Extra time?

I decided that with my extra hour from Daylight Savings Time, I'd update the blog! Of course, that involves backtracking, as always.

September

Will got to attend his first concert when Gary Sinise visited our base with his group, the Lieutenant Dan Band. 

Will wasn't too happy with how loud the music was, but he was very excited to have his picture taken with a fire truck.

Anthony, along with several other Airmen, was able to have breakfast that morning with Gary Sinise and a Medal of Honor recipient. My favorite story from the breakfast was when the MOH recipient was in the middle of imparting his wisdom, and he looked up at a television screen to see Lady Gaga sporting a dress made of meat. "What the h*** is that?" he asked the Airmen. They tried to explain who Lady Gaga was and what she did. He replied, "See, that is why we work so hard. So people have the freedom to wear a dress of meat." In the end, it's true. All of the things that we are able to do, no matter how wonderful or ridiculous they may be, are because men like him put their lives on the line to fight for our freedoms. What a great lesson.

That month we also celebrated both Will's and my birthday. For Will's, we took the boys to play miniature golf. Ethan was more interested in running around with everyone else's golf balls and saying hi to the alligator statue.

Will was very helpful throughout the game. Each time we would hit it, he'd grab the ball and put it in the hole. Amazingly we all had a hole in one every time!

Then we had our ice cream cake that I made in the shape of a cheeseburger. Maybe that's an odd choice, but Will loves cheeseburgers, so I couldn't help it when I found the recipe. Not only was it classy, it was delicious too.

Will and Ethan have discovered the joys of dressing up after receiving some super hero costumes from Aunt Katie (Biehl).

Batman/Superman is having an identity crisis.

 

 

For my birthday, Anthony surprised us with a sunset trip to Arctic Valley, a beautiful area that overlooks part of Anchorage.

On another occasion, Will told us one evening that he was Daddy and he was going to work. Both boys like to dress up in Anthony's uniform, so this was no surprise. Will put on the boots and the hat, but then we heard the front door open, and he was heading down the front steps. He got to the car, then turned around and asked Anthony to open the car door so he could drive to work. Good thing he can't reach the car keys, or he might really be off one day.

And this was Anthony and Will being silly.

October

We spent most of the month getting ready for Halloween and doing a few fall activities. Since we can't put our pumpkins outside except on Halloween--apparently moose love to eat pumpkins!--we had to wait until late in the month to carve ours. But we made it a fun night with homemade doughnuts as well.

 

So good!

How many of you used power tools on your pumpkin?

And after all our hard work, we forgot to take a picture of the pumpkin, which was destroyed in about two days by a combination of the boys and mold. Pumpkins don't last long here!

Since Halloween was on Sunday, we did our celebrating on Saturday with a trip to the downtown trick or treating and then an evening at the Church festival. Last year we had to almost force Will to wear his costume, but this year he was all for it. Ethan didn't argue at all.

Ethan got to be the zebra this year, although he says zebra with a British accent because that's how Carla the Zebra says it on Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies. Will was Corduroy the Bear, from the Corduroy books.

Both of them were very cute and way into the trick or treating. I learned that we need to work on waiting our turn, instead of shoving to the front of the line and grabbing a handful of candy, although they always said thank you.

November

The big event this month so far has been our first snow fall. We were all surprised we made it this long, and even now, there isn't a lot of accumulation. But winter is definitely here.

 

Why Will still insists on saying snow cows instead of snow plows, I don't understand. Must be his stubborn streak.

Ethan has also graduated this week from a crib to a toddler bed. It seems much too soon, since Will only made the switch a few months ago, but it became necessary when Ethan started climbing out of the crib. So far he's doing well, except for nap time, and it makes me laugh every morning when he runs into our room with a cheerful, "Hi Mommy. Out bed!" He's very excited to be so grown up.

We also had a funny experience while going to vote earlier this week. Anthony explained to Will where we were going, and then as we were getting ready, Will told Ethan, "We're going to vote! It's very important!" Such a smart boy. The way they express themselves is always so funny. A few days before, Will was trying hard to do something (I forget what), and Anthony told him to use his brain to figure it out. Will told him, "No, I'm just going to use my hands." You've got to love him.

