Star Wars Birthday!

Connor asked for a Star Wars birthday and Charlie and I were determined to deliver, without a hefty price tag. Hmmm...tons of fun, Star Wars crazy and not a huge hit on the pocket book? It can be done.

First you need a supportive cast at home. Timmy likes to get us in the mood.


Then you spend a couple weeks frantically manufacturing Star Wars paraphernalia. I had a bunch of Charlie's old t-shirts, so I split them down the middle and mom hemmed them. I cut small belts out of brown felt, and voila - instant tiny Jedis. Charlie spent the same amount of time manufacturing light sabers out of pipe insulation, PVC and "duck" tape in bright colors. He put a small piece of PVC pipe in the handle and then did beautiful designs in tape to make them look great. They could whale on each other with impunity with a minimum of tears. I think they were the kids' favorite part of the party and we even had adults from other parties asking all sorts of questions about their construction so they could do the same thing.
Here's Connor modeling his costume and saber before guests arrive!

We held the party at the base community center. This place rocks like you read about, with slides and an infant play area. For a small fee, you can rent a party room and a bouncy castle in the main play area. This excites the kids so much, you really don't need to plan many activities. And even the considerable inconvenience of hauling lots of party stuff through the snow at 30 below sure beats having 20 bored preschoolers and toddlers in your house with every minute planned.

Timmy and daddy sliding!


Connor and his friend Haley playing light sabers in the party room.


Connor jumping with friends in the bouncy castle.


The party food was mostly snacks -- all gluten free of course, with a few completely egg and dairy free as well so Connor's good friend Owen could enjoy. He was so tickled that he had cupcakes, chex mix, popcorn and chips and dip he could eat. Mom and I made little cloth treat bags for everyone too with a few trinkets like space bouncy balls and glowing bracelets and some special birthday M&Ms mom sent. We splurged on a Darth Vader pinata filled with candy. The kids broke it open and Charlie ended up having to shake it to rain down the goodies -- you couldn't see his feet with the resulting shrieking feeding frenzy!

We opened presents shortly thereafter but cut it short once we realized everyone wanted the presents!

I made some gluten free chocolate cupcakes and some dairy, egg and gluten free cupcakes with vanilla dairy free icing and sprinkles. We decorated them with Darth Vader and storm trooper rings to decorate the cakes. We also got some sparkly black candles and let everyone blow them out to help Connor.

The kids then went off to play some more while we cleaned up. Everyone took a costume, balloons, treat bag and light saber home -- lots of laughs, very few tears and a very happy four year old!

Connor's 4 year old interview

I asked Connor a series of questions for marking his transition to 4, courtesy of my friend Melissa at Chasing Cheerios. Some of the answers are awfully cute...

I feel happy when...I play with cars and trucks.

I feel sad when...I bump my head.

I like to...toys.

My daddy is...coming.

My mommy is...very happy.

I love...Timmy.

My favorite color is...black.

I like to eat...bananas.

I like to play...at the playground.

My favorite toy is...a fire truck (could have fooled me) and a storm trooper.

It makes me happy when...I play with storm troopers.

It makes me sad when...I need batteries.

I feel frustrated when...new kids are there.

The best thing I do is...playing castle.

I'm excited about...uh...trees...uh, train...uh no, that's silly.

I like to go...in the airplane.

What's your favorite song? Santa Claus is coming to town

What's your favorite school activity? Work

What's the best part about being 4 years old? a party

Decorating the House for Christmas

Random Pics Monday

Random picture download! And bonus dancing video...

Boys sledding together...mom just puts on Yak Trax and runs, pulling them in circles. They love it.


Connor helping Haley put on socks. Haley is his little girlfriend from the neighborhood and they run at each other to hug every time they're separated more than few days.


Connor loves to do puzzles and patterns. See his awesome train made of different shapes?


A fine attempt at Connor's name!

Alaskan Living Tidbits

Want to know a few things unique to Alaskan living? Of course you do!

- It's rude to wear your shoes inside anyone's house without express permission to do so. Most people have a tiled or wood entryway or mud room that is closed off from the house or at least set aside to control snow and gravel tracking into the house. Of course an independently heated mud room like we have is really a luxury...it helps control heat loss from the house.

- Why is controlling heat loss important? Some houses here are heated with fuel oil, some with hot water piping and some with wood fires...or a combo of those. We have long heat radiators on the exterior walls of the house that continuously pipe hot water to heat the rooms. Each floor has its own temperature control and it's a fine art to get the heat set just right...I have to fiddle with them often and we leave all the doors open at night to help equalize temps. Connor's room gets atrociously cold unless we have all the doors open and ceiling fans on to help distribute heat evenly upstairs. The base has its own heat plant for water, which means I never have to worry about losing hot water for washing and baths. We could run both showers, the dishwasher and the washer at once and never feel the difference until...

