What do you do with Spring? (in AK)

You help Daddy get fire wood on the snowmachine.

You visit what's left of the ice sculptures in Anchorage (because now it's warm enough to be out for a long time).

You draw a few murals on the bathroom walls...and then get practice scrubbing with Mr. Clean.

You make slushies out of "clean" snow, Mtn. Dew and Otter Pops...
...and then have a picinic with grilled hamburgers and french fries in the garage (because mom says it's still too cold to eat outside).

Heidi's Birthday

This post is about Heidi's birthday (which happened at the beginning of the month). This was one of her three birthday cakes. It was a Candy Land birthday cake created by Heidi and Jessie all by themselves. It was their idea and they put it together. Sure took the load off of me. There's Hershey kisses, licorice, starburst, gum, suckers and hard candy on it. They cleaned out the closet of all the candy we've had in the past year! All the kids loved it.

This is Heidi's Horse cake that I took to school for her school party. It was fun to make and relatively easy. The kids loved it and it was all Heidi.

This shows Heidi's start of her birthday celebration, her birthday brownie. Since Uncle Anthony and Aunt Daisy weren't going to make it for her actual birthday, we celebrated with them a bit early.

Heidi's eight years old now. I'm going to have to practice saying that one. For some reason, eight just seems really old. Heidi has grown up in so many ways this past year. She's matured and is looking so much like a young lady. We get reports that Heidi is studious and very helpful to others in class. She reads and writes all the time. There is always an idea brewing in that pretty little head of hers. Inevitably it comes out on paper or in some project that she puts together here at home. She's started to sew and is enjoying putting her creativity toward making bags and "clothes" for other people. It's really fun to see the things that she's come up with. What a blessing we have in our firstborn.

The Eiffel Tower

After a long weekend in Anchorage and a morning of dentist appointments we made the 3-1/2 hour trip home. The "when are we going to be home?" and "can't we stop?" started in the first half hour of our trip. Then, our scheduled car wash in Palmer was aborted due to a long line and a sleeping boy. (This did not make Jessie happy. She had been looking forward to a car wash the whole trip.) We went through CD after CD, listened to lots of Heidi trying to make Craig laugh, endured Natalie wanting her "plug" (i.e.-pacifier which we banned after the dentist appointment) and hoped that Jessie's stomach that "didn't feel very good" was just a diversion tactic. We made it to 10-mile-hill (yep, ten miles outside of Glennallen.). At this hill you can look all the way down to Glennallen and see the radio and AT&T towers with their blinking lights. The girls all know to look for the lights of home. So as we headed down into the valley, we heard from the back..."Yippee, we're almost home! I see the Eiffel Tower!" I just love what my second-born comes up with!

"Caggie" i.e.-Craig

It's been awhile since I've updated about Craig. He's getting into everything these days. He runs and tries to jump. He jumps off of things. I've found him on the dining room table if the chairs haven't been pushed in. Craig yanks off the chair cushions and pulls himself up onto the chair and then climbs onto the table. The girls all say that he loves salt, but his facination really is with dumping it out of the salt shaker.

Craig has just started to try to say a few words. Ball and more are his starter words. With three older sisters and a mom around who cater to his every need, who needs to talk? He communicates his needs quite clearly though and understands most things that we say.

He's been working on three molars here for a couple of months. That on top of getting a cold has had him waking up at night...again.
Watchya get when you have three older sisters? Rides in their pink stroller. According to Natalie, "Mommy, I be careful. I not push Cagg too hard!" Since that day, we've scaled down the "racecar" by folding up the stroller so he sits closer to the floor. Jess and Natalie love to push him around and he soaks it up.

A favorite Daddy/Son picture of mine. It's hard to believe that Craig is almost 16 months old. He doesn't like to be left inside when Daddy goes out. With the days getting longer and more sunlight showing up, I've taken the younger two outside for a bit in the afternoon. It's still getting really cold at night (-20F or colder) but the sun warms things up to zero or the teens during the day.

I sent to kids out to the garage last night while Tim was working on the snowmachine. (That didn't last long. Heidi came in and said that Daddy was finished with the kids help!) Later on that night, Tim said that Craig had been doing his own "work" on the snowmachine and has put a bunch of Legos in the track. Tim didn't find that out until he drove out of the garage and looked back to see a steady trail of Legos behind the sled!

Craig's love of climbing has extended to the back of the futon. He climbs up and down, over and over again! There's another couch that's put back to back with the futon so he is safe as he does a "header" over the other side. (The animal on the wall is Tim's 70" moose...we'll save that story for another post.)

This one was captured one morning when Craig just couldn't get enough of his mom...but I had things to do, so he got a shoulder ride. He's figured out a "cheese" smile and says, "Cheese" whenever he sees the camera come out. It's so cute.

