Dear Dad, Today....

     Today we drove mom crazy.  I know we shouldn't fight so much, but we do anyway.  Also, the whining was OOC.  We promised to be better tomorrow.  

     On a happier note, today we went to "Back to School" night at my school.  Mom got to sit in my chair and talk to my teacher while Jacob and I played outside on the playground equipment and ate ice cream bars.  She got to look in my desk and see some of the assignments I've done.  I have a really neat poem book that I can't wait to show you.  First grade is so much better than Kindergarten.  We get to have P.E., eat lunch, have technology (computer class), and we get to have Show n' Tell!  We didn't get to have Show n' Tell in Kindergarten so I'm pretty excited.  I am sad that we only have one recess, though.  We should have more recesses.  

We all got super messy from the ice cream bars, but Haven got the messiest.  Mom had to hose us down when we got home.    

 

Dear Dad, Today...

I had to wear my church shoes because I took off my sandals and left them in the shopping cart on Monday (unbeknownst to mama), and mama couldn't find my sneakers. 

After school, we rode our bikes to Montana's Slip n' Slide party.  

I drank two giant cups of Kool-aid without mama knowing, but she soon figured it out after taking one look at my bright red mustache. 

I was nervous about the Slip n' Slide at first, but after a couple of attempts I loved it!

I acted grumpy, as usual, when mama got the camera out.  

 But she captured a photo of me diggin' the Slip n' Slide when I didn't think she was looking.  

I didn't know what to think about the Slip n' Slide.  Meh.  

I did, however, have fun chasing Aayla the dog around the yard and loving on her.  We need to get a pet dog, Dad!  

Before bed we read a lot of books.  And I practiced my letter sounds from my reading lesson.  Don't be deceived by the picture, I was super excited about it. 

We practiced the alphabet too.  It's amazing how well this wooden ABC puzzle has held up after 3 children. 

After the kids were in bed, mama relaxed with a nice, cold one. 

Dear Dad, Today...

 Today we cleaned out the fridge.  We decided it was time to throw away your salsa.  Ewwww.... 

I took a good nap while big brother was at school.  I'm mama's best napping buddy.  

Our neighbor Noel brought over some onions from his garden.  That was really nice of him.  

 Here we are holding the onions.  Look at the cool pattern the window makes when the afternoon sun hits it.  

Mom used the onions in our dinner tonight.  

 We ate all our dinner without complaining!  I think we must've been really hungry. 

 

We got to eat dreamsicles for dessert.  

It was a really warm day so we got to play in the kiddie pool. 

 We ran out of swim diapers, so my regular diaper blew up like a giant flotation device.  I could hardly walk.  It made mom laugh. 

 Here is a cute video of us each doing a "cannonball."

Dear Dad, Today....

We had to go to the grocery store because we ran out of bread.

Some of us ignored the rules of how to sit in the cart.  Mom was not very happy about that.

We made pictures of rainbows and hearts.

We went to Magnolia Park to enjoy the sunshine.

But one of us got injured and then was grumpy the rest of the time. 

One of us couldn't get enough of the monkey bars.  

   One of us couldn't get enough of the water.   

But maybe got a little upset when we couldn't get water into the Starbucks cup we found lying around.  

We got dizzy on the "spinny things." 

But mostly we just fought over them.  

And one of us thought it would be cool to stand up on the swing like a BA. Boo-yah! 

  

Neko Case

I got to see one of my all time favorite singer/songwriters in concert this past weekend!  Neko Case performed live at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland. 

Mandy and I joked about the snipers that were in the windows of this building. 

The first band that performed was the Moondoggies.  They were awesome.  

Second band was Pickwick.  Also very cool, and worth checking out.  

Mandy and I fell in love with this chubby little baby rocking out at the concert.  

I'm sure we could've asked any number of people to take a picture of us, but then we wouldn't get that great selfie photo look, am I right?

The main event: Neko Case

She has such a lovely voice.  Even live she just blew my socks off.  Among stuff from her newest album, she performed some of my favorites including "Hold on, Hold On," "Deep Red Bells," and "I Wish I Was the Moon Tonight." 

Not only are her lyrics and her voice beyond amazing to me, she also has a killer sense of humor.  She and Kelly Hogan had great chemistry together and kept the audience laughing in between every song.  I'm so happy I got to go to this!     

Oaks Amusement Park

 Mike took the little brothers to a movie so Vessel and I could spend some 1-on-1 time at Oaks Amusement Park this past Saturday.  We were joined by some of our very good friends and we all had such a great time.  I think Vessel couldn't have asked for a better day.   

Montana, Steven, and Vessel

Riding the "Frog Hopper" by himself.  It's a kid version of the "Drop of Doom."

We got to ride just about every ride together (that he was tall enough for) including the "Spider," the "Disko," and "Eruption."

He actually wasn't quite tall enough for this ride, but the worker didn't check his height, so Vessel was super stoked to get the go-ahead.  He and Montana held hands the entire time! 

Me and the little ones.