Yeah -Mail...our small joys...

We really enjoy our mail up here. It is an exciting event to go to the post office.
Thanks to Jen for my mail today and to my dad and gran for always sending a letter a week.



Steven and Jodi made our weekend as well. Julia and John got a 24 pack of plah doh and a plah doh toy. I got the softest ever Gap sweats and a Hello Kitty key fob. And might I add, if you have never experienced the joys of a key fob, there are many reasons to find joy in one--like it's harder to loose your keys and you can put them around your wrist when you're struggling to get both kids in and out of the car instead of setting off the car alarm with your teeth. And William got his own key fob and a gun sling? We felt really special--thanks!

The children haven't gone a day with out playing with their new coco nutty monkey plah doh maker. We even made up a song to sing while we play with it!



Coco nutty monkey in action




Judy is officially in our possession. So, tonight we ripped up every morsel of yucky old carpet in the house and now are left with a ton of tack strips and staples to remove. And the joy of figuring out what flooring to put where. We still have our apartment for another month. So , luckily feel no pressure to move in until we atleast kilz and repaint the walls.

Hidden Broccoli Soup

Broccoli Soup

6-8 cups broccoli, chopped
4 medium sized potatoes, cut into chunks
1-2 leeks, sliced
1 onion (red), peeled and cut into chunks
1/3 cup heavy cream
water or stock
1 teaspoon salt
ground pepper


Place broccoli, potatoes, leeks, salt and onion in a soup pot. Fill with water (or stock) until everything is just barely covered. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until broccoli is very tender.


Puree until smooth. Add desired amount of cream. Add pepper. Adjust salt, if necessary.

PS...I chopped up my broccoli, leeks and onion first in my magic bullet and then just used a hand mixer close to the end to smooth out the potato as you like. It was pretty good and I learned what a leek is today.
It is definitely soup weather here and chicken and dumplings weather and pumpkin pie weather and hot steamy rolls weather...yum

Snow in the forecast

Just checked the weather and it looks like we may get our first Alaska snowfall on Sunday and Monday...BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

Lanscaping for Jodi

We sure are enjoying having William around more now that moose season has ended.



Julia helping mow




Our sweet boy on my shoulders so he could reach our little neglected rasberry patch




Juju munching on the rasberries.




A special little garden spot in our soon to be backyard...overtaken by weeds, but with great potential.






Big helper with our bucket of rasberries






Sunny day sledding

No moosey

(Above is a stock picture of the northern lights over Soldotna--something to look forward to seeing this winter)


Well, the countdown is offically over. No moose in the freezer but not for lack of trying. We are glad to have him back as a husband and father though! And the nights we got to tag along were fun as well. We enjoyed passing around the binoculars when we would spot a moose and just singing songs together in the car as the sun would set on a beautiful evening here in Alaska.

Sometimes, I have to nearly pinch myself that we are actually here and not on Alexander Street dreaming on a hot summer night on the screen porch that one day we would be here. It is a bit surreal at times.

We are starting to settle a bit more and meet more people. There's just "no place like home". And this may one day feel like home, but not quite yet. We miss the amazing church we had in Memphis and the loves that we had all around.

I think that the "Judy" project will help to keep us consumed through a good portion of the winter. William said tonight that apparently last year the first snow fell in the second week of October and didn't go away until the end of April. That seems so strange to comprehend for this Rhodesian girl!! I still remember my first snowflakes like a perfect picture in my mind. It was in the 4th grade. Ms Hipple's class at Eastside Elementary. There was that intial rush of excitement by the whole class when someone spotted the snowfall through the window. And Ms Hipple made all the children except for me sit down in their seats. She allowed me to stand there in awe of the beauty and just take it all in because she knew I had never seen anything like it before. It was stunning.

So, in about February of next year I will stand at the window reminding myself of the beauty of creation and how lucky I am to have an oppourtunity like this even if I am more than ready for the thaw...

