Daddy Day!

I think what has made me laugh the last couple Father’s Days, is Justice keeps telling me he needs a present too, because he is a boy and he will be a Father.  Well Justice it is not that easy!

Today is special because we get to spoil a very well deserved Dad.  He is the perfect role model for our boys and as each and every year goes by we see each of them following more and more in his footsteps.  I would not have it any other way.   If I were to be so brave to say if there was only ONE thing I would change in his parenting style is that he is so excited to introduce the things he loves to the boys that he might introduce some things a little to early.  For example certain scenes of his favorite movies that later give them nightmares, fighting and wrestling moves that hurt one another, and the list goes on.   However, when you see your husband so excited to be with his boys that you just roll with it.  Really who doesn’t make parenting mistakes.  We just hope in the end they will turn out alright!  Wink Wink  

Another time we disagree is around their birthdays when we discuss what we should buy for the boys from us.  I will say,  “How about Legos.  I think they will love them.”  James’ response, “I did not like Legos when I was a kid. Definitely not!”  So this conversation happens each and every holiday.  What it has come down to is they get a present from Mom and a present from Dad because we can not agree. The good news is that the boys usually love both presents and I am most proud to say that James now enjoys Legos as well.

Here is to our one and only, love him to the moon and back Dad.  Just some fun shots of the boys taking after their Dad!

Happy Father’s Day!

Every Child is an Artist

This year Archer entered his first piece of art into the Peeps Bird Festival Art Show.  Archer had his first experience at designing and making his first block print.  Archer beamed with excitement through the whole process

 

 

This was Justice’s second year entering the contest and second time making a block print.  He was familiar  and remembered how the process worked from the first time.  So little instruction was needed for him.

However what was new for everyone was Daddy got to try his press he acquired for the first time and it worked like a charm.

 

Another year older

First day of Kindergarten.

Looking back on this last year I would say one of the biggest milestones and growing pains for all of us was Justice starting school. It took a part of the year for him to adjust to the busy school day. He loved school, learning and making friends, but the little time we had with him after school was the tired kid. Justice has always been independent and school made his independence attitude came out that much more. We are in love with his school, however I was not always in love with all the growing pains through out this last year. However, as the school year came to a close, things started to fall back into place. This year in school he has started to read, do basic math and memorizes quite well. He has great wisdom with common sense and can think and plan ahead very well.  He does not enjoy reading as much as I would have hoped. He is definitely more of a hands on learner. His favorite subjects in school this year were music, art, recess and gym. Justice is very social and all his new friends are the highlight of year. Justice continues to excel in athletics. He loves his bike, scooter, bug catching, playing outside, camping, baseball, basketball, soccer, and to be honest I do not think I found a sport I tried introducing to him that he did not like.

We introduced him to rock climbing this year.

Camping is also a family favorite. This parachute guy was a great toy that we took on many trips with us.

If it is not athletics the other half of his time is at his art desk. He has free range to tape, scissors, glue, paper and we can not throw anything away that he wants to turn into art. His creativity and endless ideas have just amazed us. He is truly in his element when he is at his art desk.

How does a 5 year old do that using a pen?

Justice has surprised us this year with his interest in what he wears and how he does his hair. He has his own style. I have to say he is excellent at making his clothes match and his style is not that bad. I just never expected my little guy to take such an interest in how he looks at such a young age. So how dressing worked during the school was he could pick any of the shirts in the closet on the hanger (since they were all nice).  Then every Friday we called it “fun day friday” and he was allowed to pick what ever he wanted. It was about the middle of the year and Dad said, “Why don’t we just call it Black Friday.” Since he was so excited to wear the same outfit every single Friday.

This is what he wore every Friday for the whole year.

Justice we are so proud of you! Your heart is in the right place and your desire to do well and what is right is praiseworthy. Watching you grow older brings me so much joy, but I will admit this milestone was hard on me as you are no longer a youngster. You are in school and growing so fast. I have had so much fun with you by my side over the years knowing your every move. I miss not having you home as much, but you have made us proud. We look forward to what being 6 years old has in store for us.

We enjoyed a couple birthday parties. This one was with some of our closest friends and some of our new neighbors.

One with Grandma and Grandpa while they were here.

Justice you sure do know how to make life fun. You bring so much joy to our lives. We look forward to another fun year with you!

