Cute Girls

 

Many people at the school keep telling Chalyse that she looks just like Shirley Temple. The vice principal gave Chalyse one the the Shirley Temple cups that she collects. She said it came out of a cracker jacks box about 80 years ago.

Here is Chalyse doing her best Shirley Temple. Tom calls this dress her Shirley Temple dress.

Chalyse helped Ellora umuk her baby

Chalyse and her quintuplets.

Cozy babes. (Two of them are real.)

Ellora posing in her stylish leggings.

 

Where's My Cape?

Every time we fly I see at least one mother who is traveling alone with two young children. I always think to myself "Wouldn't that be horrible? I'm so glad that Tom is here. It is so easier with two parents." Hold that thought while I tell you a story.

Tom and I have decided to go back to Utah for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas. We were feeling apprehensive about going for Christmas for a few reasons like the fact that would cost around twice the amount than it is going to, to just do Thanksgiving instead. We considered not coming back at all until summer but there were a few good reasons against that. We need to buy some more groceries, and we have several Christmas presents that we have bought that are waiting in storage that we wouldn't feel good about shipping. Also I don't know if we could go that long without getting out of the village; literally we might go crazy. Not to mention the Grandmas wouldn't hear of it I'm sure. After weighing the pro and cons we have decided that Thanksgiving will work out perfectly. When I went on to book the tickets I found that traveling right before or right after the holiday is much more expensive. We also wanted to make our trip worth it so after studying our ticket options I decided that it would be best if we left a well before Thanksgiving and got home a week or so after it. This meant of course that Tom had to ask for several days off...

The district didn't go for it. They said he had to either choose  the days before the holiday or the days after. "Oh, no!" I thought, "I don't want to cut the trip that short and there is not way we can come back up separate with all of the luggage we are planning on bringing back with us."

Then Tom pointed out, "Why don't you just leave earlier and we can still come back together?" It was a great idea but keep in mind he has to teach through Wednesday not just Tuesday like most Utah districts and it often can take somewhere around 24 hours to get there. This would mean that Tom would basically miss all of Thanksgiving.

"I suppose that wouldn't be the end of the word," I thought but lo and behold somehow we managed to find ourselves a small miracle Tom will travel all night and get in at around 7 in the morning Thanksgiving day. We have been very blessed and are so excited to spend Thanksgiving with many of the ones we love (assuming the weather permits.)

So, this brings me back to the beginning of my story and my one big worry: traveling alone, all night with two little ones. I just have to tell myself that I can do it. I know the airports well and the girls are seasoned travelers. I bought a new double stroller. Our old one is pretty much dead, not to mention it takes way too much to fold up. It is actually a bike trailer and you have to remove the handle and weeks before folding it. Haha... I guess I wouldn't have to worry about the handle though; it has broken off for good. Anyway there is no way I am traveling with that so I found a cheap double stroller that can actually be shipped to the village and the shipping was free. I love amazon.com! With my new double stroller and as little luggage as I can manage I think I can handle this great task. I am even a little excited to prove to myself that I can do it. I don't get to do daring things very often.

Batty Family-Monday Activity

Here is a fun art activity to do with you kids for Halloween.

First trace your hands on paper at cut them out.

Cut out a  rain drop shaped body and a circle head with two pointy ears. 

Glue you bats together and give you bat eyes, a nose and some fangs. 

You could use colored or patterned paper, fabric, craft foam, felt or any other medium you can think of. You may want to use white paper and color it or decorate it using buttons, beans, eyes, sequence, pasta, popcorn or anything else you may have.

Here is our family of bats:

There it is! I knew it was around here somewhere.

After several weeks of wonderfully warm weather and sunshine fall decided to show it's nasty side. Friday the North wind began to blow. It has rainy and sleety until last night...this morning we woke up to SNOW. Chalyse climbed up into the window and excitedly exclaimed "Point Hope, I see Point Hope!"

