Back in the Groove…Hopefully (Five for Friday)

Time to get back in the groove!! I'm hoping to be able to post 1-2 times a week, we'll see how it goes! Spring fever is hitting here as we near Spring Break and we have had lovely weather while the rest of the country freezes. 

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs to help me get back in the habit to share random little bits about my life with you!

I was able to attend the ASTE 2015 (Alaska Society for Technology in Education) conference in Anchorage on Monday and Tuesday. It was pretty cool, yet overwhelming, to be surrounded by so much possibility! A lot of the sessions I ended up going to seemed to be geared more toward high school/middle school, but I can definitely see the possibility for my 5th graders. It makes me excited and hope that I can try a few new things just before Spring Break.

 Who wouldn't want to play an arctic fox?! There is a new video game out that has educational value! Never Alone was created to integrate information about the Native Alaskan Inupiaq culture into it. They are also in the process of creating games along the same line with other cultures around the world.

My first thought was Sheldon! Ha Ha. (Any Big Bang Theory fans?)

This is a real robot that students can use to "attend" school and still participate if they are homebound. Seriously cool! 

We used The Brown Bag Teacher's Main Idea Comprehension Passages: Animals & Habitats, which are meant for primary students today and I loved it! I have intervention 5th graders for reading, ranging from the really low to the just below grade level. This was great so that every could read the short passage on their own. We practiced highlighting and citing direct text evidence. 

Our state just switched over to new standards (not Common Core but only 7% off) and new state tests. We haven't had much, if any training on what to expect. Kind of scary! This was a great way to introduce/practice specific skills to meet their standard, but still not overload them with too much.

I love our lunch lady's door! 

She is super happy, which is a change from last year's lunch lady, and is always decorating for the season/holiday.

I love my little girl! 

Don't look at the background too close but this her first time completely dressing herself.

Her shirt is on backwards, it should have a bunch of strawberries.

She is wearing two skirts, a black one and a blue one.

:)

Enjoying the last of February with a moose. Kasila loved it! 

The next day she asked me where the moose was. 

I told her I didn't know.

Her response, "Go find moose."

Finally, the main reason I've been MIA…

Baby #2 is on it's way! 

Due Aug. 3

That is a Happy news! and news…for a teacher. 

It's going to be an interesting start to the year as I'm planning on taking off the 1st quarter and we've had a horrible time finding subs this year. Also, we are going to be having a new 5th grade team teacher as one is moving away a Tennessee. (If you have any connections, I'd love to share those with her!) 

I got a horrible cold and took a long time to recover and just the normal tired feeling. I've had to start staying away from dairy again. Also, because I started feeling nauseous more after 12 weeks, I have to be careful with sugars. Overall, it's totally worth it! We will hopefully be able to find out if this is a little boy or girl on March 13! 

Hope you all are having a fabulous start to your weekend!!

*Steph*

Saturday Snapshots {July 26}

Kasila hanging with her great grandparents! The lighting isn't good but you do what you can with a  phone camera and a toddler. :)

Such a good helper...

She ended up with her own seat and we both enjoyed it very much!

I asked her to go stand over there so I could get a picture of her new shoes. She walked over, turned around and said "Cheese!" 

Please excuse the random items on the floor. I'm still recuperating from our travels. :)

Out on our walk… she didn't really want a picture this time.

What I'm Wearing, Wordless Wednesday {July 23}

Are you country or city at heart? 

  This dress was my splurge during my trip, but it was still a great deal.  This was from Gordmans ($35), which I guess is similar to a little bit nicer Ross. I love this dress for a few reasons, but the main reason is that it is a maxi dress with sleeves! Because of my religious beliefs, I don't wear sleeveless clothing. All my other maxi dresses I have to wear a shirt under or a cardigan over. Sometimes that's not the most comfortable thing. 

I love this detail too! It makes it so that it doesn't show every line underneath the dress.

I could't leave out my little girl and my nephew this time. They are ready for church! Baby K is wearing an adorable smocked dress made by my grandmother. All the white embroidery on the smocking and the tatting on her collar was done by hand. 

Nothing beats good quality homemade with love!

 

Saturday Snapshots {7.19}

Just a few pictures I've snapped while visiting family. 

Linking up with Run! Miss Nelson's Got The Camera!

This pretty much sums up the relationship between my daughter and my nephew. Kasila is lucky and has some great cousins on both sides of the family 

This sight just says "Home" to me. The Butte, farm fields and open sky. Love it!

Kasila loves to wave. She also loves cows! She is totally a country girl at heart, not that I ever doubted she would be.

Wednesday Link Ups

A busy week with family…. my parents & nephew flew out this morning. Now I am packing mode for me and the little one. We fly out the night of the 4th of July. Don't worry, I won't miss much. With it being pretty much daylight all the time during the summer, you can't really see any fireworks. That's one of the downfalls to Alaska because I love fireworks. Oh well… can't have everything. 

I have been taking all sorts of pictures for the last 10 days. We have had tons of fun in the Last Frontier. However, when I went to see if I had a picture that I could use for this fun linky…I found none! I took all the pictures and was hardly in of them! Ever happen to you? I'm hoping my mom got at least of few of me with the kids on her camera. So this week you just get to look at my adorable little girl again.  

Pant/Jacket: Carter's Set

Life Vest: Kids Don't Float 

(It's awesome! Most of the docks up here have vests that you can borrow for kids to go on the boats.)

What sort of "celebrities" do you have in your area? 

This is Lance Mackey, a dog musher who is also a 4 time winner of the Iditarod.

Snapshot Saturday! 6.21.14

I love taking pictures! It was something that my husband had to come to terms with. He's a little relieved because now I have a little one to photograph instead of him/us via selfie (which I became quite the pro at).

I decided to go back in my archive for this first link up. We had a crazy winter. Thanks to the polar vortex, we had some pretty warm days in January. However, most of the time, I only got outside by taking Kasila (Kuh-see-la) #tothemailbox. Here some the different shots I took of those little trips.

I have to say thanks to Alison Rose @ Rockin' & Lovin' Learnin' for exposing me to this fun linky party! 

Monday Made It {Sandbox}

When I get an idea in my head, it's hard to not leave it alone. It's especially hard for me to let it be when I have to depend on someone else to accomplish the task. Luckily, I have a very easy going hubby. :) 

We are in the middle of a digging for a different yard project, one that is going to take a long time, when we hit a layer of coarse sand. Then we had to move that dirt & sand out of that area and onto our driveway to help level the back corner of it. (I'm hoping to eventually pave it, but that is a few years away.)  My daughter decided that that was the best place to play. 

Our driveway is longer and the dirt pile is quite aways from the road, but I still don't want her to get used to playing in the driveway. I got the great idea of using our excess sand in a sandbox for our little lady. It took a little convincing and repeatedly mentioning that she needs a sandbox, but we finally found a weekend that we could bust it out!

I looked a quite a few different designs online but we ended up making our own. I wanted a basic box with a bench that doubles as a storage area. This is where my hubby and I differ in our approach to projects. I am totally a list maker and write it down planner. He is a "I'll think it out in my head." (I mentioned this to him and he said that he does it that way so he can change it without having to tell me if he changes things.) I had a few frustrating moments but overall, I was just happy to have his help. I'm not super confident in my power tool skills, even though I could figure out it if I needed too.  

Baby K helping Daddy out. She was kind of nervous about the noise it made, so my hubby brought her over and had her actually pull the trigger a little bit. Such a sweet moment to see. :)

Here is our final project!  

It'll be a little while before we have enough sand dug up, but for now it will work as a dirt/rock box. :)

*Steph*