It's A...

We had the 18 week ultrasound on Monday.

We got a babysitter for the crazies and Ben was able to come too.

We found out that the baby looks healthy and that it's a...

Another BOY!

Wa-hoo!

Sealife Center Christmas Party

Santa came to the Sealife Center on the 1st,

and BOTH BOYS SAT WITH HIM!

They both screamed last year.

Russ went first and gave Tuck the courage to do it himself

even though he looks like he's gone into shock.

Russ asked for "little toy monsters".

Tuck asked for "baseball".

Then they had cookies to decorate and pictures to color.

The crazies had a great time!

Thanks to Thanksgiving

Of course I am grateful for so so many things.

Family, the new bean, the gospel, to name a few.

But today, I'm also really thankful I got to eat all of this:

I was taunted with the possibility of not getting to partake of all the Thanksgiving bounty this morning as my OJ made a second appearance.

But my body bounced back after a few prayers asking for a silly thing like being able to eat.

And now I look like this:

HAHahahaha, just kidding, but check these out:

LOL.

Happy Thanksgiving!

You Don't Belong Here!

Today is one of those days when I feel like Alaska is telling all of us humans,
 "You don't belong here!"

The wind here can really be incredible.  The forecast today is predicting a high of 19 that will really feel like -8, with winds of 35 mph gusting to 72+ mph.  It started last night.  Poor Ben had to get up out of bed to remove some of our belongings from the porch, in the freezing cold, so they wouldn't blow away, or keep us up all night banging around.  It was a valiant effort, but we were still basically up all night. 

The wind just howled and howled and found things to bang around anyway, waking Tucker.  Later on, it blew the power out, initiating the cries of our panic stricken Russel. (It's very dark in their room without any lights on!)  So we all ended up together by about 2:00 am, squishing and poking, but also sharing our body heat as our soul source of heat relies on electricity and the wind sucked the heat right out of the house, and we laid for hours falling in and out of sleep while listening to the wind.

But it's all good, the power came back on and we were able to start the Toyo stove back up in the morning and we're all sitting snug as a bug, listening to the wind and waiting for the sun to rise to show us any damage there may be around town.  Which reminds me... If it's this crazy at our house, I can't even imagine what its like in town.  The wind is always infinitely worse over there!

Angels?

Update: Ben said this post was too vague, so... I'm talking about the commercial with women walking around in their underwear wearing huge feathery wings.  And I try to sing a real Christmas song, like about Jesus and real angels every night at bedtime.  I think there's an FHE lesson involving angels coming up too!
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I'm hoping the holiday season will help me straighten this one out...

We were watching the Pats game last night when a mother's worst nightmare of a commercial came on.  You know the one I'm talking about.... The victoria's secret commercial.  Ahh!  When you have little boys, you want to cover their eyes in hopes that those fascinations will wait as long as possible. I can imagine when you have little girls, you want to cover their eyes and tell them how beautiful they are just the way they are.

Anyway, before I could divert little Tuck's attention, he cries out excitedly, "ANGELS!".

Ohhhh boy.

Snow and Stuff

Tuesday was like a blizzard!

As I loaded the boys up in the truck to head to pre-school/playgroup I could hear the wind howling from the other side of the bay.

We pulled into town and it was wild.  60 mph wind gusts!

I drove the 50 yards from playgroup to pre-school because I didn't dare walk with my little crazies, to never see them again as they blew away into the fray... lol

I felt like Dorothy, my childhood hero from Oz, as I was sucked into the winter tornado found between playgroup and the dumpster.

I had to stop and button up Russel's hood between pre-school and the truck.

I've gone on and on.

Then we pulled into our peaceful haven!  Our house had no wind.  That is in large part why we moved here!  Yay new house!

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Also, did you know there is a dog team living in our new 'hood?

You can hear them all howling from time to time.

Pretty sure its because of Aly everytime she runs off.... buuuuut anyway...

I forgot to tell you all that I saw them running down the snowy road on Halloween!

Another one of those little joys.

Winter can be super fun.  I am a-okay with it, for now at least.

10/28-10/31

10/28:

Jack-o-Lantern Carving!

Neither one of them were interested in touching the guts, though... bummer.

Russ designed the pumpkin's face, then Tucker watched Daddy carve.

SPOOKY

Then we pulled out the glow-sticks!

10/29:

Shopping in Anchorage

10/30:

Sick day for Mom and Tucker, Russ and Daddy go to church

10/31:

HALLOWEEN

And it looked like this:

So we suited up and went out to enjoy a beautiful first snow!

We made a snow ghost in honor of the day

After some hot chocolate and Halloween shows came...

