Spud Day

Spud Day. It's quite the holiday in Idaho. Because I'm not from around here, I wasn't quite sure what spud day all entails. Much more that I thought. First, they day started off with the 5K spud run. In true Mary fashion, I opted out of this one. No surprise right? Next came a great parade. We lined main street and watched the parade come on through. In the process we gathered much candy. We had bags full.


The boys were able to participate with the cub scouts in the parade. I got a fairly good shot of Ethan but only a passing back view shot of Josh. Bummer. But to see all the cub scouts waving their flags was pretty neat.

Abby collecting her loot. See that tractor in the background? We must live in a farming community huh.

Look at these ponies. They were tiny. I had to get a shot. I don't ever think I've seen horses so small.

After the parade, the city gave out something like 5,000 free baked potatoes! And they were really good. They must have salted the outside or something because even the skin was great! Yum. A parade. Free bags of candy. Free lunch! At the park, they had all kinds of booths and bouncy houses, slides and all kinds of fun things for the kids. What fun. They even had a tug of war with tons of mashed potatoes in the center. I would have liked to watch that, but we missed it. All in all, it was a fun day. What a great little holiday for our cute little town.

Birthday goodness

So I haven't blogged for awhile. My excuse was that I didn't think that we'd done anything exciting and I haven't taken pictures in ages. We're just going about our lives. Then today, I happened to scroll through my pictures and low and behold I had forgotten about Kaden's birthday. Yes, I truly did forget, but then I looked at the pictures. Um, dirty face. Drooled on shirt. Unkept hair. (What was I thinking? At least I could have wiped the poor kid's face.) Do I really want to post these pictures for all too see? Well since I figure that a kid only turns two once, better post them anyway. So here they are.



Take a look at the cake. Notice how I started cutting? I was a little too eager for my own piece of mud pie that we almost forgot the singing and candles. Wow. What a mother I am. Well there's always next year. And maybe he'll have a clean face for the pictures before we cut into the cake!

This boy...

This boy is not afraid of anything! He loves to do whatever the big boys are doing. Josh saved up some money and bought himself a skateboard. In true Kaden fashion, he had to try it out as well. He loves the thing. We have a slight hill on the driveway and Kaden loves to sit or lay down and roll on down. However, just the other day, Josh comes in and tells me that I need to watch Kaden. I get out there and Kaden is standing and keeping his balance while rolling down the hill. Um, I probably would have fallen off. What a dare devil!

Dear Tooth Fairy

Here is a letter Ethan wrote to the tooth fairy. It made me laugh. Tucked in a ziplock bag was this note and a second tooth that had just fallen out.

Yes, I lost the first tooth. I was being so good. Changing the sheets and all. I just forgot that the first tooth happened to still be under a certain pillow. Oops. Darn tooth fairy for not remembering to come that first night. Then none of this would have happened!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, Ethan did get his double money for two teeth!

New city. New school. What else is new?

So I've been thinking (shocking, I know) that not only do we do the first day of school thing, but we tend to have a new city and brand new school to go along with it. It's becoming a tend. 6 different elementaries in how many years? Challis elementary, Vista, Hatfield, Clara Love, Meadows Valley and now Riverview elementary. It's a good thing that my boys go with the flow and make new friends quickly.

Contrary to the above picture (Josh) the boys were quite excited about school this year. Ethan was up even before my alarm went off at 6:30. He was waiting patiently for me on the couch. Josh and Ethan both have proclaimed that they have awesome teachers. Josh: because besides reading everyday, his teacher only assigns written homework on Thursday. Ethan: well because he just loves school. And me? Well, I just love school because the house is more calm and quiet. Kaden was saying yippee over and over yesterday. Ummm, I wonder where he picked that up? Couldn't have been from me right??? I didn't say it THAT much!

So why is it....

So why is it that on that last day of summer vacation the kids decide that it's not so bad to all play together. Boys and girl. All playing the SAME THING. Without yelling, screaming and or hitting. Wow. Wish they could have figured that out 2 months ago. Tomorrow the boys go back to school and I'm back to entertaining a 4 year old. Pooper.

The Last Fling of Summer

A few weeks ago, Ryan had a business trip up north so we decided to tag along. Anytime we can stay in a hotel, the kids consider it a vacation. So what the hey! A final trip before school starts. We drove all the way to Spokane, Washington the first day. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised to see all the pine trees up around on the mountains. Very pretty. We stopped at the temple which was nice. I loved looking around at the gardens. One of these days I hope to have a yard with beautiful flowers in it just like they have at every temple. I tend to kill things. I guess I have a lot to learn if I have such an ambitious goal!


Next stop was Silverwood in Coeur D'Alene. An amusement park somewhat like Lagoon. The weather was perfect and we made sure to drink plenty of water. Our last vacation, some special few (me and Josh) ended up with heat exhaustion. This time around was much better. We had a good time. Well, except Kaden. He hated the rides. He whimpered and whined the whole time the ride was going. We kept him off the rest. Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

While waiting for Ryan and the other kids to get off a ride, Kaden and I went exploring. Kaden was drawn to the rocks. What a cute little guy.

After the rides, we headed over to the water park. This was the highlight. I think that everyone had a great time. Kaden mostly hung out with Dad while I chased all the other kids around. I tried to keep my hair dry. Ha. I had little kids splashing me, and worst of all was when I went down a slide with Abby. It looked safe, until we hit the bottom and got drenched. So much for the make-up and hairdo!



On the last leg of our trip, we headed to St. Maries, Idaho. It was beautiful country. We stopped at the golf course and I had to snag a few shots. Peaceful? Ah yes. What a great way to end our vacation.