A Frigid New Header

So ... what do you think? You did notice our new header; didn't you? My brother-in-law, Philip Leclerc, took the picture while he and his wife Esther (Tait's sister) were visiting after Christmas.

It was 10 below outside, and we wanted a good picture without everyone so bundled up you couldn't see their precious shining little faces. So we rushed the little guys outside for a whirlwind photo shoot. Five minutes later, we hustled the red little cheeks and noses back inside the cozy warm house, hoping that Philip had been able to capture at least a few good shots. I think he did! : )

Honestly, after growing up in South Carolina, I'm sometimes surprised at how little the Alaskan cold bothers me. In fact, I absolutely love it! And this winter, my fourth winter up here, has been my favorite so far. It's brought both record snow and record cold ... an interesting combination, since it's rare for it to snow when the temperature drops below the teens.

By the middle of December, as much snow had fallen as we usually have in an entire winter ... about 8-9 feet. Our average temperature for January was the coldest average ever recorded, at just 2 degrees. All of the fresh snow, combined with plenty of 20 below weather, has kept things so beautiful, crisp, clean, and clear.

As much as I love the cold though, I'm not sure I could have handled Fairbanks' 50 below temperatures for weeks on end. And as much as I love the snow, I'm not sure I could have handled Valdez's 25+ feet of snowfall. Yes, it's been an extreme winter all over Alaska this year! : )

Take a look at a few of these pictures from a friend of ours in Valdez, and be amazed. ;D

A blue school bus (actually, it's a picture of snow ... with a blue school bus underneath) :D

A store's side entrance

That yellow building is actually 2 stories tall! Looks pretty small compared to that impressive snow pile!

My hometown of Charleston, SC has had a warm winter so far, with regular temperatures in the 70's! I'm looking forward to seeing some of those temperatures up here in Alaska in about 4 months! : ) How has your winter been this year?

My hubby and me (photo by Philip)

Coming soon: How we keep our sanity, cooped up inside with energetic toddlers all winter. : )

Winter Fun and No Degrees!

We don't make it outside much during the winter. With three little guys, it can be kind of hard. They get cold quickly, and all of that snow is just a little hard for them to navigate! But, little guys turn into bigger guys, and the snow seems just a little less daunting. Yesterday, the older boys and I ventured out into the just-above-zero temperatures for some winter fun!


We threw snowballs and went for a stroller ride as far as we could down the driveway ... which wasn't very far. Those 15 inches of new powder made me feel like I was pushing a hand-held snow plow instead of a stroller!





We've had a beautifully snowy winter so far. Fresh snow nearly everyday has kept everything so clean and fresh looking! I love the winter wonderland that we're so blessed to live in, and look forward to more and more cold, snowy winter fun with my little guys!


Our driveway, coated in clean white snow - Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone

When You Run Out of Diapers in Alaska...

...You use duct tape, of course!

With Tait at work, no car, and town 20 miles away, I was left with two diapers for Matthew for the day. I stretched those two diapers as far as I could. But, we didn't quite make it. After that second one leaked, I figured it was time to get creative. :D

Thankfully, I did have diapers for the big boys. They wear size 6, and Matthew's in size 2. After folding those size 6's down about 3-4 times and slapping on a bit of duct tape to hold them up, Matthew was good to go!

With three in diapers right now, I have just two things on my mind:

Cloth Diapers and Potty Training

We've been going so much recently that potty training has been difficult, and we haven't gotten very far. (Any tips on potty training, by the way? What's worked for you?)

Cloth diapers really have been growing on me recently. (Not literally; just figuratively ... though I do feel like I have disposables coming out of my ears....) I just need to take the plunge, get some, and use them! My sister-in-law is using them very successfully with her little guy, and as soon as we get back from our East Coast excursion, I plan to join her.

On a different note, the weather's been beautiful today, for the first time in weeks, so outside the boys went! I can feel Fall in the air already, so we're trying to enjoy these last few weeks of warm weather to the fullest! I'll leave you with a few pictures of them enjoying their lunch of peanut butter & cream cheese sandwiches with apple slices in our front yard....

To all you moms out there....
What potty-training tips do you have?
What cloth diapering tips could you share?

Marveling....

Marveling today, among all of the incredible busyness, at:

The love of God and our adoption through Christ
The blessing of children
The blessing of a husband who loves the Lord even more than he does his wife and children
The greatness of our calling to advance God's kingdom
The privilege to read God's Word and discover the guidance He has provided for us

What a wonderful life the Lord has given us to serve Him
and bring Him glory!

Taken on a recent road trip
We live in a beautiful state!

Oh, and the recent dearth of posts is due to
the aforementioned busyness. :D

Stay tuned for the launch of an exciting new project!

