I’ve got vacation pictures to post but had to note the start of school.  I just can’t believe it’s back to school time already and more than that I can’t believe Ezra is going to Kindergarten!  We got back from our trip to Seattle (more on that later) but I looked at Ezra & he looked older-how does that happen in 5 days?  He is excited, and says he’s not nervous about anything.  We still have 1/2 day every day Kindergarten, which I’m thankful for so I only lose him for a half day this year.  I just might cry-I’ll let you know tomorrow.

As for Marian, she is beyond excited, especially since she found out she got the teacher she wanted.  This year she gets to play in the front playground and gets a locker!

We almost always go to the farm to see what they are growing & harvesting.  I learned about the 3 sisters something or other-plant corn and then pumpkins beneath and then pole beans to grow on the corn stalks, I may just try that next year.

sweet baby Tyler

They had all these old style games set up all afternoon, we played here for at least 2 hours! 

Mari got the hang of this after a lesson and ran back & forth, then she wanted to know why they don’t make toys like this anymore, I’d like to know too!

Tobin just loved this lady, she showed him how to make this top spin

Then the school bell rang and it was in to the one room school house, girls on the right, boys on the left for a 20 minute lesson.

a little sweaty & exhausted but had loads of fun

The tall one is Nana D (our nanny), short one is Tobin, then Ezra, then Marian.  The impressive part-they did a little extra detail-Marian has pig tails and check out Nana D’s pony tail.

Feeling a little slighted, I asked them why they didn’t make one for me, “because we didn’t know how to make curly hair”, well that makes sense.

Then they put sticks in the bottom to make puppets:)

Special Effect:  I desaturated everything but the red & orange.  And, he’s not saying he’s #1, he’s holding up a pencil holder.

We went for a visit to go to this big, funny festival parade and sit in front of my Grandpa’s now empty house-as we’ve done for about 5 years now.  You never know what you’re going to see in this parade, we’re all still waiting for the man riding the giant steer live we saw the first year (I seriously mean there was a man riding on a giant steer-way taller than me, just clomping down the street at the very end of the parade).  Some pictures. . .

waiting for the candy

This band has been performing in the parade every year and every year I laugh because they were a popular local band when I was a teenager (weddings & such) and they were really old then, or at least they seemed like it.  I have to say that they actually look younger to me every year now!

This might be my favorite picture, you can guess what this guys job is, but don’t you love the pink shirt and pink bucket:)

Frozen popsicles were a popular give-away this year

Our corn haul, yes they give away corn!  We got 17 ears of it, enough for our family dinner later that day.  Kelly also scored an awesome purple pepper, that he hung on to and smelled all day (it was that sweet) and then grilled it to put on our burgers.  Funny pepper story, Noelle also got one and asked Trisha what it was, she said “it’s a pepper”, Noelle throws it like’s it’s poison and Trish said that Marian grabbed it like it was a $20 bill.  What can I say, my kids LOVE peppers:)

Showing off their candy score

Tara brought a slip & slide for the kids to play on back at the farm

I think I’ve mentioned before that my sisters & I are close, so close that each of us really wanted our daughters to have a sister, none of us managed to do that, but then we realized that our daughters are the same age differences apart as we are.  We try to get them together as often as we can so they can hopefully share the same bond that we do. 

and, here’s all of us

We invited Noah & Heather to the pool on this afternoon and the boys (all three of them) have graduated from the kiddie pool.   All Ezra wants to do now is jump in and swim to the side or slide down the slide, Noah too.  And, Tobin is finally wanting to jump to me and doesn’t care if he goes under-MAJOR progress.

And, Mari is at Grandma & Grandpa’s house for a few days:)

She got pretty close!