I love my little snuggler. He gives up hugs pretty regularly. I love it when little ones this age start to show compassion. He comes up and gives me a squeeze and says, "Ahhh." Melts my heart. Yesterday I saw him giving a tearful Jessie a hug of sympathy. So sweet.

Jess lost her first tooth. She even let me push it back and forth until it finally let go. I think it probably had a week of strength left in it, but she was determined to get it out. This is the same girl that frets and screams when I try to cut her fingernails and toenails. I usually have to chase her around the house or give ultimatums for her to comply. Like I've said all along with this girl..."It's all in her head!"

Highlighting Natalie

This girl has got some red cheeks. I've tried to do my best to keep them from getting so chapped, but am coming to the conclusion that it's going to be impossible. I've tried vaseline, Aquaphor, lotion and hydrocortisone cream. Up close they look terrible. I even had a complete stranger ask if she had Roseola. Once I think that I've found a possible culprit and try to eliminate it, they start to glow again. I've been told by another heart mom that her doctor had instructed her that the red cheeks were from having a mixed blood/blue baby physiology. Maybe, but I'm hoping that summer will clear some of this up. It just looks so painful.

Guess what older sisters left out? Natalie is an opportunist at best and took the chance to paint her own "fingee's." How ironic that she only changed the shade of her nail from a pale lavender (her normal) to dark plum. Natalie wants to grow up so badly. I had to take pictures so that I'd smile later. She wears me out.

Here she is proudly displaying her manicure...up to the first knuckle.

" Go Daddy, Go!!!" She yelled enthusiastically as she yanked up on Tim's shirt. It was so comical. A diaper-clad rider getting ready for bed, but not willing to go down easily.

She did it! All her coaxing brought Daddy to his hands and knees to take his daughter for a horsey ride. (What father could resist?)

Don't forget that this week is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week and support research. New discoveries may be vital to Natalie's longevity of life!

Oceanside at Thirty Below

Six years ago last Friday our second daughter, Jessica was born. She was born short and plump with an ear-piercing cry that was an immediate statement of her dislike of being yanked into this cold, bright world. As days and weeks went by, Jessica's smiles became very prevalent. The soft cooing noises turned into giggles when her back was tickled. Jess was easing going and tolerated her older sisters smothering hugs/kisses and an occasional dragging around the house.

I remember wondering if I could love another child like I did my first, but somehow God designed us with the capacity to love multiples with that passionate "mamma bear" love. This second daughter was so unlike her sister but still did all the girly things. At two weeks old, Jessica had her first taste of a Cherrios compliments of her older sister. Before her two month birthday, she already had a cut lip. (I swear those scissors were put away where Heidi couldn't get to them.) I was just glad that as Heidi was showing Jess the scissors as she was swaying back and forth in her swing, Jessie's eye's didn't get poked. Or the time when I found Jessica with a jump rope around her neck as Heidi was playing "pony" with her. Unfortunately, Heidi was at the brunt of the "mamma bear" love here and got the "mamma bear" discipline. I came to understand the phrase "I brought you into this world and I can take you out too!"

As Jess grew, the bond between her older sister and she grew stronger and stronger. They could go round and round one minute and be playing creatively the next. Jessica was a quick learning and started walking when she was 10 months old and talking before she was a year old. I look back at the video footage that I have of Jess when she was around 18 months old and she was talking in sentences. (She had to keep up with her sister.) There are times that I forget about the 22 months that separate my oldest daughters and think that they are twins. As I think back, there are not many stories of just Jess that I could remember. Those two have learned from each other and protected each other. They've been a stabilizing factor in each other's lives when our family was separated at Natalie's birth.

Now Jessica is six years old. She's enjoying all the socialization that kindergarten brings. She's very competitive, but hard to motivate sometimes. She loves to delegate and finds no shame in watching someone else do her work. I just know she'll be a leader someday!

To celebrate Jessie's sixth year, she wanted an "Ocean Birthday." Of all things...in the middle of the winter! So in -30F weather, we had an ocean birthday party. We don't have a Costco, Sam's Club or Walmart around the corner to go pick up a fancy cake or decorations (150 miles away). Heidi's imagination picked up from there. She painted white paper in greens and browns and then cut them into small pieces. This was the seaweed. Silk poinsettias left over from Christmas served as "ocean flowers." These along with plastic "sea snakes" lined the hallway that guests would walk through as they arrived. I turned a 9x13 cake into a seaside paradise (if only we could have traveled there for real!) by using Jessie's Polly Pocket things. It was one of the easier cakes that I've made. We all stayed nice and toasty warm inside and pretended that the laughter of ten children (seven and under) were seagulls vying for a piece of cake.

Finally, I can't post this without leaving some Jessisms:

"These sure are fluffy peas."

While eating eggs and toast one morning..."This doesn't taste like roasted toast!"

"That isn't very fashionable."