A String of Bad Luck...

I'm not here to complain, I'm just stating the facts so you'll know why I haven't been blogging. First of all, my home computer got some spyware. We took it to a computer place, because we were trying to avoid formatting the hard drive. Meanwhile, I checked important internet-related things (is that an oxymoron?) on our OLD laptop. That went on for about a week. The computer place called and said it couldn't be saved and needed to be formatted. So I told Merril to pick it up because I didn't need to pay someone $35/hr. when I can do it for free. So I formatted the hard drive and tried to re-install Windows and realized that we've lost the product key for our copy of Windows. Bummer. So I figured we'd just take it back to the computer place but wasn't in a huge hurry because we still had the laptop. *cue the music* Dunh, dunh, dunh...so while using the laptop the other day, I set it on the floor. When I came back, the laptop was laying flat and wouldn't boot anymore. My suspicions are that Jack or Juliet stood or jumped on it. (They tend to like to do that.) So now the laptop doesn't work.

During all this, my dryer stopped working. Luckily, Merril was able to tear it apart and get it going again but I get the feeling it's on its way out. Also during all this, our DVD/VHS player stopped working so I'm back to our old VHS player. (Normally I'd just go out and buy a new one but it's right before Christmas and I'm trying to save my pennies.) And then yesterday the Tahoe wouldn't start. When Merril tried to clean the battery terminals, one of them came off. (Now I'm no mechanic, but I take that as a bad sign.) But with a new battery, the Tahoe is running as good as ever. I'm thankful it was an easy fix!

So I'm blogging from the garage today because we moved our super-old computer to the garage to become a huge MP3 player with Internet Expolorer on the side. I'm wearing a jacket because it's kind of chilly and this keyboard is seriously dirty. But like I started saying, I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the facts. Our regular computer should be fixed by the end of the week.

And I'm seriously excited that it's November!! I love October through December! I browsed Christmas decorations at Wal-Mart today and felt instantly happy!! So here's looking forward to November and a Happy Thanksgiving! Because seriously, I still have much for which I'm thankful!!

Bugged...

I have some spyware on my home computer so I'm working from the laptop today! I've been working for a couple of days to get rid of it but to no avail. UURRRRGGGHH! But for now, the laptop is still working. It's older than the hills but dependable. The only problem is that we're missing quite a few keys from the keyboard. I don't have a 1 key, { key, or a ; key. We were missing an O key but we swapped out another key from a lesser important spot on the keyboard. Juliet likes to pick keys off the keyboard. But for now, I'm off to choir practice.

Diaper Land...

It's not as much fun as Disney Land, Lego Land, or Candy Land, believe you me. Maxine's the evil genius behind the whole 'land' concept. Diaper Land was the first in an ever-expanding series of lands. Maxine decided to throw ALL of the diapers out of the box and ran around laughing hysterically, "It's Diaper Land!!" As I stared at the diapers strewn about the room, I was less than amused. But Jacky has picked up her exploratative habits and has conquered exciting new worlds such as Sock Land and Flower Land. Juliet helps by establishing Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Land. All of which end in a big, fat mess. Merril tried to construct "Going to Bed Early Land" but was met with resistance.

Tuweep...Toroweap...whatever...

The Grand Canyon is one of Merril's favorite places to visit because no matter how vividly you remember it or how many pictures you take, it still doesn't compare to the real thing. We decided to go to the campground out by Tuweep Point. (Some of the signs spelled it Tuweep, others say Toroweap. Pretty much everyone pronounces it too-WEEP.) So anyway, the only way to get there is by 60 miles of dirt road. Unless you go the other way and then it's more like 95 miles of dirt road. It's at least an hour and half of bumping and sliding around and can take up to 3 hours, depending on which way you go. (It can take even longer if you get a flat tire. We brought 2 spare tires just to be sure. Merril's friend, Jared Hummel, once brought 4 spare tires and got 5 flats.)

