We desecrated his deer! :)

Andrew doesn't like us to put anything on his animal heads but Katie decided to decorate the buck this year. :)

Time to decorate!!

The kids and I were bored Saturday and it just seemed like the thing to do, so we decorated for Christmas. I say it was the thing to do because we are leaving in mid December to go to visit my brother and sister and their families in Mexico. We normally wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate.

I am going to buy snow to make my Department 56 village look a little more festive.

We are also going to buy a few more sets of lights to hang around our banisters. Well, Merry Christmas everyone!

Halibut Chowder and Honey Oat pan rolls

I made some halibut chowder the other day... it was yummy... just what you need to warm you up on a cold day. I also made my favorite dinner rolls... they have oats in them. I use left over grilled halibut, if I have grilled salmon I put that in also. The grill gives the fish a great smoky taste and that helps flavor the chowder.

OK, I'm not sure this will be funny when written down, it might get "lost in translation", but another funny that Taylor said the other day..... he and Tyler and fussing at each other about something and came running to Andrew to fix the problem. Taylor is talking the loudest so that Tyler can't tell his side of the story, he's saying, "Tyler did yada yada yada.." and Andrew stops him in his tracks, "tell me this without using his name", trying to keep him from blaming Tyler. So Taylor says, "He yada yada yada", which made us all die laughing, cuz he didn't say Tyler's name but he was still needing to blame him for whatever it was. Oh, so funny!!

Creativity

Katie drew the picture on the left, Taylor the one on the right. Only we had to cover up some of Taylors, cuz he got a little carried away and was showing a little too much "skin". :) He was copying off of Katie's picture. We thought that was so funny!
Now THAT is a banana split. Andrew came home this past weekend and was "hankerin'" after a banana split so I made him one. I thought I was going to be able to help him eat a couple of bites but by the time I finished making it I didn't think I could eat any without it making me sick so....
He ate the WHOLE thing... yes he did. ( Yes we can!! - that's for you babe!! hahahaha) For you who might not be able to figure out that inside joke... Obama said "Yes we can" about 17 times in his acceptance speech... and I haven't even hardly been able to talk to my husband since he got elected, because he has NOT been a happy man!! :)
It took me about four tries to get this picture of Taylor working so hard with his tongue sticking out, carving his pumpkin. He was very serious about it!!


I remember blogging last year about the kids carving pumpkins... where has the time gone??

She's back!!! :)

Well, she's back to being "ours"..... it's your loss, America..."our" loss.... but she is destined for greater things. I know this!!!

A Project for all of the Kids

Taylor loves "projects". When he was in preschool and Kindergarten he was VERY disappointed when he was sick and couldn't go to school because that meant he would miss out on the projects that Mrs. Wease would have them do. So I saw this idea in "Taste of Home" (I think) and I got the ingredients and we all made pilgrim hats.
These are Keebler cookies, I can't remember the name, with fudge on the back of them. Turn them over on their fronts. Then put white frosting around the inside circle (we later figured out it was easier to put the frosting on the top of the Reese cup). The one thing I couldn't find was Mini Chiclets for the buckle of the hat. So we just did without. It would have looked alot cuter if I could have found some.
Taylor kept eating parts of his project. :)

Tyler decided to wear his pilgrim hat.

Grant turned his upside down and stacked them.
Katie used a piece of foil as her buckle.
Even Heidi made some.

Apple Pie

Katie and I made apple pie the other night. We had a great time. I made the crust, she made the filling. I should have had her put in a little more cornstarch, cuz it was too runny, but it was delicious. Now I need my sweet husband home to help us eat it, because it's too sweet for me and Katie is the only other person who likes it. :)

Yum!! Yum!!

You should see the other guy, Mom!

Grant fell at school yesterday and busted his face all to pieces. So this is what greeted me when I came home... with him saying, "You should see the other guy, Mom!" Of course, he had the cutest look on his face when he said it. Poor guy though, it looks pretty bad.
He might just get a black eye out of it. :)
My sweet, sweet girls!!

