Christmas 2011

The kids and I were in Missouri over Christmas. It was nice to see family. My sisters Erin (Springfield MO) and April (Falls Church VA) were home too. Some how we never got pictures of Erin but here's a few for those of you who have been asking for pictures.

Daniel Christmas Day. New white shirt from Grandma Lois. The pants he'd gotten previously from her as well. The vest was my brother Jonathan's that he grew out of and Daniel was very happy to be able to wear Uncle Johnny's clothes.

Reagan Christmas Day. The hat and purse my sister April brought back from her trip to Scotland this year. The dress was a gift from my parents and the pearls were borrowed off my other sisters...

Reagan and Auntie (April) sharing a special moment.

 Auntie with her kids.

Reagan got lots of clothes for Christmas so she was well attired for her entire trip.

One of the highlights of my trip- Meeting my nephew Nicholas for the first time. My sister Renee met Daniel and I for lunch on a run into Sprinfield to the doctor for an ear infection Daniel had while we were there.

Nicholas is almost 3 and Daniel and he both had toys they had gotten for Christmas and weren't so sure they wanted to share but they wanted the other's toys.

 One of Daniel's favorite moments. Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream! The food as usual was awesome. If you know anything about my family you know that good food is very important to us and that it abounds on the premises.

One of Daniel's other favorite moments was that he got to go milk the cow everyday and that he could squirt Aunt Eliza with the milk. He laughed and laughed about that.

Aunt Emma and Reagan. Paul has said many times that Reagan is a lot like her Aunt Emma in a few ways. We discovered how true this was while we were there. There were a couple of cat fights as Emma and Reagan both wanted to be the boss and neither wanted to follow.

This one is precious to me. What 12 year old uncle brushes his neice's hair?

The weather was awesome while we were there. It rained only once and seriously had to be in the high 50's. I took a nap on the porch one day and almost got sunburned. Since 50 degree weather is summer weather for Alaska, it was a nice break before we came back to sub zero temps and snow and more snow.

The only disapointing things were that David and Tiffany and Renee and Nicholas didn't make it. And that April only played me one round of Monopoly. I think she was afraid if we played again she wouldn't win.

Petersen Family News Update

So here is an update of our family for the last several weeks...
Paul has been gone for the last 3 weeks to Jump Master School in GA. A Jump Master is someone who tells the parachutists when to jump from an airplane or a helicopter. This is something he has been wanting to do for a very long time and it is a very difficult course. But tomorrow morning he will graduate and become one of the Army's newest Jump Masters. We are very proud of the hard work he has done and that he has been able to accomplish this and are grateful for a caring Heavenly Father who helped him through the rough parts. We are very excited to have him home for 3 weeks before he leaves for his next class in January.
Calleen has been working since the beginning of the school year on getting Daniel and IEP. It came to a head this week when we had his eligibility meeting to determine if he was eligible for one. Despite tons of documentation otherwise they tried to tell me that his issues do not impact his education negatively.They determined that he does not qualify for an IEP. I and those who were with me disagreed with them so now we get to start the process of an independent evaluation. I now understand far better one of the reasons why my mother choose to homeschool. She said it was easier than fighting the school everyday all day for what her kids needed. Luckily I do homeschool him, otherwise all his therapists believe he would be lost in a school classroom.
Daniel got to visit the allergy and asthma doctor yesterday. He did so well for over a year with no asthma medications, but in October it hit with a vengeance again. They did a breathing test and for his age he should be blowing a 6. He blew a 1.5 no matter how many times they tried. So back he goes on heavy duty meds again. I'm starting to feel like a pharmacist with all the meds I'm giving out lately. He also tested highly positive for cat allergies. I guess there will be no cat ownership in our future. Since there used to be cats in the house before we moved here, I now get to spend some time cleaning all surfaces particularly in his room. Hopefully that will help make a difference with his asthma.
Miss Reagan got tubes put in her ears a couple of weeks ago, due to chronic fluid in her ears and moderate hearing loss. She was doing well with them until this morning when she said her ear hurt and we found yellow goo coming out of her ear... But her hearing is back to normal without the ear infection so that is a huge plus. We take her to the allergist next month.
That's our quick update. Hope all is well with you and yours!

Daniel's 1st Violin Recital

Daniel had his first violin recital on Saturday. Since Dad, Grandparents, and Aunts and Uncles couldn't be in attendance. Here it is in all it's viewing splendor...(The first clip honestly is my favorite.)

 

Daniel will be taking a break from his violin for a year or two and working on building his core strength and gross and fine motor skills. It is my hope that one day he will be able to go back to the violin and be able to enjoy playing it.

Christmas Fun

Last weekend we had a bit of Christmas fun. It was our turn for Reagan's preschool to be at our house so before the kids got here; Daniel, Reagan and  I made sugar cookies for Daniel's math that day. Lots of counting and talking about half and whole cups. And of course lots of eating. When the kids got here they got to decorate the cookies for their snack. We also made salt dough ornaments pictured here. They helped from start to finish. Most of these I painted but you get the idea. Guess what will be coming your way in a package for your tree soon....We also made Christmas chains to help the kids count down until Christmas. Reagan surprised me by being the first one done. Daniel freaked out over having sticky hands with the glue. It's been awhile since we've done anything with glue. Guess we have to work on building his tolerance again.

