Hailey turns 9 years old

Since my last post... we have celebrated Hailey's birthday and Christmas.
I think I will start with the birthday - since I haven't upload Christmas photos yet! This year Hailey wanted her birthday party at the ice skating rink! When I called to check on prices - I was quite amazed that the prices were very reasonable.
$50 for the first 10 kids then $1.50 for each additional skater. Which also included adults. We had our own room... which was a locker room - but that was fine. They brought us a 6 foot table and there were benches all around the room. It was perfect! Hailey had a great time with her friends! All the kids seemed to have a great time skating... some experienced, some not! All and all it was a great time... Bill and I even skated. But, holy cow their ice skates need updating. They killed my feet. Even another friend of mine who skated she commented on how bad the skates were.... We are going to buy the girls their own ice skates. Living in AK there are lots of opportunities to skate outdoors and I think it would be great to own their own pair! Bill and I too! I know exactly the skates I want to buy for them too. Bladerunner ice skates... they are adjustable skates - size 2-4 The problem is - everyone is sold out - even online! So I have to wait! I am hoping to just buy them in ANC at Sports Authority! Thanks Kim for the great tip - I knew when I saw the girls skates - I had to know where to find them! I just hope they get them in stock soon!

I can't believe our Hailey is already 9.... she is growing so fast! Bill and I are so proud of her. It seems like only last year she was just a small 6 pound baby in my arms! We love you Hailey bug!

Christmas Tags.....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? A little of both - but mostly wrapped!

2. Christmas Tree - Real or Artificial? Growing up we always had a real tree! But living in Alaska it's very hard to find a good tree that doesn't cost a forture and all the needles far off! So, I say Artificial!

3. When do you put up the tree? My goal is the weekend after Thanksgiving! This year it was the first weekend in December!

4. When do you take the tree down? January, after the New Year when the kids are back in school. I usually don't rush to take it down!

5. Do you like eggnog? YES, and it's way yummy with Kahlua.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My purple bike

7. Hardest person to buy for? Bill

8. Easiest person to buy for? Jennifer

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I do - but I don't put it out. It's not a very nice one!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Always MAIL....

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I've been pretty lucky - no bad gifts!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story! Polar Express and The Santa Clause

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I have good intentions of starting early! But over the last few years I've been later and later!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? NO!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham!

16. Lights on the tree? Colored! And TONS of them!

17. Favorite Christmas song? I love all Christmas music!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? HOME - Bill would not be caught dead on an airplane during the holidays!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, .....Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzon, & Ruldolph! - see told you I like Christmas music!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A big silver star!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? All on Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The pressure to get it done in time! I hate just buying anything. I want gifts to have a special meaning and something that they love. I hate the pressure of getting a gift!

23. What theme/color theme do you use on your tree? Family ornaments and all the Hallmark ornaments I collect!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Didn't we already answer this? HAM!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I'd love an i-Pod Touch! But, I know that won't happen - we are cutting back this year! So, I will be happy to get the NEW Fix It and Forget It BIG Cookbook - 1,400 Best Slow cooker recipes!

26. Who is most likely to kiss under the mistletoe? I never buy that.... or see it anywhere!


I'm tagging Jenny, Lesley & Elisa!

Baby, it's COLD outside!

Talk about dedicated Alaskan's..... we just spent the last 3 hours OUTSIDE in 0 degrees. Thank goodness for hand and foot warmers. And who knew they were so cheap? A 6 pack at Walmart was less than $2. That supplied 3 of us! Now I bet you are wondering - why were you outside? It's Colony Christmas in Palmer. There is a big festival in Palmer - lots of bazaars - lighted parade at 5pm - followed by a HUGE fireworks display at 6:30pm. This year Sydney was in the parade for Daisy Girl Scouts - so she needed to be dropped off at 3:45pm to be ready for her float! So, Hailey and I dropped her off - all bundled - warm and cozy! We headed to find a parking spot. We found a good one.... but had to walk to the parade. We did have time to kill - and there was drama. Hailey didn't want to wear gloves - then she did - then she was frozen - whining - I was ready to go home! Finally she was starting to warm up and the parade was about to begin! Thank goodness I had my snowflake bag.... cause she raked in the candy! That put her in a much better mood!
The parade ended and it was time to go pick up Sydney - which meant getting back in the car. Loosing our parking spot! Oh well - we needed to come back to see the fireworks. We finally made it almost following Sydney's float half way there. It was tricky - we were avoiding traffic and going a very slow pace since all the kids were still on the float!
Poor Sydney was COLD.... she warmed up in the car!!! And we headed back for fireworks!
I think she just warmed up enough then we got out of the car again! FIREWORKS - THEY ROCKED! We could see the 2 guys with their torches - lighting them off! We were so close! We were tipping our heads so far back - it was awesome!
I did take some pictures but they didn't turn out so well..... when you open the camera the lense fogs up! - Nice! I'll post later a few pic later... .right now I need to warm up under a blanket! My legs are still cold..... I even had on snow pants, long johns and jeans! We live about 4-5 miles from dowtown Palmer - and it's now -7 degrees here! CRAZY!!

