Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

While enjoying an after Christmas hike with some friends, we stumbled upon some Christmas ornaments hanging in the tree. I loved seeing this and was reminded that spirit of Christmas can be found anywhere. 

I just love this picture - what would you put as the caption? Ha, ha...

We truly had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed starting a new family tradition of making homemade sweet rolls for Christmas morning breakfast. I was very proud of Papa as he used his mother's recipe. 

Papa's mother is an amazing cook and to try and get an exact recipe from someone who does a majority of her cooking from memory was a bit of a challenge for Papa. However, the rolls turned out great and were a wonderful treat Christmas morning.

True to three year old behavior, Brother started the morning in just a wonderful mood as you can tell. We decided he needed a little snack before we could enjoy opening the gifts. Once the food hit and the mood changed - he was all about it.

Sister was her polite, cheerful self - even at 5:15 am!  We didn't start our morning then - I was able to stretch it about by telling the kiddos I needed to walk the dog, and then Papa had to have some coffee and that was about as long as we could prolong the morning.

Sister was quite pleased to see some special gifts that she'd been asking for since her birthday in July.

Dessa enjoyed her morning treats too...

and so did Papa.

2015 has been an interesting year full of milestones, challenges and victories. We look forward to a new year and what is in store for our family.  Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year! 

Love - The Jacobsen's

Aaahh... winter break!

Yes! Some Wacky Olympics at school on Thursday to finish the week with students. You know I was competing and since I work with students on different teams- I tried to compliment all my team colors in my outfit! Ha,ha...   Friday was a grading/work day and then we were ready to officially be on break! 

Our first official project for the break was to get our cookies decorated!

We had lots of fun and made a huge mess!

As the kids get older, it's fun to see their personalities come out in the decorations. 

Such a good pup - did not even attempt to come into the kitchen to lick up the fallen sugar and candies.  She was perfectly content to sit by the tree and supervise what was happening outdoors.

Project Number 2 

new windows installed - Merry Christmas to us!  After some cold snaps and seeing frost grow from inside the windows through the screen to the outdoors - we knew we needed to make this improvement sooner than later.  The two windows in the living room were done today, and bedrooms will be done tomorrow.  We can already feel the difference!

Just three more days until Christmas! These two are beyond excited and thank goodness for the snow covered ground so we can get some daily sledding in to burn their energy! 

Merry Christmas Everyone - wishing you all a safe holiday season and quality time spent with loved ones.

My dog has a record :(

How in the world could this snuggle bug of a sweet dog possibly have a record?

Well - she does.  I'd have to say that she is not at fault - well, let me just tell you the story.

This past week has been a bit crazy for our family. Papa left town early Thursday morning for coaching.  Friday morning, Sister was sick with the vicious stomach bug. Saturday we all seemed on the mend.  Sunday - Momma's turn with the stomach bug.  With everyone sick and Papa out of town, Dessa did not receive her daily walks.  Back to Sunday, Papa flew home and then had to go help our elderly friend. Picking a time when you'd expect the kiddos to be napping - it should have been fine.  Well, since I was so sick, the kiddos had been watching several movies that morning and were not tired for nap time.  I tried to convince the kids to watch one more with me as I was running to the bathroom about every hour.  Dessa - sensing I was not doing well, was curled up at my feet while we all laid on the floor to rest.  I dosed off, kids started goofing around, I woke up to the blood curdling scream of Brother and a glimps of Dessas teeth on Brother's head.  Oh SH@*!   What happened - the kids were wrestling around and Brother tripped on my legs and landed surprisingly on the dog who was resting by my feet.  Sigh... Papa - not home from helping our friend yet.  Brother - puncture wounds on his head bleeding like crazy. Momma- setting Brother down on the floor so she can turn to the kitchen floor to throw up for easy clean up later.  Sister- total rock star and jumped in to help by grabbing towels for Brother's bleeding head.  I think medical profession in her future?

Thankfully - we got the bleeding under control and no stitches were needed.  However, a trip to the ER happened, because Brother's eye swelled shut and we couldn't tell if his eye had been damaged or not.  Again, some answered prayers that with an ice pack and some numbing medicine for his eye, we were able to see that he just had a scratched cornea.  All would heal, medicine would prevent any infection.  The ER staff almost admitted Momma because she ran to the bathroom to be sick again and came out very white and light headed - what can I say - hour 12 of being sick, there wasn't much food in my body.  Sigh...

