Christmastime

Well, here I am.. end of December, wrapping up our third Christmas in Alaska. We had a white Christmas, no big surprise :) It was a COLD, white Christmas (like -15). We did lots of fun things in the days leading up to Christmas and after.. I'll just give you a pictorial with commentary.

Kara making her stage debut as "Elf #4" in the 2nd grade Christmas play. For some unknown reason, she took her script to the microphone for all her lines.. even though she had them memorized. Another one of life's mysteries..

A few days before Christmas, we headed to Girdwood, Alaska, for two fun-filled days of skiing. We stayed the night at the resort which is always a hit with the kids because they can ski and swim in the same day. They are really amazing to me, how they pick right back up on the skis every season. Kara is our daredevil (Clayton's child) while Clay is our creature of habit (my child). It definitely took Clay longer to get his mojo back trying new runs but they did great. I so wish I had learned to ski before age 36.

The view from our room at Alyeska.

Heading out for day 2 of skiing.. it was only about 2-3 F that day.. warm if you can stay moving, freezing cold if you don't.

The boy loves his momma.. What can I say?

Christmas morning.. seeing the lego ship unwrapped under the tree... we are in Lego purgatory around here. Ever stepped on one barefooted? It hurts.

Kara unwrapping her sewing machine from her Grandma and Grammie. It's NOT a kid's sewing machine, for the record.

Our winter visitor, Trooper, with his chew stocking.

Traditional Christmas morning breakfast on the Christmas dishes.. egg casserole and monkey bread. Yummy, if I may say so.

Post-Christmas hike up Mt Baldy. This is a pretty mild hike in the summer but it is downright treacherous in the snow. Clayton and I have snow-shoes but the kids don't, yet.. I think we'll be getting them. It took us over an hour to get just below the summit.. it was too steep to take the kids up all the way. But it was a BEAUTIFUL day and view from the top that we made that day.

We call this move the "butt sled". This is how they got down. Sledding on the butt. I am so proud that Clay knows the difference in spelling butt and but. He's more than happy to share that with anyone who cares to know. Clayton also taught them how to do a farmer's nose blow or something equally nasty. Awesome.

Well, I hope this post finds you at the end of a great 2010. It has been a great year for us. We had so many visitors this summer and fall/winter. We love showing Alaska off to you.. We also got to Arizona a couple times and those vacations are always too short. We are so blessed.. It was a hard year at Elmendorf with a couple of airplane crashes, one in Clayton's attached squadron. It makes us all the more grateful for safe flights of fast gray airplanes, something we do not take for granted for us nor for our friends flying out of other bases. We are grateful for our families and for our friends. We are grateful for God's continued blessing of safety and health for the Alaska Johnsons. Book a trip out on 2011!!! We'd love to have you :)

Christmas Madness

Mid-December... must be time for a blog update. We have been running up here in Alaska. I didn't know there would be so many Christmas (or "holiday", if you're trying to be PC.. which I'm not. Ever.) activities for Kara and Clay at school!! And, ever observant mother that I am, I have been surprised several times at the last minute with concerts and plays. It will all be over today as the kids are at their last day of school before Christmas break. Whew!!!!

We started out the month with Clayton's birthday. It was a mid-level celebration for us. Neither Clayton nor myself are super big "birthday" people so sometimes we don't really celebrate like we could or should. This year, I made dinner and some of our neighbors came for dinner and cake. The kids and I gave Clayton a "sick" new snowboard (at least that's what the kid at REI assured me). He kept it instead of returning or exchanging it so that is a victory in my book. The thing is, the last new snowboard he had was one I gave him the year before we were married.. that would be 1996. So 14 years ago. He was due. I think he was really surprised and he rode it last weekend at Alyeska and Hillberg. Good times.

In addition to regular downhill skiing, I've been cross-country skiing. Clayton gave me skis last year for Christmas and I was sort of irritated because I felt like he was implying that I wasn't exercising enough. Well, I found a bunch of friends who skied or at least were willing to try and I was hooked. I've been probably 10-12 times already this season and I'm loving it!! If you come visit us in the winter, I will take you out. SO. MUCH. FUN.

So I'm going to post some pictures of the concerts... But I must tell you about Clay's not-so-good day last week. He has been telling us lately that he hates his name because kids have been making fun of him at school. Apparently, it all started with the dreidel song "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of "CLAY"". Yes, that is his thorn in the flesh right now. We have tried to talk him off the ledge and were met with some moderate success.. UNTIL the kindergarten "Holiday" concert... the kindergartners were singing their dreidel song and when it came to the "clay" part, they all turned around and looked at Clay. If you know him, you know that Clay doesn't deal real well with public humiliation. He did not melt down or start whacking at anyone but he did give me the death glare through the rest of the song. His teacher was mortified. It was actually pretty funny but we can't laugh about it with him yet... And that was also the day that he carried on a fine family tradition of drug trouble. Yes, he was caught with a cough drop at school. Fortunately, he wasn't intentionally smuggling it or trying to sell it, but he did have to go to the nurse's office (because what if someone stole the cough drop and died from the deadly poison it contains!?!??!) where the nurse called me and flogged me over the phone. I have now promised to take all medicines into the nurse myself and not put them in my kids' pockets for prn dosing. Oops.

