Swimming Lessons

I am teaching swimming lessons in a parent and tot format at the pool. It is for kids 3 and under and they get a whole lane to themselves during open swim. It has been really fun. Audrey loves to be in the water, and the other parents that are there are teachers in the district. One of the teachers, has twin daughters, which one of them is also named Audrey.

What to do when you are sick

Audrey was sick on Sunday. The best way I can see to spend a Sunday sick is to cuddle with Daddy and watch The Little Mermaid.

looks like someone has a bad case of the Thursdays

This has been a very emotionally draining week. Some of you may have seen on Facebook some of the issues that we've been having up here. 2 weeks ago our School Board voted not to renew the contracts of our Principal (with +16 years of experience in our district alone) and our Vice Principal (2 years in our district). There has been no reason given and the School Board refuses to give one. Neither administrator has any negative evaluations and the School Board says they won't look at their evaluations. Andrew and I are both very sad about this as we both really like them. Tuesday night we went to a school board meeting where we sat through three hours of comments asking for their contracts to be renewed or at least a reason why they weren't. The school board did agree to discuss the issue again in two weeks, however they did not say they would do a revote. We are sad that these administrators might be leaving and are still unsure about our future in the district. It appears that this is a large case of small town politics and it has spread quickly throughout the community.

On a positive note, Andrew started playing with the Pep Band at Varsity basketball games. He has been having fun with the Barri Sax and being with the other players. It is a bad mixed of students and community members. They have the weekend off, but will play again next weekend. I also started taking a pottery class at UAF-NWC that my friend Tara teaches. I have made two pieces so far and am enjoying it a lot. If you have any requests of things you'd like, let me know! I am also teaching swimming lessons again. I (along with Audrey) am teaching a Parent and Tot lesson Wednesday nights. There are 5 kids with their parents and is a ton of fun. The water is nice and warm for us and the kids like singing songs and splashing around.

Audrey got her first band-aid tonight, quickly followed by her second and third. I cut a little too close to the skin when cutting her finger nails and she got a bloody finger. We put a band aid on it, and she took it off. So, we had to add a second and third one on to make sure it didn't come off! Oops. I wish I had some new pictures to show you all but we haven't been home at night to take any. Hopefully this weekend.

Wishing everyone a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Currently

....currently Audrey is napping and missing the kick off of the Vikings game
Andrew is working on an assignment for the class we are taking
Erin should be working on her assignment for the class we are taking
Pineapple-Black Bean Enchiladas are cooling on the oven for lunches this week
It is 7 degrees, and feels like -6 outside
Adrian Peterson just got a touchdown

I hope to post more often starting now so keep checking back :)

Audrey Jumping

We've been really busy so we haven't had much time to update the blog but here is a video we took of Audrey Jumping. She's getting so big!!!

Pictures!!!

If you've been reading along with the blog you've probably been thinking, "I wish I could see pictures of all that." Well, Audrey has slept just long enough for me to get these online for your viewing pleasure.

First Week of School

I don't think I remember Monday. I know it happened, but not quite sure what I did. This was our first week of school with students and it was a whirlwind. Students came Tuesday, and the Junior High was out of the school Wednesday-Friday on field trips.

We had spent part of the end of last year, and our whole prep week planning a camping trip for 80 junior high students. We had bought $1500 worth of groceries and sent out permission slips when the camp we were supposed to stay at called and said we couldn't use it anymore. No reason given, just we weren't allowed to be there. So we scrambled trying to find places that we could take the kids last minute. It was stressful, but things all worked out.

We spent three wonderful days outside. Wednesday we hiked to a place called Dorothy Falls which was beautiful. If you have never walked on the tundra (Fargo-Moorhead doesn't count), you would be surprised to find out how difficult it is to walk on. The ground is very soft and uneven.

Thursday we went out to Salmon Lake and had 3 guest speakers for the kids. They learned about healthy life choices like not smoking and chewing tobacco from CAMP, a part of the hospital. They learned about Musk Ox from the National Park Service and team building from some one at Nome Eskimo Community. The kids had a great time. They also got to go out in a boat with our gym teacher.

We were able to pick lingonberries, blueberries and crowberries. I am hoping to make relish out of the lingonberries as last weekend I learned how to make jams and syrups.

Andrew is out rockclimbing right now with some friends and Audrey is sleeping. We have talked about driving out to Council which is about 2 hours away. We haven't been out there yet and we have heard that it is beautiful (and they have trees!)

If you haven't checked out the video of Audrey talking on the post below, you should. We think it's pretty cute, but we may have a biased opinion :)

Have a great weekend!