7 Quick Takes: Summer Comes to Alaska edition

--- 1 ---

 In a record-breaking-ly long "snow season" (time between first snowfall last year and last accumulating snowfall this year), the weather since May 24 has been most welcome. The recorded high temperatures have been 66, 70, 63, 75, 72, 78, and 66 today. Those are "official at the airport" temps, but I have this snapshot as I was driving the kids to violin lessons yesterday!

We all have the beginnings of a tan or a "healthy pink glow" going on here. Anyone who is a veteran of an Alaskan summer knows we are happy with temps in the 60s, anything 65 or above is GREAT and if you hit or top 70? Wow. (Last summer, that happened once).

--- 2 ---

Since we have been spending most of our time outside - literally, everything has screeched to a halt so we can be OUTSIDE and IN THE SUN - I have not been posting here. We have been spending our time being at parks, playgrounds, hiking at all times of day. Aaron enrolled in a series of baseball camps and is really enjoying it. His last day of this first week's one is tomorrow and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

--- 3 ---

Since Allen is entering 7th grade this fall, he is officially part of our church's youth group now. They have all sorts of great activities. This week, he went on a daylong hike on Turnagain Arm. They saw a black bear (Allen said it just went about its own business.. good thing!) and he was really happy when I picked him up. Obviously I would LOVE to be doing these hikes with him but with six other younger kids at home it's not my season in life to sign up for that. They are also participating in the Alaska Catholic Youth Conference (Allen is going to the Jr. High portion) and have a rafting and camping trip scheduled for late June. So exciting!

--- 4 ---

Yesterday we spent hours at Pt. Woronzof on the west side of Anchorage past the airport. Throwing rocks, watching airplanes, putting hands in mud, ham sandwiches for dinner. It's the stuff of a perfect evening!

--- 5 ---

This evening we got outside yet again as a family to the Cuddy Family Midtown Park. There are an alarming amount of "tame" ducks and geese there that people feed bread to. These things love it and we had a disappointingly icky moose-rib dinner (not my fault, honestly! These were smoked before being given to us and it just didn't work for the way we were told to cook them). Oh well - can't win 'em all. Aidan and Andrew "climbed rocks" while Pet, Rose and Aaron climbed trees. We watched large (6') kites being flown. Ducks and geese ate bread. Fun times.

--- 6 ---

I got out on a "hike" by myself this week. My aim is every night but that's not happening and that's OK. There was still "a lot" of snow on Flat Top. I brought my snow cleats but didn't put them on - I would've been taking them on and off for various parts of the trail and that is just a pain in the butt. So I slipped around on the snow more than I would've otherwise.... here's to more hiking, soon.

--- 7 ---

I have no idea what I'm fixing the family for dinner tomorrow night. It has been a week of thrown-together "what's in the freezer, want a ham sandwich?" pack a picnic type of dinners. Which, sadly, means I don't have a plan for tomorrow. That's a dangerous thing. Have a suggestion? Leave a comment!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

no security

Almost a year ago, we had our car stolen in the middle of the night. The vehicle was recovered 3 months later, minus some personal contents and with some stolen property and empty alcohol bottles in the back. After a thorough cleaning, we drive it around (it's my most favorite car ever with it's extra loud rumbly aftermarket exhaust and its 19mpg highway driving!).

Since then, I've realized that despite the vehicle coming back to us unharmed I have lost most of my feeling of security. We live in a low-crime section of Anchorage (if you call up the crime map, our area/our neighborhood is rarely on there, even a little bit!).

I wake up in the middle of the night if I hear cars going up and down our (dead end) street. Just now someone pulled up to the house across from us - we have large-ish lots so there are only 8 or so houses on our road. The person didn't go into the house and seemed to be taking the wood laid out for the waste disposal folks who come through our subdivision to collect tree trimmings at this time of year. What made me uncomfortable was that I didn't recognize the car, and who the heck comes to do those things at 10:15 at night? The car then drove down the cul-de-sac and left, and I relaxed a little.

I lock every door, every window prior to leaving and even when I'm at home, I have our front/back/garage doors locked. I don't feel obligated to open the door just because someone rang the doorbell - if I don't know you, it's not happening.

