A boy and his cat...

"Did it move?"

"Nope, don't think so."

"Let's keep watching. Shall we?"

At 40 degrees below zero, you find a new appreciation for staying home (and other news).

It's COLD today. I think it's the coldest that we've had so far, and just like you may guess, it's not fun to have to go out in it. This is our first winter here in Central Alaska, and I'm learning new things by the day. I absolutely LOVE to stay home now. Housework, reading, playing with toys, and trying to empty the DVR cache is our fun for the moment. (But, we do try to get out for a little while to prevent the winter blues.)

I've been bringing Gabe to school lately. Usually, he walks; but with the sun rising at around 10:30 a.m. now, the short walk to through the woods is a bit scary for him. I have him properly armed with a flashlight, cell phone, and enough winter gear to keep warm, but I can understand that bringing him the short distance in the car will put less stress on both of us if I continue to do it for the next month or two, or until we see daylight at the beginning of the school day again. I also see that a pair of snow shoes for him might be a smart purchase in the near future.

The kids and I were supposed to fly out to Lafayette tonight, but with Phillip coming home any day now from his latest mission, I decided that it was better to get our tickets changed so that the four of us can fly home together. Because Sarah and I have been a bit sick this week, I'm very glad that we're not leaving tonight!

In the past 12 days, someone over here has either gotten spayed, de-clawed (leather couches, and I can only put us both through the torture of nail trimming so often), micro-chipped, had a double-ear infection, sinus infection, a hole under the tongue where exposed salivary glands were inflamed, stuck his tongue to a basketball goal to see if it's true (and it is) that your tongue will freeze to it, caught the common cold, or had strep throat.

It's time for the husband to come home. Thank Goodness that this was only a short deployment (about 4 months). It seems as though it never fails that when he's due to come home, someone is on their last leg. I imagine it as a jet coming in for a landing with only one wheel down. When there is only one parent around, the kids need extra reassurance and attention, and I'm the one to provide it; after a while, that can take it's toll on me.

I do my best to stay positive, and not complain. I know that my situation could always be much worse. If I were not the wife of such an awesome man, I'm not sure what life would be like, but I know that I wouldn't have what I have now...and it is a beautiful life.

We all can't wait to have Phillip home. The weather and landscape sure have changed! And, in just the short time that he's been gone, Sarah has begun to hold complete conversations with us. Her vocabulary amazes me on a daily basis. And she is Conais (Cajun for mischievious) with a capital C! Gabe has gotten so much more mature. He and I had a short conversation last night about how when he was a "little" boy, he wanted so much to be a "big" boy, and now that he feels that he's there, he wants to be "little" again (that's how he put it). I had to remind him that he shouldn't want or need to grow up too quickly; his job is to be a kid, and he should leave the grown-up stuff to me or Dad. I do NOT want him to grow up too quickly...a kid should be a kid.

Oh, lovely...just got a call from the doctor, and this morning's strep swab on me came back positive. Well, that makes two of us since Saturday. Welcome Home, Babe! Here's a Z-pack!

I've been busy with lots of different things lately. I made some major changes to my blog. I've felt for quite a while that I needed a change. We needed a new look. And I wanted to do as much as I could to prevent certain invasions of privacy. Although I put lots of personal information on here, I do try to be discreet and not lead the common criminal, etc. to our front door, so I deleted some things.

Also, I've come to the realization that there comes a time in deployments (when I know the end is near), that I do extra things around the house to keep busy to make the time go faster. I also get into a sort of a "nesting" mode. And then I get tired and frustrated from the extra work, and then the kids get sick...

The roller coaster never ends!

Until next time,

I've added...

...some new photos to both albums, and some more blogs to my blog roll.

I've deleted some blogs as well, since there was no activity on them.

And that's about it for today, folks!

A Not in any Particular Order Photo Story of When Pa-Paw and Ya-Ya came to visit.

...as told by Sarah (so don't believe too much of what you hear).

Pa-Paw and Ya-Ya came to visit in mid-October (and that's another reason why Mom hasn't gotten around to working on this blog), and they arrived on the day of Ya-Ya's birthday. I was excited about them being here, and I wanted to show them everything; especially how safe my ice-skating helmet is, because sometimes, cinnamon rolls can be dangerous.

One day, during their visit, we went to see downtown Fairbanks, because it's the largest city in interior Alaska, and we wanted to show Pa-Paw and Ya-Ya how huge and modern it is (compared to life in the bush). I took some time to reflect on my life so far...

...and how I was going to get Pa-Paw to pick me up because I was tired of walking and thinking.

We also took them to see the Museum of the North at the University of Fairbanks. I'm not joking; this place is impressive. Gabe liked it. See?

At the museum, there was a butterfly exhibit. Now, it's by no means as cool as the one that they had in New Orleans a couple of years ago (Gabe told me all about it, because I didn't get to go), but there were some really pretty things to see. Living...

and pretending to die.

