Happy 4th!

 

 

Happy 4th of July America!

 

These pictures are from last year where we had a great time at the beach and had  a ton of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas to all!

 

We visited Santa at Molbak’s this year.  We went there to get our annual Fall photos since our sessions had been rained out twice and I knew it had a nice indoor area.  Well, during our session, this nice man with a white beard came up to us and explained directly to the kids that he heard that Santa comes here after Thanksgiving and he hopes that they would come back and visit.  Alex looks at me after he left and (almost speechless) says that the thinks that was the REAL Santa.  He asks if we can come back and see him after Thanksgiving and I say – of course!  It was a really special moment!

 

Alex had a list of about 12 items on it.  This kid is going for the gold, literally.  It was great at Molbak’s since the line was short, it was no stress and I got to take my own pictures (in nice lighting).  I highly recommend it! 

 

Here is Alex and Santa going over his list. 

 

Alex’s List:

1). Go Cart

2). Remote Controlled Ironman (I’ve never even heard of this?)
3). Electric Scooter

4). Nintendo DS

5). iPhone (the gold one?)

6). Pokemon cards & toys

7). a real Diamond (when asked how big – it is the size of a baseball)

8). Minecraft on Xbox

9). Xbox one (where does he learn this stuff?)

10). Halo (oh yes – elementary school….)

11). Cookie giver  (Santa asked about this one – didn’t quite know what it was.  Well, for those of you needing to know – it is a machine that gives you cookies when you push a button or ask for one – brilliant!)

12). rubber band bracelets (aka - rainbow loom – the most addictive hot toy right now.  kids make bracelets out of thousands of tiny rubber bands). 

 

Santa is SO smart and said that he would probably be only able to get one item on the list since he has to bring toys to everyone.  Alex agreed to this, but just wanted to make his list comprehensive, just in case. 

 

 

 

Sara had her list too.  It only had 1 item on it for many weeks, but recently added a couple of items just before visiting Santa.  This was the first year for Sara that she would even get within 20 feet of him.  Usually he is too scary and she won’t even get close.  But this year, she started off sitting next to him, although not too close.  He read her list (which I helped her write) and they had a special moment.  I loved it!  He really listened to her and her list and she felt so special. 

 

Sara’s list:

1). a golden treasure box

 

Much was said about this golden treasure box.  We have no idea where it really came from – but we absolutely loved it.  So creative! And we had to ask lots of questions.  What shape was it?  What was in it?  (duh – treasure!)  How big was it?  Was it shiny or sparkly?  It took some work for Santa to figure out this treasure box – but I think some little girl is going to be happy.

 

2). Chocolate

3). a Plant

4). a Rock 

 

Those are the late additions. 

 

 

When it came time for the Santa photo – Santa just picked Sara up and sat her on his lap and Alex scooted in and bingo – photo!  Although Sara was a big uneasy and looking for her getaway – she was so excited to see Santa and show him her list.  He was even giving away small candy canes – her favorite.  Alex was thrilled to see a “real” Santa with a true beard.  He notices this kind of stuff – trust me!  He told me last year that he knows that the Santa we normally get photos with isn’t the real Santa.

 

GASP!

 

What?

 

What do I say?  What do I say???????  Hurry and think fast Allison…

 

 

He goes on to explain that Santa has helpers and he can’t be everywhere seeing all the kids therefore, some Santa’s wear fake beards.  Whew!  But, each of these “fake” Santa’s report back to the real Santa and then he delivers the presents. 

 

OK – Santa story works for this Momma.  Crisis diverted. 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas to All and to all a good night!

One year ago

 

 

One year ago seems like FOREVER ago, but yet, just yesterday…

 

 

 

 

 

Cabin progress

 

It’s been a long time since I last updated on the cabin, and so much has been done.  So, here we go -

 

We have the boat structure up and the boat is in it – being protected from the elements as we speak (and apparently storage for some wood).

