Shifting Gears

This story begins in September of 1985. This was the year that would set the stage for the rest of my life (Dramatic hey?), it was the year I started kindergarten.  Since that fall, I have spent most of my days involved in education in one way or another. My experience morphed from elementary school to high school to college with an opportunity to studying abroad to a teaching practicum and finally into being a teacher myself. School has been my life for as long as I can remember.

Despite the fact that I enjoy my job, it has been a difficult year for me as a working mom. I feel like nearly all of my creative energy goes into my students and very little is left for my children. I miss out on spending week days with Tizita, volunteering in Harold's class or doing all those fun projects I see on Pinterest. ;) When it was just Harold at home, I felt like I could manage everything and feel good about my life as a working mom. Having a second child has changed that. Now I mostly just feel exhausted. I know that stay at home moms are tired as well but holding down a full time job compounds the struggle of being a parent.

C.O. has done a fantastic job the past few years of managing our household, being the primary caregiver, running his own business and working various jobs on the side.  Meanwhile, my job has provided a steady income with health insurance, a retirement plan and all that good stuff but best of all it allowed us to have summer vacation. Every year we've had two and a half months off together as a family. How many families can say that? I will forever be thankful for those summers at the cabin, traveling and spending time with our friends and family in Minnesota. But our plans and lifestyle are always evolving. This winter, C.O. and I decided it was time to switch rolls. I will temporarily be putting my career on hold and C.O. is looking for full time employment, ideally in the field of engineering.

C.O. is actively searching for a job and I am just two weeks away from living the new dream. I still have professional goals I'd like to pursue in education and I plan to go back into teaching sometime in the not too distant future. In the meantime, I will continue on with this story of being active in the school setting but this time as a "parent volunteer".

I think I will miss teaching but then I take a look at these two . . .

and I know we are making the right decision.

~AnnMarie

St. Patrick's Day from the Air (or Turning Green for the Holiday)

We had an offer to go flying with our friend Andy on St. Patrick's Day. It is something we've been wanting to do since we first moved here so we didn't hesitate to accept. 

We met Andy early this Fall. His son is Harold's friend and classmate. Once upon a time Andy worked as a pilot in the Bering Straits both for Hageland Aviation and Bering Air. This of course put him in the "hey, you're all right" category but he has since moved into the "good friend" category.

Leaning on the expert flier for support. 

Our tour started at the Soldotna Airport where that pretty red plane lives (isn't is nice to see a plane that isn't primarily white?). We flew over Tustumena Lake, circled around toward Kenai and back into Soldotna. On the way back Andy flew low over our house which was exciting for Harold (and maybe his mom too). 

We live in a pretty amazing place. I never tire of seeing mountains and glaciers in the distance as we drive from place to place. Taking it in from above on a perfectly sunny day is even more inspiring.

I normally don't get motion sickness on flights, but I guess that's the case on flights that take a relatively straight path. Midway through this journey, I started feeling pretty um . . . green. It could be because of the amount of turning or because I was trying to take photos while wrangling in an active two year old. Either way, it was all I could do to hold it together until we landed. It turns out my pride is more powerful than my queasy stomach and I made it home without loosing it completely. 

Many thanks to Andy for the ride. I hope you all had a very green St. Patrick's Day! 

~AnnMarie

Sometimes You've Got to Get Away

I was feeling itchy for a change of scenery just before the weekend of my birthday. So I called up a hotel in Anchorage and booked a room for a couple of nights as a birthday present to myself and the family. The kids' number one priority was to have a place to swim. Eat, swim, sleep and veg out in front of the TV was all we planned to do. 

Pool Time

Tizita's time in lakes and pools has been limited compared to fish-boy Harold. She was a bit nervous of the water at first but it wasn't long until she was pestering us just as much as Harold to "swim . . . water". She also got very brave about jumping off the side of the pool into daddy's arms.

If only we all would have the joie de vivre that this girl has hey? 

Despite our best efforts of doing as little as possible, the timing of our trip coincided with Fur Rondy, the events leading up to the start of the Iditarod. Our hotel was conveniently located within walking distance of the downtown events and right next to the snow sculpture competition. We could watch the sculptures take form from our hotel window!

Snow Sculptures

The Carnival

Just a few block from our hotel was a carnival midway. The glowing lights and spinning rides were also visible from our hotel. Harold could hardly wait to go on a ride, play a game and eat cotton candy. We crossed everything off his list.

I associate carnivals with hot and humid August-type weather, not cold and snow. But in Alaska, everyone is just a little tougher than your average American. Any weather is good weather for having fun. So if the carnival is in town, you best bundle up and enjoy it!

