Easter

So I know it is like 4 days later but for some reason my pictures didn't want to load on here, and I had a few of them.  On Sunday, we had a wonderful afternoon with friends.  We had an excellent home smoked ham, and turkey for lunch and then we all headed to another families home for a giant easter egg hunt! 

Phyllo tart with lime curd and blackberries!

the boys eatin' lunch

the big kids headed to their starting point before the easter egg hunt

the littles waiting for the hunt to start

face off :)

I have to get it all the way up there?

 beautiful  miss C.

all in a hard days work

Tea

Every so often I like to have tea with my friends.  We have an amazing fresh loose leaf tea supplier in the town of Anchorage that we all frequent by internet or in person whenever we can.  There is just no comparison to tea in a bag.  While we have tea we talk of our everyday lives, of parenting, motherhood, the Bible, politics and anything else that might intrigue us.  We all try to chip in and prepare a goody or two and all of our children play....or try to drink our tea too! :)  I love this time that I get to spend with my dear friends and I missed it ever so much when I was away. 

Just a few of our goodies for the afternoon!

The teapots were my grandmothers and I am so happy that I get to use them like she did.  She loved to entertain and serve tea to her friends, so I guess the tradition has been passed down in our family.

Seward Swim Meet

Yesterday was Emma's first swim meet of the season since we have been gone for so long, and for not swimming for 6 months she did a fantastic job.  She took 3rd overall in breaststroke, 4th in freestyle, and 7th in backstroke.  In the butterfly she did one stroke wrong and got dq'ed but so did 2 other girls, and this was the first time in a meet that she had done that event.  We had a good time, despite the pool area being too small and having to sit out in the school lobby with a screen set up to watch the kids swim from there.  Seating was a little hard. but Madison and I had a good time anyway!

Mountains in Seward

Pictures of the Family and New Family Member

The first few pictures are from Heidi's birthday party, and it was so cute when the little boys jumped into the photo session the girls were having to show off their cute dresses.  The look on Lu's face is priceless!!! It's like excuse me what do you think you are doing here! :) 

Tom, Heidi, Sammy, Ali, Luthein, and Mason

Heidi wanted stars on her birthday cake

Heidi posing for her first shots as a four year old.  She did all the posing on her own.  I did not direct her a bit! My little Ham :)

Madison and Heidi....a love hate relationship right now. 

Madison



Mason, my handsome little man



 

This was Madison's birthday castle cake.  She turned 7 on March 10th.

Her birthday dinner of macaroni and cheese and hotdogs!

Chad and Emma wrapped Maddie's gum in tons of paper and tape and it made them all laugh histerically!

Our friend C and the littles playing rock a bye baby!

Heidi

Today is my 300th post and it is only fitting that it should be for my daughters birthday today!  This little girl of mine turns 4 today and I can hardly believe that my baby has grown so big.  Heidi is the girls who loves everyone.  In the last 6 months we have met a few hundred people during our travels and she hugs them all!  A lot of them she was ready to go to their home and visit with them.  She is also the little diva of the family, with two older sisters she has to do something to get their attention!  She loves to be in dresses and wants to be as tall as her big sister, to the point that she will go take a nap when we tell her to just because she might grow taller while she is sleeping.  My dear Heidi I love you more than words can tell, Happy Happy Birthday my sweet little girl.

Day 5 of the Alcan March 4th Home Again!

We awoke to the most beautiful sunrise this morning!  I could have added a hundred pictures but I will spare you the monoutomy of them all.  We got up and were praying that our car would start....and it did, so we were off!  We basically drove and drove and drove, hoping to make it home that night.  We still had 850 miles to drive but we were determined to make it home!  We were also very thankful for pretty good roads, not too many frost heaves, and beautiful weather all day, and the fact that we made it through the border control without a hitch again!  We left Whitehorse that morning at 6 am and made it to our home at 12:30am the next morning.  We almost stopped for the night in Palmer (just north of Anchorage) due to the high winds that were there, but as soon as we got out of town there wasn't any so I was able to drive the rest of the way home without incident.  When we got up on Saturday morning our first adgenda was to get a coffee from Kaladi Brothers, because it truely is the best coffee that we have had, and we have been to a few places! LOL

Sunrise just out of Whitehorse

this was the average temperature we drove in up the highway.  It was even as far down as 35 below!  Makes for good driving weather though....No Snow!!

Just before Haines Junction

This is what happens when kids have been couped up in a car for 5 days together...or 6 months take your pick!  LOL  And yes, Mason did this to whomever was sitting there on a regular basis :)

The Mountains in Alaska!  When we crossed the border there was a loud cheer from the back.  The kids were very happy to be closer to home and back in our state!