Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Frank always reads the kids the night before Christmas. They love to have Dad read to them!

Santa made it safely to Metlakatla. Cort got the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. He was so excited that is all he played with all day. Grace got lots of dress up clothes, she was giving this dress the dance test. It passed!

I hope your day was full of family, friends and lots of good food.

Getting Cookies Ready for Santa!

When Santa stopped at school last Friday, he told the kids that his favorite cookie was Choc. Chip. Cort was all worried, we did not make any choc. chip cookies. So, today Cort helped me get some cookies made for Santa. He was such a great helper and he even let me get some pictures.

Santa Is Everywhere!

I went down to the school this morning and just beat Santa there. I was there long enough to see Cort sitting quietly and working! I did not know he could work so quiet.

Cort was so excited to tell Santa about all of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones things he wanted for Christmas.

Cort and his friend are comparing their bags. They were all so cute! Every time I tried to get a good picture of Cort's face he would give me a goofy look (little stinker). I just need to be really sneaky to get a good picture of Cort:)

Party At Head Start!

This is Grace's Teacher Anita, she is wonderful!

Santa stopped by the school today to let the kids know that so far they were all on the "good list". While he was there he gave them little stockings with goodies in them. Grace was checking him out to make sure that he was really Santa. I think she was a little confused, he had a black mustache and then a white fake beard. When the day was over she did not say anything on the way home. Kids are sure cute about those things:)

They did a toy exchange at school, Grace was happy with her Dora Bingo game! I am so glad to have her home for Christmas Break! Cort's last day is tomorrow, hopefully I will have pictures of his party tomorrow. I am looking forward to the 2 weeks of having the kids home. I am sure that I will be glad to have school start back when the holidays are over.

1st Christmas Concert!

Last night was the kids first Christmas concert. They did great! The concert only lasted about 45 min. I hope it is like that every year. The music teacher combined grades for the songs, Great idea! Isabel and Grace were so excited to see each other when we got to the school.

Here are the boys of Mrs. Dodge's Kindergarten class. They were in there prep room, before the concert. Notice how Cort's red plaid shirt is tucked nicely into his tan pants, well when he walked out on stage 15 min. later it was totally un-tucked. I was glad that to see he was in the back row, no one could tell he was un-tucked while they were singing.

Here Grace and most of the girls in her class waiting for their turn to go and sing.

Dancing with Daddy

Tonight Grace was suppose to be cleaning her room and getting ready for bed. When low and behold she comes out to the living room all dressed for dancing.

She was able to talk Dad into dancing with her. They love practicing their dancing any time they get the chance.

Santa!

Santa made to Metlakatla to check up on the kids. He had to take a black hawk to get her, but you know Santa he does what he needs to.

Christmas Pictures

Tonight we did the family Christmas pictures. We did manage to get at least on good one for the Christmas letter.

We even managed to get a picture with the animals. Cort thought we would need to do another Christmas picture after he got his lizard.

Look at that they really do love each other, at least for the time being.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Cort put about 3 ornaments on the tree then he was done. At least I was able to get a nice picture of the little boy who does not like getting his picture taken.

Well, the cat's bed has gone to the dog! Annabel is so funny, she likes to take a toy and lounge on the bed while chewing on it. I like to think she likes the bed so much because it smells like Lucy(and she loves Lucy so much). If you look really close you can see Annabel's little eye. She is sticking her tongue out, silly dog.

Christmas Tree Hunting

Today we all loaded up in the truck to find the Stewart Christmas tree. Cort had to take his light saber, Grace brought Annabel.

Cort let me take his picture as long and he could be a jedi in it. At least I got a picture of him.

Here Frank is cleaning up the bottom of the Christmas tree and Cort is practicing his battle skills. It was a great day!

Grace and her Schnoodle

Early this morning and all day Grace has been throwing up and just feeling yucky. It was so cute to see Grace and Annabel snuggled up together on the couch I could not resest. Annabel was a great addition to the family, I love to see the two of them snuggling.

Annie loves her little squicker dog, it is one of her favorite toys!

Home Sweet Home

This was in the Seattle airport at about 4:30 in the morning. We took up the whole row of 4 seats: Puppy, Computer, Bag for Grace, My purse, Pillow and Car seat.

