Lelya's Birthday Dinner

Today is Lelya's birthday! She told me it is Russian tradition to make a big dinner and invite lots of people over to eat. Our family and Gramps and Granny were the ones blessed by this tradition today :) On our way to Bobbit and Lelya's we came across Dennis and Alison (the other Fowlers!) getting ready to head home from work. Caesar is learning to be a sled-dog, apparently, and Odie is along for the ride! As you can see, the weather has warmed up and we are beginning our 2-3 months of break-up, which consists of wet, slippery ice, 8 inch deep mud, sub-zero temperatures again... and the cycle repeats itself until sometime in May, when you suddenly wake up to green leaves on the trees and grass in the lawn! It's not my favorite time of year in Alaska, except for the fact that it means summer is just around the corner :)

The three bears

Me and the birthday girl. You can't even tell she's been cooking prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, popovers and blueberry pie! She's awesome and I'm SO full :) Her red cupboards are really fun too!

Toward the end of the evening, Malachi was ready for bed and enjoyed being rocked by his cousin, Salina. It's so nice to have some nieces just entering the age of baby-sitting! We had a great evening and hope Lelya's birthday was as good as our day was.

Today is also the beginning of the kid's spring break from school. I hope we'll be able to do some fun, special things while they're home this week and enjoy our time together! I miss you, Sonnet. Hope you're having a blast in Mexico :) Happy March 4th!