Picture Story

Sometimes I find myself in a situation where I can't put down my camera.

First day of First Grade

The day I have been dreading for the past 12 weeks finally reared it's ugly head yesterday. Thomas started 1st grade. We can no longer hang out in our PJ's until 3 pm and consider the pool our shower for the day. It's back to reality.

Here's our day in pictures...

Please excuse the bathroom mirror. The Master Bathroom is always a mess. (My sister-in-law and I have a pact, if one of us dies, the other one will clean the master bathroom before anyone else enters the house. )

His Lunch. That he says didn't have time to eat. He only had time to eat the ding-dong, the hershey's kiss and peaches soaked in syrup.

Isn't this a poor excuse for an angry birds backpack? He wanted one - I ordered one - then they canceled my order. I should have made them tell my 6 year old he wasn't getting the backpack he dreamed of. Lucky for me he's easy going and accepted the iron on patch as Plan B.

Clara was a little ticked off because we woke her up.

We were so glad to see Gavin, one of Thomas' best friends from his kindergarten class. A few minutes after I took this, they were separated. Steve was looking for Thomas who was looking for Gavin. Steve asked Thomas what he was doing and Thomas said, "Gavin left me in a lurch!" Steve and I laughed about that all day. Neither one of us have ever used the word "lurch" in our vocabulary. We have no idea where he learned it, but were impressed that he used the word properly.

Grandma Shirley came to see him off on his first day.

The picture above was my favorite picture. They love each other SO MUCH. It killed me to see them say goodbye.

After we dropped him off, Clara and I went home and sulked until 3:00. I sat, watched the clock and shoved chocolate in my mouth. I missed him. My friends keep telling me I will get over it. I know I will.

After school we stopped to get celebratory slurpees - and found a lucky penny! I told Thomas he could pick anything he wanted for dinner and he picked Sour Cream Noodle Casserole. I was expecting him to say McDonalds or Smashburger, not Noodle Casserole and Corn on the Cob.

The Casserole is actually really good, even though it looks like hot mess!

Sour Cream Noodle Casserole

1 lb ground Beef

16 oz Tomato Sauce

Garlic Powder

Onion (I used dry)

Egg noodles

1 C Sour Cream

1 C Cottage Cheese

1 bunch of Green Onions - diced

2 Cups Shredded cheddar cheese

Brown beef in skillet and season with garlic and onion. Pour tomato sauce over meat and let simmer while you boil noodles. Mix the sour cream and cottage cheese. I like to run a hand blender through the mixture so the cottage cheese is smooth. Add diced onions to the cream mixture. When noodles have cooked, drain. Add noodles to the cream and onions. Layer noodles and meat in a 9 x 13 pan. Cover with cheese. Bake @375 for 20 minutes.

Silhouettes

July 29, 2011 - Oneota Gorge

One of the stops we always make in Oregon is the Columbia River Gorge. We love it. For a family who lives in the dry desert, seeing this much green everywhere is shocking. This year we made a stop at Onenta Gorge. We wish we would have worn our swimsuits, but I had no idea that people actually swim in rivers and wasn't prepared for it.

Show my kids a pile of rock and they can be entertained for hours.

One of maybe 3 or 4 vacation photos that I am in.

all over the riverbank there are these rock towers that people have built. It was so cool to walk around and see them.

Clara wasn't that impressed with them and thought they were just another pile of rocks to throw in the river.

Fake smile, but at least he let me take his picture.

Someone was a having a little attitude? Three guesses...

Our failed attempt at a family photo. Any guesses on the person with the bad attitude yet?

Vacation

We just got home from our annual summer vacation to Washington and Oregon. This year we decided to throw caution to the wind and schedule 2 weeks. This is pretty much what I did anytime we had down-time, that is until I discovered words with friends on Steve's Ipad.

July 12, 2011

Sometimes Clara feels the need to be something else.

And sometimes she doesn't want to have her picture taken.

But I do it anyway.

July 8, 2011

I am trying to get caught up on my blogging. I have quite a few folders sitting on my desktop with groupings of pictures, just haven't had the time or the desire to sit down and document our life. I need to get back in the swing of things, this is our life and I love having it recorded.

Back at the beginning of July our neighborhood had a block party. For some reason the HOA was under budget and had money in the fund that they had to spend or risk losing. They decided that they would have a party for the kids. They rented a large water slide and hired someone to come do snow cones, cotton candy and hot dogs.

It was a typical Las Vegas July afternoon with scattered rain clouds and high heat. The kids didn't care one bit! They had a blast.

When we first got there Thomas headed right for the slide with his cousins (we love living in the same neighborhood as them) and Clara headed for the cotton candy and snow cones.

We first tried to control how much junk the kids were eating, but it was pointless. They didn't have as many kids show up as they would have liked, so it became an open bar and they let the kids (and lets face it, adults) eat as much they wanted. Every time I couldn't find Clara all I had to do is make my way over to the cotton candy machine to find her.

Cousin Jett

We had such a great time and can't wait until there is extra money in the budget again!

life.

As a mother I am constantly trying to protect my kids. I'm sure I'm not alone. However, there are some things you can't prevent, some things you can't control.

Thomas' best friend moved to California.

I knew it was going to happen. I actually knew 9 months before it was going to happen. At first I didn't wan't to mention it to him. I know how much he is like me and how easy it is for him to worry about things TOO much.

I'll never forget the day that Thomas found out Ryan was moving. We had been playing at the park with him. They were having a great time, but it was time to wrap things up and go home to get dinner started. As we were walking away, Ryan made some mention of having to move to California. As soon as the words left Ryan's mouth, I saw it in disbelief and sadness in Thomas' eyes. As we were walking home he started to cry. I wanted to take away his pain, but I knew I couldn't. I could only comfort him.

I tried to get him excited about Skype and phone calls and how he would be able to email him whenever he wanted. It kind of worked.

Eventually moving day rolled around. We were getting ready to leave for the day and I knew that I had a decision I had to make. Do I drive off and not take him to say goodbye? In other words, do I close my eyes and hope he forgets that it is happening? Or do I drive him by the house and give him that final chance to say goodbye? As badly as I wanted to drive off and hope he forgot it was moving day, I knew I couldn't. I have a problem with avoidance I don't want to teach him how to avoid things. Instead of turning right to leave the neighborhood I turned left and found myself driving around to block to Ryan's house. When we pulled up his dad was locking up the truck. I rolled down my window and asked if Ryan could come outside. Thomas didn't want to get out of the car. He was sitting in the back seat and said he was fine to wave goodbye (he is SOO like me). I had him get out of the car to give Ryan a hug goodbye while I gave my good friend Janae a hug goodbye.

We both got back in the car and were quiet. I drove out of the neighborhood with mixed emotions. I was so sad that he was upset, but I was glad that I made him say goodbye.

You win

Dear Steve Jobs,

You're a genius. Sorry it took us so long to jump on the bandwagon.

Sincerely,

us