Summer Time!

Yep, summer in Alaska! Solstice is just about here, and it's just been too busy to blog. So here's some of our summer for you!

We've been to Creamer's Field a lot.  I'm doing an album of pictures from the same spot throughout the year.

Junior is in tee-ball; hubby is assistant coach.

A little rock throwing at Ballaine Lake.

There've been some awesome rainbows.

And some dramatic clouds.

Coming soon:  I do stuff with blueberries and other fruits!

Free Movies

My boys are out of school for the summer.  There's lots of great kids stuff happening in the summer, but I'm always on the lookout for the free stuff.  Today we went to Alaska Fish and Game's Kids' Day, which was awesome:  Junior got to go fishing (we didn't get a trout, but it was fun to try!) and Kiddo got 3 of 5 cans with a BB gun.

If you have a Regal Cinema's in your area, you should know that they have a Free Family Film Festival every summer.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays from late June until late August they run G and PG movies for families.  They aren't this summer's newest hits of course, but there's several on this list that I'd love to see in theaters and I sure won't mind taking the kids to.  Click this link to see if this program is available in your area!

Giving Thanks

What a great holiday weekend. Wednesday I was bemoaning my lack of a nice holiday table cloth and suddenly realized how petty that was given the abundant blessings we do have. We have a roof over our heads and food on the table in times when many families are losing even those basics. Sure, money's tight as ever but the kids are happy, healthy, and smart. Hubby's doing well in school trying to further himself and I still have a great part time job that lets me stay home and raise my own kids.

So, no recipes today. My only advice is: stop and take stock in what you do have, especially when you feel you're wanting for something.

Junior in the turkey hat he made at school

Major bed jumping!

All our Fairbanks family over before Thanksgiving dinner.

The feast!

A toast to family.

Mega train construction. The boys are getting really good at playing together.

Halloween!

I love Halloween. I used to spend months designing and constructing costumes. Not so much any more, things are just too busy with the boys. Junior is finally old enough to have an idea about Trick or Treating, and to enjoy wearing a costume. Kiddo's been wound up for it all month!

Kiddo settled on a Bakugan costume. Bakugan is a trading card game with creatures that fold up into balls. Very cool, actually. We don't get the show here but he recognized the main character right off. For Junior I saw this very cool Wubbzy costume (a Nick Jr. show), but Walmart wanted $35 for it. Since Wubbzy is basically a big yellow square, I hit up the remnants bin at JoAnn's and made the costume for less than $7.

We've had a lovely long fall. The snow finally hit this week, and while it's staying above zero there's been a bitter wind. Now, back in my day we Trick or Treated in all kinds of temperatures (the first time I really remember it was -30F), but I'm a wimp now so we're looking for alternatives. Last year we went to the malls, and it was just insane. We just stood in long lines for candy; it was boring and noisy, and No Fun.

Local schools to the rescue! Junior's school had a Fall Carnival last night. Classes and clubs had activity booths that cost 25 cents (or you bought tickets) to raise money for field trips and such. We had a great time! This afternoon my old high school is also having a Halloween Carnival, so we're going to that one too. I really like getting more than one wearing out of the costumes.

Here's some pictures from last night.

Required poses with Storm Troopers!

Kiddo climbing the "web". He got way up there!

The whole family. This is an awesome picture, and my prize for the evening.

Coming soon: A review of the Swifter Wet Jet Automatic Mop, and a re-blog of my fruitcake-haters fruitcake.

Random!

Just some random stuff today!

We complain about the cold, but it seems to make Little Red Car smile!

Are you gonna tell him there's no more fries?

Ever read the instructions on a packet of hot chocolate mix? Who decided a serving size is 6 ounces? This is 6 ounces of water in a normal-sized coffee cup.

The ginormous Super Bowl sandwich I made, with Junior (who was very excited about it) and leftover breakfast pancakes. Geez, my kitchen is a mess.

A little wrassling with Daddy.

Moms: You're Not Alone!

Sometimes as a Mom you feel like you're nothing but a nag. That you spend your whole day saying no. That you can't get any cooperation to save your life. After a rough week you may start to doubt yourself and your spouse and your kids and the cat...

There have always been some artists and authors who remind us that some parts of Motherhood are universal. I'm thinking Erma Bombeck as I write this.

Yesterday Auntie took the kids and Hubby and I went to the Fair all by ourselves - the first time in six years. It was loverly! We stopped to listen to the Fairbanks chapter of the Sweet Adelines. As we were talking to the ladies after the show one of them mentioned this YouTube video by Anita Renfroe, which Hubby found as soon as we got home, and I think I'll watch regularly to help maintain that even keel.

Busy Busy!

Hubby says "You haven't done a blog in forever!" Yeah, I know. It's been busy! Between summer in Alaska (short and sweet, we maximize every minute) and work at Allakhazam it's been a little nuts around here!

I'm gonna cheat and throw up phone pictures from the Fair today. One thing I've learned: my phone takes lousy pictures. Junior (the child formerly known as Baby) decided that Daddy was Da Man and wouldn't even hold my hand, so I mostly got pictures of Kiddo.

