Wall Jacks

Wall Jacks, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

So, after switching cars and kids and picking up a trailer I went to the hardware rental store to get our wall jacks. We need them because we have several large walls to raise on the second story that we CANNOT lift ourselves.
I pick these things up and they're these little red, metal things with small instructions printed on the side. The rental place gives me this paper that says, "If you do not understand the instructions or know how to use the equipment, please contact us or return the equipment immediately. Serious injury or death could occur."
Fortunately, my family never listens to silly little things like that.
We looked at them for a while.
My dad set one up. 

Mike mentions that he's used them once but doesn't remember anything.  

At this point my dad says, "Well, you're one up on me."

What??

No one here knows how to use these things?? 

And we're raising a wall with expensive windows in it while my dad's cadillac is parked beneath it?? 

Are we crazy??

We totally are.
It was totally worth it.
I was smiling like an idiot all day, as we continued to raise walls. My cheeks hurt nearly as much as my legs and arms do.
Nearly.

(check out our flickr site - listed on the sidebar - for more pics of our day)

Jolene's Totally Fabulous, Proven Effective Weight Loss Plan

So, have I peaked your curiosity?

This is my plan in progress:

Awake at about 7 am, which is about 7 hours after turning off lights from night before.

Sit with one and a half year old boy while he drinks his milk until you are no longer hungry for breakfast.

Try desperately to keep him quiet when his only method of communication is to grunt or screech so his older sister can sleep.

Answer phone about house.

Make decisions with now two children distracting you (the phone woke the second) that will affect your budget and overall appearance of the home you're building.  

The stress from making these types of decisions with LOTS of help from children bumps your metabolism to a great rate.

Realize you haven't eaten breakfast and make some type of meal replacement shake.

Convince kids to eat something that is not a cliff bar.

Get dressed while kids eat.

Grab purse, makeup bag (not that you''ll remember to use it) and a diaper and get in the car leaving your half finished breakfast drink on the counter.

Go in and out of at least two hardware stores and when you hopefully get in and out of the car with two kids for the last time, realize you need to pick up the dry cleaning and buy milk and yogurt at the store.

Guiltily take the kids to Burger King for lunch.  You can't stomach the stuff but they eat it like it's the best meal on earth.

Wish you went to Subway where you could have at least gotten a cookie.

Bring kids home, make them a snack and put the youngest down for a nap.

Sit and play with the older child until you realize you have not only skipped breakfast but lunch as well.

Make some stupid snack like apples, yogurt or cheese and crackers and eat half if you're lucky because your snack suddenly looks like the best meal on earth to your older child.

Realize that younger one is about to wake up and you have no idea what to do for dinner.

Throw frozen pizza in the oven and make some mixed frozen veggies out of guilt.

Pull our work clothes for you.

Pull out work clothes for your husband.

Pull out two changes of clothes for your kids knowing that they're going to play hard with gramma.

Throw dinner at husband followed by clothes, peel out of the driveway, drop off kids and head off to the most relaxing part of your day.

It involves hauling lumber, using power tools and lifting heavy walls.

Go home, put kids to bed.  Stare at TV uncomprehending until dragging yourself to bed where you suddenly realize you haven't spoken to your spouse all day.  

Talk until midnight and realize you need to turn out the light so you can do it all over again the next day.

Know that when your house is finished it will be totally worth it, and you'll be at least 15 pounds lighter, even with all of your new hard earned muscles.

Whew.

Gotta Check It Out

So, you have to read the story on Mike's latest blog.

CLICK HERE FOR EMMA ADORABLENESS.

