How to Make a Mayan Dugout Canoe

1. Enlist your AWESOME dad for help.



2. Don some pretty cool earmuffs.



3. Dig, dig, dig.



4. Paint and sand to make it look really old.



5. Float that canoe!

Who's afraid of Santa?

Not Bobby!

Giving Thanks

I have a lot to be grateful for. I am amazed at all the good I have in my life. I feel like I am pretty good about realizing my daily abundance, but I do like that there is a special day set apart to express thanks. Gratitude has kept me going throughout the hardships in my life.

It is hard not to be grateful for material things when you have lived in Eastern Europe. I have been refelecting on that time a lot recently and I am grateful for that experience.. it change me..made my life lead a better direction.

I am grateful for the man I met less than a month after returning from Lithuania. He took a chance on me and I am amazed at the result of that. My life is more than I ever thought possible. I love his family too.

I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving at the DeKay home. Beverly served a multi-course gourmet Thanksgiving meal. Thank you Beverly. Thank you especially for that French Onion soup.



I don't know how I ended up at the head of the table!



Bobby enjoyed his first Thanksgiving. He was thankful for mashed potatoes.

It's a Webkinz Birthday!

Winnie had a Webkinz Extravaganza birthday party. We had to keep the guest list down to 12 kindergartners. Decorating was easy, I just tied helium balloons around tons of Wenkinz! Every guest brought their favorite Webkinz and was presented with a new LilKinz when they arrived. While everyone came we named their new Webkinz and watched videos on the Webkinz World Website.



The guests with their webkinz. I am sad Hannah and Bobby are not in this shot. Hannah was a huge help to me during this party! She was awarded with Zeke the Zebra for all her hard work.



We played "pin the W on the Lion".



All the webkinz had a checkup from Dr. Quack.

We also played "Hot Webkinz" and had a gem hunt in Bobby's room. I threw a bunch on jewls on the croun and turned off the lights and the kids went in with head lamps and found them to put on their crowns of wonder.



We had a cupcake tree and "Birthday Cake" ice cream. Which was a huge hit.



Bobby really enjoyed the decor.

It was a great party---my six year old was in heaven and that's all that matters.

In case you were wondering.....

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

We had whole wheat pumpkin waffles for breakfast the last couple of days. From a recipes I got from Marla. These things are tasty and easy to make. I am including two recipes. One for the "Wheat Quick" and then for the waffles. The wheat quick is very easy to put together. I made it Thursday evening in about 20 minutes. Most of the time was spent grinding the wheat.


Wheat Quick

8 c whole wheat flour
2 c white flour
1/4 cup baking powder
4 t salt
1 1/4 c dry milk
you can add 2 cups butter at this point or just add oil to your mix when you make it into waffles.

Waffles
2 c Wheat Quick
1 egg
2 c water
2 T oil if you added 2 c butter to the mix or 1/4 c oil if not
1/4 c pumpkin

P.S. Adding extra pumpkin sounds like a good idea, but it will make the waffles will stick.

Pumpkin Fudge

I made one of my favorite pumpkin treats of the season yesterday. The girls and I made it during the stake priesthood meeting. I am trying to master the art of fudge which can be slightly tricky. This batch turned out perfectly! Here is the recipe. (Oh and I stole this image off the internet, my camera is nowhere to be found).

Pumpkin Fudge

3 cups sugar

¾ cup melted butter

2/3 cups evaporated milk

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp corn syrup

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 (12-oz) pkg. white chocolate chips

1 (7-oz) jar marshmallow fluff

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Line 9x12 inch pan with aluminum foil and grease before you begin to cook the fudge.

Mix together the first 6 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil. Continue cooking, and stirring until mixture reaches soft ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in white chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff and vanilla. Stir until well blended. Pour into greased aluminum foil lined 9 X 13 inch pan. Let stand 2 hours until completely cool. Cut fudge into squares.

"My mom and dad won the lottery"

Postcard to Hannah's friend Logan:

Dear Logan,

We are in Denali.
My mom and dad won the lottery.

Love,

Hannah


Each year there is a lottery held to distribute a limited number of passes to drive your own vehicle through Denali National Park. They are only available for four days a year.This year we entered and both Robert and I won a pass! It was a gorgeous day! P.S. We saw bears, moose and sheep.




DeNali (Mt. McKinley) is behind us. She was out showing off all day!



How many pictures like this will we ever get?



A little off the road hike uncovered a gorgeous lake not too many people know about. I wish we had a picture with the Low family who were our occasional traveling companions as were the Astles.



Me and the boy.



DeKay Lake....we discovered it right?

