Love Notes

 I love finding the little reminders that "Alina was here."

Her Teddy tucked in with a blanket and a pillow.

Shoes, unlaced, not on her feet . . . at least they are close to each other. Sometimes it's an all-out search for one of these four pieces that might be missing for a complete shoe ensemble.

A stuffed animal left in a cupboard where she was playing. This girl took off the straws to a handful of Capri Suns I had tucked away for a special occasion. What fun is a Capri Sun without a straw? Not fun at all, they don't even taste good when you try and drink them from a cup.

Take Off

It happened! A week into the new year, Alina went from barely standing on her own to walking down the entire length of our hallway in less than two days. Now that she has taken off, she hasn't looked back. 

She really likes this whole walking idea.

I love to watch a new little walker work so hard. Her gripping toes, the knees that go up and down, the shoulders that help her to balance, and the steady of her arms . . . I could watch this all day with a smile on my face, and wonder at the beauty of our perfectly designed bodies.

Chores

Just like every other little boy, sometimes David is more willing than others to do his chores.

But when he sets his mind to it, this boy knows how to work! He is good at doing chores once he gets into a rhythm.

Each day, David unloads the dishwasher and does one other chore that I assign him. I love having him do these details that make a difference in our home, such as cleaning out the microwave or vacuuming the stairs. When they are on my to-do list, it seems they take forever to get to. I love having David's help in checking off some of these chores that help  make our home a better place.

For a while there, David was really fighting his chore of unloading his dishwasher. He didn't want to do it, and he would drag it out for sometimes hours before it was completed. That was challenging to all of us--it's so much nicer when we can finish our chores, then choose other, more fun ways to spend our time! One day he found that Alina was happy to help him. While he had the chance, he would direct here to pick something out of the dishwasher and hand it to him. Alina was so eager to be part of this daily routine that David finished his chore in just a few minutes! It was such a nice reprieve from the dragging out that was happening time and time again.

I'm a firm believer in the value of teaching my children to happily work together. I love it when they happily interact on their own like this!

On another note, Alina is a Tidy Heidi. She loves to pick up a rag, or a scrub brush and mimick whatever I am doing. She also loves to put things away. For a while, I kept finding soiled bibs in the drawer with all the clean bibs. It took me a while to realize that our little girl was returning her bib to the drawer after she used it. You and me, baby girl, are going to get along famously!

Out with the Old, In with the New

 We took down the Christmas decor just in time to redecorate the tree for the New Year. I put a few coins into the balloons, added noise makers, silly string, and streamers, and we had ourselves a party just waiting to happen. Thankfully we only have to wait until 8 pm Alaska time for the ball to drop in New york.

We went onto our deck to do the poppers, and we were rained upon while we were out there.

But it didn't ruin our party--we still managed to celebrate.

Indoors and outdoors, we had fun with poppers and noise makers.

Last year I stayed up to see if we could see any fireworks in the area from our deck (which are technically illegal in Anchorage, but the enforcement is laughable.) I was pleasantly surprised to see that our backyard neighbors put on a huge fireworks extravaganza in our very own backyard! I mean HUGE--with major fireworks! (The bonfire at their party was taller than the roof of their house, so they take their pyrotechnics very seriously on all levels.) I had a hunch that the show would be back this year, and since I can't sleep through even the slightest noise, I stayed awake to watch it. After the first 30 minutes, a firework went off that finally woke up another member of my family, so we sat on the deck enjoying our show.

The red glow off the street behind David is because the whole town lights up in fireworks, and the smoke filled air changes the color of the street lights. On the Fourth of July, Anchorage is too light for any respectable fireworks show. But New Years? Oh, the northerners know how to ring in the New Year!

The full moon barely peeks through the smoke filled sky. Only a few clouds in the sky--most of that screen was smoke.

While the neighbors set of HUGE fireworks, they had long intermissions in their show. So we had a spectacular display, then a long pause while they set up the next round. David and I moved indoors so we could watch the show and be warmer.