Before and After

I can not begin to explain the long process of looking, discussing and deciding on a home to buy.  I hate expensive decisions.  One of the main things we decided after many long talks was that in the end we are not a fixer upper couple.  We thought that could test our relationship in ways it has never been tested before.  I am glad we figured that out because the rest of the process was not easy.  To be exact there were two other houses and even one we offered on prior to deciding on the one we purchased was the one.  With confidence of being here now over 3 months, we made the right decision.  We love it!  The sweetest, kindest couple who had it before us took excellent care of the home.  We moved in quickly and within the first three months it just needed some fresh paint and minor additions.  The painting might have taken longer, but with an unexpected trip taken by my parents we finished it all two months after moving in.  So we took advantage of the extra help to paint the main living area.

With out further adieu we have a couple before and after pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

My Mom is such a hard worker and with such a happy heart. I am in debt for my parents help in each and every way they have been there for me. This picture makes me smile as my mom is such a perfectionist. Between my Mom, James and our friend Adam our home looks top notch.

My Dad was also instrumental in keeping the kids entertained while we painted. Dad and James tackled some building projects and switched out some light fixtures and other odd projects. With Dad around we can tackle an fixer upper project. Without him, not so much.

Our front door.

James and Justice prior to my parents trip worked on an art desk project for the boys bedroom.

I love him!

My parents dropped there plans to come be with us. Now that I can look back on there trip it was very instrumental to our healing. Thank you so much being there for us in a time when we needed you most. We love you so much.

God is good, all the time.

We would like to apologize for our long absence from our blog.   I have wanted to write this entry for quite sometime, however it has been hard to even know where to start or even if we should share.  We choose to share because the good just as much as the bad things that happen shape who we are.

It was a Friday, the start of James’ work week and just before he went to work we had a meeting to sign the official papers to become first time homebuyers.  This alone was such an exciting time in our lives.  James saved his pennies long before we met to one day buy a home, specially a log home in the country.   Thankfully our paths crossed and after we wed as a team started saving together and we made what was once his dream into our dream.  So after 8 wonderful years and with two extra kiddos, one on the way and a dog we were finally making that dream come true!  I was ecstatic and was taking random pictures during just a regular procedure for some to document our special day.  Then we quickly kissed as he went to work and I went to pick up Justice from school.

Then later that night another first happened.  I received a phone call that James was in the ER from a work incident.  As soon as I could find someone to be with kids I rushed to the hospital.   Thankfully I followed someone going the speed limit, because I needed to be by his side now.  It allowed me to keep a steady breath and under control.  Thankfully late into the night James passed all his tests to go home, although the doctor looked us straight in the eye and said this was life threatening.  I was so thankful to bring him home, as I did not want to start this new chapter with out him.  We moved into our home two days later, with help from people I did not even know since James’ help was limited.  Such mixed emotions happy and sad.  The next couple months we had ups and downs, but thankful each and every day to have a heavenly father to lean on, cry on and help us through.  We were able to start having more good days than bad.

Then December 17 I went into my regular scheduled OB appointment hoping to learn the gender of our third baby, instead to find out there is no little heartbeat.  I was alone at the appointment until they reached James to be with me. Unthinkable. So December 18 I delivered a precious baby boy, whom we could hold and say good bye at the same time.  Even more unthinkable.  We named him Zion.  Then whole family took it hard and I feel like we pretty much stared at the walls till Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve night we started to laugh again, smile and start moving forward.  As a family that night with mommy and daddy’s mattress in the living room so we could all sleep snuggled together next to our lighted Christmas tree as we celebrated the birth of our savior in our first home.

Now two more months have passed and James has healed and returned to work during this time.   Life moves forward even when we may not want it to.  During those times of trial, I will not lie it was without a doubt the lowest time in our marriage.  However, in those sad times it was NOT hard to find things to be thankful for.  A special card would come in the mail, many meals that were left on our doorstep or delivered with love in person, endless hugs, the most generous gifts from sweet friends and from people I will never meet as they do not even live in our town with sweet cards attached.  We had an overwhelming response of help during our move. Individuals organizing the move for us.   I will never forget talking to one gentlemen I thought worked with James, that I never met, turned out to be someone else’s relative that came along to lend a helping hand as well as treat the whole moving crew to pizza.  Our sweet realtor husband changed out our kitchen faucet, without letting us pay.  We had family friends build shelving storage for our garage and installed them without letting us help.  Other women who had experienced a miscarriage knew exactly what I needed in that moment. Family came to help and be by our side during this time.  Each and everyone of those acts of kindness no matter how big or small usually brought me to tears of joy.  For in those low times, I never felt so much love and love we needed.  Today I have so many more closer friends in our new community and that alone makes this story more of a happy ending.  I feel very strongly that God does not promise us an easy life because we believe.  In fact, I believe God calls us all to a harder life in our daily life, but that I have a hard time always saying yes.  We will have hard times and things we will never understand, but my prayer for each and every believer is that we can still praise, glorify and even grow closer to him in those hard times.