I don't "do" freecycle any more, just on the off chance that that's how the person came to our neighborhood or my house. I'm kind of hesitant about Craigslist and am more likely to send something to work with Allen to be sold than sell it out of my house. The idea makes me uncomfortable. 

Worst of all is when Allen is out of town on business. I end up staying up way too late to try to "make myself tired" and hearing all sorts of things in the night. If a kid is up in the middle of the night for a drink of water, I hear it. I have to go check.

I sure wish I felt secure. I miss not wondering who/why/what for every bump in the night/3AM drive-by/etc. One of those things you don't know you're missing until *poof* it's gone.

7 Quick Takes, Vol 3 - No Time to Sit edition!

--- 1 ---

Over the weekend, our 2 year old decided it was time to start potty training. Who am I to say no? I had planned to put that on my plate sometime this summer, but if he's taking the initiative, I'm going to run with it.

We have had several succcesses, several MORE false alarms, and one accident in a few days' time. It's going OK. Most challenging? Having to attend every.single.alarm every.single.time while keeping an eye on Alex Wonderbaby. I can't tell you how many interruptions simply making salad dressing for my lunch had today due to this potty training thing we are doing.

--- 2 ---

As referenced in a previous post, last week I climbed the back side of Flat Top. It is the most frequently climbed "peak" in Alaska, with an elevation of 3510 feet. I feel silly being proud of that, but I am! It was not easy for me at all! I liked the rock climbing more than I liked the uphill onslaught approach to the southside. Sliding down the back part of the mountain was so much fun! Here are a couple of pictures. We did more sliding on descending (on purpose) than we did walking. I was sore for a week.

 Summit pole!

 Imagine sliding down this on your backside with rain pants, or a black trash sack, or whatever! Alaskans improvise. It was so much fun, and worth the tough parts of getting up to the top.

 The other side of the sliding "area". I'm sure there's some kind of technical term for this landform, but I'm not aware of it now. If you know, tell me!

--- 3 ---

We were fortunate to have Allen's aunt and his mom in for a Korean-themed dinner. Living in Bethel, we acquired a taste for Korean cuisine and I'm actually pretty good at making things! It was nice to see them. There was an unseasonably late snowstorm that night so they left early; however, it was nice to see them!

--- 4 ---

This is the last week of school for the kids. It is a jam packed activity, as I have kids "graduating" from kindergarten and sixth grade (concluding his time at elementary school). I'm not really sure how that is going to fit in with our current schedule of every-3-minutes-to-the-bathroom for Aidan, but I'll let you know how that goes. Hah.

--- 5 ---

Due to the late snowstorm I have four medium sized peony plants inside my house on the hearth, blooming. The intent is to plant them... soon. I'm hoping this week. There's so much to do at the house and never, ever enough time - even with streamlining what we do and prioritizing things. We are doing the best we can.

--- 6 ---

Allen was sick this weekend, so we had "breakfast for dinner" last night, with homemade buttermilk pancakes -- my grandfather's recipe. it was great! The kids couldn't get enough. I am actually out of buttermilk today so I need to make a trip to the store so I can repeat the success tonight (not for dinner, but as a snack).

--- 7 ---

On the same theme of having too much to do, I have too many books to read. I want to read them all. It's just not happening. I'm not the kind of person who can carve out every single bit of leisure time in my life and work from dawn to dusk and remain sane. So books? And staying up a little too late? They're my method of taking a break. I'm realizing that I just haven't been making a lot of headway on my book pile(s) - it's taking me days to finish a book I know I could knock out in an afternoon. Good subject matter and all that, just not enough time to dedicate to it!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

I made it up the back side of Flat Top

I feel slightly ridiculous feeling SO accomplished for doing this, considering it is the most-often climbed peak in Alaska. That said, I did not go up the "normal" approach with the big, widely established trail. I went up the trail off of Upper DeArmoun and Canyon Rd! I also will be honest and say parts of it really scared me. Now more honesty: I will do it again, because now I know I can make it up! I look forward to doing the front approach since THAT I have come close to finishing and I now realize it's... less challenging... than going up the south side!

