Sledding Party

Where: The neighborhood schoolyard

 Date and Time: December 27 at 3 pm (see that gorgeous sunset!)

 Who: Just our family

 What: Free sled rides--unlimited for the 14 minutes we could stand to be outside in 12*

 Apparently David was dressed more warmly than his parents--he was all smiles the whole time and cried only when we hinted at going back to the car.

Don't worry, little buddy--we'll go sledding again. When it warms up to a balmy 20*.

When we moved to Anchorage someone told us that cross country skiing is the perfect winter activity "when it warms up to 20*." Gasp. "Warms up to 20!?!" Now I can say that my blood has thickened to these Alaskan winters. I understand! Twenty degrees is glorious weather for outdoor winter fun. If I'm just running in and out of stores, I don't think of buttoning my coat unless it lingers around 0* F.

We held on for all of December to find a day when it reached 20* so we could take David sledding. Granted, even if it had reached warmer temps, we couldn't have gone before we did--so maybe it was good that December was so cold. On the 27th, we finally gave in and took him in spite of the 12*. It was short and sweet. And cold.

 

The Boy and His Puppy

On Christmas morning the second gift out of the wrapping was a little puppy that wagged, barked, and walked.

 We had to beg David to open more gifts after this because he thought he had the world by the tail with his new furry friend.

 In a sense, he did. Sometimes the puppy wagged his tail while David cuddled it. Other times David held onto the tail and let the whole body wag.

A friend in the ward offered to trade us for a day--her little yapping dog for David's Christmas dog. I'm sure that offer would have tempted David, but it didn't tempt me. I'm glad David is so content with his new little pet. And I'm happy that it doesn't need to be fed or cleaned up after. It's a win-win for this house!

Drummer Boys

During the Christmas Season, I would occasionally sing the carol to David about the Little Drummer Boy. He fell in love with that one particularly. It became his most requested carol for the season--at naptime, especially. On Christmas morning, David was more than thrilled to find his very own drum under the tree.

Priceless.

This one is with Sam smiling too--maybe because David is the third generation of males in our family to take up drumming.

David was so excited to bang on that drum that he hit the drumstick right out of Daddy's hand! (Can you see it in mid-air?)

So here is our in-house drum corps. Sam has resurrected his old drumsticks, and the two make a great pair of percussionists. The animal puppets on Daddy's knee were placed there strategically by David. I tried to move them before I took the picture, but David insisted that his audience stay close.

Merry Christmas, Little Drummer Boy. We love you.

Celebrating Christmas

Our Christmas was blessed this year by the kindness of friends inviting us to join their families in celebration.

On Christmas Eve we went to Jake and Amy Malouf's home for a mideastern feast, a musical recital by the children in the four families participating, and a reenactment of the nativity. We enjoyed our time with Jake and Amy, Matt and Erica, Jake's parents visiting from Utah, and the Engebretsens. I was especially pleased to watch the recital because two of my piano students were performing--Emma Engebretsen and Abi Malouf. The Maloufs were so gracious to invite us to join them, and they really made us feel comfortable while we were in their home. Christmas week was a big week for our family, and I was especially longing for family. Their hospitality was just what I needed.

As for the nativity--I was a photographer, and Sam and David were sheep.

Here is David with his pal, Barrett. Barret's parents, Matt & Erica, were our good friends in our Pocatello ward before we moved to Anchorage. We were thrilled when they moved their family to Anchorage just in time for Barrett to be born eight days before David. (Not a great picture--but the boys sure are cute!)

On Christmas morning we began the day with our traditional homemade orange rolls. Absolutely melt in your mouth declicious, if I do say so myself. We opened gifts, talked to both sides of our family, tried out our new toys, and enjoyed a quiet afternoon. Dinner was prime rib with twice baked potatoes--and it was wonderfully delicious.

Christmas night we went to our friends' home for crepes and good company. Keith and Cathie Coombs moved to the outskirts of town and have a beautiful home, where they hosted about 20 of us. We enjoyed crepes, then gathered for a sweet Christmas devotional that Cathie had prepared. We topped the evening off with a rousing game of "The Candy Bar Game"--which is a Coombs family special when they host parties!

We truly felt blessed to be surrounded by good friends.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Gingerbread Houses

Our friends Mark and Lauren Hamm invited us over to make gingerbread houses for family night. Lauren proved she is the "hostess with the mostess" by offering to bake the gingerbread. I told her my secret of glue gunning the house for structural support, just in case she got in a pinch in trying to build them.  You just cover the glue with candy and frosting. It's a great little secret--no one ever knows.

David's sweet tooth is emerging a little more lately--but he still put more candy on the house than he put into his mouth.

Daddy and David worked on the house while I worked on a candy train.

This is the final display that graced our home--the gingerbread smelled wonderful, and the candy inspired David to be more of a climber. We combined my candy train with the house that Daddy and David decorated onto the same board, and it complimented each other very nicely.

This is one of my favorite traditions from when I was young, so I was more than excited to accept the Hamms' invitation! It's a tradition that I hadn't started yet in our own little family--but now it is here to stay!

Wedding Cake

My former boss asked me to make her daughter's wedding cake. She lives in a beautiful home on the hillside--and I meant to stop and take some pictures of the view of Cook Inlet from her backyard. But the thermometer was lingering at 3* and by the time I finished with the cake it was too dark. So I just grabbed a few pictures of the cake on display inside of her house.

After the cake was fully assembled, the bride decided she wanted it moved from the table with the other refreshments. I quietly gulped as I asked where she wanted to move it to. Of course it was my responsibility to safely move it to its final display, but it was a little scary. And very heavy. I was grateful that everything worked out.

Abbe's husband, Willie, is Native Alaskan. He wrote a memoir about his experiences growing up with his Inupiat family near Kotzebue. It was one of the most moving books I read in 2010--and would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn more about life as an "eskimo." I mention this because when I went to deliver the cake I met their friend Oscar. He was a visiting guest, quietly taking in the hustle bustle of wedding preparation. I learned that he is a whaling captain from Barrow, and I was honored to meet him because he is among a small handful of "whaling captains" in the state and even in the world. I probably haven't mentioned it before, but I really enjoy rubbing shoulders with the Native Alaskan culture.

I realized a few things in making this particular wedding cake--

1. I really like to do wedding cakes, even though they are stressful. I like the creative outlet.
2. Twelve hours before delivery, the wedding cake always looks like a flop. Somehow it never begins to look beautiful until the last hour or two before I deliver it to the blushing bride.
3. As long as I have a toddler under foot, the last day of making a wedding cake must include a sitter for my little person. A dear friend came over and had a playdate at my house with our boys. Everything else I was able to plan out and do in the week prior while David was sleeping.
4. Because I didn't want the cake to get in the way of caring for David, I made a detailed schedule of what to do each day during his naptime. Scheduling the minutae is the only way to go for wedding cakes.
5. The whole project was more fun than I've ever had simply because I took the time to plan and had the time to redo when it was necessary.
6. Did I mention that I like this as a creative outlet. The bride and her mother really seemed to like the final masterpiece, so I was happy.

Stretching

More pictures of monkey see, monkey do.

I'm glad it's his Daddy that he tries so hard to mimic.