The House...

 Today we are a bit further along, but this is where we have been all summer and fall and heading into winter now....working on our house.  It's so close to ready for us.... :)

This is my blue accent wall, it's actually dockside blue, with a beige on the other walls, white ceilings.   We are planning on adding crown molding and white trim. (I loved the cruise so much I decided to make our house a beach side getaway... :)  Not really) We started laying flooring but haven't gotten any pictures yet, soon to come. Imagine a dark brown wood colored flooring.

 Our resident model showing off the stairs, gone are the days of ladders to the bedroom. (well eventually) 

 The front door, and kitchen area.  So excited about the cabinets, had the made and they are beautiful!!! Can't wait for pictures of them once they are in.

 Finishing the siding, on a crazy windy day, it was quite the adventure to watch the gusts of wind swirl through the tops of the trees.  J wasn't convinced it was enjoyable... but I was having a blast... I was up there with him, had to get down to take pictures. :) 

 Siding is done, gutters are up, and we are working as hard as we can to get cabinets and flooring in, etc..  J might have injured his back doing it... but we will soon begin pressing forward.

Beautiful in floor heat

Ever need a good plumber, I know one! 

The heating system is awesome in this house, we have a few fires in our awesome GARN and the house is at 85 degrees and too hot.  Not complaining, I love it! 

We are all really excited and are anticipating the finished product, just thought I would let you all in on our progress and where we have been all summer.

 

A few side notes...

Henry is in Preschool now, attending at the high school, so when they walk around the halls they are explorers among a sea of legs. haha  But he loves it, he even gets to ride the bus from the elementary school to the high school. 

Elizabeth is loving 1st grade, and is developing into quite a lover of the arts.  Every spare moment she has is filled with drawing or writing her own books ( recent book about her family included a page about daddy's amazing ability to do tricks and Mommy's ability to clean the house.. I know I'm awesome.. hahah)

Lydia is still determined to be the baby and is quite a red head, but still brings joy to my life.

And baby Porter is sweet and adorable and talking about as much as Lydia... he is determined not to be the baby, and demands more attention. haha  Tall and skinny with BIG feet. 

Henry has been informing everyone that we are soon going to have another baby girl, while his intentions are sweet they are untrue!!!  Mommy wants a break for a bit.... :) 

And that's where we have been... onto a month full of thanksgiving!! 



Our Favorite Place

 This is one of our very favorite spots.

A small hill by the Palmer Library

On this particular day the sun was shining, it was warm and the grass felt like plush carpet.

Why do we love this spot so much?...

 

 the warm, soft grass...

 the trees to climb..

 and rolling down the hill, over and over again.  (they even get Mommy to do it a few times)

 Even Lydia tried to roll down the hill... it became more of a scoot your butt down the hill, but she tried it , and loves it too.

 I was just having fun with my kids, worrying about nothing and experimenting with my phone camera. For whatever reason this spot is peaceful. It may be the history we are surround by, or the quiet, but this piece of grass will always be our favorite.  

 E and I always race from the hill to the bushes by the Borough Building, and we always do it bare foot.

Perfect capture of the hill rolling! Ah to be young and carefree.

Family Time

All the

 We got to see our cousins one last time before they move out of state, and it was a great weekend!!

E LOVES her cousins and was so excited to see them. 

Saturday we went up the butte

it was a BEAUTIFUL day!

Best part of the hike was on top when we all sat in the grass ready to eat lunch.  Auntie M had prepared sandwiches for everyone and put them back into the bread bag.  However, atop the butte we pulled out the bread bag only to realize it was a bag of bread... sandwiches were back at home one the table.  OOPS!  We had a good laugh and ate the sandwiches when we got home.

 

 

 The cousins, minus the two babies, ready to head up the trail!

 

 The half way point, everyone was hot and sweaty!

 

 These two boys ran up the entire butte.  In fact it was one of those situations where they probably climbed it twice, with all the back tracking, running ahead and back tracking again. (if that makes sense)  They were so excited to be first!

 And kudos go out to who ever is responsible for these stairs.  The trail kept getting washed out and wasn't really very good for little kids, the last half of the climb is ALL STAIRS like these ones.  It looks like a ton of work and I am grateful to them for their work.  The kids love it.  And Mommy gets a great stair work out.  haha

 You just can't beat the views from on top of the butte.  I think that's why I enjoy climbing it so much.  Eventually I will work my way to other trails, but for now I am thoroughly enjoying this one.

I actually got a break this time, I was only carrying ONE baby instead of two. Thanks Uncle T for carrying baby #2. I think I might have perspired this time with two on board. 

It was a wonderful weekend and we will really miss the cousins.  

Addition

 Our Newest Model arrived

June 19, 2012

Porter Wray

weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz.

 21 inches long

It is amazing to me how quickly they change

he looked so much like Daddy when he was born

and each day he looks a bit more like Henry or Elizabeth.

 Enjoying the freedom and space outside the womb

 But NOT the cold.  He is a warm blooded boy, and fusses quite a bit if he's not warm

 Thank you Claudia and Summer's Mom for the adorable booties.

So how are we adjusting to life with four?

I won't lie it's pretty crazy!

