July highlights

Is there nothing better? Does anyone else just love brand new Crayola crayons? We snagged this the other day at FM and it has been very popular around here. Especially by our little one who wears mostly pink. She actually sorted the entire thing by color the 2nd day she had it. So now it looks like a big organized rainbow. I was secretly so proud of her, because that is exactly what I would have done!

Drew checking out a very interesting history book at one of our favorite new stops!

Kaci and Jordyn joining us at our favorite stop for Story Time! I don't think when Jessica and I were 14 we would have imagined this! We've been best buds since 9th grade! Bungee Buddies, actually! I hope you're reading this, Jess!

This little Kangaroo came jumping down the hall out of her room with her baby doll in the pouch! We went on a walk shortly after, and the kangaroo came too. I held her long tail so she could walk without dragging it. She collected leaves the entire way to feed her "baby!"

Us three having "Grill Time" as Morgan puts it.

Uncle Sean and Auntie Vanessa came for a long weekend toward the end of July! We were able to go up to their new property and spend the day. The kids even went out fishing with the men, not a fish was in sight, but they had a blast!

Uncle Sean and Miss Morgan

Beautiful Auntie Vanessa and Sweet Annika

Fancy Nancy look-a-likes Morgan and Abby!

My Mom, who is affectionately know as Grammy by the grandkids made 3 sets of matching dresses for the girls!! They are SO adorable!

Thanks, Mom... they will see loads of wear!

!

let the Games begin!

Meet the 2008 Olympic team of the best Olympic sport! Gymnastics!!! I thought I'd add to my sis Jen's post here.... by letting you meet the team! Big nerds, I know! We've been into gymnastics since longer than I can remember! Go USA!

Shawn, our national all-around champ.

Nastia, our national all-around runner up.

Chellsie

Samantha

Bridget

Alicia

a MUST read

There are a few (a lot) of "social issues" in this country that send me on a major soap box, and this book touches on several of them! I'm not usually into politics and that sort of thing. And never before have I used this blog to mention any of those, but I am very into anything that has to do with our health and cover-ups by the ones we should be able to trust in the name of money... (think water supplies, pesticides, airborne poison, autism, vaccines, breast cancer, etc... they're all covered here)

I ran into the public library to return some books this afternoon while my family patiently waited in the car. I can't enter a library without walking through the isles to see if a book catches my interest. Well, I walked out of the library with about 8 books on subjects that range from vegetables to cooking to vaccines to my book club book to juices & smoothies to THIS.

I couldn't wait to jump into it. I've been sitting on the couch since we arrived home a couple hours ago and have been devouring it ever since. I'm now half way through the book and may finish it by the time my head hits the pillow. It seriously makes me want to do something. So I figured the best thing I could do about it all at this moment was to tell all of you about it! A lot of the issues talked about in the book were issues I was already concerned about and being proactive about for our family, but I was astonished by countless others. And can I just make one recommendation before you read this book??

STOP eating Tuna! I knew about mercury levels when the whole thing came out about Tuna containing dangerous levels of mercury, but I innocently assumed that it would be taken care of for the safety of our nations consumers. Boy, was I wrong! (I learned there is nothing that can be done! You can't buy your way around the tuna problem! No options for "organic" tuna.)

To make an amazingly interesting chapter short... basically, mercury gets to our ocean's creatures by pollution that originates in coal-fired plants. "First, it pollutes the surrounding air, then, in an inexorable cycle, it drifts with the wind and rains down into the ocean water." So basically, once it settles in the sea, it begins to contaminate the smallest creatures first. The it quickly moves through the food chain... ending with the largest fish, like tuna, holding the largest levels of mercury. Yuck! You have to get your hands on this book! And the "good" albacore tuna is the worst, it holds 3 times the amount of mercury as the regular kind. It is disasterous to your health. Especially our children, babies, and unborn. SO..... not to be a bummer of a friend, but we Americans are WAY too trusting. The amount that the FDA says is beneficial for your health is absolutely not. "If American women follow the FDA's advice and eat a can of albacore tuna a week, a bad situation will be made far, far worse."

There are a few more major issues that I haven't yet gotten to in the book. The tagline on the front of the book states, "Startling new evidence about the real causes of cluster illnesses, birth defects, cancer, asthma, and autism."

