Jordyn is growing up

A picture I forgot to add.

Jordyn is hilarious. She has her own spunk to her that is different than Sydney. I love Jordyn and Sydney's similarities and differences. I thought I would update what Jordyn is doing these days. Right now she is all about wearing dresses and throws a fit if I make her change out of her dress if we have to go out in public. She also lets me put her hair in pig tails or a ponytail which is good since her hair is getting long and is fluffy.

If jordyn is not in a dress she is most likely naked like in these pictures.. I don't know why I bother putting clothes on her since she peels them right off. She's also known for taking her diaper off. I'm hoping this is a sign that she is ready to potty train soon.
Her ponytail. recently jordyn has picked up biting her fingernails. She loves to take care of her doll. Feeding it, putting blankets over it, and loving on it.
See what I mean by fluffy hair. Many times she'll take the pigtails out and her hair looks like this. Jordyn loves putting on my shoes and anyone's shoes for that matter. She also has a fetish with my purse, including my lipstick, wallet, cell phone, and GUM, which she pronounces as "num."
Jordyn loves her bath time. This is her funny face. She makes us laugh with the things she does and says on a daily basis.
You gotta love sunroofs. I took this picture driving 50mph w/ my hand out of the sunroof. It turned out pretty good.

New Trampoline

We ordered this smaller and shorter version of a trampoline to put in our basement. I'm hoping it will allow the girls to burn some energy this winter. We got it in the mail the day Jeff left to New York for a week. I mustered up the energy to tackle putting this beast together. It's suppose to take two people to assemble. I wanted to surprise Jeff and do it myself hoping that after 7 years of marriage I could "impress" him still. The hardest part was putting the springs on the frame. I did it and was so glad when that part was over. An hour later I realized I messed up somewhere. Some of the instructions were ambiguous; I had to take the springs off, fix the problem, and put the springs back on. Another couple hours later and in need of a shower, the beast was put together correctly. I DID IT. It was an accomplishment for me. I made Sydney tell me I was the best mom ever before she and Jordyn jumped their hearts out. Here are a few short video clips.

P.S. (what does that stand for?) I wish I could mute my voice.

"up shut"

Of course these pictures got all out of whack. Here is a great cheesy smile from Sydney. Usually her eyes are closed in pictures.

Jordyn: When I tell her it's time to go to bed she closes her eyes to "hide" like she did in this picture.
Sydney her first day of preschool. Notice she is smiling, but her eyes are closed. Stubborn little girl.
Sydney and I on a date to see the broadway show of "Lion King." We both loved it. It was fabulous! Hmmm, another picture of Sydney smiling w/ her eyes closed, at least with her I don't have to worry about red eye.
And for all those who wonder what I look like 15 weeks along, her is an ordinary picture in ordinary clothes w/ a smile hiding my true thoughts, "Why am I doing this to myself. I could've at least tried to look pretty by wearing cuter clothes and put on some makeup."

A few updates to our lives. This is Sydney licking her lollipop. Like Gammie, like granddaughter. My mom has talented toes. She can tie someone's shoes w/ her toes and strike a match w/ her toes and it looks like Sydney has inherited the same toe agility gene as her Gammie.

"Termination Dust." This is a phrase used here. I had never heard of it until now. Termination dust is the end of summer because there is a light covering of snow on top of the mountains. This picture was taken from our street.
The trees in our backyard. Summer has ended and fall has arrived. The trees are turning yellow. When the wind comes up, it appears like it's raining leaves as they all fall to the forest's ground. These trees are in our backyard.
Another picture of our backyard....the ground. I love to see the different colors of yellow, green, brown, and red.
Just another great picture. A few weeks ago all these trees were green. The change has come quickly and soon enough these trees will be barren and the mountains will be covered in snow. More great pictures to come.
This is a side note to my blog. This morning I was singing rather loudly and obnoxiously when Sydney told me to stop several times. I ignored her and kept singing. Finally she said, "Mom I have two words for you....UP SHUT." I told her I had two words for her, "Time Out." I'll have to once again ban some of those disney movies w/ those "bad words."

