First Day of Preschool!

Yesterday was Gracie's first day of Preschool!

She was so excited to wear the skirt that Grandma Colleen made for her and to take her new backpack to class!  I'm pretty sure she's the cutest thing around...

This picture looks like a Mother's Day card--Daddy and Daughter with Latte for Mommy In-Hand!  What a dream!  :)  Parents were asked to stay with the kids on the first day, so I switched work days and Jeff took the morning off so that he could meet us there to escort her in.

Gracie LOVED the house center.  She spent much of her time there putting babies to bed, cooking food, and saying "No, thank you," to her new friend, Emma, who wanted her to dress up in a beautiful hat just like hers.  She looks pretty serious here, but she was having a great time.

She eventually ventured out to play at the tables and paint with circles.  The kids had carpet-circle time while the parents were whisked away to get the details on curriculum and such.  Grace said they read a story about a yellow bird and sang the Good-bye Song.  She told me that next time I should come in right at the end so that I can hear it, because she can't remember how it goes, yet.

It was pretty precious to see so many three year olds in one room!  I think I counted four girls and nine boys--won't that be fun!  Her teachers are Mrs. Kristin and Mrs. Suzy.  We can't wait to see how she flourishes this year!

Van Lochmondsons Unite!

We adults used to get together for dinner and game nights...

 ...now we get our kids together for dinner and bath nights!

 Lydia, Kai, and Joshy

 Alea, Gracie, and Kalei

And another picture that I couldn't resist.  

Good-bye, Catan...Hello, Tear-Free Shampoo!

Josh These Days

 Doesn't this boy look so big standing on the stool?  He's starting to want to "help" mom in the kitchen and get into things that are out of reach without his trusty step-stool.

 He also loves animals.  At this juncture, it's mainly "kitties!"  He sees them at the farm, and our neighbor's cat, CeeCee, has adopted our family and at any hour of the day/night can be found on our back deck.  Josh squeals and says "kee-kee" and sees his sister pick her up so he tries, too.  (We're actually not quite sure why Cee Cee sticks around!)  We're working on petting gently...

When this boy gets excited you can see his little body jolt with excitement for one brief moment (kind of like a Kramer spasm!) before his feet take off, following his leading torso!

 His little plastic kitty gets taken all over--and we find it in the most interesting places...

He's also trying to communicate, when not squealing.  (And BOY is he going through a screaming phase!)  He can say...Mama, Dada, Ace (Grace), ball, ooze (shoes), UP! (which really means Mary Poppins), Papa, Ga-ga (G'ma), meh-mo (Elmo), ba-ba (bottle), bi-bi (binky), bay-kee (blankie)... My personal favorite are his animal sounds for cats, dogs, owls, fish, horses, cows, and elephants--yes, elephants.  He's signing a bit, too:  all done, please, thank you, more (this one on occasion, usually "please" gets him what he wants).

Other Joshua funnies:  We have a monkey that sings techno music (thanks, Mimi!) that Josh turns on and dances around with two fingers pointing up--sort of looking like a disco move.  He loves to put on sunglasses, and when he does, he wants you to say, "Cool, dude!" to which he tries to give two thumbs up, but only succeeds in bouncing his pointer fingers.  He loves to see how things work.  He's always wanting something opened or shut or put back together or taken apart.  He's quite fascinated with TV--at home we try to keep him to a 1/2 hour show per day, but I think he gets to see a bit more with his grandmas...  :)  It's hard to not let him have what he wants--he's quite passionate!  (For a 17-month old this translates to being "quite good at throwing squealing tantrums.")  So he's working on accepting the word, "No," and his mom and dad are working at patience and consistency.  (Prayers, please!)

We love this little man!  He loves to sing and listen to rhymes and GIGGLE!  His laughter seems to lighten the soul.  :)  Seventeen months--how on earth did we ever get along without him?

Sibling Talk

I overheard Gracie talking to Josh out on the deck:  "God made you so special, Joshy.  JOSHY HAS A SNOTTY NOSE!"

In one moment whispering his perfection and the next moment broadcasting his flaws.  Isn't that what big sisters are for?

A One-Year Tradition

Friends and family know that there are a few times a year when the blog gets neglected in our family.  The beginning of September is DEFINITELY one of those times.  But I was thinking that having two of us as teachers could have some creative perks...(besides the obvious summers and vacation times off and wonderful work hours and the privilege of enlightening young minds, of course).  Unlike most adults, we get to experience the first day of school EVERY YEAR!  The first day of school is so memorable:  new clothes, backpack, and...first day of school PICTURES!

Yeah, we may keep this tradition just for our kids.

