Life and Times of the Walkers

Walker Girl Funnies

2011-02-11T20:32:00.000-06:00

Claire was watching the movie "Annie" with her sisters and a friend from across the street, Katey, when I heard Katey ask "Who is that guy?" to which Claire replied, "He's one of the sinister characters."

What??? Did she just say that? So I asked her "Claire, what does that mean?" to which she quickly (because I was interrupting the movie) and seemingly a bit annoyed answered, "He's one of the bad guys." I don't know where it comes from. Maybe it's because she's a daughter of an english professor. Or maybe she's just that brilliant. :)

Rachel came up to me a few weeks ago with something spilled down the front of her shirt. So I asked her what it was to which she of course replied, "I don't know." After much prodding, she finally admitted it was chocolate milk. I then quickly deduced that if it was spilled on her shirt, she most likely had spilled it somewhere else - especially since she didn't have any chocolate milk out and would have had to get it out of the refrigerator. (You can't get anything past this smart mom). So I asked her if she spilled the milk on the floor. Her answer of course was "Noooo!" in a "quit bugging me" tone. I then asked her to take a little walk with me downstairs to the kitchen. Upon arriving in the kitchen we discovered the refrigerator door wide open with a stool in front of it and a chocolate milk container lying on the floor in a pool of spilled chocolate milk. So I once again asked her if she did this. (I should know better than to set my kids up to lie) And she once again adamantly replied "NO!" I of course was very curious who could have done this so I asked her what happened and she told me this tale....

"Someone walked in the door and came in and got the chocolate milk and drank it and then spilled the milk on the floor and then dropped the cup and then spilled it on me and then left. And didn't even clean up."

I of course wanted to know who would do such a thing so I asked her who it was. She stated she did not know. I reminded her that if she saw them do it, then she did know and she should tell me who it was (of course this was the only flaw in her story) to which she gave a deep sigh and said, "Jonathan's mommy" (our friend who goes to church with us). With a little smirk on my face since I was trying not to crack up said, "You are telling me that Jonathan's mommy came in the door, opened the refrigerator, pushed the stool in front of the shelves, drank the chocolate milk, spilled it on the floor and you and then left?" Rachel looked at me with a disappointed look and even more disappointed tone in her voice and while shaking her head said, "And, she didn't even clean up."

Maggie has a burst of energy every day at about 5:30pm or 6pm which just so happens to coincide with our dinner time. How perfect. So instead of eating, she takes a bite or two of vanilla yogurt or a cracker (the main constituents of her diet) and then begins her lap running around the table. She sometimes accompanies the running reciting verse or song (in her own language of course), but she doesn't let much interrupt her. She just puts her head down and goes. At first I tried to make her stop and sit down and then discovered what a fool I am. If I just let her go, it keeps her busy, out of trouble, burns off some energy and I get to eat!

Claire has been asking for a dictionary for quite some time now (maybe to look up words like sinister or something). Well, you would think that we would have one in our house especially with an English professor in our home, but we didn't - that English guy stole them all and took them to work. So Paul brought one home one day for Claire and she grinned from ear to ear. That night in bed, she was listening to her new Taylor Swift CD she got for Valentine's Day and reading/singing the lyrics with the CD. I watched her as every once in awhile she would pause and look a word up in the dictionary (we practiced how to find words earlier that night) and then go on listening and singing. It was getting late, so I went in and turned off the CD and told her it was time to go to bed, to which I was expecting some whining and "5 more minutes", but instead, she had a sweet smile on her face and said, "Come here, mama." I walked over to her bed and with the biggest grin and excitement of winning a million dollars on her face gave me hug and said, "Thank you so much for the dictionary!" If only a dictionary would bring everyone so much happiness.

Thanksgiving - Disney Style

2010-12-01T15:15:00.000-06:00

Paul had a conference in Orlando the week before Thanksgiving this year, so we decided to start our Thanksgiving break a little early and head down at the end of his conference to have a the Disney World experience. My sister Kari traditionally has visited us at Thanksgiving time each year no matter where we live, so she was able to join us also (and three adults makes trying to keep track of three little girls a much easier job).

Paul flew down earlier in the week and I drove with the girls to pick up Aunt Kari at the airport in Nashville on Friday and we made the drive down to Florida. We got to Orlando on Saturday late morning and wasted no time before heading to the park. Our first day was spent at Magic Kingdom. (Clark Griswald, I mean Paul, found a way to the parking lots going on back roads in order to bypass the parking fees - I thought we were going to be hunted down kicked out of the park and waste a week in Florida, but alas, we made it)

We spent the first afternoon going against all the guide books and websites, and threw caution to the wind. We did not have a plan, we did not schedule our fast passes, we did not have a time table for bathroom breaks, eating, blowing our nose, etc. We are "the fly by the seat of our pants kind of family" (a throw out to "Pretty Woman" if you didn't catch that). It was perfect. We found rides we wanted to go on, we didn't stress. We hit both the afternoon and evening parades at perfect times and just had a wonderful evening.

We took the ferry from the parking area to Magic Kingdom the first day. The girls (not to mention me) were so excited.
When we walked into the park, it was almost time for the afternoon parade to start so we stopped and had front row seats just as they came out. Perfect timing!!

Me, Aunt Kari, Maggie, Rachel (hiding behind the pamphlets) and Claire getting ready for the parade.
As with any parade, the music is just a bit loud! (Although my girls were glad there were no sirens like the local parades)

Claire and Rachel
Rachel was especially excited to meet Woody and even got to shake his hand.
Along with Jesse.
Claire and Rachel waved at all the characters on floats and got some waves back - Prince Eric even blew them a kiss!
Maggie really didn't know what to think.
Aunt Kari and Claire taking in the sights.
Claire waiting patiently in the lines. So excited!!
What three happy girls! Rachel, Claire and Maggie
Dumbo was one of our first rides. They loved it! They wanted to do it again and again.
Claire flying Dumbo (or Bumbo as Rachel calls him).

Aunt Kari and Rachel with Paul and Maggie flying right behind.
On to the Mad Hatter Tea Cup ride. Paul, Claire, Rachel and Aunt Kari really got spinning.
Paul, Rachel, Maggie, Claire and Aunt Kari in front of Cinderella's castle. The girls, especially Rachel could not get enough of seeing the castle.
Claire and Rachel trapped with a scary alien!
Rachel practicing some dance moves while waiting in line.
Rachel and Aunt Kari on It's A Small World - a big hit with the girls.Aunt Kari and Claire on It's a Small World.
Paul and Maggie on It's a Small World. Looks like Maggie is ready to jump over board. Maybe it it was the music.Rachel and Paul riding on Prince Phillip's carousel.
Me and Maggie.
Claire and Aunt KariClaire braving the horse on her own.Maggie at the end of a long first day. Only 3 more to go!
But Claire and Rachel were still going strong.
Cinderella's castle was it up at night for Christmas with millions of lights. It was really impressive...
...and beautiful!!
We (at least Rachel and Maggie) were getting pretty tired by the time the night parade came, but we stayed and it was worth it. Even Flat Stanley came out to see the excitement. The electrical night parade was pretty cool.
Does this look like pure excitement or what?

The next few days we hit Epcot for a "Princess Lunch" which was quite an event in and of itself. We ate lunch and many of the Disney Princesses came to our table and visited with us, took pictures with the girls and signed autographs. To see the girls face light up when they saw the princesses and give them hugs was priceless! Paul didn't know until after he got the bill how much we were spending for this special time with the princesses (I made the reservations), but even he had to admit it was a highlight of the trip (the princess meeting, not the bill). I did have to keep reminding him - "Their faces were priceless!" And back to Magic Kingdom again. The adults did make it to one roller coaster but most of the rides were for the girls. They did enjoy the rides, especially Dumbo and Peter Pan, but meeting all the characters was probably their favorite part of the trip.
The fam at Epcot.
Rachel and Claire waited patiently in lines to meet characters and get autographs. Luckily we never had to wait very long.
At our princess lunch, we were greeted by Belle before we were even seated at our table. She along with all the other princesses were beautiful and so nice!
Claire, Belle and Rachel.

These expressions say it all.

Maggie wasn't too excited to meet the princesses.
Look at Rachel's face upon meeting Cinderella.
Claire, Cinderella and Rachel.
Claire, Snow White and Rachel.
Ariel greeting Claire.
Claire, Ariel and Rachel.
Still this was as close as Maggie got.
And, Rachel's favorite princess - Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty.Claire, Aurora and Rachel.I think Rachel was in shock.
Claire wanted to try out the princess chair. It seemed to fit just right.
Rachel seemed to fit pretty good also.
Rachel and Claire as Vikings in Norway at Epcot.Once again - the Walker girl models.Rachel is still working on her moves.
They had some pretty impressive bushes which were trimmed into different characters.
Here is Claire with Mickey and Minnie.Claire and Rachel with Donald Duck
Doesn't this look like we are having fun?
Aunt Kari and Maggie in Morocco.
Claire, Paul and Rachel also in Morocco.
Rachel, Claire and I as totem pole faces.
Rachel tried the upside down look.
So Claire decided to try it out too.
Maggie mostly enjoyed the views from her stroller.
Paul, Claire, Aunt Kari and Rachel riding in the shells through the Nemo ride.
There was a pretty cool aquarium after the Nemo ride. It was as good as any of the other attractions and in fact was Maggie's favorite thing of all the parks.
AAAGH! It's a shark!! With a Claire in it's mouth!
AAAGH! Now it's got Aunt Kari and Rachel.
I love Aunt Kari's new hair color compliments of Rachel's skirt.
I loved the poinsettia trees and new my mom would also, so we took a couple of pictures with the Walker models in front of them.

A quiet ride back on the monorail.
Once again, Maggie was pretty wiped out.
We also went to Animal Kingdom where we saw lots of fun animals and met lots more of the characters.
Claire, Paul and Maggie on the Safari at Animal Kingdom.
We saw lots of really cool animals of which I am not posting pictures, but it was really fun riding the trucks through the area.
Aunt Kari and Rachel.
Maggie liked the animals too.
Claire dancing with a funny ape thing.
Claire, Rachel and I dancing at Animal Kingdom.Just posting this picture to show our redneck moment - Maggie in just a diaper out in public. Really, the first activity of the day, Maggie had a huge blow out and the only time I don't have an extra pair of pants happened to be that day. So, we were the rednecks from Kentucky. Several other women noticed and sympathized letting me know that they had been in the same boat at some time. A bonus was that she was sitting on my lap when it happened, and since I couldn't walk around in my undies all day, I unfortunately smelled all day. Yuck!Rachel and Claire meeting Donald Duck.
Rachel, Goofy and Claire.
Rachel and Claire meeting Minnie Mouse.

This was about as close as Maggie got to any of the characters. She did blow Minnie a kiss though.
Rachel, Mickey and Claire.

Rachel, Tigger and Claire.
I had to get in the picture with Eyore. He is my favorite.
Rachel, Eyore, Claire, me and Maggie.
Rachel, Winnie the Pooh and Claire.
Rachel dancing in Asia.
Claire in Asia
Claire scuba diving.

Claire on an animal hunt.
There was a small playground area in Animal Kingdom which of course the girls loved.
Rachel got worn out a little early in the day on day 3.

