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Friday, May 27. 2011

Posted by Crystal Kugler at 18:59 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I'm counting down

This blog has missed the welcoming of the new year! In a few short days we'll be celebrating Memorial Day. Where has the time gone?

A few weeks ago Elizabeth finished Kindergarten. She had a second ballet recital. While we may be done for the year we're still working on phonics and math - sneaking them in when we can. Yesterday she lost her third tooth! She has an other one that is loose and she loves to wiggle it.

Jonathan did a few weeks of Preschool at Anne Wein Elementary this year. He LOVED riding on the school bus and being with friends!

Timothy is an active 2 year old boy (maybe that should be BOY?). He loves to explore and to lead the way. He also loves finding things he can drum on (current favorite is an empty water jug).

Naomi.....She's a mama's girl and she lets the whole world know! She is learning how to move and she's working on crawling. She loves to eat cereal! Naomi likes to growl instead of coo. She has a lot to say when it's quiet - I'm guessing with 3 older siblings it's hard to get a word in edge wise.

Nanny! Oh yes...how can I NOT tell you about our awesome, wonderful NANNY??? Our dear friend Katrina has been threatening us for months (no, make that years!) that she was going to move up here. She finally made it! What a blessing it is to have a second pair of hands and eyes in the day! (Thank you my friend!)

Our house....yep, it's there and WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS!! We had our loan approved and we've been slowly getting things done. In a couple of weeks we hope to have a sheetrocking party! (Anyone wanna join us?) Then it's on to mudding and taping, painting, flooring, cabinets......all of that work sounds LOVELY!

Thursday, December 16. 2010

Posted by Crystal Kugler at 13:07 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Blog update!

Seeing how our last entry was back in August about the van (yes we still like it!), I think it's high time for an other entry!

In October Jonathan turned 4! He's still in love with Disney's Cars and he also likes Toy Story.

We welcomed Naomi Faith into the world on November 11th, 2010 at 10:28am She weighed 10lbs. 1oz. and she was 22 inches long. She is our snuggle bug

On the 6th I had my 29th birthday. I was surprised by my dad and step mom, who met us (Joshua and I) at the restaurant.

On December 11th Elizabeth had her first ballet recital! She did a wonderful job!

Saturday, August 7. 2010

Posted by Joshua Kugler in family at 08:51 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Vehicular upgrades

If you follow this blog, or our Facebook pages (Joshua's, Crystal's) you know we're expecting our fourth child in November. That means, as much as we love our Subaru, we're going to have to say goodbye. We recently (yesterday) acquired a used Toyota Sienna. It's a 2004 with almost 90,000 miles, but it's in really good shape. It has all the Alaska accessories: engine block/transmission heater, winter tires, and it's all-wheel-drive of course (Toyota is the only company still making an all-wheel-drive mini van).

We will be selling our Subaru Outback once it's cleaned up and in pristine shape. We hate to see the Subaru go, but are excited about the baby, and really jazzed and praising God about the vehicle acquisition.

Defined tags for this entry: awd, family, growing, sienna, van

Wednesday, December 16. 2009

Posted by Crystal Kugler at 15:10 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Quote of the week

I quickly made the kids lunch today. By quickly I mean it was microwaved. Even more specifically the kids ate cheese pizza made out of pilot bread. As the kids were sitting down I cautioned them that it was probably still hot because it was just cooked. Elizabeth looked at me, then at her "pizza" and said: "You didn't cook it, you MICROWAVED it!"

My other favorite quote from today is Timothy saying "no" over and over and over again.

Defined tags for this entry: elizabeth, no, pilot bread, pizza, timothy

Thursday, September 24. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in humor at 20:40 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Carpet One needs a copy editor

It isn't news that our national level of grammatical literacy is declining. It isn't news that a quickly jotted e-mail or text message will have improper grammar, or teeth gratingly obnoxious abbreviations (whts with that ne way? enuf already! kthnxbye!). It is somewhat notable however, when a chain with "over a thousand flooring stores worldwide" sends out an advertising postcard with a 2nd or 3rd grade grammar mistake.