And we are still 90% on the YES side of going to the zoo tomorrow for the Christmas for the Animals. Are we ready to do this again? Good thing is... it'll be an hour or less!

Stay warm!

New background

Hi All,
Well, I just spent so much time finding a new background I ran out of time to post!
It's after 2am - and I should get to bed.
Or at least tidy up the kitchen before bed from making a big COOKIE making MESS!
I've been in a baking frenzy tonight baking for a cookie exchange.
I made Butterscotch Chip Peanut Butter cookies - and Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies... they both turned out really good! The pumpkin cookies are to donate to the Eagle River Chamber who is putting on a...... Winter Wonderland.... Walk begins Friday at 6pm Town Square. Tree Lighting & Santa's arrival by sleigh and reindeer will occur at approximately 7pm. School choirs all evening... lots of fun goodies. Community donations of canned food and gifts gladly accepted to be used in Chugiak-Eagle River.

So you Alaska locals.... hope to see you there!

Sydney looses her FIRST TOOTH

Yes... you heard it right! Sydney finally lost her first tooth!

Scottie and I were setting up for our MOMS Club bazaar on FRIDAY, October 24th! We were busy working and Sydney came running over.. MOM, I lost my tooth! Oh my goodness - she was so excited! So, 7 years old and in first grade - she lost her first tooth! Since Jennifer was watching the girls for me during the bazaar - we spend the night! Which meant the tooth fairy had to come and visit at her place! Sydney wrote the tooth fairy a note and asked her if she could KEEP her tooth! It was so cute! Here are a few goofy shots... and the display we had at the bazaar - LOTS OF PRODUCT!

Halloween 2008

I am way behind on blogging - it's hard to keep all these website straight! I blog, I Facebook, I have a Myspace page and a Shutterfly page. I did post pictures on my Facebook page from Halloween but I am sure not all of you have seen them so I guess I better post on here too!
Each Halloween our Bunco Group dresses up - this year I was stumped on what to do. I took the lazy way out and just got a Halloween shirt at Target that read, Trick or Treat! Then I started thinking later, I should get a wig of some kind to be a little bit silly! The one I found was orange to match my black shirt with orange writing. I thought cute! But another shopping day I found a shirt at Fred Meyer that read Witchy Woman - and that will still go with the orange wig... so I found an old witch hat in the closet and wore that! Then the day before bunco Sydney and I went to Walmart. I was looking for fake eyelashes - no luck - but I did find GREEN face paint! I thought - what the heck for $1 let's go for it! So, here is what I did!


It was fun.. the girls totally thought I looked "COOL" and the babysitter said I was a "Cool Mom" but the next day was Halloween - and the girls school has a fun night there of trick or treating and games. I asked them if they wanted me to get dressed up. They said "YES... but no make up mom, that is embarrassing!" WHAT? Already they are embarrassed of me? Oh dear! Well, I am glad they said what they did, cause I was the just about the ONLY lame MOM dressed up with a wig and hat! A lot more parents were dressed up last year! Oh well!
Here are some pictures of the kids - they looked so cute and had such a great time!

I hope everyone had a wonderful safe Halloween!

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Target

Well, our Alaska Targets are finally OPEN! I've already been there like 4 times and spent WAY too much money! I was there opening day - October 8th! They did a soft opening @ 8am - I was there around 9:30am after the kids got to school! I needed to go back the next day and return a few items and get a credit for something that didn't make it in my bag and of coarse I had to SHOP some more! I took pictures almost everytime I was there.... here are some shots I took!




My little yoga girls - doing TREE STAND! How cute are they? LOVE IT!
Our biggest shopping spree was last Sunday with Bill - it was his first trip! There wasn't a whole lot in the cart but the items were big ticket. Sydney got her big b-day present from us! She got a new bike! It's 20 inches and I swear we are not buying any more bikes. We have spent so much money on bikes! Here is a picture of her and her new ride! It's so cute - love the fenders!
Nothing like spending our 12 year wedding anniversary (18 years together) at Target! Man, I love it! Coudn't have been a better day!