O Christmas Tree

We decided to take advantage of the AK wilderness this Christmas season by going out into the woods to cut down our Christmas tree. Sounds like fun, right? Well... we did have fun, but it was a l-o-n-g day! And Boo spent 95% of our time in the woods crying. I'm still not sure why. He really cries a lot and I'm kind of having a hard time with that right now. Anyway, we made it to one of the designated tree cutting areas on post to find, well, not much in the way of Christmas trees. The underbrush was grown up and it was quite difficult to traverse the area with Boo and Bit being shorter than the brush. And, most frustrating was the lack of trees.  We were hard pressed to find a suitable or near suitable tree. Thankfully, B-man forged ahead in different directions scouting out possibilities for us. It was pretty cold too, so we weren't going to doddle too long making a decision. And he finally came across a few possibilities. Hooray! So, we picked one and he cut it down for us and he dragged it back to the truck. We got it home and up in the stand. The trunk is so skinny that the eye screws almost didn't hold it in place.
It stood there for several days. I finally trimmed some of the more wild branches to give it a Christmas tree shape. But, I didn't want to trim too many, or we wouldn't have anywhere to hang the ornaments!

So, here she is...

Decorating the tree. Boo is wearing camo jammers.
Do you see him?

Ta-dah! Here she is in all of her glory.
She is perfect! I love her and we will remember her always!
And although Boo seemed totally miserable out there, he tells about it like he had a wonderful time! Go figure.

Last night we braved the bone chilling temps to attend the Christmas Tree Lighting on post.
It was C-O-L-D! We experienced temps colder than I have ever felt before. Ever.
The temp was -10 but the wind chill was -23!!!
Our nose hairs were freezing in our nose!

There was a SURPRISE visitor from the North Pole!
Boo was beyond excited to see Santa and really, really, really wanted to sit in his lap.
So, we waited. :)
Look at how happy he is! For a little guy who had been under the weather earlier this week, he was finally smiling again.

Bit was mostly interested in the candy canes they were supplying.
Lol!

 Santa even brought his reindeer with him!!
I've never seen his reindeer before!
This is DASHER. They really are so cute. Short little deer with those big antlers.

Boo really loved it, so I had to put in all the pics of him smiling.

 After we walked through the door back home, Maggie lay on the floor and said, "I can't get up!"
All that gear! It was worth it though.

Boo is getting to the age where he might remember this for the rest of his life. I hope he does remember meeting Santa's reindeer! So magical.

We're doing special things to demonstrate the true reason for Christmas as well, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I will be posting about them soon.

Today in Numbers

Temperature Outside: -15 degrees 
Sunrise: 9:55 a.m.
Sunset: 3:47 p.m.
Boo's temperature: 100.5 degrees
Days of confinement due to a sick Boo: 3
Magnitude of the earthquake earlier this week: 5.8
Bit's wake up time today: 7:15 a.m. This is actually a good number! She's been getting up so early lately.

This Carolina Girl is COLD! I do love Alaska, but I do NOT like temps below zero. The bears have a good thing going with this whole hibernation thing. I'd love to snuggle in a warm cave until spring!

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

More on Bit

I guess we'll do videos first because that's where they're showing up...

Our Lil Miss is something else! She's soooo stinkin' cute and is so sweet. But, she can throw down with the best of them! Lol! She definitely has her opinions of how things should go and what she should get and when she should get it, but for the most part, she just LOVES to have fun. She absolutely loves playing with her big brother and is always excited to go pick him up from school. She has her DaDa wrapped around his heart in a way that only little girls can. And, she is MY BABY! I remember on my birthday last year talking to my Dad. I told him that I still felt like I didn't know much in life and that I still felt like the baby of the family needing him and BeBe and Aunt R to take care of me. He said to me, "Well, you are the baby of the family. And you always will be and that's okay." The way he said it really touched me. It didn't make me feel bad for not knowing more in life. It made me want to embrace my place in our family. And I can tell you that Lil Bit will ALWAYS be my baby. And you know what, Lil Boo will too! He's my first! Anyway, I guess my point is that I keep referring to Lil Bit as my baby...but clearly she's a toddler and on her way. But, when I rock her at night and ask her, "Are you Mama's girl?" She graciously replies, "I Mama's girl!" Melt. My. Heart! We love her so much and she is just perfect for us!

