mastered the chairlift

Parker is all smiles on the Hilltop chairlift! Woohoo~ another breakthrough in his bravery!

Parker learning the "tuck" so he can go faster on his little skis! Kep said it was pretty cute watching him tuck at random times down the hill!!

Layne and Parker will be great skiing buddies! Actually, they don't have a choice because their daddies enjoy tearing up the hill together!

Crazy boys!

Hot cocoa~ this is the REAL reason they go skiing! Well, maybe it's the reason I would be skiing!!! ;)

quite odd!

(the boys thought it was fun to paint on the wall b4 we painted it blue!)I'm still surprised over what happened last night...

We got home wayyyyy past bedtime and I had asked Parker to run downstairs to get his PJs on while I got the younger 2 ready for bed. So, N&S were all set for bed... PJs, brushed their teeth, fresh diapers, bottles... and I was beginning to wonder why Parker was not back up to brush his teeth. So, instead of yelling down the stairs to ask him to hurry and obey... I decided I'd go see which toy was distracing my 5~year~old. And, boy am I glad I did not choose to get frustrated with him because when I walked down the stairs, there was Parker folding my mountain of laundry (that had been there for 3 days!). In pure shock, I said "Parker how come you're folding the laundry? That's so nice of you!" Parker's explanation, "Well, I just wanted you to be able to 'do your thing'!!!" I was still in shock, "Oh yeah, what's my 'thing'?" (I totally thought he'd respond with... the computer or watch Olympics) But, no he said, "You know mom, help the younger 2" ;) WOW, how sweet, helpful and innocent they can be! It was most definitely an encouraging end to a LONG day!

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So, to any of you thinking, "OMGoodness, Rachel is so fortunate"... THIS has never happened and probably NEVER will again! BUT I am writing this down so I can remember that our little ones ARE so sweet, they ARE thinking of others, AND they ARE watching/copying what they see their helpful daddy do for their momma! On the days (which are many) where I get discouraged with my mothering... God sends sweet little reminders that melt my heart and give me more hope! I hope this story reminds you of those precious moments with your own toddlers!

uncOnventional vAlentine's doUble datE

WARNING: If you're not a fan of hunting... this post is not for you to read!
We had a blast on an early Valentine's date, "bunny" hunting with some of our friends. Popeye and Mo~mo were super gracious to watch all of our kiddos for 9 hours while we went for a drive and hiked around on a gorgeous day.

My first "kill". So, I don't have a very accurate shot... it took me 3 shots to kill my first bunny. The guys made fun of us gals because we felt horrible for killing them but, yet, we weren't opposed to pulling the trigger.

This is the same place Kep went bunny hunting with my dad at Christmas time. I was excited to see this gorgeous scenery and sparkly snow~ in person!

And, this is my kind of winter hike... a plowed, flat trail!

And, here are us gals with the day's success. OK, Allison and I were only responsible for 2 of the li'l bunnies but since we planned the day... we needed a picture with our hubbies' "kills"!

Not a very traditional Valentine's date, but it is definitely our most memorable and humorous one! I LOVED every minute of it... being with my LOVE and doing what my hubby loves to do, by being outdoors!

happy VALENTINES to YOU!

Our kiddos got a joint Valentine's gift... a fleece~tied table tent! We got this pub~table off of Craigslist and our li'l ones have loved playing under it. So, I went and got them each a yard of their fav~colored fleece and tied them together to make a "cave"... it was a HIT, to say the least!

And, even a bigger HIT... eating pink Swedish pancakes in our "cave"! Happy Early Valentine's to YOU~ we're celebrating a day early because we have trouble getting to church on time on a normal Sunday!

adoption prayers...

Isn't this family just adorable!?! Abby is my oldest sister and God has blessed her with an amazing husband and three precious daughters. I love how they have obeyed God's calling and followed in His Will of adoption for their family. God has also asked them to open their loving home up to another beautiful daughter, Elani! I can't wait to meet my new li'l niecey and in the mean time... I am praying that she is dearly LOVED until my sis' family can go pick her up in China. We are praying that their adoption paperwork moves quickly without any gliches so they can get our sweet Elani home to begin her life as a Spear!

Elani is 2 and my sis was told that they might be able to fly to China in October to bring her home!

Here is my other sweet Chinese niece, Malea. She is so excited to have a little sister that looks like her! I love that both of these girls are the perfect addition to our family, just like all of us are perfectly adopted and changed by God. Sis, my prayers are with your growing family and with Elani. Love you and thanks for following God's plan! You can keep updated on their family blog.

