Summer Playdoh

The kids love playing with playdoh. I hate cleaning up the floor after playdoh. No matter how neat they keep their playtime, you KNOW you're going to have playdoh crumbs on the floor and ground into their socks.





















So I felt like a genius when they asked, on one of our beautiful, hot days, if they could play with playdoh...and I said of course they could, outside on the deck! Talk about mom brownie points!





















They had a great time, and ironically Anna stayed with it longer than the boys did. I guess one of their "forts" was calling to them. But before they ran off to play, Andrew showed me his creation...Africa with Ethiopia marked on it! You can't see it because his roller tool he used to point it out is in the way, but it looked like a little heart right whre Ethiopia is!
(We also studied South Africa in geography this year, so he cut that out, too).
















I'm not sure which by which I was more impressed...Andrew's map, or the fact that all I had to do to clean up was sweep the playdoh crumbs onto the deck and down through the cracks

Rough Day

Our community could use some prayer.

Last night, our friend Charlie's house burned to the ground (thankfully, he is currently living elsewhere at an assisted living home). But, all of his artwork was lost to the fire, and Kindra will have a heavier load to deal with as his POA.

Then Phil, the neighbor to the north of the church, died suddenly at 11:30 this morning. They presume a heart attack. He has no close friends or family.

And there was another ambulance call for a 6 year old boy that had stopped breathing, though nobody knows who the family involved is (there are many weekenders from Anchorage who just have getaway cabins).

Many of us are reeling...thanks for your prayers.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away...BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.

Another favorite

First it was Larry-Boy, and now it's....

A first.

And hopefully a last.

Anna waxed creative on our way home from prospecting the other day (more on the prospecting day later), and used her time on our drive home to decorate her legs with markers. I was not happy with her. But it could always be worse, I'm sure...do all kids go through a time of trying to decorate their bodies with markers?

Happy Mother's Day!

Our family has been blessed SO much...Mark and I are extremely grateful to both have wonderful mothers involved in our lives and in the lives of our children.

And our children? Amazing. They've changed me, and continue to do so on a daily basis...to make me more of the woman God intends me to be. I know it's cliche, but I simply can't imagine my life without them, and I wouldn't want to. I am overwhelmingly blessed (well, and tired) to be their mom, mommy, mama.

That, and they're funny.

Ham and cheese!

Anna's the ham, and she's trying the goat cottage cheese.
She liked it.
The boys didn't.
Mark and I thought it was okay.

I'll definitely try it again, as I in theory totally ruined it and did just about everything wrong that I could have. And it was still okay. So I'll give it another go sometime when I'm focused on what I'm doing, and I think even I'll like it!

Tot Time Hike

We started our summer hiking season with all our "Tot Time" friends...we had a great turnout for the first hike!
As is typical, we started with Russian River Falls Trail, because it's stroller accessible and relatively easy despite it's length of four and half miles (round-trip).
















The day started out cool in the shade, but it certainly warmed up quickly!
Here, the boys are feigning their tiredness and overheated state...

















The kids and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves...though it's getting tricky to keep pace with Andrew and Anna at the same time! The moms all do a pretty good job of rotating around, someone keeping out front with the older kids, and someone bringing up the rear with the littles. I was pretty impressed with Anna, as I figure she hiked at least 2 of the 4 miles!
















The trail ends at a deck overlooking the falls, where we enjoy a rest and a picnic before heading back up the trail. Quite a group, I'd say!

National Trails Day!

This week we attended one of our favorite summer events...a National Trails Day celebration hosted by our local forest rangers-my friend Irene being the principal creative genius behind it all.

















Despite being late due to some super-tired kiddos who slept in till 10:30 after being out late at Mark's softball game the night before, we were able to enjoy the craft stations! At the first station, they made "bug houses" and decorated "Bug Journals" in which to record their nature observations.






















