Birthday lunch at the Powerhouse

For those of you that don't live in Kodiak, there are very few good places to eat out here. Usually, the Powerhouse is a date-night type place. But in the past year or so, they've started really catering to family dining during the daytime. We sat at a table near the window so that the kids could watch the birds and boats go by. The kids' meals came in cute little boats. They had cabbage/carrot egg rolls, chicken, and oranges topped with a cherry.

The waitstaff came out and sang Happy Birthday to Megan and she just beamed. She loved the peanut butter pie. We all had a little taste, it was fantastic!

We let Megan open up her gifts after lunch. She LOVED the doll clothes that Grandma and Grandpa sent her. She's napping right now, but we plan on dressing up her Cabbage Patch Doll when she wakes up. She also got a princess bag full of casual dresses and some new jammies. She insists on wearing a dress every day.

From the archives - Megan's Birthdays

Tomorrow is Megan's 4th birthday. I thought I would post up some pictures of her past birthdays. Her first birthday was just a few weeks before her eye surgery.

I thought it was cute to include this one of Joshua. I sometimes forget how cute he was. He's totally different now, he's a handsome big kid. He used to have floppy cheeks like Daniel has now.

Megan's second birthday party was when Daniel was 5 months old.
And here is a picture from last year's birthday celebration. Notice her two black eyes. She had taken a bad fall at the grocery store a few days before and ended up with a huge bruise on her forehead. All the extra blood from the healing bruise settled around her eyes, looking like she had been in a brawl of some sort.

We are looking forward to our little celebration tomorrow. We are going on an outing and to lunch, all 5 of us.

More Bunny Pictures

My dear friend, Jen M., sent me these pictures. She was in line behind the kids and me at the egg scramble. She also has three very small children, the youngest is just a few months old. The Easter Bunny is scooping up Daniel to hold him for the picture. And then the bottom picture has me in it doing what I do best - orchestrating three wild monkeys that are each interested in doing their own thing. I'm sure the bunny is thinking negative thoughts about whoever it was that decided it would be a good idea to give each of the kids a lolly-pop as they entered the building.

It was a great service today at church. The kids all really enjoyed themselves in their class rooms. Megan's birthday is on Tuesday, so she starts in the 4 and 5 year old room next week. She is so excited to be in Joshua's class. Joshua is a little sad to share Giant Joe and Anita (his "teachers") with Megan. He has really formed a bond with Giant Joe, who incidentally also runs the soccer program in the summer time. It was cute today after church Joshua was teaching Megan to practice her high-5s because everyone gives Giant Joe a really tall high-5 on their way out of the room.

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There were 5 baptisms at church today and Joshua was very excited to watch. We had just read in our Bible Story book last night about John the Baptist. After the baptisms were over, Joshua leaned over to me and asked if he could baptise Megan in the tub tonight. I actually had to keep myself from laughing!

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I've concluded that Sunday is a big day for people to drive around Kodiak looking at houses. We had a few more people call about the house today. I wasn't really up for showing the house today even though it's really clean. I needed to make school a priority and finish a paper. Keith and the kids watched The Best of the Electric Company while I finished my homework. So when you all hear my kids use words like groovy and right-on or they ask you to slip me some skin, you'll know we've been letting them watch PBS shows from the seventies.

Easter Egg Scramble

This morning the Coast Guard base held their annual Easter Egg Scramble. Upon entering the gym, we were greeted by the Easter Bunny himself (herself? I'm not sure who was in there). Daniel was so excited to have a lolly-pop.

Then the kids had to patiently wait while the rules were explained. I had gone over the rules repeatedly in the car on the way there. Each of the kids knew they were in different age groups.

When they set up for the 0-2 year olds and blew the whistle, Daniel was off. I laughed at myself for a minute, because if we were anywhere else, seeing one of my kids bolting away from me in a huge crowd of people, would have made me very nervous. Not so much in Kodiak, and definately not at a base-sponsored activity, where we happen to know the majority of the people there. So Daniel ran away and collected some eggs. And I was relaxed enough to let him do it.

