Playing Catch-up..

This has been a crazy couple of months for our family. I'll post some of what has happened thus far, but there are many more things we still need to tackle over the next few weeks to come.
We were finally able to leave the house in Wasilla on Thursday April 28th at about 2:30am. We had so much left to do and that day the Uhaul ran late and the oil change took forever... We were lucky enough to have a great neighbor and an amazing family friend stop by and with both of their help, we eventually closed the door, locked it and drove off into the darkness.
Along the way, we saw tons of animals including moose, wild buffalo or bison, a huge porcupine, a lynx (which was amazing), caribou, antelope, prairie dogs, bald eagles, hawks, many types of deer, ducks, swans, geese, and other game birds, raccoons.. Z knows the difference between cows and horses in the fields.. and probably more. We kept a list as a daily game, but its in the van which Eric has taken to his first day of work.
Luckily, we didnt have any car trouble. The van pulled the trailer nicely. Eric didnt trust it (or maybe me) so he drove the whole way. Most of the roads were really bad and we had to drive pretty slowly. Once in the states, we ran in to some snowy areas still and lots of wind as well. He also said its nice to have something to use against me when he wants to pick on me :)
The dogs are both alive and well. The first two days were pretty bad. Stella got car sick and had an accident in her kennel. Chewy had accidents as well. We were able to find them some herbal meds at Walmart for motion sickness and it seemed to help a lot. Once the bumpy roads stopped, they relaxed a bit more too. They spent most of the trip in the same kennel - imagine that! They dont want to be away from eachother at all now which is a blessing.
Zoey.. Zoey.. Zoey.. She had a hard trip, to be honest. She cut three teeth on the road and is still working on 5 more. She ate well the first couple days but then she didnt want anything at all. Shes still being picky about meals. Each day, she napped in the car for about an hour. She had one day out of 8 where she didnt have a melt down in the van. She threw toys and snacks and would ask for things just to throw them and then want them back. We had a hard time with her. Even now in the hotel, shes bored and crabby and keeps asking to go in the "beep beep" (car). We both think she wants to go home. She is still working on her opposites and each time we go outside she says shes cold. :) We tell her she means hot and she will agree. She did have a few good moments in the car that I can mention. She would randomly break out her Happy Song which made us smile. She loved wearing her sun glasses. She was using Erics Garmen GPS as a pretend cell phone.. she called it Papa and would talk in to it. She let us know when the dogs were barking, since we couldnt hear them hehe! And each time we stopped some where, she would yell IM READY!! We had her dancing in a public restaurant one night - twirling and clapping and waving her hands. I wish I had my video camera for that! She was also floating in the pool all alone with her favorite water wings on. She was doing so well! (Thanks Gma and Gpa Bujak again for those!! She loves them!)
Erics knees are giving him trouble in the heat and after being in the car so long, hes still stiff and also having a hard time sleeping. Im having the same problem sleeping and Im swollen from lack of exercise on the road. Ive had to remove all of my rings since they were digging in to my fingers. I feel like Ive gained a million pounds, but I know I havent. Eric should be getting me a dr appointment this week. We still dont know the results of our ultrasound. Hopefully everythings fine in there. Shes been pretty active these days. We can feel her from the outside now. We have also finally given her a name.. which is still a secret for a bit longer :)
We have driven around post a couple times now. Its pretty.. lots of very old structures, stone buildings, old trees.. its a photographers dream place for sure! I dont think we are able to take photos on post though. I do still plan to try to get some of Z though. She has tested out one of the playgrounds and had fun. Eric was able to negotiate us a bigger and newer house the other day. The first ones offered were 1100-1200sq/ft and very old inside and out. The new place we will live in is 1600sq/ft and has been remodeled inside. The floors, appliances, paint - all new. The outside is not the best, but that doesnt matter. We are sharing one wall with another family. I believe its just the garage and master bed wall. We live on the corner of the lot so we have a bit of side yard and a back yard too. We can get a fence installed for the dogs which they will love. We can not go inside until the 16th, so we are still living in our hotel room. Its not fun, but we make the best of it.
Eric is on his way back from work right now. Zs eating her lunch. Ill let ya's all go back to your lives until I have more info to share! Ill try to get some photos up soon, but the internet in these places isnt the best!
We love and miss you all very much!

