As Promised

I went to the Post Office and found a package from Mom!  Inside was some of the best stuff!  She sent my knitting needles and a few skeins of yarn.  Some peanut butter for Ryan (he is obsessed with the stuff) and Easter goodies!  She sent window clings and an Easter basket filled with plastic eggs.

The best part about those eggs is that they jingle with you shake them!  It made me feel so much better about not being home for Easter to celebrate with the family and run around looking for eggs filled with money.   Thanks Mom for sending some pieces of home to me!  Let's see, I relearned how to knit.  I am starting easy with a scarf.  Soon I plan on trying to purl a few rows.  Eventually, I want to make a hat, gloves, and slippers!  Also, check out the new heading picture.  We have been having wonderful weather, isn't it beautiful!

This is what Ryan was doing while I was
learning to knit.  He looks like such a little kid.

Update, Please!

I will update tonight after work, which I have lots to add.  But for this morning my personal triumph is that I can fit into my Spring Raincoat again.  This is really good news because it is really raining out there today!!  Love you all!

To the Point

I don't have time to write this morning, but I wanted to share my excitement.  I have lost 25 lbs as of this morning!  Yay Me!

Busy Bees...

Hello Friends!

We have been busy, busy, busy (especially Ryan).  I just tend to keep myself pretty busy, he had no choice in the matter.  Yesterday I made a paper chain to count down to the days when I get to start eating cheese again!

I guess being a Wisconsin girl I really know my priorities! :o)  It was another beautiful day outside, so I spent a little bit of time sitting watching the harbor.  My favorite ducks in the whole world came to visit; eventually I looked them up to see what they were called and I found out they are the smallest diving duck called "buffleheads".  Here is a picture...

they may not look all that great, but they dive down under the water and then pop back up and it is always super duper cute!  While I was out watching them a Seagull friend swooped down and stood about 3 feet away from me.  He wanted me to feed him; I usually throw them my old veggies (which veggies here go bad really fast).  So here is my friend...

Today I did another art project.  Ryan's classroom has a board that tells the students all the information they need to know about their "economy" which he put together a while back.  Today I erased everything and made it look like a cute menu board at a cafe.  I think the pictures speak for themselves, take a look...

Right now I am cooking dinner for Ryan, making him lasagna, and preparing my lunches for this week, 100g extra lean hamburgers.  Ryan is vigorously reading, analyzing, and highlighting research papers for his thesis paper.  He has 32 articles to read before wednesday.  Talk about procrastination kicking you in the butt!  Well that is all the news I have for now.  Later gators.
Oh also we did check out the moon the other night and it was clear enough for us to see it.  It was not nearly as big as I had hoped.  Bummer for living in AK and not WI for the big show!  Maybe next time (20 years from now)!

Bunnies

Today has been an interesting day.  Yesterday I came home from work and turned down the heat in order to open the window!  It was beautiful outside.  Unfortunately, I shut the window and forgot to turn the heat back on.  Ryan and I woke up very early because we were shivering and freezing to death.  Oops!
After sleeping in I went for a walk to the post office then to the school to get Ryan.  Today was wonderful outside, maybe even in the 50's.  After we got home we drove to the grocery store.

As we walked in, I turned to the right and noticed all the lovely Easter decorations.  While this made me very sad, because I won't be home for Easter for the first time ever, I had a great idea.  We bought two Easter baskets and are planning on filling them up then hiding them for each other on Easter!  We only have about three places in our apartment to hide something like that, but it will be a blast.  I am excited to be the Easter Bunny.  Right now we are sitting on the love seat looking out the window and there is a beautiful sunset.  We also are excited to see the moon tonight, I will let you know if it is as special and grand as it is supposed to be.  

The "Real Job"

That is supposed to be me tutoring! 

