Days at the Hayes

Postcards of Peace.

2012-02-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

(we interrupt our regular scheduled programming for an important announcement)

This is a picture of Ollie. He passed away this morning because of a brain tumor. His family is devastated and they need YOUR help! I have never actually met him or or his family but learned of their story from a friend on facebook.

Two Christmas's ago Ollie's mother requested Christmas cards for him from all over the world. Ollie's favorite holiday was Christmas and because it was that same time of year that he was diagnosed she hoped it would bring him a bit of cheer over the holidays to receive lots of fun cards. I saw the "send Ollie a Christmas card" event on Facebook and thought "We live in Alaska and I bet he won't get any other cards from Alaska" so Kenzie and I sat down and made him a card in Photoshop and sent it on its way. This last Christmas we did the same thing.

Over the past few years we started to follow his story on his family's blog

http://oliverpalmer.blogspot.com/

and my kids have become very interested in how he's been doing. I would give them periodic updates...today he is doing great, he got to go to a football game, or guess what kids, Ollie loves Harry Potter as much as you do. That's why when his health started to decline my kids were very concerned and this morning when he passed away we all started to think of something we could do to help his family now that he is gone. Ollie is survived by his mom Stacy Palmer, his dad Ed, his sister Eden, and his brothers Jaren and Finn.

This is where YOU come in. Because Ollie so loved to get cards in the mail we are going to try and bring his family a little peace in a similar way by sending "Postcards of Peace" from all over the world. If you feel so inspired to do so, please pick up a postcard from your home town and address it to

Peace to the Palmer Family

417 Oaklawn Ave.

Waterloo, IA 50701

You don't have to write any sort of message but if you would like to you could put something like: here's a little peace from our family to yours, or, sending peace from Petersburg, AK (insert your own hometown). We want their family to know that we are thinking of them.

Feel free to share the news, we want as many postcards as possible so we can literally fill their house with peace. Ask your neighbors, facebook friends, blog readers, family members, anyone who would like to help.

“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. " -Spencer W. Kimball

Thanks for helping!

Valentine's Preview.

2012-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

I have seen this valentine idea a few times before and finally decided to do it for the kids. I took their pictures against our maroon wall just before they headed out for the bus one morning and with a few coupon codes got 75 prints, 25 for each kid, for just $6.24 including shipping. We haven't put the actual suckers in yet but I photoshopped one as a preview of what the final product will look like. So fun!

Potty Training.

2012-02-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

There is some potty training going on in our house. Too bad it's for a cabbage patch doll named Grace and not for a 2 year old sweetheart named Melyssa.

The Cold Spell Miracle.

2012-02-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

We had a nasty cold spell a few weeks back. At the same time one of the heaters in our house was on the fritz and the other one, running 24 hours a day, was only keeping our house between 55-60º. We were cold. We wore sweaters and shoes indoors and put space heaters in the kids rooms at night. I spent a lot of the day walking around with Maggie strapped on my front, anything to keep warm.

After a few days of this we started to pray for warmth, warmer weather, or a warmer house, something warm. The next morning we got up like usual and got the kids off to school and Donnie went off to work. A friend of mine came over to drop off her son to play with Baby Donnie and said there was smoke on our porch. When I peaked out the window to see what was going on I realized that our previously broken heater was miraculously working. By that afternoon our house was warm and toasty. Miracles happen.

And, for your enjoyment, a few pictures of what the cold spell did to the cobwebs on our porch.

The Gazoogazam.

2012-01-19T14:49:00.000-08:00

Meet Mandy's new pet, the gazoogazam. (Very good use of the craft supplies the kids got for Christmas!)

Rosy Cheeks.

2012-01-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

When Baby D goes outside and it's really cold, he comes in looking like this...(freaked me out the first time)

Lipstick or Crayons.

2012-01-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

Donnie and Lyssie found a new use for the window crayons. My kids are so creative!

Mandy and Kenzie's rendition of our house and family.

The Haircut.

2012-01-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

We talked Micheal into letting me cut his hair (and stop in the middle to take a pic when it was a mullet). What a transformation.

Breakfast with Lyssa.

2012-01-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't do a formal photo shoot for Lyssa's second birthday so a few days ago I decided to photograph her while she ate breakfast. She tends to sleep in and end up eating breakfast when all the older kids have gone to school and it's just her and me (and Maggie). It's one of my favorite times of the day. We sit (well, she stands) and eat and chat and laugh. I love my Lyssa-loo!

When I am done and start cleaning up, sometimes she sneakily feeds her leftovers to Tanner, although I've told her a thousand times not to do that. Tanner plus Lyssa equals BFF.

Smiles.

2012-01-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

Maggie smiled for the first time a few weeks ago. Shame on me for not getting a picture sooner but better late than never, right? She is such a cutie!

Puppies.

2012-01-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

Our friend's dog had puppies. I took the girls over to watch. Kenzie's comment "Mom, that was really gross, and cool."

New Year's Eve.

2012-01-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

Friends. Food. Mad Gab. Pool. Wii games. Perfect way to bring in the new year! Oh ya, and for some reason a few daring people decided to take a bite of a really hot pepper.

Lyssie turns 2.

2012-01-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Donnie and I wanted to make sure Lyssie's birthday was extra special. Donnie woke her up by singing Happy Birthday and although we're not sure if she understood exactly what that meant, she was super excited about it. As part of the festivities I took the kids (and a few of their friends, Bryn, Cheyenne, and Amanda) to the new bounce house/obstacle course at the community gym. At first Lyssie was scared to death and I thought maybe we'd given her the worst birthday present ever but then after 30 minutes or so she warmed up to it and let Mandy and Bryn take her down the slide, through the tunnels, and bounce all over the place.

We also went out to eat at Papa Bear's Pizza for her birthday dinner. That girl loves her some pizza and fries! We brought along a cake and some presents. The highlight of the night...Lyssie trying to blow out her candles. She kept blowing and blowing but was blowing up instead of forward and only managed to ruffle her hair, not the flames. Daddy jumped in and helped and we all enjoyed the yummy cake. Happy 2nd Birthday Lyssie-Loo!

Masterpieces.

2012-01-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

The kids got some awesome window crayons for Christmas. We have the perfect window for them! Please enjoy a few of their masterpieces...

The Birds.

2012-01-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

After Donnie harvested all the meat from the two deer we were given, he chucked the carcasses out in the muskeg behind our house. A few days later, the birds came. They stayed around for a couple of days and picked the bones clean. Deer carcass out the window, kinda gross, birds noisily flying around while eating everything off the bones, really cool.

Baby Alive.

2012-01-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

So there are these great new baby dolls out there called Baby Alive. They eat, they burp, they move, they pee, they poo. We didn't get one for Melyssa for Christmas, so, she found her own. And when I told her that baby Maggie is mine, she decided her cabbage patch would do. :) Now, every time I feed or change Maggie, little cabbage patch "Grace" gets changed and fed too.

Gingerbread Houses.

2011-12-31T17:18:00.000-08:00

This year we made gingerbread houses after Christmas and it was just as fun as doing it before! We also used graham crackers instead of gingerbread but that didn't seem to make it any less fun either. And when I say "we" I mean all the kids except Lyssa because she just ate the crackers and candy and didn't "make" anything!

Christmas.

2011-12-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

Donnie's phone alarm went off at 7am. I was the first one up, fed Maggie, and got a shower, then woke up the kids. For some reason Melyssa did not want to come downstairs. We wouldn't let any of them come down until she stopped throwing her fit. I'm sure it drove the others crazy to have to wait! The kid's excitement is what makes Christmas morning so fun. Donnie bribed Lyssa with his phone and we eventually all made it down the stiars. The kids spent a long while oohing and aahing over what Santa had brought while Donnie and I whipped up a big breakfast.

