Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day...My lucky parents are in Mexico right now, so I am trying my best to keep in touch with them and everyone else at the same time. Hope you are having a great time! Christmas so far has been an adventure! It began with Alana waking up at 1am, then both little ones waking up around 3am, Lucas waking up again at 3:30 and us bribing him to stay in his room if he gets his Christmas lights back. Then both little ones getting up around 7am (not bad...) and hearing Lucas scream to keep the lights off when James turns on the dining room light. It didn't help when Lucas attempted to turn off the light, but couln't quite reach it yet, which frustrated him even more. Needless to say, it was a picture perfect start to Christmas Day, but it's beginning to get quite a bit better since Lucas is filling his tummy with red, green and white pancakes! Unfortunately, between Lucas's mood swings this morning and trying to get Alana to open presents, we took absolutey NO pictures! Unbelieveable! James did get some video footage and we'll try to take some pics throughout the day.

Alana's favorite present is the learning cell phone that we got for Lucas (which he hasn't even taken a second look at!) as well as the blanket I made her. Very cute.

Lucas's favorite present at first was the Thomas train barn that Grandma and Grandpa Castleberry got for him...after about 30 minutes he suddenly packed it up madly, insisted he didn't want it anymore and put it on the counter where it is still sitting. Right now, his favorites are the medium-sized lego blocks James got for him as well as the bath boat that Grandma and Grandpa Castleberry got for Alana. We are lucky a lot of these toys can be enjoyed by both kids!

Katie's favorite present is a star wars comic pack with a couple figures as well as the many toe socks she recieved from both us and Dan and Becky (my parents). Also, part of Christmas this year is James and I taking Katie to Disney World in March, which we are combining with a visit to James' parents and other family members. Lucas and Alana will get to spend 3 fun-filled days with Grandma and Grandpa Castleberry while the 3 of us are enjoying a little vacation to Disney World, MGM Studios and Epcot. The day before we leave, we will all be visiting Sea World (we get in free!!! Military rocks!) and enjoy some of the sights and sounds for a few hours or however long the little ones can manage to hang in there.

This year, the Morgan family (i.e. mom, dad, kerri, sunny, james, katie) decided to draw names and make a present for the person we drew. Dad made James these BEAUTIFUL poor-boy sticks! Dad, you are amazing! Dad should definitely start a poor-boy stick-making business! I'll be happy to join in and make some as well :) Mom made me some great cards for me to use! The maker is always more critical than the gift-reciever and I LOVE them! I think they are great, Mom! She also made me a cute pair of earrings. Katie is still waiting to recieve hers (hint, hint, hint). But I can't exactly talk because Dad and Mom won't recieve theirs until they return from Mexico...

Today, we are looking forward to ending the day with a Christmas Calzone/Pizza evening with some friends here at the house. We made homemade Calzones/Pizzas last year and we liked it so much that we've decided we are going to make it a family tradition!

Alana Update

So....I didn't really keep my promise of keeping up the blog very well...obviously. What can I say? So, here are a couple videos of the two little ones. The video of Alana in the snow is TOO CUTE! She loves to be outside walking around. This was taken of our first time in the snow with her at about 0 degrees. It was fun and Alana really enjoyed it.

Alana in the Snow


Alana is now in her crib in Lucas's room, i.e. their room. She goes to bed SO easily now...she has some milk at bedtime and once she is done we put her in her crib with some music and leave the room, door shut behind us! How different it was with Lucas...He always HAD to be rocked to sleep...She does still get up about once per night to have more milk, but goes right back to bed after that. Sometimes Lucas and Alana wake up and talk to each other...so cute! We'll go in after a few minutes and Lucas will yell out with the biggest smile "We are talkin' Mommy [Daddy]!"

Below is a video of Lucas and Alana sliding on the slide we have downstairs...one of James' band buddies gave us that and it saved us last winter! And it is saving us again this winter! Lucas and Alana love to climb and slide on it every few days or so...so nice when it's dark out most of the time we are home with them. During the weekends when it gets light out in the middle of the day, Lucas will tell us it's time to go shopping because it is light out...very funny.

