Winter

Getting a pic in front of the Salty Dawg Saloon in Homer.




Homer AK... a day of sightseeing with Jodi and Steven.








Bald Eagle.




Winter Beach






Winter moose




Mt Redoubt...our local active volcano.





The scenery on the way through Turnigan Pass has changed dramatically since our last trip into Anchorage.



Sterling Hwy


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Daylight comes at around 10am and darkness just after 4pm. The kids can't fathom what is going on.
We had a delightful time with J&S and it has been hard to adjust to them being gone from our home! No more games til 1am and enough left overs for the next month.

More visitors for Christmoose...we can't wait!

Lovin' company

Jodi and Steven always take the best pictures with our kids.
If William and I were sitting with them they would be all wrapped and contorted around us!

"But the fire is so delightful"



Always time for some sledding





Giving thanks for our amazing lives.

1st Guests Make it to the Last Frontier

Steven and Jodi in the snow...



Jodi snuggling on the couch with Julia.

We went to Anchorage ( the big city) to get Jodi and Steven. It is so nice to see them again!!!!!!!!!!! We ate at a restaurant called the Moose's Tooth on the way home and we had the BIGGEST pizza I'd ever seen. The drive home was pretty and Jodi and Steven got out and froze a couple of times for photos.

Today we made a list for our upcoming Thanksgiving Feast. Pictures to come of the FEAST. We are so thankful for our family!

Well, I did try the liver, but not the heart yet. We're saving that for our first house guests for a special supper--LOL! 2 days til we have visitors...yipee!




Last night our first little bit of snow came. It was so beautiful to wake up to.
We had a great time playing outside this afternoon.

Welcome to the neighborhood

Well, I have never received such an odd housewarming gift as yesterdays. Picture a burly and a little bit furry man in his 60's coming to your door with a HUGE metal pan containing a pig heart and liver. Ah, yes, my surreal experience just got magnified!
We accepted and listened to the proper way to prepare them.
We had coffee and talked fishing. And I rinsed all the lingering blood out of his pan and he headed home two doors down.
Ah, that's right I am in Alaska now. But am I going to eat this--ahh, I will be sure and take a picture if I do.






We are all feeling a bit better this Monday, but little man had a rough night and I have been really missing those baby moments when they fall asleep against your heart beat. So, William captured it for me.






These are the kind of housewarming gifts I can get the kids to eat. Pumpkin cupcakes from the next door neighbor.




The bamboo wallpaper in the background. It took 3 days to remove. Lots of glue, lots and lots of glue!!!






Peek a boo.



We located John's cars and gave them a bath and put them in here to dry. I love listening to him play with them and the creative little journeys they take.





Finally, I managed to make a fall table runner like the wall hanging I posted earlier. I backed it with fleece so we can use it to put our Thanksgiving feast on it.

7 Degrees and getting colder

Super brrrr today. If any precip comes it will be snow...the ground is frozen and crunchy. We know because we walked around the neighborhood trick or treating Saturday night. It was very surreal, like a lot of this Alaskan experience has been so far. I find myself saying, am I really here???
I only realized today that our outdoor thermometer goes down to
-60, maybe they all do--is that necessary...I guess I will know in the next few months.



The little bear and precious ladybug before they got any candy. They really did start smiling once they started racing eachother to ring doorbells.We have enough candy for a year!!




Things are starting to shape up in Judy, although now Julia has renamed Judy. It's now "Bobby" to her...This view is from the diningroom into the kitchen. We are going to put tile floors and new countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms at some point, but next on the list is removing wallpaper in the bamboo room for our early thanksgiving guests.



My love got me tulips last week and I have enjoyed every minute of their beauty!!!!



Getting a bit cozier in the livingroom. It also doubles as a train station for now.

Taking a break for white mocha ...playing in the tree roots... what we did last weekend.
Cleaned up massive tree roots. We love being outside any chance we get.



The children's new favorite hiding spot... with the pots and pans



Sneak peek at our costumes this year

Home ... made

Above, John reaching for the peanut butter pie batter...I made pies for the men that helped us take down those spruce trees and one for our realtor...and one for Dr Arnett of course!

