Snow!!!!

We had our first "measurable" snow last night.. it was a winter wonderland (or horrorland, depending on the person/driver) this morning. I was patting myself on the back having gotten all the appropriate snow gear together for the kids. Sadly, however, I didn't bother to see if Clay-Clay's snowboots still fit. They don't. Not even close. Ooops. At least he had his snowsuit, jacket, gloves and hat. I'll find some boots before Wednesday (unless there's been a run on size 12 kids snowboots..which there probably has been).

Here are some pics of this morning.

Clay getting carried into school..no snowboots.

Kara on her way into the school.. see how dark it still is at 9:00??

IDK.. I think we got like 6"?

My personal sidewalk-shoveler. Thankfully he was going to work later today and shoveled for me.

See... I told you!!!

Visual proof that Kara got an award at school. My neighbor, who is a tuned-in, good mother, took the picture because she noted that I was, in fact, absent :)

Mother of the Year.. It's locked in.

I know all of you out there who thought you had a good shot at mother-of-the-year are going to be severely disappointed to hear that it's officially mine. Yep, that's right. You all lose and I win! Why? you ask.. well, for starters, we arrived at Clay's school this morning, on time, only to find everyone wearing their pajamas. WHAT!? How did I miss that memo?? Oh, it was in a note in the backpack that I kept forgetting in the back of Kamdon's car. Easy mistake to make. So, I'm looking at Clay who is losing his composure by the second.. I can see that my suggestion of "Who cares! You can just wear your regular clothes" was the wrong thing to say.. So, I say the next best thing "I'll go to Walmart and buy you a pair. I'll be right back". Also the wrong thing to say. Clay is MELTING DOWN, his teacher is looking at me like I'm, in fact, mother-of-the-year already.. so I grab him.. we run to our friendly neighborhood Walmart and promptly buy the first over-priced pair of Spiderman PJs we see. We changed his clothes in the car in record time and got him to circle-time just in the nick of time... disaster averted?! (but judgement NOT averted as several mothers asked me how I could have forgotten (I didn't have it in me to tell them it's impossible to forget something you NEVER KNEW!!!!) the PJs).

NOT SO FAST! So I go pick Kara up at school.. she comes running out of the building waving around an 8x11 piece of paper that looks suspiciously like an award certificate with a big smile on her face. "What have you got, Kara?", I ask. Says Kara "Remember that award ceremony I wanted to you to come to?? I got the award for Art in first grade". WTH? I remember her saying something about an award ceremony but there was nothing from her teacher or the school on this one... but seriously, feeling like a giant jackass nonetheless. Again, wondering how it is possible to forget something I was never actually informed of. Oh, and yes, there were other parents there.. just not me (and CERTAINLY not Clayton).

Considering we have 2 squadron functions this weekend and Clay having his first sleepover with Ryan tonight, I fear that I have more than ample opportunities remaining to cement in my award for the year, if not mother-of-the-DECADE, the rate things are going.

Needless to say, I am very proud of Kara for her art award and I am sufficiently repentant for making Clay forget (his words.. how I can make him forget something is beyond me) his PJ day at PRESCHOOL! Any chance I'll be able to just escape to a spa tomorrow? NONE!

Trick or Treating Fun!!

(What Halloween night looked like when we headed out trick-or-treating.. COLD!!)

We've had a fun and busy Halloween weekend up north. First and foremost, there is no snow (yet)! Some of my more faithful readers may recall my "slip" on the ice last year. At least I didn't have to worry about that whilst trick-or-treating with the kiddies. However, it was still COLD! We did our street and 2 others before we called it off. This year we had a neighborhood party at our house. Lots of families on our street have kids our age so it was fun to hang out, have chili and drink yummy fall sangria. I think fun was had by all (except for the resident grinch, Fokker.. he says no more parties.. I've heard that before).

On Friday night, we went to the ubiquitous "Fall Festival" at Clay-Clay's school (i.e., Peace Lutheran). Peace is a small little church with billion dollar views of Anchorage, the inlet and the Alaska Range. The pastor and his wife are so sweet and their little church puts on a really fun night of games, candy and hotdogs. They had been building it up all week at school so Clay was primed to go. We brought Ainsley, Chase and Ryan along for good measure. Lots of fun. Both Friday and Saturday nights make us thankful for the good friends we have in Alaska.

Candy, games and face-painting galore on Friday night.

Kara and Ainsley... Ainsley came as Ariel, Kara as a movie star (fancy).

For this party, Clay came as Jeff Gordon. He didn't enjoy the homemade mac-n-cheese. It's powdered cheese all the way for this discriminating palate.

Our spooky music and black cat deco. (Clayton made me change the channel from Sounds of the Season because he thought the pictures of skeletons were too scary.)

Monster eyeballs. Actually, they didn't turn out like the pictures I originally saw but they were tasty.

Mummy dogs. YUM!

Most of the kids who partied at our house on Saturday.

The movie star and the pirate. Clay HATED his "fake boots". I thought he looked so cute. And Kara, of course, was fancy.

Post trick-or-treating coloring and sorting of candy.

Clay-Clay just observing the rest of the kids.. he was tired and his hands were still cold from trick-or-treating. He swore he wouldn't want his gloves. He was wrong.

