Care Packages {Take Three}

 Friend Julie

Holy hats! Julie, a friend from high school, knit a hat for every member of our family! We {adore} them.  Logan has not taken off his Viking hat since he got it. "It keeps me cozy," he says, pulling snug on his ears. I love it!

 And the crab hat for Wyatt is priceless! (I love his face in this!)

She also sent baby food, jump ropes, popsicle forms, gum & pencils for Josh's class, chapstick, Sensitive toothpaste for me, stickers & candy.  The boys are loving the jump ropes & can't wait to make some popsicles!

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 Grandma Carol & Papa Carl

Thank you for the butter, corn dogs, cheese (!!!), carrots and everything else.  

These packages, full of staples, are exactly what we need.  

 And the boys are overjoyed to have "real" cheese, as they call it.  

They will be equally excited when Grandma & Papa come to visit in March & bring us groceries from Anchorage- cheese hot dogs, chicken nuggets, lasagna... our mouths are watering!

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{Jack was "helping" open Nanny's package... see how helpful he was?}

Nanny & Papa

Our package from my parents last week had groceries as well as the ingredients & recipes to make homemade creamer and a delicious salmon dinner.  

 I wish I had taken a picture of the salmon dinner I created from the recipe my dad sent.  It looked like it was out of a magazine, I swear!  And, it tasted awesome-- double prizes!

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Theresa

My friend Theresa sent us every possible type of salmon flavoring, as well as a box for making salmon patties (yay!), two onions, a lemon & three apples. I cannot tell you how excited we all were to have apples. And I can't wait to use the onion in our chili tomorrow! Not to mention having some new ways to cook all the salmon that is in our freezer!

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 Savanna

Savanna is my super talented, artistic cousin who sent Josh & I a drawing of our wedding photograph. Isn't it crazy good?!? Love it! Thanks, Savanna!

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 Christine & Tyler

Tyler was the boys' classmate at Little Acorn Preschool and they miss him very much!  He (& his momma) sent the boys dinosaurs, puzzles, flashing St. Patrick necklaces & more.  

 They had the most fun opening this box, full of little treasures just for them. Thanks, guys!

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Aunt Julie

Josh's sister Julie is so religious about sending us packages.  We love getting packages from her because they always have snacks for the kiddos & some kind of activity for the boys.  Yesterday we got the stuff to make flubber, which we will make today, as well as bath rollers/soap the boys can use to color on themselves, and a ton of other stuff.  

The boys are especially loving the Phineas & Ferb Pez dispensers. 

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We also got ice cleats & our entire Fred Meyer order, as well as my last Target order (hello curtains!) this week which was all very exciting.  As you can see, the ravens (I think that's what they were) got to our grocery box while it was in transit from the airport to the post office.

I ordered from Fred Meyer in Anchorage for our first grocery order because I liked the ordering method- you can just e-mail a detailed list, include your debit card # and they'll call you with any replacements and the total price. Plus, they are in our mailing area, so it's the cheapest postage possible within Alaska.

Josh had ordrered from them in August and wasn't happy with their packing skills. I ordered anyway & hoped for the best. I was disappointed.  They put all our sugar & flour together in one HUGE plastic bag, so when all of the bags (except one flour) ripped open, it was a GIGANTIC mess, not to mention a BIG waste of money.

So for our next order I will try Wal-Mart in Fairbanks & see if they are better at packing.  The only drawback is you have to call in your order & give it verbally, which makes me nervous in terms of details, and it takes them nearly a week to fill the order, as opposed to Fred Meyer who took only three days.

We also found a lot of the items we need on Amazon, and have placed a few orders there for foodstuff.  I am thinking we will use them as often as possible because there is no handling fee and also free shipping!

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We still {love} getting mail, packages & support from each & every one of you. I have been updating the Care Packages Page, located at the top of the blog, under the header, periodically as we have received different things on our lists.  Thank you so much.  I can't express enough how grateful we are for your well wishes and expressions of support in the form of packages chock full of things we need or want.

"To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence."

-Sydney Smith

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{PS- Don't forget to post your questions for my Q&A post!}