Newly minted Scrabble Player

Joe wanted to play scrabble with me a few weeks ago. In the last couple of months, he has been making big strides in learning to read. He loves to spell out simple words and he sounds out everything. In our scrabble "game", he played Hat and Ted and then he spelled "Fathed" and laughed and told me that this was a word that boys use! He likes to try to read to Jack and Henry.

Pooh Bear and Tigger

AKA Henry (Tigger) and Jack (Pooh).

More March & April

Joe became obsessed with vocanoes because of Mt. Redoubt erupting in AK. Here's a drawing of a volcano.

Here's Joe's play doh recreation of a volcano (which we erupted with baking soda and vinegar.)

The boys in Target Easter $1 stuff.

John (and friend Matt) lighting Jack and Henry's birthday cupcake tree. Our 3rd birthday party for the twins was very small (just us and our friends the Nedoms) and I only took two pictures and none included the birthday boys . Oops. John thinks he videotaped the Happy Birthday singing and cupcake eating.

Joe and his friend Maria at Jack and Henry's birthday. I hope these two get married in 25 years!

March and April: Busy Boys

Riding new birthday bikes in the kitchen.

Painting.

Checking out stuff in the heating vents with magnifying glasses.

Playing with trains.

Jack and Henry watching Joe play a computer game.

Big Kids

Joe, Jack, and Henry all got haircuts this weekend and they are all looking much older. It is hard to believe that Jack and Henry turn THREE in less than two weeks! (Henry is on the left in these photos.) (I bribed them with sweet tart candy if they would pose for pictures and they all eagerly sat down and said Smile and Pizza. I should have made them dress a little better!)

More March

March pictures

Joe and Jack

Joe

Henry

Jack (who chose his own hat)

Pioneer Peak

We played outside on Sunday afternoon - it was sunny and about 20 degrees.

Wacky Weather

Our weather has been wild this week. The Chinook winds came in (the Pineapple express) and the temperature went way up. It was in the mid to high 40's this morning and the kids played outside. It was great even though it was very wet and windy. Now, there are torrential downpours.

Jumping on beds

More Palmer pictures

Palmer pictures

Winter pictures

I took these photos on Sunday at 10 a.m. The Palmer airport is just down the street from our house. My car's temp. read minus 30.

Christmas

We took very few photos on Christmas morning because we were very busy opening presents!

Joe is talking to Santa who visited his class following the children's Christmas program a few days before Christmas.

Joe with his good friend, Brayden. (There are Aidans, Bradens, and Cadens, at Children's House.)

Joe during the program. He gets very shy onstage. Every child recited a nursery rhyme.

Cold Spell Redux

Jan. 6th - My obsession with the cold weather continues. It is 4 p.m. and it is minus 16.1. Yesterday and earlier today, I thought it was above zero, even though it certainly did not feel warmer, because our thermometer's reading was above zero. It actually felt really cold because we had terrible winds. Anyhow, I was talking to a friend on the phone today and she said she couldn't believe it was still minus 15 at her house, which is nearby us. I said, that's weird, it is plus 13 at our house. Then I looked outside and realized that our indoor/outdoor thermometer blew away in the big windstorm the other night and it must have landed in some warmer spot. I couldn't find it, so I put another one outside and it is registering way below zero.

Jan. 7th - 7 a.m. minus 23.3 8 p.m. minus 22.0
Jan. 8th - 8 a.m. minus 22.0
Jan. 9th - 9 a.m. minus 17.3
Jan. 10th - 8 a.m. minus 17.1
Jan. 11th - minus 13 - it's finally warming up; 2:45 p.m. - minus 7.8
Jan. 12th - plus 6.3 - yeah! the end!

Cold Spell

Dec. 29th - Weather update: It is 10 a.m. and the sun is finally coming up and it is MINUS 12.3 degrees at our house. Yikes.

Now it's 8 p.m. and it is minus 15 degrees. It never got above minus 10 today. Apparently, it will hit minus 51 degrees in Tok tonight. That's cold!

December 30th at 10 p.m. It is now minus 18 degrees. It was below minus 12 all day. I just got back from swimming class. The car thermometer varied from minus 20 to minus 25.

December 31st - 6:20 a.m. - It is minus 20.4 degrees and for some awful reason, the twins were up at 4 a.m. and never went back to sleep.

2:40 p.m. It has warmed up to minus 19.1. Our low today was close to minus 22.

Jan. 1st - Our temp. range was minus 22.9 to minus 13 for brief time in the afternoon.

Jan. 2nd - 7 a.m. It is minus 23. 3 p.m. It is minus 18.5. I took the kids to tot time at the sports center in Wasilla this morning. The van's thermomenter varied from minus 18 to minus 35, depending where we were in the Valley. 8 p.m. Minus 22.5.

Jan. 3rd - 10 a.m. and it's minus 23.6. 6 p.m. minus 22.

Jan. 4th - 4 a.m. minus 25. 9 a.m. minus 23.6. 2:45 p.m minus 17

9 p.m. The end. Yeah. It is really windy outside and the temperature is rapidly rising. it is now plus 2.5.