Bucket-O-Pups

Christmas Puppies

The puppies are growing fast and should be opening their eyes anytime now. They will be a week old on Christmas day. Happy Holidays from Alaska to you all!

a walk with the dogs...

I took the dogs on a quick walk to the swamp today. It's a little cold and windy out but clear and beautiful. I wasn't sure if Luna would leave the puppies but she did and seemed to enjoy the break. Denali was out and peeking over the trees at me when I got down to the swamp. Yesterday morning it was about -20 below in our area, Brrr... We watched the Eclipse from home the other night, it was awsome, we could see it from our windows which was nice since it was chilly out and the show was from about 9-11pm up here. Then last night for solstice Jax & I were at a friend's bonfire party. The moon was full and bright, there was a table of food and cookies and we were with good people, good friends. HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE TO YOU ALL!!!

more puppy pics.

These little guys are getting cuter by the day & Luna loves being a mom!

Puppy Pics...

Mama Dog

Luna had her pups today! Seven healthy cute little Alaska dogs in all... Pretty cool to watch and it's something she is really good at. We can barely coax her out of that box for the first week. She will spend the next couple months cleaning, feeding, licking and taking care of these little guys (hey sounds familiar, except for the licking part :0). Ah... the life of a mom. These pups are going to be cute! Stay tuned for more pics. of them...

A few pet peves...

OK, sorry in advance this is a quick rant. I don't do this often on here which makes me feel a little better about it but we all have a list of things in our minds that drive us crazy, right? Well here's mine (at least part of it...):
1. Hypocrites are pretty annoying, I think we can all agree. All I ask is "practice what you preach, or don't preach it!"
2. People telling you what YOU should do. I get this alot and it drives me pretty crazy...
3. WAR (enough said)
4. People who don't take responsibility for their own pets and kids.
5. Video Games (they cause alot more problems than they solve and are way too violent!)
6. Corporate Corruption & Greed (this is on most peoples lists)
*there are plenty more of the worlds many problems that bother me but instead of listing or dwelling on them I choose to go out and maybe help someone or something to be better than it is. Just whining about them won't help but I (we) can! Just yesterday I helped put on an open house event at our local "FREE BOX" for which I'm on the board and we're all volunteers. We had been collecting new or like new items from the community that could be used as holiday gifts and made cookies to put out. We ended up with a ton of nice stuff and lots for kids who don't mind regifts at all. It went well and people appreciated it alot. The free box is always free and this was no exception. Every town needs a free box! So this is a great time of year to donate, volunteer, help, do something, just make someones holiday nicer if you can...

Friends & Brothers...

Friends... Breck and Jaxon have known each other since we first moved here 5 years ago and they were both just babies. We said bye to Breck this week and had him over for a playdate. He has moved to the lower 48 (as us Alaskans call where you live "down there") with his family. It's hard to say goodbye to friends.

Brothers... these two love to rough house. Here Hawken is riding his big bro like a horse. Then when he fell off I got two great big happy smiles from them and here they are for you to enjoy...

We are into the "dog days of winter" with only 5 hours of daylight right now. It makes for a short day. But Dec. 21st, the Winter Solstace, is when we start gaining daylight again, woo hoo! Happy Winter to you all...

A Dog Sled Ride

I took the boys out on my dog sled today. I walked with Koda on a leash while he pulled the boys. He did great, went at a slow pace and stayed right next to me, he's really gentle with kids. It was hard to get any good pictures while holding a 125lb. dogs leash though, most were blurry. These were the best 2...

more crayons...

My take on eco-art, handmade recycled crayons! I just made more for my last Holiday Bazaar of the season this Sat. at the Talkeetna Grade school downtown it's Dec. 4th from 11-5. Sponsored by the PTA this is a fun local bazaar and is held on the same day as the Wilderness Woman Contest and Bachelor Ball & Auction a 30 year tradition in this funky little village. People have come from all parts of the world in past years for this event and the Bachelor Society spreads the love with the money they raise by donating to local non-profits as well as Domestic Abuse & Violence Support in Alaska.

Tired Boy...

Hawken fell asleep on my back in his backpack while we were out making snowshoe tracks in our yard. He's about to be too heavy for that, but he doesn't have snowshoes yet...

playing in the yard...

Winter Wonderland

We went for a little snowshoe walk in our back yard today... and picked out a Christmas tree!

Anchorage Christmas Craft Show at the Dena'ina Center

Last weekend I split a booth with my friend that makes jewelry at this 2 day craft show in downtown Anchorage. It was good. There were several other booths with candles, one with tie dyes but no other batiked kids clothing. Spent the night down there and beat the ice storm home by a few hours, phew... One more local bazaar and that's it for me. Now it's time to stock up for the summer!

Gingerbread People ( & Bears)

Jax & I make these every year around X-mas... This year we did it on Thanksgiving, a nice peaceful day at home.

Hawken Hangin' Out

Not every kid gets picked up at the bus on Dad's snowmachine...

but Jaxon does, and has several times in the last 2 weeks, he loves it!

I'm an Aunt

My new (and only) nephew was born last night in Colorado. Jayden Eugene. In this photo he looks just like his dad as a baby (sorry Cait)... It's funny the same OB delivered him as my first son over 6 yrs. ago! Pretty exciting. Can't wait to see if he gets Pete's "toehead curls" too. Congrats and Good Luck you guys (now the hard part begins, enjoy him :0) Luv ya