4th of July 2012

For the first time in four years I didn't work on July 4th, so the children and I went to the parade! It was their first parade and I was a little worried it would be too boring for them......I was very wrong.

Here is a video of Amelia and Cooper at the parade. It gets a little shaky when Cooper brings his candy to me (which he did the entire parade). The float going by was a dance company dancing to "Thriller", hence the scary creatures. The kids were so excited to see the parade I think we may make it a yearly tradition, because as you can hear at the very end of the video Cooper says, "I LOVE this parade!"

Ready to celebrate the 4th.

Waiting for the parade to start, protected by the umbrella. No one got sunburned but me. Apparently SPF 50 still isn't strong enough for my skin.

Ben, Kim and Matthew joined us.

Cooper very excited about the passing floats. He loved the "Bumblebee" car (a yellow Camaro).

Cooper explaining to Amelia candy-gathering strategy. They were excited BEFORE the candy started flying.

Only in Rexburg do you have missionaries in the parade.

The kids waved and waved and waved at everyone in the parade.

At the end of the parade the National Guard came by with their water truck. Every few feet they would stop and spray the road in front of them. Children would swarm to play in the water. I don't have a picture because the lovely National Guard truck also shot water into the crowd, drenching everyone. I was scrambling to get my camera covered. Good thing I did, because I got soaked!

After the parade we walked home (so nice!) and then bought some fireworks. Luckily the kids are young enough they are content with sparklers, those snappy things and a few others. I don't have pictures of the fireworks because, hello--explosives and children--I was lucky Cooper didn't set me on fire with his sparkler.

I hope I don't have to work on the 4th of July ever again, it was a great day!

Happy 4th of July!!

Our Summer So Far

Our summer is just rockin' right along. Amelia is finishing up swimming lessons tomorrow (fingers crossed she'll pass the level), and Cooper has his last t-ball game tomorrow. We have taken many trips to the park, spray park, free lunch at the school and summer movies. Last weekend we went south so I could have a bridal shower/lunch with my friends, which was a lot of fun! School is down to 3 weeks and I'm beginning to see the mental-health benefits of NOT getting straight A's....or B's. Here are some pictures.

Amelia receiving instruction.

Amelia trying to follow instruction.

Cooper bored. (His turn is in a few weeks.)


My friends Kristine, Hollie, Teya,Eden and me.

I bit the bullet and had my hair highlighted for the first time. I love it!

Lynnli and Joey dancing.

Lynnli in her pool.

Idaho Falls trip

Last weekend we went to Idaho Falls to run some errands. We had a picnic in Tautphaus Park and the kids played on the big toy at the playground there. Here are some pictures:

This is a circle chair that spins really fast. Amelia loved it.

Cooper did not.

Dual swing

 Here are a few random pictures of the kids and their silliness. Amelia took the filling out of four Oreos and ate the outside cookies. She then piled it all between two cookies and this is what she had:

Cooper often says and does things that come from left field, but today he called my name and when I looked over, this is what I saw:

It's Time For.....Random Pictures Again!

Hanging at Joey and Jojo's with Lynnli.






Last day of the 2nd grade!


Going shopping.


You cant see it, but Cooper's training wheels came off last week. He's doing great!

"Indiana Bones"

Our library had a guest storyteller on Monday. I didn't know how the kids would like it, but we tried it out. His name was "Indiana Bones", the brother of Indiana Jones. He had a bull whip he cracked a few times, the theme music to the movie and a "satchel" filled with treasures. He told three stories and while Cooper wiggled a bit (it was an hour long) he loved it. He and Amelia laughed so hard I thought they'd wet their pants. "Indiana" was great with the kids and handled comments and questions like a pro(especially those that came from a hyper 5 year old on the front row about what was inside his treasure chest). After he was finished Cooper asked if he could get a picture with "that awesome guy". Some are a little fuzzy because I used my phone. Here they are:

We had to take two of Cooper because, as you can see, he was a bit wound up.




Amelia posing perfectly, as usual.

Cooper T-ball

Cooper started t-ball last Tuesday. He missed the one practice they held, so I was a little worried about how he would do. He really adjusted well and got the hang of it by the second game. He even hit a "home run" (he was the last one at bat so he ran all the bases). Aside from his coach not being the greatest, I think Cooper will do well. He has so much power in his throwing arm he has to throw underhand so he doesn't bean someone in the face. Here are some pictures:



His head is so big we had to take off his ballcap before putting on the batting helmet.




This is Cooper rounding third. The boy on the other team is Cooper's good friend. They didn't know the other was on the field until they met up at third base, where they chatted until the next runner ushered Cooper home.


Amelia cheered from the top of the stands with three of her friends while I stayed on the sidelines to make sure Cooper hit only the ball with the bat.

I think he likes t-ball!

The Other Dirty Four-Letter Word...

....No, not that one. Nor that one. That's not it either. Okay, potty-mouth--I'm talking about M A T H.

Let's think about this. How often do we really use math in our "everyday world"? I'm not talking about figuring a tip or calculating a grocery bill (besides, don't we have apps for that now?), I mean the algebra stuff. Honestly, is there any other purpose of knowing how to solve: -7ax2(-63x5+9x6)-2a=x, or finding the slope of -4/5 with the intercepts of (2,5), other than inhibiting my collegiate career?

I didn't think so.

Bad, bad math.