Cowboy Casserole

1 lb pasta
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 med onion chopped
1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can sloppy joe sauce
frozen or canned corn
grated cheese

1.Cook pasta as directed till al dente or very firm
2.Cook ground beef and onion until meat is cooked thoroughly. Add corn and pinto beans to meat and onion until warmed. 
3.Mix soup and sloppy joe sauce.
4.In a crock pot put a little bit of sauce mixture then layer pasta, sauce, meat mixture and grated cheese. Heat on low for about 2 hours or until cheese is melted. You can also cook in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 min.

Chalyse Logic

This afternoon I was struggling with Chalyse to get her to obey. She was finishing up in the bathroom and I was fighting with her to wipe and then to wash her hands. Finally she accomplished these difficult tasks and we came out.

I decided to tell Chalyse a couple of stories. The first about a boy and his Mom. They were walking around the side of a wall. The Mom was several steps ahead of the boy and came around the wall to see a vicious dog ready to attack. She called to the boy to stop and immediately he obeyed even though he could not see the danger. The Mom expressed just how grateful she was that her son had learned to obey without question.

The second story was of a boy who was out playing in the yard and heard his fathers voice calling him to come. He quickly came running to his father. His father had not called him. It had in fact been the spirit warning him that he was in danger playing near a poisonous snake. The boys life may have been saved by learning to quickly obey his fathers voice.

After listening to these stories Chalyse said, "There are no snakes in the bathroom! That's silly!" and began to laugh.



The other day Chalyse said, "Mom everyone loves me." I agreed. She said, "Dad loves me, Ellora loves me, Baby Owen loves me. But Mom you don't love me."
I said, "Of course I love you. I love you very much!"
"but you don't love me because you won't let me watch a show." 

Owen Chamberlain

Owen Chamberlain was born after a quick labor.  He was an even 8 lbs and 21 inches long.  Both mom and baby are doing great.

We never had considered the name Owen until we became pregnant.  Once we did, no other name seemed to fit.  His first name is the surname of Tom's great (don't know how many "greats") grandparents that came from Wales. 

His middle name Camille picked out several years ago after hearing her grandma tell stories about her (Camille's) Great Great Grandpa Chamberlain and what a great person he was. The night before Owen was born Camille's grandma had a vivid dream about her grandpa Chamberlian. She didn't know we had decided to use that name and was very thrilled when she found out.

His Eskimo name given to him by Patty Milligrock is Tikigaq (most closely rendered "ti-ki-awk"), the Inupiaq word for Point Hope.

Book Worm

The other day as we were getting ready for the day, Chalyse evidently didn't think that just one book was enough.  She pulled every single book off the shelf and started "reading."

Express Mail

The other day while I was skyping with Camille and the girls, Chalyse was doing one of her favorite past times: pounding on the keys on the computer.  Camille told her that if she didn't stop she would send her away (meaning into the other room).  Chalyse got excited and said, "Put me in a box and send me to Dad?  Please send me to Dad!"

Our Chalysie

Chalyse really likes Taco’s. She doesn’t care much for breakfast but likes cereal and will often ask for it at other times of the day as well. She is very good at listening to and following directions when she wants to. She is very in tune with what people are feeling and will often observe what someone is doing and talk about why or what they were feeling. She understands complex ideas about people. She is very friendly and likes to talk to the neighbors. She makes them laugh. She like telling people her name and how old she is. She loves her sister and tries to watch out for her. She occasionally still likes tackling her to the ground to show her affection. She is so good at staying in her bed and going to sleep at night and usually sleeps very well. This is so significant because she has struggled immensely with both of those all her life. She likes going to nursery but only if Mom is there too.  She gets excited when they do music time or a lesson and tries to listen very well.

Chalyse absolutely loves her daddy. Sometimes she calls him Daddio. She tells me how much she misses him every day and wants him to come home so he can hold her. She likes talking to him and Skype and can call and answers calls all by herself. She is very good on the computer and can do a lot on her own…which scares me a little. I guess I will have to keep an eye on her.  She has had a lot more energy since we got to Utah. I think the sunshine and being able to get out of the house more has done her good.

Layover in Seattle

 Like I mentioned before on our way back to Utah we had a 12 hour lay over in Seattle and were able to spend the day with our good friends Andrea, Danny and Brixton. We went to a Children's museum, had some fish and chips for lunch and walked around Pikes Place. We had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures that Andrea took.

