Baby Girl Cousin

Michaela Grace McClain-Smith came into the world at 3:54 pm on May 29, 2007.Michaela was 8lbs 11ozs and 20.5 inches long. She was born at SwedishAmerican Hospital in Rockford, IL. Doug and Christa McClain-Smith are the proud 1st time parents who are doing well with little Miss Michaela. Congratulations!

Easter Morning

After many attempts to add more pictures to this post, I am just going to leave it at this. This is what the Easter Bunny left for the kids for Easter morning. Then the kids had an egg hunt to follow time spent digging through their baskets. Phoenix enjoyed dumping out his box of band aids and eating animal crackers for breakfast. Kira enjoyed her Littlest Petshop animal. The coins that Kira found during the hunt she is calling her Japan money. In March, they had "banking day" at school where they discussed the value of money and how much of the money that it takes to buy certain things. They sent home a paper explaining that to the parents and encouraged the parents to start planning for the Chitose exchange that 5th & 6th graders do. It is an experience where the kids go to Japan in 5th or 6th grade for a few weeks as an exchange program. Every other year the kids from the Chitose school come here too. So Kira is saving up her money to buy a plane ticket to Japan and spending money while she is there. If she finds loose change, she also claims it as "Japan money."

I found it!!!

"Daddy, daddy, I found my long lost nostril!" said Phoenix. When playing the "where's your nose?" game, Phoenix used to touch the end of his nose. One day, he missed the end of his nose and that finger just slipped up his nostril. since then his finger goes straight up his nostril when anyone says "nose" or "knows."

Signs of Summer

In Alaska, several things clue you in to the summer season. Break up is over, and summer has begun. Here are a few things I saw today indicating the beginning of summer.
1. The sun was shining and Kira asked if she could wear shorts and a tank top to school today.
2. Bright white and yellow lines have been painted on the road. (I am trying to remember what significance of those lines with regards to my driving.)
3. A pressure washer disguised as a truck was washing our street off.
4. I pulled up to a friends house and their boat had snuck out of storage taken my usual parking spot.
5. The line at the car wash was longer than the line at the post office in December.
6. As we walked to the park this afternoon, our neighbor was out staining his deck in shorts and a tank top in our sunny 56 degree weather.
7. Dandelions popped up next to the house. (Our grass is still brown and we still have a pile of snow out front.)
8. I killed a spider.
9. Kira has freckles across her nose from batting practice in the backyard with Daddy.
10. Someone walking their dog picked up their dog's poop-- since it didn't instantly disappear into a pile of snow.

Just adorable

1-Phoenix frequently dumps the toys out of the red box and climbs inside for a nice cozy seat.

2- This is Phoenix's "aahhhh" I have just taken a refreshing drink face. This it the same face he makes when he laughs to show approval, but not complete amusement (one little "ha" usually comes from the back of his throat.)

3- He is coming for the camera to see. He is obviously concerned that he is not the one taking the pictures.

One step closer

I am finally downloading pictures from the past 3 weeks. This is a big step in getting a new posting since so much has been happening in our lives. Starting with the most recent events, we have had half days of school, guard duty weekend, for Patrick, Ladies' Night at church, parent teacher conferences, Cherry Blossom Festival (pictures to come), taxes, and Easter. Wow, when I type it out like that, it doesn't seem like we have been that busy; but in reality, that all combined with the boring daily stuff that I would dare put in here for fear of boring people so much that they would quit reading the blog, it really has been a busy few weeks. So today I tuckered the kids out with a trip to the zoo and I have a few minutes to myself to download pictures.

Thankful Thursday

Thirteen things today that I am so grateful for:
1. My loving husband got up with Phoenix when he started screaming 22 minutes before my alarm went off.
2. Kira woke up in a good and playful mood.
3. Phone calls with family.
4. The high today is going to be 44 degrees. (yeah! more snow melting)
5. I have had time to do dishes and laundry (with the help of a few sweet little people.)
6. My computer didn't crash near the end of making a 7 picture post.
7. I have a place in my house to safely burn yummy smelling candles.
8. A single bath will remove most blueberry stains from small children.
9. I had 30 minutes of uninterrupted silence during nap time.
10. The strawberries that we bought actually smell like strawberries. Yum!
11. Packing peanuts.
12. Phoenix running to every chunk of ice I scrape off the driveway and earnestly trying to stomp it to little pieces with his tiny little feet.
13. Friends who are more like family than you can imagine... unless you have met them, then you know.