Aunt Kari excited to crack into the crab legs and shrimp. She doesn't get to eat these at home due to her boyfriend being allergic to them, so she took advantage of the situation and enjoyed them at Joe's Crab Shack.
Claire and Rachel enjoyed Joe's also.
I wanted to get a picture of the girls with their Minnie shirts on (which I made by the way) and their ears (which I made also). But once again, Maggie was quite uncooperative.
Rachel and Claire sitting in Minnie Mouse's living room in her house.
Rachel in Minnie's sun room.And by her front door.Maggie's nap time.
The Mickey and Minnie Mouse gang with our ears on. Can you tell how excited Paul and Kari are to wear their ears? These took some hard work, but I don't think they really appreciated it.
After 4 days at Disney World, I think this is about how we all felt. (Notice the close up of the shirt I made. Pretty proud of it.)
We never spent a whole day and night at the parks because with three little girls, they just don't as that long. So the rest of the time we enjoyed our beautiful hotel! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. It was such a nice hotel. Beautiful swimming pools, water slides, lake beach, bikes, walking paths, parrots. We were on the 18th floor so we had pretty good views in fact from the hallway where there were floor to ceiling windows you could see the fireworks from Epcot at night. It was fun watching fireworks in our jammies.
Our hotel was amazing. Maggie, Paul, Rachel and Claire loved the bouncy bridges going over the pools.
Aunt Kari and Rachel playing in the pool...
...and out of the pool.
Claire has really come to love the water. She could have swam (and jumped) for hours.
Maggie and I enjoyed a little water and then observed the others.
Rachel worked on her bike riding skills.
They had amazing decorations set up in the hotel lobby including this enormous tree.
Claire and Rachel practiced their poses in front of the tree.
Maggie has not been much of a poser for us lately and most pictures of her end up being of her lying on the floor throwing a fit because she doesn't want her picture taken.
Claire on the other hand loves practicing her many poses. Flat Stanley came to join us here also.
Claire picking the nose of the hog in the garden area of our hotel.
The room did seem quite small with six people and after five days in it. Luckily we were out most of the time. Everyone did seem to find the sleeping arrangements okay though.

Maggie didn't get tired of the room.

After four days having a blast, we drove to Daytona Beach. Paul had served his mission in this area and told me you drove on the beaches and parked there. I thought we would be calling AAA to tow us out of the sand, but in an unlikely event, he was correct! It was crazy! Now, I knew we were going to the beach, but in another unlikely event, I wasn't thinking and didn't pack beach clothes (at least on top of the other luggage). So the adults wore the clothes we had on and the girls stripped down to underwear, shirts and diapers. The weather was perfect. Had we had bathing suits, it may have been a bit cold in the water, but we still would have done it. Sorry girls. They still had fun though! We decided next time we come this way, we need to make plans for a couple days at the beach too.
Claire
Rachel
Claire
Maggie and Paul
Maggie and Paul
Claire
Maggie
Maggie and Rachel making "sand castles"...or just sand piles.
Claire
Maggie, Claire, Paul and Rachel
Maggie
Rachel
Claire and Maggie. Notice our van parked on the beach. The cars drive between where we are parked and the water.
Paul and Rachel
Maggie
Claire and her sandy bum.
Rachel
Rachel
Maggie
The Walkers!
My sister (Kari) and I. I love her!! Thanks so much for coming with us!!!

After the beach, we started on our way home stopping at a Cracker Barrel in the middle of Alabama somewhere for Thanksgiving dinner. It was perfect. Our kids ate Mac and Cheese and we had a Thanksgiving dinner plate which was good. I could go for this type of Thanksgiving every year. No cooking, no worrying, just yummy! The only downside was no leftover turkey for sandwiches.

We stopped at a park also somewhere in Alabama on Thanksgiving day so the girls could get out and use up some of the energy! It was a beautiful day!

Claire
Ride em' Rachel!
MaggieRide like the wind, Claire!
Go, Maggie, Go!
Claire, Rachel and Maggie in the Thanksgiving dresses I made them. I think they turned out pretty cute.
Maggie multi-tasking in the car with a calculator and cell phone.

We made better time on the way home than we expected, so when we got to Nashville, Paul drove on home with the Claire and Maggie and Rachel and I stayed with Kari in a hotel and took her to the airport in the morning before we made our way home.

It was a wonderful trip. We all had so much fun (except Paul aka Scrooge after the first day who then tolerated the parks, although just barely - not sure if it was the lines, the crowds, the food, the warmth or just too much estrogen staying in one room for 4 days). And a huge thanks to my sister, Aunt Kari! Without her it would have been much more stressful. It truly was a magical Thanksgiving!

Poppa Bob

2010-10-01T11:47:00.000-05:00

Robert H. Anderson

Born August 9, 1911
Died September 28, 2010

It was a sad fall for us with the loss of two very special "Bobs" first, our neighbor Bob passed away and then my Grandpa Bob died. Poppa Bob was not quite so unexpected as he was 99 years old. He was making plans for his 100th Birthday next year but I believe he was ready to go. He missed Grandma Beth and his friends and family and was ready to see them. We were able to see him this summer when we went in July and I even took him to the casino for a little blackjack time. I am so glad we made that trip.

I traveled to the funeral by myself which in itself was a little vacation and I was able to visit with my immediate and extended family. Some of the things the children and grandchildren remembered about him are the following:
He was so proud of the Mitchell Monument the he helped to build which honored the only people to be killed by the Japanese during World War II on the continental US.
He also helped build many other facilities and monuments as a stone mason and was honored as an "Artist in Stone".
Squeakers his cat that "mysteriously" appeared on his porch one day.
The Baby Huey cookie jar.
His breakfast rolls which were really Little Debbie Boston Creme Cakes.
Trips to Hawaii, Reno, the Oregon Coast, Portland.
Teaching a grandson how to throw and catch a baseball.
Going fishing.
Cleaning a pool he never got in just because he loved Grandma Beth.
When Grandma Beth got mad and blew up he'd say "Sorry I blew up, Beth"
His stories from serving in the Navy during World War II.
He was one of the Portland Trailblazers biggest fans. Listening to them on the radio and having the TV on at the same time after he lost his sight.

With the passing of our friends and family, I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that helps me to know that they are in a wonderful place and that we will see them again. I am grateful that I can tell my girls that. It doesn't mean we don't miss them though!

I love you Poppa Bob! And the Mitchell Monument really is beautiful!

Poppa Bob with Millie, Claire and Nico.
Claire, Poppa Bob and me.
Claire, Poppa Bob and Rachel.

Poppa Bob and my mom (Judy) at a ceremony honoring the Veterans in Klamath Falls, OR. He was the oldest WWII Veteran in Klamath County before his death.Poppa Bob, mom and dad (Judy and Ken)
He was a handsome devil in a suit.
Poppa Bob, Claire, me and Rachel at the Mitchell Monument in Bly, Oregon.
Our last trip to Klamath Falls in July 2010 before Poppa Bob died.

Our Friend Bob

2010-09-07T08:21:00.004-05:00

This past week has been kind of a rough one for our family. Our neighbor, good friend and "Grandpa" here in Murray passed away on September 2. It happened pretty suddenly so we were not prepared at all. It has left a pretty big hole in all of our hearts.

When Paul and Claire first moved here before myself and Rachel, Paul would tell me on the phone about Clarie hanging out with the man next door named Bob. I of course thought, "What in the world are you doing letting my baby hang out in the garage next door with a man named Bob?" Little did I know how special he really would be to our children (and us).

Telling the girls wasn't easy, but they handled it better than me. Of course, Maggie has no idea what is going on, but she will miss his hugs! Whenever she would see him, she would make a beeline for him and just run up and grab his legs hugging him. She also would yell "Bob! Bob!" when she would see him outside.

When I told Rachel he was in the hospital because his heart was really sick, she told me "That's okay, I'll make him better. I'll make him a play-dough heart." When I then told her later that he had died, she just wanted to to know when he was coming home. I told her he wasn't, that he was in Heaven living with Jesus. She looked real sad and then looked up and smiled and said "Well, he's happy!" Of course he is.

Claire took it a bit harder. She has a really tender heart anyway, but she did pretty good. She told me she wanted to go to the funeral, and I was a little nervous at first, but she said, "Mama, I just want to see Bob one more time." So again, just before the viewing, I was explaining to her that it would be like Bob is sleeping in the box, but he won't wake up. I then told her he was watching her from heaven though and she said,"Maybe it'll rain Tootsie Rolls!" (his special treat for the girls). She didn't ever really breakdown until the actual service when they were just playing music and she asked why they were doing that and I said it was so people could think of all the good things about Bob and remember him. She started to name some of the things and that is finally what broke her down. She cried and her little sobs broke my heart.

Here are just a few of the things that made Bob special:
He loved to paint and set up a little station next to his desk with crayons and coloring books so the girls could "work" right next to him while he painted.
He played Hide and Go Seek in their house with them for as long as they wanted.
He bought a sippy cup to keep at their house so the girls could have chocolate milk - and not spill of course.
He tried buying different crackers and snacks until he found the ones the girls liked best.
He let them "drive" the lawn mower.
He let them hang out with him in his garden.
He always had 5 Tootsie Rolls in a dish next to his chair (2 each for Claire and Rachel and 1 for Maggie)
He let them "ride" the animal statues in their house.
He let them watch whatever they wanted on tv at his house, even if it interrupted his program.
He let them fall asleep on his lap.
He counted with them and did "math" with crackers.
He gave them all good hugs.
He told me which plants were weeds and identified all the plants growing around our house for me.
He kept me updated on the temperature and how much rainfall we got.

He came up with a signal - a white towel hanging out by the garage - to let me know when Rachel had snuck over there without telling me.
He loved our family.

We are still blessed to have his wonderful wife Esther next door who loves our girls and we love visiting her, but it just won't be quite the same.

I look out my kitchen window every day and look for Bob in his garden and then my eyes get a bit misty.

A Six Year Old's Discovery

2010-06-12T19:30:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to let you in on Claire's new discovery. While watching a Barbie movie tonight, she suddenly said very excitedly "Mommy, guess what?" To which I replied not quite as enthusiastically, "What?"

"I can lick my armpit!! Watch!"

She then proceeded to lick away. And then asked me, "Can you?"

BIRTHDAY BONANZA!

2010-04-23T08:23:00.007-05:00

The months February, March and April bring the Birthday Season to our house.

To start us off, on February 3, Maggie turned ONE!! There were balloons, party hats, cake, presents and the best part......
Grammy Judy and my niece Nicolette were visiting!
We all wore the party hats, but Maggie wanted nothing to do with them. I think that is the way with a lot of things on a baby's first birthday. They really could care less, but we enjoy a party.
I made lemon cupcakes. Not a big hit for anyone - especially Maggie. She wanted nothing to do with those also. She tasted a bit of the frosting by force, but it still didn't entice her. Rachel who loves frosting (she usually "eats" cupcakes by licking the frosting off the top) didn't like them. Hey it was the only cake mix and frosting I had on hand. (And by the way, I liked them!)

Is that a look or what?
She did do pretty good with opening presents and enjoyed tearing paper.
Poppa Bob sent some money to get Rachel and Claire something too, so Nicolette picked them out some gifts. They loved them! Thanks Poppa Bob!
Rachel and her basketballs.
Claire with her Little People bride, groom and wedding cake
Maggie carefully checked out each gift as she opened it and didn't want to give it up to open another gift. Hence Paul's idea that they only need one present anyway or even just a box to tear the wrapping paper off of.
She got a yummy gift of Baby Mum Mums. I love these treats for her because they don't crumble and make a mess like crackers do. Nothing like a practical gift.
Can you feel the excitement?

