Saturday Morning Musical Interlude

First Day of School Year 2009-2010

The kids had their first day of school today. The morning routine went off without a hitch. I made them banana muffins last night and this morning heated up some bacon to go with the muffins. They all ate well. We took pictures outside in the same spot we always have and off we drove to school.

We all took Gerrit to school and there were easily 100 kids waiting to get in the school when we got there-we figured they were probably the eighth and ninth graders since we saw some kids going inside and the seventh graders started 10 minutes earlier than the rest of the kids today. Bruce had taken Gerrit there the night before to get a picture since we didn't think he would appreciate us taking pictures of him with all the other kids around-he would have let us though. He's a good kid-very laid back. It was strange just to drop him off since we'd always brought him to Prairie Rose the past seven years but a seventh grader doesn't need you holding their hand to go to class.

Gerrit said he did have problems getting his locker open today-he said tons of kids had problems-even though on Monday he did it over and over again. He also has a different locker for gym and orchestra-three lockers-three different combinations! That's a lot for anyone to remember. He said he had a good day. There was a problem with the bus though. I had read the bus sheet wrong and told him the wrong number bus so he never got on a bus and called me to pick him up otherwise his day went alright. Day one of middle school-over!

We drove Aleah and Donovan to school after that and we took pictures of them outside since we got pictures of them with their teachers at the open house. They were happy to be off to find their friends and we left for home.

Samantha and I met a bunch of other moms at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Some moms were sad to see their first child start Kindergarten and some were happy to see their last start. It was nice to chat with the others. Samantha and I went grocery shopping after that and then we were home the rest of the afternoon until I had to get Gerrit and take Donovan to the eye doctor for his different lenses.

I'm glad it's a short week of school. I'm already tired out from filling out paperwork!

Am I Ready??

The kids start school tomorrow. I'm sad to see that summer is coming to an end. We've had a really nice summer and done a lot of stuff but we've also had time to just be lazy. Throughout the summer many people have asked me if I'm ready for Gerrit to be in middle school. My general answer was to shrug my shoulders and say, "It doesn't matter if I am ready or not because it's going to happen."

Can I be ready for my firstborn to start this new chapter in his life when it seems to me he just started Kindergarten? I can't believe how fast time goes-he was just a baby and a toddler and now he's almost a teenager that has bigger feet than me and is only about four inches away from being taller than me. Can we slow time down a little because it's just going way too fast. The next few years are going to fly by and I don't imagine I'll be ready for that either but I do look forward to watching him continue to grow and mature and become the young man that God wants him to be.

I'm guess I am ready for the new adventure of middle school this year-as ready as I can be anyway. I'm always looking ahead to the future and although I'm sure I'll shed a few tears tomorrow I know in my heart that Gerrit will be just fine and that changes are good and a part of life. Now if I could just get time to slow down a little!

Camping at Abe's Place

After work on Friday we packed the minivan to the gills and headed over to Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park for a one night stay in one of their camping cabins. We had been meaning to do this all summer and finally decided to just pick a night and get it done. I made the online reservation a little over a week ago.

We stayed at the Sheheke cabin, which is the west one. There is one other camping cabin, Goodboy, located just east of Sheheke. I think each ND state park with a campground has at least one camping cabin.

These cabins are in a really nice location nestled among the trees. Sheheke is set a little further back from the road than Goodboy. The cabins are about 300' from the confluence of the Heart River with the Missouri. There are nice places to fish right here, both from rocks next to the river and from a sidewalk running along the beach with benches and rod holders in the concrete. We didn't do any fishing this time.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are cooking on the old Smokey Joe. I've had that charcoal grill for about fifteen years. I prefer cooking with charcoal but use a gas grill at home for the convenience.

After supper our friends Barb and Jason (and family) visited us at the cabin. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. They took their new puppy, a cocker spaniel, and Sadie and he enjoyed meeting and playing together.

Barb and Jason (and family) left at 9:30 or so. Nancy and Gerrit are more the "indoorsy" type and spent most of the rest of the evening in the cabin reading. I was out playing with the fire and the other kids kind of went back and forth between the cabin and the fire.

