Absolute joy

Today we had pure fun in our front yard. Aaron hung the tire swing. Hopefully you are also having a grand finale to summer. I heard that the weather is supposed to drop 20 degrees between today and tomorrow. Get your BBQs and tire swinging in now! If you need a ride on a tire swing, you know where to find it. 

Fall is upon us...

The kids birthdays are past. (By the way, if any of you Utah folk have photos of their actual birthdays please email them to me. I don't have any.) 

Anyway, in my life August is the sprint at the end of the summer race. It takes all of our energy, but in the end we are all so happy with what we have done during the summer. We had a super time traveling to Lake Powell, and the Wasatch Front. We saw a lot of good friends and family, and got to move to a permanent home. It's been action packed. 

But school started this week. Brooklyn is in 3rd grade and Ian is in 1st. Lucas can't stand that 

they get to go to school and he can't wait until his pre-school starts. We are finding a great place for him and he should start next week.  

I started a new job last week. I am working as a teacher at a private school downtown called Foothills School of Arts and Science. I will be teaching Spanish to 4th-8th graders and will be doing Service Learning projects with the 6th-8th grades, as well as leading a little choir group. 

Having been out of the work force for the most part over the past 8 years (other than my part-time work with Boise Elementary Spanish) I am finding it both invigorating and exhausting to balance all that I used to do with work on top. Aaron has really stepped it up on house and kid duty! Hooray.

But we got the kids off to school on Monday. 

They are going to Washington Elementary. It is the oldest school in Boise and one of the best, so I've been told. 

It's a good thing that public school in Boise is decent. Otherwise I would have to figure out a way to afford the tuition at the school where I now teach. 

I find it somewhat disturbing that teachers can't afford to send their own kids to private schools.  (And I even would get a tuition discount!) It feels strange when people ask me if my kids are going to Foothills and I have to say no. And honestly I wish they were. The school is great and really supportive of faculty. I'm sure that if I needed to I could get them in the school. 

Yet the facts remain, Boise public schools are not bad. I hope that the kids will really learn something this year. Like maybe how to learn.

So far I've only heard reports on what is on the lunch menu and how many resesses there are each day.

Maybe I'll bring my camera to my new classroom and post some pictures of my new home away from home.

The Birthday Present

I will be updating with more pictures of Ian and Brooklyn's birthdays soon, but we have had an exciting development in our family. We went to Utah and stayed with family and friends for an end of the summer trip. While we were in Provo visiting our friends Tyler and Alyson Bingham and Neil and Megan Valentine we had a life changing event.

It was Brooklyn's birthday, August 9. She has wanted one thing for her birthday or Christmas for years now, and we always say no. "Maybe when you are older. Maybe when we are more settled. Maybe when Lucas is potty trained." We have run out of excuses, we are getting her a dog for her 8th birthday.

It was as if all Brooklyn's prayers and hopes were answered. It just so happened that right on her 8th birthday our friends invited us over and said they had 9 puppies at their house. (Alyson's mom breeds Aussies.) To be honest, we weren't planning on giving her a puppy and she knew it. Even though we had said, "Maybe when you are 8." she knew the chances were slim to none. But when Aaron saw the puppies and their mom, he said, "If we had a dog that's the kind of dog I like." I couldn't believe he just said "If we had a dog" and went silent for fear of jinxing it. He immediately got on Tyler and Alyson's computer and researched the breed, obedience schools, and when he called Alyson's parents I knew he was seriously considering what we thought would never happen. HOORAY!

Meet our Australian Shepherd "Jetta". At least that's the name we have for her so far. We don't get to bring her home until the end of September. But we will spend the next month preparing.
We are all still in shock that Aaron agreed to getting her a dog. What a great dad he is for allowing her this opportunity (even though he would rather do without a pup in our lives). She will be an active dog and everything we have read about the breed says that they need a job to do. We think her jobs should be catching frisbees, and keeping Lucas out of the street.
Our new house has a built in dog door to the garage and a dog run, and I think it might be in the neighborhood bylaws that if you live this close to Camel's Back Park (1 block) you must have a dog. Really, Aaron had no choice.

New Home - Lemonade Anyone?

We have finally landed. After moving 4 times in 5 years we have found home. We have an offer on "the big house" and have bought a great place in the coolest part of Boise. We live in the North End in Hyde Park. The selling point for this place wasn't that it is only two years old, has beautiful finish work, wood floors or granite countertops, all that is just icing. The real thing that sealed the deal for us was that this is the most prime lemonade stand location a person could ask for.  The kids set up shop the first weekend that we owned the home. We hadn't even moved over yet. They were great workers, each with their own station - ice, pouring or money collection. They even sold Otter Pops to offer more selection. Everything $.25. Who says you can't find a deal these days? With snow cones selling a block away for $2 for a small, our stand was a welcome and inexpensive treat. 

So here is a peek at our new house, and new hobby. Our street just so happened to be on the route for a bike tour across America. There were cyclists passing us all day happy to stop by for some quenching lemonade. Many of them had never heard of Otter Pops and we learned that in Canada they are called "Freezies". Our little stand is now documented in a number of cyclist photos from their ride. We even got a photo of a few of them.  

So next time you are on 13th Street in Hyde Park remember we are here. Stop by and say hello. You may even catch us out front offering a cool treat on a hot summer day.