Nicolette and Maggie

Claire with a scary party face!
Grammy Judy and Rachel.
It's the Birthday Girl!

Showing off her new digs - compliments of Aunt Kari.

Maggie was a little distracted by the balloons making it difficult to get a good picture.

Maggie and all her goods! I can't believe my baby is ONE!!

Then came Claire! March 7 marked her 6th birthday. Preparations for the Pink Poodle Puppy Party began weeks before. I spent a few nights up late making game decorations, party favors, cake, etc. Paul always make fun of me but I really do enjoy doing it. I just am and have always been a procrastinator. So it makes for a few late nights.

First there was the cans to take home party favors. These are made from old formula cans. I was pretty impressed with my crafty self. With a little help from the cricut machine (compliments of Grammy Judy), scrapbook paper, and modge podge, I was able to make these.

Since it was a puppy party, I made puppy chow from cocoa puffs and scooby doo graham cracker bones.
I also have a ton of baby food jars that I have been trying to find uses for, so I used a few of those to make birthday snow globes for the girls. You can't see the sparkles from the glitter in these, but they were pretty cool if I may say so myself. I made the cakes and candles from aluminum foil covered by modeling clay and stuck with a paperclip for the candle. I then glued them in the lid and hot glued the lids on. I think they started to leak after a time, but they were fun while they lasted.
This along with fruit rolls and pink poodle puppy tatoos made up the party favors. I think they were a big hit.Then came the cake. I ordered the cake topper and then made the three layers. I'm not a professional and it's a little tilted, but it tasted good. For the party, we took the top off for later and ate the bottom two layers.

Claire seemed to like her cake.

PARTY TIME!!!
There were 9 girls plus Claire and Rachel. Balloons everywhere just brings, jumping, shrieks, more jumping and laughs.

They played pin the tail on the poodle and when it came time to open presents, they sat in a circle and passed a poodle around until music stopped and whoever was holding the poodle gave Claire the present they brought. It worked pretty good to keep the usual crowding around the birthday girl to a minimum.

Paige, Rachel, Claire and Nina. (and back of Mia's head)
Claire showing off some of her goods! Oh the excitement of opening presents!
Lucy, Laken, Christian Anne and Kylea.

Caroline, Katey, Lucy, Laken, Christian Anne and Kylea.

The suspense....
Christian Anne, Kylea, Mia and Paige.

Then it comes time for the cake!

Make a wish!!
Claire made a wish, but wouldn't tell me what it was for fear it won't come true.
After cake, I had a couple more games for them to play, but it was such a beautiful day that they just wanted to go outside and play. Sounded good to me!!
Mia's mom pushing Laken and Christian Anne. (She and a couple other moms stayed and were such a big help to me because Paul was distracted by fixing the headlight on our car!)
Caroline

Nina
Mia
Rachel

Mia
Laken and Christian Anne
Kylea
The Birthday Girl!
Katey and the poster for pin the tail on the poodle.
Because her party was actually a couple days earlier than her real birthday, we celebrated again on her "real birthday" with our neighbors Bob and Esther!
And of course they couldn't leave Rachel out and brought her birthday present a few days early!
"It's not even my birthday!"
Katey (from across the street) joined us for the festivities too.
We used the top layer of the cake for the birthday cake this night. Clarie got to make another wish!
And once again, wouldn't tell me what it was.
I love the excitement they get opening presents!

Claire with her "stash"!
She also is showing off her award she got at school for being the "Most Responsible Student". While I know she is a good girl, "most responsible"? It is amazing the personality that comes out at school vs. home.
She couldn't wait to try out her new Hello Kitty scooter. Her friend Paige came to check it out too.
It was a little different being on a "real" scooter, but she picked it up right away and was cruisin everywhere.
Next came Rachel's 3rd Birthday! We celebrated on March 12 with chocolate cupcakes for breakfast! ("Mom is great, she feeds us chocolate cake!" - just a little trip down memory lane for you Cosby Show fans)
Nothing like chocolate caked on your teeth first think in the morning!
mmmmm

"What's wrong, do I have something on my face?"
Now, I am a fun mom who will feed her children chocolate cupcakes for breakfast, but I did draw the line at feeding it to my one year old (she really didn't want any - I don't know who's kid she is).
Her hair is getting so long, I am able to put it in a ponytail in the back. It does give it a little bit a mullet look, but hey, we're in Kentucky.

Later that evening, it was time for Rachel's presents.
This is the look I got when I told her she had to wait for a few minutes....
And this is the look I got when I told her she could open them! (I wish I could just capture that smile and bottle it up!)

"It's just what I wanted! In fact, it's just what I picked out!"

"It's a box!!!!"

"Any more??"
She is my crazy, cute, funny birthday girl!

Rachel with her birthday goods.
Claire somehow got another present in all this mess too.
And if this one doesn't look like she's up to something....
Paul and our girls!

This was Rachel's "cake". When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she told me, "A purple and green chocolate cake with Dora, Boots, Tico, Benny the Bull, Isa the Iguana, Swiper and Fresh Beat Band." I tried to figure out how to put this all together and cupcakes seemed to bring them all together flawlessly.
Well, Rachel liked it! And that is all that matters.

She loved to blow the candle out - over and over.

And then came the old folks. Paul's birthday was on April 2. We got an ice cream cake for his party (wasn't that great, a real disappointment actually).
I can't believe I'm married to someone who is 37! How does he get older every year? According to him, life is pretty much over when you turn 35, luckily he has four amazing girls to live with to remind him otherwise.

Everyone wanted to help him get his wish by blowing out his candles for him.

Then it was time for presents. Oh the excitement again!
Claire decided to wear special bunny ears for the festivities.

The girls got him a present and it was so big, we had to be creative wrapping it up! Bet you can't guess what it is!
Even Maggie felt the anticipation.
Claire picked the present out herself.Oh, the suspense....
It's a ball!!
On to the next one.
Rachel got just as excited at everyone else's parties at present time as she did at her own. I hope she doesn't lose that enthusiasm anytime soon.All the partying just got to be too much for Maggie. Or maybe she is in a chocolate ice cream coma.And, lest we forget...J.J. the Great's Birthday! I was in St. George, UT visiting Kari and Grammy Judy and my niece Emilia on my birthday so we of course had a big celebration! Rachel and Maggie flew out with me (suffice it to say Maggie does not like flying - actually I don't think it is the flying part so much as the having to sit down part - either way, it was a pretty long trip both there and back). Claire stayed home with Paul so she didn't miss any school.

I was treated like a queen!!
Aunt Kari, Millie,Rachel, me and Maggie getting ready for the big bash.
Grammy Judy was ready to party too.

Everyone enjoyed the yummy chocolate cake - don't know why you would ever have any other flavor than chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Even Maggie was ready by then for more cake!

Millie love it and like everyone else, ended up with a bit on her chin.

Millie and Rachel did a few dances for us outside after the rainstorm. We came hoping for swimming pool and laying out weather and Mother Nature did not cooperate, so when we did get some warmth and sunshine, it was time for dancing!
We had chocolate cake for a few days! Rachel wanted candles on it each time to blow out again. Luckily I don't mind celebrating day after day - I wouldn't mind if we all celebrated a "birthday week"! (notice the "healthy" meal - this is what happens when it is just the girls)

I guess that's it til next year!

Smilin' Maggie Grace

2010-03-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

Maggie is always full of smiles to brighten my day!

And she is one fancy girl! Loves to dress up, wear necklaces, sunglasses - anything shiny or sparkly. I love it!!

Rachel Funnies

2010-02-11T17:08:00.002-06:00

All my girls continually amaze me with he things that come out of their mouth, but Rachel has had a few lately.

My mom and niece, Nicolette, were here visiting recently (I of course will post some more about this later - maybe next year sometime if I am on my usual schedule) and we had a great time! They got to spend a lot of time together while Paul and I were at work and one day while my mom was so graciously changing Rachel's diaper, she started singing "Rachel, Rachel, I declare, you have poopy underwear." To which Rachel replied, "You not deClaire, you Grammy!"

Today, she was stinky once again and asked me to change her diaper (obviously ready to potty train if she asks to have her diaper changed, but still won't cooperate). Anyway, I was changing a poopy diaper and she started saying "Yucky, yucky! We don't like poop." I got a little excited and was going to once again suggest that we can avoid this situation if she goes in the potty, when she then added "We don't eat it. We don't like to eat poop." I guess I've done an okay job teaching that concept - we'll just have to keep working on the potty thing.

She is a goofy one, but she is also a sweetie. She told Grammy and I both "I love you!" Which in itself melts my heart, but then she added, "I love your face!" How does a 2 year old know just what I need?!

Another Claire Funny

2010-01-24T20:16:00.004-06:00

The other night Claire was laying in bed and yelled for me to come in there so she could ask me a question. "Mommy, are there strings or something attached to our eyeballs in our head so they don't come out?" I explained to her that there are muscles and skin that are like strings that hold them in there so that they don't fall out or pop out. I asked her if she was worried about her eyeballs coming out and she said yes. So I reassured her that her eyeballs were safe. She then went right to sleep. Oh, if this were my only worry that kept me up at night.

Happenings 1/18/2010 - 1/24/2010

2010-01-24T20:15:00.000-06:00

It was back to full normal for everyone the last two weeks. The semester started on the 11th, and so it was back to teaching and all of the stuff that was put off before Christmas and piled on now. Since I've been here, the second half of January and February have always been busy and somewhat stressful because that is also the time period when we have to complete our annual evaluation portfolios, which always takes more time than expected. I began working on mine during the break, so I am a little ahead of where I was last year, and am in pretty good shape. The problem for me is that other responsibilities have arisen for more work for me.

My freshman composition class seemed dead in the water for the first week, and I was worried because they weren't reading or making any comments. We had Monday off the second week for MLK Jr. Day, and then I told them they would be having a quiz and things livened up -- they began reading. The material we are covering is not the easiest -- we are reading classical rhetoric texts of Aristotle and Plato, but the translation they have is pretty easy to read if they would try. But they have become more interested as I've explained things in class. I haven't done this before -- I am collaborating with a colleague in piloting the use of classical texts in composition to teach rhetoric. I was supposed to teach an honors class like him, but mine didn't fill, so I am teaching a regular class, and they are struggling more than his class. But I think it will get better.

We've had warm weather since we had the week or two of really cold temperatures. It has been between 40 and 55 degrees with a lot of clouds and rain which makes the night not so cold as well, so that has been nice. On MLK Jr. Day, J.J. had to work but I arranged a babysitter so that I could help with a ward move, which only took about 2 hours because we had so many of us there. After the move, I took the girls to the park, and it was packed with kids because of the pleasant weather, including some people from our ward.

The week before last we went to two MSU basketball games, one on Monday and the other on Saturday. We take two cars so that everyone can go to the women's game and then I help everyone out to the car and go back to the men's game. There is always plenty of room for us at the women's game, and the girls enjoy playing around. (I wish I got to see a little more of the games. My job is to watch the girls so that they don't fall down the stairs, annoy others around us, get in trouble for playing on the stairs or aisles, etc. Not much fun. But it is fun to watch the girls dance to the music or with the cheerleaders. The first game, Maggie was great. She just watched the game and the lights and listened to the music and sat in her car seat the whole time. The second time we went, she was not so content. I spent my time letting her crawl a bit until she got too close to the stairs and then walking her back the 20 feet she just crawled and chasing after her again. I didn't want to spend my night this way, so I went ahead and took the girls home while Paul stayed to watch the game. I think next time he needs to take them home so I can watch a game sometime.) The men's team is really good, undefeated in the conference so far and fun to watch. They seem to be able to turn it up a notch anytime they need to, probably like BYU is doing this year.