Settling In

Our flights back to Utah went well. We stopped in Seattle for a few hours on Tuesday and spent the day with our friends Andrea and Danny and their little boy Brixton. Tom was in Utah for only 3 short days before heading back on his two day journey to the village. He made it back safe and is keeping busy with teaching, life guarding and a little more packing.

The girls and I are doing well and starting feel settled into our apartment. We are still missing a few boxes, mostly just toys but hopefully they get here soon. Like usual we are sick after traveling. We got the virus that has been going around. The cough and fever that wont seem to go away. Chalyse got it first and I think that Ellora and I are just at the beginning so it hasn't hit us too hard yet. Luckily Chalyse is usually a good sport about being sick and we haven't lost too much more sleep than usual.

My mom threw my sister Daurie and me a baby shower on Tuesday because we are both having a new gender than what we had before. It was a lot of fun and between that and trading baby clothes with Daurie I think I am almost ready for the baby. I had an other ultra sound on Monday and everything looks great. I did fail my glucose test though. It's not a big deal. I was just a little too high so I have to go back in for the 2 hour test.

Now that we are away from the isolation of the village we are planning to start a new blog for close friend and family to read. We plan to keep posting on this blog but for the more personal stories we would like to go private. Let us know if you would like to be invited to read and don't get an email from us in the next week or two.

Leaving the Arctic

Our arctic adventure has officially ended for the girls and me. I am glad to be back to what I am used to: being around family, being able to drive to the store...things like that. But I have had a lot of mixed feelings about leaving. I have been apprehensive about being with out Tom for two months again but I have also been a little sad to leave this stage of my live and enter a new one.

Living in Point Hope has definitely been a huge challenge for us. On the flip side I have learned so much about myself and about other people by being there and as a result it has become a huge part of who I am now. One thing that I noticed about the people of Point Hope is how genuine they are. They do not pretend to feel one way or an other. They act exactly how they feel. This is both good and bad but it is nice to know that when they treat you like a friend it is not just because they feel obligated to. Here are some of our friends in Point Hope who will be missed.

Gail: She taught Mandy and I how to make the traditional native atigluks.

Patty: Her daughter is around Chalyse's age and the girls enjoys having her come over and play. Patty is a lunch worker and the girls liked seeing her when we came for lunch.

Kathy and Cheryl teach in the elementary

Dorothy and Lovey are a couple of Tom's students. All the kids know Chalyse's and Ellora's names and enjoy playing with them.

Susan teaches the ECE. She is so great with the kids and has so much patience and love for them. The girls loved going to play in Susan's classroom.

Shea was one of our next door neighbors and good friends. She teaches 1st grade with help form her aid Hazel.

Here are a few teachers at the school. Debbie, Shea, and Beth.

Emily was one of our first and best friends from Point Hope. The girls just adore her. She is the one who made my parki for me. She also recently gave the girls their Eskimo names. She has lived in Point Hope all her life and grew up in the old sod homes. Tom is going to have her write down the names so we can remember them. I will post them and their meanings. 

Regina lived in our building and was always there when we needed anything. The girls also loved to visit her and her little dog Thumbalina and her cat Mo.

Emily was another neighbor and good friend. She teaches 5th grade.

Don is the shop teacher at the school. He joined us for church each week. The girls loved having him over and not just because he would bring them M&M's.

It's Official

For all of you who were wondering...It is officially a boy!

Oven-Fried Chicken with Cheddar Spinach Sauce

Her is an other recipe to try. Most of our recipes we put together ourselves after looking at several other similar recipes. Our favorite site to find recipes is Allrecipes.com. Anyway, here it is. I may add a picture later but for now you will just have to imagine how yummy it looks.

Oven-fried Chicken:

1 lb of chicken breast cut into 2 inch strips or so

1/2 cup mayo mixed with a little water

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cracker crumbs or potato flakes

Salt

Pepper

Basil

Onion powder

A pinch of ground red pepper

Coat chicken in mayo. Place in it in bag with other ingredients and shake. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 35 min or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

Cheddar Spinach Sauce:

2 table spoons butter

1/2 Medium onion chopped

1 cup fresh baby spinach chopped

1 table spoon minced garlic

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

3 table spoons flour

Salt

Pepper

Seasoning (We used fennel salt but since I had never heard of that before someone gave  it to us you may not have it on hand. Make the sauce your own by adding your favorite spices or just have it with salt and pepper.)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cook onion in butter for a few minutes until it is tender. Add garlic and spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and whisk to break up flour. Cook and stir until thick then add cheese and heat until melted.

