Baby Rides a Bike

Hmmm...what is this thing?





















I'm not too sure about this...













...but I guess I'll try it.














Baby likes it!

Boy Fixes Brother's Bike

Brother Shares Ball

New Playground!

It's "finally" done...the new playground! Last year a group of moms in S. formed an advocacy group to build a new kid-designed, community-funded, volunteer-built playground. It was amazing to see how it all came together. Over $200k was raised, and then two weeks ago the entire community pulled together to get it done.

They had everything covered, from meals and snacks for workers, tools loan system, shifts for those doing the construction (Mark worked in that area!), childcare in the library basement (the kids and I worked in that area!)...it was remarkable! Construction started Monday a.m., and the grand-opening was the next Sunday evening! We didn't make it in
time for the cook-out and "unveiling," be sure enjoyed exploring and playing!

It's very thematic for our community, from sealife to boats to trains built into the design!
My favorite aspect is that there is a "Tot Lot" for kids 2-5, somewhat separate from the big kids area. And it has great baby swings which Anna loves!

We all had a blast, despite the intense crowd! You can't tell it from the pictures, but the place was packed!



Gotta love the cruise ship pulling out of the bay in the middle pic!

Mother's Day

I certainly am behind in posting...too much nice weather!
Mark and the kids treated me to a very nice Mother's Day! After church the kids gave me their presents, and we tried to get a nice picture of me with al the kids...no luck!










But later, after an attempt at the best gift of all (a nap!), we all ended up piled on the couch! I certainly am blessed to be "mom," "mommy," and "mama" to these three!

Shorts

Today, we are wearing shorts. Yesterday, too.

PS: I'll post more soon, I promise.

Newest Family Members!

Well, we've taken the first leap into our "wannabe farmers" life! Or maybe it's our "wanna use dairy products that don't cost a small fortune each month" life. Whatever it is, we've added two baby goats to our family!

We decided to buy Belle's two kids, which we've named "Snap" and "Sally," and we're quite excited about having them! They won't actually come live here till sometime early in July, and in the meantime we're cramming for the exam!

Even though it will be a while before we can breed Sally (the point in us getting them in the first place is for the milk), we wanted to raise a kid to be used to us, etc, rather than buying a milker. We think it will be a really good experience for the boys to raise and care for them, and the end reward (for us!) will be the milk. I hope to learn how to make our own cheese, yogurt, and kefir besides just having the milk.

Goats are herd animals, so they don't do well by themselves. That's why we're buying Snap as well, as wethers (neutered bucks) make great, gentle companions. (Paying a $25-$50 stud fee for breeding Sally when the time comes will be well worth NOT having to deal with a buck, that much I've learned in the past two weeks)! Snap isn't a for-sure addition yet, as bucklings are worth more than wethers. So if Sarah has someone interested in him as a buck, they'll get first priority. If no one is interested, then he's ours!

At any rate, it will be an adventure! Meet Sally...and Snap!

I'd be rich

I'd be rich, if I could bottle and sell
...the sweet, soft smell of nuzzling Anna's neck when she wakes up,
...the feel of Jacob's skinny little arms wrapped tightly around my neck in a "big 'ug!"
...the twinkle in Andrew's eyes when we share a joke.

Wait-I am rich! I wish I could share these riches with you...

Mom and Dad's Moving Day!

Yay, hurray! My parents' house is finally finished and they get to move in! The Lord provided the most perfect weather imaginable!

Our friends Chad and Kindra graciously offered to drive over from MP to help them move...what a huge help! Tricia recently injured her shoulder, so she took babysitting duty. (Though it must be said, injury or no injury, that she would enjoy watching my kids more than helping move and I would enjoy helping move more than "watching" my kids)!
So Jordan came along to help her out, and they had a grand time doing crafts and riding bikes in her driveway on such a gorgeous day!

Knowing the stairs predicament for moving out of that apartment would be enough to dishearten anyone. But, my dad was ingenious to build this "slide" over the staircase, and it worked beautifully!
The guys had a good routine. My dad was bringing sorting stuff and bringin boxes to the top of the step, Chad launched them down the slide (or carried down the open boxes), Jerry snagged them at the bottom and carried them the few steps to the truck, where Mark was waiting to pack them in the truck. It didn't take long!

