Hockey boys

The boys had an absolute blast playing hockey (in snow boots) with Popeye and Mo-mo!

Kep and his dad shoveled/plowed this awesome skating rink on Kep's parent's lake. Then, Noah, got a (short) ride in the shovel... it wasn't his favorite thing!!! I thought it looked like a fun idea! :)

Noah had trouble seeing the black puck on the black ice and he kept getting frustrated (rightfully, so!) when Parker would hit the puck before he could get turned around!!! So, we gave him a bright yellow puck! Then, Mac got sick of waiting for all of us to toss him the tennis ball... so, he went to li'l Noah. The 2 of them entertained eachother! Mac would drop the ball... Noah would hit it with his hockey stick... Mac would fetch the ball- and so they played! It was very cute!

Our smiley li'l pink snow bunny loving time with Mo-mo!

Go Savannah Go!

Our little G-girl went to her first (and my first!) cheerleading competition last night! Savannah got this adorable Green Bay Packer cheer outfit from the Andersons. Their son, Brent, is in our youth group and likes to give Kep a hard time for being a Seahawk fan! So, much to Kep's dismay :)... I thought she should wear the outfit to the cheerleading competition. And of course, she was a major hit!

Laura is the gorgeous (true) cheerleader and we cheered her WHS team into getting 2nd place- it was so fun! When I was in HS, I would watch the cheerleaders, instead of the football game- even though I dated the quarterback, heehee!!! And, that is still what I do! Kep loves to make fun of me and he thinks cheerleading is a true waste of time! But, that will just always have to be something for us to disagree on! He, also, seems to think that this will be the only time that our daughter will wear a cheerleading outfit! I say if Savannah; wants to be a cheerleader, if the skirts are long enough, if the tops are SUPER modest and if there are no cheer boys on the team... then she can do it! It will be funny to see which one of us changes our mind!

It was super fun (and LOUD) to go to this competition with 3 of my youth girls. I have been working with these girls since they were in 6th grade and I am so encouraged to see how each of these 3 little ladies have turned out beautifully- inside and out!

Noah the nurturer

Both our boys adore their little sissy, but Noah is especially precious with her. He finds so much accomplishment out of helping Savannah eat, giving her a binkie or giving her a toy to keep her from fussing. I had to take pictures of Noah feeding a bottle to Savannah at soccer "practice" because he was beaming (and proud) from head to toe. I love the caring heart that God gave to our little Noah- Parker and Savannah are fortunate to have such a sensitive and sharing brother!

Snow buddies

I am so glad to have the deck for these boys to play on- they spend hours out there shoveling the snow into a mountain! Then, the mountain is good for tunnels, trucks, and as always- destroying! These little guys sure know how to have a good time together and I love watching (and listening) to them while making dinner!

Parker's first coaches...

Parker has thoroughly enjoyed going to Lil' Kickers soccer "practice" every Friday morning. I have also enjoyed meeting some new moms! It has been so fun to watch him listen so carefully to his coaches and follow every instruction, hmmm... wish that happened at home all day!!! Every week, he gets more competitive and confident and that is very satisfying to see as a mom! I had to take a picture of Parker with his first coaches and he had to hold the green ball, not the soccer ball, because that's his favorite color! Whatever works for a cute picture!

Winter Wonderland in our backyard. There is nothing better in the winter, than poofs of fluffy snow-frosting on trees and clear blue skies! It snowed the past 2 days, and today the skies were bright blue to make the snow shine! We can't wait to go out and play in it!

Good old-fashioned paper snowflakes! Parker had never seen one of these, before, so he was pretty amazed! I, too, was amazed with how well he cut out the triangles and rectangles. Of course, he found a way to turn it into a "costume"- his snow mask!!! Now, I just need to run to Target (another excuse to go there!) to buy our boy some left-handed scissors!

Our boys are going to be great hunters. some day! Parker and Noah are great at spotting moose in our yard and then they sit totally still while the moose are nearby. I've lived here for almost 7 years, and still the sight of a moose in our yard... just makes my day! Moose are such an amazing animal to watch, but yet they are so dangerous. So, even though, I am excited and they are cool... I try to make sure that my boys understand that if they ever see a moose outside- we stay inside!

Blog Tag... you're (now) it!

My friend tagged me, so here's a little about me:

4 Occupations I'd Love To Do If Talent & Money Were Not Qualifications:
1. Travel Vacationer (don't know if that's a job, but I would love to travel to every place in the world for FREE and be paid, too!)
2. Summer missionary with my family- spend every summer ministering to the same village in Mexico
3. Planner of events/functions- for now I'll just keep planning fun things for MOPS and BUNKO
4. Open a Petting zoo-corn maze-hay rides-pumpkin Farm in ALASKA! (for our deprived Alaskan children who never get to wander through a corn maze OR pick a pumpkin from the vine... although I'm not so sure I'm the farmer type, but it would be for more my kids' sake!!!)

