Happy Halloween!

Kiley is going to be a monkey this year for Halloween- fits her perfectly since she climbs on and gets in to everything. I am happy to say that I got her costume on her this morning and her dad couldn't get it off her! I was afraid of the opposite..... Angela and I dressed up on Saturday night and went out to a few Halloween parties in town. Angie was a sexy cop who was out to bust all the Dillingham drug dealers and I was on a mission to save them all. =) It was a fun evening, but I was home before midnight! Tonight Kiley gets to go to her cousin Rikki's birthday party and for the first time she will go trick-or-treating. I'll post more pictures of that later.

New Steam

My Dad was on a mission during his visit to Dillingham. Here are some pictures of the "building of the steam". I can't get blogger to put these pictures in order, like how the steam was built, so you will just have to piece it together yourself.

October

October has been a busy month for the Alaska Clouses! Papa and Gram were here for a month, visiting from Washington. Kiley got to spend every day with her grandparents and loved every minute of it! I know she can't wait to see GrandPaul and GrandBonnie..... I wonder how long it will take her to get THEM to bend to her every whim? She's pretty good at that.
Well besides the visiting grandparents we had Jeff and Lori here visiting from Washington, my Dad rebuilt our poor burned down steam with the help of Jon, Tory and Jeff, and we have been busy with work, school and sporting events.

Kiley has been expanding her vocabulary on a daily basis, and her favorite word is now "No". She says it a lot cuter, it is more like, "Nooo". She also likes to say, "Oh" after we tell her something, which seems like she is agreeing with us but she actually isn't. Kiley also has started to warm up to Tory, which is cute, but he doesn't quite know how to handle it. She is loving the snow outside and calls it "Num-Num's", I haven't gotten across to her to stay away from the yellow parts.....

Tory is busy with wrestling practice and school. He got his first report card in and got all A's and B's! Yeah Tory. He also passed the written section of his driving test, learned how to drive a stick shift, and then passed his driving test. So he is now has a lot more freedom then he did....so far so good.

Jon and I have been busy with work, Jon more than me. He has started traveling and will be busy with that for the next month. It looks like he will be gone for two days, home and then off again. They are trying to get all the computers out before Thanksgiving break. I'm trucking away with my Masters project, and a library science class. I am tired of school and ready to be done. I can't wait until both programs are over!

Kiley's Second Birthday!

September 22nd- our little girl turned two! It is hard to believe that Kiley Jeanette is already TWO! I had an extra day on my work calendar so I took the day off and spent it with her and my parents. We had a great day playing and just having fun. She took a two and a half hour nap and that made our evening! We had a nice family dinner and then had more family come over for cake and ice cream. I made sure to have a Hello Kitty tablecloth, cake decorations, and other accessories. She loved it. Kiley still doesn't understand the whole birthday business, but she enjoyed her day. My aunt Bossy, who she calls "Umma", came over with a cupcake and candles for her to "practice", boy did she eat that up! I think she enjoyed blowing out the candles more than she liked eating the cupcake! Her cousins "helped" her open presents and oohed and aahed over each one. She got some great Hello Kitty clothing and even a bed! I didn't know that there was so much HK paraphenilia out there, she even got some tattoos of HK! My Mom made her a beautiful Hello Kitty blanket that she shared once or twice but claimed with a "MINE!" if we kept it too long. Kiley also started saying a new word, "pack-pack" for the HK back pack she got. =) Enjoy the pictures of our birthday girl.

Tony's Run!!!

He did it! Jon ran in Tony's Run last Sunday. He had grand ambitions to run the half marathon, but as work got busier he had less time to run. So instead of running the half marathon he ran the 5K- and did very well! I didn't run this year, I got sick, got lazy....and just wasn't in good enough shape to run. Those are my excuses and I am sticking to them. Next year this might be a family event. Jon will run with Kiley in the stroller and I'll just run! Sounds great to me. Kiley was very excited to see her Dad running and cheered him on until the end. We are pround of you Dad!

Washington Trip

Kiley and I went to Washington for my Mom's surgery in August. We had surpisingly beautiful weather the entire time we were there! Kiley got to wear her summer clothes one more time before coming home to the rain and bugs. It was a semi-stressful trip, and very quick! We flew to Washington with my Aunt Bossy, and I am so glad because we couldn't have done it without her! Kiley is not the best traveler, as anyone who has ever been with her on an airplane knows. We had a great trip- but our days were long with going to the hospital and squeezing trips for shopping and shopping in between. My sister Jeanette, Bossy, Kiley and myself got to go to Lori and Jeff's cabin for the night and part of the next day. The weather was gorgeous and we got to pick black berries until we burst! We left Washington knowing my Mom was on her way to a full recovery. We were so thankful, and now she will be up here in just a few days.

Aleknagik Adventure

We all got a chance to go to Aleknagik Lake on Sunday during our Labor Day weekend. The weather was perfect- blue skies ands lots of sunshine. Kiley and Camryn both had fun seeing all the spawning red salmon at the Agulawok. Camryn even caught three of them! She got a fish on after fishing for about 5 minutes and when she hooked it everyone else who was fishing cheered her on, it was great. We brought steaks, brats, hotdogs and other goodies and started a fire on the beach. We took Kami and Jackson, poor Oscar had to stay home. Cody kept the dogs busy by throwing the stick for them- over and over and over again! Those dogs don't get tired out. We found out that Jackson is much more persistent than Kami, he went for a stick and kept swimming for it to the point where we had to go and get him with the boat. I was afraid he was going to drown! We had a great day and were all pooped out by the time we got home.

The Dryer Incident

The last few days have been hectic around our house. Jon and Max shot a moose on Saturday night up on the Nushagak. We let it hang for a few days and then spent a few hours on Wednesday night cutting, bagging and freezing. We were all up after midnight dealing with our wonderful moose....Kiley felt the need to get away and unwind. So last night we started canning the moose we had left over and Kiley disappeared for a while. Guess where her Dad found her? Yes- some how she was able to crawl into the dryer with her boots, dirty clothes and baby. I am thinking that this new interest in the laundrey room might look pretty good for me in the future....

Camryn's Birthday

August 29th was my niece Camryn's7th birthday. It is hard to believe that she is 7 already, since it seems like she was just a baby yesterday. Here are some pictures from the party and all the little children in the world. Kiley was the youngest by a few years, but it didn't stop her from digging into the cake!

Potty Training

We have been working hard at getting Kiley to use the potty. She has been doing a super job- and as you can see from the pictures she is enjoying her time in the bathroom. We have gotten her to tell us when she needs to "poop" as she calls doing anything in the bathroom and she does with a lot of urgency. She's a smart little cookie and I'm sure she will get this down soon. Enjoy the pictures.

Summer Fun!

The Alaska Clouses summer was filled with family, travel and some fun times! Kiley and Shannon went to Washington in May to surprise gram for Mother's Day. Kiley had a blast playing at the beach and seeing the "moos". We had the opportunity to spend time with cousins from Washington in Dillingham and old friends from New Stuyahok in Wasilla. Jon and Kiley's plans to Colorado got changed to spending three weeks in Fairbanks. They lived it up by going to parks, libraries and just playing, playing and playing some more while Mom was in class. Kiley even got to visit the emergency room when she decided to put not one or two but THREE rocks up her little nose. We got back to Dillingham and Jon was back to work by July 20th. Shannon followed soon after and was back at work July 31st.