Visitors and winter vacations

Now that we have already been two weeks back from break, this post is a bit old....but hey, thought I'd share...

It's a shame that I had so many productive "work related" expectations for this winter break. So far I was only able to cross one thing off of my list...bummer. Too bad I had way too much fun planning and enjoying Christmas parties, hosting guests, and taking trips to the mountains to play in the snow. Where did the two weeks go?

One of the most memorable times of the break was our trip to the mountains with some families and friends. Not only was this nostalgic, but absolutely beautiful! Frozen lakes and waterfalls, snowcapped mountains, and a nice warm lodge with a fireplace. In only two days, we crammed in ice-skating, ice hockey, hikes, games, roasting marshmallows, and even some time to sit back and read :) If only it was longer than two days...

Our friend Wes (from Liberty) flew over from South Korea to visit us! It was so good to see him again!

I never thought that I would get that into ice hockey. Usually I just let the guys have a go at this sort of a thing. The only bummer was that I kept forgetting the motto of "bend your knees" and I ended up with a horrible back ache after it.

Trying to ice skate backwards with Ben. It kind of looks like we are salsa dancing!

Hopefully the ice doesn't give out...

I kept waiting all weekend for "Mr. Mountain Man" to come out and play. You would think that with a pond in his own front yard at home would make him the first one outside. I just had to take a picture when he finally immerged from the cozy lodge.

Oh technology....we love you. Even when everyone is roasting marshmallows and sitting by the fireplace, we are still fascinated with what you can do...a.k.a. Benny's ipad.

If any of you know the game "Take Four" or "Bananas", then you will know that it is a speed scrabble type of game. Well we took it up a notch as we took out the chairs and switched spots everytime someone called for new pieces. What a fun way to play! Too bad this means one more activity killing my back...

The awesome thing is that in only two more weeks, we have another break! What a blessing! Maybe this time I will be able to actually get some work done...

Let the traditions continue!

This Christmas officially marks the 2nd holiday season away from family...yet that can only mean one thing. Another year of continuing memories with my honey! Last Christmas togther was simply magical. With such high expectations from last year, I approached this season with much anticipation. "Will we still have just as much fun?" "What if all of our 'traditions' from last year seem silly now?" Good thing we kept the good times rollin' as we acted as though we were children. We practically had a slumber party in our living room! What married couple does that?

Starting the night off with sugar cookies! What couldn't be better with filling our mouths with that much sugar at around 7:00?

Dave likes to sneak away and "just take a little" while I am busy cutting the cookies. So sneaky!

I love holiday messes.

Thanks to Becky Evans recipe, we made our "baked French toast" that night. All we had to do Christmas morning was pop it in the oven for 40 minutes! Walaah! Breakfast is served :)

This was the real clencher when acting like kids. After all of our baking and decorating, we put the couches together and watched Christmas movies until our eyelids got heavy. We didn't move till the next morning :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

New tool for the toolbox...an ice pick

Who knew that the ice, sleet, and snow would make it's way into our house? Apparently our humidifier + the extremely cold outside temperature = the water cycle working against us. The condensation on our windows was on overdrive as it formed a lake of water at the base of the window, and then refroze again. Now our comfy window seat is a block of ice. At least we don't use it in the winter.

Holiday messes

Oh how I love making messes....those that are for a productive end of course. My latest mess is my project on decorations for a team Christmas party coming up this Thursday. Realizing that the location did not give me much to work with (empty gym) on making the room feel warm and cozy, I thought I would do the best with what I did have...tables to dress up.

After a couple weekends of scouring the markets in search of a centerpiece. The prettiest one I found was a simple short bough of garland with some fake snow, pine cones, and berries. Yet the cheapest price for one was 70 kuai....I was determined to do better, since I do have about 8 tables to decorate. I decided to join the Martha Stewart bunch. I went out and bought my own long piece of garland, pine cones, berries, fake snow and hot glue and got to work! A couple hours later, and my house looked like a woodland winter wonderland. Snow covering the floor and garland strewn over every surface. Who needs to go outside now? The scenic view is right in my living room!

