Time, Time, Oh Where Do You Go?

So, life is chaos and as usual my blog has become the thing I think of, well lets face it, I think of it never. I keep on telling myself, as I read the updates on other's blogs, that I need to get back in the game. So prepare yourself, this might be quite long.

Christmas was awesome. Kevin and I both had our mother's in town. Nothing like 20 inches of snow and -17 temp to welcome family! They both were troopers. They both bundled up in many o' layers and braved the arctic winter. Yes, we had a moose encounter and my parking in the middle of the road to get pics was worth it. The boys were treated by Santa who brought things like hockey skates, light sabres and a tricycle. They were totally satisfied with Santa's generosity. Caleb had no interest in discovering the treasures that waited underneath the shimmering wrapping paper. He physically opened only one present. He was totally mesmerized by a hockey stick and ball Santa had put in his stocking. Noah had the pleasure of not only his own surprises, but helping his little brother discover his.

It has been quite cold here is AK. For the first time in my life (and hopefully the last) I heard the meteorologist say, "At these temps flesh will begin to freeze". I don't know about you, but that makes me want to go to Hawaii even more!

I have been continuing my training for this triathlon I am going to attempt. As of late, my training has slacked off due to holidays and a recent injury. I sprained my ankle really good while snowboarding before Christmas. Running has not been possible, or cycling, so I have been in the pool, which still bothers it some. I am hopefully going to get on the treadmill this week. That might be a big maybe since I do not want to injure it further. Recovering longer is better and more efficient than training injured. My pool work has greatly improved. I have successfully been swimming a continuous 500m in 15min. I need to improve that time and really work on my running. I get on the treadmill and I wonder how in the world I ever ran a 1/2marathon last year cause I can barely squeak out 3miles! This must change soon if I am gonna attempt another 1/2 this summer. Maybe 2, I haven't decided yet.

Noah is so not a little boy anymore. He is all boy. He is mostly self sufficient and is has become quite the thinker. On Tuesday he will begin his first hockey lessons. (BTW he ate Christmas morning breakfast with his hockey helmet on and maneuvered food through the cage, he loved it so much!) It will be very basic at first. Just, learn to skate. He had his first experience on the ice today. He attended a friend's bday party and the first 1.5hours was going to be ice skating. Well, it is FRIGID, or as I was told today, it is just stupid cold here. So we lasted all of 20-25min. By this time, Noah, Kevin, nor I could feel our toes. So, we surrendered to the cold and left to retreat in the warmth of Lori's home (Lori is the mom of Noah's friend, and a very good friend of mine). It was so cold I had to hold my toes in the car cause they were hurting so badly!! Anyway, Noah did great! He was able to stand on his skates fairly well. He shuffled across the ice, this way and that, with the use of Mom and Dad's hands. I think when we get in the arena on Tuesday he is gonna have way more fun cause it won't be so COLD! He also starts back to school on Monday which is a bummer, for me, cause I like having him home. We have really been enjoying sleeping in. :) Can you believe he is on his way to being 5 YEARS OLD??!!

Where do I even begin with Caleb?! Besides having a vocab the size of the Webster's dictionary, he is a busy little bee! You can only guess where he gets his nonstop talking from??!! I am going to attempt to get him into hockey lessons as well. Every chance he can he gets Noah's skates and helmet, puts them on (helmet on backwards, of course), and walks around saying, "Go outside, play hockey". How cute! He has a cold right now, poor baby. Tonight was the first time I saw him walking up the stairs, not crawling up them. He was also doing most of the weight bearing on his right leg. The right leg is the one that was clubbed. The doctors said that it was highly likely that there would be noticeable muscle imbalance between his right and left calf muscles and that his right and left feet would be different sizes. Guess what..........God said otherwise and his feet are the same size and his right leg seems to be his stronger side. How cool is that! I can't believe he will be 2years old in just over 2 weeks! That means only 2 more years of wearing the brace at night (we are at the halfway mark!!!) YAAAHHHHHHOOOOOO! I think we might just have a "Bury the Brace" party when he finally doesn't have to wear it anymore.

Kevin is busy right now preparing to do an airshow in India. I wish we could hop on that jet and go with him. He is also preparing to attack the arctic winter during his Arctic Survival School at the end of this month. This takes place in Fairbanks, AK. Lately the temps in Fairbanks have been subzero as the high! It is probably close to -50/60 at night. BbbbbbUUURRRRRRR! He has been trying to pass by the long winter months by occasionally playing basketball, and getting in as much snowboarding as possible.

And yes, I have avoided the post office long enough and will finally mail the rest of the Christmas presents I have yet to mail. Just think of them as New Year presents! A little something to perk you up after the Christmas chaos has become a blur! :)
I have several post office stories, I won't rehash them, but just know that one certain postman's face will be etched in my memory forever and if I could I would nominate him for the worst, most inconsiderate, and most unhelpful postman for life! GRRRRRR!!!

For the past week I have been going back and forth on keeping them up or taking them down. Sadly, tomorrow the Christmas decorations will begin to come down. *sniff *sniff.

I look forward to 2009. Lord willing, we will have a great summer of camping and more Alaskan adventures to encounter, my husband and I will be married another year longer, and we all enjoy more birthdays. Possibly, we will see our last Alaskan winter (the winter after the current), we will see our children grow up even more, we will get more time with family, and we will grow more in our walk with God.

I will end with my usual valediction: I'll post pics later.... :)