Science Project

11/12 - Pictures from earlier in the month of Zach at the Lowe's build for the Science Project. His science experiment at school was a huge hit - thanks Lowe's for help with his homework!

Flag Ceremony

11/17 - Pack Meeting - Zach helped with the flag folding ceremony.

Sleep Over at Jacob's

Zach had a fun sleep over at Jacob's. I picked him up on Sunday and he and I headed to church. Doug and Sam had planned to go also, but found it too nice and warm in bed in the morning to join us.

Zach and Jacob had a good time....Sarah spoils both of them rotten! Thanks for a fun night!

The church was so pretty for Christmas. At this service, a pastor from the church/wellness center in Cameron that our church sponsors spoke. She had come all the way from Cameron and was excited to see snow - she wished that she could take some back to show everyone. A translation was done of her service - it was a nice change of pace. Zach enjoyed going to Sunday school and seeing his church friends.

Over Size Visitor

A winter visitor was helping itself to our bushes. We don't know how an animal that large can survive on twigs!

First Trip Out

Doug and Karl were going to head out for 3 days and 2 nights snowmachining and camping in Karl's arctic oven tent. It is bitter cold and the trails aren't all open yet. So, they opted for a day trip.

Focus is Fixed

11/25 - Worthington Ford called.....the Focus was all fixed! As we didn't want it sitting out in the cold all weekend with a new paint job, Doug went to get her. They did a nice job, you can't tell it was in an accident.

Good-bye rental car!

Popcorn Button

Zach was spending the night at Jacob's house, so Sam was home with Mom and Dad and we were going to have a lazy evening watching a movie. Sam offered to make some popcorn. He has it down! The new microwave senses the popcorn well. The "popcorn button" works great - no burned popcorn and 2 or 3 un-popped kernels.

Now that Sam has mastered the microwave, I will be introducing him to the other appliances - starting with the laundry machine & dishwasher.

Forget Black Friday!

We stayed far, far away from the Black Friday rush at the stores. On Saturday, things had calmed down quite a bit. Doug and Karl headed out at 9 am for a day of snowmachining. Zach, Sam and I ran a few errands and then dropped Zach off at Jacob's at 3 pm for a sleep over.

It was just Sam and I. We needed milk and a few other items, so stopped at Wal-mart as I had won a gift card at work (spent it on groceries....boring!) and inside the store is a McDonalds! It was fun to have a Happy Meal with my buddy and watch all the shoppers coming and going!

Incident Report Needed

I heard a little voice come whimpering down the stairs...."help me, mommy". It was all I could not to laugh. I get incident reports at work like this all the time and had 1 really bad one a couple of years ago when an employee put his finger in -30*F weather in a small port in a building - nasty frostbite to the finger when it got stuck.

......and, so there is my child with a black bolt stuck on his finger. I tried not to laugh, I really, really did try not to laugh. With a little wiggle it was off....I hope a good lesson was learned!

Before Number 3

Doug and Karl had planned to go snowmachining and winter camping this weekend from Friday - Sunday. It was REALLY cold this weekend and most of the trails they were interested in were not open to snowmachines yet. Doug offered that they could set-up Karl's arctic oven tent in our backyard....but, Karl thought a warm bed at home sounded pretty good.

Instead Karl, Laurie, Nora and Lake would come over for dinner and a movie. We need to get our visits in as their baby boy will soon be here (as I am writing this on 11/28 at 8 pm, Laurie is at the hospital!)

There was the kid's table and the adult's table. We fed the kids and then Doug put on the movie "Rio" for them. Us adults had a nice hour and half to have dessert and just sit and talk!

I had gotten a Christmas craft for Zach and Nora to work on. They did a good job putting together their Charlie Brown and Friends holiday banner.

A fun evening. A warm evening....so nice to be inside!

Gobble, Gobble!

Year 2 of the Thanksgiving tradition with Chris, Sarah and Jacob Leonard. What great people, we have so much fun with them.

Sarah's dining room looked so nice!

Wow! What a turkey. Sarah did the turkey, stuffing, rolls and pie. We brought a corn dish, potatoes, appetizers.......there wasn't a lack of food! We all ate way too much!

Sam loves Jacob!

Sitting down to eat!

Chris said that he was going to put their dog, Obie, on the treadmill. A few minutes later I went upstairs and peaked inside the master bedroom. Yep, he loves it!

The boys enjoyed the great hills that surround the Leonard's house.

Picture time with the turkey! Year 2 of the annual picture taking! Doug and I got the turkey somewhere when we lived in Houston. It made the trip to Alaska with us.

Sam loved to shovel.....we have plenty of driveway at our house to help with too!

My mom sent this to me a few years ago for Christmas. I love it...an ice scraper with a "penguin mitt" around it. It is a good conversation piece! It works well too!

Last year we went to a movie after Thanksgiving dinner.....and enjoyed it, so in keeping with "tradition" off we went. Arthur Christmas was playing in 3D at the Dimond theater. It was us and 3 other people in the show! As we pulled up to the mall, a line was already forming for the Best Buy Black Friday opening. I don't know if the store was opening at midnight or 5 am, but I was glad to be going to see a movie instead of sitting outside in the cold!

I don't know where Doug, Zach & Sam put a large popcorn......or the free re-fill!

What a fun day! We all commented that the day had gone too fast! But, it was the first day of our 4 day weekend. So wonderful......sleep in tomorrow!

Ready for Action!

He is ready for something, we don't know what.....but he is ready.

tapRoot

One of Doug's co-workers had purchased a $40 gift certificate on Groupon (just pay 1/2 site) for the tapRoot restaurant/bar. She wasn't going to be able to use it before it expired so gave it to Doug. We decided tonight would work well into our schedule. I was coming back from Prudhoe Bay and it would be nice to not have to cook! After Costco shopping and a few other errands I collected Zach and Sam and we headed on over to meet Doug.


The food is REALLY good! Halibut tacos....delicious! The tapRoot is known for its shows and there would be jazz music tonight.....at 9 pm. We will be in bed by then. Oh, to be young again and going for a dinner at 9 pm to listen to the music!

The 3 boys enjoying their meals.

Thanks Lori!