The Alaska Seidels

A pregger collage

2012-01-24T20:31:00.001-09:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2012

2012-01-08T10:59:00.000-09:00

So as you see I've been terrible at updating this blog. Haven't really posted anything since September! Wow. I will try my hardest to do better. Life gets in the way sometimes to fill people in on what life has brought. :)
So updating from Sept till now: October-Halloween, went well. Snowed like mad on Halloween night; Nov- Had Thanksgiving with friends and it went wonderful. December- Christmas went well. Just the three of us enjoying the day. Snowed like crazy that day too! I completed my 365 days in photos challenge for 2011 and getting started on this years. 365+1 (leap year!) So here's this first week in photos:

So week one is done. I hit 25 weeks pregnant today. If you didn't know I'm pregnant haha. I'm due April 23rd, my birthday! Woot! Few more months to go. And don't ask the gender of the baby because we don't know. :) We are keeping it a surprise till the day the baby comes out. Just something we wanted to do this time. It's driving the relatives crazy that's for sure. Heehee. We just don't need the clutter right now. We are hoping to get outta here sometime in 2012 so less is better when trying to move right? Plus the baby has no room so I would have no idea where the clothes would go. In a box I guess. So right now, its snowing (shocking eh?) and we are watching the Football playoffs. The weather predicted that we are getting a foot of snow today, ugh! Get me outta here already!

52 Weeks - 2011

2012-01-01T16:51:00.001-09:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Austin’s birthday party song

2011-09-24T21:29:00.001-08:00

Austin had his fourth birthday in San Antonio Texas! We had the party at a place called Malibu Grand Prix Castle. It was fun! We had pizza, ate cake, opened presents, and then played! We took Austin on Bumper boats and then played miniature golf and ended with playing token games! Austin got over 600 tickets too! So we still have plenty of coins, and attraction tickets so we are planning to go out back next week! He had a great time! And got a TON of toys!! I don’t know how we are going to get them all back home!

His actual birthday is tomorrow but we are traveling to Dallas. We most likely will have dinner somewhere and have them sing to him hopefully as well for his actual birthday.

Thank you for those who attended, it was great!

Summer is over, time for Fall

2011-09-06T10:01:00.001-08:00

Sorry I didn’t post at all during the summer, its been busy! So I can summarize how it went for all of you:

So in May, my MIL came to visit us for a week. In June, my FIL came to visit for two weeks. At the end of June and early July, Austin and I went to visit family in Michigan and in Missouri . We visited my sister and family and then went down to see my SIL and BIL. After that trip, my SIL came back up to check out Alaska. A lot of family and traveling through the summer! And the traveling isn’t over with yet. We all are going down to San Antonio for Austin’s birthday for two weeks. Kevin is in a wedding as well. Another exciting thing is that we are going to see a Dallas Cowboys game! So after this trip, we will finally be done with traveling for a while.

So today is Austin’s first day of preschool. He goes in at 1230pm. He’s really excited. He’s been wearing his book bag all weekend and taking it with him everywhere. It’s cute.

I’m still in school, three classes this semester and then three classes next semester and then I’m done! Yay!

Kevin is studying for a certification that he’s hoping to take in Texas since they don’t offer it here. I hope he takes it, it’ll be a great help to him.

Well that’s all I have for today. Hope everyone is doing well.

Austin's first soccer practice

2011-06-07T23:02:00.001-08:00

So we had Austin's first soccer practice today for age 3 and 4 yr olds. It started at 6pm on the other side of town so a bit of a drive plus Kevin's dad is here visiting so for Austin all that can be a bit overwhelming. It did alright somewhat in the beginning. The tears didn't come until they actually started completing and Austin had to use only one ball which wasn't his so he freaked out. They had them play simon says and run and kick and kick back and forth to the coach, and then play a small five verses five game. It was cute. It would have been better if Austin had played but can't be perfect and have it all right off the bat. We will just keep working with him and get him to socialize better. He sure looks cute in his soccer gear!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A beautiful day!

2011-05-07T01:54:00.001-08:00

With us being sick all week I was quite excited to wake up to a beautiful bright sunny day! Got real nice today, like my face feels a bit sun burned!
I took Austin to a playground park after stopping by Starbucks of course. First one in a week! Austin was still in a mood from him being sick all week so he didn't enjoy the park for very long. At home, Kevin and I BBQed some hotdogs for lunch. Our first grill out of the summer! After that we raked the backyard to get the grass ready for much needed repair work. We were outside all day! It was great! We played all sorts of stuff, mostly Kevin and me with Austin in his mood. We played frisbee, football, basketball and Austin and I drew with some chalk. I made the mistake of laying down for a nap though and NOT informing my husband to make me up after an hour (as he clearly states after that I should have done). I laid down around 4:30 and didn't see the clock again until after 9pm! Apparently the sun wore me out! I had planned to make steaks and corn on the cob but I guess that will be tomorrows dinner. All in all it was a fun filled day. Hopefully Austin will get in a better mood tomorrow.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

my son surprises me....

2011-05-05T22:05:00.001-08:00

My son surprises me everyday! Today was no different. he just blews me away with the stuff he can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqbdaVRNmio&feature=youtube_gdata_player

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Been a crappy week in the Seidel house

2011-05-05T13:11:00.001-08:00

So Saturday morning we had a mom’s group Easter/spring party. It was a bit too cold and I think Austin wasn’t dressed as warm as he should have been. I say this because Sunday he woke up stuffed up in the nose and a bit cranky. It just got worse from there and with me included. Monday he was in a terrible mood and I woke up with a sore throat. By Tuesday Austin and me were both deep under the weather with stuffy nose, head sinus pressure, aches, sore throat, the works! Its bad when one person is sick but when two are sick, its TERRIBLE! I pretty much BEGGED for Kevin to come home early Tuesday because I needed rest and couldn’t with Austin needing assistance too. Our sleep has been all jacked up as well. Hopefully today we are on a better schedule. Austin and I slept most of the day Tuesday and Wednesday. We both have runny noses and a bit of a voice loss but besides that I think we are on track to getting better thankfully! Almost a whole week of being sick is just wrong! So I’m behind in a lot of things, school, scrapbooking, cleaning house, etc. When you’re taken out of the picture for a few days a lot of things are left at a stand still. Hopefully I’ll be able to check up soon over the weekend.

Vote for Austin still going....

2011-04-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Click on the link and hit the button, vote for me!
http://photos.parents.com/parents-cover-contest-2011/17/2011/1669

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my 29th birthday

2011-04-25T17:31:00.001-08:00

just a collage I made on my iPad

Austin 4

2011-04-25T15:09:00.001-08:00

Austin 4

Please take the time and vote fr my son this week! He was selected to bro this week's contest!

http://photos.parents.com/parents-cover-contest-2011/17/2011/744?esrc=nwphotofaves_pmcover11

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Signed Austin up for Soccer!

2011-04-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

That's right, our cute lil boy will be all decked out in some soccer gear and kicking a ball around with other lil 3 to 4 year old boys and girls! Its going to be uber cute!!!! It starts in June! Now I need to get shopping on some cleats and shin guards! He's going to be soo adorable! I wonder if Kevin will let me get him a small net for the backyard to practice before he starts. Haha! Here's the website of the info he'll be a part of: http://www.alaskarush.com/home.php?layout=1324

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Weekly photo challenge, Wind.

