Aidan crawls!

April 23, 2008

Jackson's dinosuar growl:

Hilarious, isn't it?! It's seriously from the depths of his dino guts.

Happy 7th birthday Emery!

What a cute bunch of girls!!! We had Emery's party at More Than A Memory Scrapbook store. I designed a cute little butterfly/flower wall hanging for the girls to make. Good times. Now - don't you all go thinking I pushed my daughter into doing a scrap project - she really wanted to. She absolutely loved it. From helping me get the supplies ready to setting up, to having the party - it was a blast to do it all with her. I'm so very glad to have my little girl - and that she shares some interests with me. She's very creative and I'm proud to say she's mine.

They all did such a great job on the projects. Each one was original and beautiful, just like these little ladies. We had ice cream cones and cupcakes that Emery and I had made. I think for me, the most fun of this party was doing it all with Eme.

Photo left to right:

Lindsey - we've known Lindsey since fall of 2002. She and Emery have been through nursery at church, preschool, primary and babysitting co-op. They are the best of friends!

Jalyn - a new friend at Emery's new school. Such a sweetie!

Rhea - also a new friend from the new school. Look how beautiful she is!

Brookelynne - such a dollie! She was one of the best friends at Emery's previous school - they keep in touch all the time.

Jenna - we've known right along with Lindsey - these three are like musketeers.

Emery - still eating her ice cream - she's never one to rush through anything!

Jiliane - another friend from church. She's one of the sweetest kids ever!

Jessica - also a best friend from Eme's previous school. Someone she'll always want to keep in touch with as well.

Chance of precipitation to record snowfall

Yet again~

on Thursday it seemed like spring was really going to make it - the snow had mostly melted {again} and we were outside playing in light jackets and rain boots {we as in the kids}.

The forecast for Friday was a chance of rain, possibly a slight snow - well . . . I opened the kitchen blinds in the morning to find it overcast and slightly raining. The rain turned to slushy rain then to snow by the time Harrison and Emery left for school. By the time they came home, it had snowed all day and left at least a half a foot. Dan had gone to work without a jacket of any kind, so when he got home and had to shovel, he wasn't happy. We have a pretty large driveway - so I feel bad for him. And we still haven't had the snow plows hit our culdesac yet. Dan told me the city had put all the plows in storage and were having a hard time getting it all up and running again. 

Only in Alaska!!! And maybe iceland, but I don't have any first-hand experience there.

Music part II

So the other day as I'm going through my posts and comments, I see that Joe from Pandora left me a comment - REALLY? How cool is that? ? ? I hope he's legit - but he left some great tips on keeping your Pandora stations free from bad language - check it out in the comment section under my Music post.

Do you think it's someone's job to search out the blog world for "Pandora" sightings? If so - he/she will for sure find this post - so here's a "hello" just for you.

Pieces of Home Part IV

Here is one of my favorite photo groupings. I have a photo of each of my children in their first few days of life and underneath is a current photo of that child. They hang at the bottom of my stairs so every time I go up or down, I see them. It has made me reflect on each one in the infant stage. And now that all their photos are next to each other, I can't believe how much they look alike. Gosh I'm a lucky mom - I have such adorable kids!

Music

It's not easy to find good music these days . . . something new and "in" with clean, non-offensive lyrics - so the other day I was happy to find a solution . . . 

PANDORA

I was introduced to this site a couple years ago and have used it sparingly because I have iTunes. But I've felt a need for something new. I have been into a couple songs lately . . . "Sorry" by Buckcherry and "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven. My louder side is prevailing at the moment.

On Pandora, you can enter a song and it builds a "radio station" around it . . . then you can find music that is similar to the style. Once I got a good list of songs off the radio station . . . I looked up the lyrics to those songs (gotta love modern technology!) to find the ones I would approve of listening to with my kids in the car - then I headed to iTunes and made some great purchases. I'm going to made a couple CD's for the car and bingo - new music that won't shock me once I finally work out all the lyrics.

