Dad's birthday gift

So I love my dad and it's his 75th birthday so I wanted to do something extra special for this special year. This is a phenomenal idea (not mine of course) for a birthday/anniversary gift. Definitely one that won't be forgotten and can be passed down.

For my dad's 75th birthday (tomorrow), I saw this idea that involved collecting people from his past to contribute a memory they had of him. I'd put each memory in an envelope--75 total, of course--and have him open them, one by one, on his birthday. That would be a lot of memories, but so much fun, right?

So I wrote and email. I sent it to family, friends, and everyone one in between. This is what I said:

Hello everyone!

If you're receiving this email, you probably know that my dad, John Koehler, is turning 75 in January next (much as he would hate us to be reminding everyone, I'm sure.) To celebrate his birthday, I'd like to put together a little surprise to let him know that his nearest and dearest are thinking of him. I"m going to try and create "75 Years of Memories" by filling 75 envelopes with a memory his friends and family have of him.

And this is where you come in!

If you have a spare moment in the next few weeks, I would be so grateful if you'd jot down a favorite memory you have of my dad and put it in the post. It doesn't have to be anything fancy -- you can just write it down on a piece of paper and sign your name. You can mention anything you like -- although the more nostalgic the better! Please absolutely feel free to send more than one memory (in fact, I welcome it -- I've got 75 envelopes to fill!), but make sure you write them on different pieces of paper (and sign your name to each) so I can split them up.

Thank you so, so, so much for participating -- I know everyone is busy with their own lives, and I do appreciate you taking a few minutes to do this; it will be so worth it when he reads all the memories people have of him! (Please don't forget to keep it a surprise until then, though!)

Thank you so much again.

So I sent the email and then I waited. I collected them for two months, my heart pinging with excitement each time a new one arrived. In a way, I'm sort of sad that this project is over because it was a huge amount of fun to collect and collate all of these memories, many of them occurring years before I was even born. I enjoyed reading and reminiscing about the each memory. I realized even more how blessed I am for a loving and highly involved dad and role model I have in my life. Grateful for all the lives he has touched including my own and my family. I could go on and on about him.

so much snow

We've had 88 inches of snow this season. Normally we have 44 inches at this time. This is just our area. There has been upwards of 300 inches+ in areas like valdez. This past week the snow has stopped and it's been clear and sunny, sounds pretty nice, right? Well, when it's clear and sunny, temperatures drop. For the past week, the high has been -6, at least any time I've had to be outside and drive around. The lowest temp I've seen was last sunday driving to and from church. It was -18. That is the coldest I have felt. I don't let the kids play outside at those temperatures and neither do the schools. Sydney has had indoor recess this week. At this point I'm looking forward to our Maui trip with my parents in March. The thought of walking around in shorts and flip flops sound very appealing. Also, in May Jeff and I are going to Kauai. Jeff won an award trip with his work and they are sending me and him to Kauai! We're so excited. A trip alone that's completely paid for. I still have to pinch myself because it sounds to good to be true. My parents are coming to watch the kids. The anticipation of those 2 trips will definitely help me get through this especially snowy and cold winter.

Our back deck before we shoveled it.

Some trees in our backyard
All the snow makes for some beautiful scenery. I love looking outside.

Christmas program

I was looking through my blog and realized I forgot to post about Sydney's Christmas program. It was a really enjoyable program. Sometime those things can be torturous. k-2 sang three or four songs together. At the very end, the whole school sang a few songs all together. Sydney had a little solo part at the end. Her solo part to sing was, "I sew the ears on teddy bears." She did a great job. During intermission a few parents we didn't know came up to us and said how good and animated she was. A few songs included some hand gestures. Many of the Kindergartners didn't do the hand gestures or sing, but Sydney was all over it. The video is pretty hilarious. I wish I could figure out how to put a clip on here.

She stood front and centered

Right before her "solo" that she volunteered to do.
Her friend Gabriella

Christmas Day

Christmas was awesome. I loved that it fell on a Sunday too. It's nice too that our ward didn't start until 1pm. Perfect timing. Is it weird that I think we should always go to church on Christmas day no matter what day it falls on? Before we let the kids run down the stairs to look at the presents, we sing a few Christmas songs and say a prayer. Christmas Eve night before bed, we read Luke 2. This year we taped paper on the walls so 1. they couldn't sneak a peak and 2. I just thought it would be fun to run through. They ran through the paper and then as every kid does when they see a bunch of presents on Christmas got a huge grin and there were some squealing, "ahh"-ing, and "oh my goodness" repeated multiple times throughout the ripping apart of paper to reveal the toy Santa gave them. Sydney and Jordyn both wanted a Barbie house, which they got. Gammie and Grandpa got them an American Doll, Grandpa Levin got them pet puppies that make noise and walk, Grandpa Tim got them books, Grandma Karen-a doll and money, Great Grandma Marianne-Disney shirt, pen, and brush, and we gave them their yearly photo album, aprons, and blankets I made for them way back in June when I was at my mom's house. After presents we ate some breakfast, played with toys, talked to family, and watched the annual videos I make for each child. That's a tradition we do every year. At church I sang a duet! what?! Yeah, I was pretty nervous since I've never done that before, but the song was verily easy and me and Lindsey harmonized good together. We had a family over for Christmas dinner (Medina's) and played with our new family toy: XBOX kinect the rest of the night. We had a great Christmas.

