More Birthday Pictures

Gwen woke up and put her clothes on. She walked out of her room and said "Huh, my clothes still fit!" I guess she was expecting that since she was a year older, she would now be too big for her britches.

Ruby's unconventional way of eating a cupcake.

Who would've thought a little girl named "Dempsey," (After the Manassah Mauler boxer Jack Dempsey), would have turned out to be such a beauty.

Happy, Happy, Birthday

We celebrated Gwen's Birthday. This was her cupcake-cake. I'm not too talented with frosting(well decorating-wise, I'm am good at eating it), but I am awesome at printing stuff off of the computer.

Emma, Gwen, and Cort opening presents.

Gwen with her fairy wings and fairy skirt.

Ruby with her balloon she swiped from the party being held next to us.
(Note: Thank you to Krystle for the pics, without her, the camera probably would have sat on the picnic table all night).

Off She Goes

Gwen had her much anticipated first day of school on Monday (September 15). She attends preschool Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 2 p.m. That is a long, long time (good thing I'm too busy working to cry about it). I was quite worried that she would have a hard time since she has never been to preschool before, but she had no problem. Gwen walked into the classroom, started playing, gave Brian a goodbye hug and that was that. On her first day, she learned about not talking to "dangers." She already has a best friend in her class named Tiara.

Many of you inquired about Rocko. He is alive and well and I think he is enjoying his new buddy.

Bathtub Pooper: A Cinquain

Bathtub Pooper
adorable, unassuming
splashing, laughing, horrifying,
banned from the bathtub,
Dempsey

Sweet Potatoes, Salsa, and Chowder

Ruby took it upon herself to feed Dempsey her Sweet Potatoes. She actually did a pretty good job.

Brian made some delicious salsa, it is the first time he has ever made it and it is awesome. Of course I have come to expect this kind of culinary excellence from him because of his track record.

A while back, I caught Gwen putting honey on tortilla chips. I witheld my initial reaction of disgust and said "Wow Gwen, that is SO great that you are trying new things, I'm really proud of you!" Which turned out to be a good thing to say, because I wanted her to try Brian's salsa and I said, "Remember how you are trying new things." And so she tried it, and she promptly spit it out.

Poor Dempsey happened to be crawling under Gwen's chair when the spitting out occurred.

We've spoken of Sweet Potatoes, Salsa, and lastly, here is Chowder. This is our new dog. He is a Boston Terrier/Pug mix. (Chowder---Boston, get it?) I think he is a tinge ugly, and Brian thinks he is cute. Which is quite alarming, since Brian also thinks that I am cute.

The Chop Job

In just a few unsupervised minutes, Ruby's hair went from this:


To this:

At the hands of who else but:

When I walked into the house, returning from student teaching, and saw the aftermath of the orange safety scissors that were supposed to make wonderful crafts; I cried, no, I sobbed and wept and wailed. But luckily, we took Ruby to a very talented hairdresser who transformed Ruby's crypt-keeper look into this:

Yer not from 'round here, are ya?

I was at Wal-Mart very late one night, (yes, all of the strange and interesting things in our life seem to happen at Wal-Mart, we really are hicks). Anyway, so I was there really late one night to get some medicine, and in front of me in line was a group of teenagers. The strange thing about these teenagers is that they were all really, extremely fashionable. They looked as if they came straight from an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog photo shoot. I found myself trying really hard not to stare at them and I just kept thinking "Where are they from?!" I almost asked them, because I was sure they couldn't be from our little hick town, I was sure they were from Orange County, CA or the like.

I didn't ask them, I should have asked them, this story would probably be a lot better if I had.

But anyway, I was reflecting on that moment the next day and it reminded me of when I was a young, trendy, ridiculously good looking college kid driving home to Richland WA from Provo UT. On the way home I stopped at the Wendys in Twin Falls ID. When I went inside the Wendys it seemed like everybody stopped eating and stared at me! I couldn't figure out why--now I know, and anyone reading this who is from a small and/or rural town knows too. It's the "Yer not from 'round here, are ya?" stare. Either that or I had a big booger hanging out of my nose.