Gingerbread, Advent Hunt & Cake

Lindsey gave me a gingerbread man yesterday at church. She warned me it had been in her cupboard for a long time. She thought the kids may enjoy decorating it. Stacia pulled out some leftover frosting she had in the fridge. I thought it would be a great activity for Benny and GG while we were out today. We try to get Grandpa involved in things, we have the best luck when it involves Benny or Danny.  Look at those faces! 

📷 by Arielle

Anyone who knows my Dad, knows he's teasing Benny. He's trying to pull the gingerbread man away while Benny smiles for the camera. 

Benny checks the directions to make sure GG is doing it right. LOL 

📷 by Arielle

Benny was proud to show me this man when we got home. 

Benny's favorite feature is the hair. "I used PRETZELS, Baachan!" I think it's pretty great too. 

Millie doesn't love her antlers; Benny was happy to help out. 

Teasing me - he ate a button from the gingerbread man

Nolan was home today. He's finished one class and started the next. It was fun to have him for dinner and this evening's Advent Hunt. 

Advent Scavenger Hunt Clue: Four brings me light, Four brings me dark, Old is above.

Michael WARNED everyone the clues would get harder as we went along. Nolan has the reputation of being able to figure them out. There was a lot of milling around as they tried to figure this one out. 

It went a bit like this - Four things that bring light and dark.... light switches, windows, electrical outlets, and doors were explored. They went to the garage (pictures inadvertently deleted). Allie checked Potter's Closet.  

From time to time we admitted we needed a new clue. 

Finally, Michael gave a hint that it was NOT in the garage or basement and we all focused upstairs.... until he gave us the final hint... it wasn't upstairs either.  We headed to the entry way. 

Allie found it first...the 4 that bring light and dark to me, is the closet door. The bag was hid on the top shelf. Above it is an alcove with lots of antiques. 

Inside the bag were four shirts...

Stacia was busy baking today. She made a 6 in cake that all say was yummy - but RICH. She's practicing with frosting... They celebrated their find and ended the night with pieces of cake. 

Bella & Gideon's Date with Papa and Baachan

I believe this is the last Baachan/Papa date of the year.  Monday's we have Arielle and the boys come over for 3 hours of respite care. It was the perfect way for Michael and I to both be able to take the grands on these dates. Today, Bella and Gideon (BreZaak's children) joined us for an adventure. 

Any trip outside in -9* temps is bound to be an adventure.  We headed for a local shop to find presents for Bre and Izaak. It's always fun to watch the children's thought process. They were successful. 

We asked what they'd like to eat. Bella wanted chicken; Gideon wanted a cheese hamburger. Bella also shared with me, "Grandma, I've never been to a cafe."  Thus, a compromise was born. We did not get a McDonald's cheese hamburger, and we didn't go a cute cafe that wouldn't HAVE burgers.... but we did go to a diner and everyone was happy. 

I think a trip with Bre, Bella, Annie and Baachan is in the future - to visit a real cafe.  After lunch we headed over to the local ice cream shop...because we knew it would be a treat for the kids and we knew they had dairy free ice cream.  The gal there told me sugar free is hard to do unless you use alcohol in it...and they don't want to do that due to all the regulations they'd have to comply with if they "served alcohol." 

We headed back, wrapped the gifts in the car, and wrestled the car seats out of the van. We made it back to the house exactly at the 3 hour mark. 

Every grand gets to choose a "Baachan Shopping Gift." Benny chose a snow globe. Livie chose a Division wrap up book.  Bella and Gideon chose darling stuffed animals. The birds sing. We bought one for Annie and JoJo and took them home to give them. 

Annie, Bella & Gideon 📷 by BreAnne

It was a fun day with the grands! 

Absolutely Allie

 Hey - we tried to alliterate and find something similar to the Simply Stacia title. 

We could not be prouder of Allie.  Last spring, we produced work to earn her an extra 1/2 credit to accompany the 1/2 credit she had in American Sign Language (ASL). She brushed up on her ASL this summer and I researched curriculum and programs which would earn her another high school credit in American Sign Language.  As an aside, it is quite interesting to have the Japanese and the ASL threading through our home...1/2 the time I'm not sure WHAT is being talked about. ::snort:: 

I found a program written and overseen by the Director of Family Partnership, a charter school in Anchorage. Allie would be able to take a proven, teacher-graded, online American Sign Language class. They have three levels of study - for 3 high school credits.  I explained our situation to the teachers, Allie had a previous homeschool co-op class, she had worked through various websites this summer and is a senior. She had 1 ASL credit and we'd like her to earn a 2nd in the upcoming school year.  I asked if we could try Allie in Level 2. They were leery of our coursework having prepped her for the coursework. 