The cabin accommodations - bunk beds with three singles and one double. There is also a loft area. These cabins are super nice. They are air conditioned and have electric baseboard heat. There is a mini-refrigerator and a small corner table with benches. I wonder if the camping cabins of the other state parks are this nice.

Samantha and Nancy had the double bed and Aleah had the single bunk above.

Donovan slept on a sleeping bag in the loft.

Gerrit had the top single bed on the west side and I was on the bottom one. Most everyone went to bed at around 11:00 but I sat by the fire for another hour.

After we left the cabin on Saturday morning, we went up to the Fort Lincoln visitor center. Upon deciding that a tour of the On-A-Slant Village and earth lodges was too expensive, we drove up for a self-guided tour of the Fort McKeen Infantry Post and the blockhouses.

The kids had a good time climbing to the upper level. Aleah even carried Sadie up each one.

There were a couple of log benches on a trail down the hill to the south from the blockhouses. It was here the kids and the dog posed for this fine photo. After this posing event we walked over to the cemetery and then stopped at a picnic area for a lunch of sandwiches and chips. Hunger was momentarily defeated.

After lunch we took the 30 minute drive home. We had a great time and will try to do it again - possibly with a two night stay so we have more time to do some other things such as hiking and/or fishing.

At the end of the day Sadie was completely sacked out. Lately she has been finding blankets and covering herself up while she sleeps. It is so cute.

To Medora and Back

This past Wednesday we packed up and headed over to Medora for the musical. Kids are free on Wednesdays, so that was our motivation. We left Bismarck at about 4:00 pm, stopped in Dickinson for supper, drove on to Medora, walked around town for a bit, took the kids to the Medora play area, and then headed up to the amphitheater.

The unmolested hills around Medora are beautiful. Oh well, at least we had five bars all over town!

If you remember, all day Wednesday we were getting spotty rain. We had a few drops as the show started at 8:30 but that was all. The rest of the musical was dry. Here Buffalo Dale, the "host," is introducing the Coal Diggers. The steel guitar player is from London, England.

Dale and the Burning Hills Singers performing the opening number. None of them are from North Dakota, although four are from Minnesota and one is from South Dakota. If I remember right, the remainder were from FL, CT, or TN.

Clogging!

The featured act is The Peking Acrobats. The ladies are spinning plates and the men are at the sides in the animal costumes.

Very impressive considering there are four people involved. They walked the ball all the way across.

When they were setting this up Donovan said, "There is no way anyone can do that!"

We thought this was scary.

We were amazed by this.

The crowd gasped for this one. Note the bottom chair is on four bottles.

The show is over, folks. Here the guys in our family were waiting for the ladies to finish in the bathroom, so I pulled out the camera for a picture.

We drove all the way back to Bismarck and pulled up to the house at just before 2:00 a.m. It sure was a rough day at work on Thursday!

Homegrown Tomatoes

What would life be without homegrown tomatoes? Indeed, but I don't like raw tomatoes unless they are sliced or diced and inserted in a tasty sandwich. Now, onions are a different story - I think I could eat one like an apple.

I don't know what happened to this poor tomato plant. It is definitely a runt and definitely not thriving. The leaves are even of a smaller size. It is the only one of eight plants like this and the situation is puzzling because I haven't treated that plant any differently. All have had the same sustenance in the form of fertilizer and water but although it is producing some smaller fruit this one just has not been able to grow like the others. There must be a life lesson somewhere in that statement.

Contrast it with one of the other plants. Where the "cage" on the runt is between two and three feet tall, this one is four feet tall and this tomato plant is coming out of the top.

10 days and counting

There are only 10 days until the kids start school. I wish they didn't have to start until after Labor Day but I'm happy they aren't starting this week like a lot of schools around here are doing. We've had another good summer and I've really enjoyed the kids-except I will be happy to only have to make lunch for Samantha-she's easy to please.

We're cramming a lot into these last days. We are going to the Medora Musical on Wednesday night (kids are free on Wednesdays) and we are going camping at Fort Lincoln (they have cabins to rent) on Friday night. We also have to make a trip to the zoo and the Gateway to Science center before school starts. We've seem to run out of time to get together with friends more-swim days have been canceled because it's hardly been warm enough to swim this summer and vacations make people unavailable. Bruce has set up the pool three times this summer for the kids. This is probably the coolest (I'm talking temperature wise) summer I can ever remember. I'm not complaining. I don't care for the weather when it's in the 90's and humid.

