Breakfast and a walk downtown with Pongo has been our Saturday morning ritual the past couple of weekends.  We are really trying to expose Pongo to new situations and environments while practicing our heeling, “watch me,” and greeting people appropriately (i.e. NOT jump on them).  He has done such a wonderful job and seems to really enjoy the new experiences.  Today, we walked through Town Square and were pleasantly surprised to find artists working on their ice sculptures for the Crystal Gallery of Ice Competition.

This Easter Island Moai sculpture was carved by Chris, who along with his significant other, Melanie own two Cattle Dogs.  They have been a great resource for working with Pongo.

And my all time favorite sculpture…

To view on YouTube click HERE.

I crack up every time Steve’s Mom tells the story of when Steve was younger and how he had to have a bucket next to him, while opening Christmas presents because he would throw-up from the excitement of it all.  The anticipation of Christmas can be overwhelming to some.  Our troop on the other hand was pretty underwhelmed by the whole production this morning.

Reid and Pongo waiting to open presents.

That is until it was time to open presents!  Christmas is Reid’s favorite time of the year.  She LOVES to open presents. Enter little brother, who has to be in the middle of everything and you have one very annoyed Reid.

Here’s Steve showing off his new donut pillow made by his Mom.

The Baileys and coffee now sipped down to the last drop.  The gifts unwrapped.  Brunch made and enjoyed. Toys chewed and forgotten while sleepiness takes over.  We’re all sitting by the wood stove, comatose from an action-filled morning.

Wishing you all a Season filled with love, peace, and joy!

This video was created by a 5th grade teacher and a team of students, in the Alaskan village of Quinhagak.  What a fun and spirited way to spread holiday cheer-it’s hard not to smile while watching this!

We’re on a search.  It’s been on-going (well, at least I have been looking not so much Steve) for the past couple of years.  Now that we have Pongo, the search has intensified.

It will be 10 years in May that we’ve been in this house.  We bought it because of it’s “charm” (real estate term) and it’s “quirkiness” (our term).  We’ve put copious amounts of sweat equity into the house–thank you, Mom and Dad for your tireless help!  We’ve endured the hell having a makeshift kitchen consisting of a coffee maker, a toaster, and a microwave set-up in our living room for 4 months, while our kitchen was being remodeled; a week of no heat in single digit temps while waiting for the new hot-water base boards to be put in, and the backaches of moving 7 tons of rock (bad choice for landscaping but hindsight is 20/20) to beautify the backyard.  If we put so much time and money into our house, why on earth would we want to move?  We need more space, specifically lot square footage.  Our little 6600 square foot lot makes it awfully difficult to do much of anything when it comes to playing with the dogs outside.  I wouldn’t mind 600-700 square foot added to the house size either.

Our next house has to have character, no cookie-cutter houses for us.  It has to have at least 10,000 square feet for the yard and some sense of privacy would be an added bonus.  If we could find all of this on the Westside of Anchorage, we would be in heaven!

We spent 3 hours today driving around Anchorage looking at houses.  Pongo accompanied us trying out his new seatbelt, the Kurgo Tru-Fit Smart Harness.  He was such a good boy and was thrilled he could sit and watch out the window, instead of peering through the slats of his kennel.

We didn’t find anything today but are in no rush.  We want to find something we love and not something we’re going to settle for.  And even though we didn’t find anything, we did drive through some beautiful parts of Anchorage while looking.

All the driving and house hunting wore all of us out–including Pongo.

At the beginning of the school year in August, the thought of December feels so far off.  But Labor Day turns into Halloween, which turns into Thanksgiving, and then you’re on the slippery slope to Winter Break (can you tell school staff live for those glorious days we have off?).

I remember loving Christmas vacation as a kid.  Spending the days playing outside in the snow, sledding, waiting with bated breath for Santa’s arrival.  Most kids look forward to Winter Break but the kids I work with, home is often not a safe place.  The anticipation of spending 2 long weeks at home causes a lot of our kiddos to fly off the handle.  This time of year is a busy one for me, as the school counselor: helping students just make it through the day, attempting to sooth fears, making safety plans, and in-between putting out the fires, I might get to enjoy a classroom holiday party or two.

I worry about our students during this time but I also know I need these two weeks to relax and recharge; that means letting things go that I can’t control, like our students’ lives.  My plan is to spend quality time with my wonderful husband, hit a Pilates class everyday, and play outside with the dogs as much as possible: snowshoeing, walking, and skiing so that I can go back to school rejuvenated.

Wishing everyone a relaxing and wonderful holiday season!