Enjoying Fall

This week marked the first week of fall. The weather has been beautiful and and the trees have just a touch of color. Before the summer heat completely disappears we wanted to take advantage of the Boise Foothills-a favorite family hiking spot. The kids did great, but after almost two miles Maddie was finished! She claimed that her feet could not walk another step because she had to save her energy for the Disney Store (she's been saving for a Jasmine doll that she has had her eye on). Dan gave her a piggy back ride about 1/4 of a mile to the car. . .she is such a DIVA! The boys did great too. Jack rode in the exercise stroller much of the way because he has a sprained ankle (he likes to jump off of furniture, no matter how high it is, and he hurt his ankle earlier this week jumping off of a card table).

We discovered a new city park about half a mile from our house. I was driving the kids to school on Friday and discovered a little city park. I promised the kids we would go after school. It turned out to be a pretty great park, bathrooms included!! I think is has been around just a few months, but Dan and I try to stay away from the "snooty neighborhood" across the street if at all possible so we didn't really know it was there. Dan and I even tried to find a way out of the park without having to go through the "snooty neighbored" with no luck. The park has swings, a ginormous sandbox, slides, basketball courts, and a covered picnic area. I think we will definitely go more often . . . even if we have to go through the "snooty neighborhood" to get there. I personally think the neighborhood is beautiful, but Dan has called it that for so long that the name just stuck!

Super Funny Bush Video!

So, many of you know that Dan and I differ when it comes to politics. I have never declared a political party, but lean a bit more on the democratic side...sorry Dan. With that being said, I am super excited to watch the Presidential debates as well as the Vice-Presidential debates coming up. I want to make an educated decision come November and haven't completely decided who will get my vote, I actually like both candidates for very different reasons. I find an election year so exciting! (That's probably the history teacher in me!!) I found this video on you tube that I had to share. This sums up how I feel about our good ol' George W.. Sorry Dan-this in no way reflects his opinion.

Top 5 Memorable moments

We had a full weekend, so I thought I would share our most memorable and funny moments over the past few days.

5. BYU won again!! Yeah!!! I will admit, that I did not listen to much of the game, but I kept tabs on the score as I could hear my husband cheering on his coug's! I tried to look cool and said to Dan, "BYU has a great defensive line this year, don't you think?" Dan looked at me in total shock and said, "Do you even know what the defensive line means?" Without swallowing my pride I replied, "of course, what do you think I am an idiot?" I wasn't prepared for the next question which was, "what is it then?" As best as I could I tried to explain my version of the defensive line: guys that play defense, probably known as linebackers, guard the opposite team so they can't score. Dan just laughed at me and then tried to explain what it really meant. All I really heard was, "blah, blah, blah, and blah."


4. Maddie got to go to a fun birthday party this weekend. It was a pony party. I thought it was a brilliant idea for a party. The family rented two ponies for one hour. Maddie took four or five rides up and down the street and had a blast. They asked all of the girls to come dressed as a cow girl.


3. "Why am I always your servant?" This is Zach's new favorite saying when he thinks we are asking him to do too many chores. When he says it to me I remind him of all of the things I do for him.





2. As of last Tuesday, Jackson is now an official preschool student. It took him a few days to get comfortable, but as of late he has become the class bully and is in time-out a lot! Dan and I are super embarrassed and don't know how to get him to stop pushing the kids around. He thinks it is funny when he gets in trouble at school. Today (Monday) was Jackson's first day to ride a real bus. He was super scared to get on it, but once he relaxed I think he thought it was pretty fun.



1. The weather has finally turned to fall. . I woke up to pouring rain Saturday morning. I walked out of my room to find all three of my kids dressed in waterproof coats and shoes to play outside. The street in front of our house looked like a big river. The kids played for over an hour, jumping in the biggest puddle they have ever seen. They probably woke up the entire neighborhood with their noise, but they had so much fun! The weather has been absolutely beautiful these past few days. I love this time of year...if only we could skip winter all together!

