when it's cold... you bowl!

We've had negative temps for about 3 weeks, so I think we've visited most indoor play areas! Today, we woke up to -15 and headed to the bowling alley with 2 other families! Fun times. Parker learned about bowling when we got our Wii game this summer, so he was pumped to go "real bowling" today. On the way home he asked "now was that my bowling practice or a game?" I told him it was a game and he could go home and practice on his Wii- that, of course, was exciting for him! Doesn't take much for our little guys! As, you can see our boys both just loved throwing the ball and then we had to keep reminding them to watch the pins fall! They kept wanting to get back to get "their" ball from the machine (whatever it's called!?!). Good thing for bumpers- Parker scored a 102 with their help!

I love this cute smile from bowler Noah! After the first couple bowls, he would do the cutest little dance every time a pin would fall.

Here's our boys with their bowling pals. Nope, we did not plan the John Deere matchy-matchy shirts! :)

cabin fever

That is not snow on my boys' hats or Ryder's face... that would be frost!!! Brrrrr! This Christmas break has either been incredibly blustery (up to 70 mph gusts) or super frigid (down to -30 degrees). I have a heavy case of Cabin Fever and it's only January 3rd- SERIOUSLY!!!

Fortunately, I have a husband who will still venture out in the -20s with our boys. They, have spent about an hour/day for the last few days digging a tunnel in our humongo snow cave. I love to watch them from the inside, with my cup of coffee in my hands, while they are all-smiles leaping off of our snow-cave-mountain. It is also nice to have my little Savannah because then I can rightfully stay inside, with her, and not feel guilty for not bundling-up with my boys!!!

I am, also, glad that Parker is a home body! I am going crazy with our little home BUT he is loving life. Every day would be a perfect day if this little guy could stay home- so different than his mom!!! It's also a good thing we got the boys the Mario Kart Wii game for Christmas because they are becoming quiet the pro-gamers! Since, the weather has been so blustery and frigid... we are allowing them to play more than normal, just to maintain sanity!

Finally, I am thankful for all the indoor play areas our area has for us... Cabin Fever-ers! We had fun at the H2Oasis indoor water park with a few other friends' families. It is very strange to get out the swimsuits when it is -25 outdoors, but it was a perfect change in events!

Now, I am on the search for reasonable flights to Mexico, Hawaii or anywhere warmer! I think it would serve everyone well, if mommy had a day on the beach!!! ;) Maybe, this will be my New Year's Resolution! We shall see!

Happy 2009!

A toast to the New Year with Sparkling Cider! We had a blast with the Kroon cousins at our little home on New Year's Eve. Of course, I forgot the camera- again- so here's a picture of how we ended our night together- none other than Sparkling Cider. We played a lively game of Loaded Questions that kept us all awake and entertained until midnight. This is the first year, in many years, where I actually stayed awake to toast the new year! It might have had something to do with the handfuls of peanut butter popcorn I munched on throughout the game! mmmmm

our Christmas

Our Christmas was very sweet, lots-a-fun and some days... low-key! We spent Christmas Eve day and evening with Popeye, Mo-mo, the Uncles and the Grindles. Then, after a full day of eating, presents, games and good family times... we came home to finish off our Christmas celebrations and traditions. We opened our 2nd to last book, The Night Before Christmas, talked about Santa and then laid out cookies and a glass of milk by our wood stove. Then, the boys laid their stockings out on the hearth.
Here they are, all smiles, after opening the stockings that "Santa" filled! Then, all the Santa-fun is put aside and we opened our last little book, The Story of Baby Jesus. It was a short book, which is essential when presents are waiting, but the message was BIG! My family always read the passage in Luke every Christmas morning since I was a little girl and I can't think of a better way to start Christmas day! So, we do the same! We ended our little book talking about how Jesus was God's gift to US! Then, we opened their Children's Bible and read the Luke passages and focused on how Jesus received 3 gifts from the 3 wisemen. And, that is how many gifts our children opened at our home! They opened many more at all the other family celebrations!

Parker the pirate! Uncle Teagen hooked Parker up with another costume- of course, it's a hit!

Noah got this cute little four-wheeler. We're still waiting for him to use it on his own! He'll push the button and walk alongside it, but he'll only sit on it if no one is looking. I know he'll love it soon. ;)

Parker got a Kung-Fu Panda puzzle, so here's our pirate doing a puzzle with his great-grandparents. Perfect way to end Christmas Eve!

We finished off our Christmas day with a Christmas ham dinner at my aunt's house. What a fun time eating and playing games with my aunt, uncle, cousins and grandparents.