Tuweep is remote so there are NO fences. It's fun yet very scary at the same time, especially with kids. So we had a little talk about no running around and if you want to get close to the edge, you HAVE to have an adult and be laying on your stomach because there's a sheer 3,000 foot cliff if you slip. It makes me tingle just thinking about it. Here's Maxine with her two cousins.

If you have an aversion to heights, I wouldn't recommend it. But we had a lot of fun!!

We had a great time camping because the weather was perfect! Sunny and mid-80s with just a teensy breeze! It was perfect!

Here's Jack, supremely happy because...well...that's just how he is.

Juliet liked playing with my phone but was a little on the grumpy side...that's just how she is.

And here's the cousins on the top of a sandstone mountain by our camp site. They were all very pleased to have conquered the mountain themselves. (They're all smiling at Grandma Campbell if you were wondering.)

Portraits for Maxine!

I love pictures of my kids! I've always thought that portrait studios are kind of a racket because they know you love your children and think they're the cutest kids in the world, and you're going to pay for it too. So it came time for school portraits and I was surprised that the prices were pretty reasonable and thought, "Oh well, at least it'll be done." So we picked out cute clothes and curled Maxine's hair and crossed our fingers. Maxine's smile looks a little forced but overall I'm pleased!! It's time to get Jack's done again too.

I just paid how much?

Gas prices have been coming down lately and I'm grateful because my Tahoe is a gas guzzler. I've made peace with my Tahoe and try not to think about how much gas is. However, I drove through my little town and noticed that gas is dropping a lot faster than in our nearby city, when usually they run about the same. So while all of my family and friends who live in the city are paying around $3.49 or so, I somehow nabbed gas for $3.19! That's a 30 cent savings per gallon! It almost feels like stealing somehow!!

And on a side note, Merril and I fasted and prayed and decided that Maxine should stay put in Kindergarten because she needs to grow up. And shout out to my sister who has started potty training her son!! (My son will be wearing diapers forever because I'm lazy.) :)

Marathon pictures...

I've been lazy about posting pictures from Merril's marathon, mostly because I didn't get a great one. Most are blurry or with a weird color so I think I'll just order from the race photographers. (They're seriously over priced but Merril will probably only run one of these things and I'd like to have at least one good picture.) So anyway, here's what I snapped from the race.

We picked a midway point to go and cheer. It was totally rainy on race day so the kids weren't real happy about that. Juliet was good for a while but got fussy.
Jack was pretty happy for about a half hour.

Maxine was kind of grumpy from the start and kept wondering where Daddy was. She really didn't want her picture taken! She was upset that her sign, which she'd spent hours making, was getting ruined in the rain. I'm sorry girlie! This melted into downright sobbing towards the end. Grandma did her best to keep the tears at bay.

After an hour of waiting, we were about to give up hope and figured we'd missed them. I was halfway to the car and talking to Merril's Dad when I spotted Merril and his brother, Jared. I had Juliet in my arms and RAN to try and snap a picture. I took one and then ran ahead to try and take another one. This is the best of the two but it's still blurry. (Merril's in the background in red and black, Jared is in the foreground in white and grey.) So I stood in the rain for an hour with my camera on and poised for the perfect shot and all I got was this. Oh well. So we packed it up and headed towards the finish line.

I dried pants and socks with the truck heater on the way into town. I stopped at a gas station for a hot chocolate and hot dogs for the kids. (Spirits were improving by now.) We drove to Merril's grandma's house and played around for about an hour and dried coats in the dryer. Then we headed to the finish line.

Merril's leg had started cramping up towards the end so Jared came in first.

Merril was a couple minutes behind Jared and was able to finish in just under 5 hours.

He's finally done.

It took forever to get through town and Merril said he wanted a burger and fries because he was starving! The burger joint was packed so by the time we pulled into the driveway, Merril had been sitting for about an hour and a half. He opened the door to get out of the truck and I said, "Hey wait! I'll come help you." He was like, "Oh, I think I'm good." Then he tried to swing his legs out and said, "I can't move."

