A Couple More

Sam finally started crawling right before Christmas and now there is no stopping him. And Mama is really trying hard to remember to keep a closer eye on him!

Everywhere there are little boys there are big messes..

and big smooches...

and cute little buns!!

Nellie endures a lot from Wyatt, she spends a lot of time being various farm animals. Most frequently being a horse but on this day she got to be a goat.

I didn't drink the milk!  I maybe it is time to replenish the farm with some real farm animals.

Happy New Year

We had a very quiet evening at home on New Years Eve, the boys went to bed early and Jeff and I watched a movie.  But we spent the first day of the new year out at a public use cabin.  I skied in with Sam in the chariot and Jeff walked in pulling the sled with Wyatt and all our gear.  It was - 5 on our way in but the temps dropped quickly and it was -30 when we went to bed. We had planned on doing some ice fishing and skiing but it was just too cold to do too much other than hang around in the cabin and stoke the fire.

We did go out to start a fire so we could roast hotdogs just to pass the time.

It was still -30 when we woke up in the morning but it warmed up to a balmy -20 by the time the sun came up and Wyatt was very excited to go ice fishing so we figured we would give a shot.  Jeff went out and dug the holes than came back in to get Wyatt. That kid sat out here on the ice staring at the hole for at least 45 minutes. I went out with Sam just to see how it was going.  I asked Wyatt if he was cold and he said, " Well, Mama its just a little chilly today".  That is an Alaskan kid for ya!  And they didn't even catch any fish.

Despite the cold it was a nice relaxing way to kick off the new year.

Merry Christmas

Okay here I go trying catch up yet again.  We celebrated Christmas at home this year.  And as much as we miss seeing all of our families it is nice to avoid all the stress that goes with travelling around the holidays.  Wyatt was really into Christmas this year and that made it even more fun for Mama and Papa.  He was interested in Santa and we talked about him quite a bit but every time I said something about Santa bringing presents Wyatt would look at the tree and say "But I already have enough presents". I loved hearing that.  Santa can't compete with the Grandma's with the gift giving :)

Heading out to look for a tree.

The big problem with cutting a black spruce for a Christmas tree is that you end up cutting down a 20 ft tree to get the top 6ft.  They are pretty thin. We will plant another one to make up for it!

I didn't get too many pictures of the gift opening, it was all kind of a blur.

The boys would really like to thank everyone for all the great boxes they sent!!

Christmas day we had a bunch of our Alaska family over for a wonderful celebration. We cooked our homegrown turkey and everyone brought a dish to share. It is so nice to have such good friends to share the holidays with when are families are so far away.