Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Balloons?

While I was shopping for party decorations I found this Hannah Montana balloon bouquet at Wal-Mart all packaged together for $11 and I thought, "Great, this will save me about $40" (from the balloon bouquet I was contemplating from the party store).

I should have known that sometimes a great deal is just not a great deal. 

The balloons are perfect, still puffed up real nice with all their helium, and Kaley loves them. The problem is the only place we can enjoy them is the bathroom.

That's right. The bathroom. A lovely little decoration when you're sitting on the pot. They're also a little big, so you're kind of up close and personal with Ms. Montana when you're in there.

The reason the $11 balloon bouquet is relegated to the bathroom?

Our dog is having a nervous breakdown everytime she sees them. I don't know if it is the size, the shininess, she doesn't like Disney pop stars or what. When they were in the living room she would growl and bark at them while hurrying on to the kitchen. When they were in the kitchen she wouldn't come to eat, just peek around the corner and growl and if she was forced in the kitchen she cowered at the door and averted her eyes. When they were out of sight in the computer room she still knew they were in there and kept looking in that direction and shaking and growling.

So it's off to the bathroom for the balloons. A great hiding spot since we can close the door and the dog doesn't see them.

And as an added bonus you can feel like Hannah Montana is watching you do your business. 

What a great deal.

Happy Birthday Dear Kaley

On top of Monday being the first day of school for Kaley, it was also her 5th birthday. She has been so shafted the last couple years on birthdays because we have moved to new places in the summer and her birthday is right at the beginning of school, so she doesn't know anyone to invite to a party.

This year was no exception. The only children at her party are the ones pictured below and three of them are mine and the other is their cousin.

Not to worry though, she had a great party and received tons of presents, so she was a happy girl. The theme of her party was Hannah Montana. 

She even played the part with a long blond wig. She must have wanted to shed her pop star persona quickly though since the wig came off only 10 minutes into the party.

Of course we had party games. Who can resist a game of carry the M&M in the spoon?

It did get a little heated there for awhile.

The three dogs were banished to the adjoining room that does not have a door, so the couch was pushed up against the doorframe to keep them from escaping. Didn't keep them from checking out the action though!

Caleb doing his version of Hannah Montana.

The balloons were as big as the birthday girl! She thought they were really cool. Maho did not.

She did get a lot of presents thanks to my brothers, their girlfriends, my sister and Nana Grandpa. Granny's package from Oklahoma and Daddy's from Orlando were big hits as well. She can't wait to wear all her new clothes from everyone. Ella has already claimed many of the presents as her personal property, so we'll see how tolerant Kaley is going to be.

I can't believe she is 5 already.

First Day of School

Like in most every part of the country, it is back to school time here in Fairbanks. On top of going to a new school in a whole new city (again) my kids are very excited to be learning exclusively in English.

Not that they are predjudiced or anything, it's just much easier to understand the material you're learning if you can actually understand the words your teacher is saying. 

Kaley started real Kindergarten this year although she has officially been going to school for 2 years already. The school system in Fairbanks does extended day, which is more than a half-day, but still makes Kaley feel a little babyish since she doesn't get to ride the school bus in the morning with her brother and sister.  She starts school at 10:30 each morning, which means I have to take her to school everyday, but on the plus side, me and Kaley get a little one-on-one time everyday.

Kaley's other complaint was that Kindergarten started a whole week after the other kids started school. "It's not fair that Ella and Jackson get to go to school and I don't" was heard a few times last week.

But no fear, Kaley started Kindergarten this week and she is loving it. Well, other than the fact that after her birthday party she told me she didn't want to go to school the next day because then she wouldn't have enough time to play with her new toys!

Her desk is right by the front of the door and she proudly sat down next to the little girl pictured on the first day and said, "My name's Kaley. It's my birthday today." I don't think she'll have problems making a few friends.

Jackson came home on the first day of school saying he had a new best friend and his name was Nick. The next day he came home and had memorized Nick's phone number. I think he's trying to tell me something.

Ella started second grade as fashionable as always. She was very excited to go to her new Alaskan school. I told her she might need a coat but she said she doesn't get cold cause she's an Alaska girl now! We'll see when the snow starts to fly next month.

At the end of the first week, Jackson and Ella got a special Alaskan escort to the bus stop: their Uncle Danny driving them on his four-wheeler. 

They all love riding the bus and were not the least bit nervous. They have made a few bus buddies and they all look out for each other to make sure they are all on the bus. On Kaley's first day I reminded Ella and Jackson to make sure Kaley got on the bus and they even went to her classroom to get her and when she wasn't there they followed up at the office where they found out the Kindergarteners go out a little early to the busses. I was very proud when I heard how they were looking out for her.

