MATL

Master of Arts in the Teaching of Languages (Spanish) 

Here's what I read-along with hundreds of pages of articles.  

In this stack the top four are books that I picked for my Independent Study this summer.  Pretty fun.   

In this stack-some impressively boring titles.   New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching...?  

Actually interesting.  

 I think Principles of Language Learning and Teaching was my first book.  

You can see my portfolio here:  Watch out for self-aggrandizing educational mumbo jumbo.  

My friend Jenny edited THIS ENTIRE THING.  Amazing.  

For my independent study this summer I made this website:  apracticar.net  It's a place to collect resources for maintaining my Spanish-or for anyone else who wants to practice and doesn't have a formal class.  

My friend Heath was a huge enormous gigantic help with this.   

Hard to believe I'm done!  Now it's time to plan a trip to Hattiesburg for graduation in December.

Oh, and start my new Library classes at Fort Hays August 20.  

More baking

We still had the pretty cake plate out from the yogurt cake (and putting it away involves bending over, which is hard!)  So I thought Anna should do a little more baking.  

I've been really trying to let her do all this herself-which is hard.  

I have to keep myself very busy in the kitchen to avoid rushing in.  

We made these simple cake mix candy bars found via a quick pinterest search.  

                                          Everyone enjoyed them, especially Katie and Daddy.  

Anna's Day

One day last week Grandma Joan kept Katie while Anna and I had a grand day out.

  We got our toes done.  

And had lunch at Fresh Bites (her choice) downtown.  

We also had fantastic luck at Goodwill-finding her two pairs of jeans, two pairs of leggings, and a t-shirt.  We also got 3 pairs of clearance shoes at Target (including sneakers-yay!) and all of her school supplies.

Another thing ready.  :)  It was fun to spend the day with my biggest girl.    

Free Olympics Printables!

Tinyme Games Printables

I just found these last night-I'm super excited about the Opening Ceremony Bingo and the Medal Count especially.  Now if only I could find some free toddler entertainment to keep Katie busy while I watch...

Surprise

Surprise is the starting point for gratitude.  It opens our inner eye, because the amazing fact is that everything is a gift.  Nothing can be taken for granted.  If something can't be taken for granted, then we must be grateful.  And as we begin to be grateful for small things, that gratitude grows and grows and expands and expands, like ripples on the surface of a pool.  What starts it off may be a little stone, a little surprise, a little openness, but as the ripple extends it becomes more and more alive to what is given, more and more alive to the giver, and more and more alive to giving.

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy --Gardening the Soul

Printable Olympics 2012 Schedule CST

I was frustrated and cranky when I couldn't find a TV schedule that I could print out and keep by the TV.

I found one here for EST 

And then I adjusted it for Central Time and took out the other channels-because we country folk just get NBC.

Here's a link to my list:  Printable Olympics 2012 Schedule CST

Go World!  (Is there a new tagline this year?)

Getting ready for Threesie

 I boiled all of Katie's rejected binkies.  Threesie will have lots of options!










Abby and I moved the mattress back upstairs and into the corner.  To try and mimic her crib, we put a gate around the bed.  And because I love that wallpaper and don't trust her little fingers, I had Matthew and Spencer put a sheet of plexiglass to cover it right there.  Over her head are pictures of Grammy Rita and Great Great Grandma Katie.  That's been on my list for so long!  

We moved the chair over in front of the window by the crib.  Will Katie stay asleep for night nursing?  I hope so!

This old old piece of quilt was a gift from one of my dear bonus parents.  It fits perfectly on the changing table and makes me happy every day.   I love that I get to use it daily in its third life.  

I put in some drawer dividers.  Katie jammies on one side, Threesie on the other.  And then they each get just one drawer.  We're going to have to be ruthless about clothes.  We have too many anyway.

I couldn't have done all of this without Abby.  What a great auntie.  Matthew and Spencer did the Plexiglass installation on their rainy day off.  What a lucky Mama I am.



Just maybe-we're ready.  Though I'm still pulling for August.  :)

Threesie's bed

We got out the beautiful bassinet, and outfitted it with Threesie's blankie and another lovely pretty one from Sarah.  It's perfect for a sweet summer boy or girl.  

I love my bassinet. 

Katie loves the blankie.  Oh, sweet girl, you have no idea what's coming.  

Patriot Toes

I have a sister who's willing to paint my toes.

And she's willing to paint wiggly little girl toes too.  

We each had a different style.

 It was the first trial with the white paint pen.  Abby said it worked well.

I'm still very fond of glitter toes.  Happy 4th of July!  (I wonder what Pinterest fad we'll jump on next year?)

Bringing Up Bebé

I saw Bringing Up Bebé at the Library the other day and picked it up.  Such a fun read!  I love reading about what we (former *sniff*) language teachers call "small c" culture-the real life sorts of things that make countries different.  This book was chock full of "small c" culture, interesting and funny.  It's my kind of parenting book too-all about limits and being firm and encouraging independence.

One of the items discussed was baking with children-and she includes a recipe for gateau au yaourt (yogurt cake) that French kids learn to bake all by themselves.  (Here's another Mama's post about it-with recipe)  Sounds like fun to me.  

Anna made it all by herself!  

I couldn't find whole milk yogurt, so we used nonfat, and a little basket of raspberries.  Could use more, I think.  

Then, because we had fresh cake and it was recommended to serve it with tea, Anna decided we should have a tea party.  

We had a lovely time.

Fabric fun

In my little snippets of free time I've been working on my scrap basket.  I'd like to cut all of them into 1.5" strips to use in scrap quilts.  I have bins for light and for dark.  I'm getting there....once I get caught up, hopefully I will just have this be another step in the project and then I'll always have something fun to play with.  

With the really tiny bits (I have a terrible time throwing anything away) I've started a postage stamp quilt.  I figure this'll take years and years and years and that sounds like fun.  It's easier for me to throw away tiny bits if I'm using at least one more part of them.  So I cut 1.5" squares and sew 64 together at a time to make blocks.  

Someday this will be a super fun quilt.

Spencer's Quilt

Only one year late, I finally finished Spencer's graduation quilt.  I used a pattern from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, a book I have really loved.  The red and white fabric is clouds with little birds flying-I loved it and the name "Free as a bird" reminded me of Spencer.

What is it about a blanket that invites babies to happily lay down?  They can't resist.

Both girls 7/4/12

This gives you some idea of how the whole process went.  

  

With some distractions...

  

A rare still moment. 

Two girls singing.

I think the only picture of the two girls looking at the camera.  

Whew.  And next year I'll have THREE!!??!!  :)

Katie Portraits 7/4/12

And if Anna was hard, Katie was nearly impossible!  I need to do these when MJL is around to help.

I had Anna stand behind me and make faces, which helped a little bit.

Here she's singing.

And with blankie, her very favorite companion.

Happy 4th, Katie bug!