Enjoying our Staycation

A picture from our walk downtown.

It's really a shame that we aren't independently wealthy. I could get used to this life - no work for my husband, no stressful vacation traveling, no schoolwork for the kids. We're just hanging out at home and it's cool.

Today was respite care and we had a relaxing, kid-free day (from 9-5!) It was wonderful. Uninterrupted conversations, lunch at a restaurant, a stroll down by the river, and some shopping at gift shops full of breakables. All things we rarely do with the little ones in tow.

I'm going to be sad when Andy has to go back to work. He still has 2 weeks left though, so we will take full advantage of the time. The kids are enjoying a break from school (and so am I). I am trying to get the first quarter's grades done and doing some prep work for next quarter, but other than that, I'm taking it easy.

Here is the sunset from our deck. Gorgeous, isn't it??


Here are some pictures from our walk downtown. I am really curious about why these silly little ducks decided to stay here. True, we're not covered in snow yet (which is odd)- but the river has started to freeze. You would think that would be the hint to head south for some warmer weather.


I just want to put them on a plane and send them somewhere warm!! :)

I ♥ Faces: Excited!

This week's theme at I ♥ Faces is Excited. Tori is excited any time she is given free reign of the yard. She was especially excited this day, because she got to explore the uncharted territory in the front yard. She normally gets to play in the fenced portion in the back. She felt so free!!!


Check out all the other great entries by visiting I ♥ Faces.

Another Great Day

It was crazy sock night at AWANA and the kids went overboard. I didn't get a picture of Kate, because she's the diva and is always running late. They definitely won the prizes for the most socks!! I HATE matching socks though, so seeing that many of them at one time is a nightmare to me. Truly. They are now all sitting in a bag and I will let the kids deal with them tomrorrow. I refuse to touch them. :)
Andy and I took advantage of the fact that we only had a toddler with us and we took a drive down to the river to take in the scenery. The park was all but deserted and the water was so calm - with gorgeous reflections in the water.



Until Andy started skipping rocks. He's a champion rock skipper.


I am not. I have no excuses. I grew up on an island and around water all of my life. And to this day, when I try to skip a rock, I get a huge KERPLUNK. How embarassing.

We stopped on the way back at a set of steps along the side of the road. I always wondered where they led.
The only thing there was a gorgeous view!




And here are a few pictures of Nick and Tori from earlier today.

A Great Week Ahead!!

Can you believe that the weather forecast tomorrow is for a 55-60 degree day?? We don't have snow on the ground yet. The little bit that we got a few weeks ago is long gone. We've been busy raking leaves and preparing the house for winter. I'm thinking that we need to take advantage of this wonderful weather and head out of town for a day or two - especially since Andy is on leave. We'll see...

Here are some pics of the kids which I took yesterday.


Here is Kate on our front porch:Lexie:
She is always being a ham in front of the camera. She can't seem to keep a straight face. :)
But I managed to catch one or two without a tongue hanging out.
Ellie with her favorite furry sweatshirt:
Kate doesn't like having her picture taken very much. I talked her into it.
She decided that she wanted to see what she looked like cross-eyed. Pretty goofy! :)
Lexie is almost always ready to have her picture taken.
Ellie again. I think this jacket will have to be hung in the closet while we're living in Savannah.
She's going to miss it.

Finally Here!!

The time has finally come. Today is Andy's last day of work. He will be on leave for the rest of the month!!!!!

I understand that there was work to be done, but it is really hard to have a spouse come back from a deployment only to go straight back to work every day. It will be so nice to finally have him all to ourselves for a while.

The weather has held up and there is no snow on the ground. It's actually raining today and it reminds me of home. Growing up in Washington, I always kind of miss the rain wherever we go.

We're hoping that maybe we can get out of town for a day or two. I haven't left this 20 mile radius in over a year. I sometimes feel like I'm trapped on a very small island. I wouldn't mind so much if we were surrounded by beaches and water! :)

Kate's Artwork

I've been showing a lot of Ellie's artwork lately and thought I'd post some of Kate's also. These are two watercolors that she did this past week.

Fall Fun

I'm Drooling

I really want to upgrade from my point-and-shoot to a D-SLR. I have a wonderful camera with lots of great functions, but I feel like I'm ready for a bit more control than what I have.

