Oh, JoJo

  
 

I have been doing a lot of posts about Jolee lately, but Aaron took these photos of her a few weeks ago while we were at Grandma and Grandpa Swanson's house and they are too cute not to post. We were giving her a bath and got some great dimply bum shots, but I will save her the humiliation and not post those here. Jolee has always been a Mommy's girl, not usually wanting to hang with her dad. As you can see, Jolee is now buddies with her dad...as long as I am not around. Little does she know, she will soon be tightly wrapped around her dad's finger, just like her sister, Chloee, is. (She openly admits she likes her dad the best). Jolee is starting to show a feisty streak, and is not afraid to show her siblings who is boss, but she so has them eating out of her cute, little hand.

Trusses and pumpkins

This is kind of a random post, but it's what I have pictures of. We have the latest pics of our slow-going house project with the beginnings of a roof. These pics are about a month old, and yes, sadly little work has gone on since these were taken. Our head guy, and Aaron's best friend, Dave, has been on vacation, other workers are working on other projects, and blah, blah, blah. The good news is, once the crew is here and working, it gets done really fast. The plan at this point is to resume work the around the first week of November. Luckily, we haven't had much snow, but the temperatures are flippin' cold!! It's only in the twenties lately, so the crew won't be having too much fun, but I don't really care at this point! Does that sound heartless?? 

  

As you can see, there are still more trusses to be put up, but after that it gets sheeting, and shingles. Then it won't snow in the house anymore. After that, we install my custom ordered windows and doors. Can't wait!

 

  Here are some pics of Jolee getting ready to carve our Halloween pumpkins. We ended up with about 6 pumpkins because we carved a bunch for a youth activity a few weeks ago. Of course, each kid needed to carve their own, and those pumpkins are now frozen solid on our walkway.  So far, they have not become moose candy. I hope to post some Halloween and birthday pics of Haylee's 14th, (which is tomorrow), but with all the fun activities planned, we shall see. 

Gymnastics night

 

 

 

Instead of watching TV some nights, we watch the kids do their tricks. Jolee has lots now that she is cruising all over the place, climbing stairs, and exploring as much as she can. Chloee is always ready to put on a show, mostly dancing and flips. After doing Yoga with me a few times, she likes to show that off too. Here she is doing some cartwheels and somersaults. I really need to sign  her up for classes because she is really flexible (see the splits pose) and enjoys dancing. Daddy even had to show is Yoga skills in doing the "Crane" pose. Props to Dad, because it's a tough one.

FINALLY! We figured it out!

After much stress and frustration, Aaron sat down at the computer and figured out how to get the add image icon to our MAC.  I don't know what he did, but I can finally blog!! We have been so incredibly busy that I have dozens of pictures to post. I am going to try to take it in small chunks, so here we go.

Jaron is a big first grader now, but since the invention of velcro, he never really mastered tying his shoes. Well, about a month ago, we got him some new P.E. shoes which happened to have laces, so it was time he learned how to tie his own shoes. After a quick reminder lesson and a reference to the SpongeBob episode where SpongeBob learns to tie his shoes and sings a song about it, Jaron got it. He does a great job with his shoes now, and it's one less thing I have to do for him. Yeah Jay!

4th of July Fun

So for the last two Fourth of July weekends, the kids and I have been in Utah (without Aaron). Because Jaron's birthday is on the sixth, Aaron has missed his last two birthdays, so this year we decided to stay home and enjoy as much of our short Alaskan summer as we can. We have been wanting to take the four wheelers up north to the Palmer area to do some trail riding, so we made a long weekend out of it and had a blast. We were lucky enough to have Dave and his family, my sister and her family, and the Hansens come along.

We had so much fun four wheeling both in and out of the mud. I just need to say that my Haylee is quite the daredevil on the four wheeler. She didn't hesitate to dive in the first mud pit she saw. Brady on the other hand is more like his mother and tends to play things safe. And we all know what a wild man Jaron is. A few more years when he and his machine are bigger, I know he will be getting the muddiest of us all.

Speaking of Jaron, we celebrated his 7th birthday at Grandma and Grandpa's annual Fourth of July block party. It is always nice to see old friends and enjoy the yummy food everyone brings to share. Jaron wanted a Cold Stone cake, so I turned into a Sponge Bob cake which everyone enjoyed. He got a lot of great gifts, the best of which are some Incredible Hulk giant hands that make Hulk sounds when you box with them...so JJ.

We all made it back Sunday night relatively unscathed, except for a hornet sting that poor Jaron and Taegan got in Eagle River. (That's a story in itself).  We are so grateful to have the opportunity to make such fun memories with our kids. I grew up with wonderful memories of playing in the Alaskan midnight sun, and how awesome is it that I get to do the same with my own kids.  Take a look at my boys blazing through the water. Way to go guys.

Kids are the best

Happy Mother's Day all!! Just when I was starting to run out of things to post about, I happen to look at my camera (we were going to soccer jamborees and were planning on taking some pictures) and I find these little beauties:

Of course, Chloee's face is filthy, looks like from some chocolate pudding and Doritos she also got into. Man, I really should pay more attention to my children, especially when it's too quiet. Chloee is my sneakier child, but always good for a laugh.

