Did someone say slumber party?

This past weekend Lillian was staying at my parents. Amanda had a big event in Anchorage for the charity she is involved with and Sonny is at work. My mom was on call Sunday morning and my dad was taking a test for his volunteer firefighting. So Avery and I went and stayed the night to be backup sitters in case Kooka got called into work Sunday morning. Avery had lots of fun playing with Lillian. They played, ate and even did a bit of coloring.

Avery attempting to give Lillian a kiss. Lillian wanted nothing to do with it.

March already?

We found this AWESOME little park less than two miles from us. There are some serious sledding hills and a couple great sets of playground equipment (one for tots and another for older kids). There are also courts and baseball fields! Avery might not look like she is enjoying herself, but the following day when we went back to this park she threw a fit until I figured out she wanted to bounce on the teeter bouncy thing-a-mi-jig.

Tasha and Wilson are also enjoying the snow. The both love bounding through the deep snow. Tasha just looks funny doing it because she is much shorter than Wilson.

All is well, Sam's AK license to practice has finally been issued. The state is even going to issue a refund for the temporary license since it never was issued. Avery and I have been keeping ourselves busy. The story time at the library seems to be popular. There are also a few other things I am going to check out. There is a Kindermusik program, some tot class at a dance/karate studio and maybe some swimming (I have yet to call the pool).

This weekend we are going to make an effort to get to Anchorage and attend a few Fur Rendezvous events. The question is: Will we brave the crowds? The Iditarod starts this weekend.

We are excited for next month. The temperature should start to rise in the next couple of weeks! Olivia and Jan are visiting AK for 10 days and then towards the end of the month Gigi and Grandpa Rick are coming!

Avery's First Tat

Avery decided she needed some ink and took care of it herself.

Check this out Mom!

A closer look @ Avery's artwork.

Looking a tad guilty.

17 months!

Time has been flying by and Avery is a whole new kid just about every week! She is still not saying a whole lot, but understands just about anything. It is hard to believe she will be 1 1/2 next month.

17 month accomplishments:

• she says about 12 words and knows 10 signs
• she has finally figured out how to run without face planting
• has begun to climb
• her hair is thinking about growing
• she has cut 14 teeth (just her top 2 canines and all four 2 year molars are left)
• she is still under 20lbs
• she knows where a few body parts are: hair, head, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, eyes, shoulders, hands, toes, knees, feet and belly button. she can also point them out on someone else or the dogs
  
• she knows a couple animal sounds: bear, dinosaur, cow, horse, pig (she tries to snort), dog and cat
• is officially down to 1 nap, but some days that is even a fight

I will try to get back to blogging at least once a week :) We are finally getting into a routine here and settling in.

settling in

I have everything we have unpacked and in a spot for the time being. Laundry is done and for the most part things are picked up. I need to get some sort of toy bin for Avery's things. Right now they are just in a large pile in the living room. Avery has been good. She had a blast yesterday and refused to nap. Not cool when I had like 15 billion things to do. Today we went to the library for story time and there were a lot of people there, even with 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I guess it is a big hit here and we will continue to go. Avery was not in a good mood. We ended up leaving early because she was about to throw herself on the ground and make a huge scene. Next week will hopefully be better. She has been messing around with her nap schedule so it is a guessing game at this point when/if she will nap. I want to get her on a 1pm nap schedule because the activities I have found in the area are either late morning or late afternoon.
The place we moved into is alright. The paint colors are downright awful and the carpet in the main area and hallway is a little funk to say the least. It is super close to Sam's work (he walks!), it is affordable and month to month. I really don't want to up and move anytime soon, but if something spectacular came up we just might. I am waiting on Sam to get the PO Box and will get you all the address when I get it. That should happen tomorrow. We are also planning on going to a 1st birthday party in Anchorage tomorrow. I think Avery will have fun with all the kiddos!
I will get some photographs up eventually. The truth is I have not taken very many because we have just been so transient lately.

the saga continues...

As most of you know we have literally been nomads for the past 2 months or so. I am not going to lie....it has been a royal pain in the arse! We are living with my parents for the moment, but that is a good 30 minute drive to work for Sam. We thought that we might start looking for a place to rent closer to Chugiak. I figured it would take us awhile to find something affordable, pet friendly and close to the clinic. I opened up Craigslist and wham...there is a place less than a 1/4 of a mile for rent that is affordable, pet friendly and even month to month. So we are on the move yet again. Sam can even walk to work and I will have free reign of the truck. We will move in next week and HOPEFULLY settle in. I have been warned that the place is ugly, but clean and in good condition. I can deal with some fugly. It will be nice to get to see Sam an hour extra a day and chill out on the fuel consumption. I am bummed because now the coaching job is not at all feasible and I will have to quit. I was really liking it and now feel like a total jerk having to up and quit on these kids, but it is just more complicated with Avery and too long of a commute for a small wage. Basically, it would cost us money for me to do it. That is where we are at and I will apologize in advance for the lack of blogging, but I am busy and I only get one nap a day to do stuff now.

