Art in the Park...or Fart in the Dark!

Steve's mom loves going to the annual art festival in dowtown Boise called Art in the Park. Her four sweet and sensitive sons, some of whom did not inherit her love of the arts, lovingly refer to it as Fart in the Dark! Grandma Pat especially loves taking some of her grandchildren each year to the children's art tent. They have so many really cool and totally free art projects for kids. Sophie and Emily were the last grandkids standing after the art projects so she and I enlisted them to join us to peruse the "big girl" part of the festival...shopping! Grandma bought each of the girls an adorable crocheted hat. Sophie really wanted a bright purple one but my fashion instincts caused me to talk her into the brown and orange one instead. I have a feeling her fashion instincts will soon be overpowering mine, but she is still very impressionable! By the way, the splotches of paint on Sophie's cheeks are actually pink ice cream cones from the face paint booth. So cute!

Steve...the Surprising Sweetheart

Our 10 year anniversary was last week and I was under the impression we were going to just have a nice dinner out...without the kids. Steve, who is not known for surprises (understatement), surprised me with a four day trip to Seattle. He sent me a really sweet e-mail, and told me he had flights and babysitting all arranged but he needed my help with renting a car, booking hotels and planning our activities! It's not that he isn't capable of doing those things, he just knows how good I am at it!

We had a fabulous time just being together and doing all the typical Seattle tourist things. We spent an evening down at the pier, went to pike's market (and drooled over the beautiful and CHEAP fresh flowers), visited Snoqualmie Falls, went to the music and science fiction museums, ate good food and shopped. Steve felt bad about the timing in regards to shopping...being this pregnant only allowed me to shop for my kids and my feet!

By the last day we were really missing the kids, especially Steve, and were really excited to come home to them. However, within about 30 minutes of being home, without the expected greeting from either of them, we wondered why we missed them so much! Sophie was beyond tired when we got home, which equals whiney, and Maxwell was playing x-box with his cousin, which equals zoned out! Even though we had just had a 4 day break from the kids we still managed to be exhausted and relieved when they went to bed that evening!

I won't go into all the mushy details about how much and why I love my husband, I'll just leave it at...I truly couldn't have married anyone else. He is perfect for me. And all of you who know him well, or even just know him, know exactly what I am talking about.

First Day of School

I have no idea why my kids are such posers, seeing as I just learned how to camera smile less than a year ago at the ripe old age of 33!

Don't you love it when their backpack is over half the size of their body. It is even more comical when they come home with one lone piece of paper in it!

Isn't it Ironic?

This is a picture Maxwell drew during primary a few weeks ago. Obviously the lesson was about being kind because it says "I can be kind" at the top of the paper. What's so kind about a tank and a man with a machine gun shooting at each other? That's my sweet little boy! By the way, art is not one of Maxwell's gifts, but just for the record, he was drawing with his left hand because the right one was in a cast.