Just some stuff

Audrey drew a picture with a speech bubble the other day. The drawing was on the window with a crayon, so I didn't want to encourage any more of this "wild" behavior again and take a picture. But she's getting reeeeally good. We have no idea where she figured out the speech bubble. She doesn't really know letters, but she makes alien letters on all her pictures now for labels and speech. It's great.

Jane can count. It's probably just parrotting what she hears Audrey do, but it's so darn cute to hear her. She goes 1,2,3,4 . . . 8,9,10. And is very proud of herself. Anytime she hears any of those numbers, she just picks up whatever she thinks the next number is and goes off. She loves to take up rally cries, too. If Audrey is downstairs in the kitchen, hollering for a sippy, we can count on hearing Jane, up in Audrey's room, taking up the cry of justice--"SIPPY!!!" Whatever it is, she's on board. It's incredibly funny.

Something Eventful

Today I took Audrey on a date. Just the two of us. I had planned on taking her out today to do something fun with just Mommy, but I'd had no idea what it would be. Last night I checked to see if there was anything for her to see at the movies right now, but I was still nervous since she'd, up until today, never sat through an entire movie at the movie theater.

I decided to take her to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs since I figured she could get into the idea of food falling from the sky. So, she and I set off for the 1:30 showing. We took a potty break, got some popcorn, waited in the foyer and watched people for a while, then went to go sit down. Everything was going perfectly . . . until then. For some reason she refused to go into the theater. I suppose it was too dark or something. She freaked out and insisted that we go home, she wouldn't budge. A kind woman holding the door for me told Audrey that her kids were in there and it was going to be fun. No use. Audrey just informed her that we were going home.

After a few moments of this, me wracking my brain about how to get her to con her into going in (wondering if I could get my money back if we did end up going home), a couple of little girls came out. I think they were the daughters of the nice lady holding the door. They were so sweet as to try and convince Audrey that she should go in because there were lots of kids in there and the movie was going to be funny. She still wanted to go home, but she let me pick her up and take her inside for "just a look." As soon as she saw all the kids (there really weren't that many, but enough), she pointed to the top seats and asked if we could sit up there. :)

She was great in the movie. She sat on my lap most of the time and snuggled with me, which I thought was great. She's not a really cuddly kid so I take what I can get. I actually thought she was sleepy, but she just wanted to sit with me. It was cute. She'd talk to me about things in the movie. I think she liked it. The best part was at the end when the guy and his dad hug and the guy kisses the girl. When she saw them hug she turned to look at me and said, "I love you, Mommy." And then she gave me a big hug. And then she kept watching. Then when the guy kissed the girl, she turned to me, put her hands on my cheeks and gave me a sweet little kiss on the lips. She was all smiles and super cute. It's funny; she's not a cuddly kid, but she's always very sentimental. She's always saying things spontaniously like, "Mommy, you're my best girl ever," or "Daddy, you're my very best friend." She just loves to communicate that mushy stuff. I love it.

Anyway, we had a great time. When we got home, she told everyone about the funny guy and the big noodles in a circle and the big vegetables. :) Later today, after coming home from a car ride, she had fallen asleep, she woke up and groggily asked for some giant vegetables. I asked her if she'd rather have dinner. She said no, just giant vegetables from the sky. So, I ran in and got a bowl of dinner while she was still in the car (Janey was being unbuckled and then she was, she was still too groggy to pay attention to me), then I stood outside the garage with the bowl held up to the sky . . .

I know this sounds strange, but bear with me . . .

When she saw what I was doing, she was very interested. David asked if I'd gotten any sky vegetables. I said, "Hm, let me see." Then I pulled the bowl down for her to look. We were all sufficiently surprised to find warn chicken stir-fry and rice in her bowl--fresh from the sky. ;) She thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, again before bed she asked if big food was going to fall down from they sky, so I think it's safe to say she was impressed with the movie. I just think it was great spending some time alone with my girl.

P.S. We've officially started packing. It's happening. Another move. Bring it on.

The Traditional Carving of the Gourd

Audrey and Jane yelled "EWWWW!" when I opened the top of the pumpkin. And they refused to touch it after that. So, this is really MY pumpkin. :)

We used Jane as a model.

Notice Jane's feet at the bottom of this picture? Don't be fooled by Audrey's innocent appearance. She kept pushing Jane away from the pumpkin any time she got near it.