Of Boys, Rocks, and Lakes

I was working on editing these on my computer, but for some reason, every time I edit a photo, my computer moves it to an unspecified and apparently top-secret location that is completely unknown to me. (The recent blogging drought is due, in part, to this, my computer's unlawful usurpation of power....) So, these are the raw, unedited iPhone photos....

It was a cold, somewhat cloudy Alaskan summer day, and we were at a lake for a friend's birthday party. The big boys present were having fun wading in the lake with their boots, and Little Tait of course had to follow right along. I was glad I'd put his boots on before we left the house!

And then ... Miles decided that he wanted to follow the big kids too. No boots on that boy! But the freezing water didn't phase him a bit, and he continued - for nearly an hour! - his new favorite pastime of throwing rocks in the lake, soaking his sleeves above the elbow each
time he bent down for yet another rock from the bottom.

Sometimes, as a mother of three little boys, you have to turn a blind eye to the endless dirt, mud, grime, and impossible stains. ;D

A good friend of ours, Jen, of Visionary Pioneers, brought her camera (now why didn't I think of that?), and caught these much better pictures of our Miles....

Little Tait playing hide-and-seek with his buddy, Coleman

And I just had to post this one too,
of a few of our friends' little girls.
Great job, Jen! This one is just gorgeous!
Completely postcardworthy! : )

The First Day

This is my first morning taking care of three little boys 2 1/2 and under all by myself! I'll report later today on how it goes ... if I'm still sane/alive/conscious. ;D

So far, by 9:15, I've fed the newborn (and the daddy and the toddlers) and cleaned up the kitchen (it was fairly messy, since we were gone most of yesterday and had company for dinner the night before). I'm now sitting down for a bowl of oatmeal, pronounced "EPO" by the 2-year-old (with both toddlers on my lap, driving trucks over my face; they've missed their mommy) and, of course, blogging. :D

The goals for the morning: keep everyone safe, fed, alive, and well; finish unpacking our bags from the hospital; clean up the living room; and do several loads of laundry.

Oops, I just looked over and discovered that the 1-year-old, who hopped off of my lap a few minutes ago, has unloaded all of the potatoes from the bag and stacked them in a neat pile on top of the onions. That prolonged silence definitely should have raised my suspicions. ;D

I'll report back later!

Full-Term!!!

For the first time in our three pregnancies, as of today (Friday), we've made it to the point the doctors consider to be full-term:

37 weeks!!!

Praise the Lord!

After 6 weeks on bedrest and a few bouts with regular close contractions, we've made it! Talk about excitement! It's so wonderful to head into labor with the reasonable confidence that, for the first time, our little guy won't be needing a NICU stay!

I'm enjoying the ability to actually "nest" this time around; our first pregnancy, Little Tait came early enough that I wasn't even thinking about nesting yet. With Miles, I was on bedrest and wasn't allowed to do any of those essential nesting activities like cleaning and laundry and such.

We've been staying with Tait's family for the past 6 weeks while I've been on bedrest, and while our driveway was undrivable, but we're hoping to be able to move back home within the next week - maybe before the baby comes! (We tested our driveway out yesterday and ... well, it wasn't quite ready. Two stuck trucks, some deep ruts, a tow strap, and lots of mud later ... yes, it definitely wasn't ready. :D)

My younger sister, Shannon, is up visiting from down South, and we've enjoyed showing her our house for the first time! We're working on cleaning it in preparation for the baby's arrival and our move back home (this involves a 1/2-mile walk down our muddy driveway just to reach our cozy little home)!

I'll have to say that I'm finally ready to have this little guy. It's not because I'm tired of being pregnant; it's just that we've been expecting him to arrive any day for the last 3+ weeks, and I'm just ready to meet him. : ) I'm expecting our next blog post to be an exciting announcement ... the exciting announcement!

With the gorgeous flowers my hubby gave me for Mother's Day - about 35 1/2 weeks along!

Taken about a week ago, at 36 weeks along!

Pictures: 27 Weeks Along ... 3 Weeks Late

Of course, now that I've finally gotten the chance to post these pictures from 27 weeks along with our 3rd little blessing ... they're 3 weeks late. : )

27 weeks is when our first little guy came, so I was curious how "big" I would be at that point this time around! I think I was a little smaller tummy-wise with our first, but actually a few pounds heavier than I am now. : )

Many thanks to my sister-in-law Esther for running out our front door and snapping these pictures for me on my camera! I did a little very quick editing, but she could have made them look much better with her super cool camera and mad editing skilz. : )

Me with my handsome oldest little guy!

