What will 2013 bring?

Happy New Year to all our friends and family.  We had Leif's mom and dad visiting with us for a few days. It was great to spend time with them and be able to watch some of the college bowl games.  Leif's family really enjoys watching football and I just sit back in awe when they watch a game together. The statistics and details of the game that they all know - it's just amazing.  I should not say that I sit back in awe, because things are extremely busy these days with the kiddos.

Lukkas is 9 months old now! When did that happen?  

His check-up went great!  Weighing in at 23.9 pounds and 29 1/2 inches long! What a tank!!

He likes to give you high fives and if you tell him no, he'll shake his head back at you.  He's also very busy trying to walk.  We have a game where I will put him at arms length away and he'll 'walk' back to me.  He loves it - and recently he will pull himself and then push off to see if he can keep his balance. When he does keep his balance, he lets out such a cute giggle.  He's definitely all boy - loves to wrestle around with Leinna and finds things to bang.  Sometimes the word 'hi' or 'da-da' escapes his mouth - but mostly its grunts.

Leinna at 2 1/2 years now, is more verbal than ever.  I keep reminding myself that this is really a blessing that she can express what she needs and understands what we say in return.  She's definitely a parrot right now and has taught us that we really need to be careful of what is being said on tv.  We were recently watching one of our recorded shows, The Voice, when the judges were bantering back and forth and one of the judges said 'bitching.'  Well without a second to go by, Leinna asks, 'Momma, what's bitching?"  Oh dear... well Leinna, its a word that we don't need to say.  She seemed content with the answer and we haven't heard it since. Thank you Lord!  She continues to develop her imaginary play and you will find yourself being "sshh" by Leinna because her baby is sleeping.  Leinna loves to sing songs and you'll likely hear her sing "I'm working on the rail road" as she goes to sleep at night.

So, what will 2013 bring? 

We are hoping for moments and memories that fill our hearts with joy! 

Happy New Year!

Christmas Time

We hope everyone had a blessed time with family and friends this Christmas season.  We spent Christmas Eve and Day starting our own family traditions.  It was great to just hang out as a family of four and enjoy the laughter and time together. 

A Christmas Eve tradition we started this year is to make sugar cookies in the morning. Leinna had a great time helping me make them...

 and enjoyed the fruit of her labor!

Lukkas had his version of helping too!

Christmas morning tradition- kiddos had to have breakfast before we could open presents! We thought it would be best to have happy children opening presents versus hungry kids!  Bailey wasn't too sure about this idea of waiting!

Lukkas had a great time for his first Christmas.  So much fun that we ended up sticking him in his exer-saucer toy so we could manage things a little easier.  Even from there, he found ways to "open" his presents :O)

Leinna had the present opening all figured out... She loved and enjoyed every gift and even wanted to help mom and papa with theirs.  A few of her favorites...

 A camera that actually takes pictures

and her new Minnie Mouse jammies and Mickey Mouse.  I have a feeling her 3rd birthday may be a Mickey Mouse party!

We had a wonderful day and enjoyed a nice turkey dinner. We were all pretty tired and I think everyone was sleeping by 8:30pm!  We had a busy rest of the week - went to Anchorage on the 27th, full day of doctor appointments on the 28th and then back home on the 29th with Grandma and Pope (Leif's mom and dad).  We enjoyed the company as we rang in the New Year! 

"ME"rry Christmas

Okay, okay... not the typical title you'd expect around Christmas time.  This time of year is all about sharing and giving to those wonderful people in your life.  Well, I believe Leinna's gift to me this holiday season is the gift of independence.  Everything these days is, "Me do it!" or "I can do it myself, Momma."  I love that she's gaining independence - just about 100% potty trained, going upstairs to get pj's for both herself and Lukkas at bath time, getting undressed herself, drinking from a big cup, taking her coat and shoes off... the list goes on and on.  The one thing I wasn't expecting was my own personal feelings as she goes through this new stage of development.  I find myself a bit teary-eyed when I know its best for me to let her explore this independence.  Sigh... I'm sure I'll have many teary-eyed moments when the independence becomes more and more.  For now, I'm going to relish in the fact that while we are gaining independence it also means she's gaining in her knowledge of her world and how to function in it. 

