Our new house

Okay, so a bunch of you have been wondering about our new place. Here are some pictures, finally! We love living in Highland. There is something serene about it. I love the wide fields and even the smell of manure (It sort of reminds me of Idaho.:-) I don't miss an opportunity to blame the smell on Kyle though. Six-year-olds love that kind of humor. The neighbors are great and I really enjoy sending the kids outside to play. There just seems to be a lot more room to roam.

Today was really relaxing. I almost felt a little lazy, but sometimes it's good to just stop and enjoy a day. I took Ammon to the Rec Center and signed him up for a gymnastics class which he LOVES. Can you blame him. The funny thing is, he complained about it the whole way there. He wouldn't get out of the car because he didn't want to go to "nastics". I finally pulled him in where he pouted until we walked into the gym. He saw the other kids jumping on trampolines, balancing on beams, doing rolls and flips, and I think he finally understood what "nastics" is. He had a blast, and I had a good time watching him. He is pretty voracious with his jumping and tumbling. Every time he stood on the pommel horse then came crashing down on his behind, the teacher would cringe. He must have extra padding down there. After his class, we went swimming. It was pretty quiet at 12:00 noon, and so we had a good time splashing in the water together. I tried to teach him a few strokes, but he was more interested in splashing me.

After getting cleaned up, we went to lunch at Cafe Rio. I don't normally treat myself, but it was just one of those days and I felt like it. It was great food. We had a little shopping to do. Ammon fell asleep on the way home. I put him in bed, then I went to sleep, seeing as I was up late last night working on my blog, I was pretty tired. What a great morning! Of course, then the kids got home. Then, we were off to Activity Days, Lacrosse practice, Pack Meeting and Scouts. It all got done though, and here I am at 10:00 finished with a day. Pretty good day all in all. Maybe, it's because I woke up in a good mood. I had a dream last night that I decided my life dream was to be a first grade teacher because I wanted to teach first graders to read and write. Weird, but it sort of made me happy to have a life dream. It's sort of nice to have a dream. I think my newest dream is to run a marathon, after reading my friend Juli Robinson's blog about her marathon. It sounds more like a spiritual awakening than a grueling, torturous, why-are-you-doin-this-to-your-own-body sort of exercise. Leave it to Juli.

Picky Eater

I have a question. It's something I deal with every day I make a lunch for Ashlee. This morning she wanted a cookie and popcorn in her lunch. I finally got her to take some carrots, but I'm fully expecting them to come home uneaten. She wants a chocolate sandwich on white bread. She likes banana muffins, so I figured at least she'll get some potassium. Well, I tried to sneak in some whole wheat flour and wheat germ with the white flour. It didn't help. She figured it out and won't touch them now. She likes cut up apples only, but not in her lunch because they turn brown, and if I try putting lemon juice on them, she won't eat them because they taste funny. She won't eat cheese sticks, chips or crackers. She likes highly sweetened yogurt though and pudding. Maybe I should just include that so at least she gets some calcium. Sometimes she'll take cold cereal and buy milk to put in it. My only problem with that is that she has cold cereal for breakfast and after school snack. I think a little variety is in order. So, what should I do? Should I just let her have hot lunch? I don't know if she'll eat that either, though. What should I do.

Lacrosse

I don't know if I've told everyone or not, but Ethan is playing Lacrosse this year. He has a couple of friends that have played and thought he'd try it. He's been practicing a lot. I'm really proud of him. Here's a few pictures from his first game. He plays attack, so he stands behind the goal and tries to take the ball and make shots. It's pretty entertaining.

His next games are on Saturday, a double header (is that what you call it). They're at Mountain Ridge Junior High in Highland if anyone likes to come. They start at 11:00 and go to 1:00. I'm sure he'd love the chearing section.

Chest of Drawers

Here's the picture I forgot to attach!

Here's the first

Well, here goes. I hope I can keep everyone informed on what is new in the life of the Brouwers right here on my Blogspot. I just spent 3 hours working on that banner. I'm pretty tired, so I don't have much to write.

I spent the afternoon today sanding a chest of drawers so I can repaint it and use it as a storage for all my craft things. It is one of the first items of furniture we bought as a married couple and the only piece of furniture that has made it this long. Pretty good for a chest of drawers bought at Sam's club (I think!)13 years ago.

Here's a picture of the work in progress. It's my first time with a sander. My hands really couldn't quit shaking when I put it down. Sander's are pretty powerful!

In other news: Ammon is potty-training. Oh, the misery--for both of us. He's not really getting it, so I'm at a point where I'm wondering, does it really matter if I wait and let him just train himself or will it take just as long no matter when I start? Or, will he be going to Kindergarten in pull-ups. I know, I know. I've been here before. Why does it seem so much worse this time. Maybe because I have a kid whose stomach is always a little sour. Okay, enough gory details.

My kids have decided to make a movie entitled "Goggle-Man and Goggle-Mama". I guess they got the idea when Kyle went whooshing through the house tonight with his cape and goggles on. I don't know how I got pulled into this though. Release date of new film will be posted on this site. Stay tuned.

I'll post pictures of the new house soon. I did take some the other day. I know you're all very curious.