 The next night we drove up to Palmer in the most awful weather. The wind was blowing so hard. That night in some places around here it was 110 miles an hour. It was raining which is extremely unusual for December in Alaska and it was 45 degrees in Palmer. (Anchorage was a little colder.) All that combined made for very treacherous roads. We passed many a car in the ditch. But we made it up there and back safely and had a grand time at the Christmas Festival at the Pyrah Pioneer Peak Farm. The kids saw the guy in red which they were excited to do. There was an ice luge to go down which was awesome, a snow maze, toboggan rides being pulled by a 4 wheeler, sweet shop, gift shop etc. The place that had just as long a line to see the man in red was the Hair shop. You could get your hair done like the "Who's" from "Whoville" from the Grinch Stole Christmas. Reagan was a little uncertain at first but quickly got into the Christmas spirit. I also sat for the hair. Unfortunately when you are taking two kids to a place like this by yourself, there aren't many pictures as you have to always be holding someone's hand. So you'll have to do with this one of Reagan and her hair. Daniel had just gotten a hair cut the weekend before or we would have had his hair done too. As it was his was too short.

 

Since we had just had our hair done, we couldn't just go home and go to bed. Someone had to see our cute hairstyles. So we drove back to Anchorage and went to the Church Christmas party "a la Whoville". As you might imagine we were the talk of the party... Yes Mom, our hair was back to normal for church the next day. Reagan insisted I keep the cones they put in our hair so we could do it again sometime. The kids got to see Santa again that night. So he'd better have their list down as they saw him twice in one day...

 Since we got to the party about half way through I felt like it was  a good fit for Daniel. We got the dregs of the food but it was about as much as he could handle and I didn't feel like he was too out of control for the night. So note to self. Come to all parties an hour late. :-)

Tooth Number 2 Bites the Dust!

 

Saturday morning as we were driving to Daniel's group violin lessons, Daniel pulled out tooth number 2. Now the song, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" is perfect for him.

Happy Birthday Reagan!

 November 26th was our precious girl's birthday. It was a very busy day for her and had her saying "no more pictures" by the end of the day. We started off the day with having professional pictures taken by my friend Holly (those will be coming soon).  Then we came home and changed clothes and I took this picture of her. I was making this dress for her when she all of the sudden decided it was her birthday dress so I had to hurry up and finish it. She loves it. I think she looks a little like Little Bo Peep. I'll have to take some pictures of the detail up close but she loves it.
After that we opened presents as she couldn't wait any longer and we had one very happy girl. Next stop was the Police Navidad. It was a Christmas celebration that was put on by the police dept. and the Mexican Consulate. This was about the only picture that sort of turned out. The lighting in there was really funny. But they got to explore the police cars, and fire trucks (the police truck even had a slide for them to slide down the back of). They went fishing, did ring and bean bag tosses, made crafts, got all kinds of free stuff and really enjoyed themselves.

 

Right before we left a Mexican dancing group started dancing. Here is a few seconds of one of their routines. A little girl's toes were tapping away and she would have loved to join them.

To finish out the day we went to see the movie Puss and Boots and had dinner at a friends home. It was also Paul's last day home before leaving for 3 weeks for a military school so there was lots of packing and studying going on. A busy day but a good one. Happy 4th Birthday my precious girl!

It's Definately Winter in Alaska

It's definitely winter time here in Alaska.  This post has been a bit delayed. But here is one of my snow angels. 

This was taken after just the first week or so of snow. We have received MUCH more since then. Even as I write this it is coming down in great big flakes. We have to have received at least 4 feet by now. I think we've had as much snow in this month of November than we've had all year last year. One of the things that really surprised me coming to Anchorage is how coastal the weather is. Think Seattle with all the rain. Our summers are filled with rain and our winters are filled with snow. Lots of precipitation around here.One of the differences of winter up here that is different from most of the lower 48 states, is that once it snows, it stays. You don't see the ground until "breakup". Breakup is a special season that we have up here in the north. It's from March til May when all the ice breaks up and the snow melts. Occasionally in the winter we get weather warm enough to melt a little bit of snow  but by that time there's so much snow it doesn't make much of a difference.

 

My other snow angel.

This next one was taken from my living room. It was a cloudy day so you can't see the mountains behind the trees but I really have the most beautiful view. You would never know that I live in the middle of a city. You can't see houses from my windows. Only trees and mountains. It's absolutely gorgeous!

 This year we have been able to get outside a bit more this winter as Reagan is bigger and can handle the cold a little better but for about the last week we've stayed inside much to Daniel's dismay. When the temperature is in the single digits during the day, Mom's not so keen on playing outside. Paul just left a few days ago for Georgia and the people there think he's crazy for not wearing a coat. But hey when you left 1 degree weather and went to 60 degree weather (that's about what summer's are for us) you don't need a coat.

 Our backyard in small in length but long in width and has a nice steep hill at one end. After we groomed the slope for sledding Reagan and Daniel found this spot and just sat down. It made great seats for sledding.

I should have taken video of Reagan and Daniel coming down the hill. Reagan's giggles were SO cute to hear. One of Alaska's claims to fame (Utah you better watch out), is the powdery snow. It's almost impossible to make a snowman unless you poor water on it. So that is something we have yet to do. But there is a world class ski resort down the road. Anyone want to come visit and go ski? It's not always 1degree. Today it was supposed to be in the low 30's.