My Poor Blog

Neglected....

That's what it is.

My poor blog!

Well, it has been neglected for good reason. Living life is getting in the way of my writing about it :-)
We have been getting through plenty of schoolwork. And I'm not going to bore you with details about math or spelling but I wanted to share some of the fun stuff we have been doing this month.
We have just finished an in depth study of the Vikings. To compliment all we have been reading about them we also...



Made viking bread.
Tasted great straight out of the oven and then quickly turned to concrete!
Those Viking were hardy folk!



We made viking weapons to add to the boys collection of medieval weaponry.



For art Ciara and Max had to design and build a viking longboat out of vegetables....and it had to float.
After a few design modifications both made something pretty cool that worked.



Jack made a viking person that he quickly decided was actually more like Matt than a Viking so it became a portrait of Dad.
Obviously Matt has some kind of vision issue that we need to check up on!



More on the creative front...



we did some painting
and...



We made cookie dough and then everyone got to add their own secret ingredients to see who could make the tastiest cookie.
Jack's had sour patch candy, sprinkles and Hershey's kisses that definitely had an...um...unusual taste to them.
Ciara went for the more conventional choc chip variety and Max created a banana cookie that was surprisingly popular.



We also joined some friends for a field trip to a hands-on kids science exhibition called " Mobius Labs".



So much fun....
and what a great way to see science in action



So I think I have a pretty good excuse as to why I haven't been blogging.
Throw on top of that working, remodelling and exercise and you'll understand why my house looks like a tornado hit it.
Hmmmm...house cleaning. That might have to be this weekends project!

Summer Update

Life has been a little busy around here lately so there is lots to blog about. Here is a quick overview of what's been happening here.
Friends arriving out of the blue! A wonderful childhood friend flew all the way from Australia to surprise me for my birthday.



This was aided and abetted by all these terrific people I call neighbors AND friends . They were all so good at keeping her arrival a secret that I think they may have had some kind of CIA spy training at some point in their lives!



In the midst of all this excitement I turned 40. So far it feels a lot like 39 so I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.



And I was spoiled by some of my Aussie girlfriends who sent me some gorgeous jewelry! A beautiful necklace..( you can see on me here)...and earrings (which I am wearing too but are covered up by my low key hat).



This lingerie item that I am displaying was a gift from my ever thoughtful husband!



My friend Dana also turned 40...she is certainly aging a lot more gracefully than I am!



On the home front...the renos are nearly finished.



We won't be ready for the start of the school year...{boohoo}...but hopefully it will only take a week or 2 to finish off.



We undertook our annual pilgrimage to the local themepark where the kids spent the day enjoying the rides...



This one completely cracks me up!



And of course football season has started....



and so has soccer....



So that brings you up to date...phew!
I feel like I have a bit of a blog sweat up :-)

Triathlon Weekend - Part 2

In the spirit of the triathloning frenzy a group of kids in our neighborhood entered the Coeur d'Alene Youth Triathlon that was held on Sunday.
It was broken up into age categories with varying distances depending on the age of the child. But I have to tell you...I think I would have struggled even in the 5 to 6 year old category. These kids REALLY have stamina.


SWIM









TRANSITION







BIKE







RUN







They all did a great job, had lots of fun and made it across the finish line.

Looks like they'll all be signing up for the triathlon again next year.

Sheesh...I really will have to get serious about this training thing!

Triathlon Weekend - Part 1

Let me say at the outset...I did not even break a sweat this weekend. But everyone else around me seemed to.

This weekend was the Coeur d'Alene Triathlon on Saturday and on Sunday was the Youth Triathlon. So much triathloning going on I will have to blog about it in a 2 part series {sigh}


Congratulations firstly go to our neighbor and friend Ken who competed in his first Olympic length triathlon. He was one of 1,500 competitors and we decided to go and cheer him on. So glad we did...it was such a great atmosphere. And he made it to the finish line in one piece. I won't repeat his first words after crossing the finish line. My husband Matt thinks he may have been delirious :-) But suffice it to say Ken has inspired our neighborhood to dust off our running shoes and get out and train for next years triathlon. Well Done Ken! I'm sure Ken's wife Michelle will be blogging some more about the race so head on over to her blog to get the full race rundown.



