The first day of preschool!

Yep, today was the big day and Simon LOVED it.  As we walked out to the car he declared, "That was GREAT."

He did stop playing every once in a while to keep tabs on where I was so we'll see what happens this Thursday when he goes on his own.  But for now, he's excited and happy to go again.

Veggie Racer

Tom and Mary Kay are visiting. We took them to the downtown farmers market. At the kids corner we built a veggie racer out of zucchini. They even had a racetrack to run the car down.

Birthday Cake

Simon and I made a cake for Mom's birthday. It was a lemon cake with raspberry buttercream. It took a long time and unfortunately didn't really work out.

Mom gave us points for trying.

Happy 4th of July

We had a lovely day in NH. We watched a small town parade this
morning, had lunch on the water at Sunapee Harbor, and played in the
lake before cooking hotdogs on the beach.

Simon and Gram made a fabulous cake that we had for dessert.

Happy 4th of July!

Did you see this?

Simon and I have been playing a lot of Hot Wheels lately so this is right up our alley.

I can't embed the video on the blog but follow this link! Hot Wheels Double Loop You can't tell me that is not awesome!

Ladder Truck

While in Salt Lake for the weekend we stopped at the mall. As we got out a ladder truck pulled up. Simon wanted to see it and the engineer let him get inside.

Big boy beds...

What happens when you convert a crib to a toddler bed?

First, you're greeted by a small human throwing the bedroom door open promptly at 7 a.m., with the announcement, "I woke up all by myself!" (Thank goodness we're already using a color coded alarm clock with Simon or that time would have been 6 a.m.)

Then you have a boy who's suddenly VERY INTERESTED in napping.

After taking a few fake naps (to avoid working in the garden), we came into his room to find a budding architect building houses for his little penguin. 

He's so proud of his new bed AND his house for penguin.

Happy Mother's Day!

Brunch in a fancy restaurant with a three-year-old, what could be more fun?

But seriously folks, the restaurant brought around a goodie box for kids to choose from and Simon picked these.  Genius!

Making Lettuce

Simon and I planted lettuce yesterday. We are a bit late in the season for Idaho but we should get one or two crops before the heat hits in July.

We are borrowing a technique from my co-worker and growing it in a rain gutter.

Simon enjoyed getting dirty and using the hose though each hole ended up with a lot of seeds.

And just like that...

...there's a rainbow.

It's hard to see in the photos from my phone, but it was actually a double rainbow, and we could see the entire arc. It was pretty special.

Two Years

How is it time passes so quickly? One day you're a newborn girl being held by your big brother, and the next it's two years past his untimely death. It still doesn't seem real. Or at least not right. There are still so many regrets. So many things left unsaid.

The pain is easier now that time has passed, but there are still songs that will make me cry and sometimes I feel as if I'll never understand. But I think that's better than feeling nothing. Better than pretending everything is OK, and that nothing ever hurts.

Rest in peace John, I will always miss you.

More Wildlife

I've heard the tell-tale signs for little more than a week. You know, "hu hu hoo hoo." And this morning we had our first sighting. Sitting at the breakfast table I saw a VERY large bird take flight from one of our trees by the stream and then land on another tree closer to the house. I saw his head swivel round to survey the land and then just as I was picking up Simon to show him my find, he/she/it few away.

I thought it was gone forever. Never having been lucky enough to see an owl before, I thought for sure I'd never see one again. And then Nana came down for breakfast and we excitedly told our tale, pointing out where the bird had been. Suddenly she said, "I see it!" And sure enough, there the owl sat, asleep in our pine tree right by the stream... She's still sitting there now despite the joggers, cyclists and cars driving by. Must have been a long night of hunting.

Thanks to our new 'Peterson Field Guide to Birds' the Western North America edition (recently sent by Grandpa to help us identify Coots, Wood Ducks and Mergansers) we believe we have a female Great Horned Owl living in our midst.

Lost Deer

On the way home from downtown we found these five lost deer. They were standing in the middle of Idaho street looking confused. There was a nice person trying to steer them towards the foothills but the deer stopped to eat someone's bushes.

Downtown

Simon and I went to the nature center downtown today. We played with the water table and built a dam, walked the outside to see the fish, and hit the park.

Big River with Grandpa & Grandma

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit for the weekend. We had lots of fun, including a nice walk to the big river to throw rocks and look at the ducks.

Momentus Day in Boise

We now have chick-fil-a! This one is on campus at BSU. The even better news is that they are building a free standing one 2 miles from the house across the street from our new Wholefoods.

Monkey Gym

Simon's new favorite place is called Monkey Business. It's a large indoor play area with a great climbing platform and the most awesome bouncy slide. Simon calls this place 'Monkey Gym' and says its more fun than Mommy and Daddy's gym.

1st Big Snow of the year

We had our first big snow of the year today. Simon was estatic to go outside and play. We shoveled the driveway, played trucks and built a snowman. Other than putting his mittens back on every 10 minutes it was great fun.

FINALLY!