Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thanksgiving Blessings

I was driving by a church the other day that had a board outside that  said "Count your Blessings, Recounts are Allowed". As I have been reading other people's blogs as they count their blessings I have been reflecting on ours.
-I am grateful that Paul is home this holiday season and not away in some foreign country without us as he has been so many times before. Thanksgiving morning we turned on the news and they were interviewing soldiers and talking about them not being home this year. I am counting my blessings that Paul is here and that I don't have to hear the song "I'll be Home for Christmas" this year while crying.
-I am grateful that while so many people are out of work that Paul has a good job and that he is happy in it. 
-I am grateful for a scale that says I weigh 112 pounds. I know it is wrong but it still made my day!
-I am grateful for a little girl who brightens every day. It was her birthday on Thanksgiving, and while we didn't get the candles blown out, we did have fun. She is such  a special blessing to our family and we love every minute with her.
-I can't leave out Daniel. His sweet hugs and kisses melt your heart and I am so grateful for him. And his laugh! Oh how I LOVE to listen to him laugh. It is the best!
-I'm grateful that if the Durango has to malfunction and be stuck in 4WD High, that now couldn't be a better time with a foot of snow and about 8 inches of it being laid in the last 2 days. Can't we just wait until spring to have it fixed?
-I'm grateful that when I go out and play in the snow with my kids my pants don't get wet as it's too cold for the snow to melt so you just brush it off.
-I'm grateful for family and friends who have been there for us when we needed them and strangers who have stepped in to fill the gap when you couldn't be there.
-I'm grateful to be here in Alaska. It has been so much fun!
-I'm unbelievably grateful to Heavenly Father who has walked every step of the way of this journey through life with me and I know will continue to do so. Which gives me the courage to face many more years of this journey we call life.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Can't Wait for Breakfast


The other morning I was in my room taking care of some things and apparently two little kids couldn't wait for me to make them breakfast so they helped themselves. Cool Whip and Rice. Something similar to rice pudding? Why the couch had to be the scene of the crime is beyond me. There were foot prints of cool whip everywhere in the house and rice scattered like breadcrumbs.

Budding Photographer


Every time I turn around Daniel is taking pictures with my camera. Here are just a few of the ones he has taken recently. I think we need to find some better subjects. Obviously a camera would be high on his list to Santa.

What is a Kank?

Daniel for the last several weeks has been talking about a "kank". I have been trying to figure out what he's talking about. I thought that since his English isn't always decipherable it must be a word he's mixing up. HE has said, "where is my kank?, I lost my kank!, My kank did this or that." What is a kank??? Today I finally asked him, "What is a Kank?" (Why I didn't just ask him before I don't know.) He snorted with his nose and said that's a Kank. And you know it sounded just like the word he had made up for it.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I have fallen in love with...

Coupons!! I have never been a coupon person as generally I found they were for things I wouldn't normally buy or if I would buy them the off brand would be cheaper. Add to that that for a while the commissary (the military grocery store) wouldn't accept coupons printed off the internet. If I came across a coupon for something I would normally buy I would go ahead and use it but that was far and few between.
Well since moving here I have met a new friend named Nichole and she runs a blog Alaska Coupon Diva with a friend and I have fallen in love with it. She inspired me with her stories of going to Target and buying $100 worth of stuff and only paying $30. Her site focuses on a lot of deals we get here in AK but a lot of them are nationwide. I also found out about Dolly Parton's foundation Imagination Library through this site. Dolly Parton set up a foundation to foster reading in kids that provides children with free books to keep from ages 0-5. Check it out and see if your community has it. I've signed my kids up and I can't wait for the books. Free children's books once a month. What could be better?
Yesterday I went to the commissary and Target. At both places I saved $15 each with coupons, and while I bought more of the items than I would have normally (some of the coupons you had to buy two of the items) it is all stuff I use all the time and would have to buy again anyway. I probably could have saved more at Target if I had spent some more time researching as Target will accept one of their coupons and a manufacture's coupon for the same item. But my favorite thing? I had 2-$2 coupons from Welch's.com for sparkling grape juice and it only cost $1.89 a bottle at the commissary. So I got 2 bottles of Welch's sparkling grape juice for absolutely free and the $.22 that was left over from that went towards my other groceries! Can I tell you that that just makes me really happy?!!
Just wanted to share my happiness!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

It Is Officially COLD!

Yesterday when we left at 10am to go to play group the temperature was a whopping 8 degrees. Daniel had complained as I hadn't bothered to put his gloves on him and he wanted to wear them. As we were getting in the car (which is a process with two young children) he of course started playing in the snow, which of course made his hands freezing cold, shich meant that he was screaming all the way to play group. I had dried his hands and pulled his sleeves down over his hands but of course with it being 8 degrees it took them awhile to warm up. Lesson learned yesterday- When Daniel wants to wear his gloves let him. It did warm up that afternoon to 38 degrees for an hour or two but then quickly dropped back down to 28.

Something else I found out yesterday is that instead of using salt to melt the snow here they use gravel to give you traction. This is fine on the roads but have you ever pushed a double shopping cart in a parking lot on snow that has been heavily graveled? Let's just say it was hard work for Mom and a bouncy ride for two kids.

Monday, November 9, 2009

First Snow of the Year

We have had a few flurries before now but last night we got our first real snow. It's about 3 inches deep and we were very excited to go out and play in it. 

 
The snow was too powdery to make snowballs but Daniel had a great time trying to and throwing them at Mom. It took Reagan a while to warm up to the snow. She did not like having the snow thrown at her but later decided that walking around in it and climbing in it is kind of fun.



 Here we see Daniel climbing up his "mountain". He was so excited to find this "mountain to climb.



Here we see him falling down the mountain. With Reagan waiting safely below. It kind of reminds me of Jack and Jill. He did make it to the top of his mountain a couple times and he was very happy about that. We were only about about 10-15 minutes as we were waiting for our friends to arrive so that we could start preschool. But that was long enough for hands to get cold, especially when you keep taking off your gloves to see what the snow feels like!

Playtime during Preschool


This is Daniel today. He refused to take his snow suit off after we came in from playing in the snow, and moments before (I couldn't get the camera fast enough.) he had a hanger hooked to the top of him as well. This is what he was doing during preschool today ( a friend and I take turns having preschool at our house with our kids).
There is no picture of Reagan as it would probably have been considered child porn if I posted it. She took all her clothes off and wanted to play dress up. I guess it's time to invest in some dress up clothes. Can we at least get her to leave her underwear on though?