Lucas and Alana sliding on the slide


So we are trying a new strategy with Lucas...every time I get on the phone with my mom she always gets to hear of Lucas's latest whining or yelling or hitting or screaming fit or...you get the picture...So I've finally picked up a book. At the beginning I thought I was at least doing some things right...well, according to the Love and Logic books, I sort of was...there was more I was doing not right, though. So we've put some of the ideas into action last night and this morning and so far, so good! For example, Lucas decided to whine and wipe his peaches off the plate I put them on onto the table and insisted on wanting to put them on a pink plate rather than the blue plate I asked him to put it on. I instantly scooped him up stating (with lots of empathy) that it was so sad that he would have to have some room time and not get to eat lunch yet. So I put him in his room not saying another word and stood outside his door for about 15 minutes before he calmed down. I then opened his door (yes, he did try to come out but I just held the door shut...), gave him a big hug, told him I loved him and asked if he was ready to eat at the table (earlier he insisted on eating in the living room). I said nothing more, no lectures, nothing. Lucas came calmly out of the room, immediately picked up his peaches and put them onto the blue plate and proceeded to eat his lunch without another incident!!! I was absolutely shocked, pleasantly surprised, and very pleased.

Bull moose we had right outside our house the other night! It actually walked within an arms-length away while he was standing in the doorway with the cameras!!! Scary, but so cool!


We'll be putting a video of Katie's latest main part in her Christmas play shortly. She did great on her Math final ALL ON HER OWN! Without any help she got an A on her math final! We were amazed and she was pleased. Overall, she got 3 A's and 3 B's and we'll be going to a report card movie during the break. She always enjoys those.

More to come...Lucas's b-day pics..he is 3 years old! And more miscellaneous pics as well. Love to all!

November Update

So, it's been awhile...a bit hectic and crazy again...trying to pay off those bills we accrued during the past year with me in school! I've taking a rather good paying position after school for 2 hours M-Th with an elementary after school program! I work with 2nd and 3rd graders helping them with homework. I got my first hug yesterday afternoon from a kid named Elijah! That has been a good change from high school...instead of getting the worst sub award on a daily basis (someone in high school is BOUND to hate you at some point during the day!), I get smiles and hugs. So that has been fun.

We are currently in the process of letting Alana cry it out at night. She's done really well! Last night was her 2nd night sleeping completely through. The night before I actually got up and rocked her for a bit in the living room. Lucas has been in our room (since they share a room...) so that he can sleep through Alana's crying (which only occurs sometimes and not for very long). Before, he would be in his room while she cried and would yell "Stop crying Alana!" On his more understanding days, he might say "It's ok Alana, it's ok...". We should be able to move Lucas back in there this coming weekend.

Other Alana updates...she
-likes climbing on chairs now
-uses chairs/step-stools to get to something higher
-brings books to us to read with her
-will get dressed willingly if she thinks the clothes we have for her are "pretty"
-will run from us if she doesn't want to wear what we've chosen
-will choose pajamas to wear if given two choices
-njoys wearing regular shoes
-sleeps mostly through the night for over 10 hours at a time
-is almost on just one nap per day

Lucas is still working on potty training. He'll keep his underwear dry if he has them on, but as soon as he gets a pull-up on, it's all over and he doesn't go on the potty chair. He still won't poop in his potty chair and comes to us to say "Can you turn the light on in my bedroom so that I can poop?" He says it SO sweetly and it is SO funny when he does! He'll go into his room, shut the door and come out about 30 minutes later...If Alana is in there, he insists on going downstairs for that time alone.

