Fur Rondy

We missed this little gem of a festival this year. Fur Rondy is packed with events like a carnival, dog mushing races, anything Alaskan including the running of the reindeer. This is like the running of the bulls, just Alaska style, all the folks dress up CRAZY!!. I really wanted to see this but it was taking place the same time I had to be at the airport. Traffic was all backed up going into downtown. I swiped these pics of the local newspaper website.



Another little nugget of news I keep forgetting to mention is our local mascot, Buzzwinkle. He is this huge bull moose, with a rack like you have never seen! He first appeared in downtown with christmas lights hanging from his rack stumbling around in the town square. Apparently, he found some fermented crab apples, got a "buzz" on and walked through some branches with lights on them, got tangled ripped them from the tree, and meandered around downtown checking out the local night life. Anyway, he is becoming a superstar. You can see his pic and read about him HERE

Airplane Rides and Cell Phones

Busy busy weekend. Caleb and I left Sun afternoon for Seattle. This was his first time on a plane and he did very well. The fact that I brought along a dvd player, coloring books, stickers, reading books, snacks, more snacks, and toys probably helped. My diaper bag was so heavy that I was constantly apologizing to the passengers on the plane that felt the blow of the bag while on the way to my seat. It didn't do much good cause my bag knocked them out from its weight and force while this momma made her way to her seat quickly! On the way down he stayed awake for the whole flight, but on the return home he was out before the landing gear left the runway. I had so many people tell me while exiting the plane in Anchorage, "I didn't even know there was a baby on this flight". Well now, I did my job. Just give me the super mom award! Never mind the fact that our flight left at 9pm well into CJ's bedtime so he was quite ready to go to sleep as we boarded the plane.
Anyway, on the important stuff. We saw the ortho doc Friday morning and it was a great appt. He had three docs come in to look at his foot. His main guy, Dr Mosca, then two of his partners, co workers, whatever you want to call them. Apparently, our little Caleb has the best looking recovering club foot these docs have EVER seen. Apparently, all of our prayers are working. Like they wouldn't, right?! Anyway, his range of motion, flexibility, arch, stance, and positioning are all better than perfect. There was even mention about losing the brace at 2 or 3 yrs old instead of 5! There was a mention (not a concern) about the way he is curling his big toe on his club foot while he is standing. However, this could be from the fact that he is not walking yet or standing on his own, so once these things begin, it could just go away. I have no worries, God has brought him this far, He is going to see it out. So, again they reminded me about the possible 2nd surgery that could possibly happen because of muscle development. Something we (Kevin and I) have no control over. So, let's keep praying cause God has control on this cause there is not going to be a 2nd surgery! So overall, great appointment. The orthotist (the brace guy) adjusted his brace too. His foot is not quite so turned out. Both feet are set at 45 degrees, where before they were 70 degrees on the right and 15 degrees on the left. Setting both at 45 degrees takes some of the torque off of his hips and makes it easier for him rolling around and general movement while wearing his brace. Very cool!! It makes it a little more difficult to get the brace on, which I found surprising. So be ready grandma's! When you watch him in a couple of weeks you will be schooled in the art of proper brace putting on!

So, if any of you tried to call my cell, well you probably didn't get through. We got new cell phones on Sat afternoon and we tried and tried, but with no success, we could not port our numbers. So, now we have new ones. I have not text you all cause my old phone died on the way to Seattle where I had planned on transferring numbers. I am not going to post my digits here, just know that a text, email, or call will be coming your way with the new number.
And, all I can say is that our new cell phones are so cool!! I had a ton of reluctance getting it and it actually sat in the box until the last minute cause I was contemplating taking it back. But I didn't and I am happy about that decision. It was a great help in Seattle, especially cause I do not know the are very well. So, anyway here is my new phone, Click here

Well, we have a busy week this week cause on Friday we are leaving for Hawaii. Hopefully this trip will be a go, cause me and the kids will be flying on a C-17 Kev will be piloting. How cool?!! But you know the military, we could be on the runway and they cancel the trip. We are so wanting the warmer temps and sunshine!!! So I am keeping all fingers crossed.

Have a great week guys and hopefully my next post will be ones from Hawaii!!

Recent funny stuff

--Bumper Sticker I saw today:

Wanna Make a Liberal Mad?
Work hard and be Happy!