First trimester and Purple Heart

Well I don't really have much to say, but I'm getting sick of looking at the Palin pictures of my last post. So I thought I would write an update. This first trimester is officially over tomorrow as I will end week 12 and start week 13. This last month has been difficult as I've experienced more nausea. I literally did not have any energy...seriously. I hired someone to clean my house this last month, I took a nap every single day, was backed up on laundry every week, did not cook much since nights were my worst, no blogs, and no update on my pregnancy scrapbook. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. I'm actually grateful that I was/am sick as I know that's a good sign that the baby is doing well. We had family visit and they helped entertain the girls and relieve me of some of my motherly duties. These past few days have been better. I am excited to get my energy back: exercise, be productive when the girls are napping, and enjoy cooking and eating.

Jeff has been a good sport. When I do get sick, I lock myself in the bathroom because I don't want Jeff or the girls to see or hear anything. It's just such a disgusting thing. The other day, however, I couldn't make it to the bathroom fast enough. Long story short, Jeff cleaned everything up. He always cleans that stuff up, even when the girls get sick, which of course, is always in the middle of the night. He does it because he knows it would make me sick, even if I wasn't pregnant. My stomach is ultra sensitive that way. He deserves a purple heart. Even though he's not in the military and I have no authority in handing those out, he deserves one because of his selflessness, just-do-it attitude, courage, and his nose and stomach that can handle the sight and smell of that nastiness.

Well I'm not into taking pictures of my pregnant belly, especially since i look bigger right now than my other two pregnancies, but this is my quickest way to document it and then I can look back at my blog and remember the dates of the pictures and scrap it.

Palin

Jeff has been putting the pressure on me to post these Palin pictures, he's never shown an interest in posting anything so here I am making my hubby happy. Of course I was glad to see Palin, but to be honest I don't get star struck and I don't like the drama politics bring, thus I've never been a political guru like some people in my family. So here's the story...

Jeff's grandparents, dad, and brother visited us last week. We saw that Palin was having her annual picnic in Wasilla so everyone wanted to stop by. We made our way through the crowd, and I made my way to the start of a long line to meet her, yes I did cut...big time, but no one said anything. Yes, I do feel guilty thinking about it now. Most people were handing her a book or a paper to sign. I had neither, so what did I give her to sign? Of course,  Jordyn's binky. I thought it was clever and it made her laugh. We chatted for 2 seconds while she signed the binky and this guy shot a few pictures. She also talked to Sydney which was cute. She is very pretty and does look like Tina Fey, not like I've seen her in person though. We were there for about 10 minutes. We came, we saw, we conquered.
Family peeps: Can you find Tim Sr.?
Me asking if she would sign Jordyn's binky.
Palin talking to Sydney with Pyper standing next to her. Just a side note, Jordyn doesn't use a binky anymore. We lost them all so she went cold turkey in breaking the habit and me and Jeff were happy for that. She does have a blanket she likes to sleep with, so breaking the habit wasn't even as bad as I was suspecting.....I mean, expecting. 

Good News

Jeff and I are expecting baby #3! Needless to say we are thrilled, even if that means I'm feeling the effects of pregnancy. The baby's due date is March 15, 2010, according to a online pregnancy calculator. Sydney is very excited and told me she wants two boys and a girl:)

Summer Activities

1. Swinging

The girls loves to swing in the basement and as you can see Sydney likes to jump off and land on our couch cushions.

2. Hiking:

Thank goodness for cameras that can take a picture by themselves. Here we are at Thunderbird Falls.
3. Going to the lake:

I call it sea plane lake. We've gone there to let the girls swim in the lake. On several occastions it has been hot enough that the cold lake feels absolutely refreshing.
4. Bear Paw Festival:

The annual bear paw festival in Eagle River. We went on the carnival rides and the bear paw picnic.
5. Hanging out in our front yard:

Everyday we hang out in our front yard playing with sidewalk chalk, running through the sprinklers, and riding bikes. I love this candid shot of Jordyn.
6. Slip-n-slide:

Sydney loves running and sliding on this. Almost every time we pull this out several other kids in the neighborhood come and join in on the fun.
7. More hiking.
These last pictures our us at Mt. Baldy.


Eagle River in the background and Anchorage way in the background, before the ocean.

