Keepers

I've been thinking a lot about Kenley lately, and just wanted to post this so that I don't forget it. Kenley is just such a cool little person. She's so fun to talk to - she's interesting, funny, and compassionate. She asks these great questions and we get deep into conversation. I always try to save her for tucking in last, because we get to talking and I'm just in there forever.

Today we had this huge conversation about food and nutrition, and what types of foods and the healthiest and least healthy, and about whole-wheat carbs versus white carbs, and calories of different foods, and how many calories you need to function, and to lose weight/gain weight, and whether most people are trying to be thinner or fatter and why. I can just talk to her forever.

Then the other night we were talking about religion, and she asked if people who are married are ever different religions, and how that works. I explained that people handle that scenario in lots of different ways, and we were talking about them. And she was just so compassionate about families in that situation, and for moms that have to take their kids to church by themselves and handle the kids all alone. It reminded me of another time we were talking about divorce because one of her friend's parents are divorced, and we were talking about how her friend goes back and forth between the two houses, and she said, "That must be really hard." "For your friend?" I asked. "No, for her mom. That must be hard, to get divorced, and then sometimes not even have your kids there with you, and be all by yourself." And my heart just melted, that she could not only feel bad for her friend, and envision a struggle for someone her own age, but to so easily imagine the struggles of a mother who had gone through a divorce.

She's just cool, this kid. I've made her promise a million times that she will never, ever leave me and always live close to me, because I just want so badly to see up close and personal who she grows up to be.

And, on a lighter note, something that I don't want to forget about Claire is that she thinks the phrase is "Ooopsie, Spaghetti-o," instead of "Uh-oh, Spaghetti-o." And because of her pronunciation, it sounds even more awesome, like, "Ooop-y, Paghetti-o." I love it every single time.

January Life

Not much going on around here, but I know I'm going to start hearing from my mom soon if I don't get some new pictures up. Hmmmm..... what's been happening?

We relaxed around the house....

 Saw an awesome rainbow. This was a full rainbow but I could only get one half at a time in the picture. So gorgeous.

 Parker did lots of this. For fun. Seriously. I love that kid.

 On Monday we went ice skating. Ice skating outside is one of my favorite things about living in Alaska. It's always such an ordeal to get there, but then once I'm there, I just feel so lucky to be able to do it. Especially at the Lagoon - it's amazing.

This is James helping Claire. Remember, you ice skate pretty much as soon as you can walk in Alaska.

Kenley and Parker...

 

 Me and Kenley taking the long loop around the Lagoon.

And afterwards Aunt Gail was nice enough to have us over for hot chocolate! Do you think Claire enjoyed it?

Happy January!

Christmas Break/New Year's Fun

After all our family left, we had a pretty low-key Christmas break. We still had a week and a half left, and Christmas was already over! Adding to that, it was in the low 40's here for almost a week, which meant snow was melting like crazy, so none of our normal outdoor activities were really do-able. So I pretty much spent my entire break sleeping, reading, and organizing my house. Perfection. But here are our cute shots from the break...

 Christmas morning waffles

Sledding and snowman building! Good thing we did it that day - it was the last good snowy day of the break!

 New Year's Party!

 Aaaaaannddd... the cutest little 3-year-old on Earth. Seriously.

More family in town!

Right after Grandma Kerry left, the entire rest of my family arrived. My Grandma Teddy was turning 90 the weekend before Christmas, and for the occasion, every single one of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and assorted spouses were on hand! For me, that meant my dad, step-mom, brother, sister-in-law, their two kids, my sister, brother-in-law, and their baby were all up here ready to play! Does that sound like just a little bit of chaos for Christmas? But we loved it. We were in California this past summer when my sister had her baby, but of course he was just a nothin' then, and we hadn't gotten to see Scott's newest baby yet. Her name is technically Caroline, but if you call her anything other than Ice Cream Sandwich, Claire might kill you.

They were only here for an extended weekend, so I'll make every effort to cram all my pictures into one post....

Me and my sis

 I love watching my brother with his little family. :)

 Parker, loving his new art set from Grandma Teddy!

 The first attempt at a pic of all 6 cousins!

 Kenley and Caroline. You'd never guess that sweet girl is adamantly opposed to her own parents ever having another baby. But she sure loves her cousins!

 All the kids with Grandpa and Mee Mee.

 Grandma and her newest great-grandchild!

 On Friday night we met two of my cousins and my aunt at the McDonald's playland for a little playdate. It was obnoxiously loud, but where else would we have put all those kids?!?

 On Saturday we went sledding across the street. This was right around the winter solstice, so you can see you dusky it is, even though this was sometime around 11am.

 Kenley was insistent on standing under the snow my uncle was shoveling off the roof of the playset. Are you thinking to yourself that this won't end well? You are correct.

 Saturday night was my grandma's party. Here is Scott with all the girl cousins.

 My dad's branch of the family..

 Grandma with all of her great-grandchildren...

 Acting silly

 Parker was surprised and suuuuuuuper thrilled to get some presents from my aunt and uncle!

 All 10 of the cousins

 Me and my sibs

 Can you tell these two are brothers?

 Grandma getting ready to blow out her candles.

 My uncle Gary had somehow unearthed this paddle used to spank him and my dad when they were younger, and bequeathed it to me. Score!

 Photo shoot before church on Sunday...

 Opening some presents after church

Finally it was time to say good-bye. On our last night, Andrea remarked how lucky we were as James cleaned up the kitchen and the two other dads shushed babies. These guys in our family know how it works!