With the nice weather, I was able to work on cleaning the cars and fixing a few things in the garage and on the cars since before two weeks ago it was even too cold to work in the garage. This last week, Claire was lucky to be able to eat lunch with J.J. on Thursday, the normal day that J.J. volunteers, and then I went on Friday. Her teacher told me that Claire is doing really well with her reading, and I had to agree because we are impressed at how quickly she is learning to read.

(I started going to a card kickboxing class a couple weeks ago. I go 3 times a week and I am sore!!!! The guy who owns the gym is "famous" around Murray. Mr. Dinh. He teaches tai kwon do and some other classes too. His classes are known for being a good workout and believe me they are. The first class I went to, he would karate chop you on the belly when we were doing sit ups. I have even been trying to go at 5:15am, but it is so hard to get up when the clock says four something. I did it once last week and plan to go at that time again this week. I like to have it done in the morning and not have to worry about it later in the evening. A couple other days during the week, I have been going to the Wellness Center at MSU to walk/jog on the treadmills. Starting to get a routine which I definitely need.)

On Friday evening we joined the Bakes at a local hotel where a new family in our ward is living until they close on their house. They moved here from Layton and he is a human resource manager at a local company. It is great to have them here, and they invited us over for the kids to swim in the indoor pool at the hotel and they ordered pizza. It was fun. (Claire slowly picked back up her swimming, but by the end of the night, she was once again swimming short distances without floaties or anything. Rachel started warm up a little too and ventured down a couple steps by herself. She still doesn't trust a lifejacket or boober suit - maybe that is from the time she thought Paul was going to catch her - he didn't and she walked right in the pool and tipped over even with her bobber suit on. Anyway - they had a great time and it wore them out! I loved it. Saturday I went to kickboxing class - another bonus is that I get to get all my aggressions out punching and kicking a bag. Then later in the day we went to the boat show and the girls played in some bouncy houses and loved touring and playing on all the fancy pontoon type boats they had there. It was fun to check out all the water fun! We then all went to a Mexican Restaurant to eat and then home. Paul left to go to "Old School Wrestling" - local professional type wrestling - that is pretty big here. He went with Doug - one of the young newly married guys in our ward. I put the girls to bed and then watch "Confessions of a Shopaholic". It was okay - the book was much better. I love the shopaholic books but the movie was just okay. I knitted and worked on some picture things and then went to bed and tried to read my book for MSU Women's Group book club. It is "The Sparrow"' by Mary Russell. It is a science fiction book and I am having a really hard time trying to get through it. I'm not sure I will finish it by Tuesday.)

(Maggie is so funny lately. She is walking all over the place - quickly I might add. The other girls didn't walk until they were thirteen years old. And now she throws tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants and it is pretty funny. She will throw herself down on her belly and let out a scream and then look up to be sure you are watching her. She also walks around with pretty much any object or no object by her ear and tilts her head sideways like she is on the phone and say "o? o?" and babbles while walking around on her "phone". Church is not fun at all right now. I never hear sacrament meeting anymore between the three girls and spend half the time chasing Maggie up the aisle before she reaches the stairs to the stands or taking her out in the hall because she is screaming. I don't want to wish time away because I want them to stay little, but I don't like sacrament meeting between the ages of 12 months and 18 months.)

(Just thought I would update you a little on me and the girls since I don't usually get to the letters anymore before Paul sends them out. We love you and hope you all are doing well.)

Happenings 9/14/09 - 9/20/09

2009-09-20T13:38:00.000-05:00

Another interesting week for us. Pretty normal during the day with school and work and everything, but we had the sister missionaries over for dinner on Tuesday evening, and then they stayed and taught another lesson to the girl who was baptized on Sunday in Bowling Green.

I had a lot to do this week in preparation for a couple of things going on. I had a workshop that I led for faculty on Friday, and a follow-up meeting for the summer institute teachers on Saturday morning. I also had to do some things for my class in preparation for the next few weeks. But the big time consumer was grading, which I had a lot of for both of my classes. I got all that done by the end of the week, though. J.J. was able to volunteer in Claire's class on Thursday, which she will do each week, and she and Claire enjoyed that.

On Saturday after the follow-up meeting in the morning, I picked up Doug and we came back to our house to pick up the couch we had previously picked up from the missionaries a few weeks ago. Since it wouldn't fit in my office, Doug and Heidi decided they could use it, so we moved it to their place. After that, I went home and we loaded up in the car, picked up the sister missionaries, then drove out to visit the lady who lives in a storage shed in the woods. (Literally a storage shed in the woods - no water, no electricity, no insulation - but it is her "home") She had a stroke a couple of weeks ago, but is home now. We ended up putting together a cabinet for her and helping her cook noodles on her propane grill. (It is absolutely amazing how people live She is happy out there and likes her little home, but it sure makes me grateful for all the blessings I have.We were glad we were able to go out there. We came back to Murray, dropped the sisters off and then went to a birthday party for the 1-year-old daughter of some friends of ours, Matt and Abigail -- people J.J. used to work with. Their families were there and we had a barbeque and we had cake. Our favorite gift was a lifetime hunting license for Tennessee -- can't beat that when you turn one. (It was quite the redneck birthday. I love this family but couldn't help giggling ore the hunting license and with every present, it was "git it, git it, git it!" to get her rip off the wrapping paper. Gotta love Kentucky!)

Happenings 8/30/09- 9/13/09

2009-09-13T13:31:00.001-05:00

We have had some busy weeks. The most distressing
part of the past two weeks was the discovery of fleas
on our cats, which led to the discovery of fleas
around the house -- not good. J.J. believes it
reflects badly on us as housekeepers, but everyone
has assured us that it is very common. Common or not,
however, eradicating fleas is not an easy process. (Common or not, it's still disgusting)
First, we banished the cats to the garage, and spent
some time combing through them to remove the fleas
from them. (this has to be a daily or every other day occurrence. NOT FUN!! I am so creeped out anyway that then combing and picking them off the cats makes me itchy, gross and want to shower.) Then we washed all of our bedding, (pillows, blankets, scrubbing cushions, rugs, towels, anything you could get in a washer)
vacuumed every day for a weekend, (vacuuming every day for many days - deep vacuuming - moving everything, getting in all the corners, anywhere you can get a vacuum tube.) had a pest control
guy come and spray, and then we had our carpets
cleaned. What we learned is that carpet cleaning
doesn't do anything, but we needed that done anyway
so we didn't mind -- and that vacuuming makes the
flea problem seem worse because it sucks the fleas
and eggs out of the carpet and warmly encourages
those eggs to hatch. We then talked to the vet and
she recommended a spray that we used all over the
house and so far, we notice a difference, but they
still come out at night and jump into the soapy water
dishes that we set out. (Another fun nightly and morning ritual to add to my life. The word "we" should be taken lightly here. Every night, I go put dish soap in 6 pie tins, fill them with a little water and set them out under night lights throughout the house. Then in the morning I go around and empty them all out and clean out the dead fleas. What fun!) The pest control guy is due
to come again for a second treatment included in the
original price, so we'll see what happens. The cats
are pretty much free of the fleas, but they are still
banished from the house. (I am waiting for the expensive, very poisonous flea medicine to come in the mail and put it on them and then wait for about 1 week before they can come back in. They are pretty sad)

The benefit, of course, is now our house is quite
clean, but that is small consolation when fleas are
jumping around at bedtime.

In other news, we attended a wedding on September 5
at the Nashville temple -- the couple is in our ward
and are former young single adults who are attending
college here. They asked me to officiate at their
ring ceremony. I don't know if I did a great job, but
I said a few nice things and made some jokes about
them and then sent them off for a receiving line. (Paul did a really great job. It was a typical Mormon reception, but not many people there. We did get a few fun dances in though. With Claire and Rachel, you can always be the only ones on the dance floor and not feel so silly.) In
between the wedding and the reception, we went out to
eat with some other people there that we knew and
then had ice cream at Maggie Moo's. We headed home
right after the reception. I checked the score of the
BYU game without any optimism and was quite surprised
that it was close. I didn't know it was on TV, so
while we put the kids to bed, I just checked the
score now and then and was excited that they won. I
had resolved to not care about football this fall
because of everything else going on, but then BYU
went and put themselves in the top 10.

On Monday, we went with the Bakes family to Jungle
Golf about 45 minutes north of us. (It's called Maggie's Jungle Golf. This was a "Maggie" weekend with Maggie Moo Ice Cream and Maggie's Jungle Golf.) There is a fun
little miniature golf place and a place you can walk
and feed animals. We had a picnic lunch beforehand,
and then played golf and walked around the place.
Claire was the only one to get a hole in one, but was
more excited about the two 10s she got on other
holes. Rachel improved all of our scores by picking
up our balls and placing them in the hole. It was a
fun way to spend Labor Day.

This week I had a busy weekend. I had a director's
meeting for all state director's of regional writing
projects in Louisville on Friday, and then attached
to that was a state conference for writing project
participants on Saturday. I arrived home at 5:30 on
Saturday, and went immediately with the rest of the
family out to eat and then to the grocery store and
then home. Sunday was our ward conference, and so
after church J.J. was in charge of the luncheon for
the stake and ward leaders, and then she had already
met with the stake leaders and so she went home while
I did tithing and then along with the bishop met with
the stake presidency to discuss what is going well in the ward and what can be worked on. By that time,
it was 3:30, and after our meeting, the sister
missionaries asked me to drive them 2 hours to
Bowling Green because a girl that moved here from
there to go to school was ready to be baptized once
she turned 18 and decided that she needed to do it
that night. She wanted her boyfriend's family to
perform the baptism --he is in Utah going to school
-- and so it needed to be in BG. (That's Bowling Green for you non Kentuckians.) So the sisters
received permission from the mission president to go,
and I told them they needed to check with J.J., and
she said I could go, so I drove the three sisters
there. (A little scandalous if you ask me - One male with 3 sister missionaries for a long drive late at night.) We had a late start and drove as fast as I
dared and we got there just after the baptism at
7:45. But I was able to help confirm her and we
visited for a little while and then we followed the
girl, Stephanie, back to Murray. They have a rule
that with three sisters, any M priesthood holder can
drive them, but that meant that none of them could
ride with Stephanie on the way home. We didn't get
back until 11:30, but it was a good experience and I
enjoyed talking with the sisters.

That about covers it. Claire is still doing well in
school. I went to lunch at her school one day and
that was fun -- she liked having me there and it was
interesting to eat school cafeteria food again. Her
teacher said she is a great student. Anyway, we hope
all are well and we love you.

TIRED!

2009-08-23T10:46:00.002-05:00

Boy, all that eating can sure wear a girl out!

Happenings 8/16/09 - 8/22/09

2009-08-22T13:08:00.000-05:00

The past two weeks were pretty busy for us, with Claire starting school and me getting ready for classes to begin. It has been a serious adjustment for us with Claire. She has to get up at around 6:15 to catch the bus at 7:10, and while she has no trouble getting up, Rachel wakes up with her which means she needs more sleep later. But since she is no longer in the crib, her normal naps are not as long, so we are trying to go back to two short naps for her which isn't always possible. And then the day ends pretty quickly after dinner in order to get the girls in bed by 8:00. But the good thing is that we actually have time after they go to bed to do other things or go to bed ourselves. (I have time to collapse.) (Rachel with her "book reading" is sometimes awake until 10:30 or 11and doesn't have enough room in her full size bed for all her books and herself.)

