Outside Recess

I've been doing alot of subbing at the elementary school and have spent quite a few days working as an aide in the kindergarten classes, and let me tell you that there is nothing quite as exhausting as helping eighteen 5 and 6 year old get ready to play outside for thirty minutes in freezing weather. Snow pants, boots, coats, hats, and mittens for everyone can take 10 mintues to get on. Because of this the kids only go out once a day. It truly takes such a long time to get dressed and undressed for recess that if they did it more than once a day there would be no time for learning.

Cooper LOVES outside recess. No matter the weather he still plays hard and knows not to stick his tongue out near metal! The play structures are fun to jump off of when the snow has piled up and the swings are looped over the top bar in order to make them higher off the snow. Like recess' in the lower 48, there is basketballs and footballs to play with, but our kids' playground toys also includes shovels to push the snow around when it's fresh.

But not today. There will likely not be outside recess today.

It's cold. -5 for a high, with a 'severe windchill warning' in effect until late morning. Predicted windchills of -30 to -40. By recess time at 11:00 it might warm up a little, but they keep the kids inside when it colder than -20 (that's negative folks!!).

Brrrrrr......

Mama wants

Just in case anyone out there wants to buy ME a present..........

1. A crockpot. Somewhere, somehow, in our move from Kotzebue to Dillingham, mine went missing. Imagine trying to live through a cold, harsh Alaskan winter without one. I need one. And I like this one:

2. Smartwool socks. I've heard they are the best, but goodness gracious if I can't bring myself to pay $15-25 for ONE pair of socks. But if you are so inclined, then feel free!

3. I-tunes gift card!! I need new music. Maybe some new showtunes so that my son will quit playing (and singing) this one over and over and over again.

4. Mama also needs a new scarf and I love this one:

So, if by chance you knit, and are wondering what to make me for Christmas, here ya go.

5. This book. (it's 'Fearless' by Max Lucado for all those who didn't click on the link!)

6. Snowshoes. For the whole family!

So, there you go, my Christmas list. There was a few other things on the list that I already know will be under the tree.

How about you? What are you hoping will be under the tree?

I Blinked

I'm not sure how it happened, but it did and I can hardly believe it.

I blinked,

and just like that,

my baby is 6.

Dear Sweet Cooper,

You are six!! Wow. What a year it has been. You have been such a trooper in our big moves. You have adapted so well to both of our new towns and I am really proud of you.

I love how you play hard and love deeply.

You are such a brave boy! You'll try anything. I still laugh about the time this year that you told me you wanted to be a "devil dare" when you grow up! But you are already a "devil dare" if you ask me.

You love to sit at your craft table and create, you love playing outside in the snow, and most of all you love to dress-up and pretend you are someone or something else; Indiana Jones, monkey boy, a super hero, and the latest is Nacho Libre, where you run around in just your red under wear and a cape!

This year you have discovered a great love for learning. You started kindergarten and you look forward to going so much that on Saturdays you often tell me you wish it was a school day.

Cooper, you have such a zest for life and while sometimes I wish I could stop you from growing up, I love watching you embrace all of life's adventures!

My prayer for you is that you will continue to love Jesus with all your heart and love other people more than yourself.

You are such a treasure and bring great joy to all of us. So Cooper, grow deep, grow strong, but please don't grow to fast.

I am so glad God made me your mommy!

Carnival: If you came to my house today

I'm joining in on a bloggy carnival that I found through my friend Meredith (one of my favorite bloggers that I hope to meet someday "in real life"!). If you care to join along just head over to La Vida Dolce to link up.

If you came to my house today you'd find us still in our pajamas and beds unmade. There is no school today so the boys and I are home. Actually, the boys aren't technically in their pajamas, they are incognito......long johns (white for Ben, black for Cooper), ski goggles and glove, with capes over their backs. They will likely spend the whole day pretending that they are superheros.

If you came to my house today you would find those superheros cleaning alongside their mom. They clean bathrooms very well, the biggest does the sinks, counters and mirror, the youngest scrubs the toilets. Cleaning bathrooms is a task I believe every boy should know how to do. Their wives will thank me some day.

