Week of Warmth followed by the Big Freeze

A large warm and wet air-mass migrated through Interior Alaska last week. It brought rain and 40 degree temperature - which is crazy for Alaska in November. The rain froze as it hit the ground and made the highways into skating rinks, so they closed school for three days! Since it was Thanksgiving, some of us got the entire week off!!! This week saw a reverse in the weather - temperatures closer to 40 below zero!! Ahh the joys of living in the far north :)


Master of her own destiny!!


Between trips outside and naps we enjoyed a little creative time. Grandma dropped off these ceramic Christmas figures. Both of the kids enjoyed playing with/painting them. Wade and I both got a laugh out of remembering when we were kids and all the stuff our moms, aunts, and moms friends had us do.

Goofing around at the playground. Schools were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday so there were no kids and great temperatures to be out - as long as you could find a safe way to get over the icy roads to the places you wanted to go :) The snowmachine ran well and let us get out everyday.

Slater showing off his awesome birthday present from Uncle Carter and Aunt Sylvia. He loves snowmachining, the helmet and the goggles, such an Alaskan boy.

The little things

Tonight Slater taught Jade how to play "Ring around the Rosie". She refused to fall down the first couple of times, but laughed hysterically at the rest of us. Slater says most of the words now and loves to include Jade in any games that he is making up.

After dinner we were all required to be characters from Winnie the Pooh, Vega was the only one who stayed the same the whole time (Christopher Robin??? - why was the dog assigned the human role???). Everyone else was given different characters every couple of minutes and we had to talk about who we were, what we liked (gardening and bouncing) and then we all had to run around saving Piglet before he got away on the kite. It is great to be able to have a semi-conversation with Slater, things keep falling into place with his speech and it is wonderful to hear.

In the morning Slater now says - "Nice to see you." and "I missed you, mommy." Now if we could just get him to stop saying "GO AWAY". He also likes to assign us to time out when we aren't doing what he has asked - "You sit in time-out."

Other thoughts:
Jade's skin is still unbelievable soft and she smells so sweet.
In the morning she l.o.v.e.s. to cuddle in the chair.
If you ask her about reading books she will grab your hand and drag you to her bedroom to sit and read.
She can identify or point out most of the pictures in her favorite books.
At Uncle Carter's wedding she rediscovered bubbles and can't get enough of them.

Sort of rambling tonight, but it was a great Thanksgiving and I just needed to get a few thoughts down tonight. Hopefully I will post pictures of our fun week / weekend adventures soon.

Ice Storm

This week we have had 40 degree temperatures and rain. Falling rain on frozen ground creates a layer of ice that makes life a little more difficult. They closed school for 2 days and the kids and I choose to stay home on Monday. Since this is Thanksgiving week that means a week vacation for us ... too bad the roads are so bad that we are basically housebound.



Wade got the snowmachine out and took Slater to a nearby playground. It was the highlight of his day. He seems to be missing his friends from daycare and pre-school, he has been asking to see kids all day.

Piper and her guys

The pictures of pre-school day one...

Waiting impatiently for the school bus to arrive on the first day! We promised pictures of this big day awhile ago and some how they just never got uploaded. I hope that you enjoy seeing Slater take this big step (almost all by himself).


Getting off the school bus at school. I wanted to get one of him getting on the bus, but he was way to excited to stand outside the bus. He ran over to the door and jumped on - then he tried to steal the aide's seat. As much fun as he has at pre-school still can compare to the bus ride.


Here he is all settled into his classroom. These little people could be linked together, stacked and lined up like dominoes. After arranging all of his people he tried to snag a few more from the pile on the other side of the table (his classmate hadn't gotten there yet).

Sitting on things

Here she is "helping" vacuum the floor.


Jade sitting on her racecar.

She likes to sit in the chair with us, on the couch with the dogs, on benches, rocking toys and just about anything that her bottom will fit on. She often tries to sit on tiny objects (like toy horses and small stuffed animals.

Crazy hair-do!!

Bath time is the best time!

Jade loves to take a bath and we love to make her hair do crazy things. It is super-fine, straight, blond and finally starting to get a little longer.

I see a future in ponytails and pigtails.