Merry Christmas!

Since I splurged for my long flight and purchased the inflight internet, I figured I'd take this time to post (since it's been too long - sorry). 

What a crazy past couple weeks it has been. The weeks in between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break will probably always be that crazy. We all survived! I don't know if the kids were more excited or if I was? Not that I was happy for a break from them, it was more the fact that I knew I'd be getting back to civilization for awhile and more importantly, my family! I've not seen them since August, so to say I miss them a lot, may be an understatement. Plus, it's nice to get to civilization every once in awhile. I love the village love, don't get me wrong but I do love some good restaraunt food and a fountain soda. 

The weekend before break started, I flew to Togiak for a visit to Nick and a few other teachers, which is another village in our district. It was a great weekend away which gorgeous (but cold) weather. It got me just that much more ready for my trip home! 

The last week before Christmas was almost a free for all. Between the kids and myself, we were lucky we got the school work done that we needed to. We watched a few Christmas movies and did a few crafts, as well as some presents for their parents/guardians, even a Christmas party with lots of sweets and dried fish.... Yum! 

I had my flights scheduled for awhile now thanks to my travel agent of a mom. ;) but those flighs being scheduled don't mean anything if the weather doesn't cooperate. We had quite a long few days of nice weather, up until the day or so before I was supposed to fly out. Go figure.... Snow and ice came down and brought some fog with it! Bad timing? So instead of flying out of KMO Friday after school, getting all my flights and returning home to PA on Saturday, I was stuck and missed all of those flights. I'll spare you the details but after a lot of phone calls, switching, money, even some tears, I am now on my way to PA. I will unfortunately not wake up in my house for the first time ever on Christmas morning and I missed Christmas Eve candle light service at church which is my favorite, but I will get there and be with my family and that's all that matters.... And Macy will be able to meet everyone as well and spend Christmas with me. :) 

On a brighter note, I wasn't the only one that couldn't get out of their villages on the day that they were supposed to. I along with others tried for Saturday as well but it was the same story. Finally the sun decided to shine on Sunday and after not so patiently waiting ALL day, Macy and I made it out of KMO and landed in Dillingham. We were even able to get on the flight to Anchorage that day instead of having to spend the night there.... Even better than that? I ended up being on the same flight as Nick and two other teachers from Togiak! Made that just a little better. After taking off about an hour late, we landed in Anchorage around 10:30.... Back to civilization! And Macy seemed to do really well. The next day we went to breakfast - our first real meal since August - went to lunch, grocery shipping, mall shopping, a movie, ice cream and dinner at a steakhouse. We basically ate the entire day. We had a few months to catch up on though so it made it alright. :) and the food was all delicious, but let me say that your stomach goes into shock after not eating like that for months. It was worth it though! 

Some of the other teachers left in the middle of the night to catch their flights or very early this morning. I finally made it out of Anchorage around 5:30 (after my plane was delayed about an hour). I love Alaska but I was glad to get this trip going.... Finally!! After landing in Seattle and running to catch my next flight, here is it. Only a few short (or long because it's late and I'm impatient) hours away from home. A 3 hour layover after I land in DC and a short flight to Harrisburg stand inbetween Macy and I seeing my family on Christmas Day!!

Everything truly does happen for a reason. Although I've been so stressed and emotional the past few days because of all this craziness and changes, and although I won't get home until Christmas Day, I got to spend some quality time with awesome people and have so much fun in town for a day! It all works out in the end. :) 

Macy loving life in the hotel.... Queen size bed to herself. She wasn't waking up for anything. Spoiled?

Reindeer sausage cheese steak for lunch.... So, so delicious but so greasy. 

Nick and I! Finally back in civilization. 

Drake helping me in the school store. 

Raina not helping me clean up her spilled soda. It's a good thing she is so darn cute. :) 

My Aunt Sandy and cousins Brynna and Seth are absolutely awesome and made each one of my kids shirts. They LOVED them. I gave them out on Wednesday and I promise they wore them the entire rest of the week! Thank you guys so, so much! I also got a new student who was in another class so that now gives me 11 crazy boys and 4 girls! He'll get his shirt when we get back to school. :) 

How I try to teach, on a daily basis. I love these kids so much it's crazy. 

Just missing one of my boys who was already traveling for Christmas! 

From Togiak I got to see the view of our main village at the base of the mountain. The school and teacher housing as well as some other housing is about 5 miles up the road to the right in this picture.

Tiny little plane! 

Nick's sweet puppies! Gibbs and Gemma. 