Well, today was day 2 of my new job. I spend from 8:30-10:00 in Ryan's classroom helping out his students (mostly keeping them on track...I need a whip!), then I head to the 2nd grade room, then 3rd grade and that brings me all the way to lunch. My duties have been everything from grading papers to working one-on-one with students. This afternoon I spent time working on inventory for the principal, however in the future I will be do something at the high school during the afternoons. It is pretty great to have a wonderful job and get paid pretty well doing it! I have really enjoyed myself that last two days. The only unfortunate part is that I have been really worn out when I get home though. Today I just want to curl up and take a nap.

Recently I was curious about those "what will my baby look like" thingys, so I tested it out.  I kept the picture to see if our children look anything like the predictor.  So I thought you may be interested.  Our kid is pretty ugly...we are hoping that will not be the case and this predictor is incorrect!

Band, Choir, and Work.

Hello Everybody.  This week I got to be the music teacher again (including tomorrow) and it has gone so much better than last time!  I am working with high school band and choir in the morning, which is a blast. I really enjoy conducting for them and listening to their music.  The elementary students have been much better and I finally am getting through to the sixth graders.  However, I got a request to see the principal today... I was strangely really nervous, even though I knew I wasn't in trouble.  When I got there she asked if I would like to work as a tutor with certain students throughout the district.  What does this mean for me... I got a job (other than subbing)!  I have to set up my schedule with the teachers and I will be working everyday until I leave on May 1st.  No more getting called at 7:30am to be at work for 8:00.  This is going to be great.  Lets see, I have been taking over the blog I am going to ask Ryan if he has anything to say about his life... his response "ummmmm, I'm Awesome!"  It's true everything here in Alaska is awesome and we miss you all very much.  Tata for now.

March rolls in...Way Too Quick!

This past weekend we had a wonderful couple, Avery and Rachelle, come over for dinner and game night!  We ordered a great pizza from the Marine Bar and I made some awesome homemade jalapeno poppers.  They brought delicious ice cream for desert!  We taught them how to play "Flux" and "Miles Borne".  They loved the card games as much as we do!  The night was a great success, too bad we didn't call them earlier in the year.

Yesterday I was really ill.  I even threw up, which I haven't done in response to an illness in a long, long time!  Today I stayed home and slept/watched movies most the day.  I have also been having icky headaches.  I hope I feel better soon, in the meantime Ryan will continue to take great care of me.  

The last few days have been beautiful outside.  We even went for a walk both days.  The sunsets have been glorious.  We are looking forward to spring!  

Hmmm... We have a few random things to share:  We ordered and began reading "The 5 Love Languages".  We also had our first premarital counseling session over the phone with the pastor who will be marrying us.  It went wonderfully.  Also we have a new subscriber to our blog; Dulcey and she mentioned in her blog finding ours as one of her weeks highlights.  It made us feel pretty special!  Oh and my Angel Grandma got to read the blog at my parents house.  I think this is a wonderful idea and we are really enjoy writing about our lives!  

Music and Flux

As you all know, music is a large part of my life.  I have always found great pleasure and peace in listening to and playing music.  Can you imagine my excitement when the music teacher asked me to teach her classes while she was gone?  Well, I was just overjoyed!  Turns out it is not very exciting.  The last two days, I have played many music-related games with elementary students and when I say played games with I really mean tried to keep the peace and somewhat quiet while the children acted crazy and out-of-control! It is like being in a zoo.  Luckily I had some good experiences as well.  I got to conduct the 6th grade and 7th/8th grade bands.  The 6th graders are still large pains in my behind, but the 7th/8th grade band was a blast!  They play pretty well and actually enjoy being in band!  Next week, I will also have the opportunity to teach high school band and choir.  I am certainly looking forward to that!

Flux.  What does that mean to you?  To Ryan and I it is a wonderful card game that we began playing tonight.  He got the game as a gift from a friend for his birthday and it is so much fun!  It would be a lot of fun with a large group of people!  Maybe this summer when we are home we can get a bunch of people together to play games and bring this one along.