It has begun....

The demolition of the old "entryway" has already taken place.

Our new entryway aka mudroom building project has begun!

It is coming together so quickly, I imagined a project like this taking much longer.  I also expected the weather (rain, snow, frost.... typical Alaska fall weather) to have more of a factor.

It really hasn't.  And yes, that is a bathtub in my front yard.  I imagined beautiful flowers overflowing in it every summer, so far that dream has yet to happen.

This is what it looks like today.  I think it might have walls and a roof before the snow flies!

Birthday Girl!

Our birthday princess is 8!

You really don't realize how fast time flies by until your  baby turns 8 years old in what seems to be a blink of an eye. The teenage years are right around the corner...... but I can wait for those.  For now I will relish the days with our 2nd grader, full of stories of school & friends.

It's been a fun day. Full of friends, laughs, cake and yummy food.  Now on to an evening of special family time.

Fall Walks

It is that time of year again, my favorite time of year.  The air is crisp, the leaves are changing.  The bugs are dying..... It is definitely fall.

We also know it is fall because we are in full swing with elementary school, preschool, Girl Scouts and soon to be AWANA.  The House of Clouse is a busy place.  We always have something to do or somewhere to go!

One thing we seem to be lacking in our area these days are sunny days, so when they do appear we take advantage of them.  We love to get the "sillies" out and go for a short little walk to a creek by our house.

Can you hear our middle child? "You can't catch me Dad!!!!"

Baby K enjoys the walks as well.  We've decided this is one device that she will go into willingly without screaming her head off (most of the time, cross your fingers).

This creek actually has spawning salmon in it this time of year.  The girls and I walked down here a few weeks ago and the first K found a dead one jammed up in the side (yes she picked it out of the creek and brought it over to me for further inspection, and yes it was disgusting).

The little girls and I made it past the creek and to the bike path the other day. It was wonderful.  I'm hoping for some sunny weather these last few days of September, rain, rain go away!

First days of Preschool.....

Little Sis enjoyed her first few days of Preschool this week.  She was very excited, and a little nervous (or so she told me).  She will be going to school Tuesday through Friday four hours a day.  Her first day she got to sit next to one of her best friends and she made a new friend.  Preschool was pretty cool because of that.

She chose to wear one of her pretty dresses on her second day of school. She looked pretty stinkin' cute.

She's mad that she doesn't get to ride the bus, because Mom will be picking her up and dropping her off.  We'll try to work through this as the year progresses.

Look Whose 7 Months Old!

Miss Kolbi spent the majority of her 7th month birthday hiking on Snake Lake mountain with friends.
What a glorious day!  It was gorgeous out with a nice breeze to keep the pesky bugs away.  Jon and I were not expecting a 4+ hour hike up a mountain but it ended up being a lot of fun- and the girls acted like it was nothing! Really, Kalin did the entire trip and still had energy at the end!

The girls were like little mountain goats, they were scaring me a little with their "bravery."  This is the first time we have been up the "front side" on Snake Lake mountain so the girls were running around and exploring everything they could.  I can't ever remember heading up this way, the view was amazing and we could see so far in every direction! We saw Aleknagik and Dillingham..... and many berry pickers. Not a single bear or moose (but we did hear a gun shot) but we saw some bear scat that looked fairly fresh here and there.

Jon said he couldn't stop eating when we got home. I told him after a 4 hour 7+ mile hike he had burned a ton of calories. More than any of us because he had Kolbi on his back the entire time!

I'm glad we got out for almost the entire day. It is raining, windy and blowing outside right now.  Who knows how many more days like this we will have.