Never a dull moment

Funny Things Will Does:

Each morning he puts in his contacts. He grabs my case, take one lid off, sticks his finger in, then pretends to put something in his eye. Then he takes the other lid off and does the same thing.


He started saying "Amen" very distinctly a couple months ago. And when I say distinctly, I mean as if we were part of a Southern Baptist church. We knew the day was coming that he would say it in church. A few weeks ago, right after the Sacrament prayer, everyone was treated to a hearty "Aaaa-men!" from our row. I had to duck my head, but I was definitely smiling.


We've found that one of the best ways to keep Will occupied in church is by reading his books. That also brings the problem that he likes to narrate what's happening in the pictures. Last week I took Ethan to the mother's lounge, and Anthony pulled out a book. So in the middle of someone's talk, Will points to the book and says, "A duck! Quack, quack, quack!" Actually, it's more like, "Fuack, Fuack, Fuack." He knows how to whisper, but we haven't gotten through to him on when we need to whisper.



He has to have as many stuffed animals as possible when he goes to bed, so by the time you're done, he can barely get his arms around them. He also has to make each animal's sound. He's pretty good with all their names, although horses are still sheep, sheep are shoes, and cats are tacs. Then in the morning, he picks a couple animals to play with that day, takes them to top of the stairs, and throws them down. He screams, "Aaaah!" for each one as they tumble down the stairs. It's a little disconcerting.



There is a brown and green plane right outside our gate onto base. Will always called it something, but we couldn't figure out what it was. Now we think he's been saying "tato," his word for potato. Then he changed it to "tuttle" (turtle). We were at a friend's house and they had a small turtle in an aquarium, so I think that's where he got it. But I said it wasn't a turtle, it was a plane. So now, even for his stuffed turtle, he says, "No tuttle, a plane."



He took the empty scoop from Ethan's formula, and he stuck the handle in his mouth, so it looked like he was smoking a miniature pipe. He even would grab the bowl and hold it and gesture just like you would expect an old man to hold a pipe.



Daddy is now "Dadoo," and if he's feeling especially silly, everything ends in "oo." He asked for "crackoos" the other day.



Funny Things Ethan Does:

When he thinks something is funny, he starts laughing through his nose, making this funny face and sniffing really hard. It's almost as if he's trying to develop a snort.


As long as he thinks I'm not paying attention, he can play by himself for a very long time. But as soon as he catches me looking at him, he immediately starts crying and fussing. He was on the floor the other evening, playing happily, until Anthony said, "Ethan." He turned around, saw us, and immediately, "Wah!"


He learned how to pull himself up using a full laundry basket. He grabbed onto one end, started pulling himself up, and suddenly he was standing up with an astonished look as if he wasn't sure what he was doing. We don't think he was quite ready because almost as soon as he was up, he toppled onto his side. Before long we're going to have a walker!

We're out of there!

I'm sure most everyone knows by now, but I have to say it anyway. We got an offer on the house, and we're on our way to closing! What a blessing, and so unexpected! It took a couple days to get the offers and counter offers ironed out, and we'll probably walk away from closing breaking even, but hey, we don't have to pay someone to take it, and we'll be done with it. I can't even describe what a relief it is. At the same time, I'm a little sad because we loved that house so much, but it's time to move on. Thank you so much to everyone that helped out with everything there and for all the prayers on our behalf. We could never have done it without so much help.

Life in Alaska continues to be a hectic whirlwind of activity. We're still trying to get the last boxes unpacked, although I'm pretty sure some of them will still be here the next time the movers come to take our stuff. Once in awhile I get to them, but I have so many projects I'm working on, it's hard to see the progress in any one area. I'm leaving some things for winter though, since we're trying to get outside as often as we can when it's nice (which has been rare lately). But everyone says all the time to get out while we can, so we spend a lot of time away from home.

Will's still wanting to help around the house. He always wants to help Anthony work on the cars, and he loves to wash them. It works for a bit until he starts dipping the sponge in the dirt and running for the car.




