Career Day

This week is spirit week at Dakota's school. Yesterday, it was "Crazy Hat" day. He decided to wear his Mickey Mouse ears he got at Disneyworld a year and a half ago. When we got home from school, he didn't want to take them off, so I just let him wear them for the evening. I really could care less. When I told him to go get ready for bed, he marches himself upstairs, brushes his teeth, and then comes back downstairs like this:

Sometimes, I wonder if he may have been switched at birth!

Today, however, was "Career" day, and they got to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up. For Dakota, it was either a pro snowboarder (we watched a lot of Olympics and now he's obsessed with Shawn White), or a pilot. We ended up going with the pilot because we actually had a lot of the outfit already, and he wouldn't be sweating indoors! Here's Captain Koda.......decked out in an Alaska Airlines Captain uniform:

 

Check it out, he even has that Ladie's Man smile....just like most Captains! :) And now he's well aware of the difference between a First Officer and a Captain....he made it clear that he wanted 4 stripes on his epilets!

Improvised bathtime

Going into this bathroom (or rather bathtub) remodel, there would be at least a few bathtimes for Brayden in the kitchen sink. We DO have another shower, but it's just that-a shower only-and although it works well for George, Koda, and I, Brayden's not a big fan of showers. So, demolition day started, I put Brayden down for a nap (which happens to be RIGHT next to the bathroom we're remodeling), and turn the radio up to try and drown out the sound of tile and sheetrock smashing so he can sleep. Amazingly enough, he DID get in a 2 hour nap (which is almost unheard of lately), but when he woke up, he had blown out his diaper, and there was poo everywhere!! Not generally a big deal, but now there was no bathtub, and the kitchen sink was full of dishes to be washed/put in the dishwasher. So he sat all poopy for a good 5 minutes so I could clean out the sink and scrub it clean. Once he got in, he was a bit aprehensive, but it quickly changed to curiousity when he figured out he could stand up in the sink and look out the window!

SO darned cute!

I'm soliciting advice......

So we have a dillema....that we need an answer to by Monday morning. Here it is: Right now, Dakota goes to school at Pacific Northern Academy, which is a private school here in Anchorage. It is all the way across town (literally, couldn't be much further away without NOT being in Anchorage). It takes around 20 minutes in the morning (and then again in the afternoon, although the traffic isn't as bad) to drop him off and pick him up. Literally, it doubles our gasoline bill, so we spend about $100 extra a month to drive back and forth to school. Also, probably the most important thing, is that the school is really expensive. I'm talking this year alone, cost about the same as about my bachelors degree (it is just about $2,000 short of the cost of my schooling all 4 years). FOR ONE YEAR. It seems crazy, but last fall, he was ready for kindergarten. Plus, being in kindergarten meant that he wouldn't have to be shuffled yet another year back and forth, to and from, Kodiak. So that's why we did it last year. Plus, PNA really is an AMAZING school. I love everything about it....except the location and the cost. The Anchorage School District wouldn't admit him last year because he was 18 days past the age cutoff. They wouldn't even TEST him to see if he was ready because he was 4 days past THAT cutoff.

So that leaves this year. We just went to his parent teacher conference, and he's doing great. He's the youngest one in his class, and by far the best reader. He's also up there in math. Pretty much everything else he's right on par with the other kids. So he's definately ready for 1st grade. We applied for the school's "scholarship" program, and asked for 1/2 tuition assistance (basically we'd only pay half). We were supposed to hear back from the school about this Friday, but didn't. I'll find out Monday morning. We both said if we got the scholarship, Koda would be there another year.

Here's the kicker: because we didn't know if we'd get the scholarship, we also applied to a few of the public charter/alternative schools. One, arguably the best public school in Anchorage-Polaris-is really close. I'm talking we could walk to it in the summer (about a 10-15 minute walk). I would still end up driving him, but literally, it's at the next major intersection North of us. SO close. We got the letter of acceptance to Polaris today. We have to respond by Monday. The problem? Again, Anchorage School District won't admit him into 1st grade because they not only have age limits for kindergarten, but 1st grade as well because K is not required in the state of AK. Soooo.....he'd be admitted as a kindergartener. Their classes are all set up as dual-grade, meaning that his class would be a K-1 blend. So, he would get the benefit of being able to work on 1st grade work if he was ready (he'll be ready for pretty much all of it).

The dilemma, then, is do we spend the $6,500 (plus the extra $100 in gas each month) to keep him at PNA in order to NOT have to repeat kindergarten (and all the driving), or do we go with the best public school (ie: free) that's close to us, but repeat kindergarten in a blended classroom? This is so frustrating! If only ASD would just let him into 1st grade, it would be a no-brainer!