And here are Jeremy and Amanda, some of our favorite friends! These guys are another amazing Christian family that are obediently following God to add #5! They have 4 super adorable children AND they have so much more room in their huge loving hearts. I am also praying for them as they prayerfully wait for God to bring the perfect little baby into their waiting arms. Currently, they are not going through an adoption agency because they have felt led to be available for any unplanned pregnancy, locally or from another state. So, if you know of any mom that needs a loving family for her baby... please visit their adoption blog and feel free to pass their website on to any young momma! Jeremy and Amanda are set to adopt; they have completed their home study and they have a lawyer ready to do the paperwork. We are all prayerfully and anxiously awaiting to meet their sweet#5!

Spears and J & A... know that you are LoVeD and covered in PrAyEr. Love you guys!

Parker hits the slopes

The Kroons are a skiing and biking family so our kiddos have no choice but to learn to do both! So far both boys love biking and we are still working on the skiing part! It takes major effort to pump them up with motivational chats and bribes. Then, once they've gained the confidence... they are good to GO! So, we spent all week prepping Parker for his debut ski at Alyeska. Kep and Popeye took the day off and they ALL had a blast! I love seeing my guys come home all jazzed and hearing Kep say "THAT was the highlight of my winter"!

Here's just a quick li'l video of Parker's first time taking turns on his skis. I was amazed with how quick he caught on to the turning. He looks a TON more confident than I did as a 9th grader... pretty sure I "snowplowed" the whole way! ;)

You might notice that he ran into the last foam obstacle, instead of knocking it down, which has caused him to hobble around the last few days! Minor injury on his first day at Alyeska... hopefully it won't set his confidence back the next time around!!! hehehe ;)

owwwww!!!

only 3 days of this and it BURNS to:
sneeze,
giggle,
cough,
sit,
do stairs,
and so much more!!!

Guess I'm BIG time out of SHAPE!

valentine mailboxes

We LOVE our 3 children so very much and I love that Valentine's comes around to show them our love in new and cutesy ways! This year I went back to the Target $ aisle and picked up 2 more mailboxes so they each have their own mail every morning. They also got to decorate their mailboxes with puffy paint/stickers so they're now super tacky, I mean "cool"!!! Every other year, we've written them li'l "love notes" but this year I made a "What we LOVE about _____" (#ed 1-14) chart for each of them so they get one word to add to their chart. I love this because I hear them talking about their sticky notes throughout the day and encouraging eachother with them as well. Simple yet meaningful to them!

And, here is Noah with the first treat... a mini can of COKE! His smile was this huge before the can was even gone at 9am!!!

sissy in her sleigh

awww... Savannah looks so little in her sleigh bed! We had to move her out of her crib before Christmas because my parents were coming to sleep in her room. So, I have been on Craigslist ever since searching for a girley bed. I don't know which "Craig" invented Craigslist but I need to write him a personal "thank~you" note because we have been buying/selling all year!!! Love that my trash is someone else's treasure and vice versa! ;)

We still need to paint this bed white to match her trim and freshen it up but it's still just a tad bit too cold in AK to break out a paint sprayer. So, the boys were thrilled to "help" Kep set up Savannah's bed this week! Now, they'll just get to set it up a few more times so we can paint it this summer.

celebrate February!

Every year I LOVE February because it's time for ...
Valentine's, my nephew's birthday, my grandma's birthday, my uncle's birthday, my #1 hubby's birthday, my birthday and a few friends... also have bdays!!! Just when winter seems to be taking a toll on my cabin "feverness"... there's a TON to celebrate in February!

AND THIS YEAR, I have one more super BIG thingy to celebrate in February... a 9~day trip to Kona with my mom and 2 older sisters!!! 7~1/2 years ago I was the last sibling to get married and I remember my eldest sis, Abby~the~planner, saying, "OK, when us girls are all done having babies... just the sisters and mom are headed to Hawaii!" I remember thinking that was so surreal but it's actually happening in 20 days! woohoo!

I am so blessed by these women in my life and I can't wait to spend time with just THEM in paradise! I am still hoping that my younger sis will surprise us with her presence as this would make our Kona trip... positively perfect! But, if she doesn't it will just be a great excuse to go back as a complete set of "Hogan" women in another year, well probably 7~1/2 years would be more realistic!!!

So, I have 20 more days to; research Kona's options, pack MY suitcase (packing only MY clothes and sitting in a plane without any kiddos is... possibly... my fav part of this trip!!!), work on getting this AKan whiteness... tan, eat less chocolate, start doing my new exercise video religiously, find all my summer essentials AND love on my kiddos/hubby... because I know I will be missing them a TON for 9 days!

this is one magazine I'm ordering to help with the Kona research. Let me know if you have ever been to Kona and your fav thing to do/see!

ps: I know I use a lot of ...'s but... I like them!!! I've never been a big fan of grammar, even though I am a teacher, so the ...'s go in the spots where I am unsure of... my grammar!!! ;) And, I'm OK with being known as the "... blog girl"!!!