Nie Nie

Well, just a short note about the Nie Nie button to the right.
If you are love finding creative bloggers like I do, you may have been following this one for ages. This blog has been a favorite for a couple of years now and the last year has been a difficult, tearjerking, & inspiring one to follow as the writer herself was in a tragic airplane crash and lived to tell. Now that she is starting to post her own posts again, I thought it would be a good time to add it since I am always moved by it.
Her story is heartwarming and her attitude is always very real. If you get consumed and trackback through old posts --some of the guest posts are also really special.
Anyway, I just love the way she loves her husband and her kids most of all. And the reality of her tragedy makes me always remember what matters most!

ps. I am in love with poppies...like crazy mad about them. Their beautiful stunningly bright coloured delicate petals just make me smile!!!!!
I think it is because you can grow them here in beautiful wildflower gardens and I am so excited about trying that next summer! Maybe I can keep my vases filled with them once I establish a wee lil flower garden.

pss. Kenai Peninsula moose hunting season count down: 2 days left...

Ate a Bolete

I've been making John some little pants with matching applique tops this week. His favorite are the pirate print and he wore them proudly to Awana's Wednesday night.
He is a little "Puggle" in Awanas and Julia is a "Cubbie". I am helping lead the Cubbies and it is so sweet to listen to them recite their Bible verses and watch them grow in Christ.



Well, William found two more Bolete's tonight with no little bugs inside this time. So, he sauted them in butter (doesn't anything taste good that way?)and ate them. I will report tomorrow if there were any side effects - more than likely from all that butter.

They have a Joanns fabric in Soldotna and I had my first chance to go in and take a gander tonight. I love fabric!! It is so much fun to envision what fun little things can come out of it. Oh, and Jodi...you will be glad to know I am still making patchwork scarves out of the coozie you made me last year LOL...just kidding I still have gobs of my own stripy print. So, I need a tutorial on coffee cup sleeves since we won't need coozie covers up here til next summer.


Seems like things are coming along with Judy (the house). We might get to close late next week. Then the fun will begin...pulling up all the vintage mauve carpet and repainting the various theme rooms. We got a mower for free on craigslist this week and if we can get it running we will atleast mow once before the snowfalls.

The weather is definitely shifting into a colder gear...brrr and I know I haven't felt anything yet. Send me some heat or even just some snail mail. The post office is a social gathering place for the townspeople. Most people don't have mail boxes at their homes and I recognize someone I have met everytime I am at the post office.
My dad is ever-faithful about sending a letter a week. It is so much fun and he makes illustrations for the children and even sends them a twizzlers that cost more to ship than they would be just to buy up here. They look forward to the little smiles from back home!

Missing our loved ones !!!

Bolete

The bolete mushroom William found tonight. Apparently, bugs enjoy them as much as people. It was full of little yuckies so we didn't eat it, but it is the biggest edible mushroom I have ever seen.

Sunday Chilly Sunday

yellow jacket hidden in the petals




John pretending we were at "the beach, the beach" he splashed around saying this afternoon. He had pulled off his sweatpants after they got soaked and just had a blast running through the puddles.





Below, William showing Julia how much fun riding a bike can be!



It's starting to cool down a bit up north. We are noticing the definite change of seasons. The leave that can change are bright yellow now. And the rest are beautiful potential Christmas trees. There is already talk of Halloween parties and a lot of end of summer gatherings.
This weekend Julia rode her bike without training wheels. She is starting to get her balance and it is just beautiful and mind boggeling at the same time that she is already almost 5. John happily rode on a bike car seat attatched to my hot pink Salvation Army bike.
I have been REALLY wanting the hot pink 24" hello kitty cruiser that Target will not ship to Alaska. So, of course William finds my an ole hot pink one at the thrift store and says he will put me some hello kitty stickers on it. I am really trying to pretend it is the same...but maybe if I meet Santa at the north pole I can see if the raindeer will pick one up on their way through Arkansas.LOL!
William is still hunting for just the right moose. He has 'til the 20th of September in our area.
We have a lead on a home that we pray will come to fruition. Just a week or so more before all the details come together. But if she is the one, Julia has already named her Judy and Judy is a fixer upper. She's big and has good bones, but needs a lot of lovin'. In my usual fashion I already have all the different wall paint colors picked out and a room claimed for sewing and crafting. So, if all works out I will take before and after pics of ole Judy.
I just laid my latest amish friendship bread to rest in a couple of lemon loaves. I just had to let go of the vicious cycle for a while. I am sure it will be back to haunt me soon from some sweet new friend.
Ahh, this wouldn't be our blog if we didn't talk yard sale finds. This friday it was a Trek bike for $20 for William, and a glider rocker for $25, a huge box of big mason jars for $2, and a vintage kids pants pattern for a quarter.
Well, thanks for keeping in touch.

