Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I was totally there too
My husband took this picture of me running toward the bum sledding hill to prove it.
Outhouse
I've gotten a few emails and comments on the outhouse. For a more detailed description see this previous post. You may not have been able to find out about the outhouse because of the title of this post. A Cabin Luxury.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Gotta be Grandad
There's nothing these two like more than a ride with Grandad. We're not sure what he does different, but it's apparently the only place to be.
What did you do last weekend??
Here's Emma and her dad behind the family cabin in Petersville.
Oh, and yes, that is the highest peak in North America, Denali.
(Or as it is called on maps, Mt. McKinley)
This is when I really love living in Alaska.
TONS more later ;)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Getting Dressed
I'll write later, Jack screaming...
should probably do something about that.
Ya know, I was going to delete the above writing but it says something about our life here, so I left it.
Here is Emma in front of her closet. I usually plan for about 30 minutes to get her dressed. Some days it takes two minutes, some days it takes 45 minutes. I don't know how much is her 4 year old craziness and how much is due to her sensory problems. I give her more leeway than I should but it's one of those things that I plan for so it's not a big deal. I only have patience on school days because I don't want her to leave the house upset, on other days, we just dress and run.
It goes something like this:
Me - "Emma, what do you want to wear today?"
E - "I don't know"
Me - "I washed one of the three pairs of pants you like, do you want to wear one of those?"
"No. I want to wear a dress!"
"Okay, which dress do you want to wear?"
"This one!"
"This one?" (pointing to the same one)
"No...This one!"
"Okay, you have to wear pants under that one."
"Oh, but I don't WANT to wear pants! I want to wear a dress!!"
"Okay honey, but you need to find a longer dress, it's winter outside."
"But I'll wear my tall boots"
"Nope, pick another dress"
"How about this one!"
"That's a church dress, we don't wear that one to school."
"How about this one?"
"Emma, that's the same dress, we don't wear that one to school."
"I want...this one!"
This goes on FOREVER. By the end, I don't even care what she wears. I'm exhausted even thinking about it. I can't even imagine what's going to happen when she's a teenager.
Magnet Puddle
This puddle freezes every night and doesn't always unfreeze during the day. If it's melted enough to splash, she heads right for it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Lumpy Ladies and Weight Watchers...Sexy Me
Okay so those are two things that I thought I would never be involved with. I gained a ton of weight with Jack, mostly because I had to eat or throw up and I had to stay still or throw up, for nearly 9 months. I don't lose weight while nursing, quite a cruel joke if you ask me. I worked my tail off for a month, worked out every spare minute and really watched my diet and I lost one pound in a month. I feel like I gave up my life for a pound. The next month I did nothing and lost nothing. Much easier.
I finally weaned my little (or not so little) guy, got my energy back and started working out every spare minute again. I lost like three pounds in January and I thought, ya know, I should be able to do better than 3 pounds a month. My fabulous neighbor Rebecca was pregnant with her third (she has since had a beautiful baby girl named Breeze) and needed some pool exercise. Lumpy Ladies has been at our local pool since I was a little girl. Most women are around 30, pregnant or had babies not too long ago. There are a few very large people there and some older women as well. I believe our instructor is near 70. I hope to have that much energy when I'm 70. It's pretty fun. It's water aerobics or lap swim or a combo, depending on what you want to do. I've run into friends there I haven't seen in a while and compared to the people there, I don't feel so huge as I do some days. I think we all have a warped sense of what we look like anyways. The best part about it is that I leave when the kids are awake and in jammies and I come back to a husband in front of the TV and two kids sleeping soundly. Amazing.
So, after all the work to workout during the week and swim once a week I thought I'd do weight watchers for a while. I did NOT want to have the same frustration as before.
It totally works with my obsessive personality. I play with points, I trade workout points and I see how much I can eat and still stay under my daily allotment. I'm on the computer all the time anyways. And you know what?? Weight watchers actually told me I'm losing weight too fast and need to eat more. Happy, Happy.
I figure I have 30 pounds to lose. No one believes me but I think that has to do with my height. I can gain 10 and no one will notice but I can also lose 10 with no one noticing. I've also decided that I get to buy myself a nice present every time I lose 10 pounds. I got a new pair of chaco sandals for this summer after my first 10, I'm now shopping for another pair of heels for my next although Mike gave me a look when I mentioned Kate Spade (my fav) for my next pair. Maybe I'll save those for the end...
Monday, March 17, 2008
Call OCS
Can someone please call the parents of this obviously neglected child and tell them that it's STILL WINTER!!
In my defense, he just ran out while I was grilling on the porch and I did put a coat on him. It was also above 30 degrees outside and look! The snow is melting!! Besides, he's totally having fun.
