First SNOW!

We woke up to snow yesterday morning! (Okay, so it was only a dusting... shhhh - don't burst my bubble!) It wasn't a lot, but it was snow still the same :) Ginger was funny when I opened the door; she usually just takes off in front of me (leashed of course!), but yesterday morning she stopped dead in her tracks. She took a step... lifted her other foot higher than needed and took a step with it.. then she started eating and licking at it :)

Enjoy some photos of my afternoon walk - another teacher (sweet Shuk!) and I went for a walk from the apartments down to the new church; it is a mile walk each way. It was refreshing to get out in such pure and clean air while surrounded by breathtaking awesome beauty all around - as far as the eye can see... oh, and the silence of the beauty is so loud that you can't help but to notice it.

This was about 9:30 in the morning  and you can see a few kids out playing on the tundra even when the sun hasn't quite come up yet.

My afternoon walk with my teacher friend, Shuk...

Last week was Halloween! The school hosts a village-wide carnival and just about every single person, young and old, come for the fun, games, food and fellowship! The carnival is also the school's largest fund-raising activity. The teachers all plan, setup and run a booth of their choice and we set ticket prices for folks to come participate in whatever the activity of our booth hosts. I set up a tattoo booth (the kind you rub on and wash off of course!) and made about $160! Enjoy some photos of the carnival and the cutest little kids in Togiak!

 This is my student and I did not recognize her at all when she came to the tattoo booth... Those glasses! lol

 My favorite costume of course!! This little girl makes the cutest Dorothy ever :)

 This is Amber at our tattoo booth...

 lol.. this little baby is the Chucky doll! Awesome.

When I left the school to walk home, I had to get a photo of this family - this shows how everyone just bundles up and gets around the village...

As you can see... the carnival was a big success and the whole village came for the fun!

Trick-or-treating...

School is going GREAT! I could not be happier with my classroom and students. Every single day I walk into my room and ready to be huggedNloved by my students. They are eager to learn and make my days wonderful. This teacher is blessed beyond words!

I fly out of here in a few hours today to go to Dillingham to take my Praxis - the outcome of this test determines if I get to stay next year or now. I have a year to pass this - but, I am also struggling with wanting to go home and reconnect with my mom, hang out with her for awhile... I see that in my future for next year and then hope to come back to Alaska and experience another adventure - who knows where!!

Enjoy some random photos! (as if I've not posted enough already... right!?)

$27 chicken... it gave me a good 4-days worth of delicious food!

 Yupik dolls project - I had so many parents come help :)

 Messy counters!

 Dale, my vice principal selling tickets at the Carnival.,,

 Sam, my principal...

The view from my kitchen window...

 The view from my living room window...

 So many rainbows... almost every day :)

Ok - so one last photo before you leave... trust me, it's worth checking out :) MY BOYS!!! Happy first Halloween to my grandson, Alexander - you and your daddy are adorable as can be :) I cannot wait to see this little guy come summer. AND.. he will be one year old in 5 more days - amazing!!

My awesome daughter-in-law/perfect wife to my son/best mother ever to my grandbaby, Emy - she is the wolf and the boys are the lumberjacks :)

Until next week... Zzzzz