Exchanging Pennies for Dollars

 For years Michael has exchanged shiny pennies for shiny dollars. The only rule is to bring him a current year date penny...he carries these dollars around in his pocket waiting for a Gherkin (child or grand) to hand him a penny.  Last year 7 2020 pennies were turned in. 

From the looks of it, no 2021 pennies have been redeemed....Get busy guys. 

Taking Down Christmas Decorations

 LOL It would appear I have not blogged since March 13th and our March Birthday Dinner.  My plan is to post a few individual posts with specific events...and do one big catch up....It's not even SUMMER and I'm falling behind. Oy vey. LOL 

Just how cold is it? Cold enough that there is frost on the inside of the door.  It's the time of the year when we go between -6 and 35...it's a mess. 

Sunday night Michael brought in the boxes with the plan being that I take down our Christmas decor in the upcoming week.  I had planned to leave the snowmen up a bit longer, but my superstitious children felt it was time for the "Let it Snow,"  and all snow related things to GO. 

Since the boxes were sitting there...it seemed opportune to take the tree down. LOL 

Michael took advantage of the room being disheveled to check out this speaker/woofer? He'd heard a buzzing. He enlisted Allie's help  and they found a virtual treasure trove....

I wish I knew WHO had been hiding treasures. LOL 

Last night, when everyone was over, we had moved Grandpa's recliner. The kids loved the thoroughfare and I realized I liked it feeling a bit more open too. SO....we talked about how we could place the recliners in a better location.  We ended up moving the couch that was under these windows, and putting the recliners at this end. We moved the antique toe grabber of a coffee table under the window and it solved many problems at once.  It opened the space, got the table out of the way and allows me to work in the kitchen and still see Dad in his recliner.  In fact, instead of the back of Dad's chair this is now my view from the kitchen.  We won't have to move furniture out when we add the second table for guests now....

We left this couch where it had been...but we moved the keyboard beside it.....we moved the other couch all over the room, kept shifting recliners until we went all out and moved the Step Tonsu and keyboard....

...and put the second couch along the accent wall (where the Tonsu had been)....this put the couches opposite each other...but it allows a nice view out the window, it's easy to slide out to watch TV, great for conversations....and everything fits. 

The keyboard was under the TV. The Step Tonsu had been configured in 3 pieces...the middle (which is on the left) and two step sections. We put them on top of each other and it takes less floor space, allowing it to fit here. 

Here you have it...taken from where where Dad's recliner used to be....Michael took advantage of the move to add more plug ins, and hide all the speaker wires in the wall. He hung two speakers on either side of the TV...

At some point in the process we discovered Stacia does NOT like change. We thought that was an Arielle trait. She's adjusted. 

Arielle and the boys came over the next day and we were informed we should warn them before making big changes. LOL 

Michael and I were thrilled to be able to really clean all the corners, nooks and crannies. In the past we moved every 2 -3 years....so it seemed obvious we need to move all the furniture to really clean well....we've been told we could just pull the furniture out and put it back. ::snort:: 

Oh, we DID get the Christmas decor down and stored....we still can't find several wall hangings and such...put away when we put Christmas up...where could they have gone????

March Birthday Celebration

Today is Cory's 28th birthday. Monday is GG's (Dad's) 80th birthday. We opted to celebrate our March birthdays today. Dad wanted steak, but that is a really unwise (and expensive option). Cory asked him about ribs....I baked them four hours and then the guys grilled them....very easy to chew. 

Yep - Michael is a champ. He brushed the grill off once again....

We KNEW Quelf was over Benny's interest level - but he needed to find it out himself. 

Benny much prefers tackling Uncle Axe. 

BreZaak haven't been to a family celebration for about a year....it was fun to have them today. The boys had so much fun together. This is seconds after we all sat down with our food. The boys were at one end of the very long table.... Benny put his hand on Gideon's back, gestured down the length of the table and said, "Look, Bubbie! That's a LOT of people." 

Livie and Bella were best buds. Bella was excited to be here...full of hugs for everyone. It was cute. 

Random table picture.... LOL 

WHUT? This threw me...Cory is holding Danny up at the end of the table. Note the BIRTHDAY TREE in the background. I hope to have it down by St Patrick's Day - because there should be green outside by then - right? 

GG and Cory blow out their candles with a bit of help from Benny. 

BreZaak had missed a few birthdays and brought cards and candy for all. We got a laugh out of some of the sentiments. Josiah's card said, "Take a bath!"  He most often stopped by BreZaak's after fishing. 

Ah - my heart. Jamin and Danny. 

It was a fun celebration with all by JaRissa and Nolan....it felt normal. YES...putting 2020 in the rearview mirror. 

Cakes Galore

 There were cakes galore at the Gherkin March Birthday Celebration.  I made the Oreo ice cream cake in the lower right hand corner per Cory's request.  Stacia made the other two and both were adorable. 

