Daisy Girl Scout Camp Out, 2011

This was supposed to be published about a month ago but traveling and busy summer projects got in the way. I am back and ready to blog now!


We finally did it, after being on weather hold for four days we decided to just go for it and hold our first ever "Daisy Camp Out"- in our back yard. We had about 14 girls come with their tents and sleeping bags and jammies. Despite the wind and rain we survived and had a fabulous time!

Some highlights: a Treasure Hunt, learning how to make a fire WITHOUT matches, playing in the club house, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the play set, learning how to cook a peach cobbler with just coals, singing songs and putting together a photo book of our year together as Daisies.

The troop in their jammies, singing songs (11:00 p.m.)

It was cold, it rained a lot but the kids didn't care one bit. They never complained about being cold or tired. Amazing. They were troopers until about 11:00- I think they finally fell asleep at about 11:30 (of course it is still light out here so it was a bit harder for them to chill out).

Kiley and Paris, tent-mates, around 11:30 p.m.!

Next year will be interesting, we've started some traditions here. I can't wait to see what we do next year!

The New PlaySet

We've had it since last July, but no time to put it up. It takes hours and hours to put one of these suckers up! Just ask Papa Paul, he started it in the garage and then piece by piece it was brought to the designated spot. I would guess at least 20 hours of time went into this piece of equipment.

Now the kids have no reason whatsover to EVER leave our yard...... and in saying that I think Paul and Jon were crushed when Kiley said, not 6 hours after her new "playground" was complete, "I want to go to my school playground!" Um, what?

Blake had to show us how many pull ups he could do... or maybe Jon was talking trash saying he couldn't do any, something like that.

Regardless, the playset is getting a lot of action. It has been a pirate ship, Kalin has been a witch (a very mean one) and there have been a lot of races down the slide. If the rain will ever stop it will definitely be the hot spot at our house... along with the trampoline, Club House and swings!

First Day of Preschool

Kalin had her first day of Summer Preschool yesterday! Look at our big, big girl!~ I think she was ready... but not so ready that she wanted me to leave her "all by herself." Mommy & Kiley had to stay at Preschool with her the whole time.
Once we got there and she got into the groove of "school" I think she would of been more comfortable with me leaving. That was about 30 minutes before school was out so I didn't get to test my theory.
This morning is day 2 of school and she has already told us that she thinks she is going to puke.... how many more years of this do I have to look forward to?

Pantry 2011

Papa Paul is here, and boy has he been busy!

Our pantry went from this:

We told Kiley this was going to be her new bedroom....

To this:

We told Papa Paul this was going to be his bedroom too..... Actually I told him
"No Pepsi for you until this is done!"

To finally THIS!!! Perfection, beauty.... ORGANIZATION! Space!


We now have the prettiest pantry in town, just in time to stock it full with our Spring Barge order!

Student of the YEAR!!!

Yes, that is correct. Blake was chosen not only as Student of the Year but also as the Academic Student of the Year for 2011. I was told he was chosen "hands down", just sayin'..... an almost mom to a teenage boy has to brag you know.

I was surprised and he was too fast for me to get a good picture!

Blake worked his butt off this year to make up 6 credits- on top of doing his regular Junior Year school work. Hence the Academic Student of the Year honors.

Blake, to say the least is very mild mannered and um, quiet. I have said many, many times this year he is the "polar opposite" of his brother Matthew. It is no exaggeration- one is very outgoing and going, going, going... the other content to chill and work on his computer.

Basically chilling at his awards ceremony with Sis.....

Needless to say, we are very, very proud. Our spring was a little rough, and this award made it all worth it.

Kiley in Anchorage!

The plan was for me to take Kiley to Anchorage and she would spend a few days with her Auntie Jeanette while I was at a conference in Girdwood. That was the plan.....until my conference got cancelled.

We didn't think Kiley would want to go into Anchorage by herself.

We were wrong. She told everyone she got to go to Anchorage "all by herself" and even wrote a story about it at school.

Kiley left Sunday morning (I wouldn't let Jon leave the airport until the plane left the ground) and we have barely heard a PEEP out of her this entire time! Kiley do you want to talk to your mom? NOPE Kiley do you want to talk to your Dad? NOPE Kiley do you want to talk to your Sister? NOPE

Hog heaven+being spoiled rotten by her Aunt= no homesickness whatsover and not wanting to talk on the phone for even a second.

Here are a few of their adventures so far.

First stop "Lippa Heaven" aka Wal-Mart

Second stop: Dog Park! (Note the fancy new white shorts)
3-D Movie! With pop and popcorn!

We hope to see her again Wednesday.... if she will get on the airplane that is.

Pee Wee Wrestler- in Video!

You can see the power in her stride....

Pull Up Head Strikes Again!

Kalin showing us her crazy moves when she was two, which really wasn't that long ago!

Look at her moves, she doesn't "think" she can dance, she knows it!

Kindergarten Hot Dog Run, 2011

Try not to listen to the crazy woman screaming too much. No one could contain her.

See how fast she ran? Her shoe came off!

Prom 2011

Somehow Jon talked Blake into going to Prom this year (no Dumb and Dumber costumes, remember what it took for M. to go to Prom?). He waffled back and forth, back and forth and finally decided that he would go.
A few hours before the dance he told Jon he would need some "lessons" in slow dancing. This cracked me up. Jon tried to show him without me- can you picture it? Yeah, I died too. So when I got home Jon cranked up Alisha Keys' "No One" and we busted our moves. I warned him that his date might try to get a little frisky (aka stealing a kiss or two), I even modeled.... Jon didn't seem to mind. I offered to show Blaker how to dance, he turned about 10 shades of red and passed.

