family (Christmas card) photos - November 29, 2009

Click the photos for a larger (hopefully better resolution - I swear, here at home with the versions I uploaded, they are not choppy/grainy/etc.) version. These were taken tonight with the intention of getting them into our Christmas cards/Christmas letter (yes, we do those).
Allen says this one more accurately reflects our kids' spirits... they are leaning on each other, smiling, etc.
Family photo... not bad for 5 kids 8 and under!
Runner up/past favorite photo of the 5 from this evening's shoot. I liked it best until I realized/agreed with what Allen was saying about the first photo better reflecting the vitality of our family.

Thanksgiving, family, and memories

We had an awesome Thanksgiving feast here at the house today. "Just family" but that included Allen's parents who came in from the valley to spend a couple days with us. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed their visit - Rosalie insists on being carried around by Grandma and is generally glued to her soaking up attention.

The food was great. We've already boiled down the remaining "stuff" (bones, carcass... yummy, I know, but the stock it produces is incomparable and always a post-Thanksgiving day treat - I can't believe people usually throw it all away - they're missing out on a great soup-making opportunity!)
The leftovers are neatly boxed away in the fridge and will feed us next week, I'm sure.

When it's Thanksgiving, Perpetua's (real) birthday is not far behind. This time, it's tomorrow. 5 years ago, it was also Thanksgiving. I had 2 boys with the stomach flu, and was 9 days overdue with that pregnancy and was so ready to be over it. Then, I got sick... and then I went into labor. 2 hours later, baby girl was here... and 3 weeks later, we got to take her home after a long 2 weeks in intensive care and another few days in Anchorage to get everything together.

Nothing as delicious as bringing your baby home (though I've subsequently elected to have my next 2 kids in Bethel and had nothing but great experiences there). I recall that her first birthday was a difficult time for me. While we are exceedingly grateful for having her around - the experience at the time was of remembering a little baby born not breathing, a neonatal resuscitation, 2 seconds to hold her and the next time we saw her she was sedated and on a ventilator.

It's REALLY great to have the pain of those difficult times softened by the bright experience of a little girl who loves teddy bears, picks on her little sister, loves all of her brothers, has a ton of friends and is one of the great joys in our life.

So at 3:56 tomorrow morning - happy birthday, Perpetua Genevieve!

(almost) 10 months old

Andrew Sebastian! He will be 10 months old in 3 days.

Being content with our homes

I had to share this post I found on another blog. I struggle with this more than I'd like to admit as we've grown to a family of 7 in a 1600 square foot house.

Our house is beautiful, it's well designed, and it's a tad too small for 5 growing kids. We love our life here anyway. For now, I am focused on minimizing the amount of "stuff" we have, thinking over each acquisition and encouraging appreciation of the things we DO opt to retain ownership of.

my Thanksgiving menu!

Here's what's going to be on the table at mi casa this Thanksgiving...

Easy Herb Roasted Turkey*
Turkey Gravy w/Pan Drippings*
"Airport Bob's" Green Beans
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sugar Coated Pecans
(modified) Sour Cream Cucumber Salad
Broccoli Salad
Cranberry Sauce (from the can, with the imprints still on - a family favorite)
Stuffing-from-a-box (by demand, also a family favorite)
homemade bread rolls
mashed potatoes
homemade pumpkin pie (courtesy of Allen's mom)

I've made the recipes with a "*" by them before. I decided to shake things up and try some new recipes for side dishes. I am skipping the traditional offering of corn, because 1. I don't "do" frozen corn... 2. corn from a can... no. 3. real corn here is hard to come by, and when you see it, it's $12 for 4 ears... and we are going to be feeding a total of 9 people. Nope. So broccoli salad it is! Test driving this many new things makes me excited, and they're well reviewed so I feel relatively safe.

The main thing is the turkey & gravy, where I feel really secure in my recipes and I'm not worried about it much! :-) I'm even thinking of whipping up some cheese blintzes to have for dinner Thanksgiving morning but that might qualify as Too Much Food.

We'll see if I'm scarce this week - things are hopping around here and I think my computer time might be on the low end for a bit. I'll try to do a drive-by and post pictures as I'm able to.

visit with Dad

As mentioned previously, my dad is here for a quick visit. He leaves on the afternoon jet tomorrow - scheduled this way because he's spending a good chunk of time on Sunday morning flying back to Ketchikan. That's a long 12 hour flight if you try to do it in one day.

