First day of first grade!!!!

Here's the first grader...Do you think he has grown a bit since last year?

(Oscar last year)

Kindergarten was just the beginning. I had no idea that first grade would bring all of the important choices like: Will he eat cold lunch or warm lunch? Will he like warm lunch? Will I let him ride his bike? Will I let him ride his bike by himself with his buddy Austin?

There seems to be a whole different feel to me about first grade. I feel comfortable with Oscar at school all day, and I don't worry about him being a good obedient boy at school. I know that he will absorb a ton of information and that I will have to filter it and pry it out of his little head.

On the other hand I find myself this paranoid mother int he realm of the biking to school world.After practicing over and over again the route, that he should ride ont he sidewalk (not the road) that he needs to watch for cars and PEOPLE (especially other students) it was all thwarted by the fact that it was garbage day and everyone had they stinkin garbage cans on the sidewalk!
We ended up ridign the road and due to the inherited race instincts of my child, he insisted on tring to pass Austin or I if we ever ended up in front of him.
I found myself shouting "move to the side of the road", "Don't pass out into the middle of the road", "OSCAR STOP!!!" Why did you go to cross infont of that car???? I don't care if they are stopped!! They have the right of way!"
Unleashed was this over-protective mommy that couldn't just let the boys ride...
My justification is the fact that it only takes ONE wrong move between you and a car and that is it!!! There is no replay or learning curve!
ahhhhhhh just typing this I feel myself tensing up. I know that if Rick were riding with them he woudl be a bit more laid back. Truly the majority of the time when they were making a riding infraction they were not in any serious danger, but still...before I can let them ride solo I NEED to know that they are going to follow the rules!

On a good note, Oscar came home alive and LOVED his first day. he loves his teacher ( who on more than one occcasion has been described to me as the very best teacher). He is excited to learn and was exstatic taht they got to climb on the climbing wall in P.E. today. He ifnormed me that the younger kids aren't allowed to go to the top until they get bigger...he was a little diapointed but loved it anyway.

Poppy adjusted well to the one on one time, that is after she threw a few tantrums just to make sure she had my undivided attention.
tonight she used her sweety voice and was a nice bird. It will be interesting to see how things unfold.

Dog days of summer...

(Poppy girl happy as a clam in the mud!)

I'm currently wrapped up in a warm blanket posting a blog about the toasty days of summer...Why you ask am I bundled in a hoodie and blanket? Let's just say that this summer mama is not accustomed to the 60 degree weather we have had for the past few days...therefore i will indulge in a little bit of some warm day recap!

(And here is clam #2 Ivy bug basking in the muddy goodness)

If there is one thing that can be said about summer, it would be the copious amounts of food snacks that get devoured at all hours of the day. In fact, as you can see all of these kiddies are loving the treats that us three mommies had to share. In fact I think there is an unspoken rule that if you are meeting for a picnic with friends be sure to include extras so that it can become a snacking feast.
Oscar ate nearly nothing (aside from the brownie Betina brought)...he was much more content swimming or laying in the sunshine.
And what summer on the Palouse could be complete without seeing a bit of the food chain. Here we see a barge full of the Palouse gold...wheat! So cool to see the wheat go from the green stubble in the spring, to the golden flowing fields in July, to the combine, grain truck, barge, bag, and then...to my wheat grinder where I always love to open the flour catcher to a dust of freshly ground flour.
There is something special about living amongst such active agriculture. I love it!

Now if this Pregnant mother could learn how to cook again, we might be in business. Seriously I think my family may throw me out and never let me come back! i wouldn't call myself a Fabulous cook, but I have been known to cook some tasty food, that is when my taste buds are in normal order. Let's just say last nights dinner was not so great. It may have something to do with the fact that I CANNOT taste test the food during preparation without it becoming a black listed food.
Sad dinner days at the Edge house...fair warning to all who dare to share a meal at this house!! That is, unless Ricky is on duty and then all is well.

Eight years plus...

Eight Years ago today Ricky and I were on our honeymoon in Jackson Hole/Yellowstone National Park. I had forgotten to pack any sort of hiking shoes, and only had my Wedding dress wedge flip flops and my generic flip flops...not the best choices when you are planning an outdoors honeymoon. To make things worse my regular flip flops broke the first day and I managed to pick up some sort of illness that left me puking (no I was not pregnant).

My poor sweet husband I'm sure was wishing he could step back a day to find his more collected and level headed Fiance'. If he was in fact thinking this, he didn't show it one bit. He was supportive and bought me some Pepto-Bismal at the wee hours of the morning to calm my wrenching stomach.

After I believe three days of very low-scale hiking (yes we found a replacement pair of flip flops) we decided that it was time to head home...who cares if it was a couple of days early??? It seemed that the cure laid back in our humble little apartment.

This certainly wasn't the Honeymoon that story books are made of, but it was nice. It was nice because every day, trip and experience from that moment forward has just kept getting better. I can think of a hundred vacations that were more fitting of the typical honeymoon mold. Yet, I still hold on to that honeymoon as the beginning of something great.