I'll now leave you with pictures from the above said adventures/activities..

Clayton and his white cake with white frosting birthday cake. I will not be accused of being a cake-lady, in case you're wondering...

Random pic of my xc skis.. do you love the light at 9:30 in the morning??

Kara and her choir on their "tour" of Eagle River.. First stop: Walmart. Awesome.

My stupid camera kept focusing on other kids but there's Kara in the pinky-purple hat.

Clay at his Christmas concert.. before he got all postal about the making-fun...

Clay and his snowman outside his classroom. You can tell the sparkle has left his eyes :(

Kara at her nighttime choir concert.... We learned that if you don't show up to these gigs at least 30 minutes early, you WILL stand in the back.

I will post in the next few days something of a Christmas letter.. I think.

Thanksgiving 2010

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Thanksgiving 2010 has come and gone. This year (I know, this is a central theme for me lately) has been flying by. The last couple weeks have been very difficult but it made it easier to count the blessings this year, for sure. I was so thankful to have Clayton's mom, Anne, in town to help keep me organized and on-task this Thanksgiving. We went to the Sutterfield's for the meal and, I have to say, our eats were fantastic. We had way too much food and it was fun to be pretty low-key. It was also our first snowy day after a week of rain and way too much ice. In fact, there was so much ice that the kids' school was cancelled Tues. and Wed. of last week. It was fun having them around and we managed to not let the ice keep us down.

The turkey... before the carve. Clayton accused me of drying it out in the manner of Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation. It pleases me to say he was wrong.

Desserts.. yum.

A snowy attempt at pictures in the snow... will have to try again later.

Random picture of my blooming Christmas Cactus.

When we aren't actually celebrating Thanksgiving, here are some of the things that we're thankful for during the week at our house....

A little Lego Star Wars action on the Wii...

Destroying Clay's (yes, he was MAD) turkey project and wearing the "feathers" on their faces..I just know in about 6 years, they won't find face spots funny any more :(

Dancing with the Wii late on a Saturday night.

3 weeks of swimming lessons culminating in a solo slide down the "big slide" at Fort Rich.

Victory!

Last night we went to the Christmas Tree Lighting in downtown Anchorage.. before hand, we did a little shopping at REI.. Clay was modeling the absolute latest in warm-face wear. Or bank-robbing wear. Either one will work.

Kara tried on about 15 hats. She loves herself some hats.. winter or summer. Since Clayton was along on the shopping trip, she left empty handed, naturally.

This picture was taken at 4:00 on Friday, on our way to shop and tree light. We're getting to the worst of the darkness here.. in a couple weeks, it will be dark as night by 4:00. But, nevertheless, we start with the longer days on December 22.

On our way to Town Square, we passed the reindeer being off loaded from their trailer.. it was sort of anti-climactic for the kids... they still don't know what to do with the whole Santa thing. I think they are unbelievers but sort of afraid not to go along with it which is hilarious to me. Anyway, these poor reindeer definitely did not sign up for last night's job...

The unlit tree.

Santa pulled up in his sleigh right in front of us. Kara was in the front row and when they asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said "a computer". Santa said she should ask for a puppy instead (like every other kid they polled).. I don't know what it is with a computer. She's not getting one, BTW.

This picture was taken at 5:30. It was 20 degrees (which actually is considered warmish) but I did not insist on warm foot-wear for Kara or myself so we suffered.. but we had fashionable boots on so we at least looked good on the feet while we were in pain ;)

We are so thankful this year. Thank you to everyone who checked in with us after the crash last week. I think that the pilots and their families in the 525 are limping along. Our hearts are so very heavy for the Haneys. No one expects their husband not to come home from work. Continued prayers for the Haneys will not go unanswered, that I believe. There is a Jeff Haney memorial page on facebook that has some information on donating to the girls' education funds if you want to participate in helping in a tangible way. And for those of you who pray for safe flights, pray on.

US Air Force Hymn

Lord, guard and guide all those who fly

Through the great spaces of the sky;

Be with them traversing the air

In darkening storms or sunshine fair

Thou who dost keep with tender might

The balanced birds in all their flight

Thou of the tempered winds be near

That, having you, they know no fear

Control their minds with instinct fit

What time, adventuring, they quit

The firm security of land;

Grant steadfast eye and skilful hand

Aloft in solitudes of space,

Uphold them with Thy saving grace.

