Mother's Day Hike Video

Doing flips...

The kids LOVE to play on this slide play structure! Every single day they climb all over, run up & down it, slide down it, do flips on it, push cars & trains down it, and go on MANY adventures..."flying" or "driving" somewhere exciting. I love watching & listening to them! And of course, as soon as any other kid comes in door the run over to it to play on it as well! One of the best purchases we have ever made!!!

Here's Jakob showing you how to do a flip!

A few favorites of Samuel from last week.

Here are a few of my favorites of My little Sam while we were playing on the floor. I just love his cute little face...I want to kiss his little cheeks all the time! See more in the May6 Album...

I told you Rachel liked puppies...

I forgot to take a picture of Daisy with her P.J.'s that Rachel picked out at Build A Bear. So here they are...a cute little T-shirt with a polar bear and an Alaska logo...too cute.
And here are a few of her friends. She told me all their names but I can not keep them straight. I truly think she will be a veterinarian when she is older :-).

The life of my little Ben...

So Ben had his friend Porter over for a playdate last week. They played hard for several hours. They played trains, dinosaurs, ran up and down the slide playstructure, and shot bad guys. They had a BLAST!!!
After Porter left Ben played outside for an hour with Jakob, Rachel & the neighbor kids. They mainly jumped on the trampoline. Ben was very crabby at dinner. He kept saying, "I'm not tired, I'm not tired."
Yeah, right, whatever you say little monkey :-).

More pictures in the May 6th Album.

My future ballerina???

Here are a few shots from rachel's ballet class last week. They were practicing hard for the recital coming up this weekend! See more in the May 4th album...

A few things that happened last week...

Here is Ben helping Daddy "fix" the old bike that Jakob & Rachel used to ride. Well, a few years ago Paul accidently backed over the little bike killing the training wheels.
Soooooooooo, here is Ben after seeing his early birthday present...his NEW bike!!! What a happy little boy!!!

see more pictures in the May 4th album...

Last week, my friend Kari stopped by on her way home from her new baby daughter's 2 week check-up. We had a great visit & enjoyed taking pictures of Sam & Jordyn together. I will have to see if I can find pictures I took of Ben & her daughter, Jenna together when they were just a few months old...I think I took them on the "old" camera with film...so if I find the picture...one day.



see more pictures in the May 4th album

Mother's Day Hike

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! I had a great time with my family...but, I sure do miss my Mom!
I grew up hiking and camping ALL the time. I LOVE being outdoors...I want my kids to grow up with the same love and appreciation for the outdoors as I have. We have been able to go on several hikes the past few years but this summer I plan on doing MANY, MANY more!!! There are numerous trails yet to be explored! So, I wanted to go on a family hike for my Mother's Day present. Mother Nature was kind to us on Sunday & it was BEAUTIFUL...nice and sunny, just the right temp., and the mosquitos were not out on Sunday. So, we headed up to the Eagle River Nature Center that is just about a 15 minute drive. Here are a few pictures...see more in the May 11th family album. Here we are just after our wonderful picnic lunch.
Here's the mountain map. Click it to enlarge to see it better.
3 of my monkey's

One happy family!!!

Fun on the slopes video

What will Ben and Sam's relationship be like???

It has taken Ben quite a bit of time to come around to the idea that little Sam isn't going anywhere! He is still very jealous & pushes his way into my lap constantly! But, he is finally asking to hold him...although not as often as I would like yet...maybe a few more months??? I know Ben will have much more appreciation for Sam once he can play cars, airplanes, & trains with him...at least I hope so!

"Look, Mom, I am holding Sam so nicely!"

"Ok, Ok, I am DONE!!!!"

"Ribbit! Ribbit!"

"Cheese"

Jakob becomes a Webelo 2

Here are a few pictures from the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet in Feb. when Jakob became a Webelo 2. First a Tiger, then Bear, Wolf, Webelo 1, and now a Web 2! Lots of time and hard work has made this happen!

We are so proud of him!!!

A few more favorites...

See what I mean by "ear to ear" smile?

I have a picture of Paul sitting in this same chair, in his uniform, holding each of the boys wearing this same outfit :-)! Yes, on purpose...I just had to! It is the only thing I did the same with all 3...at least on purpose.

We did not have a digital camera when Jakob was little so one day I will have to scan the picture & find the one with Ben & line all three up so you guys can compare :-). Now that I am talking about maybe I will do it in the next few days...I just have to find the print of Jakob...this may take some time...

Rachel is such a wonderful, loving, doting big sister. She is always wanting to help me...and I take any help I can get!!!

Check out these cute little digits...

This is one of many of my favorites...

I just want to eat him up...

Even in Alaska...

Paul had drill this weekend so while Sam, Rachel & I were at Build A Bear, Jakob & Ben played with their friends next door. All the kids were playing outside when we pulled up so of course Rachel wanted to join in the fun :-). Then about 5 minutes later guess who starts playing that famliar sound??? The Ice Cream truck...yes, even though it is cold up here, the kids still want ice cream!!!

"Can we Mom, Please, Please?"

"Thank you, thank you"

All the wonderful neighbor friends! We are so lucky to have all of them!!!

Views from the mall

So, after the Build A Bear fun, I drove up to the top of the parking garage at the mall so I could take some pictures of the incredible views of the mountains around Anchorage...