Swimming!

Andrew's friend Jonah had his birthday party at the pool yesterday, and everyone had a great time! It was Anna's first time swimming, and she wasn't quite sure what to think of it. The water was on the cool side, so she didn't stay in too long. One of the other moms accused me of putting her in the water just so we had an excuse to put her in her robe and slippers! :)

Our (almost) house!

After almost a year of looking for a home, we found one in Seward! This is the house for which the sellers accepted our offer, and we're in the process of making it ours!
The realtor called us about it before he even listed it, knowing our housing needs and price range after helping us all this time. He told us about it a week ago Thursday, we looked at it Tuesday and again on Wednesday, put in our offer Thursday, and it was accepted by Friday morning!

It's only 1200 sf, but has 3 bedrooms, and a small room off the right side that used to be a boiler/storage room, which we will easily turn into a school room. It sits on one acre, and at the back of the huge backyard is actually a wooded area that the boys will love! The house is the 2nd to the last one on the street, so there's little traffic, and the road dead ends at the forest, with an abundance of trails to explore!
The interior has been redone with new flooring and fresh paint throughout. After being in the trailer, it seems huge (but not when we compare it to the place we're living in now)! The great thing is that it's only 4 miles from Mark's work, so he can be home every night by 4:15! It's also only a few miles from the pool (I've been wanting to get the boys to the pool for P.E. more often), the library, the grocery store, etc. Hmm...seems like a cushy town life, which will take some adjustment for us! Our church will have to make some adjustments along with us, which was the biggest drawback to buying in Seward. But, we've sought the Lord's will in this process, and we know He will help us work out all the ramifications!

All in all, we're grateful that God provided a house for us...please pray that all of the financial details and otherwise fall into place! We have a tentative closing date of Nov. 29th, so we'll hopefull be in and settled in time to get a Christmas tree!

PS: Mark meets with the inspector tomorrow, so hopefully he'll be able to get some pics of the inside of the house.

1st Backpacking!

A few weeks ago, Anna graduated from the front-pack to the back-pack! It was her first of many hikes in it, and she seemed to enjoy it just fine! We just took a quick walk out behind the house after dinner (which is getting harder and harder to do before dark!), but it was fun! (Keep in mind that behind the house is Chugach National Forest...not walking around a yard or something). :)

Jacob...

The many faces of Jacob during his birthday party...(see more at Tricia's blog)!

We find it hard to believe that he's already three...in many ways, he's "grown-up" more than we think. He likes to help around the house...helping to set and clear the table, putting away laundry, helping Andrew feed the dog. He responds to everything, particularly obedience, with great exuberance. Either he is delighted to obey, and excited when he finishes what he's been asked ("Yay! I did it!"), or he's extremely hard-headed and belligerent about not obeying. We're working with him on his attitude, and he is making progress. We have full confidence that God will take that hard-headedness & direct it towards preserving the things of the Kingdom and opposing injustices.

One thing we appreciate about Jacob is his willingness to repent. We always have the boys pray both for forgiveness and for help in whatever area they've just needed to apologize to someone about, and Jacob initiates that process himself. Even before he has stopped crying, he's asking me if he can pray. Last week I took both boys to a free developmental screening, where their understanding of numerous concepts are checked (position words, full/empty, colors, etc). One of the questions was "what do you do when you break something that belongs to someone else?" Andrew's answer showed his understandably more developed concept...you say you're sorry and try to fix it. Jacob's answer? You pray. :) I'm not sure what the lady doing the screening thought of that!

He's doing fairly well with potty-training, going most of the time without being reminded.

He and Andrew have a very good relationship, for which we're grateful. He truly misses Andrew when he's gone, and when playing together, they have much more cooperation than they have arguing (not to say that there isn't arguing!).

He still genuinely adores Anna, wanting to hold her, and trying to help her whenever she's "wussy." (He still says /w/ for /f/). And he reminds me take care of her ("Mom, when Anna cries, you need to 'w'eed 'er milk!"

And he has a great sense of humor! He finds many things to take joy in, and his laugh is contagious..."Mom, isn't that wunny!" All in all, he's a great kid, (not that I'm biased), and I wish you all could know him the way we do!

