Truly Alaskan

We had a warm October. I was even beginning to think that Halloween would be warm--not white--this year. But the day before Halloween, the snow started dumping. And it didn't let up for a long time. We got hit with four big storms in a row, and as of November 21, our snow pack was 28 inches. Now the snow has stopped, but the temps have dropped and it's freezing. Like constantly at zero or below. I have a feeling that we're in for a long, cold winter.

On one particular day, we took Daddy to work, and I packed our snow gear in the car, planning to shovel the driveway before we parked the car on it again. I got David in his snow gear, and placed him at the top of the driveway with a shovel while I tied up my boots and pulled on my mittens. The car was parked across the street, so I went back to the opened rear driver's side door, to prop my foot on the frame and tie my boots up. Just as I was about to finish, I hear "Come here, little guy." I was startled. I didn't know anyone was outside with me--so I looked up, expecting to see someone walking their dog.

What I saw shocked me. It was a moose. A big bull moose. My neighbor later told me that he walked outside, and saw the moose heading straight for David. He was trying to get to David before the moose did (the moose wasn't charging, it was just looking at David and walking towards him) which is why he said "Come here, little guy." That's when I turned around. It was within 15 feet of me when I saw it, and I screamed (the bull was slowly turning around after he heard my neighbor's voice, and his hind quarters were towards me when I saw it). My scream sent it trotting back down the street, where he came from.

How was it possible for a 1500 pound animal to be in my personal space, and I didn't even know it? How was he able to head towards my little boy, and I was clueless? I always look up and down the street for the neighborhood moose when I'm outside, but this guy came out of nowhere. I feel grateful that Heavenly Father was watching out for David and that my neighbor walked outside at just the moment he needed to scare the moose off of our driveway. I still shiver to think that a moose was between me and my baby. It would have been bull moose against mama bear if I hadn't had my neighbor's help.

If you ask David about it, he'll tell you that he saw a moose that was scary to Mommy, David, and the neighbor. He'll tell you it was a big one, too.

Oh, after I got the driveway cleared off, my nerves calmed down, and I was plenty cold, I managed to get the car stuck in a snow bank. I dug around the tires as well as I could, until finally another driver stopped to help push me out after about 35 minutes of spinning and digging. By the time I went inside, I was ready to stay in and enjoy the snowfall from the window view.

Feeling Thankful

Our Thanksgiving day dawned, and immediately David and I set out to finish making pies. David was happy to have his fingers in the greasy dough. Originally I thought we could turn his ball of dough into "pie dough cookies"--pie crust with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. But by the time he was done with the dough, I was more than happy to just throw it away.

 Here are the results--for the first time in my life, I made a pie in a pretty pie plate. I actually received the blue pie plate for my wedding from Sam's Aunt Lisa. The pie in front, on the right, is her famous peanut butter pie. She gave me the recipe with the pretty Longerberger pie plate for our wedding--"cornflower blue." Aunt Lisa is married to Uncle Richard, and he is a really funny guy. Six months after I was married, I was visiting Sam's family in Ohio. Uncle Richard and Aunt Lisa came over, and I was thanking Aunt Lisa for her peanut butter pie recipe. I told her, "I knew that I was part of the family when I got that recipe!" Uncle Richard apparently overheard me say this, and he spun around from his conversation, pointed his finger at me and said, "Hey, listen. You're not part of the family until I say you're part of the family!" It made me laugh especially hard because I have lots of memories of my uncles giving new in-laws or potential in-laws the same kind of grief about joining the family. So Uncle Richard, I'm dying to know. It's been nearly 6 years. Am I part of the family yet?

 The chocolate cream pie has a story too. When I was about 12, we were at Grandma Ray's house for Thanksgiving as it was our annual tradition. When it came time to serve pie, a certain chocolate cream pie turned up missing. Uncle John had drooled over his wife's, Aunt Lana's, chocolate cream pie all morning and he wasn't going to put up with it going missing. He lined up all the teenage boys on a bench, and declared that none of them would get any pie until one of them confessed to taking his chocolate cream pie. The poor fellas just sat there, none of them fessing up. Finally, word came from a back bedroom that all of the teenage girls were hiding away with the chocolate cream pie, just eating it straight from the pan. They didn't even pause to cut  it up or put it on plates--they just dug right in. By the time it was retrieved, there was nothing left but the crust. Poor, poor Uncle John. The next year Aunt Lana brought two chocolate cream pies, and so did each mother of those teenage girls. Aunt Lana started a great tradition, because now a chocolate cream pie will always be in the Thanksgiving spread.

