Nie Nie

Well, just a short note about the Nie Nie button to the right.
If you are love finding creative bloggers like I do, you may have been following this one for ages. This blog has been a favorite for a couple of years now and the last year has been a difficult, tearjerking, & inspiring one to follow as the writer herself was in a tragic airplane crash and lived to tell. Now that she is starting to post her own posts again, I thought it would be a good time to add it since I am always moved by it.
Her story is heartwarming and her attitude is always very real. If you get consumed and trackback through old posts --some of the guest posts are also really special.
Anyway, I just love the way she loves her husband and her kids most of all. And the reality of her tragedy makes me always remember what matters most!

ps. I am in love with poppies...like crazy mad about them. Their beautiful stunningly bright coloured delicate petals just make me smile!!!!!
I think it is because you can grow them here in beautiful wildflower gardens and I am so excited about trying that next summer! Maybe I can keep my vases filled with them once I establish a wee lil flower garden.

pss. Kenai Peninsula moose hunting season count down: 2 days left...

Ate a Bolete

I've been making John some little pants with matching applique tops this week. His favorite are the pirate print and he wore them proudly to Awana's Wednesday night.
He is a little "Puggle" in Awanas and Julia is a "Cubbie". I am helping lead the Cubbies and it is so sweet to listen to them recite their Bible verses and watch them grow in Christ.



Well, William found two more Bolete's tonight with no little bugs inside this time. So, he sauted them in butter (doesn't anything taste good that way?)and ate them. I will report tomorrow if there were any side effects - more than likely from all that butter.

They have a Joanns fabric in Soldotna and I had my first chance to go in and take a gander tonight. I love fabric!! It is so much fun to envision what fun little things can come out of it. Oh, and Jodi...you will be glad to know I am still making patchwork scarves out of the coozie you made me last year LOL...just kidding I still have gobs of my own stripy print. So, I need a tutorial on coffee cup sleeves since we won't need coozie covers up here til next summer.


Seems like things are coming along with Judy (the house). We might get to close late next week. Then the fun will begin...pulling up all the vintage mauve carpet and repainting the various theme rooms. We got a mower for free on craigslist this week and if we can get it running we will atleast mow once before the snowfalls.

The weather is definitely shifting into a colder gear...brrr and I know I haven't felt anything yet. Send me some heat or even just some snail mail. The post office is a social gathering place for the townspeople. Most people don't have mail boxes at their homes and I recognize someone I have met everytime I am at the post office.
My dad is ever-faithful about sending a letter a week. It is so much fun and he makes illustrations for the children and even sends them a twizzlers that cost more to ship than they would be just to buy up here. They look forward to the little smiles from back home!

Missing our loved ones !!!

Bolete

The bolete mushroom William found tonight. Apparently, bugs enjoy them as much as people. It was full of little yuckies so we didn't eat it, but it is the biggest edible mushroom I have ever seen.

Sunday Chilly Sunday

yellow jacket hidden in the petals




John pretending we were at "the beach, the beach" he splashed around saying this afternoon. He had pulled off his sweatpants after they got soaked and just had a blast running through the puddles.





Below, William showing Julia how much fun riding a bike can be!



It's starting to cool down a bit up north. We are noticing the definite change of seasons. The leave that can change are bright yellow now. And the rest are beautiful potential Christmas trees. There is already talk of Halloween parties and a lot of end of summer gatherings.
This weekend Julia rode her bike without training wheels. She is starting to get her balance and it is just beautiful and mind boggeling at the same time that she is already almost 5. John happily rode on a bike car seat attatched to my hot pink Salvation Army bike.
I have been REALLY wanting the hot pink 24" hello kitty cruiser that Target will not ship to Alaska. So, of course William finds my an ole hot pink one at the thrift store and says he will put me some hello kitty stickers on it. I am really trying to pretend it is the same...but maybe if I meet Santa at the north pole I can see if the raindeer will pick one up on their way through Arkansas.LOL!
William is still hunting for just the right moose. He has 'til the 20th of September in our area.
We have a lead on a home that we pray will come to fruition. Just a week or so more before all the details come together. But if she is the one, Julia has already named her Judy and Judy is a fixer upper. She's big and has good bones, but needs a lot of lovin'. In my usual fashion I already have all the different wall paint colors picked out and a room claimed for sewing and crafting. So, if all works out I will take before and after pics of ole Judy.
I just laid my latest amish friendship bread to rest in a couple of lemon loaves. I just had to let go of the vicious cycle for a while. I am sure it will be back to haunt me soon from some sweet new friend.
Ahh, this wouldn't be our blog if we didn't talk yard sale finds. This friday it was a Trek bike for $20 for William, and a glider rocker for $25, a huge box of big mason jars for $2, and a vintage kids pants pattern for a quarter.
Well, thanks for keeping in touch.