My Mom

My Mom, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I was on the phone the other day with the lady who does billing for my daughter's speech therapist. Then we realize that her husband's uncle was my granddad's best friend. When I was a kid we spent a LOT of weekends/weeks/weekdays/time up in my dad's airplane with my granddad walt and his friend Harry. They lived down the street from one another. We would climb in a plane and land on a lake or next to a river and camp and fish for days.
It brought back some fun memories and I dug through some old photo albums.
Here is my mom. By the hair I'm guessing this is late 80's. She's always been a pretty trendy mom. I could guess at how heavy those fish are but I KNOW they're over 30 pounds each and I would guess closer to 50. So, you can see that she's also always been in good shape.
One of the side effects of being an Alaskan Woman.
The kind that does stuff.
She's standing on the float of the Beaver that belonged to my granddad. When we first got the Beaver, there were no seats inside, just for the pilot and co-pilot. Boy was that awesome! As kids we would just snuggle up in our wad of bedrolls and blankets. When seats finally were put in, we were really bummed.
Just looking at this picture, I can smell that airplane engine. My brother and I would walk up and down on the floats and try to catch fish, sometimes we were just trying not to fall in. That depended on where the plane was tied up or IF it was tied up.
This was a great place to grow up.
My dad doesn't have planes anymore but my parents have a great little cabin and they generally have a boat we can all visit Prince William Sound in. Emma has taken advantage of both, Jack hasn't been out on the boat since just before he was born.
It's fun to have my kids growing up where I grew up. Already their experiences and memories will still be totally different.
I think that's a good thing.
So, I know this was a strange rambling post, but there it is.

Mike's King

Mike's King, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

So, here's Mike with his King Salmon he caught the other night. I never see them this way, he filets them before he leaves the river.
Every year the people from Mike's office go to the King Salmon opener (at midnight) on Sheep Creek. It's combat fishing (this means lots of people) but it's tradition.
He works in an office with a lot of good people which just adds to the fact that he loves his job.
I love that we live in a place where he can drive a short ways up the highway and come back with something as tasty as this.

Before you comment on how much cheaper it is to catch your own rather than buy one for 20 something a pound at the store, remember the price of gas...

What's Left

What's Left, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Not a great shot I realize.
Here's what's left of our family photo wall and book shelf.
Nearly every time we have moved somewhere, once my pics are up no the wall, we're moved in. Everything else is just rearranging. The same goes for moving out. Once the photos come down, we're just counting days until we're gone.
It's a little sad moving out of your first house, especially when you built it with your own two hands. But we're moving on and up and I have to say that despite the small twinges of sadness at leaving our new home, we are SO excited about the new place.
It just became official to ME today as I was taking down photos.
It probably should have been official when I wrote out the first check and they cleared our new lot but whatever. I don't understand how my brain works, why should you?

A Little Ballerina

A Little Ballerina, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

So, this is where all of you who feel like imperfect people and mothers can feel a little better.
Emma is all dressed up for her first day of dance class. It's a ballerina's uniform of pink/flesh tights and a black leotard. We had gotten her outfit the day before and I had to pry it off of her to get her to bed. She gave me a cute little pose in the car with her sweet little smile so I could take her picture.
The day of her first dance class was super fun. We had breakfast with friends, lunch at the office with grandparents and then we headed to the dance studio.
There was no one there.
What?
No one was there.
I finally called my mom and had her look at their website.
"Registration now for classes starting July 7th."
How did I miss this??
Seriously!!!
So, then I had to tell Emma that we were going home. And no, we weren't going to miss the class. The class doesn't start for three weeks.
Yes, that's kind of a long time.
No, they won't start without you.

oops, wrong again. You'll be on a trip with your daddy the first week of dance class.
I actually left that part out. I figure, how much can she miss in a class aimed at 3 and 4 year olds?

But now the excitement has worn off a little and the hopefulness from my end that she'll really love to dance is waning a little.

She gets home THE day before the second (her first) day of dance class. I really, really hope she loves it. I loved it at her age, so did my sister and my cousin Kim is AMAZING. I'll have to post a picture of her sometime. But she's on to bigger things now like medical school.
Hey, if Emma's dancing leads to medical school I'm even more all for it.
Although, I may be getting a little ahead of myself.

Happy Solstice

Happy Solstice, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

This picture was taken this evening at just after nine pm.  Note how high the sun still is in the sky.

Sunrise 4:21, Sunset 11:43. And because the sun goes up and down SO slowly in the summer, there's light outside all night long this time of year.
I was going to take a picture at midnight tonight but I'll be in bed. Asleep.

