Saturday night date

This is the first Saturday night in a little over 2 years, that I haven't been stressed-out trying to make my Sunday afternoon deadline for turning in school work. To celebrate, Joe and Sandi took me to a yummy place called Carmala's. This place serves the best pizza! We got to eat out on the patio, where the weather was perfect.

There was even an accordian player that was providing entertainment for everyone. The kids would love this place! I can't wait to bring them here.

Pinning Ceremony

It is tradition in nursing for nurses to be pinned upon completion of their degree. It is a very special ceremony during which each graduate chooses another Registered Nurse to pin them. Tonight's ceremony was very nice. The distance BSN students (my class) shared the ceremony with the newly graduating Associate Degree students, which made the evening even more fun. The new graduates were so excited and their energy was contagious.

We were lined up to walk in to begin the ceremony when the Nursing Department Chair came over to our little group. We immediately thought we were in trouble for being too loud, as we had become quite the rowdy little posse, since we just now finally got to see what each other really looked like having only exchanged emails and chatted on-line for the past two years. So in the middle of hugs and laughing, Dr. Preston came over and sheepishly admitted to forgetting to ask a BSN student to be prepared to speak on behalf of the BSN students. My friend Farina volunteered me to represent the class. I was very nervous, but very flattered. However, I had nothing prepared.

I was sure to thank God for taking us all as through the program, and I thanked the staff for their patience with each of us especially when we encountered technical difficulties. I thanked our families for their support and apologized for the many times there may have been laundry not done or no dinner cooked because we were busy with our school work. I thanked the group of Distance BSN students for supporting each other through prayers and on-line study groups. And finally I congratulated the Associate Degree Nurses and welcomed them to our world of nursing. I didn't do too bad for not knowing about this ahead of time. And not having a pen to make any notes while I was sitting there waiting to speak.

I'm the one in pink with darker hair, beside my friend from Oregon, Julie, who also is wearing pink. The new grads had to wear all whites, and the returning students were allowed to wear street clothes.

I ran into so many people that I had not seen for years. In fact, a few of my previous instructors are still at the college, and I was honored to have one of them pin me. I was so glad to run into her, we laughed about the amount of times she made me cry during clinicals. They don't call her Rambo for nothing.

Here is a picture of Carolyn (Rambo) Ramsey and me after she pinned me.

Updates from the Sunshine State

This will be a quick post without pictures.

All four of my flights between Kodiak and Orlando were pretty uneventful. The trip seems twice as long as usual when I don't have the kids to tend to. I did enjoy the quiet time and got to finish reading my book and take a nap or two.

Amazingly, my luggage showed up in Orlando the same time I did (very unusual for me). Ordinary people go to sleep after they have been up all night traveling, but not me. I showered and then Joe and Sandi and I hit the road for some shopping. I was in need of a black dress. I will admit that I enjoy shopping for other people, but I despise shopping for myself. After five years of living in rural Alaska, I just can't embrace the styles that are out right now. Seriously, must everything be empire waisted? Everything looks like maternity clothes. And having worn more maternity or nursing clothes than regular clothes in the past few years, I shudder when I try on something that could even hint at me being pregnant again (sorry guys, that factory is closed at our house).

Sandi took me to IKEA, and it was amazing. Their little kid section is fantastic. I can't wait to go back and get some storage pieces for the kids' rooms and the playroom.

I took a tour of Joshua and Megan's school for next year. Grandpa Joe came along with me, since Keith went to this school when he was little. I was so excited to pull up to the school and see kids outside playing soccer and kickball in the sunshine. They have art and band and gym and PE. I looked at samples of the K and 1st grade work, and Joshua looks pretty well on-target. He will take a placement test to see which grade he'll go into next year. Megan won't take any placement tests, she'll just slip right into the 4 year old pre-K program. Now I just have to decide what to do with Daniel while I go back to work.

I went to Daytona Beach and visited with my mom in the retirement community yesterday. I do have pictures, but to not embarrass Mom, I'll keep them off of here, since we were both laughing, and the pictures are pretty unflattering! I helped Bill (Mom's husband) set up his Wii and he was content to play golf and bowling for quite some time.

I'm sure I've done a dozen more things, but they will probably bore the rest of you. I've driven by a zillion houses, and gotten out to look at one or two. I took Joe and Sandi with me to tour the one right beside them that will be for sale in a month or two.

Keith and the kids are doing fantastic. They are having fun, even though the weather has been a mixture of warm and sunny then cold and windy. I get to talk to them every night. Joshua is so darling, he's such a sensitive little boy, he gets teary when he has to say goodbye on the phone. Megan asked me what I was doing last night and I told her I was helping Grandma get her new room ready for her. Then Megan told me to "hurry up, you are taking too long".

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, I'm going to go sit out back with my book for a couple of hours until I have to go to graduation practice.

A girlie birthday party

One of Megan's little friends had a birthday party today. Since I'm leaving for Florida first thing in the morning, I really wasn't sure if I had the time to be hanging around at a birthday party, but I knew Megan would be devistated if she missed seeing her friend Ava. The kids made adorable princess hats and then they all went to play in Ava's room. Ava has quite the collection of dress-up clothes, and Megan turned into Tinkerbell for the rest of the party.

