Friends Who Monopolize My Time

Instead of simply doing an update on what I've been doing, it might be more interesting to just tell you who I've been doing things with. Whether it's interesting or not, these are the people that have monopolized my time away from work for the past few weeks. Don't worry, it's all good. :)

It was Adrianna's 23rd birthday on November 19th, so the weekend before it we had a black and white celebration with all cool people. This is Kira (who has been gone a lot lately, traveling, doing counseling things - but when she's here we hang out), Adrianna (birthday girl), and David. David was Janelle's long-term sub. He has definitely made his mark on us, and we have had good times, good conversations, good laughs while he has been here. On Tuesday, however, he must leave us to go back to the obviously-more-exciting Wisconsin.



While they are here, Stacey and Carrie have been great to hang out with. And I already got the sweetest Christmas present from Carrie - her old crock pot that she never uses. :) Thanks, C!! I'll make you something yummy. Side note: Isn't crock pot a really funny phrase? Every time I use it I have to remind myself that I'm talking about a wonderful kitchen appliance and not a person.



This is Sissy. She is here at home working and living in between college and graduate school. She has become a staple in my social life as of late, and I am happy to have made such a cool new friend. And in case you were wondering, these are her real glasses (made of peanut butter cups), and Professor Sissy will be giving her lecture on the Pythagorean Theorem this Thursday at 7:00pm in Clancy Hall.



The latest addition to our family is Jonah Dathan, shown here looking cute with me. I pretty much love this picture - the official Auntie Karis picture. :) I told Jake and Janelle (the proud parents) to make sure this photo goes into his baby book. We'll see... :) Well anyway, through Jonah I get my baby fill. It's still nice to be able to give him back when he gets fussy, though. :)



This was taken at the wrestling tournament a couple of weekends ago, which always dominates our time as teachers, since the kids don't care about anything else. It's a very difficult teaching week here... This past weekend was a volleyball tournament, which was unfortunately the only home games for our students. I watched a lot of volleyball, did some books, supported our team. But I enjoy that sort of thing. :)



Welp, it's getting colder and colder here. The temperature has been between -10 and -25 this past week. I need to get my winter groove on so I can start going outside and doing exercise things again, try to stay away from those holiday pounds. ;)

Cheers for now, folks. Don't forget to comment!! :)

Halloween O Eight, and Other Fun Activities

Fortunately, Halloween was on Friday this year. Thursday night was one busy evening. I not only had 3 dozen maple bars to make, but also a pan of brownies, a mess of hair, and a pirate.

My kitchen while I cooked:



Some cookies Adrianna made at my place:



My kitchen after I cooked:



And what we did in between:



Part of the process of becoming a pirate involved making my hair as gross as possible. This meant putting lots and lots of shaving cream in my hair to give it that knotted, dreaded look. Adrianna, of course, was there to help. That's why she's my number one stunner. :)

There were several bakers that evening. Damon and Heidi came over to share their goodies, and of course sample mine. We got a nice surprise during the evening. My first Full Circle Farm order came in. It's an organic farm in Washington that has just recently begun shipping to Unalakleet, which rocks for us. We get a sweet deal on fresh, organic produce. I've already been eating better! Here we are marveling at one of our pieces of green gold: a mango!



This year I dressed up as a pirate. (Special thanks to Sissy who got sweet costume materials in town - especially my sword!) Frankly, I was an amazing pirate. I won't lie. There were also a lot of other sweet costumes, including a paper sack, a plastic bag, and a stick. Who do you think was the coolest?



Here is my awesome tattoo:



The real Captain Jack Sparrow version, drawn with permanent market by one of my students.



Thanks, dude. :) It's still there.

Also, I just thought this was a cool shot of one of my kids during the Halloween parade of costumes.



With the carnival and the costumes and the baking and the candy, we had a very full Halloween. :) Thanks to everyone who made it rock!

Other fun things I've been up to: Skiing!! Our first excursion to the out of doors in the snow on our skis took place a couple of weekends ago. David, Ryan, Adrianna, Me, and a visiting friend Robert took a ride up to the North River bridge for some good, snowy fun.

This is David, Adrianna, and I:



And of course Adrianna - this is the first time she used her brand new skis!



It was beautiful weather, and loads of fun. I'm looking forward to a good season! I also went out once with Carrie up river. It was a beautiful evening. We both decided it's high time we got back into shape... sigh. I'll ski 100 times this year, I will!! (2 down, 98 to go...)

Here's me loving my skis:



Carrie was home for a whole 10 days! As always, it was good to spend some quality time together.



And the lovely sunset:



So that's pretty much it for now. Things are pretty busy here, but all is well. I've been enjoying my time with friends, new and old. Take care, and don't forget to comment. I've been averaging a whopping zero comments lately... hint hint! :)