Claire loves to ride the bus, and we are proud to say that we are trendsetters, as Claire riding the bus has encouraged other kids in our neighborhood to ride as well. Katey, across the street, rides to and from every day with Claire and her friend McKenna rides the bus home. We are doing our part to reduce unnecessary driving to school. Almost everyone we have spoken to around here can't believe we put Claire on the bus, but we feel that with a line of cars that waits 30 minutes to drop off or pick up each day, the bus is the most responsible thing we can do. Besides, it comes right to our front door and it's so easy. (Paul thinks it is responsible. I think it helps my sanity and everyone elses by not having to rush to wait in a long line of cars 2 times per day. I think it is ridiculous. Everyone around here has horror stories about riding the bus, but I did it all through elementary and junior high and not only survived, but didn't have anything really bad happen. So as long as things are going smoothly, we are going to continue.)

Claire is also doing well with school lunch, and we let her eat breakfast there one day last week when they had french toast sticks. They offer chocolate milk every day, so we are trying to get her to choose regular milk most of the time, but that is a tough battle. According to what she tells us, she is eating pretty well. (She has made a responsible decision to drink chocolate milk only on Fridays. And she seems to be surviving the day with what she is eating. She hasn't discovered the "snacks" you can buy separately. Hopefully she won't figure that one out for a long time)

On Sunday the 16th, I went to dinner with our Freshman Reading Experience author, a guy named Ned Vizzini. I am on the committee that chooses the books for that program, and work closely with the director of the program because the book is used in composition classes. The committee had dinner with him on campus, and it was nice to talk to him. I then ate breakfast with him on Monday along with several composition instructors, and then I led a group of new freshmen in a discussion of that book later in the morning. All the freshmen are supposed to read the book over the summer and many of them did. The book, It's Kind of a Funny Story, is about a teenager who is under a lot of academic pressure, gets depressed, and nearly commits suicide and goes to a psychiatric ward of a hospital for a week. The students have enjoyed it so far. (Boy, it sure does sound like an enjoyable book doesn't it. Actually, the MSU women's book club read the book also and it was pretty good. It's not quite as depressing as Paul makes it sound here. I just wish I could go to the lectures these authors give on campus, but they always seem to be on Monday when I am at work.)

Vizzini spoke to all the new freshmen later on Monday, and he did a good job. Our babysitters started the semester that day, coming in the morning so I could go to breakfast and stuff, and then I came home in the middle of the day and then went back in the late afternoon when the other babysitter came -- Lauren and Lauren again. They were excited to see the girls, although it is different for them without Claire there.

The week before I did a lot of preparation work for my classes, along with finishing up summer projects, and also led an orientation meeting on Friday for all the composition instructors. I coordinated the creation of a custom-student guide textbook for our program, and we barely got copies in time for the orientation, and that was not without some drama. There were delays in the printing, and then as they were sending them out someone found a small smudge on four of the pages so they reprinted them and sent new ones. The bookstore was a little annoyed because they like to pre-pack freshmen books and couldn't put that one in, but it all worked out in the end.

Classes began on Wednesday, and on that day as well as the two previous days I am a popular guy in my office as many, many students visit me to try to get into full composition classes. We have a new registration system that makes things easier for me, in that I have no control over it like I used to -- I used to be able to sign students into any composition class. Now I can only suggest to an instructor that they add a student, but I haven't done that much because most of the students can wait to take the courses next semester. But I still had a lot of visitors, and a few tough situations. But my first class went well. I am teaching two classes, one composition class and an online technical writing class. I am working with another composition teacher and a psychology professor in a collaborative project, where we combine our courses through an online wiki. The psychology course is the psychology of consumer behavior, and we have been working together on the composition courses with the theme of sustainability and consumer behavior. We have done a lot of prep work and it should be a fun semester. The composition class is a 4-day-a-week class, M-Th, which is a change, but because of it everyone who teaches it teaches one class fewer than they normally would, so that is nice to have extra prep time or research time.

I was busy all day Thursday and Friday, and then on Saturday I ran a 5K run early in the morning and took 2nd in my age group and 13th overall, and had a good time with several friends who ran as well. Then I helped a lady in our ward get mulch by driving her van and trailer out to the nursery and then backed the trailer into her driveway. She didn't want to pull the trailer or back it in and her husband is away for a few months working. So I did that and finished just in time for her as well as J.J. to go to a baby shower. (It was so fun to go to a baby shower that I didn't have to do anything for except go and enjoy. It seems that being RS president here also means you are in charge of most of the baby and bridal showers here which has seemed like quit a few lately.) I stayed home with Rachel and Maggie, and then when J.J. and Claire returned, we drove north to Amish country, where we had gone two years ago and wanted to go back. We drove for about 90 minutes, then went on some back roads, through the creek that we were too "chicken" to go through last time and were mocked by Amish kids then. But the water was lower this time and it was no problem to drive through. (I had to hold my breath though) We bought some bread and jam at an Amish farm, and then we drove up to the Ohio River and crossed a free ferry to a little place called Cave-in-Rock, and visited the cave that is said to have hidden bandits for centuries. It was kind of fun, and the day's weather couldn't be beat -- it cooled down to around 70 degrees, which was great. We ate dinner at the state park's restaurant there and then caught the ferry back across the river -- the ferry was quite cool and they were pretty fast at loading and unloading -- and then drove home, stopping only for ice cream on the way.

Cave In Rock

2009-08-21T17:18:00.011-05:00

We took a Saturday afternoon to drive up to Amish country and enjoy the area and then drove north to the Ohio River to take a ferry across the river and to a place called Cave-in-Rock. It's a pretty cool place. (You can check it out at www.dnr.state.il.us/LANDS/LANDMGT/Parks/R5/CAVEROCK.HTM). It is a cave in the rocks along the river that has been used as a tavern, a hideout for pirates, murderers, robbers and now a state park.

We found a park to let the girls play for awhile.

It's always fun to have green grassy open areas to just run!
And run Rachel does!

We took a ferry across the river. It doesn't take long, so we didn't get out of the car, but the girls did get to get out of their car seats - what more could you ask for? I always get a little nervous riding ferries with a bunch of cars piled on them - who knows what could happen?And on to the cave! We searched for hidden treasure, but just found a lot of "secret messages" aka graffiti.

Another pretty cool place to visit if you ever get the inkling to visit us here in Kentucky!

Our Buddy Rob

2009-08-16T12:31:00.000-05:00

Rob Gamble (one of our friends from church) is a big hit at our house. The girls love to climb on him, sit with him, talk to him and even Miss Maggie likes to just sit and have some chats with him.
"Uh, oh, you caught us!"

School = Homework

2009-08-16T11:50:00.001-05:00

Claire started kindergarten this year and along with that came homework! She is very diligent about doing it and does it right when she gets home (usually). I guess this is just a little preview of what is to come!

And Maggie loves to sit close by and make sure she doesn't make any mistakes.

One of Claire's assignments was to make a picture collage all about her. So we gave her the camera and this is what she felt was important to her (or at least what was in her vision as she clicked away.)

She also did add a picture of Rachel and drew rainbows too.

Maggie Grace Has Such a Cute Face...

2009-08-14T12:20:00.002-05:00

I just can't resist taking pics of Miss Maggie. She is almost always happy and she makes me smile. She is just adorable - and I'm not biased at all.

At 6 months, she is crawling (everywhere), has 8 teeth and thinks her big sisters are the best!

Happenings 8/03/09 - 8/09/09

2009-08-09T13:19:00.000-05:00

This week was momentous because Claire started school on Wednesday. She was very excited to go, and got up out bed at 6:15 without any fuss, (and even a smile on her face) got dressed and was ready in plenty of time for J.J. to take her to the school for the first day. (I took her to her classroom, got her settled, stayed for about 20 minutes. She was ready for me to go. I was a little sad, but not nearly as sad as I was putting my baby on the school bus the next morning. In fact, the first day, Rachel cried more than anybody) At 3:30, I stood outside as she got off the bus, and didn't really get much out of her because she just wanted to play. She rode the bus both to and from school the rest of the week, and as the week went on we were able to extract a little more information from her, but it is still limited. (I feel like I have to play 50 questions to figure out what she ate for lunch) She thinks school is fun, and she likes riding the bus, so that is good enough for now. She has made some new friends and a girl down the street is the same age but not in the same class, and so they have been playing together a little more, although her parents aren't quite as used to all the kids playing as our little section is. But every day after school -- and all day before school started -- the kids have all been playing pretty hard until bedtime. (Now that school has started, bedtime is a bit earlier, but nobody has made a big fuss yet. With school starting, it has been as big adjustment for Rachel as it has been for anyone else. Early bedtimes and early rising - she won't sleep in if she hears Claire get up- and sleeping in a big girl bed instead of the crib meaning shorter naps, makes for a pretty cranky girl. It's going to be a big adjustment. A bit of good news on the Rachel front - she peed in the potty a few times now! It's amazing how much excitement and joy a little pee can bring.)

I worked at the office on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and J.J. worked on Monday and Wednesday. Maggie had a doctor's appointment and Claire went to the dentist, and other than that it was a pretty routine week. (Maggie had a doctor appointment in the afternoon and she is growing like a weed! She is chubby and so soft - I love it. But she is only in the 10-25th percentile in everything. As long as it's all proportional, it's okay, but she seems big to me. They just grow too fast!! She got three shot and was a real trooper, though it did wipe her out pretty good for the day.) We had a big storm on Tuesday evening that dropped a couple inches of rain but it didn't knock any loose branches off one tree that is all broken up up high. I had been climbing it and trying to get some down, but I don't dare to go too high. I sawed one broken branch off at its base and it was stuck on another broken branch. Eventually, after a lot of rope throwing and pulling, both of those big ones came down -- I did most of that on Monday afternoon. With the wind from the storm the next night, I hoped that others would fall, but they didn't.

On Saturday, we went to a swimming area/beach at the lake, and arranged to meet my colleague Squire and his daughter Hannah for another boat ride. He said they are drawing down the lake for its winter level, and all day we joked about how the summer was over here even though it is the beginning of August and it is generally the hottest month. With school starting so early, it really is odd to be getting down to fall business when the rest of the world seems to go on vacation (and I'm dieing of heat. I find that as I get older, I am less tolerant of extreme temperature changes. I'm not sure how I have developed this heat intolerance being a member of the Coffman family, but I'm just going to blame it on the humidity!) But we had fun swimming and boating -- the adults went water skiing (I had to ski on two skis for the first time since I was in high school, it was a little depressing for me that I couldn't get up on one ski. But then I guess that is what being a few years older and having 3 kids has done to me. I guess I will take the kids.) and then we anchored and did some swimming. We couldn't stay out for too long because we had to be back for a baptism at 2:00.

The baptism was for two people, and we had those two over for dinner on Friday night along with the three sister missionaries who are serving in the ward. We had a nice visit with them and it was good to get to know the investigators.

So, now that the summer is over it's back to the grindstone. Actually, we still have some things planned on weekends while it's still warm. The lake is still refreshing, and there are still places to go. My classes begin on the 19th and so I'm getting ready for those along with finishing up whatever things I want to finish over the summer. So far it's been pretty good.

