Jemma Riden'

She loves the backpack...and the park

She lives here too!

Jemma doesn't get many of her own posts but that's because she spends about 19 hours a day in her crib--which I guess is post-worthy because a few months from now when she starts a new phase I am sure I will be wondering did she ever sleep?

But for now she is a crib-happy baby! She loves just rolling around in there, playing with toys and talking to herself--she reminds me a lot of her big sis Ava at this age.

But she does have some big news of own....she has (finally) sprouted two little pearly whites (look really close)!

And she already practices good dental hygiene--the toothbrush is her favorite toy!

I love school.

I could not wait till 3:05 today to pick up my sweet Ava Blythe, take her out for a treat and hear all about her big day. Ava is a great story-teller--she remembers all the details I like to hear, she loves sharing, and then asks tons of questions about what you might have been up to.

I was a bit emotional this morning when dropping Ava off, not because I will miss her (although I will!) but because I was so so excited for her! I always loved school from kindergarten through college and Ava looks to be the same. And when we walked though the parking lot and all the kids in their shiney new uniforms were giggling and yelling hellos to each other, I was just so happy for her!
Ava goes to a fantastic school with sweet kids and happy teachers and families that are our best friends, where her grandma is a teacher and her cousins are her playground buddies....what a sweet blessing!

Yay for back-to school!

Today was the big send off for our first grader! The morning was a little crazy because I decided to give her a haircut around 7:30 and I almost forgot to pack her lunch (after weeks of her talking about it!) and we almost forgot to get the baby up and ready before leaving! But we made it to school bright and early!

Last year....kindergarten!

This year....first grade!

Seatmates with Kayte...yay!

After dropping her off, we headed to Starbucks for a quick treat, then back to the school for the assembly, then we ran home to clean up the whirlwind from the morning, then ran back to meet Will and Madison (big old kindergartners!) for lunch, then a few quick-y errands (with just two kids!), and then home for naps, then back to the school again for the 3 o'clock pick-up. Whew.

Ava had picked out a notebook and crayons to surprise Jack with on the first day and he was thrilled. He sat right down to make a "craft project" and then said, "hey! I don't think I know what a craft project is!" He is a great buddy to spend the day with!

We scream for ice cream

One last ice cream trip before school starts!
Jemma's first cone.

Camping...

We finally made it out for our first (and hopefully not last!) camping trip of the summer. Ed's parents bought a fancy schmancy camper this spring and they not only let us borrow it, they kept Jemma overnight so we could enjoy it!

Dinner!

I gotta say I love camper camping. It's clean, it's easy, and you can pop dinner in the oven and eat something other than hot dogs and chips (although we love those too!)

It got very hot and windy in the afternoon so we headed into the camper for some air-conditioned wrestling time.

And yes, that's a flat screen TV and DVD in the background. hee hee.

Diggin' in the dirt.

We like camping with those Graukes--they enjoy the same dirt-digging, rock-throwing, marshmallow-roasting, gin & tonic-drinking fun that we do.

Living the good life!

...and boating!

Catchin' up

The biggest and best news of the day is that school started but before that post I have to squeeze in a couple others.

Last week, I took Ava up to school for the first grade open house where she met her teacher, filled her desk, and found her locker (her very own locker!).

Jemma helped pack up her school supplies.

Headed to school out of uniform (very exciting.)

Her big first-grade desk!

Her locker!

It's official.

(Ed, post-1/2 marathon in May)

Ed and I are all signed on for the Portland Marathon in October. We actually signed up a week ago and now that we've paid an insane amount of money and posted it here on the blog, there is no going back!

Girls Night Out

I have been wanting to take Ava up to Spokane for a shopping trip before school starts but we have been so insanely busy that we settled for a night on the town instead. Of course things are better with a buddy so cousin Kayte came along and I love love to hear them giggle away!

Sweet friends.

Ice cream!

Ava wanted me to get a shot of our matching "going-out" shoes--wedge heels...so grown-up!

My favorite worker!

This has been a busy couple weeks work-wise and while I have a great set of girls who work for me on a regular basis--I have to say my favorite employee is Miss Ava Blythe!

Here she is helping me put together signs for an ice cream reception the other night. And she helped me spray all those red buckets I mentioned (and helped pick these flowers!) which turned out pretty cute:
Here they are on the tables:

I have at least 6 events to post pictures from but I'm not yet motivated to sort through them--although Ava loves to look at them so maybe I should let her handle that!

Three little monkeys

He's a growing boy!