The children have positively loved having him here. We made the most of today, having breakfast together (an e.a.r.l.y. breakfast on a no-school day - I heard the children clamoring downstairs at 6:40 AM and I was up at 7 - I knew my dad was downstairs so I was in no rush); we went out to lunch and then stopped by the book fair to pick out a couple treats for some of the kiddos. It was brutally cold (yes, I know it will get colder - it was "only" -12 today) with the wind. We then celebrated Perpetua's birthday again - the kids made a "welcome to Bethel" cake and we did Happy Birthday Perpetua again (so my Dad could join in the celebration). Gifts were doled out - one or two for each kid, more for Perpetua since it's her birthday.

We rounded up the evening with a salmon dinner. We would've grilled it, but it was just too cold (windchill = -35F). After that it was play with the kids, none of whom wanted to go to bed. We have sleeping arrangements shuffled and Rosalie is in our room temporarily - so she is especially excited to be staying up later.

Next week's visitors are Allen's parents... supposed to arrive Wednesday and leave Friday night. We will see how that goes. I'm looking forward to it. (I just wish our house were... oh, double its current size with at least 2 more bedrooms...)

neat playgrounds

I came across this link on my friend Jennie's blog - it shows unusual playgrounds from around the world.

I can really appreciate some of the creative directions taken in their playstructures! It was a mental feast as I imagined my kids playing on some of them (the rooftop one LOOKS neat, but I really don't like the idea of a ROOFTOP playground... at all!)

I'll throw in a little review of the Bethel playgrounds. The best kept secret is the one out in FAA Sub near the airport. Great for the 2-5 year olds. I could take Rosalie, Perpetua and Andrew there and not have a problem with unsafe situations. It's enclosed, trash free and has nice wood chips for the ground.

There's the well known and ever popular Owl Park. It's the place to be for older kids (including some who have nowhere else to go and are really too old for the playground). If you get there early, chances are there will be less trash and fewer unattended children/stray dogs. We try to get there early. It's not fabulous for those with exuberant toddlers, who will want to test their mettle against the equipment which offers several ways for them to endanger themselves- but it's great for the 4+ set. The elementary school holds an end-of-school field trip each year where they walk to and have lunch at Owl Park. There's a NICE system of boardwalks (nice scenery) behind it that links up with City Sub.

For some quiet fun, go find Wally's Park by KUC in City Sub. My kids know it as "the train park" and the 7 and 8 year olds like the trains, while they actually have an infant swing (only one, and the only one I've seen in Bethel), and a nice slide.

In City Sub out near the Log Cabin there are a couple of new-ish play areas. There's the skate park (nice, again, in the mornings) for the older kids to ride bikes on; we've taken the kids there and rollerskated as well. There's a rope climbing structure. And there are several very old, very well loved (ie, not in the best shape) spring riding animals, a board that jiggles, a log rolling contraption... probably not the safest but my kids have enjoyed it when we're out that way.

There's a random "park" over in Tundra Ridge - we've never played there, it looks pretty neglected (anyone, help me out, is that actually a city maintained park?) and I do know one friend whose son impaled their leg on a pipe there - if I'm remembering correctly. We've avoided that one. Not only do we not live in TR, but it's really nothing to look at...

So yeah. Someday, I will live in a community with awesome playstructures. And until that time, my kids will appreciate the heck out of any we happen to encounter in the meantime!

all the monsters are smiling...

I'm in the process of printing off coloring pages for the kids. Right now, it's the girls - pictures of puppies.

However, I'm thinking ahead for when Aaron comes home. He's been drawing some fantastic pictures of many eyed, tentacled monsters or aliens... so I figured I'd print off some for him to color.

I do a google search for 'monster coloring page' and the overwhelming majority of the pictures are smiling, sesame-street type things. What I want is ferocious, the more eyes the better, if it has more or less than the standard two-arms-two-legs fare, the better.

I realize most people who are looking for coloring sheets are probably in the toddler-to-preschool age range, but what kid doesn't like coloring? Is it too much to ask that a monster not smile and look cuddly? I did find some ferocious dragon pictures that are old favorites for the boys that are printing now, but let's branch out a bit.

Surely I can't be the only parent whose children are interested in these things!

family on the way

We welcomed Allen back to Bethel (with temps of -14 yesterday) Wednesday morning. He brought 150+ lbs of luggage back. Arrived at the luggage scales to find he had 3 58 lb bags, so he took 24 lbs out and put it in his carryon. I'm glad he had the room. This is after he gave my dad a 50 lb bag to bring out tonight.

Which brings us to item two on the agenda... My dad is going to arrive this evening (Alaska Airlines permitting) for a couple days of visiting before he heads home to Ketchikan. The children are very excited. I wish the weather were warmer for our visit but I'm sure it will be filled with good times anyway.