--My new Diet Plan:

Breakfast
1 grapefruit, 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean steamed chicken, 1 cup spinach, 1 cup herbal tea, 1 Hershey's kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey Kisses in the bag, 1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white), 2 loaves garlic bread, 1 family size supreme pizza, 3 Snickers Bars

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Maybe A Pencil

My fav part of AI tonight

Simon - "I can't compare you to anything. Well, maybe a pencil."

I laughed so hard, I almost choked!

Words of Life and Words of Death

I don't know why, but these things need to be said today. This is a heavy post, so be ready.

Prov 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
NASU

Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life. NLT

Oh how I have been in a place where I left my tongue loose. Out of my mouth shot the words of death and they were sucessful in their mission. I watched as the light of life disappeared. I felt vindicated, avenged, even. They needed to know my hurt, they needed to know I was right. The death I caused met no immediate resistance and that made it easy to look the other direction and stride away. Even if that death I caused would have met resistance, I was callused with hurt, my words were focused to cause death. The path leading away would still be worn from my footsteps. Those relationships that met with those deadly words were left behind for dead.
Shameful. How easy to speak the words of death. The words that bring death do just that, bring death. Not only for the person hearing, but for the person sending those words on their mission. I praise God for the forgiving hearts He placed in those that suffered death from my mouth. How undeserving I am.

This proverbs verse just made me think about things from my past. How we are to be responsible for what we say. Responsible even if we are knowingly or unknowingly hurting with our words. The strength of words is amazing. God SPOKE the worlds into existence. His words are strong enough to CREATE something out of nothing.

I pray that we all use the words of life. To build, savor, recover, strengthen, petition, encourage, love, and nourish one another.

Well, well, well

I see a little blog spankin' worked on a few of you. I will use this technique again if I have to., but don't make me. Hee Hee!

Oh my gosh, there are about a zillion things on my plate right now. My first area of concern is that Caleb and I are taking a trip next Sunday down to Seattle to see his ortho doc. My intention is to carry a back pack and call it good since he and I are only going for a brief 24 hour period. However, I am finding the new travel regs are preventing me from taking my hair product! Boo! So, I am in the search for bottles that are 3oz since it doesn't matter if the bottle has less than 3oz in it, the container can not be more than 3oz AND all of my liquids, gels, and aerosols, must fit in a nice quart sized ziploc. Ok, you would think that the contact lens solution folks over at Alcon would know to make a 3oz bottle for traveling purposes, but no, theirs is 4oz. How nice. I could go on and on about this thorn in my heel, but I will quit here.

Caleb has had a fever for the past 2 days and we have got to get that fixed before our upcoming trip. It just came out of nowhere. I am trying to pin it down to either the 4 molars that are ripping his mouth apart, just another common cold, par for the course here in AK, or a combo of both. Whatever it is, it has to be gone by Sat night or I am going to have a dandy trip on the plane. Especially when the pressure on the plane enters the equation.

3 day weekend has been nice with my man. We attended a nice Valentine's banquet on Friday hosted by my Bible Study group. Very romantic, it was set back in the woods at a chalet. It was snow covered and the drive back to it was fun. Then Sat we got another date and had a late lunch with some friends at the Glacier Brewhouse. That place has the best salmon you could put in your mouth. Anyone who visits us will enjoy a trip to this place. It has quickly become one of our fav restaurants. Today we picked up Kev's friend from the airport and had a nice lunch with him and Kev's aunt and uncle who are in town from Russia. This aunt and uncle got great news in that he is going to be able to finally retire. The last 4years have been in Russia and now they can stay in the US. Which is especially nice since they had another addition (their 4th grandchild) to their family, a little boy named Kevin James. Too cute! It is also nice for us to have a friendly face to visit with and an added bonus is they lived here in anchorage for about 10-12 years so they know the area and have been giving us some tips and must-do's.
So, KJ is back to work tomorrow :(

The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy preparing for our upcoming trips. So, my blogging may be scarce, BUT I will get a blog in every now and then. I have some pics of the boys I want to get on here. OF course I will be posting about Caleb's appt next week. So please keep us in your prayers for safe travels as while we are traveling all over God's great earth!