Last night Mike went on his yearly "man trip" for the King Salmon opener at Sheep Creek. He got a king at 12:07 this morning and we ate it at approximately 5 pm this evening.
That's fresh salmon. It was delicious.
Also last night I decided to sew two dresses for Emma. Then, since Mike was gone I put in Little Miss Sunshine which I watched until about the time that Mike caught his fish.
Mike came through the door at 4:30 this morning. I mean, really, when no one else has yet caught their King, you have to stick around and gloat a little bit...
Jack woke up and needed to be cozied back to sleep at about 5 am.
Emma woke up with a bad dream at just before 6.
Jack woke up for real at 8am (late for him) followed by Emma and we've been working on our house ever since.
Well, except for our fabulous fresh fish dinner.

Now let me be a little long-winded and describe how well Mike worked the day after his little excursion:

He rammed his head into a window he had JUST installed.  Hard.  So hard that he was a little dazed.

While dazed, Mike made a comment about not understanding a word we said.  

And really, that's all the encouragement James and I need.

So, as we were yelling directions to Mike over a wall, we would throw a spanish word in once in a while.  (we don't actually speak spanish but words like ola, and burrito seemed to confuse which promotes hilarity on the job site).  Hilarity for James and I and continued confusion for Mike.

After the teasing, Mike got back to work.  He put boards on upside down.  He stapled the middle after repeated warnings to staple on the bottom first.

To top things off, he scratched his eye while stapling one of the infamous backwards boards forcing me, to force him off the job site.  Seriously, he was a menace.

Happy Solstice!
AND happy titling back the other direction on this rock we live on that's flying through the vast universe.

A Little More on Shakespeare

So, I got a couple of lovely comments from some of you on my last post and a few more emails.

Reading Shakespeare is a lot like reading scriptures or anything that's written in a form we don't read everyday.  If you do read it everyday, it's no big deal.

My mom's mother Betty used to say that if you wanted to learn about something, read a kid's book first.  I think that's fabulous advice.

I realize that there may not be kid's versions of Shakespeare's plays but there are movies.  With people you've heard of like Mel Gibson and Leonardo DiCaprio.  

I think my favorite play is As You Like It.  I've always wanted to play Rosalind.  It's a little confusing with women posing as men and such but it's a great love story without a tragic ending.  Read a synopsis, even a lengthy one before starting.

When I first started reading scriptures I would read a children's book about, say, Noah and the ark.  When I read the scripture with phrasing that I wasn't used to, I could still follow the story because I knew what it was.  That's maybe not the best example but you get the idea.  

Well, now you all know I'm a total nerd about theater.  

So, ya know, happy reading.

Shakespeare

Shakespeare, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

These books are as important to me as my Great Grandmother's wedding ring.
They've been in my house since high school and I took them with me when I left home. In several of the places where we've lived, they were just about the only thing of value.
I love the theater, I love the backstage excitement and I also love being in the audience waiting in anticipation for the show to begin.
No movie can compare with that.
I have no idea what they're worth and it really doesn't matter. They contain all of Shakespeare's published plays and sonnets. These books were printed in the latter part of the 1800s and I think
they're beautiful.
They smell like old books but better.
They make me happy when I look at them.
Every time I've had to wrap them up, I use two to three t-shirts and tape and THEN put them in a box.
I love things that are old but very simple.
I love Shakespeare.
I love the simplicity of his message and how the complex language sounds like a song when read out loud.
I love that someone in my family who is long gone sat and read and looked at them.
I love that my children will do the same.
I love the idea, that two to three generations from now, one of my descendants will look at something that I really loved and love it too.

Makin Pancakes

IMG_6064, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Emma has turned into quite the little chef. She's actually great at flipping pancakes and Jack has to be up there watching.
He warns us all the time, "HAAAAA" with his hand over the food.
You know, "Hot" mom.
It's funny, even when I serve him cold cereal, he tells me it's hot.
I guess better safe than sorry.

Once Again, My Man With Skills...

Once Again, My Man With Skills..., originally uploaded by kidsideup.

The bummer about selling your house and building your new one is that you actually have to get the old one ready to sell.
Here we are, well, here HE is, working on replacing the front door. It's on, which is great but we still need to put the trim back up on the inside and outside.
Also, I love this picture of Mike. He's always complaining about his arms but I think they look great, except for that farmer tan...