I'm sure I'll have more soap boxes to jump onto after finishing the book. But for now, I think that's enough "food" for thought!

Aaron and Abie

As promised, back in May, here are some pictures of Aaron and his fiance Abie!

They are getting married October 18th, and we are so excited for the two of

them and can hardly wait to have another sister!

Below is a picture of the moment Aaron popped the question.

What a romantic backdrop, wouldn't you say?

so so so so blessed

Here are four reasons why:

happy birthday to gavin!

We celebrated Gavin's 6th birthday earlier this month with a Soccer Party! He invited some buddies to the park for a fun evening! He was more than energetic and was quite hilarious opening gifts... that's our exuberant boy! He thought his party was "Sweeeeeeet!" and "Awesome!"

The kids were so cute lined up on a picnic table bench to watch Gavin open gifts... they were mesmerized. I love it. I remember feeling so happy for my friends, as a child, when they opened gifts. And I remember that feeling when they opened your gift. I'm glad I get to relive that with my kids.

Gavin is a wonderful, energetic, fun-loving, sweet, kind, sharing, sports-loving kind of boy. He makes our home a hilarious place to be. He is starting to really grow up and Jeremy and I comment that we don't ever want his cute little voice to change. I'll end this post by sharing a Gavin funny from this summer.



In June, we went to Vacation Bible School at church... and every day in the "Jerusalem Marketplace" there was some sort of drama that took place acted out by adults in costume. Near the end of the week, it was getting intense. Jesus had been arrested and Peter (one of Jesus' disciples) was walking through the marketplace and was being asked if he in fact knew Jesus. (And we know that in the Biblical account, he denies knowing Jesus 3 times before the rooster crows....) But here's how Gavin took it:

"Mom! I'll tell you what happened!! That guy Peter? He said he didn't know Jesus, 3 TIMES before he heard the turkey!!!"

Drew and I laughed SO hard on the way home about it... after Drew corrected him and told him that it was actually a rooster, he said, " Oh, I didn't know that!" Then just a few days later... "Mom, a crow says cock-a-doodle-doo!" That boy sure has his birds messed up!!!! :)

fabulous summer

I just have to blog about my new-found freedom from To-Do lists. For the past 4-5 years, my life has been ruled by a huge, never-ending To-Do list, and I now have none! (breathing a huge sigh of relief) In the past I had a running list of things that needed to be accomplished for MOPS and other ministry involvements, etc.... even during the summer. I'll go a whole week or more now before I pick up my planner, that used to lay open on the kitchen island year-round.

The quote at the bottom of the picture to the right says, "Make a list - you'll feel better." That cracks me up! That is SO me sometimes.

Granted, I still make lists before birthday parties, a big cleaning project, events, and those kinds of things. I'm a list kinda gal... remember, I'm one of the strange ones who writes something down that I already did, just so I can check it off! (did I just admit that??)

I was just realizing the other day, how free this summer has felt. I don't care that the weather has been less than ideal, it doesn't affect me. I love rainy days because you can stay inside and watch movies, read, and play board games, I love snowy days because we have hot cocoa, light candles, and listen to good music, I love cool fall days where sweaters and sweatshirts make their way back into the wardrobe, and I love brown spring days because I know that green is just around the corner. What can I say, I'm easy to please. I love for things to change, so I guess Alaska is the perfect place for me. The weather doesn't stay the same for very long.

Pause.... Drew just came out of this room, it's 10:30pm and they've been in bed for an hour and a half... and gave this Mom a heart attack! He said in a wavery about to cry voice, "Mom???? Gavin is hanging from the bunk bed!" "WHAT?????", I yelled and ran in to see. And Drew said, "NO! Not that kind of hanging.... he was hanging like this!!!" (like a monkey from the top bunk rail) All I could imagine as I ran in there was that they were playing around with a rope or something, and Gavin was the bad kind of hanging from the top bunk! Situation solved.... I just have two insomniac boys who were both in tears because they couldn't fall asleep. The adventure never ends. Un-pause. :)

I am so thankful it is summer. But I am getting really excited, as you homeshooling mamas will understand, about the box (or two) of books that should be arriving this month for the next school year! So far, Math, History, and Language Arts are ordered and heading our way. But I'll be happy enough to tuck them away until the first week of September when we dive in for real.