2011-04-17T14:06:00.001-08:00

So I haven't done this in a while because well, I suck compared to the pros so why bother right? This week is the theme Wind and I LOVE this picture of Austin and me in Michigan and it was a WINDY day right there by the lakes. So I figured might as well try again.

Some of my scrapbook layouts

2011-04-14T10:59:00.001-08:00

Here’s a collection of my recent scrapbook layouts, enjoy!

Week 11- March 12-18 2011: Thursday was St. Pat’s day. I also got my wonderfully thoughtful gift from my hubby in place of my disappointment of not going to China. I guess it’s a great replacement, that being an ipad! Woot! It’s also my early Birthday present. So no complaints there!

Week 12-March 19-25 2011: Monday he’s having a balloon fight at a playdate! Made some homemade wrapping paper for a gift for my sister in law and brother in law.

Week 13- March 26-Apr 1 2011: Saturday’s picture is of an app I was playing around with. I didn’t have any other great pictures of the day and this was super funny! On Monday’s photo, you can’t see it but he’s written each letter of his name on that board! I may not be in a straight line or in order but its there! We also started potty training at the end of this week.

A picture a day during the month of March 2011.

Week 14

April 2-8 2011: Monday’s picture is of a rubric cube all broken apart! Kevin broke it! Thursdays picture is of an iPhone app that you can use to cartoon your pictures. I love this new app! So fun! For the past month Fridays have been game nights for me and Kevin. We’ve played all sorts of games and this Friday we played Dallas Cowboy monopoly and of course the money guru killed me and won! I literally had no money left when I landed on a property of his! Ugh!

Bubble Video

2011-04-06T21:30:00.001-08:00

Here’s the video of Austin playing with those colorful bubbles.

And also we got a major MAJOR snowstorm yesterday and well, we had to clean up the driveway. I was a bit more creative of course on how to do that with Austin.

Been busy over here

2011-04-06T20:59:00.001-08:00

With one thing: Potty training! UGH! We started Wednesday and its now seven days, one week and I think he’s got it. At night will be hard, but during the day I think its good to go. I’m a little behind with a few things since we’ve been focusing on this for most of the day for the past week. It will still be a while before he can go in the bathroom without parental assistance but I’m so proud of my lil man, especially with picking up on going #2 in the potty as quickly as he did. The first successful completion (all in the potty, not in the pants) we called nana but it was late so she was still in bed so we left a message: Me, “Hey nana, Austin has something to tell you,” Austin, “I did it!” Me, “ Did what Austin?” “Pooped and peed!” Me, “Where Austin?” “In the bathroom! Whoo-hoo!” She’s going to get a kick outta that! So for his almost first-ish attempt at completing #2, he remembered our lil promise of getting ice-cream and a toy so we did that today. After we got home we played out in the front of the house with some new Crayola color bubbles and it was uh, messy! Tangled finally came in the mail as well so we watched that and that was pretty much our day.

Austin tracing his hand!

2011-03-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

He loves his magic drawing pad thing and uses it pretty much everyday. Here's a video of yesterday (7:30p btw :) of him tracing his hand.

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A few Scrapbook pages....

2011-03-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Here are a few (more than a few) digi layouts I made in the past week.
Week Nine, Week Ten, all of Jan and all of Feb. Plus I had so many pictures of the Iditarod and Running of the reindeer that I did separate layouts for those too. Enjoy!

The perfect snow ball

2011-03-17T22:30:00.001-08:00

We got a butt load of snow today (yes it STILL snows here in March...and Apr....and) and while Kevin was sheveling the snow, Austin and I played with the snow! The snow was perfect snowball material! Thanks again mom for this snowball maker! It was put to good use today!

- Posted Using my iPhone

What a bored child does

2011-03-17T14:01:00.002-08:00

Or at least Austin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoK3ljRoQoc

From my iphone...

- Posted Using my iPhone

March 7th- playground

2011-03-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

After dinner one night it was a pretty warm day so I mentioned about maybe taking a walk. So we did and ended up at the school playground down the road and it was in alright playing condition so we played there for a while. Austin had a blast! It had been a while since he's played at a playground OUTSIDE!

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Celebrating Alaska Fur Rondy!

2011-03-05T20:14:00.001-09:00

Today was the Iditarod dog sled races and running with the reindeer event downtown Anchorage. Here is a link to the pictures do the dog sled races and Running with the reindeer: https://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/2011Mar05ByEyeFi?authkey=Gv1sRgCOrqvumB9fPCPg&feat=directlink

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Also, bad news

2011-03-04T00:11:00.000-09:00

Forgot to add as well, bad, sad, depressing news: I got an email stating the China trip that I was going to go on in May was canceled. Apparently four out of the eight students canceled and the school will not just take four students. Sux!!!! So I'm quite upset about this because it would have been amazing! Kevin did give me a sweet peace offering and said that I could get a touch tablet (I'm looking into getting a blackberry playbook, or the new ipad) since the money will be reimbursed. So now it looks like the next time I can escape Alaska is in Sept...sux to countdown the summer but I need to get out of this state!

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Once again, Angry Bird's blog post

2011-03-03T23:56:00.000-09:00

If you have not played this game (now available on pc! Just download intelapp and then get it through that, http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20110302/play-angry-birds-on-your-pc-through-an-intelapp/) you are sorely missing out! :) Conan has now made it uber fun with a live version on his set, check it out!

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Week Eight pictures

2011-03-01T09:30:00.000-09:00

So far so good! I'm still taking a picture a day and scrapping the pictures each week. Now its March 1st. Jumping into the third month a lot of stuff is coming up. We will have my China trip in May and Austin's nana is coming up for a week of that to watch him, so sweet of her! Then Papa is coming in the summer (which by the way we are putting him to work! Haha!) Then at the end of Sept we are going down to San Antonio for Austin's birthday! Surprise if you didn't know already! :) Can't wait! I want to take Austin to Sea World, and the beach and where ever else I can take him!
So neways, here is last week's layout page!

Also wanted to add what Austin is wearing today, its uber cute! LOL!

2011-02-23T15:36:00.000-09:00

I'm thinking this could be a great idea for Austin's birthday cake! He loves playing this game on my phone!

Week Six and Week Seven

2011-02-22T23:15:00.001-09:00

Here are the two latest scrapbook layouts I did:

So the last two weeks have been pretty miserable health wise. Austin getting sick day after V-day and then me and then Kevin over this past weekend (he still hasn’t really felt normal yet, poor guy). Hopefully he’ll be back to normal in the morning. He got it worse than the rest of us. It’s going on four days of a typical Nyquil commercial. That stuff does not work like the commercial says, trust me!

Saturday was my first time ever putting on snow skis! So pretty proud of that! Another family tidbits:

Austin just saw the dentist and is good to go for another six months, he colored his whole hand and arm blue, and has been watching Madagascar (cartoon movie) twice a day for about a week now (he would watch it more but I gave him the two time limit). He is now singing New York, New York and I like to move it all throughout the house.

