When Pigs Fly

My 2nd son Ian is 11! I can hardly believe it! He wanted his cake decorated with Gir from a cartoon he likes called Invader Zim. It turned out pretty good. 

Ian is an amazing kid; lovable, creative, and fun. I am looking froward to seeing him bridge these pre-teen years to manhood.

August 2010

Hello, my long neglected blog.
I have missed you.
I am so far behind on posts. I'm going to be marathon blogging just to get through August and September.

August was a crazy month for us; a family reunion, a funeral, a move, and a birthday all in one month.

The family reunion was for Levi's immediate family. It's a new family tradition we are starting. We'll have one a year in the summertime. Everyone was able to attend. Here we all are, plus Savannah's boyfriend. I am sure years from now we will think...who was that boy? I hosted the reunion this year, it was a Luau theme as you can see from the Hawaiian shirts and leis. This picture is really funny...got some strange expressions going on. At the reunion we had talent acts, the limbo, a hula contest, and hula hooping. Here are a few more photos, if you are wondering about our hula skills...we are pros! We had so much fun!!! Birney (aka Greatest Uncle Ever) is hosting the one next year in Seattle, we are all looking forward to it.

Levi's Grandpa Kidd died a few days before the reunion, so it was all very bittersweet. He would have loved the reunion.We drove over to Ashton, ID for the funeral. It was such a  lovely service, and so very many of his family and friends attended. He was always very kind and loving to me, you always just felt like one of his grandchildren. He loved the boys and it was so nice for them to get to know their Great Grandfather while he was alive. 

Yes, we moved AGAIN, but hopefully it will be the 2nd to the last time...I hope.We are living in the upstairs of Levi's parents house, paying off some debt and saving for a home. Wish us luck!!

We are helping to remodeling the upstairs. It has been fun and also hard work. Check out this cool paint job my friend helped me with. Yes, that is all paint...can you believe it? She has these awesome patterned rollers from the 70's. I think it turned out beautiful! The color is a little off in the photo, but it is a Sage Green.

Last, but just one day before the last day of the month. Ian turned 10!! Double Digits. Isn't he a cutie?! Happy Birthday, buddy.

"I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future."

~Ralph Abernathy

June 2010 Cub Scout Day Camp-Ian

Ian had a blast at this years cub scout day camp. The theme was Cub Scout World Tour. The boys went from country to country doing activities and getting their passports stamped. Take a look at these fun photos:

June 2010 Cub Scout Day Camp Ian

May 2010 Wagons Ho- Ian

Ian participated in Wagon Ho this year. It is a great program designed for 3-4th graders in Idaho.
Held in Veteran’s Park, the Wagon Master, Cal Clevenger, and his wife Marla, provide an authentic round of experiences from the old west designed to entertain and teach the children.

• Pump water into a bucket, then haul it across the back forty to wash clothes in a wash tub with lye soap and a
• Try to catch a spark with a flint and a rope coated in “bear grease”
• Use an eight foot crosscut saw and a bow saw to cut logs for our fire
• Shake fresh cream until it becomes butter
• Cut the carrots and potatoes with sharp knives to make our campfire stew
• Lasso a calf
• Use a hot branding iron to brand our property
• Stamp a leather “Concho”
• Wash dishes in pots of water heated over the campfire
• Sit in an old-fashioned school desk with an inkwell and write a journal entry

View the entire photo album here:

May 2010 Wagons Ho Ian

A trip back in time...

I was cleaning up my Outlook email program today and I came across this really, really old email from 2004. 

 boys and their cousins 2004

At the time we just had 3 kids-Josef was 6, Ian was 3, and Kaleb was a baby. You can tell from the email I was a young mother and worried and also how nice I was. I would not apologize for the poop thing now. After all everyone poops. Right? And if you don't, you should go to the ER immediately. 

 Image from the Interesting and Beautiful Pictures blog

It also illustrated how much more laid back I am now (is that a good thing) and how much I have learned. Both Kaleb (6) and Oliver (5) have some speech issues-I know so much now I could rattle them off for you. I am not overly alarmed, because I know more now. Most kids do not develop all the necessary speech sounds till age 8-10.  Many will have problems with 'r' and 'th' and enunciating constants. They will usually pick these skills up without intervention, just like late walkers or crawlers catch up to their peers.  There are also many things you can do at home to assist them, like reading aloud, talking to them, making them communicate (not giving them a cookie until they say cookie or attempt to say it), and speech therapy activities and games. Ian's speech issues were very severe back then so the hearing testing and speech therapy was needed and well worth the cost. But I think I would not have been so panicky if I had known then, what I know now. 

 Image from the Birk Rohelend blog

Anyway, I thought this email was a fun flashback to 2004.

Hello, everyone!

As most of you know Ian has suffered from a speech delay for quite some time, he had gone from barely speaking even one word, understandable, to now, speaking in 3-4 word sentences. He is still having problems with pronunciation of some consonants sounds, but this is normal since pronunciation skills are not fully developed until age 7. He has come a long way and we are so happy to have him talk to us no matter how silly he is! Ian sat on my lap and told me a story about animal (his favorite tiger toy). I wrote it down for him and repeated it back to him. Here is Ians story...in his own words!

Animal

One nice little animal.

One animal outside.

One animal inside.

Two animal outside.

But mama Animals outside too.

One animal outside.

One animal inside.

Animal outside poop.