 

 

The cabin is up and level, sided, the door and windows are on/in, the roof is done, the stairs up to the cabin are up, all it’s major pieces are put together and done!  There is so much left to be done, but it’s great to recognize how far we’ve come.  Lance was sweating the roof for a few weeks with the rains coming in November and the roof not finished yet, but we made it!  There was only a few minor rains before the roof was done…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have yet to paint the outside (the yellow color is the primer) and the door.   We also hope (someday) to put on a small deck surrounding the front of the cabin, by the door, and to the left of the house facing the fire pit. 

 

This is what the inside looks like right now.   We have a lot of work to do here.  Electrical, insulation, walls, paint, floor, furniture, bedding and an outhouse.  That doesn’t seem like too much, right?  Well, the good part is that we are in no rush and we can take our time (except the outhouse which needs to be done first thing this Spring/Summer). 

 

 

 

 

We bought some twin mattresses (the only size that will fit up the pull-down ladder up to the loft area) and put them up in the loft.  We’ve used the cabin a few times in September, once in October as a whole family and Lance and Alex did one time in November by themselves.  But, with no insulation and only a space heater, it was pretty cold I guess.  We’re waiting for it to warm up in late Spring to stay down there again.

 

We plan on getting a couple more twin beds for the loft area to make a nice sleeping area up there for all of us.  Downstairs is planned to have a hide-a-bed couch (for extra sleeping space), some furniture for storage and a table & chairs. 

 

We are so excited for this Summer to spend many weekends down at the beach in our cabin.  We hope to have many friends and family join us! 

 

 

Kids playing with glow sticks up in the loft.

 

 

and two happy, lucky cabin kids

 

 

It’ almost looks like what we imagined last summer before anything was built!

Fall garden – right now

 

 

Dear Summer,

 

To even think that 6 weeks of summer was enough of a real summer is absolutely ludicrous!  We have waited through your cloudy 60’s days, patiently, with little cursing of your name.  But, now I’ve had enough! 

 

Good riddance summer, hello my new favorite season (any season that is not summer, please stand up).  You are just so dang short and I’ve had it!  While other parts of the country is sweltering in 4 months of 90-100 degree weather, we are freezing our pa-tooties off in these parts.  Can’t you even it out a bit?  We put up with one of the wettest springs EVER last year, then one of the soggiest coldest late spring/early “summer” months – again!

 

I’m done – bring on Fall – bring on the pumpkins, the cool mornings (at least I expect them during this time of the year), the changing leaves, the breeze in the air. 

 

Sincerely,

Already prepared to be in perpetual Spring all next “summer”, due to Karma

 

P.S. Plus, the pink Anemones are amazing right now.  And it’s true, Geranium ‘Rosanne’ (blue/purple flower) just keeps going and going and going.  So glad I picked up more of that!

 

Last year

 

 

Last year at this time…

 

 

 

I had a freshly new 3 year old, oh how I miss that costume!  He doesn’t wear it much anymore…

A boy with a new haircut and he is so handsome (and he knows it!)…

 

A luscious baby girl about 2 months old who loves snuggling with me…

 

A girl with such round cheeks – rounder cheeks that I’ve ever seen!

So smiley!

 

 

 

Oh yes, we got the boat a year ago too!

How time flies

 

 

4 years ago, I had my first two month old

 

 

 

Last year, I had another almost 2 month old

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next year I will have a 5 year old and a 2 year old! 

 

Time sure does fly!

9 things Sara is doing right now

 

 

 

 

Lance pointed this out to me the other day with an email in my inbox saying “you gotta look at this – click on the link below”.  He was reading the most current post and clicked on the articles suggested below each post from Linkwithin. 

 

9 month developments (click here for the blog post)

 

9 things Alex was doing at 9 months old – WAY back in 2007!  It has been so fun to see the similarities and the differences between the kids.  Sometimes they are so similar, sometimes SO different. 

 

Sara 9 mo developments

1) Crawling! After much anticipation – she is crawling everywhere. And when she gets too tired, she just pulls herself places.  Although she is very happy, most of the time, to sit and and play with a toy.  

2) Crawling up one step already! Two steps is right behind… Batten down the hatches – we have a crawling baby in the house!

3) 4 teeth with 2 more coming in. Her smile is infectious with those 4 chompers!