Sydney's photo album in the background and stocking stuff. This was the first year that I refused to put candy in the stockings. It's my "bah humbug" moment during the holidays.
This is raw beauty. If you ever wanna know what I look like in the morning. It could be worse, right? Okay, maybe not. I think I was excited that Santa put a People magazine in my stocking: the simple and mindless things in life.
Levi's new toy. Well it's used, but new to him :) Thanks to the toy exchange some friends had the month before.
Sydney loved her new watch. Teaching her to tell time old-school style--by the arms of the clock. No digital.
Jordyn with her new apron I made (mom helped too). The best thing is that it's reversible and the other side is purple and green. The girls love it (and so does Levi-I should've made him a manly one).

Dec. 24

This morning we headed to Palmer to go to a Reindeer Farm. We hadn't been there before and when we left the farm we were so glad we did go and will probably make it a tradition while we're in Alaska. At the reindeer farm, we went sledding, did arts and crafts in a barn, sat on Santa's lap, went on a hayride around the farm, and then finally fed the reindeers. There weren't many people so Santa came to feed the reindeers with us. It was so fun to do this and Santa really is a genuinely nice and funny guy.

On Santa's practice sleigh
Feeding the reindeer was similar to feeding ducks at a pond. All the reindeer were pretty excited for food and many reindeer were positioning for a spot. I found out that reindeers i.e. caribou do not buck, their hind legs make a clicking noise when they walk, Santa's reindeers are female because females don't have antlers in the winters (males do), and gestation is 7 months long.
Santa even came out and fed the reindeers with us.
On the hay ride, pulled by a tractor.
Our best family christmas eve photo.

After we drove home, we prepared for our Christmas Eve dinner. We had the Mc Curdy's, Elordi's, Armstrong's, and Shireena over. It was great having friends over and the kids frosted cookies after we ate homemade Cafe Rio burritos (my fav).

The kids looked forward to bedtime and slept in the same room. At 2am I heard footsteps and found Sydney going down the stairs. I'm pretty sure she was sleep walking. The girls ran downstairs at 8am.

Dec. 23

The anticipation of Christmas is getting more intense with each passing day. I love the excitement with the kids. I will miss it when they are older. This morning we were busy getting ready for our big party tonight. We moved the furniture around to open the space to accommodate our friends and of course we had to clean our entire house. At 3:30 we left to go to the children's hospital to sing carols to the kids. The Coy family came with us. There were only 6 kids in the hospital at the time. When we started singing the kids came out of their rooms to listen. Most of the kids had tubes and IV's in their arms. One nurse came out with a 1 year old patient. The nurse said he wasn't sure if he would make it. Although sorry for the afflictions this boy has to endure, it was nice to brighten up someone's day. The girls had a fun time singing and hopefully felt joy in serving others. After, we came home just in time to make it to our own party. We had friends, mostly from church, come over to our home to visit, snack, sing christmas songs, and listen to a few musical numbers. It was a nice evening. We guessed we had about 80 people here. Everyone came through our garage door and took off their coats and boots in the garage. By the time everyone left, Jeff and I were beat!

weird stuff

I'm a list person and several weeks ago when I couldn't sleep I was thinking about my childhood and lists came up. If you're a shrink and happen to fall upon my blog, you'll definitely be "diagnosing" me.

List 1:

Weird things I did as a kid

1. Put a bandaid on my arm while we we're camping for a week to see how dirty I'd get. I'm pretty sure my mom made me take it off and take a bath in the freezing lake, because I don't remember what the results were.

2. I wrote a will when I was 8 years old. That's just so disturbing to even think about and I'm sure that weirded my mom out. I only remember what the first thing was--my cabbage patch kid (aka Walter) and I was giving that to my mom. How did I even know what a will was????

3. I decided to have a garage sale in my own room. Only one person bought something for a quarter. Guess who? my mom. Moms are the best.

4. Refused to go to a Girl Scout event because I thought my mom was hiding another man in the closet. Again, I'm sure that weirded my mom out. Don't know why she didn't put me in therapy right then.

5. Slept and sometimes still do, with my head under the covers. Know one understands how I can breathe.

List 2

My dreams as a kid

1. To be a genius. And when I was about 10 and came to reality and discovered I wasn't a genius, I was sad. I remember driving home from church confessing to my mom this self-discovery. By the way I do have a connection with a genius. I was born exactly 100 years after Albert Einstein (march 14, 1879)

2. To have a $1,000 in my savings acct by the time I was 9 years old. This dream was met.

3. This one is disturbing--to be a 1st hand witness to a bank robbery. Of course I didn't want to get hurt, but I wanted to be the hero and somehow get the bank robbers. I did witness a donut shop robbery when I was in preschool. The guy, wearing panty hose over his face, robbed the cashier at gun point and ran off. I didn't see much because my mom pushed me under the table and then jumped on top of me.