15 Reasons I like living in Alaska

1. Summers are the bomb

2. Beautiful sunsets, even if they are at 11:15 at night

3. No state sales tax

4. No state income tax:)

5. We don't have or need air conditioning.

6. We pay a flat fee for our water bill so we can use as much as possible. r.

7. The air smells so good in the morning. That foresty smell that is so clean and fresh.

8. Legitimate hikes just minutes from our house.

9. Oil rights, I think that's what they call it up here.

10. A friendly neighborhood.

11. Never any traffic

12. Don't have to pay for toll roads like we did in CO

13. Raw nature is our backyard consisting of wild animals, tall trees, dirt, mosquitos, you name it.

14. I'll get to try new outdoor activities like snow shoeing and x-country skiing.

15. The water from our tap is freezing glacier water. It epitomizes the slogan "quench your thirst."

Jeff's b-day weekend

A view from Jordyn's room. Guess what time it is? 

It's 10 pm. How am I suppose to sleep when it looks like this outside?
For Jeff's b-day we panned for gold at Crow Creeks Mine in Girdwood, AK. Before we did this we hiked about 3 miles in what looked like a rain forest. It was gorgeous. We did strike it rich, with 5 flakes of gold we found.
The mining town has the oldest bldgs in AK.
We stopped at this beautiful waterfall to take pictures, rest, and head back. 

Sydney willing to take another picture.

Jordyn had a sweet ride in the backpack. Sometimes kids just don't know how good they have it.
This was a cool hand tram to get across this huge river. We are about 60 feet above a river.
Driving to Girdwood on the Seward Hwy.
The night before we went to the zoo to watch the Airforce band play and to see the animals. Our favorite was watching the two polar bears.
This is what you do when you live closer to Russia than your family and friends that live in the lower 48. You do things that your kids would enjoy instead of having a party with friends and family. Jeff said he had a good birthday. He got some new weights and I made him a cake in the shape of a 30lb dumbbell. Now we're back to being the same age, in the same decade:)

Athletic and Clumsy

To start off I have to admit that I am accident prone from the waist down. At any given time I have at least 2 bruises on my legs. Currently I have a huge one on my thigh from walking into my bed post and I noticed a new one on my other leg, I'm guessing from hiking yesterday. I've always been active and athletic but I'm always walking into objects that leave these bruises all over. (Another reason why I'm not keen on summer/bathing suit season). On with this story.....I went to the DMV this morning (no story is good when it starts with this line). I was well prepared: had prepared for the written test, had the required forms filled out in advance, and snacks for the kiddos. Now my only wish was that syd and jordyn would allow me to take the test without much interruption. I'm a horrible test taker. The computerized women's voice put a smile on my face when I heard, "Number 040 counter 4 please." I was excited I only had to wait about 10 minutes to see somebody. The women took the necessary documents at about the time Syd took out the bag of chips from my purse.  This put Jordyn in a frenzy as she eyed the bag. Jordyn was in an umbrella stroller so she could be strapped in as a talked to this women and so I could take the written exam without having to chase her around the building. Jorydn impatiently started to tug on my pants. I ignored her tug and continued to answer the women's questions about age, address, etc. To my utter amazement, and embarrassment, I fell. Thanks to Jordyn extra STRONG tug. I tried to avoid falling on Jordyn and causing the stroller to fall backwards. As I fell, from a one year old's strong grip, I heard gasps from witnesses sitting waiting for the lovely computerized womens voice to call their favorite number that was written on a piece of cheap paper, squeezed in their hand. How embarrassing! How did Jordyn pull me over? Why does everyone have to stare and then pretend nothing happened? Laugh, ask if I'm okay, anything, but staying silent...is even more embarrassing. So I laughed when I got up and voiced my thought to the clerk women, "I can't believe I got taken down by a 1 year old." I'm still in shock from what Jordyn managed to do. I always thought if someone tried to steal my purse or harm me I would hold my own ground, but Jordyn gave me a reason to question that. Anyhow I took the test, got the first two questions wrong, but ended up pulling off a passing score and an Alaska Drivers License in my wallet. I'll probably find a new bruise on my leg tomorrow from falling and a reminder for the next few weeks of my clumsiness and the surprise strength from my daughter.