I hope school continues to go well. The kids are already looking forward to field trips, getting hot lunch instead of lunch from home and they even have a fundraiser already. It's good to know they are loving school....now we just need to work on getting them out of bed in the morning!

Preview of Coming Attraction

Our baby turns 5 years old on Monday. It doesn't really make me feel old or anything, but it does kind of make me sad. 5 years ago was a whole different world for us...we were homeowners, both working steady jobs and had lived in one place for 4 whole years. 

On a sidenote, 5 years ago this week Patrick was in Miami on the last round of cuts to make the team for the Miami Dolphins. Kind of makes your head spin when you think of all the changes our family has gone through.

Anyway, back to my baby. She also starts school on Monday, so she doesn't really have time to make the friends at school to have the party.

But party we must, and my family is big enough to fill a room and a guest list so there we go!

I haven't gotten everything put together yet, but since I didn't have to make too many invitations (in reality I wouldn't have had to make any invitations) we did them up fancy-like. She wants a Hannah Montana themed birthday.

I'll be posting the rest of the birthday pictures next week, so stay tuned.

At the Fair

We got to Fairbanks just in time for the Fair. We actually happened to be here at this exact time last year as well, so this was our second visit to the Tanana Valley State Fair. Even though we had to bundle up and the clouds overhead promised rain, we braved the weather and went to the Fair. 

There was just too much food to be eaten and rides to be ridden, so who's going to let a little weather stand in the way.

So off we went, and eat we did.

Kaley proved she was a true Minnesotan (where she was born) since her favorite fair fare was the cheese curds.

Not that she didn't make her rounds of the other food booths though...

Since Patrick is usually the one who buys every type of new/weird food at fairs and he wasn't with us I felt it was my duty to be his stand-in, so I got (and ate) the chocolate covered bacon.

Yes, bacon, covered in chocolate. It wasn't as gross as it sounds.

I also sampled Corn Fritters with honey butter, Korean Bulgogi (stir-fry), pork chop on a stick, cheese curds, Elephant Ears, Bear Paws with strawberry dipping sauce, hot chocolate and crab cakes.

But my favorite of the entire night?

The Crab Bisque. 

Oh yeah baby. So creamy, so rich, so full of nice crab pieces. Delicious.

The only problem was that I was too full to eat it at the fair, so I took it home with a fresh squeezed lemonade and it was a nice little midnight snack.

The kids did ride some rides, played a few midway games and petted some farm animals. We also walked through the prize winning fair entries. Overall it was a fun day that by the end of we were cold, but very, very full.

When they're ready, they're ready

For their birthdays last year, each of my children received a bike. We figured we were finally living in a place that had real roads as opposed to pothole ridden dirt ones and we had a nice neighborhood in which we imagined long walks with the kids on their bikes.

Sadly, that little daydream did not end up happening and the bikes became porch decorations.

I'm not sure why the kids disliked riding their bikes in Cancun, but once we got to my sister's in Anchorage last week and the bikes, trikes and scooters came out for playtime they were all over them.

But, none of the bikes had training wheels, so what's a kid to do?

In Ella's case, hop on anyway and start riding!

I'm not even joking, she started off on a baby bike with no trainers and zoomed away. Then she decided she wanted a bigger bike so she enlisted a little help to get going...

and away she went...

Heading North

Well, tomorrow morning, bright and early, the kids and I (and Maho) will board a plane bound for the great north. We will begin a new adventure in Alaska, but we don't know how long we'll be staying.

Those Morrows, always on the move.

We are sad to leave Patrick all by his lonesome, but excited to spend time with Nana, Grandpa and the rest of the Alaskan extended family. We'll start school in Fairbanks and I hope work our way back to some financial stability, albeit apart from each other.

And now I'm off to repack our bags for the 847th time in a month. 

Catch you on the other side.

Funkified

I was browsing the internet the other day when I came across BeFunky.com. Basically you can make a sketch out of a picture of yourself. 

I could spend all day funkifying photos from my library.

But I won't.

I have kids and, you know, responsibilities and all that.

The original

New Places, New Faces

We are no longer in Key West. Friday night we packed up and headed north to Orlando where we will be staying at least a week. Patrick has some meetings to attend and we are hanging at a vacation rental trying hard to distract the kids from the land of the Mouse. We keep saying "We are not on vacation, we're not going to Disney." 

In their brains it is just not computing that we come to Orlando and do not go to DisneyWorld. We'll have to work on that one.

So, we are living day to day. At the moment we are all together, but circumstances may force me and the kids to go live with my parents for a couple months until we can get back on our feet financially.

And since we're all about change here I thought I'd update the look on the blog. I hope it is easy to read. 

Fresh starts people; sometimes we all need one.