May Graduations

  

May was FULL of family graduations.  My brother, Jeff, graduated with his Masters at Utah State, my nephew and niece graduated from their High Schools, and Kali graduated from Kindergarten.  All the grandkids gave homemade Candy Leis to Bob & Christina at their graduations . . . and to Kali's SURPRISE Grandma made three for her graduation! She definitely had the attention of her classmates being the only one with candy necklaces.  One in particular said "Why didn't your Grandma make ME one of those!?"  Kali's class {along with two others} performed a end of the year program, and the song seen here goes out to all graduates!!   (Kali is in the front middle in pink)

Congrats to all!!!!

Field Trips

 

Many field trips at the end of the school year for Kali!  They went to a Wild Life Museum, Eagle River Nature Center, Zoo, and the Reindeer Farm.  The bear was too cute at the zoo, making a pillow out of a tree and scratching it's behind.  All the kids loved that!  Speaking of the zoo, since I had to pay so much for the field trip for my family, I just got a annual family pass instead.  So if any of you ever want to go, let me know.

Masters Of The Universe

    

In addition to our kids loving Planet Earth/Blue Planet, they've added a new fav to their life. We bought He-Man & She-Ra DVDs at Ross over Christmas and the kids just recently opened them.  They are a BIG HIT in our house.  I asked Meg why she liked He-Man so much and her reply was . . . "Because he is POWERFUL".  I sat down and watched an episode with her today and it brought back memories of coming home from school and turning on the tube with my brothers just to watch He-Man . . . having every word memorized in the intro.  My brothers had all the action figures and I'd sometimes get in on the action when it was "allowed."  Word is, that they are making a He-Man movie.  So we all can be cool again and say . . . 

I HAVE THE POWER!

All Aboard The McKinley Explorer

 

 

 

How EXCITING was this!!  My sister invited me to a free breakfast on the Holland America Westours Train . . . the SAME train that I used to work on after I graduated High School and while I was engaged (Traveling from Anchorage - Denali; Denail - Fairbanks and back).  The girls were SO EXCITED . . . since they've asked me in the past when I will take them on the train I used to work on and make them breakfast like I used to do as a cook. {The first year I worked in the dining room and the second I was a cook}  So fortunately for them, I was able to take them for breakfast without the 13 hour ride involved.   Good times to reminisce.  Thanks Ty, we enjoyed it.  Here's old skool pics of when I worked there with my brother Jeff.  Gotta love the bow tie :D

 

Sea Life Center

 

 

 

{All Alaskans are FREE on the 10th of EVERY month in the year 2008}

Saturday was the 10th of May, so we drove 2.5 hours to Seward to visit their Sea Life Center. Kali heard about it at the beginning of the school year and has been bugging us ever since to go. We heard from friends about the 10th of each month; and in May it happened to be on a saturday.  What luck!  It saved us $60 in entrance fees!!  The kids' favorite were the Sea Lions. The dude was like three times or more the size of the ladies.  He was a BEAST.  He hammed it up a bit and posed for everyone, then took off like a kid and played then came back for more attention!  Afterwards, the girls posed like Mermaids on the rocks.  

Twilight Trailer

For all you fans out there of Stephanie Meyer, this goes out to you!!  I listened to these books on my computer while doing stuff around the house and doing kid-control.  They interest me and I will definitely see the movies, but I'm not a Raging-Spastic Fan about them.  {No offense if you are}  ENJOY!!!

{In Theaters 12.12.08}

Our Future Garden

This is our Garden-T0-Be.  We had a garden last year, but bought the starters. This year we are trying something new and HOPING it will all work out so we can have yummy food.  We planted:  {Zucchini, Squash, Romaine Lettuce, Green Leaf Lettuce, Carrots & Green Cabbage}.  My mom for Mothers Day also gives us moms a Cherry Tomato plant; and we are going to take out some dumb plants in our yard and put in Strawberries along the fence.  The kids are excited and so am I!

Surf'n Owen

Owen started climbing on our ottoman while it was flipped over, and this is what he did.  Apparently he wants to hang with his cousin Wyatt & Uncle Matt!!  {They're the REAL surfers in the family}

My DAILY Battle

 

Seriously . . . THIS HAS GOTTEN OUTTA CONTROL.  Everyday this is Owen's FAVORITE place to go.  He has this thing like OCD for cleaning!  He'll head straight to this spot and take out a cleaner and start spraying whatever his little heart desires.  He'll just stand there and spray over-and-over-and-over again the dishwasher, or the oven, or the garbage can, or the table, or the TV, or the door, or the couch.  Just spraying, that's all he does.  Today on the other hand, he got a wipe to help his efforts.  I know, I know . . . I SHOULD be grateful and think it's cute and all that garb.  But when it happens everyday, a couple times a day, for the past MONTH . . . any mom would tell you it's gotta stop.  Especially when he took the wrong bleaching chemical to the leather couch and we now have permanent spray marks on our couch.  Jason on the other hand says . . . "My Kids A Freakin Genius Cleaner!"

Hide & Go Seek

So today while I was getting things done around the house, I noticed in the back of my head that Meg & Owen were playing well together today.  Since Owen can't vocalize everything he wants to say to Meg, and Meg not always wanting Owen to play with her . . . pulling hair and screaming on both sides is the likeliest probability.   We need to work with Owen on that!!  BACK TO TODAY . . . I heard them playing so well, that I thought I should check up on them and make sure they weren't into mischief.  This is where I found them . . . IN THE DRYER!!!!!!  They both were so proud to show me their "new hiding spot"; they even wanted me to spin them.  Since being that I AM their mother, I taught them what would happen if the dryer was accidentally turned on or if the door was shut.  They didn't like either outcome.  So, the next time we play hide-n-go-seek, THIS WILL BE THE FIRST PLACE TO LOOK!!!!