Monday, August 31, 2009

Shake your groove thang!

The kids and I are always being silly and laughing throughout a typical day. We love to dance and sing and just goof off. This particular day was hysterical! I don't know why I get such a kick out of telling my kids to dance to booty shaken music, but it is funny!!!
~My little Ethiopian monkey and Jacey balacey~
~Monkey just groovin and Jace shaken it in their new winter hats!~
~I just love these kids, they are so much fun!
~They are in the "take a picture of me" phase and then insist on seeing themselves on the camera, so we take a lot of pictures like this~

Monday, August 24, 2009

4 wheeling in the White Mountains

We went 4 wheeling with some of the family, and for those of you who don't know, I have a very big extended family and most of them still live in Alaska. Miguel's family is just as big if not bigger, but they all live in Conn. Anyway, we decided to take just the boys because the babies aren't big enough to hold on yet and we don't have our passenger seats yet, oh well next year ;)
It was their second "big" trip, longer than a trip around the block and they did great and had fun.




Half way through Jace got tired out so I jumped on the back of my aunt's and had my cousin drive mine so Jacey could take a nap while I held him.....funny how kids can sleep just about anywhere!


Miguel kept asking Monkey if he was tired and of course he kept saying no. Finally he said "Daddy, my tywad" and he was out like a light! :)


Lunch stop!

Ready to go!

This was before we left, they are so comical. I couldn't get them to focus on taking a picture so I asked them where we were going "4 wheeling!"

Friday, August 21, 2009

Girls just want to have fun!

Alina and I had our first girls day out last week. We went shopping and got her ears pierced! She is such a girly girl. She LOVES shoes and jewelry. She will find a pair of shoes and carry them around the house with her. You should have seen her in the shoe store. You would have sworn she had died and gone to Shoe Heaven! She also prances around the house in her jewelry making sure everyone notices.
~Admiring her shoes before we left~

~My sweetness. She seriously is such a sweetheart, always happy and content!~

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

White Water Rafting in Denali

We went white water rafting with my family.....it was a blast! There were 21 of us and 3 rafts. We had so much fun we are going to make it an annual trip.
~The group before the ride~

~My raft before the ride~

~Raft 3, my raft~

Raft 1

~My raft at the end of the ride~

Monday, August 3, 2009

Quick update to catch up!

I know I haven't posted blogs regularly, but summers in Alaska are just too busy to sit around on a computer all the time! I have tried my best to update as many blogs as I could, but there is just so much that's happened in these few short summer months that if I do them all I will never catch up. So I will summarize what's been going on lately....





1. Brycee our Cowardly Lion, is now walking! Finally, poor guy was getting left in the dust! He is terrified of everything though and is still not able to go down the stairs, so he gets left upstairs by himself a lot. He is finally coming around to taking baths though. He no longer crys the whole time, so maybe there is some hope for him one day liking the lake.....at least I am hoping so anyway.



2.Camron gave us a huge scare the other day when he got into some lighter fluid. He was rushed by ambulance to the ER where he thankfully progressively got better. It scared the hell out of me though, I really thought that at any minute he would stop breathing. He is fine now and back to his old sneaky little self!



3. The forest fires have been really close to town this year and this last week it was awful. It was like living in a cloud of smoke and the weather was even rated as very unhealthy, almost hazardous! Thankfully we have had rain now and it has cleared up. Hopefully we will end up having a beautiful fall!



4. I've been taking the kids on a lot of bike rides and walks lately, nearly every day, if were not out doing something else and they just absolutely love it!




I told my hubby I wanted him to come up with something so that I could take all the kids for bike rides by myself. It's quite a load, but I am one determined mama! LOL.

On one day we went to Creamers field and the park. That's not overcast in the background, but a layer of smoke covering the city.....that's before it got really bad!
At the park with 5 very dirty kiddos!~

The 6 seater circus mobile I got for $100


5. "My tickers not ticken like they say it should".....no really my health isn't doing so good though. I found out that I have low vitamin B12.....not a good thing considering the damage low levels can cause to your body. I originally wanted it checked because I have been feeling completely fatigued. Well then I find out that my Aortic and Tricuspid valves have gone from mild to moderate/severe regurgitation. Were in the process of getting a second opinion and to see if the valves can be repaired rather than replaced. I do NOT want to be on a blood thinner for the rest of my life, SCARY! After doing some research I've discovered that my dad who died at 36 did not die of electrical heart problems but instead because of Mitral Valve Regurgitation(same thing I have, just a different valve) I am also starting to find things that show my brother who died at 24, did not die of electrical problems either, but of something structural. This changes the game for me. They died young, very young, so I feel like I am on a time line. Thankfully, I have contact with a great Cardiologist who has contacts with all of the heart Dr.s on the West coast, so he will help me in getting a second opinion and a Cardiothoracic Surgeon, if need be. I will keep you all up to date on what we find out!


6. The kids favorite thing to do is ride the mini 4 wheelers around that my mom bought them. We just hook up the wagon and double up on of the boys with a baby and they all ride around until the 6 batteries we have die, lol! They love it though!




7. I am sure there is so much I forgot and haven't posted, but I just wanted to catch up. Now, were heading into fall. We've got a few trips coming up including White Water Rafting, 4 wheeling in the White Mountains and a camping trip with our friends for Labor Day weekend.....I am so excited about all of it! I will do my best to keep up with the blog as things start to slow down.....wait is that possible with all these kids and heart problems??

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Anderson

We went to Anderson for a night and hung out with our friends. It's a bluegrass festival, which were not into that kind of music, it's just a nice little break. Hopefully next year we will have our motor home so we can start bringing the kids. They have a great fireworks show and I waned to post these pictures because you can see how bad the forest fires have been. The spots on the pics is the debris in the air, it was pretty bad for about a week here!

Monday, July 27, 2009

4 wheeling

We went 4 wheeling in the White Mountains with my cousins.We also shot guns and I finally shot my husbands 44.....very big intimidating gun! It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.




Cristina and I~


Toby and Cristina~




Thursday, July 9, 2009

My Best Friends visit

My best friend Cara came to visit and boy did we have a blast.....we always do. I have to say that she is so awesome with my kids, her and her husband, and they don't have any themselves which is what's so cool about it! They are going to make great parents one day! Here are the highlights.....


We hiked Angel Rocks



Kayaked the Chena river~Spent the 4th at Birch lake, we actually went to the lake 2 different times~



Went to Chena Hot Springs~


Monday, June 29, 2009

Midnight Sun Festival



We took the kids to the Midnight Sun Festival this year. Last year I was laying in the ICU dying of heart failure so we were unable to make it. The kids had a great time.



The boys did the obstacle course twice, by themselves. There getting so big, growing out of the toddler stage :(



Friday, June 26, 2009

Birch Lake

Monkey and I~

Jacey's first time tubing, he couldn't get enough of it!~


Lina loving the water like her mama!~


Monkey's first tube ride~


Poor Brycee baby. He's the only one who doesn't like water.....he is terrified of it!~


Midnight tubing, one of the many perks of Alaskan summers.....the sun is always out!~


My cousin Cristina and I.....we got dumped right after this!~