Getting out the door requires at least a five hour heads up

Once the baby is fed, mom pumps some awesome milk for the freezer, diapers are changed on baby and Lydia, and kids 1 and 2 are dressed and shoed, inevitably one of the diapers is dirty again or baby has puked on himself.  THEN Mom sees herself in the mirror and realizes that she too must get ready for going out.  Public appearances don't require makeup anymore, just clothes that aren't puked or pooed on, and don't stink from overuse. 

However, I have two gems that help me so much!

I don't think I would survive with out my older two.  They are always retrieving items for Mom, plugging screaming babies with pacifiers, diaper duty (throwing outside not changing, although E is working very hard at changing too) and much, much more.

 While reading books today E told me she wanted to hurry up and grow up so she could have babies of her own.  She LOVES to be in charge and wishes that she could take total control of our family unit.  While I am sure she could do better, I am still hanging on to the reigns for now. Porter is her responsibility she says, I just have to feed and change him, she will do the rest.

How do you convince a child to take on more responsibility with out wanting to grow up so fast? How do you convince them they have it easy and to enjoy it while they can? 

I LOVE MY ELIZABETH!

 Henry seems to be indifferent most of the time, but has his moments when he really wants to hold the baby.  He grudgingly does diaper duty most of the time, but is elated that Lydia seems to want to take over.  Mom time seems to dwindle for him and reading time, especially at bed time, has fallen off.  Perhaps that explains the change in attitude.  However a quick plea for the "kind Henry" to come back usually does the trick.

I LOVE MY HENRY!

 IF you can't read the shirt it says, "Now, I'm a BIG sister" And her expression tells it all!

Not really! She loves her baby brother and has really adjusted amazingly well.  The day I came home from the Hospital all pacifiers belonging to one, Lydia, had disappeared (as they seem to do when needed). I decided it was a great time to ween her off the "paci." I claim new baby brain! It was, needless to say, a bad idea.  She won that battle and now religiously steals the baby's pacifier.

 Mostly Lydia LOVES to cuddle "her baby"

She squeezes him and rests her head on his head and kisses him

a few gentle pats for the road, getting more aggressive as she goes

She struggles with cuddle time, hates it when she gets into trouble or is in pain and mommy is holding the baby.  Then you see the dreaded "I hate this new baby" look. 

Lydia brings me joy! When I am having a rough day I only need a smile from her and my heart is rejuvenated! She is my peacemaker.

I LOVE MY LYDIA!

 And I LOVE where I live.

Alaska is beautiful!

This was taken from the Matanuska River bed, down by the old "frog pond"

I used to frequent when growing up. 

We have been exploring and hiking all over this summer

enjoying every sunny day we are blessed with.

Also a new tradition we started this year

BASEBALL GAMES!

And our home town team the "MINERS" of course get hearty cheers from the kids

They have been LOVING it.

I remember going to games with my Grandma when I was very young and loving it then too.

The rest of our time is consumed in this!

Our home that we currently reside in has become a bit "tight" for our family of six.

So we are endeavoring to get this new home done by the close of the year. 

Space we so desperately need.  Our poor Daddy works hard all week and on his weekends gets to work even harder on this.  We love him for his support and his hard work in providing for us!

WE LOVE OUR DAD!

APRIL

I have a few pictures to post.... once downloaded to computer.... here are the major events that have passed in our house.

1. Henry's 4th Birthday! : He's 4!!!! He's mostly healthy and active and happy! A blessing every day we are grateful for. Henry does not let me forget for a single day how blessed we are. His favorite past time is having Mom tell stories about when he was little. Although he doesn't quite appreciate them yet, we tell them anyways. He is strong and has the spirit of a giant. Today while volunteering at E's classroom, Henry was able to "be a kindergartner." And he LOVED every minute of it. He is sooooo excited to start school. Yeah he has another year, but he reads already and does all the "kindergarten" stuff. So we're not sure what to do with him.

2. Lydia's 1st Birthday!! : Time has gotten away from me. It has officially been two years since we got home from Seattle. We have been home the same amount of time we were gone and the Lord has truly blessed our family with an abundance of peace. He truly compensates for the struggles we have by blessing us with times of peace. And my Lydia has been nothing but sunshine since the MOMENT she was born. We were sure it was going to be a boy, and when she was born and I realized she was a girl my heart jumped inside of me and I was overcome with joy! And every day she brings more joy and happiness to our family.
E doesn't really understand or appreciate the fact that Lydia loves mommy more than her. However, tonight I was able to show her how much Lydia does love her and she was pacified for now.
Lydia is walking everywhere, getting braver every day, she has a pretty hard surface to land on (tile floors) when she falls, so she has been understandably slow in her walking phase. She LOVES applesauce cookies, just like her Grandpa, and she loves her brother and sister and Daddy. Every morning she wakes up and points first to the ladder (ladder to kids room) and then to Daddy's room. And Annie will appreciate this, she loves to give them all SLOBBERY kisses.

3. Elizabeth only has about 27 days of school left! And I will officially have a first grader! AAHH
She loves school and would "rather not have a weekend." We are looking forward to summer though, sunshine, bike rides, trips to Jim Creek and hiking. Oh how we love the summers!

4. We are working again on our new house. Slow going yes, and that's okay, when you build out of pocket that's the way things go. Our hope was to be into our new home by Thanksgiving, with the Lords help we'll make it. After June our little house will be CRAMPED! H & E love to help at the house and it is really fun working hard as a family.

That's about it for the end of March beginning of April. We have been keeping busy but enjoying LIFE immensely!