I've been drooling over pages of photography magazines and reading reviews online.

It's pretty overwhelming. Nikon or Canon (or Olympus or Sony or Pentax....)?

There are a lot of great cameras out there. A lot of them have huge price tags. I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on a professional grade camera. I do want to dive into really learning more about photography though and I want something that takes decent pictures.

I think that I have made my decision. It was down to the Nikon D90 and the newer Nikon D5000. I think that they take similar pictures and the D5000 is cheaper, so I was leaning towards that one.

Then I headed down to the local camera store and decided that I needed to feel the cameras to make a better decision.

And I changed my mind. I like the D90 better. It feels much sturdier and more "professional" than the D5000.


Now I just need to start saving money in my camera fund towards my new toy. :) I don't think that I will regret this purchase!!!

More of Ellie's Art

This wasn't an assigned project - just something she wanted to work on. She has been spending more and more of her free time with the art supplies. She's been begging for some oil paints (we only have watercolors - which her siblings have transformed all from vibrant colors into a mottled grayish brown).



And I didn't cut the head off of the picture. She composed it that way. :)

Ellie's Self-Portrait

Here is a self-portrait that Ellie did today in oil pastels. :)

I'm Here

Yes, I'm still here. We've just been enjoying our first weekend together. :)

It has been so nice just being able to hang out and relax.

Andy made his famous spaghetti.

They played a game of Take Off! (I was chasing Tori), we watched some movies and I've been doing some serious reading up on different cameras. I'm hoping to upgrade to a D-SLR soon and I'm trying to find just the right one.

The snow is falling very lightly this morning. It is coming down so slowly that it almost doesn't seem real. Winter is really arriving in Alaska. I think another 2-3 weeks of light snow and melting and then we'll be covered until April. I'm trying to be okay with that. :)

Andy is back to work tomorrow for a couple of weeks, so we'll be working on school stuff until his leave starts.

It's so nice to have him back!!!!

Come on Weekend!!!

We're anxiously awaiting the weekend - which will be Andy's first days off since returning from Iraq.

I'm sure that everyone assumes that returning soldiers are immediately off to spend time with their families, but that is not the case.

He got back on Sunday and was back in to work on Monday. He hasn't been working full days or anything, but he has to go in daily for formations, medical and dental screening, meetings, and various other in-processing stuff.

In short, we haven't seen him much. Between work and catching up on much-needed sleep, we haven't gotten to spend much time together yet.

It's hard to have him here, but not have him all to ourselves yet. :)

Our time will come though. He'll be on leave in a couple of weeks and then we'll be able to have our much-needed family time.

Until then, I'm making the kids do schoolwork while he's gone every day. It hasn't been very organized or very fun, but I'm trying to be productive.

Oh No, Not Snow!!

I'm not quite ready for the white stuff yet.

The leaves still need to be raked and the toys picked up from the yard. Plus, I really like driving on dry pavement.

I wasn't very happy when snow started falling this morning.

Thankfully, it melted by the afternoon. It won't be long though before it's on the ground for good. I'm just hoping that it waits another few weeks.

It's not that I don't like snow. Who doesn't love a White Christmas? I just don't like a white Halloween and a white Easter.

There is one good thing about the snow this year. I now have a husband here who can shovel it. :)

Done With Week 7

We're finished with another week. I can hardly believe that we are close to the end of our first quarter. We are going to try to keep working a little bit as Andy goes in to work for formations and appointments. We will take some time off when his leave starts!! :)

HISTORY
We studied the Vikings this week (and will continue to study them next week)



ART


LANGUAGE ARTS

Here is Ellie's rough draft for this week's writing assignment:

Monterey Beach

As I walk down the sandy shore, a salty sea air stings my nose. A light morning fog clouds my vision as smooth white sea foam washes my sand covered feet. An orange crab scuttles past me, its feet clicking together like a typewriter, making me laugh. The busy Monday crowd yells and shouts to one another. No time for them to stop and gaze at the beauty of the ocean. As the smell of exhaust fills the air, I sigh and walk back home.

MATH
The kids are still zipping through Teaching Textbooks. I am really enjoying not having to grade math assignments. :)

Don't Leave!!