This is actually WAY less snow than we usually have at this time of year. It makes for an ugly spring but if spring comes early, I'll take it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Growing Up
Emma was really ready for spring break. Four is pretty young to be at school for four days a week. She wanted one of her friends from school to come and play yesterday. The night before when Emma and I went into her room to read books Emma wanted to clean her room for her friend. She was so picky about where everything went and even after we climbed into bed she saw a few more things on the floor that she wanted to pick up. It was SO cute. This is the first time that she has proposed the idea of cleaning for a friend. She's set out her princess dresses before but never cleaned. It just made her seem so grown up.
I keep expecting to be sad about her growing up and I'm sure at some point (like when we're having discussions about who gets the car) I will be but right now, it's awesome.
New Zealand
As I look out my window at the melting snow and the ugly brownness underneath, I can't help but be a little jealous. I'm not jealous about riding down a raging river of death while balancing in a boat smaller than meyself, but I am jealous of the trip. New Zealand has definitely been on my list but I have to say that it's moving closer to the top every time my brother sends another pic.
Monday, March 10, 2008
My Brother Sent This Email
From his iphone, because James is in New Zealand kayaking. Because, really, why else would you leave your house??
This is what the message said:
Gas - 8$ a gallon (I promise to stop swearing when I fill up my car)
Tow Truck - $50
Explaining how not to park to the local police - priceless.
The First "IF"
IF you know Emma, you would know that she really doesn't like coats. If we're just going from the house to the car (on the rare occasions it isn't in the garage) there will be no coat involved. I don't think the cold affects her the way it does to the rest of us. Well, maybe she gets it from grandad, I have yet to see my father cold.
Only Alaskan Kids
It's about 30 degrees outside. This feels like summer. It is NOT summer. Emma thinks that if she wears her tall boots, she doesn't need pants under her dress OR a coat. Jack has no choice in the matter and wears whatever I put on him. I really should be sewing for him more than Emma since she NEVER wants to wear her dresses for their intended event. We'll see how Easter goes.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Gotta Love It
Don't you love cleaning??
When my mom and I really get into it, we make a huge mess. My dad would walk in and comment, "Well, I see we're cleaning again." As mom and I sat in the middle of piles.
So, here, in the playroom, I'm actually organizing. That's totally different. I actually get a little excited over a pile of things on the floor and an empty shelf or closet to put them all back into. You'd think that if that kind of tedium were exciting, my house would be clean all the time. Sadly, you would be mistaken. BUT my closets are clean. Most of the time.
What The!
Gross huh? We're really not this dirty I swear. This is underneath the gigantic toy shelf (actually a tall closet organizer) where there's a teeny gap underneath. It's too small for my vacuum to get under but apparently not too small for dog hair, lost pages and quarters...
The Goal
The goal of moving my whole house around was to put the computer in our "adult" room. Really, the small living room in the front of the house instead of in the playroom which is the family room/dining room next to the kitchen. The intended purpose is that the kids wouldn't have immediate access to a computer I just sunk some money into. You can see how successful I was.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Free: House Cleaning
This is Emma's friend, Charlee. Here's a brief rundown explanation of the above photo:
1. Emma has helped me clean the floor many times. We usually use several small bowls of water though, not tubs.
2. The reason for the tubs is that the girls were playing with mermaids in Emma's sink. There is only one sink and two girls. I put three bins on the floor with warm water.
3. After playing with the mermaids in the water markers were pulled out and art drawn on bellies. They needed to clean off. There was so much water on the floor that Emma said they should clean the floor.
4. Charlee pointed out that there really should be some soap if you're cleaning.
5. My kitchen floor smells like strawberry shampoo.
6. They can totally come to your house next.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Fifty Cents of Peace
When the kids and I went to the store the other day, pudding was a buck per 4-pack.
That's only 25 cents per cup.
Do you know how long it takes kids to eat a whole pudding cup??
It's a while.
It means at least 15 minutes of peace for a mommy, at the bargain price of fifty cents and a little hosing off.
It's Official
Jack is walking. I know, it's stupid to have this really adorable picture of him sitting when I'm writing about him walking but I'm lazy and didn't want to go through the whole process of uploading and sorting photos.
So, officially he stared walking the 29th of Feb. He's been doing the few steps here and there but not running around the house. On friday morning, he decided it was time to start walking everywhere.
I'm glad for a million reasons and there are tons of things it will make easier. One of the things it makes harder: grocery shopping. We went yesterday, the kids and I. Emma walks in, I'm carrying Jack our of the bitter windy cold into the store. I put him down, Emma goes one way, he goes the other. Fortunately, Emma is still persuaded by bribery (this will haunt me later) and Jack isn't as fast as he would like to be.
I thought of one more bummer about Jack walking. He's no longer free at either of our two indoor playgrounds. A definite MUST way up here in the freezing, freezing cold.
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