BREAKING NEWS!

I know I haven't posted in a really long time and I know there's a lot to catch up on...
But, instead of catching up, I bring you this breaking news video clip!

Winters are LONG here in AK. And it's STILL 32 degrees outside at the end of April, but the snow has melted from the streets and driveways (our backyard still has 2 plus feet of snow in it) so that means it's BREAK UP time here in AK. Winter break up. B-man and I discussed getting Boo a bike for Christmas and for his birthday, but knowing that he wouldn't be able to ride it b/c of the snow, we decided to wait for break up. So, Friday night we went to Wal-mart and purchased THE RED ROCKET!

Saturday morning we bundled up and headed outside (after taking the training wheels off!). He was scared and immediately fell like 5 times because he was scared. But after about 45 minutes, he was getting the hang of it! We still have a long way to go, but this is success!! He's still kind of leary about it and I'm not sure he'll be excited the next time we go out, but it won't be long before he'll be riding all over! 


So proud of him for not quitting!!!

P.S. Lil Bit will be getting a break up ride also. We're looking for a balance bike for her.

Birthday Interviews

A while back, I saw an idea online to ask your children the same list of questions every year on their birthday and see how their answers change over time. So, I decided to ask Boo the list of questions. Lil Bit piped in too (I thought she might be too young but I was wrong). So, I'll share both of their answers. You can tell that sometimes she would just say the same thing that he did. :)


1. What's your favorite color?
     Boo: Red.
     Bit: Purple.

2. What is your favorite toy?
     Boo: All of them from my birthday.
     Bit: All of them from my birthday.

3.  What is your favorite fruit?
      Boo: Oranges.
      Bit: Blueberries.

4.  What's you're favorite show to watch on TV?
     Boo: Charlie and Lola.
     Bit: The purple show (there is no purple show...just 
            proving her love for purple).

5.  What's you're favorite thing to eat for lunch?
      Boo: PB&J and ham sandwich with mustard
      Bit:  Peanut butter and purple sandwich (purple jelly).

6.  What is your favorite outfit?
     Boo: My firefighter costume.
     Bit: My horse.

7.  What is your favorite game?
     Boo: Chutes and Ladders.
     Bit: My computer.

8.  What is your favorite snack?
      Boo: Pancakes and fruit snacks.
      Bit: Yogurt.

9.What is your favorite animal?
    Boo: Moose.
    Bit:  Moose.

10.  What is your favorite song?
       Boo: My bedtime songs (Jesus Loves Me, Tractor).
       Bit: Twinkle Star.

11.  What is your favorite book?
       Boo: All of my library books.
       Bit:  Dinosaur music book.

12.  Who is your best friend?
       Boo: William, Porter, and Peyton.
       Bit:  Mama!

13.  What is your favorite cereal?
       Boo: Special K Blueberries.
       Bit: Mama's cereal!

14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?
       Boo:Winter: Build snowmen
              Spring: Pick flowers.
              Summer: Go to beach.
              Fall: Play in the leaves.
              He was very specific about breaking it down!
       Bit: Kicking ball.

15.  What is your favorite drink?
       Boo: Milk.
       Bit: Apple Juice.

16.  What is your favorite Holiday?
        Boo: Valentine's Day and Christmas.
        Bit: Valentine's Day and Christmas.

17.  What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
        Boo: Sheep, ya-ya, Sandy, Kobuk, and my Daddy 
                pillow.
        Bit: Ya-ya, Kiska, and horse.

18.What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
      Boo: Pancakes and cereal.
      Bit: Mama's cereal.

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?
       Boo: Pizza and birthday cakes.
       Bit:  Pizza and birthday cakes.

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?
      Boo: A Ninja.
      Bit: Purple.


Too cute! Y'all remind me next year, okay?!

More Boo Speak

I was awakened Saturday morning by the sound of Boo shuffling to my side of the bed. I fully expected him to ask for milk or pancakes. Instead, our conversation went like this...
Boo: Mama?
Me: Yes...
Boo: I will only kill a rat if it's a mean rat. I will not kill one if it's a nice rat.
Me: (eyes still closed) Ok.
Boo: Because I'm a rat hunter ninja and I will use my ninja turtle staff to kill the bad rats.
Me: (eyes still closed) Fair enough, Rat Hunter Ninja.

Boo then shuffles out of our room.
I'm so glad we cleared that up first thing Saturday morning!

Spring Break

Boo had Spring Break last week. I know, kind of early right? Growing up in SC, Spring Break was always connected to Easter Weekend. Some years it was in March and other years in April. SC has been the only place that we've lived that scheduled Spring Break that way. Every other place we have lived has scheduled it in early March. Go Figure.

Anyway, I tried to schedule a few outings for us and a one-on-one mother/child date for each child. It worked out pretty good. Lots of scheduling and planning to make it all work, but it was a good week. B-man had the week off too, but he's taking some Army courses and had already planned to take the week to get ahead in his classes. We did fit in a family pizza night and a date night for B-man and myself as well. He also spent a lot of afternoons rolling around and playing with Boo and Bit at the house. Not too shabby.

Lil Bit and I got our hair cut and had lunch together.

