The New Three Year Old!

Lincoln is three!  Matt took the day off of work and we had a nice family day.  

We started the day off by opening a gift that contained some train shirts.  I knew those would be a hit, as Lincoln has a train sweatshirt that he requests to wear daily regardless of the weather!  So now we have options for warm, cool, and cold weather in the train wear department!

We opened presents throughout the day!

I think this type of present opening allows for more enjoyment of the gifts.  I'm not a big fan of the frantic glazed eyed look a small child can develop when ripping open a big pile of presents without even breathing.  There's no appreciation in that!

A side benefit of opening presents through out the day is there is time to explore them a bit more:

The marble run pieces that work with duplo pieces were a bit hit with Lincoln (and his older brothers... I had to remind them to share with the birthday boy!!!).

There was, of course, a trip to the playground in the afternoon.  Because when you're three nothing is more fun than an afternoon outside!

We had an early dinner/cake session around 5:30.  Grandma Vicki, Grandma Karen, and Tyler all came over to join us.

Lincoln told me he wanted cereal for his birthday day meal, and I figured that was an easy request to oblige:

Cake time!  Because sugar (cake) with our sugar dinner (cereal) is just perfect.... we went with a turtle theme.  Grandma gets most of the credit for the big turtle cake. Lincoln picked the cake from a selection of five choices - I thought that rolling out tootsie rolls and airheads (the hexagons on the turtle) would be easy.  Oops.... :) Viva put frosting on the cupcakes and I decorated them with little turtles. 

Lincoln did a good job blowing the candles out!

We all enjoyed our cake.

And, of course, there were more presents:

Check out this gorgeous afghan (it came with a sailor Pooh Bear) Grandma Vicki made:

(I will post a better picture in a separate post - it is a lovely sailboat afghan!).

To wrap up the day there was a viewing of Finding Nemo and story time.  And lots of "happy birthday to me" singing by Lincoln.  The day was a success.

Field Trip: Lenscrafters

The kids and I were at the mall a few weeks back, in between gymnastics and karate.  We had some extra time so we stopped by Lenscrafter to see if our buddy Marjory was working!  She was, so lucky for us the kids scored a little tour of how to make lenses for glasses.  It was fun!

Water Fun

We had a warm May followed by a cool June, so we didn't get the pool out until July. That's sad. However, when I did get it out the children had fun.

I started with the water table. I had to clean it up before the boys could use it. The older children were gone hiking (I think) and the younger two had a great time playing with the water. Their favorite activity was carrying water from the table and splashing it on a nearby rock. 

After a while I had the pool set up and filling with water. Evan and Lincoln played in it.

When the older children got home, they joined their little brothers in the pool.

I hope the weather gets warm enough to warrant another few pool days. But first, the children have to get healthier. All of them have a hacking cough. Jake is on antibiotics for the cough. Lincoln has been in to the doctor twice to make sure it hasn't spread to his lungs or ears or sinuses and so far it hasn't. Nasty, nasty viruses. 

Flat Top Hike

Last week the kids hiked up flat top with Opa, their Father, and our visitors from Tawas.  Opa captured a few scenic Alaska + gorgeous child shots:

Those mountains and landscapes are LOVELY!

Daddy captured some more shots of kids + guests with our quality iPhonetagraphy method.  :)

Flag Day 2014!

Another year and another Flag Day celebration at Alaska Children's Services!  My kids find this event to be one of the big highlights of their summer, so despite some gray skies and drizzly clouds Grandma and I packed up and headed out.  The older four took the bus from the high school across the street, and Evan and I walked - just because we could (it's all of 7 minutes anyway).  :)

There were balloon animals - and no line because we got there first!  Not one of our five precious creations popped this year before leaving the event.  A small miracle. :)

Viva had a small glittery butterfly land upon her cheek.  :)

Posing with the animals:

One of the many games that allowed my children to bring home big piles of treasures!

Lots of food!

The verdict?  Another successful year at the Flag Day Celebration

Dinner Helper

Genevieve likes to help in the kitchen.  I know some books claim that if children are involved in the food prep process they're more likely to try the food.... I haven't noticed that to be true, but she does have fun helping me when I make the time/let her.

A few weeks ago I saw a really simple looking recipe on line for ham tarts, and I thought it looked like the perfect project for a child.  Sure enough, it was!

I'm no food photographer, but I assure you they looked (and tasted) delicious in "real life"!

It's hard to remember the kids are getting older and capable of helping in many ways that little peeps can't.  I'm trying to do better with expanding my "vision" of what they can do though.  Next up we're going to go crazy and make pizza!

The 4th

Matt and I deserve bonus points for being good parents - we made the annual trek downtown for the parade!  Traditions are important, right?!  Our youngest four were excited to go.  Our oldest was trying on some tween angst and informed me he didn't want to spend his time at the parade.  I told him that was too bad because he was going anyway!

It was a gorgeous and sunny day.  The parade made quite the impression Lincoln, in particular, who came home and drew a picture that (loosely) represented the dog, moose, motorcycle, and firetruck he saw at the parade.  Apparently those were the four largest impressions made on the little tyke!