There was some actual rock climbing. My friend that I went with is a super-experienced rock climber and can do this 3-4 times a week! As it is now, I am so.very.sore. that I will be taking a couple days off from just about everything as much as a mom of 7 can! Everything super physical anyway.

The views were amazing and we got a little bit of sun on the way down. My outer fleece jacket was on and off the whole time, and I wore gloves for protection for my hands. On the way down (we did not come down over the rocks) we were able to slide on the snow the majority of the way. It was a lot of fun!

Pioneer thoughts on toys

A month or so ago I attended a field trip with one of my children's classes to the Pioneer Schoolhouse in downtown Anchorage. You might correctly guess it's the first schoolhouse built in our town. As part of the presentation, we got to tour pioneer era cabins on the grounds (outfitted with all the accoutrements of turn of the century Alaskan life). We were shown a trunk such as early families may have used to move their possessions to Alaska. It was noted that children in such families had 1-2 toys, maximum!

I thought at the time and have revisited since then that those families really knew what to do. I love having my kids have fun, but I'm currently in the midst of another toy-culling and really hoping to get rid of a lot of what I have. It's so time consuming to Craigslist things for only a few dollars, I don't want to have a garage sale; I'm not feeling the free cycle love -- something about having our car stolen last year makes me really leery of inviting people to my property to just come get things. Great idea in theory but the reality has me less comfortable about the process. So, the reality is probably going to be a few trips to value village. Which is fine... Though I also dislike the idea of some corporate entity profiting off of my donations.

In the end I guess I just want much of it out of my house with minimal investment of my time (a very limited resource right now). Back to the toy pile....

7 quick takes (vol. 2)

--- 1 ---

Continuing with the school themed posts here. On Thursday I was fortunate to be able to attend a salmon release field trip with my daughter at Taku Lake. We also went to Potter's Marsh boardwalk for a number of presentations by ADF&G. It was cold, hovering in the high 40s, overcast sky. I had a small group of 3 kids, including Perpetua. The lines were long (as in, we waited 25 minutes to participate in one activity; at several learning stations the point of access was 2-3 children deep, another popular station had a wait of upwards of one HOUR. We were there for two hours total and supposed to eat lunch as well!) If someone was looking for input from me, a regular parent? It'd be that the folks putting on the event - which is really great - need to extend it to two days instead of one and halve the number of schools/attendees on each day. It would REALLY make a difference to the participants and the enthusiasm of the kids.

--- 2 ---

I read elsewhere the term "April Angst" regarding schooling choices for the next year. I have one child exiting elementary and entering "middle school" (7th grade) in fall of 2013. Our school is unfortunately situated right on the boundary line for two middle schools. The north side of major street sends kids to one middle school and the south side to another. Splits the 6th grade class roughly in half. I had a strange, random interaction with a staff member I met that morning that "really likes (my son) and that I need to watch out for him at middle school because he's one of the quieter kids. It struck me as odd because - ALL schools, ALL forms of school, have their drawbacks. The things to watch for. We don't live in a ghetto and I've had limited experience with students of both schools. The perception is that one school is THE one to go to - except for the kids and parents I know that have referenced a kind of exclusive social mix there, and the problems that might entail. We did tour our zoned middle school and the children seemed outgoing, confident and excited about their activities. Allen was offered the choice of electives he seemed excited about participating in and we are going to give it a try while reserving the option to change our minds at any point - just the same as we approach school for each of our other kids!

--- 3 ---

All the stuff in point #2 above? Goes for Kid #2 who will be trying out a new school in the fall. There are a lot of reasons we've decided to move in that direction, many specific to that child. It's a place I hope he finds encouraging. We have had a really good fourth grade year at our current school and I'm taking the long view towards hoping this is a place he can stay through high school. Yes, we did apply at that same charter school for kid #1, but the lottery system was not (ever) in our favor and he is currently at spot #14 on a waiting list for a seat. I have been reluctant to discuss our choice with people because I can sense the questions as to why we decided to make this change and I can't seem to answer them in a non-loaded fashion. The reasons are positive and hopeful, you'll just have to trust me. And if the school isn't a good fit? We will exercise our option to remove him from it.

