A new day

Okay, here is my sister Jennifer and I sitting on the couch in December of 1977! WOW! So cute, don't you think?
This is of my Grandma (my dad's mom) and her father (my Great Grandpa) on the farm! Such a neat photo!

Spring is tiring...I mean that in the most wonderful way. I have been so used to the slow-winter-hibernating months and now we are out and about doing lots of things. My body is tired. I like it, it feels great...just didn't realize how "bear like" I become in the winter. I love Spring!

Today I woke up early and hopped on the ol' treadmill. It was fantastic. I do like working out, but my knees are not so good. I have to be careful. But it does make me feel better mentally!

After that we all got ready for another day of school. We had a good day. We are studying the oceans! Fun. Oceans are pretty cool.

Melina has been reading the first of six books called Warriors. It is a book about cats! Not too sure all the details, but she loves them. She is almost done with book one. If she reads book two, I said I would get her the next four! Fun stuff.

At 12:45 I rushed out the door and took my kids to my friend Shannon's house in Sagle. She watched my kids and took them to swimming so I could get a hair trim and color. She is a very sweet lady and glad to have her in my life.

After that I went to the pool to watch and pick up my girls. Jade surprised us and showed up at the pool side for a few minutes. He loves to watch his girls swim.

Then we got home and we ate and felt tired! That swimming just makes my girls so tired. I love it. It is so great for them.

I just cleaned the kitchen and I think I will go rest a bit. Have a great night. God Bless!

Sun is here!

Here is a photo of two of my relatives on Grandad's side. The little girl is Grace with Cola King right behind her! Grace in Grandads aunt and Cola is Grandad's Grandma!!! I believe this photo was taken in the early 1920's! WOW...Look at what they are wearing! Cool!
Here is our birthday boy! 9 years old!

Yesterday...we ended up not going to church! I (I feel so bad) forgot to put sunscreen on Olline when we went to the Lost in the 50's show on Saturday! Her face burnt and her scalp and a little on her arms!!!!! Jade also burnt his whole head! So I guess I was a little embarrassed to take them to church! So, we decided to do work at home. Jade weed whacked and I mowed! It was great. I actually like mowing. We have a riding lawn mower and that helps, but it was nice to tune out for a while and think to myself! It was great! The sun was hot and we remembered to put on sunscreen!
Jade also worked hard on fixing us a sprinkler system for our garden! He did our front flower bed a while back, and this time we have it for our garden! SO COOL! Wish I could show photos, but again I am unable to get them downloaded on the computer. I need to fix my program. Sorry.
We did go to the garden center and bought, peppers, cucumbers, and we also got two tomato plants from the farmers market on Saturday. Oh, and Olline wanted a little flower for she and her sister! So cute-we planted them in the front flower beds.
We then had a BBQ on the deck and enjoyed it out in the sun under our umbrella! It was so nice to sit out there and enjoy our first BBQ of the season.

Oh and I can't forget...it was Chowders 9th birthday! He is 63 years old in dog years! We love him so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HIM!

I think that is it. Need to get to our school now. Will write soon. God Bless!

Sandpoint Shuts Down for the 50's

(Thought I might share these photos I already have on my computer...the first one is of my Grammy and Grandad, with my Uncle Jerry on top of the trailer, taken in 1948 - The bottom picture is of me and my mom in November in 1982!!)

Today was a great day. We all woke up and started our day as usual. Melina had been invited to go to Silverwood by a friend she met at our home school co-op classes. So she was excited and left with her friend around 9:45am. Jade, Olline and I left after that to work our way into the busy town of Sandpoint! We had to park at our bank in town because there are no available spots in the town! We walked to the Farmers Market (right in the middle of Sandpoints main area) and met up with our friends Rich and Kelly. WOW! I had never seen Sandpoint so busy, only maybe for the 4th of July! All the cool old cars are parked everywhere up and down the streets of our town! The main road was shut down so that "we the people" of Sandpoint could walk and enjoy looking at all the wonderful cars. I would love to show pictures, but again my computer is not letting me download anything! (There's always computer issues:() I will try and get them going, but it may take me a couple days.

Anyways, the day was perfect. The sun was bright and hot (we all got a little sun burn :( and we were in great company. We walked the street for about 3 hours and then headed home.

When we got back we sold the SUBARU!!! Jade just posted our Subaru on the internet Thursday, I believe, and it sold today! That is great. PTL!

I read my book for a little while (I'm reading The Lady Elizabeth -Queen Elizabeth) and waited for Melina to come back from Silverwood. She returned around 5:00pm and we then hopped in Jades truck one more time to see if our boat dock was ready for our boat at the City Beach! NO...not yet. But maybe by next weekend we will have our boat in the water in our boat slip.

