First Day of School

 

 

 

Aren't they adorable? Carson is a 2nd grader and Montana is a 1st grader this year at Sterling Elementary. I am very excited about them going to school there -- their class sizes are only 15 or 16! It's a bit of a drive right now, but we are managing very well since the start time is an hour later than last year's school.

Those of us who don't go to school in this family had to have a little tea party. It was a gorgeous sunny week!

this boy loves to drive!

 

Oliver just has a thing for driving. I'm always amazed when little boys automatically pick up toy cars and "drive" them around while making "car sounds". So Oliver did that and I thought it was adorable. But, aside from that, he ALWAYS chooses to get in this play car first thing when he goes outside and he can stay in there up to a half hour without even going anywhere! Okay, that's not all. One day, when we pulled in to the driveway and I took him out of his carseat and put him down and he threw a fit hitting my door until I let him in my seat. He proceded to "drive" my car by turning the steering wheel and then he reached down an picked up the car keys from where I leave them in the center console and tried to put them in the ignition! (Okay, it was the cutest thing ever, but I think I should probably find a better spot for them when he gets older!) Last thing, what do you think he does when we go to Fred Meyer? Insists on the car shopping cart, which I can't stand to push around!

Spontaneous Mini-Vacation

Okay, so I went a little crazy one day. Matt went back to school and it was STILL raining and we were couped up in this house. Oliver just kept getting into trouble because there is nowhere for him to be a toddler boy in this house. I felt like a caged animal and the rage was building within. So, in a snap, I decided, we are going to drive to Anchorage, stay in a hotel that has a pool and go to Bouncin' Bears. It was an inside thing I knew that the kids could use up some energy and we'd never been there. I went online to see about a hotel and found that the cheapest place with a pool was Alyeska Resort in Girdwood. I was excited about that because 1. it's really nice 2. I wouldn't have to drive as long with the kids the first day 3. the pool is bigger 4. it wouldn't be as crowded. I tried to get ahold of Matt for his permission at his lunch time, but he had his phone turned off. I finally just went for it! I had to get out of here! Of course, we didn't actually get out of town (after packing the car, buying food, and getting gas) until about 3 and by the time, the sun started to come out! Matt called as we were on the road and I said he was welcome to come stay the night with us even though he would have to leave very early in the morning to get back to work. He didn't sound thrilled about that, plus he had work on the house to do. BUT, he surprised us and showed up to the pool! The kids were so excited about staying at a hotel, it seemed like the next best thing to Disneyland! We swam all evening and then watched Marmaduke in our room while eating room service pizza. In the morning, we drove to Anchorage and went to Bouncin' Bears, even though it was sunny and gorgeous out at that point. Then, on a whim, we went to the Alaska Zoo. I saw the sign and realized this was a very good opportunity to check it out since we had never been. Overall, it was an awesome mini-vacation with the kids!

MOPS Convention in Orlando!

Thank goodness I was able to go to Orlando for the MOPS Convention after a month of rain! It was so wonderful. I am so excited about being a Field Leader! I love to serve the Lord in this role -- I am passionate about MOPS! I pray that many more MOPS groups are started in Alaska under my Field Leadership and that our current groups flourish and grow. Thank you, Jesus, for MOPS!

Dog Pile!

 

 

 

Growing Things

 

 

 

 

This is the first time I've ever been involved in growing produce and I won't take the credit because it's really Grandpa Fischer's garden, but just being present to witness from planting to harvesting was an amazing experience. The fact that we ended up with edible food with no maintenance of the garden once is was planted just fascinates me! I now cannot wait have my own garden at our new house.

Diaper Rider meets Monkey Girl and House Progress

Tie Dye Day!

 

Another fun and fabulous friend day with Stephanie and Dana and all our kiddos! Steph was so kind and generous to teach us how to tie dye and share her dye with us! We had a good time and ended up with some awesome tie dyed shirts and undies! Then, we went swimming. We drove all the way to Nikiski to find that it was closed on Mondays! Thankfully, Skyview had open swim that we were able to get to, otherwise we would have had some major kiddo meltdowns.

House Progress

Actually, we are much further along now! The house is wrapped and drywall is almost complete!

Hallie's Half Birthday

 

This was one of my favorite days of summer. We like to celebrate Hallie's half birthday with gifts and friends, rather than on her real birthday because it is less than a week before Christmas. This summer Dana and her 3 girls and baby boy were up visiting her parents, so she and Stephanie provided all the kids we needed for a fantastic birthday party! Since it turned out yucky outside, Matt allowed us into the gym at his new school to play. After the birthday festivities, the weather had gotten decent (no rain), so we took the kids out to the Redoubt playground. We decided to continue on our day by driving them over to McDonalds playland for dinner! I have decided that there is not much better than the comfort of being in the presence of old friends. We know each other so well, that even though we rarely get to see each other or spend time together or even talk that often, that when we do get together we can just pick up where we left off. It's a wonderful feeling. (But I do wish Dana lived closer!)