Here are some of my documented efforts:

After the garland was cut (thanks to Dave's muscles) all six centerpieces were done! If you can see in the background, I was testing one out with the red tablecloths.

This longer bough is for the food table, so I decided to keep it all in one piece :)

See how my hair is all gross and matted? Thats because I continued my project right when I woke up at 6:00 this morning....determination is a great motivater.

The coolest thing about this whole project is that by doing it this way, I saved SO much money. Normally one centerpiece would have costed 70 kuai, but I made 6 centerpieces and one long bough for less than 100 kuai! I say from now on, putting the work in is worth it...if you have the time.

Delegating = one happy teacher

It's moments like these that I wish I could post pictures of my students. The pure joy of holiday festivities, decorating, singing, making cookies makes me happy...oh the Christmas bliss. Thursday was our 1st grade Christmas party. This was the first time that I ever tried having the parents run the show, so I approached the event with much anticipation. With four different stations (book making, making words, ornaments, and cookie making), the 15 minute attention span of my students continually hit the "refresh" button. Since the parents were leading each station, I just got to take a back seat and enjoy the party. I felt like a parent looking over the festivities of my child, yet I was the one really running the show! This whole planning ahead and then kicking back thing is definitely how I will be doing parties in the future. Much like a bride should just enjoy her wedding day instead of running around with final details....a teacher should just enjoy the merriment of a party at the actual party.

Cookie Making:
"Oooo....it's sticky!" "Rudolph's legs fell off!" "Can I eat this white stuff?" These were all the most adorable comments I heard coming from this station. It was so cute to see their eyes light up in wonder when they made the connection between that squishy dough to the cookie they ate 5 minutes later. Interesting enough, they were not the least bit interested in all of the icing and goodies I brought to decorate. Americans...we love our sugar:)

Christmas Ornaments:

After listening to the story The Legend of the Candy Cane, the students were eager to make their own candy canes to share the story to their families. When they finished that, they had paper plate angels to symbolize the first messengers of the Christmas story.

Making Words:
"at, cat, chat, chart, charts"...just a few of the many words that could be made here with the letters s h r s t m a i c. The students had to cut up the letters (that together made the mystery word: Christmas) and make lots of little words. They loved it! Trick them into learning...a teacher's most convincing scheme ;)

Christmas Books:
The simple nature of this station reminded me of a baby who gets a new toy and only plays with the box. Basically, they are content with something not so elaborate or fancy...just simple. Put first grade students with something they can color (or a book they can re-read again later) and some crayons, and you have them occupied for quite some time!

This whole delegating thing has really had me thinking these past couple of days. Only if I had known the efficiency of this concept earlier, my life would have been much less stressful! This can only bring hope for future activities :)

New Gadgets

It is interesting how gadgets work. Usually the status quo is the same when purchasing them "It is nifty, but not a necessity nor top priority." Either we have changed the status quo or we don't know how to purchase anything "fun" anymore, because our latest purchases have been TOTAL top priority necessities.

There are two things that make the winters here feel unbearable aside from the sheer chilling temperature. #1 - numb extremities. I can't tell you how many times I have to start gripping things with my forearms from the inability to feel my fingertips. My poor toes feel like they are asleep for about half of the winter. One of my students actually said "my toes practically hibernate all winter" in class the other day. I think I would have to agree. #2 - dry air. Static hair sticking to my face, dry throat and chapped lips when we wake up in the morning, goodness gracious. What oh what will we do? Well, we go out and buy gadgets that we can actually use!

#1 SOLUTION:

This handy little thing has stolen my heart. It is simply a hot water bottle that you can plug in, yet in only 5 minutes it is boiling! Set it in your lap, on your back, on your feet, or in your hands. There is rarely a time you see me without this. I think we are going to have to buy two...I keep hiding it from Dave ;)

#2 SOLUTION:

One thing I love about marriage is the fact that there is always someone else enlightening you of things you are unaware of. For instance, while all I was noticing was that my throat was sore in the morning, Dave measured the humidity in the room, made a plan of action, and went out and bought a humidifier. I felt like I was watching a science project! Each day he would document what helped the humidity rise...at first it was at about 15% (for those of you who are interested), but now it is at around 45%! Yay - keeping it going all day long with the door closed was the most effective!

