Itsy Bitsy Spider

Here is another one of her favorite songs. She is always singing about something!!

Popcorn Popping!

Micali loves singing. We have wanted to get this video clip taken for awhile. Lastnight while getting ready for bed the camera happened to be in the right place so here it is. Don't mind the mess behind her.

Clarity at last!

We have now completed the last of the window installation. We are very pleased at how everything turned out. The best part is you can see clearly out of all the windows now. The old windows always had condensation on them and we had to wipe it off to see outside.....not so anymore. The one part I don't like right now is we don't have anything covering the windows so people can see right in. We are shopping for blinds/shades and curtains now. I will add some more pictures when we get them framed and trimmed out. Enjoy!! These pictures are of the back door being switched out just lastnight. And yes it was during the random thunder and lightning storm we experienced yesterday. (for those of you reading not in Alaska---we hardly ever get either thunder or lightning up here. We have heard it only twice since we have lived here the last four years.

Two of my most favorite people.

 

I like getting a picture of the kids on their month birthdays at least for now. I didn't think about getting one of Eli until we were getting him ready for bed. Micali was eager to join in the pictures as soon as she saw the camera too so here they are. Eli is 8 months old today and tomorrow Micali will be 26 months old. I also weighed them today Eli came in at 23.8lbs and Micali is holding strong to 25lbs. Eli is still not trying to hard to crawl. He can get to anywhere he wants by rolling and seems to be content with that mode of transportation for now. He started enjoying cheerios this week along with some rice cake things I think they are called Mums Mums or something. They both enjoy going to story time at the library and especially singing the songs. We have been singing a lot of Wheels on the bus, monkeys jumping on the bed, and the Itsy Bitsy spider. Eli just giggles through the songs and loves it when I help him do the actions. They have been so patient with us as we finished putting in the new windows this week. My most favorite thing Micali says to me now is "I love you mommy" as I kiss her goodnight.

Can I keep him??

 
Here are some more pictures of the little one for those who don't get tired of seeing them. Micali has insisted on "holding" Eli more often lately. She loves covering him up with her blankets and wants to make sure he is OK! She is always asking him "ok baby, ok?" The other pictures in the collage are of her reading to her babies while I was making lunch today. She did an amazing job of entertaining herself for quite some time. I enjoyed listening to her read the books to her friends. She got to a book she always brings me titled Can I Keep Him? It is about a boy who finds all of these things and asks his mom if he can keep them. He asks about a dog, fawn, bear, snake and a few other things but on every page the boys says, "Can I keep him?" The mom always says no and then goes on to explain why---mostly that they would make a mess in the house. So as I am making lunch I hear Micali saying "Can I keep him? NO!!" repeated over and over again as turns the pages!!! I was so amazed that she was saying a whole phrase and that she even had it with the right book!! My little girl is growing up.
She has been sick the last couple of days. One night while I was rocking her to sleep I was just looking at her and holding her hand in mine and I couldn't believe how big it was. Time has gone by so fast. I am happy to have so many "Micali Moments" to remember.

Window Installation.

  Showing the big HOLE in our house. Thankfully we picked a good day to get this window in.
  A shot from the inside of the house.
  Brother Brenner gratefully came down to help out.
 A before we started this mess shot ;) Luckily I have learned it has to look worse before it looks better when remodeling begins.
We started putting in new windows about a week ago. This one was done on Labor Day. Alaska has a nice program going to help increase the Energy Rating for your home. A 5+ is the top rating that you can get. We had an energy rater come and check out our house before we started with the windows and we got a 2+ rating. We are planning on replacing our windows, hot water heater, and boiler system before winter. We are also going to be adding insulation to the attic. The grant will give you up to 10,000 dollars for the upgrades depending on how much the help with efficiency of the whole house. We were excited to hear about this program because we were planning on doing some updating anyway but a little extra money to do it will be helpful! The after picture hasn't been taken yet....we are hoping for a few more nice days before the cold sets in so we can finish up this project! I must add the three new windows that are installed are SOOO nice. I love them!

The Haircut!

 

Well, I got my haircut a few weeks ago but never got around to taking pictures of it. My wonderful photographer has been busy or I didn't feel like getting my picture taken but tonight it worked out okay. Here are some pictures of it. So far.....most days I enjoy it. Some mornings I really miss just putting it in a ponytail. It will grow back soon enough though. For now I will enjoy something different!

Massage Time

These pictures show Micali giving Luke a massage after school the other day. She would climb up on his back, walk around a little and then jump up and land on his back (and sometimes the ground.) Good thing she is just a light weight.

 

 

 

 

School is underway....

 

I took this shot of Luke the other night while he was reading. School has been in session for two weeks now. So far so good! He is enjoying his schedule and trying to stay on top of things from the beginning. This is the start of his fifth year teaching but, the first year that his teaching schedule is the same. He is teaching freshman and sophomore English classes and one combined class of world history and English. Another cool part is that he gets to co-teach with his partner in crime 4 hours a day! Watch for insights from his classroom coming soon.

Bonding

 

We decided to brave a cool morning last week and enjoy the fresh air. Micali and Eli love any time they get to spend in the stroller. We were gone from the house for about 20 minutes and I didn't hear a single peep from either of them. When we got home they just had big smiles on their faces.

 

Micali misses her brother when he takes a nap. Today as soon as she woke up she was ready to go get Eli up too. Every morning after his first nap I put her in his bed with him and they watch the mobile go around until the song is over. Eli just lights up as soon as Micali peeks over his bumper pad.

 

A quick picture before bath time. Micali wanted to join in Eli's chubbiness photo shoot.

Chub Check---Yep Still Chubby!!

 

Eli is still healthy and growing bigger everyday. He loves eating pretty much anything that I put in his mouth. He decided bananas weren't all that bad, he loved watermelon and cantalope this week. He is rolling all over the place, he can get where he wants by rolling so he hasn't tried getting up on all fours to attempt crawling. We are working on getting him to sit up too.