MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I hope this finds all of you doing well.
I arrived in MN early this morning,this time without my canine companion...I'm missing him already, but am sure he's having a fun time with Kat, Iain and Mia.
My first flight went very well and actually arrived in the village at the scheduled time. I went to Bethel were I stayed the evening, I ordered supper, and curled up for the night before nine. Saturday (the 22nd) I flew out of Bethel and again everything went smoothly. I met up with a friend from Kwethluck and another SpEd teacher and we had a great chance to chit chat. In Anchorage, I met up with another friend and we were on the same flight to MN; this helped time to fly while waiting at the airport.
Before boarding the last flight I felt a wave of nausea, I found myself praying "please God, help this flight to pass quickly." Needless to say when I arrived in Minneapolis...you can say it was a "grand" entry.

It still does not seem possible that Christmas has arrived. Tomorrow we will start the festivities, and they will be staggered through the 5th of January. It's great to be back with family and friends.

God bless and have a safe and happy holiday season.

Trip to Bethel with the girls :)

The ladies and I went to Bethel on Friday morning. Around 9:30 I received a phone call that the plane would be here in about 3o minutes. We loaded up our bags, got Rocky over to Kat's and headed down to the airport in the "airport shuttle" aka the four wheeler, trailer and our excellent driver Iain. We waited for our plane until around 10 am. Needless to say our feet were more than a bit cold by that point in time :) We kept ourselves entertained with Angie's Catch phrase game. It was a much needed and very welcome get away :)

Pam and Angie on the ride to the airport

Kat hanging on as we encountered the drift covered boardwalk. :) headed for the airport.

The sky around 10 am 11/23/07--also notice Nick driving ahead with the snow go to make sure we didn't get stuck with the four wheeler.

Pam, Marie and Kat...waiting for the plane :)

Pam and Angie waiting at the Tunt airport: Pam's trying to warm Angie's feet.

Pam and Marie in the car....The smartest thing we did in Bethel was rent a car for around $100/day plus $20 collision insurance. Notice that we are well packed. :) (and those aren't even all of the boxes...some of them went with Maat, Zach and Lena)

Loading all our stuff at the Hageland terminal....will we be under the 1200lb limit????

Iain and Angie loading our stuff into the trailer when we landed...home sweet home :)
The moon above the river when we landed in Tunt around 4 pm 11/24/07

I splurged and bought a pair of slippers at the craft fair this year :) thus far it's been a worthwhile purchase. :)

Kat and Angie in the well loaded car
Bentley's....our second home when we travel to Bethel.

The view out the window while we ate our lunch at Yolanda's; we had a beautiful day to drive around Bethel.

Pretty scenery in Bethel...looks MUCH different with the snow and frost :)

Kat, pumping gas...LOL I guess MN drivers have a hard time figuring out Alaska gas pumps :) The station worker came out twice to tell us how to operate the pump :) Gas prices were $4.77/gal in Bethel for self-serve and $4.93 for full-service.

Simple Beauty/supper at Marie's House

The View from my back steps--simply gorgeous!!

The view out my bedroom window
The small snowdrift in my house :)

Cooking--she is making a letter "E" while tearing up angel food cake for supper.

Supper at Marie's House- The kids worked hard and 20 of them came over for Hamburgers, French Fries, Juice, mixed berries and strawberry angel food desert

Carving our Class Pumpkin--The kids were so focused and did a great job :)

Hat Day

Today found us with a fresh layer of beautiful snow on the ground :) It's so exciting winter has come :)---remind me of that in a few months ;)

This morning when Rocky and I headed out for our morning walk, we encountered a fox next to the school...Frank warned us to be cautious. He borrowed my flashlight to scare it off and try to see if it was healthy. When he turned around to come back towards the school the fox would turn around and follow him. Frank said "be careful, it'll attack your dog" Rocky and I continued on to meet Kat, as we walked the fox would sneak up behind us, I would shine my flashlight and throw snow at it to try and scare it off. It continued to come within 6-8 feet of us. I was more worried about Rocky and the fox getting into a fight, or playing together, and since many foxes here have rabies, I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Today for spirit week we had hat day---there were many cute hats :)Maat--isn't such a fan of paperwork and "putzy" stuff :) but is a good helper anyway.

Crazy Hair

This week we have school spirit week, and it will be a long work week as we have Saturday school. We will have a halloween carnival on Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. It should be a fun and exhausting week.

