A Little Easter Fun!

Easter was pretty low key around here this year. We did baskets, but they were pretty small. We are attempting at cutting back at holidays. I've went overboard for too many years. We are now paying the consequences. I hadn't planned on making a dinner on Easter since we made it the weekend before while Mike was still here. We were invited to our friends house for dinner, which was VERY enjoyable!!!! No family pictures were taken that day. This is all there is...





I should tell you, I've been sewing. You may see a sewing post within the next couple of days. :-)

Edited to fix the photo link!

Spring in Alaska

There are many different things that remind people Spring is on its way. Possibly flowers blooming, seedling starting, trees budding, snow melting, mud puddles, etc. For me, one of the most prevalent things that let me know Spring is on its way is the honking of geese! They pretty much honk over-head all night. I hear them when I'm laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, and I hear them before I'm even out of bed in the morning. We enjoy going to Creamers Field to view the different water fowl species. We saw a couple of swans this visit through the binoculars, but weren't able to get a good picture with the camera.





I just love this picture of Benjamin...

Prom

Devin went to prom Saturday evening. He said he had a good time, although he wasn't very forth-coming with information. :p None-the-less, he cleaned up pretty well. I can't believe my oldest kid is old enough to go to Junior prom!

Is Your Day Well Planned?

Two years ago, I stumbled upon the Well Planned Day. The publisher was offering a sale at that time, so I decided to place an order. I had tried Homeschool Tracker Plus, as well as countless other attempts at planning our day, but hadn't found anything that worked the way I wanted it to. Can I just say that I LOVE the Well Planned Day?

Well Planned Day 2011-2012 Preview

There are pages for listing curriculum we're using, pages for keeping track of what books we're reading, what field trips we're planning, etc. There are even spaces for keeping track of budgets!!! Each planner can track up to 4 kids worth of homeschooling info. You can use it to keep track of attendance as well as grades. I like that there are articles and verses throughout the book. On each weekly pages, there is a space for meal planning, weekly activities and weekend activities. Have I told you how much I love this planner? I just received next years planner in the mail. I'll actually have to change things up a bit next year, as we'll be back to homeschooling 5 kids again, but I'll figure something out. I've never seen the high school planners, but more than likely one will be showing up on my doorstep soon. Happy Planning!!!!!

Trudging Along

It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged, which doesn't please me. I don't want to go back to my old blogging habits. :p We've been busy lately, although I'm not exactly sure what has been taking up so much of our time. I did get a dishwasher installed, thanks to my husband! He did a GREAT job! He had never installed an appliance like that before, so I'm very proud of him! It is so nice to be able to start the dishwasher at night and waken to clean dishes!! My two biggest kids appreciate it as well. It sure does make their job easier! HA!
I have been doing a little knitting here and there, but not a ton. I was sick this week, which hasn't helped. I did read a book though. Heaven is for Real. If you haven't read it, do it. It'll certainly give you lots to think about!

Spring Break Fun!!!!

Mike's block leave coincided with Spring Break this year. How convenient! :-) We didn't really go anywhere, but did more of a "staycation" type of thing. We had a great week! Mike and I were able to get away for a night by ourselves, which we enjoyed immensely. Chena Hot Springs was our destination.

We didn't do any of the extra stuff the "Resort" has to offer, but we sure did have a great time. Some time, we want to tour the Ice Hotel. Can you believe they are able to keep this standing year round? Even in the summer time! Amazing!

You can spend the night in the hotel for a measly $600 a night!!!!
The next day, we took the kids to the Ice Park. Absolutely beautiful! The kids had a great time on the ice slides and viewing the sculptures!


I might of sort of played with a little bit of photo editing there. I'm not very good, but it is fun.

Next on the agenda was The Knotty Shop. We hadn't been there since we lived here almost 10 years ago. We used to drive all the way down there just to get ice-cream. Which is precisely what we did this week. Fun times. I didn't get any photos of us eating ice cream, but I did get this interesting shot...

Yesterday, we pretty much stayed home. Devin had soccer practice and we had a parent meeting, plus we had about 7 trips to Lowes. Why so many trips you might ask? Because my rockin' husband installed a dishwasher for me!!!!!! He had never done anything like this before, so I am so proud of him for doing it with only verbal help from a friend!!!! YouTube may have helped as well. :p No pics yet though. He still has to finish closing it in. He says that will happen tomorrow.
Today, we had planned to go tubing at Birch Hill. It was Family Day, which meant a discounted rate. It also meant a 1.5-2 hour wait. Not happening. So, we drove over to the ice-park and let the kids play some more on the ice slides. They also skated on their first outdoor ice rink! They had a blast!


I'm still hoping for one more visit to the ice park. Preferably at night. The sculptures are so pretty when they're all lit up!
Mike has one more week off from work. We're planning a couple of fun things, but mostly back to the old grind. Skating lessons, piano, school, etc. Fun times ahead!!

20+ Degrees? Yes, Please!

What happens when it's 20 above zero in Alaska? This....




This was the first time we had went tubing at Birch Hill as a family. Fun times, I tell ya. I wasn't feeling particularly hot, so I stood at the bottom of the hill and observed. Next time, I'm tubing man. It looked so much FUN! After we spent a couple of hours at the tubing hill, we went to view this...




That's the Pipeline! Pretty neat. However, the kids were more excited to play in the deep snow we've got!