So, weigh in on this if you want to. We're kinda torn as to what to do!!!

Demolition Day

Today, we started the demo on our upstairs bathroom! Actually, George is working, so my dad and Dan started the demo. And unfortunately, they started on it before I got back home this morning, so I didn't get any complete before pictures. Bummer. Just suffice it to say it was gross. The tub is almond colored (not that it's a big thing, I just really don't like almond), and the shower surround is one of those 3 piece, caulk together quick things. Not a huge deal either, except it's probably the original from when it was built in the late 70's or early 80's. AND....it was cracked in numerous places. The last time I attempted to clean it, I sprayed pure bleach on the caulking, let it set, and then scrubbed it with a toothbrush. It's still black. So nasty. So, I get home, and Dan already has half of the surround off. Although the sheetrock underneath (apparently they didn't know what durarock/backerboard was back then?!) didn't appear TOO disgusting, when they got the sheetrock off the wall, THIS is what we saw:

I almost feel like a bad mom for letting my kids bathe right next to this! (with a plastic, plus a sheetrock barrier). It made me want to puke.

Needless to say, I can't wait for our new tub and tile!

It's official!!

Countdown Clocks, Pregnancy Countdowns at WishAFriend.com

Snowboarding

Dakota started snowboarding last winter, which means that this is technically his 2nd winter boarding. While he DID have a lot of fun last year, it really was a "learning" year, and his boarding skills really lacked. Because he was going to learn to board, so was I, and so I bought a whole board setup (board, bindings, and boots) the beginning of LAST season (in fall of 2008), when things were on sale since it wasn't skiing/boarding season yet. Way to save some money....except before I could try out my new equiptment, we found out we were pregnant with Brayden. So, instead of beating myself up and causing who knows what damage, I decided to stick to skiing that season (and even then, I stopped that by the end of December, about 3 months into the pregnancy) since I'm a fairly good skiier. At least I like to think I'm not too bad at it. But, I did get to watch Dakota a few times boarding that year, and it was fun just watching him have fun. But THIS year.....it's been a BLAST! The first time we went, I vowed I probably wouldn't be getting back on a board again. However, because of my "cheapness", I decided I would MAKE myself go again because I wanted some use out of a fairly expensive board set! The second time we went this year, my dad, Scott, Heather, and Curran went also! This was Curran's first time on the mountain, and Scott and Heather put him on skiis. Needless to say, I think it was a long day for them!

There was a LOT of this:

But, of course, it was so incredibly cute!

One of the best things is that my dad brought his nice photography camera and documented all of us, which was great! We finally got some good pictures!! Dakota's getting to the point to where he could probably make it down the whole mountain (starting from the very top....top of chair 6) without killing himself! My boarding skills are getting a bit better as well, but the running joke in the family now is how funny it is watching me get off the lift. For the life of me, I cannot get off the lift on a board without completely wiping out! My dad had witnessed it a few times, and in good spirits, told Scott, Heather, and Curran that they just HAD to wait to see me get off the lift. So there they were at the top of the lift....waiting....and THIS is what happened:

Yes, hilarious everyone. Even the lift operator started to recognize me.

One cool thing that is new this year (I THINK it's new this year) is that they have terrain parks. They have a large one, complete with a half pipe towards the hotel, and a smaller one with a couple jumps close to the bottom of the hill (chair 3 I think). Dakota thought he was pretty hot stuff and wanted SOOOO bad to go try it out, so we let him. Before he left, I told him just don't go TOO fast....I really didn't want broken bones. So what did he do? He kept slowing down the the point that when he got to the jump, he didn't even have enough speed to make it up the hill (aka-jump). So that didn't work too well. But, once he got the hang of it, he loved it!  

Unfortunately, never once did he actually land any of his jumps, but he's a great sport about it, popping right back up to try again! Here's my showoff hubby:

And here's me at my best....where I was probably 50% of the time:

And this is George and Koda waiting for me towards the bottom.....I'm always the last down. Besides Curran, I guess, which shouldn't really count at this point!

In all, it was SO much fun, and I can't wait to get on the board again. However, we've all decided that when it't just the adults, and we want a good day up there, I'll be on skiis. I hate not being able to go to the top or down any challenging terrain on a board, but I'm just not confident enough. When the kids get to go, I'll be on the board.
On a side note, I'm very proud to say that after about 18 years or so of skiing, I can confidently go down North Face now, and just last time we went skiing, we did the High Traverse, hiking quite a ways up the mountain past Chair 6, and skiing powder all the way down. My dad and I agreed that people who do that more than once are crazy. George and Scott, on the other hand, thought it was the best thing ever. The only thing we have yet to tackle at Alyeska is Christmas and New Year's Chute (which will probably never happen!), and the new Northwest Passage (only because it's been closed the couple times we've went this year)!

