Finger Painting

So a lot of my friends have been talking about painting with the kids and Ian loves to do it at school so I went out to get some washable finger paint and then we had some fun outside on the deck! Ian loved it - however, it was quite cute- when I squeezed out the paint onto a paper plate he kept calling it a jelly bean. (It sure did look like one!) and he kept asking for more Jelly Beans. He had a blast - clean up wasn't fun for me, but at least he had a blast. And Blake had a great time watching him paint and getting all messy. Enjoy the pictures.

Ian Doing hand Prints

Wondering what to do next with his paint

Blake is loving watching Ian paint.

Sleep

Sleep, or should I say lack there of! This sucks, BIGTIME. I have an almost one year old who still won't sleep thru the night. He is still nursing at least once during the night. He usually goes right back to sleep right afterwards. But then Ian, almost three, still wakes up MULTIPLE times a night. He hasn't slept thru the night EVER. Well maybe I can count on one hand. Just last night he went to bed around 9pm and was up at midnight, two and then up for good at 430am. I thought about letting him cry, but then he would wake up Blake and then I would have two pissed off children. I am at wits end right now. I haven't had a decent amount of sleep going on three years. I know that may sound selfish, but enough is enough. When will my kids sleep? Ian usually wants something like water, or says hes hungry or is just screaming, I mean blood curling screaming with real tears for MOMMY. Daddy won't do - if he goes in there - he is usually more pissed off to see Jeff. This especially sucks a big fatty when I have to wake up at 5am to get ready for work. I usually have everything ready so all I have to do is shower, get dressed - make a sandwich and then get the kids ready for daycare and then nurse Blake. I love my kids dearly, but please, for the love of God - let this woman get a decent nights rest. And they don't nap at the same time during the day because for some reason if all the housework was done by the housework fairy I would be able to take a nap. But this RARELY happens! Im seriously thinking about getting a cleaning lady once Jeff deploys. Another set of hands would help me out TONS and I won't be as stressed....ok now Im getting onto another tanget...sleep...all I want is sleep. So as I finish typing this I am hoping Ian will go to sleep and that 5am doesn't come to quickly because I have to work tomorrow. However, my dad is coming up to visit for two weeks so maybe he'll be a great dad and get up with the kids one morning so his daughter can sleep...that is all I think about..sleep, sleep , sleep!!!! zzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ

Rain Rain go Away!

Its Spring here in Fairbanks, AK. And so far all it has brought is rain and mosquitoes! Not all days are rainy and overcast - but a majority of them are. The weekends so far have been nice and we have gotten up to the 70's before! Shorts weather for sure. But as I type this its overcast, drizzly and sprinkling. Not good weather for the kids to go out and jump in the bouncy thing or ride bikes or crawl around in the dirt and explore...long day for us! The only good thing about this rainy weather is that our grass is finally growing and with the almost 24 hours of daylight its time for us to get the lawn mower out (or buy one at least). Last year we had to do some landscaping because we were having some major drainage problems due to breakup. Here are some before and after pictures:

We used to have a drive way here.... they took it out and made our hill nice and pretty!

Now with all the rain and sunlight - our hilly is nicely green (with some bare spots) but we will fix that soon! (Pictures taken this am - doesn't it just seem gloomy?)
Ok - the thing sticking out of the ground is our well thingy - there used to be a sink hole right by it so it was VERY dangerous especially for our adventurous Mr. Ian.
And now - look at all the green. Makes me very excited. We have to put up some sort of retaining wall or something to keep the mud from sliding. That is the bear spot to the right of the well.
So our front yard is covered in grass which means only one thing. When my father is visiting (he comes in for 2 weeks on Sat). My husband and him are going to take a trip to Lowes and go buy that cool wooden swing set. They just don't know it yet! I will let you know the progress this weekend. :)

Fun Sunday

So every Sunday we have the same morning. We usually wake up around 7am - try to read the paper before the kids wake up. Then we get ready for our weekly breakfast club. We look forward to every Sunday! We meet up at this North Pole Diner. The waitress there knows us because we have been going there close to a year now. We get the same drinks and she sees us in the parking lot and then she gets them and they are at the table before we can unload the kids from the car. We all (Dawn & Jeremiah, Chelsey & Jeff and Jeff and I and Ian) get the same thing - sometimes we throw off our waitress and change it up a bit. Anyways... I enjoy spending time with our friends and chit chatting away. Makes for a great Sunday morning. Here is our Breakfast crew in front of Angle rock that we hiked last Sunday.

OH! Here is some exciting news: Blake has finally gotten his bottom 2 teeth and I was FINALLY able to get a picture! He also had some fun playing with Maggie and Trooper while Ian was sleeping on the couch!! We had a fun Sunday!!

Imagination

I must say that Ian does have quite an imagination for being almost 3 years old. But maybe its normal because Im not around a lot of three year olds! Just today I was walking thru one of my favorite (and only stores in Fairbanks) Fred Myers. Here is our conversation:

Ian whispering: "Mommy we need to go fast"

Me whispering: "Why?"

Ian: "Because there is a monster in there" (Pointing with his middle finger!)

So I speed up the cart. "Ok did he go away"

Ian Pointing with his middle finger "Pshhhhhhhh Pshhhhhhhhhhh"

Me: "What are you doing?"

Ian: "Shooting fire"

Me: "Out of your finger?"

Ian: "Yes mom. I protect you. I superman"

Today we had such a fun day. Jeff had off, we both got our errands done (separately and kid free) and enjoyed playing with the boys. Always nice to have a great day!!

Jeffs First Fish

Forgot to say that after we went hiking Jeff went fishing with one of his buddies, Jeff. (I went home to relieve babysitter) Whom we also when hiking with. (He's in our breakfast club) And Jeff caught his first fish fly fishing! He also caught a few more, but neglected to take a picture. I feel that this is going to turn into a must do weekend event and I he will learn to love his canoe and fishing more than me! haha

Angel Rock Hike

So Jeff and I along with 3 other couples went out for a "beginner hike" up to Angel Rocks. It is out near Chena Hot Springs about an hour away from my house. It was classified as an easy hike and that this "loop" was about 3.5 miles. We start off and it is easy - but then the hard part happens. Its like climbing up a damn mountain! It was not easy at all. I thought I was sorta in shape and this hike sure showed me that indeed, I am not. However, I thought the hike up was difficult and sure the hike down should be easy. Well, not on this trail! It was horrendous! I mean going straight down on loose dirt/pebbles. It was easier to walk through the thick of the woods rather then walk on the trail! I did take a fall and almost take out Jeff, which was quite entertaining for everyone to watch. We did encounter TONS of moose turds along with some Bear poopies which made me walk a bit faster down the trail to the car! It was quite an adventurous day trip with out the kiddos. We then ate an overpriced lunch at Chena Hot Springs - thought about taking a dip in the hot springs and decided not to. Here are some of our trip!