Then, I made laundry detergent... I thought I had a shredder disc with the food processor I scored for $3 at a yard sale this summer, but I couldn't figure it out. So I hand shredded the bar of soap...ah, I need to work on my shredding muscles.
Anyway, it smells good. We had all the ingredients at our Fred Meyer (like Kroger)...except for the Pure Oxygen Whitener so I used oxyclean.


Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe


1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap
1 cup Arm and Hammer washing soda
1 cup 20 mule team Borax
1/2 cup Oxyclean or 1/3 cup Pure Oxygen Whitener



1. In a large bowl mix together the washing soda, Borax, and the Oxyclean/Pure Oxygen Whitener.

2. Place your shredder disk in your food processor. Shred the bar of Fels-Naptha in the food processor. Remove the shredding disk. Place the metal blade in the fp bowl.

3. Add about 1/2 cup of the dry mixture into the fp bowl with the shredded soap. Process until it is the texture of sand.

4. Dump the soap mixture into the remaining dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

5. Use about 1 heaping 2-tablespoon scoop per full laundry load. ( I use a scoop that comes in the small Oxyclean container.

Timberrrrr

Can you find William up the tree???




We obviously spent the weekend taking out a few spruce trees. It has opened up a lot of light into the front of Judy.




We are still awaiting the first snowfall of the season and getting as much done in the yard as we can before the ground is covered.
It is getting pretty chilly and the days are much shorter now.

ta dah

We took a jaunt to Seward last Saturday, foggy and rainy. It was nice to get out for a drive though.




John got to eat in a train car. He was thrilled.






The beginning of the end...tire swing fun!







Happy little man...

Winnie Gypsies at home

Oh, how nice it is to be at home. Judy is about 15% renovated and we moved in over the weekend. Tip toe tip toe OVER the tack strips we go. Tonight we are so exhausted from the past 2 weeks of getting our bedrooms ready enough to move in and carting over loads from the apartment that William caved before 10pm. Just not another ounce left in him.

Well, I know some of my friends are probably seeing some of the same changes in their little ones right now...but this weekend I realized that your daughter is no longer a baby when she is playing with her daddies rechargeable drill saying "Mom, this is 'totally AWESOME'".
That's right she says 'totally awesome.'
Next thing I know she will be saying 'like' for every second word. Slow down little one, don't grow up so fast!!!
And on the same note the little man is in the midst of night #2 without his paci.
Sweet sweet little ones!

We are really excited to know we have family coming to visit soon...to be revealed in pictures in November and December.

Today was gorgeous here. So, instead of painting walls, we went to the park. I anticipate it to be one of the last nice sunnies before snow comes. Oh, we had such a good time playing until Julia swung around on the tire swing just one too many times and lost her lunch in the sand. She asked me all the way home "did everyone see that momma?" She is also starting to be embarrassed and more self conscious in situations like that.

Okay, I know a boring post with no pics, but that's because I was too tired to go out to the car and get the sd card with all the great pre-hurl park pics. Maybe i'll get them loaded tomorrow. Night night.

Our living room turned entertainment center on crack! Yes super messy and all we can do to keep the children entertained while we paint and floor.



Here's their bedroom coming along slowly...




So, I was desperately craving meat nachos for lunch and don't have a can opener to open the rotel at the new place. Oh yeah, I am woman!





A little peek at the front of Julia's school. She is learning soooo much and we are really happy with the schools curriculum. They have this little song for learning their short vowel sounds and I will try to record her singing it soon because it is super sweet.

It is getting really cold here and I just can't warm up today. It is also suddenly dark when we awake and dark before 5pm. Oh, midnight sun where have disappeared to!

Sweet messy

Guess what we had for supper?

That's right when we have spaghetti we just put John on the floor and let him enjoy!

Small joys getting BIG

I saw this maybe on etsy today and thought I need to make one like it for a fall table runner...we'll see.





Sweet little babes getting so big on me! All decked out in their razorback attire. They are so loud when they call the Hogs I was wondering if they could be heard all the way in Fayettville??



WOOOOOO PIG SOOOIE!