Halloween

Well another Halloween has come and gone.  I have to say I enjoy every year even more then the year before.  This was the first year that we had five little ones to participate in the festivities with.  Two new pairs of eyes watched as we took in all the fun and excitement of the holiday.  This was also the first year that Joshua really participated in the activities.  Prior to this, he helped out but didn't really know what was happening.  This year he was all about the season.  From scooping out the pumpkin, to eating candies, to participating in some games at the school carnival etc.

 

 

I love how as we experience each holiday, I have more and more sweet memories to keep in my memory bank.  I love having the memories of giggles and laughter and family fun that will stay with me forever even after we don't have any more 'littles' to experience a "first" Halloween with.

 

 Emma Happy to be the Candy Inspector!

At the school carnival there was an area where they took the kids pictures together.  Melt my heart when I opened up their backpacks this week to find these prints in their bag.

We changed it up this year and decided to make some floating witch hats for the front porch.  They were crazy easy to make and all the kids loved them.  You just attach fishing line from the roof through the hat to a glow stick that then hangs in the hat and lights them up at night.  Jason strategically hung them at different heights so all the kids who were harry potter fans laughed so hard as they tried to fit the hat that was the right height for them.

Perler Beads

So I have a love hate relationship with perler beads.

My older boys love perler beads.  For months now they have furiously been working on making tons of neat little patterns that they play with afterwards.  It is kind of neat because they will be playing Minecraft and building castles and such and they make a new or different sword so they just run and make it out of perler beads.  They have made some things for their friends and have even recently made a special gift for all their birthday party guests this weekend.

So this is my love part...  The boys enjoying hours together using their imagination and laughing together with friends.

Now for the hate part... If you thought Lego's were horrible to step on, you should try stepping on scattered little beads all over the house all of the time!

The container we bought came with 22,000 little beads in it. Yes 22,000!!!!  I am nervous that the entire container will spill so I make them put them in smaller containers to work out of because even the small containers, with several hundred in them, spill often.

What's worse than 5,000 perler beads spilling all over??

A two year old who is trying to clean up the beads and swishing them all over the place in the process.

On a side note, we may have the cleanest floor around because I have vacuumed those beads up 3 times already today!

Every once in awhile

Being a military family you get used to friends leaving and yet with new technology and social media like Facebook it is easy to keep in touch so it never actually seems like a farewell.

I have met some amazing people at this posting. Some friends that I would call my best friends and some people who have so positively affected my life here I will never forget them. Some are even such good friends that I would even consider them family.  When I was sick a few months ago with mastitis I had some amazing friends who really dropped everything and helped my family beyond anything I could have ever imagined.  Those friends have a special place in my heart and their generosity and kindness will never be forgotten!

Being a military family you get used to doing things for yourself, you get used to husbands being away and just being able to manage the household.

I always am particular about making sure that my children are not inconveniencing someone else or even bothering other people.  Again, being military I know I am capable of doing it on my own so sometimes it doesn't even cross my mind to ask for help.

My idea on this has changed recently because of a dear person that I have had the pleasure of calling a friend at this posting.  Before this point, people would always offer to come over for a visit or maybe coffee but I never wanted my kids to bother them or for them to feel like they had to but a sweet person has changed my thoughts on this.

She too is a military wife. Her three children are grown and gone now.  When she first offered to come see the babies I was a little scared because honestly 2 infants (5 children total) can be a lot even for the most kindhearted person.  I thought that someone from a quiet house that is not littered with toys might not enjoy the chaos of a busy home with kids and yet she caused me to pause and reexamine this thinking.

Over many coffees and baby holding moments we shared some of the best stories.  I loved hearing about her own experiences raising her children in the military.  Grace and kindness seems to emit from her.  We talked about the struggles of raising military children as well as the joys. She talked and guided me about ways to make relocation easier on the children and how sometimes you have to be their biggest advocate.  We talked about cultural adjustments and language barriers.  We talked about when it is important to step in as a mom and when it is sometimes helpful to watch vigilantly from the sidelines.  The love that she has for her children just permeates from her and even though they are grown she is their biggest supporter.  We laughed about funny things she did with her children when they were young and about the memories that were created along the many postings.

