1 Year Later

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I got the call of Brian's sudden cardiac arrest.  I was looking back at my posts from that time.  It is hard to describe what I feel reflecting back.  We are gearing up for a big weekend--Our anniversary and Fathers Day both fall on Sunday this year.  This is such a special time for our family.  We will have to celebrate the miracles we have experienced and praise God for his hand of protection on our family.  I am in awe of the care He has provided.  I am so in love with my husband and so thankful that we still have time together on this earth.  Our life is turning out so differently than we imagined it when we were first married, but it is so much richer and filled with gratitude.  I long to pass that gratitude on to our children, we must not forget that EVERYTHING we have comes from the Lord, the Maker and Creator of ALL THINGS.  I think we feel a new sense of purpose since God gave Brian his life back.  I have thought throughout the year of this day and how we can make it special.  I think I have an idea!

May 2011

I can't believe how May has flown by.  Most of the month was beautiful here in Anchorage, Alaska.  We are feeling settled in and quite at home here already.  We have been spending every spare moment outlside (especially whenever Kai is sleeping.)  With the long days we can easily put the kids to bed around 7:30 and get at least two or three hours of yard work in before we go to bed!  This is the time of year where everything has gone from the dead brown of winter to bright and alive with color.  I LOVE this time of year.  We have worked diligently at planning, building and planting our garden and working on our yard.  The neighbor boys are hydroseeding our back yard at this very moment.  In Alaska, a common gardening technique is raised bed gardening, so the soil is warmer for the plants to grow.  We started our seeds in the laundry room window a couple of months ago, and have now transplanted everything to the yard.  We built an arbor and gate with a wire fence to hopefully keep pests (moose) from eating our our hard work!  Kai is still crawling so, in order to bring him outside we pretty much have to commit to a bath afterward.

The kids are adjusting well to being here.  Kai is sleeping well again--that is where the change affected him most.  Aubrey is doing well with the change also.  She has settled in after a little transition time.  We all love our new home and all of the space we have to play.  All the work there is to do here is what we love to do.  The kids had late winter colds but have been healthy for some time now.  We love to walk to the zoo from our house.

We have been connecting with old friends and excited to meet some new.  We will be hosting a couple of BBQs for people who are connected with our church and live in our neighborhood this summer.  We are also taking a trip to Montana to meet up with family for a week in July.  Both sets of parents are coming to visit us this summer as well.  

It is an interesting thing to move away from a place for a couple of years and then move back.  It is certainly an easier transition than moving to a new place, though.  I am out of "Momma Time." So I'll have to add pictures next time!

New Home, Easter, Birthday

Easter Cuties!

Malakai's Birthday cake was gone in one bite!

It has been a busy few weeks.  We closed on our home without a hitch.  We LOVE it.  We have room to play and move.  We may paint the kids rooms, but other than hanging pictures, we don't need to do anything else to it.  We moved in and spent about 2 weeks getting things unpacked, arranged and settled.  Now we are really enjoying it.  We spent a couple hours raking leaves, burning sticks and "working" in our yard the other night.  We are starting our garden--the plants are starting in the Laundry room, and we are building raised beds in the back yard.  We LOVE that type of work.  Aubrey is loving it too.  It is so quiet and beautiful here.  We see moose quite often and we can walk to the Zoo from here!  

We had some friends over for Lasagna on Easter.  The kids enjoyed hunting for eggs and playing. Then we celebrated Kai's first birthday all week.  Monday (the actual birthday) we went to Chucky Cheese for our family celebration.  The kids were asleep by the time we got home, so we opened his presents the next evening.  We had a little Birthday BBQ on Saturday for him.  It felt so good to entertain in our new home.  We are so thankful for little Malakai.  He brings so much joy to our lives.  He is such a happy kid most of the time and so sweet and loving.  His first year was an extreme one for the Buck family! but we are so blessed.

The Waiting Game

Two weeks. We close on our new home in two weeks. It is hard to keep the two kids occupied each day here. I have been planning outings and activities for the kids and I to do each day. We have spent lots of time catching up with old friends. We have been to the library, zoo, playland, indoor playground three times, one mall, and community rec center kindergym time twice. I signed Aubrey up for a gymnastics class and have plans to go to the indoor waterpark, and a church moms play group this week! Aubrey and I do a little homeschool preschool each day--usually when Malakai naps. Brian and I have been meticulously planning our garden, and the fence around it to keep moose out, and the compost bin! We are anxious to be homeowners again! We will have a large yard in our new home (over half acre) so we have been planning what we want to do with it! This place is very nice and I am thankful we could be in a place like this in this meantime. It is comfortable and fairly quiet. We are on the 4th (top) floor with views of the mountains. We have shopping carts in the garage to bring groceries and sleeping kids up from the car in the elevator. Brian works really close, too. Malakai has grown a lot since we got here over a month ago. He now crawls everywhere on his knees and pulls up and cruises all around the furniture. He is such a happy kid most of the time. I thought he had crawled down the hall to the kids room where Aubrey was but she came back not knowing where he was. . . we heard a "splash, splash" and ran to find him laughing and splashing his hands in the toilet! Aaaah!

Alaska Update

We have been in Anchorage for a little over a week. We have been looking for houses and are currently waiting to hear from one we put an offer on. (the third house we have offered on.) We are renting a furnished 2 bedroom appartment downtown. It is cozy and fine, but we are anxious to get into a home. We have nice views of the mountains and were able to see some dogsled racers from the kids's bedroom window last weekend. Aubrey likes the snow, but thinks it is too cold here. She has already had several play dates and loves her friends here. It hasn't been the easiest transition for the kids. Malakai arrived in AK with double ear infections and Aubrey seems to have caught a new cold just as her last one was almost gone. Neither kid is sleeping very well, so far--consequently, neither am I. It will be nice to get settled somewhere in our own beds again. I'll try and keep you posted. . . We are excited for the Iditerod start this weekend. Brian likes his job, and the challenge of doing something a little different. It has been fun catching up with old friends.

We are off to the Caribbean for a week with family before the big move. We were so blessed to have family here to share in such a special day for Malakai.

Moving Day!

The big truck is pulling up any minute!  We are off on another adventure.  Feb 21st we will be flying to Alaska to once again make Anchorage home.  We are excited--though it is always bitter-sweet to move.  We will greatly miss living near family, our church home, our neighbors, and the friends we have made--not to mention the pool and the sunshiny weather!  Aubrey, at 3 years old, is SO excited and keeps telling us how much she loves snow and all the things that go with that.  Malakai will hopefully become a little more flexible through this transition!  They're here--gotta go!