For school spirit week we have a little bit of something happening every day,

today was crazy hair day

Tuesday: hat day

Wednesday: school spirit/team sports color day

Thursday: Backwards day

Friday: Quspaq day
Saturday: Halloween costume day

We have officially finished first quarter and will have parent teacher conferences this week. Christmas will soon be here--hard to believe.

Today I got my school computer back; it was sent off last December. They managed to back up my hard drive so all my pictures and music, papers and important documents were recovered. (A pleasant surprise as I was told all would be lost) :) It is so much faster than the student computer I was using; makes all my paperwork go much more efficiently, not to mention the screen is two times bigger.

Well...I'll try to update again this week. Have a great day :)

Pumping Fuel

Suprisingly enough the snow has decided to stick around :) I'm anticipating the freezing of the river...it makes it easier to access everything, and you can escape from some of the kids if you'd like.

Yesterday I received a new classroom door--part of the continued school rennovations. It is currently one of the ugliest doors I've ever seen; but i guess doors don't need to be attractive just functional. I think the painters will be back to paint the doors and casing which will brighten things up a bit :) Construction workers continue to keep long hours starting work around 4:30-5:00 and working til 7 am. Iain and the guys seem to be making great progress on the sewer pipes they are working on. I'll try to post pictures of the wooden casing in the near future.

Today some people from YKHC (the hospital) were here to dicuss diabetes with the kids and to do free blood sugar screenings for all the staff. Kat was having a "how sweet are you" discussion at breakfast time.

The School Wheels :) and the fuel pumping trailer

Upon arriving home from work this afternoon I felt my house was a bit chilly. Frank's out of town and I thought now might be a good time to try and figure things out instead of waiting til 1 tonight to really notice the cool house. I gave Nick a call and he came over and we pumped (well..i mostly watched) 200 gallons of fuel into my tank, but the boiler didn't come on so Nick gave Mark (the maintanance man) a call he came over to "bleed" the air out. The house is still cold but should warm up soon. :)

The Fuel is pumped from the above tank to the trailer and then pumped to my tank(below). Mark's job doesn't sound very thrilling :P Thanks to Nick and Mark for coming to the rescue tonight :)

Last night Dave hauled water and asked if I needed any. I filled my tank and he did all the work with the hoses it was very sweet of him to do that for Pam and I. Agan I'm blessed with wonderful co-workers and neighbors.

On another note....the mouse deterrant I ordered arrived in the mail yesterday. It has a lovely pine smell. I placed four bags in my kitchen and haven't seen a mouse since then. I pray that this will help; I really am not fond of those little buggers.

Time to scoot, enjoy the rest of your week :)

First Snowfall and a Beautiful Morning :)

Each Friday I have a cooking class for two hours in my home. This past Friday we made a breakfast pizza, some carmel rolls and had some mixed (canned) fruit. :)

Mixing "goop" for the carmel rolls--he was so amazed at how we just mixed things together and they "taste pretty good" :) He also asked "where do you get the ideas for this stuff?" LOL

Cracking the eggs to mix and scramble for the Breakfast Pizza
Maat "hard at work"

On Friday it started snowing, hard with big flakes; it was so pretty. While we were at my house cooking I looked out the living room window and this is what I saw of the first snowfall :) It continued throughout the day and into the evening. :)

The snowfall out my front door on Friday night :)

Taken from my back steps this morning--Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!

Taken from my back steps this morning. Pictures cannot come close to captivating God's splendor :)

My Back Yard-Breathtaking

Long over due...

Thanks Kat and Iain :)

As you have probably noticed this post is overdue.

Since I last updated...I had a birthday. Many thanks to all who sent birthday greetings; I was truly blessed. :) The night before my birthday two sneaky people were in my classroom decorating--Thanks Kat and Iain it was a fun surprise. Maat and Sylvia baked a cake and made jello; Maat had the kids sing. Ehab was the first to greet me "happy birthday" :) Jacki called and we talked for nearly 2 1/2 hours it was wonderful to catch up on the happenings in their lives.

Some of my girls and I bake each Friday as a part of their class. This is what we made on my birthday...emmm...YUMMY!!! Good "Cooker-errrrrrrrrrs" ;)

The weather continues to grow cooler by the day; I'm eagerly awaiting snowfall :):)
As Kat and I go out walking in the morning it is now pitch black and a flashlight comes in very handy. This morning was frosty and though a bit slippery it was so beautiful!! I love being able to be outside. The rain has ceased, and we've had flurries on two occassions.