Isn't this just the cutest?

I have a friend, who I've never met except online, whose little girl chose to send me a "Howl"ween card. I thought it was the sweetest thing so I wanted to show you all! Her mommy showed her my snow video and then a little while later she let her kids choose who they were going to make cards for and send them to. Little, sweet, Miss C, decided to send it to Ms. Vonnie and I am just pleased as punch!!
The boys fell asleep on my bed the other night so I thought I would get a picture of them... cute things!!

Flowers, chocolate, a teddy bear, and luxury gift set.

Here is what Andrew sent me for our anniversary...

The teddy bear was not to be found at the time of this picture. However, I did find it soon thereafter. It seems one young boy thought it would be fun to take the bear's sweater off and put it on again, so it was moved from the place it had been. Anyway, thank you babe, for thinking of me and sending me such beautiful flowers and chocolates, etc. That was so thoughtful of you. I hope you had a good day!! Sorry we can't be together!!

I have to tell you a funny story... We were in Burger King the other day after school, me and the 6 kids, and before we ate we were waiting to see who was going to pray, that seemed to be taking too long so I decided I would pray real quick and said the prayer that I taught the kids to pray when they were little. "Thank you Jesus for the food, help us to be kind and good. Amen" When I got done, Taylor looked up with a quizzed look on his face and said "kind of good?" I about died laughing... he was looking really hopeful, like, you mean we only have to be "kind of" good? Hey, I think I can do that!!! heehee He is so funny!!

Ummmm, mmmm, mmmmmm!

Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky... Andrew and I met the first time at TRY Conference. He was liking someone else and left for Cincinnati that weekend, but a few years later we met again... and then it was me he was coming to Cincinnati to see. We wrote letters and made phone calls for two years while I was in nursing school, interspersed with a visit here or there. It was hard being apart from the one you are falling in love with, but maybe it was preparing us for this past year. :)

We got married 8 days after I graduated from nursing school... and tomorrow we celebrate 21 years of wedded bliss. :D No, I can't say we've never fought, I can't say I've never been disappointed and he's always been thrilled with me. But what I can say is that I love and respect him, he is an awesome husband, father and provider for our family, and he loves me, like Christ loves the church, unselfishly. I'm so happy he asked me to marry him, at Hickey's Gap Falls(what a name), in Georgia... I would have been pretty stupid to say no!! :) I love you, babe!! Happy Anniversary!

A Little Escape

Turn on the Christmas music.... no really, go do it, right now....... OK, do you have "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" on? Now get yourself some hot chocolate, come on, quit making me have to beg..... go get yourself some hot chocolate.... hurry up. Now, make sure there is no noise in your house, except the Christmas music, and watch this little clip.

Cara, you'll have to get your kids to see this, since they rarely get to see it snowing! :)

Now, go take a Valium, we've got to get to church in this slippery stuff!!

Melanie,
I put the larger pictures of the bear and the bear skull at the bottom of the post so you can see them better. Vonnie

A few random pictures

Drew outside playing soccer in the snow with a "muscle" shirt on. We don't have too much snow, really, just an inch or so, and the temps aren't very bad, somewhere around 30... but I still got tickled at Drew outside playing without a coat on. He has always been very hot-natured. :)
While Andrew was home this past weekend, he went and picked up the bear skull he had a taxidermist friend "do" for him. It is the skull of the bear I had pictured at the bottom of this blog for a long time. I don't have it down there now, but it is a HUGE bear!! The twins were really intrigued.
He also picked up Drew's buffalo skin which you can see here. This is just the back half of the skin because they are doing a head mount, so you can see how big this animal is.
Tyler wanted to help me shape the rolls for Sunday dinner... my hair is wet, that's why it looks like that.
Aurora had another litter of puppies a few days ago. We have three puppies left who seem to be doing well.

