Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year!

2013 was certainly a year of change.  I'm not a big fan of change - I like my routines and being able to predict what to expect during the day.   One change I was hoping for in 2013, was the sale of our house in Cordova. Fortunately for our renters, the house did not sell this fall, so we'll try again in the spring.   I'm trusting in His timing and trying hard not to worry too much about it.  Moving on...

We wrapped up 2013 with a visit from Leif's parents who live in Fairbanks.  Leif's dad is not very good at keeping secrets and any other Christmas if Leif asked him what he was getting, his dad would just tell him.  Well, this year was a change!  Leif's dad kept it a secret for almost 2 months.  The fun part was, I knew what the gift was and I knew that there was no way Leif was going to guess what it was.   So, the most anticipated gift of 2013....

The Farming Game

Leif played this game as a child and the edition we have is from 1975.  We had assumed that the game was no longer made and we cherished the one we had.  Much to Leif's surprise, his dad found a new edition of the Farming Game.  Think "Monopoly" for farmers!  It's a pretty fun game!!

The remainder of our trip was spent watching college football bowl games and enjoying the company of Grandma Cynde and Pope.   We did make it out to a family friend's house for dinner- and look I managed to snap a generation photo!

Leif's family also enjoys bowling - so we made a family outing for bowling on New Year's Eve.  

Lukkas did great! I was surprised that he understood that he had to wait his turn.  We set it up so the adults bowled on one lane and the kids had the other lane. This way they didn't have to wait quite so long. 

By the end of the first game - Leinna had it all figured out and could do everything independently.  She loved when she'd knock the pins down and would say, "Oh man" or "Bummer" when she would miss the pins.  During the 2nd game, she got 2 strikes and bowled an 83!   We sure had a great time and Leinna has been asking every day when we can go back.  I hope it will be something we can do regularly. 

Leinna's been enjoying her dress-up clothes (yes Mrs. DillyDally- I was able to order some princess dress-up clothes- but the pink one is rarely worn :o) !! 

However, even the little princess she is - she enjoys every minute of being outdoors and is not afraid to play hard.

Yep- first "snow-rash" of the season.  We met up with some friends who also moved from Cordova to Anchorage this past summer and had a great time sledding with the kids.  We had several close calls - as any true sledding adventure should.  The last run of the day - we tipped over and hit a patch of rough snow - giving a bit of "snow-rash" to our princess' face.   She's a tough one though and barely shed a tear. 

I have to say, that Christmas break of 2013 has been one of the best breaks that I can remember.  I truly feel like I accomplished the projects around the house that I wanted to, but also feel rested.  Not so sure, I'm ready to go back to work - too much fun hanging out with the kiddos all day.  But- Monday, we'll had back to work for 2nd semester.  Hard to believe we have 18 weeks of school and we'll be looking forward to summer break already! (but who's counting right?!?) 

Happy New Year!