September 13, 2011

I woke up this morning around 6 am. I laid there and tried to talk myself into getting up, but my inner motivational monologue wasn't cutting it today. I ignored the voices in my head for about 45 minutes and then reluctantly gave in.

I shouldn't have waited so long. It was a beautiful morning. I came downstairs and opened the door to see that it was raining. It didn't look like a passing storm, it was too thick and I knew it was going to be a rainy day. all day.

I dropped the kids off at school and then decided I was going to enjoy the day. I usually go to the library while Clara is in preschool and work on my photo editing for my recent sessions, but not today. I went and ran a quick errand, bought myself a popcorn and Diet Dr. Pepper and parked myself in front of Clara's preschool to read in the car with the windows open. Every once and a while I had to roll the windows up when it got too intense, but for the most part they were down while I sat and read. It was wonderful.

After school Clara and I came home and hung out in the house with the windows and doors open. The Ipod has been shuffle and is constantly surprising me with tracks I haven't listened to in a long time.

Then there was a break in the sprinkle and she decided to go outside and play around in the puddles.

She also experimented with chalk on the wet concrete and was so excited to tell me it "got pinker" when it was wet.

life is good.

Clara's First Day of Preschool

Clara had her first day of preschool today. I wasn't going to put her in this year because she's going to Mrs. M next year who will basically have her ready for college by the end of the year. To be honest, I also didn't want to put her in because she is my baby. I figured If I kept her out of preschool it would prevent her from growing up. From what I hear, it doesn't work, so I went ahead an put her in.

She was very excited to go. She wore her "farkle pants and her farkle heart shirt." She was supposed to wear the new converse shoes I bought her last month, but when we went to put them on, her feet wouldn't fit. We ended up dropping Thomas off at school and making an emergency stop at Kohls to buy new ones.

I dropped her off and then decided that I would try to become a Starbucks Laptop Hobo. I made it 30 minutes and then started going crazy. I'm not cut out for hanging in Starbucks. I ended up driving around and stopping at random stores trying to kill time. It was hard being childless. I finally pulled up to the preschool and waited for 30 minutes in the car. I'm sure I will grow fond of having alone time on a regular basis, but for now it is just odd.

She had a great time. When I asked her what she did she said, "we talked about bodies and I got a red sucker."

Sounds like a perfect day if you ask me.

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?