We settled on starting Allie in the 2nd half of Level 1. If she proved she could do the work, they would move her into Level 2 in a "couple of months." I knew Allie could do the work. I also knew that if she did 1/2 of Level 1 and 1/2 of Level 2 she would still earn one high school credit. 

Within 2 weeks Allie had finished Level 1 and moved on to Level 2. As we near the end of the FIRST semester Allie has finished Level 2 and moved on to Level 3.  Both our IDEA contact teacher and Dr. Parker agreed Allie should be awarded 2 credits for her coursework this year.   We updated her Individual Learning Plan (ILP) to reflect her actual progress. She will graduate with 3 foreign language credits! This feat earned us a call back from our contact teacher. We had been told Allie wouldn't be able to qualify for the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS). I told our teacher our focus was going to be strengthening Allie's transcript so it would reflect well for college entrance, and we'd apply for other scholarship streams. This we set about doing. She has earned 2 math, 2 science, 1 creative writing and 2 1/2 foreign language credits since we were told she'd not be able to qualify for the APS. She is currently taking psychology and Brit Lit - also courses approved by the APS. It seems Allie is a "hair" away from being able to qualify for the APS now.  She needs math.  She has worked hard on math the past 10 months. She finished the math she was doing, did Pre-Algebra, and is currently chugging through Algebra 1.  Her contact teacher wonders if Allie can "kick up the pace" and earn 2 more math credits in the upcoming semester.  That's a pretty thick "hair" away. LOL  BUT it won't hurt to try.  Regardless, we couldn't be prouder of Allie's determination and drive. 

Here is a quick glimpse into Allie's ASL coursework. In this clip she and Stacia are demonstrating how to make a smoothie. 

Allie's teacher works as a deaf interpreter and her husband is a deaf pastor.  We are excited about the opportunity to attend a deaf church and get to know the deaf community. Allie has a gift; we saw it. Her teacher and the director of the course confirm it. Allie has been invited to join the American Sign Language National Honor Society. This will give her more experience with ASL and the chance to apply for scholarships from the society. 

Mom's 4th Heavenly Birthday

Mom was 71 years old when she decided it was time to learn to sky dive.  So, she did. Krista went with her.  Mom had a zest for life which I've only seen matched in my Grams.  Today is Mom's 4th Heavenly Birthday.  I remind myself to try new things. 

I woke at 3:30 a.m. and sat with my loneliness and grief. I miss her phone calls. I miss her stories. I miss the way she kept me connected to the people from my childhood. 

I found myself doing little things to honor her today...things that reminded me of her and keep her memory alive.  At about 6 a.m  I had a sweet cup of tea...

I took care of Dad. 

We went to church and out to lunch. After lunch we went through the DQ drive through (lobby STILL isn't open) and got blizzards and dipped cones. We took them to CoRielle's house and had them in honor of Grandma's Heavenly Birthday. 

Krista, Luke and Reno stopped by in the evening. It was fun to catch up with them. 

Connecting with family is probably the best way to honor Mom's memory. We share her stories and love for Jesus with her great grandkids who never got to know her. 

Four years without Mom, in some ways seems so long, and in other ways it's short. I'm thankful for the memories. 

We'll join you "soon," Mom. 

Livie's Baachan Date

Josiah and Livie drove out to the valley today. While everyone visited...Livie and I headed out for her date with Baachan. Our mission was to find gifts for her to give Josiah and Carrie (and to enjoy some time together).  Liv's a pro and knew exactly what she wanted to find. 

She also knew exactly where she wanted to eat - McDonald's. We finished the shopping and headed for lunch. She wondered if we'd see Alex and Nolan. She was excited to spot Nolan. 

Arielle picked up the girls and they and Benny met us downtown to explore a bit of Colony Christmas Days.  We went to the train depot to see Santa and reindeer...and oodles of people getting some Christmas shopping done. 

It was at the train depot where Liv and I shared a bit of an adventure. The person on the driver's side parked so close to me there was NO WAY we could open my door. We opened the passenger side and she easily got in. I, however, had to climb over the center console to get to my seat....horns honked in the process, lots of shared laughter, but we made it out of the parking lot. 

We headed over to the Pioneer Home, passing the Wise Men as we drove down main street. The living nativity was a great feature of the festivities.  

Livie was excited to see the pony in the parking lot at the Pioneer Home. Inside the home were a ton of gingerbread homes. 