The other day I heard Chalyse playing "patty-cake" with Ellora. "Oh, how cute!" I thought. I came into the room to see Chalyse sitting on Ellora's tummy facing Ellora's legs. "Ellora's doing patty-cake with her feet." She was clapping Ellora's feet together as she sang. Ellora just grinned up at me.

Positive Effects of Climate Change?

As I have studied and listened to hysterics and skepticism over the climate change debate, I've realized that the debate boils down mostly to, "Uh, huh!," "Nu, uhh!" On one side, they are crying that the sky is falling and it's man's fault. On the other side, their saying either it's not falling or that it's not man's fault. My one critique of the debate is this: if the sky is falling, is it really going to be all that bad?

As human beings, we all to some degree or other fall prey to the "normalcy bias." This means that we think that things are the best the way they are now and any change will make things worse. What if, however, things get better?

It is the same, I think, with climate change. What positives might come through a warming change to the climate? I've made a short list of some of my own thoughts, but it is by no means exhaustive of all possibilities:

1. Milder winters=fewer cold-related deaths (which there are far more of in proportion to heat-related deaths, even in lower latitudes)

2. Vast amounts of newly arable land in Canada, Alaska, and elsewhere.

3. Greater diversity of life (even though scientists say many things are dieing out with warming climate, eras in geological history with the greatest amount of biodiversity have been much warmer than it is today)

4. Lowered cost of wardrobe budgets (fewer people will have to buy coats and long pants...but then again, I'm sure the money would be spent on ridiculously expensive bathing suits, etc. :)

5. Polar bears are pretty cute, but I don't think anyone ever thought that as they were being chased by one. Who will really miss them, anyway? (LOL)

6. Warmer seas=more water vapor=more clouds=more rain=fewer deserts and fewer droughts.

7. We're past due for an ice age, so if mankind can warm the climate through pouring trace gases into the atmosphere, lets do it. Life in all its forms, not just humans, would be much more devastated by cold than heat.

What other thoughts do you guys have? If anyone who is a firm believer in anthropogenic climate change and that we're all going to die in a fiery flood reads this, please try to consider any possible positives. The bottom line is that IF there truly is global warming, we're going to have to live through it one way or the other, and I'd rather be Polly Anna than Scrooge.

A Warm Winter Hat for Baby.

When Cathy commented on Ellora's hat in a previous post it reminded me that last year I was going to post about how I had made that hat. I guess I got busy and completely forgot. But I had it almost all ready to post. I even took pictures so I have finished it up. Her it is:

Ellora needed a new hat because she had out grown her old one already. I found this super cute one at online Old Navy but didn't want to spend the money plus shipping and then wait 3 weeks to get it so I decided to make my own. I looked all over the internet for a pattern and couldn't find one so I made one up and got to make it just the way I wanted it. It turned out really cute so I decided to share. I don't know all the technical terms so I hope it is not too confusing.

I used a fleece. Measure around your baby's head then add an extra inch or two. This number I will call the circumference.

You will need to cut:

a: Top piece: two pieces that are 5in by half of the circumference plus 1/2 in for seam allowance.
(for example: my baby's head was 16 inches around. Half of that is 8 inches. Plus 1/2 inch for seam allowance equals 8 and 1/2 inch pieces.)

b. Bottom piece: one piece that is 5in by circumference plus 1/4 in seam allowance. (for mine 16 and 1/4 inches)

c. Ear cover: four pieces that are 3in by 3in

d. Tie: two pieces that are 1in by 12in

e. Fringe: two pieces that are 3in by 5in. You will cut these into 1/4in strips. You should end up with 48 strips total. Keep them stacked in twos.

All seams should be 1/4 of an inch in.

Step 1: Sew the short sides of the top piece (a) together; right sides facing in. Then turn right side out.

 Step 2: Take two of the ear cover pieces (c) place them right sides together and sew up two parallel sides. leaving it wrong side out take piece (d) and sew it into a third side. It should be sticking out if the seam about 1/4 of an inch and the rest of it should come out into the tube between the two sides you just sewed so when you turn it, it will have the long piece on the out side. Do the same to the other two (c) pieces and other (d) piece.

