Throne fit for an Alaskan!

The other night Devin, his friend Scott from across the street, and Caden spent 2 hours outside building this snow throne for Caden. They worked really hard on this masterpiece!

They even carved out little drink holders for Caden to put his Gatorade. I couldn't help but take some pictures....they worked so hard! Only in Alaska do kids find this kind of stuff fun to do!

(Nana...I did snap a picture of Devin smiling...can you believe it?). Ü

What to do with rotten bananas?

Caden and I found something to do with them alright! My little helper and I spent some time today making banana-chocolate chip bread. It was Caden's idea to add the chocolate chips! Great idea. The bread turned out the most awesome it EVER has. I found the recipe (banana banana bread) on allrecipes.com and made a few changes by adding vanilla, cinammon and chocolate chips. I also made 3 mini loaves instead of 1 big loaf. Seems to last longer that way. And also, if you eat the WHOLE loaf, you might not feel as guilty...right? We have all been staying inside due to the bitter cold outside and the smell of these babies baking made it even better!

Happy 15th Birthday Devin!

Today was Devin's 15th Birthday. 15!! I just can hardly believe he is that old. For those of you with teenage boys, you will probably not be surprised that it was a rather "low key" birthday. Gone is the desire for a "big deal" made out of anything really. He was shocked that we were actually singing to him and did not want to pose for any pictures. Honestly, he would have rather just eaten pizza and cake, opened his presents than escape back upstairs to play Xbox. It is quite a hard struggle as a parent to want your children to grow up but to also want them to behave like excited "little kids" around holidays and birthdays. They just don't. Maybe he will grow out of that. Maybe! Devin got a 5-sided Rubik's cube (yes, he tells me that are back "in"), a Patriots jersey, an itunes card, a movie, a book and money to help him buy an Ipod Touch that he is saving for. He also got more cash and gift cards from family. Happy Birthday Devin and as Auntie reminded you tonight...you are half way to 30!! Ahhh!!!

Now that is SNOW!

For those of you that live in the balmy southwest...I have one word for you...shovel. Do you know what that is? In Juneau, we are intimately familiar with one of these babies! We have had about 4 FEET (yes...FEET) of snow fall on us since mid-December. We have had enough! It actually started raining on Sunday and that made it worse. Now we have flooding and ice. The fun never ends...for anyone. Well, except for Caden who always loves the hot chocolate at the end of a long stretch outside with the....SHOVEL!