Serve sauce over oven-fried chicken and rice or potatoes.

Too many tears on the way to the store

The other day I decided to take the girls out for a walk. We planned to stop by the post office and the store and to take out the garbage on the way. The community only has large garbage cans about once a block and ours is most of the way down the bock on the other side of the street. Since Tom usually takes it out and he had been out of town there were a few bags and a box. I would have taken it out sooner but every time I thought about it Tom was supposedly coming home soon. Finlay it started to make the house smell so it had to go.

Our trip went something like this:

It wasn't too cold. Only about 6 degrees and the wind was only about 10 to 15 miles an hour. I decided to let Ellora walk instead of ride on my back like usual. That way I could deal with the garbage and she could get some exercise and sun.

You should have seen us trying to get to the road. It was hilarious! The girls kept wondering aimlessly over the mountains of snow occasionally crying or falling over and getting stuck on their backs like a bug. I had the trash that kept falling off of the sled and I had to take it a few different ways before I found a way down. I had to run between each of the girls because I couldn't get them both over the mountains at the same time and they would each fuss or cry when I would leave them. You need to be aware that our house is only about 30 or 40 feet from the road but whole ordeal of getting to the road probably took at least 10 minutes.

Once we were to the road we were off but since the garbage was on the sled I had to herd the girls along as we walked down the street. Finally they decided they wanted to sit on top of the garbage and ride. Out in the road the wind picked up and Ellora decided she didn't like the wind in her face at all. So she cried on and off the rest of the time we were out.

We never made it to the post office which is good because I guess it was closed. When we got to the store a lady asked if I needed help and suggested it was too cold for my girls. She then picked up Chalyse and began carrying her away from me and into the store. You can imagine what happened next; Chalyse thought she was being kidnapped and began screaming and crying. By the time we got inside I had two screaming kids. There were several ladies visiting inside the door and they started saying that my girls were getting frostbite and we too cold. Trust me, they were not one bit frost bitten and were plenty warm. Sometimes I wonder if people say things like that to make you look stupid. They think that because we are not from around here we don't know anything about the cold.

Anyway...I was glad that we went. It gave us something to do and at least we got out of the house.

Check out my sister-in-laws recent post "Why?" She does a great job on her blog in capturing the joy in moments like these.

Girl with a Curl Strikes Again.

"There was a little girl who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.


And when she was good she was very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid."


Chalyse is a lot like tinker bell. She is not all bad. Sometimes she is all good. She is just so small she only has room for one emotion at a time.

(I know this all sounds a little familiar)

Chalyse is such a big helper. She likes to help me clean the house and loves to help take care of her little sister. She is so loving and kind. She enjoys giving hugs and telling people how much she loves them. She also is good at handing out compliments. The other day some one knocked at the door. I said, "I think it is Shea." Chalyse responded, "Oh good, I love Shea! She is a very beautiful person."

But...unexpectedly she will flip. Mostly when she is tired. Today, for example, I was working on a sewing project that I had put a lot of work into. I went to the bathroom and was gone probably less than a minute. When I came back Chalyse was sitting in my chair. She looked innocent enough. I thought nothing of it. Later I was going along and I found a huge gash cut into the side. AAAH! "How did this happen?" I exclaimed. I thought perhaps I had done it when I had trimmed the edges but Chalyse very proudly looked at me and said, "I cut it when you were in the bathroom." I said. "why would you do that?" Her response, "Because it was a very bad thing to do."

Now there is a good possibility that she did not do it to be naughty but when she saw how upset I was she played off of it. You see, she LOVES to push peoples buttons and watch them get upset. Whatever the reason was she still got a long time out.

Snowing Inside

On the days that the wind was blowing really hard the front kunichuk door kept getting blown opened. (The kunichuk is the space between the inside door and the outside door. It helps keep the house warmer and can serve as a shelter for someone who is lost or being pursued by a bear. Most of the homes here have them.) The boys had shoveled it out the day before and this it what it looked like when we woke up.

Just a side note: the snow dune outside our front door has grown several feet the past few days. It is now almost as tall as the fiveplex.