Next we went to church for an hour, sang lots of hymns and enjoyed thinking about the true meaning of the season. After the service Donnie and I were talking to everyone, chatting, taking our time, apparently most families opened all their presents before coming to church. The kids, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get home and open their presents.

When we got home we opened presents one at a time. I didn't take many pics because Maggie, of course, was starving and ate through the majority of the present opening. The kids loved it! They got necessary things like socks and undies and then a bunch of fun things, wii games, cute jammies, craft supplies, and toys. Doing Christmas with kids is so fun. Thanks again to all those who made our Christmas wonderful with thoughtful gifts for us and especially for the kids!

ps...thanks to blogger for auto save, right before I posted the pictures firefox shut down and I thought I'd lost the post but alas, it is still here!

Christmas Eve.

2011-12-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

Although I didn't take any pictures of it we went Julebukking for a good part of the day. Short explanation...Julebukking = a Norwegian something or other that translates into all the local businesses having lots of good free food out to thank the towns people for shopping locally. We started at a small computer shop and had some homemade chili and then went to the hardware store and had fresh shrimp, fruit and veggies, and a vast assortment of cookies (which I ate a way too many of). The finale was hot pastrami sandwiches served at the drug store. When our tummies were full we went home to relax (and take a picture of our cool festive Julebukking outfits).

We kept with our Christmas Eve tradition of opening pajamas and because Christmas was on Sunday this year the kids also opened special church clothes. Thanks to our family and friends who sent the wonderful outfits and toys for the kids!

This year we invited Donnie's uncle Sam and one of our close friends Michael to spend Christmas with us. It was fun to share the holiday and our traditions with them. We had a fantastic time!

Mandy's Salon and Swimming.

2011-12-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve's eve the kids were bouncing off the walls. Mandy finally decided to open a salon to pass the time. They did mud masks, massages, tattoos, and nail painting and it kept them busy for most of the afternoon. Baby Donnie was getting left out of the "girl" stuff but finally convinced Mandy to do a mask for him too. I assured him that a mud mask is good for boys too if they want to have nice skin.

That evening we went to a free open swim at the pool to try and tire the kids out. Our friends Tom, Aimee, Ben, Grace, and Seth came with us.

iPhone Pics.

2011-12-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to say about these pics but thought I should post the pics that Donnie has taken with his iPhone. They start all the way back in August.

Breakfast with Santa.

2011-12-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we ventured out to the breakfast with Santa. Our friends, Tom and Aimee, were out of town and we'd had their kids since Wednesday morning and I figured this was a good opportunity for all of us to get out of the house. I also wanted to get a good idea of what it was like for my Mom to go out and about when I was young (when her oldest was 9, like Mandy is, she had 8 kids and with my 5 and the 3 Marsh kids I was sporting 8 kids all a year apart so they could technically all be mine).

We had a great time and no one got into any trouble or got lost. Seth did sneak away for a second and steal a second chat with Santa but the child in the front of the line was forgiving of him cutting in. I put Maggie in the sling so I had two hands at all times and I kept one eye on Baby Donnie and the other on Seth. Mandy was Melyssa's buddy and didn't leave her side for even a second. Kenzie and Grace stuck together and did all of the crafts without any help. Ben ran around with some of his friends from school.

Melyssa still wanted nothing to do with Santa.

Kenzie's Performance.

2011-12-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

Kenzie's class did a performance of The Mitten. Kenzie played the part of the mouse, very fitting I think, considering she has the most high pitched voice in her entire class. Every time there was a unison part her voice could be heard over everyone else's. Fantastic! Maggie wore her cutest Christmas outfit so I snapped a few pics of her in it when we got home, at which point she was completely starved (if you couldn't tell).

Preschool Party.

2011-12-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

Donnie's preschool class had a Christmas party complete with fun crafts and a visit with Santa. Donnie and his friends Seth and Adam, had a great time. Lyssie, on the other hand, enjoyed the crafts but wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa. She couldn't take her eyes off him because if she looked away for even a second he might try and kidnap her or something, right? I got her as close to Santa as I could to watch her squirm, I'm mean like that (and I totally would have gotten a picture of her screaming if I could have maneuvered a camera at the same time).

Maggie's Blessing.

2011-12-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

On December 4th Donnie blessed Maggie at church. As always, it was wonderful. I don't remember everything she was blessed with but I do remember that most of it pertained to her having a strong testimony. It's amazing to hold her in my arms and realize that some day she will be all grown up and sharing her testimony with others. She is such a sweet baby and a wonderful addition to our home. We love you Maggie!

We decided to do an impromptu family picture that morning before we headed out the door. We don't look our best but we are all in it and somehow everyone is looking eventhough I used the timer. Score!

What Donnie Said #3.

2011-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

The day after we set up the tree Baby Donnie came running down the stairs as soon as he got out of bed. He went right over to the tree and then stood there in shock for a moment before exclaiming:

"What, No presents??!!"

I guess we should have explained that the tree stays up for a month or so before Santa comes. Sorry for the disappointment little man.

And here's some fun pics to accompany this post. Kenz and Lyssie spent at least 30 minutes checking themselves out in the ornaments, I heard their hysterical laughter and went in to investigate and had to take some photos. In the pic of the kids in front of the tree they are wearing their cool blinking light necklaces and earrings that they got from Uncle Sam. Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's Tradition.

2011-11-30T12:19:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving we always put up our tree. This year was no different.

Thanksgiving.

2011-11-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

What a great day/weekend. Ever since I arrived home with Maggie I have wanted the kids to have a break from school so we could all hang out together. The long Thanksgiving weekend was the perfect amount of time. The kids spent a lot of time outside sledding and the rest of the time inside drinking hot chocolate and recovering from sledding

Now to a scary story...On Thanksgiving morning the kids (minus Maggie of course) accompanied Donnie and Sam out to Papke's Landing (about 10 miles out the road from our house) to shovel the deck on the other fishing lodge. After they left I started to get things ready for dinner and worry about Baby Donnie. I wasn't sure why I was worried and I just kept telling myself I was being paranoid because I read too many blogs about sick/injured kids. But, 2 hours later when they all got back Baby Donnie walked in and his face was bruised and scratched. I asked Mandy what happened and she said "Oh Mom, he just got buried", like it was no big deal. To me it seemed a little scary so I asked Donnie what happened and got the full story.

While they were shoveling Baby Donnie was standing right under the edge of the roof. Donnie cautioned him to move before all the snow came off the roof. Baby Donnie, of course, knows better and so stayed, playing, right where he was. Minutes later the snow came cruising off the roof (2 feet of snow from a very big roof), knocked Baby D to his back and buried him. Donnie and Sam saw it happen and rushed over and immediately started digging him out. Other than the scratches and being frightened, he's fine. I would like to say that he listens to every thing we say now, but well, he still thinks he's invincible. Kids.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, gravy, wheat rolls, and Martinelli's for dinner. For dessert I made 2 pineapple upside down cakes, and an apple strudel type thing. We aren't really into pumpkin pie. We talked a lot about the things we are thankful for.

Thanksgiving is the best.

(the first pic may seem a little random but I had to get a picture of baby Donnie wearing that coat, it's been passed down and I think Wes used to wear it and maybe some of my other brothers)

Picture it.

2011-11-23T18:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I try and picture Maggie back inside me. It's unreal to think she was in there and somehow she fit. Here's another picture of me, taken by me, in my favorite I'm-going-to-take-a-picture-of-myself mirror in the upstairs bathroom where the window lighting is pretty good.

Snow.

2011-11-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

When we went to bed last night it was chilly and muddy outside.
When we woke up this morning, it looked like this...

Mandy is 9 aka an old lady.

2011-11-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

As far as I'm concerned Mandy is getting way too grown up. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas she told me she would love to get makeup and a hair straightener. Really?? She's only 9. I understand that she doesn't want to play with Polly Pockets and Barbies anymore but there has got to be something between that and teenager stuff.