If you came to my house today we would serve you Monkey Bread (we are going to use only one stick of butter, but I'm sure it will still be yummy ) and hot cocoa after you played outside in the fresh snow. Bring your coat, snowpants, hat, gloves and boots, because even though there isn't a cloud in the sky, it is only 14 degrees out. Brrr!

If you came to my house today you would need to bring your game face, because after all the cleaning and playing in the snow is done, there will be games. The favorite of the house lately is Yahtzee.

If you came to my house today you could help me decide what to make for potluck Bible Study tonight. I need to go to the grocery store, but really don't want to, so instead I'll be seeing what I can dig up in the pantry to make.

The superhero wearing black, with a pair of striped pajama pants tied around his neck as a cape, has selected the High School musical as our cleaning soundtrack. It's playing now, guess I better get started.

Thanks for coming by our house today!

This took forever to download, so you better leave a comment

This post had a different title originally, but I decided to change it. It was either that or quit blogging altogether. Our internet here is so slow and it is nearly impossible to get a connection between the hours of 5pm and 11pm, but, here you go, the post formerly known as :

Home

One of the benefits with the company that my husband works for is paid housing for managers. In Kotzebue, this translated into a three bedroom, one bath apartment, complete with sloping floor, stinky walls, and black mold growing in the bathroom. It was less than spectacular, but it kept us warm.

Our move to Dillingham brought a very nice surprise!
We have a house here:

And it's huge, but you would not know that from looking at the front!

It's actually the biggest house we have ever lived in.

We are guessing that it is about 2200 sq. ft.

It does have some quirky features,

like FIRE ENGINE RED counter tops:

Even though red is my favorite color, I am pretty sure that I would NOT pick it for my counter tops in my own house, but I can live with red because of all those cabinets. And that picture does not even show the other corner and the cabinets there. Oh and that island.....it's about 10 feet long.

I can also appreciate the red because the rest of the house is WHITE.

Not just white, but white on white. Like this handy wall of shelves:

And see those cabinets? They would be perfect for a television. If only someone would have thought of putting that electrical outlet down there on the inside of the cabinets and run the cable tv hookup into there instead of on the opposite wall.

Now we move into the entryway and it is rather large too, which is great because when come home and take off our coats, snow pants, boots, hats and gloves we end up with quite a pile. One genius thing about this area is that there are TWO baseboard heaters, making for a great glove drying area. That door to the left is a large coat closet. Straight ahead is the door to the heated garage and to the right (out of the picture) is the front door.

Oh, looky, more RED counter top. But once again, it's livable, because it is in my GINORMOUS laundry room. With more cabinets and what you can't see is that it goes around to the right with more storage. I've never had a laundry room, always laundry closets or hallways. I love having somewhere to fold the laundry and being able to shut the door if I want to ignore it all.

There is alot more to this house, like three very large bedrooms; one of which we are not using because the boys share a room, so if anyone wants to visit, we have space!

Here however, is the greatest thing about this house:

The WALL O' WINDOWS with vaulted ceilings.

The entire backside of the house is windows. The big WHITE dining room has huge, high windows. These are the living room windows and on a sunny afternoon the light just streams through, which will be a welcome sight during our long, cold winter!!

So, there you go. Our home in Dillingham.

and there likely will not be anymore pictures until one of ya'all can come up here and speed up my internet connection. I have a room for you!

Nurse Ratchet

I have sometimes thought about going back to school for a nursing degree and while it is a lovely thought, there are two fundamental problems with it:

First is that I don't do blood or body fluids.

It's true, I have been known to pass out at the site of blood; my own or others. And body fluids make me want to barf.

"But wait" you say. "You have children. Boys none the less."

Ah yes, but God has taken mercy on me. In my nearly ten years of motherhood, only ONCE has either of my two boys had an injury that bled more than a microscopic amount AND when that injury did happen there was a lot of people at my house and someone else dealt with it for me.

"But children barf" you quip.

Yes, this I know, and once again God has shown me favor by giving me a charming husband that has cleaned up nearly all of the vomit his children have produced. And once these children were old enough to understand the value of money, I began bribing them.

It goes something like this:

Young boy, "mommy, my tummy hurts"

Me, "well, please don't throw up and if you really need to, remember I pay $5 if you make it in the toilet"

Which brings me to the second fundamental problem; my bedside manner.