Out for a Sunday ride

1. OK... I am ready to get this pony ride started.

2. I still have the no handed riding mastered...oh starting to wobble.

3. Giddy up, giddy up. Why is my pony continuing at the same pace?

4. Phoenix is back there screaming. What is wrong with him?

5. I love my pony.

6. You're not a natural brunette?! I found blonde. Don't try to deny it.

7. I am so lovin' the pony ride.

Phoenix's pony ride

Sunday we dicided to go back for another pony ride. This time we waited until after naps so that Phoenix would be able to participate in this childhood experience. We stood in line for about 20 minutes; the kids were happy eating dorritos in line and just looking around.

As soon as I set Phoenix on the pony, the screaming began. I dug in my pocket and found a pcaifier. The screaming continued. I thought that if I could comfort him until the ponies started walking, he would be fine. The screaming rallied. Finally the ponies started walking and Phoenix calmed down for 2 turns around the circle. He started to scoot my direction on the saddle so I lifted him back to the center of the saddle. The screaming followed. I guess he thought that I was picking him up. I thought that if I hugged him a little and could comfort him, he would calm down. The screaming persisted. The owner/trainer of the ponies asked if I wanted him off the ponies. I wanted to try one more circle. He calmed down a wee bit. I tried to get him to look at Patrick for a photo opportunity. The screaming returned. I took the owner up on her offer to take Phoenix off the pony. In the blink of an eye, she had unbuckled Phoenix, taken him off the pony, and swept him into my arms. The screaming ended.

Petting Zoo

Saturday at the car dealership, they also had a mini-petting zoo set up for the kids. As soon as Kira entered the gate, she was greated by a hair eating goat. The goat practically attacked Kira for a bite of her hair.

Pony ride

We had an experience this weekend of pony rides and a petting zoo. Of course this all took place in the parking lot of a car dealership...a Ford dealership. That fact did not deter us from braving the salesmen and Ford cars surrounding us so that our daughter could ride on the ponies and pet fluffy animals. As you can see, Kira loved it. We ran errands Saturday morning with the promise of a surprise later in the day. When we decided to eat out (bagels at a local bagel shop), Kira was excited and thought that was her big surprise. After telling her that her surprise had not yet happened, she became ecstatic that she was getting two great surprises in one day. By the time that we arrived there, Phoenix had fallen asleep so we divided and conquered. Patrick took Kira to the ponies (because he is way better with the camera than I am) and I stayed in the truck with Phoenix while he slept (no use in trying to hold Phoenix sleeping while we stood in a line.)

1. Kira is so excited about riding a pony that she gave a real cheeser of a smile and showed her gum to the world too.

2. Look Daddy, no hands.

3. What just happened back there? Eeewww! Something stinks.

4. How Kira spent most of the time during her ride: petting the pony.

5. One last lovin' before the ride is over.

Side note:

Kira's reaction to "eating out" in a bagel shop made me think about our parenting. We have had many discussions with Kira about the whole idea of being thankful for what you get. Sometimes her cavalier attitude about her toys, clothes, and activities that she gets to participate in just makes me crazy. Some examples of comments:

Mom: Be careful with that toy. Playing with it that way might break it.

Daughter: Well, if it breaks, you can buy me a new one.

Mom: We are here looking for PJs for your brother.

Daughter: But I never get anything new.

Mom: What about the new dress shoes we got for you yesterday?

Daughter: That is not clothes. I need new clothes.

Mom: Because the entire wardrobe full of clothes at home belong to whom?

Daughter: They are mine, but I have worn them before.

Daughter: (Holding a picture of herself at the Little Gym) I really need to start going back there.

Mom: Some day. Right now you have swim lessons.

Daughter: That is only one day a week though. Think of all those other days. And Saturdays.

I started wondering if giving things to Kira without her understanding the values of it was having an affect on her perception of "deserving" things as opposed to being thankful for them. I suppose that some of her lack of knowledge and self-focused behavior is age appropriate. (I know some adults who are more self focused than our kids, but that is no excuse not to expect more out of our kids.) We have been more aware of praising Kira when she is thankful for what she gets and reinforcing that she doesn't get to complain about things that are given to her. When Kira was truly excited about eating out, I had the joy of seeing how Kira is maturing.

Favorite Part

As a time for talking about our day and keeping communications open with Kira, we talk about our favorite part of the day every night before bed. In more recent times, Kira has altered her answers to be more generic, e.g. "everything" or "me too" (after someone else's statement). So we started changing it to a statement of "tell us something that happened in school today and something that you learned in Japanese." Since I have the opportunity to seek infomation on the drive home from school, I can assist her memory when she makes statements at bed time such as "I don't remember anything that happened today."





Now entering the fourth quarter of the school year, Kira has picked up on some of the lingo of the other kids and started repeating it at home. Statements like "I'm bored" and "Can't I stay home today?" have become more frequent. Wanting to encuorage the joy of learning and a lifetime of a curious mind, we have talked about the fun things that school and learning have to offer. We have also discussed her role in making something mroe fun and her decision to think about it in a positive manner. Some of our prayers with Kira have even reflected that we are asking God to help Kira with her finding a positive mindframe and enjoy learning as much as possible during the day.