I told the boys tonight after the above episode that we'd get back into the habit of reading a chapter of a book before bed... Right now we're reading a spin-off of the Little House books. When the boys were little before the girls came along, they each picked out 3 books before bed and we read and read... but now this Mama is a tad more weary at the end of the day and we read sporadically throughout the day but not as a routine in the summer. So as the boys were tearfully trying to settle back into bed, I asked them if we should start up a bedtime routine like we used to do. They both lit up and nodded. Oh, and we added bedtime music to the routine. All things we used to do, but let them slide away with life.

Well, goodnight... this long, rambly post has come to an end... but could you answer me a question or two??

If you have kiddos, do you have a bedtime routine? And what do you do?

and/or

Are you a list maker like me?

some fun in June

I don't think my husband would be a happy man without a project to work on. This summer's major project is a greenhouse/shed combo! He's doing a great job on it and has a real gift for building and creating.

My Dad, Jeremy, and the boys took in the air show last weekend and had a great day together! While us girls Marla Kay, Annika, Morgan and I took in some shopping in Anchorage. We had a great time too, doing what us girls do best.

Our sweet baby in her current favorite hang out spot. Thanks, Chantel!

Me and my big little girl. But don't get caught calling her little! "Remember, I'm not little, I'm a big grill!"

Last Thursday night, Morgan took a big tumble off of our treehouse ladder. Yikes, she fell about 8 feet right onto her back. After about 45 min. of us wondering if we should take her in... I decided to run her to Urgent Care and called Marla Kay to see if she was up for a trip into town with us. (Mind you, it was 10pm by then.) Morgan was complaining of back and tummy pain and was kinda falling asleep, and was just a mess until we decided to go. She had no visible injuries, but I was a bit afraid of internal things, since she fell so far. As we were getting into the car and heading to pick my up MKay, she perked right up!!

She was back to our Morgan... "Mommy, turn that way!" And on and on and on she went. So when we got to town, of course the two Urgent Care clinics were closed. So we called our Doc and he had us do a little test for her in the parking lot we were in. And he said that it sounds like she doesn't have any major back injury and has full range of motion, didn't have the signs of internal injury and was cognitively fine... so we decided to just watch her and see how she does by morning. So after all that we took our little patient for some ice cream. (at 10:30pm) and ran to get some movies. Grandma Kay (as the kids call her) told Morgan that the ice cream would make her feel all better. This is the happy, messy face she made as we arrived home. When Jeremy came out to meet us, she said, "It worked, Daddy! I'm all better!" She's been fine ever since, a bit sore, but overall fine! I think our girl is made of rubber. If I fell from the height she did, I'd be in bed for a week! Praise the Lord for his care of our sweetheart.

our Soccer guy

Gavin is in the middle of his second year of soccer and it is so much fun to watch! He was put on
an 8 and under team, which means our not quite 6 small fry of a boy is playing with some BIG boys! It doesn't phase him a bit. But during his first game of the season a couple weeks ago, coach put him in as the goalie! He was all excited until she put the goalie jersey on him. This is the face he made when he looked over at us. He flapped his arms to show us how long the sleeves were and was very sullen until the action started.

Then after the first play and the other team failed to score on him, he was jazzed. He looked over and gave us this confident thumbs up.


Last week was picture night before his game. And we had a flat tire on our way there! Thankfully we were still close to home when we noticed the flat. (It had been completely flat at home, but I didn't notice it until we got off the dirt road!) SO... we missed soccer pictures. So while we were waiting for Daddy to fix the van, I thought we'd take our own soccer pics in the yard. We got some great shots! Who needs to pay for soccer pictures? It was funny, after Gavin finished his photo shoot, both Drewy and Morgan wanted their picture taken with the soccer ball. The two of them came up with some unique soccer poses!

yarn and apples

I can think of maybe 2 people that will think this first picture is worthwhile and many more that will love the 2nd photo of my two Apple models.

I admit it, I'm a yarn addict.