Gerrit has been at Bruce's parents since Saturday (strange how just having one kid gone changes things) and is coming home on Tuesday. I took the other three swimming at the Y on Sunday. Samantha has really started to improve her swimming skills but does not like to put her face in the water yet-she needs to work on that.

Aleah got her glasses today-she looks so grown-up. Donovan's aren't ready yet-weird when they were ordered the same time and they have the same prescription. Hers have been ready since Thursday but I had only wanted to make one trip there-I thought Donovan's would surely be ready today.

I'm done school shopping. That's a relief! Also Gerrit had his seventh grade orientation on Thursday. He was able to get his locker open and see where his classrooms are located. I'll take him back there a couple more times before school starts so he can practice opening his locker and going from class to class. It's nice they let the kids do that. It's a totally new experience for them and it's a big school. It'll be weird for us just to drop him off the first day and not go with him to his class but this is middle school and I'm pretty sure the kids' there won't be having their parents walk them to class.

Next week will be busy getting a schedule established around here again. Monday there is a parent open house at the middle school so we can go through Gerrit's classes and meet the teachers. Aleah and Donovan's school has a back to school picnic on Tuesday and Wednesday Samantha has her preschool open house so this is really our last week of no school related activities! I also have a Girl Scout leader rally right after the back to school picnic on Tuesday.

Is It Winter Yet?

Here are some pictures from last winter to help us cool down after our week long hot spell. Just remember -- winter is really not that far away. Same for Christmas, people. Are you done with your "holiday" shopping yet?

In looking for snow pictures I realized I didn't take all that many of the winter of 2008/2009. The above ones certainly do not show the highest amount of snow cover and neither do any others I have. I suppose I got jaded or used to it and didn't feel motivated to document with photos. Either that, or I just got sick of looking at snow!

Williston weekend

The kids and I went to Williston this past weekend. Bruce stayed home to work, can beets, fix the dishwasher, tend the garden, purchase and assemble a new grill, and a bunch of other things. The kids and I participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Williston. This was mom's second year that she participated in it and we walked with her and all the other cancer survivors and their families. It was really great. Mom's friend that she walked with last year passed away a few weeks ago after battling bone cancer for many years.

I also saw a classmate of mine there. He was not at the high school reunion. He was at the Mayo Clinic with his son at the time. His son has a brain tumor. I'd say he's about Donovan's age. Stuart said he's doing okay and they will be glad when this year is over. I hope and pray Jayce beats it. Stuart's mom was also my piano teacher and she was also there. I know she' really getting up in age-she was well over 40 when Stuart was born as he's the youngest of seven. I asked Stuart if she'd remember me and he brought me over and she did. She asked me if I still played piano and I told her I did for fun. She told me she still plays for church-she's in her early 80's.

Saturday, mom, the kids, and I went to some rummage sales. We have not done that all summer so it was nice. We spent the afternoon cleaning stuff out of the garage after dad's mishap a couple weeks ago. Speaking of dad, he had some fluid drained from his brain today. Mom said they got there at eight and were home by ten so he didn't miss his favorite show "The Price is Right." He'll have to have it done again in a few weeks and then maybe see a neurologist.

Sunday we went to church in Williston and after lunch the kids and I headed for home. We stopped in Minot to see my Aunt Loreen. We missed my Uncle Donald-he was working in his gardens. We had lunch with my friend Marsha on the way to Williston on Friday. We arrived home at 5:30 and Bruce grilled hamburgers on our new grill-the old one fell apart.

Just Beet It

Late last evening or rather early this morning I did finish canning our beets. I think it was about 2:30 am before I was done with cleanup. It was the first time I had canned table beets but with instruction from my Mom I think everything went off without a hitch. I say "I think" because I haven't tasted them yet. For supper tonight I plan to give some a try.

Following is a photo essay of the process.

In a post from yesterday I had a picture of the beets in a five gallon pail in the garden. At this point they are washed off and in the sink.

