February Birthday Celebrations

Mom would have been 78 today. I'm not the only one who was thinking of her. Michael mentioned it fairly early in the day. Dad and I had a sweet, somewhat sad talk. 

Mom and Dad were in the Philippines when Josiah was born. His birthday is Feb 9th - IN THE STATES; but in the Philippines he was born on the 10th - Mom's birthday. She never let us forget they REALLY shared a birthday.  I'm behind in blogging Nolan and Josiah's birthdays....but today we planned for all to come over and celebrate our February birthdays. Four of our five boys have birthdays in February. Nolan turned 20, Josiah turned 30, Alex will be 17 and Jamin will be 28. Michael added all the years together and came up with 95...so we have 85 + 10 candles on the cheese cake.  There was also a mint ice cream cake and a small dinette cake.  Alex' birthday is tomorrow and I need to get his cake in the freezer tonight. The cheesecake is going home with Josiah and Jamin.

Nolan, Alex, Josiah and Jamin 

The day began shortly after mid-night when I began to prepare today's turkey. I had it in the roaster by 1:30 a.m. - so it would be ready by 2 p.m. I  stayed up for the first hour of high heat and turned it down....then tried to get a few more hours of sleep in the recliner.

By 5:15 a.m. I was up and making salad, peeling potatoes, cooking potatoes, making bread.....and then we headed to church. We had nursery today.  There were 3 lovable kids, a quiet day.

During nursery I read confirmation that BreZaak and the kids' wouldn't make it. They are fighting a bug. Larissa is feeling under the weather and didn't want to risk infecting the babies. Jared is still in Juneau.  Cory is pushing hard with school. We ended up being a small group of 10 - but we had lots of fun anyway. It was good to relax together. Krista called today, too! They've moved into their new place and are busy trying to unpack. 

Josiah vies for favorite uncle status by letting
 Benny play with his phone

Benny was gently rubbing Stacia's hair.  We  watched him process, and then reach out for Jamin's head. I captured the moment. 

Jamin, Benny, Arielle and Stacia

He's perplexed! ::snort:: 

 After cake came gifts....they all got a gift card to Sportsman's Warehouse. Jamin got a GIANT flashlight. I mean HORRIFICALLY BRIGHT. It may come in handy in some of the neighborhoods he's been in with his real estate business.

Alex also got some fishing tools. He'll get more gifts from us 4 tomorrow. 

Nolan got a mug and we signed over the Jeep Liberty to him. 

Josiah got fishing lures. 

Cory broke away from school for a visit....most are playing Snow Board kids. 

CoRielle have gone home (downstairs) and Benny is getting a bath. Nolan is on his way to bed (he works at 0500), I've got turkey broth simmering....

I should stay up and push through to the end of 1 John 2....but I'm tired.  1 John is an amazing book. I AM  finding it challenging to feel like I've studied it as well as I'd like.

Josiah is 30 - more Celebrations

Josiah turns thirty today. He planned to spend the day on the ice.  This is a  proper place to reflect on one's twenties.  Josiah has been tempered - those traits we saw in him in the 20's are shining pure gold. He has goals and takes positive steps to reach them. He's kind. He's giving. He's compassionate. God has seen him through some windy paths...and he's running straight on this side.

Nolan has to work today. We'll have everyone over tomorrow to celebrate. Michael and Alex have men's breakfast and Stacia is visiting Bre and the kidlets. 

After breakfast, Michael and Alex joined Josiah at the local lake. It was a good time. No one should spend their entire birthday alone. Good call, Michael.  I have not one picture (is this a blogging family or WHAT). They caught 15 fish and took them to BreZaak.

This evening we decided to remedy a few elements in Nolan's birthday celebration. We got home from Eagle River late enough that he opted for bed rather than cake. 0430 comes early.  We pulled out the cake Michael and Stacia had made....and no Gherkin birthday is complete without the pig hat.

Putting this photo first so it shows in the preview 

Bennett and Arielle joined us.

 As is often the case, we didn't have the right number of candles on hand....Michael is great at improvising.

Ye' old Party Animal Hat - Pig Hat

Nolan is 20!

Just like that Nolan is 20!  He has opted for us not to give him gifts,  per se. He will take the money the four of us would have spent on gifts,  and we'll all catch a couple of movies in the upcoming season.

He and Alex (birthday on Monday) both like Panda. We decided to head into Eagle River to Panda Express. We texted the crew to see if they would like to join us. They did.

Jamin, Michael, Stacia, Alex, Josiah, Nolan, Me

 This is a milestone year for both these Gherkins. Nolan turns 20 today; Josiah turns 30 tomorrow.  We'll celebrate all the February birthdays on Sunday.

