Interesting Names

Stephen had an Idaho geography assignment for his homework this week that was kind of fun. So we thought we'd see how you could do with a few of them. It's called Interesting Names. These are the instructions: Can you discover the city or town from the clues? Use an Idaho road map to help you with the names.

1. Found in the sky at night:
2. Our state - tumbling down:
3. President during the Civil War:
4. To squat down low:
5. The bill collector says you must:
6. Same as the capital of France:
7. To give thanks before a meal:
8. The winner of a race is the:
9. A storage place for dishes:
10. What the baseball coach says to the outfielders:

We could not figure out that last one. So Stephen called our wonderful neighbor, Mr. Kleffner to see if he could figure it out. He thought about for maybe 30 seconds and had it. Stephen turned the paper in the next day and found out that only he and one other girl got the answer to that last question. When he got home from school Mr. Kleffner was just coming home as well and Stephen went running over to tell him the good news. We are so thankful to have such sweet and smart neighbors!

Scroll down to see the answers.






































1. Star
2. Idaho Falls
3. Lincoln
4. Crouch
5. Payette
6. Paris
7. Grace
8. Victor
9. Cabinet
10. Ketchum
How did you do?

Fall Soccer 2009

Stephen, Anne, and Ellen all played soccer this fall. Stephen and Anne had both played before (a couple of years ago), but this was Ellen's first time. Luckily for us all of their games were on the same nights and all at the same park. (Sorry, some of the pictures are a little dark or blurry, but I think they will work.)

Stephen loved every minute of it. He had so much fun and is a really good soccer player!

Anne was not so thrilled with soccer. She has already stated that she will not be playing soccer again. I'm very proud of her for sticking with it till the last game. Even though she didn't like it she still got in there and played. That blur on the right is Anne running up to kick the ball.

Ellen had a lot of fun. When the season started she very happily ran around the field, but never touched the ball. By the end of the season she was going after the ball and getting some good kicks and passes. All with a big smile on her face. She wants to play again! This picture was taken towards the beginning of the game. Just a few minutes after this it was too dark and none of the pictures I took turned out.

Naomi, Noah, and I had fun watching. Well....Naomi and Noah weren't always watching. They did a lot of running and playing around too. Overall it was a good experience. But we are so glad to be done for now!!!

No Imagination???

Mornings are kind of hard for Ellen sometimes. She just can't wait for school!!! The other day I had just sent Stephen and Annie out the door and was finally eating my own breakfast, when Ellen came and sat down next to me.

Ellen: "What can I do, Mom? I don't have any imagination!"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Ellen: "All I can imagine is a bird, an owl, a kangaroo, a squirrel, a fish, a dog, a hippo, and a rabbit." She sat and thought for about 3 seconds, then jumped up and said, "And a crocodile!"

She ran (crawled) off pretending to be a crocodile eating up every animal she could think of. With a little help from Naomi.

When Stephen has the camera...

Here We Have Idaho!

Since Stephen is in the 4th grade this year, he gets to take Idaho History. I have been waiting for this since he started kindergarten. I loved Idaho History when I was a kid.

One of the first things Stephen learned about was all the state symbols and emblems and things like that. The state horse is the Appaloosa, the state flower is the Syringa, the state gem is the Star Garnet which can only be found in Idaho (in Benewah and Latah counties) and India. The state vegetable is...well I probably don't need to tell you that one. Check out this website for more state emblems.

After learning about all of these emblems for a couple of weeks, Stephen's teacher gave the class a test. I was helping him study and came to the last question which was about the state song. I asked Stephen what it was and he answered it right. I am kind of a corny mom sometimes, so I started singing it. Stephen looked at me like he was impressed that I actually knew it. Anne and Ellen just looked at my like I was being a little too silly. Stephen then headed downstairs, went into his bedroom and started humming the song right where I had left off. Oh, did that make me smile!

Click HERE to listen to a UofI choir sing the chorus of Here We Have Idaho.

Noah Likes

It feels like life has jumped to light speed these last few weeks. There has been lots going on, that I could/should catch up on, but I thought I would just start trying to post a little more regularly and maybe the catching up will happen somewhere along the line. Don't hold your breath, though.


Noah is really starting to turn into a little boy lately, and has some particular likes. Well I think he really likes everything, but some things are especially appealing to him.


The most important thing to Noah would have to be milk. He and his friend, Paul, are very serious about their milk.


Noah also likes hats quite a bit. It doesn't matter what kind of hat, or who it belongs to, Noah will put it on and wear it for most of the day.