Our new home with a picture of just part of the moving crew on that day and another crew just as big the next day.

Our dear friend who made the most amazing garage shelving. He went every extra mile he could, as he sanded and rounded the corners. If we add more they will look so bad compared to his! We are so thankful! Robert is also in this picture and he arrived in a matter of a couple days from the incident.  He was with out a doubt a lifesaver to our family. Your trip, time and everything you gave up to be with us means more than you will ever know.  He was strong when we were weak.

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday we were so fortunate to have James’ parents with us to celebrate. They helped in each and every way they could.

Grandpa A and Justice dressed up like twins for twin day! We had one proud son and Grandpa that day!

2014 family Christmas picture

Halloween 2014

 

Family and Fishing

We are always so excited when family comes to visit and this summer we were ecstatic that Uncle John and Amy Jo came for the first time since our wedding with Grandma and Grandpa. We had so much fun and we were able to do so much while they were here. They planned their trip around the annual salmon fish run so that they could reel in some fish to take home. Almost every fish year it is like clock work, the peak time for the salmon is right about July 17th. However, this happened to be the year where there was no peak in the fish run. The opposite happened and the fish just sort of trickled in throughout the 3 weeks of the season. John was able to catch a few, but unfortunately very few were caught by the family. However, we made up for it in other areas. Without further adieu, I will share our trip in pictures!

The trip started in Girdwood, where we rented a condo for a couple nights and wanted to see what this little ski town had to offer.

The family took a tram to the top of the ski hill where we were able to see the spectacular view, eat lunch at a restaurant at top and hike around. Let’s just say Amy Jo conquered lots of fears on this trip and I am hoping she wants to come back in the near future!

The boys loved the Tram ride.

After the tram we decided to take the little hike that takes you to the next highest peak.

Take a break to enjoy the view!

On the tram, we heard later that night we could watch a bore tide. So at that certain time we loaded up and drove to the Turnagain Arm to view the bore tide. However, we had the time wrong for the location we were at, which meant we waited an hour to see the bore tide. So when it finally rolled in we named it the “boring tide.” However, the fun that came out of it was while we waited we collected mud from the Turnagain Arm and we introduced the boys to facial masks. Good Times!

Next day we dropped James and John off at Portage Glacier to test out the canoe. Due to the river that they channeled into being pretty shallow their trip ended a little sooner than they had hoped.

They were able to touch a floating icecap. Beautiful!

Next stop Kenai and start fishing. The family headed to the river and James and I stayed at the mouth to dip net.

James and I were only able to catch 5 while the family was here. The day after they left we were able to get 10 in an hour and a half. 15 is enough for our famly to live on for the year. So we were happy!

Later that week we took a break from fishing for a very special day. The boys were baptized and James and I renewed our vows and had our marriage recognized and blessed by the Catholic Church. It was a beautiful day and a intimate celebration with new friends and family.

Next trip for 2 nights in Homer. Since the salmon fishing was not going as planned we took out a Halibut charter.

We all caught our limit! Yippee!

Visited some of the local hot spots!

Every night enjoyed the outdoor hot tub at the end fo the Homer Spit! I might need one of these!

One of my favorite things to do in Homer is go beach combing. Just outside our hotel room while we were on the beach there was a sick sea otter that later passed away that night. Poor thing.

Then back to Kenai, where we had some beautiful weather. Amy Jo was laying out on the deck during our water fight. When the water fight was over, Justice ran in the house took off all his clothes and grabbed his blanket and pillow, just like Aunt Amy and laid in the sun. Who would have thought!

Lastly, we were able to see some of the more popular animal in the wild.

These pictures bring back great memories of my summer. We miss everyone so much and hope you come again soon.

The Open Road

The boys glassing for wildlife in Denali National Park.