--- 4 ---

I had the pleasure of attending the Spring Chorus/2nd, 4th and 6th grade choir concert. Allen and Perpetua both participate in an extracurricular chorus. Allen has participated since his first year at this school (4th grade) and really enjoyed it. Last year he em-cee'd a school concert and it's given him an area to develop his interests in. Perpetua has participated since first grade, the youngest this activity is open to joining so this is her third session. The teacher did a good job of organizing the kids, involving the audience, playing the accompanying music, and even making recorder playing by the 4th graders interesting.

--- 5 ---

By some minor miracle that might have involved me crawling under the boys' bunk bed to get forgotten library books, we are not currently in arrears with the school library. My kids love reading and we always have books out from the municipal library, same goes for the school library. They are supposed to turn them in weekly but tend to keep them out longer. Sometimes for a really. long. time. However, all's well that ends well and I didn't have to pay any fines, or replace any books! I feel so accomplished!

--- 6 ---

The last day of school is May 23rd. That week especially is filled with special parties, schoolwide BBQ lunches, class parties, field trips, graduation ceremonies.... GEEZ. Having a kid finishing their first year in Kindergarten and exiting the school as a 6th grade graduate - it's a lot. And then throw in two more kids finishing up a fantastic second and fourth grade year, along with 3 kids ages 4, 2 and 1 to have along on these outings. Wow. Deep, cleansing breaths.

--- 7 ---

I know I've mentioned it before, but I feel like we just hit our stride in school in the last month and now it's ending. I would never trade my free summer time with the kids away for "more school" and it would really slay me to have any formal indoor school during the Alaskan summertime which is meant to be spent almost entirely outside... it's hard to see years that largely went well for ALL of the kids to end. I know, statistically, that this may not recur. We got lucky this year even though some kids had a few bumps with assignments being turned in. It's all a process. Here's to living in the moment through the next two weeks and appreciating each day for what it is.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

birthdays and technology

Tonight I sat down, and I did not let Apple defeat me. I am left wondering why I resisted iTunes for so long. My iPad is the next best thing since sliced bread and thensome (yeah!). So tonight, prompted by the gift of a tiny iPod sat down to finally figure out iTunes.

I had a basic, lovely no-frills mp3 player and it was nice. I haven't used it in a while (there are so many other things to be doing at any given point at my house - aside from which I used to use it to get my talk radio fix and that's been easier to come by lately). Maybe this will kick along an exercise routine. One could only hope. Anyway, this gift arrived unexpectedly so let's make the most of it, right?

I had a throw-the-computer moment of frustration getting iTunes to load on it. Not really, but mentally I could see how people might WANT to throw a computer. Or something. Then something clicked and I was able to see my entire (non-apple-purchased) music library for the win. Then I downloaded some podcasts of a few favorite radio programs.

Then, I went to see if I could also access it through my iPad. Not yet, apparently. Will have to figure that one out. It's my understanding that iTunes would allow me access on all of my "devices". Technology hasn't beaten me yet.

this is what "it's a girl!" is made of....

Tonight I had the absolute joy of presenting Perpetua with a new dress and fixing her hair for her chorus concert tonight. 

My mad hair-doing skillz in action for my daughter. I love doing things like this for her.

Here she is holding a baby chick in her classroom before the concert. Did I mention she is only eight years old??????? Geez. I feel like I should post a picture of my husband polishing a gun here :-) And, this kid has five brothers. So there.

Yes, this post is all about showing off my girl. However, my son Allen is also in the extracurricular chorus. It was his last year (since he's in 6th grade). He received a certificate for his participation. Aaron was a moderately willing fourth grade participant - the fourth graders played recorders.

It was a great concert, as school concerts go (and I've been to a LOT of them).

Off the wagon but with the best intentions!

Perhaps posting every day is a biiiiig goal for me! I don't like to throw out unsubstantial posts out there.

We've had a busy few days that included house guests and sleepovers, swimming pools and airport runs. Last night we "adopted" a friend's baby guinea pig. She's almost pure white so the name in the running right now is "Coconut". We had adopted a friend's guinea pig a couple of years ago, but she was close to the end of her natural life span when we got her and we had a good year. We didn't want to rush right in and replace her, nor did we want another older guinea. This one is a month old and so little! So far she seems to have lots of energy, which is awesome.