The great thing about this is that I've found a few artists I would not have otherwise found - and going through the lyrics, I can pick out the good from those artists and leave the bad or offensive behind.

Pieces of Home Part III

As you walk in our house, the "Living Room" is to the right.

I've always been bugged by the more formal room being

called the Living Room and the not so formal room being

called the Family Room. Seems like we LIVE less in the formal

room, so we've opted to call this the "Home Teacher" room -

if you're not LDS . . . I'll explain. Once a month each family

is visited by a home teacher or two. He has the responsibility

of checking on the family, making sure things are going well,

offering help if needed and leaving a spiritual message. Being the 

more formal room, that's where most families have their

home teacher visits - and we don't use it for much else.

(Emery does practice piano in there)

This was the wall color when we moved in - someday we'll

probably paint, but for now it works. The window

treatments are  inspired by my sister in law Ann. 

We eventually need a coffee table and some chairs,

but we like it - the fireplace is my favorite part.

Welcome Spring . . . Alaska Style

April 3, 2008

April 5, 2008

We usually get a spring teaser every year - but this year we've had more than one . . . and this last one would have made the BIGGEST spring skeptic believe - but the proof is outside - all 22 record-breaking inches worth!

Pieces of Home Part II

So when we first moved in there were a few things we wanted to do to the house - nothing serious, a little paint here, a small repair there. And for anyone who has ever moved, you know how crazy things are in the beginning when most of your belongings are still in boxes and you don't know where anything is . . . well that was the case - and as I tried to stay away from doing "my" room first - I just couldn't function! I had a space in the condo of my own, but now I have an entire ROOM! It's not only my scrap room - it's where I do our

finances, where I check e-mail, do the blog, keep my calendar, etc . . . you can imagine how UNORGANIZED I felt, so I decided not to feel guilty about it - and dive right in to fixing up my room first. Dan was a little surprised {and impressed} that I painted it so bright green . . . since I'm all about browns and neutrals, but it makes me happy - and I decided if I wanted to go for it, why not REALLY go for it, ya' know!

Some of my favorite features are:

1) There's a little "lavatory" {you can see the door there on the left in the first photo} and I say "lavatory" because it reminds me of when I was a kid in school - and that's what this little bathroom reminds me of. There's a toilet made just for short little hineys - the bowl's only a few inches off the ground - and there's a little itty bitty sink. This must have been a day care or preschool at one point.

2) There's a half door - you know the kind - you can separate the top from the bottom and close just the bottom - so you can see and hear what's going on - but you're giving the "Mommy means business" message.

3) I have my sewing machine out at all times - what a HUGE benefit. I sew a lot on my projects so to have it out is very helpful - and I've also noticed that clothes needing to be mended get taken care of right away - can't beat that!

4) I have a sliding door out to our deck, along with another big window. Plenty of light - and BEAUTIFUL views of the park - plus I can see the kids walking their path to or from school.

5) It's right off the kitchen and next to the laundry area - 'nuff said.

6) It's still secluded enough that I feel like I'm retreating to my oasis on occasion.

7) There is enough room for EVERYTHING I need to create ANYTHING . . . fabric, craft supplies, scrap stuff, photo storage - you name it, I can keep it here.

So - call me selfish - or just call me an organization freak, but I got my room done first - and I've been extremely productive ever since!

Pieces of Home

Here is our new home!

We had to replace the upper center windows

due to code, and will eventually replace the

other ones to match.

While we were thinking whether or not

to buy the house, I played around on the

computer making a floor plan - you know, 

so I could figure out if it was going to

work for our family! I'd forgotten about it

and came across it today - so even though

I'm not an architect and things may be

slightly off, you get the idea!

This is a view down the culdesac. As you can see,

we are at the end - and where there would normally

be another house, that lot is split between our

house and the house on the other side.

We are right up against Rabbit Creek Park - a

beautifully wooded area that is full of paths and

adventures - and on the other side is the kids' school.

I'll add more photos a little at a time!