Cutting Room Floor--August Edition

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that I usually try to keep things current. Things are often posted about within a few weeks, if not days. But I've been going through pictures lately and I realized that there is a lot of stuff that we've taken pictures of and never posted to the blog, despite their "blogworthiness". So I've decided to dedicate a few posts in the coming weeks and months to those "cutting room floor" photos and events--the ones that for one reason or another didn't get posted soon after they were taken.

This post is dedicated to some photos that we took in August 09, when Shawn's parents were here. When they arrived, we basically let them drop off their bags at our house and then we hit the road and headed downtown to make it in time to watch Lee compete in the annual JPD triathlon.
Here he is swimming the pool--notice the personalized swim cap. Would you believe me if I told you he had it custom made?
Apparently, he's still feeling good in this photo. But it was only the beginning of the second stage--the bike.
Isaac waiting to watch Uncle Lee whiz down the street on his bike.
And this would be the photo that I like to title: "Just why am I doing this again?" Actually Lee did really well. I don't remember now, but he won something for his age group. Lee, you'll have to comment and tell us all what it was.
Now, I've always thought of myself as a fairly tough chick--not too tough of course, but tough enough. However, just look at this chick! Of course, she's already got one up on me, because she's a police officer, but what you may not know is that she came off of maternity leave to do this triathlon! I could most definitely never see myself doing that. In fact, I really can't ever see myself doing a triathlon--but definitely not a mere 8 weeks after giving birth.

And here we have another tough chick. Mrs. Weske you put me to shame. Not a police officer, but a fellow wife. She's got two kids like me, but her youngest is a year younger than my youngest. And she totally smoked Lee in the pool! I guess this means I better start training for something. But seriously, don't expect me to be in next year's triathlon. I really don't have much of a desire to do three races back to back, maybe one....we'll see.
And what would anyone else do after a triathlon? Pig out of hot dogs and hamburgers, of course! It does seem a little strange when you think of it like that, doesn't it? But that's the way we roll around here, so the annual summer picnic is held at the finish line of the triathlon.
Carly got herself into a statewide police officer newsletter with this photo. Her daddy took it.

Good thing they didn't pick this one. She has her daddy to thank for this one too.

This photo was from a moment that Shawn and I both said, "ahh, I'm so glad we're past that now." This was the first time my "soon to be sister in law", met her "soon to be in laws". This also followed some hushed comments that Shawn and I overheard from Lee and Rachel about where to stand and who should walk first.
Ahh, yep.
I prefer the "familiar" stage of my in-laws rather than the "brand-spankin' new" stage.
From our view there seemed to be an understandably initial awkwardness, but it soon faded. Rachel is a great gal and I have some great in-laws, so they quickly hit it off. After the picnic we took a family walk/ride to the glacier. Shawn and Isaac rode on/in the bike, and the rest of us walked. Carly walked all the way there and then rode back home with Shawn. We also had a great bear sighting while were out there, but I had already put my camera in the bike fearing that the rain sprinkles were going to turn into a full shower.

And no trip to visit us would be complete without a work project. This works nicely since my father-in-law likes to have something to do. So he and Shawn attacked the giant pile of wood rounds that had been piled up after we had 34 trees cut down last fall.
We even made Grandma work! When it was all said and done (a few weeks later), we estimate that we now have 8 cords of stacked firewood in the backyard. And the answer to your burning question (no pun intended): no, we don't have a wood stove. However, we'd like to get one in the near future. We'll see.

