Long-Term Sub Job

When we returned home from Idaho, I had just a couple of days of further relaxation time before I was back to work. Earlier this past school year I was working as a regular substitute for the Mat-Su School District.  However, starting in January I was given the opportunity to take on a long-term subbing job. 

For this job I was going to be a Snowshoe Elementary and working in an ELL classroom.  Which means I was working with students who have another language spoken at home.  Many of my students were from Russian homes, which means I learned a great deal about the Russian culture.  I worked with students to help them improve their English.  Sometimes this proved a challenge because I don't know the home languages of most of my students.  We often worked on reading, writing and speaking in English.  Sometimes I would help students with their math as well (which I loved). 

I had a wonderful experience at Snowshoe. I loved working with the students and all the staff there.  It was a great learning experience for me and I loved being at the same place everyday.  Plus I was able to share a classroom with a friend from church. It was great to get to know Anita a little better through our lunch time chats.


Thank you everyone from Snowshoe, I had a great semester!

Belated Holiday Update...

Wow, it has been a while since I have been on here.  

I realize that I promised pictures from our holiday adventures in Idaho a while back and have yet to post them.  So in classic "better late than never" fashion, here they are...

 Uncle Jim taught Mary-Brenna "Opa!" Whenever she would raise her hands in the air, we all would as well.  At meal times she had complete control of the table.  It was so fun!

 Uncle Jim and Mary-Brenna made fast friends!

 Madison and Ryan standing in front of a tree of lights at the Botanical Gardens in Boise.

 The whole gang posing for a picture in the garden.

 Enjoying a good book with Grandma.

 Cousins... so fun!

 Say cheese Uncle Michael!

 Quick pic in the garden... Silly Michael.

 MBK and Uncle AJ!

 Trying to wake up with Uncle Michael.

 Sitting in Aunt Niecy's chair while watching Pooh.

 A chair just my size.

 Playing a game with Uncle.

Cuddle time with a movie.

We had a wonderful time on vacation at Christmas.  It was so great to see our family and get caught up with everyone again.  Wish we could have stayed longer, but it was a very memorable Christmas. 

Bubbles

Mary-Brenna has a few new words now.  Her first word was definitely "Pooh" or as she said it "Booh".  We all knew that when she said "Booh" in her rather pathetic voice, that she was asking for Winnie the Pooh.  At MOPS on Wednesday mornings with Grandma she learned "bubbles".  She absolutely loves standing under the bubble machine, trying to pop all the bubbles.  She can also say all done, and sometimes we get a please out of her.  She is getting the cadence of other words and phrases as well.  She has the sound effects of Tigger down too.  The "hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo!" that he says is what she will say when referring to him.  Grandpa is really good at it and she mimics him really well.  It is so cute to see her getting more and more words in her vocabulary.  I can't wait until she says "Momma" and is actually referring to me rather than just singing to herself.

Here is a sweet video of Mary-Brenna saying "bubbles".  It makes my heart melt every time I hear that sweet word come from her.

Holiday Adventure and New Year Posts

Coming Soon...

Holiday in Idaho Adventures and Life with a very adventurous 1-Year Old Posts.

I have been terrible about posting and after a gentle nudge (thanks Mom) I am going to be posting pictures and stories soon.

Lots of Love,

Katie

New Christmas Stockings

From L to R: Mom, Mary-Brenna, Katie and Dad

This year, Mom and I decided that the family needed updated Christmas stockings.  For quite a few years now we have had a mismatched collection of stockings.  Some store bought and some homemade.  So this year we found fabric that we loved and decided to give the family a cohesive collection of stockings for our holiday celebrations.  I am really excited about these, I think they turned out really well.

Michael's Stocking

New Jammie Pants

Enjoying a good book.

Grandma made Mary-Brenna a precious new pair of jammie pants.  They are so adorable.  I just had to post some pictures of Mary-Brenna wearing them for the first time.  Grandma, these jammies are so fun!  I also had to add some really sweet pictures of Mary-Brenna just being cute!

Grandma these jammies are awesome!

That was silly Grandma!

Cheese!

Hi Momma!

Nothing but smiles!

Posing pretty for the camera.

A Family of Moose Comes for a Visit

Momma and Baby #1

 Today a family of moose came and visited our house.  A mom and a set of twins.  Our sweet dog Zoe was not at all happy with our visitors.  She was barking up a storm.  The mom and one of the babies walked right up to mom's flower boxes from the summer and munched on the remains of her violas.  A little while later, after the mom and baby had traveled back to the backyard, another little one came up to the front of the house.  The poor little baby went the wrong way to get to mom at first.  But, after wandering around our neighbors yard, the baby wandered back over and found mom.  They are currently laying down in our backyard, trying to stay warm in this crazy cold weather.  Here is a video and a few pictures of our very large visitors.

Momma and Baby heading to the backyard.

Baby #2

Baby #2 heading off in the wrong direction.

Momma and Baby #1 eating in the backyard.

Stretching to get those branches up high.

All three united at last.

Taking a rest in the backyard.

Looking Back a Year

November 6, 2010

It is so hard to believe that I have been the mother of such a beautiful baby girl for a whole year now.  I love the posts that share pictures of how babies have grown in a year so I decided to do one of my own.  Here is a look at how Mary-Brenna has changed this past year.
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December 6, 2010

January 6, 2011

February 6, 2011

March 6, 2011

April 6, 2011

May 6, 2011

June 6, 2011

July 6, 2011

August 6, 2011

September 6, 2011

October 6, 2011

November 6, 2011

It has been a wonderful first year as a mommy and I am looking forward to see what the next year brings.

Squeeky Shoes

Here is a quick video of Mary-Brenna walking in her squeaky shoes that she received from Mikki.  Thanks so much Mikki, these shoes are awesome!  She loves making them squeak when she walks.

Mary-Brenna is WALKING!!!

 

Here is the promised video of my little girl walking!  She is not so little anymore.

Side note, the pants are purposely pulled up as high as they can go. (1) Super funny looking! and (2) She trips on the legs otherwise.

Belated Picture Update Part 2

So, I have been a total slacker.  I feel like I have been so busy as of late.  My brother and Oma came up to Alaska for a visit, which was awesome!  And Mary-Brenna has been growing like crazy.  She is now walking (video to come soon).  I am so glad she waited till Michael and Oma were here to see her walk for the first time by herself.  My little girl is getting so big so fast!  I cannot believe that she is almost one!  As for me, apart from having the pleasure of watching my daughter grow, I have been working a lot.  Such is the life of a substitute teacher (well teachers in general).  I have truly been blessed with consistent work, and am hoping that being so busy might lead to a full time job in the future (maybe next school year).  So enough chatter, here are the pictures I promised!

 Mary-Brenna enjoyed checking out the bear rug at Russ and Carmen's house!

 At Auntie Jay's new house Mary-Brenna practiced her drumming skills on Jay's bowls!  

So much fun!

 Here is the look right after a bath trying to get lotion out of the hair.  The troll!

 Living life with a lot of boy cousins means playing with light sabers!

 So happy to have Papa home!

 Playing a silly game with her toes and Papa!

 Playing outside with her Oma.

 Walking around the yard with Grandma.

 Oooh, trucks!

 Fun in Talkeetna, AK with Uncle Michael!

Laughing after a fun filled day!