[No comment]

With that in mind, click on the image to the right, and take a good, long look. Stare at it a while. While you're (that's a hint) staring at it, contemplate how many people worked on this invitation, planned it, thought about it, and viewed it before it was given the official OK to go to print. Imagine how many looked at it as they stuffed them into envelopes (eh, maybe that part was automated). Then, wonder with me, if you will, why no one in that entire process ever wondered why "YOUR" was missing an apostrophe and trailing "E."

And no, you can't blame this on Podunk Fairbanks: this store is a Worldwide chain. At least they say so on their web site.

I could go on, but I'm so flabbergasted I have nothing left to say.

[And yes, you better believe that I'm proof reading this entry very carefully. It would be the height of irony to have grammatical errors in a rant about grammar. And yes, this is posted under "humor" but it really is a tragedy.]

Defined tags for this entry: carpentone, grammar, humor, sigh, yore, you're, your

Saturday, September 5. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in family at 12:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Sleeping babies...who can resist them?

Two photos too cute not to share.

Catching a late-morning nap.

Timothy's early afternoon nap.

Defined tags for this entry: family, nap, sleeping, timothy

Sunday, August 9. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in rebuild at 10:21 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Frustration and Exultation

Progress continues to be made, slowly but surely!

More NextStep ministries crews worked on the house since the last update, and more got done! The entire upstairs ceiling is now covered by sheetrock. Only one panel is left to secure into place.

We also had our electrical service entrance replaced by the fine folks at Bright Electric, and the down-stairs subpanel installed. The frustration came from miscommunication and lack of communication. We thought the labor was going to be free. It was, in part, but it appears Bright Electric thought it would only take four to six hours. It ended up taking about 24 hour of labor (had to replace the mast guy wire, feed lines because they were aluminum, and do some other modifications because the first inspection didn't pass). More materials were required than we originally planned as well. In all, it ended up costing $3200. Bright donated part of the cost, we were able to pay part of it, and NextStep minitries covered the rest. So, it was all taken care of, but the money did come out of our sheetrock budget.

In all, Praise the Lord! We've made some great progress. We can start finish work on the inside electrical now!

Defined tags for this entry: electrical, rebuild, wiring

Monday, August 3. 2009

Posted by Crystal Kugler at 09:15 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Alaskan Ingenuity

One of my "guilty pleasures" is dumpster diving. A lot of people up here do it, and there are all sorts of treasures to be found. Most of the time we don't get anything, but it is amazing what people throw away/give away.

On a recent "expedition" I spotted some Alaskan ingenuity at it's best. And no, we didn't get this.

Homemade wheelbarrow seen at the transfer station.

Tuesday, June 23. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in general at 19:26 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

The Big Five-Oh.

Somebody in our family turned 50 recently. 50,000, that is. On June 10th, 144 miles through a tank of gas the reliable, trustworthy, efficient, useful 2005 Subaru Outback began the second half of its journey to 100,000 miles.

This car has been through quite a bit with this family. It brought all three of our kids home from their places of birth (hospital for Elizabeth, birth clinic for the other two). It's taken Crystal and me on two anniversary get-aways. Carried lumber for the house remodel. Made five trips to Anchorage (one of those being a one-day round-trip for shopping and to pick up an oven). Helped us move into (and out of) two places. Carried pallets for a contract job (five in the back, four on top). Dozens upon dozens of shopping trips. Been an impromptu baby-changing station.

It's been a great car. We look forward to another great 50,000 miles.

Defined tags for this entry: 50000, car, general, subaru

Monday, June 22. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in rebuild at 22:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Stairs, Windows, Vapor Barrier and more!

After several months of no progress on the house (due to finances--mostly--and other things), some more work is being done on the house. NextStep ministries from Wisconsin is sending teams up to Fairbanks this summer to do construction projects in the area. Our house was one of the locations chosen, and we are excited!

