In 'da house

The snow is here and so is the cold. It actually hasn't been that cold yet, but we are now in winter mode. The kids get bundled up before going out and the bikes are put away. It's a long time until summer again, but we had a good one for which we are grateful. Being winter, we tend to do more inside activities. This consist of trains and puzzles for Owen and drawing/coloring/reading for the girls. They are currently into coloring Halloween stuff and Owen is about to pass the 100 mark on his "farm puzzle" completions. Making treats is always fun and Carol decided to do popcorn balls in the rice krispie treat tradition mixing popcorn with marshmallows. They were actually incredibly good! They were also a little sticky but nothing a little soap and water can't fix. We're definitely going to do that one again. Dancing is another favorite. The girls are always dancing and Owen actually likes spinning around to the beat as well. A few days ago, they all wanted to dance in their dancing outfits (the girls have leotards from their dance class at North Star Ballet), and just couldn't find anything for Owen. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), they found an older smaller leotard in the closet. We'll definitely have to get these photos out for Owen's wedding roast. More photos here (you can guess which one is my favorite...Carol made me promise not to post it on the blog).

Night of the Gyro

We had a fun filled night a while back with some of our best friends up here in Fairbanks. It consisted of some excellent fish, lots of dressing up, trains, drum solos by Owen, a dance performance with 23 encores and a ride in Andrew's new fitness machine, the gyrogym. It's actually quite fun and we all jumped in for a turn (pun intended). Carol even took a postprandial turn and the previously mentioned fish stayed put.

Leaves

This post is a little out of order as we obviously have snow on the ground, but I had to get in my annual ode to fall (normally a verbal ode, but this year a blogged one). Fall is fantastic. It is even more fantastic with kids. I have many fond memories of big leaves being raked by tired parents at Lindsay Gardens and I'm hoping somehow to provide my kids with those same memories. I honestly can't think of anything more enjoyable than raking a pile of leaves and either jumping in it, or watching your kids do the same. If you've never done it, do it tomorrow (unless you live in Alaska in which case you are past fall and into winter). All our fall photos can be seen here.

First Snow

Well, it's here. We got our first snow over the weekend. It first appeared Friday night after I had mowed the lawn for what is now certainly the last time for the season. The leaves were raked and the yard was ready and now it is white. We didn't get a lot, but enough to change the fall into winter. It was very exciting for the kids...a little less so for the adults. Beth, Isabel and Owen all wanted to go out immediately to go sledding. There wasn't quite enough snow for that, but they had fun licking fresh flakes off the slide, chairs, rain gutters, etc. Fortunately, spring is just around the corner (7 short months away). We still have to post our fall photos which I'll do in a few days. You can see the rest of our snow photos here.

Cinderelephant

We love Popop. Beth was making a book today and wanted me to be the "illustrator". It was a book about animals and I really did my best to make each one look something like the real animal. Unfortunately my drawing skills are lacking somewhat. I was actually laughing out loud as I drew most of them due to their amorphous shape.  Beth wrote all the text.  One of my favorites that I didn't include in the pictures below says, "A mother bunny huddles her baby bunny.  Bunnies do not want to get eaten for a meal."

Anyway, we got talking about good artists in the family and so of course Popop came up. Beth recalled a time when she asked Popop to draw her a picture of Cinderella. He began but just couldn't resist putting the Popop touch on the picture and ended up drawing a "Cinderelephant".  I just had to smile when I heard the story. For those of you who don't know, Popop is Beth's grandpa and he is a fabulous artist with a quirky and creative sense.  I have a lifetime of memories looking at adapted birthday cards with hybrid animals and animated vehicles (a Cinderelephant is a perfect example).  One day I'll post something on here.  If you've seen any of his drawings, you would immediately understand.  They are masterpieces and Beth's comments reminded me how lucky we are to have Popop. He is one of a kind and we love him! I can't wait for the next creation to arrive.

Train Station

We made a trek out to the train station a couple of weeks ago. There's not really much there except for a relatively new building, a locked up model train and a bunch of track. Still, the kids like to go (especially Owen) and I think this was our third trip there. We mostly look at the old antique trains they have positioned around the main depot and then run down by the tracks. It had just rained when we were there last time leaving the all encompassing puddles. Owen also has a huge internal magnet toward anything wet and so he was in double bliss (trains plus water). More photos here.