some fun days lately...

well last week was Spirit Week at school. so every day was had a different theme. there are several things i love about this week...one it's so great to see kids in their own clothes...it really helps to show their personalities more. and two it's just fun to be crazy for a week :) see below for some shots from the week...

Crazy hat day

Musician day

twin day

Class theme day--our theme was Favorite Color

and of course school spirit day

Blue

Gold

Blue and Gold

silence...

sorry i've been so quiet of late...life has been crazy busy... the motherboard on my laptop died so had to have it replaced...master's  is crazy right about now assessment day next wed and still have a bunch to do for it...i'm excited for march 19...the start of spring break :) hopefully after assessment day i'll get my life back for a few weeks...

busy day part 3....

so it's been a couple of weeks but the end to the busy day on feb 6 was a birthday party for a four year old.... random highlights below....

CNY Reunion Dinner

well since i've never actually been to a reunion dinner here i really don't know what they're all about but we did try to have our own...basically we had a potluck and played apples to apples...of course i had to pull my camera out... i get some great faces of my friends when i pull it out :) then i had to play with photoshop and make a collage....so here it is below...enjoy :)

Chinese New Year 2010

One of the best times of year in Asia...it's one of the few times ok only times where Singapore's streets are crowded...where there are more white people out than asians and where 90% of the shops close... but it's beautifully decorated and plesant to be out and about...granted this day was HOT... after we got home we figured out that the heat index temp was 109 F...that's hot...actual temp about 90 i think :) gotta love humidity :) so here's a collage of pics i made from sunday's jaunt around sg... enjoy...if you want to see more check them out here.... CNY 2010 photos

Where in the world...

I often get the question of where my students are from...so during international week they were setting up the courts for the different countries...so i took advantage of the flags and had my kids find their flag and took a pic of them with it... so here you go....

Sweden

Taiwan

Australia

South Korea

Netherlands

Singapore

Philippines

USA

one is missing from the above pic...

so there you have it an international school classroom at its best :) i love my kids and it is amazing to teach such a unique group of kids. think of the connections they have to the world as a three, four, or five year old!!

a new discovery...

so i just discovered...you maybe already know this but if i embed a pic from my smug mug site it goes much faster than uploading from my hard drive...yea :)

what a weekend...

wow it was a busy week and weekend...

friday night was international night

saturday was championship basket ball games

U14 this time

girls got 1st....boys got 2nd...

and a 4 year old birthday party...

international week

so this week in school is one of my favorites...this is the week were we celebrate our internationalness :) and each year we have an international dress day...where the kids can wear their traditional clothes. below is a compilation of group photos from this year's dress day...the week always ends with international night, which includes food, games, and performances from the "home" countries of our students. it's a great night...

here are a few of my favorite....

Places
so i didn't think it would be so hard to find pictures of my favorite places...they are after all...my favorite places...but most of them stem from memories of my childhood and lets face it
a. digital cameras weren't around then
b. i wasn't taking pictures, cuz well i was a child...although we did play photography studio...
anyway...here are a few of my favorite places
first off when i think of my fav places i immediately think of my grandparents farm in northern north dakota...it's quite run down now as it hasn't been lived in for a long time i'd say almost 12 years and this was taken about 4 years ago...

the farm

next is my home town... good old Eau Claire...particularly my parents' back yard...which i searched and searched and searched and couldn't find the picture i knew i took last summer...but this yard holds many memories...from snow forts and sledding to pool parties to bridal showers, baby showers, and birthday parties...more recently roasting marshmallows with friends kids...

Eau claire

found one...pretty sure i didn't take it tho cuz there's lilacs and i haven't seen lilacs in mom and dad's yard in 6 years...look at that hill it makes for some great sledding :)

next is a little strange, but i love this pic of my mom at her parents' graves...again in ND

cemetery

next in the travels we get to the mountains of Virginia...probably my 2nd most visited place in the world...dad grew up around here so memories attached to these mountains are hikes with cousins, fights of aluminum cans, many a trip into a cavern or two, and then the drives that take us nowhere but always give a great insight into dad's growing up years

VA

next is the town i went to university in...st. cloud, mn...i still return there once a year or so to see two dear friends of mine and their lovely families but i don't have pictures of the towns so you'll have to enjoy pictures of the people...which is actually more a fav of the town...wouldn't go there if they weren't there :) dawn and katie expect your photo be taken next summer...i have none...love and miss you both :)
St. Cloud

Next we come to my third home city...Singapore...i love it here...the people, the busyness, the atmosphere, i rarely find something to dislike in my home away from "home"

Singapore

So that's a few of my favorite places...this idea came from the i heart faces challenge of the week so head on over to there to see more...click the button below...

100 days

Friday was the 100th day of school...it was crazy busy...but lots of fun...

we did all sorts of things that had to do with the number 100....

 we colored it...

 

did 100 exercises...

 Ate 100 snacks...well i'm pretty sure they didn't all get eaten...

Made crowns with 100 stamps....

Made 100 piece necklaces...

and got to wear shirts with 100 things on them...

What is it?

ahh the joys of teaching three and four year olds...a creature was in the drain the other day...all but one of my students was bringing rocks and leaves and sticks in hopes of crushing it the other one "I'm trying to make it live" but needless to say it kept them greatly entertained for many minutes during recess...

 

 When he was first discovered there were no rocks or leaves in the drain...

can you see it?

on the way to the mall on wednesday we walked by a tree and i saw something moving on it...my americaness assumed it was a squirrel or something furry like that, but it kept disappearing on me so i got closer and realized it was a lizard...and of course i had to take pictures...so can you see it on the photo below?

 it's there...hard to see... see below for another pic of it...

 it would bounce on it's front paws...shoot out this yellow beak like looking flap and also puff out it's sides...and occasionally scoop up an ant crawling up the tree with it's long tongue...

Pics of busy day part 2...

so here's a collage from the girls game...

Texture

this weeks challenge over at i heart faces is all about texture, now i'm still trying to figure out photoshop...really i know nothing about it...but i do love the texture in this man's face...you know he has stories to tell...

click the button below to check out other entries....

 

Pics of busy day part 1...

here's a sampling of photos from the boy's game...it was a great game...they lost, but they played hard...