Interestingly, Daniel only picked up blue eggs. He had about 8 blue eggs in his basket and decided he was done, so he went to sit on our coats and played with his eggs during Megan's turn.

Megan got right down to business when they blew the whistle for her age group. You'll notice her basket also is monochromatic in her Easter egg choice.

Joshua's group of 5-6 year old kids was a bit rougher. He was not happy with the few kids that were pushing. However, he still got right in there and collected a whole basket full of eggs. Multiple different colors, too.

Some of the eggs had little plastic trinkets in them, some had candy and some had tickets. We took the tickets to the ticket counter. Megan got two tickets - one was a basket with some girlie things in it (hat and purse), and a large inflatable purple bunny. Joshua's ticket was for a large chocolate rabbit and Daniel's ticket was for a large inflatable blue bunny.

Then we lined up to thank the Easter Bunny for hosting us at this fun little event.

And I couldn't resist this one of Daniel and the bunny. Daniel was all about his lolly-pop.

When we got home, Megan and her purple bunny danced while Joshua directed me to make lunch. It's his secret recipe, so I'll have to ask before I share it.

Daniel and Megan brought all their goodies to the table and sat there waiting for lunch.

Some funnies from today

After a busy morning of yet more phone calls from potential home-buyers and faxing the floor plans and emailing pictures, I decided we all needed a break from the phone and the computer for a bit.

I loaded the kids up and we went out joy-riding around town. (Yes, I know the price of gas is insane, but joyriding in Kodiak means maybe putting another 8 miles on the mini-van.)

Then we decided to take a trip out to the base and grab some groceries. Of course, we are not the only family with that plan. I ran into the nice young man that had Thanksgiving Dinner with us way back in November. As we stood waiting to get down the same crowded grocery aisle, we made polite chit-chat. Megan tried to interrupt me to tell me something and Joshua cut her off saying, "Don't bother Mommy, she's talking to her boyfriend." I'm sure that will give the gossipers something good to talk about for a few weeks. I smiled about it all day.


We went to dinner at a friend's house tonight. On the way there, I waved to one of the neighbors that was outside. Megan asked who I was waving to and I told her, "Miss Peggy". Then I look back to see tears streaming down her face and I ask her what's wrong. Her answer: "I didn't get to see Miss Piggy."

I'd like to buy a vowel

Here are the boys playing with the alphabet board. For less than $5, a small cookie sheet and two packs of alphabet magnets are a huge source of entertainment for Joshua. Megan has been enjoying helping me in the kitchen after dinner. I let Joshua watch Wheel of Fortune and we've created a little game of scrambling the letters on his board and when a letter is called out he searches for it. Sometimes we put the letters in alphabetical order, but for the most part, we just jumble them up and he sorts them as they are called.

It's pretty funny that most of the commercials that come on during the Wheel are aimed for the older generation. There are no commercials for Cocoa Puffs and Mariposa Barbie. These commercials are for minivans and bladder controlling medications. We play a game of guess what the commercial is trying to get us to buy. It's had some funny answers.

It's been a busy day between phone calls and errands. At 7:45pm, all three kids were snoring in their beds. Since it is still light out, I'm heading outside to clean out the mini-van and readjust carseats.

A visit from Coastie

Tonight at AWANA the kids had a special visitor, Coastie. Coastie spoke with them about wearing life jackets, and about NOT jumping into the water to save their friends, but rather tossing them something the distressed friend could use to float with until help arrives. Coastie's slogan is Kids Don't Float.

It was a lot of fun to see the kids so excited. Joshua was excited to hear that Coastie is 5 years old, just like him.

(Clearly the picture is not from here - palm trees, blue sky, Leslie Neilson with a tan, and not a bit of gravel in that parking lot! But it was the best I could find, since I forgot my camera tonight.)