Parent-teacher conferences last night went well. There are plans afoot to step up Aaron's curriculum a little, which we are very pleased with. It was noted that instead of restating a story, Aaron would write it down verbatim. They are going to offer him some more challenging material to see if that will give him more leeway to think creatively (I am very happy about this too!).

The kids don't have school tomorrow, so we plan on a nice relaxing day, visiting with my dad and hanging out at the house...

UPS "2nd Day Air" and rural Alaska

I ordered something from a photo shop on the East Coast and was given numerous (surprisingly reasonably priced) shipping options. Through some silly coincidence of pricing, UPS 2nd Day Air was actually within $5 of the USPS Priority Mail cost. Given that this is a large item and prone to damage, I opted to pay the extra $5 and have it sent 2nd Day Air.

I knew going into it that 2nd Day Air didn't mean I'd see it "soon". Here's the breakdown right now:

Location	Date	Local Time	DescriptionWhat's This?
ANCHORAGE, AK, US	11/16/2009	7:03 A.M.	THE ADDRESS IS IN A REMOTE AREA AND DELIVERIES ARE NOT MADE DAILY
	11/16/2009	7:03 A.M.	DESTINATION SCAN
ANCHORAGE, AK, US	11/13/2009	6:58 P.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE, KY, US	11/13/2009	4:07 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	11/13/2009	11:07 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
JAMAICA, NY, US	11/13/2009	8:51 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	11/13/2009	6:03 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
SECAUCUS, NJ, US	11/13/2009	2:20 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
SECAUCUS, NJ, US	11/12/2009	10:03 P.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
MASPETH, NY, US	11/12/2009	8:52 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	11/12/2009	7:53 P.M.	ORIGIN SCAN
US	11/12/2009	6:15 P.M.	BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

----
Still reasonable, and sooner than I'd have seen it otherwise (and there's a weekend thrown in there) if it was sent USPS. However, I happen to know the UPS lady (she's my neighbor) and she does indeed make deliveries daily. Maybe they mean that items in the Anchorage receiving point aren't shipped out to Bethel on a daily basis (??)

The only reason I looked it up is that I was hoping/expecting it'd be here today, but no dice. Says ETA tomorrow. We'll see! I can only hope it made it on the plane sometime today and will be in my hot little hands tomorrow. I find it impressive, and amusing, that a large item can make it from New York state to Anchorage, Alaska in 23 hours and then it takes an additional 84-96 hours to get from Anchorage to Bethel (assuming it shows up tomorrow).

here's what happy looks like!

in case you ever wondered. She blew out the candles before we finished singing and found that very amusing. Her official 5th birthday is in exactly 2 weeks!



Her party was hopping, a lot of fun! Several of the girls in the picture above she has "grown up" with. Even with the transient nature of residence in this town you see a lot of people who have been here at least 5 years!

Hello, Kitty!

Here's Perpetua Genevieve's birthday cake. Her party is tomorrow (she will be 5 on the 27th, but has a host of friends with late November & early December birthdays, so we bumped hers up). It still needs some whiskers, but I hope to find some black licorice in town to do that.

another letter home from Gladys Jung School

I received a letter from my 8 year old 3rd grader this afternoon sent by the principal of the Gladys Jung School.

It elaborates that:

"Our school has not made AYP for 5 years. Because of this, our school is designated as being in School Improvement. This means the school will be doing extra planning to find ways to improve student achievement, asking for more participation by parents to help your students succeed, and directing some resources specifically towards school improvement efforts.

School Improvement also means that your child is eligible to receive free tutoring outside of regular school hours under a program called Supplemental Educational Services, or SES. All students who qualify for free and reduced lunch are eligible for this program."

Attached is a second piece of paper with a sign up sheet listing two options:

___ Yes: Enroll my child in the program for free supplemental educational services
___ No: I decline these supplemental educational services for my child

Now here comes the reason for my writing this post.

1. We are not, and never have been, eligible for free or reduced lunches. Save the paper and don't send it home with my child.

2. Aren't ALL the students in the school subject to the same learning environment while at school? It chaps my hide to no end that my child, who could benefit from learning enrichment like any other child, is disqualified from these taxpayer funded "services" on the basis of income level. My son sits next to any number of children in the same classroom who could take advantage of this program, but he cannot - because of my husband's earning potential. (Please note: I love his teacher, and this is in no way a reflection on her - we always have, and will continue to, supplement our children's education outside of school because that's the way we work.)

