catching up!

Makenna turned 8! I can't believe I'm a mother of an 8 year old, where did the time go?!! We were so excited to have Ron's parents as well as my parents here for Makenna's baptism! We were lucky to have Ron here since he was called a week before the bapsism and told that he was going to be deployed the next day! Luckily his deployment was delayed and he was put on standby. We were told last friday that it has been canceled!

Anchorage

Ella and I went with Kyla's kindergarten class to the local pizza place. She got to make her own pizza!

Wyatt climbed to the top of the snow hill in the middle of our cul de sac. It's amazing how tall it gets each winter!

We've had a lot of fun watching each of the kids play indoor soccer.

We saw these bald eagles on the way home from one of the kids' soccer games.

These are Wyatt's favorite pajamas. He wants to wear them all day everyday! They are the "speediest, most fastest jamies ever". One of his favorite things to do is to run and slide across the wood floor while wearing them.

One of Ella's favorite things is to get into my drawers in the bathroom looking for "lips" (chapstick).

Makenna just loves ice skating! She and Kyla really enjoy thier lessons while Wyatt has decided to take a break.

we took the kids dog sledding again this year, we couldn't keep them away from the dogs!

We took the kids to downtown Anchorage to see the ice sculptures. They loved playing in the ice maze and sliding on the ice rink (they didn't have ice skates).

Spring Break in Hawaii

After adding all our pictures from Hawaii, I realized that some were missing! I found them and added them, but they're all out of order now! I wish I knew how to move pictures around after putting them into a post! Anyway, above is a picture of Makenna and Wyatt pretending to sweep the sidewalk with a branch of a tree.

I was so shocked that the kids weren't afraid of holding this bird!

The girls were sure that this was the biggest leaf ever!

Ella was such a trooper this trip! She took her naps in this stroller by the pool! She's such a good baby!

Wyatt LOVED this big bike! I love the way he crossed his legs for the picture!

We flew on a C17 to Hawaii for spring break, it was so great! These pictures ended up out of order a bit. Below is a picture of Makenna in the cockpit!

All the kids fell asleep... LOVE IT!!!

This is our luggage at the back of the plane.

They had blankets and pillows for everyone. The kids had a lot of fun!

I was standing at the back of the plane taking this picture. People brought air matresses and sleeping bags to sleep on the 5 1/2 hour flight!

Kyla made friends with one of the crew members who took us up to the cockpit! It was so neat!

This is a picture of Wyatt wearing earplugs. It was kinda loud so we wore earplugs during takeoff.

We went to a luau where they cooked a whole pig in that pit on the ground.

For some reason the kids loved looking at the pig, it was so gross! Kyla and I were looking at these pictures today and when she saw this one she said: "yum, yum, yummy!". I thought they'd be freeked out... I was wrong!

Dogsled ride

We all had so much fun on this dogsled ride! The kids didn't want to get off! Ella had a huge smile on her face the whole time!

Catching up

I'm finally getting the blog all caught up! I can't believe how long it's been! So much has happened that I don't know where to start! In order to stay sane, I've skipped A LOT and just put the pictures we've recently taken on the blog. Long story short, we had our 4th baby (Ella) last June in San Antonio. A week later, we had to pack up our house and move to Anchorage Alaska where Ron started working as an internal medicine doctor. Talk about your polar opposites! I had some serious culture shock once we got here (not to mention I was still recovering from having a baby)! Luckily we were able to stop off in California and visit with family for awhile on our way to Alaska. Ella was 6 weeks old when we got here. It has been a rough 6 months but we're finally settling in and getting used to Alaska as well as having a new member of the family. We're all enjoying the snow, but it gets a little too cold for my liking. Makenna is doing very well in school and LOVES ice skating lessons! Kyla enjoys preschool, dance class, and playing with her friends. Wyatt is growing so fast! He loves to find hangers from the closet and pretend that he's captain hook. He's really good at baseball and basketball (which makes Ron sooooo excited). Ella is such a great baby, we all enjoy her! She is now 7 months old. She sits up, claps, dances, says mama, baba, (and a bunch of other noises), loves carrots, jumping in her bouncy seat, and is working on getting her 4th tooth. She loves her family! She gets so excited to see each one of us when she wakes up. She is simply a joy! Ron is enjoying work and has been playing church basketball. He does a great job keeping up with the kids and all their energy! They love to play in the snow while he shovels the driveway. My time is spent hanging out with the kids, getting them to and from school and lessons, keeping up the house, and going to the gym or playing basketball with the ladies at church.

I found moose tracks in my driveway after taking Makenna to school the other morning!!

Yea, the sun has reached our neighborhood! Woohoo!! It hasn't hit our house yet, but it's in our neighborhood for about half an hour on a good day now! Usually we can only see the sun if we drive to certain parts of town. It's starting to get light around 9am instead of 10am and it's getting dark around 5pm instead of 3:30 or 4!!! So exciting!
Makenna received an award at school for her "exceptional writing". Great job Makenna! Cute scarf belt (it's interesting to see what kids do once they get to school)!

Kyla wanted Ella to dress up with her. What cute little ladies!

Makenna was so proud of herself for building this train track exactly the way it was shown on the box. After the picture, she said that she used her hands to say "I made this". Funny lady!
Kyla all dressed up after going to a tea party birthday party. She was so excited about her pretty nails!

We took the kids sledding/tubing the other day. I hung out with Wyatt and Ella on the little sledding hill while Ron took the girls on the tubes. Ron switched with me and I got in on the tubing action toward the end of our visit! Ella did such a good job all bundled up in the ergo! She even fell asleep for awhile! I was so surprised that Wyatt slid down the little sledding hill since he wouldn't even sled down the tiny hill beside our house!


Kyla performing in her "rock star" show.

A photo opp during our game of uno before bed. The girls love putting their towels on their heads "just like Nanna".
The girls love playing with Ella. What good big sisters!
Kyla took this picture!


This is how I found Wyatt during his nap. I guess all that hard work putting every single book he owns in his bed tired him out!
Wyatt and Kyla love the train set that Wyatt got for Christmas!