Jack's very favorite phrase these days is "I'm so hungry!" Sometimes he mixes it up with "I'm starving" or "I'm so hungry my tummy hurts"...the list goes on and on. Here he is waiting for dinner the other night!

Yay for school!

School starts next week and Ava had been wondering if she was going to get anything in the mail from her teacher like she did last year. Sure enough, a letter arrived and she ripped it open and stood right there to read it. She is so excited!

I can't believe my little monkey is going off to first grade--even her daddy got a little misty-eyed when she read it to him!

This is a first

We've taken a lot of pajama rides this summer but the other night it was so cold the kids packed their blankets to snuggle up. This has been the coldest August I can remember! It feels an awful lot like fall and I gotta say I love it!

Ruby and Me

Obviously this an Ed post. Ruby turned 8 about 2 weeks ago and I had to write a post. Kelly "tolerates" the dog because she knows how much I love dogs. At times I wonder why we have a dog, she sctraches our hardwood floors, she tears up the yard and well "clean-up" is never glorious. However, she is a part of the family. The kids love her, and in turn she loves them. If I had a quarter for every time Jack jumped on her I'd be rich. Last night we had Tim and Sarah over and their kids really enjoyed her chasing them running around the back yard. She is an average bird dog but gets the job done, she obey's me very well, and in the end a dog will always be a part of our lives. I am a softy and yes she is an inside dog...Thanks Kelly for tolerating the dog.

Squishy Jem!

Jemma has been upgraded to a real car seat but if we take Ed's truck she rides in the old infant seat. She doesn't like it at all. And she spends most of the time using all her strength to lean forward as far as possible but every once in awhile she gives in and relaxes. She's chilling out but still giving me the squinty eye you can see.

Ava loves this place

Ava loves China Buffet and I promised her we would go sometime this summer and now the summer is almost over so we headed out to the lovely restaurant. I have to say her sheer delight at choosing from a wide variety of foods makes it all worthwhile! Mashed potatoes, jello, stir fry, noodles, fried donuts, pizza, bananas, you name it, all for the taking...pure heaven!

These two

are good buddies.

Will told Jack to close his eyes and count to 20 and Jack says, "but I can't" and Will repeats the command and Jack says, "but I can't! I can only count to ten!" And Will says maybe he should go to school and poor pitiful Jack says, "I'm trying! My mom won't let me!"

I picked up Will and Kayte from swim lessons and was driving Paula's car and after a few minutes, Will says, "Hey Kelly, I didn't know you knew how to drive our car!" and I say, "I'm doing pretty good, huh?" and he says, with a little shrug, "so far, so good I guess."

She's growing up.

I cannot believe I have an almost-first-grader!

Retro Friday (cause it's been awhile)

One of my very favorties!

Another glamorous day

This lovely rainy day started with swim lessons in a monstrous downpour (more on that later), then 52 errands (still in the downpour) for the wedding tomorrow, then a quick trip to the flower gardens with the little monkeys (where I realized it was not only still raining but had been long enough to make the flower fields a giant mud pit!) to pick buckets and buckets of flowers. That would have made a good picture but all I have is this one of our shoes which really does not do the mud pit justice because this was after we lost most of the mud in the car. Then I popped the kiddies in bed and started doing this:

cooking pasta (6 pots of it) and carmelizing pecans (3 pans of them)

while also doing this:

making 250 favors

And now I am off to spray paint 90 flower buckets a nice, shiney, red!

And this is why I say yes, wedding planning is a lot of fun....it's the doing it that's a lot of work.

Beautiful!

Summertime!

We headed to the Casebolt farm for the second annual Casebolt/Sawyer Grill-Off on Sunday and we had a fabulous time! Heather is a master planner and everything was well-organized and fantastic. It doesn't hurt that Ed and I are two of the judges also!

Super hostess Ann.

The grill-off judging table and the lucky judges plus Jem.
(Those are the prizes there in the middle. Yes...there are prizes. And a trophy.)

Sweet Sara.
This place is kid heaven--pool, buckets of water guns, a kid-size John Deere gator. Truthfully, I have no pictures of my big kids because I never saw them!

Sweet Jem and her dinner.

The winner. As usual.

Beautiful!

We're a competitive bunch and we like to start 'em early so there was a coloring contest for the kids and Ava won! And it was judged by one of the few people not related to her!

Dessert!
Did I mention the pie baking contest also? I told you we're a competitive bunch! And my mom won this one with her raspberry pie (a family favorite)--she got a trophy too!

So much fun! Thanks to Heather for organizing and Dave and Ann for hosting and Shawna for washing all the dishes!

See ya next year!