There are some great entrants in this year's contest. 

We said goodbye to the pony on our way out. Arielle and Benny continued on to a hayride. We were cold and called it a day. We had not worn our winter gear - short sighted, indeed. It was 9* when we got back to the car. 

We toyed with attending the evening parade but decided it would be best to stay home, by the fire. We are a bit behind on our advent scavenger hunt and so Michael and I hid a couple of gifts. 

Scavenger Hunt Clue: I rock but I don't roll. 

It was noted we have a lot of rocking chairs and recliners in the house. They made the rounds and didn't find the gift. I was afraid they were about to turn Grandpa out of his recliner. I was relieved when they went back and checked the nook again, instead of ousting GG. 

Reindeer headbands for all 

Millie isn't so impressed

We hid a second gift and I made up a clue - which I will not post here. I am banned from thinking up further clues as mine turned out to be a bit risqué. ::blush:: Not to worry, Livie found the gift! That's the point of the clue anyway. 

When purchasing gifts for the hunts I picked some that would be family gifts, some cheap, some more expensive and many that would be things we could do together. I knew Liv would enjoy this one and we had decided not to go back out....a good night to work this one into the mix. 

Stacia whipped up frosting while Allie and Liv shaped cookies. The downstairs oven didn't set off the alarm. 

Well done, girls! 

It was a great day spent with loved ones. Livie went home with wrapped gifts and memories of a day spent with family. 

FRIDAY!!!! Yes.

Stacia looks for opportunities to bake. It's always best if we are having company and the calories can be shared. We have been trying to have Allie's Uncle and Aunt over for a couple of months. Tonight, he was in town, no one was sick, the schedule was clear, and we finally had Ed and Miley for dinner - such as it is. Many of you have visited our home on Friday night - 90% of the time we have pizza - which is what we did tonight.  Stacia jumped on the chance to try to make "hot cocoa cupcakes." 

They were cute and tasted good too. The frosting was made with marshmallow cream. Lethal - I had a 1/2 of one and felt quite good about my level of restraint. ::snort:: 

We bought this nativity when we lived on Christmas Lane in Texas.  We gave it to Mom and Dad when we were packing things with an eye to moving to Japan. It is one of the items Mom snuck into our trailer when we moved up here. We've not figured out how to set it up during the Alaska Christmas season.  There is a house in town with a ton of Christmas blow ups and I always want to stop and ask HOW do you get them staked to the ground when it's frozen? Do they put them out in September?????  Shoot - I thought I'd found the solution and put our fall yard signs in bales of hay. I can't get them OUT now...we will be "Trying Ham" all winter. LOL 

Michael had suggested the deck in year's past for the nativity - I didn't love the idea. It's an idea whose time has come.  We can see it from inside, I think a few can see it as they drive by....it's up. LOL Thanks, Hon! 

In other news...I did a thing. Allie has told me shaving one's head when one feels out of control is a good idea. There are quite a few things that are out of control just now...I settled for taking 10 inches off, rather than shaving...but she is right! It is a great pick me up. I can't make the weight come off; I can focus on healthy habits. I can't make Dad have good days. I can't make my A1C number behave (again focusing on habits - the number will do what it will do). I can't bring Mom back. I can't make everything easy and wonderful for the ones I love. I CAN cut my hair!

Our hair salon has the added bonus of being above our favorite coffee drive through. I sat and sipped when Courtney snipped, and we chatted. And I KNEW, before even seeing how this would turn out, this was a GOOD idea. I will need some daily "me" time to style this thing...and I'll get that sip and sit self-care every 6 - 8 weeks. This is good. And then I saw the results....and I like them too. LOL 

I snapped these photos to remind myself how this is supposed to look...and to assure the kids I did not get a mullet - my favorite style of all time. LOL 

because, YOU KNOW it never looks the same the morning after...and I knew I'd need to be able to look back and see what my goal is. 

Waking up the morning after

Not the same, but passable. LOL 

Saturday morning

Catching up with Larissa

 Larissa is in town this week with her job. We drove into town and met her, KrUke and CyRi for dinner.  I snapped a couple of photos before focusing in on catching up with these older Gherkins. 

Allie, Stacia, Larissa, Michael 

We love any time we can snatch with Jared or Larissa. It's always fun to get the call out of the blue that they are either in Anchorage or on their way to Anchorage. 

Krista, Luke, Josiah, Carrie (and Livie somehow missed both shots)

It's also always fun to catch up with the newlywed crew! Three of them are settling into new jobs as well as marriage.