- It gets COLD here. I just glanced out my window and it's about -16 F. That's not cold by December, where temps are regularly more between -20 and -40 F. The beauty of hot water heating is that it doesn't take nearly as much energy to heat but it depends a lot on houses being well insulated and the temperature being relatively static; dramatic swings leave the system panting to catch up. Which is why we can get in thumb-screws kind of trouble for opening the window below zero...the heat gets rapidly sucked out and the pipes freeze quickly, and burst. If it has a dramatic temperature swing you lose heat quickly and it's hard to get it back. Last year we had the hot water main on our street burst and boiling water was pouring down the street. They thought they would have to evacuate everyone to billeting -- after only half an hour without hot water, our house dropped to 50. Granted it was -45 outside so it was still positively balmy inside, but I was not pleased to be worried about baby popsicles. If the temp plunges dramatically, which is rare, the heat can have a hard time keeping up. You know it got cold when you go to open the shade and the condensation from the evening's sleep is frozen solid on the windows! All you can do then is close blinds to help retain heat, put everyone in a couple sweaters and crank the heat, particularly in the entryway between the garage and house.

- No one with any sense in Alaska goes anywhere without emergency kits and extra clothes. Everyone has heard a horror story about a woman veering off the road and not being found for three days, or a family forced to walk through snow drifts until they're finally found naked and partially eaten by wolves. I'm not sure how often that happens, but I had a scary experience of my own our first winter here. I slid off the road at a hairpin curve about 1/3 of a mile from our temp apartment (we had to wait til April for a house). It was about -7...cold, but not insanely so. I had no cell phone coverage. So I bundled Connor up as best as I could, put wool socks on my hands because I forgot my gloves, and started to walk to the apartment. I was four months pregnant with Timmy and had to carry Connor a good bit because the snow drifts were too much for a two year old. We were exhausted, shaky and numb with cold by the time we got home. I vowed then and there that I would never go anywhere without better supplies and we would invest in snow tires within the week. Done and done. It was a dangerous mistake.

- There are so many COOL things about this state. I love the ubiquitous coffee huts everywhere. It seems like everywhere there's a bare patch of dirt, one springs up as if coffee hut seeds had been sown. People are also extremely friendly -- once you're accepted as part of the Fairbanks milieu, you've never met a stranger. Of course the measure is usually how many winters you've spent up here. :-) There's a very neat counterculture "Just because America does it doesn't mean we do" vibe; I admire individuality and pure cussedness. I could do without Daylight Savings, because let's face it, it's useless here. Alaska could have stood a little "screw you guys!" spirit on that, but eh. I adore the fact that calling my son's school and telling them that a stuffed musk ox fell off a truck and is blocking traffic is not only a perfect valid excuse for being late, it's accepted without comment. I think the fact that my children call any large animal - cow, deer, etc -- a moose is neat, and that they know what a moose mating call sounds like is cooler still. I like that you can enter into a spirited debate about the relative merits of snow tires, boot brands, and wool vs bamboo socks with virtually anyone and each person leaves perfectly happy, convinced their conviction that Sorels beat Baffins hands down is still intact. I love that we treasure every moment of summer in a way no temperate climate could ever do, and live outdoors. I love ravens. I love red sassy squirrels. And while I may never want to settle here (did I mention the cold?) I can appreciate the amazing spirit of this place.

What the kids are doing

I thought I might give you a quick snapshot of what the kids have been doing developmentally lately...big changes in the boys lately!

We think Connor has been revving up for another growth spurt. Hard to believe since the child already towers over most children his age, but he's 42 1/4 inches tall as of 45 months old. But he's been eating like a teen boy and you can't keep him filled up over the past few weeks. He just joined league bowling and LOVES it. He actually does really well and is one of the few children in his league to actually hold the ball properly. His speed is improving slightly, and he managed to bowl a 70 yesterday! He asks several times a day to go "roll balls" and whenever he sees Aunt Angela's picture, he says, "Aunt Angela take me to roll balls TODAY!" Amazing that he remembers that from a year ago. His speech is getting better and better but he's still a little confused with some syntax issues, like tenses and pronouns. When he's on the phone he likes to talk about the things he can immediately see which confuses people on the other side of the conversation! He's really into maps, puzzles, painting, and reading. I'm not sure everyone would understand him when he names his continents - Antica (Antarctica), Africaca (Africa), Nort Carica (North America)...but he knows them pat! He's going to be moving to a new school class in the morning next Monday and has his first parent teacher conference on Friday.

Timmy is evolving into a little boy overnight. He decided about nine days ago that he would walk. As simple as that. He took his first steps long ago and experimented with it a bit, but mostly decided crawling was the safe and speedy way to go. Then last week, a switch flipped and he took off. Apparently the talking switch flipped too and he's picking up signs and words at a phenomenal rate. He's now attacking my computer like a Trojan Horse, so I'll have to cut this short...sigh.

Something to think about...

I stay up a lot at night worrying about various things, and I'm doing my best to stop. I uncovered an old Erma Bombeck book earlier, and the page fortuitously opened to this essay:

If I Had My Life to Live Over...

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the "good" living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching TV - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love yous"...more "I'm sorrys"...

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it...live it...and never give it back.

I hope I remember this more often.