The Tooth Fairy Cometh

2009-08-09T11:32:00.002-05:00

Claire lost her first two teeth this summer and the tooth fairy visited her both times leaving a special gold dollar each time!

Maybe for Christmas it will be her two front teeth!

Kentucky Lake and the Lame Skier.

2009-08-08T11:18:00.002-05:00

We went to Kentucky Lake to play for the day and started out at a swimming area which the girls loved. The water had already started going down in the lakes, so it wasn't very deep at all and the water was still pretty warm.

We then met one of Paul's friends from work, Squire and his daughter Hannah (we had gone out with them on July 4 too) and went boating, swimming and skiing. (I love his boat!!) Boy did I feel old, while I have been able to wakeboard recently, I haven't gone skiing on one ski for a long time and after a few tries, wasn't able to get up and had to resort to two skis!! Lame!! How embarrassing. Oh well, I guess that's what having three girls and getting wimpy and old have done for me. (It also made me feel better that Paul had to use two skis too.)

Squire very patiently made the rounds time after time of trying to get up.
Hannah and Claire had a great time playing together.

Is she really up?Yes! (But on two skis)
Maggie enjoyed the day too resting on the boat in the water, in the beautiful sun.
Hannah and Claire waited with great anticipation to see if we were going to get up also.
Paul preparing for big ride on the skis.And he's up too!
What another beautiful day!

First Day of School

2009-08-05T10:35:00.004-05:00

August 5 was the first day of school for Claire! She was so excited - planning for weeks what she was going to wear, buying school supplies, picking out a backpack, learning about the bus, deciding what she was going to eat for lunch. The list goes on and on. Luckily, school has thus far lived up to her expectations. She loves it!!

I was a little nervous about the first day for her and took her to her classroom, found her seat and got her settled. She sat right down, started playing with play-dough, watched the other kids come in and forgot all about me. I was okay with that and gave her a quick kiss, watched from the door for a few minutes and then went to work without shedding a tear.

Putting her on the bus the next day was a little more traumatic for me. I guess just the idea of leaving my little five year old on her own to get to school and her classroom by herself made me nervous. Okay, so there is a really nice bus driver, her friend Katey, teachers that get them off the bus, parent volunteers to help them get to the right classroom, secretaries and aides to help guide them, so she's not exactly on her own, but without mommy or daddy. Well, once again, she loved it and the bus continues to be one of her favorite parts of the day.

Here is the First Day of School picture including two missing teeth.

Of course a picture of the new backpack also. Notice the sad little face in the window! Rachel was actually was the most upset about Claire going to school and cried and cried. The second day of school, Rachel waved to Claire and went to play with her toys.

Happenings 7/27/09 - 08/02/09

2009-08-02T12:50:00.001-05:00

After being gone for nearly a fortnight, (English professor) we were back to normal on Monday, except that our VW wouldn't start. The same thing happened when we returned from New York in May, but after we jumpstarted it, it worked fine. I had had the battery tested in the last six months because of starting problems in the winter, so I assumed that it was something more serious. So I cleaned the terminals and did some searching online and finally decided to have the battery tested again. So I went to the auto parts store on Tuesday and they tested it and said it was bad, so I replaced it. That was definitely the problem and now it starting up nicely.

So on Monday while J.J. was at work we stayed at home, managing naps and playing outside. I worked on Tuesday and was able to accomplish several things. Claire had an eye appointment required for school and all was fine there. On Wednesday afternoon, our neighbor Bridget came over to watch Rachel and Maggie while I took Claire to her school for a tour with her teacher, since we were in Oregon when they had back-to-school night. Mrs. Stetson gave us a nice tour of her room and the building, and Claire enjoyed seeing her classroom and though it didn't show, she was excited.

When I had gone to the end of church after we returned from Nashville, one of the young single adults, Doug Hinman, asked if I wanted to go to the Cardinals-Dodgers game on Thursday because he had 2 free tickets and was hoping someone could drive. He is a huge Dodgers fan, and after checking with J.J. to see if it was okay (what a good hubby) -- after all, it was our 10-year anniversary -- she said it was fine. We had already taken a little trip to celebrate our anniversary, so it really wasn't a big deal, even though we both gave Doug a hard time about it. So after I went into the office Thursday morning, Doug and I left around 1:30 for St. Louis, arriving there around 5:00. We found a parking spot a few blocks from the stadium, and on the way we stopped at an Asian restaurant to eat -- I was excited because they had green papaya salad, which I have not had for a long time -- and then went to the stadium. The tickets were good, we were in the lower section near third base. Doug's blue hat and shirt stood out in a sea of red, but there was no hostility from the fans. I wore a neutral lime green shirt because I was just there for a good game. And it was a good game, with several moments of high drama and the game going into the 10th inning. My favorite moment happened early in the game. A Dodger player was on first and after the pitcher threw to first a few times to hold him on, he left way too early to steal second -- the pitcher still had the ball in the glove. But amazingly, no one seemed to notice that he was running. He was more than halfway before the pitcher turned around to throw the ball, and in his hurry he threw it wildly and it bounced past the shortstop and the runner went to third. It almost seemed like even a good throw may have been too late, and that's what I thought was funny. It was like no one believed that he was actually running to second. Doug was happy because the Dodgers won and I was glad that the game didn't go into anymore innings, as we still had a drive home. We made it home fine, arriving at 2:30 am. I slept in a little on Friday, then spent the morning weeding my garden, which has been severely neglected. (We have such a great neighbor! Bob has a pristine garden. He sits out there everyday, picking at the weeds and harvesting and loving his garden. While we were gone, he felt sorry for our tomatoes, so he weeded out the area around the tomato plants. Paul then finished up the job. Bob also lets us enjoy the harvest from his garden. I sat one afternoon and picked a box full of green beans. Which I then froze. I would like to learn to do some canning, but that probably won't happen this year.) We are getting some tomatoes now, and the cucumbers are finishing up. We have some small watermelons and we hope they continue to grow. I finished weeding in time to shower and for all of us to go to the church to get our temple recommend interview with a member of the stake presidency.

Later Friday afternoon, I found out that my help was needed to help move the Clowers family and the sister missionaries. I was able to help the Clowers until they finished and say goodbye as they are going to Lexington, and then I took a vacuum to the sisters and helped a little before having to go home so that Claire and J.J. and Katey could go to the local production of the Aristocats, which they enjoyed. (It was put on by the kids who did a two week summer camp at the local theater. I was very impressed especially since all the kids were under 12 and they put it together in 10 days. CLaire of course wants to do that next summer.)

Saturday morning we were up early and on our way to Nashville for a ward activity that was first envisioned as a primary activity but turned into a ward activity. The primary children met in the stake center next to the temple while parents and other ward members went to a session. The children were able to go into the waiting room of the temple and a member of the temple presidency spoke with them. We had a nice session and though it was a long drive for an activity, it worked out. (When we went to pick up the girls at the church after the session, Rachel was being held and was crying pretty good, when I asked what was wrong, I was informed that she was upset that she couldn't eat her temple. They had made little temples out of sugar cubes and frosting and Rachel thought they were much tastier than pretty to look at.) We had a picnic with other families on the lawn of the stake center, and then we drove home. When we got home, I mowed the lawn and attempted to cut down a few broken limbs on our back yard trees, but didn't have much luck. I eventually got a few of them cut down though. (Watching Paul with a rope, a saw, a ladder and tree climbing, I keep having this feeling that he may end up with an honorable mention for the Darwin Awards).

Sunday after church we had YSA home evening and after a lesson and cookies we played croquet. It was a nice evening, as have been most of the days and evenings of the past week. We have been getting some rain, which is nice, so everything is still green and it hasn't been very hot at all -- mostly quite pleasant. (HA!)

A Trip to Oregon

2009-07-26T12:42:00.001-05:00

Our great trip to Oregon started with early morning flights that lasted all day long. The girls really were great the whole (or at least most) of the trip. (see the "Happenings" for this week for details of the trip.)

When Grammy Judy and Poppa Ken picked us up we drove to the Oregon coast and had a great time. We went to the light house and were able to go up to the top and see how it worked and got great views.

The girls had a great time just playing on the beach. Rachel is happy anywhere she can pick up dirt, sand, rocks or anything she can sift through and let run through her fingers.

While the Oregon coast is not your typical "beach". It has beautiful views! We were very lucky to get wonderful weather while we were there. Couldn't ask for more.

They were a bit difficult to spot because they blend right into the rocks, but take a look at the next picture.
The sea lions were all over the rocks.
More beautiful views.

Paul and Claire were the big rock climbers....

...while Rachel and Poppa Ken just dug and played in the sand.
We tried making sand castles and fish prints.

And of course we all did cartwheels on the beach...

...even Rachel

Even with sunny weather, the water is coooold!

We wore Poppa Ken out right away and he had to take a snooze on the beach.

The coast also has beautiful flowers and plants. Of course Rachel was very cooperative about taking a photo.

But finally- I couldn't ask for a better one!
And of course on this trip there was lots of traveling in the car.
While walking around the streets of Bandon, Rachel got tired and conned Poppa Ken into giving her a shoulder ride.

Claire found that her astro pop doubled as a unicorn horn.
So Rachel had to try it out too.
I thought this flower was fake, but upon closer inspection, it was real and so unique.

And of course, what fun is TV in a hotel room.
We also went to a zoo in which you could feed many of the animals. When you walked in with a ice cream cone full of feed, we were literally attacked by the animals and I ended up throwing the away from me to keep from being trampled and butted by antlers and horns.
Claire loved feeding the animals.

Rachel was a little nervous, but Claire took a special liking to the little donkeys and the goats. In fact she chased a few down and would follow them around the zoo.

Poppa Ken did a great job carting Maggie around.
We waited in line for a bit to be able to pet a baby leopard. It was adorable. So soft, cute and playful.

We then also were able to see an adult one also. I think big cats are so beautiful.

Mountain lions.

Brown bears.
Tigers.

Peacocks.

Poppa Ken got to wait in line again with Maggie in order for us to get to pet a baby lion. Once again, cute, soft, but boy did he have sharp claws.

Rachel just got tired after awhile and decided to just take a seat wherever she was. Unfortunately, I was afraid she was going to be trampled by the hungry animals.
Back in the car, we had a few tired souls.
Before heading to Klamath Falls, we met Paul's brother Alan's family at a park to visit for a bit.
Claire and Rachel had a great time visiting with their cousins.

Paul, me, Maggie, Leilani, Rachel, Alan, Elisabeth, Lisa, Claire, Emilyanne and Benjamin.
Back row: Leilani, Elisabeth, Claire, Emilyanne
Front row: Maggie, Rachel, Benjamin

Maggie loved the swings.
Of course Claire and Rachel always love swings!
Once in Klamath, we took a trip to the cabin at Lake of the Woods. This is one of my favorite places in the world. I hope my kids love it as much as I do. I can't think of a better place to go. Woods, water, sun, boats, trees, just everything!!!

Grammy Judy knew how to make Maggie relax and have fun.

Paul, Claire and Emilia swimming in from the end of the dock.

Tildon and Isabela taking a ride on the innertube with a little help from Paul....
...and Claire and Millie.
While we were swimming around the dock, a momma and her chicks came swimming right up to us and hung out for a bit. I've never seen them come up that close before. The momma sure kept a close tab on her babies.
The kids tried to get even closer.

Millie and Claire are practicing their duo waterskiing skills for future shows on the lake.

These two have got the skills!
Nicolette, Rob, Maggie and me.
Isabela

Skinny Minnie...aka Millie.