Lucas...
-LOVES reading books!
-can put a 35 piece puzzle together by himself
-can put a 60 piece puzzle together with help (he LOVES puzzles!)
-would eat oatmeal every meal of the day if we let him
-still loves gatorade like nobody's business
-Loves to run and run and run and run and run and run and run...get the picture?
-loves play-doh and legos

Katie is still working away at school. She's in drama this winter again and is excited about the play coming up in December. They've got drama practice pretty much every afternoon, so we barely get to see her except for the weekends! She is really looking forward to Thanksgiving and making pumpkin pie!

I'll put pictures up next time around, as well as 7 strange things about me...I've been tagged by Brianna. I, too, informed by hubby that I was rather normal and he just laughed really loud...so I guess that means I'm not "that" normal. One of my strangenesses I must take a picture of because words cannot explain it very well...so, until next time!

Happy Halloween!

This year Katie was "Lucy" from the Charlie Brown comics, Lucas was a train engineer, and Alana was a pirate. Alana was supposed to have a pirate hat on, but her head was actually TOO big for the hat! We took Lucas and Alana to the UAF Museum where they had different activities for the kids. Lucas was fascinated with the butterfly house that had live butterflies flying around. Alana loved just running everywhere! Katie had two parties to go to. One at Access Alaska where she worked last summer and one at her friend, Lexi's, house in the evening. She had a really good time. No trick-or-treating this year. Since Lucas can't really eat any of the candy and Alana is not old enough, we figured we could save that for the next year.


A picture of Katie and her friend, Lexie.

Katie's Bowling

Katie had her Special Olympics local bowling competition this weekend. She bowled a total of 9 games and her scores were: 84, 90, 112, 85, 85, 78, 82, 120, and 87! Go Katie. This is the first year that Katie has bowled over 100 and she is very excited about it. Katie has bowled over 100 quite a few other times this season as well. We may need to actually get her a heavier ball next year...Katie got two 1st place awards and one 2nd place award. The picture is of Katie and her team mates...she is such a little poser!



p.s. Lucas spent most of the day in dry underwear! Go Lucas!

So, below is a video of the two littles one taking a bath. Too cute! They played so well together...Alana idolizes her big brother, but Lucas doesn't always return the admiration. He's mostly concerned with being first...First to take a bite, first to get into the van, first down the stairs, first, first, first! So this morning during breakfast I told him "it doesn't work that way" and he repeated that phrase over and over again. Hmmm.
So Lucas has started to train us on a new routine of his while dropping him off at daycare. James decided to drop off Lucas, then drop off Alana on the other side, then come back and put all of Lucas's stuff (now that it's winter...) into his cubby. When he entered Lucas's side of the building, Lucas was at the top of the stairs crying his head off with huge tears running down his face. When he saw Daddy, he said "You didn't scoot me!". Turns out that not only do we have to give him #1) his oatmeal #2) kisses #3) hugs (big hugs) and #4) noses, but also #5 scoot him on his little stool towards the table, even if it is little just a nudge! He really is so cute and pityful at the same time!


Here are some pics of the week. Cute one of Lucas, Alana, and the Bears. This was very cute because Lucas went to give Alana the little bear many times! He was being very sweet.

Katie is in her Lucy costume that I made her this year. Had NO pattern and it turned out really good! All we need to get now is blue socks and she'll be set to go! They are having dress-up day at the high school on Wednesday and then there are a couple of Halloween parties she'll get to go to on Halloween. She is VERY excited...has always LOVED halloween! Katie also performed her first high school play last night, which was called "Just Another High School Play". She has thoroughly enjoyed drama club this year and loves acting (of course!). James taped it, so it will be on the next family DVD we send out...hopefully around Christmas time.




















This is a regular look for Lucas in the mornings. He loves this blanket I gave him. It was a blanket made by my mentor and the classes last year for me. He likes to wrap himself in it, sit in the rocking chair and drink his gatorade.




















This morning Alana got on the chair and laid back on Eliza and her bear. It was very cute! And isn't she cute in her Halloween outfit that Great Grandma bought her? She looks SO good in bold colors. Love it!

Isn't she beautiful?!?!

