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!

FACEBOOK - MYSPACE

Come and visit me on Facebook or MySpace!

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!

Sydney's turns 7

Well, our baby is another year older!! She is 7 already! Wow, how times flies! We had a really great weekend and celebrated with Jennifer. Jennifer is like family. I love her, the kids love her and we always have so much fun together. Always LOTS of laughter! We started Friday night out with a birthday celebration in Anchorage with dinner. Sydney chose the restaurant. She chose Samurai Sushi!! A family favorite! As always when we left we were SOOO FUUUUUUUULLLLLLL.
Here are some pics to capture the FUN!
After dinner we went back to Jennifer's place and had a sleep over. We had plans to attend the Craft Bazaar in Anchorage on SAT - Make it Alaska Show. So, instead of driving home and driving back the next morning we had a girls night and spent the night! We opened presents and had cake!

Jennifer made her this really cute necklace - she loves it! It has a snake on it! Sydney was born in the year of the snake so we always refer to her as our little snake! Then Jennifer really got some points giving her this (see next picture)! It was hilarous watching her! She yelled, IN YOUR FACE!


And of coarse the Jonas Brothers CD she got from Hailey... she was very excited about that too!
Saturday morning we woke up and Jennifer made breakfast.... GREEN EGGS! The kids just LOVE it when Jennifer makes different colored eggs. Green seems to be the favorite. Jennifer and I call them nuclear eggs! See for yourself!

We hit the craft show and the Mall at Sears. Hailey needed new shoes for indoor soccer @ 7pm. I signed her up for COMP soccer. We'll see how she likes it. It's for 7 weeks we only played regular soccer, but we are going to give COMP a try! Sat was a very long day! Jennifer did follow us out to the Valley to see Hailey play soccer and continue the Birthday Celebration Weekend. Sunday was spent pretty much lounging around! We did wake up to the lightest dusting of snow! Jennifer and I managed to watch the movie 21. Not sure I'd really recommend it. It was very SLOW and not a lot of action! Glad it was only a rental via Blockbuster.com! We did successfully color my hair today too!! That was a huge PLUS! No more gray! Love it! I guess I will sign off! Next weekend is Sydney's Pool Party so I am sure I will post more on her birthday party! Bill comes home on Thursday! Yeah!

A little Fun!

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks!
*Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...
*They have to be real places, names, things.. nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Shelley
4 LETTER WORD - S _ _ _ You know what came to mind first but I'll say - sale
VEHICLE - Saturn - LOVING the NEW Outlook! My next car!
TV SHOW – Survivor
BODY PART – Shoulder
GIRL NAME - Sydney
BOY NAME - Sean
OCCUPATION - Sailer
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: - Socks
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM- soap
EXCUSE FOR BEING LATE – Slept in! Yah baby!
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT!!! - Refer to 4 letter word! S _ _ _ HA HA!

How old am I?

It's really quite scary when my kids and I listen to the same music. Who ever would have thought that I as a mom would like the young teens who start out on the Disney Channel?
First it was High School Musical Movies.... loved those soundtracks!
Then Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus and now it's the Jonas Brothers!
CRAZY!

Whenever the girls here the JONAS BROTHERS on the radio.... They get all excited!
Here is their video Burnin Up.
It will keep playing the next song until you click pause.

• Jonas Brothers
• New Music

What Sydney doesn't know - she is getting the Jonas Brothers CD for her birthday!

In other music:
Then there is Britney Spears..... Holy Cow! I have always been a fan of hers. Even through her hard times. Hoping she would pull it together! Well, she did for the MTV VMA's.
She WON.... Best Female Video, Best Pop Video & Video of the Year! All with this song below. I guess seeing the video I really heard the words. I knew I liked the song before but seeing this video I like it even more! And how amazing does she look in this video? Piece of Me

• Britney Spears
• New Music

I believe this will play onto her other songs as well.

And on October 24th will be the new movie High School Musical 3.... so I am sure we will get to know all those songs as well!

