When North Pole freezes over...

Well after all my laughing at and making fun of others on myholiness.com, here I am sitting at home with all my kids, because its TOO COLD to go out anywhere today!! Schools were still in session, believe it or not, but to me,, to go ANYwhere when its 46 below, ice fog and drizzle, is INSANE. I would also love to know,, how do you get DRIZZLE when its 78 degrees below freezing??? It should be illegal to live here. ,,and for all of you who are running to comment right now,, no, I did NOT choose to live here, so I dont' want to hear it! :-D Home is where the Army sends us, I had nothing to do with it! I was quite happy in sunny California where its probably about 65 or 70 right now.

Flashback Friday: Halibut fishing in Prince William Sound

We have so many great memories and pictures from this past year, so I have decided to dedicate each Friday to going back and highlighting a special time from 2007. We'll start out with Steve's 1st halibut fishing trip. For the uninitiated, halibut is mild, firm-fleshed, DELICIOUS saltwater fish. It is a really weird looking fish, which lies flat on the ocean floor with both eyes on one side of its head. They range in size from "chickens" weighing up to 3o or 40 lbs and giants that can be 300 and 400 lbs. On this trip, the guys didn't catch in big ones,, but they did get enough to freeze and enjoy throughout the winter.

On the way down, they stopped at a freshwater lake and threw a few lines in. It was still May so there was a little snow and ice left laying around in some areas.

Dave Tate, Jerry Snider and Steve on the charter boat:

A very small halibut, but still great eating!!Steve's trophy lingcod, which had to be thrown back because it was out of season! This was really disappointing as it was a BIG lingcod and just as good to eat as halibut.

On the way home, the boys stopped for a little snow fun. Steve gets ready for the big run:

...and an undignified finish... ;-)

Mommaw

For everyone who has asked about my mom,, she's doing great and seems to be very happy and content to be here with us. She loves the summers here as much as she hates the winters! She's been with us for (I think) 6 years now, and we are very blessed and priviliged to have her. She is a joy!

Here's a couple of recent pix:

Snow fun and a big booboo

We've had warmer than normal temperatures the past week,, even up in the 20s! Thats quite balmy for North Pole in January, so the kids took advantage of it with some fun in the snow. Matthew and Dad shoveled a track on the back deck for our little Nascar driver, and he made his rounds, most of the time picking his car up and carrying it, since the track was a wee bit too narrow. :-) Another day we went sledding over on the Chena Lakes Flood dike, a popular sledding and snowmachining spot. Steve, Matthew and Stephen had a blast with Danielle and her three girls,, but Lys,, not so much! For her first (and only) run she decided the regular slope wasn't quite steep enough and went off the side of the dike. It's almost straight up and down and she found some nice sharp rocks at the bottom to cushion her fall! We are very fortunate that she wasn't hurt alot worse, but regardless, I don't think she considered the stitches in her knee anything to be thankful for. :-) She has an almost 2 inch cut on her left knee, which went thru all the skin and tissues, all the way down to the muscle! After our adventure last month with her broken foot (she dropped a tv on it) we are really learning our way around the new hospital on Fort Wainwright! The medics there are great and really kind and patient with the kids. This is pretty amazing considering many of them just returned from months in Iraq, dealing with much more than we can even imagine. Here are a few pix from the back deck, sledding and the ER.

Danyielle and Sage

Steve and Stephen
Matthew and Haley
Alyssa's knee,, gross, huh? :-)
Five big ones,,,count 'em
Lys's favorite medic...he kept us in stitches!! hahaha,,,sorry :-)
Lys's ER trip from last month,, broken bone in her foot..

Here's more pix from Stephen's birthday

Thanks Nanna!!

Thanks Mommaw!





Dad does need practice... ;-)

Wonder what he's thinking...

There's more fish in the sea, guys...

The caboose baby's 4th birthday!

Our little guy turned 4 last Sunday. We had a little party at home for him, complete with ice cream cake and balloons. He loved being the star of the show! Being our baby, its very hard not to let the gift thing get out of hand, so I think he is slightly spoiled, but within reason! :-) Having Christmas and then a birthday just a few days later rather goes to one's head, I think. I'm not sure how he is going to handle returning to normal life,, but with all the toys I think he'll manage. He LOVES the golf set, and putts like a pro. The swing is a little wild at times,, especially for in the house. The cats have learned to clear the room when he heads for his clubs!

He loves all the playmobil too. Ok, fine,,,, Steve and I love the playmobil,, the kids are just a convenient excuse to buy more! I will say though, its beginning to affect my emotional health: I have "issues" with not losing parts to toy sets,, and when you consider some of this stuff is the size of a fingernail,, well,, I'm going to have to relax at some point here and realize that if the 2 inch doll is missing its flipflops, the world WILL in fact continue to turn on its axis, and its even possible that our household will still function normally.

(If they aren't found by tomorrow though, nobody eats. I'll fix supper as soon as I see little blue flipflops!!!)

Awww!

About 2 am Thursday morning, I had one of those sweet moments that you never forget! Sage, my friend Danyielle's youngest and Stephen's best girl, was spending the night (or trying to anyways). As "the hour grew late", she had asked for "Mommy" a couple times, but was easily distracted. After several episodes of Little Bear, and many moves from the big easy chair to the couch and back again, she finally let me rock her to sleep. As soon as I laid her down in the bunk beds though, she woke up and began crying in earnest. I want my Mommy!! I want my MOMMY! I hugged, patted an reassured to the best of my abilities, but she wasn't buying any of it! Then, as I continued to soothe, patting her little bottom, I quietly said, "It's ok, It's ok, I'm here,,,I'm here, Sage", with more heart-breaking sobs, she wailed, "But I want my OTHER mommy!!" :-) She's totally won my heart!!! (as if she hadn't already)

Here are a few more pics of "the twins": Back-deck parade, camping, 4wheelin', and at the beach. They are pretty much inseperable and get along extremely well for "almost 4 yr. olds". Stephen says: "I love her! She's MINE!!" :-)