Christmas Decorations Are Up!

Due to warming weather (yes, it's still winter, right?) we had rain mixed with freezing rain this week.  Thursday we were surprised with phone calls around 6am saying that school had been cancelled due to the poor road conditions.  Some may say this is coincidence - I say it's an answer to prayer. I had a particularly challenging day on Wednesday and I do believe God heard my prayers and gave me a wonderful day of rest.  

So - what did the Jacobsen family do on this unexpected day off?!?  Well, Papa went and hid in the bedroom to watch TV while the kids and I decorated for Christmas! 

Up First - decorating the tree ofcourse!

After tree was decorated, they pretty much lost interest in decorating the rest of the house. So it was time for a snack and a show while Momma finished up.  They did however find this little Christmas tree I received as a gift when I was a Sunday School teacher in high school quiet entertaining. 

Okay- this one really has nothing to do with the blog post- I just thought it was so funny the smile he gave me - such a crack up these days!

Since we decorated on Thursday, we were able to do our official home photography Christmas photos today.  Some will not be shared until our Christmas card arrives.  I will share a few from the mornings photo shoot. 

This one is probably one of my favorites- not because they are holding hands or that they are both actually looking at the camera. I like this one because you just have to wonder, "Are they being naughty or nice?"

The rest of this icy Saturday was filled with finishing the annual Christmas letter and last few gifts to buy. I think tomorrow we'll spend the day baking- not sure what - just feel like baking.   Have a wonderful weekend!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

Please forgive me for belated Happy Thanksgiving wishes dear blog readers.  I hope that each of you that take time out of your busy day to read my little blog know that you are greatly appreciated and blessing in my life.

The reason for my tardiness in posting this week's blog is due to family - such a great reason for tardiness :o)

Wednesday right after school, we picked up the kiddos and made the trek north to Fairbanks to spend the holiday with Leif's parents.  The roads were not the best and we appreciated the prayers from friends and family who knew we were traveling.  The kids did great which makes the trip so much better.  The picture above is a view of the sunrise from the in-laws' house.  So breath taking...

 

Future floor installer! 

The in-laws had a project for Leif to assist with. They took up the carpet in their dining room and installed a laminate wood flooring.  The floor looks great and Lukkas really enjoyed helping bring pieces to Leif. 

The kids also had fun helping Grandma clean up the floor!

What better way to end a busy day? Stories from Grandma and Pope.  I'm sure I've blogged why Leif's dad is called Pope - but here's the story again.  Leinna was listening to Leif talk to his dad and Leif calls his dad Pop.  So, when Leinna tried to say "Pop" and it came out as "Pope" we laughed and it has been his name since.  

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are blessed to be able to make the trip to spend time with our family.  

The kids did great on the drive home today.  It's hard to see, but the kids are holding hands - so stinking cute!  They did a great job traveling home today.  The drive is about 6 hours with the roads being a little icy and needing to make longer potty breaks so the kids can move around and such.   I'm so thankful they traveled well - makes the trip so much more enjoyable.

We had beautiful skies on the drive home today.  

Feeling rested and ready to tackle the next 3 weeks before Christmas Break!!

Hot Coco and Temper-Tantrums!

I'm blessed each day after school to see such a beautiful setting sun.  The amazing displays of colors gives me a sense of peace and renewed energy to head home and be mom for the evening. 

We had freezing rain and then snow Friday afternoon.  Thankful we made it home safely and snuggled in for the night.  Saturday morning - no more storm so we headed out side to play!  It was a bit chilly so what better way to warm up - hot coco!

First cup of the winter season! Leinna was beyond excited and kept calling it chocolate hot milk! 

While Leinna enjoys her treats, Lukkas can be found having a temper-tantrum over something. 

Yesterday he was too funny - he'd throw his fit...

and then peak to see if anyone was watching him or going to give him what he wanted. Leif and I couldn't help but laugh at him - and oh - did this make him even more mad.  

So hard to be 1 1/2 years old!

 Thankful for a visit from Mrs. DillyDally this past week and looking forward to our friend Shannon visiting this weekend! Then we are headed up to Fairbanks for Thanksgiving.    

May you have a week full of thanksgivings and blessings!

Winter is here to stay

 Winter has finally arrived in our part of the world and it looks like it's here to stay.

I love the setting sun in the winter time! I love the way the colorful sky reflects off the snow. I had Leif snap this photo as we were driving home from school.  The picture doesn't come close to how beautiful the sky was.

