alyeska resort with buddies

A couple weekends ago we had a blast going to Alyeska with our friends from the Young Life committee. One of the best parts of our skiing day was having Parker's good buddy, Caden, ski with us all day. What fun it was to sit and listen to these two li'l men on the chair lift... they are getting so grown up too quick! Then, as soon as we get off the lift... there's no time to chat because there is racing to be done! Haha~ so different than what I am used to do doing on the ski hill~ I like to enjoy the scenery, chat and S~curve my way down!!! I LoVeD every minute of my day skiing with these li'l guys!

Then, there's these cute guys below: I love that these two little 4~year olds have eachother to share so many of their "firsts"! They experienced their first day on earth on the same day... bday buddies... and NOW they rode their first chair lifts together. And, I'm pretty sure those are the most memorable days for both of their dads... besides their first day in Hatcher's on backcountry skis in the coming years!!! haha!
They both skiied great and chatted their way down the slopes!
Noah was the new recipient of the Young Life "Hot Rod Award" so here is his big bro passing off the award!
And, sweet Abby handing off the Golden Goggles to Parker for his "Super Skiing Skills".

We ended our 2nd Annual Young Life Alyeska weekend with a trek down Winner Creek's Trail in this beautiful winter wonderland!

Noah's 1st ski at Alyeska

Noah was a champ out there on the Alyeska slopes! We never thought he would venture onto the chair lifts! So, we were prepared to tag~team our time between skiing with Parker and hanging out on the magic carpet with Noah BUT our li'l man surprised all of us!!! After a few runs down the bunny slope by the magic carpet, he decided that the chair lifts would provide more adventure! So, he pointed uphill and told Kep, "I want to go up 'dare'"! And without asking any questions for fear that he would change his mind... they skiied on over to Chair #3! YaY~ we could not believe how well he did.

We spent the remainder of our day on Lift #3 and #7 with all our Young Life buddies.
Here's the brothers at the end of the day... Parker thought it was so cool to have his brother on the slopes with him! Noah~ you are one tough skiier, you skiied from 11:30-5:30pm and we had to convince you to stop!
and, one more "family" pic... we look forward to adding our pink skiier in the coming adventures!

first "REAL" haircuts

I am frugal so paying for a haircut just seemed like silliness for my boys, who look just as adorable with "buzz" cuts. But having a girl is totally different... she needs to have a stylish cut! ;o) I've been patiently waiting for her hair to grow so I could put it up in li'l piggies but I finally decided that it should just be cut into an A~line... so we had my friend, Luanna, come over for a haircut visit.
It was so cute to watch Savannah enjoy every moment of being pampered and doted on~ she's a true girley~girl in every way possible!AND lately, I've been wanting Noah to sport a "surfer dude" look, the only problem is I don't have a clue how to do these cuts. Having Lu over was a perfect way to get my younger 2 used to someone besides MOM to cut their straight, FINE "locks"!Silly, silly guy! His hair looks so much better!

special visit from great~grandparents!

My grandparents are up visiting Alaska for a couple weeks and we were happy to get to spend some sweet time with them the other night!I LOVE this one of Gram and Savannah~ it will be a keeper for SURE!
My grandma is a very talented pianist and singer so I just had to take a pic of her patiently teaching these 3 munchkins some of her fun piano tricks!

preschoolin' Noah

Noah LoVeS to do his preschool books and we LoVe watching him put so much effort iinto his work! He takes after his "Bapak" and "Momo" by using his tongue to help concentrate and work hard! Too cute!

TiNkEr ToY tOtS...

Tinker Toys are the new fav toy around here since Noah got them from GGGG at Christmas. Our boys love to create multiple swords while Sissy makes wands... oh the differences. But, you better watch out when her wand suddenly becomes a sword~ she's like Maid Marian! Parker recently ventured away from the swords when Great Grandpa Grindle came over and helped him create this ferris wheel! I love toys that teach our children how to be creative and follow directions and so does their architect GGGG!disclaimer: Back in 2008, I created this blog for 2 reasons; to keep my out~of~state family/friends in touch with our family and to keep a family journal that someday will be printed into a book. So, I know that some of these "keepsakes" may seem boring but they are things I want to have record of for our printed books! Hopefully, my posts never come across like I am boasting of our family's activities or children's achievements. OK, just had to make sure! hehe!

matchey~matchey

I recently dusted off my sewing machine, retaught myself how to thread the bobbin and read a pattern for the first time! It took awhile to do all those BUT I got a li'l domestic on all of you, emphasis on the word "li'l"! hehe! I bought fabric way back in the summer to make a cute apron. Then, I received a super adorable apron from my crafty sister for Christmas BUT since I already had my fabric... I just had to stick to my plan! It's not perfect like the one from my sister but it was very satisfying to make something from scratch! Once I got done, I had leftover fabric so I hodge~podged them together to create an apron for Savannah. She was so excited to see it in her Valentine's mailbox before we made TONZ of heart cookies with these new heart cookie cutters. Now, I have to get to the next project of using the extra fabric scraps to make a dress for Savannah's doll, Kit! Then, the 3 girls in this house will be matchey~matchey!

his 1st backcountry ski!

Parker was pumped to head up to Hatcher's Pass to "backcountry ski" for the first time with his dad. The hike and ski were short because it was rather frigid.


Kep was impressed with his little backcountry ski buddy and they look forward to many more outings.

Li'l Kicker brothers

Noah is a Li'l Kicker! Noah had 2 main reasons he was excited to turn 4~ he now gets to have 2 Children's Vitamins/day (it's a BIG deal here!!!) AND when our children turn 4 they get to pick their first sports class. So, it worked out perfectly that both boys could play Li'l Kickers on the same day, same time and same court! We sit in between their two classes and just laugh at the many differences between our 2 boys! Noah is such a charmer, he spends the first 5-10 minutes in a shy act and then spends the rest of the class... running hard~ giving us a thumbs up, kicking goals~ performing a little dance AND anything else that will make the class extra entertaining! Ha! Then, there's Parker... he is a true first born! He is always the first to complete every task and with perfection! He is quite the little natural soccer player. We are excited to see both of these boys in action on an outdoor soccer team this summer!Here's Noah being the silly boy with his "coach" Sofia!
Parker with his "coach" Morgan!
Parker practicing his trapping and dribbling skills~ he has had fun learning more skills/scrimmaging instead of just playing li'l games as he did in last year's class!