First Hershey Track Meet

Charlie Mae participated in her first Hershey Track Meet. No, she did not run for chocolate.. oh but wouldn’t that have motivated her!! ME TOO It was a meet to qualify the older children for the Hershey track meet in Pennsylvania. Blake ran this meet when he was her age, and as I stood at the finish line camera over my eye cheering from behind it, my heart sank. I could see my little boy running toward me again like it was yesterday- only to lower the camera and look up (he was standing behind me cheering his sister on) and see that little boy has grown into an amazing big brother.
She ran very well, and she ran fast! She was more excited to find her friends when it was over than actually being apart of the event, she wanted to tell them “good job”…such a good sport she is! Her friend’s Classen & Corrisa were there, as was her cousin (and good buddy) Tanna. The kids had fun telling one another good job and “RUN RUN RUN” and the parents had fun watching. Charlie Mae was SO excited to win a blue (participation) ribbon and tell everyone she ran at the track meet. I was so proud to see her work so hard, but more proud to see her have so much fun! She is all about being a supportive friend, making sure she tells everyone HELLO and GOOD JOB! I’m also very proud of her for that!
And that little boy who ran toward my camera almost 10 (uggg) years ago, he and I had a race to see who was the fastest. What a riot! We raced in Uncle Bryan’s back yard, perfect for a mini dash. Blake won the first race yeah Blake…..ok really, whoopee!?!? I WON the second race!!! (yippee yahooie for me) and the third race we threw out, as he was tackled half way down the line and I clearly beat his socks off…unofficially =P It is fun to have active kids, often a task to try and keep up, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’m a winner hands down when it comes to wonderful kids!

Lemonade For Sale!!

Charlie Mae had her first official Lemonade Stand on June 14th, 2008 A tradition that began when her brother was much younger and spent his Saturday mornings at work with mom at Picket Fences. She was SO excited to have her own spot and her OWN customers too!
Blake showed her the ropes and gave some very helpful advice: always say HELLO and ask HOW ARE YOU. If they don’t buy anything, still tell them to HAVE A NICE DAY. If they do buy something, tell them THANK YOU and HAVE A NICE DAY! The advice worked- after two hours and about a dozen plus patrons, Charlie Mae had made her first twenty dollars and fifty cents! She paid mom back for the ice, lemonade mix and cups, and paid her brother $2 for his help in manning the post.
At one point she needed a potty break, and didn’t want to leave. I offered to watch the stand for her, and she gave me this bit of advice “mom, I can’t go potty, if they don’t see a little girl sitting there they aren’t going to stop and buy it. They don’t like to buy it from mom’s” She had to make a fast get away in between customers to return to Uncle Jake, Aunt Cathy, Dale, Aunt Shannon, Uncle Bryan and Uncle Darren with Brooke! The place had standing room only!! The girl made bank =)

Something Surprise!

My children are spoiled- I don’t need to be the first to admit it, as I’m fully aware and YOU are too if you’ve met them. Spoiled WITH LOVE mostly!! So, every now and then I will ask them “would you like me to get you anything” and instead of a “yeah mom could you grab me a……” they BOTH reply with “Make me a something surprise” I guess it began when Blake became more picky and I had to sneak healthy into his diet. You know, like Ants On A Log (Celery with peanut butter and raisins) or when I add yogurt and mixed berries with a scoop of ice cream and he thinks it is only a fruit milk shake =) It use to be that I would go into the kitchen and they would WAIT on the surprise, but not with Charlie Mae. She wants to HELP with the something surprise. This particular morning I took wheat rolls and we created (for Blake) DONUTS! Coating the rolls in butter, rolling them in sugar and then poking the middles before baking them. They were simply melt in your mouth yummy, not so healthy, but sometimes that is OK. So I got creative on morning and really out did myself on an English muffin…really I think it is one of my best works of art TOOT TOOT (that would be my own horn) It is fun creating this silly things, and

fun to think someday they might say to their own children “would you like me to make you something my mom use to make for me, it is SO silly but SO yummy”…icing on the cake, carrot cake that is with low fat cream cheese frosting!

Siblings In Sun Valley Idaho

The FIRST ANNUAL DONNA, DARYL, RIKKI SIBLING GET-A-WAY… Great title and appropriately so as we had a GREAT TIME! My sister suggested that she’d like to take a vacation with JUST SIBLINGS. Humm we all thought, and then why not! You hear all the time about sisters taking trips together, brother’s going hunting why not a brother & sisters get-a-way? I don’t know that my sister in law (my brother’s wife) really understood how incredible the idea was, being that she is an only child. Oh the fun in being a SISTER or a BROTHER. Only if you have siblings do you understand that only YOU can call them names, pick on them and poke them in the nose. A sibling is a branch of you, and you a branch of them. When the going gets tough, your siblings are there to pick you up, lift you and take you through whatever the journey may entail. Siblings are an incredible extension of yourself, of your parents…of the family tree in general. My family tree- FULL OF NUTS! But that’s ok, we work through it.
So, we venture into the unknown- three grown adults leaving their families and responsibilities behind for a weekend of nothing but, silliness really. We made the trek from Pendleton to Nampa my brother and I. My brother who is two years younger than I and almost a foot taller =O Didn’t stop him from dwarfing back to when we picked on each other, joked and laughed. It was great! Pull my finger and “you are not normal” were common phrase on the way to Nampa as Nickel Back played over and over and over in the CD player…I wanted to send the CD on a ride out the window, however it seemed to be the theme music for the trip- so we really needed it. We picked my sister up, took in my nephew’s baseball game and we were off… heading down the road….destination SUN VALLEY, ID.
We arrived at the condo, a nice spot… if those walls could speak, they would tell all who entered to have the time that we did. It was great!! Being the oldest, I made sure to use my status and I got the BIG ROOM with the COZY bed =))

Awwww how sweet it was. I had the bathroom to myself as well. Really though, it didn’t matter where I laid my head, because what really mattered took place at the dining room table, where we sat and played cards, laughed and giggled about things we’d forgotten and things we’ll never forget. GOOD TIMES!

We ventured into Sun Valley to see the sights- not a lot happening in Sun Valley that weekend, but that didn’t bother us, we made our fun! We visited the SV Resort and viewed the photos of the famous who had been there before us. Along the drive we found an old Union Pacific Rail Road Bridge, which had obviously not been used for many years, as it was paved ( or attempted to be) over and worn out. Oh the goofy laughs as we portrayed the tourists that we are in such a fun display of red neck fashion. My sister with her camera and my brother and I with not a care in the world- it was a perfect combination
THE MINT also known as Bruce Willis’ bar was there- we were excited to be apart of something so “Hollywood” however, it was under construction, aside form the owners who were busy cleaning up the place the place was empty and NO sign of Bruce. No problem, we made our own fun using the marquee to note DARYL was the main attraction for the night
We played, we laughed, we laughed some more. We had some great meals and we laughed some more. It was one of the best times with my brother and sister and one I look forward to topping next year- that is if it can be done, we’ll give it a whirl. I’m blessed to have my siblings & I hope that my children have the same love and silliness with one another that we share. I shared with my son, who is the oldest, how wonderful it is to have one another & that I hoped that some day he & his sister would celebrate their friendship as we did.