Did you know...(a post playing catch-up)

...that we no longer own Volkswagen Beetle? JaDee sold the one we got when we moved up here.  He needs something more reliable to get to work in and without heat, it wasn't a great choice for the winter.  This is the first time in at least 12 years we haven't had a semi-working Beetle on or off blocks in our driveway.

I can't say I am sad.

... Carter got to go to Fairbanks for the State competition of Project Citizen.  Teams of four present and debate the merits of various social policy/issues.  Carter's team debated the need for bus passes for the underprivileged and homeless. They won the titles Most United and Best Performance. The funny thing about this is that Carter went with this team as the alternate during Regionals when one of the original members got sick.  The whole team was made up of all girls until Carter went with them.  Needless to say the girls were a little miffed that he, a boy, got to join their team.  Their teammate didn't come back after Regionals so they were really upset that Carter got to go on the big fun trip to Fairbanks for State. After his scores of 9s and 10s and the award for best performance, he turned to one of the girls and said, "Aren't you glad I am on your team now?" I think the judges would have thought twice about the Most United award if they had known the back story behind how the team got formed.  Although, maybe it means they really pulled it together when it counted.

I have to say I am proud.

... Ethan turned 10 today.  And after a few comments on Facebook referring to this being Ethan's Golden Birthday I googled it and found out that turning the same age as your birth DATE can actually be a big deal.  So never one to miss an opportunity to give myself guilt for missing a milestone I had never heard of- I found some cool things to make it truly a Golden Birthday for Ethan.

Ethan with his Gold Lemon cake, a bottle of Gold flakes, a GOLD (bronze) commemorative Alaska 2011 coin, Gold Nugget caramel candy, and $10 of Gold President coins.  (Franklin Pierce...heard of him? Me either. Another thing I didn't know until today)

I would have to say I have driven out any signs of guilt :)

...This Sunday we will become parents again...to the 4 legged kind again that is... My good friend Jayci is moving and for the next 6 months she can't have her sweet dog Buckwheat, with her. So we are baby-sitting Buckwheat until her husband comes back for some more training in Alaska in November.  We had Buckwheat over for a trial run to see if he would get a long with the other members of our menagerie.  Buckwheat has a reputation for being A) terrified of cats. And B) dumber than a mud fence.  Turns out he growled at my cats and they will get along fine since they are bigger than he is and he isn't dumb at all. In fact he just plays dumb to get what he wants. The best was when he came up to me when I was laying on the couch watching TV. My arm was draped down the front of the couch and little Buckwheat placed both his front paws on my arm, looked me straight in the eye, raised his little doggie eyebrows and started shivering.  "Awww," I said. "He must be cold." JaDee sat straight up and said, "No he's not. He is trying to get you to pick him up on the couch." JaDee was right.  I saw Buckwheat pull out the old "I'm cold and pitiful," routine a couple of times on the kids to get them to play with him too.

Buckwheat under the kitchen table. He only weighs 9 pounds and is a Mini Schnauzer/Yorki mix.

I'd say there are going to be some Buckwheat stories this summer!

...JaDee has discovered Spanish music from his 1990 - 1992 mission to Argentina on his new iPhone.  I tell you, watching that boy try to figure out this nifty gadget is like watching your grandmother program her VCR.  He is always asking me how to do something on it.  He had no idea how to check facebook unless it came to him from an email and he followed the link.  Silly boy.

I think I'll show him where the earphone jack is next.

... And finally, did you notice that Picker and Puker haven't been featured on the blog lately? That is because they haven't been riding with us for almost 2 months now.  The carpool situation changed on their end and they are helping someone else they know with rides to school so we haven't seen them in a while.

I have to tell ya, it has been pretty quiet on the way to school!

the play 2011

Last weekend was Carter's school play: The Lost Treasure of La Puloma Gulch.   Or drama teacher, Vicky Otte, who is also my Stake Relief Society President, wrote this original western melodrama script and directed it. It was so funny! One playgoer, who did not have a child in the play but likes to go to all the school's productions, said it was the best one of the season!  Even beating, in her opinion the other middle school and the high school!  Sweet!