Brayden's growing up!

Yes, he's almost 9 months now, which seems crazy to me, since it seems like just a month or two ago he was born! He's developing quite a little personality, and we're discovering that he's very stubborn, he KNOWS what "NO" means (but often doesn't really care), he's a REALLY big eater (but we kinda knew that before!), and he can officially drink through a straw consistantly now!

And he LOVES his new straw "sippy" cups:

This is a heaping cup of pasta with cheese melted *before* lunch:

and *after* lunch, YUM:

And he was STILL wanting to eat. I made him wait a bit so his stomach had time to tell his brain he was beyond full!

His cuteness:

And.....his new favorite game to play:

He LOVES to get into the diaper caddy and throw out all the diapers and if he can figure out how to get into the wipes, those too! It's a good thing he's so darn cute!

On a weird side note...

I'm slightly bummed that my car rolled over 50,000 miles last week. I had to document this "momentous" occasion:

I suppose my car is no longer "new"-ish. Bummer. Still love it though!

My birthday!

So some of you know that my sister-in-law, Heather, and I share a birthday. This means that we have to agree on where to go for our birthday dinner, since we all end up going out as a "double birthday" thing. It wasn't so hard this year as both of us had coupons for free dinner (up to $30) at Benihana, where virtually everyone in the family likes, but rarely eats at. We have such a cute picture of Dakota, Brayden, George, and I there, but unfortunately, George had to reconnect the network with a different IP address (or something similar, I have no clue what he does!), and now we can't find the cd or cord for the printer/scanner, so I can't scan the picture in and show you! So I suppose when we figure out the printer thing, that's when you'll see this cute picture. After dinner with my side of the family, we went over to our brother and sister-in-law, Lizzie and Alan's house for a little birthday celebration for me. Lizzie is an amazing baker, and finds the absolute best recipes for cakes and cookies and the like. So, this year it was double-chocolate mint cake, which was SOOOOOO good!

      Blowing out the candles....

Koda and mom!

Alan and Tyler

Luke thouroughly enjoyed his cupcake!

And, as an *almost* tradition, Lizzie, Alan, George, and I sat down for a cut-throat game of Settlers of Catan. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the four of us looking like total "Magic"-like nerds playing a dorky (but insanely fun) game!

Also, most of the pictures are curtesy of my new camera George got me for my birthday! It's 10 MP and WATERPROOF!!! Which means we'll be able to use it in the pool or water park when we go on our vacation in November!

My domesticated side!

For Christmas, I got my very first sewing machine! I think I've really only sewed a few things in my entire life, including a rudimentary backpack at my Aunt Carol's house somewhere around age 8 or so, a hideous skirt made in 8th grade Home-Economics, probably hundreds of fleece socks with my mom, a couple simple blankets, and just last fall/winter for the boys (Koda, my twin nephews Tristan and Curran, and my nephew Cole), matching "quilt"-like blankets. Those last ones were probably the "hardest" sewing I've done, and it was also with the help of my mom. In reality, what ended up happening, was that I did all the cutting, all the pinning, and all the organizing, and SHE sewed. BUT....it really got me into the sewing bug. So, that's what I told George I really wanted for Christmas! Nothing fancy, just a very simple sewing machine. So what did he get me, you ask? He took the "simple" think literally, and my machine is a "Singer Simple"! In reality, while it is a fairly simple sewing machine, it pretty much has anything I'll ever want to do, so I was happy as ever! Personally, I don't ever see myself using all 14 different types of stitching, 5 length settings, etc, but you never know! My guess is that I'll never get to the point where I'll need a fancier machiene! So, I've been a busy bee since about 3 weeks ago when I finally got around to setting the machine all up and figuring out something to create with it! I've made a purse for my sister-in-law, Heather, for her birthday, an *almost* finished purse for my friend Beth for her birthday (which was yesterday!), a baby blanket, spitty cloth, bib, and an "embellished" onesie to match the cloth and bib for my soon to be new neice or nephew! I'm not so sure I'll be so eager to continue sewing this much in the next week or so, as Dakota gets back from Kodiak tomorrow morning, and school (for him and I) start back up on Monday, so my time will again be a bit limited. But, I have been enjoying my sewing adventures thus far! Here's a few pictures of my creations:

This was Heather's purse, and because of my lack of planning skills, we had to take this picture on the way to the birthday dinner in the car. I couldn't pass up recording my very first creation on my new sewing machine!

My new baby niece or nephew's stuff....minus the bib since I haven't finished it yet!

Beth's purse.....except it's missing 4 buttons and attaching the straps!