Friday Night Dates

Lately, David and my Friday Night Dates (capitalized on purpose!) have revolved around the exciting sport of volleyball!  And it IS so exciting because we get to see one of our offspring playing!  Being a great volleyball player in middle school, I'm sure that it is my genes that are ruling at the moment.  David claims to overall be a better athlete than I am, so he tries to claim the moments when she scores the game point on her awesome serve  (true story!).  We discuss this at great lengths during our Friday Night Dates.  Here is some documented proof that maybe BOTH of our genes are at play here...

Nice form!  This must be David's

Fancy Footwork!  Probably MY genes

OK.  Probably  mine

Confidence and anticipation.  David's!

We are just so proud of Sierra for trying a new sport!  

And giving us a great, FREE, Friday Night Date.

Vacation

Apparently my kids need a vacation.  Actually we all do.  

The thrill of throwing some outfits and a tooth brush into your suitcase and getting to leave.  

Go.  

Somewhere.  

{Sigh.} 

And since we didn't go anywhere for our four day weekend, Skyla and Karsten took it into their own hands and went somewhere 

all by themselves - 

with their wonderful imaginations!  

I wonder where they went in their bathrobes and winter hats.  

Where ever it was, they had fun! 

Fablehaven Signing

Why yes, that is Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven series and Candyshop Wars, smiling, signing my children's books.  He was here at our library giving a lecture and signing lots and lots of books.  Did you know it took four years of rejection before he finally found someone to publish his book?  Never give up kids!  How nice (and brave!) that he would come here to Alaska.

Tres Magnifique

I need some motivation to lose this layer of fat that is keeping me warm here in frozen land Alaska. 

I think this may do the trick...

Ice!

Some cool ice structures downtown make 
for fun Sunday afternoon family time!   
And the amazing thing is look how light it is!  
I took these pictures at 5:30 and it's still light outside! 

Welcome back sun!  We've missed you!!! 

What the heck?!!

 

This is how Karsten came down for breakfast this morning.  He was so proud.  He had a zap!  (That's what we call zits at our house.  Somehow it just sounds nicer...)   The girls were busting up laughing.  I was completely clueless.  Here's what happened and why my son is so excited to look like Rudolph: 

Skyla has her first zap.  And it was a dousy.  Big and red right on her nose.  So of course Karsten, being the typical younger brother, wants to be just like his older sister and wishes he could have one too.  Apparently he was doing the "zit dance" the girls taught him because that's how you get them.  He was so proud when he came down for breakfast the next morning and the dance had worked! 

I was worried he was going to go to school like that!  I voiced my concern and heard, in a very disappointed voice, "Don't worry mom, it wasn't real.  It washed off."   Now I just wished I could have somehow gotten video footage of that Zit Dance! 

Love is in the air...

I love this holiday!  Hearts and chocolate and candy and LOVE!  And this year I even found pink heart marshmallows!  Have you ever seen anything so cute? 

So here are some of our Valentine's  happenings:

 

 Skyla's Cookie Party!

All these cute girls rode the bus home with Skyla and came over for our annual cookie party.  They were very good cookie decorators and really great taste testers.  :) 


Karsten's Kindergarten Class Party

 I got to help in Karsten's class for their Valentine centers.  Is there anything cuter than 18 kindergartners painting hearts and making love bug hats?  There is not!  Can you guess what station I was assigned to?  And look at Karsten's valentine's that he wrote all by himself!  And his darling box!  And his dazzling smile!  I sure love this little guy that melts my heart!  

 

Sierra's 6th Grade Dance

I can't believe I just put all those words together in one sentence.  I can't believe Sierra, my little girl, is a 6th grader.  And I can't believe that she is old enough to attend a dance (it was during school), and even more surprised that she was looking forward to it, and the MOST surprised that her and her friends dressed up for it!  (The teachers told them to, but still, she did!)  I'm pretty sure she is not happy that I am the type of mom that is there, everywhere she is, with my camera.  But as spoken in the language of love (since it is Valentine's Day after all), c'est la vie!  

This is what a 6th grade dance in the classroom looks like.  Where are the boys?  On the other side...  Perfect!

Broken Neck Update

If you go to work one day and someone hits you with their car and you break your neck, here are some things you can expect:

You will be in a lot of pain for a long time.  You will not go to work for 7 weeks.  You will not drive for over 100 days.  You will still be in a neck brace 4 months after the accident.  Four times 30 is a lot of days that you have something wrapped around your neck which reminds you of the skiing you're not doing.  Or the ice climbing.  Or the ice skating.  This may all make you feel a little crazy.  And sad.