After a shower and a nap, under 2 blankets because he was still cold, he was doing okay! He walked like Frankenstein for about 2 days but seemed pretty much back to normal after that. So there it is. I lament that there aren't clearer pictures but I'll take what I can get! Congratulations babe!

McSkippy...

I'm conflicted. Maxine's been lucky because the first grade teacher at her school invites Kindergarten readers into her class for reading time. Maxine loves to go in with the 1st graders and I was excited she'd have some challenging work. About 3 weeks ago, Maxine's Kindergarten teacher asked if we'd want to jump Maxine into 1st grade. I hesitated. I asked, "What does Maxine think?" She said that Maxine said she wanted to keep things how they were. Okay, subject dropped.

On Saturday, I ran into the 1st grade teacher Maxine reads with and she said, "We should really think about skipping Maxine into 1st grade now or jumping her straight into 2nd grade next year. She reads and writes better than my 1st graders." Again, I hesitated. She'll be so much younger than all the other 1st graders because they're turning 7 this year and she'll just be turning 6 next month. I'm not worried about her academically but it's the emotional/social aspect that I'm most worried about, and this decision would affect her entire k-12 school experience. Not a decision to be taken lightly. She won't get to date or get a driver's license until November of her Junior year in high school. Again, I asked Maxine whether she'd like to be with the 1st graders and she said, "Well, maybe after I turn 6." I kind of feel like she still acts like a Kindergartener, not a 1st grader. So I don't know.

If anyone has any opinions of the pros and cons of grade skipping, I'd love to hear about it. Don't hold back. Do you think she could handle first grade?

WWWOOOOOWWWW!!!

Merril ran the marathon today and the weather conditions were yucky! It rained on them for almost the entire race! Merril's estimate of around four hours was pushed back to about five. But he did it! He ran in the rain for 5 hours and I still can't believe it. We don't have the official times yet but we're hoping he came in under 5 hours. 4 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds would be wonderful! I don't know if I got a good picture yet so I'll do pictures later. (I'm going to ask family and friends if they snapped any good ones too.) Jared, his brother, ran the marathon too and came in a couple minutes ahead of Merril! They both did great and I'm glad he finished! He's even got the medal to prove it!




Later...Merril's official race time came in at 4 hours: 57 minutes: 58seconds so he barely made it under the 5 hour mark!! Great job babe!!

Lake FHE...

The weather was nice on Monday so we decided to go to the lake for Family Home Evening. Since it's October now, we're thinking it was our last lake day or one of the last. I think it's supposed to cool down next week. So here's one of the kids.

And one of us.

And then I wanted one of Juliet and me walking along the beach.

Merril kept the kids out of the shot for as long as possible. Finally, they couldn't resist.

And then we just laid around the beach for awhile. After about half an hour, a huge flock of big birds took off from across the cove. They flew in V formation and were nice looking white birds with black wing tips. Seagulls are common at the lake but these birds were different and seemed like the migratory sort. As they flew by, I said, "Those look like pelicans, don't they??" We watched their V formation fly to a muddy bump in the middle of the lake and settle in. As we left to go home, they were still resting there so decided to go have a closer look.

Sure enough, it was a flock of around 18 pelican birds. (Excuse the picture, I had the optical and digital zoom maxed out so it's grainy. The birds were jittery and this was as close and we could get.) Our lake is a nice migratory stop over for birds. When we come out in the late fall to go to the adjoining sand dunes, the lake is often covered with birds, but I've never seen pelicans before. It was groovy.

I've been busy working on my first patchwork quilt, something new and scary for me but lots of fun!

I also need to mention that our ward was re-organized on Sunday. We're part of the new ward that'll start going to the new church right by my house. We have the 9:00 slot and we'll be the first ward to the use the building, the Sunday after General Conference. At the meeting to divide the ward, the stake center was packed! The stake president got up to welcome everyone and said, "Our opening hymn will be 'I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go'..." and the whole congregation busted up laughing! Merril said that's the most spontaneous laughter he's ever heard in a meeting. We've been waiting for the changes for about a month and I think a lot of people were really worked up about it. I'll be missing some friends but our new ward will surely be just as wonderful.

