Christmas Break

Nali is waiting so patiently for our flight to anchorage. She is actually fairly calm. I gave her 2 Benadryl, 3 calming treats, and tried to embarrass her with a light up Christmas sweater. So far she has done pretty well by just laying in the window and watching everything. There have been at least 7 other dogs and one child running around. Lots of excitement!!

NYO and pizza party

Thought I should do an update.  Things have been crazy busy lately!! We had a home NYO (native youth Olympics) last weekend.  NYO is kind of like the field part of track and field.  Here are some pics and videos.

The video above is the toe kick.  He didn't quite get it.  The object is to kick the stick straight back.  This kid is also an amazing singer. Check out his facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/I.Sing.You.Dance?ref=br_tf

This is the wrist carry.  The object of this event is to hold on with your wrist for as long as you can.  It looks very painful in my opinion.

This pic above is from our home meet.  The event is the 2-foot.  They have to jump and hit the ball with 2 feet and then land with their feet together.

The next pics are of the Indian stick pull.  The stick is greased with Crisco.  The have to get the stick without moving their feet. These are pics from Chefornak this weekend.

 

After getting back from Chefornak we had a pizza party for the 7th graders because their class had the best attend ace at morning assembly for the last 4 weeks. It was a lot of fun!!!  We had homemade pizza and gave them gym time to play ball.  We even had a quick game against them.  It was exhausting!! lol.  I need to start running more.  Next we have a game tomorrow against students who missed one total day or less in the last 4 weeks.  Wish us luck, we will definitely need it!!

This is a horrible pic, but I had to post it becuase I am wearing my new kuspuk!! Darlene did an awesome job, and now I have a science kuspuk :)

Halloween

We made so many cupcakes last night.  We were up til almost 11 baking and decorating them.  But they turned out super cute.  Thanks mom for sending the decorations!!  But we got to watch the last 2 episodes of season 5 of covert affairs!!!  Now we have to wait for them to make the next season.  Bummer :(

Nali was so tired of watching Whitney and I make cupcakes last night. She decided to take a nap with a pillow an blanket.  lol.  She is not spoiled at all!!

 

 Here are some pics of our Halloween costumes.  Nali was still very upset and embarrassed to wear her costume.  I went as Jane Goodall and I taught my 7th and 8th graders about her today.  They were fascinated by the chimps.  We had a great turnout of costumes today at school.  It was really exciting!! I have not seen the kids get this into Halloween since I've been here.  Even the high-school students had some great costumes :)

This year I got a pumpkin this year.  YAY!! Every year the school purchases some, and this year I got one!! The eight graders wanted to name it.  They decided on Boots from Dora the Explorer.  A couple of students came to help me Wednesday, but last night I was stuck finishing it myself. It turned out pretty good, but it took a long time.

Updates

Holy cow!!! Life has been so busy (that's why I haven't posted in a while).  After our home cross country meet I went to Bethel, then Chevak, and finally Anchorage.  Even the kids were exhausted. They fell asleep waiting for the plane. lo.  This last weekend was my first chance to relax.  It was absolutely glorious!!! But overall the season was great!! The kids had a blast, and I had more students than I ever had participate.

Also, we finally got the new desks.  I'm not sure if the students are thrilled because they can't lay on them, and they are so light that when they lean back chairs the desks move.  I love them!!! Two of my pet peeves are leaning back and laying on the desks.  Thanks so much to everyone for your help in getting the new desks :)






Here is a sneak peak at Nali's costume.  You can tell she is super excited about her costume.  It goes with mine.  Check back for an update near Halloween.

Annual blackberry race

Kids walking the course. This is the ravine.

Just had our first xc race of the season. It went really well and the weather was beautiful. No rain!!! I had 3 runners finish first for their race. And I had 9 high school runners. Crazy!!! To think my first year I had only 1 high schooler.

This is a picture from my walk to school Friday morning (the day before the race). It was absolutely gorgeous. I knew it was a good omen, or at least that is what I was hoping.

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  I got mono at home right before I came back, and then I have been more sick since I got back to Toksook.  It has been a crazy 3 weeks!!

Home

Nali and I made it home safely Monday morning. Nali is adjusting very well. Traveling wore her out. She has slept a lot since getting home.