Spring semester of school has started this week and I’m in music class. Just read the syllabus, and I have to go to two music concerts and write an essay about them. Craziness! There is an opera one going on right now but I don’t think I’m going to be making this one. I wonder if Country singers count?

Yes surprisingly all the blue came out in the bath tub. He soaked for about 30 minutes.

Cell phone photo contest

2011-02-21T16:23:00.000-09:00

Def a challenge I can do! I take pictures all the time on my iPhone! Here’s a recent shot of me after I got my hair done last week. I decided to use this one for one: proof I def used my iPhone for the shot and secondly: I like the look I’m giving.

Sick week

2011-02-16T21:28:00.001-09:00

Yuck! Austin started getting real sick last night around 10 pm and finally was asleep fully thru the night by 2 am. Was feeling alright today but now Im feeling yucky! Ugh, I just hope its not as bad as what Austin had. Did not look like fun.

- Posted Using my iPhone

Week Four and Week Five digi scrapbook pages

2011-02-10T20:10:00.001-09:00

My impressive son!

2011-02-10T20:03:00.001-09:00

This kid amazes me everyday! I’m sitting at my computer and Austin runs over and says “Mom look!” And points over to his legos. He’s built a crane out of legos!! I’m speechless!

My chattering cat

2011-02-07T09:55:00.001-09:00

My cat has a weird habit. He’s a bird watcher and tends to chatter at them. He’s the first cat I’ve had that does this. I googled this and found out it’s a thing cats do to attract a bird towards them. They are trying to sound like insects. You learn something new everyday!

Terrible Three’s

2011-02-01T20:57:00.001-09:00

So I just wanted to fill yall family members in on how you guys get the lucky part of only visiting briefly and not having to suffer the other side of Austin, the dark side. The past four days Austin has become a scary mean creation of himself and I want to pull my hair out! He was in time out more than out of time out all night tonight. He would scream NO! at Kevin and I for anything we ask of him. He’s just out of control. Getting him to clean up a mess is like brain surgery! We have to carefully ask him in a way that it won’t upset him. I’m tired of having to walk on egg shells around a three year old. It’s so frustrating! Ok thanks all for letting me get it out. I need to video his tantrums, seriously! Its just the silliest things he has meltdowns for. The last straw tonight was over a sound on my phone it wasn’t the perfect sound for him (too loud, too quiet, etc) I was like alright I’m done, you’re going to bed! Added is a picture taken a while back during the last “No!” day we had with Austin.

Spay Day 2011 Online Pet Photo Contest

2011-01-27T11:31:00.001-09:00

I submitted a picture of my beautiful cat Ash to a photo contest. Please if you could take the time to vote for him. Thanks! :)

Spay Day 2011 Online Pet Photo Contest

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January Post

2011-01-25T16:28:00.001-09:00

I know I haven’t written anything in a while family related so here it is:

I moved my computer desk to the family room to be with the family but still be able to do my computer hobbies. It’s working out well. I’m able to digital scrapbook a lot more. I can also look out the window into the front of the house. It’s snowing right now. Slow and steady with white medium sized flakes. I miss the ocean. The sand, the smell of the salt water.

I am going to try my best to be more appreciative of the fact I have a roof over my head, something to eat and family that loves me. I will do my best to stay a bit more positive even though I’ve lived in this snowed covered *choice words* hole for the past nine years going on ten. But to do better, I need an end in sight. I need to know that we are moving forward. School needs to be finished, I will be done by the winter semester of this year. House needs looking at, and attending to which will obviously have to be a summer activity. The deck needs refinishing and our plan is to get an appraisal. So those are the future plans. Wish us luck.

For my “Me” time hobby, I’ve been taking pictures everyday so far and trying my best to scrap them in a timely fashion. Here is the last three weeks:

*Side note: A moving image

2011-01-17T19:31:00.001-09:00

I had to blog about this image I saw on TV today. It was just so beautiful and moving that I had to share it. It still am in awe over how remarkable some pets are. Just amazing! If you have a pet, give him/her a big hug and kiss. And know that he/she may be there to lie next to you if that day should come before them.

A dog, “Leao”, sits for a second consecutive day, next to the grave of her owner, Cristina Maria Cesario Santana, who died in the week’s catastrophic landslides in Brazil, at the cemetery in Teresopolis, near Rio de Janiero, on Jan. 15.

What's in the box?

2011-01-13T20:33:00.001-09:00

Austin that's who ;)

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Hello.

2011-01-12T21:46:00.001-09:00

So I did something kinda fun and funky and daring and it uh didn’t go so well but no worries because hair grows and color fades over time. Right?

Being goofy!

2011-01-09T11:17:00.003-09:00

Austin loves playing with the webcam! :)

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My semi-smart boy

2011-01-06T14:09:00.001-09:00

Now if only I could get him to like potty training....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzWEzmF2RWc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

- Posted Using my iPhone

toddler makes coffee

2011-01-04T12:52:00.000-09:00

Have I told yall that Austin is just the greatest helper ever?! He is just the cutest I swear!
This morning I got my coffee going, and Austin jumps from the couch and runs to the fridge and grabs the creamer out for me! He then grabs a spoon and helps me stir (takes a sip from the spoon to check the heat of course ;) and I just melted on how cute he was helping me make my coffee. So the second cup I had to film it! Its a lil choppy but you get the picture heehee!

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Pictures of December

2011-01-03T14:23:00.001-09:00

I have app on my phone that let's me add a picture into a calendar for everyday. This is the month of December:

- Posted Using my iPhone

It’s been HOT here

2011-01-02T12:46:00.001-09:00

Ok so hot here in Anchorage Alaska is in the high 40s for January! HOT! Haha! So here is a before and after picture to show you how hot its been:

Above: two weeks ago, it was snowing a lot and it filled up the deck completely with snow!

Below: this morning! Found my flamingos! And the temp gage. Craziness!

Happy Jan first 2011!

2011-01-01T17:56:00.001-09:00

So it is now 2011! Can you believe it?! Totally crazy! So for New Year’s eve, the city was allowed to shoot off fireworks inside the city and it was great! We didn’t even have to leave the house or deal with traffic to see some awesome fireworks! I even got a few pictures somehow! We had friends come over and we played some games, drank champagne and watched the firework show. A great night! Here are a few pictures of the evening:

Today is our 6th Anniversary!

2010-12-31T16:05:00.001-09:00

And time flies! I can’t believe its been six years since we walked down that sandy beach of Galveston Texas. It’s been a crazy wild ride for sure. A lot has changed since 2004. Kevin and I both in the Air Force. I lived in Cheyenne Wyoming, Kevin lived in Anchorage Alaska. We had dated for 10 months before I had to move down to Wyoming. We dated long distance for a year before our marriage. Another 6 months before we could live in the same house! Our lives were def crazy! But I would not trade this life for anything! I love my husband more than words can say and our beautiful healthy son is the funniest kid I know! Those two guys are the reason I live and breath everyday!

Here are some yearly photos of the last 5 New years eve days:

Our wedding day, 31 Dec 2004

Our first anniversary 31 Dec 2005. We ate at the Captain Cook’s Crow Nest and watched fireworks from the top of hotel building where the restaurant was.