AND, Merril will be running the marathon on Saturday!! If you're out on the route and see him (He'll be wearing red, of course) give him a big cheer!! I'll be posting pictures of his dead corpse Saturday afternoon.

Walking Juliet...

Juliet has started walking a lot better so I thought I'd include some video. She's about 15 1/2 months so she's right on the money.

Maxine lost her 2nd tooth. She woke me up at 6:00 a.m. and said, "My tooth fell out!" I was like, "Sweet, go back to bed." Grandma Campbell made her a cute little pillow with a pocket to hold her tooth for the tooth fairy. Maxine's excited to try it out tonight. She's been sleeping with the empty pillow for days because she was certain her tooth was going to fall out at any moment.

And this last one is by request. Maxine wanted a big picture of her mouth with the missing tooth. I didn't want to post a picture of bloody gums but she insisted. So if you'd prefer to stop reading and not continue down to the last picture, feel free.

You could still turn back...

Last chance...

HELP!!! I CAN'T FIND JACK!!

My kids rarely wander from the house. I leave doors open all the time because the kids stay in our yard. It was such a nice day that I had left the front and back door open and Jack had been in and out for most of the morning. After a while, Jack decided to play with Juliet in my closet. I picked up Juliet and took her into the other bathroom to fix her hair. I was gone for maybe 4 minutes. The phone rings and it's my neighbor down the street, telling me I don't need to pick up her girl from the Kindergarten bus. I say, "okay" and then start wondering where Jack is. I look in my closet and he's not there. I run around the house saying, "Jack. Where are you buddy??" Both my front and back doors are still open. I look upstairs, downstairs, front yard, back yard and side yards. I call back my friend down the street and ask, "You haven't seen Jack have you??" -"Nope."

I'm starting to get nervous. I run through the house and start yelling, "Jack!" "Jack I need you to talk to Mommy!!" I look in my closet again and move the dresses, thinking he might be hiding. No luck. I jump in the Tahoe with Juliet and we start combing the neighborhood. I drive up and down the streets, asking neighbors along the way to keep their eyes open. I drive along the dirt roads, thinking he might have gotten curious about the big construction vehicles over by the new Wal-Mart. I drive down to the end of the construction and turn around. I call Merril, starting to get frantic, "I can't find Jack, I don't even know where to look!! I checked all over the house and the neighborhood!" Merril replies, "I'm coming home!! I'll be there soon!"

Friends and neighbors are looking by now. I drive down to the fire station, thinking he might be down there. I drive to another neighborhood and look around. No luck. I'm thinking to myself, if Jack's not around the neighborhood, then someone's taking him away from me. Taking him away to hurt him. I drove back to the house. I am screaming in the house, "JACK!! TALK TO MOMMY BUDDY!!!" I look in the dryer...I look in the oven..."JACK!!"...I start opening every cupboard in my bathroom. I look in my closet again and frantically move dresses and then look in the opposite corner. Curled up by Merril's shoes with his brown blanket around his head is Jack, sleeping. His brown blanket made him blend in with the carpet and he was so sleepy that my screaming didn't even wake him up. Waves of relief pour over me. I pick him up and start sobbing. Jack, still sleepy, opens his eyes and wipes the tears off my face, confused at why I'm so upset. I'm relieved! So relieved. He was lost to me for 25 minutes. That's a very long time to be thinking about what someone else could be doing with my son. I just cry and hold him, grateful that my little boy was never really lost at all. (It makes me cry again to write it all down.)

But to lighten the mood, the rest of the day was great and we had popcorn for an afternoon snack. And after you eat all the popcorn, the bowl makes a great chair.

Seriously, I can never be mad at this face.

I must be nuts...

