Hannah's 1st day of School

Hannah's 1st day of 1st grade was Wednesday. All has been going great. She is excited to go to school. She's excited to tell us all about her day. She's lovin' it!

Also just had to show you a picture of my "decorated" bus!

Busy, busy

We have had a busy last couple of weeks. I'll start with Saturday, the 16th. Every year the men of the churches around Montana go on a Wilderness Trek. Ed was not able to go this year, but Gage and Steve did. So that left Jenny and Darci husbandless. In past years we have spent a lot of time together while our husbands are gone. This year we did the same even though my husband was not gone! Thursday evening I was able to leave my children home and go "hang out" with the girls. Darci made Amish Friendship bread and we watched the Olympics. Friday we went over for all the kids to play together. The girls all went in the bedrooms and we didn't see or hear of them for several hours! That evening they all came over here for pizza - Darci was wanting Papa Johns Pizza which is here in Bozeman, not Belgrade. We went for some Cold Stone Ice Cream after that. Saturday was the Potato Festival in Manhattan. We went mostly for the parade. Here is one of the floats. Thought it was too funny.

Here are all the children watching the parade. My girls brought their backpacks because they remembered that everyone throws candy. They wanted to be set.

That evening after all the guys got back and Becky came into town, we had a barbeque at our house. There were 21 people here - 10 adults and 11 kids. We had the kids eat outside on the grass and the adults all set at the table for some nice adult conversation.

Last week was busy with lots of different things. I painted my classroom at the church building (just needed a fresh coat - am going to try and paint the trim this week). I also worked a lot. Tuesday we had an all day orientation meeting. I also worked on the payroll several days. Plus we went camping on Friday. Gina had a great idea about getting college age kids from around the stat together for a campout. She picked a spot by Georgetown Lake (she grew up in Anaconda and knew of a good place there that was centrally located for others to come to). I was the provider/cook for the food for the weekend. So I spent time getting that ready and packing the camper. We had a nice turnout. 6 kids came from here, 2 from Great Falls and 1 from Anaconda.

Saturday morning the college kids went for a hike. We did not go because the girls really wanted to go fishing. It's a good thing we didn't go, because they ended up hiking about 11 miles. Anyway, we walked down to the lake. It wasn't a very good fishing spot so we didn't stay long. But at least they cast their poles a few times.

When we got back they wanted to go for a hike. So we walked up the road to the trailhead and back. That was probably a mile one way. There was this big rock on the way. Hannah wanted to see if she could climb it. She did it all by herself!

Halee did it too.

We got the trailhead and turned around. They wanted to climb the rock again. This time Ed climbed too and then jumped off. Well, they had to do that too.

Monday morning I had to do a "mock run" on the bus. We have a new school opening and they wanted to see how times were going to work out. After route, I spent 3 hours giving my bus a good cleaning before school starts on Wednesday. So today is our last "lazy" day of the summer. So far we are enjoying it. I have a haircut appointment at 11 and the girls have a dentist appointment at 1. We have to find a water bottle for Hannah for school (the last school supply we need). Hopefully a lazy evening before the rest of the week. It is already full with Wednesday being school and bible class. Thursday we have gymnastics after school (Hannah is in 1st grade and will go to school every day) and I have a bible class teacher meeting. Friday we will head up to camp where I am the assistant cook for the weekend. Whew! I'm tired already!

Swimming Lessons

First a few pictures from Saturday. Hannah has been into wanting to draw pictures and sale them. She wanted to do it when I had the garage sale with Jenny the week before. She drew a picture and asked me to make 80 copies so that she could sale them! Well, that didn't happen. Then on Saturday she and Halee starting drawing pictures. Then they started hauling this table downstairs. I asked what they were doing and they were going to set up the table outside to sale their pictures. They did it all themselves. Then Hannah asked if they could sale the chocolates from her school fundraiser that we still had. She made a sign and tapped it to the table. They asked several people who drove or walked by, but didn't sell a thing. Too bad, but nice try!


When it was time for dinner, they both wanted to help. Hannah likes to peel the potatoes. She set herself up on the floor.

I had Halee help with unloading the dishwasher.

For the last 2 weeks, we have been going to swimming lesson Monday thru Thursday mornings. Today was the last day of the session. I did sign up for next week also - just a one week session. The girls are doing so good, I didn't want to stop!

Last year Hannah was afraid to do anything in the water. This year (especially today) she spent a lot of time going under. It took her a while to warm up, but today was asking to do bobs! YEAH! She would swim and put her mouth in to blow bubbles. She's still no comfortable doing any swimming on her own, but we have made progress.