Our second anniversary 31 Dec 2006. We went on a Hawaiian cruise for our anniversary/honeymoon. I had deployed that summer so that helped pay for the trip.

Another picture of that night, a professor photographer was taking new year eve pictures on the cruise ship.

Our third anniversary we had someone yall know *wink* so this picture isn’t really on New year’s eve. This was taken earlier in the month for our first date since Austin was born and it was Kevin’s work’s Christmas party. No picture was taken on New year’s eve *sad face*

Our fourth anniversary we were invited over to the Szcsygiels house for a new years eve party. This was taken at countdown.

We got really lucky and had a friend of mine watch Austin so we could have dinner on our Anniversary! Taken 31 Dec 2009. Simon and Seafords for dinner.

This year Kevin surprised me with a dinner on the 17th Dec. We didn’t get a couple shot though but some friends are coming over so maybe they can get us together for anniversary shot.

How does this get in his mind?

2010-12-28T19:36:00.001-09:00

It’s my fault. I gave him a dry erase marker to doodle on a dry erase board and got distracted. Of course the first signs of a toddler into trouble is the quiet. Where did he go? Where is the marker? Oh no….

He covered himself, his toys, drawn on the carpet, and its not coming off. A dry erase marker is probably the worse thing to get on a body (to let it sit then to try to take off) and on carpet because I’ve used wolite deep scrub and resolve spot cleaner and its not coming up. I’ve used those for pink paint he grabbed once off of white carpet and it got that up but not a dry erase marker!

Here is the guilty child. This was one of his punishments, to pose for a picture for me to use one day as black mail.

I also took all his toys away, all of them! No toys for the next day. It was a &*&ch to get out so he’ll have to suffer for it.

Merry Christmas Eve

2010-12-23T22:54:00.001-09:00

Hello everyone! This month, this year flew way too quickly! I can’t believe my son is 3 years old and hubby and I are going to have our 6th anniversary! Too fast I tell ya! Well I did really well in my spending budget, I think I even impressed the hubby! Woot! Also, I got my traditional gifts completed and mailed out on time. Plus Christmas cards! I was on fire this year! I love Christmas and giving and wrapping! Here are some presents I wrapped for some family members:

My favorite was the Dallas cowboys themed one that went to my brother in law. I think I out did myself on that one! Love it! My room of course was a disaster area during wrapping and decorating and well the holidays. Austin helped color some ornaments and help me put bows on all our presents and he even put the presents under the tree. He asked if and when we can open the presents but has been very good at leaving them alone. I have a little countdown for him to go by so he knows when it’ll ok to open the presents. I’m pretty impressed with him. Here is a picture of my messy room while I was in the middle of wrapping presents. And here is a picture of Austin coloring some ornaments.

On the eleventh of Dec we had a group kids Christmas party with the mom’s group I belong to. It was nice. Austin wasn’t enjoying himself until they broke out some plush gym type stuff to play on and then he got into a better mood. We got a family picture there too! It’s hard to get those you know?

Ironically Kevin shaved off his beard that very night so all that face hair is gone or should I say slowly coming back. It was getting pretty long for a while there. I also took Austin to see Santa this month of course and that didn’t go well but it never does. I think the picture turned out ok. I hope he’s not scared of him next year to at least stand by him or give him a high five or something! I understand though. Weird old stranger with red and white clothes with this crazy white beard and you’re forced into his lap! Yuck! Austin talks about it all the time though after, how he got a candy cane and saw Santa. So silly!

Every week this month Nana Geri (Kevin’s mom) sent Austin a Christmas themed Dallas Cowboys postcard in the mail. We would give it to him and he would shout, N-A-N-A, NANA! And then A-U-S-T-I-N, Austin! After we would read the postcard, he would have us put it on the fridge. I scanned the postcards for scrapbooking purposes of course. They are just too cute! I did the cowboys for our Christmas tree and I wish I could be in Dallas or somewhere in Texas to be able to get more Dallas Cowboy Christmas stuff! The wrapping paper and the postcards and the ornaments, soooo uber cute! Here’s my favorite:

A few Holiday events I force the family to do this month was to take them to see some Christmas lights, and see a gingerbread village. Austin uh, may have broke a chocolate light pole. Heehee! This is also where we found out Austin was terrified of Nutcrackers. The hotel that had the gingerbread village had these two 6 foot tall nutcrackers on display by an entrance and well he wasn’t having it. I did film him walking (more like running in terror) by them but I’ll post that later since this is already super long!

This village was massive! And has a live webcam!

Well to finish this off I’ll end with a note of thanks for everything this year and hope all is well with you and your loved ones. And see ya, hear from ya, or write to yall next year! Merry Christmas!

Very cool short video

2010-12-23T18:21:00.000-09:00

This is a video of a Hawaii Marching band in sync creating a player and kicking a football through a goal post! Awesome creativeness!

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My stubborn child

2010-12-16T13:13:00.000-09:00

So last night it was a huge fight with Austin about putting one toy away from the living to his bedroom. He kept yelling no at us so I put him in time out. I kept going back to him, asking the same thing, that when we ask you do something you do it, ok? He would then say, "NO." So I would leave and then come back. Same thing a few times so I recorded it. And here it is, my super stubborn child.

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This week's photo challenge

2010-12-12T20:39:00.000-09:00

This week is of pet's faces and no other pet I've ever had including Ash (yes he's a beautiful cat but) is as photogenic as Saber was. This is my all time favorite picture of Saber! Samoyeds are known for their sammie smiles and he def captures it in this picture. :)

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http://www.iheartfaces.com/2010/12/photo-contest-pet-faces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Iheartfaces+%28I+Heart+Faces+-+Weekly+Photo+Challenges+%26+Tutorials%29

Love pink in my dreams

2010-12-07T12:52:00.001-09:00

Love pink in my dreams by JenSeidel featuring victoria secret tops

A few of my favorite things :)

Self Portrait weekly contest

2010-12-06T11:16:00.000-09:00

Another attempt to enter into the weekly contest. I’ll place one of these times, right? Maybe not but its fun none the less. Here is my entry:

ice wreath

2010-12-01T21:19:00.000-09:00

Quick note to show yall the ice wreath I made today. Its very simple to make. Well if its 10 degrees out like it was today its simple.
Just grab a bundt cake pan, place pretty much any objects related to Christmas, I did candy canes and they dont float so thats good. Fill with water, and place outside. i had it out there for a day, brought it inside, filled the sink 1/4 way with hot water and gently placed the pan in the water to loosen the ice from the pan. Once out, tied some ribbon and youre done. I might add a bow to the ribbon, dunno yet.

- Posted Using my iPhone

Weekly photo contest

2010-11-29T19:59:00.000-09:00

This week is scenic black and white and this is one of my favorite pictures to use for the contest. This is Austin and me by the shore in Anchorage Alaska. To get there you just take Northern Lights until you go to the second bluff, go down the rock covered path and if its low tide you’ll see the sand. I love this picture!