Part 2 tomorrow - Kids Triathlon

Triathlon

I'm still unsure exactly HOW it all came about. I think I started it with lots of big talk..(while drinking a margarita...so that might have something to do with it!)
But it seems I have committed to do a triathlon...yes...actually compete in one. Well two really but more on that later.
Michelle has a pretty good blow by blow description on how it all came about on her blog.
Now the bad news is that I HAVE actually signed up for it officially so there is no backing out. But there is good news....quite a bit of it actually.
The first bit of good news is that it's 12 months away. So that allows for 11 months of procrastination and then one full month of panicing. Ahem. What I meant to say was I have allowed myself a good long training window to get into shape.
Secondly, after Michelle and I agreed to sign up together to support each other there have been a number of others sign up. My wonderful hubby, Michelle's hubby and at least one of our neighbors, (although we are crossing our fingers for a few more). So it is going to be fun to be able to train and compete with friends. I do say compete in the loosest way possible. I think for all of us (bar Michelle's husband who actually has marathon and triathlon experience), finishing the race in one piece will be a huge achievement and our only real goal.
Now this race is run in July and is a sprint triathlon. You can read about it here. However this is really just a preliminary to the main event...the olympic triathlon run at Lake Couer D'alene every year. Michelle, Terry ( another friend) and I are going to enter as a team, each doing one leg of the race. I am apparently the swimmer, (unfortunately I am not allowed to wear floaties), Michelle will cycle and Terry will run. I think I have gotten out of the deal pretty lightly. I only have to swim 1.5 km or just under one mile, Michelle will have to ride 40km (25 miles) and Terry will have to run 10km (6.2 miles).
Now I'm not sure how this sounded like fun at all but somehow we convinced our husbands to form a team and join us. So we will all be doing the Olympic Triathlon together. Sounds like fun eh?
{ Now you'll understand the relevance of my photo that accompanies this post!}

Graduation

Well if you didn't know that you can graduate from kindergarten, then I can tell you that indeed you can. Jack graduated today....the class of 2009. Only another 12 years to go!



I have to hand it to them though. They are a LOT braver than I was when I was 6. Getting up in front of everyone to speak into the microphone.



The graduate with his sister



....and his best friend.

The Lowdown on the VP

A number of my blog readers have asked what all the construction...and VP from my last post is about. Well to give you the full picture I have to take you back 5 years when we first moved to the United States. We were supposed to be here temporarily - 2 years only. But when we were looking for somewhere to live we found that remarkably the mortgage payment to buy a house here was the same as the cost of renting one. So we decided to buy....but where? We had only just moved here....didn't know a good area from a bad one....didn't really know anyone here so we couldn't garner any trusted opinions....so we just got out a map, marked the map with where the kids school was and where my husbands work was and decided to buy a house somewhere in between those two. Pretty impressive well thought out strategy right?????
In retrospect, I marvel at our blind faith that everything would just work out. And work out it did. We lucked into the most AMAZING neighborhood. A small culdesac with just 6 houses on it. Quiet, kid friendly and with the most wonderful neighbors anyone could ever ask for.
But after 5 years our house started to feel a little cramped. With 3 growing children, a garage full of "things", a home business and the idea of homeschooling all of a sudden we seemed to be outgrowing our home. The logical thing to do was to sell our house and buy something bigger but something about that just did not seem right. When we sat down to talk about our options, the vote (kids included) was unanimous. We would stay put and just make the house we have a little bigger. A couple of extra bedrooms, a bigger garage.
And every day we know we made the absolute right decsion to stay. Here are some pictures of what was happening at my house this weekend. My husband (with the red shirt) is adding a paved patio to the front of our house...and before you know it he had a whole group of helpers. They weren't asked to help they just came over and got to work. These are our wonderful neighbors ...and we just LOVE 'em.

Friends

Have you ever had friends that you can say you have known for a lifetime???
Throughout my life people have come and gone. That seems to be a natural part of things. I've met new people , lost track of others. The departure of some people have left me grief stricken....some others I have been quite glad to see the back of. And yet with all the ups and downs, the changes in life there are some people that I cannot imagine life without.
Last night we met up with these friends...people we really have known for a lifetime. They have been part of my life since elementary school days or before. And they never seem to change....Isn't it wonderful in an ever changing world...that some things remain the same!

I got an email from a friend in Sydney last night. We had been discussing the fact that 40 is looming in our not too distant futures and that we had both decided that we were going to embrace this new period in our lives, wrinkles, droops and age spots included. She said she does not think of herself as "old" but rather prefers the term "retro" and she sent me a wonderful quote from Nora Ephron about aging women. Loosely paraphrased it says.."all the things you don't like about the way you look now will be fond memories in 10 years time." So aging, as unavoidable as it is, is an experience, a process, a method of making us realize who we are and what we have today is something to be enjoyed and appreciated. On that note...here is a picture of Jack with his beautiful laughing eyes. When you are 5 EVERY day is a great day!