Alaska or Bust!

I thought I was going to Bust with anxiety over flying with Adelaine on my lap (particularly the overnight flight back) from Alaska. Though it was not enjoyable, I'm so thankful for the blessings in travel and overwhelmed with what a great "weekend" trip I had to Alaska to visit my friend Molly and her sweet family. It seems strange to visit Alaska for a weekend, but that is what I did. Though I expected we'd just hang out at home with her three boys, we ended up going to a sweet little fishing town, going to a mountain range pass, and enjoying a beautiful walk. You can't beat waking up to find a mama moose with her two babies outside the window, or looking up to see a bald eagle, or even seeing a dog sled team on the side of the road. I loved getting to know her kids and seeing her world, including her incredible photography business (which the images attached are from her!). I wanted to upload more, but my computer is super slow, so I'm just doing my two favorites.

Meanwhile, Adam and Lukas had Adam's sister (and her puppies) here to visit, which was just wonderful. Lukas soaked all of her (and the dogs in). I'm jealous I missed her, but am so glad for the timing to have Lisa take care of Lukas while I was gone. What a weekend!

One last thing of note: I've heard Adelaine recently talking to herself in her crib lately "practicing speech". This is new to us as Lukas never really did this. After sharing a room with her this weekend, I'm finding that this is what she consistently practices saying when by herself: "No Mama. No mama. NO mama. no MAMA...."..all in different tones and pitches and emphasis, over and over and over again. Funny now - not thinking it will be funny in a few months.

My belated - BEAUTIFUL Birthday Gift

No, it isn't the landscaping (though that is the gift that keeps on giving of Adam's). It isn't the kids poking at each other's belly-buttons (though belly buttons are a tasty treat). IT IS the beautiful red bench that Adam has been working on so hard. I LOVE IT and think it looks so beautiful in front of our home.

Pictures and Pumpkins

Lukas finally drew a picture of his mama, which I attached the picture. I LOVE it and will treasure it.

We also went to the Pumpkin patch with Lukas' preschool and it was a blast! Adelaine fearlessly went down the enormous slide, with Lukas finally following with an unwanted "push" (literally and figuratively) from his mother.

Funky Town

We had a blast at a good friend's birthday party - a roller skating birthday party. I wanted to have us all dress disco and Adam sport a mustache, but we only had a chance to pull off having us pseudo-match in lameness. However, we LOVED hearing songs like "brick house" while my little girl pouted (see picture above) that she couldn't skate with us. For over an hour Lukas fell and got up, determined to learn - he did great. As you can see he even danced on skates (he gets his moves from his father by the way - I take NO responsisibility). Super fun night and glad to celebrate with friends.

Sunshine and Rain

As we are losing sunshine here in Oregon everyday and the rain is starting to creep in more and more (though the trees this time of year are unreal beautiful), I am finding that I am seeing a lot of sunshine and rain extremes in my 3 1/2 year old. I just love my boy. We have so much fun and we cuddle and he cracks me up. I also can get so frustrated with him lately - mostly for NOT having self control (primarily at preschool where he seems to be attempting to make another residence in the time out chair for misbehavior). So far is it primarily goofiness and it is getting better (and I am chilling out as well). So, I take this opportunity to look at the amazing things in my kids' life. One - his speech is improving and I praise God. A long journey and lots of work surely still awaits us, but I'm so thankful for a recent surge of speech. Secondly - the kid is obsessed with art and is pretty good at it. Attached is his recent portrait of his daddy. Granted this is the best of the best (though he did a drawing of a snail today out of the blue that rocked AND I might note he did a random drawing of an x/y axis with dots and parabalas....hmmm...seriously, he did). We'll see if it continues, but these things are so encouraging when other things like speech (or behavior) can seem frustrating.

GraGra, PaPa, GraMa, GraPa

We are blessed to have such great grandparents for our kids (above are the names the kids have dubbed for them). My mom came out last weekend for the Women of Vision Kick off and we went to Sauvie Island for some berry picking/pumpkin hunting in deep mud. This weekend we were crazy blessed by friends to get to go to a Lodge up at Mt Hood with Adam's parents who loved all over our kids in an amazing cabin surrounded by beauty. Since don't have permission to post thier pictures up yet, I'll post up the kids' pictures (with my handsome husband as well). We are super thankful for these last two weekends. Totally spoiled really.