I think overall he had a great time and going to Prom at least once is an experience every high school student should have. The Tracker has made it to Prom three times, actually made it home to our house only twice. We were happy we didn't have to find it in a pit at Aleknagik the morning after Prom.

But to end on a bright note....I think Blake made the right decision to go to Prom. He cleans up pretty good.

Hot Dog Run!

Kiley ran her very first Hot Dog Run (if you don't know what that is- you run a set distance, and get a hot dog as your reward at the end of the race!) last week. She was so pumped she ran her little heart out, so fast she lost her shoe right at the end! She told me that when she runs "really, really fast" her shoe always comes off.

For some reason I can't get our movie to upload then you can hear my crazy voice-- I was just as pumped as she was. She was a little nervous before the race and told me she didn't think she could run it, I gave her some sound Mom advice but in my head I was thinking, "Really? I've been waiting 6 years for you to run this race."

I couldn't have been prouder, my baby got second place in her class. Go Kiley!

They had so much fun the first race the girls ran again!

Happy Mother's Day

What a wonderful day. The whole family together minus just a few key family members.

I think Gram was in hog heaven with all her grandchildren together in one place.

A priceless picture, they grow up too fast!

Wood Splitting!

We go through a lot of wood in the winter, um, it gets cold here. Oil is expensive, as is electricity!

Since we are down to about one row of wood in our wood shed that holds about 4 chords I thought it was about time for us to start splitting the wood Jon and Blake have been off getting this spring.

My mother-in-law has told me many times that you can get a lot done in just an hour. So, with that in mind, I gathered up my troops (Blake,Kiley and Kalin) and headed out to chop some wood! We got about a row done in an hour of work. Plus we all got outside for some fresh air and a little sunshine.

It has been pretty busy around here with our travel schedules and other commitments but we are getting it done!

Jon said we just need to make sure to leave some wood for Bonnie when she is here in August. She might not want to stay for a month if we don't have wood for her to split for an hour every day.
Don't worry GB, we will have plenty for you to split!

Clouse Tacos

These are Clouse Tacos. Lippa smelling, giggly, loud, full of energy, silly tacos.

This is how we roll em at the House of Clouse. Actually Jon rolls them. Once rolled nice and tight they work it and work it and work it until they get out.

I'd say we make them about every month or so- these crazy Clouses love them. The tighter the wrap the better.
Kiley thinks she looks like a salmon.... she does have a pretty good imagination.

Planting... finally!

We still can't get into the green house, and there is still tons of snow. BUT we did thaw out our potting soil and we found some pots and other planting paraphernalia in the garage.

Kiley even got in on the action- she planted marigolds. They still haven't come up, so we might have to start again. Marigolds are usually the first to come up aren't they?
Sis took this picture. Thats me planting my gladiolas- man they were already sprouting!

See? Not the best picture, but you can see those sprouts.

We planted marigolds, gladiolas, broccoli, lettuce, some petunias, lupine and an herb garden. We stick them in front of our deck doors.

This is what has sprouted so far:

Broccoli (we have high hopes this year-- we discovered it needs a ton of light!)
and some Marigolds, or I think they are anyway. We'll see.

We also have some Dill and Basil growing in our herb garden! So far our planting season is off to a so-so start but we are still very hopeful for some amazing results this year in our garden!

Visitors

Look who came back for a visit this spring. Our old friends the moose. They are a mama cow and her calve, respectively. This must be the same cow that has visited us for the past couple of years, I hope she isn't offended that we can't tell (they all do look alike you know). We must have some tasty trees.
They came to visit right about the time Kiley was going to be walking home from school, of course Sis was still sleeping so I had Blake go and pick her up. That night at dinner I was asking Kiley what she would do if she "ran into" a moose on her way home from school. Before she could say anything Sis said, "SHOOT IT!"
Now there is an Alaskan girl!

Desperate

Let me start this by telling you that it was 10 degrees at our house this morning when we woke up. Ten, t-e-n. It is April 12th.

It always seems like an act of desperation this time of year- planting that is. Desperate to feel dirt, warm sun and to see GREEN things growing.

We could feel it though so Jon and I decided that we were going to do some planting on Sunday. We broke out the seeds, and then decided to look for our potting soil. We faced our first hurdle there. The potting soil was stored outside under the back deck and was pretty much frozen solid.

Second hurdle- I usually store my pots in our crawl space but this year we thought it would be a great idea to store them in our newly constructed green house. Perfect, no dirt in the house! Easy access! Right?

Um... wrong.

This is our green house. As of yesterday. Yes it is covered in snow, lots and lots of snow.

See that little crack at the top of the door? I could peek in and see the temperature in the green house- it was 64 degrees in there. Ahhh, we won't feel that heat until at least June.

Third hurdle: Jon and I thought we could easily dig out the door so we dug this path. Cute isn't it? I was thinking whoo hoo planting here we come! Then Jon discovered the 6 inches of ice covering the bottom of the door and my dreams of planting went down the tube.

Spring in Alaska..... gotta love it!

It's Official

I'm sick of snow.

Don't get me wrong, it has been a fabulous winter. Actually an amazing winter, we couldn't ask for better. But winter is over. It is spring now.... that was official March 20th.

This week we have had snow storm after snow storm with wind and rain mixed in. We have woken up 4 out of 7 days with fresh snow on our deck- like 5 inches of FRESH snow.

We've had some great walks. It is always good to get the kids out for some fresh air.

The dogs even loved the walks, especially Kami.

We built some great tunnels-- kind of like snow mice or something.

Towing was a huge hit-- hours and hours of fun.

Of course we can't forget about sledding-- what a way to burn off some energy! Kiley must have ran up and down this hill enough times for all of us.

As beautiful as this is I am ready for it to all melt away. Soon. I'm ready for some brown mud and then some bright green. In a few months I hope to be picking berries right here on this tundra.