When Donnie and I were in Juneau we walked around Walmart and Fred Meyer looking for something for her for her birthday. We ended up getting her a snow tube because we know she loves to sled. What else can you get a 9 year old girl? It's really easy to buy for girls younger than her but we have finally gotten to the "tween" stage and it's gotten far more difficult to find something that she likes/wants that is also age appropriate. Anyone else agree?

Anyway, she did have a wonderful birthday! She wanted a huge party but I wasn't up to that (I had a baby just recently or something like that) so I told her she could invite 3 or 4 friends and they had to entertain themselves. She ended up with 3 friends over (Journey, Jaden, Allie) for 2 hours, the Friday before her birthday. She told them to wear fancy clothes. They baked a cake and some cupcakes together (Donnie only supervised the oven part), danced in the living room while the goods were baking, and then decorated the stuff with anything they could find in the pantry. Mandy had a ball! Just goes to show that a big, planned, themed, all-out sort of party would have been a lot of work and a huge waste of time since they had oodles of fun left to their own devices.

For Mandy's "family" party we had her usual birthday dinner of pork chops, sauerkraut, peas, and mashed potatoes and then opened gifts. She chose homemade Reese's for dessert instead of a cake. She got a paddle from Uncle Sam for some birthday spankins, we all laughed really hard (and Kenzie's eyes almost popped out of her head, check out the pic). Sam also gave her a card with some cash, she has yet to decide what to get with it because I told her she could shop online and now the possibilities are SO endless that she can't decide. I'll let you know if she ever does. She got cash from Grandma too. From Nanna and Poppop she got Paperoni and has since informed me that it's not as cool as it looks on tv, it's better! And Donnie and I got her the double snow tube.

I still can't believe she's 9. She was almost the same size when she was born as Maggie is now and when I look at Maggie and then at Mandy I can't believe how long it's been since Mandy was a cuddly little newborn asleep in my arms (Mandy was 7lbs 5 oz 20.5 inches and Maggie was the same weight just one inch shorter). She is becoming such a wonderful young lady. She is incredibly helpful and responsible and such a sweetheart. Today it snowed over a foot. Kenzie's been at a friends house all day and Mandy has been here being the best big sister ever to Donnie and Lyssie. She even got both of them all dressed warm and took them out sledding. She played trains with Donnie and put Lyssie down for her nap when it was time. Love you Mandy-Girl!

Heading Home.

2011-11-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to post all the pics I neglected to post when I got overlyexcited putting Maggie's studio pics on here. So, enjoy a few pictures of her getting ready to leave the hospital.

Mendenhall Glacier.

2011-11-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

Before Maggie was born, while she was taking her sweet time and waiting to come out. Donnie and I went to see the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. It was awesome!

5 days new.

2011-11-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

Maggie Mae.

2011-11-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

So here's the story, the short ungory version because let's face it, there are some things about child birth that should be forgotten because otherwise people are going to stop having babies.

After being in Juneau for what seemed like forever I decided that we'd been there long enough that Maggie needed to be born on 11.11.11 because after all the waiting she should at least have a cool birthday that would make it all worth it. So, on 11.10.11 I pulled out all the stops and after going to a Relief Society meeting with all the friends I'd made in Juneau I decided to take some Castor Oil. I didn't get back to the hotel until after 11pm and downed a couple teaspoons of the stuff. Note to everyone who will in the future ever consider taking Castor Oil...DON'T. It tastes like the smell of stinky feet and it's really thick and even after downing it and some amazingly good root beer I still had essence of nasty feet on my breath.

I had been having contractions all night already and after the castor oil they didn't seem to speed up but at least they didn't stop. I spent the next few hours sick to my stomach so I drifted in and out of sleep while watching a few shows on Netflix. I kept telling myself that if the contractions continued on for another hour I would definitely go into the hospital. I had just finished telling myself that at 4:24 when I felt a sudden jolt and heard what sounded like a balloon popping inside of me. A weird sensation to say the least but I figured my water had broken and it was definitely time to head to the hospital. I frantically began packing my bags amidst now very "real" contractions. I started to call the hospital but then decided to wait until I was in the shuttle...no time to waste. I called the front desk and had them send up the driver to get my bags and I headed down the stairs to check out while the scared-to-death 20 something shuttle guy hauled my suitcases down the stairs.

As I fumbled for my key another contraction came on and the guy behind the front desk urged me to just get going. Like I can walk in the middle of a contraction like that! When it was over I found the key, handed it to him, and got into the van. I looked over at the driver and asked him, with the most serious face I could muster, If he'd ever delivered a baby. He turned to me as the blood drained from his face and shook his head no. I assured him I was joking and just told him to get going and everything would be fine. Nothing like a little labor humor!

The rest of the timeline goes as follows (I had the nurse write it down after I delivered so I wouldn't forget):

4:43am Called hospital from the van to let them know I was on the way
4:55am My water broke the rest the way as I was getting out of the elevator
4:57am Arrived in the OB Unit
5:08am Finally let the nurse check-fully dilated (don't touch me lady I'm in a little bit of pain)
5:09am Welcome Maggie
5:20ish Doctor Arrives

So that's how it went. Good thing I didn't watch the rest of that episode I was enjoying or that shuttle driver would have gotten an awesome surprise! Two nurses delivered Maggie and she was wiped off and in my arms long before the doctor got there. I spent the rest of Friday in the hospital and flew home Saturday afternoon.

We are so happy to have Maggie here and to finally all be home as a family. She is the sweetest baby ever. Last night she slept from 9pm -2am and then from 3am-7:30am. Not sure if that is going to keep up but I feel awesome after that much sleep, definitely a blessing!

Here are the stats for those who are interested

Maggie Mae Hayes
7 lbs 5 oz
19.5 inches long

And of course, a few pics I snapped at the hospital!

(flowers and onesies courtesy of "Mom and Dad" Lee, thanks to "Auntie" Heather and all the wonderful families and friends who took care of me while I was stranded in Juneau!!)

Juneau. (and what Kenzie thinks is going on)

2011-11-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of people asking questions about my stay here in Juneau so figured I would try to explain on the blog. To understand my predicament fully you first have to understand a little about the geography of Southeast Alaska. We live in Petersburg. It's on Mitkof island, which is surrounded by a lot of other islands the make up Southeast Alaska. Juneau is roughly 160 miles north of Petersburg and like Petersburg only accessible by boat or aircraft. Got it? Here's a map, just in case you don't...

Now, Petersburg has a population of around 3,000 people. It's a pretty small town. Years ago they used to deliver babies in Petersburg. Now, in modern times, they have given up that practice. I hear that it has something to do with liability but I don't really know the reason (let me pause to have a contraction that won't be followed by another one and will only drive me crazy). Expectant mothers receive all of their checkups in Petersburg but are required to leave town 2-4 weeks (sometimes more for high risk pregnancies) before their due date. Most women choose to go to either Ketchikan or Juneau to await delivery unless they have family somewhere else.

Because my last pregnancy ended at 37 weeks (welcome Melyssa) and the one before at 38 weeks (welcome Baby Donnie) the doctors wanted me to leave Petersburg at 36 weeks, just in case, and head to Juneau to await delivery. I couldn't imagine leaving my family a month before my due date so I eventually talked them into feeling comfortable with 2 1/2 weeks before. I was half way secretly hoping that I would have the baby in Petersburg (emergency of course but they would deliver if they had to) and not have to come here at all.

The day of my scheduled flight, October 26th, came so I packed up, hopped on the plane, and began my wait. Donnie flew in the next morning just in time to go with me to my doctors appt. I was hoping to be checked, get my membranes stripped, and have the baby within a day or two. I was pretty confident that I would have the baby since Baby D and Melyssa were both born within 12 hours of the checking/stripping. So, we went to the doctor, excited, ready to have the baby and fly back home together on Monday (Donnie's flight was booked and we'd only scheduled child care for that long).

