1/26/15 A Day of Inspiration

Today was a special schedule because of MAP testing. I can't seem to escape the MAP testing! It is very nice to have individual laptops for students to test on. They drop their laptops off before lunch and I load the test up. They return from lunch and take the test. Its nice that the whole school takes the test at the same time. There is no month long testing of students that I have experienced in the past. 

The new schedule means extra time for labs. I have only a few pics of the hands on activity before we started conduction/convection and radiation labs. 

I know there's a layer missing, but its all good. They had to peel and label it in their notebooks. 

And what is this lovely piece of art work? 

I mentioned that it was extended class time. I had an hour and 20 minutes of prep time. My copies are ready and my portfolio is updated. I took the opportunity to draw something to add to my bulletin board outside my classroom. I am so tired of looking at blank cork board. It needed something! 

I am going to add some more pictures of drums and dancing to it. I just need a caption to tie it all together. What do you think it should be? 

Sunday Drive and Party!

We like to take a drive out to the gravel pits. Here's the pictures that we look on 1/25/15 about noon. 

The ocean is on the right side. Sadly there isn't any multi-year ice out there and the ice is thin. I'm worried for my junior whalers this year and I pray for everyone's safety. 

I like this picture and it might be going into my favorites pile to get framed. 

We have friends that have twin boys. We were invited to their 6th birthday party. It was fun! The white thing in Abi's hair is her snowflake hair clip she made earlier that day. 

Coolest Cake Idea! Each boy got his favorite superhero on one side! Hulk and Iron Man!

Here Comes The Sun!

We like going to Crafternoon! Today was super special because we saw....

The Sun!!!!

I am so happy that I got to see the sun again! I took a lot of pictures of the sun because it feels like I've been living in darkness forever. I was so excited that I didn't realize that I had been staring at the sun for quite some time. I couldn't see correctly for a few minutes. I saw many elders standing outside, basking in the sunlight. Its an amazing feeling and I feel blessed to see the sun again. 

Family Fun Day!

Emily has a job!

Emily works hard for the money....

I saw this dog on top of a frozen boat and had to take a picture. By the way the white mountain on the back right side is the ocean. 

So its -48 with windchill and my fingers were cold just taking this picture. 

Career Expo

My school had a special Career Expo at it. Students from across the Slope came to Barrow to learn about great opportunities. I was lucky that I was in a room with the Biologist and Vet. An awesome biologist drew this on my board and I couldn't erase it! I kept it on the board for two days. It was a great talking point and I used it as part of my bell work assignment. 

Circus Time!

Someone talked me into checking out the box of toys at the library. It contained several jump ropes for kids and adults, rackets, scoop rackets, scarves, bean bags, plastic circle mats, various balls and a parachute. I'm sure that I'm missing some items from the list, but this is what I could remember picking up. 

We have a common hallway upstairs. Our neighbor put up the gate for her smaller children. Now the kids can play in the hallway during bad weather conditions. I think that it looks like a circus exploded in the hallway. 

We have played several different games in the hallway. The kids get out their old Halloween boxed outfits and play with them. The girls have all played with the plastic bow and arrow target set out in the hallway. There is room to bounce balls and run amuck. I think the important part of the hallway is that its a change of scenery of the kids. They get bored in the same environment. They get cabin fever too! The pictures on the wall help adults too! They are pictures of Greece. They are blue and look warm. It makes it nice to have something other than white walls to look at. 

Keeping kids busy is important up here. This goes beyond text messaging friends all day long or playing video games until you fall asleep. Its being physically active and learning life skills. Cooking, sewing and weaving have been life skills that the girls have been learning. 

In the meantime, I will continue to check the toy box out of the library on a regular basis. Georgia really enjoyed playing with all the materials. Hey, its free! 

Exactly!

Not that cold today!

Today was a warm day. I didn't need to button my coat up as I left the house today. My hands didn't freeze because I didn't have my gloves. I skipped the scarf, gloves and hat. 

It was so warm in the truck that I had to turn the heater off because I was uncomfortable. 

Crazy!

The extended forecast shows that its going to get colder again. We need to enjoy the warm day while we can!

Sunday Funday!

We are in the final days before winter vacation is over. We took it easy this morning and I'm happy to announce that most of us were awake before 10am. The dark skies outside play havoc with your circadian rhythms. Its hard to tell daytime from night time. I am researching a dawn simulator for next year. It brightens your room in increments to help you wake up. 

After our pancake breakfast, we did a quick Bible study. Its nice to have a family Bible study. There are several churches in Barrow to chose from and we attend them at times, but we enjoy being together as a family. 

The fun didn't stop there! We decided to make several things from 

This book is amazing! I am so glad that I grabbed this during our afternoon doing crafts at Tuzzy. There are so many different recipes to make. We had several ideas and plans, but we decided to make churros, toffee bars and old fashioned cheese cake. I am putting this book on my Amazon wish list to buy it soon. 

While the girls were in the kitchen having a blast, I started my newest project, making Georgia new pajamas. The urge just hit me to make that child a pillowcase pj dress. I bought the material at the fur shop and some trim. I didn't like the idea of tying the straps or having long strands of ribbon by her neck while she was sleeping. I decided to put lace around the top and make lace straps. The shop didn't have elastic lace, but I love the lace I bought. It was perfect! Georgia really wanted the Little Pet Shoppe fabric. I had enough fabric left to make Georgia's doll a dress and Georgia got a headband out of it too!

Abi requested a pj dress after seeing Georgia's dress. I'm going to help Emily make her own pj pants. 

I might be emailing family members back home to find out prices of material back home. Material selection is limited and can get expensive. 

Today was a fun day for a Sunday. I feel blessed to have the ability to cook with my children, sew for my children and study the Bible with my family. 

First Sunrise of the New Year.... kinda!

At 1pm today I noticed that it was kinda bright outside. We piled into the old pick up truck and headed to the Point to see polar bears. 

That's the moon! 

I guess you would call this the first sunlight of the New Year. We won't have a sunrise until January 20th. 

Its nice to see some kind of sunlight in the distance. 

This is known as fish camp, located by the Point. The wind has been blowing a lot lately and you can see the snow drifts are growing out here. 

We parked at the Point for a little bit to see more of the light. 

There are so many things to look at and take pictures of here. I'm only using my camera on my phone. Imagine if I had one of those fancy ones. 

This truck was out on the tundra. We don't have a land permit so we can't drive out on the tundra. 

I can't believe that time flies fast. It's January and we have been living in Alaska for 6 months. 

This was taken at the Point facing the Beaufort Sea. Everything beyond that sign is frozen ocean. 

The land goes on forever. I can't imagine how someone survived out in the tundra 3 days being stalked by a wolverine. Its truly a miracle. 

I sneak pictures of Toby whenever I can. 

This one is my favorite of him. 

This is the Chukchi Sea. 

You can see piles of shore ice forming. I've listened to stories from several Elders about the sea ice. The sea ice isn't the same. It has changed so much. A long time ago, you used to be able to walk out onto the ice. Now its dangerous to walk out onto the ice. You will fall through.