Thanksgiving/ Putting up the Christmas Tree Weekend

2010-11-27T23:42:00.001-09:00

That is one long title for a blog post, huh? So we went to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Sadly Dallas Cowboys lost but it was a good game. Austin wasn’t really into the Thanksgiving food but he was alright for a place that had no toys. It snowed all morning, afternoon and night that day as well. I believe we got over ten inches of snow! It was nuts out there! Austin loves the snow thought but doesn’t have the gear for how he wants to play in it. I had to change his clothes twice and his gloves. He wanted to dive into the snow, roll around in it but not want it down his shirt. That was a bit impossible.

Black Friday was the next day and I actually went out there and braved the crowds. I got Kevin a few things that were discounted drastically. That evening there was an event downtown. We attempted to watched the tree lighting event and have Santa come through with his Sleigh, but it was just too cold and Austin started to whine. I took some pictures though. My camera froze literally by the time I got some Santa pictures so I didn’t get a front view on him sadly. Later that night the cat was looking out the window in a weird way so I asked Kevin what he was looking at and sure enough there were a couple a teen moose looking to be on their own for their first time. I still had pumpkins inside so I broke them up and toss them on to the driveway and one of the moose enjoyed the treat.

Saturday we cleaned the house up. Laundry, dishes, cleaned the fish tank, built Kevin’s treadmill, vacuumed, cleaned Austin’s room, and put up the Christmas Tree. Busy! I did a theme for the Christmas tree this year and I think it turned out great! Can you guess what the theme was? LOL! That’s right blue and silver with Dallas Cowboys ornaments. The tree skirt doesn’t match though but I don’t have any other alternative at the moment.

Orange

2010-11-09T09:18:00.000-09:00

I'm submitting this photo to a weekly photo contest. I hope I get picked! Fingers crossed! I absolutely love this photo! The theme is "Orange" And I knew exactly which photo to use!

Austin loves snow!

2010-11-05T21:25:00.001-08:00

We got a lot of snow in the past couple of days and Austin has been loving it. We even built a snowman!

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-05T20:49:00.001-08:00

We took Austin trick or treating downtown Anchorage. He had a great time! We decided to do this instead of traditional trick or treating because of the weather and time. This was earlier during the day when it was still a bit warmer than at night. Austin loves his costume thankfully!

I failed today

2010-10-25T01:48:00.000-08:00

Not many moms will admit when they failed but I'm doing it tonight because my son scared the hell out of me today. I failed because I wasn't watching him. I was too busy in one room to realize he had gotten into my purse in another room. Too busy to know he got into a child proof locked medicine container and decided to chow down on an odd number of my Excedrin. I had no idea. I would have not known for a while but he came right away to tell me he had ate something yucky and wanted to show me. I freaked out! I called my mom first since she's an RN and well, she's my mom and had a certain daughter do this sorta thing ALOT. She advised as I thought she would to call the on call nurse at the hospital and then they transferred me to poison control. I said he had about 4-5 pills since the container carried only about 6 and two were left. They calculated his weight to the amount of whatever is in Excedrin and determined he was fine. That I look for any sign of sickness, or any difference at all really. Hours went by, gave him water, milk, food and he kept it down. He was normal, a bit hyper, but normal. And they called about 5 hours later and I told him he was still fine and never got sick. My mom had called back and this situation felt familiar to both of us. She did her job to keep medicine up high, out of reach and in their containers but determined me always found a way to bust through and down all the Flintstones vitamins and bottles of dimetapp as she told me today. I sure hope I don't have a child like me. I don't want (no offense mom) to have to go through what my mom went through and take my child to the hospital to get pumped...multiple times.
I felt awful I wasn't keeping a better eye on him. If something had happened and it was on my watch...I know its hard to watch a child 24/7. And you feel they should be safe with them in just one room away or an ear shot away but that terrified me that it could have been worse. Or something else, the what ifs. I'm sure this won't be the last time Austin will test his life on something but I hope it won't be anytime soon.

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First day of Vegas

2010-10-20T01:00:00.001-08:00

Here’s the link to my Facebook album. It should show you the first day of our trip to Vegas. I took A LOT of pictures so I figure if I break it down by days and go through my albums very carefully and try to grab the most meaningful pictures I can somehow not overload your brain with my 1000 pictures. So neways, first album has 48 pictures. Not too bad right?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=552449&id=684425564&l=a39f89a946

My favorite picture of the bunch, Kevin super excited and Dave smiling super big! And I love how blue it is in the tram on the ride from hotel to hotel.

One more grad picture

2010-10-19T11:30:00.001-08:00

Forgot to add these pictures of after the ceremony. What a cute family we are, well, maybe if Austin wasn't bawling his eyes out. LOL!

Kevin’s graduation

2010-10-19T11:22:00.001-08:00

Kevin graduated Friday Oct 8th. He graduated with high honors. Here are some photos of the event.

Austin’s height in the past three years

2010-10-18T14:28:00.001-08:00

All rough estimates but not bad. Looks like at 1 year old he was approximately 30 inches tall; at 2 years old he was around 36 inches tall and at 3 years old, he’s very close to 40 inches. Searching online for average growth and weight charts, I have a huge child! If you go by 40 pounds and 40 inches, he’s an average 5 year old! EEEK!

Geri flew in

2010-10-07T23:21:00.001-08:00

So last night my mother in law, flew in. We hung out and chatted a bit and then it was bed time. This morning I made banana chocolate muffins and we took Austin to bouncing bears, this inflatable warehouse type place. It’s pretty fun and Austin LOVES this place! We then went clothes shopping since Geri didn’t bring a nice outfit for Kevin’s graduation. I got a hat. haha! After that, we stopped by a grocery store and I grabbed a pumpkin! Kevin came home and we all piled back into the car and went to see Toy Story 3 again at the cheaply theater! Austin loved it of course! He was so excited to see his favorite characters! We got home and carved up a pumpkin for the first time! It’s a pain in the butt!!! But still pretty neat! Whatcha think?? LOL!

Steps on how the Seidels carved their pumpkin:

Step one: Cut a hole using about four different types of knifes while facing the sharp blade at your mother in law and her trusting you won’t fling the blade into her face.
Step two: Gut out pumpkin using various methods such as ice cream scoop, cheap digging tool that mother in law breaks, and your hand while toddler says, ewwww, yucky, the whole time.

Step three: Pick out each individual seed for no reason at all. Have a pumpkin patch for next year. We can wish! Note: Can you believe how many seeds come out of a single pumpkin?! Craziness!
Step four: Cut out template. Not sure why Kevin took on this task but he felt like it was his duty to perform this task.

Step five: Used exact-o knife to trace carefully around template (template has been taped with clear packing tape since stick dots that came with template stink!), and then a sharpie for good measure. Takes FOREVER! Pumpkins are tough to cut into with an exact-o knife.
Step six: Have husband cut into already made lines with saw type knife that comes in kit. Make sure you have the concentration face like Kevin here on while cutting into your pumpkin.

Step seven: Finish the job you started since husband can’t follow lines, haha! No, I’m just a perfectionist. And screw it up neways. But pumpkin is carved! Apparently google says to soak pumpkin for half hour, let dry completely then vasiline it up so it won’t dry or shrink. So that’s it.
Step eight: Light it up!

