Alectra lost a tooth!

Finally, Alectra's tooth is out! After much waiting and wiggling she finally has a spot for her new tooth to move into. The tooth fairy forgot to visit the first night but she made up for it by leaving a quarter as well as a dollar last night. Alectra said "It feels gross, not having a tooth in there!"

Today I was reminded again how patient Wenge is. After zooming wildly around the house, she was content to sit in her stroller and watch the girls playing. The girls made a snowgirl today while they were outside. We got a few inches of fresh snow on Sunday. The kids have been wishing we had snow like Grandma and Grandpa. We haven't gotten much this year, but Warren likes not having to plow the driveway.

Tooth Fairy Time

Alexis lost a her first tooth last week. She had another one growing in behind the baby tooth so we talked her into getting serious about wiggling. She was so proud to be the first to loose a tooth but I think hers were the first to come in when the girls were little. Every day Alectra prays that she would lose her loose tooth too, but she isn't as serious about wiggling as Alexis was. I thought I would show everyone how to go sledding when there aren't any hills around. The kids have just about dragged the bottom out the sled, it looks like a grass skirt it is in so many strips. Emerald and Alectra are on the 4-wheeler and Jayce and Alexis are in the sled. We don't have much snow and it rained today!

Jayce is 11!

January 5th was Jayce's birthday and we spent the day in Soldotna. I had a check up and then we went shoe shopping for dress shoes for the kids. It is official! Jayce and I wear the same size shoe. He got a nice pair of leather ones that Warren is planning on snatching as soon as Jayce out grows them. So on Saturday Jayce invited his friends over for a 4-wheeler party. We have three 4-wheelers so they took turns driving. With everyone reving the motors, it sounded like a race track until they got moving.Warren went along as they blazed a trail to the beach from our place and spent hours climbing the bluff and throwing rocks. I had a little trouble with the cake, only ten candles and a # 10 on top but Jayce didn't get insulted thankfully.After cake and ice cream they opened presents and it was plain that he was growing up. An LED flash/lazer light, money and stamps for his stamp collection, a CLUE game and a Flip digital video camera. Thanks! Then they went back out and did brodies on the pond. Brandon had the record for the number of rotations. Jayce said it was the best birthday yet!

Christmas

Christmas was fun! The presents were opened right after the cinnamon rolls were gobbled and the Christmas story, from Luke and Matthew, was read.
My kids had been asking for slippers and Grandma Irene made us all pair. They are so cozy and warm! We wear them every morning during school. It takes a little while for that building to warm up and the floors are always cold. Grandma Brenda sent us her fun Chocolate homemade soap but we wanted to use it right away so we didn't wait until Christmas to open her box. Jayce got a new jump drive from Emerald.And here is Alexis showing off her new gloves and fabric paint from Jayce.The kids went up to the pond in the afternoon with dad and made a fire. They cut trees and cleared out more underbrush. Emerald and Jayce made a smudge and had a blast playing in the smoke.

Christmas Goodies!

My family got to do all the Christmas baking this year. It was fun to see them choose their favorite and get to it. I'll have to let them do more of it each year.Alexis and Alectra made Hug Pretzels. Those are my favorite! They like unwrapping all the hugs and sticking to M & M's on top.Emerald made White Chocolate Chex mix. All the measuring, stirring and licking were right up her alley.Jayce whipped up a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies, his favorite. I think our family likes chocolate.Warren surprised us all by making a batch of Cinnamon Rolls. They were great! The kids were a little disappointed because we took half of them up to the Dr.'s office for my 6 week checkup. The staff of the clinic were very surprised and it was a fun way to say "Thank you so much!" The Dr. cut his bill almost in half! What a blessing!

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.