We met our Mom's Club at a new play place in town.
We don't get to do much with the Mom's Club because we always have to pick up G at 11:30, so it was nice to see some folks we don't get to play with often.

Boo said he wanted to do something FUN...meaning NOT a haircut.
I really wanted to take him to the Discovery Museum in town, but we could only schedule Lil Bit for 2 hours of care. The CDC was full! It was 2 hours before the museum opened too. So, we went out for breakfast. He had some hot chocolate and was over the moon about that. He kept telling everyone that he was on a date with his Mama. He really does thrive on that special time together.

Family Pizza Night at Moose's Tooth Pizza.

Date Night!
Dinner and a movie!

The Iditarod Race wrapped up this week also.
The leaders arrived in Nome.

This year's winner was Mitch Seavey (the father of last year's winner). He won previously in 2004. He arrived in Nome on March 12th.

Aliy Zirkle (my musher) arrived TWENTY FIVE minutes later! She came in second place again and this year at an even closer margin...only 25 minutes!
Dallas Seavey (B-man's musher) arrived in 4th place on March 13.

DeeDee Jonrowe (Lil Bit's musher) arrived in 10th place, also on March 13. She is famous for her multiple top 10 finishes. 

Lance Mackey (Boo's musher) arrived in 19th place, late on March 13th. Lance had the lead for a while, but had some trouble along the way...he lost a tooth eating a piece of fudge and was in some terrible pain. The teams also dealt with quite a bit of rain on the trail this year which is highly unusual and Lance said he made a rookie mistake with his boots and his feet got wet and cold and he had frostbite on one of his toes. He's a tough dude!! He did make it to the half way point first and was awarded $3000 in gold nuggets for his success.

The race isn't over until the last person crosses the line. The last person is awarded the Red Lantern Award. So, we started tracking the last musher with a red lantern on our map (I realize it looks like an upside down vase). The last musher crossed the finish line on March 17th...five days after the winner.
We've had a good time tracking the race this year!

School's back in session and I'm ready to take my own Spring Break! :)

CORRECTION: How could I forget? We started the first weekend of Spring Break off with Boo's birthday party. It was a bowling party and was a lot of fun. Chaotic, but fun. It was dark in there (cosmic bowl) so I wasn't able to get pics, but he had a great time.

Cross Country

I woke up on Monday morning and was grumpy. I was hoping the little ones would sleep in for once in their lives. Ha! I know better though. They don't sleep in. Even when the time changes. So, I was kind of grumpy and when B-man woke up he gently suggested that I grab my skis and hit the trail. There was fresh snow on the ground (perhaps our last good snow of the season) and he was home for the day.  It sounded perfect to me. I've only been skiing with friends, but the thought of being alone was awesome! Until I got there!
I was so scared on the trails by myself. The bears are starting to wake up (per the local news) and I couldn't stop looking for them. I was constantly scanning for signs of bear activity and for moose. We have seen moose on the trails before. I kept thinking of my bear survival tips. The first thing they say to do is make a lot of noise, so you don't sneak up on the wildlife. Well, I was by myself barely making a sound as I skied along. So, I decided to sing out loud. My song choice? This Is the Day That the Lord Has Made. Surely God wouldn't let me encounter a bear as I was praising His beautiful day. Right? But, I felt so silly singing out loud like that, so I pulled out my phone and put it in my breast pocket and played the workout playlist on my phone through the speakers, not my ear buds. This way, I felt certain the bears would think I was skiing with JayZ, JT, Pink, Adele, and Adam Levine, and would steer clear of us on the trail. That's a pretty tough crew to encounter, even for a bear. Lol. And the crazy thing...I really felt much better with the music playing. Don't worry, I still kept an eye out and didn't have the music too loud. I could still hear what was going on around me. It was much more enjoyable with my music crew! I stopped to take a few pics on my phone along the way.

Beautiful trails.
Freshly groomed; I was the first one out there.

The trails on post are at the golf course.
They transform the course into cross country skiing during the winter.

Water!

Me.

IDITAROD UPDATE!
The leaders will make it to Nome sometime in the middle of the night tonight.
It's close!

The Restart in Willow

After the mushers complete the 12 mile track in Anchorage, they pack up their sleds and load up their dogs and head to Willow. Willow is West of Wasilla. The race used to run from Anchorage the entire way to Nome, but because of increased traffic on the Glenn Hwy (they'd have to mush on the hwy in some areas), they've changed it up from years past.

So, at 2 pm on Sunday March 3rd, they started out again across Willow Lake. We were on a lake, people! Frozen solid. B-man had to go into work and wasn't able to join us, but I decided to brave it with the little ones alone. They did pretty good. Boo was a great helper. Bit was quite insistent that she pull her sled instead of ride in it all the way from the parking lot, and all over the start area, and back. She REFUSED to ride. Oh brother. It was the ONLY thing she wanted to do...to pull Kiska in the sled. I told her she had it backwards...Kiska was supposed to pull her, but she wasn't buying it. Lol.

It was a beautiful sunny day and it was a fun event.

She's a determined Lil Bit.

It was hard for us to see, but the first musher is headed down the start. He's the one looking to the left, above Boo's head.

Mt McKinley/Denali in the background.

My dates for the party!

Still in charge!