DINNER IN A PUMPKIN

(complete with art by Russ)

Then off to Trick-or-Treat in the snow!

Needless to say, they cuh-rashed that night!

Dear Body

Dear Body,

You tricked me.
Everyone was getting along just "swell", as Russ has taken to saying.
So what's the problem?

Sure, there's a little bean growing inside of you, but so what?
I love that little bean; time for you to accept it as part of you!

So stop trying to throw it up, that just won't work.
You're little tantrum is just making life a little less swell than it could be right now, you know?

Unfortunately Yours,
Me

p.s. I'm actually very thankful and fortunately yours.

It's snowing!

Tuck and I are home sick today.

That's all!

Pumpkin Prrrrroooowwwlllll!

Saturday was Seward's annual Pumpkin Prowl!

The kids go to a park in town and scoop up little plastic pumpkins full of Halloween goodies.

Our boys pulled off a dino theme this year.  Russ is a T-Rex, but his head was too itchy to wear. And Tuck got the dino-rider costume again this year...

Sorry kid, that's what you get when Mom's sick and you're 2.  Hey, he was happy!

They had to sit on top of puffy dino rides for the ride there.

They had already started it when we got there, so I wasn't sure if there would be anything left, but they found their limit no problem.

Afterwards Russ ran around with all his costumed friends and Tuck enjoyed "mash-rooms" by the fire.

(by the way, he does actually like both marshmallows and mushrooms!)

Rewind

I had that ultrasound today!

I've never had an ultrasound so early and it was just magical to see such a tiny little thing wiggling all around.  I brought the crazies with me and they were just as interested as 4 and 2 year olds could be.

So, I say rewind, because the baby is measuring at 9 weeks and 6 days, not 11 weeks and 5 days.  That makes the due date May 17th.  Sure it's a little hard to find out I'm not as far along as I was hoping, but at the same time, I'm already starting to feel better!  That's incredible.

So here's a first glimpse at the little bean:

Face, hands and tummy

Head, body, arms and little curled up legs!

I'm already in love.

About this next bean

So actually, this bean is already the size of a lime!  I waited so long to let the cyberworld know about our upcoming addition because I simply didn't know how far along I was and when the baby was due.  It's no fun to announce a new baby without a due date!  (most of this post is just for me, so feel no obligation to read on)

I finally got in to see the doctor on Friday, after waiting for what seemed like forever, but was really just a month.  I told her the whole crazy story about why I didn't know how long I'd been pregnant and of course she ordered an ultrasound to figure it out.

But then she tried to listen for the heartbeat and let me know we probaby wouldn't be able to hear it.  As soon as the machine touched me we could hear that fast little woosh-woosh!  So now we knew I was at least 10 weeks.  And what a treat to hear my babes. After further investigation, it looked like I was exactly 11 weeks.

I was supposed to have that ultrasound today, but the ultrasound tech is sick... so it'll happen sometime soon, lol.  Small town living... At least we have an ultrasound tech!

Anyway, we will find out soon for sure, but it looks like this baby is due on May 4th.  I'll keep you all updated... whether you like it or not.

But you know what, not knowing how far along I was worked out well for me.  I went to the doctor thinking I was maybe 8 weeks and got the sweetest surprise to find out the morning sickness is nearly over!  And so far, it hasn't been as long-lived as it has been in the past, because I'm already starting to feel better.  Thank goodness.

Though I haven't been sick for very long, it's been a tough haul.  It came on shortly after beginning a new school-year routine, in a new house that is not yet quite settled into.  Tucker had a cold and pink-eye during all of this. Then two weeks ago, Ben had to go to Anchorage for work for 3 days.  We were originally all going to go with him, but I backed out after having some very bad days.  But that meant I was pretty much on my own with the crazies for 3 days and 2 nights.  My sweet young woman, Meg came and spent the night with us though and played with the boys, which I'm sure was a relief to them.  And my friend Cindy came and cleaned my kitchen for me, what a blessing.

But when Ben got back, he started coming down with the flu, which dragged on and on.  A week and a half later, he's only beginning to feel better.  Then on Thursday, Ben got pink-eye on top of everything.  The poor guy was miserable, and surviving on 3 hours of sleep a night.  Then I, on the other hand, could barely drag myself out of bed before 9 am without getting sick.

Oh my... I am sooooo glad to be starting to feel better already!  And I just cannot wait to get our home back on track and begin preparations for the new bean!!!!!!!

All the Little Things

The leaders of my church have been reminding us, especially the women, to take joy in all the little things.  They have shared inspiring messages about enjoying the simple things, like this one here

"The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I used to be pretty good at this.  It was easy for me, as a solitary being to go slow and stop and notice things that were beautiful and meaningful.  I think now, it's time for me to practice doing it as a mother.