Spokane to Santa Rosa

Sigh.  We had to say "goodbye-for-now" to our good friend, Debbie, the week of Labor Day.  Debbie and Daniel decided that a year was too long to be away from Debbie's new husband, Randy.  So, they are now in Santa Rosa for a year or two...and the plan is to come back to Spokane, then.  We miss her like crazy, but are excited to see what God has in store for the new Waltman family.

Cassie and I took Debbie out for dinner at Twigs to celebrate HER before they left.  We have enjoyed meeting together for the past ten years!  C'mon, two years--go by fast!  :)

August (and September) at the Farm

...so we spent a week at the farm, Jeff met us for the weekend, we went back up to Spokane to start school, and then we came back down for Labor Day weekend.  Here are some highlights on our time...

 Corn-on-the-Cob, Megan's gymnastics birthday party,

Joshy looking for kitties...

 ...G'ma Joan's kiddie pool, a lunch visit with G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy, the tree swing...

 ...seeing Uncle Tom and Aunt Diane's cats' TAILS when we visited

(we were a bit overwhelming, I'm afraid)...

 ...popsicles on the deck steps

(Josh only needed this activity ONCE to teach him to run to the freezer

every time he passed by these steps)...

 ...the yellow truck becoming "Mama!"

because I was seen driving it one afternoon...

 ...visiting Ben and Kelly's kittens, taking coffee to G'ma Joan at work,

braving Wal-Mart against my will...

 ...lots of "pound-it!"s from Josh, lots of tired chatter at the dinner table

from Grace who always wanted to "stay up to see the guys"...

 ...cousins coming to play in the clothesline tent,

the first--and 2nd and 3rd--viewing of the movie, "Annie"

(Grace keeps saying, "We love you Miss Hannigan!"...when we heard

her say,"Get out of bed!" in a cranky voice to Josh we thought maybe

it was time to put that movie on the back burner until

she lost her Hannigan non-manners)...

...grandparent snuggles,

Just In Case You Wonder, by Max Lucado,

Anna and her kids at the Farmer's Market,

time with Uncle Tom and Aunt Christi, in town for a UI game...

 ...picking strawberries and corn and onions

at neighbor Davy's garden...

 ...a little incident involving the curling iron and Gracie's hand,

Grace sleeping on G'ma and Papa's bedroom floor

on Uncle Bill's mattress...

 ...Josh saving Oscar, who was locked in the tire shed,

Gracie hearing the story of how G'ma lost her ring

and how God helped her find it in the burn barrel

(she was quite intrigued with that burn barrel!)...

 ...pretzels, Oreos, iced animal cookies, making cookies with G'ma...

 ...saying "Papa" every time Josh saw a combine,

washing dirt off of feet each night and at nap time...

...Mom and I bonding while making lunches for the next day

after making dinner and doing dishes,

usually done by 11pm...

...the roots of the farm run deep!  

We are so glad that our kids are able to add this

to their list of special places in their lives.

Harvest! Finally!

August 22 marked the FIRST DAY OF HARVEST this year.  (Have I mentioned that it was a late year for crops, yet?)  Jeff was BESIDE himself that he didn't have his week of solitude in a combine to "gear up" for teaching.  He had to be back at work for meetings and soccer practice the week of Aug 22, so I packed up the kids and the three of us headed to the farm!  I hoped to be of some use in the arena of truck driving, but let it be known that my family really helped ME with the kids!  :)

I did get to help out a couple of days while Mom played with Josh and Grace.  These pictures are taken at Ben's place--his first year back at the farm!

Uncle Jerry in the bankout wagon--AKA the air control tower.

This place still whispers of G'ma Caroline and Papa Bob...

I didn't get pictures of the workers...but the crew consisted of Dad and Ben driving combine (and Jeff got to join for two days over the weekend!), Jerry in the bankout wagon, Levi and Frank (a retired farmer who can't stay away from the harvest field) driving truck.  And don't forget Mom behind the scenes making award-winning lunches and harvest dinners.  Our cousin Sam worked for Dad all summer, but had to return to college before the header reel rotated.  His younger brother, Luke, was heard to be out wanting to drive truck a couple of days...and brother-in-law Brady even took a few days off of work to help out.  It really is a family affair!  (And FYI, it's Sept 12 and they're still going strong!)

Deep Creek

Once the Van Sickles got home from Alaska in August, we had some time to do fun afternoon outings.  Usually we're at the farm harvesting, but this year crops were late, so we got to stay in Spokane and play.

Deep Creek was named incorrectly.  It should be called DRY CREEK.  It was probably impressive in March.  August had left it...a unique environment.  We decided to roll back to Audubon Park to use the splash pad and picnic there.