Another Boy with a Ball Outside

No surprise, but Lincoln likes balls.  He also REALLY likes being outside.  He is an ambitious little guy and has decided there is no reason he should be inside if he doesn't want to be - so he's figured out how to unlock the front door.

The first time one of the kids told me he had left/unlocked the door I dismissed them as slightly crazy.  But then I saw him in action myself - yikes!  I've told him that it's not okay to leave the house on his own but he is just a tad on the strong willed side.  I'm not sure that he took my admonishment to heart.

So... door alarms or a better deadbolt?  Off to research!

Tough Day

Life was looking up. The leaves finally came out on the trees. Our road dried out...a little bit. (The problem is not fixed, but it's better than last week.) Kara sold a couple of items from our growing furniture pile in the garage. The children were happy, healthy and playing outside for hours every day. Life was good.

Then the coin flipped. Good day/Bad day: Now all five children are coughing. Is it hay fever? (I have a very bad case of hay fever that started two days ago.) Is it the excessive dust on the driveway? (We've a lot more fine dirt on our driveway than usual because of the road problem.) Is it some vicious virus that's making the rounds? (There is one in town right now according to the pediatrician's office.) Is it all of the above, depending on the child? Whatever it is, our fun times were brought to a screeching halt today. 

This morning I got up just before 9AM because Evan was screaming and screaming. I picked him up and plodded down the hall to Kara's room to see why his mommy was ignoring him. She pleaded lack of sleep--Evan and Lincoln had taken turns keeping her up most of the night. Lincoln was sleeping in her bed and she had put Evan in his crib and told him to go back to sleep.

When I walked into her room I stepped in a pile of cat puke. I cleaned the carpet easily enough, but then we found a second problem area. I spent the next half hour trying to remove green cat bile from Kara's beautiful new comforter cover and from the king-sized comforter inside the cover. While I was doing that I was supervising Bentley who started his morning with a very severe bloody nose. 

Evan was back in his crib, hanging out quietly, but by now Lincoln was awake. Kara was keeping an eye on him while he took a shower. He had a high fever last night and he has the worst cough in the household. He may need to go to the doctor's.

I moved Bentley to my bed and told him to read for a while in case the bloody nose returned. He stayed there for a couple of hours. Viva spent the morning and early afternoon upstairs in her pajamas reading and occasionally coughing. 

Meanwhile downstairs Cousin John stopped by to visit his grandma. He played a game of chess with her. Since she doesn't know how to play, Jake took over for her. Jake played a good game, but when the game ended in a draw he got upset. When Jake is upset the entire household knows about it. He woke Evan up from his late morning nap.

Jake recovered within a short time (he's learning some control!) and said a nice good-bye to John when he left, although he declined to shake John's hand. Jake was sad to learn that John lives on the East Coast and won't be back for a rematch any time soon. (Would John play chess with Jake again? John was impressed that Jake knew how to play, but the game ending was a bit loud. *sigh*) Bentley was bummed he never got to play John at chess. Kara offered to play a game with him.

Upstairs in our way too warm bedroom (it's another hot day like yesterday), I spent an hour coaxing Lincoln to take an afternoon nap. Viva finally got dressed so she could go to dance class. It's the first class at a new studio, so it's not a good time to skip even if she's not totally healthy. I think she's coughing because of the dust on the driveway, but who knows?

And now in a fitting end to an already too long day, Lincoln just climbed into Evan's crib and woke him up. I spent a half hour getting Evan to take a late afternoon nap. 

How many minutes until Kara gets home with Viva from dance class?! I want to find a cool, dark, allergen-free corner to hide in. Evan is screaming at the top of his lungs...isn't the way my day started?...I need to go.

Evan The "Cutie Pie"

SO cute!  (Jake likes to call Evan his "little cutie pie"... Evan likes it until Jake starts hugging and kissing TOO enthusiastically!".  I think all of us in the house can relate.  Jake is very loving but, upon occasion, can be overwhelming.  :)

Fun in the Sun

We are having a bit of an odd end to May here in Anchorage, with unseasonably warm weather for us - the forecast for tomorrow calls for 81!  This is unheard of for this time of year!  And it's still 63 at 10:15 at night?  Be still my heart.  :)

We're certainly not complaining around here, today was another day of 5 hours straight outside soaking up some vitamin D and fresh air for the kids.  I have to admit that my "tiger mom" is feeling a bit antsy about all this play and no work, but I am repressing my over zealous nature and reminding myself these are YOUNG children doing what kids SHOULD do with the majority of their time!

All fingers and toes crossed that this is just the start of a long summer streak of blissful days for us!

And Evan... who says he has never seen such gorgeous weather in his WHOLE life!  Who knew it could be like this?!  :)

From the Mind of Bentley...

Bentley and I are trying out a curriculum package from Moving Beyond the Page right now, it's all about communities and how they change over time.  Today we were discussing what community means, and talking about different basic human needs.

Me: "What are some of the things that humans need to survive?"