Mexican Mac and Cheese and Slushies

Here are some new fun recipes to try. 

Mexican Style Mac and Cheese:

2 boxes of mac and cheese (we really like great values thick and creamy style)
1 can of Mexican style crushed or diced tomatoes
1 can of corn1 can of red beans or kidney beans (or whatever kind you like)
1 can of re fried beans

4 slices of American or Velveeta cheese.

Make up the mac and cheese as directed
Meanwhile put tomatoes, corn, red beans and re fried beans in a pan over med heat. DO NOT drain the tomatoes or the corn but drain and rinse the red beans. Heat until re fried are mixed in all they way. Add cheese and heat until melted.
Serve bean mixture over mac and cheese or mix it all together.

Slushies:
Next time you have canned fruit like peaches or pears save the juice for this recipe. UsuallyIf you use fruit with added sugar you may want to decrees the amount of sugar the recipe calls for.

1-2 cups of fruit juice from canned fruit.
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
about 1/4 packet of kool-aid

Combine ingredients and freeze in ice trays. When it is frozen place cubes in a cup and break them up by stabbing them with a fork. Add a few table spoons of hot water and mix. Enjoy!

Wind Day

Yesterday the wind was blowing so hard that they canceled school. It was gusting up to about 53 miles per hour and there was so much windblown snow that you couldn't hardly see anything outside the window. One of the teachers who left for school before they got the message out even got lost in the blizzard. Luckily she was able to find a shed to warm up in and eventually found her way to the school.

Several of the snow drifts are now taller than the houses, which are even lifted above the ground several feet to begin with. Here are some pictures of all that piled up snow.

Three of us ladies from the building went to the store the other day. We pull our groceries home on the sled but this last time there was too much of a drop down to the house that we had to stop the sled and pass the groceries along to the door. 

We keep telling Chalyse we can't got to the park because it is covered in snow. As you can see the snow is about as high as the fence.

Chalyse is 3!

Chalyse had a birthday!

She got play dishes and food

and a new princess dress.

We had a  princess punch party

We made princess hats

And had princess cup cakes

A few of Chalyse's favorite people came: Emily, Shea, Nessi, Cheryl, Regina and Don

Ellora on a Sugar High

This morning I put the girls in front of a movie while I got a few things done in the kitchen. Unlike usual Ellora  immediately zoned out staring at the screen and looked as though she might be very happy there for some time. I went in the other room and for a few minutes all was quiet then I heard a strange sound. It was Ellora panting and huffing. I peaked around the corner to see what was going on and found that she had spread her blankie on the floor and was dancing some sort of strange jig on it...or maybe it was a new form of aerobics.

Twirling Tutus

Happy Valentine's Day! We found this in our last bag of potatoes.

Anyway, here is my latest project:

After seeing the nutcracker Chalyse was asking for a tutu. They retail for about $30 if you get a full one like this so instead I ordered some tulle for like 95 cents a yard and made some of my own to give to the girls for Valentine's Day.  Each one only took me about an hour and a few dollars to make.

Here are the girls twirling in their new tutus.

If  you are interested on making your own here is what I did:

I used 4 yards of tulle (in two colors, two yards each color) for each tutu. Mine were for toddlers so you may want to use more if you are making one for a little girl. I cut each piece of tulle down the middle length wise so that I had 4 strips of fabric that were each 2 yards long half the original width. Then I layered them every other color and pined them down the middle. I folded them in half and moved the pins to about an inch from the folded edge. Then I sewed along the folded side leaving a gap big enough for the elastic.

I used inch wide elastic cut it to be slightly shorter than the distance around the girls waists. I threaded the elastic through the tube I had sewed in the tulle then sewed the ends of the elastic together. I made sure the tulle was evenly gathered then I stitched a wide zigzag stitch over the elastic to keep it from sliding around. Make sure you stretch the elastic while you sew so the thread doesn't break when they put it on.

You can leave it like that but to make it more full, to separate the colors a bit and to help hide the elastic here is what i did:

I flipped the whole thing upside down (so the elastic is flipped inside) and fluffed half of the layers going the other direction. Then I sewed them down to the what used to be the inside of the elastic (but is not facing out) with another zigzag stitch. I fluffed the rest of the layers down and tacked them down to the elastic with a short stitch about every 3 inches. Then I sewed on a flower by hand.

And there you have it: a pretty tutu for a fraction of the price.