That's when/where everything started to go downhill. The doctor did all the normal things, listened to the heartbeat, gave the belly a measure and was ready to send us on our way. We requested a little help moving things along, a simple check, a little membrane stripping. He refused. He measured my belly again and said I was measuring small, only 35 weeks. Then he double checked my due date, told me that because it was calculated by an ultrasound that it could be as much as 2 weeks off and if I was in fact only 35 weeks there is no way he wanted me going into labor. Donnie and I both spent a few minutes convincing him to at least check me which he eventually did, very reluctantly. We then convinced him to strip my membranes Sunday morning since I would, by then, be 38 weeks along. He even more reluctantly, let's say we pretty much had to threaten him, agreed to do it. Making sure we knew that he really didn't want to and that it probably wouldn't do anything.

We left the doctors office and started walking....
We walked all day Thursday (while getting our Christmas shopping done of course),
and Friday,
and Saturday.
A lot of contractions, nothing regular, nothing helpful.
Sunday morning we met Dr. Cautious and he stripped my membranes, somewhat halfheartedly, assuring us that it wouldn't do any good.
Then we walked. This time we pulled out all the stops and walked the San Francisco-esque hills of downtown Juneau and jogged up every staircase we could find.
We stopped and ate breakfast and then continued walking. Not sure how many miles we logged that day but I'm sure it was upwards of 12.
Still, nothing.

We told the doctor at the appointment that Donnie had to go home Monday afternoon. He mumbled something about inducing a girl once because her husband was leaving to Iraq and then acted like it didn't matter if Donnie had to leave.

Donnie left on his scheduled flight Monday afternoon. The kids needed to be cared for since our friend's Tiffany and Charles needed to get back to their lives and Donnie really needed to get back to work.

I cried.

And, lugged Donnie's suitcases around the airport hoping for a miracle. Before we move on picture the 6'2" guy walking through the airport with his 5'3" very pregnant wife who's hauling 2 very large suitcases and a duffel bag while his hands are empty except for an iphone. The lady behind the ticket counter was giving Donnie stares of death until I assured her it was my choice...anything to get labor going!

So, now it's Thursday. I am still in Juneau. I haven't seen my kids for over a week and I'm still not in labor and the doctors still don't care and won't do anything except see me once a week to listen to the heartbeat. I have walked for at least 3 hours a day, sometimes more. I've been down every isle in Wal Mart and Fred Meyer and logged an insane amount of hours in the smallest Mall known to man (and one annoyed pregnant woman). I've done stairs, jumping jacks, drank raspberry tea, and watched more tv than I care to admit.

Being away for so long has done something strange too. It's hard to imagine life outside this hotel room, I feel like I've been here forever. People, very well meaning ones, keep saying that I should just relax and enjoy this vacation but this isn't a vacation. It's torture. I want to go back and kiss my husband and hug my kids and clean my house and train my puppy and worry about what's for dinner. I want to turn around and bump into Baby Lyssie because she quietly follows me everywhere and I want Baby Donnie to stop calling me and crying for me to come home. I want to stop ordering room service, it's overrated. I want to write a letter to TLC and thank them for having 3 straight days of "A Baby Story"...way to rub it in.

But alas, I must wait. Donnie is not going to be able to come back which also means that when I do go into labor he won't be here with me. I was also informed a few days ago that when I go into labor I first have to check out of the hotel (insurance can only pay for the hotel or the hospital but not both at the same time). So, while in labor I have to pack my bags (2 suitcases, a duffel bag, the car seat, and my purse and laptop) and take the shuttle or a taxi to the hospital, by myself, with my bags...did I mention I'm going to be in labor during this? It just keeps getting better right?

I went to the doctor again today (a different one, they kind of just throw you in with whoever may be available) and he said the same things. I even cried (again). He smiled and said he'd induce me at 41 weeks aka 17 days from now. Nice.

So, that kind of sums up my situation. I'm not a very strong woman and I'm not being very good at seeing the positive in this situation. I do appreciate the time I got to spend with Donnie, just him and I. We talked a lot while we walked and it was nice to do that. We don't get much a lone time these days. I can't think of many other perks of this little furlough except one ray of light sent yesterday via facebook messages from Kenzie's kindergarten teacher from last year...and I quote:

Hi Donn and Meggan! This could be a funny story for you..... or it may be disturbing??!! Today at recess McKenzie said to me, "My Dad is so mad at the doctors! He thinks they are jerks because they won't strip my mom's "mind brains"..... whatever that means!!!" Then she ran off. I thought it was so cute and funny........ then later I thought, oh my goodness, she might be really freaked out thinking about what mind brains are!!!!! So I thought I should let you know!!!!! Kids say the darndest things :)

I guess I can try and take solace in the fact that I got to laugh about that. It's a start.

37.5 Weeks.

2011-10-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

These are going to be some of my last preggo pics. I had to take a few more because I just love snapping pics of myself with the help of our various bathroom mirrors, love, really. I am leaving to Juneau tomorrow morning and hoping to be home by Monday! Here's me at 37.5 weeks.

Pumpkins.

2011-10-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year, Halloween is almost here, and I have to admit I've been a little bit of a dud as far as festivities go. I guess my mind has been a little preoccupied by all things baby. Good thing my husband went to the store with the girls and picked out pumpkins so we could carve them for Family Home Evening last night!

We ended up using regular kitchen knives to do the carving, couldn't find our nifty little carving tools from years past (the girls found one this morning while getting ready for school, nice!), so our designs were not as intricate as we first planned. McKenzie had the cutest little face drawn up on hers but had to redo it on the other side because of our crude cutting utensils. That caused a mini melt down in one tired 6 year old (I can't really blame her, you can see the intense concentration on her face). Melyssa also decided to have a super diaper explosion half way through and needed an emergency shower. It was an adventure to say the least but the pumpkins turned out awesome and the kids had a great time. Here's to weird traditions to surround a silly holiday!

Extra Special Bonus...a picture of me and my pregnant belly that Donnie took with his iphone!

Twins.

2011-10-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

There is a deer family that has taken up residence around our house. A mommy and her twins. The kids LOVE to see them eating the grass in our backyard and skipping along behind their mother. Melyssa is especially enthralled by their presence and will sit at the window watching them for a long time and oohing and aahing. So cute.

Face Paints.

2011-10-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

Nanna provided the kids with face paints and occasionally Mandy goes crazy with them. A week or so ago she had her friend Journey over after school and they did a little artwork with said paints. Donnie ended up as his own version of Sonic the Hedgehog, Kenzie was a cat, not sure what Journey was, and Mandy's never got done because we got distracted making some no-bake cookies (the unborn child inside me really wanted some).

Also, Tanner is growing so there's a pic of him too. He can now officially do 4 things pretty well as long as he's not too excited: sit, lay down, stay, and shake. Not sure if at 4 months he's supposed to know more than that but I feel like he's doing pretty good. He still drives me crazy when he gets all jumpy and overly excited about things but then I have to remind myself that he's a puppy. He also pulled when I had him on the leash yesterday and I slipped and went all the way down and came away incredibly upset and incredibly muddy. I contemplated selling him at that point but got over it when I saw him playing with his best friend Lyssie. Dogs.

The Hatchery.

2011-10-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Donnie got to go to the fish hatchery with his preschool class. They slit open the salmon and spilled the eggs right in front of the kids. Donnie thought it was awesome. He got to bring home a few fertilized eggs in a small plastic beaker. They are currently in our fridge, and dead I'm sure, from the severe shaking they got in the first few hours in our home.

Melyssa got to go the hatchery as well. Although, from the scowl on her face I'm guessing she didn't enjoy it as much as Donnie. This scowl is typically the one she reserves for strangers so maybe it was because of all the unfamiliar people. Who knows.