Reading books with Grandma. This was quite possibly one of their favorite things to do with her. However, they didn't seem to appreciate reading with Grandpa quite as much, since he scans and "reads" the pictures.
All dressed up before church Sunday morning.
And even though this picture doesn't have my in-laws in it, they were home helping Shawn with the kids, and thereby made this picture possible. This is me with my good friend, Monica, just a few days before she left for college. Monica and I met together almost every Tuesday night during this past school year, at her request, to have a Bible study. At first I wasn't sure if I should say yes, and add another activity to my already busy schedule, but I'm so glad I did. I grew and learned so much from our time together. Plus I became strong friends with a girl who makes her inner beauty a priority. Oh, and by the way, thanks for making me look good, Monica, by ordering water and the Waffle House! Hope you enjoyed the recap of some fun times that we had in August, but ones that didn't get to the blog in a timely fashion. Here they are now in all their bloglandia glory!

Picture Walks

We've had a couple of beautiful sunny, but cool days in Juneau lately. Unfortunately, we've had sick kids in our house, so we haven't really gone out much. But we had a couple of nice days a week or so ago as well. I took advantage of the sun and took the kids out on some walks behind our house. One of my favorite things about our the location of our house is that we are within walking distance of Alaska's most visited and famous attraction--the Mendenhall Glacier. My second most favorite thing is that our property backs up to forest service land. All we do is walk through the fence, walk about 10 feet and we're on a trail that eventually leads us to the glacier. We didnt' go that far on these days because my focus was to find good spots for photos. The kids still enjoyed the walks regardless of the destination.
Enjoy the pictures.

His Big Day

On Isaac's actual birthday, we celebrated as a family. And since Shawn is working swing shift right now and his birthday fell on a Wednesday, we went out for lunch rather than dinner. We took Isaac to one of his favorite places, Bullwinkle's Pizza. It's the only place I've ever been to that serves popcorn with pizza, but it doesn't get any better for Isaac. He loves both popcorn and pizza, so this place is perfect for him.
This was the best family shot we could get from the guy sitting at the next table over. At least we're all in it and no one's head is being cut off the edge of the photo. I will say that taking photos in this place is a challenge. Why do pizza parlors have to be so dark? What are they trying to hide?

The best picture of these three. ( It took WAY to long to get one shot where they were all looking at the camera at the same time.) These three mean so much to me.
Isaac showing us all how to eat a cupcake. I'm a bit ashamed to say that I didn't make these cupcakes. I just ran out of time with my morning routine of dropping off at school, errand running, and picking up from school.




Our wallets are glad that for now he is content with turning the wheels and pulling the levers. I'm sure there will come a day when this is no longer satisfactory. But until then, we're going to enjoy this stage.

Notice the fine print on the lower left side: "Deluxe TALKING Toolbelt Set" Let's just say it talks a lot in our house.
It has 4 phrases that is says and one song diddy that it sings. Isaac quickly learned to push the button quickly four times in a row to get to the song. Then he and Carly would whip around the room for 7 seconds of glorious dancing.
I don't know how my sister does it almost every year. But quite often it's the present from Aunt Sharon that is the stand out winner in the eyes of the birthday child. This year was no exception. Isaac loves his Bob the builder toolbelt. He wore it around the house for most of the rest of the day and the next.
He's is the middle of saying "George" in this picture. He was quite excited about his books too. This kid loves to read.
New rain boots from Momma and Daddy. Functional, standard apparel in Juneau, but fortunately fun for a little boy.
A fun day for a wonderful little guy.

Our Little Man

Wow! Where have the past two years gone! This little man of ours officially turned two today. It really is hard to believe. Isaac has been such a blessing to us. He is quite the character. His sister is now less than a head taller than him. He's talking constantly and using bigger and better words everyday. And recently he's up to counting to 14! He can also often be heard singing Jesus Loves Me.

While Isaac has been growing these past two years, I have been pushed, stretched, and made to grow in ways I didn't anticipate. Having two children has not been all that easy for me. Honestly, it's been a bit tough. But at the same time, God has taught me so much during this season of my life. The blessings that the Lord has given me have been amazing. My cup is truly overflowing.

Isaac October 2009- 2 years old

10/7/08- One year old

10/8/07-One day old ready to go home

And Don't You Forget It Little Missy!