So, Christmas time...

 Last week our day care provider took some time off to go see her son wrestle at the state tournament- this was a great thing as I decided that this was the perfect reason to stay home with my kiddos for the day.  We had fun decorating the tree over and over and over.  Yes, the ornaments are kid friendly, so Leinna has fun going over to the tree and moving them around. 

 We even were able to do some self photography in front of the Christmas tree.  A huge thanks to my friend for picking up with kids outfits during a recent trip to Anchorage. They are prefect - not too frilly that the kids can wear the outfits more than just once. No presents under the tree yet, as Lukkas is into everything these days and well, the poor kid probably hears the word "no-no" in his dreams.  Even Leinna goes over and says, "Lukkas, I said no-no," in her best mothering voice.

So, to keep Lukkas away from the tree- just bring out the laundry basket.  The two of them played without any toys for a good 15 minutes - just giggling with each other while they sat in the basket. I'm going to love looking back at memories such as this.  

Finally, if you can't seem to find Lukkas anywhere - just check under the kitchen table chairs.  Our table is a very high table with extra tall chairs.  Just the perfect spot to 'hide' and give momma a bit of a heart attack because she can't find her son anywhere. 

"My cup runnith over" and yet it aches for the families in Conneticut - prayers to the families, friends, and the community as they begin to process and heal from this tragedy.   I know I'm holding my own babies a little longer - may you do the same to the kiddos in your life.

8 Months Old!

8 Months Old - where oh where is the time going?!?

I can already tell this photo is going to be one of my favorites of Mister.  He was hanging out in the kitchen with Leinna when I went to get my camera (or as Leinna calls it the cram-a).  I turned around and Mister saw the camera and did this sweet pose for me. I'm so thankful I had the camera ready to capture the moment.  He's such a climber and will stand up along anything. I have a feeling he's going to be walking much earlier than Leinna did. He continues to be all boy- banging on things and making grunting noises! A few times it's sounded like he's said, "hi" and "da-da" - but that could be my wishful ears. 

Leinna loves to just play - it can be with books, with toys, or just using her imagination.  Our good friends gave Leinna these boots and when she wants to wear them she asks for her "Miss Clara boots".

We've continued to have clear skies this past week.  This has meant some chilly nights, but beautiful sunset and amazing view of the full moon...

I can't believe it's December already.  3 weeks of school and then a much needed Christmas Break!  Hope whenever and wherever you are when you read this, you know that we send our love.

Happy Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving!

You can just see the twinkle in Lukkas' eye that he knows something delicious is going to happen today!

 Boy, was he right!  Papa kept the tradition of him cooking the bird, while Momma did most of the fixings.

Having two young children now, our options for our Thanksgiving meal was either 11:30 or 5:30.  I voted for 11:30 so we could all take naps later :o)  We ate around noon and turkey had the exact opposite effect on my children- no naps for them meant no naps for Momma or Papa.  Oh well, we had a great day and I even found myself teary eyed as I thought about the many blessing in my life that I'm so very thankful for!

The Mister is busy keeping us on our toes!  He's learned how to pull himself up on things - boy, I thought Leinna was a busy child, but Lukkas is always go, go, go.

Leinna, well she just keeps growing up.  Looking more and more like a little girl and not so much toddler any more.  She's starting to do imaginary play and her newest is that she's going to check the mail and there's a new box.  No one knows what's inside until she opens it up!   She cracks me up with how excited she gets to pretend to open an imaginary box.  I just love it!

We've had clear, beautiful skies! 

What a blessing!

We send our love to you all and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  

A weekend of firsts

Before my update about the weekend ...