Boiling in two pots. They have to boil for 20 minutes or so - until they are cooked and the skin peels off easily.

The first cooking/boiling step is complete and the water is drained. They need to cool off so I can handle them for peeling and chopping.

Meanwhile, a vinegar and sugar mixture is heating in the pan. I'll bring it to boiling before adding the beets.

All skinned and chopped and ready to hit the pot again.

Once the pot starts boiling, they stay in there an additional five minutes or so. Then I immediately put them in jars.

The finished product. I did mostly pints because I'm the only one in our family that eats beets. I did a few quarts for when we might have guests/family over for a meal. I wonder how long the house will smell like beets?!

Saturday Evening Musical Interlude

Don't Beet Yourself Up

Look what I just went and did. Hmm, I suppose that means work for me now. Hopefully I'll get them taken care of this evening. Wish me luck!

Glasses

The kids had their eye doctor appointments today. We were sure Gerrit needed glasses. He had failed the eye screening at the doctor's office last month and he's been so close to needing them the past couple of years-he even had them from ages 4-8 for far sightedness. Gerrit did not need glasses. He still sees well enough that glasses aren't needed. It's just a matter of time.

I was shocked to learn that Aleah and Donovan need glasses. They are near sighted and will always need glasses or contacts now-unless they have lasix surgery at some point in their lives. Dr. B told me that when you have two parents that are severely near sighted like Bruce and I are (I'm actually legally blind) it passes on to the kids-sorry guys! We're going to go pick out frames tomorrow. Samantha has a slight astigmatism but it's not bad.

Babies

I can't believe that I have so many friends/relatives pregnant and due in January or February and sorry ladies if you read this but at the time of delivery they will all be 35 or older. I kind of thought that the majority of my friends were at the "We're done having babies stage" but I was wrong. I'm very excited for all of them. Babies I can hold and snuggle but don't have to get up with in the middle of the night even better.

-A couple friends of mine from MOPS are due a couple weeks apart-one has three girls and the other one has two boys and a girl-she lost twin girls a couple years ago.

-My cousin Raylene will be having her third child in February-she has two girls-the older one will be almost 17 and the younger one will be eight.

-My friend Pam will be having her fifth child-she has four boys-guess what gender they would like to have? She's due the end of January but has 41 week babies so she's thinking early February.

-I just found out today that my good friend from college-Sonja-is going to have a baby in January. She has a seven year old boy. I'm very excited for her and her family.

That covers the January/February babies that I know of at this point-that seems like a lot of babies to me. I do have a friend from Oklahoma that is expecting her first baby this month-a girl-and she and her husband have been married for close to 20 years-she's 39!

Anyone else have any baby news you want to share with me??

A Sunday Video

Bike Rider

This past week I finally was able to teach Donovan to ride bike. Hallelujah! It has been a struggle but I admit we haven't pushed him too hard (no pun intended). A couple of years ago we took him to the Capitol mall and attempted to teach him. Last year we did the same a couple of times. Our thought with the mall area is the grass would make a softer landing for inevitable spills. It did not seem to work well as far as learning to ride, though.

This year we took him to a local concrete parking lot and he was very receptive - he really wanted to learn this time. In about 30 minutes and with patient instruction he was off and going on his own with no problem. We went back twice more on different evenings and he also rode with us on a walk in our neighborhood.

Gerrit was about the same way as far as resisting learning to ride bike. With him I finally reached the end of my rope after many tries and gave him an inspirational speech, and he was off and riding within a few minutes. For both I think it was pretty much in their heads that it was some difficult thing that was so hard to achieve. They weren't confident enough in their actual abilities.

Aleah kind of taught herself. A couple of days after Gerrit learned how she said she wanted to as well. We took her out and got her going and she was off and riding in no time.

My brother, Harvey, taught me how to ride. If I remember right, he positioned me at the top of the driveway hill and got me started. He may have said he would stay with me but I think he let go almost right away. That way has its merits - it forces you to concentrate on actually balancing and pedaling instead of worrying about whether or not you'll have the ability, at least for the first time. I think he was insistent I needed to learn on my own, without him running beside to catch me, and it worked out just fine.

Good job, Donovan! Let's go for a ride!