Bentley: "I don't know.... guns??"

(With a little more prompting we got back to water, food, shelter, .... but apparently that's not number one on the list of NEEDs!)

My Pops and I

My Father and I normally try to grab a picture together on my birthday every year.  I got distracted and we didn't get one done, but I figure it's ALMOST as good to get a picture in your birthday YEAR as on your birthday DAY, right?!  We were both wearing stripes today so it was meant to be!

What a fine looking pair we are.  :)

Art Time!

It was a gorgeous Memorial Day here, with temps in the 70s.  The forecast is calling for temps hitting 80 this week.  Craziness, it's only May in Alaska!

I love that we still have gorgeous sunshine at 9 pm.  I realized that we hadn't done our homework for art class, which is tomorrow, so we had to get busy!  We were practicing our watermelon slice still life skills.

Bentley, Jake, and Viva are taking an acrylic class being hosted by a friend from church.  Tomorrow will be our third class and we'll see how it goes.  Viva has had some difficulties with accepting instruction (to put it nicely!)... she may be booted from art class if it keeps up.  My boys?  Great listeners.  Viva?  Quite strong willed and independent and loudly emotional about it.  

Fun times!  (It really is, for the most part!!)

Girl Time

 I tried to turn Viva into a shopping buddy while the boys were gone, but she was a hard sell... she did enjoy modeling some of the finer hats we found on our excursion though:

Aren't those lovely??  If they'd been $12 instead of $25 I might have been persuaded to purchase a few.  Alas, it wasn't to be.

Sometimes it's good to have some pink time!  

I'm lucky to have a girly little girl to indulge, in addition to all these crazy rowdy loud and fun boys and more boys!

A Few More SD Notes

How did the week go?  The reports from spouse and children say it was a great time!  Bentley and Jake enjoyed going to school a few times with Grandma Vicki.  Jake's favorite part?  All the free time.  Apparently he doesn't get much of that at home (haha)!  Lincoln enjoyed the extra time with Daddy.  All 3 of the boys enjoyed the parks and the sun and the grass.  And the great company in the form of Grandma Vicki and Great-Grandpa Roy, of course!  I hear there was even a popcorn and Wizard of Oz evening.  :)

Lincoln and the park:

The boys and a friend they found at school:

Another day, another walk or two and trip to Story Land:

Heading home!  Pros at getting around at Sea-Tac Airport:

Cowboy boots from Grandma Vicki, what a well turned out group of feet I will be traveling with for this next year!

Peep, Peep!

To be honest this shirt says YIKES I'm here more than peep peep!  Daddy picked it up at the Peep store when he was in D.C. earlier this year.  Mommy and Daddy have different clothing taste, but apparently Daddy and Lincoln are on the same wave length because Lincoln finds this eye popping bright yellow shirt absolutely fabulous.

Speaking of peeps, they had a new peep candy this year.  Chocolate covered mini peep bites.  Peepsters, to be exact.  I don't even like Peeps but discovered these in the after Easter candy clearance and found them quite addictive.  I am sad it will be another year before I find them again!  :)

Warm Weather Has Arrived

I think we completely missed spring, but that's okay because summer is here now!  The kids spent 8 hours outside yesterday and we're on track for another day of good time logged in the great outdoors today!  All our fingers and toes are crossed for a summer of sun and not rain!

The bikes have been out for a few weeks, but yesterday we also tracked down the different ball sets, the chalk, the stomp rocket.... it is this time of year that I wonder about what it would be like to live somewhere where there is sun year round.  But I suspect that no matter where you live there are both plusses and negatives.  If you've found paradise leave me a comment, however, and let me know where you are!

Some pictures.  First off, Evan, who was a bit irked he didn't get to spend 8 hours outside too... I told him he needs to learn to walk as gravel isn't the best for crawling.

He has the best faces!

Now, on to all those other little people.

Moose...ARG!

Monday evening this young male moose was munching down on the green grass in our yard. I'm rather protective of that patch of green because it's about the only sign that it's going to be spring soon. The leaves haven't even leafed out on the trees yet. Lincoln was fascinated with the moose. I was not. I threw small logs at him. It took five throws to get the moose to leave. The first three I didn't hit the moose, but he would not budge, so I had to get more aggressive. Moose do a lot of damage to decorative shrubs. The lilac bush behind the moose has had three blooms in the four summers we've lived in this house. I hate moose. They destroyed our raspberry patch. They chewed our white Sitka roses down to nothing. The 101 shrubs (cotoneasters) that line our driveway are puny things because every winter the moose trim them back severely. Why can't all the moose go live in Canada?!

Photos: The Five!

Here's the best of the group shots:

And a few shots of Evan with his many brothers:

Photos: Bentley, Jake & Viva

Bentley and Jake were good sports; Viva not so much.

Photos: Lincoln and Evan

Two weeks ago Kara asked Mark to take some photos of the children. Here are the best photos of the younger two from that photo shoot: