Its Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

We took the time to decorate our tree today. It looks very beautiful and festive as Christmas approaches. Its Connor's 1st Christmas, so we're trying to make it very special for him and Kierin.




Of course, the best part of the holiday is all the treats that are available!

Mustangs Win!

Or at least I think they did. They don't keep score at the Atom level and I lost count, but I think the score was 4-2, but I could be wrong. Kierin didn't score, but he played good defense and really enjoyed himself, which is the most important thing.


Kierin gets ready for the opening face off.


Kierin tracks down the puck in the offensive zone.

Go Steelers!

We went over to Jessica's friends', Nicole and Amye and daughter Edison, house to watch the Steelers take on the Patriots. Even though the Steelers came up short, we had a great time. Kierin especially enjoyed Nicole's "Steeler Shed."

Kierin's Action Shots!

Kierin's team played an Anchorage team again this afternoon. Since the game was at the Mac, which is better lit than the Dimond Center, I was able to get some pix of Kierin in action. He did very awesome today; he even skated the puck 3/4 the way down the ice on a breakaway, but he was tripped up by the other team before he get a shot off.


Here he is waiting for the game to start.


GO MUSTANGS!!





As you can see, Kierin is getting more and more comfortable and involved. He really loves the game and has a great time whenever he is on the ice.


Who won, you ask? Well, They don't keep score at the Atom level. But, everyone knows who "Won" and who "lost." Lets just say the Mustangs may want to work on their goaltending a little.

Where's the Snow, Nudge?

Well, I've been saying that I would take a picture of the snow when I got a chance. I also said that this winter has been very bizarre, weather wise. It was up to 45 for a week, then it got down to single digits for a few nights. Today it got up to almost 50 (!) degrees. When we got home tonight, though, it was down to about 27. I simply cannot believe that we are this late into winter and we have ony a light covering of snow. I guess there is something to all this global warming talk...

Kierin's First Hockey Game!

Kierin and his team played their very first hockey game ever Sunday evening at the Dimond Center. It was the Chugiak/Eagle River Mustangs v. the Anchorage Hockey Association Shooting Stars (An all girls team!). They don't keep official scores at the Atom level, but any kid on the ice could've told you who "won" or "lost."

All in all, though, all of the kids had a lot of fun. I know that I had a great time watching Kierin out there fighting for the puck and trying to score goals. It is really cute because they look like this mass of little jerseys that follow the puck from one side of the rink to the other. There is not a lot of strategy at this level. I try not to get too excited because I don't want to be one of those screaming hockey parents.

Sorry there are not a lot of pictures, but the Dimond Center was pretty dark and none of the "action shots" came out. All I could get to come out were the shots of Kierin on the bench. Kierin has another hockey game this Saturday at the Mac Center in Eagle River, so hopefully the pictures will turn out a little better there.



As you can see, Connor loved watching Kierin play hockey and will soon follow in his big brother's footsteps!

Happy Turkey Day!

We Frick Jrs hope that everyone out there had a great day and a delicous Thanksgiving holiday. We had a great time together. We spent the morning relaxing and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and in the afternoon we picked up Meemaw and drove out to the Kinney's new house at Big Lake, AK. we had a delicous dinner and Kierin had a great time playing with his friends, Emalie and Laura Flodin.

On an interesting weather note, Thanksgiving in Alaska was 45 degrees and rainy! The snow that we had has now melted...If we ever get anymore, I will make sure to definitely take a picture of it before it melts so that all of you in California can see it!

Some more pictures!

I had a mish mash of pictures that we had taken in the last few weeks. There is another picture of Connor's growing collection of teeth. He got a whole bunch of them at once, but since then, they have slowed down a little.

There is a picture of the sick boys laying on the couch snuggling up with Nudge. The boys have been congested and sick for about a week or so-they have been very coughie. Kierin is finally feeling better, but Connor is still pretty sick. Its gotta be tough for little guys-they don't know how to blow their noses or clear their throats.

Finally, there is a picture of the three of us posing for Mom to take our picture.

Toothies!

Not only are these two beautiful pix of the little dude, but he is showing off his brand new teeth! Aren't they nice!?

Better Nudge Pic

Nudge is a very handsome little dog, but pictures of him make him look kinda funny. He is definitely NOT photogenic. Here is a better picture of our third child.

Where's the snow?

I thought that I would be witty this blog, mentioning that this has been a warm, snowless winter so far this year. In fact, it has been 15-20 degrees warmer than it usually is at this time of year. And, as you can see from the pictures, there has been no snow. Well, since I took those pix, it has started snowing. And it doesn't look like it'll stop anytime soon. So far, we have gotten about 2 inches today. It has gotten dark, so when I can, I will take and post some pictures of the snow, especially for those of you in CA where it does not snow...

Hurricane Connor

I wanted to include this particular picture to give everyone an idea of the chaos and destruction that comes whenever Connor is given free rein on the floor. For someone who doesn't really crawl or walk, Connor sure can create some messes. By the way, the mess around Connor is the remains of a fort built by big brother Kierin.

Nudgey!!

I finaly wanted to post a picture of our third child...

This picture doesn't really do him justice, so expect to see a few more pix of our four legged friend.

Connor's First Hockey Game!

On Sunday, November 4th, we all went and watched our local ECHL team, the Alaska Aces, defeat the Florida Everblades 4-1. It was a great game and Connor seemed to enjoy watching the players skate around. He didn't like the loud noises too much and got a little fussy at the end, but he seemed to have a great time. Hopefully, he will go to more games and may even follow in his father and brother's footsteps and become a hockey player himself. By the way-check out those beautiful baby blues in the 2nd picture!

