week 37...an ending & a beginning

Week 37 is over and it has brought a lot of change in my life.  This week has been both an ending and a beginning for me.  The ending came in the form of finishing up school and saying good-bye to my students and colleagues as I will be on maternity leave for the rest of the school year.  This therefore has opened up a new chapter in my life of being a stay at home momma for the next eight months, which is both terrifying and exciting!

This week has been busy, busy, BUSY! The biggest thing was finishing off the school year well.  I had to finish writing up report cards, creating some more good memories with  my students including going on a field trip and having a fun Christmas party, getting the sub plans and worksheets ready for the sub, and cleaning up my classroom so that I could officially hand it over.  It was super hectic and pretty overwhelming at moments, but it is DONE.

A final picture with my students...we are just missing one.

We made reindeers and decorated cookies at our Christmas party!

Besides school, we also had lots of different engagements throughout the week.  We had our final pregnancy class that was all about nursing.  I went to my first ever Christmas Cookie Exchange and met a bunch of lovely ladies.  We had our end of term luncheon at school.  We had an appointment with our doctor and will now be seeing her once a week until baby decides to show up.  We hung out at the hostel's Christmas party.  We went to a fun Hawaiian themed Christmas party with lots of great friends.  We went to a wonderful family brunch and met up with a lot of my/our extended family.  As if all of these activities weren't enough, we also had to find time to do some Christmas shopping! Whew! Looking back on this list, I'm surprised I survived it and am definitely ready for a more chilled out week.

At the Hawaiian Christmas party! Aren't we cute?!? :)

This week also brought another surprise in the mail and it was another baby shower in a box from Hong Kong! Baby got some fabulous gifts from my wonderful friend Libby and her daughter Lily.  There was a beautifully knitted blanket and some seriously adorable onesies that I cannot wait to put baby boy in! THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH!! The three of us are definitely feeling the love.  :)

Baby boy is gonna rock these onesies! :) 

As far as baby is concerned, I am definitely in the nesting phase of this pregnancy.  I have been organizing and reorganizing things in our small space for the past few days.  I've been writing lots of to-do lists and am working on crossing things off as I have a sense of urgency to get it all done before baby comes.  I'm hoping this will wear off soon as I'd like to just kick up my feet and chill out a bit as I know life as we know it is about to change completely!

He has dropped and is currently sitting lower than before!

** Some Highlights **

Symptoms: Baby has dropped! My baby bump has shifted and lowered and he is getting into position. This new lower position is seriously so much heavier than before and way more uncomfortable.  I now feel as though I have to hold up my bump as it seems as though it could just fall off at any moment! :) This new position is also now doing a number on my bladder and I'm definitely having to go way more often, which I'm sure you all are interested in hearing about.  HA! I also experienced more swelling in my hands and feet this week, which isn't too nice as I feel as though my fingers and toes look like sausages.  I think this is a sign for me to slow down, so I'm going to try to follow it this coming up week and take things a bit easier.

Total Weight Gain: About 14 kgs

Cravings: I'm eating up a storm these days.  I feel hungry all of the time and am not holding back!

Maternity Clothes: Still doing a mix! The rubber band trick is awesome! As time is moving along, I'm having way fewer options as far as what clothes to wear.  I'm down to a few pairs of pants and not that many tops.  I'm not sick of my clothes (yet), but I'm definitely getting ready to have some more options sometime in the near future.

Wedding Ring: Both my wedding band and engagement ring are still on, but they are getting pretty hard to take off in the evenings.

Sleep: Sleep was good this week.  I'm still only getting up about once a night (if that) and have been able to fall back to sleep pretty easily.  I've had one or two restless nights, but I'm assuming it is my body's way of getting me ready for the sleepless nights I'm about to face! I know, positive thinking at it's finest! :) 

Belly Button: Outie.

Other: This week I got a lot of belly rubs from people I know and from absolute strangers.  I don't mind it and see it as love and good wishes being sent to baby. 