I love celebrations. Thank you, David, for being my celebration partner! It was fun to share this with you. Last year I tried to share the fireworks with David, and I propped him against the door to watch them with me. He never even opened his eyes, even though he was standing up. He was too tired to see anything at all, so I finally tucked him back into bed and watched them by myself. I'm glad I got to share this with him this year! And I think he was just as happy to get in on the fun.

On Christmas Day, in the Morning

David asked Santa for one thing this year . . . Legos. Santa delivered, so David must have been a good boy this year!

Almost just as excited as he was to open his presents, David couldn't wait for Alina to open the present he had made for her. (David pressed the pedal for me while I guided the fabric into the needle. Maybe this year we'll do a few sewing lessons on the machine so next year David can make Alina's present all by himself.)

She loved it--a pillow and blanket for her dolly.

Yep, loved it a lot.

David also liked the watch he got from Alina.

A lap, a dolly and a cuddly blanket. Alina's Christmas morning was complete.

So sweet.

Sam gave me, his very  non-techy wife, an iPhone. Ok, Ok, I admit it. I've been missing out. But I'm catching up.

When I was a little girl, my mom started making crocheted purses that turn one way to be a purse, and flip out another way to be a dolly's cradle. Alina got one from Grandma this year, but she found a third use for this beauty. Her dolly was content in her lap while Alina felt beautiful in her new hat.

David enters the world of transformers. What a great idea for our mechanically-minded boy!

She started carrying a bag around like a purse, but still insisted that her new gift was a hat. It was one of her first words, so she emphatically said "hhhhhaat" any time I tried to redirect her to the idea that it was a purse or a cradle.

I guess when you're this cute, you can wear it however you please.

It was a very Merry Christmas in 2014!

Bethlehem Supper--Christmas Eve

Since we have moved to Alaska, I have been trying to figure out just the right way to spend Christmas Eve. It is probably the time that we most miss having family nearby during the entire year! Year after year, our attempts to gather with friends have been only moderately successful. None of our attempts over the last 8 holiday seasons in Alaska were really meeting what I wanted to get out of Christmas Eve. So this year, I tried something completely new.

Our Menu was: Pita bread, leg of lamb, roast beef, hummus, tzatziki,fig jam, tapenade, goat cheese mediterranean green salad, grapes, white grape juice and baklava for dessert. This turned out to be just the kind of tradition that settled in for me. It is something new for our family, it was very meaningful, and it gave us a reason to gather our friends around our table.

Our guests included Shasta and Joshua Petersen, as well as the Elders, Elder Urrutia and Elder Steadman.

Alina had her very own table and chair at the corner of our big table.
One of my favorite things about the evening was that Alina said "Mmmm, mmmm" the entire time she was eating her food. Clearly she enjoyed her meal!

Bob and Sonia McCants joined us as well. Can you see the wooden plates I pinned down for the occasion? They are actually disposable plates made of palm leaves. Over the next year, I want to pin down another item to add to our decor--maybe special cups or utensils?

Kicking off our Christmas celebration with the Bethlehem supper was very meaningful. It brought the true meaning of Christmas into our holiday celebration. I didn't get a picture of the center piece when I set the big table on Christmas Eve, but I recreated it the next day so it was the center piece of our table all day on Christmas. Yes, this tradition is here to stay.

Sweet

 I tried getting some pictures under the tree of my sweet children, and was met with moderate success. Somehow, a button was switched on my lens from "Auto" to "Manual." This has happened before, and since it's not where the rest of the dials are that I usually play with, I don't think to check it until I see a pattern of blurry pictures over several different events. I took lots of photos, and the children were playing into the moment with their charm and smiles . . . but the rest of the photos are blurry. *Sigh*

Whether or not my camera worked for me this time, these children are beautiful.

I love them so.

At least I got a few, right?