4) Not sleeping well. Sometimes we’re up every 2 hours. Boo!

5) Stranger anxiety is in full force. Mama, Daddy and Nanny Melanie are who she is most comfortable with.  Other people can hold her, they will just hold a crying baby. We are holding her and snuggling her as much as possible, when she’s walking and exploring, the snuggle time significantly decreases. We know.

6) Eating lots of foods, but still prefers mushed up foods. She’s learning to take very soft foods cut up, like small cut up canned pears. Bananas are still her FAVORITE. Tonight she ate black eyed peas, ham and greens ground up, mixed with a little cheese sauce, watered down a bit and warmed up. YUM!

7) Chewing on everything! Those darn teeth! It’s easy to forget teething the second time around.

8) She loves Mama’s milk and my supply is fine this time around. We supplement with formula, but we are doing just fine. 

9) She LOVES her jumperoo. If she doesn’t jump at least a couple of times a day, she’s a cranky girl.

 

No babies were harmed in the capturing of this moment.  She just wanted to feel the snow so bad!  And it was SO cute!

 

For contrast:

 

Alex 9 mo developments

1) standing!!! (I know - he probably will be walking by 10 months! He just wants.to.move.all.the.time.)
2) cruising along while holding on to furniture
3) 4 teeth! The two top teeth are coming in and they are SOOO cute!
4) not sleeping very well - a GREAT night is still waking 3 times a night. Most nights are uncountable (6-10?) We are having a rough time with this one because it seems like he has to sleep ON us. (and wake up every 45 min?) I've told Lance this is a phase but it's often hard to see that when you're in it.
5) very clingy towards the Mama
6) walking with assistance from a walking toy - very roughly
7) opening cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and making noises by banging them
8) Eating like a horse - he likes "big person" food now - no baby food. He really likes chili, spaghetti sauce and anything that we're eating.
9) this one is for Mama - since I'm losing my milk, so therefore we're feeding him more and more of formula. Good thing it's only until he's one year old. It's expensive! We're blowing through it and just bought 4 cans from Costco.

 

Stranger anxiety and more T-giving

Sara has got some stranger anxiety lately, she just doesn’t want to be held by ANYONE except Mommy and Daddy. 

Not Great-Grandma Myrtle.

Not Santa Claus

Not Grandma Sandy or Grandpa Dave

Not Grandma Judy

Not Grandpa Steve or Grandma Connie

Just Mommy and Daddy!  Otherwise – this is the face we get.  (Which is all very quickly resolved when firmly back on Mommy’s hip or snuggled in Daddy’s arms)









We enjoyed a day at the beach this Thanksgiving weekend, and boy it was cold!  So, we took our snow suits and had a blast!  Sara chewed on some shells (It’s almost the same picture I took of Alex in 2007!) and was just generally a happy girl.  Alex had a fun time exploring all around.  We didn’t spend too much time there, as it was so darn cold.  But, it was fun anyways.

Alex 2007

We got the kids dressed up and had Santa pictures at Chapters Photography.  They have a great thing – make an appointment (don’t stand in line!) and have Santa pictures with a (totally funny and fantastic) Santa, choose your custom photography package, and they mail you the prints!  You can’t get any better than this!  This year, Alex was soooo looking forward to the Santa visit – he knew exactly what he was going to ask for – a skateboard.  Last year, Santa was still to scary (so Santa had to be peeking behind the chair).  We walked in and Alex had a big smile on his face – it was so fun to see. 

Like a child’s dream come true type of smile.

He sat on Santa’s lap and Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas.  He said what he wanted and then asked Santa what he wanted for Christmas – this is the funny part.  Santa said that he wanted “Verizon to start carrying the iPhone”.  After I totally cracked up, I said that that was a good one and I wanted that too! 

We put Sara on Santa’s lap to take the picture (and see above – we got a screaming little face) and got another one with Alex sitting in the chair, and Santa peeking out behind the chair.  This one she is smiling.   She loves her brother!

So, when we got home, they were dressed so nicely – I just had to take a few photos myself!