So here are some of the little things that make me happy, right now:

Candles!

When we have one of our many power outages during the dark winters up here in the last frontier, the glow and scent of a good candle lifts everyones spirits.

Sleepy Babes.

The sweetness on a sleeping child's face is enough to keep me going sometimes.

My hilarious sister holdin it down in the RV.

Story time:

We were preparing lunch one day on our insane RV trip and Lara was all, "Where's the tanned cuna?"

As we laughed about that, she declared, "I can't even talk I'm too tiyah (trans: tired)".

Lol, I love how that girl can laugh at life and herself

Next:

I love our neighborhood dog, Lucy.  She is a black lab kinda like this one:

via

She lifts my heart everyday as she races our big red truck down the street.  She doesn't race the pathfinder, only the big, loud truck.  She seriously runs as fast as she can (and has the muscles to prove it).  Every time she is out our family squeals out in delight, "THERE'S LUCY!" and we cheer her on in the race.

And lastly... well this one isn't so little I guess,

But right now, the thing that's making me happy is:

The little bean a bakin'!

Coming our way early May! YAY!

Brrrrr! (And return of sunrise/sunset)... (and some thoughts on it all)

via

Ok first of all, aren't snowflakes beautiful?

Our yard finally just thawed out today!  It was so cold, I had to hop online to check the forecast.

According to accuweather, we are in for periods of snow and rain tonight!  Oh my...

It just seems so very early to be hearing of snow already.

And while I'm on the subject, we are down to 10.8 hours of sunlight.

Sunrise 8:22 am

Sunset 7:09 pm

I was telling Ben that I had to laugh at myself a few weeks ago when I went to bed at 9:30 and thought "Awwwwwwwwww, it's already dark?!"

After having gone through the light/dark cycle one complete round, here is what I feel:

This place is constantly changing.  For anyone who really knows me, you know that means it can be hard on me.  I know the light is constantly changing all around the world, but not by 5 minutes per day.  That's 35 minutes a week! I don't really feel like I ever get to just stop and enjoy a certain season.  In the summer, you feel almost pressured to be outside as much as you can, no matter how stinking exhausted you are, because you know pretty soon you're headed into the darkness again.  Then just when you get over the depression and find your groove with the whole darkness thing, the light returns and it's glorious, but then the pressure begins...  And add kids to the whole equation??  You never have a set sleep schedule, they never get used to it.  And you end up with fears of the dark in the fall and a vampire child in the spring who screams and shrinks away from, "thee liiiight, nooooo, I hate the sun!".  I don't know, I definitely don't want to sound like I'm complaining, I just like to be real, and this is what it's like sometimes.

So....

Once we move on from this Alaskan adventure, I'll be glad for a home that is a little more stable I guess!

AND
I hope you are enjoying the 80 degree sunshine in Florida, parents!  Love you

Beautiful, Blustery Day

After a rainy Conference weekend, and being shut in by a few things like colds and pink eye, we made it out for a beautiful day!  It was just one of those days when the air was so fresh and crisp, the sun shone through the colored leaves and the occasional gust of soft wind left your nose a little pink.

I didn't have time to get Tuck dressed before taking Russ to pre-school, then I just didn't do it before we had to pick him up and then everything was spontaneous, so he had a day out in his fuzzy, footsy PJ's!  I wasn't going to let that slow us down.  And people in Seward just don't care anyway.

First, we went to Subway for lunch (Seward's one and only "fast food").  Then we went to the park with the bouncy dinosaur.

Then I wanted to take a drive along the ocean and we just ended up going to the beach.

And I didn't get any action shots of us on the beach, but we climbed on drift wood trees, rocks, and cliffs and found treasures like mussels, limpets, crabs, barnacles and even "pine-corns".

I was glad for such a glorious day, because...

Do you see all that snow already??  Winter is already at our doorstep!  Yikes!

September happenings

I just foumd some random pictures from things that have happened this month.

We went to a Fall Farm Festival.

They had a bunch of little kid games with little prizes that were just right for the crazies.

Here Russ is digging for his prize.

And there were fun animals to look at.  We got to pet and feed some really friendly horses, gobble at some turkeys and I think we spooked this alpaca (?)

Here's my cross country boys taking 5 spots in the top 10 at one of their races!

(1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 9th)

I'm so proud of those speedy boys.

And Ben and his friend climbed up the mountain by our house and got a black bear!

So I give you...

Roast of Black Bear:

Pretty yummy!