I also want to give a shout out to all of us who have a new year goal to get through the Bible this year. If you are where I am, hang in there. I am learning and remembering how hard these books can be. Some of you know too, Numbers and Leviticus are so trying with all the repetition. Stay with it!!! God is opening my eyes and heart to so much through His words. He has something in there for you too, I can guarantee. So keep opening that book everyday and soak up as much of God as you can!

More later..............

Calling you out!

Ok seriously. This has been bothering me for quite some time. I am gonna call out those who do not update their blogs! Seriously!! I am a loyal reader of all blogs linked to mine, so you who do not update regularly are going to be removed. Really, like you care if I take you off my blog! Just delete the stupid thing (the blog, I mean) since you are not going to update it. Seriously! At least once a month, cmon!

There is nothing worth reading in the news except about the presidential race, and I can only take so much. I have my books I am reading, but who can get good quite time reading with 2 little boys in the house? So, you are my entertainment. I anxiously click on each blog so I can read the latest news, funny story, or see a cool pic. You non-updating people are killing me!! I hope the guilt trip is working!

So, this is a warning. Update your blogs or nasty comments may be left!!!!

-- and if you don't get it, this is part serious/part joking.

Some pics of the boys

POTW - Love

The theme this week is love. I immediately thought of this pic. I know, sick. This is the sick kind of love. I have mentioned it on other people's blog when they post about the Wii. It is a problem!

The Pistol

The world lost a very cool man yesterday. However God gained a wonderful friend, and this man was rejoined with his wife. If you saw him and his wife together you saw the love. After his wife passed all I thought of was the book, "Where the Red Fern Grows"
He was a part of the "Greatest Generation" and to hear his stories made for a great day. There was never dull moment or repeated story. He was an aavid Hearts player, and good at it too. Our hearts ache for this family who we love so dearly and lost someone so awesome.
And he is going to be missed. There is some sweetness in the fact that he no longer has to be in his wordly body. He is free of it and he can be free with his wife.
As for the title of this post, that's what we called him, Pistol. We are going to miss those stories.

How Strong, How Wonderful

I was doing my nightly reading and boy was it so wonderful. I had to share.


But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you. Deut. 9:3


Oh how wonderful He is. Doesn't that just give you so much hope, encouragement. He will go before us, He will make our path for us and all we have to do is walk it with faith.
I pray we all take that path already made for us by God.

THE STRIKE IS OVER!!!

The writer's strike is over and boy am I happy! I have so missed my fav shows and am so tired of the ridiculous reality TV plaguing the primetime hours.

So only about another month of nothing on the tube!!!

So bummed.....

Today was Winterfest. Our squadron rented the ski lodge on base from 12-8pm for us to come and go skiing, snowboarding, sleding, tubing, socializing, chili cookoff, and relay races, plus any other thing you wanted to do. So I have been preparing for today since about 9:30 this morning by getting 9 layers of clothes ready per kid, plus my own, so we could actually enjoy ourselves in the -1 temp that was today's high. About 1:30pm I start the process. I get the kids dressed head to toe, took about 45 min. This is always so much fun cause Caleb cries most of the time since I am pulling and tugging his little arms and legs to be sure every single area of skin is protected from the snow and cold. Noah is pretty good about it, but once he gets his snow bibs on he is rendered useless cause if he bends in any direction he topples over since he is now sufficiently puffed out like a marshmallow from all the layering. I go to take some bags to the car and thought I'll warm it up for 5 minutes while I get shoes on. Put the key in, turn it over, nothing. The car is d-e-a-d, dead. It then hits me that I left the interior light on the previous day, because I was checking to be sure the car seats are airline approved and have the sticker saying this. Seriously kicking myself hard at this point. I call up my girlfriend, who is going to be dropping of one of her kids at a babysitter close to me, about this time 2:20-30ish. She is close and turns around to give me a jump. So, I get out the jumper cables. This is just a minor hiccup, right?! That is at least what I keep telling myself. The car is parked in the garage which means the battery is on the opposite end of the garage opening. There is no pushing the car out of the garage cause Toyota makes this thing called a locking transmission. This means the car will not budge out of P, park, unless the ignition is ON and the brake is pressed. Yeah Toyota Engineers, thank you! I look at the pkg of jumper cables, 16ft long, Lord let this be long enough. I clip one end to the engine block, and begin to stategically place the cable in such a way to maximize the length. Well, guess what, yep, about 6 inches too short. Ok, no problem, I will just take the battery out of the car. DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB. I rake my knuckles about 4 times, so it looks like I have been in a really good fight. Finally, battery is out. I hook it up to her car. Now wait. It is now almost 3pm. Daylight and the high temp is going to be going down very soon. I take the battery put it back in the car. C'mon, c'mon. Sigh. Great, now what. She needs to go and maximize the time she has while her kid is at the sitter and I am sitting here with a still d-e-a-d, dead car. So, this person is a very good person. She goes to the squadron where her husband's car is and gets the portable battery charger. She returns and it is now 3:30-40ish. I hook up the battery charger and send my friend on her way. Hopefully I will see her at Hillberg (the ski lodge) in about 30min. I go in and take the coats off the boys cause they are still sitting like marshmallows in their 9 layers, except somehow Caleb was able to turn over and look like a wiggling marshmallow, since he could not pull his knees under himself to do a marshmallow crawl. Noah is giving me the I really really want to go sledding speech. I know, I know you do, but Mommy broke the car. So he asks, "was it an accident?" Awww, you sweet thang. Yes, mommy goofed and is trying to fix the car. He then replies, "Well, I will help you so we can go". So I distract them for a little bit with a ride in the wagon around the block. (Yes we put on the coats again!) We stop and look at some snow covered playgrounds, and decide to give one some play time. So, we shimmy our marshmallow selves through some tunnels and the boys take a turn on a bouncy seat that we managed to kick off the snow and ice. Maybe the car is ready it is now 5pm. We walk back to the house, I put the key in and the car tries and tries, I know it wanted to start, however, it did not. Ok, that's it. Kids lets start de-layering. The sun is starting to go down and there is no way I am dealing with really negative temps and small children. Noah then starts in the "BUT I REALLY WANTED TO GO!!!!!" Well, me too. Finally at 5:36pm the car starts. It is now dark and the kids need supper. So, we salute you Pizza Hut and the DVD "Cars" you are our heroes tonight.

