Driving Lesson

I love this pick-up.  Not because I'm a lover of pick-ups, but because it was my dad's (and then my grandad's and then my uncle's) and now it's mine.  And she's beautiful.

But there was a time she wasn't so pretty.

Ellea and I enjoyed looking through some of my mom's old pictures recently and we stumbled onto this one...

Sadly, my poor mama was getting her first driving lesson from my dad and he had her turning down a hill and stopping at a stop sign at the bottom, or some such thing (it's a manual transmission, so that does sound tricky).  It was all too much for a new driver and she ran into a stationary object.  That's the shape of my dad's head in the windshield (ouch!).  According to  mom, he took it all pretty well.  It must have been hard.  His fancy step-side 1964 pick-up couldn't have been more than a year old according to the date on the picture.  That would hurt.  I bet he had a killer headache, too.

Oh, and he decided someone else could teach my mom to drive!  His sister had the honors and mom says she was a great teacher!

Thankfully, they got her back to her original glory.  As you can see, we still have the old California license plate.  She tried it on for size last summer, but Idaho prefers that we not use an expired out-of-state license.  Go figure.

Whipped Cream

Glenn attended the high school awards assembly yesterday.  The fun included some faculty and students playing games in the gym.  Glenn isn't technically faculty (unless you count his junior high track coach position), but he was roped into participating anyway.  I don't usually work on Wednesday mornings, so I missed it.  If only I had known.....

Lucky for you, Nicole took some pictures with her iPod.  The faculty beat the senior students at tug-of-war.

Not surprisingly, none of the faculty wanted to do this activity:  eat gummy worms from a pile of whipped cream while laying on the floor.  Glenn tells  me he was the first one to get all the worms in his mouth, but not the first one to chew them up and swallow them.  Supposedly.  I heard all about the fact that the boy that "won" was still chewing something when they took pictures of the contestants.  Glenn was robbed.  He dwelled on this a lot.  He's not competitive or anything.

Not a great quality picture, but you get the idea.  He's a good sport.  That's what it boils down to.

Spring Concerts

As the school year winds down (7 days left!), it's that time of year for spring concerts.  Morgan's concert was first.  Singing his little heart out.

And playing his little heart out on the Marimbas.  He got to play this bass set, which the teacher later told me only the best players get chosen for because you can hear every mistake.  Why am I so darn competitive that my heart swells with pride the my kid got to play these?  Other children played them during other songs, but my kid played them for this song, and somehow that matters.  Gonna have to work on that.  The pride, not that other kids played them, too!
 

And then there was the junior/senior concert.  Both my girls play instruments, but sadly, they're not taking band again next year.  The band teacher is retiring and they decided to move on to other electives.  As a band member myself all through high school and college, it makes me a little sad, but I'll get over it.

And, I know this has been a major theme in my blogs lately, but will my kids please stop growing up?  Please?  Thank you.

Baseball

Morgan has officially started playing baseball.  Some of the kids on the team have been playing T-ball for a few years, but we're new to this sport.  He had his first game last week and it was a beautiful sunny day - perfect baseball weather.

Morgan's age group plays "machine-pitch" baseball.  Thankfully, an adult runs the machine, so when Morgan took the position of pitcher, he wasn't actually doing any pitching.  He did catch a ball, though!  That can be tricky at this age, so it was pretty exciting!  Who are we kidding - for some of us catching a ball can be tricky at any age!!

He had two turns at bat and got on base both times.

And he made it all the way to home both times.  Woohoo!

Another Birthday

My birthday came around again recently.  I was well-taken care of, as usual.  I hung out with Morgan and Ellea and Grandma on Saturday while Glenn and Nicole were at the state track meet cheering on the Prairie team.

My mom and the kiddos made me feel very loved and special.  The kids and I did some yard saling and went shopping for a few bedding plants.  Grandma and Ellea made dinner and we watched a movie.  It was a great day.

I had (gluten-free) brownies at mom's on Saturday and a yummy decadent chocolate cake on Sunday.
It was a good gig!

How cute are my new boots?  Love them!!  Of course, it helps that I sent an email to Glenn (and the girls) with two specific pairs I liked! I've found it's best to be direct. :)

Pinterest Inspiration

I recently had the duty honor of putting together the centerpieces for Glenn's annual customer appreciation dinner he organizes for the sawmill he works with.  Every year, we try to keep the centerpieces appropriate to the theme of a sawmill and a bunch of loggers and farmers.  I was especially pleased with this year's efforts.

Everyone raved about my craftiness and creative juices.  I kept giving the credit to Pinterest where the picture above provided ample inspiration.  I can copy other people's creativeness.  That's really not too impressive.

