Up River

In the 4th grade, students learn about Idaho History.  Being that we live at the mouth of the great Hell's Canyon, Lewiston student get to fund raise the whole school year to take an all day boat trip up the Snake River.  Trenton alone raised over $200.00 for his class.  Since space is limited, not all parents are allowed to go.  Trent's teacher, Mrs. Roberts, has a raffle that each parent can purchase a ticket for $5 and only two entries per child.  I bought two and put Eric's name on both (he's lived in Lewiston his whole life and has never been up the Snake).  Trent and I had prayed every night that his dad would be drawn, and Eric was!! Last Wednesday was the first nice day we've had in a long while, and that just happened to be the day that was scheduled for the boat trip. 

The boat driver had no objections about entertaining the kids, so during the heat of the afternoon he decided that he'd do "cookies" and splash any of the kids who sat in the back.  Eric snapped some of Trent's turn...

 Bracing himself....

..wait for it...

Trent claimed he had a BLAST!! (so did Eric)

Shout out to Coop Dog...

Being busy with five children's activities I nearly forgot to say........

Happy Birthday to Cooper....

He turned 12 on May 11th, the day after my birthday.

Instant gratification

Back at the beginning of the month, Eric had said that he wanted to go to Home Depot to look at what they had for our garden.  Up until this point we had only tilled under the area we wanted to plant in and fertilized it.  We had discussed what various plants we wanted and were they would fit best. When we got there I was grabbing plants left and right, throwing them in the cart. "I want these, and these, and ohh some of those!!"  He was putting them back on the shelves as fast as I was tossing them in the cart.  He had to explain to me what his intentions were, which was all seeds, no starts. 

Me "Umm.. NO.  I need starts" 

Eric "Why?"

Me "I need instant gratifications.  I need to SEE it all"

Needless to say I had a small baby tantrum in the Home Depot Garden Department because I wanted to see greenery.  After he brought me back to reality, he gave me his reasoning as to why it all had to be seeds, the price.  It's quite a cheaper to purchase the seeds than the plant starts.  Fine, I give in. 

So, on the 7th of May, Eric planted my garden all from seeds, minus the tomatoes and strawberries (I wouldn't budge on those).  Six days later this is what I got....

 Thai Radishes

 Spinach

 Corn

 Sugar Snap Peas

 My strawberries already have green heads on them!!

Since then my carrots, chives, bell pepper, jalapeno peppers have all sprung up as well. 

When one of your weakness's is patience, God gives you plenty of opportunities to practice it.  I am now extremely grateful for the wonderful garden that I have in bloom.  I just can't wait until they all come to fruition..

Welcome Baby Scotlyn

On May 16th, Eric's little brother's wife finally went into labor with their 4th child.  Scotlyn Camry Reel graced us with her presence at 9:53am weighing in at 8lbs 3oz and 20 in long.  She was due to arrive on the 5th but thought she'd hang on for 11 more days...

Trent refused to hold her, I had to beg him.  After I got some pictures he asked me if he could be done yet.

Caitrin and Tarren couldn't get enough of her. 

This is grand baby #17 to the Reel Family.