Side of house

Here's a side view of the house - covered in snow. You can see we didn't finish painting the trim before the cold weather came...

Carving Pumpkins

Miniature Golfing

This weekend, we went to Olivia's 6th birthday. (She is the Commander's daughter). They had the party at an indoor glow-in-the-dark putt-putt golfing place. Here are some pictures of the kids :)

Family Christmas Ornament

Last weekend I worked at a Holiday Bazaar, selling pies for a fundraiser for our Troop. Of course, I couldn't help shopping too! This is the ornament I bought - it's pretty heavy! There sure are a lot of heads on it!!

Winter Wonderland in Fall

It has been snowing all day here and it's starting to really pile up :) Ellie got on her snow clothes to keep Andy company while he shoveled off the driveway (if you look closely in the really dark picture, you can see him). We're already losing a lot of daylight here. The sun is rising around 9 and setting around 6. I can't imagine what it's going to be like in December!

Kate's tooth

Kate is about to loose her first tooth. Both of the middle bottom ones are loose, but one of them will probably come out today :) She is SO excited about it. She's having a hard time focusing on schoolwork this morning because she is constantly wiggling her tooth. It looks like the tooth fairy might have to make a visit tonight.

Nemo

Tonight, as I was putting Lexie to bed, she very lovingly said to me "Mommy, I think we should call the baby in your belly Nemo. That's a really cute name. We should call the baby Nemo". I told her I would add it to the list and think about it :)

Falling snow

For those of you still enjoying summer-like weather, I thought I'd show you some falling snow :)

Snow Angels

We woke up to 19 degrees and even more snow. Ellie got dressed and ran outside to make snow angels in the fresh snow on our driveway. There is snow on all of the trees now. I guess our winter is really starting now....

More Snow

We woke up this morning to actual snow. It's been about 25 degrees all day and snowing on and off. The road in front of our house got really slick and cars were getting stuck. Luckily, someone dropped some gravel and everything seems to be fine now :) The kids got all bundled up in their new long johns, coats, snow boots, mittens, hats etc. and made snow angels in the driveway. Buster was enjoying eating snow off the deck. There isn't much on the ground - maybe half an inch or so, but the weather isn't going to be getting much warmer this week, so it will probably stay....

Kate is ready to be a Girl Scout

Kate is sure growing up. Today she has her first violin lesson and Daisy Girl Scout meeting. Unfortunately they are at the same time. I don't know how I'm going to work that one out :(
Ellie is also starting violin today - they are in the same group class. It should be fun. The class includes a violin rental so they can take them home and practice :)

Ellie's First Steps to the Highland Fling

Ellie has been in Highland Dance class for about a month now and they are learning to do the "Highland Fling" which has many steps to it. She has learned the first few. As they get better, then they add hand movements also. I can't believe what a workout it is! They are hopping all over the place. She also has an hour of ballet right before Highland, so she is pretty tired when she comes home Wednesday nights. If she keeps with it over the next year, maybe we'll see her in a kilt, dancing at some Highland games. She can dance while Andrea competes :)

Snow

Last night we were "dusted" by just the tiniest bit of snow. The kids were still so excited though! You'd think we'd been hit by a blizzard or something. They rushed outside and gathered what they could into a little ball.

Shopping

For those of you who like to shop......
We are 370 miles away from the closest mall.
We do have an Old Navy and a Walmart - but no Target :(
I am thankful for the internet and that I don't shop at malls very often anyway.
Everytime the women I know go to "the lower 48" they leave with empty suitcases and come back with them filled!
I am not looking forward to trying to find an evening gown for the Army ball this December when there are only a few stores in town. I sure wish I could sew like Andrea - especially since I'll be starting to "show" by then.... Maybe I'll drape a large piece of pretty fabric over myself and call it good :)

True Alaskans

I have come to the conclusion that we are not yet true Alaskans.
Alaskans own at least 3 of the following:
RV
4-wheeler (preferrably 2 or 3)
boat of some sort
trailer
snow machine (NOT called a snowmobile here!)
really monstrous pick-up truck
your own airplane/seaplane with hangar

I am surprised at how many of our neighbors own these things!!

We have a small airfield just down the hill from our house (really close)that has a water strip for seaplanes also. We can watch the planes taking off. There is actually a sign on that street that says "Airplanes have the right of way". Along with garages, they have small airplane hangars.

Almost everyone travels and camps with an RV - I guess the thought of a tent with bears and cold weather isn't very appealing.

There is a 4-wheeler racing field about a mile down the road (next to the ice-skating rink).
The 4-wheelers are necessities for hunting too. Apparently, when you kill a moose out in the middle of nowhere, you need one to transport all of your meat!

I haven't experienced the snow machines yet since we haven't had our first snowfall. I have seen them in people's garages though. There are some great "bike/walking" paths here which I found out are actually used for snowmachines and 4-wheelers in the winter. Can you see me on a 4-wheeler with all of the kids in a trailer behind me? Me neither....

Anyway, my point is that I don't know that we'll ever be true Alaskans. Who knows though, by the time we leave here in a couple of years, we may have to bring all of our new toys with us :)