David was at one of the kids' table. He tended to sit in the middle of the bench, and the other little girl had to sit on the very end. I tried to get him to scoot over, but that didn't really work out. The kids were done with their feasting right as the adults sat down. So they ran inside and played while we ate. It was a great arrangement! Note to self: Small children don't know how to overstuff themselves at a single meal, so they will always need dinner, in spite of how full I might feel from the previous meal.

We joined the Keith and Cathie Coombs family for the Thanksgiving Day feast. It was a whole lotta people, just like I remember at Grandma's house growing up. The only difference was that it was a gathering of friends, in lieu of family. There are lots of young families up here in Anchorage without any family closer than 3000-5000 miles away. So gathering together on holidays with friends is especially meaningful.

Cute Cathie had placecards for each of us, and we had a feather to write what we were grateful for. David is showing off his feather. He chose to write down "Daddy".

 Cathie's kids attend the spanish immersion school, so by homework assignment they made a pinata. It was such a fun after-dinner activity to break open a pinata. One of the dads was holding the other end of the pole, so for most everyone, we didn't use anything harder than a tennis racket (apparently David used a light saber). Not much progress with that. Finally, someone picked up a metal bat, and the thing busted open. I had to turn my head--the bat was scary with so many heads in an enclosed space. I'm glad that the only thing that went flying was the candy.

 Of course the kids loved the fun of it!

 And David was pleased as punch with his loot.

 I finally put up a thankful tree this year. Michael's made it easy on me by selling buckets of pre-cut foam leaves that were self-adhesive. I'm glad we paused on our feelings of gratitude.

It was also my first year of telling the story of the pilgrims and indians to David during family night. Instilling a love in my family for the sacrifices made by pilgrims and our forefathers to establish this country under divine guidance has always been a dream for me. I feel really good that this year, I gathered all of the materials, cut out paper dolls on a borrowed Cricut, and first researched, then re-told the story of the pilgrims and indians. I want my children to have lots of memories of their mother teaching them about the freedoms we enjoy. This was the beginning.

In David's words

• Tonight Daddy pulled out some Halloween candy to share with David before he went to bed. David's eyes got big and he exclaimed, "Thanks, Dad! You're my favorite!"
• Sam asked David what letter was on his M&M. David excitedly responded, "It's a D for Mommy!!!"
• We were watching the priesthood holders pass the sacrament at church when David grabbed both of my cheeks, and turned my face so we were nose to nose. In his loud voice he said, "Say it Mama!" I was confused, so I didn't say anything, particularly because it was in the middle of the sacrament. Then David continued, "Say that someday I get to do that too!" Oh yes, buddy. Someday you get to pass the sacrament too.
• David is learning his letters with a little toy that sings a song. "A says aa, A says aa, every letter makes a sound, and A says aa." David can change the letter out and the song changes according to the letter. When David sings along, it goes like this. "A says cuh. A says cuh. Every letter makes a sound and A says cuh." The the next letter, "J says cuh. J says cuh. Every letter makes a sound and J says cuh." The only exception is this: "D says David. D says David. Every letter makes a sound and D says David."
• One of the victories we have felt in parenting is introducing David to the music truck. It passed our home multiple times in a night sometimes during the summer months, and each time we celebrated! We ran to the window to watch it go past our house, we danced to the music--it was a real celebration! David would even call out, "Thank you music truck for sharing your music with us!" Just in case you've never seen a music truck, maybe you'll recognize a picture of it:

Not E

We have a resident artist in our home. He takes the liberty to paint abstractly.

(Can you see that he knows he's in trouble.)

So, he's for hire if anyone needs a mural on their wall. We can provide the paint, painter, and sugar overload. All you have to do is provide the canvas!

In reality, when David gets tired, he gets mischievous. Not grumpy. Just naughty. So here he is, ready for church the day after the Halloween carnival. We had a big weekend, and undoubtedly he was running high on sugar and low on his need for sleep. So I put him down for a quick nap before church, then hopped in the shower to get myself ready. When I got out, I heard him downstairs. Which surprised me, since we have child locks on his bedroom door (for this very reason, I might add). I called downstairs to him:

Me: David, what are you doing? Are you being good?

David: Yeah, mom. I'm bein' good. I'm just paintin'.

Me (thinking): Hmm. I don't think we have any paint downstairs. It must be imaginary play--which has really exploded for him in the last 2 weeks.

