Three for One!

This is my third post today.  Stella is taking an amazingly long nap.  And Nicholas is still entertaining himself with something.  So Saturday... we went to the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous or "Fur Rondy" for us locals!
And we all took

Here is me and Nick

And Shawn and Stella.  

How cool is that?!

This is a very "Alaskan" event.  It is the kickoff to the Iditarod.  Complete with outdoor parade, carnival, 

snow sculptures, etc!!

This is all I could capture of the dog sled race:

Nicholas loved it!!  As soon as we got out of the car he found this "snowball."  This is a picture of him after he carried it, no lie, about 12 blocks.  We parked down at Ship Creek and walked to 9th and E.   He carried it the whole way.  So after about five blocks, Shawn was carrying Nick and his snowball.  Then we made him put it down to take the sled ride.  Then he picked it back up and carried it to 6th and D to see the parade- so four more blocks.  Then we went inside the mall to warm up and eat.  Then he soon found another one and carried it around town.  




Stella had a great time, too.  Obviously.

This is just a picture of the port in Anchorage.  Out in the distance you can see the ocean water.  Yes, that is ice out there.

Sunday...

Sunday we spent the day sprucing up the house.  It is almost staged and ready to put up for sale.  We had a realtor come last night and check out our house.  She gave us some comps, too that will help us in pricing.  We are going to try and sell it ourselves since sadly we will make beans off this property.  Last weekend we got a storage unit and practically filled it up with "extra" furniture and stuff.  I have been selling more "extras" on craigslist and ebay.  If you want 4yds of Go Diego Go fabric...it's on ebay!  Need to make the house ready to sell.  So after church on Sunday I switched out our showerhead in our bathroom and now we have a double shower head.  

I actually really like it.  Then after the kids went to bed Sunday night, I changed the bathroom faucet and water supply lines.    

Before...

After...

And THAT is why I am called "Kate Villa".  

Today...

Ok, we really do exist.  We were hiding out for a while!  Not really.  Just got way busy and my "free" (ha) time was spent doing other things...lots of other things.  So looks like tonight we will be proud owners of a new Honda Odyssey.  Yes, that would be a (cough!)minivan.  To be accurate, it is an Odyssey EX-L...if that means anything to you.  Shawn is buying me one tonight.  Yeah me.  It's not for me.  It is really for the kids- present and future.  It really is the best car for them.  I won't go on and on about how safe this car is.  The car is big.  Tons of storage space.  Impressive safety features.  And better on gas than an SUV.  It will be our traveling car.  Oooh maybe we can take it to Fairbanks next weekend!  We aren't getting studded tires for it so maybe not.  But we are going to need a car that will be big enough and reliable enough (sorry, Jeep) for our 11-day trip out of here on June 1st.  Yes, we are moving back to Oklahoma City...yeehaw.  Let's not talk about the move just yet.  Not ready to face that fact today.  I LOVE here.  LOVE. HERE.  So this should be what we get tonight.  In navy blue and grey leather interior.  Because that is all they have here.  But again, it is not for me I would have chosen a Honda Pilot fyi.)  I haven't seen it.  Shawn did and I trust him.  And it better be loaded if I have to forgo my Passat for a minivan.  Lucky Shawn.  He will get to drive my Passat everyday.  We will just have to get the navigation system later.  They don't work up here in AK (nor does satellite radio...found that out when we moved here) so they don't sell them that way.  We do get a block heater though!  Also the one Honda dealership only gets the couple that trickle into the port every month or so.  So if we don't get this one we may not get one.  We have dibs, Anchorage!!  So if anyone has a suggestion on a portable navigation system...I need to know.  

Other than that, we are gearing up for the big birthday on Saturday.  Stella will be ONE!  Where did the year go.  Really.  My neighbors just had their baby a couple days ago.  He is so small compared to Stella.  Stella is still not walking by herself.  She seems interested.  She'll stand up all by herself in the middle of the floor not holding onto anything...then giggle and plop down.  Then she'll do it again.  And again.  She's such a good crawler that she doesn't need to walk.  I need her to walk though.  She is getting some shoes for her birthday so maybe that will inspire her.

