Whew - FRIDAY

Stuffed - all meat, all the time

 For years Friday nights have been pizza night at our home. Sometimes purchased, eaten out, brought home to bake, homemade...but always pizza. We recently decid3ed to move pizza night to Wednesday night as we need to be leaving our home by 6 p.m. for church activities. I forgot pizza on Wednesday this week, I went on auto-pilot. It was WONDERFUL not to have to cook at the end of the long week, I'm still considering which night will be best. LOL 

We alternate between veggie and chicken bacon ranch 

My morning begins with a small group centered on wellness at 0530...

Stacia and I were out of the house at 0700, heading to our favorite cafe for our one-on-one Bible study. I enjoy these times with Stacia and Allie. Each week we're covering the same material, and each week God shows me again how the Word speaks uniquely to our individual needs and challenges. 

This guy greeted us as we left our street

We ran a couple of errands and had Stacia home in time for our final Japanese tutoring session of the week. She has moved to twice a week and it's making a big difference in the pace of her progression through her material. 

Rose is a gal who moved months back. It's always fun to find time for her and I to have tea together, these days via zoom.  We plan to schedule another chat soon. 

We rounded the day out with animal play... Millie is about to get a poodle cut for the summer. 

Endless bounce

Nolan and the girls worked through another Exit game...

Let the weekend begin. 

Mr. Gingerbread Visits JBER

 The boys are "technically" hosting Mr. Gingerbread this year as they won the gingerbread contest. He went home with Luke recently.  However, if the poor man wants to GO anywhere, he has to hitch a ride with the gals. Krista took Mr. Gingerbread about JBER this week. 

Mr. Gingerbread likes to be useful. He jumped right in and helped with a bit of counseling...

Office work...

Community building....

It's hard work being a chaplain. Krista rewarded Mr. Gingerbread  with a bit of fun at the gym. 

Getting buff!

A well-rounded fitness regime includes cardio as well. 

Thank you, Krista, for showing Mr. Gingerbread a good time at JBER. I'm pretty sure, though Luke was his official host, Krista is the one that took him around...and yes, it cracks me up to imagine her walking around base with a stuffed Gingerbread man. LOL 

All photos from Krista! 

Fantastic Afternoon with The Kids

 Bre had an appointment today! Allie and I went to their home for a few hours this afternoon. I shamelessly played! Well, first we made little cards to send to their Daddy. 

Those curls! Those eyes! 

Gideon is a perfectionist - it's fun to work with him

Can you believe this doll is "almost 6"?

This was a game in the vein of Operation but with Pirates. We gave up as it continuously squawked! 

Bella, Annie, Gideon

Candyland was a game all 3 were interested in playing at the same time. 

Jenga held Annie's interest longer than it held Gideon's. They certainly know this one better than I do. They loved schooling Grandma Baachan!  LOL 

The lil' darlings did talk me into giving them a snack of "Irish cereal."  Their success was centered on my curiosity to see what Irish cereal was hidden in the "cold room." Lucky charms y'all! 

Allie took Lady, their German Shepherd, for a walk. When they came home, they worked on treat training inside, AND took her outside to work with her while Arielle and the boys played on the other side of the fence.  Do you remember BreZaak and CoRielle are fence neighbors?  It was a good training day for Lady. 

In other news, Stacia did develop covid symptoms.  She will be on Day 5 Friday and is happy she won't miss the weekend festivities. She missed movie night at youth tonight. 

Snowy Day with the Boys (Yes, it's April 5th)

Remember how I shared about shoveling around the play structure YESTERDAY! Can you believe this? It snowed all day. It was beautiful. It was hilarious. Three and a half inches on our deck tonight...but it won't stay long.  

I arrived at CoRielle's to find the boys looking out the front window. Benny was excited, Danny was blowing raspberries. LOL While Arielle worked; we played.  This is the best fishing game I've seen. The line can be reeled in and one "catches" little wooden magnetized fish. It was a lot of fun. 

Danny thought his style was just as good as ours. 

Check out their expressions! What isn't there to love about a hammer and "ice"? 

TWISTER!!!!