Step 3: fold bottom piece (b) in half, right sides together, so that it is still 5 in but now about half of circumference. Sew short end to make a tube. Fold tube in half (into it self so seam is hidden in fold and you have a 2 and 1/2 inch tube with a fold along the bottom)


Step 4: Take the top piece and an ear piece. Line the ear piece up at the seam of top piece. Overlap the two pieces. The tie end of ear piece should be coming away from top piece. (This seam will be covered up by bottom piece) Do the same to the other ear piece lined up with other seam of top piece.


Step 5: Take the brim piece (b) and pin it to top piece of hat (a) about 1 inch from the bottom of top piece so you can stitch it on with out sewing over the ear piece. Sew using a zigzag stitch along the top of (b). Baby can where hat with brim down or up.

Step 6. Turn hat inside out and sew top closed. Turn back right side out.

Step 7: take 24 fringe (e) still stacked in twos so you have 12 rows and sew over the top of them to connect them to each other. Now you can fold the 12 strips half so you have 6 piles of 4 and sew it to one corner of hat. Do the same with other 24 pieces.

Step 8: Cut fringe into ends of tie about 1 inch up and about 5 cuts. Tie a knot just above fringe.

Here is what the finished project should look like:

A Paper Autumn

Here in Point Hope we are too far North for any kind of trees...or most anything that grows more than two inches off the ground. As a result Fall is very different than what we are used to down in Utah.

Here are a couple of activities we have done so we could enjoy, at least to some degree, the joys of trees:

Thankfulness Tree

Last year when we were missing trees we decided to make our own. We used packing paper from various mail-orders that we've made for the trunk and limbs. The greenery was "donated" by the school. We also missed fall colors, so we made leaves out of colored paper and wrote on them things that we're thankful for. One thing that we're all thankful for now is our thankfulness tree. It is happy to have a tree in our house..

Jumping in the Leaves

 Every kid loves jumping in a big crunchy pile leaves...and most adults for that matter.

I spread out a long piece of packing paper across the floor, gave the girls some markers, and set them loose to color me an Autumn. After that we tore the paper in to small leave-sized pieces. They thought it was great, especially Ellora who enjoys ripping up books and the such. Then we piled them up and went crazy throwing rolling and jumping. It wasn't quite the same as the real thing but we had a lot of fun.

Ella-Bella

The Pledge of Allegiance

I recently wrote a post on the Pledge of Allegiance on my blog. This has been something that Camille and I have been thinking and talking about for a while, and I wanted to put it out there for people to see. http://thoughts-by-tom.blogspot.com/2010/09/on-saying-pledge-of-allegiance.html

Teaching Landforms

The social studies teacher in the high school has often bemoaned to me the lack of geographical knowledge of his students, particularly in recognition of landforms. Part of this is because the students have experience with very few landforms here in Point Hope. As the middle school social studies teacher, I've been trying to figure out a way that will help my students remember these things.

I inherited some shallow bins from teachers who previously occupied my classroom, so I decided to put those to use. They were each about 15"x24". I filled them each about 1/4 full of the little gravel that's very abundant in Point Hope. During class, I put them into groups of about 3 and went through each of the landforms we were studying and had them make them. The students got really into it. I then quizzed them, and they got really excited.

The one problem was that we didn't get to this activity until the day after I got the gravel, so it was very dry and dusty. The air filled with dust, and some students complained about skin irritation after dealing with it for a while. If it had been slightly damp, it would have solved both problems, I think. Also, I think it would have been better with sand or possibly play dough. I would be partial to sand, however, because it is a lot more land-like, so I think it would make a more lasting impression.

Monday Activity: Bunny Hop and The Hungry Alligator

Ok, so I know it's Thursday but better late than never right?

Some of our favorite activities are songs or rhymes that have actions. These activities are especially good for helping my girls get enough exercise, which can be hard when it is 20 below outside. They also help toddlers develop gross motor skills, and and get out their pent up energy. I chose two of our favorites to share today. They were both taught to me by my little sister Bethany. I think she learned them in nursery.

Bunny Hop

The word and actions go as follows:

"Little bunny in the ditch, bunny sleeping in a ditch." (Lay down and pretend to be sleeping)
"Little bunny if your wise, you will open up your eyes." (Open your eyes and lift head)
"Bunny hop, bunny hop, bunny hop." (quickly get up and hop away, jumping on each "hop")

Here is a movie so you can see the tune.

The Hungry Alligator

This one doesn't have a melody:

"Five little monkeys swinging in a tree" (Put up five fingers and swing them back and forth)
"Teasing Mr. Alligator 'Can't catch me, you can't catch me'" (Put your thumbs to you temples and wiggle your fingers about)

(My girls love the next part)

(Quietly) "Along came Mr.Alligator quiet as can be" (put you hands together and move them side to side like they are a hungry alligator swimming through the water)
(Loudly ) "AND SNATCHED A MONKEY RIGHT OUT OF THAT TREE!" (Clap your hands together on the word snatched)

Continue with four more verses with one less monkey each time until you get to the last one. Then you say: "AND SNATCHED THAT MONKEY RIGHT OUT OF THAT TREE!" on the last line.

Yummy, Ooey-Gooey and Sticky

Chalyse has always been a finicky eater. She will love something one day and hate it the next. She rarely will eat a lot of anything at one time. There is one thing that she would eat all day, though, if I would let her. Her very most favorite thing in the world...no, it's not hot dogs or even macaroni and cheese, she probably doesn't even like candy as much as she likes...bread dough. Every time I start making bread she pushed her bike up to the counter to watch. As soon as it looks thick enough to eat she snatches a handful and shoves it in her moth. Disgusting I know! And I'm sure it is not that healthy. It doesn't have an eggs in it but I bet it is hard to digest. I usually tell her "no" not only for health reasons but making bread is hard work and it's very compact compared to the final product. I'll bet that each handful she grabs is like three slices of bread. But honestly she can't help herself; she just like it so much. What am I to do with her?

Savoring the Good Life

 

This semester I am taking a positive psychology class. It is a relatively new field of psychology that has only been an official field of study since 1998. Up until recently most psychologists took a more grim outlook on the human species and focused much of their attention more on what goes wrong than celebrating and enhancing what goes right. It has been really interesting to see that most of what it teaches are things that I have been taught since I was little. In the primer textbook, written by Christopher Peterson, it suggests that good character and strong values are what will bring us the most lasting happiness. Although these are ideas that are common to some, the field of study takes it to the next level with experimentation and documentation.

This past week we have been talking about learning to savor the good things in life. The following is a part of the assignment that we did in connection with the idea of savoring:

"I love taking pictures of my daughters! I want to keep each smile forever. I relish in each hug they give, and every made-up song they sing. I enjoy getting them dressed in the morning and doing their hair and even when they are hanging around in their footsie pajamas with crazy-crazy hair, I love to adore them.

"Throughout each day I make mental notes of each of the silly, clever or cute things that each of my daughters does and anticipate sharing these moments with my husband. I am so glad to be blessed to stay home with them during the day.

"Yesterday we took our girls for a walk out on the tundra and I just loved to watch Chalyse pick up the old wild flowers. She would hold it up and say “Look a flower,” then she would pick off each piece of fluff and watch as it floated away in the wind. Ellora and I pulled some moss off the ground. I let her feel how soft it was and she excitedly squealed and held it up to show Dad."


I have to add that yesterday we had the opportinity to go out and pick blueberries. They are not quite the same as the blueberries we have down in the states but, similar. They are just a little blacker, smaller and a little more bitter. One of the ladies that works at the school told us where to find some, so we took a short walk down 7 Mile Road, about half a mile, and there they were just off to the right of the road. Tons of them growing very close to the ground. It had been a beautiful, sunny and warm day but just as we were heading out of the village a cold fog set in. The girls were getting cold and kept stepping on the berries so we didn't stay long but I hope to go out again before they are all gone. We were going to maybe go out today but it was very windy and cold, so maybe we will try sometime next week.


