beach bums

A few families we know decided to get together this weekend and have another beach fire. This time we went to the beach right by Sheep Creek down the Thane Rd. I am sure this is going to my husbands favorite weekend activity as most of you know he loves to "burn it down". Anyway, the kids had a blast running around. We roasted some hot dogs and marshmallows. Avery had her first s'more and I had 2! Yum!
The weather held out and with all the daylight we were able to hang out until about 9 with light. No kids fell in the ocean or in the fire which = successful outing!

preschool!

It is official, Avery will be starting preschool this fall. She will go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 AM to noon beginning in September! Auke Bay Cooperative Preschool is the school we have chosen. Twenty students, two teachers and two parents will make up the class day to day. The school looks awesome and has great feedback. The fact that it is a cooperative makes the cost MUCH more affordable and I get to be more involved having a job and work days. I am excited for her. They get out on 1-2 field trips a month going all over the place from the glacier to the tram and even on a whale watching trip! It should be a lot of fun!


Avery testing out her future preschool!

We had a fun and busy weekend with Avery's Gigi and Grandpa Rick. We did lots of shopping and lots of playing! They stayed in a great little apartment nearby and Avery had lots of one on one time. She already misses them and can't wait to see them again.

Avery eating frozen yogurt with Grandpa and Gigi!

Avery got some sweet temporary tattoos all over her belly. She is pretty proud of them!

I also was able to squeeze in a 5K and did alright, thanks to Paige and Rick for watching Avery! It was only my 3 time running since the half marathon I ran last June. 26:33 was my time. Not sure what place as the newspaper seemed to leave out most of the participants from the results. The overall winner was well under 20 minutes. Here is the link to the article that lacks much information: http://juneauempire.com/sports/2012-04-15/heart-hospice-fund-raiser-run-results#comment-43805

Thank you guys for everything. We had a lot of fun and LOVED that the weather held up through your visit! See you guys soon.

spring is officially here!

Mosquitoes are back. Big and thirsty and lots of them. I don't remember seeing many late last summer. I am hoping these guys are just hatched from the melting snow and there has just been a population explosion that will settle down soon!


My first casualty of the season.

they broke ground today!

My friend sent some photos and a video of the action today. Her little boy is in Avery's nursery school class and LOVES to watch the diggers and trucks in action. So he will be fully entertained for awhile as he lives just down the street.

Sam and I went for it and picked out a lot. There will be more, but got quite a bit done for now. The house will be green! Our house package is currently on the barge to arrive next week and our windows have been ordered. Things are rolling and our contractor is shooting for just after the 4th of July. I am not holding my breath, but that is a full 2 weeks early. Which means it will hopefully be good to go by our original close date of the 20th of July!



They said foundation should go in next week and once they start framing that will go up in about a week! I can't wait to see the progress! We are over the moon excited!

longest month of the year

Okay maybe not technically, but ever since I was a kid I have felt that March has dragged on. Maybe because I was waiting for spring break or maybe it is because spring is just starting to show her face or maybe because it is one of the longer months. Who knows, but yet again I feel her dragging.
I significantly upped my vitamin D intake (like from 400 IU's to 5K IU's a day) and I have been actually feeling better. I noticed last March I was REALLY groggy as there was more light. I had a really hard time getting out of bed and it was awful, but I started feeling it this year and since I upped my vitamin D that groggy feeling has up and gone away. I have even thought about tanning, but I just don't have the motivation. We need to get one of those SAD lamps to sit under all winter ;)
Avery is keeping busy. She is still in her Kindermusik class. We have 1 more month of that and preschool. I did take her to an "Outdoor Preschool" last week that was a lot of fun. They take a little hike, sing songs and roast hotdogs and apples over a fire. It was low tide so they got to see lots of sea stars and other various creatures. I think we will go occasionally over the summer, but it is way up on North Douglas and a good 35 minute drive. I just can't commit to a weekly habit. But, we met some new friends and got some really good ideas. Maybe I can convince a friend of mine up on this side of town to start another outdoor preschool for us "out the road" and "valley" folk. She is on the waiting list for the new preschool gymnastics class in town and I will be going to an open house to check out the preschool we want her to attend next fall. Hopefully, we can get her in. It is really popular and she can't even enroll until she turns 3. So we will see.
Sam's horse work is picking up. With full time at the small animal place and the horse stuff, he is in for a busy busy summer. We meet again with Bicknell next Wednesday and hopefully we can get that show on the road in the next month. I really hope we don't have to wait for May, but there is still some snow on the ground and is still freezing over night. But, we are mid 40's during the day! Soon! We are also still homeless for the month of July. So the plan is to put our stuff in storage and feel around a bit longer, but Avery, Tasha and I may be headed north for a month to stay with my parents. I am putting feelers out and coming back empty handed, but not giving up yet.

the little princess and her "needs"

Apparently princess underwear is a must. How could I say no to this face? She needed more anyway. Too bad I can't get her to put them on her little skinny butt. She is way too busy looking and playing with them.

how is March just a few days away?

I am not really sure where the past month has gone, but it seems to be the trend. Time is just getting faster and life is speeding along. Avery is a full blown little person. Opinions, sentences, continence are just a few of her newest accomplishments.

She has had opinions for awhile, but more recently she has learned that how much power she actually possesses. Which in turn means I have to stick to what I say whether I like it or not. I used to be able to distract her and change her thought process and well now she is just as stubborn as both her mother and father :/

Her sentences have gone from basic 3 to 5 word sentences to full blown run-ons. The kid doesn't shut up actually. She has to point out all likenesses in the whole. wide. world. Everything from "the sky is blue sky high today" to "look Mommy, he has toes JUST. LIKE. ME." or "thank you so much mommy for the new pirate booty because I ate all my other pirate booty thank you so much I love it OPEN IT!"

Potty training is still in progress. I wish I could say she took three days and never had an accident, but not so much. She is doing pretty good and will occasionally tell me when she has to go BEFORE she has gone. I am mostly just reminding and making her go every couple of hours. We usually have <1 accidents a day.

Other than that we are just chillin and waiting for winter to get the heck out of here. One more month I think and things will be warming up and we can get outside more. Then we can get cracking on this house building!

a post bath dance party

Just a Quote I Came Across.

Write about your own experience. By that experience someone else may be a bit richer some day. Read widely of others’ experiences in thought and action – stretch to others even thought it hurts and strains and would be more comfortable to snuggle back into the comforting cotton-wool of blissful ignorance. Hurl yourself at goals above your head and bear the lacerations that come when you slip and make a fool of yourself. Try always as long as you have breath in your body to take the hard way, the Spartan way – and work, work, work to build yourself into a rich continually evolving entity.

- Sylvia Plath