Wondering what China will have next for the needy consumer wanting to make it through the winter?

Mom, you'd be proud :)

The other day I was on the search for some interesting breakfast foods to make. As I glanced through the cookbook, I came across such a nostalgic recipe......monkey bread. Oh how my mind quickly reverted back to the mornings all huddled around the dining room table, still in our pajamas, picking from the bunt cake pan of monkey bread....licking our fingers...and then going back for more :) Oh the germs of love....

You'd be proud mom. I made the whole thing from scratch. No help from Pillsbury biscuits! And I was even on such a baking roll that I whipped up some baked oatmeal to go with it. I thought I would document my efforts. The bummer was that I was over spontaneous and made the entire creation at night. When I woke up in the morning, my delicious mouth watering expectation was quickly shot down by hardened stale bread.....sad day. At least I now know how to make it for next time!

From the eyes of a 1st grader...

I am intrigued by the way kids think...especially six year old ones. Their brains work in a way that is so literal, innocent, and heartfelt....yet often without tact. I find myself so many times in the day just holding my hand against my heart making an "oh my goodness you are so adorable" face (Now I feel like they do things just for my reaction). I feel so blessed to have students who connect their learning, think outside of the box, and take risks in challenging themselves...and yes, they are only in 1st grade!

Here are some precious moments that I was able to capture with the camera.

After a mini-lesson on making Text to Self connections, this student wrote a post-it connection with him and the T-rex in his story..."I do not like to share my food."

When we thought that one of our students had pneumonia, one student drew T-cells and people attacking "namonya" for his get well card. Pretty intense.

Writing Christmas cards for nursing home residents, one of my students writes "...I hope you don't die before Christmas..." There is that tact (or lack there of) that I was talking about.

During Thanksgiving time, a wonderful brainstorming web was created of why this student was thankful for his Heavenly Father:

1. 1. He is always with us
2. He sent me to earth
3. He created me

When I asked this student "why do you have so many post-its in your book?" He proudly responds "Mrs. Evans, can't you see? Those are all of my mental images! When I was reading the words, I had different pictures than what the illustrator made." Woah....how incredibly awesome to witness his brain working :)


Good thing this was in the beginning of the year, but I just had to put it. The last word was supposed to say "researcher's notebook". It looks like he started, then started, then started again...haha.

Looking forward to more capturable moments as the year progresses!

"Oh no! No small change!"

I am still laughing out loud as I write this post since this just happened about 5 minutes ago. You gotta love when embarrassing moments happen in China. The language barrier helps to act like a sugar coating to fill the awkward air with laughing instead of recognizable sarcasm.

After a concert night from 4-8 with no dinner in between, we were pretty hungry. Our food that we ordered from McDonald's had come (yes, they deliver in China), but there was one problem...we had no small change. Usually we have some 10 or 5 kuai bills laying around, but tonight all we had were the 1 kuai coins. As Dave painstakingly counted our 47 kuai bill with coins, I just had to document this hysterical situation.

Christmas shopping!

Out for another weekend adventure in search of classroom decorations, family gifts, and a good time! It is always such an experience to step out of our gated community and into the realms of the good ol' market. Jaywalking through oncoming traffic, dodging spitballs from the mouths of store owners (who are talking to you), and the frequent "Hello....Look.....You buy?!?" This market feels like the aisles of any busy story on black friday. The only thing is that it is just another normal Saturday afternoon.

Would you like a bouquet of stuffed animals?

This is how you shop for nail polish in China....just sort through the piles.

Life-sized stuffed animals. You can find these EVERYWHERE!

This Santa not only is as tall as me, but he dances and sings! He is worth the picture for the "creepy" factor.

The catch all store for wrapping and decorating gifts. In China, you just buy sheets of wrapping paper instead of the rolls...different, but usually more sturdy!

Lunch time! Good ol' street food :) Yum...

Time to rest up a bit and then get ready for the school's Christmas concert this evening! What a fun-filled day.