Hello Family! 

It is Hump Day of our Spring Break!

 I thought it was time to do some blog updates...

Hope you are all doing well.

Love you and miss you bunches :)

Emily and her gang at Tanana Honor Roll assembly in January

The cutie in the blue shirt next to Em is Hunter... her beau.

Super Bowl Sunday at a friends house.

This was inside...

This was outside...

Caleb with his (really tall buds) Casey and Wyatt during West Valley Regionals

I was sitting in the stands with the moms of these two boys so we thought the picture was fitting.

West Valley Wins!!! 

Off to State

Cole, Caleb and Casey holding Regional Champ plaque.

Emily's science fair project. It was required for class, but she never actually entered.

Caleb earns "Player of the Game" during High School State Championships!

Way to go, Bub :)

Cow moose in my neighborhood. 

Her two calves were right there as well. 

Always amazing to see.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Green eggs and ham (bacon) with Emily and Morgan

Could you would you with a fox?

Could you would you in a box?

before...

after...

Yay!  no more braces :)

Emily (center) Tanana volleyball team

ready!

The girls feel that they have to "dress up" for game days.

This was game day #1

 Tylen, Emily, Jordyn, Valerie

Morgan's b-day was Saturday and she was going to be in Anchorage for hockey. 

So, Emily and I snuck out of school early Friday so she could surprise her with this when she got out of class. (They go to different middle schools)

Morgan was VERY surprised.

People in the parking lot clapped and cheered when she walked up to the car!

It was great :)

Emily and Kara at Chena Hot Springs for a relaxing overnight.

Ice Park 2014

Emily and Morgan

Caleb, Emily and Morgan

I went back at night to see the sculptures lit up. My phone camera doesn't do them justice. The aurora borealis above the mountains would change color. It was very cool. This one was our favorite.

They're also very tall. This sculpture and the next 2 pictured are all about 20 feet tall.

peacock

fighting dragons on top of castles

ice log cabin

inside was a bed, table and benches - all ice :)

They also build lots of things for the kids. These are the long slides, but they have many short slides too.  The park has about 20 multi-block sculptures (large like the ones pictures) and about 40 single-block sculptures.  I love going to the ice park :)

See you again in a couple of months!

Christmas 2013

Happy New Year... 2014!!

More dance pictures...

Kelly, Katie, Emily, Samarah, Logan, McKayla

The after show party at the Food Factory. 

We've been coming to this restaurant after shows for 2 years now. 

Fun tradition, but our group is so big now it takes hours to get food - the socializing is fun though :)

Christmas Eve...

Air Hockey tournament...

Emily sporting her goods...

Christmas Day we went out to the DuPont's for dinner and games.

The sunset... beautiful :)

The big girls:

Morgan, Emily and Jordan

(Tracy, Tim and Laura in the kitchen)

The big (and only boys)

Caleb and Wyatt

such studs!

The little girls:

Cameron and Reaghan

One more beautiful Christmas Day picture...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone!

I hope you had a great holiday.

Thank you for all the gifts.

MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

SHHHH.....

Kids don't know...

So, Caleb's coach cancelled their Canada trip due to team injuries. He said it was the hardest decision he's ever had to make short of cutting a player. The kids are really bummed, but I know it's for the best, and I'm glad because Caleb is one of the injured - his shoulder. Anyway, my standard response to Caleb when he asks what he's getting for Christmas has always been, "You're going to Canada!"

Now that they're not - he has no gifts!!  So, I jumped at the chance to get this table. It was on sale at Sam's. I know both kids will be thrilled.

Pre Holiday Happiness

Hello everybody! 

I really wish I was better at this and could change my background, but alas, I am not.

Just a few pictures today. I'll post again after the holidays...

This should be the dining room, but I never got a table and the space has been nice for lots of different things. Caleb uses it for stick-handling practice and Emily for front and back walkovers (which are coming along nicely)

Emily's dance company performed at our first annual, downtown Festival of the Trees.

Emily and Samarah pose with freaky snowman dude - he scared the little kids :(

Maybe if he was rounder...?

Aurora Dance Ensamble in the back

(Em is just left of Santa)

Pre-ensamble in the front

These are the pajama pant bottoms that Emily made in Home Ec class this year. 

She received extra credit for wearing them to school on Friday. They are very cute and fit perfectly.

She was the only one who got it because she was the only one who was finished, and yet she has a C in the class... Ugh! Go figure!

Caleb? yes, he still exists! Hockey and school, that's his life. Doing very well in both!

His claim to fame this year, so far, is that he's the only player who's played in every JV and Varsity game. Pretty cool. He really doesn't like to take pictures :)

Love you all!

November

Hello Everyone!  

HAPPY (LATE) HALLOWEEN!!

I was a pumpkin again for our Fall Festival at school.

Emily, Morgan and I braved the Asylum again this year. 

We LOVE to be scared out of our wits! 

Emily wants to work here next year.