Princess Julia

Well, yard sales are coming to a close up in the far far north, but one of my last finds was this H2 for $3. Okay, like all used children's cars it has no battery, but our children know how to remedy that--push eachother around.



She's working on her prima ice skating ballerina--ness...



That sweet innocent look captured for all to see.




Julia and her buddy (Dr Allison). At and end of the summer party on Labor Day.




'M' is Allison and Phil's dog. My guys hanging with M. They all look so handsome, like a Ralph Lauren photo shoot. Maybe I should pose with M sometime!



All's well in this neck of the woods. William is still prowling around the woods. The little ones are doing better and better with skating. I am organizing my sewing machines and fabric to get back into doing a bit of crafting soon I hope.
Keep in touch...

come over for some pie

Here's what was created out of some of those berries. All welcome to stop in for some coffee, ice cream and pie today.



Here she is almost ready to go in the oven.




Before church last Sunday. John loves to drive around trucks or trains.




Julia loves to dance and sing!



We went canoeing over the weekend. Julia n John wanted oars to row with so we got them some branches off a tree. They had a lot of fun and did a lot of splashing.

Berries and Back to School

Here's a handful of our fun this weekend.
We drove over close to Seward to pick blueberries and huckleberries and sing to the bears. To chase them away of course! I could only think of humming the sesame street theme song. Steve sangs some AC/DC. He said the bears like rock music better. Nancy sang what sounded like songs from the Sound of Music. And William tip toed around trying to attract the bears--unlike us!



Steve and Nancy our berry picking buddies.
It rained the whole day. Nancy and I got soaked, but the boys had nice rain gear on. Well, worth the investment obviously!!




Off to her first day of pre K.




My girl -growing to quickly.

Here Moosey Moosey

Just in case the fact that your husband loves to hunt isn't enough they even make something called a moose call. Oh, yes, you think duck calls, deer calls and turkey calls can get annoying---you haven't heard anything yet! LOL.
Well, we are a few days into moose season and he has seen a few but none have made it back to the apartment yet.

I took my best photo of a moose last night. We went out driving late in the evening and I got a picture just as it was about to cross the road. maybe I will get better at moving animal pictures but so far it has been challenging. Anyway, I added it as the new blog opener above.

Ummm and everyone, get your "skype" downloaded so we can chat. I have just entered a whole new world with the free video phone-wow.




This is my favorite little boy in the whole world. He is such a loving little man!




After all the debate about which bunk bed William could build, he lucked out and we found one this week on craigslist. It is currently being used as our one piece of livingroom furniture, but when Julia has her own bedroom again we are going to add a slide to one side for fun.




Alaska William.






Alaska John and Julia.





They started ice skating lessons this week. Julia keeps saying she is ready to skate on one foot. It may take a few more weeks though. When I would go as a teeneager in Little Rock, I always thought it would be so nice to feel more confident skating backwards and really fun to be able to spin around. They will probably be twirling around by the end of the year.

If you get a moose call in your mail box...don't tell William I sent it far far away...

we had a really fun potluck picnic today





John eating some jello worm desert. yum!





Alaska this week




Julia amongst the daisies.

Summer Cut

The little man did not enjoy his last haircut.




"Little pink houses for you and me"...I saw this felt applique today and thought it would be so cute to make sometime when the snow is falling outside.

Well, tomorrow is already the end of summer potluck for the little playgroup I have been going to. It should be fun and it is at the children's favorite playground --the one with the pretend train and pirate ship. I will try to take some pics...but most of all I will try to remember to take the crackers that go with the almond curry dip I made. Speaking of DON'T EVER take a taste of hot mango chutney without the knowledge that it might make you gasp for air and feel like you are choking. Umm, one of the ingredients in the dip was mango chutney. Since the store here had only HOT mango chutney, I thought it might still work...OH NO. I was breathless and on fire...so I replaced with plain chutney. And for the little ones I made oreo balls. They look good, but I am not going there... my tummy is still on fire from the one gulp of hot fire I ate earlier!

In Anchorage, we managed to figure out what our shoe sizes are for winter boots and John and Julia made me a hello kitty at Build a Bear. The sweetest part was when they each picked out a heart to put inside her and they kissed them before they went in Kitty. I will always treasure that.

William and took the little ones out tonight scouting for moose. They saw quite a few and even ran into Smokey on their drive. Just 3 more days til season opens. There may be red meat in our future.


Thinking of you all and stay out of the HOT chutney!