Family

It's been a long week, but we have had a lot of fun having the Stewart's here. They can fill you in on their time in Disneyland while the kids got to hang out with their cousins. Then, Meg and her kids came down today and we all loved being together.

Had to include this cute picture of Caleb- he is officially on the move and nothing is safe! He is so much fun.

More later, I need to get to bed...

Another week has come and gone and spring is a little closer - Hooray! I am really looking forward to some nice warm weather. This week was pretty chilly and we got snow mid week. It is all gone again so it wasn't too bad. We finally got a new furnace put in this week. We have been working on getting that done for quite awhile - we also have to get a new front door and put more insulation in the attic and then have another energy audit. Hopefully everything will be good and we can get everything paid for.
Yvonne came out with the boys for awhile yesterday and they all went to the park for awhile. I opted to stay home with Toby because it was kind of chilly and I am a wimp but they all had fun.
Work has been its typical craziness. We had two of our main people gone all last week but fortunately Cassie was able to cover alot and with stretching a few other shifts it all worked.
It was really neat to talk to the Olsen's, Burdicks and Stewart's on skype(sp?) today. I must admit I would have loved to see them all in person and be there with everyone. I am not sure that I will get out of Alaska anytime soon. The next trip I make will probably have to be going back to Michigan and I don't think I will do that until fall.
I Love You All. Have a great week.
Mom

Bowled over

Hello all! Just wanted to post some pictures of our trip to the bowling alley last week with Grandma and Grandpa LaVoie and the Green family. I think the adults all played better the first round, because by the second, the little ones were beating our scores! Of course, it could be because they started to get distracted by the video game room and we took over their turns for them.

This week it's been just the boys and I. We've been trying to stay extra busy while Scott's gone because it makes the days go by a little faster, and the boys go to sleep a little easier when they are tired out from the day. We went swimming twice (we have an Alaska Club membership and really like the play area at the pool) and out to playdates. This weekend we are headed out to visit Grandma and Grandma and the Greens.

Happy Easter from Fresno

Hey Everybody!!! Easter here was lots of fun with eggs. The kids had tons of fun dying easter eggs at their grandma and grandpa's house. Easter monring egg hunt was a big smily success. Katelyn loved finding eggs. When we helped her find her basket, she ignored the basket and took the eggs out of it instead (note to mom: This is a basket you made, but not her easter basket. Hint hint for next year - love you )

As Shannon mentioned, the Olsen family cmes for a sleepover. We had lots of fun with tacos and ice cream cones (as you can clearly see on Katleyn's face). The kids laughed and played until late into the night and Jonathan was quite proud that they stayed up until after 11 o'clock. They really do enjoy having their cousins near by. Despite the late hour, we still had some early riserd get up and raid my room to watch a little video until the rest decided to wake up for pancakes.

We also made a trip to the zoo today. This was Katelyn's first real visit to the zoo now that she is big enough to understand what she is seeing. she loved it and loved "talking" to the elephants. Robert had recently been with his grandma and played guide and completely loved being the know it all. And Jonathan had fun learning new things from the sign adn playing I-spy with the animals. The highlight for Robert was that he volunteered to be part of the bird show. He stood out in front of everyone and let a big old bird fly right at him and eat from a bowl in his hands. He was very serious about it and never smiled but he was really proud of himself for "being so brave." He told me after , "I just kept thinking, I 'm going to be brave. I'm going to be brave." He is a cutie.

All said and done, it has been a busy few weeks with those things and all the other busy little things so now I have to get down to business and get work done while Ryan gets school stuff done. Back to life I guess. Love You all.

Happy Easter!

We've had a few birthdays and lots of fun times around here since we last checked in! We are officially on the odd year with our kids aged 9, 7, 5,3, and little Caleb almost 8 months. We have been busy, busy this last month selling girl scout cookies and are glad that is done. The girls worked really hard and sold 300 boxes each, so we will be going to SeaWorld Adventure Camp in June. We are very excited about that! We are into spring and nice weather, so the boys and I have been playing outside and at the park a lot and the girls even started outdoor swimming lessons at the university Saturday. This week was our Spring Break, so we took the time to go up and spend an afternoon and have a sleepover with Meg and Ryan before heading to the beach. We found a great hotel with a play deck( life size chess/checkers, ping pong, mini golf, etc) and a heated pool that was walking distance to the beach. After a couple of nights there, we headed home and got lots of projects done around the house.

Our Easter bunny went crazy this year. Each child woke up to a different color yarn tied to their bed. After checking in with mom and dad, they followed their yarn all around the house, inside and out, over and under furniture, etc until it lead to their basket. It was different and fun! Then we settled in for conference before having Mark's brothers and their families over for Easter dinner. All in all a great day and week- Mark goes back to work tomorrow, but the girls get one more day before they count down their final 8 weeks of school- we're ready for summer!!

Happy Easter!!!

So, I know that I am absolutely horrendous about keeping updated on my life, so I will give you all a quick recap. As I am sure you all know, we are back in Alaska. We are staying with Mom and Dad at present while the job situation gets worked out, but we plan on getting our own place by the beginning of June at the latest. Nate just got hired by Schlumberger (Thank you scott!) and is scheduled to start work about the 12th of April. I am currently filling in at both Rays and the Sports Center but once summer starts I will be doing the preschool age summer camp at Rays. The girls are doing great! Kyrie is going to the Head start in Palmer and making lots of new friends, and Arianna is just being the little free spirit she is! She is going in for her child find testing in the morning, so hopefully they will have some ideas to help with her speech. Easter went well around here, except that Ky woke up crying her tummy hurt and ended up throwing up twice, so Scott and Yvonne decided not to come over, but we will hopefully see them soon! By dinner time she seemed to be feeling a lot better, ate dinner, and we even did another egg hunt for her since only Arianna did the one this morning. I love you all and look forward to reading all about your Easters!

I have talked to most of you this weekend so I don't really have much to write but thought I would write a few lines anyway. I am thrilled to say that our bedroom project is about 95% complete. Once the carpeting went in and Dad put in the baseboard I was dying to get furniture situated. It really came out quite well and it offers a nice sanctuary for Dad and I. We have the baseboard in the closets and the trim at the top of the walls and it will be done.
The weather has really stayed pretty nice with temperatures in the high 40's most days. Ou snow is going fast and of course, the days are getting longer and longer. That is my favorite thing about Alaska - I love the long summer days.
It was a great weekend. Since it was conference weekend I hardly left the house. I did run to the store yesterday but other than that I stayed put. The hermit in me absolutely loved it.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. I Love You All!
Mom