Happy Leap Year!

 Another four years has gone and another Leap Year has come!  I was very excited about this one because for pretty much all of my kids, it is the first LY that they remember.  I took full advantage of this by making it a themed day with a bunch of different LY activities. 

We started with writing where each of my kids had to write what they would do with an extra day.  The most popular responses included, eating pizza, playing video games and sleeping....  Very creative.  Anyway - afterwords, they each got to make a frog to mount their writing on which I am excited to show off to the school.

 Writing and making our LY Frogs

 How stinking cute?!

For math, we watched a video about different animals and how far they could leap.  My kids were very surprised when I told them that fleas were the worlds best jumpers.  I then set up a jumping lane in my classroom so my kids could measure to see how far they could leap.  It was loud - but a very successful activity.  :)

I have also been on a spring cleaning/reorganizing rampage in my classroom.   I recruited Luke to assist me with moving my things around to make my classroom more homey and removed a lot of things that I just wasn't using.  I think it has made a huge difference!  Although my kids are louder in table groups, it helps a lot with center work to have them grouped.  I also believe that it will quiet down a little once the new feeling wears off and they get used to the classroom style. 

As for baby - Owen is growing and the size of a head of lettuce.  He is kicking a lot more and enjoys loud noises from shows like The Walking Dead and so on.  We are getting more excited to meet him as we move into the third trimester at the end of this week.  :)  It is very strange to think that we will be welcoming our little man in three months.  Time sure does fly!

 26 weeks and 5 days pregnant

We had a little scare last week with Wan Tzu.  While I was at the gym, Luke came home and saw that he wasn't using his back legs.  Naturally - he freaked out and took Wan Tzu to the vet here that we have seen before.  Luckily, the vet was in and Luke was able to get a hole of our friend Anuar who translated for Luke what the vet was saying.  He guessed it was just a pulled muscle because his eyes and vitals checked out fine (phew!).  He got a shot of pain killers and anti-inflammatory stuff and was sent home.

I got home before Luke and was of course freaking out not knowing where either Luke or Wan Tzu was.  Tofu and I paced around until they came home 5 minutes later.  Luckily - he is doing well, still walking funny but he is walking which is the good thing.  He is happy and not in any pain so we are just helping him as best we can by giving him all the love in the world.  :)  We appreciated all of the thoughts from you guys and I know that it helped!  

Wan Tzu watching me eat dinner and hoping to get a slice....

Hope all is well!

Fun in the First Grade

One thing I love about being a first grade teacher is all of the super fun art and themed activities that we get to do!  As you can guess - Valentine's Day is kinda a big one and I had lots of different things for the kiddos to do.

Here are some photos of my kiddos and their projects. 

Happy V Day!

Making different hearts and describing them!

Valentines that we made for the parents :) 

Valentine Love Bug dice game :)

Even and Odd Street

(each kid got to make an even and odd house to go on our road)

Happy Valentine's Day

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Luke and I have been together 6 years.

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

Luke and I met at a life guarding class at WOU my junior year.  The class had actually been cancelled but Luke signed up last minute!  It is crazy to think that we maybe would have never met if it wasn't for his last minute decision.  We worked together for a year and became close friends before finally admitting to one another that we really liked each other and decided to start dating.  The rest is history <3

3. If married, how long have you been married?

Luke and I have been married for 3 and a half years.  We celebrate it every July 21st!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  

We had a big wedding in Oregon with all of our friends and family!  It was an amazing night and we had a great time.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Not really - I call Luke 'Canada' a lot because he was born in BC...  He calls me 'babe' as a joke. 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1) I love his sense of adventure!

2) I love that he can cook!

3) I love that we can be complete dorks together!

7. Tell us how he proposed? 

He proposed to me on our one year anniversary at Silver Creek Falls.  It was snowing really bad and we had camped in the car the night before.  We decided to snowshoe down to one of the falls where there just happened to be a bed of icicles.  Luke suggested we take a photo and after we did I turned around and saw him on one knee with a ring in his hand.  It was the best day ever!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Luke is way more a drinks kinda guy!  :)

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I would say both - depends on the day.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Travel the world!  Oh wait - we are doing that.  :)

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

After working - probably just eat dinner together and watch a movie.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nope

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Take time to be with one another and listen!  Make sure that you always do new and fun things together and keep that spark.  :)

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

I love my boys.

Rio Pico Bonito

Last weekend a group of friends decided that we were going to venture to a new river that we hadn't been to.  Don't get us wrong - we still love our regular river spots but the idea of a nice hike and checking out a new place was really appealing to both Luke and I.  So - I dragged my pregnant butt out of the house and we joined our friends on the adventure!

After jumping in the car, we drove a little outside of the city and parked the car in a small town/village called Primer de Mayo.  We then hiked about an hour into the 'jungle' and then came to a super hidden river spot that has probably become my favorite swimming spot in Honduras so far!

Unlike our other swimming spots, this was really secluded and so there was no trash which was a really nice change.  We were all warm from the hike and jumped into the cold water and it felt AMAZING.  I can't wait to take friend and family there when they come to visit.

Anyway - here are some photos (thanks Erika!).  Hope you enjoy!

 Blazing the trail!

 Hiking in Hondo

 We made it!

 Swimming

Our little family

Baby Owen's Registry

Buenas!

Some people have been asking us about things that we need for little Owen who is coming in June so we made an online registry of the things that we want.

Here is the link if you would like to get something for him.

http://www.myregistry.com/visitors/giftlist.aspx?sid=cd73c42a-6a1b-4035-bb55-071661c790e1#

We are asking that things get shipped to my parent's house and the address is:

6790 SW Raleighview Ct.
Portland, OR 97225

Also - any books are great for the little guys library.  :)

We love you all and can't wait for you to meet him!

Cheers!

Library Update

Thank you for all of the support with my library!  We just got our first donation yesterday and I can't believe how crazy the kids are going for the books!  They are reading and challenging themselves which makes me so happy!

Please keep those books coming!  The more the better!  :) 

Here is an updated photo of our library!

Cheers!