This post hasn't been appr0ved by the editor and I am sure that as soon as she finds out about this I am going to get a "Hun!", but after reading all of the emails and facebook notes I just thought that I would share the theme song of Alaskans in the winter.
Matt
| Baby, It's Cold Ou... |
I haven't cut Benjamin's hair in a while because the only thing I can do is shave it really short and I just couldn't do that. I also wanted to see what it was like longer. It is very thick and has a wave. It was finally so out of control that we took him in to the barber. Now Hilda's Barber shop has probably been cutting hair there for 40 years and the same people. Walking by one afternoon we peaked in and there is every animal in Alaska stuffed and hanging up. There is even a Jack-a-lope. The men were sitting around reading papers and shooting the breeze. I was taken back about 40 years. Anyway, Benjamin decided this was were we should go. It was a "boys only" hair place. As we arrived Benjamin looked at me and seriously says," Mom, you and Josette can't go in there. It is only for boys." I then had to convince him that it was ok for girls to go in there. So he sat very still and got a great hair cut. But those ol'time barber prices didn't hold true, $16 for a little boy! They kept calling us the rich family because they found out we had a kid with braces and only rich kids got braces, so I probably got nailed. The woman was using a cell phone, I thought she would be up with the times a bit and know that families that have kids with braces aren't rich because it's all in their kids mouth! Ooh well it was a fun 1 time experience and the bummer is, it was a fun place hanging out with all the ol'timers.
Here is also the requested video of Josette toddling. No, we don't have a dog, the panting noise you hear is Josette. You also see a bit of the trail of destruction J. leaves all over.
It's a new day, Carsten hasn't had an accident in 4 days, the sun is shining on a beautiful world outside, and after the bummer post of last night I really wanted to get back to fun humor. The only problem is I don't have any funny quips for the day yet. Josette is looking very cute toddling around and pulling everything out of the cabinets, I've gotten good at just scooting the tupperware over a little so that I can cook. Gotta love this stage.
I've tried to keep politics out of my blog out of respect for others but I really need to voice an opinion at the moment and Hobo Jim, Alaska's State Balladeer, says it perfectly.
We actually have had the chance to meet him twice. He is a great guy, super hilarious and your true Alaskan.
So, I forgot this little Halloween story. We had a bit of a neighborhood party before going off trick or treating and so there were 12 kids getting ready to go. I told Benjamin and Sophie to get ready and wait on the porch while I got Carsten. I assumed that they would realize that it was only 13 degrees outside and would get the proper winter attire of hats and gloves. When we left I checked that all those things were there. After walking all the way up the hill and back down Benjamin complains that his feet are cold. I look down and he has on his crocs with NO socks on! You've got to be kidding me we've already been out for 30 minutes and he is just now complaining. I quickly ran back into the house to get his socks and boots. As I came out he was upset because the kids had gone on trick-or-treating and he was missing out not that he was getting frost bite.
There's a lot of pictures because so much has happened that this is the only way I can catch up! I do a "joy" school type preschool with Benjamin in one group and Carsten in another. It's been good for the boys to have their own groups at their levels but that means I've had preschool in my home for the last 2 weeks and I have one more week to go. Things always get a little crazy when it's my turn for a week so 3 straight weeks is really putting me behind.
Sophie had her parent/teacher conference and she is doing great. She's a bit of a chatter box (which we already knew) but is acing everything. She attends a small charter school has had the same classmates since kindergarten. A big bonus because I know all the students and parents but it does add to the chattiness level.
After a year long struggle with potty training Carsten I think we've made the jump. He was pretty much trained until camping season came and he wouldn't use the pit toilets because there were bears in there. So the "Bear toilets" put a complete stop to our underwear days and we were back to square one. Wednesday he asked for underwear and has wanted them since. Of course with brand new carpet I wasn't sure I was ready to go there until we were absolutely sure it could be done. Anyway we've had 2 accident free days, we won't mention the other days, and has decided that he wants underwear at night. We'll see what happens. Between the gas price going down and not having to buy pull ups anymore we've gotten a bit of a raise! :)
To add a bit to my getting over my carpet anxiety we have been dog sitting. Bear is a great dog but everytime we watch him Matt and I realize we are not dog people. Bear is Sophie's pal and sleeps by her bed every night he was here. Sophie would love one but NO WAY!
The pictures below are in the order they've occured in our life.
Benjamin in his new gee. He is so proud!
Mom and Sophie girl!
Benjamin's cow eating grass. We did a farm unit and made homemade butter. The next class we did the story of the Little Red Hen and made bread.
Making carpet angels on our new carpet. After 3 years we finally replaced all the carpet downstairs and in the bedrooms.
Carsten's Halloween preschool we did spider webs and spider shrink- a- dinks.
My little Kung Fu Panda crew. Sophie was Tigresse (I didn't get all the stripes on...oh well) B. is Po the Panda and C. is the Leopard. Josette was the master. Thanks Mom!
Matt made these great laterns to line our front walk. There was a different image on each side. They looked really cool in front of the house. Great job Hon!