Princess Julia

Well, yard sales are coming to a close up in the far far north, but one of my last finds was this H2 for $3. Okay, like all used children's cars it has no battery, but our children know how to remedy that--push eachother around.



She's working on her prima ice skating ballerina--ness...



That sweet innocent look captured for all to see.




Julia and her buddy (Dr Allison). At and end of the summer party on Labor Day.




'M' is Allison and Phil's dog. My guys hanging with M. They all look so handsome, like a Ralph Lauren photo shoot. Maybe I should pose with M sometime!



All's well in this neck of the woods. William is still prowling around the woods. The little ones are doing better and better with skating. I am organizing my sewing machines and fabric to get back into doing a bit of crafting soon I hope.
Keep in touch...

come over for some pie

Here's what was created out of some of those berries. All welcome to stop in for some coffee, ice cream and pie today.



Here she is almost ready to go in the oven.




Before church last Sunday. John loves to drive around trucks or trains.




Julia loves to dance and sing!



We went canoeing over the weekend. Julia n John wanted oars to row with so we got them some branches off a tree. They had a lot of fun and did a lot of splashing.

Berries and Back to School

Here's a handful of our fun this weekend.
We drove over close to Seward to pick blueberries and huckleberries and sing to the bears. To chase them away of course! I could only think of humming the sesame street theme song. Steve sangs some AC/DC. He said the bears like rock music better. Nancy sang what sounded like songs from the Sound of Music. And William tip toed around trying to attract the bears--unlike us!



Steve and Nancy our berry picking buddies.
It rained the whole day. Nancy and I got soaked, but the boys had nice rain gear on. Well, worth the investment obviously!!




Off to her first day of pre K.




My girl -growing to quickly.

Here Moosey Moosey

Just in case the fact that your husband loves to hunt isn't enough they even make something called a moose call. Oh, yes, you think duck calls, deer calls and turkey calls can get annoying---you haven't heard anything yet! LOL.
Well, we are a few days into moose season and he has seen a few but none have made it back to the apartment yet.

I took my best photo of a moose last night. We went out driving late in the evening and I got a picture just as it was about to cross the road. maybe I will get better at moving animal pictures but so far it has been challenging. Anyway, I added it as the new blog opener above.

Ummm and everyone, get your "skype" downloaded so we can chat. I have just entered a whole new world with the free video phone-wow.




This is my favorite little boy in the whole world. He is such a loving little man!




After all the debate about which bunk bed William could build, he lucked out and we found one this week on craigslist. It is currently being used as our one piece of livingroom furniture, but when Julia has her own bedroom again we are going to add a slide to one side for fun.




Alaska William.






Alaska John and Julia.





They started ice skating lessons this week. Julia keeps saying she is ready to skate on one foot. It may take a few more weeks though. When I would go as a teeneager in Little Rock, I always thought it would be so nice to feel more confident skating backwards and really fun to be able to spin around. They will probably be twirling around by the end of the year.

If you get a moose call in your mail box...don't tell William I sent it far far away...

we had a really fun potluck picnic today





John eating some jello worm desert. yum!





Alaska this week




Julia amongst the daisies.

Summer Cut

The little man did not enjoy his last haircut.




"Little pink houses for you and me"...I saw this felt applique today and thought it would be so cute to make sometime when the snow is falling outside.

Well, tomorrow is already the end of summer potluck for the little playgroup I have been going to. It should be fun and it is at the children's favorite playground --the one with the pretend train and pirate ship. I will try to take some pics...but most of all I will try to remember to take the crackers that go with the almond curry dip I made. Speaking of DON'T EVER take a taste of hot mango chutney without the knowledge that it might make you gasp for air and feel like you are choking. Umm, one of the ingredients in the dip was mango chutney. Since the store here had only HOT mango chutney, I thought it might still work...OH NO. I was breathless and on fire...so I replaced with plain chutney. And for the little ones I made oreo balls. They look good, but I am not going there... my tummy is still on fire from the one gulp of hot fire I ate earlier!

In Anchorage, we managed to figure out what our shoe sizes are for winter boots and John and Julia made me a hello kitty at Build a Bear. The sweetest part was when they each picked out a heart to put inside her and they kissed them before they went in Kitty. I will always treasure that.

William and took the little ones out tonight scouting for moose. They saw quite a few and even ran into Smokey on their drive. Just 3 more days til season opens. There may be red meat in our future.