O God, protect all those who fly

Thru lonely ways beneath the sky.

Happy Veteran's Day

Thankful for a husband that serves. Thankful for dad/father-in-law's service. Thankful for the sacrifices of my WWII serving grandfathers. Godspeed to our friends and family who are currently overseas.. may you stay safe and come home quickly.

In Other News....

November??!! I can remember when I was in high school complaining about how time seemed to go so slowly. My Grandmother told me that once I got older, time would seem to speed by me. I didn't believe her but she turned out to be correct, AGAIN! It's amazing to me that we're coming up to Thanksgiving. We have some snow on the ground but not enough to work with.. it'll come, I'm sure :) We're very excited about dragging out the skis... so, we say, "Let It Snow"!!!

Here are some recent highlights and goings on around our house...

Kara at her American Heritage Girl joining ceremony. She was so proud to walk behind the flag, for some reason :) Patriotism runs deep around here, that's for sure and we are happy our kids value our country.

Lighting the candles and getting their patches.

While the Claytons were in AZ, Kara had spirit week at school.. one day was crazy hair day. Kara knew exactly how she wanted her hair to be.. little pony-tails all over and a big flower on top. I believe it qualified as crazy.. unless you're shopping in a Walmart in Texas on any given day.. then it's status quo.

As the weather turns, kids go out less often.. and they turn to fort building. This picture doesn't do the fort any justice.. in fact, it just makes my living room look messier than usual. Suffice it to say, this was their masterpiece fort to date..

Halloween is not really celebrated at our house, per se, but far be it from Clayton to deny his chance at free candy from the kids!! Kara was dead set on being a barrista this year. I have no clue where she came up with the idea but we made it work. I ordered a kids' apron from some guy in Taiwan on eBay for $17. Worth every penny. She got a latte painted on her face at Peace Lutheran's Harvest Fest on Friday night.

Ooops... an out-of-order photo... Kara lost both her front teeth in a week. She very much enjoys talking funny and she is VERY much enjoying double-duty tooth fairy money.

Back to Halloween.. we went to our neighbors' house for dinner.. my friend Kim was telling me about a spooky tree cake she made so I gave it a whirl with some help from Clayton (he made the tree!!!). It looked awesome, if I may say, which I may since it's my blog.. but it tasted HORRIBLE! I don't know what happened. Good thing there was lots of candy.

Boba Fett and Boba Fett.

All the kiddies before heading out to beg for candy...

So, all in all, we're doing great and waiting patiently for full-on winter. Come visit and bring a coat, hat and gloves.. you'll need it when we drag you out for some winter-time fun!

A True Story

So, a few weeks ago, Kamdon and I were asked by a friend to help decorate for a VP cocktail party on base. Turns out, the VP was Jay Leno. The AF Reserves were opening a new recruiting center and Jay Leno was coming up to "open" it. After the opening, he was giving a free show on base for any military ID card holder. SO, there was going to be this cocktail party after the opening before the comedy show that our friend was tasked with throwing. There was going to be some serious AF and Army brass as well as high profile community leaders. The more we found out about it (after we agreed), the bigger deal it seemed to be. Karla and her husband pointed us in the general direction they wanted to go and we ran with it. I'm not going to lie: it was a lot of work. I cut out a lot of aircraft out of balsa wood.. a lot. Kamdon painted a picture of a P-something airplane one day.. we special ordered napkins and coasters.. we were harassed by a very insecure lady from air force protocol (this is the manners department.. they make sure the right behinds are kissed properly, etc... not to take away from their very important job, but really, we're 2 SAHM moms decorating a room for a party as a favor for a friend.. we don't want your job!!).. we created a lot of silly drama for our poor friend and her husband.. but I think the room looked fantastic at the end. IN FACT, my bible study leader was at the party (from the community side) and she told me that of all the parties she's been to in that room, ours looked the best by a long shot. OH, and we did meet Jay Leno. Poor guy looked like he had infant triplets at home that he'd been up with for the last 7 nights straight. He was, however, very funny and Clayton and I laughed HARD at his show. We had VIP passes and seats right in the front (obviously a bonus for helping out with the party... we would NEVER have made the invite list otherwise!). It was a fun end to a long week...

The room all finished... we brought in art from the 477FG... old Tuskeegee airmen images, lots of fighter pilot nic-knacks. It was really cool looking, if I say so myself :)

Centerpieces with balsa airplanes.. there were P-somethings, F16 and F22s, all airplanes flown by the 302FS.

P-40 (???) Super cool painting.. it's for sale.

Yes.. we are shameless.. actually, there was a line and they herded you through like passengers boarding a Southwest jet. As a side note, please notice my very cool shoes that my darling husband informed me were "hooker" shoes on the way (in the car) to the party. He sure knows how to make a girl feel good about herself :)

Proof positive that we returned the room to its original condition.