Vote! We need some help choosing a name!

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Laura

And no, it’s not for our 2nd child.  That would be a pretty weird way to announce a pregnancy.  Come on, people.

I’m planning on writing a series on this blog, starting this fall, reflecting on some of the ways that Nik and I have changed the way we live.  Much of what we have done is go back to the way things used to be done.  For example, we try to only eat food that is traditional and simple, i.e. food that our great-grandmothers would have recognized as food (as in margarine is not food, that sort of thing).

I have lots of thoughts in my brain that I’d like to write down so I’m going to use this forum to do it.

We need a name for the series.  I think we should just call it, “Old-Fashioned.”  Nik thinks it would be much cooler to call it, “Kickin’ It Old Skool.”

ETA: Clearly, I don’t do pop culture well because I managed to not even get Nik’s name suggestion correct.  But I think I fixed it!

What do you think?  Vote and we’ll call it whatever you (the collective you, our blog readers) choose!

Posted in series | 8 Comments

I am Woman, Hear Me Roar

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Laura

This morning, I decided to tackle a rather large yardwork job that I’ve been putting off all summer.  We have a section of flower bed that is full of overgrown azalea bushes.  We have tons of azaleas in our yard so I decided these needed to go.  We thought that perhaps we would need to hire someone to dig them out.  But this morning, I thought I’d try my hand with a shovel and see what happened.

[Here’s the roaring part.]

I dug them out!  With my bare hands! (OK fine, with gloves and a shovel. And almost cracked our shovel in the bargain!]

The bushes in the foreground are actually on our driveway; the empty dirt in the background is where they came from.

I must admit, I rather enjoyed the sounds of roots ripping from those despised azaleas, which kept overgrowing my driveway.  ROAR!

And I also enjoyed pulling out a giant root ball and saying, “I dug this out myself!” ROAR!

Then I may or may not have had to go inside , drink  a lot of water, and rest for awhile until I stopped feeling a little dizzy and overheated from all that digging in the very hot humid morning.  But still, ROAR!

I just have a couple big bushes to go, along with a lot more hostas.  Once it’s all cleared out, I’m planning a patch of rhubard for the spot.

Baltimore friends – if you desire azaleas or hostas for your garden, come on over and get some.  The bushes still have fairly intact root balls so I think they would transplant fairly well.   They don’t look that great right now because I chopped them way back in the spring but with a little time and some pruning, I think they could probably be turned into pretty nice bushes again.

Posted in gardening | 2 Comments

Bragging about my husband

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Laura

Nik has become a really accomplished gardener over the past few years.  He has taken on the job of tending the garden and we eat the fruits of his hard work every day.

For example, he sowed two succession plantings of radishes in the spring and we ate radishes for at least a month.

Aren’t they beautiful?

Now we are over-run (in a good way) with tomatoes, cucumbers, Swiss chard, and peppers and are anticipating a bumper green bean crop as well.

I am grateful for Nik’s analytical mind, which has taken on gardening as a code to be cracked as well as a fine art to be learned.  We certainly aren’t perfect gardeners yet (who is, really?) but we’ve come a long way since we started our garden four summers ago.  Here’s to many more years of gardening and good eating!

Posted in gardening, love | 1 Comment

Triple Fisting It

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Laura

Note the three different foods she has in her fist (the one in her mouth).  This girl is learning how to eat!  (And this picture is a couple months old!)

Posted in AIBLW, Ellie | Leave a comment

Remember the four surprise projects?

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Laura

Way back in April, I posted about how I was going crazy working on four surprise sewing projects at once.

When we were in Alaska, I hand-delivered Rachel’s bag to her and they were finally all revealed.

So now here’s the proof that I was working on all of them at the same time:

From top to bottom: Rachel’s bag, Anne’s quilt, Ellie and Luke’s bunnies, and Steph’s quilt. 

I’m glad they’re all delivered and being enjoyed now!

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Ellie’s Future

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Laura

Greek dancing! (at the St. Nicholas Greek Folk Festival in June.  I’m catching up.)

Posted in Ellie, Greece, just for fun | Leave a comment

The Grand Tour

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Laura

Back in June, I went to three ESOL picnics in one week, at all three of the middle schools that I taught in, in my five years of teaching.  I went to them in chronological order, starting with my first school.  That meant that I also drove all three of my commutes in one week.

[I do NOT miss commuting.]

