Keeping the kids busy....

The kids started winter break on the 17th this year. Together we sat down and made a list of stuff that we can do together over the break. Some of the list is just not going to happen like for example kidnap dad. I think that will not work out very well for us. First off I don't have a car to do it with and second off I just don't think that we could get him to go with us anyway. But other things on the list aren't so bad. The first thing we did on the list was make cake pops. It is a super fun activity to do. First you pick out any flavor of cake and frosting that you like and that will go together well. We picked out vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting. Then you make the cake and let it cool. Next you crumble the cake into lots of little pieces. (I usually use a blender but I don't have one yet. Thursday can't get her fast enough). Next you mix in almost a whole can of frosting. After that you roll the cake into balls and put it in the freezer for several hours. When that is done you melt some chocolate and roll the cake balls in chocolate. We did white chocolate. You can also push in a sucker stick to make them look more like the pops part of cake pops. I couldn't find any so I used toothpicks. They worked ok. Then you can get creative and leave them plan or dip them in something like nuts or coconut or sprinkles. The possibilities are endless. We dipped them in crushed up candy canes. They turned out sooo yummy.See don't they look yummy?The next day we made candy cane cookies. This too is super easy. You just make your favorite sugar cookie dough. Divide in half and dye one of the halves red (when I make my dough I like to use almond flavoring instead of vanilla it is soooo tasty). Next you roll out the a piece of each color into a rope and twist them together and make a hook. Wallah you have candy cane cookies.And they are super yummy too. See?On Monday we played Don't eat Pete as our activity. It is one of Ella's favorite games. I used chocolate chips and marshmallow's because that is what I had laying around the house. Tyler did not enjoy himself as much as he normally does because he only got to eat a few pieces of candy each time and then he would pick Pete.Today we made snowflakes for our activity. The kids didn't love this activity and Nichole thought that it was boring. But I thought that the snowflakes turned out cute. And in the end I hung it up as a garland on the mantel.

Just some going ons...

We haven't been up to much lately. The kids are out of school for winter break and I have been trying my best to give them something to do. Here is some of what we have been doing.As I posted before I just learned how to make Artisan bread. I made up two breads for the neighbors and made up some dipping herbs to go with it. Nate, the kids, and I got it all ready to take to the neighbors and guess what? They weren't home. Boo. Oh well, we just had to eat them.Tyler got this wood 3D puzzle while on the ferry and has been patiently waiting for Nate to help him put it together. It turned out pretty cool. The puzzle is of a wolf.Tyler and Ella both made gingerbread houses. Tyler made his in cub scouts and Ella made her's at school. Ella laughed and laughed because she hid candy inside of her house to save for later. She told me she did it so that way when everyone thought her candy was gone she could take off the roof and have a stash all of her own. What a clever little girl.In Ella's class there was a Polar Express themed party. Ella got to go to school that day dressed in her jammies and they had hot chocolate and watched The Polar Express in class.This is Ella all bundled up for school. She had on the usual stuff. Snow pants, a coat, gloves, hat and snow boots. They actually get very upset at the school if the kids don't come to school with all of their winter gear on. Lucky kids get to play outside until it is -10 degrees. So they really do need all of this bundling up.We have a lot of static in our house. Even with the humidifier on it is just super staticy.

Just some randomness

Okay here is a post of total randomness. Yesterday I made my first batches of artisan bread. JoLynn and Andrew gave me this super easy recipe and let me borrow their bowl so that I could make the bread. Ella actually helped me out. She even mixed the dough with her own hands. She made a chocolate chip coconut bread and I made a basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese bread. They both turned out so good. And they look beautiful too.Tyler and Ella wouldn't stop fighting. They were yelling and pushing each other and it was driving me crazy. They pick on each other a lot. After much arguing with me so I put them in time out. Because they wouldn't stop touching each other I made them hold hands while they were in time out. Neither one of them were very thrilled about it but, it made me feel better.Yesterday when Nate swept the snow off of the patio we found this weird footprint on the wood. Maybe the Abominable snow man is real or else Nate went outside without his shoes on. I choose to believe my first theory.

Christmas decorations

How sad is this. These wonderfully decorated Christmas Oranges are the only Christmas decoration that I have up at my house. Nate and I usually put the decorations up the day before Thanksgiving so I was feeling a little bummed not having my belongings to be able to put up decorations. I mean it looks like Christmas outside so we should have Christmas stuff up inside. Which got me thinking. What can I do to decorate that is super cheap and still very cute. That is when I remembered sticking cloves into Oranges to decorate them. I used to do this when I was a kid. And bonus it smells so good. Yesterday after school the kids got home from school I set the cloves and the oranges out and told the kids to get to work. This is what they came up with...

Our week

This weekend we had some fantastic family time together. I thought to make my life easier the kids would be limited to one towel that they are in charge of hanging up after their shower and putting it in to be washed every other time. We seriously went through 20 towels a week and it was driving me mad. We went on Saturday to go and get some new towels as well as other items that I needed. Unfortunately the gate was closed when we tried to leave the base. We ended up just shopping for it on base which turned out to be very good because they had Santa there for the kids to talk to. When it was Ella's turn she whispered what she wanted Santa to bring her in his ear. Luckily, she told me what she wanted. Unluckily, she changed her mind and told something to Santa that she had not told me.

