The Stockings were Hung...

by the chimney with care. Teagan sure hopes St. Nick will be here! We're excited for Christmas round here. Disappointed that Rich will be working on the slope on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, though. We just hung Aidan's stocking up with the rest of ours; my mom made it and sent it this week. It has a big, fat polar bear on it; it's perfect!


The kids have been sick so much this winter. I just took Teagan to the doctor again. Her asthma is bad, and I have to give her the albuterol inhaler every 4 hours, and oral steroids to reduce the inflammation that's causing her wheezing and coughing. I hate giving her all these meds; I just want her to be healthy. Hopefully we can be diligent and get rid of this stuff. Here she is eating raw spaghetti noodles.


Aidan's been getting better and better at grabbing stuff. He likes to lay on his play mat and whack the toys that hang down. He definitely favors his right hand. He's eating sweet potatoes and rice cereal, too. I had to give him some applesauce with the cereal to keep him regular, if you know what I mean! He has quite the sensitive digestive system. Here he is with dad:

Here are some pictures of Teagan in this fun, mod outfit she's only worn one other time even though she's had it since last Christmas. She's so finicky about her fashion. I put her hair in a french braid and felt the need to photo document the occasion, as it's her first french braid. Her hair's never been long enough. But I'm a sloppy french braider. Will have to practice that little skill. Also looks like I need to trim her bangs.



Who knows if I'll post before Christmas...probably, since Rich will be gone this weekend and I'll be lonely. But in any case, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Hasenpfeffer

Here it is, the hunt. I will spare you all the gory photos, which was most of them. They went in Palmer, Rich and Teagan, below with our friend Jeremy. Jeremy's wife Heather took the pictures.
And the results are in, the stew was fantastic. Rich couldn't stop raving about it, especially that the rabbit came out so tender. I adapted the recipe to the crockpot and it worked out great. We had roasted red and Yukon gold potatoes from our garden with it, and cooked carrots. Teagan had second helpings. Just look at their happy faces!



No Hasenpfeffer for Aidan, but he enjoyed his warm rice cereal...at least when I could get the spoon past his fingers, which are constantly in his mouth. He's getting pretty consistent at putting his right thumb in his mouth, too. My little thumb-sucker. Now I'm off to fill out my benefits enrollment paperwork for open enrollment. Good stuff!

Tis the Season

Aaah, Christmas time. We decorated the house on Thanksgiving weekend. I feel like it's all going by so quickly; I'm not sure why. It was fun decorating. Four years old is pretty fun when it comes to this kind of stuff. Here she is helping sort out the fake Christmas tree. Gotta love the fake Christmas tree.


Rich took Teagan on her second hunting trip this weekend. They went a couple weeks ago, but didn't have any luck. They were hunting snowshoe hare. Teagan loved it. They shot two rabbits and she still loved it. She's an Alaska girl, through and through. She helped dress the
hare, and tomorrow morning I will put it in the crockpot for rabbit stew (i.e., hasenpfeffer). I'm adapting the recipe to the crockpot, just to make sure that rabbit is good and tender. We'll see, I've never cooked rabbit, let alone tasted it. Rich has always given the rabbits away to others who enjoy them, but now we have to teach Teagan if you shoot it, you must eat it. Too bad I don't have any pictures of the event (okay, probably not too bad if you don't like these kinds of things!). I'll have to post the stew results.

Winter Adventure

On Monday I didn't have daycare, so I took the kids and the dog for a walk, to the woods at the end of my street, which is essentially a bog. Since it had been warm that week, the bog was a skin of ice over water and mud, which we had to bust through to get anywhere. The going was rough, but it was so nice to be out in the sunshine we didn't care. I ended up pushing Aidan in the jogging stroller, while I pulled Teagan in the sled. I had to use the dog's leash to tie the sled around my waist to leave my hands free for the stroller.


We ran into three moose along the way. Here's a picture of a young bull who got a little too close to us for my comfort. He was drinking water from a puddle and didn't seem bothered by us. Thank goodness my dog didn't care to chase that moose.
I must have looked a sight pulling Teagan in the sled on the icy road on the way back home. I tell you, I got my work out for the day. What a fun time we had!!