Maybe I should have listed this as one of my quirks. (as listed below) But yarn stores and seeing my drawers full of yarn makes my heart sing. I actually smell the yarn when I buy it. Yeah, I know, you don't even have to say it. And I am SO excited after a good 6 months of searching, to finally find a cotton yarn I love. I've wanted, for a while now, to convert all of my Bacon Bit Knits hats to 100% cotton. But it has taken me a while to find one brand with all of the right colors. I'm really picky about it. Because a carrot and a raspberry have to be just the right color, right? Right. After searching high and low, I found it. End of that story. And, I've started a blog (which sits empty of any posts) for my knitting business, which has kept me quite busy this year. (The knitting, not the blog.) Or as busy as I want to be. You can check out the future site of my blog here. I'm in the process of knitting up one each of all the different hats I sell and taking cute pics of them and posting them on the blog for those wanting to place an order. My special order business has grown and I'm loving knitting made to order hats. They're also available at Pitter Patter, but she's all out. All of my sample hats will go there when I'm finished with them. 2 hats knit, 7 more to go.

strawberry

carrot top *new

blueberry

cupcake cutie

neapolitan sundae

watermelon *new

raspberry

pumpkin

apple

Karla ordered mother-daughter apples. Aren't they looking so cute?

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged. Rachel W. tagged me to spell out 6 quirks that I have.

Here are the rules:

Link the person who tagged you.

Mention the rules in your blog.

Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours.

Tag a new set of six bloggers by linking them (I chose 10!)

Six quirks of mine: (The above photo is 9 year old me, where it all started...)

1. I love books. Except I love the look of them sometimes more than the content of them. I would buy books left and right if I could, just to have them sit on my shelves and be books.

2. Jeremy calls me Rain Man because I remember faces, numbers, pictures, and can throw something across the room and have it land in it's exact proper place. (like a pen into the pen cup across the kitchen) Weird, I know.

3. (don't laugh) When I'm driving, I count how many car lengths (my car) it takes for me to get to the next oncoming car, or how many car lengths it is between telephone poles. I know, it's the Rain Man in me again. And like Rachel W., I stink at conventional math.

4. When shopping, I am drawn to black, black, and black then I complain that all I have to wear to church is dreary black. I think my wardrobe perpetually stuck in winter living in this wintry state.

5. I take my kids all over town, enjoy being out with them when Jeremy is at work... but then at home, I fear things like kidnappings when they're playing outside without a soul in sight in our secluded neighborhood.

6. It is way too easy for me to walk right by folded laundry and never put it away. Seriously, it will sit there folded for weeks before I break down and finally put it away. And did I mention that my dear husband is the one who washes and folds it?? My kids are too used to finding their clothes for the day in the folded ones. Ugh.

I choose the following to list their quirks:

Chantel

Jen

Rachel K.

Sarah B.

Shannon

Tasha

Carly

Anita E.

Sarah C.

Elizabeth

ahhh.. the Public Library

I think my favorite place to stop with my kiddos or especially without is the public library. I especially am fond of the Palmer library. Today, we made an unexpected trip to that blessed place. To make a long story short... we were headed to Palmer for Annika's 4 month checkup that has been planned on this date for 2 months, only to arrive after a 40 min. drive and find out that his office is closed today! (They called this evening to confirm my appt. for TOMORROW!)

Anyways, so we decided to head to the DMV to get my license renewed. I was excited because I've been waiting and waiting to get one of those cool new (or not so new) versions of the driver's license. So all went really well in the DMV with my 4 kiddos. I even got a compliment from a fellow family on how well I handled a "domestic dispute" as he called it. (Morgan was sad that Gavin "stole the seat she was sitting in") And our favorite DMV friend, and my best friend's husband, Ryan helped us! BUT... when we trudged across the parking lot, to get loaded back into the van, I gasped when I saw my driver's door WIDE OPEN! We were in there a good 25 minutes! Not a thing was out of place, even the mini DVD player that we had just borrowed from a friend! Phew! Disaster averted. I got in the car and exhuberantly said, "Thank you, Lord!" Drew said, "Mom, I was just about to say that!" Okay, so that wasn't really the "long story short" that I promised. It was the long story, long. I was imagining the place crawling with ex-cons (hee hee) because that building also houses the probabtion and parole office! I know, I'm a big, giant nerd. But I was SO thankful that nothing was taken! My entire diaper bag was in there too, with all of my super important Annika gear.