4. To be a professional down-hill snow skier. I sometimes think I pretended I was one when I would whiz down the hills.

5. To win the Publishing House Clearance 1 million dollars. I even filled out all the paperwork, in behalf of my dad, and mailed it for a few years. I lost hope once I started puberty and was interested in having a life.

List 3: Crazy (aka hairball) things I did when I was young:

1. My sister and I tried to out run a cop. I was 10 (I think). My sister was driving a motorcycle (she was 12) on the streets in a small, small town in Wyoming. The cop pulled us (and my cousin who was driving a different motorcycle) over and my sister and I both ran to my cousin's garage. Of course he found us and we got in trouble after him and my parents secretly laughed about it.

2. Thought I could actually barefoot waterski. I was going 40 mph. I got up and then did a major face plant going 40 mph. It took years for my back to recover, if it ever did. I was 16.

3. When I was in 8th grade, I used my bed as a trampoline and attempted a back flip. I didn't make it all the way and fell on my neck. Had to see a chiropractor for several weeks after that stunt.

4. I was bored and clearly not thinking. I thought I could hole punch my hair and it would leave a circle in my hair (doesn't make sense). But needless to say when I hole-punched my hair, it didn't make a hole.

Pretty random things on these lists. It's kind of a miracle I turned out "normal."

New haircuts

If you remember, Sydney cut her bangs last year. So she's pretty much has had a "poor kid she cut her own hair" hairdo for the past year. I've been waiting for her bangs to grow out. So she finally wanted to cut her hair all one length. We cut about 8 inches off. We love it. No more tangles in the morning and I think it's her cutest haircut yet. When we got home she hid while I made a big introduction to Jeff, Jordyn, and Levi, "Introducing a new 6 year old girl with a super hair cut. It's shorter, shiny, and best of all cute. Sydney Kaylin Shaw show everyone your new DO." She laughed and giggled and showcased her new hair cut. She made me do that about 5 more times and even skype my mom and dad and "introduce" her to them.

Jordyn saw all the excitement and wanted to have the same thing so the next morning I cut her hair (about 5 inches). I cut her summer blonde hair all off and lots of curls. "Introducing Jordyn Marie Shaw with her new gorgeous hair do...."
I actually straightened it in this picture.

Jordyn's 4th b-day

On Friday the 9th it was your turn for your b-day party. It was at 10am. We invited church and school friends. You wanted a Cinderella party. I asked someone from church (a college girl) if she could come as Cinderella to your party. She was so excited and even told me she had a Cinderella costume so it was perfect.

The princess crown cake I made. It was just like Sydney's cake but with blue frosting.

You and Cinderella. So beautiful. You and your friends anticipated her arrival and when she came you guys got all quiet.

Cinderella sang you songs, read a book, and even painted everyone's faces. You picked a butterfly to be painted on your face.

You and your friends also made your own crowns to wear.
Then you wanted to paint Cinderella's face. She is such a nice princess.

You, Cinderella and your friends. This was your first birthday party and you loved all the attention.

Sydney's party

Tomorrow is Sydney's 6th b-day. Our kids are getting so much older which means that Jeff and I are too. Weird. Yesterday Sydney had her b-day party. Every other year they have a party and this year she wanted a "Rapunzel" party. I toiled as to what to do for that party. There are so many ideas, just take a glance on Pinterest. It's pretty overwhelming and so I wanted to keep it simple and not have to do much so....I thought about having Rapunzel come all the way from Disneyland to our home in Alaska and guess what, she came. The real story is that a college girl from the single's ward was rapunzel for halloween and came. When she walked in, Sydney and her friends went bonkers. They screamed and hugged her and then followed her around everywhere. She brought her frying pan and guitar. She sang songs, read the Rapunzel book, talked with the girls, and then painted their faces. It went perfect and I was able to enjoy the party because I wasn't doing anything but taking pictures. We also had a pinata in the basement, ate cake, opened presents, and that was it. The party was a success. Sydney had 10 friends over and gave every girl a hug after she opened the present they gave her.

Today church was cancelled due to icy roads and high winds so we just chilled at home. I filled out her B-day questionaire which she informed me that she wants to be a police officer when she's older, she wants me to make chicken nuggets, peas, and bread for dinner, told me her favorite subject in school is recess and lots of other little things. She mentioned that she'll miss being 5 because she wants to stay little. When asked what she wants to do tonight, the last night as a 5 year old she said, play Guess Who and Hide & Go Seek.

Sydney is a sweet girl. In her prayer tonight she mentioned that she's thankful our family will be together forever and that her best friends are me, Jeff, Jordyn, and Levi. It's hard to believe that she is 6. She'll always be my little girl.

My mom bought her this Rapunzel dress and wig way back in June and she's been saving it for her birthday party.
Aww...the cake. I've never decorated a cake before. Let's just say I was sore the next morning from frosting that beastly crown cake. It took 2 hours just to decorate. But it turned out better than I thought. Sydney loved it so it was worth it and I will be making another one next week for Jordyn's birthday.
Sydney with Rapunzel
With most of her friends
After Rapunzel painted Sydney's face, she painted her face.
About to blow out the candles
All her friends with their face painted.