With all of these discussions, I am not sure why I was impressed and surprised with this bed time conversation a couple of weeks ago.


Mommy: What was your favorite part of the day?


Kira: My favorite part was going to school and learning all of the new things my day had to offer.


Mommy: Really?


Kira: (Playing with a small chunk of hair next to her face) Uh huh.


Mommy: What were some of these new things that you learned today?


Kira: (Still focused on the hair) I can't remember, but it was good.





Kids are amazing at understanding what happens when and how to live up to the expectations set before them.

(And the picture is just an adorable picture taken of Kira in early February. Postings are just better to read with a picture attached.)

Inspired...

... to explain our long lost absence. For some reason our lives went nuts, and I don't think we have taken a picture for almost two weeks. We did get some cute video footage of Phoenix and Kira being little crazy kids. Well, in the past two weeks we have been trying to get done all that miscellaneous stuff that was just hanging out there unfinished. Some of it was simple, like writing a note to the elders about the Ladies Activity planning committee. Others have been more complicated, like putting together an awesome co-ed softball team. So here is the story of our few weeks missing.

In all of our recovering from the Holidays, planning for Hawaii, and trying to get through normal weekly activities, our blog has lapsed. It all started with a prayer asking God to improve the wife and mother that I am; asking for the motivation, energy, and focus to work on all those little things hanging out there. Serving and ministering to my husband and children is my primary mission field. In looking at the things that I had been working on, it seemed like there were so many things I didn't know where to begin, so I started with something middle weight. I made some soups for camping this summer. Trying to be more prepared for upcoming times, I made a huge pot of barley with vegetables soups and a huge pot of meat lovers pizza soup. We ate half of it for dinners and I froze half of it in Ziploc bags to make it great for camping expeditions. Then I started to work on our Hawaii album. Yes, the album that is from the pictures we took from our trip 4 years ago. I still only have 5 of the 15 spreads done, but I enjoy looking at all of the pictures every time I get into the box of Hawaii photos. We input into excel all of the receipts and income proof gathering for taxes (a task in and of itself with two children and a home based business.) Phoenix ended up sick for most of Spring Break, but we still got all of the wall paper scraper off of the dining room walls. Patrick had the kids for a few evenings while I went to the church building to work on crafts (OK worked on hand binding the queen sized quilt that has been sitting in our garage for a while). With 12-15 stitches per inch and my highly particular mannerisms in my quilting, I only have most of one of the sides finished.

Then there was the addressing and mailing of all our Christmas cards. Yes, you read that right. Christmas cards. We had Christmas cards printed in the first week of December. This card was a fun card with our kids picture on there. Of course, when we opened up the envelope the cards have been printed extremely dark. Our kids look totally washed out and the background is black beyond compare. So we took them back to have them reprinted. It was only 3 days after we had picked them up that we made it back to the store. We learned that the printing machine just picks what it thinks looks best and prints it that way. The lady told us that since ours are reprints and it was a very busy time of year that our pictures would be done in a week. A week?!? That put us right up to the time that we were leaving for Missouri. Well, not having a choice in the matter, we figured that we could take the cards with us and address them during quiet moments of the trip. Not only did we have no quiet moments on the trip, but we also had no cards and no addresses. We left the cards on our kitchen counter along with our address list. When we arrived back in Alaska at 11:00 p.m. with no luggage and no car seats (and therefore no way to transport our children home). The cards were not a high priority when we finally made it home by 1:30 (Thank you Raychel and Kayla for bringing our truck and thank you Paul and Devon for going home and getting a car seat since the airline didn't have ANY loaners for Phoenix). By the time that my parents had finished their trip up here, the cards had been set aside, and we were preparing for Kira to return to school. Mid-February we picked up the cards and I had great intentions of cutting off the seasons greetings and mailing out the picture of our kids. Beginning of March came and went with still no hint of cutting off the text. So I thought I would at least address the envelopes. My thoughts were screaming..."how could you send that out like that with no explanation as to why they are so late? Normal people would just trash the cards and write it off as a goof up." But being the proud mom that I am, I rationalized that even though it may be a Christmas card, it is also a picture of my kids... who would want a picture of my kids? So I sent out the cards with a reference to our blog site on the back of cards going to people that don't know about the blog already. That way my crazy thought process could be known to all our dearest friends and family through the use of way too late Christmas cards.