What makes it even more amazing is that exactly one week before the first performance and with only 1 rehearsal left, one of the leads (there were about 7 "lead" parts) was taken out of state rather unexpectedly on a family emergency. He was going to miss the entire performance!  His character was Jasper Sullivan and one of the heroes of the melodrama!  carter played his opposite as the Bad guy, One Eyed Bart.  To fill the hole that the original Jasper left, Carter moved over to play Jasper and a new kid came in (who had never been in the play at all to this point...) to play Bart.

Also to note, the original Jasper is one of Carter's best friends. So with the emergency that his friend was going through, Carter was really worried about him and emotionally drained from just the aspect of quite possibly never being able to see his friend (we weren't sure if he would be able to come back after the emergency was dealt with...long story and not mine to tell here...).

Well they pulled it off. The cast even voted Carter as best actor in this year's production for essentially learning 2 parts.  And the new Bart won Best Ad-Lib for correcting some prop malfunctions during a "gun fight" and turning the scene into some pretty funny physical comedy.

So here are some pictures. When I come to UT and WY this summer, I will have the DVD for anyone interested in watching it with us!

Carter as Jasper Sullivan

Jasper is quite a ladies man in the Sundown Saloon!  The girls get in a fight over him.  We think the little yellow and black striped dress girl is particularly cute!

Ah but Miss Grace Stake, who has been blind since her first birthday, is the woman to take Jasper's heart. She is miraculously cured by Chop Suey's ancient Chinese medicine cookies!

And here are Jasper and Grace with Grace's sister Gabby and the other hero, Arti Choke.  Red Hawk is the Indian that saves the day by returning the stolen treasure to the town after rescuing it from Gilgamesh's (the villlain)  father years ago. 

Hear are heroes Arti, and Jasper with Villains: Gilgamesh and One Eyed Bart. 

new family motto

When we had our third child and all he** broke lose, we prepared ourselves for our first 8 hour drive to the Wyoming farm from our house in Utah.  We knew with 3 kids, one of them a newborn, it might take longer than the allotted 8 hour time.  So JaDee and I adopted a new family motto for all family trips:

Low Expectations.

This little phrase has saved us from countless episodes of useless frustration.  For instance, Low Expectations allows you to not get mad when you drive 500 miles and your kid pukes every 50.  Low expectations lets you be happy when you have pulled out of the parking lot of the gas station only to hear "I have to go potty," 10 minutes down the road.  Low expectations insures you aren't disappointed when you spend money on a dinosaur museum and your kid cries when the sound effects blast through the room. 

Lately, however we have felt the need to change the motto to

Just below Par

This is in reference to Carter's grades.  Oh that boy.  Much like with Ethan getting his tongue stuck, Carter has not learned to turn assignments in on time, or at all.  We dig through his backpack and find all the "0s" just sitting there!!!  After riding him hard all this second quarter he has an A in English, his worst subject.  Only to get the email today that he did not turn in a "Bookmark" assignment. 

Oh and this bookmark has been talked about all week.  It has been in the back pack since last Monday when we missed school for the ice storms.  It was a hand drawn , well, bookmark. 

So that A now has been defeated by the 0.  And it wasn't like he failed vocabulary or didn't get an essay done, he forgot. to. turn. in. a. bookmark.


ARRGHHHH!!!!

Could I really?

Like every year at this time, I sit and contemplate if I really could homeschool.  I was so swamped all week with various things I had to do this week that the phrase "stay at home mom" was an oxymoron.  I wonder if I homeschooled I could anchor my self down to really being at home and actually feel like I was doing something other than cramming in a few hours everyday with my kids right before I tell them to go to bed. The boys are getting bigger and we really have such a good time together. Like in the car we each get a turn to play DJ on my Ipod and pick songs we all enjoy.  Even Olivia can ask for Journey's "Don't stop Believin' [not the GLEE version btw...].  Not to mention our discussions on why Hitler was able to gain such a control over Germany and an enlightening discussion and revelation to Ethan about where babies come our (Olivia told him they come out of a mom's bagina.  He thought it was the belly button and had kind of wondered why boys had them too.)

I don't know if this is a recurring prompting or if I am just such a rebel at heart that I want to "stick it" to the school system for wanting ME to have rules about MY children. And like homeschooling is going to hurt their feelings or something.

Today I went with Carter's "team" at his middle school to hike Arctic Valley.  It was poorly organized, miscommunicated, and we had horrible weather.  While eating lunch huddled around the rocks at the top of the mountain to keep the wind from blowing sleet in our faces, the social studies teacher said, "Look at this!  We don't get to see this every day."