But if you're this guy, it will not conquer you.  You will find the good in the bad.  You will be touched by the  many people and the kindness and care you're received.  This will change you forever.  You will not give up even though you are still feeling pain and it's been almost 4 months.  And four times 30 is a lot of days.  

I feel so lucky to be married to such an incredible guy.  

Surprise!

I can't wait for my kids to wake up this morning!!!

Frozen Land

Who says Alaska beaches are only great in the summer?!  

We discovered a very frozen, yet very beautiful world 

just a short hike away. 

Wonderful Week

Things I loved about this week:

We've got a missionary!
David's brother just got called to the Florida Orlando mission!  We (including David who left work at 4:30 so he could be home for the important moment) were able to be right with him as he opened his call even though he is all the way in Utah.  It was such a beautiful moment to see him open up that envelope and slowly but surely start at the top, "Dear Elder Hymas, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."   That gives me chills!  What a beautiful example he is setting for my kids!  They simply adore their Uncle Jayson.  And now it's the Uncle Elder Jayson.  And we get to send care packages to a missionary!  Now my job is to find a good airfare deal for him to come up here so we can help him kill the three months that is going to drive him batty waiting for the day he enters the MTC.  That seems like a perfect job for us!   

Amazing field trip with Skyla
I got to accompany Skyla's class to the Performance Arts Center for an amazing jazz performance.  They totally catered to the students and had them clapping and stomping and chanting the beats and really feeling the music.  I love the schools here!   

 

Catching Karsten BEFORE he took his sweet ride down the stairs. 

 Karsten was the B.I.P (Beary Important Person) at school this week.  He got to be line leader and take in special things to share with the class.  His biggest joy was stumping the class on his choice for the "rhyming bag".  He had to bring something from home and give a clue about it.  His clue was "It rhymes with Band Aid."  No one in his class got it and that, apparently, is super duper cool.  Did you guess it?  Gatorade! 

Superbowl Bliss
This is David's day.  He is completely in charge and I love it!  He knows exactly what we're going to eat, takes care of all of it, and it's delicious!  (Although this year on seeing a lack of ANYTHING healthy, I made up a veggie tray which he mocked and yet we ate the entire thing!  Yeah kids!  Veggie victory is sweet.)  He loves his couch, his own TV w/ remote in hand, and his "near beer."  He even turned down other Superbowl Party invitations so he could have it just this way, and our little family, home alone together, thought is was just PERFECT...

Karsten can't take his eyes off the game for even one second! 

Rediscovering bribery
My kids are not big talkers.  They don't come home from school with the details that I am craving.  It dawned on me that I am NOT ok with this.   So I told them that I wanted them to come up with 10 things about their day.  I had subbed in  Skyla's class that day so she didn't think there was anything more she wanted to share.  Karsten had to go to the bathroom so bad (or maybe it was because he was so starving?) that he just couldn't even talk.  So Sierra started on her 10 things.  I threw her some candy.  Suddenly they all had 10 things they wanted to share!  And every day since then they have so much to share with me!  I MUST remember the value to candy! And I am LOVING the details of their days.  Why didn't I do this before?! 

Clutter Corner
There has been a pile of "stuff" sitting in the corner in my bedroom for a very long time.  Just some random stuff sitting there.  Some scissors, a Thanksgiving candy dish, a cake decorating thing, one of the girl's ribbons from a swim meet, etc.  They were there for no reason other than I haven't put them away.  But then one day I did it.  I just picked up each thing and put it away.  And now my room feels so clean!  I didn't realize how that one little corner was bringing my whole room down!  What a wonderful feeling and why in the world did I not do that sooner and why in the world am I not doing that to all those clutter corners in my house?!   So then I cleared off the desk.  Beautiful!  And then I picked up the random things laying around in the kids' rooms.  I cleared off the stuff that was stacked on the washing machine.  And my house suddenly feels clean.

There is so much of every day I want to remember. 

But at least now I've got a couple of those details for this week down...

Wrapped in Love

 I love quilts.  I LOVE them.  And having moved to the far north, we use them a lot!  My aunt just sent this one to us for Christmas.  It is so amazing.   How cool for David and I to have a quilt to remind us of our Japan days.  I can only imagine the hours and hours of work that were poured into this present.  And she did this all while dealing with some health issues.  She is one amazing woman and one amazing quilter!  Thanks Aunt Mary!!