4 Random Things About Me:
1. I've spent the majority of my life on 2 separate poles of the world; 12 years in Indonesia and almost 7 in Alaska.
2. I love to be neat and fashionable BUT I also love to camp, ski and kayak.
3. Classroom organizer- I always loved setting up my classroom and decorating the walls with educational designs/bulletin boards!
4. I would love to visit Prince Edward Island (Anne land) in the fall
4 Guilty Pleasures:
1. anything chocolate
2. Mooseachinno (frapuccino drink from my Mocha Moose stand)
3. a trip back to Indonesia with my family, parents and siblings
4. pedicures

4 Things I Am Drawn To Buy Even When I Don't Need Them:
1. Target $ aisle
2. sale items- I like a good deal!
3. Cute socks
4. Clothes

4 Challenges I Face On A Daily/ Weekly Basis:
1. Finding patience
2. Keeping my attitude and heart- Christ honoring!
3. Living far away from family
4. Keeping my priorities with... God first, others second and ME last!

4 Books That Have Helped/Inspired Me This Year:
1. The Mom's Devotional Bible
2. I Can Evangelism by Elisa Morgan
3. Today's Christian Women- I'm a magazine-girl!
4. Family Fun- another magazine!

4 People I'm tagging:
1. Abby
2. Charis
3. Sandy
4. Carly

Gotta love the yummy Fall "crafts"

We finally got around to our annual pumpkin carving, last night! We wanted to carve them after trick-or-treating, but we got home a little too late. While the boys carve... I clean the pumpkin seeds and roast them- mmmmmm! Kep always takes a ton of pride in carving a unique design in our large pumpkin while our boys make their own li'l creations with Potato Head pieces. But, this year daddy's pumpkin did not turn out "good enough" for him, so I am not supposed to take a picture of our Optimus Prime (Transformer) pumpkin! So, it sits on our porch with the uncarved side, facing out, to welcome people!!!

These little guys are very proud of their fireman pumpkins!

Today, we made these adorable Oreo turkeys. We made 30 of them for our MOPS meeting, tomorrow, so each mom at my table can take a few home to her children! They are super cute and easy and the idea is from familyfun.com!

The boys are so cute in this picture! I will just keep looking at this picture to make me smile because the presidential news has me "politically depressed". It seems very depressing to have our country be led by a party of so little conviction but it does give me more reason to pray and trust in our God.

Trick or Treat... Toy Story Style!

These pictures keep posting in a backwards order, it's midnight and I'm tired of reposting these pictures... so the story starts at the end of this post! Our little Jessie charming her Popeye! So cute to watch Popeye with his little girl, now that her silly personality is coming out!

Every year, we only trick or treat at Great Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Connie's home, Miss Flo and Miss Doris AND Popeye and Momo's humongo stash! It's a great place to end the night because they love to load our kid's pumpkins with candy and then be entertained by the sugar work it's magic on our boys' energy levels. Our adorable little Buzz was made with a mouth full of "sweet tooths"... so Trick or Treat is his new favorite holiday (we don't call it Halloween, it's Trick or Treat day). Our boys are so different, it's Parker's favorite holiday because not only does he get to be in full costume, but his sissy and brother are also wearing costumes! We got home from Popeye and Momo's at 10pm with 2 wired boys and Parker saying, "that was so much fun!"

Here is Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear. I had been planning on having the boys wear these costumes for trick or treating but I still wasn't sure what to have our little missy wear b/c they don't make Jessie costumes in infant size! So, the only alternative was her pink tutu or a Green Bay cheerleader outfit! But, an hour before we left, I looked at Jessie's picture on the cover of "Toy Story 2" video and pulled out these clothes from her closet. Then, I drew cow spots on some white tights and put a yellow piece of cloth around her neck- good enough for me! But, we needed a hat! Well, I convinced Parker to wear his black hat (since his boots are black) and Savannah had brown boots to match the (large) brown hat! So, there they are the Kroon Toy Story Trio!

Noah is the cutest Buzz Lightyear, ever! What a fun night!

our dolly got her 1st dolly...

Savannah is in love with her new dolly! I wanted to have this doll for our boys to give her at the hospital... but I kept putting off ordering it b/c shipping cost as much as the doll!!! Then, I found a website where shipping was only $5! Woohoo! If any of you have baby girls... I strongly suggest this dolly. It's made by Corolle and the stocking cap pulls up to play sweet lullabies. She's very squishy and machine washable. And, Savannah gives her huge hugs every time we hand her dolly! pretty sweet!