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!

Motherhood Monologues

I haven't been feeling very well today.

Russ is at pre-school, so I am home with just Tuck.

I plopped down on the couch and shivered while Tuck watched some Super Why, when Aly stopped by to see how I was doing (or ya know, if I had any food).

And I came this close to asking Aly the dog if she could go get my sweatshirt from the kitchen.

Well, let's just say... She's no Lassie!

The thing that turned our day around

 

Today was one of those days.  One of those rainy, not so good, maybe-a-little-bad days.  The good included a bedroom cleanup with a willing helper, crazy #1 (Russ).  But then in a freak vacuuming accident, my leg was slightly injured.  And during our morning walk, Russel somehow ended up muddy and less than happy after ALYESKA zoomed by.  And my runners were less than enthusiastic to do track-work in the rain today (did I mention I'm the assistant middle school cross country coach? pretty big-time, huh).  Then I went to get my kids from the baby-sitter and got kicked in the shin.

Me not so happy.  Probably the last thing I was ready to do was make dinner and deliver family home evening with a sparkling smile.  But I remembered this:

"We cannot afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest.”  Thomas S. Monson

For anyone who doesn't know, the LDS church asks families to set aside one night a week to have a short gospel lesson and a family activity.  It is called "family home evening", or FHE for short.

I've been hit hard with how important this would be for our family and have been trying to make it a consistent fixture in our home this year.  I've had trouble sticking with it.  But we are three weeks in and let me tell you...

I know FHE is a heaven inspired program and I see the good it does in our family.  It centers us for a moment.  It brings our hearts closer together.  It forces us as parents to get down on the kids' level. And our kids just shine.  They love it.  Why wouldn't I do it, right?

Family home evening turned our day around, just adding to my testimony of it and I have renewed enthusiasm to keep going!

Where I Was

I was 16 and had just sat through a high school assembly about making good choices when the Principal told us all to sit back down.

He said an airplane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Towers. "What?" I actually thought they were putting us through a role-playing excercise to test how much we learned from the assembly.  But no challenge followed his statement.  Then the gravity of what he had said began to weigh down on me.

We were all sent back to class and I don't remember when I got word of the second plane, but I do remember walking down the hall hearing various theories and conspiracies as phone calls came in from informed parents.  I remember feeling the closeness of it all.  I was in Rhode Island, sandwiched between Boston, where the flights took off and New York, where they met their horrific end.

I remember watching images of the tragedy on the news and having group discussions about what was happening.  I didn't have much to say because all I kept thinking about was how we truly are living in the last days.

I came home to my mother who had been bombarded by the incident on the news all day and supported her as she sobbed on my shoulder.  I remember feeling shocked and saddened, but I also felt ready to face our times and the horrors we must face.  I suddenly felt that part of my soul that was meant to live in the last days.

The world changed a little that day.  We were all filled with courage, with kindness, with compassion.  We all cared for one another for a fleeting moment.  And though I'm sad to see that sense of unity and understanding has faded over time, I am glad that today, 10 years later my family and I just went to church, took some naps, and went for a lovely Autumn stroll through our neighborhood.

My heart goes out to those who suffered personally this day 10 years ago.  But I also want to thank all who have protected our country, so that I could have a carefree day today. 

RV-ing it up in Denali

To end my family's visit with a bang, we rented an RV and drove up to Denali National Park.

Oh RV trips... they are just the best in their own insane sort of way.

We crammed 8 of us into a 29 foot "bunkhouse".

And it was exhausting and FUN.

(You won't see Ben, because he had to start work. Poor Ben... Poor Ben?)

We saw this awesome sunset as we pulled into the RV park outside Denali.

CRAZY EYES!

This one is so blurry, but just look at that bubber face

Buds

Inside the park, they use dogteams to transport goods throughout the park during the winter.  So during the summer, they bus you to their dog kennels and let you visit the dogs and watch a show.  Russ did a great job photographing "Muddy" (Avery's favorite).

Then we drove the 14 miles of the road into the park that you are allowed to drive your own vehicle.

Did You Know?

If you want to drive through Denali National Park, you must either enter a lottery a year in advance and be lucky

-OR-

Ride an old school bus for 8 plus hours

So yes, we opted to only venture in 15 miles.  We had 4 kids with us after all.

But we did see this wild caribou (reindeer)

What, you can't see it?

Lol, I only had my iphone, so it's the black dot on the sandbar in the middle of the river.  Good luck.

Ok, but you can see this mama and baby moose:

But did you notice the colors?

It was totally already Fall!

August 20-23... Fall already! 

AAAAANNNDDD....

Oh my, Oh my, those are some cute boys!

(We went to the zoo too)

Motherhood Monologues

I was just cleaning up the dishes from the table and absentmindedly licked my finger.  I definitely don't know what that was that I licked...

Oh well

Love One Another

We decided to do a family theme starting this year, because as I mentioned Russ started pre-school today!

I just thought it wouldn't hurt to start early!

And besides, what home couldn't use a little more "love".

Caswell Family Theme 2011-2012

"Love One Another"

John 13:34-35

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye ^alove one another; as I have loved you, that ye also ^blove one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have ^alove one to another."

But we wanted to make it a fun night as well as spiritual.

