More Fun In Galena

Here is one of my favorite photos of David. Kiva and him are so cute together! We took Kiva and Berry for a walk and it was so funny. Berry would not have anything to do with Kiva because she's still a puppy who is hyper. Hmmm....made me thankful for how much Berry has matured. Once they got outside Berry wanted to Kiva to chase her so she ran and ran and ran. David was so proud of Kiva for going into the water. Berry was a good teacher! Then Berry came over to Dave's and Kiva and her were a little unsure of each other, but then started to race around and play hard. For some reason, they started a little fight. I'm very sure Berry is the one who started it because Kiva is just to sweet to do something like that. Until later, I got to get ready for my flight to Nome.

Summer Vacation in Galena

Here are some more pics from Galena. Geez it's hard to keep up with blogging and facebooking! Romay thinks she can beat me up, but I know she can't and that I'm more buff than she is. Berry is trying to protect me from Romay tickling me. Thank goodness I have a good guard dog.

Here is a picture of my closest Christian friends, Myra. Her and her husband have been such great dating mentors! Oh boy, do I need mentoring! Myra made delicious pizza for her fam, me and David! It was fun to visit the place they might buy. It was so great to visit with Jason and Myra and talk about fun Koyuk memories, listening to Jason make Berry, Kemper, and Kiva voices and conversations. What a great sense of humor!

Here is another picture of Dave and I by the Yukon. We went out with his fam, Jason, Myra, and Romay. I am amazed at God's beauty! I felt so blessed to be with amazing people and amongst God's creation. We saw cranes, ducks, and listened again to Jason's voices of the dogs. The younger girls could not stop laughing. Also it was neat to watch David laugh about Tundra Comics. Hmm....a good gift idea.

I'm so thankful that David and I finally got a chance to hang out in person besides skype, facebook, and phone. It definately is hard to go back to long distance. Hopefully another visit to Galena in July or August while I have the time off.

End of the School Year

It's been a while! Here are pictures of the last day of school. We had a picnic outside and then the kids got to go home and the teachers could work. Real Cheap, as the kids would say. It has been such a joy to reflect on where the kids were at the beginning of the year and where they are now. THey have gotten independent, smarter, and learned to read, write, use I messages when they are upset with someone. I started missing my kids even before school was out! May God keep them safe.

Here is an ulu I purchased from the school. Many high school students and junior high students worked with the bicultural teacher to make them. The bowl was an experiment, but I love it. I still don't know what to put inside it. It is made from Alder.

The last two weeks of school were exhausting, but it was also exciting because that meant I was that much closer to see David, Jason, and Myra.

The new Kindergartners!

The kindergarteners for next year came to visit their new classroom for the day! My kids were excellent teachers and helpers! They read books to them, showed them how to do things in our classroom. I was very impressed with the new students coming in. I have a lot of smarties coming in. I also have two challenging students coming in as well. I am a little nervous for safety reasons.

We talked about caterpillars, read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The 4 year olds had great memories. We played in learning labs, read books, wrote stories about caterpillars. Sarah, the four-year-old teacher was amazed at how calm her kids were when I thought it was hectic. What a difference between 4's and 5's, but I love them all!

Well, it was a nice week. I taught until Wednesday and then went to Unalakleet for a curriculum and instruction meeting. We discussed and made decisions on graduation requirements and electives for upper level students to take. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces and friends. We had amazing food: pizza, sandwhiches, speciality sandwhiches, mexican, ice cream treats, fun beverages all from Peace on Earth, the local restaurant.

The weather has been making it hard to get around, especially in Unalakleet. It was slushy and wet everywhere. I'm glad I brought my insulated rain boots! We had a blizzard while in Unalakleet and it has been raining in Koyuk. It has been nice to get out for walks once again. There are three more weeks of school with a lot happening next week: prom, graduation, bacheloreate, senior dinner, IEP meetings this week and next. I have a lot of assessing to do and tests to be scored yet. The three weeks will fly by fast! I'm getting more excited that it's almost driving me nuts to wait three weeks to see David, Jason and Myra. Enjoy new pictures from the sleepover. I was super tired at 8 pm tonight. There is light until after 10pm. That is my kind of night!

2 dogs + 10 kids= Sleepover!

