Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Yup I just referenced a nursery rhyme in the title to this post.... am I the mother of toddlers or what?!

After a week at the ranch, a half a day home and another week at teacher training, everyone is home now. (Well not RIGHT now, Jared is a work.) The Chamberlain family reunion was fantastic. The toe didn't slow me down too much, but it did keep me closer to the lodge than in previous years which means I spent more time with the family. This was nice. I also had a nap almost every day with my two tired girls.... also nice. It really was a great trip.

Here's the one pic that I have so far (because I stole it from Dave). I'll post more when I have a minute to download.

Thanks to all the older girls for working so hard on getting every one's shirts made and organizing the game day!!

The teacher training was good. It was A LOT of work (especially the nightly memorization). I do feel like I learned more than I did in previous years and I feel better equipped to use this knowledge next year. I had a chance to swim almost every night which was great for my foot. I also went on the fossil hike they do each week. Not the best choice for my foot, but it was wonderful to get out, and the view was gorgeous. Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture that week so you'll just have to imagine it. ;)

It's good to be home and have my family back. Thanks to my mom and dad for working so hard to keep the girls safe and happy this week. They had a blast. As you can imagine, I've got loads of things to catch up on after 2 weeks of being out of civilization; so this quick summary will have to do for now. More stories and pictures to come!

Better

The toe is feeling better. The silly shoe I'm supposed to wear makes it hurt more. (That and falling down my parent's stairs only to land on the bad foot.) I bought a bunch of extra strength Tylenol with the quick dissolve tablets. Seems to be helping. YAY! (I still don't see hiking or running in my near future, but at least I can get around.)
The truck is packed and OVERFLOWING. Just the way I like it. (I'm more likely not to forget anything that way!)
Jared's alarm will be going off in 1 hour and we'll be off!! I'll try to check in next weekend, but don't count on it. It will be a busy 24 hours.
Either way, have a happy couple of weeks!!

Only me....

We've been getting ready for our family trip to the ranch. This year I feel especially crazed getting ready because I know that when I get back I have less than 24 hours to wash and repack everything. We get back on Saturday late at night and Sunday afternoon I will be leaving for a week of teacher training while the girls stay with my parents. Not to mention that the Sunday I have for washing/repacking is also Father's Day. Yikes!
After running around like crazy with the girls this last week and having Jared come home late trying to get work done before we go, the girls needed a little attention. Jared didn't get home until 7:45 so I decided (since they had both had a nap) that it wouldn't hurt to let them stay up a little late a play with mom and dad. Naiya wanted to race around the living room. Racing to her consists of running in circles around the love seat until she decides the race is finished and announces "I won, let's race again!" We took turns, Jared chased them for a little while, but then he was done. He'd been working long days and was exhausted. I took my cue and started chasing the girls. I almost caught Naiya so I roared at her to tease her. That is when the child kicked it into over-drive. She doubled her speed in 2 seconds and there was no catching her.... but still, I tried. I tried right up until I ran into the edge of the other sofa with my toe. It hurt. I looked down and my little piggy was pointing out. It used to point in.
Anyway... the girls indeed got to stay up late (like till 11!) while mommy got x-rays at the after-hours clinic to find out that I fractured my toe. FRACTURED! I have to wear one of those post-op shoes. I'm supposed to be using crutches. So much for hiking/biking/running/pretty much anything active at the ranch. *sigh* At least it didn't happen a week ago when I still had all this stuff to do. Now I just have to finish packing which shouldn't be too hard. Worse yet would have been having it happen at the ranch and having to drive 2 hours back to Boise to deal with it. Fun stuff! At least I have two cute little doctors to "help" me out! :)

My Loony Toons

Jared got the girls a "Loony Toons" video. Not my first choice for a 2 and 3 year old, but they (especially Naiya) LOVE it. Yesterday shortly after breakfast, Naiya came to me and asked me to peel a whole carrot for her. She wanted to eat a carrot like Bugs Bunny. (Suddenly I'm liking the video a little more.) I give her the carrot and she happily starts nibbling on it. Eva walks in the room and Naiya says "Eh... What's up Doc." In it self, that would be funny enough, but then Eva turns around in her "monster" voice and says "Say your prayers, Rabbit." I almost peed my pants laughing. I love these two!!!

Seattle

It's been a few weeks since I had my first mommy break for more than a night... and also the first time I've been in a separate state from my girls. I guess it's time I filled you in. I won't lie. I cried. The girls on the other hand, were fine. I must admit that Eva seemed a little confused as to why I was getting out of the car at the airport she wasn't. Naiya, however, couldn't get me out of the car fast enough.

It was great to see my friend Courtney (whom I LOVE), celebrate her 30th, meet some of her friends, spend some time in Seattle (which I LOVE), and to have a break. We honestly didn't do too much. In fact I only took 5 pictures. Here's some of what I got:

The Dancing Queen on her birthday (with her friend Brodi)-

I love that after all these year apart. Courtney and I still dance the same (hands in loose fists, elbows glued to rib-cage and shake it!)

Here we (Courtney, Me and her friend Amber) are at the Mecca where Courtney is a server on Sunday mornings (apparently I think it's hilarious):

We went to "Folk Life" which is a local hippy fest. This is the only picture I got there (????):

There was good food, good company, and good fun. Thank you to Nee-ma and Pa for taking such good care of the girls while I was gone and for the great early b-day gift (the trip). Thank you to Courtney for turning 30 and showing me a good time. Thank you to Monkey(the cat) for keeping me warm by sleeping on my bottom each night I was there. Thank you to Jared for letting me go! Maybe we'll make it an annual trip (what do you say, Nee-ma and Pa?! ;)

Meeee-ow

MY GIRLS + PENS + 5 UNSUPERVISED MINUTES= 2 KITTENS

(complete with whiskers AND stripes)

Memory Card Full

I went to take a picture today and was surprised to receive the message "memory card full" when I turned the camera on. After all, I had just downloaded all the pictures and cleared the card before my Seattle trip. So, I flipped the switch to view my photos. There were random pictures of a bag of chips, mommy's hind-end, daddy sleeping on the sofa, people's feet, the floor, the kitchen cabinets, the reflection of the flash in the mirror and 27 pictures like this:
In case you are wondering those tiny toes belong to Eva, who apparently thinks she is quite the photographer lately! ;)