Jane had to kiss the pumpkin . . .

And bite it.

Which is usually what she does when she meets new people.

Audrey put a stop to all that nonsense pretty quick. He "lives" outside. Audrey was very worried that he'd get cold in the night. I just hoped he wouldn't freeze solid and turn to mush. This morning she woke up and announced, "Mom! I looked out the window, and the pumpkin is awake now." At least he survived the night and didn't run away.

Nighttime Fiasco

Last night was the second night we tried to get Jane to sleep in Audrey's room successfully.

Dave and I went to sleep peacefully at about 11:30, and I was sleeping really well (which doesn't happen very often these days) until suddenly we were awakened by large protests from both girls through the baby monitor. They were both screaming for Daddy.

So, not sure what to do with them we went up stairs and calmed them down. Dave laid down in the hall with Jane and I helped Audrey calm down in her bed with her nighttime music on again.

After they were both clearly ready to go back to bed, we just put them both in and hoped for the best. David explained to Audrey that Janey would probably cry really loud, and that it was up to Audrey to teach her town to calm down and go to sleep.

So, that being said, Dave and I closed the door and went back down stairs to watch the action on the video baby monitor.

Jane cried, loud. Audrey sat up with a big sigh and sat on the edge of her bed. After a few seconds she put her hand out and said, "Jane, be quiet." And she did! Then Audrey said, "Janey, don't cry. Ok?" And after a few seconds of silence she repeated herself. She sat in silence a few seconds longer then decided that Jane was calm enough. Audrey got back on her bed, pulled her covers up, looked at Jane again to say, "Jane, it's time to go to sleep now." Then she laid down and there was peace the rest of the night.

We've decided that our best bet is to put both girls to bed at the same time each night since Jane seems to respond to Audrey's comforting much more than ours. And she can't manipulate Audrey to get her out like she can us. :)

To Autumn (my favorite poem)

To Autumn by John Keats

1.

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

2.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

3.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

(Lovely, isn't it? Read it out loud and you'll really love it.)

Ode to Idaho and other things: Pictures from the past 3 days

Audrey came to me in the kitchen the other day looking like the above picture. She then said, "Mom, look! I look like you!"

I know I'm pregnant, but I'm not hardly showing yet . . . I think maybe I'm just fat. :S

Another one of Audrey's costumes. She came to Dave and said, "Look! I'm ready to ride on Oompa's boat!" If any of you have seen Oompa on his boat, this is really funny. He usually has a handkerchief under his hat to protect his neck from the sun.

Other articles of clothing seen here: Jane's shirt, a swimming suit, and a very very short skirt (although you can't tell how funny the skirt is in this picture). Love it.

These next pictures are mostly from our recent outings. We've started realizing that we're moving away from Idaho. And that makes us very sad. SO, two days we took day trips out driving around the surrounding farmland. I can't tell you how beautiful it is. None of my pictures do it justice. It's so vast and open and inviting. And since potato harvest is in full swing, there was a lot to see.

Our first stop was the old Teton Dam site. For those who don't know, this dam broke in the 80s and flooded the entire valley. It was a massive thing. That's why there are really no buildings left in Rexburg that are older than 33 years or so. Google it and there are some pretty cool videos. Out in the middle of nowhere in some of the fields there are old houses that got moved there during the flood. It's very haunting. I should have gone out to get pictures. However, if you want to see some really great photography of Idaho (besides my own) ;) go visit this guy's site. Just visit his portfolio. It was fun to look at his Idaho places because I'm pretty sure I've visited every place he's captured, and some of those places I've visited TONS of times.

This is the side of the dam that got washed out. It's hard to imagine how far that wall of water traveled. It seems so far away.

Another thing I love about Idaho is that, not only does it have beautiful rolling farmland and wide open spaces (and "beaches") but it also has the most amazing mountain views. Some Utahans may disagree, saying my mountains are too far aways to enjoy, but I disagree. Seeing them surround the whole valley, which a perfectly clear view, and being far enough away, really allows you to see how huge and vast they are. And besides, they really aren't that far away, as I'll prove later. (I'm probably over-using commas here, but I don't care.)

