Another Hot Day!

Friday night Allen took Ethan to sell Cub Scout Popcorn in front of our local Safeway. Thank you for those of you who bought popcorn or just donated money.

Today was the Soccer Jamboree. The kids had their pictures taken and their first scrimmage. Both were at the same time but at different parks. Allen took Ethan to his game and I took Rachael to hers. Both teams did not do well the first half but improved and held off the other team the second half. Whoo hooo! Soccer again. I am happy our games were early. It is 2 pm and over 100 degrees here.

Josh and Ethan hanging out before the going to the Jamboree.

Dinner

Tonight Ethan asked for lasagna "like Uncle Wards" (which is Kirkland frozen lasagna). I had one in the freezer and he asked early enough so I pulled it out and stuck it in the oven. In the meantime Rachael had to get ready for soccer practice so I made her a quesadilla. I burned her quesadilla but she ate it and even said it was "really good this way"... I did offer to make her a new one but she liked the other one. When the lasagna was ready I gave some to Ethan. He looked at his lasagna and said "I am going to barf". You win some, you lose some. He did eat the lasagna and did not barf.

State Fair 2009

We went to the California State Fair on Saturday. Lots of fun!

Splash Dogs and Tractor Pull at the State Fair!

We watched "Splash Dogs". They had dogs jumping off a "dock" into a pool and measured how far they jumped. Katie would love this. In the picture above you can see in the far right corner the dog's toy that was thrown for him to catch.

This isn't your everyday tractor! "These supercharged beasts boast serious horsepower with up to four high performance engines, even some with two jet engines that blow flames!" (per the State Fair program). We saw Super Charged, Alcohol Burning Modified Dragsters; Hot Rod Super Stock Smoker Farm Tractors (Ethan thought those were bad because they pollute the air); Mini Modified Dragsters; and Hot Rod Four Wheel Drive Pick-ups. I have the say the pickups were my favorite to watch.

Rides and Fireworks

We had a GREAT day at the State Fair!

Week 1 of school finished

The first week of school flew by. Rachael thought she was going to present the Liar, Liar assignment the next day but they did not have time to do it until today. Only 4 out of 25 students were able to guess the lie. You can scroll down to see what she wrote. A boy from her class went up to Ethan and asked him if his picture was really at Raley Stadium for two years. Ethan's modeling fame as resurfaced. Rachael picked a picture of Uncle Sam for her first research paper. They had some 60"American Symbols" to pick from. Ethan went to a soccer clinic Wednesday night with his team. He was the only one to score 3 goals! Way to go E!

Rachael - the photographer

Rachael decided to take some pictures with the camera. Over half of them we deleted because they were of the mirror in the bathroom with the flash glaring at you. The ones of the dogs turned out cute.

Back To School Night

Tonight was "Back To School Night" at the kids' school. We got to meet their teachers and find out what the curriculum will be for 3rd and 5th grade. So far the kids have had great teachers. We are looking forward to a good school year. We will post some of the interesting and fun things they get to do during the year.

Fortune Cookie

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

Second Day...

Why did I have more "homework" the first day of school than the kids? Permission slips for library cards, computer use, p.e., and Emergency Contact forms for both kids. Whew! I have writers cramp. They have had two good days of school. Part of Rachael's homework today is called Liar, Liar. She is to write five statements with one of them being a lie. She is to read them to the class tomorrow and then the class votes as to which one is the lie. Here are her five statements:

1. My brother Ethan was on a Rivercat's poster advertising in the stadium for two years.
2. My Dad's 5th grade teacher who used to live in L.A. now lives in Elk Grove.
3. My brother cut his own hair with safety scissors and wore a hat to hide it in pre-school.
4. My soccer teams' name is The Comets.
5. I rode in my Grandpa's '35 Ford that has been in my mom's family since 1935.

Rachael ended up changing #4 to: I went up to the top of the Space Needle and ate at their yummy restaurant. She will wear her Seattle t-shirt to school to "help" out with her "lie". We saw the Space Needle but did not go up to the top. Therefore we did not eat at the restaurant. Though she did chew a piece of gum while looking at it.

A dogs life!

Ever wonder what your dogs are doing while you are not home? Chewing the fence? Barking at strangers? This is what our dogs do.

First Day of 3rd and 5th grade.

Back to school! With their lunches and backpacks filled we stopped by the front door for our "First Day of School" pictures. They both chose to wear their Seattle t-shirts today. I hope they have a great day!

Weekend over already?

I can't believe it was this morning that we got up early and had a garage sale. It has been a good weekend. Ethan's friend came over and spent the night. I really like the picture above with Allen, Rachael and Ethan walking along with our friend who learned how to ride a bike this weekend. Still a bit wobbly, but he was riding without anyone holding onto him. I think a little more practice on Ethan's bigger bike will be all he needs. We had a little excitement with the power out for 45 minutes Saturday. We got our camping lantern and flashlights out just in case it was still out when it got dark but it was back on just in time. We swam a lot and sold a lot of misc. things to people who will use them. Tonight the kids took showers and laid out their clothes for tomorrow. I baked cookies for their first day back at school and made Ethan pumpkin muffins for breakfast.

Two story slides and high diving boards.

Today we went to the local swimming pool. Yes, we have a perfectly good swimming pool in the backyard. It seems last week when we went to a birthday party at the public pool Ethan realized the scary two story slide wasn't really scary after all. According to Ethan as he came out of the slide pool "That was totally awesome!" He also realized the high diving board can be fun too. So Rachael and Ethan spent the afternoon going down the two story slide and jumping off the diving boards. Ahhh, summer vacation. Now we have only four days until school starts.

Another Day

Last night Rachael lost another baby tooth. Literally, lost it. She pulled it out then within an hour dropped it on the floor. We could not find it. Good thing the Tooth Fairy is understanding. Today Ethan had another cavity filled. It was the second shot in the series of three. His cavities were in three different quadrants of his mouth. He goes back in November and we will finish them off. I thought I could wait until Friday to have my root canal, but it is becoming uncomfortable and I will see if they can fit me in earlier. I wish I had changed my appointment when we were there this morning. Exciting stuff...

Allen's Kayak Trip

Saturday Allen went kayaking with some friends at Engelbright Lake. They stayed the night at a "boat in" campsite and explored the lake.

Exciting Day!

Today Ethan had his first two cavities filled. He did GREAT! Then it was my turn... the cavity on my wisdom tooth was deeper than they thought and I will be going back for a root canal. Oh well. On to happier things. Today is Ethan's friend Josh's birthday! They went to the local swimming pool. Below you can see Ethan coming off the slide.

Josh's sister Holly escaped to our house tonight to avoid the stinky boys celebrating with her brother. Here the girls are thinking about what might be happening at the party.

Soccer has started!

With two weeks of vacation left this week has been flying by (now it is less than two weeks). The kids started soccer practice this week. Lucky us! We have practice four days a week (Rachael two days, Ethan two days, hence Mon - Thurs). In September, October and part of November the games are added on Saturdays. The kids love it. It is great exercise. Both kids have great coaches with teams that try really hard while having fun. The kids are also excited that piano lessons start back up this week as well. They groan at practicing, but love seeing Katie for lessons. The pictures I took at soccer practice did not turn out well, a little blurry. I will try again tomorrow.

Memories from 4/26/2006

Take a closer look at his cowlick in the front... When Ethan was five years old he decided to cut his own hair He wore a baseball cap for the day to hide it from me. Allen was the first to notice when he came home later that day. He cut it so short we had to buzz his hair. You can see the final cut below. Don't be fooled, those kid safe scissors are not really safe in the hands of a five year old.