Sept, 3 2013

Good stuff this week
Kate started Ballet.  There are good and bad things about being from a small town.  But good things include knowing your kids teachers personally.  And all the kids they associate withs parents.  This happend not only in her 1st grade class, but also dance class.  Not only do we know the teacher, we know each of the three other girls in the class and their families, and that my dears means a 4 way carpool where you only have to drive every four months.  jackpot.

Marianne is getting a bit of a wild side.  Her and I spent the morning together browsing the pets at the petstore and picking out new coloring books at the dollar store. then playing games together. Then she sat and colored while I started cleaning out the linen closet.  I love having only one child at a time (I had a baby at the time too but she was sleeping)  I feel like I can get things done and involve the kid and do something fun all at the same time.

SAM WENT TO SCHOOL!!!
It made me so sad actually.  He is often my buddy, especially when the girls are napping.  He is just always by my side.  I felt like I was breaking up with my boyfriend leaving him a school today.  He was so excited.  He has literally been counting down the days.  He picked out that TMNT shirt to wear and saved if for weeks.  He even got dressed then realized he forgot that he could wear his new underwear to school, so he re dressed to wear his new underwear.  Jake gave him a sharp haircut the night before and we packed his backpack with all kinds of good things.  When I was combing his hair this morning he told me "i'm a little bit nervous mom"  I was impressed he could express that feeling.  We drove him to school  to Mrs. Dukes- and without hesitation he went right in and started playing.  When I picked him up he had  a lot to say about the kissing hand book, and a new boy he met named Luke, and getting Luke's phone number, and asking Luke to play...... needless to say it sounds like we have a new friend.  I took him to lunch for his special first day of school.  He picked the Train place of course.  He got a kids meal with a train keychain and now is very excited to bring it to school for show and tell. When we got home, without even telling him he went and put on play clothes-just like I make Kate do.  I'm so excited for him. He has really been maturing the last few weeks and I actually feel like he is ready for school and to be a big kid.  But I miss my helper.

We built a fire pit on labor day, and as you can see already tested it out.  The kids all helped pile the rocks.  Kate had been collecting wood off the  backyard as we put in the lawn and made a pile for the fire pit, and shockingly it plus the broken handle of a shovel was enough wood for a pretty good fire. It took us a little over two hours to stack the bricks and spread the gravel.  Now we just need some kind of bench or chairs.  The kids were good to have a job and excited about the finished results.  Of course that meant smore roasting for family night.   It is always great when you get more than you expect done in a day.... that never happens.   The only snag was that I bought way to many bricks and we had to take them back to the store- so an extra trip to the store.  There is still soooo much to do back there in the yard, but I guess in a few weeks it will be too cold and we won't be able to think about the yard any more.  That is good because despite the garden boxes to be built and trees to be planted I think that my work horse is burnt out on yard work.
On a related matter, while I was outside snapping pictures of the pit one of the farmers who is in back of us came over and started yelling at me about stealing his water (which we of course are not doing).  Once I explained to him where our irrigation tied in (I don't think he understood or believed me)  then he started trying to convert me to anti-mormonism.  And I was stuck "talking" to this guy for about 45 minutes.   It was one of the strangest combinations of coversation topics in my life.  Me stealing his water, the church stealing his land, the city illegally splitting where we live into smaller thatn 5 acre lots, the tv he watches that tells him the LDS church is not true, the lawyers that discriminate against him and won't help him sue the church because (umm could it be not discrimination but that he has not case/ is loosing his mind/ hates the world and thinks everything is illegal, a scam, or discrimination).  Oh boy.  I mostly smiled then tried to excuse myself to take care of you know all the small children I have.  Adventures.