She simply couldn't resist making this cake for Cory. Cory is a newly licensed to sell real estate in Alaska. I found the logo for his business and made a little sign to go with this classic house. Stacia wants to have the time "someday" to decorate this cake the way it's meant to be decorated...but I thought it was cute this like this. 

Grandpa wanted steak for his birthday but grandpa can't chew steak. He chokes and we didn't want THAT at his birthday celebration. Stacia said she'd make a steak meal for the cake. Then he asked for carrot cake. This was a delicious way to eat veggies. LOL 

These veggies were AMAZING...she did a great job!

Yes, it LOOKS like a lot of cake. There were 22 of us. Everyone got a slice of cake and a bit of ice cream on the side...or a big piece of ice cream cake with a small slice of cake on the side. There is one piece of the ice cream cake left for Nolan, who was at work. There is one piece of the carrot cake/steak cake for Grandpa and about 1/2 of the house  cake.  It wasn't as over the top as it looks. AND the house was DAIRY FREE for our lactose intolerant members. 

On top of simply having fun creating, this earned Stacia school time in our Culinary Arts class. I met with our contact teacher this week and she discussed options for training in Alaska.  She thought job corp in our home town has possibilities. We'll have to start looking into it. Kaitlyn was gracious enough to help me plan Stacia's Culinary Arts credit this year. She gave us the title of 3 of her favorite college titles and Stacia has been happily working through them. 

Love - Hate

 Millie has a love/hate relationship with the snow. She LOVES to play in it....and she collects quite a bit of teeny snow balls, which end up matting her fur....she HATES having us clip her face.

Note - you can now see her eyes. We have trimmed up the air around her snout now too. 

Millie often has a face full of snow. 

A Fun Friday

Stacia didn't plan on being home  and so wasn't ready for Bible study this morning. I used the time to grab groceries for tomorrow night and to take Allie to get her glasses fixed. She'd had a dodge ball incident at the trampoline park. 

We converged at the house in time to load into the van and head for ANCHORAGE. Krista needed to drop off snow shoes at outdoor rec so we made a quick run through JBER.  We picked up a list of the rentals available at outdoor rec and now I'm planning why we NEED a big bouncy castle or a giant military tent....maybe a summer gathering out here. 

Observant readers will know there is no reason we'd all make the drive simply to return a pair of snow shoes. Today was the last day to see the Fur Rhondy ice sculptures. Unfortunately, vandals ruined some of them...but it was still a fun outing. 

This was my favorite. I believe it was from the Montessori school. It had a quote along the bottom something like "In an age of #hashtags and followers blessed is the man that acknowledges the importance of human connection."  It resonated with me. A window visit with an elder....such memories we have from 2020. 

Stacia, Allie and Krista and some G sculpture LOL 

This was my attempt at a group photo. Hmm. G G doesn't look very happy, looks positively grumpy now that I see these photos. He seemed happy in the moment. LOL 

We knew the snow would be packed, but it was still hard going with the wheelchair. Michael took it over immediately. Dad uses the walker inside but the chair is the best for icy and show ramps and parking lots. I had debated taking the walker and in the end GG and Michael said the chair was the best option. They were right. 

We drove back to the valley in time for Michael and Alex to help Izaak pick up some new furniture for their home.   Stacia needs to decorate Grandpa's cake and make Cory's for tomorrow night. She enlisted Allie's assistance. 

Coincidently - it IS Friday pizza and fun night....so we settled in with Papa Murphys and a bit of Netflix. 

Spring Snow

 Yes, we did get snow.  A lot of it.  Krista and Luke made a good call to cancel the ski trip/cabin adventure.  I went out to take Alex to work at 0430 and had to dig the wheels out of the snow.  I made first tracks all the way into town.  I think I officially earned my winter driving cred with this one. Maybe all will quit worrying. I've not gone off the road since Misawa. 

We always get one good last spring snow storm in March - maybe this is it? Maybe this is the last of winter? Maybe spring will really begin in a week?  We got 10 - 12 inches all told out here. There were places in Eagle River that got 20 inches and in Anchorage I hear between 3 - 18 inches. Lots of micro climates in the area. OL 

Today proves the advantages to this design for the wheelchair ramp - the landings are the only spots with snow....

Millie barks to go out, but changes her mind when she sees the deck and feels the cold. LOL 

Unfortunately, if we want to be able to GET OUT of our driveway with a measure of safety others had to go out in the mess. I found slip sliding up the incline exhilarating but Michael thinks it best to clear the driveway. 

And then the tractor/plow got stuck! 

Fun times! 

* Today is the 10th anniversary of the Tohoku Quake and Tsunami...an event we lived through, an event which changed us. I really should write more, but I don't have it in me just now.  We have found ourselves drawing inward as the day approached.