Ten minutes later, I meander downstairs and see the artist and his canvas. And the floor. And the 5 gallon bucket of sugar that was open with paint inside. I was shocked. I wasn't even angry. Just shocked. He opened a usually locked closet and found the last small container of touch-up paint for our bedroom. I just sat down on the step and looked at him, hardly saying anything at all.

I didn't know what to say or do in this situation--so I grabbed the camera while I thought things over. At this point, David was giggling a little bit. He was as confused as I was at how to react to his paint job. I love that kid all the same!

So I have to count my blessings--

1. We were planning to replace the carpet anyway, so no biggie there.
2. And we can easily paint over that wall, so no biggie there either.
3. He completely missed the couches. Soo soo grateful for that!
4. He tracked the paint into the kitchen, but no paint on our newly refinished kitchen cabinets. Really glad about that.
5. It was the morning after our ward's halloween carnival. I was feeling on sugar overload anyway, so couldn't get myself to regret the 20 lbs of sugar we lost. (Check back when I'm doing holiday baking.)
6. I was wondering how to best decorate for our Halloween dinner on Monday night, so the ghoulish green took care of that.
7. We lost a whole set of church clothes, it is true. But he didn't have his church shoes on, and that is the most expensive part. I'm glad he wasn't wearing his shoes yet.
8. My mischievous little boy is still wonderful to me!

Woody the Cowboy

Here's the cutest member of our family after the ward Halloween carnival:

(You'll notice by the end of the carnival, he lost his boots and a sock to a blister, but not his smile. Oh no. Not his smile. This little cowboy was in pure sugar heaven.)

We found a Buzz Light Year in our friend Ruston.

 These two are pals, so it was fun to have them together in their costumes.

 

 The carnival was full of good ideas. We hosted a cake walk with some friends, so much of David's time was spent wandering around our circle of numbers with the music. He didn't know when his number was being called, so they just drew another one. He thought the cake walk was just a fun reason to march around a circle with all those other nice people marching with him.

There was this small classroom, filled with balloons to run in. Fun for the 3 and under crowd.

 David got to do another person's cake walk (we split up the church building with 2 other wards, then didn't coordinate activities, so there were a couple of doubles on the activities). In that cake walk, everyone got a treat. David skipped out of that place with a king size butterfinger like it was the best day of his life. He kept going back to the hostess to tell her thank you, so that did my heart good.

Oddly enough, the most often requested activity was to go to the drinking fountain. After so many trips, surely he wasn't still thirsty--why is this so fun for little kids? Maybe next year I should consider including the drinking fountain in the booth we plan.

If you were lucky, you could get David to say "There's a snake in my boot!" But no one could get him to say he was Woody the cowboy. When people asked him if he was Woody, he responded very seriously, "No, I'm just David."

He also learned the art of trick or treating. At one scary booth, a big kid jumped out and scared David right as he was accepting his candy. I wasn't happy about it; I didn't think it was fair to do to a 2-year old. David first was terrified, then he stared the kid down, then finally looked up at me with a half smile and said, "Mom, that boy scared me." It's like he knew it was supposed to be fun, but wasn't convinced yet that he felt that way.

Another booth was much nicer to my trick or treater. After we walked away, David looked up at me and said, "Can I go back to that man and tell him trick or treat again?" Apparently things really worked  out well the first time.

 Here we are all together. Sam is in his annual Star Trek costume, David is Woody the Cowboy and I am dressed as a costume maker. I  bit the bullet and actually made David's costume this year--everything except the jeans. I just couldn't stomach paying money for one of those flimsy things I kept seeing on store shelves. It was actually quite fun to figure out the details, even without a pattern. I think I'll do it again next year.

Page 105

Just in case you were wondering if David and I really attended General Conference in Salt Lake City, you can now find proof in your November issue of the Ensign. (If you don't have your hard copy of the Ensign yet, just go to Elder Quentin Cook's talk, download the pdf version, and we are on the second page.)

The back story is simple. We were exhausted. We didn't get much sleep the night before. So we found a quiet place and took a nap. We awoke to the clicking of the camera, and that was that.

So just in case you were wondering--yes, we are now famous for sleeping through general conference. It keeps tickling my funny bone, so I hope the irony of it can tickle yours, too.

Catching Up

We've been busy, and I've had a hard time keeping up with the blog. I'll continue to post all the fun we had on our trip, but I have to also start posting the most recently exciting things. Like Halloween. We had such a cute boy all dressed up, I can't very well wait to post pics of all that! So prepare for a scramble of blog posts--some with, some without pictures. Enjoy!