Crafty Painting Day

While Chris was out of town at a conference this last weekend and part of this week, the kids joined me on a marathon craft-store-shopping trip. They were troopers and came away with some fun painting projects of their own. We worked on them one afternoon, and the finished products are priceless.

Here is Brian with his 17-piece wood model of a Stealth. He loved this little kit... It included everything in one box: Wood, paint, sandpaper, glue, and paintbrush for $1! I wish I had bought a bunch of them. Maybe I'll go back...

Here is Casey painting her tiny treasure box. She has a great eye for detail and the patience to pull it off. She mixed some of the colors together to create new ones that matched her "theme". I am curious to see who will become the proud owner of this artwork. Right now it contains some tiny shells and a penny.

Abby painted a little wooden duck. It had wheels and a movable bill. Mostly she just seemed to enjoy the experience... Mixing paint led to finger painting, which led to a big mess. Somehow she got some of it in her mouth, and the fun came to a quick end. All's well that ends well, though, and we had a fun time overall.

Valentine's Day flowers

Chris surprised me with some beautiful flowers for Valentine's Day last week. He brought 10 red tulips (one for each of our 10 years of Valentine's Day together) and helped the kids give me a different colored tulip for each of them. He also had a lovely red flower for Casey and one for Abby. The girls were so giddy over having their very own bloom! :) Such a sweet surprise.

Super Sled

We had a great time on Saturday in the snow at Mom and Dad's house. Our friends came with us, and we all had sleds to ride. Chris and I used the motorized sleds (snowmachines) and the kids used the gravity-powered kind. After the kids had trudged up the hill and zipped back down for a half hour or two, Chris hooked up the Super Sled. It is a big, black sledge that we can pull behind the snowmachine. All the kids piled in, with their sleds, and Chris would haul them up the big mountain trail in the woods. At the top, the bravest souls got out and rode their little sleds back to the bottom. Those who were not quite so brave just stayed in the sledge for the ride back down. It was a great way to spend a snowy Saturday. The friends were wonderful to have around, too.

The rides continued until the driver was pretty much exhausted, the gas tank was low, and the wet snowclothes were beginning to soak through.

On the way up the mountain trail. Casey and friend Madelyn making faces at the camera. Silly girls!

They finally convinced the two littler girls (both named Abigail) to hop in the sledge. They rode for a few laps around the neighborhood but were not up for the ride up the mountain. We ended the day with hot chocolate and kettle corn.

Snow Fun

Abby and Grandma riding around the neighborhood. Abby loves riding with Grandma more than anyone else, I think. Here she is using Grandma's HotGrips to get her little fingers warmed up again.

Casey and Brian riding in the big sledge with our friends, Madelyn and Alexa. Up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill. For hours. So fun!

Valentine's Day loot

Brian stayed home, sick, from school on Valentine's Day. His teacher invited him to attend the party in the afternoon, though, so he got to see his friends for a few minutes and share the Heart Day fun. Here he shows off his favorite treat from a classmate: Lik-M-Sticks. Funny, because those ended up being Casey's favorite treat, too.

Casey with her Valentine's Envelope with all the fun notes in it. She had a super day... Any day that ends with notes from all your friends and an ice-cream sundae can't be all bad!

Casey's Concert

Casey's class sang in a concert on Friday at school. She was so excited about it! Abigail and I had fun watching Casey sing with her friends, and Abby had a great time watching the concert with her friend, also named Abigail. It was a great day-after-Valentine's event. Casey wore a lovely yellow dress that used to be mine when I was her age. My Mom made it for me and had held it for all these years. She looked lovely in it and it is a nice heirloom to have to pass along.






The night before the big performance was bath night. While her hair was still wet, I put a bunch of tiny braids in and curlers on the ends to leave in overnight. The next morning when we took out the braids, Casey was happy to find her hair curly and springy. It is something my Mom did for me when I was small, so it was another fun thing to pass along to my girls. I was running out of patience for the unbraiding proccess in the morning, though. Took forever! :) Anyway, it was fun for me to have Casey thrilled with something I was able to do with her.

Happy Heart Day!

For Valentine's Day this year, Brian is handing out photos of himself. :) Well, to be clear, they are photos of himself and his Hot Wheels collection. He wrote the names of his classmates on prints of this photo for the big par-tay tomorrow. I love his smile in this picture... Pleased as punch. He is a great kid.