Fun story: We went to a fun Hawaiian themed Christmas party this week and I totally dominated in the limbo.  Sadly I had to give up at a certain point as baby is way more important than winning a game....right?!? :) 

siesta or fiesta

The P52 theme is siesta or fiesta.  This week has been a doozy of a week and has left me completely knackered (tired)! Life has been one crazy ride lately and I'm ready for it to slow down a bit.  My mom is still here with us, my dad stopped by for a quick visit, work continues and never ends, and I've been fighting a cold and not winning the battle.  Sadly to say, I did not manage to get very many shots for this theme this week.

I've been feeling so out of it lately...not feeling like myself, being super tired, and lacking energy.  If it were possible, I'd totally sleep all.day.long.  I'm going to blame the weather as it is getting hotter and hotter and becoming more and more humid.  You know it is bad when you start sweating as soon as you wake up.  Yuck!

People sleeping in public...something I'm not sure I could do.

To make matters worse, I've started coughing up a storm and it sounds (and feels) terrible.  It's been about a month since I last got sick, so it appears to be time again.  Ha! I know I should head over to see a doctor, but I try to avoid going as they tend to prescribe a lot of medication.  I've been told to boil coke with ginger and lemon as it is supposed to help with coughs, so maybe I'll have to finally give it a try. 

Yup...eight different types of meds for a upper respiratory infection!

Enough about the woe is me part of this post as that is just not fun to read about.  Thanks for humoring me though and letting me vent for a bit.  :) On Friday, our Elementary School had our Sports Day Event.  The kids were super excited for it and it felt like one big party (see how I slipped in the fiesta portion of the blog)! We were all sweating like crazy, exhausted, but completely happy that the day was a success.

My cute kids having tons of fun on Sports Day!

Finally here are also some fun musicians I saw in front of a mall while out this past week.  They look to be part of a fiesta, don't you think? :)

 Love the colorful instruments!

(Linking up with This or That Thursday, Fabulous Friday Challenge, and Photo Friday.)

things that grow

It has been one of those weeks...rainy, hectic, exhausting...a week that appeared to be never ending.  Today was definitely the icing on the cake with the first torrential rain storm of the season.  I know, who cares about a little storm, right (How I Met Your Mother episode anyone?!)? Let me just tell you that this one was seriously insane though as the sky got crazy dark (think midnight black) and it rained HARD, so much so that my umbrella started leaking.

Lighting.  More HERE.

The worst of it though was that the heaviest rainfall was around lunch when the kids and I had to walk from our classroom to the lunch hall with a portion of the walk uncovered.  I have 23 students and at one point had to take them three at a time under my umbrella up stairs to get them to a protected awning.  Once I'd sent my kids to safety, it didn't stop as more kids showed up needing help.  Thankfully more teachers arrived and an umbrella brigade was made for the kids to walk under.  Then we did it all over again 20 minutes later when lunch ended.  Awesome I tell you.  By the end of it my whole backside, shoes, socks, everything was drenched.  Luckily I still had three more hours of school left. :)

Yay...it's Friday!

The week is over though and it is now Friday and with it comes my weekly P52 post.  The theme for this week is things that grow.  I won't whinge about the lack of time or lack of dry weather making photo taking totally impossible.  It is all good.  :)

Unfortunately I had to dig in the archives for the pictures this week.  As I thought about this theme, I was struck by the passage of time.  Somedays, like this week, time seems to go by ever so slowly.  Then other times, like my 20s (which ends in June), seem to fly by very quickly.  This blog, and all the blog hopping I've done recently, has really made me aware of wanting to capture all of the moments life has to offer.  I want to capture the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Thank you for joining me in this journey! 

Passage of time in India

Babies with their whole lives ahead of them.

Kids dreaming big.

  

Adulthood and finding oneself.

Seniors reflecting and enjoying a full life.

 

(Linking up with This or That Thursday, Fabulous Friday Challenge, and Photo Friday.)