Jacob's Three!

I have tons of pictures from Jacob's birthday, but figured I'd start with just a few from his actual birthday (we had a big family party on Saturday). For full coverage of the party, just check out Tricia's blog! (Thanks for saving me lots of posting, Trish)! :)

Friday morning Jacob helped make the cake and licked the beaters! Then we were out and about at appointments for most of the day, with the special treat of having lunch with Nana between times. (Nana is our dear friend Rosella, who was adopted as Nana when Andrew was a baby, and she since married Ben who makes a wonderful Papa).

We ended up in Seward, where we met Mark after work, so that he and Jacob could head out on their date night! They went to the playground (despite the cold rain), went to the library, and then out to eat at a restaurant.

This left Andrew and I a few hours to race around and get ready! We decorated the cake, put up balloons and streamers, put the finishing touches on his present, and did the wrapping! Andrew was a super helper!

A few weeks ago we had asked Andrew what he would like to do for Jacob for his birthday. He decided that he wanted to make a truck and trailer for him. The list of specs for it alarmed Mark, as Andrew included the need for the truck to beep when it was backing up! Thankfully Andrew forgot that detail, and he worked hard at it out in the barn with Mark for several blocks of time. It turned out great, and Jacob really loves it!

Just 'cuz she's cute...

Cc Day!

We had tons of fun with our Cc Day! The boys made crowns with cotton c's on them, created a collection of toys that start with c, made celery wagons with either carrot or cucumber wheels to add to their lunch of crackers, cranberry sauce, cookies and cocoa, and finished the day by wearing their costumes! (We don't celebrate Halloween, but I hated to not use their costumes. This seemed the perfect excuse to wear them)!

Needless to say, we're loving school!

Jacob and Anna

I especially love the profiles in the middle...
The most frequent comment we get on Anna (besides, "Oh, she's so cute!") is always along the lines of "She looks like another Jacob, only a girl!"
(I'm glad they add on the girl part). :)

Bible illustrations!

I'm having a lot of fun trying to bring our Bible lessons to life!

This is our reenactment of the story of Balaam's donkey. Jack the Weeble Wobble is King Balak of the Moabite lego people, being overwhelmed by the Israeli hoard of Fisher-Price Little People! So they sent for Balaam the helicopter man to curse the Israelite Little People. En route, Balaam's donkey stopped when he saw angel bear in the path three times, so Balaam helicopter man hit his donkey each of the three times, until the donkey finally said "Hey, stop hitting me!"

Maybe not Kosher, but they remember the story!

Boys together...

Sorting through the berries for me...













Getting as close to the property line as allowed to watch our neighbor work on his cabin...













"Driving" the wheelbarrow! Flip it upside down, use the axels as pedals and spin the wheel for steering. Combination mushing sled when passenger must stand in the back.

Sweet Anna

Some of Jacob...

"Bundled boy rides scooter at 22 degrees."

















For this, there are simply no words.

Gg Day

We had a "Gg" day a few weeks ago, and made quite the collage of items and pictures starting with that letter!
Of course there are pictures of all the grandparents, and we hung a glove and swim goggles on, and taped up gum, and bag of grass, and a plastic goat and goose, to name a few!
The boys loved the fact that I let them chew gum, which is a treat reserved for airplane rides only...so you can see Andrew in the pics trying to show off his gum!

A fall walk...

Music

Andrew has been taking a serious interest in guitar lately. He has a long carboard tube that Mark saved from work, and he turned it into his guitar. He has a guitar pick that he uses, and "strums" on the tube, often sitting by Anna, making up songs for her.

Then, he decided to bring it to our worship team's music practice. He sat in the front row and "strummed" along with us on his cardboard tube for over an hour! For part of our music class time, I've been letting him strum on our guitar (which as of yet none of us actually know how to play), which he loves.

The next Sunday, he cried bitterly on the way to church when he realized he had forgotten it at home, but he remembered it the next week and sat in the back row and played during the worship time at church.

If the interest holds, we might just get him one his size for Christmas!

Andrew's writing

Lately Andrew has been "writing" up a storm, leaving notes all over the house. I found this note on Anna's crib the other day, and it was too precious not to record!