While they were doing that, my mom, Rebecca, Kindra, and I were finishing up the packing and cleaning the apartment-so that when we left, there was no reason for my mom to have to go back to do anything-just focus on settling the new house!


Several guys from their church came to help with the piano-what a blessing!

And unloading at their new house!
All in all, everything went very smoothly! My mom's "boss," (our chiropractor, who is more like a family friend than anything!) brought dinner over, Tricia (gladly) returned all of the children to their rightful owners, and we called it a day! (Well, our family did-as in driving home). Mom, Dad, and Rebecca certainly didn't get to call it a day yet.
Can't wait to visit them in their new place!

Another farm visit!

Last Friday (since we were in town for the weekend to help my parents move), we headed back to the farm to see the baby goats! Lucy had had her triplets the week before, and Belle-good girl-actually had her twins on Friday afternoon!
These pics are all of Lucy and the triplets. Belle and her twins were still in the barn under the heat lamp. A red heat lamp doesn't make for very good pictures!

Sarah is such a great "farm hostess," (I'm pretty sure I just made that up, and also that there is a better term for what I'm trying to say, but...) as she is so welcoming and helpful! She was just heading back from a ride when we arrived, and she graciously allowed Andrew to ride a bit with her-as you can tell from his expression, he was thrilled!



Aunt Becca was able to come along, too. "City Girl and Baby Visit the Farm."

Jacob loved watching the baby goats jump around, and he did try holding one of them for less than a minute.

Andrew loved the babies...and spent quite a bit of time holding them.

Hopefully T will post her pics soon (no pressure, Tricia, no rush, we'll wait...)-Anna was quite funny with the baby goat I was holding up to her eye level!

More Saturday Fun

After our tour of the USS Chafee, we had a quick but fun trip to the Sea Life Center! Because the center is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, AK residents get free admission on the 10th of each month. Seeing as it's a fun place to visit, it's educational, it's local, and it's over-priced, we're going to take advantage of all the "10ths" this year!


Here, all my guys as viewed through a round fish tank!


The stellar sea lion "Woody" (the boys' favorite) above water


And then Woody from below!
I forget what these are called...but cool-looking nonetheless!

USS Chafee

I haven't posted much this week because I've had this whole huge event to blog about, and just haven't had time! Last Saturday, we were fortunate to be able to tour the Navy Guided Missile Destroyer, USS Chafee. (This is just one example of many of the cool things our kids-and us,too!-get to experience because of where we live). The Commander of the Chafee is a PK (Pastor's Kid) who is also the "lay chaplain" when the chaplain isn't aboard. He wanted to provide a VIP tour for all of the clergy in the area! It really wasn't your run-of-the-mill tour, either. They even showed us the command center, their fuel consumption charts, and gave a demo of the main artillery gun (its maneuvering capability, not it's firing capability)! :) Did you know that these ships use approximately $1,000,000. worth of fuel in 8 days? We also spent some time with the chaplain, as he shared what his ministry is like. Wow...these are dedicated servants. We're grateful we had such a neat opportunity...enjoy the pics. I had a hard time narrowing it down, as I took over a hundred!

Call me retarded (sorry...that's not very PC, not offense meant if you took any). Call me "html challenged," but I could not/did not figure out how to make the slideshow big enough to see the pictures but small enough to read the captions. So, if you care about both of those qualities, here's what you do:
Simply scroll through the post so that that bottom of the smaller slideshow is at the top of the screen so that you can read the captions as the larger pictures play through underneath at the same time. Good luck...let me know how it goes! I've experimented enough to know that it worked for me!

Firefighter Jacob

His gear has come a long way, don't you think?

It took him forever to get into all this the other day. He started with his firefighter jacket, firehose backpack, and helmet, then went out to the entryway, which is his firehouse. Once in the entryway, he realized he forgot his boots. So he put on his boots. No sooner had he gone back to his firehouse (after coming in to inform me that he now had his boots on, too) it dawned on him that his new yellow rain pants would be grand firefighter pants. So he took off his jacket, backpack, helmet, and boots, wrestled into the rain pants, and put the boots, jacket, backpack, and helmet back on. Went back to the firehouse. Then came back in to let me know he also had put on his fire-safety gloves. And then wanted his picture taken. After all the effort, can you blame him? I'm tired just watching him...