Bujak Updates..

Im sorry its been so long since we have updated this! Days here have been full of constant chaos! I'm only going to write a short note and put up a couple pics that I was able to steal off of facebook. I cant upload recent photos from my camera because space on this computer is currently very limited and its been acting up. But, heres whats going on..

-The movers have all of our stuff and we have been hanging out in the house with basic essentials until we drive off. We planned to leave yesterday, but things got behind due to some snow and some parts for the wood stove not being in on time. We are now hoping to leave next week, but again, are waiting on more brick for the stove.

-All of the testing for Baby#2 came back fine.. not sure if I had even mentioned that I was not feeling... right.. and had some extra tests done. We found out on Wednesday that we are expecting another baby girl! Eric and I are not able to agree on her name just yet, but we are working on it. Shes a feisty one though - always kicking!

-Zs going to be 2 in just a few more days! I cant believe it.. but at the same time, I can. I dont feel like its been two years since she arrived. Shes growing so fast! Shes not the same sweet little girl as she was the first 18 months.. she had begun her terrible two's early! She likes to test her Momma and Daddy a lot! A LOT!! But, we take each day at a time and learn more about what shes trying to communicate with each tantrum and meltdown. Shes been loving her Daddy being off work. Momma has been feeling a bit left out and abused (since I get all the drama and Daddy gets all the kisses) but I know its just a phase. Her sentences are getting better and now shes singing more! I love listening to her talk since she can tell me what she needs better. Its just amazing how she is changing and growing up. She saw the Easter Bunny last weekend.. Ill try to get the photo here soon.

Ummm... I cant even think of what else we wanted to tell you all! My mind is, and has been, on overload for about a month now. Well, Ill put up the pics I have and update you all again once we are in Kansas and have internet. Once on the road, we may not have phone service in certain areas. We will try to stay at places with wireless internet so we can update through email if possible. This journey has been a huge test for us all ready.. Heres to hoping we can get through this last couple weeks still smiling!

Love and miss you all!

Since I never get to be the one in the photos.. heres a few shots I was able to take from my photographers facebook page. These are just a couple of my 20wk photos of Baby Girl Bujak #2.

Fabulous February!

Well everyone, February has come and gone all ready! I can not believe how fast this year seems to be going by. Things here are about the same - we have been pretty busy with the every day life activities. We are now awaiting an answer as to where our family will be by the end of this month. Most of our readers are "in the know" about the situation, so Im not going to go in to the details here. Just know that we will keep you all updated as we get more information. Im sorry for not posting more this month, but once you go through all of the photos, Im sure you will see that we really have had LOTS going on! We were finally able to ditch our crappy AT&T internet service for something much faster and more reliable - YAY! Eric hooked up our wireless as well. So, that being said, we are now able to Skype again! I know how hard it can be for some of our family to get it set up correctly, so we would love to set up Skype-dates with you instead if you want to. I may turn ours on when I know we are available as well. Just log on and look for us! Can you believe its almost been a year since we've seen most of you!!??? Wow! Okay, time for some photos! Enjoy!!

The Alaska SeaLife Center

Some friends of ours were kind enough to invite us on a fun weekend trip to Seward Alaska to spend some time at the SeaLife Center! We accepted the offer and drove our families for the weekend. Thank goodness we have the van! We all fit nicely! We stayed the night at a military hotel, had a few meals in some local restaurants and let the girls run wild while they watched fish, sea lions and other creatures. It was fun! We really enjoyed the company of our friends!

Daddy and Z boating!

Heres our little family on the boat!

Zoey and Jenna!

Through the eyes of a sea lion! Look at the screen below the animal!

The touch tanks w/Momma.. Can you see whats stuck to her finger!!!??

I got a bit nervous that it wasnt going to come off!

Looking at the salmon w/Mommy.

We do this at every place we take her if theres an animal hanging from the ceiling!

Looking at some bones with Daddy.

The view of the mountains from inside was beautiful.