So that was our day. We thank the Lord for protecting us and giving us such blessings.

Love all our family lots! God Bless!

Lost in the 50's

Jade, Olline and I headed down town to watch the Lost in the 50's parade. So many people come to watch and it is fun to see all of them. People come to save a spot on the side of the roads at about 4:00pm and the parade doesn't start till 6pm! We got there at about 5pm. Melina wasn't with us because she was able to be in the parade with Amanda. Her Papa Steve has a truck and they rode in the back. I have a photo of her in the truck, but for some reason my computer picture program is shutting down on me!!! FRUSTRATING! So I will try to post those tomorrow if all works.
Here are a few to enjoy of Olline and the cars. I am going to rest now and get the girls in bed. Melina just was invited to go to Silverwood Theme Park tomorrow morning! So I need to have her sleep. She will be so tired-and so excited.
Tomorrow we are going back to town to view the fun old cars in town. They park them and we get to view them! Vroooom...Vrooom...Vrooom!

Love you all family-God Bless

Ok...I am having issues with my photos!!!! Please be patient! I am not sure why they are not down loading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay I was having a few issues trying to get these photos posted. Hope you all enjoy them. Can you see the turtles in the top photos? They were so cute.

Later at 6pm we are headed to town for our Lost in the 50's car parade. It's exciting and I think the weather will be okay. Wish all of our family could be here with us.

Today we did our schooling and then Melina was ready to run off to her friends house (Amanda). She is going to be in the parade and ride in one of the old trucks.

Jade has had the day off and I am so happy for him. Having a three day weekend is a treat. He has been working hard on trying to wax his truck. He is a perfectionist!

Other than that, we have had a good relaxing day. Not much going on yet. We love you all! God bless.

More Photos

I thought I might share a few more photos of mother's day. We went out to Mirror Lake to fish and a little row boat. It was such a great time.

TIRED

I am tired. I think this will be short. Got up again early. I love that. I get to start everything early and fresh.
I cooked all morning for some friends coming back from China. I bet they are so tired and ready to sleep in their own beds. God bless them. I am so happy they are home and can't wait to meet their new son!
Swimming lessons went great. I think that is my favorite park of the day and if you asked what my kids favorite part was, they would say the same.
We went to Coeur d'Alene this evening. Picked up a few things at Costco. Now we are home and it is late and my kids are still up! I need to get them in bed NOW!

So I will end this. Good night to you all! God Bless.

Long Day

Today I got up at 5:30am. I haven't done that in a very long time. Felt good to be up with the birds. I worked out too!
Then after I fed the girls breakfast, we start school early! PTL! The school day went great and I just enjoyed teaching today. Melina and I just started reading The Swiss Family Robinson! Fun. I have never read it. I have only seen the movie and I can't wait to get more into it.

After school I got to talk to my mom. I haven't had one of our good LONG conversations in a while, so it felt great to listen to her voice! (Thanks mom:)

Then before we knew it it was time to get ready for swimming lessons. The girls jumped in the pool and I could just relax and watch and visit with my friend there.
The girls are swimming fantastic. Melina is almost always the fastest:) We are so proud of her. We have a swim meet at the end of the month in Kennewick. We are looking forward to it!
Olline is also swimming great. It is great to see her try so hard!

After swimming we dropped off books at the library and then went to Yokes for a few groceries. We came home and ate dinner and it feels good to be home and relax.

Good night to you all!

A few more pictures!

Our Day Yesterday

I was woken up by my sweet Melina at 7am with a menu in her had. She had made a menu called the "Mother's Day Cafe" with yummy breakfast options! Each item cost a few kisses! She had eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, english muffins, and cinnamon rolls to choose from! WOW! Yummy! I had everything but the cinnamon roll! I even had a cup of coffee! It was so delicious. Our hostess was Olline, who directed me to my table. My waitress was Melina who took my order. And our COOK was Jade! Wow, I have a fabulous family!

The food was perfect and I was so full I couldn't finish all my bacon or sausage! Thank you to them who love me sooooo much! I love them with all my heart. Melina even went out that morning and cut a fresh tulip for me! Awesome.

Then we all got ready and went to church. They had a great service, especially for us moms! It was nice and uplifting. It was nice to share it with my family. God is good.

After that we headed home, still full from breakfast. We then decided to head to Mirror Lake in Sagle. It is only about 30 minutes from here across the long bridge. I wasn't sure how the weather would hold up, but it was perfect. Lots of sun and a nice breeze. I even need a little blanket. We fished on the little lake for about 3 hours in our little row boat. Glad Jade was with us because he rowed and baited our hooks the whole time. He didn't even fish, just took care of his girls!