So far on the agenda: new stairs, vapor barrier, new kitchen window (done!), some electrical work, plumbing installation, and sheet rock on the upstairs ceiling. We'll see what else we can accomplish.

We have a list of todo's to get the upstairs livable so we can move back in, and that is our action plan. Our finances are tight (still working part time, looking for a full time job), and the team has a limited budget, but we know God is in control, so we'll see what He has in store.

Keep praying! We're making progress!

Monday, May 25. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in family at 21:44 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Ouch on my cheek

Jonathan may be 2.5, but he is still a toddler. And sometimes he toddles...and sometimes he does faceplants. Such was the case, sadly, this past Sunday at Alaska land. He was trucking across the parking lot and hit an uneven spot. I only caught the last half of the event, so as near as I can tell, his hands went down, but didn't adequately catch his fall. His face made contact with the asphalt knocked off his glasses (they survived) and gave him, as he put it, an "ouch on my cheek." He cried, we wiped it off, prayed for him, and he was ready and raring to go once again. Brave little boy.

Defined tags for this entry: cheek, face plant, family, jonathan, ouch

Tuesday, February 24. 2009

Posted by Crystal Kugler in family at 21:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Timothy's First Month

It's been a busy month so please forgive us for not updating you sooner.

Our baby boy has a name: Timothy-Isaiah John Kugler. Timothy means honoring God; Isaiah means Yahweh (God) has saved; and John means Jehovah (God) is a gracious giver

The first week and a half of Timothy's life is a bit of a blur. He was jaundiced to the point where he was admitted to the hospital over night to get his biliruben levels down. After that we were in and out of the local clinic checking on his weight. Today he had his one month check-up at the birth clinic. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he weighed in at 11lbs. even. He gained 2lbs 2oz from his birth weight of 8lbs. 14oz.

So, all in all, Timothy is quite healthy and going strong!

Defined tags for this entry: family, stats, timothy

Saturday, January 24. 2009

Posted by Joshua Kugler in family at 10:22 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

"You and mommy have three children!"

Or so said Elizabeth this morning at breakfast.

Yesterday evening, Crystal started getting pains below her stomach. Having just had a chiropractic adjustment earlier that day, she didn't think much of it; she wasn't due for three weeks, after all. But as the evening progressed, it became clear she was experiencing contractions. So, early this morning, the mid-wife came over, checked Crystal out, and said, "Yep, you're dilated to three centimeters."

Time to go to the birth clinic.

After a relatively short labor (about five hours total), our third child, a boy, was born. Eight pounds, 14 ounces; 21 inches; born at 4:37AM today, January 24th. Incidentally, today is also my dad's 65th birthday. Another interesting fact about my dad's birthday: He was born about 6:30AM, Arizona time. So, our new baby boy was born 65 years after his grandpa, almost to the minute.

Praises:
- Crystal was only three weeks early, so we didn't have to go to the hospital (the cutoff is three weeks prior, two weeks after)
- Baby and Mommy and doing GREAT!
- Labor and Birth had no complications

Prayers:
- Baby boy doesn't have a name yet...we want wisdom in naming him!

Edit: My dad is 65 today, not 68.
Edit: Correct hospital "cutoff"

Defined tags for this entry: birth, family

Sunday, November 9. 2008

Posted by Joshua Kugler in family at 23:47 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Woohoo! Employment!

Joshua is starting a new job Monday! See his geek blog for more details.

Defined tags for this entry: employment, family, job hunting

Saturday, November 8. 2008

Posted by Crystal Kugler in family at 22:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Win 20 pairs of Baby Leg warmers!

A while back I heard about this product called Baby Legs. Think of them as long socks minus the feet. Great for crawling around hard floors, keeping legs warm (of course!). I've seen adults use them on their arms. I like the idea of of using them on little ones, sounds like a great alternative to pants when it comes to changing diaper!

They have a contest going where you can win 20 pairs of Baby Legs, and you can get bonus entries if you link to the contest on your blog (as I'm doing now). Go here to sign up.

Defined tags for this entry: Baby Leg warmers, contest, family, pairs, win