As she held my little girls I could see nothing but kindness and love on her face.  She cuddled them and talked to them and even read many stories to Josh. Despite not having had young children in many years, she really enjoyed being around my little ones.  This was really my AHA moment. It never really occurred to me to really look at this from another persons point of view.  One day, just how much will I miss all this baby time and how much I will appreciate someone inviting me over to cuddle their little ones!

This person who I may not have ever invited over because I was scared to inconvenience them has forever changed my life.  I will always be grateful for her help, appreciative of her friendship and humbled by her kindness.  I will think of her the first time I buy my girls tea cups and laugh when I have to polish the silverware.  I hope life continues to bring good things to her and her family because they certainly deserve it.  When my children are grown and gone I hope I look back at the whole experience with the same amount of love that she portrays regarding her children's youth and upbringing.

I will miss this person dearly but know she is just a Facebook message away.  Most of all I am proud to be able call her my friend!

I am so thankful for all the great friendships I have made along this crazy thing called life and I hope to one day make as big of an impact on someone else that this person made on me!

So as you go through your day, take a moment and stop to enjoy your coffee and the friends around you. You never know when these people could forever change you :)

Security Increase

So I went to the coffee machine today and I guess I didn't get the memo that security has been increased at our house!

Now I am wondering... Is the Lego man guarding the coffee for me or protecting the coffee from me?

Sneaking in a family hike

A typical evening is usually quite busy with activities such as sporting events and homework.  The last few weeks have been quite rainy and some of the gloomy fall days have started.  The daylight is starting to get shorter and the crispness in the morning air reminds us that winter is just around the corner.  On Monday evening however, clear skies and bright sun were calling us. We left the dirty dishes on the counter, forgot about all chores and things we had planned to do and went out together for a fantastic family hike.  It only took about 10 minutes to drive to the starting point and the hike itself was super easy for the kiddos.  We walked for about an hour total but loved running and playing in the leaves and enjoying the gorgeous views.

 

Look at the size of the leaves!!

Our goal is to cast normal life aside a few more times this season to create some great memories and enjoy the beautiful Alaskan fall!

For our Alaska friends with kids this is Thunderbird Falls. So close and such a nice easy family hike!

Emma found it so relaxing she couldn't even keep her eyes open!

Lazy Saturday

Our family likes to be busy, we like to be outside, we like to do activities and we enjoy going on adventures together.  With that being said, it's always fun to have a day here and there where we just laze around with nothing that needs to get done and nowhere we have to be.  This Saturday we did just that.  We spent time just hanging out and enjoying family time.  I had started decorating for fall last week so we worked on a family Pinterest craft (again I can't get over how much I love Pinterest).

It was the first time finger painting for the girls and we all had fun.

 



Our little fall forest has many trees and we love each one of them :)

(Side note:  I love how Jasper has to be involved in all the activities. I mean what dog doesn't like to watch finger painting right?!? )

This fun craft now sits on our mantle and makes me smile every time I see it.  As we gather as a family for all our meals we have a visual reminder of how we all support each other and stand together :)

Cleaning Crew

My cleaning crew do not do the best job, they cannot reach high places, actually make more mess then they clean and yet they are so darn cute!

What you mean vacuuming doesn't look like this at your house?  Kinda reminds me of the rugrats show as they follow 6 inches behind me while I vacuum!

Dancing

Even though Josh is not quite two years older then his little sisters, he utterly adores them!  It's neat to see how he tries to nurture and teach them things.  This morning he was trying to teach Sarah to dance.

"Dance....Emma....dance"

Yes that is right, he is dancing with Sarah and he get's them mixed up 95% of the time, and yet they don't care!

Dance babies! Your mama loves to watch these sweet moments!

Toy Story

For any of you who have ever watched Toy Story, you have to admit that when the loved toys get packed up because Andy is getting too big for them it's a tear jerker.  I recently watched this movie again with Joshua and it hit harder this time around.