Poor Nick had a hard time this afternoon.

Andy had to go into work for a quick accountability formation. Nick saw him drive away in his uniform and was sure that he was going back to Iraq. He was pretty upset.

Thankfully, he was reassured when Daddy came back an hour or two later. I think that he now realizes that Andy can be out of his sight for a while and still be "here" with us in Alaska. :)

Sweet Reunion

Yes, Andy finally made it home this morning!! We were supposed to pick him up at 11 a.m. I was woken up by a phone call at 7:30, letting me know that he'd be in at 9 instead!! I woke up the kids and we scrambled to get out the door in time. I have to admit that it was much nicer than us anxiously waiting around all morning.

Unfortunately, he missed our 11 year anniversary by one day. That's okay though - we will celebrate every day for a long while now that he is back. :)

The buses pulled in and everyone got excited.


Hugs and kisses all around.


All 7 of us in one picture - that doesn't happen often enough!

In A Funk

Yes, I'm in a funk.

Still no news as to when Andy will get here. I haven't had word from him in days and days. The kids are getting anxious to see him (and of course, I am too). I'm really hoping that we get the call soon!!

The guy came to fix my treadmill today and of course the wrong part was sent out. He's going to have to come back later - after his 2 week vacation. :( It looks like I'll be a slug for a while longer.

On top of that, a couple of the kiddos have been sick and I woke up with it.

It's not anything horrible - no fever. I just have a slight cough, but I am very tired and achy. I feel like I've been hit by a bus. I could definitely take a shot of NyQuil and sleep the weekend away - but we all know that isn't possible!! I'm hoping that it will pass soon enough - I would hate for Andy to come home to a sick house. I am going to try my hardest to get to bed early tonight. I might even pay Ellie to do some babysitting so that I can get some extra sleep.

That can't happen yet though, because Kate has her first TaeKwon Do test tonight. I will have to postpone my rest until a little later.

A Little Disappointed

I had really been hoping that Andy would be home by now. Over 3,500 of the 4,000 soldiers have already returned. I'm starting to think that he will be the last soldier to get off of the last plane back.

I actually haven't even received the phone call letting me know when he'll arrive. That call is supposed to come 72 hrs before he gets here. That means he won't be here by Saturday. :(

I'm trying not to be too disappointed, but I admit that I am a little sad.

It's our 11th Anniversary, and it also happens to be a respite care day (meaning that the kids are in child care from 9-5 for free). If Andy were here, then we could actually spend our anniversary together.

It looks like I'll be spending the day alone though. I suppose I could use the day to prepare for his homecoming. Maybe some house cleaning and shopping without kids around.

I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard!!

Such a Slug

The Black Slug

This is me. I feel like SUCH a slug right now and I hate it.

My treadmill died almost a month ago. It will turn on, but no matter what button I push, it just beeps at me. Beep, beep, beep.

Luckily, I bought the extended 3 year warranty and it's still covered.

Unfortunately, it took me over 2 weeks to actually find my paperwork. It was tucked into a random notebook that I haven't looked at in ages. I know, such organization. At least I found it!!

So then I called the warranty people and they had the new parts sent out. I waited for a week and half for the repair man to call. North Pole isn't exactly a metropolitan area. One guy does the repairs. He was scheduled to come over today, but had to cancel. He's going to try to come on Friday (before he leaves on vacation!!!) I sure hope he is able to make it.

So, I have been a month without my treadmill and I can sure feel it. I have turned into a slug. It's not just the 5 lbs that I've gained. It's the fact that I now feel so out of shape and sedentary.

The weather has been pretty nice and I really don't have any good excuses for not getting out there and actually walking in the fresh air. I just hate walking around the neighborhood with the kids. We don't have sidewalks. Nick doesn't want to ride in the stroller, because he's a big boy. He also stops at every rock and leaf that we pass and randomly darts out into the street. As soon as we get a good distance away from the house, everyone has to go to the bathroom. It's just not pleasant. That's what I have a treadmill. :)

So, hopefully I will be back on it by this weekend!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Perfume Science

Today we took a break from our regular science and made our own perfume!


This is the perfect science set for any girl. They were all so happy to design their own fragrances. :)

The finished product: