More Katie

I took a closer look at these pics of Katie I took today and found MORE cute ones so here are a few more...

K-K-K-Katie beautiful Katie

This picture, I took by mistake but I thought it was soo cute...

Kindergarten has been fabulous for Katie...she had a rough summer with lots of changes and getting back to a consistent routine and stimulating her bright little mind have been wonderful for her. She is happier and easier in every way than she was just six weeks ago!!! I had worried about sending her off to Kindergarten but now I wonder if maybe I should have opted for the all-day variety (just kidding...it is just too long for me be away from my baby. We gotta ease mom into this school business!!)

The River

Tonight Cyrus took the girls on a walk along the river and took some pictures of the bridge and the water. This place is fabulously beautiful. The other morning I was on a walk on the river front (which is about a two minute walk from our house) and the fog was just burning off. It was so remarkable and I felt so thankful for this beautiful place we call home...the tops of this hills were just peeking out of the fog and the water was rolling gently, the sea lions were barking (they always are) and the boats were just coming out. It was beautiful. I truly love this place.

something you never see.,...

A picture of Cyrus and I together...this was on Lainie's blog and I stole it!!!!! Thanks Lainie for a fun trip to your place and for taking this photo...

Quiet...

Yesterday I was trying to be nice and babysat one of Hannah's friends after school despite her mom first telling me it would only be until 3:30 then telling me at the last second her dad would pick up at 5:00. When the dad didn't show up until 6:10 and I missed Katie's Kindergarten back to school night, I was officially mad. So today we are having a friend vacation..no extra kids at our house and boy is it quiet and my house is clean...maybe we should have these more often.

Idiot...

Please disregard the post below this one. Cyrus hijacked my blog temporarily...I have been thinking about going private and not inviting him.

Dear Peckerwoods...

That's right, Peckerwoods! Keeping this G-rated. But, all you Peckerwoods who have gone and made your blogs private without so much as a "Oh, by the way, we don't want you to look at our cool family." (Annie made me edit what I really want to say here--chickens!!!!) How about you look in the closet and find that box labeled "decency" or "friendliness" and pull out your head and send me an email so I can get on your "A-list" of friends to see your blogs. I'm shocked and appalled at the unmitigated gall of some of you!

Anyway, love all of you still the same. I'll be waiting for those emails! :)

Cyrus

Our backyard

Under Construction

Here are some pictures of what my house looks like. This is what the work men left behind. We had a good framer and a wonderful and honest plumber, three flaky painters (ok one was good but the lady he worked for was as flaky as they come) and a dishonest electrician.




Now the rest is up to us. We will finish the drywall, put a cute tile back splash on the tub hang beadboard on the cabinet that the tub is in and on the front of the window seat, paint and hang trim, put up new doors in the whole upstairs, and lay new wood floors in the girls attic bedroom. Then some guy is coming to fix up the wood floors. Next we move onto the laundry room...and the mud room...and the kitchen back splash...and the fence...and the retaining wall in the backyard...I am afraid my house my have that pile of rubble till the day I die...................

Mountain Goats

We took the kids to the Regatta here in town...they had jump houses and slides and miniature golf and a climbing wall and it was ALL FREE!!! And of course there were fireworks (those are fairly common here--at least two big shows in our first two months). My girls, of course loved climbing the rock and made it nearly to the top (hence the mountain goat title). I of course got one foot off the ground. It was fun though

One of the coolest things about living on the coast is there is TONS to do on the weekend during the summer...the downside is there are tons of people clogging up the roads every weekend...ok sometimes you have to wait for two minutes to turn left...so the roads really aren't clogged but everyone here complains so I thought I would join the chorus for a minute. It is wonderful here. I don't think we have liked a place we have lived this well since we left Rigby.

fun with the iPhone

I took these pictures last night with my phone. They are kind of grainy so I gave them an antique look when I messed with them. I think they are fun!!!

My five kids....

Getting a picture of all five is difficult...I thought this one turned out fun.

Idaho

We had such fun visiting all our family in Idaho. We saw my Grammie from New Hampshire (who Carolyn is named after) and our cousins and had a ton of fun. My 82 year old Grammie is sure amazing...I wish we'd gotten more pictures with her...she rode rides at bear world and played soccer with the kids in the back yard. She has lots of life and is enjoying it!!!

We had a retirement/birthday party for my dad and brother and Katie.

We wanted to bless Grace but our Bishops had difficulty getting each other on the phone to approve it so Cyrus just gave her a nice father's blessing at my parents house and we had a fun dinner with lots of family.

My parents neighbor let the kids ride her horse and they played in the field next to my parent's house--just like I did when I was a kid.

We raced on the front lawn and caught up with some old friends.

It really was nice...a little difficult with a newborn, of course but a welcome break from all the WORK on our old house.

Here are a bunch of pictures in no particular order...