Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones that's what little boys are made of right? Daniel has been obsessed with sticks for a while now. He can find a stick anywhere and has to bring it home. Big, small (and I mean itsy bitsy) they all have to come, be it at the grocery store, garden, therapy he will find it. I've been trying to get him to keep them outside, it all came to a head when I found sticks in my bed. Located behind him you will see a box that his therapist helped him decorate for his sticks. She told him the rule was that the sticks all had to go in the box and if it gets filled up he has to get rid of some before he put any more in. So far it seems to be helping some. But this boy LOVES his sticks. To him they are everything imaginable too. Pirate ships, guns (of course), bows and arrows and who know what all else.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Slip and Slide

Do you remember those narrow yellow plastic Slip and Slides we had as a kid? Well this is the Alaska version. All the Elementary schools around here have big sledding hills for all the snow in the winter. Most of the parks do too. Here's what our Ward did with one of them this summer.


 
As you can see my kids are very cautious about coming down the hill. At the bottom of the hill was Reagan's favorite place as it had all the bubbles. (At the top of the hill not only were they spraying it with water but dish soap as well.)

I didn't go down as it wasn't exactly warm that day. The kids thought it was awesome and I really hope they do it again next year!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Sweaters

I know. What's a post about sweaters doing in in July? But I've been busy and wanted to show you. There have been lots of baby's in my life lately and I'm excited that I finished these and they should be in the mail shortly....
 
This was for my Visiting Teaching companion. She's due next week. I had started this sweater last year and never finished it as I didn't like the way it was turning out. But I got inspired as I went looking for something to give her for her baby shower. I made a hat too with cabling, but I guess I forgot to take a picture of it. Cabling is hard when you crochet. Darn I should have taken a picture.


 This one the picture just doesn't do it justice especially the hat. It reminds me of Strawberry Shortcake. This one is for my friend Anneka. I made one a year or two ago that was all white for Reagan that she's grown out of now. I really like the two different colors as well on this one.


 
This one I like a lot more than I thought I would. I made it with remnants of yarn that I had left as I wanted to make something for my cousin Ryan's new little boy but couldn't get anywhere to get any yarn. I still need to sew the buttons on but I think it really turned out cute. It was a new pattern I hadn't tried yet  and while it only used two colors of yarn I think this turn out well.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Quiet Day at Home

 
Here they are working on their handicrafts.Daniel was hammering a nail in the board. (He got it in a little ways, maybe a 1/16th of an inch.)

Princess Reagan is painting a block we were going to make into dice for a game. Sometimes it's just nice to spend a day at home...

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Takhu Lake

 
About half a mile from our house is Takhu lake. We finally made it down there to see it.


 
It is so gorgeous! I love this beautiful place we live in!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

4th of July

 Yes I'm slow at getting my blog updated but hey I have almost a whole week of posts to catch you up written and waiting to be published. Here are some pictures from our 4th of July.
We walked around and looked at things on the "park strip" downtown. It is really reminiscent of the National Mall and makes me a bit homesick every time I see it. We got to see this handsome fellow. Have you ever been this close to a Bald Eagle? He kept an eye on all of us with his head rotating all the way around as he watched everyone. 
Here the kids are waiting for the parade to start. Which it did... 40 mins. late. I wondered which self important politician made it that late. It was quite a wait.
 
Miss Reagan who will never put her shoes on the right feet.


 I liked these bikes and the hats. I'd hate to fall off the last one though!
Bet you don't have 50 year old Reindeer in your parades. I've forgotten what her name was but she has participated in the Anchorage 4th of July every year since her birth.

 
Cool old fire trucks.

 This was really cool. It was the size of a car and they were actually driving it. 
My favorite part was the bagpipes. Reagan loved all the beautiful dresses that went by, and Daniel's favorite was the military men and women.



Monday, July 16, 2012

Those Elusive Summer Days

 
Every once in awhile in Anchorage we get beautiful summer days where we have sunshine and push the thermometer up to almost 70. This was one of those in June. The rest of the time we have gloomy rainy weather in the 50's. This is Campbell Creek which was also featured in a recent post. It also runs close by our house.

 
Alaska kids are tough! That water is about 35 degrees. Way too cold for this girl, but the kids can't get enough of it and there were about 30 other kids out there as well.

 So unbelievably happy to be out side playing in the water!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Daniel's vision Exercises

We thought we would show you Daniel's vision exercises that he has been doing lately. This is to help center his body so that his eyes can work properly and together. This will be the first of many exercises he will have to learn to hopefully be able to improve things like hand eye coordination, and focusing. He does them twice a day.



Saturday, July 14, 2012

Chive Soup

 
This reminded me of my brother Daniel SO much. Reagan came home from the garden with Chive flowers that she had picked and wanted to make soup with them. My brother used to go out and pick wild garlic and make soup with it. His tasted a lot better than her's did. Here she has chives and the flowers from the chive plants, radishes, sugar, cinnamon and one piece of Trix cereal for some added flavor. She quickly decided that it didn't taste very good. But she had fun making it.
And this was the first strawberry of the year. SO delicious!!! It went promptly into my mouth, though I did share the next one I found with Reagan.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Reagan describing a Swifter- It's not a mop cleaning thing. It's a get the floor wet and slide thing!"
Daniel- We were leaving Walgreens and saw an employee smoking. Before I could stop him Daniel walked up to the guy and said "You need to not let me smell your smoke. Cause that's not good!" (Dying laughing privately as we walked away!)
Reagan- While at the garden she picked a bunch of dandelions. As we were driving home I could hear her in the back of the car saying, "He loves me, he loves me, he loves me" as she picked each petal off. This girl doesn't take chances on love!
Daniel and Paul playing with Lego's.
           Paul- Why does Harry Potter have a blaster gun (from Star Wars)?
           Daniel- Because he forgot and left his wand at Dr. Gosh's office.
      (They were talking about them as if they were real!)
Reagan- Yelling at me and I told her to talk nice. Her reply? "It's not working."