Family Bonding

The weekend was every thing we hoped it would be. It was good for us to do a little less running around . . . 

and whole lot more of this.

Homeward Bound

The ride home was nice and peaceful.

~AnnMarie

The Big Trophy Winner

Harold was able to compete in his first official motor sports event in February. Freddie's Roadhouse in Ninilchik hosts snowmachine drag races most Saturdays throughout the winter.

There were only two racers in the 250 cc and under class. The other racer's machine was bigger and the kid was older but Harold still pulled off the win.

Harold is very, very proud of his trophy. He shows it off whenever he can. It has traveled to school for show and tell and he made sure to draw his Sunday School teacher a detailed picture of it. 

Hopefully there will be more opportunities for him to race in the years to come. Circle track races would be more fun but so far there hasn't been any around here. Maybe next winter C.O. and Harold will round up a few other kids and start their own races. 

Harold even made it in the local paper.

~AnnMarie

Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race

It seems that Harold and my parents have become quite the dog mushing enthusiasts. Especially when it comes to the Iditarod. You may remember Harold traveling to Elim last winter to see my brother and to see the Iditarod mushers come through town on their way to Nome. It turns out these enthusiasts also have great timing.



My folks were up for a visit the first week of Feburary and it just so happened that there was a dog mushing race, The Tustumena 200, taking place just down the road from us. So we were sure to make our way down for the start of the race.

In order for mushers to compete in the Iditarod Race they must compete in some qualifying races. The Tustumena 200 is on the list of races that count as one of the qualifiers for the Iditarod. So we were able to see some names we recognized.



The Seaveys happen to live not far from where we are now. Mitch Seavey and his son Dallas have both won the Iditarod. In fact, last year Harold was cheering hard for Dallas as he became the youngest racer ever to win the Iditarod. Harold was sorely disappointed that Dallas wasn't around for the T200 but we did get to see Mitch take off.



Mitch Seavey was the winner of the T200 that weekend.



We also saw Jamie Nelson of Togo, Minnesota as she crossed the start line. Jamie is the four time winner of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon and has also completed the Iditarod numerous times. I felt like we were part of a secret Togo club: the Lindulas, Rudstroms and Jamie Nelson since we were most likely the only people in the crowd who have set foot in Togo.

It was a wonderfully warm and beautiful day. A great day to be a spectator. I would imagine this will become a yearly event for our family.

~AnnMarie

Return to the Seward Peninsula

This is our friend James, the guy standing on the right there.



James Adcox is our very talented artist friend. In fact, he painted those scenes you see behind him. Let's just take a moment to say "wow" shall we?

*moment*

O.K. now we can move on.

We first met James years ago when he was painting murals for the newly remodeled Brevig Mission School. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.



James was one of the artists chosen to do an art piece for the newly built hospital in Nome. James formerly of Nome now live near us in Soldotna. The pieces were painted here on the Kenai then shipped north and installed at the Nome Regional Hospital. James so kindly asked C.O. to be one of his crew members for the installation.



It sounded like a great experience, so of course C.O. agreed. C.O. now gets to add "Professional Art Installer Guy" to his resume.


This lovely set of paintings captures the process of a whale hunt in three scenes. Knowledgeable art folks would call it a triptych. I wish you all could see them in person. If you're ever in Nome, stop by the hospital and admire them for a while. You can also read more about the paintings from their infancy over on the Adcox's Blog. I also found this blog post that has many beautiful pictures of the new facility in Nome.

This is James's wife Amy, she's also our friend. I'd just like to point out that she threw a lovely art viewing at their home before "Spring Whale Harvest" went to its forever home in Nome. We sure have cool friends.


Side Note A:
C.O. and James took this little trip in early November and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. Please don't judge.

Side Note B:
C.O. also got to travel to Brevig Mission and Elim to do some wrap up work for Kawarak's Head Start buildings that he has maintained for the past few years. He was able to see many of our friends in Brevig during his few days there (I was terribly jealous).  He also got to stay with my brother John for a couple days in Elim.

Side Note C:
My mom came up to stay with me and help take care of the kids while C.O. was gone. Thanks Mom, I couldn't have done it with out you.

~AnnMarie

Over the Holidays We . . .

We kicked off the holiday season with some Christmas Tree hunting. Our friends the Millers have property in Nikiski a few miles north of Soldotna. They were kind enough to invite us to come with them to find The Rudstrom Family Christmas Tree (I just can't help but think of the Griswolds right about now). Kids, dogs, fluffy snowfall finished off with some chili and beer bread made for a perfect day.