This is a potato field that hasn't been harvested yet. There are still lots of these. Actually potato harvest is a huge deal around here. This time of year, for about 3 weeks, all the farmers get down to business and harvest. They recruit all the local kids mostly, a few college kids, and work all day, every day, for those weeks until it's all done. It's dirty, cold, hard work. But it pays well. They always let school out for those weeks.

Actually, when David was in school they were out 3 weeks for spud harvest, but now it's only 1 or 2, can't remember, but it's slowly going away. Soon I'll bet they'll just have excused absences.

Dave was going to work spud harvest this year but didn't get in on the game soon enough. Plus smelling like rotten potatoes and finding dirt in his ears and nose a few months from now, not to mention risking losing a finger, would probably not be such a good thing once he starts his fancy pants desk job in the big city. :) We sure could have used a couple extra thousand bucks though.

Did I mention that I LOVE how open it is? This field is alfalfa I think. That explains why it's still green in the chilly fall weather. Should be harvested very soon.

This is some spud harvest in action. What they do, is they take a digger, which I have a picture of later, and drive one of these trucks beside it in the field. The potatoes fall into the truck and the next truck takes its place when that one gets full. Then they bring those tricks back to the cellars, and the potatoes get sorted from the clods and rocks and roots. Then they get stored in the cellars.

And most every farm has potatoes for sale, naturally. (Notice all those trucks full of potatoes. Seriously, there are so many potatoes that get harvested, it's baffling.) They're usually less than 20 cents a pound actually. And they're really nice big (organic) potatoes. Deeelicious. We have 125 pounds sitting in our garage right now . . . my Dad is here visiting and he buys everything in bulk . . . he'll be taking at least 100 pounds of those back with him to Missouri thank goodness. :)

These girls are sorting.

This is water pipe. Some farmers still use this to water their fields. David moved pipe when he was a kid. Sometimes soaking wet, during lightening storms. Insane.

There are potato cellars all over the place, but the old caved-in ones are the most fascinating. This one was particularly lovely to me. Go see that guy's site to get some great potato cellar pictures.

I kept getting out to take these pictures. And the smell of fall was so exciting. Yes, even though our trees are actually quite ugly during the fall here, fall is still very beautiful. It's that complete harvest feeling. The crisp air on a sunny day that smells like fall, and the freezing cold nights that are overcast and smell like snow. All the pumpkins and potatoes. It's wonderful! Really, to me, it compares to fall in Ithaca. I just love it so darn much.

This is how the more modern, wealthier farmers water their fields . . .

This is a harvester, it's the guy that actually digs the potatoes out of the ground and spits them into the truck off the conveyor (that thing sticking out the side). There were awesome shots of them out in the fields that I could have easily taken, but my camera died during that first day.

There were lots of hay fields too. So beautiful. And smelled sooooooo good!

Ah. This is a picture that I snapped that first night of Idaho sightseeing (we didn't go more than 30 miles from home, but . . . whatever). Jane always chooses to read books way beyond her reading level. Maybe she's a genius.

Since all the kids are out of school, our second trip yielded some great fall shots.

I have mixed feelings about school buses. I love how they look. I think they're beautiful. But I don't really like them at all. When I was in school I always had to ride the bus, and usually for a very long time (in kindergarten I had to ride an hour each way). I'm put in my time, but now that I haven't set foot in a school bus in so long, they've obtained some charm for me.

These kids were out playing in the leaves and I asked to snap a picture of their fort.

They were pretty excited and enthusiastically gave me thumbs up. There's another little guy in there who missed out and popped his head out and gave me thumbs up and a huge cute grin, but I'd already finished. Good clean fun.

These guys were just begging to have their picture taken.

Did I ever tell you that green is my favorite color?

The combines were facing a lovely view of a potato operation.

Since it was such a clear day, we decided to find a good shot of the Tetons.

So, we hit the open road.

My sister came along and took some pictures too. It was such a beautiful day.

The whole sky was clear, except for where the peaks were. And it blocked all the best Teton shots. Oh well.

While I kept hopping out and taking pictures on all these outings, everyone was such a good sport. :) Dave pulled over everywhere I asked and even made some good suggestions for shots. We make a great team. And the kids were really good too. They like to see the mountains and the horses and cows.

Right in the middle here is a perfect shot of the signature teton view. And there's a huge cloud right in the way. Bummer.

But this was an even better sight.

She's such a cute girl.

And he's such a cute dad. :)

She gives Idaho two thumbs up. Me too.