Comfort Food

The other night we had a tasty meal of Japanese curry. It is a favorite of ours and our idea of comfort food. But I think a Japanese person would be shocked to know that we now put moose meat in ours. Oh, the horror! I guess that just makes our version an Alaskan/Japanese curry. Mmmm, we sure like it.

Selling My Wares

For the past two weekends I've been manning a table at a craft fair at the Mendenhall Mall. For about a year now, I've sold hooded bath towels that I sew at a few of the local craft fairs. Since this fall, my friend Dana has started selling nursing cover-ups with me as well. So I've been at a few more craft fairs than before thanks to having a friend to sit with over the weekend sale.
Anyway, this weekend I sold a whopping 19 hooded towels! I was pretty much in shock at the end of the sale on Sunday afternoon. My sales on Saturday were very good but not record breaking. Sunday however, was a huge success. And I don't think I sold more than two to any one person, so there were a lot of sales on Sunday. On Saturday, however, my first sale was for 5 to one lady! I got pretty excited when I realized she was making a pile on the side of my table. And then the pile kept growing!
Also, last weekend I sold 13 for a grand two week total of 32 hooded towels! That's a lot of terry cloth, and a lot of kids that will be wrapped up and warm after a bath.
A big thanks to those of you who have recently bought a towel from me. And there were even a few of you readers who came by the craft fair and bought one. I feel very blessed to have found something that people seem to like and are interested in buying, that I can make at home with my kids. It is far from a second income for our family, but the opportunity to make a little extra income for our family feels great--you SAHM's (stay at home mom) know what I'm talking about.

The Perfect Accessory

The other day, Bea came over to drop off some Christmas goodies before she left to spend the holidays with her daughter's family in Texas. As usual, she gave some kisses to both kids. And like usual, she left behind some of her lipstick. Isaac had the best "love" marks and I think they are the perfect accessory to any outfit. Bea is a very special lady that my kids just love. I'm glad she loves them too and that she leaves her marks of love on them. I have a feeling she leaves love marks on their hearts too. :)

Out-Takes

We posed for our Christmas photo the other night in front of the tree. Just before bed with two kids is not really a very good combination. My rough guess is that Lee snapped something like 85 pictures. Of course, most of them were far from perfect. I thought I'd pick out some of my favorite out-takes from our photo session to share with you all. Hope you enjoy them.

possibly a little too much tickling on Isaac's back

Where does Carly think she's going? We've only just begun!

I believe my face says enough

Maybe Isaac needs a break?

Now that's a break!

Some of you may have noticed that my posting is slowing down a bit. I'm sorry if your disappointed. I guess it's just proof that the the holiday rush--I mean season--is in full swing! Hopefully you'll hear from us again before Christmas!

Teens

Over the past year Shawn and I have worked with Geoffrey and Dana as unofficial youth leaders for the teens at the church of Christ in Juneau. We have really enjoyed it. And God has blessed us so much through each one of the teens. It has been amazing to watch them grow in Christ, and I've really liked watching them interact with my kids. Carly actually calls them "the big kids".
This is a post I've been meaning to get to for a while now, so I'm just throwing some pictures on of a few activities that have gone on recently. Sorry it's a bit long, but this has been on my heart to share for a while now.


November 30--We were able to go to a ceremony honoring Ben becoming an eagle scout. Fortunately, my parents were in town so we had some free baby-sitting. I don't know what I would have done with Isaac if we had to take him to that. Several of the teens from the youth group made it to the ceremony. Before that night, I really didn't know very much about the boy scouts. By the time the ceremony was done, I was completely impressed with the group and very proud to know Ben, who is such a wonderful young man.

Here's the teens that were at the ceremony: Monica, Randi, Ben, and Slader.
checking out the merit badges

Shawn, using some police skills to encourage Kinsey to pose for a picture

November 25--We had the privilege of attending Monica's baptism. She is a very special young lady. Recently, I've gotten to know her very well because of a Bible study we have most Tuesday nights. We are so proud of Monica and her decision to follow Christ. She is a great role model for the other teens and even those who are older than her. We will miss her and the other seniors so much when they go off for college next fall.

