Happy Birthday, Parker!

Parker turned FOUR this August and we are so thankful for this new little buddy in our lives!  The Rhoads are new-found friends of ours that we met through church, and we've loved spending time with them this year.  Parker and Micah hit it off pretty well, and we're excited to have Sunday School bait for Micah:  "Parker will be there...want to go to your SS class?"  Parker had a CARS party, complete with an awesome piñata and trophies for the littles to take home.

The proof is in...the laundry!

Yes, this is a picture of underwear ON OUR BLOG.  One of our children doesn't change their underwear frequently enough to my liking...can you identify which child this is?  On this particular day, I took a picture of the underwear data that was collected after completing a load of kids' dryer clothes.  I'm CERTAIN this picture will motivate him to change these hummers more often...

The Copa Show Bana

The Showalters bought a Lake Place!  It's at Deer Lake and it's DARLING.  Super cute retro trailer, set in a lake resort so close to the lake.  Jen invited us to come up with GG, and we had a blast playing in the water all day.  This is going to be such a fun place for family memories to happen!  We are so excited for them--and us!  :)

And later that night, we snuck over to G'ma Colleen and Papa Scott's for a swim!  On our way to the pool I spied some perfect lighting and made the kids scrunch their faces together for a picture.  Love these shots.

 

Glamping with Heidi on her Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Heidi!!!  It was a memorable birthday for her, as Judy had just had her second knee replacement, and Heidi had been busy helping her to recover.  But the family was able to sneak out for dinner on the South Hill, and then we came over to watch her favorite movie, the OLD Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, outside on the camper awning!  Matt rigged up a projector and popped popcorn after we opened a few presents and, wha-la! Instant August birthday party.

We love this lady--a sweet friend to me and Jeff and second mom to our kids!

The kids say that Auntie...always has safe juice for them...always says YES to sleepovers...and always lets Micah jump on her trampoline.

Fire's Big Jump

Josh woke the first morning after being home, crying, saying he couldn't find Fire in his fish tank.  Upon further inquiry, we found that he was, indeed, not in the tank and my mind wondered if he'd been flushed by our fish sitters.  But Daddy came up and moved the dresser, to find a crispy, little dried out Beta on the carpet.  Our fish tank has a lid on it, so it was a bit of a mystery, but we're thinking that perhaps the lid was left off overnight while we were gone and little Fire jumped his last jump.

At any rate, Josh was beside himself, and we consoled him with a burial in our backyard and a trip to the pet store to get another Beta.  (Fast forward a week and THAT Beta died, too!  Poor Josh!  He doesn't want another fish.  Little Dude got flushed, as we had used up all of our fish funeral energies just a week before.  Josh took the deaths pretty hard, and his little mind was processing big existential thoughts while in hysteria.  These two states don't go well together!)

Our August Farm Visit

The blue-eyed Lochheads joined the hazel-eyed Lochheads at the farm once G'ma and Papa were back.  We were planning a farm visit anyway, but now that Jeff helped with harvest, he and Josh just got an early start.

Jeff's harvest routines changed a bit as the semi driver--no more Garth Brooks hour, instead he had his iced coffee and Zone bar around 2pm.  They stayed fairly busy in fall wheat and ended up finishing on Friday, making it a solid week for fall wheat.

Once the whole clan was here,  the kids spent a couple mornings out in the field, getting combine rides and semi rides with Daddy and Sam.  This was the year that Micah was brave enough to go by himself on the combine with Uncle Ben--3 1/2 was the magic age.  He was enthralled.  He followed Ben around all morning as he serviced the combine and was giddy with excitement as they started out for the day.

 

This classic photo happened.  I remember when Ben used to ride with Dad and the same thing happened.  Little farmers get tired, too.

G'ma Trudy taught Josh "Kings in the Corner" one morning during this visit, and then G'ma Joan and I taught him solitaire.  He's a card shark!  I love that he's learning something that I have so many fond memories of doing as a kid.

Finally, on Friday, G'ma had to go get her nails done and I decided I'd take the kids to the Asotin County Aquatics Center for the afternoon.  It was a good idea.  Super hot day, happy kids in the water--wave pool, lazy river, two tube slides, and a preschool water play structure that entertained Micah for hours!

 

 

 

 They were wiped out.  This was on the way home.  I love it when I wear them out.

 And THIS was on our way to the Genesee City-Wide Yard Sale!  They each got $5 to spend.  On the way in, we saw Mr. Sperber handing out maps and he guessed CORRECTLY the grades that each of the kids were entering.  Apparently he's an elementary school principal now!  Josh told him that sometimes people guess he's a year older than he really is..."That's because you're tall for your age.  But I look at your teeth.  You haven't had those babies a year yet!"  :)

And then we've gotten into a tradition of taking pictures of our treasures...

Called Up

On a smoky Friday in August, we got the call from Ben asking if Jeff would come down to be a semi driver for fall wheat harvest.  Jeff got the truck licensed and then took off down the road with Josh in tow.  They were going to farm for a few days before the rest of us came to join them.  G'ma and Papa were at Ocean Shores for the weekend visiting Brad and Pam, so the Lochhead boys were on their own at the farm.  Kelly cooked for them and made them lunches as they drove in the harvest field.

Uncle Pat taught Josh how to drive the truck!  Eek!

And that night I snuck away to blog...while the Van Sickles were in charge of the other two Lochheads while their parents went to a movie!  Who gets a night at the coffee shop when they're a single parent?!?

 The next day, the hazel-eyed Lochheads continued to help the guys at the farm while the blue-eyed Lochheads went to Henry's birthday party at the lake in CDA.

 It was so crazy in CDA, as Art in the Park was there, too!  We escaped to Arby's on the way home, and sent this pic to Daddy to keep him up to speed on our activities.

The next day the Van Sickle kids came over to our house to play while Heidi and Judy and I went in to Heidi's classroom to get things going!  We got a lot accomplished, and then the next day, the blue-eyed Lochheads joined the hazel-eyed Lochheads at the farm!

Our New Pickup!

On a very hot day in August, we welcomed the newest member of our family: our 2008 GMC Sierra, named Silvia, or Tamatoa, the shiny crab on Moana.  Actually the name is still up for grabs.  But welcome, new truck!  

Simple goals

My only goal on the first of August was to clear off the table.  An entire day was spent making this happen.