She loves Minnie Mouse and animals of all kind. She is very good at taking care of all of her animals too.
She also loves trains and dinosaurs, thanks to her time with Boo.

Happy Birthday hug from our resident big brother.

Opening a couple of presents before Boo had to go to school.
Boo got her a Minnie Mouse book.

Playing with her new toys.
I think she likes them :)

:)

She had no problem opening up her presents!

Minnie getting ready for a bus ride to school!

This big guy was a very gracious Big Brother!
He wasn't upset at all that it was her bday.
He even said, "It's all about you Mags!"

A little something for Boo.
Thanks G & GPa

I made Elmo cupcakes for our little family celebration.
Thank goodness there were only 4 of us!

Cake!!

Under the category of "It's my birthday and I can do what I want..."
Wearing snow pants inside all afternoon.

And in the same category...putting your finger up your nose!
Hehehe!

Happy Birthday Lil Bit

More to follow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bit and I joined Boo in his new Pre-K class on Wed for pumpkin pudding.

This picture was taken BEFORE Bit, in an act of defiance, dumped her milk all over the table. 

The event ended with me carrying a screaming Bit to the truck with a crying Boo at my side.
Thaaaaaaaanksgiving!

We (I) skipped out on cooking a traditional dinner this year. I knew the littles wouldn't be interested in eating what I would prepare. So, we made reservations at a restaurant downtown. I was planning on getting the turkey dinner, but I couldn't resist the crab stuffed halibut on the menu. It was a good choice! Yummy! B-man went with seafood Alfredo and delicious french onion soup.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but we had a beautiful view of Cook Inlet and the Mt Susitna.



We'd also like to send out a Happy Birthday to our very own B-man and Uncle A!

Halloween 2012 in Review

We started off our Halloween Celebration last week with the MOMS Club annual Halloween Party. They had a little fall scene and one of our photog Moms volunteered her time to take pics of the children! So glad to get a good shot of them. They're sooooo cute, if I do say so myself.

Cowgirl Bit and Space Rocket Boo

If you look closely, you'll see cheetoh dust all around her mouth. She was eating them nonstop.

I had to get this side shot so you could get the full effect.
ADORABLE!! She's IN LOVE with this horse. She would wear it ALL day if I let her.
In fact, I had to wrestle her out of it after the party to get in her in her car seat.

Face painting.

We carved our pumpkin while waiting ALL DAY LONG to go trick or treating on Halloween.
He INSISTED on this mummy design.

Doing "the mummy".

This is serious business.

Halloween Craft.

It was COLD!
We had to bundle up big time. I even wore long underwear!

Boo and horse fell in the snow right out of the gate.
Bless her heart.

The family down the street had been working on this snow sculpture all day before Halloween.
Very cool! Last year they made a turkey and pilgrim's hat in this same fashion for Thanksgiving.

Post trick or treating mummy pose.

Post trick or treating meltdown.

Waiting for trick or treaters.
She had on tights, leggings, and these socks. I couldn't resist taking a pic.

The horse is in the barn and she's ready for bed. But not before a quick kiss and snuggle with DaDa.

Some Videos.

 Boo had his paper bag costume parade at school the morning of Halloween.
We went with a red Lego design this year. Isn't he the cutest??

Cowgirl Bit goes trick or treating.

Takes me back to Boo's first time on the block.

BeBe sent me this picture of Sandy, Bella and Murray sitting pretty waiting to get their Halloween Treats that we sent them. Love them all so much!!!

 Happy Halloween Y'all!!