That same weekend, our church hosted the dinner theater production, "A Night at Bethlehem Inn". The audience members were dinner guests at the inn as they watched the drama take place around them.

I played the part of the Senator's Wife. The Senator was the guest of honor and a representative of Caesar Augustus as he collected taxes from the guests. 

A Night at Bethlehem Inn from AnnMarie Rudstrom on Vimeo.

Harold performed as part of the children's choir that was to entertain the Senator.

 

We spent Christmas Eve with our friend Andy and crew but Christmas Day was just the four Rudstroms and Aussie dog. It felt good to stay in our pajamas and eat pizza for dinner. It was restful and relaxing like holidays ought to be.

I managed to get nice Christmas photos of the kids. It seems impossible for the four of us to take a decent photo these days so we have to be happy with a couple family members at a time.

It was New Year's Eve that our social calendar really filled up. My childhood friend, Wynnie, has lived in Palmer for many years now. She drove down on New Year's Eve to spend the night with us. It wasn't long after she arrived that we all piled in the car and began the two and a half hour drive down to Seward to meet up with some teacher friends from Brevig Mission.

I taught with John and Misty Moore last year in Brevig. When they invited us to meet them in Seward at the Sea Life Center, we were sure to take advantage of the chance to see them and their sweet girls. Harold talks about the Moore girls often and misses having them nearby.

Only a few hours after Wynnie left, my brother John flew into town. The kids loved playing with Uncle John. He brought them some pretty awesome Christmas gifts too. Tizita got the Princess Tiana doll with a matching dress.

 

While Harold got his first working train set. They played with it for hours and hours. 

We drove John to Anchorage where he would see friends and continue his journey North to Elim. While we were in Anchorage we stayed with my cousin Jenny and her family, played games and let the kids stay up way too late. 

The next day we saw our friend Kenny at the hospital, unfortunately. He had been in a bad snow machine accident and was flown to Anchorage to have surgery to stop the bleeding in his brain. This guy has more lives than a cat, let me tell you. It is no small miracle that he survived. Kenny looked pretty rough so we used this opportunity to reinforce the importance of wearing a helmet with Harold. Kenny is a good friend of C.O.'s from Brevig Mission, we hope next time we will meet under less traumatic circumstances.

We continued our Anchorage tour with another hospital visit. This time to see our friend Angie, also a resident of Brevig Mission, and her newly adopted son Levi. Levi was born 3 months premature so they have been spending a lot of time at the hospital until Levi is ready to go home.  I don't have pictures of this handsome little guy but you can read about their journey starting here, then continue on here.

How wonderful it was to keep up with friendships we made in Brevig Mission.

Phew! That was a lot of goings on but we enjoyed every minute.

Happy New Year everyone!

~AnnMarie

Officially Tizita Rita

Last week C.O. and I had a court appointment to re-adopt Tizita in the United States. While her adoption was final because of the ruling from the Ethiopian courts, having an offical birth certificate housed in the state of Alaska will make it much more convenient for future business.

Since we had a lawyer and were updating her birth certificate, we also had Tizita's middle name changed. She was given the middle name Charles in Ethiopia after they found out C.O. would be the father. But after all this goes through she will officially be Tizita Rita. This will sound a lot better when she is called to walk across the stage at graudation. Don't you think?

Thankfully this whole adoption process is coming to an end but we still aren't quite done. We need to get a social security number assigned to Tizita and there will be one more offical post adoption report completed by a social worker submitted before we are free and clear. It's a long road but it doesn't seem so bad now that Tizita Rita is home.

~AnnMarie

Our Artsy Fartsy School

 

I have been teaching at Sterling Elementary for more than a quarter now and have not had the chance, until now, to share my awesome new work place with you. 'Thankful' is how I feel about where I ended up getting hired. Sterling Elementary has been a welcoming and supportive environment as I learn to navigate a new job. I am excited about the emphasis this school chooses to put on art. It has challenged me to find new ways to integrate art into the curriculum on a regular basis.

 

First let me share some of the inspirational and beautiful art that is located throughout the building. Most of these pieces were done collaboratively with students and either their teacher or with an artist in residence.

The mod doors also brighten up a traditionally bland space in buildings. I'm a huge fan of sprucing up doors. =)

 

 

 

  

At the beginning of the year my kindergarten class did an "All About Me" unit. Two pieces of artwork were produced by each student. The first was pointillism type art in which we "dotted" out our names.

 



The second art directive was to use painting and photograph to describe your personality. They turned out beautifully and the students received many, many compliments on their work.
 

 

 

 

Many students say that art is their favorite part of kindergarten. I totally agree!

 

~AnnMarie
*Student pieces were used with permission from their parents.