My other friend Ang has inspired me to get all my Christmas stuff done early this year. (Thank you Angie! I feel more relaxed about Christmas than ever before!) I've already purchased a lot of my kids' presents and this month is dedicated to my parents and Merril's parents. Today, the kids and I decided to get a jump on the draw out names for Merril's side. We purchased all the cousin's gifts. Maxine was so caught up in the Christmas spirit that she even wrote out her Christmas list. After we got home, Maxine wanted to wrap them. Now buying gifts early seems sane but wrapping gifts in September seems a little loony. However, she could not be dissuaded. So this evening, I have 3 gifts ready a little early. Only 92 days 1 hour and 48 minutes early but who's counting? The only problem I can forsee is where in the world do I put them until Christmas?

Where's my dictionary???

My friend Ang is putting together a little Halloween party and before I attend, I'm expected to read selected poems and short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. (To add to the creepy Halloween feeling.) I'm really excited because first of all, I prefer classical literature to any other type of reading and secondly, I haven't read anything with the intent of discussing it since my American Literature class in college. (Yikes, how long ago was that??!)

The best part about classical literature is the way people used to talk. I love the difficult, classic language because it makes the story richer. That being said, I started reading "The Masque of the Red Death" and started wondering, "Where's my dictionary??" I had no idea what sagacious, untenanted, or what mummer meant. But with a handful of definitions under my belt, I was seeing irony and foreshadowing and all sorts of fun literary stuff. Thanks Ang! I can't wait!!

I try to garden because the prophet said to plant a garden. For me, I believe it's a lesson in humility. But my surprise favorite from the garden this year have been carrots. My backyard is hot in the afternoon so many of my veggies struggle. Carrots, on the other hand, grow under ground and I believe this is the secret to their success. Kept away from the hot afternoon sun, they grow happily in a blanket of soil. Onions also do well in my garden by the same theory. So tonight for dinner, I having something that requires carrots and onions. (The menu is yet to be determined.)

Carrots have also been rather comical because carrots require really great soil. Mine is okay. The result can be some rather interesting-looking carrots. About a month ago, I pulled up a carrot that grew down about 2 inches and then performed a 90 degree angle and continuted to grow for about another 6 inches. Today's joke carrot reminds me of a pair of orange sweat pants on a rather pear-shaped woman.

The bright side of my garden is the affect it's had on my kids. They love to eat veggies they've pulled up from the garden. Jack loves to pick cherry tomatoes and eat them. So for all the failures my garden produces, I'll probably plant one next year too.

Peek a boo...

Juliet pulls the funniest faces. When she's really interested in something (usually sparkly or shiny), her eyes will widen, she'll raise her eyebrows and her mouth forms an "O" shape. The other day, she wanted to be up on Maxine's top bunk bed and was playing peek a boo with me.


Here she is hiding from me:

And here she is peeking out, about to say boo!
She cracks me up. To change the subject, Maxine said something funny the other day while she was preparing to brush her teeth. She had out the toothpaste and her brush and said, "I have to use a pea-size amount, I'm under 6 you know." You sure are babe.

Do you ever feel dumb??

By accident, I tend to dress the same as my kids. As an example, I'll get Juliet dressed in denim shorts and a red shirt. Later, still liking the pairing on a subconscious level, I'll choose demin shorts and a red shirt for myself as well. Then I walk out and pick up Juliet and realize we're wearing the exact same thing. I feel silly, but not silly enough to change.


So today, I watched Merril get dressed and walk around and thought, "He looks good today." So a half hour later, I picked out clothes and thought, "This looks good!" So I walked out and realized that I'd subconsciously picked out the exact same thing as Merril. I feel like a dork. :)

Nail polish...

In an attempt to get Maxine to stop biting her nails, we painted her fingernails with some glittery nail polish. I thought Juliet was about to jump out of her skin when she saw that glitter comes in a little bottle and can be applied to objects. So I ended up painting Juliet's big toes and she kept sputtering, "Ooooooo!" She seems to be quite the girl. And since everyone was doing it, Jack had to have his big toes painted as well.