I didn't take photos but we also played Candy Land. Benny was suitably impressed when I told him the game was around when *I* was a little kid. I insisted we play by the rules, often we're a bit creative. Benny won. 

The fire ring and garden beds are buried again. 

Easter is coming...

A Great Spring Day

Michael and I went out for lunch and to run a few errands this morning. We needed some quiet time to be sure we are on the same page in a few areas - and we are. Arielle and the boys were coming over for our 3 hours of respite care. We left them eagerly playing games and came home to this. 

GG and Danny were both sound asleep. Benny was watching a movie and Arielle was studying Japanese. Soon Cory joined the rest of the family. Cory understands tree pruning. He came over to prune the trees in our little orchard. 

While they worked - I WORKED too. Benny told me he, "Really, really wanted to slide and swing." In a display of true Baachan love - I shoveled a walk from the deck to the play structure, and then shoveled around the play structure, and out to the hammocks. 

It was so worth it! 

Danny was not having it. This winter born Alaskan does NOT like the sun or the snow! Here he blows raspberries at the snow. 

Ah - spring! 

The Girls Redecorate

I believe the girls began discussing redecorating their room before Krista moved out a year ago. The original plan called for a Van Gough wall mural and many Dixit pictures.  I was game but they seemed to go back and forth on the mural, and I didn't want to put that much money into something they may not really like. 

Around Christmas we found the bedding sets....and then they chose an accent color from the comforter to put on their accent wall instead of the Van Gough. I was a bit mixed up and thought they were painting the whole wall, so we have a LOT of extra paint. LOL 

We got home Sunday evening and the girls were excited to start. They planned to do it all, but Michael is a bit particular about taping.... they agreed it would be good for him to tape the walls. 

It was an unexpected Sunday evening project, but it was great! The girls pulled out nails left behind by CoRielle and then Krista.... Michael finished taping and they began painting. 
 

Allie cut it in, and Stacia did the rolling - this system was well thought-out and worked well. 

Allie really gets into her work. 

Stacia is amazed at the results. 

The color is striking. It's warm and pretty and matches the comforters perfectly. They plan to buy a bit more artwork, some curtains and hang a few more things. It's coming together nicely. 

Together At Last

We were all excited for CyRi to visit today. We've not seen them in about a month. We've been busy being sick and recovering.  While Michael and Josiah burned a big pile of dead branches and such, Stacia and Livie made cake doughnuts! 

Livie, Stacia

They finished before the guys finished their job. Carrie suggested we check out the vendor sale in town.  The five of us gals set out to find a bit of fun. I found a birthday gift for Allie...and a garden pretty! I also decided I really need to begin saving for a Cricut. There are so MANY various machines that I'm stymied before I begin. 

Livie, bless her soul, told Papa she'd really like a fire in the fire ring! That's my girl! It was fun to connect around the fire ring. One thing we discussed is the possibility of meat chickens...not sure any of us want to handle the processing.  We did decide to order another couple dozen hens. 

Livie, Cy, Carrie, Michael 

Nolan has been sticking to his guns about his work schedule. He comes home no more than an hour after he is scheduled to be off and is getting caught up on college...AND he has just a bit of time to join us around the table for games or around the fire ring for discussion. Cy mentioned it had been months since he had seen Nolan. We all applaud Nolan's new boundaries. 

Allie, Nolan 

We have absolutely LOVED watching Carrie, Livie and Cy become a family. The lessons have been many, I'm sure, but they're all traveling the path with grace and love. Today, Livie learned, throwing snow on Dad's bald head may not be the best choice to make. 

Livie and Cy 📷by Carrie

Livie, Stacia, Allie 📷by Carrie

I bought this little flower for the garden - but it simply looks sad out there now! The ground it too frozen to drive a stake....

It was a wonderful day.  

Since I'm back posting.....I will go ahead and mention the day simply wasn't long enough for us. We suggested we all meet in Eagle River for lunch. Jamin and CyRi met us at our new favorite Asian spot and we continued the fun. We went over and toured Cy and Carrie's new house AND bought some supplies for a new home project at the ER Walmart. Great fun!