Reality Check

I volunteer at the kids school every other Tuesday. Zach was excited when he found out that I was coming today to help his teacher; he even talked about it with me a lot over the weekend. I walked into the classroom expecting to be greeted by an ecstatic son, but was surprised to get the cold shoulder. He pretended not to see me. As his teacher was busy getting work for me to do I went up to Zach and tried to give him a hug and say, "Hi." He wanted nothing of it and struggled to get away from me. I then noticed him looking around the classroom to make sure his buddies didn't see. I thought it was hilarious. Zach's teacher gave me a pile of books to make copies from, and as I walked past Zach I ruffled his hair with my fingers. He whispered as quietly, but as angrily as he could, "Mom! Knock it off. I don't want the boys to see!" As funny as it was, I was a little depressed that my son was too cool to show his doting mother any affection. Dan's mom tells a similar story about their son James, which is quite funny, but I never thought it would happen to me. At least James was a little older--Zach is only in kindergarten!!! As I left the school, Zach's friends gave me high-fives and I got a begrudging high-five from Zachary. He is a little stinker!!I know Halloween is over a month away, but these pictures are just way too cute. We have a second-hand children's store a few miles away and I love to shop for my kid's Halloween costumes there. I can't believe how cheap their costumes are. I went to the Disney store to see what they had, and was in shock to see that every princess dress was priced at $30.00 or more. The stuff for boys was equally expensive. I paid under $20.00 for three cute costumes at this store. Maddie wants to be Mulan, Zachary is always content with superhero attire, and Jackers. . . well, lets just say that his personality fit this costume. He was adamant that his costume be scary, spooky, and monstery. I was trying to get him to try a Donald Duck costume or a Spiderman costume so he could be twins with his brother, but he was so excited about this costume, and the price was amazing, and once he had it on it just seemed a perfect match!

Maddie looks cute in anything, and when we get makeup on her and fix her hair up, you will think she is the real Mulan. She told me that she is going to ask her Dad to teach her Chinese so people think she is really Mulan. She might have us fooled by Halloween!! Hooray for bargains!

Recovering Nicely

For those of you who had dibs on any of my personal belongings after my untimely death will just have to wait, because I feel great! My first thought when I woke up in recovery was, "I'm alive, or heaven looks like a hospital." I was relieved! Friday was a long day, and I got home around 5:00 pm and went right to bed. I haven't really been in a lot of pain, but I sure am tired, and I walk a bit like a penguin, but overall I couldn't be happier about my recovery. My mom is here to nurse me back to health, so it has been fun to be able to hang out with her.

Here is a clip from one of my favorite episodes of "Scrubs" which reminded me a bit of my experience on Friday. (To be able to hear the video you will probably want to pause the music on my music player.)





Today was Jackson's first day of preschool. He was so excited yesterday, but Dan and I could tell he was a little nervous. He woke up this morning, and was a little crazy. He had lots of questions about preschool. He acted really excited until we pulled up to his preschool. His eyebrows wrinkled together and is bottom lip puffed out and he went white as a ghost. He did not want to get out of the car. I helped him walk inside his preschool and that is when he got pretty teary. He whimpered to me to please stay. I reluctantly left and came back a few hours later. He appeared to be doing great until he saw me. He got the same look as before and ran to me and hugged me as tight as he could with big crocodile tears. By the time we got home he admitted that he had a great day at preschool, but the he was scared. He loved recess and playing with play dough. The teachers there still remembered Zachary which helped Jackson feel a little more comfortable. I think it will be an easier day tomorrow for him. I can't believe my baby is in school!!

High As An Elephant's Eye

Our little neighborhood street is right next to a farmer's corn field. Jackson's has been fascinated by the corn getting higher and higher each week. He was the first one to notice the plows in the corn field today. It's harvest time in Idaho, and Jack can't get enough. He has even befriended the farmer who waves at him every time he comes around in his tractor. Jackson and I have been outside, about every hour, to watch the corn being thrown up into one of the hauling trucks. It is amazing how fast they can clear an area. Jackson waves to the workers every time they get close enough in their tractors. We have a great view of the whole field from the second story of our house, so Jackson stands on the kid's beds and watches when I can't go out with him.

This week we are preparing for my surgery. It will be an outpatient surgery and shouldn't be too complicated, but I am still pretty nervous. Thank goodness my mom is coming to stay with me for a week. She can help me get my kids off to school and take care of me while I recover. I seemed to recover pretty quickly from my C-section with Jackson, so I hope the same can be said this time. I have made a few frozen dinners in case it takes me longer to recover, and I keep thinking I should write a will. Ha! Ha! . . .I hope!

Jackson and I are still potty training. It is taking a lot longer than I thought. He still hasn't been able to sit long enough to concentrate on pooping. Every time he does poop in his underwear or pull-up he says, "I guess no Build-A-Bear today."