At some point Nali thought it would be a good idea to stand on te table. Apparently there is nothing wrong with that. At home there will be no standing on the table. I'm not a Sure where she learned it, but I'm positive it has never been okay.

Prom & graduation

Prom was a couple weekends ago. The decorating was much better this year. Although the chocolate fountain exploded on some kids. But all in all it was a good time.

Graduation was the weekend after prom. I think we had like 10 graduates. One of the things that I find most bizarre is the way the walk in. You would think they should be getting married.

NYO

Sorry this is so late. A while ago I chaperoned our NYO kids. I had not seen an NYO meet since moving to Alaska. NYO stands for native youth Olympics. It's kind of like the track and field of rural Alaska. And it is really long. Our first night they did events from about 7-11. Then the next day we started at about 9 am and went til almost 11 pm. My favorite event to watch is the seal hop.

Also I ate a whole bag of chips while watching. The party size!

I'm so mean

Nali was sitting next to the table when we finished the jar of peanut butter. I stuck it on her nose. The funny thing is she didn't try to get it off right away, she just licked it. Silly girl. Needless to say she ran off with the jar and cleaned it out.

Half marathon adventure

IThis weeken Rachael and I met up in tacoma, WA to run a half marathon. It was lots of fun and I ran the whole thing. I wasn't sure if I would be able to because I had only ran on a treadmill and my longest run was 8 miles (which I only ran once). Most of my runs were 5-6 miles at the longest. Anyway we ate lots of good food and got to catch up with each other, as we hadn't seen each other in like 7 months. Here is a pic after we were finished and had made it back to the car. We were super happy to be done and sitting down :)

On Sunday we had time to go to Pike Place Market. We spent like 4 hours just walking around. It was a great place to be since it rained all day.

Please HELP!!!

My tables at school are falling apart and we are in need of new ones.  I have posted a project on donors choose to try to make this dream a reality.  Please visit the link below to help out.

Use the code INSPIRE and the your donation will be doubled (up to $100).  

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/help-re-vamp-our-classroom/1194710/?rf=link_siteshare_2014_03_teacherid_2092725&challengeid=331631

Currently there is a Friends and Family competition going on.  What that means is that if you donate $20 or more by March 17th you can help me earn even more money.  Here are the details:

Number of donors	DonorsChoose.org gift card
50+	$3,000
25-49	$1,000
10-24	$250
5-9	$75
3-4	$30

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!!! Any and all help is greatly appreciated :)  
Love you all, and thanks again!!!!
-Sara

Mini spring break

This is what happens when there is a break.

They are so pathetic. This was at like 8:30 in the morning. I let them out at like 7:30. 

Also this past weekend I made pretzel bread bowls. So delicious!! This is one of the meals we had. 

Bagels

The weather has been bad so I didn't have go with junior high basketball because all flights were cancelled. So I finally had time to try making bagels.

They are delicious.

And they make excellent sandwiches. Tonight we are going to use them as hamburger buns. Can't wait!!

Mice!!!!

We have some unwelcome visitors in our house. Thanks to Nali one of them was already destroyed. Nali is on the lookout for the other.

Nali got tired of waiting. She has been staring at the door for hours.

UPDATE:  Nali got the 2nd mouse in our pantry today.  Then Bentley ate it bones and all. They make such a great team!

Chocolate chip cookie dough pretzels

Made these things last weekend. They took forever. If I lived anywhere else I would probably not have made them. They were delicious but they were a lot of work. Too many steps and dirty dishes. I also made whole wheat chocolate cinnamon bagels. It took almost all day to make the two. The bagels are delicious with Nutella. Now if I get home in time this weekend I will have have to try making while wheat bagels. They sure do make great grilled sandwiches. 

Surprise trip

Surprise trip to tununak with junior high basketball. Nothing like getting to school in the morning and finding out the chaperone is sick. So I went home over my prep and packed and then the plane came early so I had to leave my class with another teacher. I guess the saying that you must be flexible as a teacher was very true today. At least the plane flight was only like 5 minutes. Weird to have to take a plane to a village that is less than 8 miles away. But the pilot did give the kids their roller coaster ride. Must say that was an interesting experience. The kids won both their games tonight. But I am exhausted. Fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow so that we can make it home :)