Nutcracker and Decorating

Emerald made it into the 21st Annual Homer Nutcracker Ballet this year. She began practicing in October and they had six shows the first two weeks of December. She was a little mouse, did a Maypole dance, and stood on stage the entire second act as a Castle Guard for the queen. She loved it and did very well in spite of not having any dance experience. We didn't get many pictures but we all got to see the show, even me. Here she is backstage getting makeup done.
We took the week of Thanksgiving off from school since I wasn't up to doing much. But we started the next week and have been going ever since. We will keep on this week and next just so we can catch up from our late start this fall. We'll take a few days off for play dates with our friends that are off from school. We brought all the kids books over to the house and I teach from the couch. Here Alectra and Alexis are reading to me.The week before Christmas the kids brought all the decorations in and found a tree. They had a great time doing it all by themselves. Our house it too small for a tree but since we don't have a front step and don't use the front door we decided to stick it in that nook. It made decorating a little tough but we can still use the living room which is important!
The wild decorator! By the way that is Jayce's hand not Emerald's.The best part of decorating is getting the tree skirt out. It spends at least a week as a dance skirt before I can convince the girls to put it under the tree. My mom made it and it twirls so nicely. Here is Alectra dancing and twirling.Mom and Wenge sat on the couch directing traffic and getting ornaments ready to hang. The finished product in the dining room, with my new Christmas table cloth.

Here is the family picture under the tree. Warren always said he would never take a Chrismas picture with the family pet but he was shouted down this year. Have a Merry Christmas!

Skating!

We spent some time skating this winter. Someone gave us skates and I picked up a pair at the Salvation Army. We went to the Veldstra's once to play on their pond too. Thanks Kathy for the pictures.

The Hockey team! It was the first skate of the year and the blisters were forming fast, so Jayce played with his boots for a little while. The girls playing on the ice. Look at all those smiles!We had a skating party on our pond with our small group. Warren built a fire by the ice to keep us warm.
Alexis and Alectra had fun with Hunter eating cookies.
What a fun bunch of kids.
This was the party that I fell and broke my ankle. I was carrying a pot of soup up to eat and slipped and fell. I slipped, felt my ankle snap and then hit the ice, very nicely setting the pot of soup on the ice without spilling a drop. This is the x-ray taken at the ER, notice the shattered fibula and the two pieces off the tibia. It was also dislocated, no surprise! They sent me home with a splint and lots of pain medicine.
I went to Soldotna to an orthopedic surgeon on Wed before Thanksgiving, and he operated that day. Office visit at 10 am, check into the hospital at 1 pm, surgery from 3-6 pm and I was on the way home by 7 pm. Thanks to Stacey and Niki,who kept the kids for the day. This is how it looked when I left.Eleven screws, a plate and a stabilizer through the two bones. Those are the two little round things on the side of the leg bones. My staples are all out and the incisions are healing well. Jan. 5, Jayce's birthday, I have to go back to the Dr so he can tell me if I can start putting weight on my leg. It still swells and hurts if I'm up much, but for the most part it feels o.k. I'll be glad to get off the couch one of these days, it is getting a hole in it from my bottom. Keep praying for healing and that I would have no lasting effects. Pray for the rest of the family too, they have a lot of stuff to take care of without me.

Pumpkins, cats and birthdays.

I made it to the computer all by myself, it only took me 1/2 hour to get all the pillows, ice and phone here with me. I thought I would start where I left off and update in chronological order.

We had great fun decorating pumpkins but they froze and melted before we got pictures so you don't get to see the final masterpiece. The kid's did a great job with their chosen designs. Here are the "in progress" pictures. Emerald scratch carved a fairy on a unicorn, Jayce did a window cutout with a cat on one side and a spider on the other. Alexis did modern art flowers with paint and Alectra painted a black cat in swirls.We have the best kitty! She is amazingly patient. And she loves to be petted and loved any way it comes.
The next big event was my birthday! Wow! Warren took me to dinner with some friends and we had a great time eating great food without any interruptions. I'm blessed with such wonderful friends that love the Lord. Thanks Guys. When we got home Jayce and Emerald had made me a carrott cake and decorated it. They decided that 40 candles were too many, thank goodness. It was delicious!
Jayce, Emerald and Warren cut, hauled and stacked this load of wood all alone. They were pretty proud of all their hard work. This was our third load of wood and Warren says it won't be enough to last the winter. We will see, the house doesn't take much but the shop will take lots.