Monica just before the plunge given by Jon Paden.

Slader looking on and very impressed with Monica's decision

Monica and her family standing in our traditional circle after the baptism

Monica and me (Rachel)

the family who gathered to welcome Monica's new birth (minus Shawn who dubbed himself "the picture guy")

November 17--Almost every Sunday night the teens meet at a church members home for a light meal, some fellowship, singing, a devotional thought, and prayer. It is really a fun time, and it's kind of amazing that we're able to fit all those things into about an hour and 15 minutes. Every week is different and the teens seem to really enjoy it. Shawn, Geoffrey, and Bill (our new minister) take turns leading the signing and devotional thoughts. Last year we also went through a series where we invited different church members to share their personal testimonies about how they became a Christian. I think the teens really enjoyed this. It's been made obvious to them that they are not alone in their struggles and experiences. Often they've found that there's another member in our church family who has already been where they are now.

This particular night, Jasmine, Monica, and Randi were trying to imitate Bill's whistling abilities. His whistles are quite impressive.

Slader

Katie with Carly

Kinsey--surprisingly not hiding from the camera

Kyle with the Williams' dog, Yoda

Randi

Brittany

Fascination

Three inches of snow this morning and his Daddy running the snow blower made for a very fascinated little boy. The sleepy eyes turned wide very quickly today.





Yes, Carly dressed herself. :) She did pretty well today though. I've seen much worse.

Trim the Tree

Tonight before bed we got our tree decorated. Shawn had set it up yesterday morning and we had intentions of trimming it yesterday, but Carly got sick and it changed our plans. But 24 hours later, she's doing much better and pretty much back to herself again. She was running around with Isaac a little before bed and even tried on some dress up clothes--which lately seems to be her usual routine before bed. So I guess those are good signs that we're headed back to normal.
Once the ornaments were up on the tree, Shawn left for work. After Shawn left, Isaac went to bed. Carly had a huge nap this afternoon so I let her stay up a little later than usual. After the house was calm and quiet we settled down on the couch next to the Christmas tree and read The Polar Express. This is the first year she has been patient enough to sit through the whole thing. About half way through the book, Lee came in to tell us that is was snowing. It couldn't have gotten much better. I mean picture it: cuddled up on the couch in pj's, reading The Polar Express by the light of the Christmas tree, and soft snow falling outside the nearby window. The only extra touches we could have used would have been a crackling fireplace and maybe a cup of hot chocolate. But seriously, does it get much better than that?
I've been wanting to read The Polar Express to Carly for a long time now. When I was pregnant with her, the apartment we were living in had a fireplace and mantle. I remember decorating for Christmas and putting the book up on the mantle. I was looking forward to reading it with our baby one day, so it was nice to finally share this neat story with her.

Here are some pictures I took of our trimming party tonight.

Carly couldn't quite reach the top

So Daddy helped

the onlookers watching from below

Tableside Entertainment

Isaac was so cute during our Thanksgiving dinner. He just jabbered the whole time. Mostly he was saying, "Waa, wha waa wha? WOOF! WOOF! Haha!" Just watch the video to get a better idea of what it sounded like. He said this little ditty probably 30 times and then we finally video taped it. He was quite proud of himself. I laugh everytime I watch it.


Glad to hear that many of you also had a great holiday.

Hunting

This morning three in this household woke up early for hunting. Shawn and Lee went out for deer, and I went out for deals!
Probably all of you are looking at the picture below and thinking I'm nuts. Some of you think I'm nuts because I willingly got up at such a crazy hour. Then there's those who think I'm nuts because I slept in too much on Black Friday. But in Juneau, you don't have to be up sooo early to still get the doorbuster deals. I accomplished my goal and am pretty much done with my Christmas shopping already. Just two more folks to buy for. So now I can focus on my holiday projects. (Let the craftiness begin!)
Lots of good deals were secured by me, but sadly no animals were secured by the Phelps boys.

Here's a photo journey (with captions) of my morning.

wake-up call

(I usually go for the local Heritage brew, but this morning I started my shopping at Fred Meyer so I hit the starbucks kiosk inside to make things speedy.)