How Ironic...

I registered to vote in Alaska in Dec 07. Did this while getting my driver's license. Have been waiting to get my voter card so I could vote on Super Tuesday. Well, card never came and I go about trying to find out where to vote.

Can you believe I could not vote b/c I did not have a card??? I guess their list was not up-to-date cause I wasn't on there either! Super Tuesday made me super mad cause my vote was not heard!

Here's the irony. I got my voter registration card today. BOO Alaska BOO!

Way to go Noah!!!

I just have to say how proud I am of Noah! He is going to the potty on his own and we have had 1 accident in a week!!!!! I do not even have to ask him, he just yells, "Mom I am going potty!" We are still in pull-ups at night, but that is to be expected for a while. We accidentally left his big boy undies on one night and he did fine. He wakes up dry every morning. No more only wearing undies at home, we are going out in undies. The only problem is mine. I have to get over taking him to public toilets. He is starting to show interest in standing up to go pee pee, and I want him to learn this for the public toilets! It is so nice only having to change one kid's diaper! It is VERY nice only changing one kid's stinky diaper!!!!

Way to go Noah!!! He is almost reaching the triumphant title of "Potty Trained"!! YEAH!!!

Can you believe??!!

That in January we got 27.5 inches of snow!

That January is over. Usually the holidays fly by, Jan is super slow and the quickness of time flying occurs to me in July. I think 2008 is going to be a blur. :(

We went to the water park and when we left it was -13 degrees.

The NY Giants beat the Patriots?

_______________________________________________________________

On another note, thanks for the responses to my last post. Very rewarding and encouraging.

Something weird. After lunch, one side of the tip of my tongue swelled up. It looks like someone shoved a pea on one side of my tongue just on the tip. I have no idea what happened. I did not bite it, or eat anything unusual. So Kevin is getting a good laugh at my funny speech. As I am typing this the swelling just disappeared. Wow! I have feeling back in my tongue!! I know, weird.

This weekend I got a compete scrapbook done. I scrapped 114 pictures. I just got a fire in my seat to get back into it. So I scrapped my Charleston album. It is just a bunch of pics of downtown and some things only found in the low country. It is a very simple scrapbook, but it is done and I love it.

The Superbowl. Can you believe that the loss by New England made that whole, no loss, season worthless. You might also think that Bellichick could wear a shirt where the sleeves were not cut off and something other than sweats. That guy truly deserves the title "Worst dressed coach of the NFL".