Kierin really enjoyed the game-his favorite part is when the Aces score, which they did four times on this particular night. On Sunday games, which are at 5:05 instead of the regular time of 7:05, the Aces hold a "Skate with the Aces" event. After the game, kids and parents are encouraged to put on their skates and skate around the Sullivan Arena ice. The Aces players are out there and sign autographs and talk with fans. It is really a great idea and Kierin met goalie Chris Beckford-Tsue, winger Bo Cheesman (who scored the 2nd goal) and defenseman Peter Metcalf. It is so funny, because this rowdy little boy would get so incredibly shy when meeting a real-life Ace! We tried to meet Boomer, the mascot, but the line was w-a-y too long.

Halloween Sick Boys

Well, we have been looking forward to taking Connor to his first trick and treating, but both boys had fevers. So we ended up staying at home carving the pumpkin and listening to "Monster Mash." At least they were able to attend the Fall Carnival at our school and get the Halloween experience. The important thing is that we were together and having a good time. Unfortunately, niether boy went out and got Halloween candy for their Daddy...

Fall Carnivals

This weekend was the annual Fall Carnivals at our schools. Friday night was the carnival at Larry's school, Polaris K-12, and Saturday night saw the carnival at Jessica's school, Ravenwood Elementary. Both carnivals were fundraisers to help raise money to benefit both schools. My school (Polaris) uses the money to help pay for field trips and intensive classes and Ravenwood's carnival goes to the PTA to disburse to school programs.

Either way, the carnival was all about having fun for the little guys. They enjoyed both carnivals immensely and ran well into the night and past their bedtimes. It was all worth it though, to show off their costumes and collect candy. I was like a proud peacock at Polaris as staff and students crowded around both Kierin and Connor and talked about how beautiful they both are. Jessica also enjoyed showing off her children, especially to her students. She is so proud of both of her children that she really shines when talking about them or showing them off.

Let It Snow...

I just wanted to throw out a quick blog here to let everyone know that we are now getting our first official snow fall here at the Frick Jr Homestead. It has been snowing since late afternoon and there is approximately 1 inch, and it is supposed to snow another inch tonight and possibly more tomorrow evening. yeah...I was thanking God every morning when I woke up and saw that it hadn't snowed. Oh well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Now my commute time to Los Anchorage to work just got longer.

Kierin just came downstairs. He's pretty excited about the snow, but I think he's the only one. Of course, now that it has snowed, he thinks that it is Christmas time!

It is after 9:00 pm right now-Jessica just got home and I didn't get home until almost 8:00. There was a tractor trailer that jacknifed on the highway, closing all but one lane. It took me from 4:00 to 7:38 to get home. Woo hoo-winter in Alaska!

PS I will take some pictures and post them ASAP (probably Saturday)

Week In Review

I just wanted to drop a quick update in here and let everyone know that everything is going great here in Alaska. We had our first dusting of snow in the backyard yesterday. It was just enough to make everything icy and slippery. However, by the time I realized I should take a picture to put on the website, the sun had come out (yesterday was just beautiful) and the snow had disapeared.

Kierin is doing great. He had hockey practice yesterday and today. He has a brand new pair of hockey skates that he is adjusting to, but he'll be back to skating great in just a few practices. He will be assigned to his hockey team today and will found out who his new teammates are. He is pretty excited about playing hockey, but he is soooo tired after practice-the coaches really run them ragged!

Connor is also doing great. He celebrated his 7th month birthday this week, on the 17th. He is getting a lot of new teeth. They seem to be coming all in at once-he has four, count 'em four, new teeth on the top! It is making him a little fussy, especially at night, but most of the time he is the happiest little baby that I've ever seen.

Snow and Ice

Winter is coming as you can see. The termination dust is creeping its way down the mountains and it won't be long until the ground down where we live is covered by snow. It happens every year, but it comes as an unpleasant surprise year after year.

In other news, Kierin is officially on a hockey team. He had his first practice yesterday at the Mac. He's a pretty good little skater and it was exciting to see the future NHL Hall of Famer out there on the ice. This practice was a "getting to know you" session and over the next few weeks the coaches will divide about 30 kids into 3 teams based on age and experience. Kierin may not be the best or the most experienced player, but he gets in there and is involved with whatever is going on. I think that he'll do pretty good when the season gets fully underway. Its a change for Jessica and I, though, to go and sit there and not jump out on the ice to tell him what to do.

Halloween is Coming!

As you can see from the pictures, the boys are getting bigger! Is hard to remember a time when these two dudes were not in our lives. Now look at them-Kierin is "reading" the most important part of the paper-the funnies! And Connor is helping his mommy figure out how to send her email and operate her new laptop.

Anyway, today was spent preparing the Frick Jr. household for the first big event of the Holiday Season-Halloween! We went into town and visited Bell's Nursery to pick out the perfect pumpkin for the family Jack-O-Lantern. It took a while, but Kierin finally chose the best looking pumpkin-perfectly round and just the right size. We will be posting pictures of Halloween costumes as soon as we can-Kierin has chosen a character from "Toy Story" and Connor is planning to go as the beloved Winnie The Pooh character, Tigger! You can be sure that both children will be extremely cute and will make off with a ton of candy on October 31st.

Finally, as you can see, Kierin finally found his newest most valued possession-a cowboy hat! So, he would like to end this blog by saying to all-"Howdy Partner!"