Summer time beauty!

The sun has been shining and we've been taking advantage of it! One perk that I love about Alaska is you pay a flat rate for water. Use either 500 gallons or 1 gallon and it's always going to be $64/month.

The other day I turned on the hose and handed it to Jack and it turned into a neighborhood water fight.

With an occasional drink of water.

All the kids laid out just soaking up the long needed sun.

A couple of days later a bunch of us moms met over and the other's house and just let the kids go at it again with the water. I think in all there was 13 kids with 4 moms. Doesn't Jack look so cute?!

Kali laying out.

We had a little BBQ and the kids just loved it. Here's some of them. They ended up making this huge mud hole in the use-to-be garden.

Maddy in the car heading home.

Yesterday between doctor appointment we went to Burger King of base and walked over to the park to eat. It was so nice outside! Kali loves loves loves the monkey bars and was showing off how she can go backwards.

Jack not sure what really to do. Caleb decided to carry him up and dropped him, on accident, into one of the tubes. It was kinda funny.

This is HALF of the play ground. It's huge!

I had to capture this moment- the Larsen kids were getting along!!!!

French Bread Day!!!

Last Friday was the funnest day ever! A couple days prior at Park Day we asked Jodi to teach us how to make her famous french bread. It's ooooo so good! So every body came over and we kicked the kids outside to play with marshmellow guns and bikes and made bread! I wish I would of taken some pictures of the finished product. I'll make a deal--if you want to see it come visit me and I'll make you some famous french bread!

Jack hung out at the counter and watched us all morning.

Theatre Camp

Caleb shocked Aaron and I and asked if he could go to theatre camp this summer. It was for two weeks from 9-4pm everyday. It was a nice little break for him and he loved meeting new people and gaining new skills. Their play that they performed was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Caleb has a couple of different roles and one of them was a dwarf- who was also a gambling horse jokey.

Caleb as a guard to the evil queen.

They also did some other little warm up plays.

Caleb and his camp partner acted out some miming to music. Very cute!

O' yeah. Just look at these faces. I didn't get to see much of the plays because Jackson was beyond tired and cranky so I sat out in the hall with him.

Big Boy Bed

We've done some changing in the house -and I dreaded doing it- but Jackson is now in a twin bed. Actually it's the trundle that was under the girls bed. i figured when he could learn to sleep in the bed and now fall out I would set the twin bed back up for him. This way he's sleeping much closer to the ground. I was so nervous that nap time would vanish but luckily it hasn't. Just lay that boy down with his doggy blanket and he's out like trout. I have found out that going to bed at night requires that Jackson lays in the room for about 20 minutes before Caleb can come in or else he thinks it's play time. It cracks me up how he sleeps in a tiny little corner.

Just when I thought I'd heard every excuse...

Caleb has this huge fear of spiders. I feel mean saying this but it's starting to drive me nuts. If he sees a spider downstairs he will refuse to go down there. He actually wouldn't eat dinner the other night because he saw a spider on the vaulted ceiling and wanted me to climb on the counters (pregnant) and kill it. Um...no. Yesterday we got home from church and he was freaking out about what spiders he might see the remainder of the day. I finally said," Caleb just grab a tissue or shoe and kill it. You're making it out to be scarier than shat it is. " This is Caleb's response," Well mom....(I can see the wheels turning inside) I just try to think of 'Thou shal not kill'. I want to obey all the commandments. Seriously what do you say to that?

Thunderbird Falls

So this week I actually went to Mom and kid's hiking group. Every Tuesday there's a new hike and I really have wanted to go but it seems like something is always going on. I asked my doctor if it was okay and he said, "only flat hikes" because as of right now it looks like I have Placenta previa but it changes most of the time. Anyways, this hike was anything but flat. I was sucking air pushing a double jogging stroller with 60 lbs in it. But we didn't have to worry about bears because in all there had to be around 40 people with kids and all. We made tons of noise.

Jackson was so happy just to sit in the stroller and take in everything in. He mostly sat there with a bag of pretzel goldfish and ate.

Here's the look out when we reached the end of the trail. All those kids climbing on that railing with a huge drop off was starting to make me nervous but we didn't lose anyone. When I got home I was so tired I laid down and took a nap.

It had to happen once...

Madeline asked me this morning if she could go do her hair. After 10 minutes of being in my bathroom I thought I should go see how much hairspray she actually got into. It was worse. She got the scissors out of Aaron's clippers kit and cut her hair! This picture doesn't even show the damage! I first took a picture then disciplined her.

Just Getting Away

This past weekend Aaron did a little surprise and rented a nice room for the fam at the Marriott. It was so nice to get away and not have to worry about cooking dinner. We spent the night swimming together and it was just so much fun! I didn't get any pictures of us swimming because with my luck my phone would end up in the pool.

Here's a view from our room. I was freaking out because I thought we were at the very top (we were on the 7th floor) but then we got on the elevator and it goes to 20. Never mind.

We had nice views of watching the ships come into Anchorage. Aaron and Caleb left early in the morning and brought us breakfast and then went out to the coast line and went fishing. They didn't catch anything but had fun bonding before Aaron left.

Good morning Kali! If only she always woke up this happy.

Yes for some reason they thought that it would be fun to scare their mother and all of them start banging on the glass window. I'm sure the people around us too loved it.

All my little cheese nuggets.

Proof

This is for you Meagen who always calls me at 11 at night and asks me how light it is outside. Right now we are at 19 hours and 19 minutes of sunlight. I LOVE it!

Saturday Market

We've gone to the Saturday Market a couple times this summer and it's so much fun. It's so much fun just look around and eat junk food.

Isn't this dog HUGE? It drooled liked crazy. I was a little freaked out at first but that's only because dogs scare me but the kids thought he was awesome. But now that I look at the picture again Madeline doesn't seem so sure.

Madeline thought this man was interesting...like 20 feet away. I was finally able to get her to stand 2 feet away.

These little pups will be sled dogs in two years.

The first Saturday that I went (Aaron, Caleb and Kali were on their adventure and gone) there was this moustache and beard contest going on. People had traveled all over the U.S. to come for this contest. This man actually wraps his beard in wire. (Notice the flower at the end of it?) He also had contact in that made his eyes look like swirls. It was quite interesting.

Fun in the Sun

This weekend the kids and I pretty much spent the whole weekend in the sun. It was perfect. Every night I would walk them down to the school to run around.

Jack learned how to climb part of the play structure. He was so impressed with himself.

Madeline has learned to pump her legs on the swings. It's soooooooo nice to not have to stand there and push her. She actually figured it out this summer in the neighbor's backyard swing set. Now when we go to the school she usually just swings the whole time.

Jack loved this swing. He just sat there forever in it...almost like he was hypnotized.

Cutie pie Maddy. She's so dirty from playing in the tire rubber.

It must of been a boy thing because they loved just hitting this blue pole.

This part of Alaska I'll miss someday. It's so beautiful here. Welcome to our neighborhood.

There is 108 steps that you have to take to get from our neighborhood to school grounds. I was STUNNED when Jackson actually climbed all 108. Usually I carry him but he started wiggling out of my hands when we got to them so I put him down and he started right up.

50% Free

This morning Aaron left for Portland to drive his car to Alaska. The great part us that he took Cakeb and Kali with him!!! That means till the end of the month I only have two kids- and those are kids that take naps! The kids were so excited! They'll be spending a couple of days with Aaron's parents and they get to spend the day with my parents also. Sometime in their trip Aaron is taking them to a Mariner's game. These times it makes me miss living back in WA. We would go to Mariner's games or Seahawks games. Sometimes we would just jump in the car to go eat Sunday dinner with Aaron's parents or take a long weekend at my parents house. I can't wait for those days again!

A sympathy gift?

With the last three kids I've got a new car. With Madeline it was the Ford Freestyle, Jack the Excursion, and now with #5 a Honda Odyssey. I think it might be Aaron's way of saying, "I'm sorry you're about to push a gigantic child out of you! So here's a sympathy gift."
I'm super excited about this car and we'll most likely have it until I don't need a van but until then I'm enjoying pushing a button and doors open, a moonroof (I always wanted one of those), and warm leather seats in the winter. (Okay , my leather seats in the Excursion weren't heated so when it's -25 outside your butt will freeze before it ever warms up that seat!) But the best thing about this van is that....it only takes $49 to fill it up!!! And it will last forever! The engine turns off part of it when you're going at a consistent rate to save you gas. No more filling up for over $150! Those days are long gone!

Thank Honey!!!

Hula

A couple of weeks ago my friend's daughter, Nelli, came home to visit. She has one of the coolest jobs ever- she dances for the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii and the Night Show. So if you ever go to Hawaii and watch the girls dance on the boats chances are that you're watching Nelli dance.

Nelli gave a week worth of Hula dance lessons to the little girls in the ward. For four days they practiced then gave us a little show. Us moms made their Pao skirts and tops.

Nelli actually said that Kali was a natural and that I should get her into classes.

These little girls had so much fun! And it was great to watch them dance!

Easter

Yes, I am that far behind in blogging that I'm just now LOOKING at my Easter pictures and actually blogging about them. As you can see, Jack made it memorable. All you can do is smile.

Caleb in his new tie.

The girls looking pretty in their new outfits- thank you Papa and Grandma Nettie.

Madeline is into a poka-a-dot phase right now so it wasn't a surprise when she picked out this dress.

With only half of his outfit on this was the best I could do.