Other news: Alex is talking a little! He says hi, no, yes, mama and daddy. It's pretty fun. On today's activity roster is playground day with one of the playgroups I try to attend on a regular basis (emphasis on try).

Sooooo many books

Keeping the everyday thing alive here! I went to the library today and was able to check out more books for the family than we can possibly read without renewing a few times. A great feeling. I'm off to bed with one of those but will update later with a list from my "bookshelf"!

So glad it's Friday!

I'm aiming to hit "post" on this post before midnight on Friday so it'll still count for the every day in May challenge!

I must say I'm so glad it's the weekend. The past week with school stuff and Allen being gone has just worn-me-out. Yesterday's overflowing bathroom mess courtesy of Aidan was one of those laugh or cry things, I did a little of both.

I'm looking forward to several things, one of the big ones being sleep. I allowed myself to get up 40 minutes later than usual today and the kids were ALMOST late to school because of it. That said, they weren't late and there were people behind me in the drop off queue... Not that it justifies the arrival time (8:52) but at least I had company and there were still teachers out there supervising drop offs.

Tonight the girls have a friend sleeping over (yay!!!) and tomorrow she's hanging with us too. In the afternoon is a birthday party Perpetua is looking forward to.

On that note, I'm off to bed and plan to sleep soundly!

7 quick takes (vol. 1)

--- 1 ---

 This is my first time ever doing this! I enjoy reading them though, so here goes. This is going to be vaguely school related. We have had a lot of school challenges the past couple of weeks. Two of our kids will be going to different schools next year (one is aging out of elementary school and headed to middle school, the other is going to try out a charter school with our encouragement. The upshot could be avoiding the middle school scene completely since the charter school runs through 8th grade). There have been mixed feelings about this transition with both of the kids. Onward and upward though - no way around but through.

--- 2 ---

I've been feeling a little hesitant to discuss in depth with anyone our school choices. I know in the end we are responsible only to our children and ourselves and we need to make the best choices we can for us. That said, this seems to be an incredibly loaded issue in Anchorage; or maybe I just know people with very strong feelings on school choice. This is a great thing because I love people with convictions. It can make things a little uncomfy or awkward though when your choices and opinions diverge. I suppose so long as I'm confident in our choices that's just fine. The thing is, I would pay vast amounts for a crystal ball or somesuch where I could say "whoops, watch out for _______" or "we'd better really pay attention to _____" or "child X needs some extra concentration with (whatever subject". I guess I can't save everyone from themselves. As the kids get older I'm finding it hard to strike an academic balance between taskmistressing and encouraging responsibility for one's own work.

--- 3 ---

I spent a lot of time helping Perpetua with her homework tonight. She's perfectly capable of doing it, and not lazy. However, things ran up on the rocks if I lightened up on the guidance (step A, step B, step C, now let's write it down). I am going to research ways to encourage her to follow through on her own without me prompting the next step immediately.

--- 4 ---

 I'm rolling around in my head whether or not to send Andrew to preschool next schoolyear. He doesn't need the socialization; though most people seem to have it as "the thing to do". I'm not able to devote the time to a co-op. I'm also not sure what our schedule will look like next year with kids at, potentially, 3 different schools, one of which requires someone to transport to and from (no bus service).

--- 5 ---

The charter school thing again. Judgement. Why did we make this choice? It's not that we dislike our current school. It's been a great place for our kids in general. For this specific child, I think he could benefit and might do even better in a different environment. I am interested to see how their curriculum aligns with what our kids have been exposed to so far. Maybe we will find that our Local Elementary is actually a better fit. I'm looking forward to learning with all of our kids. I haven't really initiated discussions about it with anyone I know locally - not only because most of the people I know in our school community are the girls' friends' parents - but also because there's the unspoken question of "why?" and it is a bit awkward. Not better, not worse, just different, and we're giving it a try.

--- 6 ---

I'm looking forward to making lists with the kids of different areas they'd like to learn more about this summer. I'm going to thrown in some religious instruction as well (hopefully). Things went awry with our CCD this year and Perpetua's FHC - we were sick for weeks on end (not all of us, but enough of us and her specifically often enough) that we were not able to have her participate with her class. So we need to review things with her and then make other arrangements.

