IT'S OFFICIAL

It was rumored to have happened in town last week.

Not having seen it myself, I discredited te report.

But thismorning, at 9:22,

IT SNOWED.

Bashful

Tera is 10 months old today.

Where does time go?

(She is playing shy for the camera.

Isn't she adorable?)

ART 101

We got out the craft box today.

Carlee ditched us to go play "babies" in her room,

Wyatt drew in a Bible with a marker,

but Brianna was producing some serious art work.

I began to see some similarities between her pictures.

I had to ask her what she was drawing.

Can you guess what these are?

They're BUGS!

SPIT HAPPENS- My annual trip to the Homer Spit

I love Homer.

I love the ecclectic mix of people. The hippies, the fishermen, the homesteaders, the Russian Orthodox, the greenies, the tourists- they all come together into a friendly little comunity.

I love the drive from Soldotna, all the way to Homer, and especially the part where you descend into the "bowl". I think it's the most beautiful place in the world, so I make sure to go at least once a year.

God was so good to us. It was cloudy and kind of icky in Soldotna, but as soon as we hit South Kasilof, the clouds disappeared and it was gloriously clear and sunny.

This is on the hill, before you descend into Homer, looking at the Spit.

The Homer Countryside

The Boat Harbor

A few of the tourist shops on the Spit

The Salty Dawg

The Roadhouse- a tourist shop

Homer is occupied by many, many talented artists. Their work fills the tourist shops, the galleries, the museums and even the sidewalks are a stage for local art.

Hooray for My Birthday!

On my birthday, Sonny and I took the kids to Johnson Lake.

It's a rinky-dink lake with not much to do, but I love it.

The kids love it too.

We had a "Picnic" (Jersey Subs) and then enjoyed the sunshine for hours.

Wyatt "FLYING"
Carlee "catching some love"

Family pic

Brianna throwing handfuls of rocks into the lake

Tera in her Snugli
"Walking the plank"

This was a great way to celebrate my life.

You Are My Sunshine

YEAH!!

Today is the first day of sunshine in weeks.

It feels so good just to go outside and soak it up.

Even the dog is happy . . . .

She's what?

This morning, Carlee told me that she had to look pretty today.

Of course I asked her, "Why?"

She then informed me that she's getting married.

Here she is, checking to make sure that she's still pretty.

She also told me that she wants to get married at a tea party.

When I find out when and where (and to whom) she's getting married,

I'll be sure to send out invitations.

Raining On Our Parade

I grew up here, and never went to the Progress Days.
On Saturday, we decided to take the kids to the Parade, and of course it rained.
But my hero (Sonny) found a little backstreet that exited onto the parade route.
We parked there and watched the parade from the comfort of our (WARM & DRY) vehicle.
We live in such a great little town.
When the people in the parade saw our kids hanging out the windows,
they brought us tons and tons of candy- it was so great!

Alert the Media

People have heard that it exists,

but very few people have ever experienced it for themselves.

After many attempts, we were able to catch it on video.

What rare viewing experience are we sharing with you today?

Listen closely and you will hear . . . . .

Tera's giggle.

Mow, Mow, Mow the yard

Well, it's official. This is the coldest, rainiest summer in Alaska since the early 1950's.

So, the one day of sunshine we've had, we spent outside mowing the grass.

Brianna

Carlee

Wyatt

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Yesterday was a very special day.

It was my brother Travis' birthday, as well as Sonny's sister Leslie's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Since Les lives in Florida, we didn't get to celebrate with her.

But my mom, my sister and I went to The Auction Block

(a fish buying station on the Kasilof River where Travis is the boss)

and had Lemon Meringe Pie and opened presents.

Cutting "the cake"

Trying to light a candle

Steph, Mom, Trav, Jess & Tera

PEEK A BOO

LOL

Means

LOTS OF LOVE after you've fallen and bonked your head.

(I actually have to race the other kids to Tera when she's crying.)

Dressing themselves

You just have to love little girls.

(Notice the eyeliner mustache on Brianna's upper lip, as well as the lizard in her hand.

And I was impressed that Carlee was able to match her shoes and shirt and skirt!)

A Conversation with Carlee

One day, while we were out feedng the animals, Carlee asked me "What's the pig for?"

I told her that we were feeding the pig so that she would get bigger, so that we could eat her. Surprisingly, she was ok with that answer.

Then, two days ago she asked me why we feed the puppy.

I told her we feed the puppy so she'll get bigger.

Big tears welled up in her eyes and she asked "So we can eat her?"

I about died lauging.

That face

There's this face that Tera makes that is the cutest thing in the entire world.

It's so cute, we laugh every time she does it.

She squints her eyes, wrinkles her nose, and makes kissy lips.

Sonny has been on a mission to catch this face in a picture, but it seems to be impossible.

He has, however, come pretty close.

She'll probably hate these pictures when she's older

('cause the pictures are goofy, and don't catch the adorable-ness of it all),

but this is my favorite thing she's done,

and I would hate to forget.

Trixie

What farm would be complete without a dog?

This is Trixie.

She's our 8 week old Border Collie/Australian Shephard mixed puppy.

Until this week, all of our kids have been terrified of dogs.

If a dog came close, Brianna would go into near hysteria. Surprisingly, she's the one who has become more attached and desires to spend the most time with Trixie.

Trixie has been true to her breed already. She likes to help round up the chickens at night, and she seems to be loyal and protective of her family.

Toys

While Sonny was off this week, we bought a chest freezer.

Lucy (the pig) is getting bigger and bigger - and "D" day for her will be in the next month or so. Hopefully Sonny will be able to top off the freezer with moose meat this fall. Wyatt got to ride to Home Depot to help load it up.

He put on his "cool face" for this picture.

And, being the wonderful dad that he is, Sonny made the freezer box into a fort for the kids. They were delighted. Why do we even bother to buy toys?

And the wheels on the van go round-and-round

My favorite place in the whole world is Cohoe Beach. And since Sonny has the week off, we decided to take the kids. It was the prettiest day all summer, no clouds and all sunshine.

It was too windy on the beach for the kiddos though.

So all we got was a long car ride, and a couple of pictures.

But, to save the day, we had Jersey Subs for dinner!!

Tera

Brianna
Carlee
Wyatt

(if you blow this picture up (by clicking on it), you'll see that Wyatt has a treasure in his nose.

It looks like food debris- but there's just no telling . . . )

Mt. Redoubt

The mouth of the Kasilof River.

Budding artist

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I am here to tell you that this picture does no justice to Brianna's artwork. On a short ride to town, Brianna was able to gain access to a pen (where it came from is still a mystery), and cover her hands and legs in ink- without me knowing it. I was clueless until I opened the van door to get the kids out.

(For those of you who don't know her, this is the classic sort of passive-aggressive behavior that Brianna is famous for. )

Sitting pretty

We are finally all feeling better, so we decided to go to the park.

Tera was more than happy to sit in the grass and eat Dandelions.

The other three were too busy sliding, swinging and running amuk to have their pictures taken.

Thank you God for good health and sunshine!!

Cold-summer-itis

I took all four kids to the doctor, and they're all sick. They've got the ear, nose, throat crud. He wrote us a pharmacy's worth of prescriptions. At least the weather has been icky. I don't feel bad staying inside on crummy days.

Life's a Beach

Today, Ninny showed us a new way to get to the beach.

And, she brought her kites.

Funny thing is, it was Ninny who was so excited to fly them,

that they were up in the air before we made it out of the parking lot.

Carlee flying a kite for the first time!

Wyatt flying a kite for the first time!

We had some really good wind, so the kites went way, way up.