It's very addicting.....

The iPad, its very addicting.

She jumped all around me and asked to play it until I gave in.

Then she had to do some business.

But it was vitally important to keep practicing her letters.

Technology at its finest.

You Can't Stop Time....

36 candles..... wow. The cake says "Happy Birthday Mommy From Kiley & Kalin." It includes a ton of sprinkles, imagine Tinker Bell throwing up.... that is kind of what happened to this cake. Two little girls decorating, it can't be helped.

I spent the morning of my birthday in Juneau, where I got surprised by a group of librarians , and a friend of mine, who sung me "Happy Birthday." I got to spend some time with an old friend and his significant other and then the rest of the day was spent trying to get home. Delay after delay got me home at about 7:30, very pooped. Two excited girls "helped" me open my presents, and despite the fact that I had a beautiful cake to eat the girls had to go to bed.

We celebrated in a simple way today with a taco dinner with cake and ice cream following. Kiley asked me two or three times today when my "party" was going to be and "which kids were going to be coming" hahaha. I told her Mommy was too old for parties and it was just going to be her and Kalin at our house.
It was perfect, I am so lucky. Lucky the house didn't burn down too from all those candles. My Dad told me that time moving ahead is much better than the alternate. Yeah, I'm kind of lucky.

Child Labor....

It has been snowing so much we had to enlist the children of the household to shovel snow.

They don't seem to mind the first few times it snows. It is kind of fun. But then it becomes something like work and chores. Blah blah wah wah.....
We all must do our part and they look so cute doing theirs :).

Guess who was Student of the Week!?

I never wanted to be one of those parents. I said I never would be. As a teacher, of course before I had my own perfect children, I vowed to never, never do it. I would never be the parent to question why my child hasn't been chosen as Student of the Week. But I did. *Sigh* I think Jon and I were more excited for Kiley to get chosen than she was, we couldn't wait! And she wasn't even sure what it was... or what it meant.

But I have to question no more. My baby was Student of the Week on Friday! She got to stand in front of the elementary school and get a certificate. She really didn't get the whole process, but she thought it was pretty cool to stand up there and get a pencil.


I was as proud of Kiley as if it was me standing up there getting that certificate, I even got a little teary eyed. Her teacher said she was enthusiastic, positive and a big help with the other students in her class. Words that make her parents hearts sing.

S~N~O~W!

It has been dumping snow on us like you would NOT believe. I hardly believe it. It seems like we haven't seen this much snow for a long, long time. One of my friends in New Stuyahok used to tell me when it would snow this much, "Good, lots of snow means lots of berries this summer!" If that is the case we are going to have a record number of berries this year!

No where in the forecast were we warned that we were going to be getting this much snow.... I think somewhere around 12-14 inches in one night. Jon stuck a tape measurer on our deck to see how much had fallen.

Usually when we get this much snow it warms up to the high twenties or thirties, but it has stayed cold. Our temperatures have been fluctuating between 10 and 15 degrees, which is perfect. Just the way we like it. Now I just need a trail and I am off to go skiing!

Our little bird feeder can't handle much more snow!

Sis is actually sitting down, but the snow easily comes up to her mid chest.

The trees are gorgeous with their frosting of snow

The trail to the woods....

This much snow fell in one night! Poor little Tracker....

Heading to the Bus

I adjusted my schedule to do some different things at work this week, so I am working mid-day. This means Kiley and Blake have to catch the bus in the morning, which is a little bit of a hike from our house. So we all geared up, gathered our flashlights and walked down to the Bus Stop.

Geared up? Every morning the girls wear their snow pants, boots, warm coat, hats and gloves just to leave the house. When it is in the 20's outside, or colder I caution on the safe side and dress for the weather. I just know the one day I decide they don't need all their gear on their bus will break down or the truck will.... just the mom in me I guess.

It was a gorgeous morning, hovering around 20 degrees with some fresh snow.

Did I say Kalin walked to the Bus Stop? HA! She took about 5 steps and then into the sled she went.
We have so much snow it is almost covering up the little house they built for the kids to wait in!

It feels good to get out and stretch our legs, get a little color into our faces first thing in the morning!