We've made it past 30 weeks now!!! Because of the amount of mild contractions I'm having when I'm active, my doctor does want me to put myself on semi-bedrest like I did with Miles. In theory, that means no cooking, cleaning, laundry or shopping, and naps whenever possible. In practice, it means simplifying meals, streamlining and minimizing cleaning, sitting down while folding clothes, shopping very quickly without the boys or giving Tait a grocery list when he goes to town, and lying down on the couch for short periods of time if I start noticing too many contractions. Let's just say that any form of bedrest with a few little guys can be kind of difficult. :D

We'll be moving in with Tait's family soon for the next few weeks while our half-mile driveway is undrivable during breakup. Normally, we would just say here and walk in and out in the mud, but I'm definitely not supposed to be that active! It's hard to believe that we might not make it back into our home before the baby comes in just 6-7 weeks!

It will be nice to have help so close, but those will definitely be some busy weeks! One of Tait's sisters is due with her first baby in just 3 weeks, his other sister is getting married in just 5 weeks, and I'm due in just about 7! Life keeps moving!

We are so blessed with healthy rambunctious little guys, a comparatively smooth pregnancy so far, and helpful family and friends close by!

2010 Recap and Looking Forward to 2011

2010 was a busy year for us! We finished the first stage of our house (more or less) and moved in! Tait's sister got married, and we enjoyed some great fellowship around the time of the wedding with lots of wonderful friends from near and far! We discovered that our third little blessing is on the way, and celebrated 1st and 2nd birthdays for the little guys! Tait and his dad made lots of progress in revolutionizing, streamlining, and increasing production in the family business of IEC Realty. We made progress on our many visions, and formulated more visions for the future!

Little Tait helping Daddy build our house in May

Our little house (the first of many stages) this past Fall

The little guys being adorable and snuggly after naptime a few months ago

A quick snapshot of the whole family a week before Christmas

16 weeks along, around Christmas

The Taits with their snowman tonight (notice the toy hammer in Little Tait's hand?)

After over a month of single-digit and negative temperatures, it finally warmed up to freezing - warm enough to build a snowman! : )

We're loving our very blessed life up here in Alaska, and looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in 2011!

A few plans include...

adding the 2nd story of our home,

welcoming a new little guy or girl into our family,

visiting family down in SC,

and watching the little guys continue to

grow, explore, and learn!

The Story of Our 2010 Moose Hunting Season

Dear Moose,

We very much missed the opportunity to meet one of you in person this year. However, now that the season is over, we do look forward to seeing plenty of you out and about, clearly confident that you are safe from the hands of hunters such as ourselves.

Yes, we will watch you from the comfort of our homes as we dine on inferior store-bought beef, mourning our empty pocketbooks and wishing that we had had the privilege of getting up close and personal with you while the season lasted.

Sincerely,
A Disappointed Hunter

Our first hunting trip of the season, back in August, up in the Moose Range

This...

...is why this particular hunting trip was unsuccessful.

Just as we spotted a legal bull, the fog rolled in....

More pictures and stories from Moose Hunting 2010 coming!

The New Profile Pic...

...was taken by Philip Leclerc, of Leclerc Brothers Motion Pictures, on a recent expedition to Exit Glacier.


Over the course of the summer, we've had some visits from a few awesome photographers, who captured some really great photos of our little family, a gorgeous wedding, and the beautiful state of Alaska! I'll work on getting some of those epic pictures up soon! : )

Pajamas, Dog-Dogs, and the Outdoors

The Pajama Boy brought me his shoes early this morning, wanting to play outside with his "dog-dog." Such a cutie!



Please excuse our yard. Our property was abandoned for 40 years before I we got it, and we're still working on cleaning it up! : )

Needed: 120 Dump Truck Loads of Gravel

At the other end of this deeply-rutted, muddy half-mile driveway is the nearly-completed first stage of our little home. We've been building it ourselves for two years now, and after holdup after holdup and delay after delay, we're nearly ready to move in ... as soon as we can drive down our driveway, that is. We'll be working on graveling it in the next few years, but until then, for 6-8 months during breakup, we have to walk.

Tait and his dad carrying tools and building materials out to our house

Things can get a little exciting if we try to drive down too early. One year both trucks got stuck at once, and we had to call on a trusty friend and his monster truck to pull us out.

Photo from May of 2008, courtesy of Esther Zimmerman

Coming soon: We'll be working soon on getting up pictures and a full update on the home construction project!
Also coming soon: A funny story about our driveway and my arrival to Alaska!

"Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland..."

Wait.... Wrong time of year. Or at least, it's supposed to be.... : )

Well, the snow was almost gone, never to return, we thought (at least, until next October anyway). And then we woke up this morning ... to this.

This post made possible, in part, by my blogging buddy, Miles. He seems to be following in his daddy's and older brother's footsteps in his fascination for all things technological.