I would not begrudge a 'disadvantaged' person extra help if they need it. But in the arena of taxpayer funded public education, if you are aiming to improve learning environments (or... shhh... TEST SCORES!), every child deserves an equal opportunity for access to academic enrichment. If there's a limited amount of funding to go around, let interested parents submit their children's names in a lottery and draw based on that. Public schools are all about "giving everyone a chance", right?

One might argue that with our income level, we should go buy our own educational services if we want them. It's true we have the option to. I already do spend a portion of our money on supplemental educational material for all of our children. However, when the taxpayer-funded pie gets doled out - it's putting children of parents whose income is above a certain level at an arbitrary disadvantage. Economically disadvantaged students are not "more worthy" of their slice of the pie than children whose families happen to earn more - they are ALL at the same school, in the same learning environment, from 8:45-3:15 Monday through Friday.

I checked the "NO" box, and then crossed out the part that states "I decline these supplemental educational services for my child" and wrote in "we do not qualify for free/reduced lunches and are therefore not eligible, but we do not 'decline'. We aren't offered an option to accept".*

I'm sure it'll get filed away with the others, not noticed, and things will carry on without a blip on the radar.

*as for why I filled it out - there is an incentive of "goal slips" for tomorrow, and that's been offered for bringing back the paperwork filled out. At least those are awareded on the basis of an action taken.

nap frustrations

Happy 300th post to me!!

This one's going to be a quick one. Andrew is working against "our" schedule the past - oh, since I came back from Anchorage. It's been a week or so and the nap thing isn't happening.

I put him down around 2:15 and he was up after 45 minutes. Yes, you might be saying he "doesn't need" the nap then. I would beg to differ, with a tired little 9 month old at 7pm. With a little guy who rubs his eyes at 5:30 and yawns.

What do I do? (I know what I'm GOING to do.. keep on keeping on... but I wish we could come to a happy medium and a ~90 minute nap would be nice!)

how are the kids?

An appropriate question for a day on which they are all home, courtesy of bad (awesome!) weather and a school closure. I had planned on trying to get some updated pictures of the kids "soon" so today's as good a day as any. Let's see if I can get it done and posted today. As to how they are:

Allen is doing well in 3rd grade. He brings home a sheet of math homework every night and has weekly spelling/writing homework. He has adjusted to wearing glasses. He still loves to read and usually has a book in hand. He is active in karate (his 3rd year of participating in that) and has joined Boy Scouts.

Aaron is doing well in 1st grade. According to him, his favorite subject is "recess" but seriously, he is still a math rockstar. He spends a lot of time outside and has several neighborhood friends amongst whose houses the 3 kids rotate going after school. They just pick one and then hang out there for hours, or bounce back and forth. This is what I was looking for in a town, a place where the kids can do this!

Perpetua is going to turn 5 in a couple weeks. Her birthday party is Saturday. We have been doing preschool at home and she still enjoys it. We've expanded the scope a little to give her heavier exposure to letters/numbers/etc. She is a very positive person who has a lot of "little girl friends" despite the fact that all of her long time friends are either kindergarteners or enrolled in the local day care. We have a lot of Saturday playdates, and she likes to play outside with her brothers. She spends the day with us at home doing preschool, craft projects and playing with her younger siblings. She dotes on Andrew.

Rosalie is plugging along. She is a spirited, opinionated 2 year old. She is extremely verbal, talks in full sentences and has for some time. We weighed her the other day and she is up to 22 lbs. The most recent word on her size is that the doctors suspect she is "just small" (fancy name: constitutional growth delay/familial short stature). She enjoys participating in our preschool-at-home program. She loves to glue things, and to cut them up with scissors (we have to guard her, she has talked repeatedly about cutting her brother's hair - hasn't happened yet).

Andrew is 9 months old and an exemplary baby. We jokingly call him a sales baby, because he represents babies so well. He is exceptionally easygoing and happy. He has 3 teeth - two on bottom, one on top. He eats a variety of foods. He pulls up and cruises easily and is experimenting with letting go and standing on his own. He clearly delights in his progress. He weighs something like 23-24 lbs.

As a family, we are looking forward to a couple of visits in the next 2 weeks. My dad is joining us for a couple days, all the way from Ketchikan; and Allen's parents will be visiting over the Thanksgiving holidays (flight loads permitting). If they don't make it out pre-Thanksgiving we'll be postponing our holiday meal to Friday if they are able to get in.

There's a mini-update. Let's see if I can get some pictures worthy of being posted here today to share!

every time I see that number on the caller ID...

My kids are good kids. In school, one is a little more theatrical (but still a good student) than the other.

The phone just rang and every time I see the caller ID display says "LKSD" my stomach tightens and I'm wondering what the child did or said (because now, I can tell which school is calling as the boys are at different schools).