Striking it Rich

In July, we had the chance to have a truly Alaskan experience--panning for gold. We took a day trip with our neighbor Dan, his son Devon, and friend Daylinda down to Hope, AK and spent the day searching a river for gold and silver. The boys loved playing in the water, even though it was awfully cold, and while we didn't find anything, it was a fun to do something out of the ordinary. My favorite part was on the drive down, I told Anthony that before we left Alaska, I really wanted to see the Dall sheep on the mountains that run right next to Turnagain Arm. It's a beautiful drive that we love taking whenever we get the chance, and you're supposed to be able to see the Dall sheep right from the road, but we'd never been lucky enough to do so. This time, not more than two minutes after I said how much I wanted to see them, we passed a row of stopped cars where people had gotten out to see two sheep that had come all the way down the side of the mountain. I wasn't able to get any pictures, but it was still neat to see. What a great day!

Ethan panning in his own water

Will was mostly interested in throwing rocks in the water.

Not a surprise.

The Professional

The Pet Experiment

For a few weeks, we got to experience what it was like to be pet owners. We were asked to watch both a dog and a cat by two different friends, so we thought it would be a great chance to see if we'd like to get a pet of our own. The boys loved it, and it was kind of nice to have animals around again, but we also realized that our life is full enough right now without adding that extra responsibility. But it was fun while it lasted. It even worked out well that the dog's name was Gus, so Ethan was all ready (see the previous post about Psych). Even now, all dogs are named Gus in his mind. He also loved running up to the animals to tell them, "Hello!" Thank goodness they tolerated it, but I can only imagine what they were thinking.

Will liked to read books to Gus

Psych Fans

We've decided that maybe we have watched too many episodes of Psych with the boys. Is it bad that Ethan, who doesn't say a whole lot of words just on his own, can identify the characters? Any time we put a DVD in, he immediately thinks it's Shawn and Gus.

Growing

I guess this is late in coming, but for those who don't know, we are expecting boy #3 in November! I figure, at this point, how much more trouble can another boy add, right? Right? I'm a pro at using the steam cleaner on the carpet, I've pretty much locked down everything that can be accessed, and it's only when we slip up that there's a problem. Like leaving my deodorant on the bed and finding Will painting our sheet and pillows with it. Or leaving the bathroom door open ONE time and finding Ethan wiping soap all over the mirror. I can't think of many more things they can surprise me with, but I'm pretty sure they see it as a challenge.

So boy #3 will be here around November 27, two days after Thanksgiving. I'm still deciding on whether to buy a turkey because I know if I do, I'll start having contractions the second I put the turkey in the oven, and if I don't, I'll go several weeks past my due date. Anthony suggested we get Cornish game hens, so we might be trying that out this year. We also can't decide on a name. A few we can't agree on, but mostly it's that nothing sounds right. I keep hoping that perfect name will appear somewhere, so I'm scouring lists of baby names. The only one that jumped out was Fernando, but only because it made me start singing the ABBA song. I promise our baby will not be Fernando Corbin. Hopefully something will jump out at us in the next 3 months. Maybe I should start a contest? Anyone who can come up with the perfect name will win a great prize, to be announced later. We like pretty standard names, not Jacob spelled like Jakub, or anything like that. Any suggestions are appreciated!

It's just that cold

I've seen so many posts from family and friends about swimming, air conditioning, and unbearable heat, and it makes me laugh to think how very different our summers are now. A few Saturdays ago, we spent about an hour outside chatting with our neighbor, and by the time we came in, we were all so cold that we made hot chocolate to warm us up. Only in Alaska would we make hot chocolate in July.

The Beard

Will received a Buzz Lightyear doll from Grandma Corbin while we were at home. He was looking at it one day and asked me what was on Buzz's chin. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a beard or a cleft, and I wasn't sure how to explain what a cleft chin was, so I said I thought it was a beard. Then a few days later Will ended up developing a small bump on his own chin. He came up to me and said, "Mommy, I have a beard!" It took me a minute to figure out the connection. Now anything on his chin is a beard.