Alectra and Alexis are 6!

After Emerald's party, Alectra and Alexis decided they wanted to do the same thing for their birthday. Since I'm flying to VA on their birthday we had their friends over this Saturday. We had a big tribe of Indians for the Pow-wow, Thirteen kids under 6, including three babies!
We made headbands and painted faces, hunted plastic snakes, lizards, and frogs and made pouches to put them in. We decorated the pouches by pounding leaves with rocks and staining the fabric. It made quite the noise, but it was fun.Alectra blowing out the candles.

Now it is Alexis' turn.
My Indian Maids were worn out but have alot of fun memories. They had to really work to take such a serious "Real Indian" picture.

Warren and Jayce's fun

Jayce and Warren skipped church last Sunday to go trolling. They had so much fun and caught some fish! Yummy!
Warren has been playing with the backhoe making a new road to the pond on our property. He needed to practice some before he dug up the foundation on our house.Practicing oboe is much more fun with a kitten in your lap. I couldn't believe Wenge stayed, it's kind of loud.

Emerald is 9!

September 25 was an exciting day in our house. Emerald turned 9 and found out she was chosen for the Homer Nutcracker Ballet. We had a family party on her birthday and invited some of her friends for a party the next day.
Jello Poke Cake with Pudding frosting was a hit! Cone tepees and horses are easy decorations.
Her friends came and made headbands and braided feathers into thier hair. We painted faces and choose Indian names, Emerald was Dancing Chickadee.The Indian maids, Kailee, Alexis, Alectra, Summer, and Katie by the tepee in the carport.

Dancing Chickadee with loot!
Kailee shooting bow, she was the only girl to stick the moose target!The Indian maids had a great time!

A month (2)!!

Jayce: This month I have had a lot of fun. First, we bought a water filtration system. It cost $3600 and was really good (for the price we paid, it better be!). We also started school. It was good, except for the math. 1 hour, 2 hours, 1 and1/2 hours. This is like not a good time, but I am finally getting it under control. Next, we just got a CAT! It was very fun. The top image is me holding the cat. The bottom image was the cat licking my fingers. She seems to like eggs, because that's what we had for supper.

A month!

We moved the middle of Aug! The house was finally done and with moose season starting we needed to be on the property so nothing happened to the buildings. Here are some more pictures of the final product; the hearth got its trim along the sides and bottom.The dining room and kitchen are finished and the windows washed.
We tried something different in this kitchen, Warren put laminate on the walls and then we didn't put a backsplash on the counter. I really like it, it is so easy to clean.
Alectra is showing off the girl's new rug in their room. It is green so their horses have grass to eat when they are playing. :-)
It was harder to get all our stuff from the trailer in this little house than I thought it would be. We traded two big bedrooms for three small bedrooms, a dining room, and a bigger living room. It doesn't seem to have the storage space the trailer had. We seem to all be adjusting and learning how to live in the country. Alectra is helping clean out the big machine shed. Emerald loves driving the bobcat any chance she gets. She is getting better and better at it.
The week after we moved to the Ranch Warren went up north, almost to Prudhoe Bay, hunting caribou with Phil Slabaugh for a week. They had some good bear stories and saw lots of new country. It is over a thousand miles from Homer! WOW!Warren got one caribou and it filled my little freezer nicely. Everyone likes to help grind the hamburger. Of course we never get it ready until late at night so everyone helps wearing their P.J.'s. By the time we are done they probably need another bath.While Warren was gone the kids and I unpacked more boxes from storage, set up the school room and went to the fair. Jayce made it to the top of this climbing wall twice. We all enjoyed the trick horse riders and the pig races.This is what the school room looked like before we started. Emerald said the walls were "macaroni and cheese yellow with avocado trim, GROSS"! Warren painted before he left and the kids and I took the form trailer to Kenai to get carpet.
We just rolled the pad and carpet out on the floor. We will install it correctly when we remodel the whole place. It make a great place for all the school and craft stuff. We started school last week, and so far it is going well.We set an extra bed up over there as well in one of the rooms. Warren wants to fix the bathroom yet and then we are ready for company. Come and visit!