Garage cleaning with a 2 year old! (and picking raspberries!)

We may not have the lush, thick bushes of 'yesteryear', but we can still find enough berries to satisfy the picking pleasure of a few grandkids! (Actually, picking is all Ava wants to do with raspberries - which she calls 'strawberries' - she doesn't want to EAT them!)
And here is Ava helping us clean out the garage! She found an obviously better use for Gramma's golf bag push cart: She 'rode' it in and out of the garage and called it her trycycle! Great fun having her around here! Love the new twist on helmet fashion, yeah?

Wisconsin Week at Hotel Griffitts - part deux!

So, we are starting with the last picture first, and they become more mixed up from there! Anyway, this is the Shumway's leaving from our home this morning about 9:30 -

but you can pretend that we were out in the driveway greeting them on Thursday night when they arrived!

This picture is actually from the first visit last Friday. Starting from the far left, we have Ava, Lyle, Darbye, Jo Jo, Danielle, Scott, Wendy and me. (Dad is behind Danielle...)

This was this morning, too. Checking everything twice before taking off for Oregon - hopefully NOT for another 3 year absence! We LOVE the Shumways!!!

Sheralyn, Danielle and Tanner ready to take off!

The 'Girls' - Sheralyn, Danielle, Darbye, Wendy, me, Ava and Lindsay! Aren't we a lovely group!

The Bishops, Steve and Scott - called within the same week 3 years ago - there is something poetic in that....

Wendy and Sheralyn performing death-defying bicycle tricks! Sheralyn even pedaled Wendy UP from the lake the night before! She's an IRONWOMAN!!!

It was hard to say goodbye to such fun friends! We hope they won't stay away for 3 more years! We try to show them a good time while they are here so they'll come back again! We had a baby shower last time they visited, and this time we were planning a wedding.... What next??? Just come back and play with us!

Welcome to Wisconsin Week at "Hotel Griffitts"

I got a phone call on Tuesday from an old friend who lived in Wisconsin with her great family while we lived there with our great family. She was spending a few days in Spokane, and when she found out how close it was to Coeur d'Alene, she came on over for a visit! How fun it was!

Here is Rosie Johnson with Lindsay and Darbye (who were 10 years younger when we last saw each other!)

The good news is that neither Rosie nor I have aged at all since we last visited! We've made plans for her whole family to visit soon so we can have some REAL fun! We survived Wisconsin together!

We also got an e-mail earlier this week from another wonderful Wisconsin connection: The Shumways! They're coming through town the end of this week for a family reunion up in Canada, so they'll be staying at the Hotel Griffitts one night this week and one night next week on the return trip! We had so much fun the last time they did that, that we are already FAR into the planning stages for this trip! I'll be sure to post pictures of that encounter, too!

On the down hill slope!

School is almost out! Can you believe it? I survived the Performing Arts Night (comments were positive...) and the First Grade Program (again, comments were positive except for the one 5th grader who said it was 'boring'.) Well, I didn't have time to do the 'fish' program and collect a bunch of costumes and stuff! Give me a break! (I'm not insulted or anything, just explaining myself!)
Anyway, next up is the Kindergarten program on May 13 (the day after the Special Chorus sings for the volunteer appreciation breakfast) and then we have the recorder recital on May 27th. I just hope I can get those kids ready for the recital - we've just GOT to be able to play more than 'Hot Cross Buns'! We'll just hit songs like 'Zippy Toad' and 'B A Superhero' really hard for the next couple of weeks!
Next year CAN'T be this hard!
Summer is already getting packed up with Coeurimba dates! We are even having the luxury of turning down some dates! How cool are we!? Oh, it's nice to be loved!

Wow! The blog fairy did it again!

Well, I don't have to tell you guys that I've not been a very good blogger lately, but Lindsay keeps the page at least looking respectable! Thanks!
Last Thursday night at school we did the production of Lewis and Clark, and it turned out just fine! Mrs. Windisch came back to help with the sound system since we had lapel mics and lots of other kinda weird and wonderful things to deal with. With her help - and lots of other people stepping in to lend a hand - it ended up being just great and the parents were happy with their little darlings! Yippee!
Now all I've got left to do is Performing Arts Night in two days, the First Grade program the following week on Wednesday, a week with no programs(!) following that, then the kindergarten program, and last, the third grade recorder recital! What a fun (ok, YES, it was stressful at times, but fun nonetheless!) year I've had. I think I've learned more this year than any other year of my life! Really!
I am excited to get my teaching certificate reinstated and then start taking music classes to get a music endorsement added to it. From all indications, it looks pretty positive for me to be the official full-time music teacher at Hayden Meadows next year. Nothing official until after the levy on Tuesday, but it looks like that will probably pass. So, I could be doing this for a few more years! Wow! Who'd a thought? NOT me!

Faith and Begorrah! Lindsay did it again!

Thanks to Lindsay for the beautiful Irish background for my page! I thought for sure that the 'Little People' had paid me a fine visit already and done a good trick for me! Instead, one of my favorite people in all the world had done it! How nice!
I had the very good fortune of attending a workshop for most of the day yesterday in Spokane called "Moving the Musical Mind". Oh! I am SO INSPIRED by how music, done in the right way, can make HUGE changes for people of ALL AGES!!! I want to try some new stuff out on the grandkids when we get to see them for Spring Break! It's all fun stuff, and I'll bring some cool, new 'toys' with me, too! I am so lucky to have this all fall in my lap! What a cool way to change from 'empty-nester' to 'gainfully employed grandma'!!! I'm having a wonderful experience, and things just keep getting more and more interesting all the time! Just wait until I teach you guys the "Brain Dance". It's so cool, and you won't even notice you are doing good things for your brain! It's just really well-desguised as fun! I'm loving this!
Happy "second-most-important-holiday-in-the-whole-year" month!!!

An ecclectic collection of random happenings lately...

Well, I saw this poor little snow-bound penguin and it looked like he was signaling for help, so I just had to take his picture! Maybe by Spring we can dig him out!

This is how he looks to the neighbors... I hope they don't turn us in for 'decoration abuse'!

And here's a cute picture of Mylie Suzanne Reynolds when she was just over 12 hours old! Tytan LOVES to hold her, and he is being quite patient and sharing her with all of her admirers. I thought this was such a cute picture of the two siblings!

And here is the picture we took of our new do's with our camera that wouldn't download on Lindsay's computer. Aren't we a couple of dolls!?

And, one last picture of the famous 'musical clock' that is all folded up and taken to the dump now - but it was fun while it lasted! The kids still ask about it every-so-often. Onward!