Yoga Retreat

Tomorrow... FRIDAY is the start of the Yoga Retreat at Pioneer Ridge Bed & Breakfast Here is a little history on the place!
This unique property was originally homesteaded in the early 1900's. In the 30's it was part of Roosevelt's New Deal (the plan to help Americans recover from the Depression) and was the home to a relocated family from the States. Our building was built in the 1960's and housed Fairview Dairy. In 1986, the 10,000 sq. ft. building was transformed into a warm and inviting B&B Each spacious, comfortable guest room is decorated with authentic Alaskana. Because we have much to do in and around our B&B we are TV FREE.
I just love this place!!! It's only about 10 minutes away from my house. The views are amazing! I'll be sure to take some beautiful fall pictures while I am there.
We will practice our yoga in a spacious room that has one full wall of windows to look at the mountains. It takes your breath away! I feel very fortunate to be able to attend all of Mary's yoga retreats. It's such a great time to be with friends, eat healthy and take care of me for a whole weekend. This will be the 5th retreat! They run from noon on Friday until late Sunday afternoon. Check out keeps getting later every year.... whoo hooo!!!
Since Bill is moose hunting, Scottie's dad (see picture below of Sushi Bob) and Julie has SAVED the day and will have Hailey + Sydney along with Trinity + Mikaela. I know the girls are going to have just as much fun as Scottie and I will. They've been talking about this since 4th of July when we made the plans.
There are no tv's at the B&B - but there is internet! So you know I will be checking emails and I may even post on my blog!!
Have a great weekend.....
Namaste

Sushi Bunco

I am in a FUN bunco group in Eagle River. Each month we volunteer to host a month. August was Kae's turn. She had bid on a sushi party last October at our MOMS Club bazaar and won. And her time was expiring soon to use it so she spolied us rotten and used it for our bunco dinner! The Sushi Chef is Bob Peterson. I am very familair with his work.... YUMMY! This is Scottie's dad! After retiring from being a bio chemist he went to sushi school. How fun is that? Anyway, he moved to Alaska about a year ago be closer to Scottie and the grandkids. Him and his wife Julie are so nice. I can't say enough nice things about them!
Bob didn't make anything raw, as per Kae's request. One of my absolute FAV'S is a creation of Bob's.... the Crabby Sara! (after his daughter - it's her FAV) And at this party he one upped it and made a SPICY Crabby Sara! SOOO YUMMY!!! It's a spicy crab salad - similar to how they prepare a CA roll. Then inside with the rice is tempura shrimp. Topped with avacado! And some spicy mayo on top!
Everyone had a GREAT time at bunco... we were all so full! Thanks Kae for hosting! And THANKS to BOB for another WONDERFUL MEAL!

NEW Website

Hi - I've been a member of Shutterfly for years. I love their quality of products. If you are not familiar your should check them out! They print the most amazing clear pictures. For the last several years, this is where I get my Christmas cards from. And I make my family a picture calendar for Christmas. And so far I have made 2 picture books and they turned out excellent.
Tonight a friend of mine sent me a link to her new photo site. It's via Shutterfly. I thought, shoot.. I should do this too It's impossible to post all the pictures I take to put them on the BLOG.. so I thought why not download them to Shutterfly for everyone to see. So, take a peek! I am hoping you can just click and see them. Let me know if it does or doesn't work!
ENJOY!
alaskanwhitmores.shutterfly.com
PS Thanks Stacy for the great idea.... if I keep up with this I will NEVER loose pictures again on my computer. I know Shutterfly will SAVE them and their system won't crash!

CONCERT WAS AWESOME!

SO EXCITED... the concert with Terry Fator was a huge hit! LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! This man is so amazing. I am going to attempt to post some video. He was so cool, he said, "there are no rules... take lots of pictures and video, show them to ALL your friends and let them know what they missed" He was so NICE! I WISH these pictures were better.... but my zoom doesn't work very well. (to see larger click on image)And not to mention we had this lovely OLD couple sitting in these chairs that WOULD NOT MOVE. They looked like wheelchairs, but they weren't! They were push chair. Everyone was SO frustrated but by the time people asked them to move it was too late they were trapped! So, you will see A LOT them during the show! UGH!!!