Halee is just a fish. The big skill that she learned this year was swimming on her back. She can dive in, and flip over and swim on her back all on her own.

She just loves to be under the water. Most times when her teacher was working with someone else, she would be going under. She liked to try and sit on the bottom - anything that is under the water! Here her teacher is working with the other student and Halee is just swimming around.

Party and Highline

On Tuesday, we drove to Big Timber to meet Ed's parents. Ed's birthday was Wednesday and his dad's on Thursday. We we had a little birthday celebration. The park in Big Timber is fabulous! From the looks of it, the whole town donated parts to make this "fort" happen. There are labels on everything - "This sound wall was donated by . . . " They have this big "Fort" and . . .


Tot land. Right next to this play structure is the swimming pool. So, the girls went wading (we didn't bring swim suits as we didn't know it would be open).

This is Halee

And Hannah

I made a little birthday cake and there wer presents exchanged. Peggy blew up some balloons and we had our party. We also grilled hamburgers. It was fun.

Wednesday was Ed's 40th birthday. We got a cake and had a little celebration after Bible class.

Today was the big youth rally adventure. The teens all hike up to Palisade Falls for the lessons and the "high line."

When you get off the high line, you have to cross this log to get back to the other side. Here Ed and Hannah are actually going the "wrong way" so that we could watch the people on the high line.

At lunch time I got to try it out. Here I am in the gear and heading up the hill to begin the ride. Hannah really wanted to try out the high line but Gage said that another time would be better. I'm glad she is interested in trying it since she is so fearful about things. We're making progress!

And this is the ride! There is a little bit of a ledge before the falls. So they let you off slowly until you get to that ledge. Then they hold you until they get the rope all let out. Then they let you go! Then you are abruptly stopped before you hit the tree - thank goodness! The people on the other side reel you in and unhook you. Oh my! What they did for me was a "medium whipper."

We left after lunch. The teens all stayed for the rest of the afternoon. About 4:00, a big rain storm blew in. I hope they all stayed safe! Ed hasn't gotten home yet for me to know.

One last note, during the big storm wind was really whipping. Hannah said that we should pray for the storm to settle down. So, all three of us took turns praying. Then when we were done, she looked out the window and thought it did die down some. That's awesome!

Job Status

I just wanted to let all of you know the outcome of the job interview. I did not get the job. He said that I had a strong interview and was very confident. However, they offered the job to someone who had also applied for the 5th grade opening. I believe that person is the person who has been Hannah and Halee's preschool teacher - Ms. Katie. She definately NEEDED the job more than I (she's a single gal). I am okay with the outcome. I have always been on the side that if God wanted me to have this job, it would work out, but if he didn't, then he has other plans for me. So, it looks like he has other plans for me for now!

Who Knows!

As most of you already know, I interviewed for a kindergarten job at Heritage Christian School this past week. They said they hope to let me know by the first of this next week their decision. Hannah thought I was dressed so beautiful and wanted to take my picture. So, here you go! (Not sure why the font is doing this or how to correct it, so ... you get an underlined paragraph!)

Then on Friday, Ed and the girls headed to Kellogg, Idaho to buy this new-to-us truck. It is a 2006 GMC Sierra 4x4 diesel truck. It is very nice!

One of the things that we wanted in this new truck was 4 doors and more room in the back seat for the kids. They love it. There is lots of room and even a "table' that folds down between the seats to hold their cups.

I spent a lot of time this week helping my friend, Jenny, get ready for a garage sale. I was over there all day Tuesday and Friday. The sale was Saturday. This picture doesn't do much justice to how much she had for sale. I did bring over a few things and made $100. She made $700!

Last week (I actually started on my birthday) I started getting all the doors stained that were left to stain - 9 1/2 (I had done one side of a door and the other side had a hole to be repaired. It got repaired and I did the other side). Then we have been waiting all this week to spray the polyurethane on them. We were going to try and do it outside, but there always seems to be a breeze. So we set it up in the garage and got the first coat on this afternoon. I'm going to try and talk Ed into a second coat tonight. I think it will take at least 3! But we're on the downhill side of the door situation!

Lastly, Ed built the girls swings today. That is a thrill for all of us. Halee loves to swing and can actually swing all by herself now (see video). Hannah really like to swing too. And I don't have to go to the park any more to swing. Just send them outside and they can swing all on their own. YEAH! Thanks, Ed!

Oh, I guess this is last now. Hannah has been into playing the piano lately. This is her song she plays. I did get some books out to start teaching her, but she really likes just doing it on her own. She wants to take piano lessons, so time to look into that.