One kids says, "Um actually, we live in Alaska and we do see this everyday."  He had a point.

Then she asked, "How many of you have never hiked before today?" A fair question since we have half of the group in Vasque/Merrill/Keen boots and North Face rain gear and REI backpacks (in other words PREPARED!).  The other half is in shorts and T-shirts and Keds/DC sneakers.  One mom even showed up in wedged sandals and skinny jeans but changed into RAINBOOTS at her car before heading up the MOUNTAIN... with her purse on her shoulder...(I can only imagine what her son/daughter was wearing...)

But they looked at the teacher and her question like she was from Mars.  Most of these kids were here when last year, as 7th graders, they hiked Baldy, a steeper, longer hike.  All she got as an answer was, "Can we go back down now.  I can't feel my cheeks."

"Well the buses won't be here until 1 o'clock.  We are going to stay up here at least a half hour."  It was 11:20.  It took maybe an hour to get up to the top.  I ask, "Are you serious?  Its only going to take about 20 minutes to get down.  These kids are cold.  We need to at least get out of this wind [at the top of the mountain...whipping so hard Carter was leaning off the top of a rock into it and it was holding him up like he was flying]even if we can't get out of the rain [sleet and I daresay snow]."

She looks at me blankly and then a few minutes later rounds everybody up to head back down.  We stop half way and she attempts some conversation about "bonding experience..." and Carter, myself and his friends say something about of course not being able to do this around the kitchen table or anything, and start to pick blueberries.

We get to the bottom and even with our Bonding Blueberry Intermission we still have over 30 minutes before the buses come.  The teachers organize some relay races.  One kid falls, rips his jeans, and is bleeding.  Luckily, I did listen to inspiration in the parking lot and had thrown the First Aid kit from under the seat of my car in my pack at the last minute. The buses come and are greeted to shouts of joy and Carter is asking to just come home with me.

I go to tell the teacher that I am taking him home.  "Did you pre arrange this at the office." She asks.

"No."

"Then he can't go home with you." She tells me, the mother of this child.

"You mean you guys don't have a sign out sheet with you? Huh, my youngest son goes to ______ and they let us sign them out with the teacher on a form with them at field trips.  I thought you know, being in the same district and all you guys would do that to? Maybe next time?"

I shrug and tell Carter I will bust him out when he gets off the bus and go to pick up Olivia.

And on my drive home I again get that wondering, if I could really homeschool my children. The debate is strong both for and against.  I know them all and see both sides almost equally.

Ultimately the answer is no, I don't think I can do it. But still I wonder...

Instead, I go to the school, jump through the hoop (one of many we do every school year) and collect him from the last 45 minutes of school where they were just going to have free reading time in class, and spend a stolen bit of time with my oldest. And I guess as long as I don't let the "establishment" intimidate me we can still get by.

This post is bound to be continued...

On the road again

Ok this picture keeps loading here instead of where i want it to be, but Carter turned 13 while we were in Yellowstone.  He got a pair of these FIVE FINGER KSO shoes.  He loves them!

We are off to Valdez, home of the 1988 oil that I think may have finally lost its place in the sun as the biggest oil spill in our borders when that Gulf of Mexico episode had to come along and steal the title. I'd say 20 years as the reigning oil spill champ is quite a record to hold, so good luck beatin' that run!

But first, a look at the new light fixture JaDee got me for our 14th anniversary.

But I digress.  What I am really hoping to show you here is some pictures of our trip to the wild wild west. And what I discovered on this trip what will always be home for me.

Check out the Tetons that we flew over

OK so this is the epitome of my second child.  Swim suit, cowboy boots and if you look closely, spurs! Just leanin' casual against the pasture fence with the baby calf named Star Shining Bright. He got a boat load of fireworks as a late birthday present from Aunt C and spent his time blowing up ant hills.  He told me ants fear him, and tremble at the sound of his approaching footsteps.

There were herds of Buffalo in Yellowstone this year!

This is my amazing niece M.  She wrote an awesome book for a creative writing assignment at school that had me hooked!  She can dive, ride horses, make anything (including an entire miniature golf course for her twin brothers' birthday party), and do Olivia's hair for church.

