myself. now, must find some adorable buttons.

valleyfair

went to valleyfair with my family, dan's mom and stepdad, and dan's sis, bro-in-law and niece. had a lovely time. jack was very brave about the rides. he went on the mini carousel all by himself! he also went on the regular carousel and ferris wheel w/me, the antique cars with daddy and i, and he went alone on the kid's train and semi-trucks.

i rode on the ferris wheel, carousel, antique cars, excaliber, renegade, and thunder canyon. we spent a lot of time at the water park. a lot.:) jack took almost a 2 hour nap laying on me. i was pleasantly surprised that he got such a large and painless nap. i am sure the day would have been a disaster without it.

andy, jack and claire had their photo taken at an old timey photo place. i will have to scan the photo and post. it is pretty fun. speaking of fun... valleyfair still had the ben & jerry's shop and they still had "coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz". yum! but i almost got "chocolate therapy". :) glad we don't live anywhere near a b&j's. too much temptation. and who needs that?

cluck cluck

one more photo from visiting the chickens with my nieces. enolea is a beauty.

a little chicken watching

watched my nieces (eme, nole, elles) the other day. took them, and jack, down the hill to see gramps's chickens. or "bwaks" as jack calls them. chickens are so entertaining.

gardening '09

this year i have 2 gardens. i share half of my parent's garden, and a bit of my grandparent's garden. the other night i went down the hill to do a little work in my garden. as i pruned the tomato plants and picked the broccoli and leaf lettuce, jack did a bit of hoeing. it felt really good.

trader joe's

my thoughtful sis-in-law asked me if there was anything i wanted when she went to trader joe's. was there?!!!!!!!!!! 4 cans of chai and a box of french chocolate truffles for approx. $15. sweet. i recommend the dark chocolate caramels, too. so much more i haven't experienced! can't wait to get back there again.