Well, here you go! The sleepover was a blast. The kids earned a sleepover by getting 5 days of 100% Read and Respond, which is nightly reading done at home with a parent. It took us a long time but they were so proud. We started at 7:30 with a movie and popcorn and dogs excited to be around so many kids giving them attention. The other dog is Juno and I was dogsitting while her owner was at the job fair. She was so bugging at night though because she would not settle down. We ended the night with a "scary" stories. They begged me to tell them a scary story. I guess mine was not scary because they all wanted a chance to tell scary stories. Most of them were not scary at all, but I didn't have the heart to tell them, so I said they were. Then Ben wanted to try to scare us and swore the pack sack was moving. Silly boy! I think my two favorite quotes were, "Wow, Jeni, real hairy legs." The next morning I shaved! The second quote was cute also. As I was putting all my face lotions on, one of the kids asked, "Does that make your face white?" Real Cute those kids are. I will miss not having them next year! I didn't sleep the whole night because on the girls I was sleeping in between kept either kicking me or beating me up with her arms! It was fun in the morning when they woke up. We cuddled, tickled, and laughed. Oh, I almost forgot, I also read them a bed time story around 12 am. So I made pancakes while they were in the gym playing and keeping an eye on the dogs. Juno pooped twice in the school, but it was easy to clean up. Shh...don't tell the principal!

Saturday morning, I was exhausted and then I get a tap on the door from my principal..oh oh, I'm busted! I jokes! She asked if I wanted to go to the hotsprings which is 1 1/2 hours away by snowmachine that is. It took her twisting my arm to go. My Sat. schedule was always go to work and then relax in the evening. She told me I could do my work on Sunday, which was true this week because there was not church. So I shaved my nice hairy legs, got warm clothes, and ate something real quick and was out the door by 1:30. Heather drove like mad woman wanting to win a race or something. She seemed to slow down on the bumps, but I laughed when she didn't. We drove by the old school house, went through the beautiful peace river area. Wow, the difference in trees was amazing! They were so tall! I was hoping to see a moose there because there were droppings and tracks all over the place. We finally made it to hotsprings and it was a lot bigger than I thought it was. They had a cabin with a woodstove. I felt a little uncomfortable taking off all my warm clothes and just in my swim suit with two HS students from Koyuk and other people around. The changing room was a line in the corner of the room clothespinned with a blanket. I just laughed to myself. Then a little room with a table, bed for eating and things. It wasn't as hot as I imagined it. The Cheena hotsprings were hotter. The bottom of the hotsprings freaked me out with all the sticky mud and plants. Good thing I brought my sandals. I found a few warmer places. It was so relaxing! It was a hot tub in the middle of the beautiful country. I forgot how gorgeous Koyuk is when I don't get out in the country. Every time I do though, makes me want a snowmachine. Real cheap, that I have student loans to pay off. I was so toasty warm on the way back because we weren't going into the wind. I'm so glad I went. After 5 years of living here, I had to go!

Sunday was a short day of work. I realized I had only one day of sub lessons because Friday we do not have students. Wednesday to Friday evening, I travel to Unalakleet for a curriculum and instruction meeting. It will be nice to leave the village for a while and get some good coffee, eat pizza at Peace on Earth, and visit with friends. Until next week, when I post some photos of Hot Springs.

Dog sitting...my second job!

Hello! Last week I didn't post because I suddenly became sick with the flu for one day. Thank Goodness! I did stay home from work just to be safe. The rest of the week was hard. I was faitigued all week and feel it is slowly going away. It puzzles me why I am fatigued at this time.

Our school had standards-based assessments (SBA's) all week. The kids worked hard and so did every person on staff to make sure each kid did well on the test. I praise God for the strength he gave me when I didn't know how I was going to make through the week. His faithfulness endures forever! My students will also be testing this month to see if they made growth in the the two standardized tests I gave this fall. We also got fresh fruit this week because of testing. The kids ate it like it was candy. This week are doing my favorite unit: Fur and Feathers, which is all about animals. We have 5 weeks left of school and I can't wait! We went skiing this Friday and the kids were so amazing! They feel so confident in themselves that they are going down hills that I never thought they would try. They are truly improving! They are doing less falling and are balancing really well. The two boys were hilarious. They were doing jumps off high snow drifts, falling, laughing, and just being boys. They were so cute!

As I type it is a blizzard outside with snowflakes so gigantic! The weather has been pretty good. The sun is constantly shining and it's quite warm. There are times the wind picks up but nothing unbearable.

So to explain the title. I dog sat Spanky (german shepard) last weekend. Now, I am babysitting the cutest little black lab (around 2 months old) puppy. Sadie has done something I never saw before. She plays in the water dish! She splashes the water everywhere, then digs in it like she's buried something. It's quite hilarious. She also goes inside the couch end, where Berry chewed to hide and play. She sleeps well through the night and tugs well with Berry. On the other hand, Berry has had quite enough of Sadie. Berry is quite jealous of Sadie and gets quite the attitude with her. She made Sadie yelp twice by snarling and going after her. I have Sadie for a few more days and then this weekend I get Juno. I'm starting to feel like my sister. I love every minute of it! Dogs rule, cats drool!