Here is Bridger!! He is back with us from his bone marrow transplant last year.  We wore this kid ragged with hikes, swims, trampolines and fireworks!

Olivia, B and G and the rescued kitties, who may have actually been running into the drain pipe for safety instead of needing saved as these 3 claimed.

P and B and Livs... these guys are double, or should I say triple trouble!

Carter and his Grandpa

This was all of the Great Grandkids of Jay and Emma McNiven at the town celebration for Pioneer Day.  The sign says "Best Crop Ever!" The kids got a kick out of being the ones to throw the candy this year. JaDee and I watched the parade from the sidelines and had to fight of other kids for our share of taffy.

Farmer Livs is locking up the gate so Star Shining Bright doesn't get out.  Her milk bucket she used to feed him with is by her feet.

Old faithful Boardwalk.  Carter still loves the geology here.

Grandpa is not dead, he just always finds the darnedest places to take a nap.

Oh these girls were so happy to see each other.  They never missed a beat and played like they did when we used to live around the corner. It was so sad to see these two say goodbye. Livs wanted to ride with them back to UT and we could pick her up in an airplane later.

All 35 of the Moncur clan in front of the Old Faithful Lodge.  We were quite a sight in our matching shirts.  As long as we were in the big group I was OK wearing mine, it was when it was just me and my 3 kids and husband that I looked like the dorky mom who thought matching shirts would be nice. 

Just one of the many things to do on the farm.

This Aunt shares a birthday with Carter. So for this year's 40th bash her husband organized a surprise party complete with her favorite Cotton Candy ice cream.

Puppies Ike and Jack definitely got their share of love and attention while we were all there.

At the town dance, we were 2/3 of those in attendance.  Here is Ethan with one of the twins.  Both my boys had to either dance with a cousin or a mother every dance!

No sprinkler system here.  Some good ole irrigation pipes and a ditch to do the cousins favorite "Flood the Yard."

At the town dance to Cotton Eye Joe, JaDee, his brother and a sister and several little cousins race in the line dance.

PLAY!

PS- I DID NOT MAKE THE COSTUMES! I just told everyone what to wear...



Carter had his first 2 performances of the play. It is so funny! We have 3 more performances later this week. Friday at 7 and Saturday at 2 and 7. COME!!

There is a contest between the boys and girls dressing rooms to see who keeps them cleaner. Right now the boys seem to be winning although a couple of the girls are doing a tremendous job cleaning up after everyone in their dressing room. Some of the kids think I sewed all these costumes!! I had a lady at church tell me she heard I was quite the sewer. I thought she was talking about the quilt I made for Katie. Turns out her daughter told her I MADE all the costumes for the play.

Carter has also been in ski club these last Saturdays. Alyeska Resort has a bus that picks up all the kids in the area (who fork out the $200) and takes them down for lessons and a day of skiing. Carter has been skiing only Black Diamond trails this year and even landed a Daffy on the Terrain Park jumps.

Some friends of his saw him doing jumps and told their mom, "Wow. Carter is really good." These boys just started skiing this year so their mom reminded them that Carter has been skiing since he was 4!! So he should be good!

Olivia and Ethan have been skiing a bit this year too. Olivia can turn all over the mountain. She can aim for things and likes to run over snowballs on the trails. If you have ever seen her swim, she skis which just as much grace and ability.

Ethan started indoor soccer this year and scored his first goal on Saturday! He is such a good team player and is always the first to remind the other players that this is FUN and it doesn't matter what the score is. They have won some and lost some and Ethan's only care is what the snack is at the end.

JaDee is gearing up for another Iditarod turn. He will be at the Rainey Pass checkpoint from March 5-11.

Then we head to New Jersey March 17!

Oh and our snow is melting! Just like the Wicked Witch of the West, our 50+ inches is turning into a puddle. A rather large, messy puddle. But since it won't get green until the end of May, I would just as soon have the snow to play in!

We aren't done skiing yet!

applesauce

What else says fall besides homemade applesauce!

We ate it before we took pictures of the finished product. But rest assured it tasted good. Especially on Whole Wheat pancakes. And JaDee added cream on top of that to make it taste even more like pie than it already did.

I just put in apples, water and cinnamon. Then cooked and cooked and cooked it at a slow boil until it turned into applesauce!