Have I ever written about how much the kids like to be outside? 

Needless to say, Leinna especially is delighted to have snow to play in.   Her love of the outdoors makes me smile.  It reminds me so much of my dad (her grandpa).  

Lukkas had fun too...

I think the shovel is twice the size of him, but he had fun helping shovel the driveway. 

With our first true snowfall, many of the neighbors have turned on their Christmas Lights.  

Leinna asks when we can have our lights up and we told her when it turns to December.  She's got a count down going and informs me every day that it's just a couple weeks until we can turn our lights on.  She's at such a fun stage where holidays are starting to mean something to her. 

 With winter's arrival it is also season of static!

I think we'll be buying a humidifier soon!

A new month begins...

Sunset in Eagle River

As we turn the calendar to November and set our clocks back, I'm finding myself in a new place.  The transition to city life and new school system was extremely challenging and continues to be a challenge.  However, I find myself in this new place - missing what use to be, but adjusting to what is now.  As we continue to adjust, I'm reminded daily through my quiet morning time, to keep my eyes focused on what really matters.  I'm learning to let go of the challenging school day in the 15 minute drive home, so I can be a good mom to my kids.  I'm learning to find the blessings in each day - even the small ones, such as the student who is always tardy, actually made it to class on time today.  I'm learning that life isn't going to slow down, so I'd better take care of myself so that I may enjoy each and every moment of it!

A view from Leif's classroom

  I'm learning to embrace the buildings all around me and look beyond to see the beautiful place we live.  I sure do miss the sunsets on Ocra Bay - but learning to appreciate the same setting sun in a new location.

Leinna helping Papa make sour-dough pancakes for breakfast.

Seems with the first week of November behind us, the kids are ever changing...

Miss Leinna (aka - Leinna-Bug, Leinners, and Sister) I believe has grown another 2 inches.  She's a bottomless pit these days - even asked to have a bowl of cereal for her bedtime snack because she was so hungry.  She ate really well for dinner, so we let her eat a bowl of cereal too!

She's quiet the musician these days!  She's been listening to This Old Man in the car on our way to daycare.  Here she is banging out the rhythm for This Old Man and singing every word accurately.  Man, I wish I had 1/4th of the memory skills she has!

She also impressed us with this -

 writing letters all by herself!  She's very proud that she can write the letter "A".  

What's Lukkas (aka Mister, Brother) been up to?

Who me?

Yes, you! 

He's busy doing what 19 month old boys do! 

As we go through the month of November, I hope you will take time to learn more about yourself and be thankful for the many blessings in your life!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Our normal tradition for Halloween has been to have dinner and hand out candy with our dear friends, the Popelka's.  Well, since we moved and they moved also, this Halloween was about making new tradition.  The weather was suppose to be rainy/slushy and cold, but it turned out to be a pretty nice evening.  We were trying to decide if we'd actually take Leinna trick-or-treating this year, but decided to just hand out candy.  She was able to dress up and did a great job of handing out the candy.   Being in the big city, I wasn't sure how many trick-or-treaters to expect - we had about 50.  I have some candy left over, which Papa is not complaining about.  He has such a sweet tooth and was very happy to see the candy we have left!  Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!

Kaleidoscape

With two very busy weeks behind us, we looked forward to the past week and getting back into a sense of "normal" - morning - school- home- bedtime.  I must confess after two crazy weeks, my body needed rest and I was asleep 15 minutes after the kids were in bed.  Poor Leif - left to hang out by himself - I don't think he minded too much - he's a bit of a night owl anyways.

To celebrate our week of "normal" I decided to treat the kids to a special place called Kaleidoscape (http://www.kplaystudio.com/).  One of the pros of moving to Anchorage area was the amenities that would be close by.  Leinna keeps asking if she can go to "Old McDonald's" to play and thus I decided we needed a new play experience.

Kaleidoscape is a play studio!  It's an amazingly safe, clean, place where kids can just play.  There's everything from a reading corner, to art station, to dress-up clothes, a stage and musical instruments to play on/with.   They also offer classes throughout the week that I'm hoping will explore in the future.  The kids had a great time and even Leif said it was fun to just sit back and watch the kids have fun.

Here's a few pictures from our Kaleidoscape day - 

What a great fun way to spend our Saturday morning!  

Having an experience like this reminded me that as adults, we too need to find our own "Kaleidoscape"s and make sure we take time to "play."  My goal is to return to the land of knitting for at least 15 minutes a day.  We hope you can find time to play this week too!