The weekend

2010-10-04T22:07:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we had a fall party to go to and all the kids dressed in their Halloween costumes. It was a beautiful autumn day and perfect weather! Here are some photos of the event:

Today, I took Austin to a local indoor water park, H2oasis. He did really well for someone who doesn’t like water much. For awhile he held my hand but then started to go out on his own. I was very proud of him! And yes, he was in the water the whole with his hat on!

Wednesday night Nana gets here and then Kevin graduates on Friday, after that Vegas Baby! Don’t be jealous, haha! It’ll be fun but hard to leave the little one for a week. I hope he does well with Geri. It’ll be the first time leaving him for soo long with no parent behind to lean on. It’s not like we can explain it to him either for him to realize what’s going to happen you know? So neways, that the week ahead. Pictures coming soon on all that.

Fall leaves and Austin

2010-09-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/0920?authkey=Gv1sRgCIavu578q5_xhgE&feat=directlink

These pictures turned out so well! Its a couple of weeks ago but I had to share them.

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How does it get this dirty?

2010-09-29T19:15:00.001-08:00

This kid amazes me! How can a now three year old get a room so messy? There are times where I just give in and clean it up myself and this is one of those times, sigh. It’s hard to keep it clean.

Austin’s third birthday

2010-09-28T00:27:00.001-08:00

Sorry it hasn’t taken me a while to write about Saturday’s events. It’s been pretty busy around here. Saturday was of course extremely busy and Sunday is nothing but football. I think I napped. Haha! Today (more like Tuesday morning now) was really busy and I couldn’t even go to class because Kevin wasn’t able to get out of work on time. Luckily I can miss two classes. Ok enough of the excuses: Austin had gone to bed really early Friday night because he was in a ‘mood’. So I put him to bed at 6pm. He decided of course to wake up around 2am. Luckily he was able to stay in our bed and gibber gab for awhile and fall back to sleep. An earthquake happened around 4am and it was a pretty big one too. Nothing damaging but long and shaky. About a 5.4 the news said. So Austin gets up around 9am, I distract him with my iphone (the best invention ever!) and get maybe another 30 mins of sleep and then we are up. I had wrapped his gifts the night before so we all climbed the stairs, he walks right past them to get on the couch. He turns and is like holy cow! A banner is up with Toy story characters and he’s just all excited! He looks at me with those eyes like, can I open them?! I smile and tell him have at it! He starts tearing into them! I can tell Christmas will be a blast after seeing this! So note to family members, WRAP YOUR GIFTS!

After opening his presents up, putting batteries into toys, and cleaning the mess, I make some muffins for breakfast. Austin enjoyed playing with his cool new toys from yours truly, oh and Kevin. So around 1pm, I get ready and set out for the pizzas, the cake (ran out of time, and Kevin got the cake), and go decorate the place we had the party at. We doubled with another mom and her daughter Esa. It was great and perfect for the place! I would not have done it any different. The kids enjoyed playing with the toys, and playground. The adults ate pizza and cake. Austin would not leave the cake until he could have a piece. That is what he’d been asking for for his birthday for the past two weeks and he finally got it! Haha! He did really well and blew out his candles all by himself! He loved every minute of it!

I just want to thank everyone again for the cards and presents and well wishes to Austin on his birthday. That is so kind and generous of yall. Thank you so much!

Happy Birthday to Austin!!!

2010-09-25T00:58:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to write a quick note to say Happy birthday to my son Austin! He turns three today!! We have a Toy Story themed birthday party for him at a local kids place and he’s going to love it! We got balloons blown up yesterday and I’ll be setting up and picking up the cake. Then Kevin will bring him to the party! I’m probably more excited than Austin will be! LOL!

I’ll put pictures online as soon as I have them tonight!

A foggy Wednesday

2010-09-16T00:10:00.001-08:00

I should have taken a picture of the fog it was soo thick in the morning and towards the evening. You must be wondering why yall have been receiving more blog entries than in months or even years past. I’m trying to do better in updating what’s going on here in the Alaskan Seidel residence and I have a cute new (FREE Kevin) windows live writer that let’s me do all this fun fonts, adding pictures, and it then posts it to my blog without me getting on the internet and writing to my blog myself. It’s pretty fun. With Austin’s third birthday approaching I like to keep the family in the loop on his achievements and habits that he has nowadays. I need to measure him, I swear he’s taller everyday! Not even three yet (9ish more days to go) and he’s barely keeping that 4T button on his pants from popping and wears 5T/5 size shirts. My giant child! He is still not succeeding in the potty training but he’s super smart in other categories. He can successfully spell his name, spot his name on anything and anywhere. If the letters are scrambled, he can put them in the correct order. He can spell cat, dog, boy, mom, and dad. We are trying to get him to spell nana since Geri will be here in a few weeks. He knows his 7 basic colors, his shapes, his alphabet, and numbers up to 20. Since he turns 3 in the later part of September he can’t go to preschool until next year. By then who knows who he’ll know. I call him my Einstein (and he has a shirt!) because he’s very smart in the intellectual portion of life, he still hasn’t grasp the other easier items such as dressing himself, or potty training. But can’t be a genius in everything right?

For him to grasp that his third birthday is near, I made this clipboard count down for him to use. For each day down is closer to the big day! It’s not too fancy, I didn’t have much time to go crazy on it but it does the job. I added a Woody sticker so he would be interested in it. The other day he got into the party decorations. He was quite excited about the items! Kevin and I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he replied, “Cake.” So simple at his age!

This morning I took Austin to a place here called Bouncing Bears, where you can bounce your heart out! He loves this place but during the summer it gets crazy with the other crowd and on nice sunny days you would rather be outside instead of inside. So it was a nice change and he enjoyed it!

We had IHOP for dinner. Kevin and I get breakfast and Austin loves his mac and cheese. Since Great clips is practically next door we got Austin a haircut as well. He did really well and was a ham about his hair! It was pretty funny to watch him all excited about a hair cut after getting it cut. Obviously in the chair it was a different story.

We finished up the night with a big huge box my dad sent me! Thank you again dad! It had tons of old photos and I’m just in photo heaven right now admiring the history! He also added a few goodies for Austin and he went to bed with the clock. It has a light on top and he wanted to read a book in bed (read, more like look at pictures haha!). The clock helps Austin learn about time and he got him a cow that tells him about money. Very cool! There was also a GI Joe doll, ok, action figure, my bad! Heehee! And Kevin dressed him up and put the weapons and backpack on him and was like a kid in a candy store, he was just in love with this thing! It was super cute! I’m sure he’s rolling his eyes now at me but it was!

So all are in bed and I guess I should head towards the same direction. Night all!

Beautiful Monday

2010-09-13T15:15:00.001-08:00

To start off the week right we went to a beautiful lake and playground this morning on a great sunny September morning. We went with the mommy’s group and most of the kids got stripped down but not Austin. He tends to like being conservative! He hates going swimming without a swim shirt on! The ducks there were pretty friendly there. I think they were expecting food or something. The leaves are turning to pretty yellow colors and the white Burch trees are just gorgeous!

Also I suppose most of you know how terrible the Dallas Cowboys game was last night. No need to elaborate on that but here are some photos of our lil family event during the game. And thanks Sarah for texting with me during the game! Kevin even giggled at us texting like he and Stephen do! Funny how sports brings family either close together (liking the same team) or far apart (arguing over different teams).