What a great Mother's Day weekend we had. My parents and Aaron's parents along with our two nieces, Addie and Sydney came down Saturday to catch Brady and Jaron's last soccer games for the season. Both boys did great and it was great to have their huge cheering section at the game with all the family. After Brady's games, the team had a party at Pizza Hut where they got their medals, made disgusting concoctions of various sodas, and had an all around great time.
Jaron's team finished much improved from the beginning of the season, but with the talent we started with, we could only go up. The kids did really well, and I am glad to say that our coaching days are over, for now. We finished the weekend with a great brunch with all the family. After brunch we took a drive out to our new lake lot (many of you might not know that we bought some lake property, but you do now). Aaron's parents hadn't seen our property yet, and it was on the way back to Anchorage, so we all went down to check it out. The ice is totally gone now, and the property is just what we have been looking for for the last couple of years. The only down side is it is not in our current Soldotna ward boundaries, but the Sterling ward is full of great people too. We hope to build and be moved in the next few years. More news to come on the exciting lake stuff, but here are some pics that don't do it justice.

This post is huge, I guess that's what happens when you don't post for a while. I just want to remind you all how much we love and appreciate you in our lives, especially you, Mom. You know I love you always!! Happy Mother's Day!!

Party Time

What a weekend! Despite the newly fallen foot of snow Anchorage got, we took the family up this weekend because Aaron played in a men's league hockey tournament, even though he had a messed up knee from the last tournament. We also planned to celebrate Brady and Jolee's birthdays with the rest of the family. Brady's was first with a big party at the magical world of Chuck E. Cheeses. Even though Brady might be a hair too old for this place now, we all had a great time despite the chaos of a hundred or so sugar-spiked kids running around. Even the grandpas were troopers, helping with baby duty and present hauling.

Brady got some great gifts from our wonderful family and friends. He especially loved all the new cooking supplies he got along with a new pocket knife he can use when we go camping this summer.

Jolee's party was on Saturday at our hotel pool. We ended up having to move the party to the Hawthorne after deciding to leave our first hotel on Friday. This is a story I will have to share another time. Let's just say that I have never seen Aaron lit up as I did on Friday. Anyway, the party was great with all the cousins and friends swimming together (along with about 10 girl scouts that showed up five minutes into the party). After wearing the kids out swimming, we had leftover cake from Brady's party (sorry Jolee, that's what happens when you're the fifth kid) and opened presents in the hotel's dinning area. It was really nice to have a big room all to our own. Jolee was just as I thought she would be with her cake as she didn't really want anything to do with it. We managed to get a little frosting on her lips, but that was about it. Jolee too got lots of great toys and outfits from our awesome family and friends and her first birthday was truly a memorable one.

We wish all of you could have been there to celebrate with us, but you are always with us in our hearts.

Who's the big girl now?

Check out these cheesy grins...




Brady's big 10 hands marking his double digit milestone.

Well, I figured out the photo glitch (see post below), so here are some pics from Jolee's first birthday. How this past year has flown. Our Jolee is truly a blessing to this family. She is our easy-going, oh so mellow, sweet, and happy baby. She isn't much of a mover yet, but she sure likes to talk and make herself heard over the chaos. She loves playing with her siblings and is truly a delight in our lives. I only hope I can say the same thing during her terrible two's, three's, and teenage years. Enjoy the pics from today. Pictures from the upcoming family parties at Chuck E Cheeses and the swimming pool will be posted asap.

Happy, Happy Birthday X 2

It was a big day in our family today. As of 7:35 this morning, Jolee turned one year old, and as of 2:48 this afternoon, we had another kid in the double digits with Brady turning the big 10. Today was mostly focused on Brady because he kind of got jipped in the birthday department last year, except for getting a baby sister for a present. We are planning on having a big family birthday celebration for both kids this weekend. Here are some pics from Brady's big day. We started the day with a huge pancake covered in strawberries, whipped cream, and 10 flaming candles.



Brady then left for school with his homemade strawberry pastries in tow to share with his class. They were a big hit compared to the usual boring cupcakes. After school and Haylee's dentist appointment, we headed home to get ready for Brady's big birthday date with Mom and Dad. The deal was that Brady could choose wherever he wanted to go for dinner, and he could order anything off the menu. We tried to go to the fanciest restaurant in town called "The Crossing", but forgot that they are closed on Mondays. We tried the second fanciest place in town, "Michael's", and they too are closed on Mondays. What a bummer. We ended up at a very nice place called "Frosos" where we knew Brady would be able to order his favorite: ribs. Here are some pics from our fun dinner...Brady couldn't finish his huge plate of ribs.

After our bellies were full, we headed off to Fred Meyer (one of the few places to shop in this small town) for Brady to pick out a birthday present. He ended up choosing a Wii game called "Boogie". It's something like karaoke, but looks like a lot of fun. Our final stop for the night was for Brady's free desert at Cold Stone (fyi, you can get on a birthday list through email and receive free ice cream coupons on your birthday). Brady ordered vanilla with Recees peanut butter cups, whipped cream, and Carmel mixed in. Good thing I am on a diet right now. For some reason, Blogger is not letting me add anymore photos for now, so I guess this is it. We had a great time with our Brady boy and we are so grateful we were blessed with him in our family. He truly is a celestial spirit and I can't wait to see what the next ten years bring for Brady.