The SeaLife Centers largest sea lion!

This guy was over 9ft long and 1500lbs!

His mate was 7ft (I think) and only 500lbs!

Pushing Jenna in her stroller! Weee!!!

Inside the boat one last time.

Baby Bujak #2

Baby is growing well! I dont have much to report right now though. Ive been tired a lot. Ive been probably spending too much time on my feet since they hurt by the end of the day. Its all worth it though! Our next appointment is on March 16th first thing in the morning. Until then, heres a photo of "us"!!

Heres the belly at 13 weeks :)

Zoey Being Zoey!

Other than the trips and parties, Z has been her normal crazy self at home! She finally learned how to say "I love you" on the 8th of Feb, which just melts our hearts. She calls her pj's "MeMes" and asks to put them on. She has been practicing drinking from big girl cups more and more. Shes getting pretty good! Shes a great actress - she can fake coughing or "sick" and she has a fake cry too. She has been reading books out loud.. Most of what she says makes no sense, but its still cute to hear her "read" and watch her holding the book right up to her face. If you go back a few blog entries, you can watch her video about letters. She can read most of the alphabet all by herself. Another fun fact - she loves A1 sauce on her steak. Kaka!! Shes most certainly her Daddys girl!!

She climbs into her chair all by herself.

Helping Daddy feed the dogs..

She took the bowl right to Stella.

Put it inside, and closed the gate!

Someone got a treat... its an M&M!

Playing with her "beep beeps"

She really loves little cars ever since we got her Chuck the Truck for Christmas.

Our little angel

Valentines Day

On Valentines Day, we enjoyed a playdate/lunch! Zoey got dressed up and had fun playing with her friends!

This is Kara. She is the daughter of one of the MatSu Moms. She just loves playing with Z and holds her hand when ever she can. Here, she was holding Zoeys head up since she wouldnt look at me - Haha!! I think Zoey secretly loves being pampered by Kara :)

Her V-Day outfit! The kids kept running around the room, up the stairs and then down this ramp.. One of the Moms commented that it looked like a fashion show! It did!!

Winter Luau

We had a great time at the Winter Luau! We threw this party as a good-bye to Eric and early Happy Birthday to Zoey all in one. At this point, we are still unsure of what will happen to our family as far as the deployment/move/who-knows-what, but it was a nice way to get together with some of our closest friends and spend the day!

Inside the goodie bags...

At the end of the party, Eric gave the extras out to everyone! Even the "kids at heart" enjoyed the silly toys!

The hall sign I made for the guests to find the party room!

The back of Zoeys cake.. Im still having trouble with the fondant and not having pleats in it, but I tried to cover them up with the flowers! Its a bit bumpy too, but its only my second fondant cake!

And heres the front. Everything is fondant.. but the flowers. I did it all by hand! I even painted on edible glitter frosting! Can you tell what it is..?? A sea shell bikini and a grass skirt! The shells, pearls and "2" are all fondant - everything is! Lets just say it took me a while to finish!!

The fun table!

Lei making, photo prop and coloring!

I do think the kids had way more fun popping the balloons though!

The yummy table!!

Subs, potato salads, fruit, chips, punch and cake!

Just a close up.. the goodie bags are behind the punch bowl.

Dancing with Jenna and Teressa to some hula music!

Coloring some beach pages with Jenna!

Heres a few party people!

We had about 50 attend.

I dont like posting pictures of people with out asking first, so thats why you arent seeing more of Zs little friends :)

Lunch time!

The lei making station!

I spent hours punching out flowers and cutting straws and yarn!

I caught Eric with a lei on his head!

Singing Happy Birthday to Zoey

She blew out her candles like a champ! She even closed her eyes.. It was so sweet!

One of the kids broke the pinata string on their hit, so we had a brave Daddy hold it instead! Good job Eric!! Heres Z ready to swing!

She got to break the pinata!!! All of her friends had a turn first, of course!

