Visitor

We got some beautiful flowers from our friends the Gress' along with a sweet note about Buddy. I had told her that I had walked by her house earlier that day and was admiring her colorful yard so I was elated to find some on the porch for me...I mean us. Anyway, I was playing with the color caption feature on our camera and this little friend crawled out just as I took this picture. It's not an amazing picture but it's fun just the same.

Cup Holder

Who needs a cup holder when you have a diaper padded groin? Apparently not my son! I looked over this morning and he was kicked back and relaxing with his cup of milk balanced in this position. This kid is constantly cracking me up.

Or So I Thought

I get a ton of stuff forwarded to me via email...pictures, jokes, you'll have bad luck if you don't send this a gazillion people (no wonder I can't win the lottery), etc. I was forwarded another video to watch and figured it was "just another video" or so I thought anyway. I received this link to an infant swimming program and I was amazed. It's worth the watch, click on this link http://www.childdrowningprevention.com/index.html to see the video for yourself.

Playing At The Park

"Fall"ow the Leader

Another Trip to the Zoo

Baby birds looking for a hand-out

On the bridge to Eagle Canyon


Measuring Up to the Bears

A Cool Picture of a Poisonous Frog

The "Dam"

Before I start this post I just want to say that I was resisting but my sister-in-law started it! We went to the dam yesterday. We saw the dam fish, the dam generators and played with all of the dam exhibits. We went up and down the dam escalators and even went on the dam elevator once. As you can see, Trevor saw a dam fish that was really big in the dam fish ladder. We also saw dam lamprey and other not so big dam fish. They made a dam announcement at 4:45 that said they were closing. So we headed outside to the dam parking lot. We said our dam goodbyes and headed over to the Oregon side to visit the Fish Hatchery. We all had a dam good time! Ten bucks says that the next time you visit the dam you won't be able to resist "dam" talk either.

Trevor is In Town

Shana and Ron are on a cruise to Alaska this week so Trevor is in town. He stayed here with us on Saturday. We went to the 9-1-1 day in downtown Vancouver. We got to tour the dispatch/call center, make buttons, see the fire and police vehicles, pet the horses and their favorite watch the police dog demonstration. Trevor and Noah thought the best part was when one of the dogs bit the "bad guy" in the butt. After spending some time there we all went and had lunch at the walk-up Dairy Queen. Later that day, Noah and Trevor went swimming for a bit and then they played with Oliver when he woke up from his nap. We had pizza with Uncle Ben that night. Mom came on Sunday morning and took the older boys to The Enchanted Forest for the day. They were both pretty tired when they got home. Today, when Noah gets home from school, we will be headed up to Bonneville Dam, both WA and OR sides and the fish hatchery. We have a busy rest of the week planned so I will post more, if I remember my camera!

How About Some Happier Posts?

As you can see, the look of our Blog has changed some. We decided to add a section for links to some artists that we've seen recently and/or just really enjoy. Well, the list pretty much got lost on the right side of the screen so we opted for a three column layout. We figured since we were changing that we might as well go for a different look all together. All the older posts are still here so if you are playing catch up...don't worry we didn't delete a thing.

So with the new link list in mind, Joel and I went and saw Matt Vrba in the Winery at Edgefield last Friday. Yes, I have seen and mentioned him before on the Blog, I saw him at Mississippi Studios with Breanna Paletta and Tyler Stenson. This time though, it was a solo acoustic set and it was incredible. I had mentioned at work how much I enjoyed watching Matt. He just seemed to enjoy what he was doing so much plus he was a great guitar player. Well, my mention of this turned into, "Hey, did you hear that Tiff has a crush on Matt Vrba?" I swear that I work on a set of a soap opera. Don't get me wrong, if I weren't happily married I'd probably actively stalk, I mean support his work but I am, so I just enjoy his music. Anyway, when we got there on Friday night we were literally the only ones there for the first couple of songs. Well, before he started his set Joel went to find himself some whiskey so I struck up a conversation with Matt. I asked a few questions, he asked a few questions then he excused himself to get a quick drink before the show. Matt headed outside at about the same time Joel was headed back and said, "Joel?" Which threw Joel a little but he quickly said, "Yes?" Then Matt told him that I had said he had gone out for a whiskey and would probably run into him. Okay, okay, enough babbling...it turned out to be a very small, very intimate show and we got to converse with Matt a lot. Joel bought him a beer during the break. Then he personally invited us to his new CD release party in November. Yes, this is open to the public but it was still cool to be personally invited. We bought his acoustic CD that night and he signed it for me...yes, just me. Joel told him that his name would probably just be scratched off anyway so to just address to me. Joel's a good man!

In Loving Memory

Today we had to say goodbye to our dog Buddy. He has been getting sick off and on for the past year and a half. Each time he got sick we lost a little bit more of Buddy. We have a great vet, Dr. Dean, that helped us and Buddy through the process. We stayed with Buddy and said our goodbyes. It was tough but it was for the best. I held it together until Oliver decided to say, quite clearly I might add, his first sentence, "Dog-dog go bye-bye." So long good pal.

First Grade

Well, today is Noah's first day of first grade! I can't believe it really. He was a bit nervous starting the new year with a new teacher and a new schedule but once he is into the day I'm sure all will be fine. As you can see, Noah and his friend Cole, look a bit nervous out waiting for the bus. As soon as the bus was coming, Noah jumped up and was the first one on. He made sure that he gave us a quick wave as the bus headed for school. At one time I had expressed interest in home schooling Noah and some have asked why I don't or why I chose not to. The answer is that I do home school him...every single day. We have workbooks, we have projects and I take every opportunity that arises to "home school" Noah. Noah loves going to school. He loves the classroom atmosphere, he loves being with his friends, etc. Not to mention that the wonderful school that he is in has some pretty amazing programs that he can work into that I wouldn't be able to do or afford on my own. Why take that experience away from him when he thrives in it? So that is the short answer, we do both public education and home schooling. I will say that is has been a bit quiet this morning, I've usually diffused at least two arguments and/or wrestling matches by now. I wonder if the two of them will make up for it when he gets home from school?

Made Joel's Day

Joel thought that it wouldn't be for another year or two before he got to teach algebra to Noah. Turns out when you have a kid who asks a lot of questions that lesson comes a few days before they start first grade. Joel would give Noah the equation/problem and one of the variables (a or b). Noah would then solve the problem to come up with the other variable. I swear I saw tears of joy in Joel's eyes. Noah caught on quickly and was very excited about that. I figure, that if this keeps up, I will no longer be able to teach Noah math by grade 3!

A Life Lesson?

Blogger has this new video upload feature so I thought I would try it out. Joel has been teaching Oliver how to "launch" the binky. I also have some video of Joel sitting on the couch and launching it across the room onto the chair. However, it's not quite as cute for some reason.

Question

Do you think that if I put a few dollar bills into my clothes hamper it would exponentially grow just like my dirty laundry does? I swear that my laundry defies all logic!

Movies In The Park

Last night we went down to Esther Short Park and watched Night at the Museum. They set up a movie screen and we, along with quite a few people, pulled up a spot in the park, ate popcorn and enjoyed the movie. Last night was the last one of the season but we hope to hit a few more next year. If your community does something like this I highly recommend it! The boys had fun and if they got a little loud or restless it wasn't that big of deal.