Nicholas is turning into such a little boy.  He is playing pirates and cars right now.  Guess the nap is done with.  He napped once in the past week.  I still try.  That's ok.  He is so smart.  School is going to be great for him next fall.  Just a couple days a week, I think.  We do those preschool workbooks one or two evenings a week now.  He can write his letters up to "I."  He knows some random ones after "I" too.   He has known the letter sounds for a long time now (before he turned 3) and so maybe with the writing he'll want to read.  I was reading at 4.  We'll see.  His favorite-for-the-moment cartoon is Backyardigans.  It's a cute show.  So that's his treat in the mornings after he gets dressed.  

But did I mention...

...it was a beautiful day!  I didn't say that about Friday.  It was cold but sunny and clear.  (Today it was -18 as I pulled into the garage!) 

Also I put new pictures (of kids and crafts) on our Flickr link...

Negative WHAT?!

It really didn't feel that cold today.  But when you get down around zero it all starts feeling the same.  I took this picture in our driveway just before noon today.  

What's new?

I have to first say thank you to those that sent Bed Bath and Beyond coupons my way. I am now the proud owner of a real set if knives. Now I just have to watch that I don't cut my fingers off.

So much to blog about today. Maybe since I haven't posted for over a week. Okay, over two weeks. Not a good start to 2008. But I have been busy at the sewing machine. Just trying new things and making some old standbys. PJ pants for Shawn and me, fleece pants for Stella (this is her third pair), a reusable coffee cup sleeve that Shawn ripped apart. It was a new craft I was trying. He thought is was pretty cool- S-Is this velcro? Rip. K-No, it's not. It's ok. I scorched the fabric with the iron. I will try to put a picture of this on the flickr link. I made a bag for my new yoga mat that Shawn got me for Christmas. I told myself that I wasn't going to open the mat until I had a new bag for it. It turned out so cute. And I just made it from extra fabric I had in my stash. Since then it has been one project after another. But small projects. Ones that can be accomplished in a naptime. I know you are just dying to see my crafts...go to our Flickr link.

Last Thursday, my friend Melissa came over for a Craft Day (Lori, remember these? Total tribute to you.) Well I haven't done a craft day since, geez 1994? So what did we make? headbands. They turned out great!! And we learned one thing: I have a smaller than average head and Melissa has a larger than average head! So if anyone wanted us to make you one (and you know you do!), we would need your head size. I wish I had a picture of us wearing them. Then I made Stella one that night. So her is hers. Oh I made those pants, too.


So speaking of headgear...we got this lovely creature in the mail last night from Suzanne and Balazs. HOW CUTE!! thanks you guys so much. everything was perfect that you sent.



Well, I am not the only one crafting around here. Nicholas made this airplane. We glued it together yesterday. And he painted it today. He is quite the artiste, huh? And check out his mouth. Didn't Picasso make that same expression whilst he painted. I thought so. Laugh now, but you just wait! someday.




Miss Stella has been loving real food lately. Here she is loving green beans and sweet potatoes.

OH, and if I might add (the sweet potatoes reminded me) if you ever "deep fry" anything you should try sweet potatoes chips. I have only fried things in oil twice before. So I guess about once a year. But these were so good I might have to break the pattern and fry a second time in 2008. You just peel and slice the sweet potatoes and soak the slices in cold water for 30 min. The thinner the better on the slicing, too. Then you fry them in oil. Then you sprinkle salt and cinnamon on them. Yum. Stella's sweet potato was boiled and Nick didn't eat his chips. I know I ate just about the whole batch.

Hear me Roar! (As in "I am woman...")

Nick and I shoveled the driveway the other day. It is beginning to form the gauntlet. It has been snowing a lot here. I didn't realize how much snow had fallen on Wednesday until we already backed out of the driveway. We hadn't shoveled for a few days so there was probably about eight inches. It had been freezing the week before. Like negative temperatures...how's -9 for you. Shawn said it was -18 one morning going to work. Then it warmed up and dumped lots of fresh beautiful (and heavy) snow. And unfortunately, I could not get that snowblower up and running so I cleared the whole driveway with one shovel.

Well that just might have to do it for today. It has been a nice peaceful day at home. I did have to fish Stella's nail clippers out of the toilet this morning. Guess the "fell" in. Why Nick? And tonight...we have a babysitter. Shawn and I are going tubing for a couple hours. Should be cold. But fun.

I forgot to give you this one...

I just had to post these cute pictures. They are from last weekend. I just forgot to post it! We went sledding that day and this is what Stella wore under her snow suit. We just left it on the rest of the day. She LOVES her bathtime!



OH and in case you are wondering where the pictures of Nicholas are...well I can't get him to sit still for a picture. Don't worry. I will get one or two!