After we went left the BX we saw that the gate was open so we headed to Target. At Target the kids were able to get something for whose ever name they had draw to buy for this year. The kids decided that they were going to make presents this year. But, they still had to buy the stuff to make the present with. They are going to turn out really good. I will have to post what they were on Christmas morning. While I was at Target I bought the new Twilight movie. When we got back to the hotel we watched all three Twilight movies. Tyler, Nichole, and Natalie all watched it and Ella played games on my ipod almost the entire time. Later she complained that her neck hurt. I wonder why. Was it from hunching over my ipod for so long?On Sunday we had a Christmas movie marathon and just watched whatever Christmas movie was on tv at the time. Natalie, Ella and Nate all got into a pillow fight.Ella would drop pillows on Nate from the stairs. She covered her head with her pillow thinking that it would protect her more.Once she was brave enough to come down the stairs but, not brave enough to come down without her protective pillow.Natalie built herself a fort to protect herself from Nate. Speaking of Nate, he looks all innocent playing his video game in the background but, out of the blue he would throw a pillow at the kids and the pillow fight would start all over again.Ella took my camera and was taking pictures of everything. Besides herself she took pictures of her shirt and my cell phone.The kids started their first day of school on Monday. I dropped the little kids off at their school first. Some of the fun things that they will be doing in their school is ice skating and cross country skiing. How fun is that? Tyler and Ella both really enjoyed ice skating. We live within 2 miles of 3 different places that the kids can go ice skating. Then I dropped the big girls. It took forever to register them for school. Natalie is taking Band, Art, and PE on top of her Core classes. Nichole is taking Art, Choir, and PE on top of her Core classes. At the beginning of the year Natalie will be taking Technical Science and Nichole will be taking Cultural Art.

All of the kids seem to enjoy their new school. And they all seem to be adjusting well. They took the bus to school for the first time today. The bus stop for the big girls is in a different spot then what they had originally told them. The good part is that it is closer. I walked Tyler and Ella out to the bus this morning. They were the only kids at their stop so I asked the driver if he wouldn't mind changing it to be closer to our house and he said yes. So now all the kids have to do is walk from our condo right out to the road. Which is great for them too. Nate hasn't really started work yet. He has gone in a couple of times but, hasn't finished his in processing so he is not at his work yet. He starts next Wednesday. He already has worked with 4 of the guys here. That is pretty lucky for him.

Our New House

We moved into our new house yesterday. We have been eagerly waiting to move in for almost a week. Unfortunately our belongings have not made it to Alaska yet. We went to housing on base and there they have some items that you can borrow short term. We borrowed 4 twin beds, 1 queen bed, 1 couch, 2 chairs, a microwave, 2 lamps, and an end table. The best part is that they delivery the furniture to your house and when your stuff arrives they pick up the stuff you borrowed from them. We then went to another place on base and borrow 6 folding chairs, 2 card tables, dishes, a toaster and stuff like that. We do have to return the items ourselves.

Yesterday Nate and I dropped the big girls off at school, can to the condo and dropped our first load of belongings off, took the little kids to school, went to pick up the dog from the boarders (which cost just as much as our stay in the hotel on base), I went grocery shopping while Nate cleaned the hotel and loaded the last of our belongings into the van, and then raced back to the condo to make sure we were there on time for the people who were delivering the furniture. It was busy at the end of the day the house was just a mess.

We also had to go to Fred Meyer and pick up some stuff that we needed for the condo. The downstairs is super cold (the heaters weren't getting the water that they needed because a valve was broken so a plumber came and fixed it today) so we had to get a space heater for the big girls who sleep downstairs. I also couldn't find my pillow. Nate thought that maybe he left it at the hotel so he picked me up a pillow (I went to set up cable and telephone while he went to Freddies). He did a great job picking one out for me but, there is no way I would of spent as much money on a pillow as he did. But, it is super comfy and when we got home Nate found my pillow. Bonus for me.

I think that Alaska is beautiful. I also think that I am really going to like it here. I like it a lot already. I haven't seen much of the area yet but, I am here for 4 years so it shouldn't be a problem. Some things are super pricey here. $4.38 for milk. MILK! luckily if you shop around you can find it for a lot cheaper. The price of living is just more here. But, it is beautiful!

The living room. I like the fireplace and the hard wood floors.The Master bath vanities. Which are really nice but, the light shines right into my eyes when Nate gets up to get ready for work. The underneath picture is the Master bedroom. I didn't take a great picture of it. It looks so small. It is quite a bit bigger then it looks.Ella and Tyler both have their own rooms. Tyler has a balcony outside his bedroom. Lucky kid.The girls room is nice. The owner's used it as a theatre. But it is perfect for 2 kids to share because it is rectangular in shape instead of square. The curtain things go all the way around their bedroom and are very ugly. Luckily, we can take those down.Look how nice the girls bathroom is. When I saw this bathroom online I thought that it was the master bath. Boy was I wrong. Lucky girls!Downstairs family room.The view from the middle floor patio.The kitchen is really nice and there is plenty of room for our table. There is also a patio you can get to from the kitchen. And the kitchen pantry is super nice.