The BIG Tub.

2011-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Something needs to be said about the bath tub in the master bathroom. I'm not sure if I've ever spoken of it or put a picture of it on the blog. It's time.

The bath tub, if it can be called that, is Huge. I mean it's really Gigantic. It's like one of those big jetted tubs only it's 70's yellow and it doesn't have jets. It's just a colossal basin slash waste of space. We plan on replacing it with a nice walk-in tiled shower. We don't ever plan on filling it up because we've heard it takes over an hour and I can't imagine paying that water bill. In the mean time though it is fun to look at it and to show people so they can marvel at it's sheer size.

It also happens to be the best tub on the planet to bathe Tanner in, because he can't get out on his own very well so he has to stay in and endure his bath. Something else kind of cool about it is that it's also a shower stall and it's so big that it doesn't need any doors or walls so showering in it almost feels scandalous and like taking a shower out in the open might feel.

I hope the picture does it justice.

Caramel and Apples.

2011-10-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

Donnie picked up some caramel and apples for us to enjoy over Conference weekend. I don't know that we've ever made caramel apples as a family and the kids loved it! They unwrapped the caramel (minus Lyssie who only unwrapped 2 and ate them both before they made it to the pan), Mandy stirred the caramel as it melted, and then Donnie hand dipped each one.

The kids had a hard time getting their mouths on them, especially Kenzie with her lack of teeth. We had to slice hers. But they tasted delicious anyway!

Donnie's first tri.

2011-10-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

Donnie completed his first triathlon sprint. The sun was shining so the kids and I went to cheer for him as he came over the finish line. I don't recall his time but it was pretty good considering he started too early and ended up swimming an extra 250 yards...ooops.

The Bus.

2011-10-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Baby Donnie (who this morning informed his Dad that he's no longer a baby, a name change may be in order...) has started preschool. He gets to ride a funny little bus so I had to take pictures. He loves it and double checks every morning to make sure that he is going on the bus alone, without me. So independent.

His independence also takes over when he's getting dressed, yes his boots are on the wrong feet, and he specifically requested to have his hair "up like Daygen's". (Daygen is a little boy that was Donnie's friend before he moved in the summer.)

Hair.

2011-10-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Mandy had a sleepover with two friends at the same time. She was ecstatic! Friday evening we attended a carnival at a local church and the girls all got their faces painted. When we got back to the house they watched movies and stayed up late laughing and laughing. In the morning they all looked like escapees from a local insane asylum. I'm thinking this pic will have to be in some type of "memories" slideshow when there all in highschool!

32 weeks. 4 months.

2011-10-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a really cool picture of me at 32 weeks. I am awful when it comes to documenting my pregnant belly so ignore the corny taken-in-the-mirror pic and just enjoy that there is a picture of my belly at all.

Also, another picture of Tanner, at 4 months old. He drives me crazy but he's cute so I take pictures of him.

"School" Pictures 2011

2011-10-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Mandy and Kenzie brought home their neat little picture packets covered in photographs featuring blue modeled backdrops. I promptly threw them away (oops, didn't know I was supposed to return it even if I wasn't buying any) and made a date to do my own pictures. We had such a good time, which is saying a lot since I usually end up threatening at least one of the kids while we're doing them. :)

Nice Weather.

2011-09-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

The title has nothing to do with our weather in August. If I was going to put a title about our August weather I would just put "Weather", because we had a lot of it. A lot of rain to be exact, record breaking rain to be even more accurate. Our last month in the apartment was difficult because we ended up indoors a lot. We moved back to our house from the 3rd-5th of September. This last Saturday we had phenomenal weather, sun even, and we spent the entire day outside and took the opportunity to clean out the garage which led to having a bonfire which led to using the coals for dutch oven and s'mores. What a fantastic day! The kids played with Tanner in the backyard while Donnie took care of the fire and Baby D took care of something else...

I didn't take too many pictures but wanted a few of the kids with Tanner. Enjoy (I know I put that a lot but I mean it), it's been way too long since I posted something with cool pictures.

Green Obsession.

2011-09-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

This story is a little gross. The word poo will be used. Read on at your own risk!

Baby Donnie is obsessed with the color green. He will always choose a green shirt over any other, eats his food on a green plate with a green fork, drinks out of a green cup, and points out the color green whenever he sees it. He even eats veggies better if I remind him they are green. It's his favorite color (if you hadn't figured that out already). I'm pretty sure that all of his presents this year for Christmas are going to be green, not sure what exactly they will be but as long as they're green, I don't think he'll care.

So, on to the gross part. A few days back I was changing Melyssa's diaper. Something in her diet over the past week has changed her poo (told you that word was coming) to a bright neon green, and yes neon is the right word. Baby D happened to saunter over while I was changing it and notice the color of the diaper contents. "Mom, her poop is green!!", he excitedly exclaimed. "Yes" I said rather dryly trying to get the change over as quickly as possible. To which he replied "I love green poop!".

I think his obsession has gone too far.

Baby D's first Salmon.

2011-09-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

Donnie, his uncle Sam, and Baby Donnie went out and did a little salmon fishing last weekend. Baby Donnie reeled in his first salmon. He still talks about it. Luckily Donnie had his iphone and could snap a picture even though Baby D wouldn't actually touch it after he'd reeled it in. He was perfectly content to stand next to it while Sam held the line close.

First Day of School

2011-09-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

We were still hanging out in our apartment when the kids started school. I almost forgot to snap a pic on the first day and since we were running late I didn't get a great one. Here's Mandy starting 3rd grade with Mrs. Wallace and Kenzie starting first grade with Mrs. Davis.

Update and Bubbles.

2011-08-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

So I've been meaning to do a little update post for a bit now.

It's been a while since I took Melyssa down for her hearing test and I know most of you already know the results but... She passed, on the low end but passed none the less. The doctors official evaluation, "She probably just doesn't feel like talking yet". So, we have been going about life as usual. Melyssa is going to be getting some language therapy starting in the next couple of weeks but I'm not too worried about it. I think she will talk when she's ready. As long as she can hear, I'm okay waiting.

I finally got my lens back, fixed and ready to go. It cost a measly $300 to fix it but considering that is less than half what it would cost to buy a new one I just had to do it *cringe*.

Also, we are moving back to our house at the end of this week, beginning of next week (insert the hallelujah chorus here)! It has been fun living in town for the summer but I'm going to be honest and admit that our neighborhood is not the best. We've been a few blocks from the library and numerous playgrounds and have some good friends who live at the end of the block and it's been awesome to walk all over the place but the drug bust 2 doors down, yep, I'm ready to move back to our quiet little street two miles "out the road". I am also a little tired of walking through cigarette smoke to get to the car (our downstairs neighbors enjoy that habit) and am so done with the neighbor who thinks blasting Michael Jackson at 2am is a good time for everyone. We will miss our friends being so close so I will just have to make an effort to see them even though they won't be within walking distance.

Now a few pics to make this post more fun. Mandy came out of the bathroom the other day with enough soap on her hands for at least 10 hand washings. For the previous half hour she'd been using it to blow bubbles. Pretty cool, so of course I took some pics.

Meet Tanner.

2011-08-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back our awesome clients at the fishing lodge (The Christensens) convinced Donnie that we needed one of the puppies their yellow lab had recently given birth to. Donnie has never been a fan of dogs. He didn't tell me he'd been convinced. A dog house showed up in our driveway.

I had no idea why we needed a huge doghouse other than it kind of looked like a playhouse the kids could have fun in so I didn't think much of it (especially knowing that Donnie has never wanted a dog). Then, a week or so later, he spilled the news, but only to me. I was excited and a little apprehensive. I have never trained a dog before. I went to the library and devoured every book I could find on dog training the whole time telling the kids I was reading them to help a friend.