Here are some pictures of our walk on Thursday and our berry picking yesterday.

A Gripping Tragedy of an Ancient North American People

I just finished a great book! It is a gripping tragety about a people who lived on the American contenent thousands of years ago. I'm not normally one for a tragedy but this one is really fascinating. It is called "The Book of Ether" and it is contained in a book of scriptures published by The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. It is only 15 short chapters. If you are interested in reading it this link will take you to a free online copy. Make sure you read all the way to the end. The best (at least the most interesting) part is is the very last chapter.

E is for Ellora

It is about time that I posted about Ellora's 1st birthday and party.

We had guests of all ages. We invited all of our extended family and a couple close friends.

We wanted to do a Zoo theme. I saw some really cute zoo party favors that used the letters of the alphabet. They would have a tiger and say something like "T is for Thank you" or a parrot and say "P is for Party." We used this idea and personalized it. We printed off several pictures from our trip to the zoo. The main theme was the elephant; "E is for Ellora." We also had lions; "L is for Lovable," and girraffs; "G is for girlie."...etc.

In the drive way on the way back to the yard we drew with side walk chalk a big arch and "welcome to the zoo." Then we got all of our zoo-like stuffed animals and toys for other decorations.











I covered a long table with some white butcher paper that I had picked up at Partyland. I then drew in a zoo that was missing the animals. We put out a box of crayons and as guests arrived we had them color their favorite animal and it's habitat into our zoo as well as on their cups. This was a a fun activity even for the adults and coloring the cups made it easy to tell them  apart. I used white Styrofoam cups so that we could use crayons. I didn't want to worry about permanent marker with all the little kids.

The cake followed the same theme, "E is for Ellora," "H is for Happy" (the hippo) and "P is for Playful" (the polar bear.) I used soft bath toys that I bought at Wal-mart for the animals and the gate into the zoo came from a train toy we had. I put pretzels around the cake and each animal for the fence. Then, I used crunched vanilla wafers for dirt in the Elephants cage and white, blue and green frosting to make snow/ice, water and grass.


Here it is...

There it goes...

We had a lot of guests I also made jungle animal cup cakes that i found on the Betty Crocker website.

.

One other activity we had was a frog and lizard hunt. I picked up a few packages of plastic frogs and lizards at the dollar store and we hid them in the grass. This activity was surprisingly very poplar with the kids. I wished I had gotten more than just a couple frogs/lizards for each child.

 Mom and Dad gave her Barn and farm animals

She of course likes the bag best.

A little bit about Ellora

E is for everywhere: Ellora loves to climb on everything. I have found her on the entertainment center a few times. She is also beginning to say a few words like ball and bath.

H is for hungry: Ellora likes to eat just about anything including toilet paper and wood chips, but her favorite thing to eat is anything that Chalyse left on her plate. Almost daily I get her down from breakfast, wash her off and turn around to do something only to find her a minute later standing on the table eating Chalyse's breakfast.

M is for Momma's girl: if mommy is not the first person she see's in the morning she will complain.

C is for cuddly: She likes to cuddle (when it's her idea) especially when she is tired. She gives great hugs. She also loves teddy bears (or anything soft) and puppy's. She likes to pant and bark like a dog. 

G is for girlie: The other day I put a flower in her hair. She was so proud of it and strutted around. Every few seconds she would reach up to her hair to make sure her flower was still there. She likes to play with dolls and thinks anything makes a good phone.

S is for silly: Ellora has such a fun personality. She likes to pull faces to make people laugh. Her favorite face to pull is a scowl but she is also very friendly and social and will wave and say, "haa," to everyone.

We love you Ellora and are so glad to have your bright smile and fun personality to bring us so much joy!