It helps when someone else pays the bill.  I found burlap and candles and candle holders and even the moss online.  The hubby provided the wood and we picked up the pine cones in our back yard.  Not sure how easy it will be to top this one for next year's event.  Just another excuse to spend time on Pinterest!

Volleyball Man

It may seem to the outside observer that all we do is go to the kids' sporting events.  Track, volleyball, basketball (and soon, baseball for Morgan).  That's not entirely true.  We do a few other activities.  Not many, but a few!  For example, the kids and I got to go watch dad play a new sport for a change last week.

He was on a volleyball team for a fundraiser tournament at the school.  He clearly was having fun, which was good, because his team kept getting beat!

He had some great hits.

And blocks.

And made serving look like a breeze!  Someone asked me why I wasn't playing.  I figure everyone needs a cheering section.  You've got to play to your strengths, right?!

Kids

These kids.  I have so much love for them.

My heart just bursts.

So beautiful.  Inside and out.  May God always keep them safe and smiling, and loving one another.

Runner's High

Ellea discovered that running gives her that "runner's high" you hear about.  She came home from her first track practice seemingly in The Best Mood Ever.  Hmm.  I chocked it up to having an especially good day.  The next time they ran she was again in a great mood after track.  Seems to be a pattern here.....  After a few times of coming home walking on air, it was official.  Running floats her boat!

Of course, that doesn't mean she didn't have struggles.  Instead of knee pain like her sister, Ellea had shin pain.  Intense shin splints which make it hard to want to run.  Even if you do get a runner's high.

Glenn found these shin supports that are supposed to help with shin pain.  She notices a difference, but still has some pain.  Hopefully we can sort it out before next year's track season.  Here, she's getting a pep talk from her dad before a race.

And here, she's checking in with her coach dad to tell him that she improved her time on her 100 meter race.  Woohoo!  I just missed getting the picture of the high five that he gave her. :)

So that's track.  Where knees hurt, and shins ache, but you push through it and give it your all.

Break the Tape

The track season just ended last week.  It was fun to have both girls in track this year.  This was Nicole's second year taking track, and first year in high school track.  Ellea was in junior high track with her track coach dad.  That meant lots of track meets for mom to attend and I'm behind on blogging about them!

Nicole's season got off to a rough start.  She had a terrible cough and was diagnosed with bronchitis.  Finally got her over that and then she had intense knee pain.  The doctor thought it was something called Osgood-Schlatter's which can take several months to get over.  Turned out to be inflammation of a tendon in the knee which resolved itself within a couple weeks.  But she was behind on conditioning.

She stuck with it and gradually improved her times over the season which is what track is all about.

This race was the *first time* she ever got to break the finish line tape!  Woohoo!

Fifteen

I don't know how it's possible that it's been 15 years since I first became a mom, but it's true.  This patient, kind, compassionate, darling girl came into our lives 15 years ago.  She's been such a gift, and I am so proud to be her mom.

Happy Birthday, Nicole!

Easter Wheels

The crowd at the Easter celebration got a kick out of the silly antics on the "mini" motorcyle.  The horses didn't mind.

Anything on wheels provided a fun time.

Grandma Dori even got in on the act with the little electric scooter!

And Uncle Glenn took a turn, of course!

But the biggest entertainment were these two silly brothers "racing" around the driveway.  You'd think the scooter would lose, but he had the advantage by staying on the inside of the track

It was like a flintstone-mobile as he pushed himself with his feet half the time!  I lost track of the number of laps.  It was the like Kaufman 100, or something!!

More Bloomsday Pics

For some reason unknown to me, the professional photos from Bloomsday are free to download this year.  Most years you have to pay big bucks to buy the pics, so I thought I'd share the photos of Glenn and I.

I really like this one of Glenn.  He's such a rock star to run a 12K.  And with broken toes!

I especially like this guy with the handlebar mustache on the left!  I think he'd be more aerodynamic without it, but what do I know?

It feels SO good to walk across that finish line!  Of course, it's not like the bus picks you up on the other side of the finish, so you're not done walking, but you're closer!  And we made our goal of breaking under two and half hours.  Two hours and twenty minutes isn't as good as Glenn's hour and eight, but we all have our own victories! :)

Easter Sports

It was a classic, beautiful sunny day in Lewiston for our annual Easter celebration.  Our family always loves driving to the valley on Easter to soak up the spring weather.  This year was no disappointment and we were happy to spend most of the day outside.

The adults quickly outnumbered the kiddos in the Wiffle ball game.

Tutus were welcome.

And there was also some football going on in the outfield.

And some volleyball in the front yard......

And later in the day a cut-throat croquet game!  We don't mess around.  This family wears me out..... and all I did was take pictures!