This Christmas, we also loved spending time with Kep's cousins and family. Uncle Larry and Aunt Marlene hosted our "Christmas Eve" celebration on the 26th. It was so fun to meet little Miss Ella Kroon, again! I wish I had a picture of Ella with our children- but I forgot to take my camera out of the diaper bag! Bummer, dude! Next time, we have Christmas with the Kroon cousins... we look forward to giving presents to Joani and Mark's little baby!!!

And, a Kroon Christmas is not complete unless the ladies take a day to shop in Anchorage. So, we shopped for the WHOLE day with NO kiddos- I LOVED that!

All in all... we had a very sweet Christmas with Kep's family. And, like Parker keeps saying... "I'm so very sad that Christmas is over"!

great-grandparents

My dad's parents came to Alaska this Christmas to visit my Aunt Connie's family! We, of course, loved hanging out with them.

Here are the 3 great-grandkiddos with their two sets of great-grandparents. A lady at church mentioned that our children are very rare to have two healthy "full" sets of great-grandparents. So, it was her "great" idea to get a keepsake picture of our children with their GREAT grandparents. We are blessed by both of these special couples!

Christmas outfit photo op!

You gotta love photo ops with 3 little munchkins... I know Kep does!!! ;)

Christmas Pizza Gang

Isn't this a lovely shot of all our children!?! We have been getting together with these 3 families for the past 3 years, 2-3 times per year, for pizza parties. The first year was very relaxing, as we each only had one child. But, now, there are 11 children 5 and under!!! So, our pizza parties are anything and everything but relaxing! They are super entertaining! We have been trying to get a cute picture of all our children on the couch, so this will have to be our "cute" picture!

This year we decided to skip the $5 toy gift exchange and exchange $5 books, instead. It was perfect as they each got a book of their interest AND it quieted them down for a good 5 minutes!!! Fun times!

Reindeer fun

Aren't these adorable!?! They are super simple for little hands, and- YES- they are from Family Fun magazine! They are supposed to look like the one on the right, but Amanda and I agreed that the one on the left is more cute and realistic! Thank you, Bacon Bits, for a fun morning making reindeers.

Here's the oldest of our 7 children. They are all smiling because these reindeers were fun to make AND because their bellies are full of M&M's, NutterButters, chocolate chippers and pretzels! Very healthy snack that sends them flying into the world of happy loudness but somehow they all landed in the world of tears! I guess every sugar HIGH has to have a sugar low!!!

Here's my little snitcher in his world of happiness. Noah's happiness was interrupted, a couple times, by falls. I don't know how this little guy manages to fall- but he's consistently clutzy. I purposefully stuck him in on a chair b/c they are lower to the ground but he still took 2 hefty falls. I try to be sensitive but, my goodness, after multiple falls per day... it is hard not to laugh or roll the eyes, instead of cuddling him! But, Noah, was the best cookie maker- he kept making cookies til the last one... because there was chocolate to be snitched!!!

Another favorite thing about Christmas

Another thing I love about Christmas are the Christmas cards and letters we all receive. I love catching up with all my highschool and college buddies' families and seeing the new years' pictures. One thing we are doing this year with all our Christmas pictures... is stapling them to a pretty Christmasy ribbon and hanging them in our dining room. I, also, clipped a cute little clothespin on the first family and the clothespin moves down to the next family- daily. Then, as we open our dinner time with prayer, we pray for the "clothespin" family. It has been a great way to reteach the benefit of praying for our friends and family, instead of ourselves! Our boys are, also, learning who our "long-lost" friends are from the NW and MidWest! I can't remember where I read of this idea (some magazine-since that is all I read!!!)... but, it has been a great one for us- this Christmas season!

Hatcher's Pass now has a rope tow!?!

Here's the sideline video crew! We sat on our sleds to watch Parker and daddy test out their new ski invention! Then, Noah tested out the sledding invention. It's probably already invented, somewhere, but it's new to our family! You'll have to see the 2 videos, below!

Savannah loved sledding in her blue throne! It is so handy as she can go down the little slopes all by herself and it never tips!

Isn't that so clever! Don't you wish you, too, were a toddler! It was so handy not to take off Parker's skis and have him hike back up the slope. This, also, gives him practice with a rope tow... for when we take him to a real ski slope!

The sledding rope tow was the best because we didn't have to worry about Noah crashing at the end and then we didn't have to pull him back up 100x! It was pretty funny/silly to watch the sled suddenly stop and then go in reverse! Yep, we sound lazy but it did help both our toddlers (and daddy) last longer and it gave Kep an arm work-out (so, I guess I'm the lazy one)!!! Once the children are all a little older and can walk up icey slopes without falling, 100x, we'll have them walk up their own sleds/skis. But until then, this rope tow makes sledding more enjoyable for all!!!