Summer is coming to an end

2010-09-11T12:57:00.001-08:00

The leaves are turning, the air is getting that brisk chill in it and football has started. Even though it’s a beautiful sunny gorgeous day, its still September which means snow is on its way next month. Austin turns three years old here shortly, in about 14 days. Very exciting! It will be of course a Toy Story themed birthday party. We are sharing the party with another mom so her theme is Elmo. That will be an interesting mix.

Well here is a book I made in Shutterfly. I got a free book code and decided to make it about our “staycation” this summer. I can’t believe how fast summer went.

Click here to view this photo book.

Kevin made the papers

2010-09-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

Ok not really the papers, more like an internet article for the military base but still cool none the less. The only thing is that they got his name wrong in the article. Apparently they don't care about getting facts right.

http://www.jber.army.mil/aw/2010/100910/Story23.htm

On the right side you'll see two pictures of Kevin and they call him Kevin Seery. Nice! Oh well.

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Alaska State Fair

2010-09-05T14:13:00.001-08:00

Friday morning Austin and I tagged along with another mom and her daughter to the Alaska State Fair. I can’t believe how beautiful and sunny it was that day! We got there around 10:30am and didn’t leave until it was 4pm! The time just flew by! Austin had a great time and was on his best behavior! We first walked around looking at the animals. First you see the chickens, the rabbits, geese and then the baby chicks. You can see some chicks hatch and can actually pet them too! I’m surprised Austin just stuck his hand out there and pet them with no coaxing from me. In the bigger pens were the cows, mostly calves, pigs, goats, and sheep. There was a petting zoo and Austin was slightly nervous there but relaxed a tiny bit. Posing for a picture with a calf, the calf decided to chew on my hair! Must have smelt good. Austin was not so impressed. After the animals we walked the rest of the fair grounds. They have tons of food and booths. We grabbed some pretzels, dipping dots, and brisket! Austin rode the carousal and we attempted to ride the Ferris wheel but didn’t have enough tickets and Austin didn’t seem he would ride it anyways. We took a break at this little field/sitting area where a jazz band was playing. The kids danced and played! It was great! The exhibit was the reptile exhibit. They had turtles, snakes, alligators and lizards. A guy was holding a type of dragon lizard for petting. I went to pet him and asked if Austin wanted to and he cried, “Noo mama, ewww!” It was so funny! After that, more food and booths and then our day was done. Austin loved it! and passed out peacefully on the ride back home!

All the pictures are posted here at this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/2010Sep03AlaskaSateFair?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSEkPaelJuxggE&feat=directlink

Alaska State Fair collage

2010-09-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

Picture a day during August

2010-09-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is an app on my iphone that I can add a picture a day to a calendar and then upload the month onto my photo album. So this is August! Helps me remember what we did each day as well.

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Pictures this weekend

2010-08-30T22:40:00.001-08:00

Friday morning Amy, Austin and I started on the road to Denali, Alaska and on the way Austin started to cry really bad. I couldn’t get him to stop for over an hour so I called Kevin to see if he could possibly watch Austin for the weekend while we go up there by ourselves. He did and I thank him soo much!! I’m super lucky that Kevin took such good care of him! He was sick it turns out and it was the first time he’s actually got sick and threw up so I suppose that’s to be expected from now on. Yuck! So after meeting Kevin about halfway back, we were on our way again. We arrived at Denali around 6pm and got checked in and had some dinner. The next day we took a Denali bus tour trip through the park. It was good but the weather was nasty and cold so not much animal sightings and the mountains were covered in fog. We did see one fox, two bull moose, and one golden eagle. I was soo hoping for a bear sighting but no luck. After the tour, we had dinner and did some souvenir shopping. The last day (Sunday) we watched a sled dog demo and met some of the sled dogs there.

This link here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/AmySVisit?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXRlPGAkomnhgE&feat=directlink is of all the pictures of Amy’s trip so far. She leaves tomorrow night. It was nice having her here and Austin enjoyed playing with her ipad!

Here’s a video of the sled dogs as well:

Denali sled dog demo

Amy’s Visit

2010-08-30T21:25:00.001-08:00

My oldest sister Amy came to visit us this weekend and so far we've kept pretty busy. I've taken here to some beautiful spots around the city and we drove up to Denali National park over the weekend. With all the pictures being taken, that would normally take a lot of work to load them onto the computer and then upload them to the internet. Lucky for me, I have my Eye-fi memory card, no need to do anything but snap away! Here's a slide show I created for the visit so far! Enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9vgZkJh8I_-ZTYwZDkwNDAtMTk3ZC00YTEwLWE5ZWYtZDM1ZjQwNzYwNTJi&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Some recent videos

2010-08-22T22:17:00.001-08:00

Austin learning the NFL football teams.

I realize I hadn’t shared these videos on the blog yet but we are teaching Austin the names of the football teams. He’s getting really good, need to get another video because just in a few days he’s almost mastered them all!

Here’s Austin and dada playing some football, ready, set, hike!

Sunshine finally

2010-08-22T17:30:00.001-08:00

We’ve been having rain for most of this summer. We actually had 28 days of straight rain! Craziness! So once our first sunny day happened three days ago, I was outside! I took Austin to the park twice! And then to the park again the next day! And then blue berry picking yesterday! But with all good things like enjoying the outside we have chores to do. It’s another nice day today but laundry and school work must be done. Here are some pictures of the last few days:

I took a picture of our shadows because we haven’t seen them in a while
I enjoy just laying out in the sun as you can clearly see
Austin isn’t use to the sun so he MUST have his sunglasses on at all times outside if its sunny out

Austin on the slide for the millionth time!
Kevin’s first flag football game, someone has to hold the marker.
After dinner we treated ourselves to some DQ icecream. I got these two shirts from Old Navy for them to wear together, so cute!!

Like Father like son.
Austin picking berries at Alyeska.
Some brush was a bit tall for Austin so I had to carry him into the blueberry patches to pick the better blueberries.

Kevin is playing flag football once again and has played one game. The next game is this Thursday. I am in three classes this fall semester and sadly can’t see his game on Thursday since I’ll be in class. My sister, Amy, comes to visit Wednesday night through the 31st of August. The state fair starts as well next week. Lots of stuff to do!

Thunderbird Falls and Mirror Lake

2010-08-13T15:11:00.001-08:00

This morning my friend Sandi and I and the kids went on a short hike to Thunderbird Falls. It's nice to hear the sound of a waterfall and know that if I truely want to experience nature to the fullest I can just 20 mins away in any direction. On the way home I was curious to see what this Mirror Lake was like so I stopped by there as well. And what a beautiful calm scenic 'mirror' lake. :) Def fits the name.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/2010Aug13ByEyeFi?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLxqvjC_J_kvwE&feat=directlink

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My lil photographer

2010-08-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

Austin loves my camera! Probably not a smart idea to let a two year old play with a highly expensive camera but the pictures are cute! Maybe one day he'll follow in his mama's foot steps. :)

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2010\Aug\01 (by Eye-Fi)

2010-08-02T00:52:00.000-08:00

Pictures of the family campfire we had last night with the mommies group I'm a part of. It was great! And a beautiful view of Eagle River too, it was so awesome!