Three of the 8 super heros. 

Emily was Thor, Logan was the Black Widow and Madison was Wonder Woman.

Emily and her best buds all made the 4.0 honor roll.

Caleb did too, but I never get pictures of him.

Well, here's one! 

He's doing homework with a little helper.

Emily wants this for Christmas :)

Our first snow day off of school, Emily decorates her room.

You've been doing homework long enough...

time to PET ME!!!

The church parking lot has all of it's snow piled up right outside our apartment... instant snow hill!!

Emily's dance studio did a promo at Barnes and Nobel. 

A portion of all proceeds that day went to the studio.

The girls (and one guy) danced 8 pieces 5 times over a 4 hour period.

I only have a few pictures of one of the dances because she has been practicing these lifts for the past 6 weeks.  They will do all of these dances at a regular performance in 2 weeks.

The Arctic Winter Games will be held in Fairbanks next March. It's kind of a mini-alternative-olympics. Cities and towns in and around the arctic circle all around the globe participate. The events are very winter friendly and native related.

Caleb is trying out for the hockey team. He will know if he made it on December 1st.

I'll keep you posted.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Love, hugs and kisses!

September

Hello Family!

Below is a picture of my crazy class. These first and second graders are on a field trip to the pond about a 1/2 mile walk from our school. I think they are all screaming "WE LOVE BUGS!"

Caleb is hardly in any pictures these days, so I made him take this picture before he left for Minnesota. These are his "traveling" clothes.  All the boys have the same getup so they look the same. They actually look very nice. Their weekend in Anchorage playing the Jr. Aces resulted in a 2-1-1 record. They will return tonight (Sunday) from 5 days in Minnesota attending a "showcase". Well, our boys didn't "show" very well because they lost all 4 games pretty badly :(

My 3rd Equinox Marathon!!! 

This is me at the turnaround, as you can see it says "turnaround"!

There is a 2 mile stretch where you run down the trail, hit this turnaround and run back. Runners high five each other and give encouraging words as they pass. It's very up lifting. I found myself asking though..."are we close???"

This is the "Chute". Its a treacherous path down the power line, very steep and slippery.

It was a beautiful day, but cold. 

Because I was walking, I never really warmed up.

 Part of the trail had snow on it!

This picture is of the end, near the University :)

It's amazing the difference a day makes!

Yesterday it looked like this and today it's been snowing non stop!!! UGH!

Love you all

Labor Day 2013

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everybody!

I decided I needed a "catch-up" weekend and made no plans to travel. Shopping, organizing, cleaning and relaxing were on the agenda and I think I've accomplished them all! 

Caleb is enjoying Sophomore year, especially because he got to skip the first day of school - they designate that to Freshman only. He tried out for the U16 hockey team and made it!!! He is now a Lion instead of a grizzly - Emily is trying to figure out how to alter her mascot costume :) The team travels to Anchorage in 2 weeks and Minnesota the week after that. I'll let you know how they do.

I realize I have no pictures of him. I'll do better next post.

Emily in action on the tennis court this summer. She participated in a week long camp and did so well. Coach Kathy loves her and wishes she would commit to the sport, but her passion is on the dance floor.

Post tennis certificate

Tanana Valley State Fair!

Emily and Morgan

Emily and Mom in line for the Zipper :)

Enjoying a little coconut water before cracking it open and chowing down the meat!

YUM :)

Emily performs with her group a the fair.

This was a dance to "Shake Your Tail Feathers"

The tree at the Michaelis' house gets covered.

It's about time!!

Ken's parents were in town for two weeks. They worked their butts off taking care of the kids and reorganizing and cleaning his house. We took them for a relaxing float on the Chena.

Then we surprised Kendra and Morgan in Anchorage.

They were in the State Soccer Tournament.

Ken flew us all down to watch the big game - which was awesome!

Unfortunately, they lost and came in second :(

Kendra, Emily and Ashley

Me and my golf team...

So much fun, but boy do I Stink!!!

Emily auditioned for the Ensamble Dance Company at her studio.

SHE MADE IT!!!!

We are so very proud of her.

Quite an accomplishment for dancing only 2 years.

She is just 1 of 4 dancers in the "company", the rest are in pre-company.

This is her audition photo and the one that will hang in the lobby of the studio :)

I finally found shelves on Craig's list. Now all my summer stuff is up, off the floor and neatly stored for winter. I do so love organization :)

I'm teaching a 1-2 split class this year and find it challenging to say the least!! I have two students that are barely 6 and several second graders that could easily move on to third grade. The range of behaviors and abilities is quite large!  Great group of kiddos, though :)

I'm sure we'll have a great year.

Oh yeah... I signed up for the equinox again this year. I convinced Ken to join me and we're just going to take our time. He thinks he might die! HA!

The marathon is on the 21st... I'll let you know how it goes...

Love to you all

and, Brian - I'm so happy for you and the family that you have a job and get to stay put for a bit longer!