I really, really love to sew

I really, really love to sew, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

This is my good friend Heather, she turned 30 today and was all kinds of freaked out about it. I said it's just that she had kid number three, bought a minivan and turned 30. That's just shock to a system who thinks they should still have a waist, be flirty and single and still be working at the Buckle (for the 40% discount).
I made this Mei Tai for her baby girl, Olivia Ryan, great name isn't it?
Anyways, I made her a military one out of one of her husband's BDUs before Olivia was born. Even daddy carries the baby around in that one. I put on his rank and other patches, it's pretty fun. Heather decided she needed one that's a little more girly and she picked out these fabrics.
I thought it wouldn't be as fun to sew one with fabrics someone else picked out but it totally is. I probably wouldn't have picked out either of these but look how totally stinkin (utah word I can't seem to get rid of) cute it is!
And really, aren't those cheeks irrestible?

Where I Make a Plug for Cloth Diapers

Where I Make a Plug for Cloth Diapers, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I love Jack's cloth diapers. If I had known how great they were when Emma was a baby, she would have had cloth diapers too.
There are about a million reasons for doing this:
1. Jack has REALLY sensitive skin. More than a few paper diapers at a time and he has a small rash. I even get the brown chlorine free ones and he'll still get a small rash.
2. If you're environmentally conscious, they're great. I know you're using more detergent and more water but it's nothing compared to the waste from paper diapers. A good friend of mine called me the day after watching something on 60 minutes about landfills and tree cutting and how much one child in paper diapers contributes to that and started asking me all about cloth diapers. I've converted three friends, so far...
- No, I'm not crazy. I don't roll my eyes at people for using paper diapers, I also don't think you're a destroyer of the planet or anything, it just works for me.
3. Cleaning them isn't a big deal.
(Mike just read over my shoulder as I was typing and said, "I thought you were going to say that cleaning them was a big deal because your husband doesn't help at all, he draws the line at cleaning cloth diapers and watching Sex and the City.")
Isn't he hysterical.
Anyways... I live in the playroom and the laundry room (Mike cooks and does dishes) so one more load of laundry that I don't fold is hardly noticed. Both my friends Aurelie and Heather have nicely folded and put neatly away diapers. I have a basket...where they're tossed.
4. How can you resist something with names like BumGenius, Fuzzi Bunz, Rumperoos, Baby Kangas and Happy Heinies?? I mean COME ON people!
And lastly, can you see the pattern on those little Fuzzi Bunz he has on now?? Why would I ever put him in pants!

Lookie!

Lookie!, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Aurelie! It's our mommy moose!! She came back and had her baby in our backyard again. I had given up after May but here she is with her brand new baby.
This moose had a baby in my backyard last year when Aurelie and her adorable twins came to visit. We read up on mommy moose and learned that they have a baby nearly every year. They wean the last baby a short while before the new one comes along and they start the process over again. They very often have their babies in the same spot, which is why I'm sure this is the same mommy moose I saw last year.
They're crossing the street in front of my house, the mommy moose has her ears back warning me to not get too close. She didn't care that I was just taking pictures.

What Do We Do?

What Do We Do?, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

This was about a month ago on our first really warm day of the year. Where do we go in this first lovely warm day? Up to Hatcher's Pass, in the mountains, where there's still snow.
Emma was having none of this silly walking in the snow stuff so she piggy-backed on Uncle James, Mom, and as you see here, Gramma.

We Even Got a Flat Tire

We Even Got a Flat Tire, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Fortunately, Emma was there to help.

Archangel Creek

Archangel Creek, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

This is Archangel Creek. It's a short hike which is good since most of it was on snow. We are actually looking at running water here, you just can't tell. The water up here is amazingly clear.

Poor Mike

Poor Mike, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Mike took the day off today to help me get our house ready to sell and to work on our new house.
I thought it would be nice to let him sleep in.
Jack woke up at about a quarter to 7.
Emma was up about 10 minutes later.
They were being pretty loud in the house so I took them outside.
Here is Emma hopping on rocks and singing at the top of her lungs (7:30am) just outside the window where Mike is trying to sleep.

We came up with a new plan...

(scroll down)

So We Came Here

So We Came Here, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I love this park. It's small, nobody knows about it and we're almost always there alone.

It does help when you're there at 8 am.

The ducks mom! The DUCKS!!!