It really was a good time and I was glad I went. I always enjoy spending time with my friend, Tanya.

Is it bedtime, yet?

I didn't make it to bed until well after midnight last night. We were sorting through things for the move. Then at 5:30am I hear hysterical crying - the kind where you know something is really wrong, but all the kids sound alike in the middle of the night. It was Megan that was freaking out. She had a really bad bloody nose early this morning. She soaked her t-shirt and ruined her jammy pants. With the help of our teddy bear cool pack, the bleeding stopped. I got Megan cleaned up and moved her to the couch, where she watched cartoons on PBS while I cleaned up her room. Funny thing is that we had our home appraisal scheduled for 9:30am and it looked like I was running a slaughter-house in one of our bedrooms. Very fortunately for me, the mess was contained to mostly her bed and her pajamas.


After the home appraisal was complete, the kids and I went to the Fly-by coffee shop to have coffee with some of the Coastie Chicks one last time. It sounds like a trendy high school clique (and it sometimes seems that way!), but Coastie Chicks is an on-line forum that acts as a resource for families affiliated with the Coast Guard, and it's been a life saver for helpful information with planning this move. Coastie Chicks has quite a few Kodiak members and it's great to put the faces with the names of these really helpful and very fun folks.

I had a coffee card that someone had given me as a gift a long while back, so I splurged and got each of the kids a little hot chocolate, and myself a strawberry/banana smoothie.

For some strange reason, the kids are crazy about fishing gear. Joshua can spend hours down at the dock watching the fishermen working on their boats. I like taking him down there because it reminds me of taking trips to Gloucester with my older sister and my dad. I remember my dad would let my sister and I get pink ice cream that had chunks of bubble gum in it. It was always a great time, and we always came home with lobsters. Ironically, I was scared to death of the live lobsters, yet I would cry and want to save them as soon as I heard that we were cooking them for dinner.

The kids and I came home to take naps, and Keith had already left for work. He had a dental appointment today, so he basically spent the entire day running around the base and then working tonight. I put the kiddos down for naps and spent about an hour working on my resume. Then the contact person for the moving company came to the house to take a look at how many boxes and crates he think's we'll need. I can't believe I'll only have 6 days to prep for the movers once I get back from my trip.

Since I didn't actually spend any money on coffee - I did treat myself to this beautiful necklace

that my friend Debbie brought back from her mission trip to Uganda. The money goes back to the orphanage that Debbie was volunteering in.

Before dinner tonight, the kids were starting to look like they were going to fall asleep. No, no, no...no naps now, they'll never sleep tonight. So off to the park we went. It was a little chilly at 32 degrees, but we managed to have fun for about 30 minutes.

Daniel not looking too happy because he wants someone to push him around.

Megan, she's such a dare-devil.

Daniel on the small kids playground.

Daniel riding a duck.

Joshua steering the pirate ship.

Overall it was a very fun day today, but it was also a long day. I'm actually planning on going to bed soon after the kids because I am beat! I'm hoping I'm tired enough to sleep because I'm getting nervous about leaving for my trip to Florida in 2 days! My heart sank this morning when I read on-line about Alaska Airlines grounding some planes this morning to do safety checks. Fortunately all the grounded planes but 2 are back up and running.

All about sea otters

I guess word has gotten out about the Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center's classes for kids. Today there was quite the crowd! Joshua was sleepy and weepy and sat with his head on my shoulder. Daniel forgot his Buddy Bear in the mini-van. But Megan enjoyed herself.

After the lesson and story, the kids gathered at the tables for some crafts, but there was just too much going on. Imagine about 30 kids with all of their mothers trying to give them direction speaking over each other. It was really overwhelming and the meltdowns began. The only one of my crew doing the craft was Joshua, so I helped him pack it up and we decided we'd finish it at home sometime this week.

Being in the moment

Today the kids and I went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). The kids had a great time playing in their Moppets groups, and I really enjoyed socializing with some friends that I probably won't get a chance to visit with again before we move from the island. I won the door-prize today. It was a nice basket of kitchen gadgets - a lemon zester, a wooden spoon, a couple of red heat-proof spatulas and a few other great tools.

My friend, Sue, who's children are my age and whose grandchildren play with my kids, came to MOPS today to give us tired moms some words of wisdom. One of the things she talked about today really rings true in my ears. A big part of her discussion was about "being in the moment". You would think that with just 21 days left until the packers come, I'd be a crazy woman running through the house cleaning and sorting, and making lists of the wonderful things we'll get to do once we get to Florida. But infact, it's been just the opposite here. We are carrying on life "in the moment" in Kodiak, enjoying all the things that we would ordinarilly be doing during the day. I save my running around like Chicken Little shouting "the sky is falling" for after the kids go to bed. (Plus, they can't see all the things I've given away/thrown away when they are snug in their beds!)

So today we hung out with our MOPS group. Tomorrow we will go back to the Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center again for another wildlife class for children. We actually have fun plans for every morning this week!

I've been attempting the pony-tail challenge, to prepare me for my upcoming trip to Florida. I'm assuming my jeans/sweatshirt/pony-tail Kodiak-casual style that I've come to embrace will probably be less than appropriate for my upcoming graduation ceremony and the other festivities surrounding the big day.