SHOOT.. the video that I just spend forever downloading... did not work!
Who knows any tricks?
I have 3 more videos I want to post... but holy cow they take forever to download! So I will try again later, I am tired tonight... It's after 2am!
And by the way... that pictures ontop of TERRY & I... YEAH! So excited and I also got an autographed photo! Too cool!

OK, couldn't stand it... had to try YouTube! Still have no idea what I am doing! Let's hope it works!

Terry Fator concert tonight

SO EXCITED.... Tonight I am going to a concert at the Alaska State Fair!
Have you heard of Terry Fator?
He's a Ventriloquist - Celebrity Impressionist - Comedian - Singer. He won the first season of America's Got Talent.
This guy is AMAZING! Check out his website for a peek at what he does... he makes the hair on my arms stand up and I get chills and want to cry! He's so talented!!
Terry Fator
I am going to try and take some pictures! I'll post later!
AND the girls and I are going to a concert on FRI too, also at the State Fair!
Sean Kingston He's an 18 year old young man who sings Jamaican, rap, reggae, dancehall, pop crossover. Most of his songs are remakes. They play him on the radio all the time so the girls totally know who he is. They BEGGED to go this concert! They REALLY wanted to go to Terry Fator too, because the 3 of us watch that show together. Anyway - they can't go tonight because the show starts at 7:30pm and it's a school night! Bummer! Tonight it's me and my friends at the fair with NO KIDS. I don't think in 15 years have I been to the fair without kids. WOW!! See you tonight, Scottie, Michele & Marcie!

Continued post on Pumpkin Muffins

Preheat the oven to the SAME temp at the cake mix.
325 or 350 depending on pan.
I'd go by the baking time as listed on the cake mix as well.
Since they don't list mini muffins - I put in for 10 mintues then I kept checking. They always needed atleast 2-3 more minutes!

Libby's
100% PURE
PUMPKIN
15oz can

Hope this helps!
Enjoy!
For more info click on Libby's to bring you to their website for MORE info and recipes!

DID YOU KNOW?
LIBBY'S is packed with nutritional benefits:
Low in Calories with 40 calories per 1/2 cup serving
Low in Fat and contains no Trans Fat, Saturated Fat or Cholesterol
One-half cup of 100% Pure Pumpkin equals 1 vegetable serving
Naturally Sodium Free
Excellent Source of Fiber
High in Vitamin A with 80% as Beta-Carotene (Antioxidants)
Naturally Gluten-Free

Just check the label: no salt, no sugar, no flavorings or preservatives.
It's just 100% Pure Pumpkin.

First day HOME

Since I uploaded pictures again... here are a few from the first day of school when they took the BUS home!
For the bus pictures I am standing in our yard... at the edge! We are pretty lucky that the bus stop is so close. After the girls greeted me I had them run and say HI to Dad in the backyard. He was spraying for ants. This is the first summer we've had issues with carpenter ants. You see one or two here and there but when Bill mowed the lawn and weed wacked a few weeks ago he found a whole bunch of ants near the girls window. Hopefully this will take care of the problem!

RECIPE: Pumpkin Muffins

Since school has started you have to get crafty with packing cold lunches. I know I don't like to eat the same thing everyday!
If you like pumpkin you will have to try this recipe. I've been making this recipe for years and the girls have always LOVED it. I just haven't made them in a long time so I am excited for them to be in their lunch tomorrow! I didn't bake them until they went to bed!
PUMPKIN MUFFINS

1 box of Yellow Cake Mix
1 can of Pure Pack Pumpkin (small can)
Mini chocolate chips (optional)
no liquid no eggs no oil

Combine yellow cake mix and pumpkin together until moist.
Add mini chocolate chips if you wish!

I usually make these in regular muffins or mini muffins.
The girls just LOVE them! And so do I!
I lost all my recipes when my computer crashed.. so if you have a good recipe send it my way! Or, post on your blog! If you have a blog!
PS Jenny, send me that Tator Tot Casserole!

Back to School 2008-2009

It's hard to believe that summer is over for the kids and school has started!! They did a great job getting up, eating breakfast and getting ready! If anyone had a hard time, it was me! I stayed up too late and I still had a hard time falling asleep! I guess even as an adult I still get first day of school jitters! Here are some pictures.