All of this wonderful stuff has been accomplished in the process of the everyday events of grocery trips, guard duty weekends, cleaning out the kids closet and toy bin of too small, broken, or unused items. We have been busy, but I know that I still have time during the day that could be used better. I actually signed on a couple of times during these two weeks with the intention of posting something, but then I became distracted with little hands and voices making requests of me. When I return to the computer to see an empty post waiting to be written, sometimes it felt as though I was writing to hear my own thoughts, but I got an email from Helena and Mat talking about how they have read the blog. I logged in and received a comment requesting that we continue to post the goings-on in our life. I know that family and friends read the blog, but getting feed back that people are actually still reading the blog is encouraging and inspiring. Thank you for the email and comment. I will try to post more often than every few weeks.

Are these ones better?

1- Will these shoes fit on me better?

2- Perfectly lined up to step into these shoes.

3- Hey... how did that one fall over?

4- Do over. I will start again.

5- That shoe is kind of far away.

6- I did it... I got my feet in here. Now only to stand up.

7- I did it. I am up and walking. These shoes are better for walking.

Silly Boy...those shoes are too big

Happy Birthday Papa!

After a long weekend of snowmachining and traveling to and from camp, we relaxed today. That is, we relaxed until about 7:00 p.m. That is when I realized the date. Today is the 19th... my dad's birthday! I am such an idiot about these things sometimes. I can't call... it is too late in Central Standard Time. So Patrick suggests the fix. We can create a sign and make a post to wish Papa a happy birthday. That way the birthday wish still goes out and we can talk to Papa later to confirm that he knows we love him and were thinking of him on his birthday... while he was getting a good nights sleep (and he was probably thankful not to be awaken late at night with a phone call.) So here it is... HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA! all the way from Alaska

Getting there is half the fun

These pictures represent our flights to the Midwest in December.

1-- We waited for an hour on the runway in Anchorage. We were split into 2 seats and 2 seats so we kept passing Phoenix back and forth. Neither person sitting on the aisle wanted to trade and allow us to sit together to handle Phoenix.

2-- Upon late arrival in Seattle, early departure of our flight to Ohio allowed us the opportunity to spend the night in the Sea/Tac airport. As you can see, the kids actually slept.

3-- At 3:00 a.m., Phoenix decided that he had had enough sleep. He played "can't catch me" for about an hour and a half before we moved closer to the ticket counter where we would try to catch a stand-by flight.

4--Phoenix was still full of energy.

5-- We finally caught a flight out of Seattle to Atlanta. The ticketing agents in Seattle were not so helpful, but they were certain that if only we got out of Sea/Tac we would be fine. Seattle, afterall, was where the problem was. They had gotten the fallout from Denver closing the airport. So here is Kira making friends in the Atlanta airport while we wait for our flight.

6-- Our flight from Atlanta to STL has been delayed. An hour later a flight across the hall is going to STL, but we are assured that our flight will be leaving shortly. We don't need to get on that flight. The other STL flight boards their standby people. We need a distraction, a real meal and a comfortable chair (or any bed). Now our flight is one hour and forty five minutes delayed. Mechanical problems that they assure us will be fixed. A flight to Bloomington is boarding in 10 minutes, maybe we should try to get standby on that. The ticketing agent tells us our flight will be leaving shortly. The flight leaves for Bloomington without us. 15 minutes later... our flight has been cancelled due to mechanical issues. The next flight out to STL is tomorrow at 1:15p.m. It is 5:00 p.m. and we have been in airports and on planes for the last 25 hours with 2 small children and 3 tired adults.

7-- The guy next to us is entertaining Phoenix with his cell phone, and Kira is sharing Teddy Grahams and crackers with their son.

A few hours later we finally catch a flight stand-by to STL. When we arrive, Delta has lost our luggage and we can't leave the airport with no car seats. We stay at the airport trying to convince Delta that they need to give us loaner carseats until our luggage is located. They had one for Phoenix, but none for Kira. Every Delta employee that we had dealt with up until now had been just a plain attitude of "sorry you're out of luck, and it it time for my break so... see you later." We convinced the guy to beg, borrow or steal a seat from a partner airline so we could leave. After being in airports and on planes for 30 hours, it seemed that driving 4 hours to go camping in Homer wasn't such a long trip. The rest of the trip was excellent. We had a great time seeing family and spending time together. On the flight home, Delta cancelled another flight and lost our luggage again... of which we are still missing some. So now we have a new catch phrase. If something has been lost or is just plain going wrong, "It's gone Delta."

And a Tribute to Their Wives

The wives of the brothers. Christina Hewlett (with Weston on her lap), Faith Hewlett, and Julie Hewlett.

Someone asked on this trip back to the Midwest "Why is it always a picture of just the guys? Don't the guys want pictures of the whole family as it is now? Or at least pictures with the wives?"

So here it is... the picture of the wives. ;)