Or lack thereof.

It's true, I have no patience for the infirmed in my own home.

Outside of my house, it's a different story. If you are sick, or injured, or somehow otherwise incapacitated, you have all my sympathy, empathy and a home cooked meal delivered to your door.

But if you are living with me and are sick or injured you are just out of luck (unless of course you are five and get the swine flu and spend 6 days laying on top of our mom with 103 degree fever. In which case I shall gladly lay and nap with you and ignore all other responsibilities of life because one never knows when it will be the last time you snuggle with me).

Hypothetical case in point:
Let's say you are a 45 year old man and you go out on Monday night to play basketball with the younger set, and lets say that younger set is comprised of young men whose father you could be. And while playing basketball with these young men you injure your foot, but because of your advanced age you can't remember whether you came down on someone else's foot or just came down on your own foot wrong, either way it's a mute point because the next day you can barely walk. So you drive yourself to the medical center for an x-ray. The doctor says to you "you have fractured your foot in two places" and tells you to stay off of your foot for four days and then to return to the clinic for follow up on Friday.

Well, hypothetically speaking, if you came home and shared this information with me. I would be likely to not be very empathetic or sympathetic. I might even be a little mad at you for thinking that you could still play basketball with the twenty year old boys. And after your first day at home, staying "off of your foot" I might even ask what your plans were to return to work. And when you tell me of your doctor appointment scheduled for two days away I might even tell you to be sure to ask for a walking cast so that you can go to work after your appointment.

I'm just saying I should probably skip the nursing degree, ya think?

I promised to be a better blogger

But.................

I'm struggling right now.

I'm in a funk.

I'm not exactly sure why.

I do know this though: I left a piece of my heart in Kotzebue.

I miss it there.

Alot.

That in itself is just crazy.

Six months ago I could not imagine even living there, much less loving it there.

But it happened.

I fell in love.

So please, bear with me while I work my way out of this funk.

In the mean time, here's Cathy havin a little to much fun with her dead caribou:

I guess we could say that this guy left his heart in Kotzebue too!

A Goody Giveaway!!

My friend Michelle is hosting another one of her fabulous Goody Giveaways!

Aren't these little treasure boxes adorable?

While I'm busy relocating to a new corner of Alaska this weekend you could be over at Michelle's blog entering to win one of these little cuties.

Go check her out and tell her I sent ya!

P.S. I'm making a "new town resolution" to be a better blogger!!

Dillingham Alaska

That's where we are heading.

Dave got a promotion!

We leave Kotzebue on October 2nd.

Sad yet excited (with a little overwhelm mixed in) is the best way to describe our feelings.

We have made good friends and enjoyed out time here in Kotzebue.

We have heard that Dillingham is beautiful.

So, off we go (site unseen) to the next leg of our Alaskan Adventure, trusting God all the way!

Where YOU been?

Summer in the arctic has come to an end and for some reason you guys missed it all, so here are a few highlights:

July 3rd brought a beautiful high 70 degree day, perfect for the kick-off to the 4th of July festivities.

Dave was invited to be a judge for the burger cook-off.

Independence Day 2009

the high temperature for the 4th of July was 47 degrees!

But it was still a great day for sno-cones.

and lip-syncing contests.

Ben and his friend Max brought down the house with a hilarious, first place winning, dance/lip-sync number, the likes of which this community has never seen. It truly was awesome, and if my internet connection was a little faster I could download the video. Instead, you must just trust me when I say the white boys got moves!

The 4th of July celebration here was great hometown fun.

The only thing missing was the fireworks, which are reserved for New Years Eve due to lack of summer darkness.

Of course no summer is complete without swimming

and our swimming hole just happens to be part of the Arctic Ocean.

Rainy days had kids climbing wallsLiterally.

And let's not forget the softball.

It is huge here.

I played. Ben played. Dave played and helped coach.

The AC Cardinals took second place in the regional tournament!

and obviously Ben was having a lot of fun!

There was lots more to our summer including berry picking on the tundra and visits from Shaylene and Kris. There was also a couple of trips to Seattle for the boys and I, an overnight trip to Anchorage for Dave and I, and a quick weekend trip to Portland for the whole family.

But alas, all good thing must come to an end..........