Shoes. Here he is wearing Stephen's soccer shoes. I think he really does like his own shoes, but it is lots easier for him to put other peoples' larger shoes on by himself.

Noah loves baths. So much that one day he climbed back into the tub with Ellen after I had already taken him out of his bath and put a nice clean diaper on him.

Like all little boys, Noah loves playing with cars and trucks and other things with wheels.

And he enjoys playing in the dirt. This sand pile was at the Latah County Fair where the UofI has an exhibit about digging up history.

Noah really likes food. All food. One morning after I finished making lunches for Stephen and Annie, I did not put the jam right away and hurried downstairs to take care of some laundry. When I finished and started to head up the stairs I found Noah sitting in the middle of the stairs with the jar of jam, eating it by the fist full. I couldn't help but take a picture!

Was he really big enough?

This was the first day of school way back in 2005. Stephen's first day of Kindergarten. Annie could not be left out of the picture. She was pretty sad that she couldn't go to school too. They both look so little! I'm so glad I took this picture!

At Home

This is what's going on at our house today...

Oh, yes, today is a school day. We made it to three whole days of school before anyone got sick! WooHoo!!! (Ellen and Stephen made it to four!) The three biggest kids have sore throats, coughs, and fevers. Anne is already on the upswing though, so the end shouldn't be too far away.

First Day of School 2009

Our first day of school finally arrived yesterday. It seems like everyone else started before us. It is so interesting to see how each child handles the first day.

Stephen seemed excited. I think he was. Without telling us, he set his alarm for 5:30 that morning. He was up early, and so was Noah. So I was up too. (I'd planned to get up at 5:45 so that I could have some quiet time before everyone else got up. Ha ha.) And since Noah is not a very quiet person, everyone else was up before 6. But since we were up so early we were ready to go with plenty of time to spare. That was very nice! I don't know if it was getting up early, or nerves, or what, but this is the best picture I could get of Stephen. He didn't even want a ride to school. He was set on biking and finding his classroom by himself. After all, he is a 4th grader now.

Anne spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom. She must have brushed her hair four separate times and then decided that she wanted it braided. She was very excited to get to school and see her friends and meet her new teacher. She was a little nervous about finding the right classroom, but once she knew which door to go into, she had no problems. She is very excited to be a 2nd grader.

Ellen is in the afternoon Kindergarten class. She has the same teacher that Stephen and Anne both had in Kindergarten so she is familiar and comfortable with her. Ellen just wanted to get there. After Anne and Stephen were gone to school and the rest of us were at home, she asked over and over, "How long till I go?" It was so hard to wait!

Whidbey Island

James and I enjoyed a very nice and relaxing few days on Whidbey Island (about 30 miles north of Seattle) last week. Mom very generously stayed with the kids, and I think they all had a good time.

Double Bluff Beach (sorry it's kind of a dark picture)

Salmon fishing. We got up at 3:45 one day so that we could be to the boat dock by 5:30. That included a ride on a ferry to get there. This picture was taken at 6:56. And yes, it was cold and windy. We each caught four Pink Salmon all between 18 and 21 inches long. James had a great time. The weather was even just the way he wanted it to be. He said that it would have been a little boring if the water was calm, but the wind gave some nice waves to ride around on. I was really nervous to go, but I did it! And I enjoyed it too! After fishing we took a nice long nap.

This harbor seal met us at the dock when we came back from fishing. Our boat captain, Dave, said she is there every day waiting for the fish heads and other parts left over as he cleans the fish.

Langely Beach. All of the beaches are rocky and full of drift wood.

A red jellyfish. This one was about 18 inches across.

Two deer joined us on the beach. It was kind of funny!

The view from some old gun batteries at Fort Ebey State Park.

One of the entrances to the bunker at Fort Ebey. You can't see it very well, but above the door way it says, "USED 1942"

Admiralty Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse is part of Fort Casey State Park, but was built in 1861, long before the fort was ever built. We even climbed up the narrow wrought iron circular stairs to look out the lighthouse tower.

James checking out one of the guns at Fort Casey. They called them disappearing guns because they could be lowered out of sight.

Part of the fort, including a look-out tower on the left. It was a huge place!

The view from the look-out tower.

We had such a good time just walking around and exploring. Fort Ebey was built during WWII and Fort Casey was actually built around 1900, I believe, and used briefly during both world wars. Neither were ever needed to defend Puget Sound, but it is still really neat to visit there.

Thanks for looking at my vacation pictures! They might not be very exciting, but they help me remember things I don't want to forget.