Kimberly had a really great teacher for Primary last year that she just loved. Sister Andrus is getting moved to Germany in a few months (actually about the same time we move) so she decided to give a tea party for her class from last year.
She bravely let them use her nice tea set that she got the last time she lived in Germany. None of the pieces were broken, which was good. They ate in the Andrus' backyard gazebo and had sandwiches, fruit, cookies and cupcakes, and punch. They played around on the lawn and got a little wet. One fun thing is that a bird built a nest in one of her hanging baskets and when she took it down this past week, discovered a nest with 5 or 6 newly hatched chicks. She took the basket down to show the kids. They were really sweet. Sister Andrus is a great person. Kimberly always talks about her and will remember her. Thanks for all the time you put into your class. It makes a difference!
Hard as it is to believe, Glade has been part of our family for 2 years. We celebrated his birthday on Thursday and had a good time eating hot dogs (who would have guessed a 2-year old would choose hot dogs for dinner :) ), cake and ice cream, and opening presents. We also went to Lacey in the morning for a free showing of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie." We hadn't seen it before, but liked it quite a bit. The city also kindly held a parade for his birthday in the evening so we walked a few blocks down and enjoyed that.
Opening presents (Can you tell I was out of birthday paper and didn't want to buy more, so we're using Christmas? Good thing he won't remember.)
Glade is a sweet, happy boy. He is finally off of his binky as of a month or so ago. He is really great at sharing and although he has learned to say no quite often lately, he usually says yes. He loves to be read to, especially Dr. Seuss. He also is learning to use the potty, which is nice sometimes. He has lots of cute little things he does that I need to try to capture on film before he outgrows them.
This is the "smile" you get from Glade when you ask him if he is happy or tell him to be happy.
Me reading "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" to the kids. Glade makes really cute noises when he copies the sounds in the book.
Glade loves cars, dogs, balls, and lots of other things.
Father's Day came and went. We tried to make it special for Ryan and hopefully succeeded. Kim asked him once what he wanted and he told her a matchbox car. She dutifully remembered and even tried to trick him a few times by telling him over and over that he was going to get to open his rubber ducky soon. The kids each picked out a car for him. Kim, a futuristic concept car and Glade a Land Rover, which he called a Jeep. Ryan, being the cool Dad that he is, set up our table leaves running all the way down the stairs and made a great track for the cars to race down. Unfortunately, they are not as well-built as their full-scale counterparts, and the Land Rover sustained some major damage. The axles are bent and it doesn't roll straight any longer. I guess you can't expect much more. If you really drove a vehicle down that steep of a hill going that fast, it would probably sustain damage also.
I was neglectful and didn't manage to get a picture of the kids WITH Ryan, but he did take these of the kids.
Kim coloring a tie with a poem on it for him.
Glade taking an after church, much-needed nap on the couch.
We are very grateful for our Dads and Grandpas also and hope they know how much we love them. We are looking forward to seeing them in a month or so.
Love you Ryan! Thanks for being a great Father for our kids. They really love you and always look forward to your homecoming each day.
The weather here in Washington has been surprisingly dry recently. The kids have been able to take advantage by playing outside fairly often. The love to be out, especially Kimberly. She has such an imagination. Ryan captured both of these pictures of her outside.
Kimberly dressed as a ladybug, making a house for a ladybug that she found in the yard. (Fortunately, the lady bug was able to escape during the night.
Kimberly making a house for a cat or something. She colored it with flowers and sunshine and the put the rocks on it. She told me it would keep the animals dry. It's still out there two weeks later, although it is unknown if any animals have actually used it for shelter.
A few weeks ago we took the kids to a little mini-golf place in town for Family Home Evening. It was the first time they had been. They seemed to enjoy it pretty well, especially Kim. Glade found the most efficient way to golf and after hitting the ball once at the tee, would run, pick it up, and drop it into the hole.
By the way, if the hat looks familiar, I made Glade a cute hat last spring and it got lost somewhere between Ohio and Washington. I managed to make him another one just like it again this year. It reminds me of one of the hats you might find at Grandad's cabin
This week seems to have gone by pretty fast. It has been a little crazy and VERY hot, at least for a 7-month pregnant lady. I am soooo glad it cooled down today.
I can't believe we will have a new baby in about 7 weeks or so! The time seems to have gone by very quickly.
I have spent quite a bit of time this week thinking about and working on our move. Several phone calls to Ft. Wainwright in Alaska have been made to figure out what we should be doing. We also got one big step completed. I made a reservation for our family on the ferry. We are actually really excited about this. We will take our car and drive it onto the ferry. We got a cabin booked for our little family for the date we wanted, so that was a relief. Then we will ride for 2 1/2 days through beautiful scenery and arrive in the Skagway, AK area (goldrush). Our plan is to see the sites in that area for a few days before making the 650 mile drive to Fairbanks. Maybe we'll see some other things on the way. If any of you have suggestions, let me know.
Here is the website for the ferry. The videos are fun to watch and make me really excited about this move. Hope our things don't take too long with the movers!
Now if only the last few things will fall into place (including amended orders making this an accompanied tour of duty so Ryan isn't traveling alone), we will be all set. Can't wait!