We just got Katie's hair cut yesterday and her pics taken today. She went from looking like a kid to looking like a beautiful teenager in minutes! What beautiful curls she has...I'm jealous! Anyway, I took her pic out our back door after we got back today while it was snowing. The snow was awesome today...we got about 4 inches and Lucas and Alana trudged around in the yard for awhile. Alana actually liked it today and didn't cry a bit! Lucas loved it, of course.

Snow!

Well, it snowed for the first time on Sept.28. I think it's here to stay. Since it was on the weekend, we took advantage of the first snow and played around in it making snow angels and shaking the snow off the trees down on us. Alana did not like her snowgear very much, though.



Lucas and I made the yarn octopus that Lucas is holding in the picture. I got the idea from my sister-in-law Brianna and Lucas really enjoyed helping me make it!

Lucas is now in full potty-training mode. He didn't do too well tonight. And he picked tonight to poop in his bath...first time ever! He had a horrible day at daycare and I guess he was feeling obstinant the rest of the evening, eh? Needless to say, he only went to the bathroom in his pottychair once tonight and rebelled all other attempts. Normal? We have been using monster trucks as an incentive for his potty-training and so far it works fairly well (except for tonight, of course...). The trucks are well-made and actually last for a toy and Lucas is learning such formidable names such as "Grave Digger" and "Scarlet Bandit". I have been almost fully introduced into the world of monster trucks, downloading u-tube videos of them for Lucas to watch during his spare time. The only thing I think he'd like better is for the trucks we buy him to be bigger and to be able to actually see these things in person! I must say we are raising our son to be a "real man"!


Alana enjoys whatever Lucas is playing with...she loves her monster trucks as well. She has started to really show some personality and her likes and dislikes. She will now push something away if she doesn't want it. She is also saying many different words, although most of them aren't really clear yet.

Katie's play is coming up later this month - "It's just another high school play". And she is doing awesome at bowling! She's gotten above 100 points in seven games so far and is very proud of herself. I think she's starting to actually get an ego on her that we have to deflate every once in awhile. As you can see from the picture, Katie is loves Mickey Mouse! She can't stop thinking about Disney World!

Alana's 1st B-day!

Alana is a year old already! She is such a fun little girl to have around. She absolutely loves her big brother, although he may have different feelings about having a little sister...The day was perfect to celebrate her birthday! The leaves were in full color, the sky was clear and we had just a few close friends celebrate her special day with us. I made cupcakes that anyone with one of the most common 8 food allergies could eat and they actually tasted great! We've also found chocolate chips Lucas can have as well, so I put some of those in the cupcakes also. Alana didn't really care for the cake or frosting too much. Guess we should have trained her up right before the party, eh?

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Baby Girl Birthday Invite

Make a Smilebox greeting

The Summer Begins!

We got one and only one chance to make a snowman this winter. It occured in the middle of April! So I took the evening off of school work (I was NOT going to miss this chance!), picked up Lucas from daycare and we made a snowman! It was fun.

The summer if officially here and I have officially completed my teacher certification program! It was the hardest year of my life...James was amazing and basically took care of the house and the kids on his own this spring. A huge THANK YOU goes out to my sister, Kerri, for coming up and giving us 3 weeks of her life to help us out. I felt so much better that my hubby would not go completely insane with Katie, a toddler and a baby to take care of by himself for at least those few weeks. We seem to enjoy the challenges!?!

It's pretty sweet that I have the whole summer off! We've got our neice coming in for 2 weeks in June - Liz. Then I'll be taking Lucas and Alana down to Oregon for 3 1/2 weeks to visit the parents and my grandma and extended family in Idaho. We will be gone for a week to the coast, so I am very excited about that! I keep talking to Lucas about it and he seems to want to go. Then 4 days after we return, James' parents are coming in for 3 weeks! Busy summer! But this is the first summer I won't be busy with work, but with more fun things.