Okay, now on to the library. Every time we're in Palmer, we make a trip to my favorite library. Today was no exception. So after our Dr. and DMV excitement, I decided it was time to load up on some books! Thankfully, no major drama took place, and we were actually in there for like an hour and a half. Little Annika fell fast asleep in her stroller sitting straight up without so much as a wimper. What a little champ.

(Shannon, you'd like to know that I stumbled upon Ox-Cart Man! I stood there and tried to recall the title, remembered it, wondered if I'd ever find it without the help of the computer, took two steps and there it was.... the first book that caught my eye out of the gazillions in the children's section!!!! Amazing, thanks Lord for smiling on me in that way!)

Some fun kid's titles we found:
The Declaration of Independence (illustrated and beautifully penned, this one was for me but in the kid's section! I had never actually read the Declaration... me with a History Minor!)
Knuffle Bunny Too (We LOVE Knuffle Bunny! Thanks Sarah B.)
Mouse Cookies & More (The complete treasury of the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" series)
a load of books on Knights (for Drew)
2 books on soccer (for Gavin)
and dozens of other titles!



We checked out tons of kids books, Drew got his first library card (we were able to get double the books that way!), and most importantly, got this Mama a couple books! So the entire purpose of this post is to share the books I came across that I'm so excited about! They're both up for much criticism, I'm sure, by those tried and true author/series-loving folks... But I'm not picky about that kind of thing. The first is a prequel to Anne of Green Gables, called Before Green Gables written by a Canadian author. It starts with good ol' Bertha and Walter Shirley shortly before Anne arrives on the scene. And the second book I'm excited about is The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. There are tons of "Jane Austen-y wanna be" books out there, none of which I've read... but this one looks interesting! Maybe I'll post a review when (or if) I finish them. Well, I'm off to gather myself after this long and interesting day!

How many of you also find a public library or bookstore to be a fabulous way to spend your time?


Update: I'm now 12 chapters into Before Green Gables and boy is it affecting me! I can remember maybe two other times that I teared up reading a book. (real life affects me much more that fiction) Reading this story is like knowing that my longtime friend is an orphan, but hearing the story of her parent's death for the first time. Heart-wrenching! I have to say that the author is (so far) doing a great job of capturing and imagining Anne's story! Okay, goodnight!

my sweet helper and a rousing breakfast

Here's how this morning started...

"Mom?" says Drew in a hushed tone, "I love you, Mom."

His fuzzy Mom says, "I love you too."

"Do you want me to give you a little backrub?" he says.

"Sure!"

As he's rubbing my back, "What's your favorite movie?"

"Um..." I'm trying to make my brain work to recall my favorite movie at 8:30am.

"Why don't you just rest, I'll take care of Annika!" says my morning helper. Then I hear him out in the living room, "You guys, we have to be quiet so Mom can rest."

(Yes, he's being very darling... but I'm onto him. He is angel boy/helper whenever he has a golden ticket on the brain! But, hey! Whatever works!!!)

He kept coming into my room to tell me to "just rest!" It was adorable until Annika got really cranky and was ready to be picked up.

THEN.... 10 min. or so later at breakfast. I was on the couch feeding Annika while the kids were making their own breakfast. Toast and all. So Drew is talking all about have a "rousing breakfast" that he heard about from Sally in a Charlie Brown episode that we own. Then Gavin asked Morgan if she wanted to have a "rousing breakfast" and she said, "What????" Gavin said, "Morgan, it means to have a BIG breakfast!" (hand motions included)

"Sure!", pipes Morgan! So my 3 silly big kids (as they are now called) enjoyed toast and cereal all made by their own hands..... Then Drew waddles over to the couch after he was finished and said, "Ohhhhh.... that was too much of a rousing breakfast! I'm full!"

some May highlights!

The month of May brought many fun days! Garden & flower planting, Curtis Menard Memorial Kid's Run, birthday parties, Mother's Day, an engaged brother-in-law, and many other reasons to smile at our house!