Casey's Heart Day cards are handmade also... We cut out butterflies in pink and purple cardstock, and she wrote the "To:" and "From: Casey" with the appropriate names attached. That's a lot of work for a 5-year-old! Then she decorated the rest of the wing with heart stickers and silver stars. She even made them for her teachers, the school nurse, and the ladies at the front office. Very cool. Mrs. Schutte (P.E.) gets one decorated with a running girl. Mr. Lee (music) will be treated to a butterfly with music notes all over it. Casey spends a lot of time on detail work, and is constantly impressing us with her creativity and stick-to-it-ness.

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Ice Skating Field Trip

Brian's first grade class (and the other first graders in the school) went to the local ice rink for a trip on Monday. I was kind of worried about how Bri would do, as was he. He really likes to be confident in what he is doing, and sometimes gets a little nervous if he is unsure of himself. (Aren't we all this way?)

Here he is with his friend, Alexa, ready to hit the ice:

I was pleased to see his determined smile and excited eyes as he joined the group working their way along the sideboards of the rink... Out of the 85 or so students, only about 10 were able to head to the center ice right away. The rest formed a line, inching along the boards, and doing their best to get their skating legs under control. This photo was taken from the outside of the rink, so you can see Brian leaning on the railing, as well as the marks from the hockey pucks that are usually whizzing by when there are games on the ice.

And finally... Tah-Dah! Look, Mom! No Hands! :) Brian gained a lot of confidence and by the end of the trip was crossing the middle of the rink by himself. Sure, he'd take a spill once in a while, but always got himself back up.
It was fun for me to watch him try something new, take a few risks, and feel the success of doing it on his own. He was so happy with himself, too. Yay!

Helping Along. My Helping Little Helpers.

The kids made cupcakes all by themselves. Really. I did turn on the oven and put the cakes in when it was time, but they read the directions (Betty Crocker box mix) and did the rest on their own. Including washing up when the baking was done! :)

Bird Watching

I was washing dishes at the sink when I looked into the dining room and this is what I saw:

The kids had discovered the birds who had discovered the seeds in our backyard bird feeder. The little winter birds were hopping around on the back porch, perching on the playhouse, and devouring seeds directly from the feeder. The kids had dropped whatever they were doing and proceeded to watch and watch and watch for quite a while.

Nothing better than being warm inside your cozy home and watching the adventure unfold out doors. By the end of their time watching, the kids had decided which birds were the bossy ones and which ones were "nice".

Better than Animal Planet, and more fun for me to watch them watching.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chineese New Year! The Kindergarten classes at Swanson went on a *noisy!* parade through the school to celebrate on Friday. Casey was thrilled with the permission to shout "Gung Hay Fat Choy" at the top of her lungs while rattling a paperplate + rice noisemaker and waving her red fan. It was fun to watch all of the classes pass by with each of their own take on the holiday. Mr. Schaff's class (Casey's) was the best (of course, I think so)! They had all worked hard to create the dragon hats and other art projects that they used that day.
Gung Hay Fat Choy! {Not a good thing to say at random times in public, we have found.}

Ice Fishing Field Trip

Casey's Kindergarten class went ice fishing for a field trip earlier in the month. Chris was able to take the day off of work to go with her. While Casey did not actually catch a fish of her own, she did have a great time with her dad. As you can see from the photo, the lake was busy that day with lots of kids and their parents.

Casey was so tired by bedtime that night... Actually, come to think of it, she was ready for bed by dinnertime. Nothing like a cold day on the ice to wear out a 5 year old!

Seward Sea Life

We had so much fun on this car/train/bus/boat/foot/bus/train/car trip to Seward in July 2007. Uncle Randy joined us and made the trip all the more cool.

Casey with the binoculars, looking out for sea life. Chris looking out for Casey on the bow of the fast boat in the big ocean.

We saw so many whales! It literally took my breath away. I had to keep reminding myself to keep a hand on Abby as we were at the railing and all eyes were on the amazing show in the water.

While we were cruising back to the shore we stayed indoors to keep the kids closer. Here Brian is looking for some bears the captian said were on the side of the mountain. I think Abby is looking at the railing outside, wondering why it looks so fuzzy.

Wild Alaska

Brian getting a kiss from a baby moose.

Brian's First Fish. Matanuska Lake, 2007

Randy's First *Real* (Alaska) Fish. Secret fishing spot, 2007

Just another fish caught by my awesome husband. 2007 :)