An explanation

and apology. Last summer, the boys and I packed up (after an amazing, beautiful May) and headed south for a month so Rich could tear out the kitchen. When we got back, we settled in and I fully intended to blog away like normal. At some point the first week back, I headed to the computer to look up a picture to show someone, and it told me it could not find the file. Excuse me? I stayed calm as long as I could, but eventually had to panic. My hard drive, where half of the boys lives were photographically recorded, had crashed. It was irretrievable. The only think that kept me from vomiting was that I had copied over a mass amount of pictures to Grandma Jerry before we headed south.

I don't know about you, but when disaster strikes, I choose to bury my head in the sand. We got copies of the pictures from Grandma, bought a new server with backup, but I couldn't face it. I didn't want to know what was gone. The files were a mess, so I ignored it and blogging. Well, I finally faced it. God was smiling on me, and amazingly, only about a month and a half of pics are unaccounted for (and a few months of videos). So, we are wiser, have a better system and are ready to go again!

My new blogging plan is that for every recent blog I post, I'm also going to post and older one, starting from last May. Eventually, I'll catch up with myself. Enjoy!

My little German boy, Avery REITER. Doesn't he just look like the perfect little alpine boy?

Hat and a snack. May was GORGEOUS! Sunny and warm, they wore short sleeves and shorts most of the month, and loved being outside.

He's a tree! See his branches?

Beautiful Noah!

Can you see the Noah for the trees? I love our little forest of a backyard. Yes! This is our yard!

Hanging with Eagles

In our lovely little Alaskan town of Eagle River, there is a local woman who feeds the eagles on Sundays throughout the winter. This is the first time we've actually gone to see it happen (we've driven by before when all of the eagles were hanging out post meal) We invited Jill and Lucy, packed a picnic for the kids, and headed over.

Car picnic. Sometimes, ok, most times, it pays to be almost 3.

The pictures don't really do the experience justice. About 10 minutes until 11, eagles started flying in in groups from all directions. The woman hadn't arrived yet. How do eagles tell time and know it's Sunday?

We probably saw fifty eagles in this one place today. It was very cool. Most were mature, I think there were one or two juveniles who hadn't completely turned white on their tails and heads. It was really neat to hear them "talking" in their high pitched chirps while they were waiting for the woman to arrive.

I think we're going to go back again before Easter and park in a different spot, so the sun is behind us. Come visit in winter, we'll take you with us ;)

The boys favorite place to be...

is in the dining room. This is where we do crafts (or craps, if you're Avery). You name it, we do it. Coloring with crayons or markers, stickers (thanks Aunt Becky), paint, play dough, cutting with scissors. The boys love it all, especially Avery. I want you to notice the hutch, though. Whew, messy!

We made some salt dough ornaments before Christmas and painted them. I began to fully realize what sort of student Noah is going to be, and must remember to warn his teacher. "Instructions first, then pass out supplies"

Notice Avery's paint...

and Noah's. Avery kept his colors separated for about 20 min. Noah's were mixed immediately. He painted the paper, not the ornaments (I had to urge him to do that). When he was done with the paper, he began to paint up his arms. This is where mom had to walk away and let dad be in charge!

For Christmas we asked for art supplies. The boys got these groovy smocks from Nana and Papa. Thanks!

Finger paint!

Now, back to that hutch. We basically ran out of room and it looked terrible, so we found a new to us cabinet on Craigslist for our crafts. It's really a TV armoire, but my oh so handy husband did this...

and we now have room for all the stuff!

Even these!

My hero, Noah.

Ok, honestly, blogging is like weight loss. Once you fall off the wagon for so long, you just feel shameful facing it. But... I'm back. I really just need to make myself face the mess that is the pictures on my computer after the hard drive crash debacle this summer. Anywho...

I wanted to share a story that had my giggling and awe-ing all night long. We seem to be in a constant state of chaos around here. Moving the office, putting up Christmas. The boys are dealing with it well, but have their moments, so I try to indulge a little. Avery wanted to take his bath in my tub last night, no problem. We got the toys and lathered up. I gave them the choice of getting out while the water drained, or staying in and playing, and this is where the hilarity began.

My youngest, Avery, decided the toys were going to go down the drain when the tail of his lizard went in. I had Noah rescue it, but Avery kept freaking out. I don't know where my attention was (towels, pjs, who knows?) when I clued in that Noah was having a monumental meltdown. Just sobbing. He had his little legs in a V pressed against the walls of the tub, sobbing that he didn't want his toys to go down the drain. My little Hero Noah had made a dam of his body to keep all his tub toys from going down the drain, and was just crying and crying.

So many emotions, I wanted to laugh, but I was sad with him, and so proud of his little two year old bravery. I started to talk them down. I wanted to show them, after I stopped the water, that nothing but water goes down the drain. I grabbed some toys to demonstrate, Avery pushed his way past the Noah-dam and took them back. I finally showed them with my hand that I couldn't go down the drain. I got to show them with some toys. Then, finally, they tried it for themselves. They are too big! We don't fit down the drain! It was such a happy moment. We even showed Dada. We don't fit down the drain!

All night long, I just giggled to myself over it (when my heart wasn't breaking over how sad/scared he was!) My brave little Noah!

Carving pumpkins :)

Rich bought some most excellent pumpkins for the boys to carve, so we sat down yesterday as a family and carved them up!

Step 1: Scooping the guts!

I LOVE this picture.

More scoopage. I was Noah's assistant for this, but I was also manning the camera (as always).

What's in there?

A little help from dad...

Do you like the matching wardrobes? Rich had to get into his undershirt, before Avery could be convinced to take off his nice shirt and do the same.

A little co-carving. The planning process was funny. We drew on the faces with a crayon. It was a little like a police artist. "What eyes do you want, triangles or circles? What eyebrows? (Avery wanted scary, and a nose just like his) Teeth or no teeth?"

Sheesh! He's JUST like his father!

The final product! Look at that beautiful smile on my Noah! I told you he had one. He was actually laughing because Rich was saying Monkey Butt! LOL

Remember us?

Ok, folkies, I KNOW it has been way to long, and I won't even try to explain the absence that felt like forever. Just appreciate that we are back :) Here are some pics from the beginning of summer. In fact, I know it was in May, because that is the only time this summer when we had a week warm enough to wear shorts.

Avery, of course, accessorized.

My sweet boy and his sweet smile (if I could only get the eyes open at the same time)

In case you weren't sure, he's a tree.

and he's just cute!

Funny cuties in PJ's.

I still have to go through and re-folder my photo collection (my hard drive crashed while we were on vacation, but though the miracle of Mother-in-laws who want pictures, I actually managed to have most of it backed up) so the picture posts may be somewhat random for awhile, but we have returned!

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi...

you're my only hope!

Avery took a shine to my sweater on night, and I kept having the urge to dress Noah as a cute little robot! :)