And I have ants. Ick. Ick. Ick. I can't figure out where they're coming from because they walk along the carpet and then dive under it. So I pulled up the carpet and vacuumed as many crumbs and ants as I could. I also bought some ant bait and enjoyed watching them eat it, wriggle around and finally die. I despise ants. Cockroaches and mice will at least run away from me, recognizing that I am the superior species. Ants march on, oblivious. It's aggravating. I'm amazed it's taken 3 years for them to infiltrate my house, seeing as Jack spills so much Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the floor every morning I could feed armies of ants with the sugary mess. Wonderfully, lots of them are dead already.

Budding walker...

My kids have never been known for their early walking ability. That's been fine by me because they learn to walk eventually, around 15-17 months. Lately, Juliet likes to stand up in the middle of the room and the other day I actually got her to take a small step, and I mean very small. It'll take another month to accomplish what I'd consider walking. She's 14 1/2 months so she'll be right on the mark for my kids. My little sister has a son who's 10 months and he'll take off across the living room. That's fine because I've heard that late walkers are really smart. (Obviously, this rumor was conjured by a parent of late walkers.) Another statistic links late walking to cautious children. That one could be true. Whatever, I think they're just lazy. She can, however, say, "Hi Jack", "Here it is." and "Thank you." So for all the mothers out there who have kids running around by this age, here's Juliet taking her first of many steps. (You'll have to look close or you might miss it!) :)

My husband, the hero...

I apologize to anyone who's come over to my house and said, "Do you smell gas??" My range/oven is natural gas and that thing has leaked forever. It's a very small leak in the back and I usually would only notice on hot afternoons. So we've tried a number of things to get it fixed. When I first noticed, the house was still under warrenty and the home builder sent a gas plumber over to fix it. After a while, the gas leak returned. By then, the warrenty had lapsed and Merril thought he could fix it by replacing a hose. That didn't work either. So I called the gas company to help diagnose the problem, thinking it was a valve in the bottom of the oven. (By the way, if you have a gas leak, they send out a technician for free to help track it down! Groovy, eh??) The guy said it wasn't the valve but it was still leaking by the hose connections. So I go and buy another hose and Merril puts it on again. Still no luck. (Keep in mind these events take place over the course of a few years.) Merril, not to be dismayed by something he can't fix, tells me he's going to the hardware store to get another new hose and all new fittings. The end result?? I can finally walk around in my kitchen without a whiff of that rotten eggs/natural gas smell!! Merril said, "Well that only took 3 years." Thanks babe!!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me...

Earlier this week, I found a farm near my house selling fresh peaches from the orchard for $.75/lb. We had to go pick them but ended up getting them for .50/lb. because the gal was so nice. So I've spent a few days bottling peaches. To my surprise, Maxine was a big help. She'd bring me the peaches, I'd boil them and transfer them to the ice bath and then she'd slip the skins off. She probably cut my workload by 1/3. So here we are with the finished product: 2 quarts and 7 pints of beautiful, yummy peaches.
Maxine also wrote the date on the lids.

Yummmmmmmm...

A lot of my jars are mismatched because I bought them used in Enterprise. An old lady had died and her kids were cleaning out her basement. Shelves and shelves of bottled food, most of which had gone bad, lined her entire basement. I think I got them for a nickle a piece. The only bummer was emptying the bottles and cleaning them out. I was pregnant at the time and I gagged over the sink while I emptied bottle after bottle of rotten tomatoes. The upside was the price and some of the jars are really vintage with fun impressions on the side. I have a bunch of Atlas mason jars and others just say 'mason' with a big stars on the side.

And Juliet LOVES shoes. These are some of Maxine's old shoes and if they ever fall off, she has a fit.


And the other day, Merril uttered some of the sexiest words a man can whisper to his wife: "I got a babysitter for Friday at 7:00." Yeah! So we rode motorcycles into town for dinner. Then I wanted to just ride around for a while so we rode out to the resevoir and stopped on a side road. Since we were far from town, the stars were fantastic. We were looking up for a while, until my neck was tired so I decided to lay on the road. Merril got my motorcycle jacket and laid it under our heads. So we laid there and stargazed for probably a half hour. We saw 2 shooting stars and then rode home. It was a great little date. It reminded me of the days before we had loads of kids sleeping at home.