Claire found a snuggly spot in the innertube on the beach. (Sorry, I couldn't get the picture turned the right way.)

Nico and Grammy Judy
Paul doing what he does best in the sun.
Tildon helped entertain Maggie.
Rachel tried her own waterskiing skills also.
Millie and Claire went tubing! Crazy!!
Claire loved being the flag girl on the boat while we went skiing.
Tildon loves being on the boat.

Uncle Rob is a crrraaazy driver.
The tubers! (Millie and Claire)
Paul showed off his skills.

Nico always love to go along for the ride.

Isa is a great boat rider too.
Millie
Claire and Isa. (Claire is showing off her 1st lost tooth.)
"That Uncle Rob really is a CRAZY driver!!!!"

All the sun, water and fun sure can wear a girl out.
I'm sure Grammy Judy will get lots of sleep in this bed.
Maggie Grace and Nico.
Nice shades.
Miss Maggie Grace.

Grammy and Isabela
"There was one little duck, swimming in the sea...."
Paul and Miss Maggie in the shade.
This picture just makes me sigh and wish I was back on the lake. This is what I love!Back at the ol' Coffman homestead, Paul and Claire took a ride on the hog.

We had so much fun there. This is just one of the days the girls played in the sun and water. Note Claire's appropriate footwear for the playground.
All this excitement and fun just wiped everyone out!!
Thanks Coffman Clan for all the love and fun!!! We love you!!

Happenings 7/06/09 - 7/26/09

2009-07-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

Well, here's another late letter from us. We have had a fun couple of weeks, as well as testing the length of our endurance for plane travel. Two weeks ago we were preparing to travel to Oregon, so we were whittling down our food in the fridge and packing up whilst working and taking care of things around the house (and of course whistling as we worked). I mowed the lawn on Monday, worked at the office on Tuesday, and then tried to go to bed early on Wednesday night but that didn't work. We had a 6 am flight from Nashville, and considered driving down the night before to stay in a hotel, but figured that a night in a hotel might not go too well, and we would have to get up crazy early anyway, so we arose at 1:30 on Thursday morning, got ready, then put the kids in the van and drove to Nashville. Everyone slept on the way except me, of course, and we parked, shuttled, and checked in fine. We flew the wrong direction to Charlotte first, then to San Francisco, where unfortunately we had to go to another terminal to pick up our next ticket because it was a different airline, and then to Medford, OR. The girls did pretty well. It was a long day so there was some restlessness, but we made it.

Ken and Judy picked us up at the airport and we headed to Bandon, OR, on the coast (another three hour drive after traveling 2 1/2 hours by car followed by 11 hour airtravel between three planes made for a long day! We are lucky to have three great little travelers). Since I've been going to Oregon with J.J., I haven't really been to the coast, so I had requested it and we decided this would be a good time to go. Ken decided on Bandon because he coached a girl whose father worked at Bandon Dunes, and had said that we might be able to get on the course for cheap. (not cheap - don't let Paul fool you, but for less than what they usually charge) We didn't know until driving there on Thursday that the best she could do was for us to pay $200 instead of the regular $275. (If it had been a less busy time of the year, they may have been ale to get a better deal. Maybe some other time) We turned it down, but the hotel we stayed at was a stone's throw from the beach, and right next to it was the original Bandon links course, recently reopened after a long time overgrown. So while we were there we played the nine holes. As far as I could tell, it's not as nice as Bandon Dunes, but we were only out $18 for it.

The hotel was nice -- we had a 2 room suite so that we all could sleep, and we were there for two nights. We went to a lighthouse, spent some time on the beach with all of the nice rock formations, and the girls played in the sand and froze their feet in the water. We bought some books at the local library sale, and we ate a nice dinner at a local place downtown. I ran on the beach one morning and when I finished I took my shoes off and waded into the surf and it was mighty cold. (It was amazing weather for the Oregon coast! It was sunny, warm, needing just a sweater in the evenings. Couldn't ask for better!!) Just before we left on Saturday we drove a few miles south to the Game Park, where we were mobbed by deer and goats and llamas and geese when we walked into the common area with cones of food. Rachel fell down and was nearly trampled by their gentle feet. (It was crazy!! These animals saw you coming and it was a stampede. I finally just threw my cone away so that they would move away.) While we were there we were able to sit with a baby leopard and baby lion, which was neat, and also see some cool animals. (the baby leopard and lion would crawl on you and we were able to pet them which was really cool. They also had a baby fox , possum, skunk, and a few other animals that you could hold. They had all kinds of animals to see - tigers, monkeys, cougars, lions antelope, etc) Claire loved the goats, she kept trying to find the shyest goats to pet them. (It was one of the best zoo type things I've ever been to.)

We had called Alan and Lisa and arranged to meet them in Roseburg on our way home, and we were glad they were willing to drive down to see us, even for less than an hour. We found a park on the Umpquah River and the kids played and we visited until they had to get back, but it was fun. We then drove over a mountain pass home to Klamath Falls, arriving that evening. Rob and Cornelea and their kids came up to see us, as did Kari.

The weather was hot while we were there, so swimming at the pool at the Coffman's house was a regular activity during the week, as was the cousins almost constantly playing until they crashed at night to sleep. (With five girls, one little boy and one baby girl, there was lots of laughing, crying, screaming, giggling and whispering going on) On Wednesday, we went to the cabin at Lake of the Woods, where the girls played in the water and rode on the tube while we watched and relaxed. We had dinner and then went down to the boat again so that J.J. and I could wakeboard on the smoother water. Then we all went to bed at the cabin (The girls went to bed fairly easy an went to sleep pretty quick. Cornelea took Tildon home for the night and Grandma Vicki went with them. Poppa Ken went home for some church things - those silly Bishops think they need to attend meetings. And Kari is a working girl and had to slave away at the office.) In the morning we had breakfast and then went boating and swimming again. Rachel and I returned to the cabin for her nap, so I got some reading and sleeping in also. I read most of Wuthering Heights on this trip, and also did some writing when I had spare moments while everyone else was playing or running around and I had the charge of a sleeping Maggie or Rachel. (We also had an afternoon to go visit my friend Gretchen and her kids, Lily, Ruby, and Fin. The girls had a great time playing with the kids)

One morning our family drove J.J.'s Grandpa Bob out to a monument he built that memorialized some civilians killed by Japanese balloon bombs. While we were there, some other people came to look at the monument -- it is out in the middle of the woods -- and they were impressed to meet the builder of the monument. (Poppa Bob loves to take people out to see the monument and it was an added bonus for him to talk to other people out there. They were pretty impressed to meet him and that he built that and that he was 97) On another morning I played golf again with Ken and his friend Bud and that was fun, especially since I played well and beat them in bingo, bango, bongo, or however you spell that. On Friday evening, their ward had a pioneer day picnic, and then afterwards, J.J. and I took Maggie to visit Kari and her boyfriend Scott for a couple of hours. (While there we did do some really important things also - Kari highlighted my hair and I looked at and injected Scott's knees. It was fun to get to know him a bit more.)

Of course the biggest news of the trip was that Claire lost a tooth and is getting ready to lose another. She was excited it was loose, but when it came out, she did not like it and she was sad about it for several hours. (Grammy Judy, being a second grade teacher has pulled many teeth in her life, so when she went to "feel" the loose tooth, popped it right out. It did freak Claire out a bit, but she was also pretty proud of it too). But after receiving a little coin holder to put under her pillow and a small light to let the tooth fairy know where she was -- at the cabin -- she was more excited. In fact, she kept asking everyone, "Can you believe I lost a tooth?" In the car ride back from the cabin on Thursday, Claire asked her cousin Millie who is a year older (and ha not lost a tooth yet), "Can you believe I lost a tooth?" Millie said in an exasperated tone, "You've asked me that about 85 times, Claire." And Claire said, "Yeah, but can you believe it?" (I had to giggle)

Saturday morning we had family pictures taken (In not only a painless manner, but actually a pleasant experience - compliments of some women in mom and dad's ward who do photography), and then mostly everyone went swimming until it was time to pack up and head to Medford to catch our overnight flight home. We ate dinner before going to the airport and then flew the same route back. We were understandably leery of the red-eye flight home with the girls, but they did great. They slept on the long flight from San Francisco to Charlotte and fell asleep near the end of the flight to Nashville. J.J. and I did not, however, get too much sleep with all of the distractions on the plane and trying to keep the girls sleeping. We were able to drive home, but had to trade off as we were pretty wiped out. We ate breakfast in Nashville and arrived home at noon. I showered and got dressed and went to church in order to help do tithing because the bishop is out of town as well. After church Maggie and I took our now-usual nap in the hammock in the backyard (I tried to take a nap, but the girls weren't tired because they had slept on the plane ride home, so it was a no sleep day for me too) and since we had declined to have FHE for the YSAs that evening, we all went to bed early, except that Rachel kept crying out and I ended up sleeping upstairs to calm her down.

So that was our trip. (Thank you Coffman's for a great time!! I love to visit and see everyone, but at the same time, it just makes me miss home even more.) We love you all.

Maggie Grace Has Such a Cute Face...

2009-07-24T12:20:00.002-05:00

I just can't resist taking pics of Miss Maggie Grace. She is almost always happy and she makes me smile. She is just adorable. She makes me melt! (She is 5 1/2 months old here - notice the teeth. All my girls started getting teeth at 4 months.)

Blanket

2009-07-07T12:36:00.003-05:00

Michael Jackson isn't the only one who could have a child called "Blanket". Rachel loves to
put her blanket over her head and walk around the house - or bump around the house since she can't see through it. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

(Sorry, I can't figure out how to turn the picture the right way.)

Happenings 6/15/09 - 7/05/09

2009-07-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

We haven't written for several weeks so we need to catch up, but luckily for you it will be the highlights. One of the reasons we didn't write was because we were busy, and the time on Sunday to do it seemed to not work out. So anyway, have fun. (Also, the lateness can once again be blamed on me as my husband so lovingly reminds me each day that I need to either write on the letters or just send them out. You probably won't get many comments from me now anyway, because by now, I can't remember what I have done.)
June 15-July 5

Beginning on June 8, I was involved daily for four weeks in the Purchase Area Writing Project (PAWP) as a co-director-in-training. One co-director, Ted Brown, is relinquishing his 15-year role in this project because he hasn't been able to commit his all to it and be the Dean of our college at the same time. So last year he asked me to take his place. He was fully involved this summer, but will pull away over the next year so that next summer will be left to me and the other director, who has been doing it for 3 years. PAWP is a regional site for the work of the National Writing Project, which has been going on for 30 years or so, seeking to integrate meaningful writing-to-learn activities across the disciplines into K-12 education. The central aspect of it is a summer institute for K-12 teachers. For our program, teachers from Western Kentucky apply for a spot, and if they are accepted, they are able to attend the 4-week institute for which they receive 6 hours of graduate credit and a stipend of $850. This year we had 19 teachers.

The institute, held on Murray State's campus, goes from 9-3:30 Monday through Friday. The directors give a couple of presentations each, and we have some guest speakers on different topics, but the bulk of the time is for teachers to each do a 90-minute demonstration of a class activity and assignment that uses a writing task to help students understand the concepts. Also, there is allotted time for teachers to complete their institute assignments -- a few papers. One of my duties was to be a writing coach for a few of the teachers, so I read their work and offered suggestions, but I was also able to do some of my own writing based on demonstrations or other ideas. So I wrote some poems, some short, short stories, a short play, and other things. (He did not bring any of these things home for me to read and I was not the recipient of any of the poems. What kind of husband is that? :) )The teachers really get into it and love the institute, and it is fun to be together that much and get to know each other well. During the next 11 months, we will have two follow-up meetings and I will observe several of them in their classrooms.