A sunrise Kat and I saw on one of our walks about a month ago

The workload is steadily picking up; I am getting to the point where I'm swimming in paperwork. I work for awhile in the room after school but like to bring the work home, I find late nights and early mornings very productive. Nearly everyday after work I have meetings and visitors this month.

I've found time for me this year as well :) :) I've been doing some more reading; a novelty I've missed over the past few years. I am making great progress in my scrapbook. I did a few pages at a girls get together on Friday and did an several pages Sat. night--all pictures of this summer.

I've been fighting mice :P :P I really detest the dirty little buggers. I have figured out where they are coming in and disenfect everything at least once daily. Brings back memories of all the things they ruined at home growing up!!! I have ordered a natural mouse deterrant that should be in the mail any day :) and have set up a trap (though my sink/dishwater seems to be the most effective trap) I've also tried putting peppermint oil on the counter tops and in the bottom of the garbage can.

More Birthday decorations/my classroom

I think that's about all, time to wrap up this post. Hope all of you are doing well and staying healthy.

My classroom--the little things on the doors that I made to help with number recognition

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a nice weekend :)

This rainbow was taken outside my back steps. I've seen 5-6 rainbows in the past month and a half :)
We are going into our 5th week of classes already; it is hard to believe how fast the time goes. :)

I'm enjoying my own classroom this year the atmosphere is very different. Once again we have nearly a complete turn over in the specialists from the district office.



The new OT came out last week, she is very sweet. Originally from the midwest she attended a Christian college in MI, and she has a Dutch last name. Curiousity got the best of me and so I asked what school she attended. Lo and behold she attended Calvin; this started us on a conversation discussing the Dutch people the Reformed Church and TULIPS :P neither of us was familiar with anything Dutch, or the Reformed church before attending college. I told her I attended a small reformed college in Iowa and she said "Dordt or Northwestern?" it's a small world :) I'm blessed to have the co-workers I have both in school and from the district office.

This year I've continued to learn how to make time for myself. I've found time to enjoy more scrapbooking and craft stuff as well as reading enjoyable books. :) Kat and I and the dogs (Rocky and Mia) have gone walking every morning before school starts--what a great way to wake up and enjoy the surrounding beauty. It's also a nice time to get out of the house without being bombarded by the kids.

The days are getting much shorter, the sun is now coming up around 8 or a bit after and it's dark by about 9:30-10:00 pm. Winter will soon be upon us.

Many people keep asking what my plans for the coming year are...right now it's time to take things one step at a time. I have checked into a few positions elsewhere but am not sure it's time to move on yet. Time will tell and I have time to figure that out.

Have a wonderful week :)

Home Sweet Home

The school library-notice the bed? :)

I am back home (AK) and have been for a few weeks. It is great to be back; I'm eagerly anticipating the start of the new school year. The school has been flipped upside down and in utter chaos; contractors in and out all the time.

My classroom--I get my own room this year :)

Currently we have 1 plumber, 2 painters, three electricians, and a foreman on the job. Yesterday four guys working on ducts left, and the flooring guys left. They are rotating in and out as things are ready here and in another nearby village. They've made great progress in two weeks, including laying most of the carpet, painting many of the rooms, wiring the fire alarm system. It will look great when it's all said and done. :)

Kat and Pam in Kat's classroom

I have moved into another new house (I could be the Tunt teacher housing expert ;) it is much nicer and Rocky is much happier, having more room to run inside and less traffic outside. We are maybe 50 yards back from the other house but it makes a huge difference in regards to the number of passerby's.

My arctic entry, and storage room

The Kitchen, to the right is a door where my water tank and furnace are. I have a 650 gallon water tank--a HUGE improvement over 150 gallons :)

The Dining Room

My living room

My bathroom, Mark (the maintenance man is working on installing a flush toilet and sewer system)

For those of you who missed the picture my first year, this is my toilet; it is called an incinolet it burns the waste. Look at all the room I have in my bathroom :) TONS of storage.
My pantry, the first time I've had one and I'm loving it :)
My bedroom
My Closet; again tons of storage the closet stretches floor to ceiling wall to wall, a double sliding door in the middle and then on each side of the sliding doors are there is the smaller door which has four shelves inside and four drawers beneath it.

My Office, sewing/craft room, exercise room I also have an extra bed I can put together in this room for anyone who would like to venture North ;)

The weather here has been rainy; great for the water tanks. Yesterday was beautiful sunny, a slight breeze and around 70 degrees. :) I missed the Alaska weather this summer.