It was only a call to schedule parent teacher conferences, which I anticipate to go well. I've stayed in regular contact with both sons' teachers about their classroom performance, among other things. Why do I always assume there's been a problem when the school calls home? I guess a call home from the teacher indicates something different from "a regular day".

development, pride, and joy!

Our youngest child is 9 months old and exploring his capabilities as far as standing, letting go, getting back up, and going back at it again.

He's an old pro at crawling and has been crawling for awhile. We just shared a delicious moment where he pulled up to the couch, got up to standing and was just beaming with accomplishment. He knew he'd done it (again). In our family there is no shortage of sibling assistance to the new crawler, puller-upper, etc. so Perpetua rushed over to be behind him "in case he falls".

I explained to her that in the process of learning to walk he would fall, more than once. And that that was OK, and with gentle assurance he would have the confidence and practice to know how NOT to fall one day and walk just like everyone else. Aaron recalled how when Rosalie was learning to walk we stretched out a rope for her to hang onto and she went between us (she took a l-o-n-g 16 months to learn to walk!)

As I'm typing this Andrew is pulling up and cruising around a box of magazines I have sitting in the office. He shoots a wide smile at me each time I catch his eye. He's determined and positive. When do people lose this enthusiasm for the little things in life?

One of my favorite parts of parenting is watching the little people acquire a new skill. Andrew's joy and delight in his new accomplishments, and his refinement of those skills, is just delicious. As I am about to hit post he's figured out how to stand up while pushing against the wall. So sweet. (He never stops!)

day books

While I was in Anchorage I purchased a 2010 Day Book. They're sort of (to me) like a blog on paper. A decent space for each day to write about what happened that day, things you have or had to do, etc.

I look forward to keeping it up and seeing if it is something I will enjoy. I told my mom that maybe in 100 years it will end up on ebay as an example of life in western Alaska at the beginning of the 21st century (or however you count that - it's still early in the morning)... in any event, maybe the children will enjoy looking at it someday and seeing what our family was doing then.

(What would have been) the girls' Christmas present...

Well, I'm going to jump in and edit this post. And it makes me sad/angry to do so! The lovely sellers of this fabulous item wanted $113 more in shipping charges for this item (for a total of $150 in shipping), for a total of $523. I told them I was not able to justify this charge and I'd have to cancel my order. I totally think it's worth the $400 for the item, plus the shipping charge (I got a discount on the item, so plus shipping, it would've been around $400) but $523 is a different matter. If you know of any lovely and similarly detailed/quality dollhouses that will actually get shipped to Alaska for less than an arm and a leg (or $150)... please leave a comment!
This is what Perpetua and Rosalie are getting for Christmas. We got the dollhouse "special" so it comes with all of the furniture you see in the house. Soooo awesome. I can't wait to share the joy with the kiddos! It has sliding doors, balconies... really neat! Assembled it measures 31 x 31 x 18". We got a very high quality one too, so it's sure to last for years. I just finished placing my order, I'm excited for them!

back in the land of $10 milk

I guess I'm exaggerating since milk is really "only" $8.99 + tax.

I got back from Anchorage on the morning jet; it's nice to be home but tough to leave my mom, who is awesome (and still in the air on her way home to Ketchikan).

I got no concrete answers for the reason I went to Anchorage but ruled out the Big Scary Possibilities, so I'm content to let it rest at that.

I came down with something the day before I left, and actually wound up going into YKHC to get rehydrated via IV and some anti-nausea stuff. It was not fun to have that compounding a very busy, somewhat potentially stressful trip.

One of the medical staff in Anchorage (a person who ran one of the machines) was exceptionally rude and insensitive to me. Made me cry just because of his approach and the way he queried my "symptoms" (which are so minor, anyway - just had to rule out some potentially bad causes, which they did). I will be contacting the hospital to complain about that.

I have thoughts rolling around about how impersonal hospitals are, and how the staff is able to go about day-to-day business. Of course they have to maintain clinical detatchment or they wouldn't be professional, or able to do their jobs. But there's a difference between clinical detatchment and lack of regard for a human being.

On a closing note: I had the pleasure experience of sitting next to a person on the plane who thought nothing of coughing repeatedly without making an effort to cover up. I saw this at the hospital as well. With all the hype about swine flu, and in a healthcare setting... and on an airplane... seriously? I don't want whatever you have! It was pretty disgusting.

I'm still not 100% (did *I* get the flu? maybe... I felt pretty bad) so blogging is on the back burner for now, but I wanted to share my happiness that the Big Bad Possibilities did not turn out to be reality. That's a good thing.