Blackberry picking

We have a ton of blackberry bushes lining the mile-long dirt road to our house, so I thought it would be a good idea to stop and pick some on our way home from school one day. I thought ahead and remembered to throw the buckets in the truck before heading off to school.

What I forgot was a change of clothes! Both boys were in school uniform (white top...) They actually didn't do too bad!

It was Addison, in her brand new WHITE and multi-colored polka dot skirt that made the mess, and it wasn't even blackberries! She decided it would be fun to jump in the nice mud puddles along our road. If you've ever been to visit us, you know there are MANY! After she snuck the first one in, I didn't see any reason to stop her fun.

Zachary helped himself to about as many as he picked...

and for some unknown reason, Addison had a melt-down when we got home. I think one of the boys offered to "help" her with the bucket and she didn't want the help. At any rate, this is one of the sadest pictures I've seen! Just look at the angst on her little face! If you look closely, you can see where the tears washed away the blackberry from her cheeks.

There's a GREAT day coming...

Isn't it amazing how music affects your mood? I am making a conscious effort to play music between my classes, so it is usually on when my students enter my room and have found it a source of encouragement for me, personally. I carry the words to those great gospel songs, old hymns and chapel music with me even when I'm not listening to a CD.

In fact, today it served me especially well. We had our first real day of PE (we hadn't dressed down yet) so I had the girls run 12 minutes and counted laps so we'd know how far we'd eacg gone. I say "we" because I decided I should run, if I expected them to. Needless to say, I am WAY out of shape and huffed and puffed the whole way, but didn't stop to walk. It could have been miserable... but, half way through, I started singing to myself and before I knew it, the minutes passed and it was time to stop and I found that I was in a great mood, to boot!

Then on the way home, still singing in my head, I decided that although I was tired and wanted to be home, this beautiful day called for McDonald's 50 cent ice creams. The kids were thrilled and rewarded me with lots of laughter and genuine helpfulness when we got home. What a blessing after a long day at school for all of us! To top it off, we finished up the chores in no time and decided to take a dip in the pool... it may be the last chance for the year, after all. The house work and laundry can wait another day. As I sit here on our patio swing and the kids are busy playing, I feel refreshed and ready for another GREAT day!

First Day of School

Hard to believe it's the first day of school for our family and the first day ever for little Zachary. He is starting K-4 preschool this year! Since I am teaching, I had to be in my own classroom and didn't get to walk Zach to class on his first day, but I know he's in good hands and he seemed pretty excited. The highlight for him was the new spiderman backpack he finally got to use! Raymond is in 3rd grade this year and hesitant as ever to try something new. I know he'll get use to whatever lies before him. It's almost as hard for me as it is for him when he's so shy. Not the problem we have with the other two, for sure! Addison will spend another year in the nursery with Mrs. Cummings. There are only 2 little girls in the nursery (instead of the 6-7 kids she had last year!) so I'm sure Addie will get all the attention her little heart desires! Say a prayer for us as we all start a new school year!

The fruits of my labor

I am very excited about my first (hopefully) successful attempt at canning this year. As I mentioned in a previous blog, we recently drove to Yakima to check out some fruit stands and ended up bringing 5 boxes of various fruit home with us. I was really looking for peaches (which we bought plenty of) but there were also some plums, apricots and apples that looked pretty appetizing, so we got them, too. It was all quite a learning experience and after the nectarine fiasco, this endeavour was certainly more productive!

I still have plenty of fresh fruit that needs to be eaten or canned soon, but so far, I have: 6 quarts of peaches (3 I spiced), 6 pints of apricots, 7 jars of nectarine jam (not too confident with this) and 6 jars of apricot jam that looks pretty good. On the advice of a lady from church, I also tried drying some fruit in our convection oven. It turned out so-so... maybe not dried enough? and I didn't do anything to stop the browning process, so it's an ugly color, but it doesn't taste too bad. I fed it to my 8th grade math students and nobody's died yet! Now to find a guinea pig for the jam!

Good Night for a Bonfire

Sunday night and our summer officially ends tonight! It was a beautiful, clear night, so on the spur of the moment, after church, we decided to get together with the Minge's and have a "back to school" bonfire, roast some marshmallows, make smores and see the summer out.

It was tough work keeping the little kids out of the fire, but they had a great time "roasting" (read 'burning to an inedible crisp') their own marshmallows and hot dogs. Addison and Riley always have such a good time together. It's been fun watching all the changes just over the summer.

And of course Zachary was his own personal entertainment, complete with Build-a-bear cape. The goats even came up to join in the festivities. Sorry to see summer come to an end, but excited about the new school year, too.

Cutest Ring Bearer ever!

Several months ago some friends asked us if Zachary could be the ring bearer in their son's wedding. I immediately thought about my mom's wedding when Zachary refused to hold the pillow or even stand still for a picture (he was only two) and then more recently at Jessica and Derek's wedding photos when he wouldn't get close enough to poor Jess to even look like he was with the wedding party, not to mention a constant pout look instead of the smile we were hoping for.

Nevertheless, he's a cutie and who could resist trying to get him into a little mini tux? Thankfully, he was game this go round and we have some great pictures to prove it. It was a long and gruelling day (pics at 12:30 for a 3pm wedding and more pictures after the ceremony)... he stayed relatively still during the 30 minute ceremony... well, a couple of fidgets and some squinty-eyed looks and a nose pick or two... he was the highlight of the wedding! or at least the comic relief. Let's hope he looks this hansom on HIS wedding day!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Our little man Zach, turned 4. We really had no idea what to get him, but he's pretty easy to please...almost any new toy will do! But we thought he'd be pretty excited about some new tranformers, so we made it a theme.

He really liked the cake, believe it or not! Although he didn't end up wanting to eat any... strange kid

He did like opening the presents... can you hear the sound effects going on here? Imagine the transformer fighting it's way out of the paper and you might get close to the sounds we were hearing when I took this picture!

And of course the costume was a huge hit! So if Zachary temporarily forgets is name and only respond to Bumblebee for awhile, you'll know why.