--- 7 ---

 Finishing up my learning theme: violin lessons. Again, due to illness (either family or her specifically) Perpetua missed several weeks of class. She is having to review things she had down a long time ago and has forgotten some stuff. She was disappointed - but we are working on getting that knowledge back down!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Dear orchestra teacher:

Dear orchestra teacher:

I wish to apologize for my son's absense at tonight's evening concert event. There were a number of extenuating circumstances contributing to this all of which were my responsibility:

• My 2 year old caused our upstairs toilet to overflow, contributing to
• A large amount of must-be-washed-NOW laundry before
• Making a trip to the airport to pick up son's dad from a week long business trip.

In addition to this, it would have been very difficult to do a total of eighty minutes of driving (two forty minute round trips from our house to the destination and back) with my other six children, ages 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 in the car, or to park and find my way into the Sullivan Arena along with the (literally) 2000 other students and the parents, siblings and friends of those students, and keep those aforementioned children calm and well behaved for a period of two hours during practice, recital and packing up to leave 90 minutes after the youngest three children's bedtime.

Son not coming tonight was due to the convergence of all these factors into a perfect storm. This is the first time he has missed an orchestra event all year. Thank you for understanding why we couldn't be there tonight.

Sincerely,

Me*

*I didn't, and won't be, actually sending this. It's just a humorous illustration of actual events making up my evening.

Limits

I'm writing this post at almost midnight on a day where I have been go-go-going all day long since the moment I got out of bed, so read with that in mind!

Tonight, and recently, I've been rolling around in my head what limits are suitable for our family. I tend NOT to decline suggestions, opportunities, ideas, if I "could" do them. Sometimes that puts me in a state of overcommitment to various things and I wind up frustrated and tapped out. The correction is that I bunker up at home and decline things for awhile. I've gotten better at staying even as far as commitments go, but my tendency is to push to say "yes" to things, because, while routine is good you miss out on a LOT if all you ever say is no, my windows need cleaning/I need to iron my cloth napkins/I need to check my tire pressures.

Allen was out of town for a bit and usually I tackled some huge household project. This time around? Nothing but "the usual", thanks, as that's quite enough. As I write this I am about 50% done with the current rendition of Mt. Laundry and halfway through a PBS/BBC show I watch while I'm doing that laundry on the iPad. Such ridiculous things a mom of seven does in the middle of the night! I think of this as another "limit" - recognition that no, I cannot take on a project right now, my plate is full with the demands of day to day life and I do not need to paint a room/tear up carpeting/take down wallpaper/attempt to texture walls in my kitchen.

I had a friend ask me this week if we were doing the "soccer craziness" this summer. The short answer is no! We really enjoyed soccer last year. That said, driving to the field 3 times in one day for 3 separate games was and is too much for "current me" to do. We have a healthy schedule planned out with more time for free form spontaneous activities, gymnastics, volunteering, playgroups/park days and hiking. It's going to be more than enough in the good way!

I also apply pressure to myself to go ahead and stretch that last little bit and do things even if I'm not entirely comfortable, if I'd rather be doing something else, etc. Tonight I was considering whether I should dedicate tomorrow to an activity that would've required considerable driving and upheaval from normal routine and the setting aside of normal domestic tasks I still need to do because we would then not be at home. I've decided I'm stretched enough and that no, we won't be doing that activity. Would the family have benefitted from this option? Sure! I'm almost positive we'd all have a good time. But I am recognizing our limits and noting that things need accomplishing here, nobody, kids included, is lacking in things to do. There are many compelling reasons to just.stay.put tomorrow and so we shall. There is a surprising amount of activity going on with the kids in regards to end of school, graduation(I will have a seventh grader next year?!), chorus, orchestra, gymnastics x3, violin lessons, recitals, church.... Wow.

Thanks for indulging me in a bit of self reflection. Limits are a good and necessary thing. I'm trying to balance the tendency towards "yes" and still accept as much spontaneity as I can in our lives (because the unexpected is often fun!).

Another blog I read is doing an "every day in May" posting challenge. I might try it! I do miss writing.