First we went to an animal exhibit.



Junior was so enamored by the ducks we almost didn't get to the petting zoo (where there were more ducks). There were some teeny baby goats!

Kiddo and I were done with the petting zoo but Junior was all about ducks (coulda seen that coming!), so Kiddo had a pony ride.


Then we went for some rides. The first one is Kiddo and I on the baby roller coaster. I hate roller coasters! But it's fun when your 5-year old is laughing his head off next to you! In the second I swear all my fellahs are on that merry-go-round!


We played several of the "guaranteed to win something" games with the kids and got them some prizes. Then it was about time to head home.

Ka-BOOM

Way back in the dark ages Grandpa had a little cannon.

Sometime over the winter Grandpa decided he wanted another, and built a 1/2 size Napoleonic cannon. He did everything but actually forge the cannon and wheels. He has to make his own loads (two pounds, I"m told). Bear in mind I like firearms but I'm not "into" them, so my info might be innaccurate.

Anyway, Auntie was on hand for the first official firing. This is also her first ever video edit.

.

Pictures!

Nana has threatened my person if I don't post pictures... so here you are! The low-quality ones are phone pics. These go back to mid-March.

Who Needs Cable TV?

Every now and then we bat around the idea of resubscribing to cable television. We have a really basic feed (hardly more than local channels and public access) that's required for our cable modem. We've had full cable before, but ditched it when the budget got tight.

We'd love the History Channel, the Food Network, the Sci-Fi Channel, and of course my #1 desire is Nick Junior and the Disney Channel for the kids. But it would cost us about $40 more per month just to add the standard package without premium channels. (I hear cable is cheap in the States, it sure ain't here!)

What is comes down to is that, even if we got a Tivo, there are simply not enough hours in the day to watch every show we'd like to. We spend a higher than average amount of time on our computers, me because of my job and Hubby because he uses shoot-em-up games to destress. We don't need more time slotted to sitting on our duffs.

And I don't like commercial television for the kids. Besides the barrage of impulse-driven consumerism, I just don't approve of some of the shows. I know, I know, we all grew up on the violence of Looney Tunes, and we aren't mass murderers (at least, I really hope you're not!), but Kiddo seems to love emulating the villains and scary animals and monsters, and call me paranoid, but it bugs me.

Pretty much all we watch around here during the day is PBS. And there's some great shows these days. Besides the classics like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, there's new stuff like Word World, which has Kiddo asking me to spell everything and Between the Lions, which has an award-winning focus on early literacy. Oh, and Word Girl, the 6th grade super heroine with the phenomenal vocabulary! And even I find these entertaining.

But I do miss the edu-tainment kids shows like Blue's Clues, Wonder Pets, and Kiddo really misses Go Diego Go. Sure, they're out on video, but you can $10 yourself to death doing that, might as well buy cable.

Hurrah for the internet!

Yesterday Baby and I were sick as could be. Kiddo fired up Nick Jr's video site and watched Dora, Blue's Room, Diego, and Wonder Pets videos all day. I showed him how to run the player one time, and to get it in and out of full-screen mode, and he was self-entertaining all day. It's not something I'd normally allow, but boy, we were so sick it was a blessing.

Also, most of these sites, especially PBS Kids shows, have games to play, that are quite often (shh!) educational. Kiddo's had a blast learning opposites and rhyming with Grover and doing click-n-color pictures on the Fisher-Price site.

So if you have the internet (and you must have some access if you're reading this), save the bucks on cable just for the kids and check some of these out. Kiddo's favorites are the Sesame Street games and Nick Junior Videos.

Videos:
Sesame Street Videos
Nick Junior Videos

Games:
Sesame Street
PBS Kids
Nick Junior
Fisher-Price
Disney

Life, and Stuff

I've had a lot of things I've wanted to write about lately, but things have been busy enough that none of them have come to full fruition. So I thought I'd just blog about life and stuff.

The holidays were good. We managed not to break the bank and still really go all out, since we didn't start paying for health insurance until January and had extra money. Kiddo's favorite presents were (in this order) the toy camera he coveted, a dinosaur that roars and walks, and his "exercise bicycle". We only had one dud present, a Sesame Street "laptop" for baby. He's much more interested in doing whatever Kiddo is doing! The kids have discovered PBS online on their computer, thanks to the Easy Link 'net launchpad, and Kiddo will even eschew Word World, his absolute favorite show, to play rhyming games with Grover online.

I got Hubby Madden 2008 for his Christmas game and it's given him nothing but trouble. It took him 10 days to get support with for a known bug that was causing it not to run. We've had problems installing EA games before, although they're fabulous when you get them going, but nothing like this. I suspect they make them for the PS3 or something and then convert them to PC. I'd link you to their site but it seems to be down again.

Me, I got new toys. Hubby is very lucky, I love getting appliances! He bought me a Cuisinart griddle, which is something I've been really coveting but didn't actually need. I also got a carpet steamer, and the family is tolerating me requiring them to pick things up and move furniture, because it's just so cool to not have to go rent a Rug Doctor and do the whole house before your 24 hours is up. Now every time food hits the floor I think "It's okay, I have a carpet steamer!"

