Come cool off...

If the weather is too hot where you are, Natasha shows how you can come cool off by eating part of the glacier!! That's right, for millions of years **eyes rolling** this snow and ice has been ever so slowly forming, moving and calving just for you to enjoy on a warm summer's day! Come on over, it's free!!

I'll help you pack, Mom

So, Natasha's excited to be moving to the new house. I guess she thought she'd speed the process along by packing up her toys....right on top of her brother!

He didn't seem to mind, though!

YES??!!

Natasha has a new, misguided way of saying "yes." If you ask her if she wants something that, to her, is particularly appealing--say, a ride on the city bus, or anything orange, or to play with our neighbor upstairs--she will answer with three words: "Yes. Sure! (and this last word is said very excitedly as if to cinch the deal) MAYBE!!"

One week to go...

We are scheduled to close on our new house in one week. This is only an event that God can finish. There are so many things that have to happen before we can sign papers that it just seems impossible. But then, the whole thing has seemed impossible so far and God has made everything happen up to this point, so I just trust that He will continue to work things out. Meanwhile, I still have to pack! That's not going to happen without some effort on my part!

Brotherly (and sisterly) love

Natasha and Elias really just enjoy each other immensely!

Those pearly whites

I realized that many of you might not have officially met our son, Elias. Here he is in all his toothy wonder. Adam says that for Elias, happiness is not an emotion, it's an attribute. I'd have to agree.

Elias, the paraplegic Marine

Elias is definitely crawling, well...um, make that scooting...no it's more like slithering except it's not side to side. Okay, think inchworm meets Marine. Got that? No legs involved except for the occasional bear crawl manuever when he seems to be inspecting every fiber of the carpet for those sneaky, yet oh-so-yummy pieces of gravel (helps with the digestive tract, you know.)

Intelligent Design and acid rain...

I've been reading Dr. Dixy Lee Ray's book Trashing the Planet. I realize that acid rain isn't the hot topic that it once was, but this book has got me thinking a lot about what an awesome God we have. It's amazing to me how interdependent and resilient this world is that He created. Living in Alaska as I do, I often think things like "what in the world do we need mosquitoes for? They are of no use at all!" Well, this book hasn't answered that question, but it has made me realize that all of creation was created for a purpose that is good and needed. Dr. Ray (who happens to be Adam's great aunt) wrote how the desert and barren places in the world help to neutralize acid rain because they are alkaline and the dust gets into the atmosphere and mixes with all the acids (many or most of which are naturally occurring), effectively neutralizing what could be acidic and potentially harmful. Places that I would look at and think of as useless are intelligently designed for a purpose.

Picture of the Day

Natasha and her friend picked dandelions today. I had to take a photo of her in my favorite spot in the yard before we move in a couple of weeks.

Elias's latest

Yesterday he was clapping. Today he's made actual bonafide forward crawling movements....then he was sitting up in his crib after naptime. Natasha started walking at ten months. He seems to be on his way too.

Playing with Pictures

I'm just trying to figure out how to do photos from a Mac. Anyway, if you know Adam, you'll understand how hilarious this photo is. This was taken a couple of Thanksgivings ago (before kids). I can't remember who in their right mind let Adam touch their guitar.

Stuck in a well with a goat and a slinky...

I was filling out my profile and my random question was” “You're trapped in a well with a goat and a slinky. Describe how you will escape.” It was too interesting and practical of a question to give a short pat answer to.

Let's just assume it is one of the old fashion metal slinkys, because if it is one of the new platsic ones, I'd be toast.
Plan A
So I take the end of the slinky, sharpen it against the rock walls of the well, and use my new knife to euthanise the goat, skin it and cut the hide into long strands which I weave into a rope, While this is going on I eat the goat, I have plenty to drink, but water quality is going to be a problem soon. Fortunately I'd be using my urine to cure the leather. If the goat had horns, I would bind them together to form a grappling hook and pull myself out. There are only a few problems with this plan: I am not strong enough to pull myself out of a well using a thin leather rope, I can't weave rope or make leather.

Plan B:
Scream like a scared little girl until my wife finds me and helps me out. This is really the best plan, because I excel at screaming like a little girl. The goat and the slinky are really inconsequential at this point.

Up and running

Ok. A Blog. A family blog. When I think about it, it really doesn't sound extremely exciting except for those immediately affected (like, say our families) and they might not be into the blog format. So...we'll see how this goes.