The End

Sorry if the poop part offends anyone. We are also working on potty training Ian ,so poop is a topic in our home daily.

Anyway...I hope you enjoyed his little story as much as we did. Having him say that many words consecutively is such a blessing.

Love,

The Mitchells

Levi, April, Josef, Ian and Kaleb

Flying high while eating french fries at the Library with bologna in our pockets and horse manure on our shoes.

....yes that is the kind of Saturday we have had.

8:45 am

Took cub scout Ian to the Nampa airport for a cub scout activity-The Young Eagles Program. I was thinking he would be looking at airplanes and maybe get to taxi around in one. Nope, they were gonna actually take them up flying. I really should read those permission slips more carefully. My baby high above the ground in a bitty-bitty plane...make that two babies because they said Kaleb could go too.

Waiting patiently in the freezing cold hanger for their turn to FLY.

WAITING *read in an ominous tone (I'm foreshadowing)

The guy in charge tells us one of the pilots was very experienced and he flew in WWII. I thought for a moment. Didn't Levi's Grandpa fly in WWII and he is now deaf and blind. Not reassuring to parents AT ALL!

Their pilot in above picture( he looks like a capable guy....right?) and the boys about to board.

 

 Yes, that is the little plane they flew in and they loved every minute of it! While down on the ground, I tried not to worry and Oliver whined that he was cold and hungry and wanted to go home (After all HE wasn't going in the airplane so why should he suffer needlessly?)

noonish 

LUNCH @McD's

 and a

visit to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's to pick up Josef. 

( I know they are so evil...but SO good) 



1:30 pm

Trip to library

2:30 pm Call from Tanya (my bff) and invite to watch Kelsi show her horse @ the Canyon County Fairgrounds. After being lost 3 times trying to find it from the freeway we FINALLY arrived then we waited, and waited, and waited. 

We went outside in the grass to let the boys run around a bit. Tanya and I were talking and Oliver walked up and had a slice of Bologna in his hands and was eating it. I asked him where he got it and he pointed down and I freaked because I thought he had found it on the ground. I made him drop it and was telling him how we NEVER eat things off the ground, when he explained it had been in his pocket. Then I was almost even more grossed out, because I had taken those pants from the dryer that morning. So it must have been in his pocket though the whole wash and dry cycle  and come to think of it I haven't bought Bologna in months and months. He could have taken it from Levi's parent house...that it what I am choosing for the official origin. He shoved a slice of Bologna in his pants pocket to take home and eat later. Really none of these sound all that great. Yuck!

Then Kelsi got a turn to show her horse in a trail ride event. It was tough. I was on the edge of my seat as each rider did their thing. Kelsi did really well for it being her first time doing this particular event. She had no training and her horse had also never done this event. Her horse was also being a pain and rearing up a bit. I think she did as good as she could have. Look at me trying to sounding all knowledgeable when I have no idea about showing horses. I learned a great deal about waiting today...I mean showing horses. They even have their own horse show fashions and if you are not wearing the 'in' thing you can loose points. It's brutal.

7:00 pm

( I told you we waited FOREVER)
So dusty, tired, and our shoes surely covered in manure we took everyone to Primo's for dinner. 

That place is amazing. Where else can you feed a kid till he is literally oozing pizza and salad for only $3.75?
We do not leave hungry that is for sure.

10 pm

 I'm exhausted. Goodnight! 

 

Pinewood Derby 2010

Ian is a Bear this year.

Go Bears!

I mean
Cubscout Bears-

He wanted to make his Pinewood Derby car in the shape of a truck this year. A Chevy truck. This made his father very proud. Ford bad, Chevy good.  I did the best I could to help him without Dad here. I'm no truck aficionado.

A lovely man who teaches Highschool wood shop in our ward, cut Ian's design out for him with his fancy power tools. (God Bless him for saving me that disaster.) Also,  a special mention should go out to Grandpa Mitchell who helped us weigh the car and gave us some fun weights. Ian thought these looked like little barrels so we put them in the 'bed' of his truck. 

Ian designed, sanded, and painted his speedy little truck on the kitchen table. I- the official pit crew added the wheels and attached the weight with my handy dandy hot glue gun. 

My favorite part is the windshield wipers, I think they look like it's eyes. Don't you?  Ian loves the flames...they make any car look faster. Don't you think?

Let the races begin!

I love this part! 

The cars go swoosh and the heads go woosh

-every time!

Isn't he cute! 9 is such a great age.

They gave out the most creative awards to the boys-old spark-plugs painted gold hung from ribbons around their necks. BRILLIANT!

The boys had tons of fun! 

Till next years race.....

First Pokemon Tournament

Today was Josef's first Pokemon Tournament. Ian signed up too with a borrowed deck.
Josef won 2 games and lost 2 games. Ian won one game and lost 3. They both were 8th place in their divisions. there were 10-15 kids in each division.

Pokemon-for The Young......and the Old

 

 

 

 

Pinewood Derby 2009

 

 

Ian's Baptism

Ian was baptized and confirmed last night by his father. Many of our Friends and family were able to attend and support Ian. There was a beautiful program with a flute solo by our young neighbor Ashley, a talk by me (where I cried through most of it), and some lovely hymns and prayers by Levi's parents. I loved that so many people drove a whole hour from Boise to see him be baptized.

 

Levi and Ian after the baptism and confirmation.

 

 

Our family-we always need a couple of shots to get everyone smiling.