Monday, August 27, 2007

Peas in a Pod

Laina's First Day of School



Everything went well, despite my misreading the schedule and bringing her in to school 10 minutes late. There was no crying or begging me to stay, and Laina had a blast. I did pretty well too. I took a nap with Ethan and managed to not do any housework while the girls were at school. I blame Harry Potter, since I couldn't stop reading until 1:30am.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Get In My Belly




Okay, so they aren't going to consume the baby, but I thought that it was funny that they used to judge babies at the state fair.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

At the Museum



Sugar Beets Anyone?


Every time we drove by the museum in town Laina asked me when we could go there again, so we took one Friday afternoon to explore.

Laurin's First Day of School

Laurin had her first day of school at the charter school today. I was told this Monday that a spot had opened up for her and that school had started that day! The problem, Laurin was still in Kansas visiting Poppy and Grammy. We ended up meeting mom and dad in Limon yesterday to pick Laurin up and then ran all over town for the mile long list of school supplies. The first thing that we heard when we arrived at the school today to settle Laurin in was a very excited, "Hi Laurin!" It was someone that Laurin went to grade school with. We later found out that two more girls from her former school went there too. Praise the Lord that Laurin already has friends there. She was even smiling when we drove away.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A Converation With Laina

Laina: "I wish that I had a twin sister. Maybe Isabelle could come live with us and be my twin sister."

Me: "What about Shauna? Wouldn't she get lonely if Isabelle was gone?"

Laina: "She would still have Jemma. And maybe we could let Ethan live with her too."

Friday, August 17, 2007

Wa wa what?

Call me crazy, but I was a little stunned when I had to pay Laurin's school $81 at registration. Granted, she had a $20 volleyball fee, but even before that it would have been over $60. I know I shouldn't complain and I wouldn't if I didn't already know that our school district receives $7500 per student through taxes and grants. So what does the school do with the extra $30,000+ they receive through enrollment fees? They probably need all that money to buy paper plates and sporks because it's too expensive to hire a dishwasher to wash real tableware.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Is There Anybody Out There?



I'm beginning to think that I am writing to no one. I have gotten only 2 comments in the last 12 posts (thank you Shauna). Is there anyone out there? Feel free to leave a comment--you can even do it anonymously if you'd like. To get the ball rolling I'll put up some pictures and you can post what you'd title them. Have fun.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The World Clock

I thought that this was pretty interesting, although it can be pretty hard to comprehend such huge numbers. Check out the oil pumped figure--it makes me want to bicycle to the store.

Poodwaddle.com

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Karin's Clothes

Another plug for my e-store. Going on all this month I am having a summer clearance sale. Check out the clearance folder at http://karinsclothes.ecrater.com/and if you buy one item on clearance you'll get another item on clearance for 1/2 price. Contact me by email to arrange for payment instead of using the checkout. Thanks

This Week's Verse

Monday, August 13, 2007

Sculpture Show


I was kind of surprised when Laina told me that she wanted to go to the sculpture show this year. I hadn't been to it for a couple of years, so I thought that it would be fun. The kids did really well and for the first hour really enjoyed looking at the artwork. (then the I'm hungries kicked in) When we would see an abstract sculpture I would ask Laina what she thought it looked like. Most of the time the answer was "a frog", so she was delighted when we came upon a GIANT frog statue that looked so real I could almost envision fried frog legs.

This year I decided to go to the show by the high school as well. There were some huge sculptures there and some really talented artists. I really liked the artwork of J. Chester Armstrong because he worked with wood. I don't think that I have ever seen such amazing, lifelike wood carvings.

I also really appreciated the ingenuity of Bill Secunda. He had several life-size animal sculptures made entirely of welded nails. They were really impressive.

Of course Laina and Ethan most loved the sculptures that involved water, especially since it was 98 degrees outside. I knew it was time to call it a day when I caught Laina practically bathing in a fountain and Ethan began reaching out his hands trying to grab things.

We ended our day at the park by thanking God that He gave the artists such skill and us the eyes to appreciate it.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Musical Beds


The other morning I went in to check on Laina. I didn't find Laina, but instead found Ethan and the cat in Laina's bed. Laina was in Laurin's bed with her.

Monday, August 6, 2007

The Last Hoorah

We had our last Praise in the Park for the season last night in Fort Collins. It poured rain at about 4:30pm and they had to unplug all of the equipment and everything. Then it stopped raining at about 4:45. By the time we started the concert at 6:00, the clouds had broken over the park and it was a balmy 70 degrees. I have to say that it was definitely the best PITP this summer and maybe the best one we've had in years. People were dancing and singing and having a great time praising God. Many people also came up to receive Christ. During The River song, Pastor Nate stopped the song and said that it was missing something. We looked over to the side and there was Pastor Tom. I was so excited to get to sing with him again I almost cried. The clouds started forming again during our last few songs and I hadn't even made it back to my car before it started raining again. Isn't it like our God to give us a little bit of sunshine when we need it most? GOD IS GREAT!

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Back To School Giveaway With Gymboree


Anyone who knows me knows that I had to get in on this giveaway. I'm crossing my fingers as all of the boy's fox stuff is in stores now.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Free Spirit



Camping At Vedauwoo














We spent last weekend on a grand camping adventure in the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. I learned about Vedauwoo way back when I worked on the trail crew and always had it in the back of my mind to visit. It is only about an hour and a half away and offers many campsites scattered in organized campgrounds or off forest service roads. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time, except for Paul and I freezing under the lightest sleeping bag when it dipped down to 50 degrees at night. Ethan and Laina especially enjoyed their first camping trip, although Ethan kept falling down and ended up looking like he got into a fight with a mountain lion. There were large flat rocks right by our campsite filled with rain water, so the kids had a good time frolicking in the water.