Andrew left this morning to go back to St. Mary's. Hopefully he will be able to return in about 10 days. He will have to fly his airplane back and that is really dependant on good weather, so pray that the weather is good so he can get back here in good time and not get stuck somewhere between here and there.

The house is finished.

Andrew got in from St. Mary's last night. Drew was finishing up his house that I talked about in an earlier blog. So we pitched in and helped fill in the mud in between each log in the house. It was due today, so we should find out this evening how he did as far as his grade is concerned. I am really proud of Drew. The whole project was his brainchild and he carried it out with the help of Grant and then right at the end, Andrew, me, Heidi and Katie. I thought he did an awesome job!

P.S. He came in second! I'm so proud of him!

Happy Birthday, Heidi

I wanted to post this yesterday..... it was her birthday, yesterday.... but I had computer problems, so I'll post today! My Heidi girl turned seventeen. It is incredible to me that I have a 17 yr. old. I so remember that blonde, curly hair that had everybody stopping me and commenting everywhere I went. Heidi has been a joy, Andrew and I are so proud of her. She loves Jesus with all her heart. She studies hard in school and makes good grades. She is trying to decide what college to go to and is asking God to guide her. She has the best sense of humor and has quick, smart-aleck come backs when someone is teasing her. (that's my girl)

This weekend the kids are all down in Wasilla for the soccer tournament, so we had a little birthday party for her Tuesday evening. (they left Wednesday) That picture above is funny because you can see Aurora looking in the door window, wishing she was included in the celebration.

The House that Drew and Grant built

Drew has a project he's doing for History. They are supposed to make a home just like the settlers would have done back when the "New World" was being populated. They can only use raw materials or materials that they could have obtained back in colonial times (like nails). So he enlisted help from his little brother. They collected twigs and downed tree limbs and now you can see what they've done so far. The wheelbarrow is full of mud they are using to keep the house wind and water proof. He didn't ask for any help, so he may have problems with the waterproof part, but I am really proud of what he has gotten done so far.

Weekend getaway

Well I went to see my dear husband this past weekend. He is winding down the job in St. Mary's and isn't going to get to come home until the work is done.... that is somewhere in the first week of October. It was unacceptable to both of us, so I made arrangements for a sitter (thanks Katie R.) to stay with the kids for the weekend and I took off Thursday night and spent the night in the Anchorage airport.... UGH!!! Don't try this folks. I didn't get in to Anchorage until 11:30 p.m. Thursday... I had to catch the 6:30 a.m. flight Friday to St. Mary's which means being at the airport at 5:30, which means waking up at 4:30... so, why pay for a hotel for 4 and 1/2 hours sleep? It's not worth it, or so I thought.... I froze to death, besides being uncomfortable laying on benches with about 10 other people sleeping all around me.

But I am so glad I went. Andrew and I had a great time! Here are some pictures of what we did over the last few days.

Some of the work they have done in the school - "cubbies" for everyone.

One of the classrooms

I think both of these building have been refurbished by 66 North. (Andrew's and Gale's company)

This is Tanya, Gale's wife. She is the one who planned the menus and ordered/orders the food.. and she prepares the food, with a little help from.....

Alicia

Samantha

and Ginny (Alicia and Ginny are both pregnant.. that's why I took this picture like this)

Here are all four of the cooks, Lauren left a few weeks before this, there were five of them. Here is Sam's little boy, Logan, he is so cute.... ...but if he doesn't want you to look at him, he screams, just like this... (hahahaha)

Then we went flying in Andrew's Super Cub Straight ahead is the runway we used, it looks like a road, we were crossing the "big" runway.Looking back at the airport where we just took off Ain't that purty? We dropped and came in low over the dock so Darryl Q. could get a video on his camera Here I was trying to get a picture of Darryl, but the picture took too late. Still, I wanted you to see just how low we were to the water. (cringe) Beautiful fall colors along the Andreafsky River Thoroughly enjoyed the flying... can't wait to do it again! Love you, babe!!