Ice cream truck and 26 miles of dirt road...

I didn't think I had anything to blog but started flipping through the pictures on my camera and found some cute ones I'd forgotten about.

First off, an ice cream truck came to our neighborhood. Since it's not a common occurance, we purchased a fudgesicle for Jack and a Creamsicle for Maxine. Both thought it was awesome that a guy drives around in a truck (Okay, it was a van) full of ice cream.

Jack is the best for candids, Maxine on the other hand will ALWAYS pose.

Jack was a huge mess towards the end.
Messy but happy.
Juliet loves the camera but often pulls a cheeser smile. If I wait for an extra second, she'll stop squinting but keep the smile. The result: The perfect face every time.


And while we were waiting the other day, I caught this one of Juliet. We were in the woods, waiting for Merril to finish hiking.

Then we needed to drive back into town. Merril thought he knew of a shortcut on a dirt road. So I blindly turned and followed his advice, thinking it would be faster. After about 15 minutes on the dirt road, I said, "You know what? When I passed the fork in the road the first time, the sign said this dirt road was 6 miles or 26 miles." Merril replies, "It can't be 26 miles. We'll be there soon." (1 hour and 30 minutes later, finally hitting pavement again.) "I think it was 26 miles." :) The drive wasn't a complete waste because there was some really cool and beautiful scenery. However, we were all hungry and tired of being jiggled around on a bumpy dirt road by the end.

Testing, testing...is this thing on?

Last week was SEP testing week at school. (And if someone knows what SEP stands for, I'd love to be enlightened.) Maxine was tested for her reading skills and reads well for her age. The 1st grade teacher at her school has a small class this year and invited the Kindergarteners who can read into her class for reading hour. This morning marks Maxine's first time going to the 1st grade reading hour and she was very excited. I was slightly worried about her being bored in Kindergarten but this should challenging. And she'll still be able to do all the fun things the Kindergarteners do. The best of both worlds. (This is Maxine getting off the bus on the first day of school but I never got a chance to post it before now.)
And can you believe it's September??? It was almost cold outside this morning. I went Christmas shopping over the weekend! Hee hee. I'm trying to get a head start. I couldn't believe all the Halloween stuff that was out already. I'm getting excited to wear a sweater again but that means that lake season is drawing to a close. *sigh*

Big trucks...

Saturday was a day of big trucks for Jack. First off, we traveled up north for a reunion at Merril's Uncle Max's house. We caravanned with Merril's Dad because he needed to drive his big, semi-truck up north as well. Here's Jack in the front seat with Grandpa. Have you ever seen so much excitement on a little boy's face?? He rode in the truck for about 3 hours.

Then we decided to go see the Kennecot copper mine with some family. The copper mine is so huge that it can be seen with the naked eye from space! Outside the visitor center, they have a huge tire that is the same size as the ones on the gigantic dump trucks that they use to haul the copper ore. It was HUGE and made by Michelin.

Jack LOVED to watch the trucks haul the rocks to the ore crusher. They look big down there but Maxine's only as tall as 1/3 of a tire.

Juliet was unhappy for most of the day. She looked like this.
Her tummy seemed upset and I changed about 5 poopy diapers. After the mine, which was a lot neater than I thought it was going to be, there was a dutch oven dinner at Uncle Max and Aunt Janice's house. It was super yummy and although my kids never get stitches, I think they get burns more than average. Jack was playing in some dirt and burned 2 fingers on some leftover charcoal. He cried and fussed for about 2 hours of the ride home. He was so tired that he'd start to fall asleep and then wake up because his fingers still hurt. He finally collapsed in exhaustion. He's perfectly fine today. Juliet was still fussy at church today but only because we didn't get home until 1 a.m. She had a nap for 2 1/2 hours and all is well. We still had lots of fun despite the extra weeping and wailing. I was about to finish up but the kids just pulled this pose. I think they survived.