Blurry phone camera - but I refuse to miss the shot

Larissa arrived bearing  awesome yumminess! Panda allowed us to bring it in for dessert. 

It always does my heart good to catch up with Larissa! 

Larissa, Me, Stacia

We are thrilled as we get to know the man of God, Nolan has become. He's kind and considerate. He's fun to be around. He is thinker. He doesn't jump into things willy-nilly. He's about to be promoted at his first job (in the process of all the tests and background checks). He's evaluating college options.

Early Spring? Hmmm.

I'm hearing talk of "early spring" from friends outside,  (as in the outside of Alaska). This makes me evaluate. I used to LOVE spring...the trees budding, tulips starting to pop out of the ground, warmer days, greening grass - early signs of spring.

Around here....the sun is rising earlier and setting later.  A quick look out the window, however, tells one it will be quite a bit longer before spring truly arrives this far north. There are no buds....and nothing green to be seen for miles. I need to learn new observation skills to detect springs arrival up here.

Last year I started seeds in February. I have no clue when I will start them this year - but NOT in February. I was done with them before it was time to plant to garden! LOL

Playing Catch with Grandpa

Benny talked Arielle into coming up so he could visit "his people." He brought his green tennis ball for a game of catch Grandpa/Papa. 

Want me to throw it? 

Ok- Catch! 

He catches with a "bit" of help from his mama! 

Socializing with Family

Nolan had the day off today and it seems like we have been too busy to connect lately. I asked if he'd like to grab lunch together. We headed to one of "my girly restaurants." They aren't really "girly," they just don't serve the portions of food Michael likes to get when he goes out to eat. ::snort:: He likes to point out $12 is too much for a sandwich, but around here we pay the same or more at a diner for a hamburger....if I can get a vegetarian sandwich, rather than iceberg lettuce for $12....just sayin.

Nolan and I are both happy with our meals. He had a BLBMXYZ with German potato salad. I had a lentil/rice patty with zucchini and caramelized onions....and a salad.  We went at 1 p.m. and it was much more conducive for visiting than going from 11 - 1200.  Better than the food and the fun atmosphere, was just spending time together and talking about his upcoming plans and how life is going for him.

We stopped at BreZaak's on the way home to check in on Bre and the kids. The kids were finishing lunch, Bre was about to sit down for hers.....and sweet Annalise....

....was napping in the middle of it all. It's hard work being 3 weeks old. 

We returned home to find Arielle and Benny visiting upstairs. Grandpa and Benny have a ton of fun together. Their faces say it all.....

The only thing bigger than Michael's smile, is Benny's

Grandpa loves to come up with new games for them to play. Today it was riding the horse and jumping to Mommy.  Below is a quick video clip. 

Krista Rocks the Black Boot

We did it! We  managed to get our monthly shopping done! Our last trip was Dec 11th. We spent $584 picking things up locally in January - but that's IT.  Today we spent $750.  I THINK this is saving us money. I'll probably average out the total spending between Dec-Feb to see for sure. December was high, but we had company and a couple of total family dinners, with several other hospitality events at the house and I canned 3 gal of spaghetti sauce which will be eaten over the next 6 months or so.....January was really low. I think our truth will lie in February and March.

 It only took us 2 hours today from the time we pulled into the parking lot, to the time we left the parking lot. MUCH quicker than the 5 hour trip in December.

Via Google Photos

We discovered the 3% tax in Wasilla apply to FOOD! Every other state we've lived in food was exempt. We were just assuming the tax had been on our non-food items. We may make another price comparison trip to the commissary. The service fee there is 5%, plus the bag tip....and the gas....but if we are doing a once a month trip....maybe. We shall see.  When we checked it out it was far cheaper for us to shop at Walmart or even Fred Myers than the commissary.....but we didn't factor in the tax.

In other news....we put away groceries. ::snort:: I did a bit more reading up for tonight's study. We started our study of 1 John locally (as well as Bible Babes, the online study group I co-lead). It's snowing again. Snow is beautiful.

I enjoyed quite a few polos today.....Krista's made me smile. She's in the middle of a building project where she works at  Providence Veteran's Farm.   She's also rocking a black boot.

She fell while on a church work project...and broke her ankle. This puts her out of PT training for 6 weeks - which is a bummer - her goal of scoring 100% was in reach. It's unlikely now as she won't be able to train hard for a few months.  AND she and Maria are moving into a house this month, and gaining two new roommates. Please pray for all of them. This is a frustrating time for Krista to be laid up....it's also her last semester at Liberty!!!!