Not today

I had planned on putting together a nice post to celebrate Lydia's Birthday today.  Yes, my sweet (and fiesty) baby girl is 2 years old.  Unfortunately, she and I were up all night with the flu.  

This is how she's been spending her day

I've been trying to keep my nausea at bay while groggily pecking away at the enormous amount of laundry a vomiting 2 year old can make. 

So, I'm just not up writing a lovely blog post today, but I'm hoping to get it done in the next couple of days when we're feeling better (that's if no one else gets it).

For now, here are a couple of pics of her yesterday.

Happy Birthday baby Girl! 

Dancing

Can you believe it's time to spring forward already?!  I don't know if we'll be making it to church in the morning, though we have the best of intentions.  We ate dinner late and everyone is just getting to bed now.

It feels like spring here in Alaska.  Though our snow won't likely be gone for at least a month, the temperatures are causing lots of dripping from the roof and the option of open windows during the day.  It's amazing how 35+ degrees is so lovely and warm.

We are rather busy for some reason.  I've done some trading of babysitting time with friends so I could start attending self defense classes (so fun!) and get some shooting time at the range with my husband.  With adding the workout classes one to two days a week for me, I've added short workouts on the other 3-4 days, so I'm getting a little healthier and stronger.  It feels good.

I'm also doing a little research into which way we want to homeschool next year...we're checking out Classical Conversations and Unschooling.  Yes those 2 are polar opposites as far as techniques, but we're praying about both.  

I'll leave you with some sweet (maybe a little blurry, but sweet nonetheless) photos of my two youngest babies dancing together.  This is a nearly daily occurrence for Lydia with either Isaac or Ephraim.

 

I love how she looks at Ephraim.  There's some hero worship going on.  His ability to treat her with love and respect is an integral part of learning to be a real Man, and so we nurture this relationship with care.   Of course this can challenging, but it's one we know has lifelong benefits.

Beautiful busy days

After last weeks' frigid cold temperatures, we have enjoyed above zero temps for the last 5 days or so.  It's been just beautiful with gorgeous sunlight and stunning sunsets.  Today is is 9 degrees and sunny. 

We had these beautiful ice crystals floating in the air that sparkled in the sun.

We've had lots of snow with the warmer temperatures, so I'm working on the kids' shoveling skills.

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I'm trying desperately to keep a close eye this adorable little monster, but she just gets into everything.  Yesterday, I had to change her outfit 4 times because she got in the toilet and played in the water (SO GROSS!).  On a good note, I'm super attentive to the cleanliness of the bathrooms these days.

  The other day she was happily sitting at the island with some crayons and I looked up to realize that she'd gotten on top of the counter and into the cookie container and eaten about 6 cookies...there was only one left.  Good grief.

The back of her hair shows her personality well, haha.

 

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I received these books in the mail today.  I bought the set for a great price from Ebay, so the spines don't match, but that's part of their charm for me.  I love Anne and read this series when I was a teen, but this post from Whitney at Life Alaskan Style convinced me to re-read them and can't wait to get going.

I haven't ever read the Emily series, so I'm looking forward to that.  

  What have you been up to?

Pics of Lydia

Lydia is 20 months old already.  It's really hard to believe how fast the months have went by.  My post last year about this time, she had a lot less hair (she was basically bald).

She is a fiery spirited little lady.  She jibber jabbers and sings all day long.  She wants to be entertained by all of us.  She begs her brothers to "danth" (dance) with her.  Her sissy is her favorite buddy.

 

 

She prays with fervor, calling out "Amen" at the end

 

 She doesn't like her hair barrettes "no pitty on!" (we call them pretties around here).
We hear "don't want it" or "don't want to" about 175 times a day.  She also doesn't like me to take too many pictures.

Our little Lu Lu (one of her many crazy nicknames) is such a joy.  It's going to be a fun ride seeing her grow up.  

 

Fall is bearing down...

Oh, yes it is.  And it's very early :(  Based on the fireweed and turning leaves, we should have snow within 3-4 weeks.  As I showed you last year, {click here}, Autumn in Fairbanks goes by faster than can be believed, so I don't want to be caught unaware.  

There are ideas and projects galore to blog about, but with the changing of the leaves, I have had to focus instead on getting us all ready for winter.  I have been cleaning our pellet stove, painting decks and doors and pressure washing the house.  More on those later...

Today, in contrast to the rainy cold days we've been having, it was a balmy 73 degrees, so I dragged the kids outside for a photo shoot.

Our family has been wanting to see some more photos of the kids (my blog has been really helpful in keeping them in touch with what's going on in our lives) so please bear with me as I show off my babies.

Here is the setting.  A chair on the side of the yard next to the well

Complete with a large pile of moose droppings (just for atmosphere...careful where you step Mama!)

It was pretty shady where I put them, but they all still complained about it being too bright 

I'll start oldest to youngest

 Adin ~ 11 1/2 years old

 Those eyes...sigh

Elsa ~ 9 years old

Isaac ~ 6 1/2 years old (he'll be 7 in October)

 Love those dirty little boy feet

Ephraim ~ 4 1/2 years old

I may just retake these since little man has a split lip from making contact with a step edge on the stairs

Lydia ~ 15 months

 

My 3 sons :)

My girlies

All my babies together

I'm going to try and make some time over the next couple of days to show off some projects and a couple more book reviews.  

I hope your week is going fantastic!