Today, Tanner came in on the morning jet. He is a 10 week old male, fully papered, yellow lab. He is also a chewing machine. The kids are ecstatic and so am I. I am still nervous but I think all the reading is going to pay off and I'm determined to train him into a good dog. Donnie wants to teach him to retrieve when hunting (I also got a book for that).

He is a cute little guy, contentedly chewing a bone at my feet as I type this!

His name...we wanted to name his something Alaskan, Tanner comes from tanner crabs, very appropriate.

The Party.

2011-08-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

For Donnie's birthday we had a barbeque with a few friends. For the adults Donnie barbequed carne asada and for the kids, per request of the birthday boy, there was a peanut butter, jelly, and nutella sandwich bar and green cake. It was SO rainy outside so we had the party out at the house after the week's clients went home. Everyone had a great time.

Thank you to everyone who sent and brought gifts, called on the phone, and all those who could attend to make Donnie's birthday special!

Donnie is 4.

2011-08-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Donnie turned 4. He started out so small (6 pounds 10 ounces, 18.5 inches), the smallest of my babies if I remember correctly but he sure has grown. We had a little get together for him last night (I'll post those pictures later) but I wanted to post some pics from our very impromptu photo shoot we had the day before his birthday.

He came out of his room after having dressed himself in his favorite train overalls and said "Mom, take a picture of me over here" and sat on one of our awesome yellow chairs. He was right next to the window and although it was incredibly rainy out there was still a bit of light coming in. I couldn't resist.

A few Donnie favorites:
the color green
ninja turtles
sonic the hedgehog
riding bikes
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
sneaking and wearing his boots without socks (gross!)
racecars
beat-boxing (not sure that's how to write that)

And now enjoy his sweet face (first pic from his first photo shoot).

Kenz is so smart #5.

2011-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Just now we were all hanging out in the living room with the kids, chatting, kids hanging all over Donnie, Lyssie getting into things...

when Kenzie pipes up "Daddy, why do you have a mullet?"

I wasn't looking at what Kenz was doing when she said it but immediately turned my head to see her pointing at a sizable mole in Donnie's hair line as he said...

"Kenz that's a mole, not a mullet."

Definitely not the same thing!

(but now that you've seen Donnie with Macgyver's mullet, maybe he should get one?!)

She found dirt.

2011-08-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Man Made Hole for a church bbq on July 24th. I didn't bring my camera. Sometimes I don't want to lug it around, some day I'll get a pointnshoot for my purse so I always have a camera with me.

We ate good food and it was warm enough that the kids all played in the lake. Mandy and Kenz were even brave enough to go off the rope swing. A friend just sent me some pics of Lyssie from that day (thanks Cherise). Lyssie didn't eat much food but did consume a large amount of mud. I bet if I swept her room right now I would still be able to find bits of that dirt.

Perfect Pancakes. (good enough to steal)

2011-08-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have been working all summer to find a really good pancake recipe. I absolutely don't like the mostly made kind from the store. Growing up my Mom made from scratch pancakes for a long time and then switched over to the take-powder-and-add-water kind and I just never loved the store bought pancakes.

This morning I think I found my recipe, the one I will use and love from here on out. Thought I'd share. It's a compilation of a few different recipes plus a few of my own additions so I guess I can sort of call it mine. Here goes.

Wheat Flax Pancakes (with berry syrup):

Dry Ingredients
2/3 cups wheat flour
2/3 cups white flour
2/3 cups ground flax seed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Wet ingredients
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons oil (I used olive oil because it's the only kind we have right now)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix just until moist, will be slightly lumpy. Cook at medium heat on a skillet. Flip after a few minutes, or when the bubbles do not reclose around the edges. Makes between 15-20 medium size pancakes.

Syrup:

I didn't measure any part of the syrup so I'm just going to guess here. I took about 1 cup of berries (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry frozen mix) and simmered them on medium heat with 1 tablespoon sugar, a dash of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until the mixture was very liquid.

And here's the part about stealing...
after Melyssa's bath she decided she hadn't had enough pancakes, so she helped herself to some more, actually she helped herself to the rest of them. I told her to put them back and she laughed at me, tried to hide them with her hands, and then ate them anyway.

It's Halloween.

2011-08-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Apparently today is Halloween and somehow I didn't know. The kids spent all morning creating costumes and turning Kenz and Donnie's room into a haunted house. It's been raining for a while now, a week? I don't really remember and I guess they decided to get creative. Fun times.

I spent the morning organizing all our art supplies. Melyssa has a way of finding dark colored markers and drawing on every inch of her exposed skin plus any other area of the house she feels might need a little more color. I finally took all the markers out of the cupboard she can reach, threw away all the ones that were dried up and put the good ones in a bin way out of her reach. It only took me three months and at least 20 unwanted art projects and tattoo sessions from Melyssa to get the motivation to do this. Hmmm.

As soon as I was done Melyssa pulled out the pen/pencil drawer and dumped it all over the floor. Then she gave me her I-would-never-do-that face and tried to hide behind her hands.

Also, for your pure enjoyment, a picture of our couch aka one ugly yellow chair, one equally attractive yellow recliner, and one blue something with only one armrest that used to be part of an actual couch. It's funny.

I am in a strange mood today and have an incredible urge to laugh at my kids. Have an awesome day!

Out and About.

2011-08-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I got to have a short girl's evening with one of our clients, Tiffany, and Mandy (my daughter). The three of us explored town and some of the the surrounding scenery and chatted. It was so fun to put on my tourist glasses and wander. We didn't have a lot of time and I was using my dumpy stock lens but enjoy the few pics I got. (in order...Devil's thumb from Sandy Beach, North side of town, Sunset, North Harbor)

The Garnet Mine.

2011-08-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Nanna came into town and while she was here she took us up to the Garnet Mine. I'd heard about it since we moved her but could never get any detailed information on it. Apparently that's because most people go up there illegally and mine without permission and so don't want to let on that they know where it is. I'd mentioned it to the kids a couple of times because I thought it would be fun to go there so Nanna did some research, contacted the owner, and we spent an afternoon mining up there. I found out later that it was rather expensive but the kids had a blast so I'm glad we went.

The view from the mine was beautiful and I loved that it wasn't a mine as in a cave we had to go into and be in the dark (which is what I was picturing) but an outcropping of rocks with tons of garnets just sticking out of them. We were given hammers and chisels and sat in the dirt chipping rocks and digging the gems out. The kids were filthy when we left, the true sign of a good day!

What Donnie Said #2

2011-08-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was in the bathroom doing my hair when Baby Donnie charged in announcing his need to go to the bathroom. He lifted up the lid (not both the lid and the seat) and proceeded to pee, hitting both the back of the toilet and the front rim of the toilet seat before he got aimed in the correct direction. I looked over dismayed and told him he needed to lift up both seats and aim into the toilet before letting loose. He shrugged his shoulders so I instructed him to at least grab some toilet paper and dry up the mess he had made to which he asked "Why?".

"Well Donnie," I said, "Girls have to sit down on the seat and we really don't like to get wet when we do."

He shrugged his shoulders, looked at me again, and then said "Mom, it will dry."

Nice.

Fishing minus kids.

2011-08-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Donnie and I got to go out fishing all day with our friend Tom and without the kids. Nanna and Poppop watched the kids for us. It was very fun. I spend a lot of time with the kids and I really do enjoy being with them, I enjoy being with my husband even more though. We caught 3 halibut, a shark (we threw him back), and some ugly spotty fish called a sculpin (that we also threw back). We also saw a lot of whales, some seals, an otter, and the weather was really nice...sunny, rainy, foggy, depending on where we were. On our way back home we stopped and pulled up our crab pots. I think we are going to try and make one more trip out after the season is over and before we put the boat away. I cant wait.

What Donnie Said.