Pumpkin Tasties

I have a confession to make...I am obsessed with pumpkin. I loooove it. I love anything pumpkin--cookies, pie, fudge, ice cream, soup. Every year I eagerly await the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard from DQ. I try to wait for October to make my favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, but this year I just couldn't wait. I guess that since it is snowing outside today I am allowed!

Recipe:

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Cream together sugar and butter then add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. mix . Add dry ingredients, then chocolate chips. Drop with spoon onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

I usually double this recipe. It makes plenty.

P.S. I recently found out that Bobby loves pumpkin too--strait out of the can---delish!

In Search of Autumn

The past weeks has been gorgeous. Bobby and I have been enjoying long walks in the afternoon to soak up these few, precious days of sunshine. I decided to take a few pictures to capture the season.

Winnie walking up towards Ivy Home.



My favorite site of the day...Hannah, Winnie and friend jumping off the school bus to great me and Bobby.



Winnie swinging high.



The artwork on my driveway.



Mt. Significant



The newly improved road to Wal-Mart!

Merry Christmas

I got this cute little Santa sleeper at the exchange thinking it would fit at Christmastime. Thank goodness I tried it on. Christmas is a little early this year.

Bobby Wears a Hat

I am so blessed to have so many talented and generous friends. Bobby was definitely spoiled with delightful, handmade gifts when he was born. He received 5 knitted or crocheted hats and 3 pairs of booties! I could not have been happier and he looks so cute in them.



Here he is surrounded by his spoils.



This adorable bear hat was crocheted by Amanda.



This cute hat was given to him by Suzie, but crocheted by her talented daughter.



This sweet hat was crocheted by Heather B. along with the matching booties below! I think he looks so trendy in this cute hat.



I love this cute wool hat crocheted by Chirley. She was also nice enough to make me a matching one...score!



This hat was knitted by Catherine. Itvwas worn home from the hospital. Bobby has a small head so this hat fit him before the others did...and it still does!



Here he is wearing the precious booties knitted for him by Lynne. Sooooo sweet. I love the color.



Here at the matching booties to the hat made by Heather B. So tiny and sweet. The girls were so excited to put them on his feet the second he came home from the hospital.



These gorgeous booties were crocheted by Heather W. He looked so handsome in them. They were perfect sunday shoes. I love felted booties.

Thank you everyone. We are so spoiled!

Did I forget to mention the 6 blankets made for him....look for an upcoming post!

Hannah's in a jam.....

Hannah decided last year that she wanted to enter Raspberry jam in the fair this year. Every year we are able to pick raspberries at my parent's house and she always helps me with the jam. I fact I remember our homeschool days when we spent two days making peach jam from the peaches we picked at Hubers (sigh...) Needless to say she is a born and bread jam maker. (I'm so punny!)

Well she was in it to win it. We even went by the local extension office to get the official canning procedures. It is a good thing we did because when we entered the ladies said a lot of people were being disqualified for not following procedures.


Here she is stirring that jam.



Ladling into hot jars.



Getting the jars ready for the 10 minute hot water bath.



The final product and...............................Tada!



She won first place in her class (under 12 jam making) and was the division champion (all canning 12 and under!)

A Few of Winnie's Favorite Things

Winnie took a few moments the other day to share with me her most favorite things... in this order:

1. Mommy (awwww)
2. Food
3. Daddy
4. Hannah
5. Grandpa
6. Bobby
7. Grandma
8. Rachel

At least she has her priorities strait. I am sorry if you didn't make the cut.

Winnie's First Day

My baby started kindergarten today! She had been so excited for this day to come. Last night she laid in bed awake for over and hour and then got up an hour early this morning. She was so ready to start, but I was not ready for her to go.

Alicia's Visit

We had the best babysitter ever when we lived in KY and this summer she came for a visit! It was so fun having her here. I love having guests because I get to see Alaska through their eyes and I am re-inspired by majesty of this place.



A rainbow hanging out in Denali park.



We stayed at the Teklanika campground---30 miles into the park.



With Denali in the background. We saw all the big 5 on our trip and the mountain was out in all her glory.



We went to Valdez for a few days and stopped on the way to leave our mark.




Winnie at the pipeline.



We hiked up to Worthington Glacier on the way home from Valdez.



At the glacier.



This is in Valdez at the location for scout camp this year. Yes, these are ice bergs in the picture behind me. I don't know if I have ever been anyplace more beautiful.




Alicia and the girls took a sightseeing cruise out of Valdez and had an awesome time. They saw everything on the list!



A picture from their cruise.



In front of Matanuska glacier.



On top of Mt. Baldy. This is a hilarious picture of Same sniffing in the snack pack.



A beautiful day in Portage.