April 24th - Heading to ANC

Well it used to be just the two of us:
Brock and I are heading to Anchorage today so that we can meet mom and Mary Jane there tomorrow! It's so hard to believe how fast that time has gone. It seems like yesterday we were talking about... 100 days from now!

Brock still loves his bath. I love those big brown eyes! He is now 6 months old and has 4 teeth! He is growing so much it is just amazing! Below: Brock practicing his Elvis look. I just love that little snarl thing he has going!

We'll be updating you on our life with our visitors so stay tuned!
Love ya'll!!!

Updates

Brock's new love is "The Wiggles"! He will sit and watch them for the longest time. It's so funny to watch him! He is so content it isn't even funny. I, on the other hand, am getting a bit tired of Captain Feathersword! Not really... I do find myself humming their songs from time to time.
The above picture is when Brock was "dancing" with the Wiggles. Below: It's like he is telling me to hurry up and take his picture. He was missing his show!

Above: Brock in his playpen, chewing on his ring. This was when he was working on his upper teeth, which he now has.

Ok, I have no idea why this is underlined... but.... Brock was sitting on his blanket when I went out to the kitchen to get a bottle. I came back in to the living room and this is what I see - computer geek in the making! He is doing some crawling but more of the elbow draggin kind of thing. He also scoots on his butt pretty good. He's learning!

Honest to God, I do feed the child... although it doesn't appear that way with these photos...
Here he is chewing on my chin...

and on his foot!



































I love that smile! He loves the camera. I grab it, turn it on and ask him where he's hiding that smile. He breaks out into that big ole grin!

Today is April 1st - Happy birthday to Julie and Jen! Here in Alaska this week is known as testing week. We are giving tests to all the kids 3-12th grade. Our younger kids take the SBAs and 10-12 take HSGQEs. (Similar to the MEAPs back home.) Our high school students have to pass the HSGQE in order to graduate so they seem to be taking it fairly seriously.
We now have less than a month til mom and Mary Jane get here. We are all getting more excited the closer it gets.
Our weather has been very spring like! The past couple of days it has been about 40 degrees. It is really starting to feel like spring! Spring brings the mud... the roads are starting to get pretty soupy. Yesterday when I went to the store, I arrived with a mud spattered face. I have to say, honestly it doesn't bother me! Things like that just become second nature out here.... if you drive a Honda... you are going to get muddy! Of course I do still wipe it off before I actually go into the store... but it's funny how little things really don't get to me anymore... is that from living in the bush... or becoming a mom??? Not sure!
Hope you are all having a glorious April! Remember... no May flowers without some April showers -

Parent-teacher conferences

Parent teacher conferences are always an interesting time for us! This year was no exception. We had conferences Thursday afternoon/evening. Those who didn't attend conferences got teacher visits Friday afternoon. Thursday evening Brock attended conferences with me. He was sitting on the table in front of me while I was talking to another teacher. Dan, our principal, was also standing in front of me. Dan started laughing... then the other teacher was laughing... at first I had no idea what they were laughing at... but they were looking at Brock -
Dan had slipped a cookie to Brock and he had been very busy licking and gnawing on it! Dan did send me home to get my camera. This is a picture I will treasure for a very long time!

Easter Bunny makes it to SMK

Ok, the Easter Bunny did make his way to St. Michael. Brock got this fantastic little exerciser. Of course it is all farm stuff, just like his room. He just loves jumping around and playing will all the fun toys! He is quite the little character, always brings a smile to my face!


It didn't take him too long to figure out that if he pushed the chicken down, it played music. There are all sorts of fun things that happen with the toys. The seat actually spins 360 degrees so he has access to all of them. It's fun watching him as he discovers something new. He also got this great stuffed bunny, which he also loves!

St. Patrick's Day

We got home from UNK on Monday, St. Patrick's Day. The little Hooligan and I were invited to Stanek's for dinner. It was an Irish feast! I really don't know why Brock ended up with the napkin on his head but he did look like the little shepard boy. Jill, Brock and I all in our Irish green. Thanks to Leah and Frankie for hosting the Irish dinner and the stew was great!

Finally an update:

Ok, let me start by saying that I did do an update about 2 weeks ago... but it didn't save! I really didn't feel like retyping it all so... you didn't get anything. So now... I will make another attempt at posting!

Brock and I headed over to Unalakleet on March 14th. We had our spring break 3-14 to 3-18th so I figured it was a good weekend to head east. (Besides the fact that I had to go over there to take the Praxis test.) We got over to UNK and Patty was there to pick us up. We dropped stuff off over at the house and then went to the coffee shop. It is a new little business that is pretty sweet! We then headed over to the DO to say hi to all our SPED buddies in the office and back to the house. Imagine my surprise when we opened the door and there stood Morgs! Morgan teaches in White Mountain and had flew over to surprise us. (We love you Morgs!)
We spend Friday evening chatting and relaxing. Knowing that Patty and I had to get up bright and early for the testing Saturday morning! I really don't know what time it was but all of the sudden the dogs started barking and we knew that someone was coming in downstairs. The door opened and in came Mark and Diane Thompson. They had snowmobiled over from St. Michael. They were planning to go on to Koyuk to do some hunting. (We did eventually get to bed but it wasn't as early as I had planned!)
Saturday morning Patty and I left Brock in the many capable hands... and went to take our Praxis. When we got back to the house we were able to sit and visit. Patty did a lot of baking... cinnamin buns to die for... and homemade bread! Teresa Hickerson joined us for dinner and another good night was had by all.
Sunday Mark and Diane headed for Koyuk. (They had attempted this on Saturday but Mark's sled needed some attention instead.) Morgan had to fly back home.
About 5-ish Mark and Diane came back. They had made it to Shaktoolik but it had started storming so they decided to call it good and return to UNK. We all headed over to Teresa's for dinner. She had some visitors as well. Kerry had worked with the district and Jose, well he was a tourist!
After the Iditarod passes through there is another sporting event called the Iditasport. These people, I call crazy, bike or ski the Iditarod trail. Jose is a man from Spain that was skiing it. He is one of the most interesting people I've met. He is a police officer in Spain, married, and lives for adventure! He has climbed Denali, kayaked the Amazon river, and all sorts of things in between. He has a web site and when I get that address, I'll post it... he is an amazing man.
Monday morning the phone woke us all up. It was Hageland telling us that my flight was leaving at 9:45am. (That call was about 9) Up and at 'em. So I packed up the our stuff and off we were.
Tuesday was laundry day. It was nice to have a day to "unwind" so to speak. We had a great time with all of our friends over in UNK. It was great to have our surprise visitors and we love you all! Thanks again to Patty and Mark for everything!