Tonight dinner conversation: rhyming words
Carly was pretty impressed that Shawn and I both agreed that her suggestion of peas and beans DID NOT rhyme.
Her response: "You guys are pretty smart."

Yes, little missy. And don't you forget it!

Other dinnertime topics included: the mermaid population in the waters around Juneau and whether or not the Vikings were going to win their Monday night football game.
We took these pictures of Carly the other day just before bed. We wanted to document the hairstyle that SHE requested. Apparently one of her main reasons for fixing her hair like this was to look like Brittany (one of the teen girls from church). But I'm not really sure that I've ever seen Brittany's hair like this. Whatever, little miss.
Also, Isaac's birthday party post (below) has been updated with more info if you're interested.

"We Have Now Reached Our Cruising Altitude"

We had a great time today celebrating Isaac's 2nd birthday with some of his friends. Not everyone could make it, but we were so glad a few could.
We chose an airplane theme for the party mostly because Isaac shows instant and pure joy every time he sees an airplane or a helicopter. Sometimes he practically shouts, "Momma, airplane" when he spots one in the sky. But lately he's also become a big fan of Elmo, so that's why we put Elmo flying the plane on the cake.

I'm pretty pleased with how the cake turned out. And the best part is that it tasted really good (if I do say so myself). I used my mom's classic Hershey's chocolate cake recipe and cream cheese frosting--Shawn's favorite. The plane was baked in a mini loaf pan and then I cut it to somewhat look like a plane. A little bit of icing, then fondant icing, and a red piping of icing around the seam edge. The wings and tail were just pieces of a cereal box cut to size with toothpicks taped in place, covered in icing, and popped into the sides. Pretty easy and it was Shawn's idea to do them that way. I was getting a bit preoccupied with making it all edible. But I'm glad I went with his plan. It looked just at good and it was way faster.

For the first part of the mid-day party, and while the party guests were arriving, the kids colored on some giant poster sized coloring pictures of airport scenes.
Then the only "game" I planned for the 2 year old party was: "find the planes in the clouds". Connor was more interested in toys and Isaac wasn't quite understanding what to do. So I let Carly and Michael show him what to do. He got the hang of it and enjoyed it.
Then when all the planes had been found, chaos broke out. I'm not sure how it started exactly, but I'm pretty sure Shawn was the instigator. Not wanting to be too much of a party pooper, I held back from preventing them from throwing around one or two handfuls of the shredded paper "clouds". But then the next thing I knew all the paper was out of the tub that I thought was properly containing it. White strips were flying everywhere--mostly out of Shawn and Geoffrey's hands. I was totally cringing on the inside and trying to smile on the outside. Try as I might, the majority of my thoughts were about what a mess they were making. This is just the sort of thing a mom sees and instinctively knows she'll be cleaning up. Fortunately, there were many hands to clean up and yes, they did enjoy it. Just look at Carly's face! But you other moms, you know you were cringing on the inside too. I could see it in your awkward smiles that I'm sure I had too.
Shawn getting piled up by the kids. It serves him right. This was also the third time he had to clean up the strips. But you know he was the one that gave the kids the idea to throw it around anyway, so I suppose he should be the main cleaner-upper.
He's apparently seen enough parties lately because he knew what to do. He was just a bit tenative. A little extra momma puff and the candes were out.
Party guests waiting for their food. We had baked potatoes with toppings for our lunch.
The two youngest party guests--Christian and Sophia, twins.
Opening his presents with "Grandma" Bea.
Momma and Daddy hit the jackpot with this gift. It was an Elmo lunch box with two Elmo DVDs inside. Does it get much better than that? Apparently not for our little man.He had a great time and so did the rest of us. Thanks to those who were able to come and to those who couldn't but still found their own way to wish him a happy birthday. Isaac's actual birthday is Wednesday, so check back for "real" birthday photos. And I guess it also means I have one more full day to pretend he's still a baby. :)