Happy Holidays

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tis the Season

The boys were up bright and early shoveling the drive. I made that up...it is close to 9 am in these pictures and they are building a snow fort. The picture below is at their school's Christmas Program. They both sang, Alex played the xylophone and Tim's class did a dance.

Halloween!

I was very pleased by the boys' choice for costumes this year, Mario and Luigi! The overalls were pretty simple to make. I ironed on the initials to their hats. We had trouble finding a plain green T-shirt and mustaches in Soldotna. I ordered the mustaches online and then Tim lost his at school. I had to make one out of some black furry fabric for Halloween night. Tad was in charge of the plungers. I couldn't believe it when he came home with these cool looking plungers that matched the costumes. When I asked how he found these matching plungers, he replied, "they were the cheapest ones they had." I should have known!

A First

A few weeks ago, we went to Anchorage and saw the Lion King. I asked the boys to wear ties for the first time. Alex was agreeable despite his excitement in the pictures. It was a great show.

Labor Day Weekend

We finally took the boys to the AK state fair. It's a big deal to the kid world, and somehow we managed to avoid it all these years. Tad and I did insist on one hike on our way to the fair. The first picture was taken at the top of the tram trail at Alyeska in Girdwood. The rest were from the first evening at the fair. We spent a second, full day at the fair but forgot the camera. When we sat down to dinner that night, Alex exclaimed, "Today was the best day of my life." I can't believe we didn't have the camera to document the best day of his life!

Fall

The first photo is from early in our fall season. The boys came home from school and went to the back yard to play. I look out the window and they are running around with fish nets catching falling leaves. I had to get the camera out and capture that happy parent moment. The rest of the photos are from this past weekend. Tad and the boys did all the raking and then took a moment to enjoy their hard work.

THE cutest Rock Band ever!

I'm a little behind on getting these pictures posted. My sister and her family were here in July. And, the couple of people who read the last post were possibly waiting for a "Summer Highlights part II." It's been so long, I can't remember where I was going with that...Anyway, when my sister was here we got the Rock Band out and the kids got into it. They can be really cute sometimes.

Tim is our best drummer. As you can see, he is very focused.

Alaina rocks Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive"

We'll have to videotape Alex sometime. He gets very into the music. He also has a very unique thumb technique...

Summer Highlights Part I

Below are pictures of a canoe trip to the Dolly Varden cabin. My sister, her husband and daughter, Alaina, came along on this trip. That made it 4 adults, 3 kids, 1 dog, 2 canoes and a huge pile of gear. This was the second time we have used one of the refuge cabins. I think we succeeded in giving my sister and her family an Alaskan experience to remember.

More Maine Pictures

We spent a week of our time in Maine on Mt. Desert island. This is Sand Beach. The water is COLD...


We hiked almost every day. The boys only wanted to go on hikes with "ladders."


One of the top activities this year was crabbing off the dock.

Kayaking in Maine

Alex honed his paddling skills chasing the floater golf balls we hit into the pond. He became such an accomplished paddler, he took his younger cousin out on the water. Stay tuned for more Maine pictures...

Excavation

Before:

During:

After:

and as soon as we planted the grass:

Boys of Summer

Alex staying warm by jumping up and down


Alex just missing the throw to first


Tim getting a hit




A single

Basement Saga

You may have heard us mention our basement project. It started soon after we moved into this house, about 3 years ago. We tore down a wall, then had to tear out the front drywall and framing due to a leakage issue. Problems arose when we started planning the renovation: Tad has his opinions and I had mine. Wisely, we hired a contractor and let him make all the decisions. He quickly did in 4 weeks what would have taken us 2 years. We are finally nearing completion!

Before pictures:

The bathroom is completely finished.

All that is left is the outside excavation, installing the egress window and the flooring in the main room. Tad and I agreed on the flooring option and are installing that ourselves! Wish us luck.