Happy Mama 4.27.14

Just wanted to share another picture today...

Some of you come on here to look for photos of Alaska.  Well, this is my "Alaska".  Home is where the heart is and my heart has it's desire that I spent many years longing for.  I'm so thankful!  So blessed!

Giraffe Baby 5.15.14

These pictures remind me that I just cannot help myself to kissing his sweet cheeks!

Turtle Love May 2014

She lights up when she sees a turtle.  When we go to Walmart we have to go find the turtles, which is a little toy.  She carries it around with her while we shop and then we give it to the cashier to put away when we check-out.  Last weekend we went to this place that sells tropical fish and they happen to have some turtles right now.  When she saw them in the aquarium she was SO excited!  She just about gasped and she held her hands over her mouth to try to contain her excitement!  So so cute!

Here she is kissing Shelly.  She calls Shelly her "baby".  I've noticed she imitates how I take care of Joshua, with her baby.

This turtle tent has been a big hit!

And she LOVES her turtle "jam-jas" that Grandma Smith made for her.  On this particular day she put them on all by herself over her dress.  I think she would wear them for bed every night if we let her.

What's up? 5.9.14

What a little sweetie!  He's smiling more and more!  He loves when I look into his eyes, rub his head and talk with him.  He will coo, smile and give me all of these cute little expressions.

Sweet little boy 5.4.14

I LOVE this set of photos!  Joshua is really starting to show more expression.  SO cute!

Look at those furrowed "I'm not sure about this" eyebrows!

Jeralyn used to do this all the time with her fist.

Happy little guy!

Paint! 5.2.14

She paints paper...and her face!

Little Baker 5.2.14

Jeralyn loves helping me bake.  She's always eager to get up on the counter and help.

Here she is pressing down the peanut butter cookies with a fork.  She did a great job!

Sunday Walk 5.4.14

It was another beautiful day!  Since we live in a rain forest and we never know how often we will get these nice days, we take advantage of them.  So we went on another short hike, making that 2 hikes/walks for the weekend.

But this time Jeralyn walked most of the way herself (no back pack ride).  It was really funny before we left the house because she asked if she could ride in the "suitcase".  She meant to say "backpack".  We had a good laugh over that one.

Joshua likes the walks too.  He falls asleep in the Ergo baby carrier and enjoys the ride.

Lunch Creek Trail 5.3.14

What a beautiful day!  We decided to take advantage of it and go on a walk on the Lunch Creek Trail.  That means we had to drive way out north to the end of the road (about 16-18 miles).  That is far for us these days!  Ha!

Jeralyn got to ride in the backpack. She is so long now, but she still fits!

The trail follows along side a creek and this particular spot has sand.  We stopped to let Jeralyn play.  She loved it!

My job was to keep Joshua happy and napping.  Ha!

Here she was splashing!

Grass Turtles 5.1.14

Some of the posts are going to be out of order because I haven't uploaded the photos from my camera onto the computer yet.  But Quent has been uploading his pictures, so that's what I will be sharing for the time being.

After Quent mowed the lawn one evening Jeralyn wanted to help him rake.  And someone (I wonder who?) got the idea to make turtles out of the grass clippings.

Love this one!

Holding Shelly's "hand".

This girl LOVES her turtles!

Our raking girl!

Egg Hunt 4.20.14

Jeralyn LOVED hunting for eggs!  She was really into it this year!

The hunt began!

This is serious business!

Happy little girl!

And then she took a break to eat some of the candy.

Another egg!

And here she is probably singing.  Ha!

After we came inside Quent was on the computer and he noticed a raven diving down outside.  There was an egg left behind in the grass and the raven was diving at it and trying to get the egg!  I couldn't believe it!  I posted about this on Facebook and heard a few stories from other Alaskans saying that they've seen ravens flying around with plastic Easter eggs in their beak. Isn't that crazy!?  Silly birds! 

Photo Shoot Part II 4.6.14

This was our second attempt at getting some photos of the kids together.  Jeralyn kept on moving up, so we had to adjust them a lot.  I just had to share this sequence of photos.

We would ask her to look at him...

*giggles*

More giggles...

And silliness!

...and to hold his hand...

And yet MORE giggles!

This was quite funny to her!  He's oblivious.  One day he will think his sister is super funny!

...and to put her hand on him (gently of course).

I love the expression on his face.

I can't wait until these two interact more...and play...and laugh...and have their little quarrels (because those will come too).  They will have so much fun together!

Tigger & Shelly 4.6.14

I guess they just wanted to snuggle together.  Ha!

Mommy & Joshua 4.10.14

Being a mom of two is really wonderful...and [more] challenging...and beautiful...and trying at times.  Honestly, going from 0-1 child was harder for me than going from 1-2.  I think it's because I had so many years of independence and then that was taken away when sweet Jeralyn entered our world.  But we all adjusted and found our groove with a little one.  And so Joshua has just come along in that smooth groove.

At first, I was overwhelmed with trying to figure out how it was going to look when I was on my own with them during the day when Quent was at work.  But when the day came I felt ready.  And it's been an easy transition [so far].  I'm so thankful for Babywise and for the routine we already had in place.  Having a structured day has helped a LOT!

A couple of months before Joshua was born I started making freezer meals to stash away for after Quent went back to work and I was on my own.  I think we've only thawed/made a few of those meals so far.  I think I just really missed cooking and taking care of our home, so when the time came, I was ready to go!  I'm so thankful for that!  We are blessed!

Sometimes I feel like I should pinch myself that we have TWO children now!  We waited for so many years for our little girl and now we have a boy!  God's promises are yes and Amen!  And these sweet ones are proof!

Easter Basket 4.20.14

I wasn't sure if Jeralyn understood what "finding her Easter basket" meant, so we had to drop a lot of hints of where this basket was hiding.  It was behind the chair.  She was like, "Oh, der it is!"  (there it is)  And then she kept bringing us the items out of the basket one at a time.  She was thrilled!

Here she is listening as we gave her hints.

She was SUPER excited about getting a chocolate bunny!

And what would Easter be without a turtle?