We decided to row in and get off the water. We were all getting cold and hungry by that time. We hopped in the truck and headed home. Only to drop off the two small trout we caught and then headed back out for dinner. We were all so tired and not sure if we should have gone out for dinner, but my family offered it to me. So we went to the Hydra in town and had a very yummy dinner. I was so full I could hardly move! Yum.

We got home late and we were all so tired. The girls got ready for bed and I was able to finally call my mom! I hadn't talked to her all day; we did text on the cell phones, but that isn't the same. I miss her so much and wished that I could have spent my day with her.

Well that was our day. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Love you all! God Bless!

Mother's Day

OH, I have a great family! I had a great mother's day! God is wonderful to me. I can't do a big blog tonight. I am so tired and had a big day, so I will fill you in on my day tomorrow! Happy Mother's Day to you! God Bless!

Sunny days are here!

Well, we woke up early and did some garage hopping. It was so fun. We found a dresser for Melina which isn't perfect, but the one she has now the drawers just fall out! It's super old and used. That was a nice find. Then we went to the Hoot Owl for some breakfast. Yummy!

When we got home we went right to work on the garden. Jade created a new spot for our strawberries and we worked so hard on that garden! They are finally planted and I pray that we will get good berries off of them.

Jade tilled the dirt and we have some great soil now. I couldn't believe how many worms we have in there! Cool. The girls like to dig for them.

We then left to return our Mantis dirt digger to the rentals and then went to the plant nursery. I picked out some annuals and planted them in my barrels and under our wisteria. Nice!

We picked up around the yard and Jade continued to mow! Wow what a day. We are tired and stinky. I got the girls bathed, but now it is our turn! Pee U!

Hope you mother's out there are going to have a great day tomorrow. I would like to go fishing on Mirror Lake, but we will see what the weather is doing!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! God Bless you!

Great Friends

Today I got up and worked out. School even went great. My kids were a little cranky here and there, but all in all it went great.

Then later we all headed out to our friends house in Sagle. They have a "perfect" place. Their house is gorgeous and they have great acreage! We got to see their pigs, sheep, dog and cats! So fun. We really enjoy their friendship. God is good.

It has been raining like crazy this evening. I thought the sun was going to stay for a bit, but no, it continued to rain. I think tomorrow it will be sunny and maybe we can get our gardening done.

So here is my photo for the day. It is my cat Kiwi's 8th birthday today, so I thought I would post her photo!!!! So cute! She is my baby!

Love you all! Good night!

Promise!

Today was a wild day. I actually got up and worked out! PTL! I needed that!

The girls had a free day from school. So we will have to have a homework day on Saturday.

We did our third day of swimming and that is always a blast. I just get excited to go. However I got some strange hot flash in the pool room and couldn't snap out of it. I am 32! I am not suppose to get hot flashes! Weird. However I feel fine now. Strange.

Well, not much happening today. I thought that I would post a couple pictures. Jade sent me one on the cell phone of a beautiful rainbow. God promises! I love that! I love rainbows!

So, this morning I woke up later than I wanted. That means we start school late. However, we did our schooling for the day. Melina and I are studying the Renaissance period and we finished reading on Elizabeth I and now are on William Shakespeare! So much fun. We both love that time period. We are pushing through math and Melina is really good at it, but gets frustrated that it takes "time" to do. She is learning patience. Though she loves everything else in school.
Olline is reading super well. We have a bit to go and soon she will be reading books all on her own. So much fun! She is also very good in math; can't wait to see how she does next year. Also, she has her very first loose tooth!

We were blessed again today with an afternoon full of swimming! Melina had her team swim, while Olline just played in the water. Melina swims three days a week and Olline swims two. It is so fun!

This evening it has just been pouring buckets of rain! Yuck, but I suppose we need it. I would love a little sun though. They say this weekend!

Check this photo out!!!! It is of me turning 1 years old (I'm in the green). My cousin Sarah is sitting with me. My sister Jennifer is the far left with the blonde hair! So Cute!!!!

Well I am going to go relax now. Hope all your days are good.

Sun, Rain, Wind and Snow

Today the weather has been strange. Lots of dark clouds, but then out of no where we have SUN! We had hail and Jade said that there was snow in the mountains.

School went well today. I got up earlier so that we could finish early, because at 3pm the girls were off to swim team! We have been out of the swim loop for sometime now and it was so great to be back. I didn't realize how much I miss it. Melina and Olline had been asking "when are we going back to swimming lessons?". The roof on their building over the pool had been damaged from the last two years of heavy snow! They finally opened last month and we are back in the swing of swim! YEAH! The girls were so happy and I loved seeing their faces light up! We have fish for kids and I love it. Melina says that she wants to be in the Olympics! Can you see her in the "red" swim cap in the middle of this photo?