Katie is staying up here this summer and will be working half days in June as part of a work program. She'll even earn money, so we'll be able to teach her about saving, etc, for long-term investments and short-term goals. We hope she likes it. She is also turning 15 this Saturday! Can you believe it?

Lucas is definitely a two-year old. We took him a few cookies into school today (this is his last week before he gets to stay home with me!) and he was apparently under the impression that he would get the eat them when he got there. I initially said no (before the 1st melt-down), then said he could have a small one (he took out the biggest one), then since he would not put the big one back I said he could have half of the big one and I proceded to break the cookie in half. #1 lesson: NEVER break a cookie in half. #2 lesson: NEVER let your toddler know you are taking cookies to school for him to eat later. #3 lesson: I need to learn to master the art of saying no and sticking with it (But my excuse is that he was in a mood...). Lucas still has his allergies...but I finally made a chocolate cake that was really good (...from a mix in the non-wheat section). We are still hoping he grows out of some of them...Oh, he LOVES tractors (anything big) and loves to jump off pretty much anything (pretty scary for the parents!).

Alana is as sweet as can be. She's already walking holding onto our hands and wants to really be running around with Lucas all over the place. Lucas makes her laugh all the time and sometimes he doesn't see what is so funny and says to Alana "No, Alana, it's not funny." Alana has been pretty needy lately...we think she is getting her eye teeth in. Other than that she is a happy girl! One oddity to note...Alana does not like grass. She cried the first time we put her on it. If we put her on a blanket on the grass she's ok with it, but she will not crawl off the blanket into the grass...even if I'm out there and she wants to come to me. If she's going to be in this family, she's going to have to get over this daintiness! It won't exactly work when we start going camping!

James will finish up his Bachelor's this summer! Yeah! He is so excited and ready to get it over with. He's also really looking forward to getting out of the military. Basically a little over a year left! Then he'll got through the teacher certification program as well. I'm still waiting for jobs to open up in the school district for either math or chemistry. I'm hoping to teach math...I think I would be better at that them chem. Until next time...

Kid Update

Well, Spring Break is finally here! We are all so glad. In just a few minutes I'll get started on my school work, something I'll be doing for the rest of the week in prep for the rest of the semester. I can't wait til this program is over with...a lot of work!

Lucas is doing well. The time change has gotten to him a bit, but not too badly. His new favorite thing is to make his own drink with apple juice, rice milk and sweet tea. He used to add orange juice as well but he is reacting to it a little bit, so we aren't making it anymore. He'll get each container out of the frig (if its not too heavy) and we'll pour it together. Next step is to get footage of it.

Alana is doing ok. We think she might be teething but are unsure. She has been really cranky and waking up at night more often than usual. And she was apparently inconsolable at daycare yesterday afternoon. We gave her motrin and that seemed to help. At least she slept better. She is still slobbering up a storm. We finally broke down and bought 20 bib, yes 20 bibs! 10 for daycare, 10 more for home. We got the kind that actually has the waterproof liner on the underside of it. I think it'll be a worthwhile investment. Also last night when we were at the store, Lucas got on one of the tricycles and rode it around for a good 20 minutes. Too cute! But, of course, he cried when he left...he wanted to take it home with him.

Speaking of cute, I asked Lucas to watch Alana while I put away some clothes...he sat down in front of Alana and played peek-a-boo with her! I got some footage of that! I'll try to post as soon as I get around to it!

We got a chance to go to the ice park this weekend. Temperatures have hit 40 degrees the past 4 days! The poor ice sculptures aren't going to be able to hold up for very much longer and some of the kids play areas are blocked off due to too much melting. But the slides are still a lot of fun. However, lucas seemed to be more interested in what he calls tractors! He's absolutely fascinated with anything having to do with vehicles...buses, trucks, trains...

Katie is doing well. She still has a cough from when she was sick, but is recovering. She thoroughly enjoyed going to the hot springs yesterday with just her dad and I and she beat us at Uno! It was a very close game, though. Here is a picture of her baking cookies.

Testing

Testing 1, 2, 3.