There’s a baby in the house!

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Laura
I’ve been waiting for two years for this plant to start putting out babies and it finally did!  Hooray for spider plants!And for the real news about babies, check out our new blog!

Posted in just for fun | 5 Comments

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Laura

Announcing…

Baby B!

We found out at the beginning of February:

Laura finally believed it for real with this proof  at the end of February (despite her uncontrollable desire to nap away the vast majority of the winter storm and needing to eat vast quantities of food):

And proof that it’s taken us forever to get the word out (at least in the digital world):

(That’s 17 1/2 weeks of hard work right there!)

October 6th, here we come!

Posted in baby | 9 Comments

Happy Birthday Selah!

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Laura
Happy 8th Birthday Selah!!  We love you very much!


(Just a couple of my favorite pictures of little Selah with baby Jonas!)

Posted in family | Leave a comment

Final Update – Financial February

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Laura

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it’s the middle of March.  And yes, I know I never managed to actually update how we were doing on our financial February goals.  But, better late than never right?  So here’s the final update:

1.  Evaluate all our retirement accounts and redistribute investments as necessary.  Definitely did not get to this.  We’ll add it to the summer project list.
2. Ditto for our savings account – set up targeted savings accounts for specific goals.  We’re doing this a little bit already but I’d like us to be even more specific.  Finished!  Amounts determined and automatic transfers in place.  I love automation! 
3. Clear our file cabinet of all 2009 paperwork and file in a safe place.  Mostly done.  The paperwork is all sorted through and the file cabinet is clear of 2009 paperwork.  Sadly, the 2009 papers are in a pile on the couch, waiting to be filed in a box to go into storage upstairs.  Once I get my act going, that should take about 10 minutes to finish.
4. Make a will.  Basically finished.  We’re waiting to fill in a couple details and are planning to actually print and sign it in a few months.  Nik did all the heavy lifting on this one!
5. File our taxes.  Finished (state and federal) and refunds received!  Again, this one was all Nik!

So, all in all, we didn’t do too bad for Financial February.  (It did help, however, that we had a week and a half off due to snow in the middle!)

Posted in marriage, pre-kids | 1 Comment

Eating Blue Things – Highly Recommended

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Laura
I just ate a shake made from yogurt, lots of frozen blueberries from Trader Joe’s, a little bit of raw honey, and a little bit of vanilla.  YUMMY.Now I understand why Aunt Zona picks between 130-217 pounds of blueberries a summer.

(picture thanks to Zona – it’s what we aspire to.)

Nik and I are definitely planning a trip to a blueberry farm this summer.  I’m not sure why we didn’t do it last summer!

Posted in cooking | 5 Comments

A haiku for my brother

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Laura
Yay! It’s your birthday!
(Sort of. Kind of. Not really.)
Have fun anyway!
“To Infinity and Beyond!”
Posted in family | 1 Comment

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Laura
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear sister!
Happy Birthday to you!


**Slight side note:  You know you live in Alaska when…you go flying for a day, come back, go to get in your dad’s car and you realize: the rifle has been sitting out in plain view all day long.  Rach and I just had to document it!
Posted in family | 3 Comments

“Miss! Why did you do it? Why?”

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Laura
Just one of the varied reactions that I got today.  Others included:
“Miss!  I like it!”
“You look good.”
“Beautiful!”
I have very nice students!And what were they commenting on?

Just the transformation from this:

To this:
 
(With a ponytail soon to be on its way to Locks of Love.)

And let me tell you – I feel strange.  My hair has been long, or longish for probably 8 years.  I’m still getting used to having short hair.  I asked my hairdresser to only cut off 10 inches, which is the minimum allowed by Locks of Love.  And she did that.  But then, somehow, by the time I had a hair style, she had cut off quite a few more inches.  And now I have short hair!  It is fun and the response from friends and students has generally been complimentary.  Most importantly, I like it and Nik likes it so we’re good on all fronts!

One of my students (who really isn’t the brightest of the bunch) asked me today, “Did you get a hair cut?” I answered, “No.”  And he said, “OK,” evidently believing me and going back to his opening drill.  I had to tell him, “I’m joking!” 

Posted in just for fun, school | 4 Comments

Work? What’s that?

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Laura

Poor me.  I actually had to put on respectable clothes, make my lunch, and work for four and a half whole hours today.  I am exhausted!  Work is hard work!

We finally went back to school today.  The date on my bulletin board in my elementary classroom said February 4th.  That’s right – it had been 13 days since I was last there.  My teasing comment of “See you in two weeks!” almost came true!  They canceled school yesterday and then today through Friday, we’re going in 2 hours late.  So we’ll work three days but only actually put in 2 days worth of hours.  (The sidewalks are still impassable and many of the roads very narrow.  So they don’t want kids waiting for the bus or walking to school in the dark.  Hence, 2 hours delayed opening.)

At this point, we’ve definitely way exceeded the number of allocated snow days.  So we’re waiting to find out what’s going to happen with the schedule.  The state schools superintendent said that she’s going to request that the State Board of Education forgive some of the missed days.  After all, the entire state was under a state of emergency.  It’s not like we stayed home for the fun of it!

So we may lose some of spring break and/or we may have to work a few extra days at the end of the summer.

Here’s hoping for no more storms or snow days this year!

Posted in school, weather | 1 Comment

Random news

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Laura

1.  Yes, it did finally stop snowing.  Yes, they are calling for another storm on President’s Day but it’s supposed to be small, thankfully.  And yes, maybe we’ll finally go back to school on Tuesday.

2. The official total for snow fall in February? 49.2 inches (as in, a little over 4 feet).  The average February snowfall? 6.4 inches.  Check out this cool graphic for all the stats.

3. The score after playing 1 round of Skipbo, 5 rounds of Backgammon, and 1 round of Rummikub?

Laura: 6  Nik: 2

(Before last night I was ahead 6 to zero but he managed to beat me two games in a row in Backgammon last night.)  This is particularly unusual because I very rarely win when we play games.  Our theory is that the Alaskan weather is favoring the Alaskan.  And last night, it had stopped snowing and I lost.  So our theory might be right!

4. Our friends are having a party tonight and we are THRILLED to get to go somewhere, and do something that doesn’t involve only our house and each other.  Nik and I love each other very much but it’s nice to have interaction with other people too, you know?!

Posted in friends, school, weather | 3 Comments