Only to make way for another good thing:

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

My 4th grader

and

my kindergartener!

With his teacher, Mrs. Marcus

Oh, and not only has summer come to an end, but so has our time above the arctic circle!

We are on the move again.

And since I know how much you all love my cliff hangers, that's all i'm gonna say about that right now!

Irony

Just 500 feet apart in the Ted Stevens International Airport..............

Global Warming?

I think not!

Remember

this?

My sweet friend Michelle (the artist) gave me a new clock last winter at her Studio Sale. I was also able to buy the super adorable matching candlesticks.

Guess what?

He broke the clock AGAIN!

It involved a ball again too.

Ugggghhhhhh.............

I want to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Brain is Fried

Learning how to put people onto a commercial airplane is harder than you think (or at least harder than I thunk).

And I feel like I've lost my blogging mojo.......cuz ya know I had mojo.

But before my very last brain cell goes, I'll tell you about our teenager.

She is my non-blogging sister, Angie's middle daughter. Shaylene is her name.

She was looking for summer work and is not afraid of an adventure and we needed some babysitting help and live on the edge, so to speak. So here she came.

It has worked out great. She is babysitting the boys a little (actually it's been alot while I've been doing my new job training, but it'll be less starting next week) and she's working at the grocery store.

Yeah, her Uncle Dave gave her a job and he's glad he did. She's dependable, shows up when she's scheduled, and works hard (all qualities that are somewhat difficult to find here). She's loving working and her earnings are adding up quickly. Between babysitting and the "quite a bit higher than minimum wage" pay that she earns at the store, along with nothing to spend her money on, she should go home with a good chunk of change for six weeks work

She's made a few friends here and in her time off has discovered the joys of arctic wakeboarding and fourwheeling.

(yeah, that's snow in the back ground!)

In her two weeks here, we've had only one curfew violation and I gave her the "you had me very worried and I thought I was going to have to call your mom and tell her something terrible happened" lecture and sent her bed with no facebook time. The next evening I asked her to stay in and she did so willingly. So it's all good and we are loving having her here!

That's all from this fried brain for now. I hope to have my mojo back soon because I do need to fill you all in on a Independence Day celebration like no other...........

soon, very soon.

I hope.

She's right (and cute)

I got myself a teenager:

(more on that later)

She guest blogged for me below.

And she's right. It is no longer my crazy life.

She would probably call it my boring life.

Some would agree with her. Not me.



I call it my new life.

And it's starting to suit me very well.



There's not a lot to do. But I'm never bored.

There's no where to go. But I love being home.



So, I guess I need a new blog name since it's no longer "My crazy life" although I do still love it.



Any suggestions?

So this is Shay and i'm going to blog for tt....so i just have to say one thing she does not have a crazy life there is really nothing that goes on here.....the craziest thing is a dog birthday party..hmmmm don't really get that!! But that's as crazy as it gets in her life....or the softball games but those aren't really crazy they are fun.....all we have done since i got here is sit on facebook, watch tv, go on walks.......what a crazy life tt.....love ya <3 shay

Friday Fotos

A few pictures from this week:

Flowers on the tundra
Beautiful ice on the shore:

1:17 AM (that's the sun!)

and last, but not least

tundra fashion:

shorts, hoody and rubber boots!

We are LOVING life here!

File under "I'll try anything once"

SEAGULL EGGS

Yuk!
Too Fishy!!

(but I said I'd try anything once)

Winner

#1 12 pack Pepsi - $12.65

(I forgot to mention it was on sale, so we'll just go with regular price)

#2 Costco size tide - $43.75

#3 6Rolls charmin TP - $9.89




#4 - 28pk Water - $24.99


#5 - Farmans Dill Pickles - $6.98
(on sale, but notice the regular price!)

#6 - Oroweat Bread - $6.55

#7 Salad Dressing - $6.82 (on sale)

#8 One gallon milk - $9.49

Grand Total: $121.12

(if I had really bought these things there would also be a 6% sales tax on ALL of these items, so the actual total would be $128.39)

And the winner is:

Gina

her guess was $119.00.

(yeah, she's my sister, but we have honestly NEVER talked about the price of groceries)

So, what'll it be Gina, Starbucks or Target?

Thank you all for playing along!