2011-08-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

I decided to make a black forest cake for dessert tonight because I saw it on Rivka's blog. Baby Donnie loves helping me bake and put in each ingredient one by one. He even cracked the eggs without getting any shells in the bowl. When the batter was done and two 8-inch round cake pans filled, Baby D licked the beaters and mixing bowl (I think maybe that's why he helps me make goodies!). As soon as he was done I instructed him to wash his face and hands.

He pushed a stool up to the sink, pumped out a few handfuls of soap, and got to washing his hands and playing in the water. He ended by cupping water in his hands and wiping it across his face and then taking a paper towel and drying his face and hands. He got down, looked at his reflection in the glass on the stove and then declared that he had washed his face and hands and turned his head toward me for approval.

There were still a few remnants of batter around his lips and on his cheek so I said "You did pretty good Donnie but look in the stove and tell me if there's more batter on your face." He glanced over, noticed he'd missed a few spots and then said "It's ok mom, my bed will get it tonight."

Awesome!

Macro.

2011-07-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

We took a little time last Saturday and did some exploring. We brought Derek along, he's been captaining the boat for us the past few weeks and we figured he might like to see some of the island. We stopped at Falls Creek then ventured out to Blind Slough to see some bears, success (although you can barely see one in the picture, ten points if you find it!). Next we hiked out to Sand Lake and did a little fishing, caught one trout. The best part was rowing out into the lake. I love that there are row boats at all the lakes for anyone to use. I also loved the little cabin on the side of the lake, so quaint.

I brought my camera and took some pictures with my macro lens. I've said this before, the macro lens is a challenge because I can't zoom in or out but it still takes awesome detail shots. I did my best to document the trip with close ups.

Ps...don't forget to take a nice long look at Kenzie's sweet mane (oh, and Lyssie's curls), she sports the most awesome hair!

Unicorn.

2011-07-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Melyssa spends hours every day entertaining herself. It's wonderful. Lately she's been obsessed with her Dora pushcart and stuffed animals, particularly the unicorn she just got from her Uncle Sam. Pretty cute to watch her play. I have a feeling she's going to be just fine when new little sister arrives since she already spends so much time on her own, here's to hoping!

Lost.

2011-07-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

I was sorting through pictures today and found this batch that I had forgotten to post. They got lost in the shuffle of us moving (same as the previous post about butter). I took them the last time my lens was in the shop, meaning, I took them with my macro lens. My macro lens is 100mm fixed focal length lens. Translation: I cant zoom in or out unless of course I actually move further away or closer to the subject, which presents a challenge, especially when photographing objects (such as children) that tend to move. Now that I am forced (well sort of) to use the macro lens again as my main lens I am reminded of how frustrating it can be but how awesome the pictures are because my macro lens is a really good quality lens. It takes fabulous close ups!

Eating Butter.

2011-07-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Numerous times since Donnie and I have been married I've heard stories about how, as a toddler, he would climb up on the kitchen table and take bites out of the cube of butter up there.

Like father, Like son.

While we were packing up to move I was cleaning out all the garbage cans and found this little gem in the bottom of the one in Baby Donnie's bedroom. Bon Appetit.

A gross post.

2011-07-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

For reasons that you will soon understand there will not be a photo accompanying this post. :)

This morning baby Donnie came strolling in the front door after playing outside for about 30 minutes. His pants were unbuttoned and he was walking a little strange. He also kept telling me not to look at him. All bad signs. I immediately started asking him if he had an accident and he just kept saying no and making his way to the bathroom. When he was a foot from the bathroom door he finally pulled his pants down and asked me to wipe for him. Nice.

Come to find out he had left a little (or big who knows) #2 outside somewhere while playing. I let him pee outside all the time, better than in his pants, but he crossed the line on this one. Who knows where he left his little present but I'm sure whoever finds it isn't going to be too pleased. I just laughed, and had him get in the shower.

Boys.

A small tragedy.

2011-07-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already seen on facebook...I broke my lens last night, yes, the one that I just got back from the shop and yes, I feel completely ridiculous for having done it. Melyssa found a sparkly gel pen somewhere and doodled her body with it. Picture worthy for sure. I was crouched down getting the perfect shot when I unknowingly stepped on my camera strap and then tried to stand up. As I stood up my camera was jerked from my hands and the lens took the brunt of the fall...grrrr. There is a nice crack down one of the sides....sob.

I stayed up most the night trying to decide what to do. We have no money right now and since I'm not making money with my photography I can't justify fixing the lens or buying a new one, just isn't smart considering we can't even afford to buy our own food or clothes for our kids. I also thought a lot about the last few months as far as photography goes. First my computer bugged out so I bought a new one, still haven't sold the old one. Then my scanner went down, haven't replaced that. Next my lens broke but, blessed miracle, it was fixed under warranty. And now, this. I think it's a sign. At least I'm taking the hint and downsizing my photography stuff. I am going to sell my back up camera with all it's accessories and most of my studio equipment. I am hoping that will earn me enough to get my lens fixed and maybe buy a second one so I can stop having this problem...fingers crossed. I will be downsizing the amount of equipment I have but can hopefully have just enough to have a working lens and little left over to use for our family needs. Until all of that happens I probably won't be taking as many pictures. The cracked lens still works but I am afraid to use it too much, don't want the glass falling out completely which seems very probable at this point.

If any of you reading this feel inclined to help me out you can buy some photographs from me. Any of the landscape ones (or any of the photos for that matter) that I've had on my blog I can print and ship directly to you. I can also have them printed on metal which is more expensive but about the coolest way to display photos, especially big ones. Email me at meggan {dot} hayes {at} gmail {dot} com if interested.

Now onto to happier things. The pics of Melyssa that destroyed my camera. The first: her with Mandy's goggles, the second: after she tagged herself. :) She doesn't look particularly happy in the second picture but that's because I made her sit down so she would quit moving. My lens was already cracked at this point so we were having a good cry together (ok so I thought this was going to be happier but it ended up a little depressing, sorry).

Happy Breakfast.

2011-07-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I take a break from teasing my kids and using them as comic relief, I make them cool breakfasts out of whole wheat bagels, strawberry cream cheese, bananas, and grapes. It's happy.

Milk bubbles.

2011-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Baby Donnie likes to have cereal for breakfast. Notice I didn't say eat cereal for breakfast. He likes me to pour him the most minute amount of cereal and then as much milk as can fit in his bowl. Here's why...

(every time he does this I think of that line in the movie Hook "This is for... never letting me blow bubbles in my chocolate milk", and don't ask why he isn't using the straw attached to the bowl, I guess the swirly straw is cooler!)

The smalltown 4th.

2011-07-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Celebrating major holidays is WAY better in a small town, way better (did I say it's way better?).

Donnie was busy with clients during the morning so I got the kids all dressed up and took them downtown with my friend Tiffany and her 3 girls. During the 2 days leading up to the 4th the girls spent hours making jolly rancher shells. We went down to the beach and collected over 100 clam shells, put them in a bucket of bleach overnight, ran them through the dishwasher and then melted jolly ranchers in them. The girls did the majority of the process on their own. Each shell was wrapped in a plastic bag and the girls sold them for $1 a piece.

Within the first hour of being downtown the kids sold all of their shells and ended up with $20 per girl. We are so doing that again next year! We watched the parade (where the kids gathered so much candy you'd think it was Halloween) and shortly after the street games started. Mandy, Kenz, and Donnie all competed in the 50 yard dash in their respective age groups. Kenz came away with second place and $3 to show for it. Baby D won first place in the trike race with a prize of $5. Next came the money pit. One giant pile of sawdust plus a bag of change equals lots of fun for little kids. Mandy, Kenz, and Donnie got to dig through it with other kids their age and I think they each came away with close to $5 in change, which I let them spend on whatever they wanted. Baby Donnie chose to play some carnival games and Mandy and Kenz bought gum.

