Pictures from our trip back to Nebraska

Ms. Brooks (student teacher) Jordan and Mrs. Julien on her last day of school at Betty Kiefer

My nieces Emily and Teresa with Jordan at my friend Dina's stuffed animal store

Me and my friend Dina


This is how packed our car was on the drive home.


It reminded me of something out of a movie :)


Riley was not happy to have Simba sleeping on him but it was too cute not to take a picture


Jordan took this picture of Tid Bit riding in the back seat



Simba decided to get up on the dash and play with the leash while I was driving


Riley, Simba and Jordan playing around in the tent on our first night camping


Simba fell asleep with his back legs on my shoulder and his front paws up on the back of my seat. It was too funny. He slept like that for almost an hour.

Back in Nebraska and Online!

Let me tell you after having dial up Internet all summer and then having no Internet for 3 weeks, I was in heaven last night when our cable got connected. We are getting settled into our house in Fremont. It needs alot of work but we are making it "home". Jordan starts school Monday. It's a year-round school and they were on a break when we first moved back here. It's about 8 blocks from our house but straight down the street so it will be an easy walk for her. I have an interview on Monday with the daycare that's right across the street from our house. It would be so convenient to not have to drive or walk anywhere to work. The weather is starting to cool down so Jim won't be able to ride his motorcycle much longer and will have to use the car to get to and from work in Omaha. I will post some pictures on here later of our camping adventures and about our drive back out here. Just wanted to post a quick hello and let everyone know we made it. I had over 400 email messages to go through since I was without internet for 3 weeks :) For those of you who have emailed me I will get back with you as soon as I can. Gotta run to Walmart right now and get some things.

Deer

My dad has deer that quite frequently come down from the mountain, cross through his corral and then go out in his field. We have really enjoyed watching them this summer. Jordan always comes running in the house saying "Deer! Deer!" whenever she sees one. Last night there was a doe who was being really friendly with his dog Molly. She let Molly get right up close to her. These pictures came out grainy because I had to zoom all the way in to get them. She would let the dog get close to her but not us :)

Simba Sam

This is how they slept last night.


He is such a cuddle bunny :)


Jordan got a kitten yesterday. She named him Simba Sam. First it was just Simba, then it was Sam now she says Sam is his middle name. Isn't he a cutie!

Rest In Peace Uncle David

My uncle, David Radcliffe, was senselessly murdered along with five other people on Tues. Sept. 2nd in Alger, WA.

First day of first grade!

Jordan started first grade today at Betty Kiefer Elementary. Betty Kiefer was a well known teacher here in Rathdrum and they named the school after her. Actually, my sister Angie had Mrs. Kiefer for a teacher. I took Jordan to school this morning and then she took the bus home. There are 3 other kids who get off the bus at her stop too.

Her new outfit


Showing off her backpack that we got over the summer on clearance for $7


She has the same lunchbox as last year.


Posing proudly in front of the school


This was the "Ok mom, I'm fine now would you please leave" picture :)

Family day!

We had a great family day today. It's my only day off this week while Jim is here. We started out this morning with going to Hayden to the Triple Play, which is attatched to the hotel I work at. It's alot like Chuckie Cheeses, where you play games and earn tickets. I had a bunch of tickets and some token cards that people had left behind in their hotel rooms. If we find them after the people have checked out we get to keep them. Well between the 5 token cards I had there was almost $20 worth of tokens and about 400 tickets. Jordan had a great time playing games and winning more tickets and then she got to pick out prizes she wanted.

Jim playing the basket ball game

Jordan playing Deal or No Deal video game. She said no deal through the whole thing and ended up with her case having 15 tickets :)

Remind me never to ride in a car with Jordan. LOL. She's a maniac driver

Playing the spider smash game.

After TriplePlay we went and got lunch at McDonalds and then went to the Harley Davidson store in Coeur d'Alene so Jim could get a Coeur d'Alene Harley shirt. He also got Jordie one for school.

After The Harley store we drove for about an hour up to Sandpoint, ID. It's a cute little tourist town. We were going to go fishing at Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced pond-er-ray) but the man at Walmart sporting goods there told us the fishing would be better at Round Lake so we drove back about 15 minutes to Round Lake State Park. It is a very small lake and was really nice. Jim caught 4 blue gills and 2 small smallmouthed bass. He didn't keep any of them. They were way too small. The highlight of our time at the lake was when the eagle was flying overhead and then came down to the water to grab a fish. I got a picture of her just as she was lifting off the water. Then a seagull came down and did the same thing but it wasn't as neat as seeing the eagle do it.

Jim and Jordan ready to fish.