During that week, we drove Dad's truck up an icy hill north of Fairbanks to get lunch and pie at the Hilltop Truck Stop.

It's a popular place for the truckers going up to Prudhoe Bay, or wherever those guys traveling the Elliot Highway are going, and so they have their own smoking and eating room. See?

Chena Hot Springs was hot on the list of must-do's for that week. And the ice carving people even made a pumpkin for me! (Mom mentioned before not to believe anything you read, people!)

We saw the pipeline...

...and an old man in a red suit, that my brother was especially nice to (I wonder why?).

And even though Mom was very disappointed that the moose that makes tracks in the snow almost every day in our yard, but we can't seem to catch her at the right times (I think she's invisible) we were able to see Denali Mountain a.k.a. Mt. McKinley before they went home to Louisiana.

I wish they didn't have to leave. We miss them very much.

But...we should see them around Christmas time. And hopefully, Daddy will be home around that time too!

Keep your crossed.

THE END

Winter time is coming up on us!

Winter time is coming! Winter time is coming! Winter time is coming!
(now, ask me in a few months how I really feel about it...)

For now, the kids are excited, and I'm liking the difference in the landscape. The lowest temperature that we've had so far is about 17 degrees, and would you believe me if I said that it really isn't so bad? It's not like the Louisiana, bone-chilling, damp cold that you experience there. It's more of a "dry cold", and I can go outside for a few minutes wearing a t-shirt and I'm fine with it.

It's starting to get darker earlier, and waking up at 7:30 am in the dark is a bit weird. At night time, when the sun is completely down, it's darker than a witch's lair out here!

As for the Aurora Borealis, I've only seen it once, though my neighbor texted me at 10:30 last night to say that she could see it outside of her bedroom window (which faces our house)....I peaked out of my window, and didn't see what she was seeing. Gabe was upset that I didn't wake him up to see it last time...I must not forget to wake him on the next time I see it. I hope it makes an appearance next week for Pa-Paw and Ya-Ya, who are flying in tomorrow night (we're so stinkin' excited...our first visitors!!!).

In other news:

• Rumor has it that Phil and his friends MAY be home for Christmas, but like anything in the military way of life, we don't count on it, but hope it happens.
• The kids and I are flying home to Lafayette for 3 weeks around Christmas. I purposely scheduled a red-eye flight; we get to Houston in time for lunch, and then board a plane for Lafayette. WhooooHooooo! There's so much I want to see and do while we're there.
• And if Phil is able to come home for Christmas, he may be flying out to "Laffy" on a separate flight...we'll cross that ticket-buying bridge when we come to it.
• Gabe is doing well in school. Making friends; and one of his best friends is our neighbor, Rebecca...they walk to and from school together and she usually stops off at our house for an afternoon snack and playtime.
• Sarah is good friends with Rebecca's little sister, Kendra. They play so well together! Sarah also goes to daycare for about 5 hours on Mondays and Fridays to play with her friends there, so I can run errands, etc. She loves it! Such a social butterfly, she is.
  
• And Pichou the kitten is spoiled...that's all I have to say about that!

Take care, everyone!

Some Angels don't have wings...

...they have fur...

...and multiple toes...

...and a phone number on a name tag, just in case they get lucky
in the never ending quest to sneak out of the garage door.
(while on a break from duties, such as door greeting, purring, being a loyal friend and playmate, bed warming, shower and bathtub clean-up, etc....seriously, this cat is a gift from above; she's helped us all get adjusted to the recent major life changes.)

Oh, My!

Gabe came home one Wednesday afternoon and told us that he was running in the schoolyard for recess, landed wrong on his ankle and heard a small "pop!". The school nurse checked him out, and said that he should be okay. He was able to walk on it that afternoon, and so we went on ahead with a planned ice-skating trip. By the time we got to the arena, we learned that we couldn't skate because the local semi-pro hockey team was holding practice and try-outs (turned out to be a good thing!). Later on that night, Gabe started to complain about pain in his ankle, and so we looked at it, looked at each other and said "Hmmmph! Not good.".

By the next morning, it was really swollen, hot to the touch, and red. To the E.R. we went, he and I. And a few hours later, we left the hospital with a splint covering a small evulsion fracture.

The good news is that he only had to be splinted for a week. He really hated those crutches! The Ortho doc told us that had he been an adult, she would have casted him, but since kids are so resilient, she was confident that his fracture was small enough to heal nicely on it's own, and actually wanted him to exercise that ankle.

Poor Baby!

Moments that make my heart turn to absolute Goo...

This was taken the night that we thought he was heading out to Pakistan, but asked me to pick him up because of problems with the aircraft that he was to go out on. We picked him up, and then returned home to a tea party.

In time, he'll get over my posting such a moment. Because it's so darn sweet. And I'm pretty sure he knows that we love him so very much for the man that he is!