Cute Couple...

We make a cute couple.

I've known him for almost 20 years and still love him like I did when I was a young'in.  Maybe a little more.  We really cherish our time alone together.

Although moments alone seem to be harder and harder to come by......

November Hike

I am so in love with this picture!

We took advantage of a warm November day (no rain!) and went for a little hike with the girls, their cousin and 2 dogs.  It was just what the doctor ordered;  a very nice afternoon getting out for some exercise and fresh air.

Halloween Past and Present

I was feeling nostalgic and went roaming through our Halloween pictures of days gone by.

This is a picture of the First K at two as the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Adorable.  From what I remember of Halloween that year she had a fever but we had to take her to the carnival anyway, we were worried about her missing out or something.

I think I have a thing for bugs, and I didn't know it.

Sis at seven months as a bumblebee.  So cute!

Then there is Baby K as a Ladybug..... be still my  heart!

There is hope for me- look at this cute little ballerina and teddy bear.

Then there is the  Ketchup and Mustard family....

plus a kitty and a cute little witch.

 

But we are all sick at heart. We need help. This was us this year, we've gone off the edge.

(and I am thrilled I scared the tuna salad out of a trick or treater this year, a highlight of the night for me!)

Hope your Halloween was as much fun as ours!

Ice Skating!

You would think that living here in Alaska we would be able to skate a lot.  With all of our ice we also get a lot of snow and -20 below temperatures.  That combination does not allow for a lot of skating.  This last weekend was ideal skating with blue skies that stretched forever and temperatures in the mid thirties.

We took advantage!

Even Baby K!

We had so much fun!

 

If you look closely you can see that Kalin was a "tizombie" aka a mix between a tiger and a zombie

Kiley is going ice skating with a friend after school today. I hope the snow stays away for just a little longer so we can hit the ice just one more time! 

This Kid!

Baby K, Sis and myself went for a walk the other day.  Sis wanted me to take some pictures of her. So I did.

They make me smile.

She makes even the shortest of walks fun, with a twist.

 How many times have you gone on a walk with a teddy bear and a lasso? I can say I have at least once....

Oh this kid, never a dull moment!

Getting so big!

Baby K is already 8 months and 3 weeks old! She has two teeth on the bottom (two more coming out on the top!) and is crawling & pulling herself up onto everything. She just made her second trip into the big city (Anchorage) with just her mom and she did pretty well. Auntie Jeanette took care of her for two days and kept her very busy.  Nights were the biggest reality check for Auntie.... as anyone with a teething baby can attest to; waking up 5 times to a piercing scream is no fun for anyone!

Our first K is 8 and getting so mature for her age, she is really a big help around the house (some days more than others.)  She is playing soccer and still reading everything she can get her hands on, right now Garfield and Clementine are two characters she likes very much.  I am asked on a daily basis when her Kindle is going to get here already!

Second K is enjoying preschool so very much~ she comes home every day singing such awesome songs! Willoughby Wallaby Woo is my recent favorite.... She seems to be on the verge of reading because she is learning sight words and sounds at an amazing rate.  She also loves her books and Mo Willems is still a very popular author at our house- I can read about Piggie and Elephant every night.

We are still so busy every day- Jon and I are going strong every day of the week.  I think we both want to punch anyone who says they are bored.... what? Come to our house if that is the case!

Harvest!

Fall~ after our first frost, it's harvest time.

We picked our potatoes in three shifts this year, about one row at a time.  We planted Yukon Gold, red and a purple variety this year.  I picked these in the picture above from the first row after a wicked storm knocked a bunch of our potato plants flat.  I was very disappointed in the size of our red potatoes, but happy with the purple. Honestly I was very worried that I had killed all of our potatoes before I even stuck them in the ground.  I had a 3 1/2 month old and not much energy to plant potatoes so they were out on the deck getting "hardened" for about a week........

I grabbed a few of our carrots from our greenhouse- a purple haze and a Napoli. They tasted as good as they look!  Our carrots turned out pretty good this year ~ but they were mostly small, but still sweet and crunchy.  We have two more growing in our greenhouse, I think they will end up being just a bit bigger than the ones in the picture above.

I thought I would make potato picking interesting this year- $5 for the biggest potato!

The girls were enthusiastic for the first row they picked, not so much after that. They missed out! Look at the winners this year:

They are HUGE!!

 I'm so proud.

My uncle told me that potatoes are somewhere around $17 for a 10# bag here in DLG- Yikes! We will be saving a ton of money this year. The girls are already asking me to make a ton of potato dishes. Number one on the list? GB's potato burritos!

I wonder how these purple ones will taste in a burrito?

Hmmmmm....

The house was quiet (very quiet) and my nephew was visiting.  Not ever a good sign..... and then I walked into this pretty arrangement in my bathroom.

Hmmm?

My nephew looked at me like, "What Auntie?"

 "Oh my goodness! Who on earth could have done THIS?  Who could love pulling on toilet paper that much?"

"Well geez..... let me help you pick it up."

Never a dull moment, let me tell you......

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.