Daybreak

the spoils of war

Thankful

Today we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. The only basic item we didn't have was pumpkin pie since Shawn's not so fond of it. So I made a pumpkin cheesecake instead. It's much more work than a pie, but oh so good!
After we filled our belly's and were being entertained by Isaac at the dinner table, we all shared what we were thankful for.
Shawn: thankful for our family
Carly: thankful for momma (it was the sweetest thing I heard all day)
Isaac: thankful for his highchair since it helps him eat more
Grandma Hinds: thankful that her grandkids live in Juneau and they can come to visit them
Grandpa Hinds: thankful for his grandkids and that they are healthy
Me: thankful for my family and our healthMy mom and I worked all day on our feast, but I noticed that this was the least stressed I've felt on Thanksgiving since we've been married. My mom and I were a mother/daughter dream team in the kitchen. Everything went smoothly and was under control--what a blessing.I've also been meaning to post about Carly's thankful list. Last week at playgroup each of the kids made a turkey and Olivia helped each kid write down the things they were thankful for on the feathers. Here's Carly's list:
hugs, juice, ABC's, Knox (Lee's dog), backyard, crayons, grandma & grandpa, toys

The True Story of Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving means a lot of things to a lot of people. I appreciate it for the opportunity to reflect and be thankful for my blessings. I truly have a lot of blessings this year. Thanksgiving also means a lot more to me after living in a foreign country. I now see a patriotic element to it, that I hadn't appreciated until we lived in Japan.

Recently I heard a few new details about the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the pilgrims. I thought it was interesting and found an online article to support what I'd heard. So here is the story of the reason for the first Thanksgiving. I hope you find it interesting. If nothing else, it's a good economics lesson.

Hope you are with or will be with family and friends to celebrate and be thankful for all the blessings God has lavished on us this year.

Momma's Little Helper and a Free Turkey

For the past week and a half I've been baby-sitting a 4-month old boy temporarily. It was just while his regular daycare lady was on vacation. Today was the last day I had him and I was pretty relieved at about 5pm. It wasn't all bad, of course. It's just hard to not be even a little demanding when you're a 4 month old. It also reminded me why the good Lord usually doesn't even make it possible for a mother to have two babies that are 11 months apart.

Carly has been a HUGE helper over the last few days. In general, she is a great helper, but even more so with the extra baby. She was often entertaining the little baby or playing with Isaac so I could focus on the little guy. Or sometimes she was bringing me a bottle or throwing out a diaper. She has definitely earned her keep this week.

The picture above was a common sight this week. Often when the little guy was napping, she would put one of her baby dolls in his carseat and try to tote it around along with his diaper bag. She was usually "going to the store". And yes that is a doll in the picture and not the little baby. (It's just one of those life like dolls.)

One benefit to the little guy was that he usually took some phenomenal naps. His usual seemed to be one 3 hour nap and then also a 1 1/2 hour nap later on. Of course, like any good 4 month old he wasn't completely consistent. But with his long naps I was able to get quite a bit done around the house. The only down side to this was that I pretty much always "around the house". I tried very hard over that past few days to only do the errands that were absolutely necessary. Staying close to home proved to be a hidden blessing though.

On Wednesday afternoon, the little guy left a bit early for a doctor's appointment so I saved up all of my usual grocery store trips for that one afternoon with just my kids. Like, I said there was an advantage to not going out much over the past few days. At the grocery store the other day, I had so many things to purchase--since I hadn't been to the store in about a week--that when I got it all, I had enough to get a free turkey! A 19 pounder too! Now some of you may be thinking that I probably bought a bunch of stuff just to get the turkey, but actually I stuck pretty close to my list. It was just a big list this time. So I guess in a way, the little 4 month old earned me a free turkey, because if it wasn't for him I probably would have gone to the store at least twice in the week and just spread out the same purchases over a few trips. That would not have gotten me a free turkey. A silver lining to a sometimes challenging week.
The whole free turkey thing also makes me feel like some kind of coupon queen! Yipee! We'll be eating good this Thanksgiving.