As we slowly packed up the toys from the big kids and put them away until Josh was old enough we kinda didn't notice them slowly going. In fact we kinda liked the extra play room but opening those containers now I was hit with a rush of emotions because these toys were their favorites! They were played with for countless hours. They were taken everywhere with us and they even slept in the big boys beds with them. Now they have been sitting there just waiting to be loved again.  I am glad that I get to remember all the joy it brought the older kids while we unpack these toys.

Welcome back Buzz and Woody....you will be loved again to infinity and beyond!

This is Joshie now....

 


And here are some pics from when Buzz and Woody were cool the first time around at our house :)

Rainy Day

Last week we had a few mornings that were kind of yucky....not a crazy amount of rain or anything just the sprinkling where everything is wet.....foggy dreary type mornings.  The kidlets and I made the best of the reading/play time inside.  This particular morning instead of our regular crafts we decided to make another pinterest activity.  Cotton ball race track!  Who could have guessed that a little tape on the floor, a straw and different puff balls could provide so much entertainment.

We tested out the different sizes of puff balls, the boys tried blowing on them in different places (right behind the puff ball, above it, close, far etc) to discover which methods were the quickest and which ones they had the most control with.  There was more learning involved then I had expected!

They finished it off with good old races hahaha!

Oh and I am quite aware that Zachary has an eagle costume on.......josh was dressed as Darth Vader but his costume was going to inhibit his ability so we had to remove it :)

Stricking it rich

While my parents were visiting we went to Fairbanks to check it out.  I was surprised that it was actually quite a big city. By that I mean there is a Costco hahaha.   Our favorite tour while we were there was at Gold Dredge 8.  You embark on a little train and they tour you through the history of the pipeline here in Alaska as well as dredging/panning for gold.

I found it quite interesting that the dredge was actually shipped up here in parts and re-assembled en-route in Seattle to make sure all the parts were there hahaha.  They talked about the weather conditions the workers worked in.  One person's job was to stand outside in the middle of the winter (so -40F) and pound a metal bar down into the ground....talk about a tough job (I don't think I would last more then 20 minutes outside in those temperatures).

I was a little worried taking the baby girls on the outing because we had not taken them on a tour thing before and once you get on the train you have to stick it out for the whole ride there and back.  Thankfully it went great phewff!!

Josh was there too....just on the bench beside me and you can't see him.  Don't worry we counted and made sure they were all on the train hahaha 

At the end of the little train ride you get off and they give you a pouch that you get to sift with for gold.  The kids (and us adults as well) loved it.  Many laughs were had trying to pan for gold.

 

Once you have your little flakes you line up to get hot chocolate/cookies and for them to weigh your gold and tell you how much you panned that day:

Grand Total:
Jason     $ 67.00
Stacey   $ 11.00
Mathew $ 24.00
Zachary $ 12.00
Joshua   $ 18.00
Sarah     $ 18.00
Emma    $ 39.00

Grandma $ 22.00
Papa        $ 11.00

We struck it rich gold panning that day!!

Bike Wash

I have to admit I am addicted to Pinterest.  It just makes life so easy to quickly find neat things that my family will love.  I have actually created a board just for projects that I want Jason to build (lucky him).  On the weekend he decided it was time to build another project for/with the kids.  This time it was the bike wash that Mathew had picked out a few weeks ago.

My father in law and I went to Lowe's and picked up the list of supplies needed.  Let me tell you the lady that we had help us in the PVC section was fantastic and she even cut our 10 foot PVC pipes in half and made sure I had everything that was on my list!

Jason and the boys took to the front yard to start the project.

 It literally took them about 30 minutes total to build (and that includes time to let the glue dry) and at the end they have a fantastic bike wash that has already been used for many hours this weekend.

We put some car wash in a pail of water and they have been scrubbing their bikes/scooter/skateboards etc.  We may have the shiniest bikes in town hahaha.

The boys, parents, kids on the street, adults in the neighborhood etc have all tried it out and had many giggles already!

and the girls.....they supervise the whole operation!