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Sleeping boy

2010-08-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Austin asleep in different places and positions are the most adorable pictures!

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Rain, rain go away...

2010-07-27T00:11:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks going onto a full month, its been raining here. I can literally count how many sunny descent days we've had on three fingers, 3! Ugh! So to not go completely insane, I've embraced the rain the best way we can.

From 2010\Jul\26 (by Eye-Fi)

Feel free to take a look at the rest of the pictures and there some footage too! You can really hear how deep the water is. We've actually got flood adversaries! Nuts!

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I'm a big shot wink

2010-07-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.eye.fi/blog/meet-the-eye-fi-big-shots

Check it out! I am part of a new spokesperson group for eye-fi memory cards. It's the memory card in my camera that automactically downloads my pictures to the internet and to my computer without ever having to do it myself. It geo-tags where the picture was taken and if there is a wifi spot and my camera is on, it'll download from there as well.
On other news, sadly I was turned down for AF reserves. the doctor disqualified me for all services so no military for me at all anymore. Depending on the future, I'll most likely be looking into GS jobs maybe. Time will tell.

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Little Things...

2010-07-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

It's the little things in life that brings a smile to your face. :) To Austin he just wanted to see his cheese better....to me, I couldn't help but laugh uncontrolabley. I love this kid!

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Austin washing the car

2010-07-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

A busy day

2010-07-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first sunny day we've had in a while so I wanted to take full advance. It was a crystal clear day as well so you could see mountain miles and miles away even Mount McKinley. So I drove up to Flat Top, a mountain and state national park and took some photos of the mountains with Austin. He of course was too busy watching his movies on my iphone to notice the view. I took him to get a haircut after because after looking at the pictures realized how LONG his hair was! So to continue staying outside I inspired myself to clean out the car. I vacummed and washed it! With some assistance of course from Austin. I then had to get to class and Austin wanted to come with me but couldn't. So sweet though that he wanted to wear his backpack like mama.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=463967&id=684425564&l=e24cb94342

Austin bobble head

2010-07-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

This was this afternoon about an hour ago of Austin drifting off to sleep since Kevin was watching a boring show ;) Then uncle Stevie calls and wakes him up! Hahaha! Funny how he wakes up smiling.

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July 4 Scrapbook layouts

2010-07-07T01:45:00.002-08:00

Just because the holiday wasn't epic doesn't mean I didn't get some cute pictures to post!

Thank you all

2010-07-01T18:33:00.001-08:00

The surgery was a sucess and he didnt even cry when he came to, he slept for a lil bit then got up and was ok. He's feeling like his ol' self and everything went perfectly. Thank you all for the prayers!

- Posted Using my iPhone

Surgery

2010-06-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

Austin will be having surgery tomorrow morning at 630am. He'll be put under for it. It's to fix his two front teeth, take xrays and examine if there is any other damage to his teeth. He'll be very anxious and most likely will feel our anxiousness so tomorrow (this morning) will not be a the best of days. If all goes well, we should be home by 800-ish and I'm praying he'll go to sleep and sleep it off and be alright afterwords. That's the best situation, the worse is well the worse. So I'm slightly anxiously among other things and I guess just need peace of mind. My mom is visiting right now so that helps. This is her job to take care of patients after surgery. :) So she knows what to look for if anything goes wrong at home.
Also if you could do me another request and just keep me in your prayers after praying for Austin's health and recovery. I need to learn some lessons and I need to learn how to be a "friend", meaning to really follow the actual definition of the word.
I will let everyone know of Austin's outcome and recovery, thank you in advance.

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Summer Solstice Saturday

2010-06-20T11:45:00.001-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/2010Jun19ByEyeFi?authkey=Gv1sRgCKeJvpqapOyWWw#

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Lighting Mcqueen

2010-06-15T00:09:00.000-08:00

At at Toys r us the other day and I saw this! Ain't it beautiful?! A toddler remote control car! And its Lighting Mcqueen! I think I'm getting more anxious about Austin's birthday coming up than he is. This is sooo going on the wish list! This and anything Toy Story related!

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Fire station playdate

2010-06-14T13:26:00.003-08:00

Austin got to go into a fire truck today at a fire station! He didn't care for it too much but still neat to be able to do stuff like this. We went to a fire station on Airport Heights with the mommies group. We saw them leave for an emergency as well and come back. It was a great playdate. Too bad Austin whined most of the time. He was not in the mood to be a fire fighter. Oh well. All pictures are posted here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/2010Jun14ByEyeFi?authkey=Gv1sRgCLrH68TQsq7M3QE&feat=directlink

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Half way through June

2010-06-11T23:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that its near half way through June, 6th month of 2010!! This year is going quick! This summer is going to be jammed packed too. My mom arrives the end of June; FIL in July, my sister Amy at the end of August, SIL and BIL in Sept and MIL in October. I'm very thankful for the in laws for sure! They just adore Austin! Austin's birthday is coming up as well in September. My baby boy will be three! Oh my goodness! He's growing so fast! He's speaking well too. He's in love with Toy Story (he pronounces it Soy Tory, haha) right now especially with the new movie coming out. The commercials are flooded with Toy story memorabilia. I plan on taking him to see the movie next week. I'll have him bring his big buzz toy and wear a toy story shirt and make a great mommy/son movie date of it. I can't wait!
Let's see, Austin knows some basic colors now like red, green, blue and yellow. He can count to 20, knows his ABC's like the back of his hand, and has started singing happy birthday randomly, lol! In his room, I have his toys in categories and he can put them in the correct boxes, so proud of him! His favorite word of the month is "Alright." He uses it whenever I tell him what to do something or ask him something that is a yes answer. It's so cute but I have no idea where he learned it from!
So far this month I took Austin to a swim lesson with my friend Marcie and her daughter Hannah; swam in the kiddie pool in the backyard; had some BBQ's; spray painted a chandelier and installed it in my room all by myself; trying to grow some kind of pretty flowers out in the backyard but not being successful in that.
Kevin just has this semester left to go and he'll be done and will get his Bachelor's degree! He graduates Oct 8th and hopefully if all goes right we will be taking a drip to Las Vegas, just the two of us! MIL is flying up here to watch Austin while we go. So a lot going on this summer. I heard on the radio that Lonestar (Country band) is coming up in August as well. Sweet! I hope we can go.

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2010\Jun\02 (by Eye-Fi)

2010-06-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

I got so lucky to get a great shot like this! Austin found this ladybug on his kiddie pool. I placed the ladybug on my vase of flowers and took 100's of pictures! This is one of my favorites! So amazing! I need to touch up the photo a bit but this is the orginal no touches to it photo. Love it!

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2010\May\25 (by Eye-Fi)

2010-05-25T16:52:00.001-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/jenseidel23/2010May25ByEyeFi?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKnnuCWxKKW9AE#

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Today our mommies group went to a location by the Kincaid park called sand dunes and it was magical! It had of course sand, looks to be a place you can take a dirt bike or four wheeler out and go crazy. There was a location up at the top of this cliff and it was so pretty. You could see a great view of the ocean, and a great scenery for pictures of course. On the way home, yet again, a great camera moment, we saw two baby moose and a mama moose. A great photographic day!