So we decorated with balloons and made pizza!

AND CUPCAKES

And the power went out!

We talked about who loves us and how we know it, and how we can show we love others... even people we don't know or maybe even people we fight with.

Between the pizza, the scriptures, the cupcakes and the power outage (despite some reluctance here and there), it all turned out to be a pretty darn good night!

Russ loved pre-school today by the way.

Small Town Livin'

While my family was here, they definitely got a taste of what it's like living in a small, secluded, Alaskan town.  After returning from another trip to Homer,  I found out that a small traveling circus would be in town that day.  We all went over to the Sealife Center to find they were doing a parade and sampling of their acts right outside!

So of course I couldn't miss the real show.  My sister and I took the kids and went to the New Old Time Chatauqua show.  I thought it was so fun, because it was just a group of people camping for the summer and demonstrating their talents and making us all laugh.  The theater was packed by the way.

Also part of small town living is needing a good imagination.  Thanks to Avery for building some awesome forts!

Lots of hanging out in the rain, doing research

And lots of time spent at Red's.

Oh, you don't know what Red's is?  You are missing out my friends!

Red's is an outdoor burger shack that recently added some indoor seating to their operation.

You get to eat inside a bus!

It's so fun and the kids get to drive the bus and open and close the door while we all listen to oldies and wait for some delicious burgers, sweet potato fries and ONION RINGS.

Yeah, baby!

My sister actually elected to celebrate her birthday there and none of us objected to that!

Guess what?  I looooove living in a small town.

---------------------

Another note:

Russ starts pre-school tomorrow...

I'm excited for him and I know he'll love it,

But...

Well, let's just say I now know that I'll be having a hard time around the same time next year!

I remember a couple years ago reading Anne of Green Gables as a parent.

There was one passage that particularly struck me.

It is when Marilla looks at Anne as a young woman and see's her as a vibrant and silly 11 year old.  She is proud of what Anne has become, but misses the little girl at the same time.

I suddenly realized how bitter-sweet parenthood would be.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for it all; if I'll survive it.

How is my heart tougher and softer all at once?

Oh, but I am so glad for it!  I truly wouldn't have it any other way.

And so though I know Russ is beginning his journey outside of the home, I know it will be good for us all.  That's why we're doing pre-school.  And I just hope that our home can be a safe place of refuge where I can continue to enjoy my sweet little crazy for as long as possible.

Silly Russ

So y'all know about how Russel got new glasses recently, well those were partly because he is extremely far-sighted and partly because he had some eye-crossing.  Well, the glasses didn't take care of the crossing completely, so we moved on to try patching his strong eye for 2 hours a day. 

That didn't cut it either, so on July 28th my little guy had to have surgery...

On his eyes

I was slightly fuh-reaking out.

But Russ was pretty calm about it all.  He was very brave and big!

Except for putting on his hospital gown.  Oh, he wanted nothing to do with that.

But the anesthesiologist gives little kids a vicadin like drug to calm them before they get wheeled away.

At least that's what happens to 90% of kids.

The other 10%...

ACT CRAZY.

HA!  It was sooooooooooooo funny.

I felt bad for others in pre-op who were actually feeling uneasy, because we were laughing our guts out.

Ben had to hold on to him so he didn't fall off the chair.

It all really helped to ease some nerves.

 Everything went smoothly thanks to lots of help from my parents.  And Russ came through it all beautifully (as hard as it was to see him come out of the anesthesia, he was very upset).  That day was rough and we had to be at a hotel on top of it, the poor kid.

But by the next day he was fine as long as he had his medicine and was totally back to normal two days later.  It was amazing how fast he recovered!

And just the other day I was giving him a bath and his glasses were off.

I noticed how beautiful and healthy and straight his eyes were,

so I told him and we celebrated together.

(Perhaps with a little voluntary eye-crossing)

The best part of it all

The best part of this summer was getting to be with family the whole time.

We were definitely feeling how very far away Alaska is and loved every second of having family here with us.

We did lots of amazing things together (more of which to come), but my favorite times were the family times together.

We got to spend the 4th with my parents and it was great to have their support during the Mt. Marathon Race and to share the experience of our first 4th of July in Seward!

I loved that the boys insisted on Nana and Pop-Pop reading their bedtime stories for the first week or so.

You can see they are pretty upset about me interrupting their Nana time!

Hahahahhaa!

Check out this coordinated camouflaging... what?!:

Oh Ben, that face gave you away.

Ok, and this had to be my favorite of all.  We spent many nights all over at our new house talking and laughing, feasting and playing games like Bananagrams, charades, and a giant round of hide and seek.  It just made my heart happy!

(Gramma and Grampa Caswell, my sister Lara and her son Garret, Pop-Pop and Nana)

And the crazies love, love, LOVED having their cousins Avery and Garret here.  And they were so sweet with those crazy little boys.  Garret let them play on his coveted DS and Avery played with them non-stop.  I took the boys up to bed one night and their beds were made with two drawings each waiting for them to discover.  So cute.

We love and miss you all and thank you so much for making the long hard journey to Alaska. 

I hope you all get over your jet-lag as quickly as possible and

We can't wait until we get to see you all again!

P.S. This stuff was pretty good too :)