We took the day off Monday to just rest and recover.

Thankfully, Brother shows no signs of Dessa and if anything I have to remind him to be kind and gentle with her.   So why is Dessa on home quarantine?  Since we went to the ER, the incident had to be reported to Animal Control.  State of Alaska has a law that states an animal can be in home quarantine instead of at the pound if you can prove that the dog's shots are current.  So - Dessa is basically under house arrest for the next 10 days.  Counting my blessings that she did not have to go to the pound and also beyond thankful that Brother's injuries were not more severe. 

Our week ended on a much more positive note!  Sister's school had a Santa Shop available for students to go and shop for whomever was on their list with money sent in.  Sister was beaming with pride at the items she purchased for Papa, Momma and Brother.

Looking forward to 4 more days with students, 1 work day for teachers and then a much needed winter break. Papa will be done with wrestling next weekened too - so we all will truly be on break!  

 

Time to Decorate

I'd say it's become a family tradition that when Papa is away for the first weekend in December due to coaching, the kids and I decorate for the Christmas season.  Papa is not one for decorating, so it's more fun when he is away. 

We are definitely still at that stage of using non-breakable ornaments as the kids had the box opened and started decorating before I could even finish putting the lights on. 

 So much joy in watching them decide where each ornament should go and I giggled to myself as I noticed our ornaments are reaching higher places this year.  

We also had to consider tree placement this year.  Our sweet Dessa loves looking out the window so rather than center the tree on the window, we compromised and gave her her space as well. 

So thankful the kids were feeling well enough to decorate the tree. We've had the stomach flu go through the house this past week. So, it's been lots of snuggles and laundry. 

The life of a teacher doesn't stop for sick little ones...

playing catch up on grading and lesson planning, while the kids did their own activities.  I love that even though they were not feeling well, they still wanted to help me out. 

Hoping you all are healthy and getting some much needed rest.  It's such a busy time of year and one can easily find themselves exhausted. Take time to snuggle, rest and enjoy just being still this week.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Family and Friends - We are alive!  I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last posting. Crazy?!?  If I'm really honest with you all, I would say that I have been dealing with some mild depression which has taken the joy out of doing the things I enjoy such as taking photographs and writing. I'm thankful that the depression I deal with is mild and can be managed with some easy strategies as long as I'm willing to make time to follow them.  That is why with this Thanksgiving season, I'm thankful for friends and family who love and support me through all the different seasons of life.  Even while I deal with the depression, life does continue to go on and boy is it keeping us busy!!

Papa finished his football season as state champions! We are so proud of his dedication to assist the head coach and young players.  Now he's in full swing with wrestling season and looking forward to a much needed coaching break over Christmas as track season doesn't get started until March.   We did enjoy an unexpected snow day this month!

What started out as a delayed start for school turned into school being cancelled due to extremely icy roads. We were perfectly happy to stay home and enjoy some family time playing in the fresh snow!

Dessa and I also enjoyed the fresh snow by breaking trail on our early morning walk. Such fun to have a dog in the house again! I love that she is my alarm clock to get our morning walk in. One of the ways I keep in good spirits is by having daily physical exercise.  Early mornings may be dark - but the peace of very little traffic is worth waking up to enjoy our walks.

In addition to our fresh snow, we also had a very deep cold snap for this area. Below zero temperatures showed us real quick some of the quirks of our new house - such as how drafty the windows are.  Yep - that's frost growing from the inside screen to the outdoors due to the warm air escaping.  Sigh... thankfully we have new windows on the way to be installed over Christmas break. 

As we moved into the end of the month, we were so thankful to have Grandma Julie come up for a week long visit. So special to spend the holidays with family.  Grandpa wasn't able to come up this time, but we hope he will next time.   We loved wearing our Packer gear to cheer them on Thanksgiving night - we'll just need to cheer a little louder next time and hopefully get the win!

The kids loved having Grandma read to them, play games and bake some Thanksgiving goodies. 

We even had a little dance party one night!

It was a wonderful week full of special memories. 

With Grandma safely back in Wisconsin, we resume the craziness of our life. Bath tub crayons are the best and super easy to clean up by the way.  Ha, ha - these two crack me up daily!

