Happy Winter Solstice!

Yay! Hopefully we'll be seeing more and more of this each day (this is a sunny day for us right now - I almost caught it before it dipped back behind the mountain at 2:30ish PM).

Anxious

Corey: Tomorrow is it time to open those presents under the Christmas Tree?

Me: Nope, Christmas is in 18 more days.

Corey: Is it 18 more days tomorrow?

Me: Nope it's in 18 days.

Corey: So 18 more days is the same as regular Christmas?

Me: Yes.

Corey: Is tomorrow regular Christmas?

Halloween!

We didn't do Halloween very wholeheartedly around here this year. Kali was a super cute witch for her class party/costume parade at school. Corey chose to reuse an old costume and go to her party as a pirate (I don't know why I don't have any pictures). We did trick or treating to the businesses after school that Friday. For about 20 minutes - the wind was blowing between 50-75 mph. The weather is insane. I can't remember a time that we didn't have snow on the ground for Halloween. Halloween day I cleaned out the kid's room and Dave worked on the shed he's expanding for the property we manage. We carved pumpkins and watched 'Race to Witch Mountain' that night and all turned in early.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara was as beautiful and relaxing as ever. I very much enjoyed reading at the beach and lounging by the pool while Dave was in his meetings. We enjoyed the shopping and yummy food at our favorite Italian resteraunt in the evenings. I'm glad to have these few days for just 'us' every year.

California

Dave and I were very lucky to spend a week away at the end of October. He humored me by taking me to Dinseyland and California Adventure - I love Disneyland! Can you tell in the last picture that we had been flying all the night before...we were a bit tired (and worried about sick kids back at home), but couldn't waste the day! The rides were fun, the food delicious, the sun WONDERFUL!

Something new.

Other than PJ bottoms this is my first attempt at sewing clothing. The pattern was very basic but I was still stoked about how it came together. I even made the piping...who knew?! Of course I don't have a serger so first washing it will probably fray apart, but it was a fun experiment!

Free pattern found HERE! She has great stuff/ideas!

Just because...

...I never manage to get good shots of the eyelashes. This one was an accident, but I love it.

My kids.

Okay, back to September...

Camping over Labor Day weekend. It was surprisingly warm for that time of year in Alaska. We were originally going to camp at our favorite little campground but it was closed. However, on one particularly warm day we broke in to play at the lake. The kids spent hours looking for snails. Kyle even tasted one. The trip was the first time we were really able to get out and enjoy the new 4-wheelers. We had a great time taking long rides as a family up in the mountains and along the pipeline. Already can't wait for more camping next year!

To back up even further...

My sister got married in July!

Campfire

After a fun day exploring Chitna we stopped at one of our favorite camping places to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

Kuskulana Bridge

Wildlife

We watched these moose come out of the trees on the other side of the lake, swim across, and come up right in front of our car. There were two others that stayed in the water. I love it when the wildlife cooperates when we have visitors!

Liberty Falls

Liberty Falls

Okay I got a little ahead of myself with Kali's birthday. I still have some great pictures from Grandpa and Grandma's visit. I LOVE this picute; I'm going to order it as a canvas for thier bedroom!

Kali turns 6!

We were camping over Labor Day weekend this year. Kali's birthday fell on Labor Day so she got to choose the camping breakfast and activities before packing up to go home. She chose cinnamon rolls and strawberries. Unfortunately when camping Pillsbury is about as good as it gets as far as baked goods are concerned, but no one seemed to mind in the least.

After we got home from camping we cleaned up, picked up a frozen cake from the grocery store (couldn't believe they didn't have ANYTHING in the bakery), and opened gifts from grandpa and grandma and us. She got a scrap booking kit from my mom and dad and a sewing machine from Dave and I. The boys gave her fabric and thread. She was thrilled and went to work immediately sewing pillows.

Grandpa and Grandma Petersen gifted her early (while they were visiting in August) with legos (the small ones...the kids are so excited I'm FINALLY letting them in the house, though they do stay up high while Kyle is awake) and a barbie bust for doing hair, which she LOVES!

She was spoiled with lots of arts and crafts stuff, jewelry, and money from the aunts and uncles! She is so loved and so blessed to have so many wonder family members and friends in her life.

Finding the treasure at the end of the scavenger hung!

We do "friend" parties every other year at our house. Kali gets to choose a handful of friends and she decides on a theme and games and what kind of cake. This year she chose 'Hawaiian' with pink cupcakes. The each painted a picture of Kali for her scrapbook, danced, played, and went on a scavenger hunt. She had a great time!