The second week in August, the Adcox family packed up the scamper camper and took off for a week long camping road trip.  We left Kenai late in day one and made it to the fun community of Talkeetna.  The next morning we explored the shops and the river.  Many residents live down the train track year round with their home only accessible by train or four wheeler.  A highlight of the town was visiting and sampling the Alaskan Birch Syrup Company (hmmm hmm good!).  The next two days we explored Denali National Park with the kids.  They loved it!  We honestly didn’t spot much wildlife with exception to one of the largest bull moose I’ve seen walking off the side of the road about ten feet from our car.  The boys completed the Junior Ranger Program and became a Junior Ranger, which somehow made them even more excited about animals and nature!  We then migrated north to Fairbanks to visit friends for three days.  It was nice catching up with everyone, thank you all for your hospitality.  While in Fairbanks we ate at the Thai House, went to the new Tanana Lake Recreation Park,  went to pick blueberries on Murphy Dome, and ate dinner with old friends.  We then drove south on the Richardson Highway to Paxson Lake State Park just south of Paxson.  It was truly wild and desolate.  We decided to collectively take a bath in the lake with nothing but our birthday suits on.  After drying off we picked more blueberries and built our usual campfire.  The next day we were beginning to feel the effects of the road trip and moseyed our way back to Kenai, but not before stopping in Palmer.  My goodness, the Glenn Highway is my new favorite stretch or road.  Exhausted we landed back at home -safe and sound!

Mount Denali and all it’s glory.

The Open Road!

Archer is 4!

Our second annual birthday breakfast at the local bakery.

As these last four years have unfolded before us, it was obvious from the start that Archer looks just like his Mama. However, it was not till this last year we discovered more and more that in the inside he is all Daddy! His passions match his Daddy’s! Started with Superheros at age two. Then shortly after he fell in love wth all the movies Daddy introduced him too. So much so that this year for Halloween when people ask, “Who are you going to be for Halloween?” he responds, “Sam Flyn.” If you are with the majority of other people who do not know who this is, do not worry you are normal. If I continue to tell you that Sam Flyn is a character from the Disney movie Tron and you are still confused, do not worry you are normal. Archer has only seen motorcycle scenes from this movie, but he loves it so much that he qoutes the movie when he plays and goes so far as to reenact fight scenes. When we went to Disney World, he was crushed when they did not offer a Tron ride. That alone tells you how unpopular this movie is. Archer was given a Cd player at his birthday party because he loves his Disney soundtracks and other 80’s music his Dad loves such as Africa by Toto, Broken Wings by Mr. Misterand more. James is planning to burn him some new CD’s. Oh, how I wish we were a digital family. We realized this last year he is passionate about music and it has been fun to give him the freedom to play his music on his own. He is one big goof ball and his imaginative play ceases to amaze us. James’ family always labeled James as the one in the family with the temper. James always quickly argues, “No, I was not.” However, if he was when he is younger, than Archer takes after him as well. He can be quickly angered at times, but thankfully it goes away about as fast as it comes on. However, when he is mad, he is mad! Archer is also passionate about books. A month or more prior to his birthday we were reading The Bernstein Bears and Too Much Birthday about every other day. The books has games, food and lot of other bears at the party and at the end little sister cries because things did not go the way it was suppose to go. When I look back at Archer’s party he asked for games like the book, we were not sure who was going to be able to make it so we over invited and had lots of friends come to celebrate and then Archer did not cry that night, but he cried the next morning as soon as he woke up because he thought he never had cake. No matter how many times I tried to retell him about the party he continued to argue that he never had his cake. This is Archer at 4!

The games were intense!

Playing a twist on musical chairs to Archer’s favorite song Take on Me by Ahah.

more games…

more games…

We had a movie themed birthday party. So his cupcakes looked like movie popcorn, which all the kids took to the TV room to watch a video of them at the party playing the games.

This might help those of you still confused as to what Sam Flyn looks like.

Texas

This post has been a long time coming, but it’s fun to look back at the pictures and reflect on our last trip we took. This May the Adcoxes travelled to Texas to visit Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the Adcox clan. We had a blast! The boys had the chance to play with their cousins and meet their newest cousin, Ava.  Amy and I were honored by participating in little Ava’s Baptism as her Godparents. We had the chance to see dance recital practice, a little league game, swim and play tennis at a Oklahoma/Texas resort, get haircuts from grandma and go Geocaching, my kids new favorite pass time.  Justice even tried a rock climbing gym with his older cousins Stephen and Rachel.  The weather was wonderful and we enjoyed harvesting Grandpa’s garden and walking around their property.  All in all this trip was about family, and seeing the people we miss so much throughout the year. However, unlike the rest of my family, I was eaten up this trip by chiggers, and that is one part of Texas I’ll never miss.