Ethan had his 6 month appointment several weeks ago, and I was FINALLY able to get someone to listen to me about his excessive spit up. I've been told everything from "All babies spit up" to "He's still gaining weight so he's fine." There must be a list of phrases they all have to learn in medical school, especially since the doctor who said he was gaining weight was seeing him for the first time and didn't have any of his records but magically she KNEW he had gained weight. The doctor we saw this time was wonderful and helpful. His weight was 16 lbs 10 oz, and he was 29 1/2 inches, which was in the 25th percentile. Since he'd dropped about 10 percent, she prescribed some Zantac to help him keep everything down, and we'll see where he's at next week.

Will, on the other hand, is growing at an astounding rate. I'm not even bothering with getting 2T clothes anymore, and some of the ones he's wearing are even 4T. And he won't be two for a month and a half! He's very active and doesn't seem to know his own strength. He loves throwing toys and leaping on you when you're on the floor. With it raining so much, we haven't been able to get outside a lot, so I think we're all going a little crazy from being cooped up. Once it stops, hopefully we'll be able to get his new sandbox set up and spend sometime outdoors before it gets too cold. Most days it's been in the high 50's. I'm scared for winter. But since we've been indoors, Will's really gotten into reading. He wants to hear the same books over and over, and he loves anything with animals. He's pretty good at most of them (he even knows a lemur!), but horses are sheep, and sheep are often shoes. He even can tell you a lot of the sounds they make. We need to find a local farm to visit, but I don't know if he could handle the excitement.

Anthony's decided to make us a true military family. We all have to do push-ups every night, even Ethan.



Okay, not really, but look at that form! Ethan IS getting very close to crawling. He usually does his version of the Worm, going up and then flopping down on his stomach to get around. When he's on his knees, he usually gets so excited that when he tries to go forward, he lands on his face. Soon he's going to figure it out though, and Will's going to have to watch out because he'll have a constant companion.



Anthony's been impressing everyone at the shop with his mechanical skills. If there's a difficult job to be done, he's the one they call in. I told him to be careful or they'll just make him do all the work, but when we have to worry about downsizing even in the military, it's nice to know how important he is to the squadron. He's also really considering becoming an officer and will be attending a meeting next week to find out his options.

Anthony's parents were able to come visit at the beginning of July, and we were able to act like tourists with them and visit some of the places we hadn't seen yet. We took them to Six Mile Lake, a really beautiful area on base.



It is also the reason I will never step into a lake again.



This is the leech that tried to eat me. Theresa saw it just in time on my foot before it hooked onto me. It still makes me sick to think about it. Anthony thought it was funny to sing his version of the "Millions of Peaches" song: "Millions of leeches, leeches on me." I did not agree.

We also went on a short glacier cruise and saw Portage Glacier up close.










Then we walked to Byron Glacier. We spent the 4th of July throwing snowballs. Anybody else do that?





We tried out some local restaurants, saw a moose run across the street right behind our car, and had a wonderful time. It was great to have them come and I know the boys really enjoyed spending a couple weeks with them.

Here are just a few other random pictures we've taken lately.

We were driving around base to find the ocean, and suddenly
there was a fox right next to us. He finally stopped long
enough for a picture.


A little farther down the road, a bull moose stepped out
in front of us. It's hard to see, but he's right in the middle
of the picture.



Ethan found a pen on one of his escapades around the living
room and created an artwork on his face.



I don't even remember what he got into. A cookie, maybe?
He just looks so pleased with himself that it made me laugh.


Ethan trying out the Sit 'n Spin.



Will's started wearing one mitten around the house.
He either misses Michael Jackson, or he's pretending
it's an oven mitt to help me with dinner. I can't tell.



Enough said.



Our new pets, Goldie Hawn (the fish) and Ruprect (the snail).
It's a long story.



The laundry basket can also be...a hat!