Then we headed to the science and craft station that this year features "Cow Parsnip," otherwise known as pushki. If you've ever visited Alaska, you've seen this prolific and hardy plant! The kids made wands out of dried pushki umbras...what's not to love about glitter, sequins and ribbons replete with lots of glue?





















Then we hit the trail for a bit with some old friends that we hadn't seen in a while, and we all had a terrific time hiking with long-lost best buds! Have I mentioned lately that I love where we live?

Sunshine...

...on my shoulders, makes me happy!
We've had A LOT of sunshine around here these days. Days on end of seventy-five degrees. We're loving it. I'm taking lots of pictures. I'm not taking lots of time to blog them.






















Not to say we're not enjoying the not-so-sunny days. Any excuse to use a favorite umbrella is welcomed by some in these parts. And the next time the kids are all out enjoying the umbrella, I'll blog away.





















For now, it's just after midnight and finally dark...off to bed. More sunshine to enjoy tomorrow, I hope.

Tea Party Fundraiser!

I FINALLY finished the post about our latest and greatest fundraiser...head over to the adoption blog on the sidebar or just click here to see how the event went!

Book Report

Andrew has a new post up (sorry to those of you who saw it when it was accidentally posted in draft form with just the pictures and some typing added by a certain almost 3-year-old).

This "book report" of sorts has taken us over a week to work on, but we're both really pleased with the results. It's becoming easier for Andrew to formulate his thoughts in sentence form for writing, and he's enjoying the process more than he did before. This piece has also been a vehicle for working on handwriting, and for the first time in 3 years of schooling, I see that he actually has pretty nice handwriting!

The neat thing about this story summary is that written out by hand, double-spaced, it's FIVE pages long, and he is SO impressed with himself for writing that much! Regrettably, it doesn't look nearly so voluminous once it's typed out.

His "book report" came from a book of Ethiopian fables, and of the numerous ones we read, this one was his favorite. Enjoy his summary!

Littlest Love of my Life

She done gradgiated!

It's still hard for me to believe, but my baby sister just graduated from college last week...she's now a bona fide teacher! We've had fun the last few years being able to "talk shop" and share ideas for the classroom...I'm excited to see where her first "real teaching job" takes her! Rebecca, I am SO PROUD of you!!!

Brunch at T's!!!

This past weekend, we held a brunch in honor of my mom...who had the misfortune to be born on May 7th, meaning she never gets a separate celebration and such for both her birthday and Mother's Day-we always lump into into one affair!


Tricia hosted a grand affair, with plenty of fun, food, and laughter. As always!
















(Mom and Anna, Rebecca and her boyfriend Mike with mom, and Kimberly and her boyfriend Jeff. Although it seems really strange to call a man in his 40's a boyfriend. A manfriend? Sorry, I digress).




















The weather was positively gorgeous...mom and Anna made a little house back in the woods, and served up sprucecone lunch on a flat rock plate! And they watched the birds, after which Anna marched back down across the yard to invite everyone to come to the woods at the edge of the yard, because "It's nice up there!"



















Tricycle riding for all. Okay, maybe not all. But for Jacob, Jeff, and Kimberly-I don't think anyone else tried it except for Anna. Anna was being towed around the yard on it by her brother, and Tricia actually got the fall on camera. Funny stuff...I'm sure Tricia will blog about it eventually. Speaking of Tricia's blog, for some reason her latest post has refused to update on my blogroll, so check back periodically to check on the new stuff it won't tell you is there.




















The guys enjoyed tossing the football around...perfect backyard for it! Tricia has some amazing pictures of Mark and Andrew...Tricia, no pressure to blog all this...I know you're actually busy helping me with the silent auction stuff. (More details coming on our adoption blog on that).



















And then while Mark set about dismantling a chain link fence dog run that Tricia's neighbors offered to us, the rest of set out on a walk around the block! Kimberly is not a real power-walker. She's just silly. I spared her (and the rest of you), the picture of her "Elaine dancing," which she's quite good at. (Think Seinfeld).

It was a grand day and we all had a fantastic time...we love you, mom!