Thinking of you all and stay out of the HOT chutney!

Los Anchorage

William got home from hunting for a bear and decided we should go into the big city for a bit of fun. Of course, we were so excited. So, we pricelined a hotel. And when our low bid was accepted we decided it was meant to be.
Our hotel has been great--swimming pool, nice room, breakfast (with the waffle maker), closer to Target than our apartment. All good!
I have already decided that we will have to do this again in the middle of winter for a fun break. We ran into 3 different families from Soldotna at breakfast (so, I am guessing that's what a lot of people round our town do for a little break).
William let me go to Target all alone last night for an hour while the kids watched Ratatouille on tv. Then, we went swimming when I got back. Super fun!!

Julia is learning to spell everything. It is so sweet. Today we are working on the words 'Bobby and Gran Gran'. Right now, William is teaching her how to spell 'Santa'. She is starting to understand phonics. I think we owe a lot of it to the fridge letter thing Jodi and Steven got her when she was little. It is great for sounding out letter sounds!

Well, we're off to the sporting goods stores and maybe to REI and the Army Navy store to look for some winter gear. People tell me that good winter boots with removeable liners are important and snow pants that are good quality are also pretty important for the little ones.

Missing you all! Come see us, we'll lend you some winter gear.

Julie and Julia

Well, I feel as though this week has flown by. We were blessed to find a deal on our all favorite craigslist on a second vehicle for the family. So, I am no longer bounding out of bed and racing William to work and back which has been REALLY nice. I have been able to get a lot more laundry and housework done. We also got some salmon sent home Fedex. The way a lot of tourists get their fish home cheaper though is to check a fish box as one of their checked baggage. So, pack light and leave with some fresh frozen fish.
A real treat this week was a girl night I organized with my new friends Kristen and Angela to go to dinner and a movie. The three of us were really excited. Kristen is about to have a scheduled C section on Tuesday and has a 2 yr old at home. Angela has a little 2 yr old as well. So, we three were ecstatic about a night out of the ordinary. We ate mexican where Kristen spoke Spanish to our waitress since she's spent some in Ecuador. It felt a bit odd being in Kenai Alaska listening to a spanish conversation. Our dinner was Yummy. Then, off to see Julie and Julia which was a perfect GNO(girls night out) movie.
And of course, I had to look online today for a copy of Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. It is amazing what a movie buzz has done for an original copy of her book. One original 1960's copy was going on ebay for $885 the last time I checked. I think I will keep looking for it at garage sales or get the new version on Amazon for $20. The way she described the use of butter in cooking made me really hungry for cooking. So, today I made some homeade potato soup. It took all day and it was a labor of love. The chicken noodle soup I made earlier this week didn't feel as loved as these potatoes--it was more of a way to use up the chicken. Okay, enough already!
We miss you all and feel the fall approaching. It is rainy and chilly this week. Moose season starts the 20th--so I will need moose widow support emails...the man is obsessed. He watches the game and fish videos like a 2yr old watches Barney.




This is a birthday party we were invited to last weekend. Standing to the right of William is Dr Lines a fellow dentist in his clinic.



The children all got kiddy binoculars and went on a nature hike down to a lake.
They had to identify trees and berries along the way.
At one point the moms began to get afraid a bear may be around so everyone raised the pitches of their voice and told all the children to be as loud as they can. Of course they loved that command!



Spotting something.




Julia has from the first day we arrived begged to go on this ride. Well, a couple of weeks ago she swindled her Bobby into sending her $5 so she had the money to ride it. And of course we took the camera along. She was so brave a enjoyed it even though her little knees were literally shaking when she came down.
She is a determined little joy and we wouldn't want her any other way.

Happy Birthday Steven

Oh, yes... you knew you were next! I really debated it but thought how much you would enjoy being a whole blog post. LOL.
We're thinking of you and wish you all the best for the years ahead!

Julia and John wish they could be there to eat some cake with you.

Happy Birthday Margaret Louise !!

Margaret we're thinking of you and hope you have a great day!!!




Just when I think craigslist can't get any better...




I need a live turkey.

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Date: 2009-08-07, 9:39PM AKDT
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Unfortunately my dog just killed my neighbors pet turkey and I would like to replace it. Any leads on a tame turkey that would get along with four chickens would be greatly appreciated. Email to above or call 344-9679. Wasilla/Palmer area or closer to Anchorage would be as far as I'd have time to go. Thanks


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Late Night Drive

Mt redoubt in the distance.



Wild fireweed in full bloom everywhere.





Here moosey moosey...




Caribou ...Julia said rudolf just doesn't have his red nose on yet since it's not snowy and foggy outside yet.