 

  Looking forward to enjoying the rest of the weekend - even if it has rained and took all our snow away - sigh... winter is not over yet!  

Thankful for so many blessings in my life and looking foward to the Christmas season. 

Much love to you all

Happy Halloween!

No spooky skies this past week - all amazing sunrises and sunsets. I had to pause my lesson and just allow the kiddos to take in this view one morning this past week. I love this time of year - we have some pretty amazing skies. 

With Papa's crazy coaching schedule (the football team won state - yahoo! and now it's wrestling season) we found time to carve our pumpkins and it was before Halloween (ha,ha...)

Sister loves getting messy

Brother on the other hand is still not too sure about pulling the goop out of the pumpkins. At least this year he tried - last year he wouldn't even consider it.

We (the adults) had fun carving an owl for Sister and

scary tree for Brother.

We had a great Halloween full of Trunk or Treat at church, a yummy dinner with our friend and then some trick or treating around the neighborhood.  

 

 

Dessa continues to adjust to her new life. She's feeling more and more at home each day. So thankful we rescued this sweet pup and also thankful for our dog trainer who is working with us on helping Dessa not have so much fear/anxiety around other dogs.  She's making great progress and I look forward to the days when we can have friends and their doggies come visit us. 

 

Happy November 1st - 18 days and counting until Grandma Julie comes for Thanksgiving! So looking forward to her visit!  Until next time - be present in every moment, for these moments will make lasting memories - love you all!

Our family is growing

Good morning from my back yard! 

We have had our first snowfall of the year, however it quickly melt and we returned to the season of fall.  Temperatures certainly are dropping and the snow will return before we know it.

Until the white stuff flies again, we'll enjoy the beautiful leaves falling to the ground 

 

 and make leaf angels instead!  This happy little soul just warms my heart each and every day

and bedtime too!  I use to sleep perpendicular to my mattress too with my feet on the wall. So to walk in to turn the light off and see her sleeping this way with a book open in her lap, oh I had to tell my heart to be still and just take a few moments to soak in the moment. 

Not to be out done with cuteness - Brother has had his moments too, which we are thankful for because we were beginning to wonder if after turning 3 our sweet little guy disappeared.  Terrible 3's is no joke in this house - but it's fun to see him having moments of complete silliness.

Look mom I'm a baby -

 Yep - totally wrapped himself up in the blanket - how he did it so perfectly - who knows...

Or moments of 

I think I'll try to wear Papa's snow boots to play outside.  

As these two continue to grow so quickly before my eyes, we decided our family was missing a member.  

Meet Iridessa - Dessa (for short)! Her given name was Dazzle, but could you honestly imagine Papa with a dog named Dazzle.  So, we were thinking Maggie, or Chloe, when Sister spoke up and said, "I like Iridessa and we can call her Dessa for short."  And so it is...

Dessa loves everyone

and everyone loves her.

We adopted her from a local rescue organization called AARF (Alaska Animal Rescue Friends). Her back story is that she is from San Fransisco and the rescue place there loved her so much they couldn't bare the thought of having to put her down because she wasn't be adopted.  So they flew her to Alaska to our local organization to see if she could be adopted up here.  

Dessa is a 2 year old Husky Mix (we think maybe some white shepard).  She definitely needed the right home to help her with some of her behaviors.  She is amazing with people - even strangers can pet her and she's as happy as can be.  However, if a dog approaches her on leash, she goes a little crazy with barking and aggression towards the dog.  So we've got a little work to do with her on that, but otherwise she is a pretty special dog.  Very trainable -  after only 2 dinners, she learned she is not allowed in the dining area while we eat and only one potty accident in the house and she learned to tell us when she needs out by going to the door.  So we are hopeful with the love and security of her new home, she will overcome her dog aggression. 

I have to laugh because I deal with behavior modification all day long at school, come home to a 3 year old in need of behavior modification and now Dessa.  I'm destined to be a behavior modification specialist this year I guess! Ha, ha!!!   All joking aside, its so nice to have a dog in the house again and now I have a walking buddy on these dark mornings.  I'm hoping to get her out for her first hike this weekend - so we'll see how that goes. 

Until our next adventure - we wish you all a wonderful week! 

It's the end of the 1st quarter of school for us - how can that be?!?! 

Cherish the moments - life is going by too fast!