The ducks mom! The DUCKS!!!, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Emma could chase, feed, watch, chase, and giggle over the ducks all day. Today we came prepared with stale bread. I have a large selection at home.

Cutest Little Boy EVER

Cutest Little Boy EVER, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I LOVE this picture of Jack. Just shows his cute, playful personality.

For More Pics of our lakeside adventure click HERE!

Could you just DIE of cute overload?

Could you just DIE of cute overload?, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

The Great New Fabulous Water Table

The Great New Fabulous Water Table, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I've wanted one of these since the beginning of last summer...and I thought the kids might like it too.
They do.
If you're wondering why Emma is wet from the top of her head, partway down her shirt it's because the bubbles she dumped in made soap! And it's apparently the perfect kind of soap for washing hair.
So, those green containers of bubbles that Walmart sells is actually shampoo...in case you were wondering.

Auntie Julie's Birthday

Auntie Julie's Birthday, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I LOVE this picture. Total hilarity.
Our birthdays have been so much more fun as Emma gets older. None of us really care about a cake and candles and all that but Emma really does and it's so cute, how do you say no?
Another benefit - you don't even have to open your own presents. Emma's practically a professional.

The Well Mud

The Well Mud, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I remember playing in this silty, sandy stuff that seems to come out of all of the wells up here. It's gooey right now. I think both kids went through at least two pairs of shoes and several outfits before it became non-interesting.
We'll see how long that lasts.

OOOhhhh!

OOOhhhh!, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Granddad carries the best stuff.

Got it!

Got it!, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

No Worries People! I found what I needed!

Stairs PEOPLE!

Stairs PEOPLE!, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Okay so this isn't the finished self-supported staircase that's totally going in here later, but right now? It's ten times better than a ladder.

Oh, and just a little self-help tip. If you want really amazing gluts and really tired legs just make the rise on your stairs ten and a half inches.

New Toy...For the New Toy

New Toy...For the New Toy, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

At some point in time it was decided (I think by my dad) that a top was needed for the Ranger.

I really love my family's definition of "need."

Although

Although, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Even with the new top, I don't think this is quite what Kate Spade had in mind when she designed this bag.

Manly Magic

Manly Magic, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

When I was a kid, I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever that my dad didn't use any lame pencil sharpener. Nope, my dad used a utility knife. That's right. MY dad sharpens pencils with a knife.

At some point I realized that all construction pencils are sharpened with utility knives. I actually don't know another way to sharpen them. But you know what? I still don't feel any less cool when I steal a utility knife out of Mike's pouch (no way I'm putting on a work belt) so I can sharpen my pencil.

Yep.
As my dad would say, "simple pleasures for simple minds..."

The Jack

The Jack, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Screaming while running in his sister's panties on the trampoline.

Gotta Love Summer.

Ultimate Summer Fun

Ultimate Summer Fun, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I'm bummed this didn't show her face but she's really moving and I thought that was more fun.
We went outside right after breakfast (she's wearing her new pajama dress) and Emma said, "Hey MOM! It's WARM outside!"
Yep.
Finally.

To Do

To Do, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

This is one day, I have a whole new one today.

Gotta love the rebel

Gotta love the rebel, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Remember how I made that crack about being from a long line of rule followers while standing on the forbidden step of a ladder? Well, we also love it when the Tyvec is upside down. What's really funny, is the stuff even says, "This Side Up" like it matters. Like your house will not be as protected if their name is upside down.

My Guy

My Guy, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Here's my man...
with skills.

Each and Every One

Each and Every One, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Each and every BCI needed to be cut, hauled up ladders and nailed in place. One every 12 inches in the garage and 14 inches in the house.

Yeah, I Know

Yeah, I Know, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

I come from a long line of rule followers.



This was actually a little tricky. That top step is really pretty wobbly. You can look underneath me, I really am at the top of a 10 ft ladder.

List

List, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

From the first day you start a house, there's a list of stupid things that need to be done. Here is our list. We write most things on a scrap of wood or rip a bit off of a box. I have lists on bits of cardboard in my car as well. I am proud to say that we have completed most of these little bits. It must be time to make a new list.

A Boy and His Dad

A Boy and His Dad, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

Jack and Emma LOVE to come out to the new house. I'm sure that will come to an end.