Sunset traveling in AK :) 

Well I can officially say its Christmas Day! Time for a little nap to make this flight go a little faster. Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy your time with your friends and family!!! :) 

Completely blessed.

Today was one of those days that really solidified why I became a teacher. Not that I don't think that every day for some small reason or another but today it really hit me, a few times, that I truly do love my job. 

This was a good day. It was the first time in a few weeks that I can honestly say that I was happy all day. With the holidays approaching and having just gotten done with Thanksgiving break, any teacher could tell you that those weeks in between are insane and more difficult than normal. The kids are already in break mode and to be honest, you are too. Even us teachers look forward to long breaks, believe it or not. ; ) But today was awesome. I was happy and in such a good mood all day. I really appreciated the millions of hugs that I get all day, the countless times I hear 'I love you Marisa', even if I am in the middle of teaching. I didn't even mind them getting up and coming to stand by me while I was teaching or sitting next to me when I was working on the projector. So like most days, we sat and did our reading lesson with their arms around me and answering questions. It's probably not how every teacher would like it, because they're not always in their seats - actually, they're rarely there - and half the time they're laying on the floor or standing next to me or laying on a desk but they're involved and paying attention and today I realized that. I wonder sometimes how much I'm actually teaching them, but when I continue to call the "snowflakes" hanging from the ceiling "snowflakes" and they correct me every single time, as a group even, to say "snow crystals", I know that I taught them something! 

Something that I think most teachers look forward to is that 'ah ha' moment for their kids. We want to see it click and know that we did that, know that we had a part in that. The same goes for behavior. I have a student who struggles to get work done and I've tried strategy after strategy to get him to turn in work or even do it. I've started with a sticker chart recently which he loves, but he still wasn't doing the work on his own, I needed to be there right next to him, doing it with him. Today we started trying to do it on his own - more independently. He did his first three problems, reluctantly on his own and then I checked them and he got a sticker. I told him to do three more and then come back to me to get another sticker. He was taking awhile to come back and so I was wondering if he was actually even getting his work done but when he came back to me, he had finished the entire assignment! I could not tell him enough how proud of him I was. Needless to say, he earned about three extra stickers for that. I e-mailed mom and the principal and bragged about him to anyone that would listen. The e-mail I got back from mom had me in tears and that was something else to solidify that this is what I want to do and this is what I love to do. 

Not only was that enough but my students have known for a week or so now that I wanted a real tree. I have a tiny fake one in my apartment that sits on a table and just doesn't really do it for me... I don't love fake trees, especially tiny ones. I have said about how real trees are my favorite and my kids apparently listen more than I imagined because today after school while I was sitting at my desk working, two of my boys pull up outside the window with a Christmas tree on their four-wheeler. Of course I ran out. We took it to my apartment and they helped me figure out a way to get it to stand up without an actual tree stand - a bucket full of rocks that they helped me find. Then we decorated it and they visited before they had to go home. I had to try not to cry. I cannot, even still, get over how sweet they are. How much they care and how much THEY do for me! I don't know if they'll ever realize how thankful I am for them and for what they do and for that tree alone, but boy do I love those kids. 

I know I'm just rambling on about my good day and all but I just had to stop and think about how thankful I am to have such AWESOME, AWESOME people in my life. Between my family and friends and coworkers and kids, I couldn't ask for more.

I'm heading to another village this coming weekend to visit and then after a fun last week of school, I'm heading home - back to Pennsylvania to see the family and friends that I miss so much and to spend my favorite holiday with them. : ) 

A little bit of this and a little bit of that....

 Here's an assortment of pictures from the past week or so. It's a little bit of this and a little bit of that, all thrown into one post. Very random but I figured you'd all like to see what Macy and I have been up to!

 This weekend we had a volleyball tournament here in KMO with Togiak and Aleknagik. The Togiak girls stayed in my classroom! 

 I disrupted her sleep, clearly. When I went to get my camera, she was passed out with her nose in my boot. 

 PE time! 

 In the shop working on our ice fishing poles with my kids! 

 Caribou antler... 

 My shadow! 

 They love to clean!

 Decorating the hallways.... 

 I made cinnamon ornaments for my tree. Making it look a little better. 

 I've hung snowflakes the entire way down the hall..... 

Hat day at school! 

 My little fish from Port Heiden! 

 Sometimes my classroom turns into a hair salon. 

 The kids who have stolen my heart so much. 

 Girls and boys! 

 Macy and her new friend, Shiloh! (No, unfortunately this little guy is not mine. He is another teachers new puppy). 

 Friends at a bonfire the other evening... chilly but fun! 

Macy and I will be home in only 13 days! :)