So anyway, that is what I did for most of the month of June. We had some hot, hot days in there with about 3 weeks of no rain, so my peas didn't do so well, but everything else in the garden is doing all right. The one week of hot weather was fairly miserable, and it didn't ever cool down, but that ended and it hasn't been too bad otherwise. The best times of day are early morning and just before dusk. I have been getting up at dawn to run and read, and then just before dusk all the fireflies come out in our yard, which combined with the pleasant temperature as the sun goes down makes that time of day what we call the magic hour. (I love the fireflies. Claire says it look like twinkling lights and it really does. I try to enjoy them now, because as it gets hotter, they start to disappear. The only problem is that they come out right at bedtime which I think is a cruel joke because I want to sit and relax and watch them, but am thinking the whole time, "I've got to get the girls baths and in bed before it gets too late." If I wait to watch the fireflies, it is way too late and bedtime turns into a nightmare, if I try to do it before, I will miss the show because the girls just don't want to go to bed while it is still light out. Someday, I will get to sit and fully enjoy the show - in about 18 years)

Claire and Rachel have been enjoying the summer, being able to play with Katey and Paige outside a lot. Claire has had quite a summer so far. She has learned to ride a bike, and after one week of swimming lessons that didn't seem to us to do any good, she is now swimming underwater and doing pretty well without arm floaties. She still uses the floaties most of the time, but each time we go she gets a little better. She has also been reading to us and herself, doing quite well in that. She is most proud of herself learning how to whistle, though. It has been fun to watch her learn and do so much, especially because it seemed so sudden that she could do all of these things. (It is her summer of learning!! The bike was pretty funny. The letter awhile ago told of what happened, but the funny thing was that I had the video camera out and was ready to catch it all on camera and Paul turned around to watch some birds, I was looking through the camera taping Rachel and all of a sudden we look up and there goes Claire pedaling past smiling and laughing. I missed it! She hasn't stopped pedaling yet )

Another bit of good news was that we finally got a new computer about mid June. Our old computer wasn't that old, but it was unfixable so we bought a different kind -- still a Mac but a Mac Mini and a separate monitor -- a big one. We pulled the hard drive out of our old one and so now we have two hard drives to back up things and use the space. We had our laptop computer, but it is old enough to only be useful for a few things, and J.J. didn't like to do anything on it -- what a computer diva :). (I am not going to even defend myself against that one - it's just a pain to type on and I can't do all my things I need to for Relief Society and everything on it, it didn't have all my pictures on it and didn't have e-mail addresses, I could go on and on, but I won't. I do like it to watch/listen to movies when I am working on a project downstairs - like snapping green beans. I am glad to have our old stuff back and a new computer)

With the hot weather, we went swimming at the city pool at least once each week after my PAWP was over, and J.J. also had the little pool in the backyard up several times to keep the girls cool. My PAWP ended on July 2, just in time for the July 4th weekend fun. We didn't have a lot of plans, but it turned out to be a really fun weekend. The one thing we had planned was a barbeque at the Munoz house in Benton, and so when we were invited by my colleague Squire to go out to his lake house on Saturday, we had to decline, so he invited us on Friday instead. So on Friday afternoon we drove out to his house to hang out with him and his daughter Hannah, whom we had met before. She is 13 and has down syndrome, and she loves playing with Claire. We all went on a boat ride in Squire's boat on Kentucky Lake, and we stopped in a little cove and swam around a bit in the pleasantly warm water. Claire did a lot of jumping off the back with Hannah, and we enjoyed the ride and swim. We had lunch when we returned, and then we headed home. For J.J., there isn't much better than spending time on a boat on a lake. (AMEN!)

Saturday morning, the 4th, I rose early and ran in the 5K race, and took 17th out of the 150 racers. I thought I had won my age group, but found out later that I took second. I didn't know then because I left before the awards ceremony to take J.J. and Claire to the start of the Main Street Mile, which they ran/walked ahead of the parade. Rachel, Maggie, and I stood on the parade route to watch them, and Rachel joined them for the last quarter mile. The parade was fun, and the overcast sky made it nice. We went home after the parade and relaxed a bit before heading to Benton for the barbeque and swimming at the Munoz' house. It was threatening rain the whole time but held off mostly until after we left. By the time we came home, it was starting to pour and there were tornado warnings around. (I tried to get the fireworks out before the storm came, but we only got to set off 2 or three and do one sparkler before it started to rain. Much to the relief of Rachel who hates fireworks and becomes hysterical when we set them off. - the reason we don't go as a family to watch the big fireworks) It was a strong storm and we received a couple inches of rain and the fireworks were postponed until Sunday night. We weren't planning to go and then Katey invited Claire to go with her so she did and then stayed the night with Katey that night.

July 5-July12

One of the things I had to finish up during PAWP and at the end was a custom textbook for all the freshman composition sections for the Fall. I headed the committee to put it together and wrote some of it and did the final edit on it. I received a grant from the university to do it this summer, and it worked out pretty well. It is not perfect, but it will be updated each year, and I expect by the third edition it will be pretty good. I finished up the final edit on Tuesday and sent it off to the publisher.

I worked at the office for most of the day on Tuesday, and then played tennis with Ted -- he beat me and I think I didn't play very well because I would hate to beat the dean before I get tenure :). I then met the sister missionaries -- we have sisters now and they are great -- at an investigator's house and had a nice discussion with this guy even though he ended up not being interested. On Wednesday J.J. had a Relief Society activity after she worked so I invited Angelo Munoz over to play ping pong and have pizza for our bishopric meeting since our bishop is gone for the month. It worked out pretty well even with all the girls at home. (We are making newborn humanitarian kits. We set up this night to make the receiving blankets. We have not had great turnouts at our activities lately, so I was excited when we had about 10 women and three young women show up. We were able to make 21 blankets, so I was very excited. We will put the rest of the kits together later.)

Thursday I had a meeting in the morning at the office and then J.J. fed the missionaries for their zone conference, and then we took off for our early anniversary present. We asked Rob and Meghen (two kids in the Young Single Adults group who recently got married) to babysit for one night while we went Lake Barkley State Resort Park, about 45 minutes away. We got out there and just relaxed, playing 12 holes of golf (Paul's choice activity), reading by the pool, eating a nice dinner at the lodge dining room, which overlooks the pool that looks like it hangs over the lake. All the rooms have a nice lake view, but they are somewhat dated to the 1960s. It is one of those resorts that makes you think of the 60s, with little activities and certain times for meals and all. But we had a great time and it was so nice to be able to sleep and read without worrying about the kids. (I was so excited to sit by the pool and read a book - next best thing to being in a boat on a lake. And that night I was almost giddy that when I was tired, I could get in bed and read and go to sleep without having to get anyone else in bed!) We were going to rent a jet-ski the next morning (my choice activity), but they were booked for the day, so we had to just swim and read instead. We met Rob and Meghen and the girls halfway at about noon and ate at a popular drive-in and then took the girls with us for the next night. We spent the afternoon in the pool and then after dinner the girls played on the playground. They did okay sleeping, and the plan was to swim some more the next day after breakfast but the sky was cloudy and the pool was closed. I took the girls for a hike and we played in the playground, then we checked out just as it started to rain. All in all it was a great little getaway, and we can see week-long stays at someplace like that in the future.

Saturday afternoon, J.J. had a bridal shower for Meghen, who is already married but couldn't figure out a date before she got married so it was a post-wedding shower. (There were only about 5 people there because of people being out of town and the fact that we are a small ward and there have been quite a few baby/bridal showers lately. But, we still had a fun time and laughed a lot.) I took van for an oil change and then later took Rachel in the bike trailer on a bike ride while Claire rode her bike.

We are now getting ready to go to Oregon -- we fly out on Thursday morning for 9 days. But we hope not to take so long to write another letter. (So much for that!) We love you all.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

2009-07-04T14:46:00.001-05:00

Fourth of July was great! The girls were dressed in their finery and we were ready to go to town!

Maggie's headband looks a little like she has black dread locks! Could be a good look for her!

Rachel of course always likes to accessorize.

I love this picture! I have to say, I think I have some of the cutest kids in the world!
Of course, with the photo shoot, Rachel wanted to show us the back of her outfit too!

My fourth of July Sparklers!
Claire and I ran/walked in the 1 mile run that started off the parade. She did really well - even better once we got in front of the crowds waiting for the parade! Reminds me of All-comers Track Meets as a kid, when I would walk behind the bleachers when I thought no one could see me and really turn it on in front of the bleachers.
Rachel watched patiently for us.
So did Maggie.
Rachel decided to join us for the last 100 yards or so.
Claire finished first in her age group (It's okay if she was the only one in her age group!)
Then it was time for the parade.

After the in town activities we headed to Benton to a friends house and were able to enjoy a barbeque and their pool before it started to rain.

We tried to get a few fireworks in before the rain, but Claire was really the only (little) one who enjoyed it!

2009-07-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

One of Paul's friends from work has a cabin on the lake and a nice boat. He invited us to come spend the afternoon with them - boating, swimming and eating barbeque. I can't think of a better way to spend my day! Give me a boat, sun and a lake - I am in heaven. The girls loved it too!
He has a daughter named Hannah, who Claire loves to play with which made her afternoon even that much better!Rachel just kicked back for the ride.Hannah and Claire getting ready to jump into the nice cool water.
We anchored the boat in a little cove and all got out to swim. The water was perfect - no snakes, no plants touching me, no fish touching me. It was great.

This was just how I felt!

The Amazing Bumbo

2009-06-27T12:04:00.000-05:00

This is the first time I have had a Bumbo seat for any of the girls, and I love it. It helped Maggie sit up before she could on her own. She loved being able to see more and as she gets more mobile, it helps me to keep her in one place.

Of course, the excitement just gets to be too much sometimes.

Clairina the Ballerina

2009-06-20T19:21:00.004-05:00

Claire took a "real" ballet class from an instructor at Murray State this summer. She seemed to learn more in one week than she did in one year in her old class. And she still had fun. They ended the week with a performance by the girls entitled "The Lion King".

Of course it wasn't all strict ballet.

Summer Fun

2009-06-19T18:23:00.004-05:00

Summer is the time for messes, eating yummy foods, playing and of course napping.

The girls discovered the fun of sidewalk chalk mixed with a little bit of water. We had quite a colorful porch!

Our neighbor Katey even came over to join in the fun.
This was a position I would find Paul and Maggie Grace in every Sunday afternoon.

Who says you can't protect your eyes and be fashionable at the same time?
Cold yogurt on a hot day sure is good.

Summer in the Pool

2009-06-18T18:18:00.005-05:00

Weather starts getting pretty warm here in early summer. We were very excited to get to the pool this year. Claire was learning to swim and Rachel and Maggie just enjoyed cooling off and being in the water.

And when you need a break from the water, you can always just kick back on the lounge chairs.

That water can really wipe a girl out.

When it's time to go home, who needs clothes?

Maggie Grace's First Food!

2009-06-15T09:31:00.001-05:00

We tried some rice cereal with Maggie - with the doctor's blessing - at 4 1/2 months old. As you can see, she didn't quite catch on to the idea quickly. But who can blame her when someone is trying to feed you something that tastes like paste!
Ahh! This is much better!