Thankful

I have been thinking a lot about thankfulness lately. Without a doubt, I (we, my family) have much to be thankful for. Really, as much as I gripe, I realize my life is a walk in the park compared to lots of families out there. This last weekend, a friend of mine in Italy (they're stationed at Aviano) had a friend die right after she gave birth to her baby boy. She was healthy. Her baby is healthy. But she still died. Her husband now has a 1 year old son and a newborn son to raise on his own. I can't get this family out of my mind!! My friend Laurie always talks about how giving birth is dangerous business even though American MDs are good at heading off most catastrophes (I said most, I realize someone out there has a horror story to share). But I never for one second imagined any other outcome after my kids were born other than the one I had: some pain and sleepless nights. I can't get it out of my head how this family's life changed in the blink of an eye. I get that we're not guaranteed tomorrow. I do get that. I just have been thinking about how fragile life is. I have had a husband go into combat 3 separate times. I know what it's like to watch the news and hold your breath when they talk about plane crashes; how it feels to feel lightheaded when the doorbell rings at odd times during the day/evening. By the grace of God, there haven't been any catastrophes for us and, for that, I am grateful. At any rate, I'm going to link you guys over to a blog by a dad (also AF) who recently lost his wife after a battle with breast cancer. His blog is amazing. Even more amazing is the post he posted about the family in Italy. I guess I'd ask you to join with the many praying for these military families. Maybe you'll feel more thankful with me. http://bandssullivan.blogspot.com

Avoiding Craft Show Terrorism and a trip to Arizona

I'd apologize for being a blogging slacker but why?? This is something you already know about me so it can't possibly be a surprise anymore :)

So Kamdon and I survived the crap show at Elmendorf... we took about 60 canvases, sold about 12 and have orders for another 20 or so more... We had hoped to sell more of the canvases that we painted but oh well. We did actually clear a profit so that is something to be proud of! However, we don't think we'll be doing anymore crap shows in the near future. For one thing, these crap show organizers charge anywhere from $120-500 to rent a 10x10 spot. That's a lot of crap to sell just to break even on the "show". For another, there are a lot of interesting folks on the craft-show-circuit. As you can see, our booth had some gorgeous black and white fabric.. however, before we had even hung our canvases, several other craftonistas were complaining that the fabric was going to make them dizzy if they stared at it all day.. being the mom of 2 small children that I am, I said "Well, then don't stare at it" before I could even bite my tongue. Other people would walk past and make strange comments about our booth (how else were we supposed to display 60 canvases in 10x10 space, I'd like to know!!).. so I got to thinking that we might be victims of craft show terrorism (because our stuff was clearly NOT crap and it was cooler than their moose poop-on-a-stick magnets). There wasn't any police tape for us to wrap around our booth so we just had to put chairs in the entry way and ask a prayer for protection. Fortunately, everything was in tact on Saturday morning (except for a few canvases on the floor due to the mean Christmas-wreath ladies next door whacking on our "wall" with their chairs..but I digress) and we had a nice day people watching at the craft show. (Sutterfield update for Pat!!!!!)

Meanwhile, as I was at the crap show, the Claytons were wrapping up a week long Arizona Extravaganza. I'll hijack a few pictures from my sisters-in-law to share with you. Clay-Clay had an excellent time hanging out with "all my cousins". He had a few sleepovers, a movie, park trips, and much much spoiling. Kara and I had a good (albeit quiet) week with the menfolk away. We were both ready for the Claytons to return home.

This is the most precious picture of Clay, TJ and Eli being spies at Melissa and Troy's. Check out Melissa's blog (to the right on my blog) for a fun post and more pictures.

Clay and Davis at the triple P. Good times. Always.

Sleepover fun at my brother and Michelle's (check out her blog, link on the right for a sweet post and pictures). Yes.. the boys were eating graham crackers w/frosting.. what a genius combination that is. Timeless.

Fun with the Johnsons (Troy and Melissa). Rootbeer floats. Super yum.

So that's about it on this end. We still have no snow! I was looking back at my blogs from last October and we had plenty of standing snow by this point last year. It has been a fabulous fall!! Clayton is wishing for snow already and we're buying ski gear in preparation for the white stuff. We welcome visitors at any time during the year.. so if you're a fan of winter sports, our guest room calendar is pretty empty!!

While the Cat's Away....

It's girl week at our house! Clayton took little Clay to AZ with him for the whole week!! I know, it's mind-boggling for me to think about having no Clay-Clay at home.. And Kara in school during the day. Lest you think I'll be twiddling my thumbs, Kamdon and I have the crap show on Saturday and there is NO shortage of work to be done. Nonetheless, Kara and I have had a good girls' weekend already. I had a girls' get-together with other squadron wives yesterday (poor me, bellini, lunch and movie/shopping.. it was torture) and Kara hung out with a babysitter. We made brownies on Saturday night and watched a movie. Sunday found us at church, doing a little shopping and seeing "Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs" which was hilarious! (quite unlike the last kids' movie I saw: "G-Force"..horrible). She had pancakes for dinner and has been doing "art" a lot of the day. Suffice it to say, it is VERY quiet around here without the little guy (and the big guy, I guess). I think Kara is looking forward to school tomorrow!!

I haven't talked to either Clayton for any length of time since they left although Clayton called mat at 9:45pm AZ time and Clay was still up playing the Wii at Grandma's.... uh, really?? I won't get the whole story of this trip until I hear from any of my sisters-in-law or my sister.... maybe I don't even want to know!! At any rate, Clay was VERY much looking forward to his solo vacay to AZ. I know for sure Clayton isn't taking pictures so I'll have to relay on my sisters-in-law for photo documentation (hint, hint). :)