She wanted to put all the candy back into the pinata! Then, she was taking handfuls of it to the trash can! We finally got her to start putting it into a cup instead :)

There was a little bit of monkey business at the party! I tried to get all the guests to stand in the photo prop. I plan to use the pics for thank you cards :)

We all had a great time, even though it went by too fast. THANK YOU to all who helped with the set up and clean up and to those who brought food and gifts even though we said not to. Every ones attendance meant the world to us. We feel so blessed to have such great friends here.. in fact, you are all more like family to us.

Well, thats all for today. Thanks for reading and catching up with us!

We love and miss you all!

Zoeys Alphabet at 22 Months

Zoeys been learning her alphabet all by herself! Well, we help her some, but she decided to memorize the letters by name! Here she is for any disbelievers, at 22 months old, telling me the letters she can remember by heart. She will say all the letters, even the ones she cant remember, when we say them first.. except "W" and sometimes "Q" - they are a bit hard! We are so proud of her!!

The American Cancer Society 2011 Relay For Life of Mat-Su AK

This year, I have been asked to participate in The American Cancer Societys Relay For Life. I will join the other ladies in my MatSu Moms Group to walk and raise money.

What is Relay For Life?
The American Cancer Society Relay For Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. At Relay, teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events up to 24 hours in length.

Relay began in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon in Tacoma, Washington, ran and walked around a track for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Since then, Relay has grown from a single man’s passion to fight cancer into the world’s largest movement to end the disease. Each year, more than 3.5 million people in 5,000 communities in the United States, along with additional communities in 20 other countries, gather to take part in this global phenomenon and raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer. Thanks to Relay participants, the American Cancer Society continues to save lives.

What can YOU do??

You can help my team by making a donation if you would like!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure3.convio.net%2Ftacs%2Fsite%2FDonation2%3Fdf_id%3D1008579%26PROXY_ID%3D19329268%26PROXY_TYPE%3D20%26FR_ID%3D34037%26s_subsrc%3Dbfgetwordout%26s_src%3Dboundlessfundraising%26s_TeamRaiserID%3D34037&h=dd3d7

Simply click the link above to help me reach my goal!
Ill be about 6 months pregnant by then, so this should be interesting.. but its a great cause, so Im all for it!

A Sneak Peek!!

I have been trying to make this the best party ever for Eric and Zoey! Here's the invites I made! Yes, its a luau theme party! I thought it suited both of them :)

Ill post more as I finish projects!

The party is February 26th at 1:15pm
Its to celebrate Zs bday early since Eric wont be here and also for friends to spend some time with him before he leaves.

Whats Happenin'??

Hello again! Its been a busy first half of the month! Let me catch you up!!

We finally had our first baby appointment! Baby was active!! We saw arms, legs and feet dancing around! The heart beat was strong as well. I measured exactly ten weeks, which puts us at a due date of September 1st. Heres baby's first photos!

Eric was off for two weeks and was able to spend lots of time with Z which I know they both loved.

She LOVES building with her blocks! Daddy helped her build a very tall tower!

She was so proud of herself! Like her hair? Thats post-piggy tails!!

Climbing.. she climbs everything! This time, she wanted something on the counter in the kitchen.
Nana and Papa Reeves came out for a week to spend some time with us. We didnt do anything too exciting, but it was nice to just hang out with them. Zoey was soooo happy!

Making soup w/Papa.. she was loving her time with him!

Z and Papa talking on their banana and corn "phones" :)

Nana, Papa and Z!! Nice stickers Nana!!

Zoey and her Nana!

On our last day w/Nana and Papa, we took a half day trip to Talkeetna. While we were there, we had lunch at some hole-in-the-wall local place that served some spicy moose chili, picked up some yummy treats at a popular bakery and even got a couple souvenirs. Eric and Renee went into the store and came out with a book for Zoey (from Nana) and a wolf puppet (from Daddy). Eric also got me an Alaska mood ring.. partly as a joke.. partly because Im so hormonal right now! MEN!!

We drove past the reindeer and musk ox farms too that week, but they are closed for the season. We did see a few animals out in their pens though!

We have lots planned for the rest of the month including Zoeys first Valentines Day party this Monday, family photos and Zoeys (early) 2nd Birthday party! We'll post pics!!

Well, thats all for now! Check back with us again soon! We love and miss you all!