We sat for a while and watched the street games for the teens and adults...egg toss, water balloon toss, Tuffs race (pictured with the 4 girls in the boots tethered to the board), and the kids wandered around eating treats, playing with friends, and checking out the booths. So fun!

That evening we had a barbeque with some friends out the road at the Lister's house. King crab, burgers, potato salad, Donnie's fresh salsa, rootbeer floats, festive sugar cookies, and enough fireworks to keep the kids busy for an hour. America the Beautiful indeed!

Melyssa Update.

2011-07-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

So along with two cute pics of Melyssa I am going to give a little update on her. She is 18 months old now. When I took her in to get her last set of immunizations the doctor was concerned about her lack of speech. She says two words that we can decipher, mama and hi. She uses "mama" a lot when she's upset so I think it means mom, or help, or I'm frustrated, or please let me go outside, those sorts of things and she says hi to everything else. As cute as it is it would be nice to communicate with my sweet baby. When there's a speech problem the first thing to rule out is some type of hearing loss.

So, Melyssa and I will be flying to Seattle on Sunday for an appointment on Monday with a pediatric audiologist. I am hoping she just has the same problem Baby Donnie did with excessive fluid in her ears. Tubes are an easy fix for that. That's my little update, I will give another when we get back next week.

And now for the pics. Lyssie absolutely loves trying on shoes and clothes, especially any that don't belong to her and anything that she can put over her head!

Pullin Pots.

2011-06-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's not often that the kids and I get out on the boat now that the charter season has begun. Monday night though we needed to go pull our crab pots so after dinner we met Donnie at the dock, cruised the hour ride down to Duncan Canal, and pulled up our two pots (we had one more but someone cut the line on it, shame on them!). The kids had a blast! The water was incredibly smooth and we had plenty of crab in the pots for dinner the next night. I know I've said it before at least once, or maybe 100 times or so, but you really should come visit us and bring your kids because this place is exciting.

The first few pics are of a young bald eagle. I didn't know that they coloring was muddled but apparently it takes them a while to gain their white "hairs", kind of like humans. I also took a picture of the ferry that happened to be docked while we passed. On our way back we passed it again and went through it's wake, Mandy and Melyssa both smacked their heads when the boat jumped, like I said...exciting! Then there's the picture of the shoreline with some houses, kind of boring but that's actually the bottom of the street that the house is on, so if you walk down the street from the lodge you would come out to the water right where the green house is at.

My favorite picture though, the one of Baby D huddling in the corner of the boat. He really wanted to touch the crab but was really scared of its pincers. I laughed... because I'm a good mom.

Sunday Drive.

2011-06-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we had clients in town. This is unusual because clients typically leave on the Saturday morning jet but these clients are wedding photographers and had to plan their trip around the wedding schedule and so ended up being here over the weekend instead of during the week. The group consisted of a father and his 4 sons-in-law. They also happened to share our religious views so went to church with us on Sunday and agreed that going fishing after church didn't feel like an appropriate Sunday activity. We didn't want them to "waste" one of their days here though so we arranged to tour our Branch Presidents commercial fishing boat and then took them "out the road" to see other parts of Mitkof Island. The weather was wonderful, we left the kids with Donnie's dad and uncle, and I was dying to use my lens again after its return from the shop, so I might have taken a picture or two. On the way out the road there is a small portion that is graffitied, every year the seniors get to paint their names on it, town traditions are great.

ps...there is also a picture of our car, with Alaska plates. Yes, we are true Alaskans now (but I guess we'd be even more legit if we took our van with the Alaska plates and let it rust out in our side yard...maybe later).

Aaaaaah...I missed one.

2011-06-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

So somehow this gem of a picture (and the short story to go with it) got left out. This is a picture of Mandy and Kenzie on the last day of school. We have a bit of a last day of school tradition and it goes like this:
When the kids get home on the last day of school they get mobbed by us and a bag full of pre-filled water balloons. It's super fun, at least for Donnie and I. Mandy and Kenzie walked up the hill, Kenz wearing her jammies because they had a pajama party for their last day. Donnie and I were hiding around the corner of the house with water balloons ready to throw. Mandy avoided most of them (this year) but Kenzie didn't run until we had pegged her numerous times. While we are throwing the balloons we yell, "Last day of School!". It's the best tradition ever, well almost (some of our Christmas ones are better).

20 weeks & Lyssie's Fave.

2011-06-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

I am 20 weeks now, just got my 20 week ultrasound (definitely a girl by the way). So, here's a picture of what has become of my once flat toned abs. Enjoy. I am thinking I might have another month in my pants, I can still button them. I am not looking forward to the day I cannot. :)

Also, a few pics of what happens if the bathroom door gets left open. Our apartment is pretty small so Lyssie explores every single inch of it, every day, including all the little bits in the bathroom...toilet, yuck, toilet paper, grrr...and so on.

B & A.

2011-06-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted for eons or something like that. I have been busy and my favorite lens took a vacation to New York aka it broke and I had to send it in for warranty repair. Now though, we are mostly done with the house and the remodeling we wanted to get done prior to clients showing up. We have moved into an apartment in town (just for the summer, pics coming soon) and Petersburg Sport Fishing is in full swing. Also, my lens got here this week. So, expect more posts now.

Because we got a lot done on the house I want to post a bunch of before and after pictures and just pictures of what the house looks like (for those of you who haven't come to visit, which is most of you). I tried to take the pictures in "order" as if you're coming in the back door (which we use as the front door because that's where the mudroom is) and walking on through. I hope you can get an idea of what the house looks like and how much work we've done on it! If I have "before" pics I will put them first a little smaller and then the after (hopefully it doesn't get too confusing).

ps...I didn't have time to pick up any of the random things lying around in the after pics because I had approximately 10 minutes to get them all taken before a group of five guys showed up to start their fishing week. I was taking the pics and in the process of making dinner so deal and I was making the most delicious batch of meatloaf muffins so be jealous too.

before

before (as if this one's not obvious!)

before

Setting the table.

2011-06-12T16:39:00.001-07:00

Lyssie has taken to copying so many things that we do. One afternoon while I was cooking up a storm in the kitchen I came out to see that she had set the table, or put cups on an end table that happened to be in the kitchen, whichever. What a cutie pie!

Kenzie's Performance.

2011-06-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Kenzie also had an end of year concert. The two kindergarten classes sang about 10 songs complete with props, actions, and even the sporadic "Hi, Mom!" from the kids who couldn't contain themselves. At the end each child was given a graduation certificate on the back of which was written (in their own words) something they had learned in kindergarten and something they want to be when they grow up. Kenzie's said this:

"In kindergarten I learned about dinosaurs and how to read and write sentences. When I grow up I want to be a singer, and a baker, and I want to be a teacher."

(Kenzie: second row, left hand side, white dress with purple flowers)

John Chapman.

2011-06-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Mandy starred in another little play just before school ended. Funny. Nothing like a group of 8 year olds yelling out parts in monotone and wearing costumes they pieced together themselves. The story of John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed was never so appealing.

Chase Family and Friends.

2011-05-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

Some of Donnie's Dad's relatives came to visit this past week. I don't think Donnie knew of these relatives so it was fun for him and all of us to meet them...Doug, Jenny, Tyler, and Ross. They also invited some friends, Jeff and Bonnie to stay as well. They spent the week out fishing and crabbing and shrimping and seeing a lot of whales and a few octopus I hear (and Tyler sat in some bird poo). I got to go out one evening while they put out a few shrimp pots. The sunset was unbelievable and there were icebergs around. Now, what to do with all these awesome landscape photos?

Mom.

2011-05-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

A picture of my Mom. She is a wonderful mother. While here she cooked and cleaned and explored with us. I woke up most mornings because I could hear her whipping up something delicious for breakfast. I am surely going to miss her when the baby comes and she can't be here! Love you Mom.