The hoser...

My kids love to play in the hose and get wet. The other day, Maxine wanted to play in the hose and Jules joined in. For whatever reason, our hose in the front yard has had the end cut off so I can't attach a sprinkler to it. However, Juliet still thinks it's fun to get a drink and becomes quite possesive about who's holding the hose. Maxine leaned over to take a swig and Jules looked up at me as if to say, "Aren't you going to do something about this??"
It's still fun to see her facination with water.

We went swimming the other evening at the new community center and I'd never been there before. We all thought it was fun and were completely worn out from all the swimming.

And if you'd like to feel smarter, read on: About 3 weeks ago, we took the boat out and as per usual fashion, Merril backed the trailer in and I sat in the boat, ready to drive. So the boat started to float away from the trailer and I tried to trim down the boat propeller but it wouldn't work. Merril parked the trailer and walked down to the dock and noticed I was drifting away. I yelled, "IT WON'T TRIM DOWN!!" He had me try a few things but ultimately had to swim out to the boat. Then he tried a few things but the trim motor didn't seem to be working. We finally ended up disconnecting a tube from the trim motor and I manually pushed the outboard half-way down with my feet. (Not all the way down because we couldn't get the propeller back up either. That could cause damage on the way home to have the propeller dragging on the pavement.) So we slowly got back to the dock and pulled out the boat and went home. Merril theorized, "I think the trim motor's burned out." Discouraged, we let it sit.

I looked at trim motors online and they were anywhere from $200 to $500. During this time, Merril had his 50-mile hike and school was starting, blah, blah, blah. So last Friday I say to Merril, "So are we ever going to look at this thing or what?" Merril jumps in the boat and gets out his voltage meter and checks wires and some other stuff. He gets out his wiring schematic and thinks and looks a little more and says, "There's a 50-amp voltage breaker somewhere on the engine." After nosing around, he finds the button and pushes on it. Like any breaker that's been tripped, it makes the distinctive, "click." He reaches over and tries the trim button and TA DA!!! Works like a charm! We felt silly that a breaker kept the boat out of the water for 3 weeks but at least it was cheap!! Have a great weekend!

Slacker...

Since Maxine's started school, I've been taking advantage of the free time to do little projects and have neglected blogging. So here's some pictures that I've had on my camera that wanted to be blogged!


First-Rock Climbing:

We went rock climbing for Family Home Evening. I haven't been rock climbing since before I was pregnant with Jack so it's been a few years for me. We went with the Hummels and there was a little whining at first but the kids finally settled into some good climbing. Jocelyn and Maxine were the best climbers because they're the oldest. Max was better coming down and Jocelyn was better going up.

Here's Maxine on her first rock assent:
Mostly Jack just liked getting dirty with Calvin. I think this was right before he was sent to time out for throwing sand. Little devil.

The parents even made it up a climb. I was surprised how easily it came back. I didn't totally embarrass myself. It's such a good workout too!

Next-First Day of School

Here's Maxine ready for her first day to ride the bus.And Now she's getting on the bus and has the pink back pack. She saw the bus and took off with no hesitation. I was like, "Okay, see you this afternoon!"



Last-Laub Family Reunion:


Over the weekend we went to Merril's Mom's family reunion at the farm. Merril's uncle had a little "train" that he pulled behind a 3-wheeler. Maxine said it was almost as fun as the horses that he usually brings. I thought it was great!

Merril ran 14 miles that morning so he did this for part of the afternoon.
One of Merril's aunts brought a fun game of Deal or No Deal. Maxine won some bubbles.

Jack found a whole tub of John Deere tractors at Grandma Laub's house and I barely saw him the rest of the afternoon.
Juliet was very happy because we were outside all afternoon. If there was some way I could have her outside and eating all day long, she'd be the happiest baby ever.
And to finish, the big, yellow moon started to come up as the day was ending. This is to remind you that Autumn and Halloween are right around the corner! I can't wait!