I just love playing around with some simple effects on my computer's photo program.  Originally this phone is a little washed out and blurry, but turn in black and white and it looks great (in my opinion). I can't believe Lukkas is heading into month 8 soon.  Where is the time going and make it slow down, please!

Okay- so our weekend of firsts.  Friday night, Leinna and I ventured to the grocery store for just a few items.  Prior to this trip, I've always avoided letting her take the shopping cart that is just perfect for her size.  Well, since it was just her and I, and the list was short, I thought why not!

Oh my goodness... she was a pro! So confident in where she was going and did a great job of driving the cart without knocking into anyone or anything.  

Saturday was a first for Lukkas - his first trip to the swimming pool. Wouldn't you know - I was so excited for him, that I didn't even take a picture.  In fact, I didn't even have my phone with me to take a picture.  I'll be sure to capture his 2nd trip to the pool.  It was great to have Papa come with us and play with Leinna in the pool, while I introduced Lukkas to the idea.  Lukkas loved the water and kept squirming in my arms trying to get free to go and do his own thing.  I would say it was a huge success! Thank you Cordova for providing a tot swim time!!

Sunday's first events- Lukkas' first time actually playing in the snow.

He loved being outside and watching Leinna run around.  I tried to set him in the snow, but with all his bulky winter gear, he had a hard time balancing and just toppled backwards.  We did however, get a first ride in the shovel with Leinna.

After last winter, Papa (also much of Cordova) definitely has a plan for snow management this winter.  Our four-wheeler with plow on it is in need of some maintenance, so Papa had to do some manual shoveling. Look at the two little munchkins he scooped up!

At first Lukkas wasn't to sure about this ride, but by the end he was having fun.  Papa asked if the kids were getting a sled for Christmas? He, he, he....

Finally, as we were playing out in the snow, Leinna was able to test out her new winter gear that Momma got a great deal on while she was in Anchorage a couple of weeks ago.  I love her imaginary play that is developing.  As she trudges through the deep snow to sit on this bank, she muttering something to herself.  When she plops down I asked her what she was saying.  She replies, "I'm sitting on my couch momma - see?" 

What a great weekend of firsts! Looking forward to a short work week and some much needed quality time with the family. 

Time for Refocusing...

Nothing like a knock out from a flu bug to give you some time to reflect and refocus.  I can honestly say that I've been going non-stop for so long that my body finally had to knock me down so that I would get some rest.  After sleeping all weekend long, I attempted work Monday, but made it only half the day. Still not feeling 100% today, I tried to make it to work, but was sick after dropping kids off at day care.  Okay, okay... so why am I blogging?  Because as much as I need rest, I'm not very good at sitting still. This is even more true now that I have children.  So, I figured an update to the land of Leinna and Lukkas keeps me resting, but at least I can feel like I'm getting something done.
 
This past week, I was away on a trip to Anchorage supervising some of my students as they participated in Special Olympics.  This is was great for my heart and spirit towards teaching.  So much about education is turning to take this test and measure this progress - which is all good, please don't get me wrong.  It's just difficult for me when I work with students whose disabilities prevent them from showing what they can really do based on a paper/pencil or even computerized testing.  Anyways...

The event was bowling! How fun, except we don't have a bowling ally in Cordova. So, in order for our team to practice - we had to get creative.

Yep, nothing like practicing in the library with a child's bowling pin set!  The girls had fun practicing and a little practice was better than none.

After a fun lunch hosted by a Partners Club at an Anchorage high school, we headed to the bowling ally.  Even though we were a small team, the girls had a blast!  The two students with special needs each bowled a strike!  Seeing the pure joy on their faces and observing another school's program inspired me to do more here in Cordova. (well, as soon as I get over this bug anyways...)

On the home front, Papa was in charge for two nights and two mornings!  He did an amazing job and I love that it gave the kiddos time to bond with Papa.

Well, time for another nap and hopes of waking up feeling better.