I want you to meet Annabel, the newest Stewart. She is such a sweetheart!

Grandma got Grace a nice new silver out fit. She loves it. Annabel wanted to be part of the excitement. She wants to be part of everything. Lucy will adjust I just do not know how long it will take.

Seattle, Grandma, Shopping & A Puppy Too!

It was great to get into Seattle and see mom. Grace was so excited, all she wanted to do was snuggle with Grandma all the time. We spent all day Thursday shopping, wow, and we did not even go to all the stores we wanted to. We did get most everything we wanted to get.

Friday after Grace's Dr. appointment Brooke B. Miller came to the hospital and we followed her back to her house to have dinner with her family, Shawn & Taytem. Taytem & Grace had fun together, they wore each other out.

Grace and Grandma were reading stories while we were waiting for Grace's new puppy get to the hotel.

Grace just loves her new little Schnoodle! Annabel is fitting into the family just wonderfully, Lucy is a little bitter about the new addition though.

Day of The Frogs

This morning Grace decided that she wanted to wear Russ(the yellow frog) and Melissa(the purple frog) in her hair to school. She was so sweet, I told her that if the frogs crawl out of the hair they would have to go into her back pack, it is dark in there and they would not like that. We will see how the frogs did at school here in a few hours.

Sick Day

Today was another sick day. It has been a heck of a week if you know what I mean. The coughs that started last Sunday have now turned into ear infections for both of my babies. Cort is sporting a Breath Right Strip on his nose, I will see how good they work by tonight. Cort was watching Star Wars in our bedroom and Grace crawled under the covers to snuggled with her big brother, so sweet! Good thing I was fast, Cort kicked her out about 5 min. after I got the picture.

Fun and Games

Cort had a friend over after school today. They had fun playing army, star wars, and Elifun. It is nice for the kids to have frinds over.

Trick or Treating in Metlakatla!

The weather was great! It was a little breezy but the temp was about 50. We did miss all of our friends up in Fairbanks, just not the cold.

We started our Trick or Treating adventure at about 5:00 Then we were home by 6:00. When we first started Ricky was not sure about the whole idea of going to all the houses. The kids had a great time!

Happy Halloween From Cort's Class

This afternoon it was party day at school! The kids all looked great!

They all had lots of sugar and lots of fun!

This is our little Clone Trooper, Commander Fox.

Halloween at Head Start

This is Grace's class and her teachers. Today they all dressed up and went to the busnisses in town. They were all so cute!

This is Matthew holding on to Grace's hand. I almost missed it, they were the only ones holding on to hands and it only lasted about 5 min. They are so sweet.

Before they left school the teachers came around and gave the kids a second bag for candy. When we got out side Grace gave me the plastic bag, she did not want to carry 2 bags. I gave the extra bag to her teacher and he said she is going to need it. When I picked her up at 3:30 both of the bags were full, I mean full!

This is my little Sleeping Beauty is dancing, she is so, so, well she is just out little Grace.

Yes, we are still here!

We have not been doing much this month. I am still watching a friends 2 year old, and there has been lots of rain and wind. These are good days to break out the play dough. Frank is getting ready to go over to Prince of Whales Island to go black tail hunting. He will miss Halloween with the kids, he is pretty sad about that. I told him we will survive, we will miss him but we will manage. The kids have 3 birthday parties this weekend! Hopefully I will have some Halloween pictures for next weekend!

Those of you who have not yet got your Christmas cards I have an idea for you. If you want to donate to an amazing cause during a giving time of the year, can I suggest getting your Christmas Cards through Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). All proceeds benefit JDRF and go directly to fund research toward the cure of Type1 diabetes and its complications. If you are interested here is the page to fine them.

http://www.morethancards.com/CardsApp/CardsUserUI.exe?eventName=browseNode&sessionKey=161621223573153&nodeID=100

It is scary how The Big D can change a whole family's life. We can only hope that a cure will be found during Grace's lifetime. Thank you to everyone, all of the love and prays make this possible to get through.

Christmas is gaining on us, and when you live in Bush Alaska this is the time of year you have to start shopping in order to get it here by the season. I have only just started to look at what all needs to be done for the season.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the last of Fall!