Whole Once Again

Sam and his dad made it up to AK this past Tuesday. They drove about 33oo miles from Colorado Springs, CO to Wasilla, AK. They were able to see buffalo, moose, caribou and even a wolf. Fort Nelson, BC was the coldest with a temperature hovering at a whopping -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wilson and Tasha at the beginning of their journey north.


Onward to Canada.


Buffalo walking down the highway!




Caribou


Moose


Somewhere in the north.

Avery was SO EXCITED to see her Daddy and her dogs. She had a blast with Grandpa Smith as well. It is nice to have Sam back and he will start work next week at Alaska Equine and Small Animal Hospital. I started coaching with my old club team out here in the valley. It is just a few nights a week with a novice group of kids, but it is really nice to get out of the house and do something for myself. Other than that we are trying to settle in and get our feet on the ground. It has been a hectic 6 weeks or so and things are finally falling into place. I will try to be better about blogging now that my computer has arrived safely :)

we made it!

Hangin'

I will say that was a hard day! Flying alone with a 16 month old is hard. Avery seriously was terrific and only had a few melt downs. The 6 hour flight from MN to AK was long. Avery also decided it would be a terrific idea to blow out her diaper on our descent into MN. That is the first time since she was about 7 months old. I was smart and had an extra outfit. She also was super friendly with our neighbors on the plane and insisted on sitting on their laps for part of the flights. They were all nice and more than willing to let Avery hang out with them for a bit, but those of you who know Avery on a personal level know how rare this is. I resisted the urge to take a picture. I wish I could remember more, but I was seriously a zombie by the end of the day. But, I did enjoy about 6 cheesy bread sticks from the Mooses Tooth on our drive to Wasilla :)
Avery's cousins, Evan and Lillian have both visited and Avery and Lillian have another play date tomorrow. Avery is learning to deal with another toddler in the room and she gets pretty angry when Lillian has something that she wants. They are pretty silly together and it is clear they will be getting into trouble together!

Lillian taunting Avery with a toy.


They were having fun with the ball!

still in limbo

We have one more week of waiting for our Alaska trip. We have been busy with getting things set to move to AK, so hopefully all goes as planned. We are totally in an awkward spot, but Sam is looking like a shoe in for the job (knock on wood) and we are just trying to get things together. Sam has been very productive! He installed the block heater in the truck today, he got a much needed haircut, he got CSU's Vet Hospital to get us the necessary paperwork to get the dogs into Canada and he has been working with the border people on getting his guns authorized to be transported through the country. I, on the other hand, have been much less productive and have been dealing with what seems like a toddler who may have started cutting canines and it is NOT fun. They are not swollen yet, but she is walking around screaming and biting her fingers in the gaps where they should come in. All the other teeth, besides her 2 year molars, have cut so I figure it is only a matter of time. Motrin seemed to help.

Today we had lunch with Sam's Uncle Craig and that was nice. Avery was in a terrible mood, but we got through it. A huge triumph today was that I was able to get Avery to take a bath without screaming bloody freaking murder the entire time. For the past 3 weeks she has HATED bath time with a passion. She screams like she is being hurt or in pain and tries to climb out of the tub. I have no clue how or when it started. She used to LOVE baths and would try to climb into the tub, so I was totally at a loss. She had done this several months ago, but it only lasted like a week. Tonight she started out screaming, but after about 2 minutes she started playing and it was wonderful! I feel so bad making her take a bath when she is in such distress. My fingers are crossed that we have made it past the hatred of bath time.

We will go to the library for story time tomorrow. The downtown library here has 2 pet bunnies in a hutch in the children's section. Avery LOVED them and was so excited the last time. That is about all I have planned for tomorrow. If it warms up we'll take the dogs and Avery to the park, but it only made it into the teens today so we will see.

I am quite surprised the first week of 2011 is quickly coming to an end. We are still in Colorado Springs and will be for the next 10 days. Then we set south back to NM for a brief detour on our trek to AK. I guess we could have paid to have our tickets changed and left from Denver, but Avery had a doctor appointment in Santa Fe the day before our flight and we already reserved a great spot for our dogs just south of Santa Fe. We figured we would stick to our original plan and leave from Albuquerque on the 18th. Both Sam and I are anxious and excited and a little scared. We are being cautiously optimistic! The practice appears to be a great fit for Sam and I hope he is reassured when he visits later in the month.

We have been keeping ourselves busy with family time. Avery has seen lots of her Gigi and Grandpa Rick since we have been in town. She has even become comfortable enough to request to sit in Grandpa's lap during dinner and help him eat his food. She is such a good helper!

I will blog more once we figure some things out. Until then...