Front row seats:

6 out of the 7 of us in one shot!

Later in the afternoon we stopped by a picnic someone from our ward was throwing.  The little people enjoyed some time on the playground and we all enjoyed the chance to have some picnic food with minimal effort!  Always the advantage of a potluck style gathering, right?!

We wrapped up the day with some pool time.  It was about 80 degrees out still in the evening.  Crazy!

Lincoln's Very Bad Day

 Lincoln started his bad day with a bad night before. He kept his mom up most of the night demanding back and tummy rubs and tossing and turning in her bed. When they finally got up, he wanted her to sit and hold him. He would not eat anything or drink much. He did not improve over the morning, so Kara decided to take him to the doctor's office which has a Saturday clinic for sick children (no well baby visits). She called to make an appointment and was informed that the office had closed early because there were few appointments made in the morning. After hearing Lincoln's symptoms the nurse urged Kara to take Lincoln to the emergency room to have him checked for appendicitis. 

Emergency rooms are not cheap on her current health care plan, so she called a urgent care center. They said the only way to be sure it wasn't appendicitis was to do an ultrasound and the only place that could be done on the weekend was at the hospital. Still unsure whether Lincoln was a serious candidate for appendicitis we both got online and did some research. After doing some suggested tests on Lincoln (can he walk without bending over, can he jump) and reviewing the previous day, we concluded it was much more likely that Lincoln was suffering from heat exhaustion than appendicitis.

On the Fourth of July Kara, Matt and the children first went downtown for a couple of hours to see the parade and then they attended a picnic with friends at a school playground. I remember looking at Lincoln when he came home and thinking he was sunburned because his cheeks were so pink. After they returned home, Lincoln spent more time outside in the small pool I had set up. Children 0-4 years and the elderly are particularly at risk for heat exhaustion. The symptoms included all the signs he had been exhibiting.

The poor child was miserable for most of the day. He threw up three times. It was a tough day. He spent the morning with mommy and the afternoon with daddy. He finally started perking up in the early evening and asked to go outside. He went out and played basketball a little. The ball rolled down the hill. When he went after it, he stepped on a yellow jacket nest and was stung four times--twice each on the back of his legs just above his ankles. 

He cried when it happened, but then he calmed down. Opa let him lounge across his lap and play on the iPad while Kara put a baking soda paste on the bites. I then put a paste made of Adolph's Meat Tenderizer. We couldn't give him Benadryl because of his upset stomach. What a lousy thing to happen to a sick little boy.

When we had the bug bites under control, we ate dinner. Lincoln was only allowed to eat dry cereal. He wanted milk. He wanted a hamburger! 

Tomorrow will be a better day!

Guests from Michigan

Opa's brother Glen with his wife (Terri) and daughter (Shannon) came to visit this past week. They arrived at 2AM or so on Saturday night (going into Sunday) and left tonight at 11PM. They had a lot they wanted to see and do during their six days in Alaska, so they were not in our home a lot, but when they were we had a great time with them. 

The trio loved Kara's cousin Shannon (age 16/17). She was a very good sport and played multiple games with them. She went up to the bedroom in the evening and took turns reading books (they gave her) on their beds. Bentley trapped her one evening and started going through every piece of paper in his art bin. He did dragon drawings for each of the three guests. Viva made Shannon a rubberband bracelet. Bentley and Jake put on a magic show for the guests. Thursday evening the older three children hiked Flat Top with the guests, Daddy, and Opa. Lincoln and Evan were friendly, but not like their older siblings.

Opa spent the most time with our guests. He took a couple of days/afternoons off work and accompanied them on adventures. It was nice to have family visit us from Outside. Summer is fun for many different reasons: guests is one reason!

Evan Visits Costco

Evan seldom goes shopping. There's always a better alternative for the adults in the household: he can stay home with someone else while we are out shopping. He hates sitting in the cart. He climbs out even if you strap him in. He's a little monkey. Oddly enough he doesn't want down to run around, he wants to be held which makes it very difficult at Costco or Sam's Club to load the cart with large-sized items. And pushing a full, large cart with one hand can be tricky.

My solution? Feed him. I have never done this before, but I grabbed a six pack of poppy seed muffins and ripped it open and gave him part of one. He was happy. I was happy.

I have to give him credit, he was well-behaved on this trip. Perhaps he will get to go on more excursions in the future!

Homeschool in Summer

For those enquiring minds that want to know, we do not stop our formal schooling program during the summer. The schedule is reduced -- there are fewer subjects on the children's school schedule. If other activities present themselves (summer always has more opportunities than winter), then classes are skipped that day. Progress is slower than during the traditional school year, but there is no backsliding over summer so when the fall comes and a stricter school schedule is put back into place, the children are full steam ahead instead of backtracking because of summer brain drain. (I did not make that phrase up--it's used to describe the learning loss experienced over summer break. It is a big problem in public schools.)

Anyway, we continue to torment our young students with math, reading, and other activities. Here's three photos of the children hard at work: