Our Little Daisy

Here is Kate, proud to be in her Daisy uniform. She got new Daisy pants and socks for Christmas and had to show us the full effect. Now if Mommy would just find the time to sew all of her patches on :)

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pics from our Christmas Day :)

Gingerbread House

We decided to make a real gingerbread house this year (instead of graham crackers) - and no we didn't use a kit :) The kids had fun decorating and of course munching as they went along!

Coughs!

We have been sick for literally 3 weeks now. First with a cold, then with throwing up, and now with a horrible cough. Nick was up last night with a fever of almost 102.6. We have all (except for Ellie and Andy) been coughing and coughing nonstop for the past few days. I don't think we're going to be making it to the Christmas Eve service tonight. A quite night at home is in store for us. I am planning on lysoling the house again and I hope we can soon break this cycle of sickness. Luckily, the parties and festivities of the past couple of weeks are over - the breeding grounds for all of this gunk! Hopefully we'll all be back to normal soon. The kids are salivating over their presents. We let them open one each today, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow morning for the rest.....

Ultrasound

So, I had my ultrasound today. I have to say that it wasn't very exciting. I was spoiled by having a private practice civilian doctor for the past two pregnancies who sat and pointed every little thing out. I didn't really get much of a chance to see the baby this time- the technician had the screen turned away until the very end. I didn't get a picture either :( And - she couldn't tell what the baby was. The baby was breech and had the umbilical cord between its legs. She said if she had to guess she'd say a girl, but she's definitely not sure. On a happy note though, the baby looks healthy and weighs about 9 oz. I am right on target for the due date I already had - May 22nd.
Today is Andy's last day of work before going on leave :) We are so excited for him to have a couple of weeks off!! We will be spending it at home, together. No trips for us this winter.

Santa Claus

Ellie and Kate went to a Girl Scout Holiday craft/fun night and got their pictures taken with Santa. They had such a good time. Kate was beaming when I picked her up. She said "Mommy I was shy, but I can smile and be shy" Hurrah!!! That is a MAJOR step for Kate who tends to frown and/or glare when she is uncomfortable and shy. The girls came home with a new patch and some crafts they had made - and I got an hour in the craft store down the street while they were there :)

Bad Hair Day

It is SO dry here. Our poor Christmas tree is pretty pathetic looking. It's going to have to make it another 5 days, but it is getting taken down the day after Christmas. It died within the first week we had it. We kept it watered and we chopped the bottom off it before we put it in the stand, but it was no use. I guess that's why so many people have fake ones up here :( I just like the smell of a real tree!
Anyway, along with the dryness comes tons of STATIC!! We keep zapping eachother all day long. Here is Lexie having a very bad hair day :) Her hair is so thin that it is hard to keep it from flying away...

Dance Class

Today was parent observation day in Ellie's ballet and Highland dance classes, so I actually got to sit and watch :) I'm so proud of her!! These pictures are all from ballet.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

Did you know that if you send a letter to Santa through the mail you can actually get a reply? Ellie mailed off a letter to Santa last month and she got a letter back from one of his head elves. (it was actually addressed and postmarked North Pole, AK!) I found the following about Santa's Mailbag:

About Santa's Mailbag - Our 53 years of Christmas
Santa’s Mailbag started in 1954, when the city of North Pole, Alaska, incorporated and the United States Postal Service began using the North Pole, Alaska postal cancellation. The idea for Santa’s Mailbag was formulated by six Air Traffic Controllers working at Eielson AFB, Alaska. The plan was to mail letters from Santa to the Children of men and women in the armed forces stationed overseas. Before Santa mailed out the first letter both military and civilian children were on Santa’s list.
During Christmas 1954, Santa’s Mailbag answered about 160 letters from children sent to Santa. Over the years, the number of letters received by Santa and his crew of elves has steadily grown. Santa’s Mailbag has been featured in newspaper articles nation wide. Renowned television programs such as, “Good Morning America and The Today Show have featured Santa’s Mailbag during the Christmas Season. Recognition has spread throughout South America, Europe, and in recent years to the Far East and North Africa.
In 2001, the anthrax poisoning of postal letters left Santa’s Mailbag without volunteers. A local service organization, Northern Lights Badger Lions took on the task and helped Santa answer 3,500 letters that Christmas. This heroic deed captured national attention. Once again newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations carried the story coast to coast. In 2002, the North Pole Post Office was covered with an avalanche of 60,000 children’s and adult’s letters addressed to Santa Claus. Under the direction and organization of Santa, the elves at Santa’s Mailbag were able to answer about 10,000 of those letters.
Santa’s Mailbag has been featured in The Lions International Magazine, “(AARP) The American Association of Retired People monthly magazine” and this year People Magazine, featuring the “Santa” behind Santa’s Mailbag in a Christmas Article by Johnny Dodd and photos by Brian Smale.
Santa reports his goals are to ease the ever increasing burden placed on the U.S. Postal Service for handling tens of thousands of Santa letters received each day during the Christmas season. The volume of letters this year in 2007 is estimated to reach as high as 150,000. Children who’s letters are addressed to Santa and not delivered to Santa’s Mailbag are “dead lettered” by the post office. They go unread and are shredded.
Santa encourages parents to order a letter from Santa at santasmailbag.org. A donation per letter is requested. These funds, along with contributions from those who support our effort, go help thousands of children receive a letter from Santa. For many children in this great country of ours, the only gift some might receive for Christmas is a letter from Santa, through Santa’s Mailbag. Each letter is cancelled with the cherished North Pole Christmas Cancellation. It’s the magic of Christmas!”
Santa encourages children to write their letter to Santa on our “write a letter to Santa page.” Santa also encourages parents to pre-order their child’s return letter from Santa now or as early in the year as possible.
If you would like to help with a donation please click here, or write to:
Gabbyc/o Santa’s MailbagP.O. Box 56159North Pole, Alaska 99705
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


You can also send an email to Santa: http://www.santasmailbag.org/writetosanta/

How cool is that?

BRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Ok, it has officially gotten cold up here. It is negative 33 degrees out today. That is really cold. Everytime I let the dog out to go to the bathroom, he is immediately at the door again ready to come in. It's definitely time to pull the long johns out. It looks like we are going to be staying in the house quite a bit now. I am supposed to be going to a spouse's coffee tonight - we'll see if I make it without being a popsicle :) It could get down as low as negative 40 tonight!!!

Here is a link to our local weather: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=AKZ222

MORE Babes in Toyland pictures

These are some of the professional pictures which were taken during the show. I just got them in the mail the other day. In the top, she is the lion on the left, in the middle she is in the middle, on the bottom she is on the left. I promise to put some pictures on soon of something OTHER than Babes in Toyland :)

Petri Dish

Yes, our house appears to be a petri dish full of bacteria. We have all been sick for a couple of weeks now. Last week, it was a nasty cold with coughs, sore throats and runny noses. This week it is throwing up. Unfortunately, not everyone has been sick at the same time. It has slowly cycled through the family. So far Andy has been spared this last sickness, but I don't think he's out of the clear yet!! We haven't gotten out much this past week because of it - and now the temperature has gone way down. It's been below NEGATIVE 20 for the past couple of days. I am not looking forward to having to bundle the kids up so much before leaving the house. We need some fresh air though!!

More Pics

Babes in Toyland 2007

Here is a picture of the cast of Babes in Toyland :) We are finally DONE with all 10 shows. I had a busy weekend of helping out and I am exhausted!!!!

Our babe in toyland :)

Here is Ellie in her lion costume after last night's show. Andy and Kate will be watching it today and Lexie and I will go tomorow :)

Mountain Climber, part 2

Since I wrote the last post about Nick, he has become even more proficient in climbing. He can now actually get onto the kitchen counter using the stool, out of his crib, and onto the castle without any aid of table/chairs. The one place I have been able to keep him out of trouble is strapped in his high chair. He has now learned that he can move his body around and actually "hop" his way across the entire room while strapped in his chair. Smart kid :) He's driving me crazy though!!!!

Darkness

It is starting to get really dark here. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 10:19 and set at 3:01. That is 4 hrs and 41 minutes of daylight - in other words not enough daylight!!!! By the time we hit December 21st, the sun will rise at 10:58 and set at 2:41. At least it will start getting lighter again after that :)
I left the house this morning at 8 and all of us felt like it was 4 o'clock in the morning. The kids were asking why we were going somewhere in the middle of the night. I just wish that it was working the opposite way and I could convince them to go to bed at 5 p.m. when it's pitch black out :)
Well, we're off to the second show of "Babes in Toyland" today. They performed it this morning for all of the schoolkids in the area. Tonight is opening night. Ellie said that she didn't get stage fright (she doesn't have to speak or anything - just dance and move like a toy lion!) I am so proud of her though. She has already decided that she'd like to do it again - with a bigger part. We'll see if I'm up for this again.....

Pictures from Andy's range

Here are some pictures from the range that Andy's troop did this week. The bottom one is overlooking Ft Wainwright.

Kate's Daisy Girl Scout Investiture

Kate had her Daisy Girl Scout investiture tonight. Andy got to pin her Daisy pin on her uniform. It was kind of like promoting her and pinning on the rank :) Unfortunately, I brought the camera, but left the memory card plugged into the computer at home, so we don't have any pictures. I am hoping that some other parents took some pics that we might be able to get a copy of ...

Violin lessons

Ellie has taken 8 violin lessons and is now learning to use the bow instead of picking at the strings like on a guitar. She'll be missing her violin lesson today though. We have been SO busy this week with "Babes in Toyland" rehearsals that we can hardly get anything done. She has been at rehearsals from 4:30-10:20 p.m. every night this week. The big show starts tomorrow.... I will be sure to post pictures of our little lion.

Today's Sunrise

Deck the Halls!

Mountain Climber

I think that Nick is going to climb McKinley or Everest some day. He won't stop climbing!! I think I'm going to go crazy. He's been able to climb for some time now and has done it on occasion. Recently though, he has become VERY proficient at it and is on top of something everytime I turn around. He climbs on the piano, the table, the stools (and almost to the counter from them). He also can easily get to the top of the play castle in the playroom - which was the one safe place I could set him and get something done. He simply moves a chair, ball, table etc. and climbs.... I am going to have a very hard time getting anything done in the coming weeks. To make matters worse, we're decking the halls tomorrow (since Ellie is in Babes in Toyland 10 times over the next 2 weekends, we thought we'd do it now!). He's going to be all over the tree!! Wish me luck!

New clothes from the Grandparents

The kiddos received some PJs and jeans from Grandma and Grandpa Woods, which is great, as they were getting cold wearing the animal skins we'd resorted to following the last bout of utility payments and the plane crash that destroyed our back yard. That, of course, was the real drain on our finances rebuilding the huge hole that subsequently eradiacted our leach-field costing upwards of 320,000 dollars. Thankfully though, the aliens that visited repaired most of the electrical damage done to the direct-TV satellite( which is much more important than feeding ourselves).

But seriously, thanks and the kids love their new threads. (andy sends)

Snowball fight!!!!

Here is the video of our family snowball fight!! Luckily I didn't record the part where I accidentally hit Nick in the face instead of Andy :(

(Although daddy put up a gallant defense, he was bested by overwhelming flanking attacks)

Heat wave

We've had a heat wave up here - it's been about 40 degrees out for a couple of days in a row now. All of the snow melted off of our deck and off the trees. Since it was so warm out, we decided to take the kids outside to play in the snow. Here are some pictures of the fun we had!!

Gymnastics Class

The girls have been happily taking gymnastics class for the past few months. Kate made a new friend yesterday. They were inseparable. They would hold hands when taking a water break. It was so cute!!

Views from our house

Nick's haircut

I was brave and gave Nick a haircut. I really didn't know what I was doing. Anyway, I decided to style him a mohawk before I cut it.... It was definitely getting too long. The top one is the finished product.