What else.... Kiddo has started a new school. The phenomenal teacher he had the last few months at his old school moved back to Florida as her husband left the military after 10 years. We had a lot of minor frustrations with the old school, mostly having to do with young, inexperienced teachers and a lack of communication, and a final "communication incident" combined with Miss Lily leaving equaled me having darn well enough. I found a "Kindergarten Readiness" program that's curriculum based and has very small classes, both of which Miss Lily (who has a degree in Special Needs and is pursuing her Master's Degree) said Kiddo really needed to progress. She made huge progress with Kiddo, and this really feels like the next step. His first day was Wednesday. This morning I told him "Time to get ready to go to school!" he said "I don't want to go to school. I want to go to my NEW school!" I'm terribly pleased, and I'm not stressed about Kiddo's preschool education for the first time in forever. He goes three full days a week now, so I have a little more time to get projects done. Like blogging!

My work has been busy, the Developers at Allakhazam have been adding features to the EQ2 site that have changed the back end for us a bit but are resulting in much, much better data, more accurate and way more of it. It's taking a little transition time to get it all settled out, but defiantly worth it. We are finally able to focus on something besides updating antiquated item data, and we're finally brushing off some long neglected projects.

The laugh of the week goes to my friend Coyote over at Ten Ton Hammer. For a multitude of reasons the Bat Blog is the most hilarious thing I've read in ages. If you haven't read Coyote before, he's irreverent, funny, and set slightly sideways to most of us. The closest comparison I have is Dave Barry, but Coyote is definitely not a copycat. Coyote has a penchant for comics, video games, zombies, and breasts. Yet he's a family man, a brilliant geek, and (having met him) and honest-to-goodness gentleman. Take a look!

We are Blessed

Merry Christmas!

I'd like to give some thanks today.

I'm thankful for my family, my extended family, my virtual family and friends. I'm very thankful to be a part of the EverQuest II community.

I'm thankful for a great part time job and Hubby's endurance through tough employment times to a great job. I'm thankful we no longer qualify for any kind of public assistance. I'm also very thankful it was there when we needed it, we'd be in pretty bad financial shape right now without it.

I'm thankful the Post Office devised flat-rate Priority Mail boxes, which probably saved me 50% on my holiday shipping.

I'm thankful for the store clerks and cashiers who put in massive hours without displaying any sign of Post Black Friday Stress Syndrome. And the shoppers who were out there with me who smiled and were polite even though it was, to quote Kiddo "NUTSO!" out there.

I'm thankful for our postal carrier, who came by one day with six huge boxes from family, and was delivering well past 5pm every day the last couple weeks.

I'm thankful that we were able to give the kids a humdinger of a Christmas without carrying it on credit. I'm especially thankful for an unexpected Christmas bonus which facilitated us getting them their extra cool big gift (I'll blog the Christmas loot another day, I'm thankful for that too, but this isn't the time).

I'm thankful that our Armed Forces are out there for us.

I'm thankful that no one was hurt in the two fender-benders Hubby managed saw, but was not involved in, yesterday. I'm especially thankful he (and the baby) were not involved.

I'm thankful the kids are napping right now!

I'm thankful we found Kiddo a new preschool.

I'm thankful I learned how to make fruitcake.

And I'm thankful for this blog, and the two dozen people who read it (you know who you are!) and enjoy sharing my ramblings!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful!

Pictures!

It's been a while since I posted pictures (not to mention my side job has kept me very, very busy), so here you go!

Kiddo likes his trains.

Baby just learned to walk, and already he's trying to escape!

My fellahs!

Kiddo makes bubbles in the sun.

One word. AWWWWWW

The boys, just chillin'

Random Musings

Here's some idle thoughts that have wandered through my mind lately. Enjoy!

Caesar Salad Dressing has anchovies in it.

Do you know most lotions have alcohol in them? For dry skin, use a thick cream, not a lotion.

A pat of butter in your jam while cooking will reduce foam.

You can rip your fabric softener sheets in thirds and never notice the difference in your laundry. Unless you're into smelling like Fresh Spring Breezes.

Basil and tomatoes grow well together. Plant all your Italian-style herbs between your tomato plants.

Tomatoes also grow extremely well upside down. You could plant tomatoes on the bottom and your herbs on top!

There's a joint pain relief product called Blue-Emu. It's made with Emu oil. From real Emus. Many Really Famous Women have sworn by it for stretch marks (I prefer cocoa butter).

Why is it all the books I really want are either out of print, not yet released, or only available in a $40 hardback?

Retaining water? The very best thing you can do is drink more water. No, really! Your kidneys are like an old water pump, they need water to process the liquids you are retaining.

Not a Gimmick: Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner. We have an old fiberglass shower/tub that's really hard to keep clean. This thing works.

Cheap Rainy Day Kid Fun: Save empty grocery containers, like cereal boxes, egg cartons, milk cartons (clean them of course!) and let your kids play kitchen, cook, or baker. Boxes make good blocks, too.

An adult triceretops horn is longer than the average two year old is tall.