The happy fisherman

The first tiny smallmouth bass

The eagle way up in the sky

Getting closer

The eagle has landed (if you click on this picture and open it up in another window you can really see the fish at the end of his feet)

Now the seagull has his turn

Reeling in another....

Bluegill!

While we were driving back home we saw a big eagle's nest on a power pole and also some white tailed deer. It was great to see the wildlife. We topped the night off with going out for Mexican food. My favorite! It was a wonderful day with my family.

Eagle in nest on way home

And another one that was on the other side of the road

Deer on the way home

Jim doesn't want to have to go back to Omaha on Sunday. He's going job hunting tomorrow and Fri. while I'm at work and Jordie is at daycare. Hopefully he will find something and be able to go back to Omaha and give notice.

More cute puppy pictures

These pictures are about 2 weeks old but I think they are so cute. That's my "baby" sister Crystal in the pictures. She was laying on the trampoline and the puppies started crawling up on her and then Jordan piled them all up with her

Aren't they precious!

What a faker Jordan!

Update

Our most exciting news is Jim is coming out for a visit! He will be here on the 25th and stay for a week. We can't wait to see him. Jordan and I both miss him very much. He's going to do some job searching while he is here too.



Well I took a job at the Holiday Inn Express in Hayden. I'm working in the housekeeping department. The job itself is OK. The people I work with are another story. Everyone is such a gossip there and they all talk about each other and call each other names. It's really discouraging. The pay stinks too. It's only $7/hr and I only get about 6 hours a day. I've applied and interviewed with Walmart in Post Falls. I'm just waiting to get the results back from my drug screening and background check. That job would be for cashiering and would be up to 33 hours a week. They don't have anything full time right now. It's more money though--$8.40/hr. Today I had an interview at my old college--North Idaho College, in their Children's Center for a floater teacher. That pays fantastic! $12-14/hr. I will find out on Fri. if I got that job or not. They had 4 or 5 other interviews to do. The place has changed so much since I was there. They now have 5 different classrooms ages infant-5 years old. I would LOVE to work there.



I gave all the puppies their first shots today and they will be in the paper tomorrow for sale. It will be sad to see them go but it is time. They are 7 1/2 weeks old now but are fully weaned and really love running and playing. I took some pictures of them last night to post on a Yahoo group. Maybe we will get some calls from that too.

Two male puppies

Three dark colored female puppies

Two light colored females



Jordan starts daycare tomorrow. My mom, bless her, sent me some money to get her started with. Jordan is so excited because the lady has 2 horses and a swimming pool! She only has 2 other daycare kids right now but has 4 kids of her own.



I was down to $12 in my checking account and had to borrow my dad's gas card this week for gas. I get paid from Holiday Inn on the 22nd so I can pay dad back. Jordan and I are working at the County Fair next week on Wed. and Thurs. from 9-3 at Dina's booth. Dina is going to pay me $30 a day for that. I figure it's pretty fair trade, she can get us into the fair for free also. Her kids do 4-H and she wanted to watch them during their shows so I told her I would work the booth.

Jordan starts school on the 2nd and is getting excited about that. Her registration is next Thurs. evening. That's about it from this neck of the woods.

Fond Memories

I've had some fond memories the past couple weeks living here. Jordan has been enjoying playing in the field with the dogs. That's what my sisters and I used to do all the time. We would run through the field and play "Little House on the Prairie". You know the beginning of the old Little House shows where Mary, Laura and Carrie were running down the hill. Watching my daughter run and frolic in the field has brought those memories back.

She also had a ball at the old Rathdrum City Park and playing in the same creek my sisters and I used to play in. My little sister,Crystal, claims we tried to downed her there although I don't remember any such thing.

Fun Weekend

We spent the last 2 days in Coeur d'alene with my friends Dina and Renee. Dina has her stuffed animal store at a booth for the street fair. My friend Renee came over from Elk, WA (a one hour drive) both days to spend time with us. It was alot of fun. Today me, Renee, Jordan, Renee's daughter Madison, Renee's mom and her 2 nieces went over to Art on the Green which is over at our old college. The girls had alot of fun. They got to paint, work with clay, make gourd birdhouses, got balloon dogs and got to try their hand at juggling and walking on huge balls. Here's a few pics from today.

Jordan in front of the sand castle display.

Riley got a polo shirt from Dina's booth :)

Jordan and Madison with their gourd birdhouses.

That's Jordan in the center standing on the ball. Renee and her mom are helping to hold her up

Dina's Boston Terrier, Roxy. She is SUCH a good dog. She is their shop dog and is used to being dressed up for parties and such. She sat out front of the booth all day today.

Jordan and Roxy