Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Celebrating the End of Year at Vesloto Gardje
Last week Bryce's preschool celebrated the end of the year with a performance that had a dreamlike scenario where they traveled through time, only to wake up at the end and find themselves at school. Or at least I think that was what was happening - it was all in Bulgarian! Here are a few photos from the show, I will post a few video clips soon.
We are so excited to have Bryce join us at AAS. He will be right down the hall from me, our mornings will be easier and we will finally all be in the same school. He will benefit from being in an international setting and a place that will nurture his curiosity. I am sad, however, for his time at our neighborhood preschool to come to a close. He has enjoyed the experience so much and has made such great friends. He speaks Bulgarian now. His teachers are kind and gentle. They go swimming each week and have a teacher from Japan do gymnastics. It is all so lovely. Plus, I love the walk in the morning and the sled rides in the winter. I feel so lucky that Bryce had such a safe and happy place to be these last two years.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Flowers Are Not the Only Thing In Bloom
You won't believe how much they have grown. Both kids are shooting up like weeds. I am so happy that Jim had the idea to track Amelia and Bryce's heights over time on bamboo. It is so nice to be able to have their growth marks travel with us wherever we may roam.
Garden Update
Our indoor garden is doing remarkably well. It has been so fun to watch the cilantro sprout and our avocado tree has been joined by some tomato seedlings that sprouted from seeds in the compost used by the planter. So fun!
There was a little mishap with the mint when Cinderella stripped down and took a nose dive off the chair into the pot.
We might have enough cilantro for salsa by summer!
Purple petunias blooming beautifully
Tomato seedlings
Sweet Dreams Amelia...
Amelia has been asking to sew together, so we finally carved out time this weekend to make an eye shade. The project idea came about from a library book we borrowed at school. It was just right for her skill level and a little help from mom. She went to bed with her new mask on...let's see if she really did have sweet dreams.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Sunday, April 2, 2017
A Little Road Trip to Lovech
Spring has arrived and the travel bug is biting! We hit the road this weekend and had a wonderful time in Lovech, Bulgaria.
As we begin our walk up the steps to the statue and fortress
Hisaraya Fortress
Our overnight accommodation in a little village near Lovech.
Don't you love how she has her compact comb as an eye shade?
And now for a bit of nature...waterfalls!
Jim's happiest moment...sun + grass = bliss
The Swallow Has Returned
To celebrate the first day of Spring, Bryce's preschool group dressed up in costumes. Bryce was a swallow, which is the first bird to be seen in Bulgaria each spring. His friends wore insect, flower and other animal costumes. He loved the event so much that he sent us away when we came to pick him up. He loves his school so much.
A Balcony Garden At Last!
After a year and a half, we finally got some plants. Jim's principal has a real green thumb and recently gave petunia plants out at a staff meeting. Because he knows and loves our two little gems, he gave us an extra. After two weeks of keeping the plants alive and seeing how interested the kids were in watering them and taking care of them, we decided it was time for a balcony garden.
We have started small with some things we were able to get at the grocery story, but do hope to get to the hardware store soon to get a few more things. So far we have pots of rosemary and mint and have started cilantro from seed. Amelia also got begonia bulbs that she planted. She excitedly made signs for each plan and played the plants some music on her recorder. We also read to the plants, which was fun. It will be an extra exciting spring as we watch everything bud and bloom.
Monday, March 13, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Download your free copy on iBooks...
I recently worked with a group of fourth and fifth grade students to create a book about our elementary school culture. We studied the work of our visiting author, Jan Reynolds, and created our own book based on her style. It was a fantastic project and the students are so proud that their book is now available for a free download on iBooks. If you go to the iBooks Store on any apple device and search either by my name or the title you will find it. Enjoy!
New Toys...New Joys...
Not only did we have a great time skiing in Bulgaria, but we also had so much fun playing with our new toys.
Monopoly Jr. was a great addition to our sparse games collection.
Bryce's Christmas wish came true when Santa brought a McQueen Boat.
He took three baths on Christmas day!
We can now re-enact the Disney Cars movie. Bryce loves all of the different characters and mommy and daddy like his car caddy, which is really a fishing tackle box.
Amelia in her golden dress with her new horse stable.
What a lucky girl!
Puppy Needs a Tag
What was originally designed to be a holiday ornament, turned out to be a puppy tag for Bryce. Amelia loves to create!
Sewing Stockings
By drawing dotted lines for her, she was able to have a guide.
It took a bit to learn how and where to move the needle, but she was determined.
Look at that concentration!
Ta Da!
Thursday, February 2, 2017
A Few Snapshots from School
Aside from what is happening in the US, our 2017 has kicked off to a great start. We are enjoying winter more than ever and school is going so well for all of us. Here are a few photos from last week...
We celebrated Book Character Day last Friday.
This is my dear friend Ula, who will be moving to India next year.
Amelia was not interested in taking a photo of her dressed as Sleeping Beauty.
Amelia's Goals Revealed...
"My goal is to do friendship with animals."
Oh our sweet girl wants a pet more than you can imagine.
"Get ready on time for school."
Always an important one!
"My goal is to be a good counter to one million."
I love how determined she is!
My friend Ula introduced me to the idea of a one word resolution. You choose a word that encompasses the change you want to see happen in yourself. She did this with her students and it was very powerful. I shared the idea with Jim and he tried it with his sixth graders, too. I wrestled with my own word for quite sometime time. I thought about commit because I tend to start new projects, but don't always finish them. This has especially been true with fitness goals. But, these just didn't feel right. Other considerations were: joy, do, grit. In the end, I settled on connect because I want to connect more with myself through exercise, I want to be more connect with the kids as they become more independent and of course connect with Jim as our lives can be a bit hectic. A huge part of my job is connecting with others and building trusting relationships so that they feel comfortable to grow and accept my coaching. Overall, this seems very fitting for 2017.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)