3-18

What a reader this boy is! It is such a cool thing to see your kids develop a love of reading... and to know where they (might have) got it from! ::wink, wink::

3-17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Ben and Sam were all decked out in green shirts and tattoos!

(If you look closely, you can see a 'dent' in Ben's hairline above his forehead. He tried to comb his hair over to hide it, but yesterday- in class- he took scissors and cut his own hair!!! Apparently, he missed out on doing that in Kindergarten, when all the other kids do it... so he decided to make up for it in the 3rd grade! Crazy kid! Oh well, it was very obvious to us that he was quite embarrassed about it, so that (and what he looked like) were punishment enough. Lesson learned, we hope!)

3-16

A portrait of a Speech Therapy Graduate.
Today, Sam was released from Speech Therapy and we congratulated him with a card, balloon, and candy! Sam loves a celebration, and this was good reason to celebrate!

3-15

The back yard at dusk... I had noticed the pretty pink glow off the mountains this evening at dusk. (Please over look the Uhaul place across the highway!)
The picture was easy enough to capture... it was the post processing that was the most fun! I practiced a technique that enhanced that pink glow. Now, to get a good sunset picture with no Uhaul trailers... stay tuned!

3-14

Yum cupcakes! These are the treats I made for Brandy's shower: vanilla with cream cheese frosting, and chocolate with chocolate buttercream. I think I liked the chocolate ones best!

3-13

Today was the baby shower for Brandy (and Rowen!). It was a team effort: with Aunt Barbara hosting the shower at her house, and Joanna and I planning and bringing food, drinks, treats.

I was really glad to be making it a joint endeavor- it sure made it seem easy for me! And, the best part was that Brandy was surprised by the whole thing. That is truly a feat to accomplish, according to Will!

I chose this shot to show off the pretty flowers and food, AND because I love that I caught Aunt Barbara smiling in the mirror (and my elbow). I also had nice, natural lighting for this shot too.

3-12

Crafty goodness! Getting ready for Brandy's baby shower tomorrow.

3-11

P, B, & J Day.
Every so often I make 4-5 loaves worth of PBJ sandwiches that then go in the freezer. This will last us for several weeks worth of lunches, and saves me time in the morning.

3-10

Sam's incredible Lego tower. (He refused to look at me for this shot, he wanted it to show 'how he builds'.)

3-9

Sam has been learning about fossils at school. So, of course he wanted to check out the back yard and see if there were any dinosaur bones back there. We told him he could dig out by an already existing hole that Toby liked to get into. (Hence the wood that usually covers the hole.) Sam found it to be an easy area to dig, but no luck on the fossils... this time.

3-8

So, even though we celebrated my birthday with dinner out the night before, the kids were rather dumbfounded that there was no cake after dinner this evening. I quickly made a batch of brownies, and we put a candle in it so the boys could sing to me and I could make a wish and blow the candle out!

3-7

My handsome boys took me out for dinner for my birthday. (How appropriate it was on 3-7!)
We went to 41 South, which I have now named the best restaurant in Sandpoint! It was so delicious! Sea bass for me and Steak Oscar for Ryan (who shared quite generously with me). The boys behaved themselves well (a special thanks to Nintendo DS!), and it was a very nice evening and birthday celebration.

3-6

These are some cell phone shots of Ben and I up for afternoon/evening skiing. This was my first time wearing my new helmet... my head felt kind of large, but it was warm! We hurried to try to take a run over on the back side but when we got there it was closed!!! We were a little bummed about that, but it was such a gorgeous day that we got over it quickly. We took two runs down the Great Divide since Ben liked it so well the first time. Then we skiied Midway a few times as well. We ended up having dinner on the mountain and watching the Extreme Air Show--- which was AMAZING! I'm so glad we saw it, we will definitely catch it next year -hopefully with Sam and Ryan!

3-5

Another Friday night: AWANA and date night! This is our other favorite place to go: Thai food.
Every time we go, I look over the entire menu, thinking that I might try something new. But, I never do... I stick with my favorite, Pad Thai with Chicken. (So does Ryan!) Although, I did branch out and try beef this last time! It was good, but I know I'll get the chicken next time- nothing really beats that.
Anyhow, this was the best shot I could get outside within the constraints of the darness of the hour and the street lamps. Maybe someday I'll get brave and take a pic inside- its a rather small (but interesting) place.

3-4

Toby loves to put his face in a blanket like this, push it till its snug, and then snort. Its the weirdest and funniest thing we've ever seen a dog do! He will also sometimes get a squeaky toy wrapped up in the whole thing so he can squeak while he's at it. Crazy pup!

3-3

Can you guess what's missing and why the long face? Well, we lost Ben's retainer last night at a school pizza party! He put it in a napkin (that I should have then put in my pocket or purse) and then threw it away after the meal. We went back the next day and had to dig through the dumpster full of the previous day's trash, lunch trash, and school-wide pizza party. We did not find it. We will have to go back to the orthodontist for new impressions and a new retainer. Big, depressing, digging-thru-the-garbage lesson learned.

3-2

Pajama Day!
Today, in celebration of Dr. Suess's Birthday and Read-Across-America Day (week?), the school had Pajama Day. The boys really love 'dressing up' for this day. Although they didn't understand why I insisted they wear fresh, clean pajamas to school instead of the ones they had slept in!
I love the look of Sam's crusty boots with his PJ/robe combo... quite the fashion statement!

3-1

Toby is now wireless-ly fenced in! After seeing how much he loves to run way out in our back yard, and then into neighboring back yards, we wanted to find a quick solution to keeping him where he belongs! Ryan placed flags for the boundaries, and Toby wears that collar that will give him an audio signal first and then a shock second if he crosses the boundary. Our smart puppy was leary of the sound and then got one (low level) shock and then knew to stay away from the flagged boundary! So far, so good.