Every ESOL student looks forward to the ESOL picnic for the whole year.  My first year of teaching, my students started asking me about it the first week (or close to it).  I didn’t even know what they were talking about.  It turns out that the ESOL picnic is when the whole ESOL program goes outside for 2 hours and the kids get to do whatever they want (which is usually play soccer or eat snacks).  That’s it.  But it’s oh so fun and anticipated.

At the first ESOL picnic, two students who I taught in 5th grade were 6th graders there so I got to see one of them.

At the next picnic, my 6th graders were current 8th graders so it was fun to see them and to have them meet Ellie.

A few of my 6th graders, now 8th graders, and all grown up!  The boy in the blue shirt told me that he missed me and he missed my class.  I miss him!

Here’s P, who hadn’t changed a bit in two years.

At the last picnic, I was at the school where I taught last year so I knew the 7th and 8th graders.  It was so fun to have them meet Ellie!

My dear student M, who I have written about before.  (She posed us this way!)

My fellow ESOL teachers from last year. 

I’ve never put pictures of my students on my blog before (for privacy reasons) and probably never will again but I just wanted to give you all a taste of my teaching life.  My students were very precious to me and I miss them.  To be honest, I really don’t miss the day-to-day grind of preparation, teaching, and grading.  I love being home with Ellie.  But I do miss those students of mine – the joy they brought into my life and the crazy things they said.  I may forget their names but I’ll never forget them.

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Alaska, Summer 2011, Part 9: Byron Glacier

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Nik

Part 9 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011. 

With some light rain starting up, I threw on my rain proof gear that I never use, and headed out on a hike to Byron Glacier with Dale, Eric, Rachel, Erin, the kids, and three dogs.

There were some large piles of snow that had resulted from some avalanches. Noah, Selah, and the huskies had fun exploring them.

Dale and Grace posed for a picture, as did Erin’s puppy George.

On the way back, a moose came up the trail, but Eric shooed it away.

After a few minutes, the moose walked into the woods and went about its merry way, allowing us to return to the campsite just as the rain starting picking up (note: more foreshadowing!)

Posted in Alaska, Ellie, family, travel | 1 Comment

Alaska, Summer 2011, Part 8: Camping Trip #1

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Laura

Part 8 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011. 

We had planned to spend the 4th of July weekend camping so on Thursday afternoon, we headed south, towards Seward, to camp in the Portage Valley.  Nik had gone ahead of us to secure a campsite.  The remaining ten of us (Eric, Meggan and their five kids plus Dad, Ellie and I) drove down later in the evening into the mist.  Thankfully, the rain held off and Ellie got to enjoy her first campfire, made even more fun by her cousins!

I was exceedingly grateful to sleep in Eric and Meggan’s pop-up tent camper while Nik enjoyed sleeping in the tent with Grandpa, Noah, Jonas, and Ezra.  We were nice and warm in the camper but judging from the laughing that we heard coming out of the tent, they had more fun!

The next morning, we took a beautiful easy hike to a small lake next to a avalanche chute.

For lunch, we drove to Girdwood to eat at The Bakeshop.  We also bought a couple loaves of their amazingly delicious white sourdough bread, which I am craving even now, a month later.

(and yes, to my sharp eyed family members, that’s the good ol’ red Suburban, still going strong 24 years later!)

Ellie and Violet both fell asleep for naps just as everyone else was getting ready to go for a hike up to the Byron Glacier.  So they went hiking while Meggan and I stayed behind with the babies.

While they were hiking, it began to rain, just misting at first but then fairly steadily.  So around 8:00 pm Friday night, we started packing up and by 10:00, we were ready to drive home.  Thankfully, it’s as light at 10:00 pm as 10:00 am in the summer so packing up was easy, although wet.  We arrived home wet, tired, and very grateful to be sleeping under a roof, in a dry bed.

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Alaska, Summer 2011, Part 7: Hiking Near Girdwood

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Nik

Part 7 in a series about our trip to Alaska in late June through mid-July, 2011. 

I went down to Portage Valley early in the day to secure us a campsite. With some time to kill, I went for a short hike near Girdwood.

There were some cool mossy tree stumps in the forest.

To cross over this creek you have to use a hand tram.

You just pull on the rope and the tram goes across.

The trail will take you all the way to the Alyeska Resort but then you need a ride back to your car so I just hiked back and headed back down to Portage to meet up with the Judges. On the way out, the clouds looked ominous (note: this is foreshadowing!)

Posted in Alaska, Ellie, family, travel | 1 Comment