I really can't think of anyone that could be a better fit than my Ricky (here is where he gags on my sentimentality) but really...I'm a happy girl, with a happy family, in a happy place. What more could I ask for. Life is good!!!

Grandma and Grandpa's visit...plus Anutie Nat

To see some the fun pics of the bike riding excursion to Harrison you can check out this blog and this one...in the meantime, here are some fun shots of the visit...from my lens. The same lens that forgot to accompany us on the bike ride. But was lucky enough to capture...

Grandpa trying out the wet slide...

Grandma Toting around the Poppy Princess...

And two soggy bottoms.

It was so fun having the family around. It makes me miss all of the fun times that families have that live a bit closer. But as they always say...it's Quality, not quantity that counts.
Thanks G&G+N for coming to visit. We miss having your fun faces around.

Oh, so good...and Oh, so bad

When Pregnant I develop this strange relationship with food. At first I hate ALL of it. Nothing is good everything is bad, and if I'm not careful the food may remain on the Black list for a very long, long time...
I then seem to go into transition where food becomes something of a obsession...In fact I clearly remember (and Ricky does too) that when I was pregnant with Oscar we went on a date to a Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant (a buffet, salad bar type joint). You take a plate and fill it with whatever you like and then take a seat and eat.
After getting my food and sitting down to the table Rick looked at me, looked at the plate, and said "Are you really going to eat all of that?"
At that very moment I had no clue that my plate was actually THAT full. In fact if I recall, I remember eating ALL of it and then going to the little dessert bar for some tasty ice cream. I was in my second trimester, when I start to feel alive again and food tastes like you have never had good food before.
Shortly after this "date", my Doctor informed me that I had gained 9 lbs in ONE month. He said I should probrably watch what I was eating a little closer...

I share this experience, not so much to illustrate my complete loss of self control, but to put down on blog, a very important truth...Food never tastes SO good, and SO bad as when I am pregnant.
Case in point...Yesterday while at the Farmer's market, we collected our fresh veggies and proceeded to ride our bikes home.
Rick had picked up a few danishes to eat at a stopping point on the way home. For the entire 10 miles to that stopping point my mind wandered through various types of food I would have very much liked to have been shoving down my face at that very moment...Patty's kitchen tamales, burritos, the danish sitting in the trailer in front of me...the list goes on and on.
It was as though My mind was in a constant state of food lust.
When we finally stopped to enjoy the treat I was completely in foodie heaven...Never had I tasted a danish that was so delicious! It was light, fluffy with tart cherries and some heavenly creamy cheese middle. In fact as I sit here typing this, I find myself wishing it were not Sunday, and that I could venture over to Moscow to find another.
I may find myself at the Wheatberry bakery tomorrow after spin class, and I may also gain 10 lbs this month, but wow....they are delicious.

Next up is the delicious dinner we had last night. Ricky took me out to Swilly's (a local favorite) for our 8 yr anniversary (I'll post on that tomorrow).
For dinner I ordered come green curried trout, with a tomato-coconut curry sauce, placed over jasmine rice and green peas. Once again I ate every bite with a renewed love of fish and all things curry! Food was suddenly my best friend and I relished in every bite.

Yesterday was a good day...not too sick and overall wonderful. Had it not been each of those items could very well have ended up on my black list...

I'm sure it has something to do with teh old addage that "you have to have somthing bitter so that you can taste the sweet" that makes the whole fenomenon occur. In the mean time I'm really looking forward to briding the second trimester mark, where I'm past that nausea and all food tastes good, nearly every day...
Oh, and I'm certain to be craving those danishes for the next 6 months!!!

1 car, 6 bikes, two stroller/trailers

This past week We said goodbye to our sweet little Honda...
And our Not-so-cute Mini-van...
All in order to say hello to our family's newest addition....
Our newish mini-mini van, the Mazda 5. I am amazed at how small it looks in our garage. We now have room for all of our bikes! We currently have 6 bikes and two Trailer/joggers. lately they have certainly been getting much more use than our vehicles, so we thought it only perfect to downsize to one car.
Oscar thinks it is great that he can park his bike on the whole second half of the garage. Also, the new mini takes up a lot less space than either of the other two cars, but still seats 6 people!
To acquire our new addition we drove to Boise to make the deal with another couple who were selling it. It also made it so that we could swap our van over to my sister, it's new owner. It took 26 hours for the entire trip in which we drove for about 11 of those hours.
We stayed at my cousin Tammy's house and got to see my brother and his wife (who I haven't seen in almost 2 years) and a bunch of my cousins.
We also stopped by the World birds of prey Museum to kill a bit of time before picking up our car.

Oscar loved seeing all of the birds, alive and stuffed...
Poppy was like a little hawk...On the journey home we stopped by Payette Lake in McCall ID. It was really pretty and the water wasn't too bad (although, I only went in up to my knees). The kids and Dad had a great time on a little island rock, while dad searched for crawdads.
In the end it was a nice little adventure and we are getting back to normal. I have a ton of things to post and I never manage to get it on here.
Soon to come is my Cherry canning, and the current visit of Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Natalie. Things are going well and we are so happy to have family in town.