This evening we are just relaxing. Jade had been digging in the garden to prepare for planting. This weekend is suppose to be nice, so we can plant our veggies. Jade is awesome at planning our garden and getting things done. Thank you to him. We love him so much.

Well I am going to watch some TV. Love you all. God Bless.

Wikoff Home

Dear Shar, Craig, Amanda, Ben, Luke and Grammy! I hope you don't mind. I wanted to share a few photos of your babies at home. We had the pleasure of feeding them this afternoon on Monday the 4th! I tried to email them to you, but not sure if you could get them!

We love you,

The Smith's

Sun is still out!

Hello to all,

Well, our nephew Jeriah left late last night on the train back to Everett, WA! We sure do miss him. Right when I think we are getting more comfortable with each other, he has to go! The girls just loved him and bonded more than ever before! Thank you Jeriah for being a great cousin to our girls. You are an awesome man and look forward when you can come back (but only if Mariah can come:)).

The sunshine is still out, but clouds are moving here and there, so I think rain may be on it's way. Our grass is growing like crazy and it is time to get out there and mow, garden, and pull weeds! I love it!

Our friends in China are adjusting to there new life with their sweet son Luke. I pray that all will be smooth and safe on the rest of their journey!

My mom has been sending me the most cool old photos of relatives on her side of the family! I want to share one with you of my Grandad (in the front) and his dad (my Great Grandad) deer hunting. It is so cool! I have never seen family pictures on that side and I am so grateful! I love old photos!

Well must be getting back to schooling. Love you all!

Rain Rain Go Away

TODAY, it is raining! Yesterday we were able to go out on the boat. It was beautiful and sunny and calm. However, I suppose it was the "calm before the storm". After a couple hours of fishing and playing in the boat the we could feel the air get a little cooler. Then as we were going to go back inland, the wind hit and we were caught in some "not so pleasant" weather! It is amazing how fast the weather changes on the weather! It reminds me that God is alway in control and to never forget that.

It was a great time and it was nice to have our nephew Jeriah with us. We didn't catch any fish, but the experience was great.

Today we are praying for our friends and neighbors, Shar, Craig, Amanda, Ben and Jody! They are in China now (probably sleeping, since it is Monday morning for them), and ready to meet their new son Luke!! They are adopting a precious 3 year old boy! It is a miracle and we are so excited to meet him. I can't imagine the feelings they are going through on this amazing journey! So please pray for them and ask God for guidance and peace in their hearts! PTL!

So, we are getting ready for church this morning. Jeriah gets to tag along with us. It is nice to share our lives with him. Hopefully he will want to come back! Hopefully we haven't scared him away :)

Well I think that is it for now. I will write soon. Love you all!

City Beach

Yesterday was a good day. We didn't get to the homeschool book sale, but after our school time we took Jeriah to the City Beach. It was so warm and perfect. No wind and the water was so gorgeous.
The girls played on the slides and they played in the sand. Olline and Melina even put their feet in the water. I thought it might be too cold, but the kids didn't think so! So awesome.
And as you can see we even took Jeriah and the girls to the Statue of Liberty!!! LOL! See how perfect the water is?

Today we are going to try and get our boat in the water. We will be putting it in at Hope! Our water level in Sandpoint is still to low to lauch our boat there. So Hope sounds great. We are getting a few more winds than I was hoping for, so I pray that the water will be calm. However that sun is still out and we are going to take every opportunity to be in it!!!! (I hear the rains are coming tonight!)

PS...Praise to the Lord Jade got a 2006 Toyota Tundra!!!! He finally got his truck that he has been wanting for years now. PTL!

Sunny

Today the sun is so beautiful. I am hoping it will stay that way! It is suppose to be about 62-65 degrees! PTL!
Last night Jade brought home our nephew Jeriah. It will be his first stay here alone. We are so blessed to have him. He is a blessing.
Today I plan to do homeschooling. I wanted to go to the church in Sandpoint were we have our First Class Co Op, because they are having a used Homeschool book sale. However I am not sure I will make it.
The girls are playing on their DS games now waiting for their mom to get ready.

Oooo..hopefully today Jade will get to pick up his used (to him new) Toyota Tundra! PTL! He has been waiting for this day for years. I am so happy for him. He has need a new vehicle for so long. I have always been blessed with the newer ones! It is his time now! Yeah!

FYI: This photo here was take a couple months ago! So no, we do not have that snow anymore. This was taken on our first real day of sun! The girls were so happy to ride their bikes with out having to wear snowsuits!!!

God bless!