These photos are from our trip to India.  If you want to see more, click HERE to enjoy some beautiful sights from India.  It was an incredible trip and a photographers delight! I took thousands of pictures and managed to share only a dozen or so from each of the five cities we visited.  :) 

100th day

On Friday, we are celebrating the 100th day of school.  Since my kids are in second grade, I don't do a whole lot with the hundredth day anymore as this day doesn't have quite the same significance.  That said, we do a little something just to mark the day and to recognize that we are now past our half way point.  WOHOO!

For the last five years, I have had my students make 100 day glasses.  These are super easy to make as I have a template that I simply trace on manila folders.  The students decorate the glasses, cut them out, and then get to wear them all day long.  This year I also found some fun and simple worksheets online that I put together into a booklet to celebrate the 100th day of school.

My template

Fun samples!

Funny girls!

The kids loved making these glasses and wearing them all.day.long. 

heart animal craft

There is a valentine's craft a friend of mine (Shelly) created for me when I taught her daughter in first grade.  I have since done this craft every year with my students to celebrate valentine's and the kids all LOVE it!

Animal Hearts is what I call this craft as it consists of making animals out of different sized hearts.  Original, I know. :) My friend created an animal cheat heet for me (as I am not a great artist), which I still use to give my students ideas as to how to create different animals out of hearts.  Most of the time, the students simply follow the samples, but every so often, I have a student or two who comes up with new animals on their own.  

The prep work for this craft is entirely up to you.  When I first taught this craft, I just had half heart templates that the students had to use to make the hearts they needed to fit their animals.  This worked fine, but made the process longer and more difficult for my younger students (which means this technique could work really well with the older kids).  Since then, I've found it easier to have parents help pre-cut tons of different sized hearts so that the students only have to cut out the large heart that serves as the base of their animal.  This has worked out really well and I always have left over hearts to save for the following year.

Happy Crafting! :)

Animal Cheat Sheet

Templates and Hearts

Frog and Cat

 

Dog and Racoon

 

Owl and Mouse

Butterfly

In conjunction with the Animal Hearts, I also have the students write an acrostic poem for Valentine's Day.  Here are two examples from my sweet little grade two students.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

pinterest & october crafts

So I've become addicted (Matt will verify) to this new sight called Pinterest.  It is basically a virtual pinboard where you can "pin" or save various images/sites from the internet.  Anytime I see something I like, something that inspires me, or something I want to try, I pin an image from the site and save it on one of my many boards in hopes of coming back to it in the future.  So far, all I've done is pin things.  I haven't actually followed through with anything....until recently.

As it was October, I looked up crafts to do with my students that had some sort of connection to Halloween.  I found a lot of fun ideas that I pinned and saved in the hopes of actually trying them out.  Well, I am proud to say that I have actually done two of the crafts that I pinned and even did a spin off activity that I created myself! :) They were super easy (which might have been why I was able to do them) and the kids really loved creating the different crafts.

Since I learned from someone else willing to share their ideas, it only seems right to share what I made from the inspiration.  So with that, I'm going to try to share some of the things I've made from the images I've pinned on Pinterest.  This way I will hopefully be forced inspired to have some follow through.    I probably should have posted this earlier so that you could try it too, but just pin this and plan ahead for next year! :)

Ghost Hands

You will need construction paper, scissors, and markers.  You simply need to trace your hand, cut out the handprint, and then decorate the palm with a face! The important thing is to keep the fingers pointing downwards, which some of my kids didn't adhere to.  I experimented and traced my hands in a variety of ways in order to make the ghosts look different from each other. 

My examples...


Ones that my kids made....lots of creativity!

Ghost Lollipops

You will need a lollipop, tissue paper (kleenex), and a small piece of yarn.  You simple need to place the lollipop in the middle of the kleenex and wrap the kleenex around the lollipop.  Then tie the piece of yarn under the candy part of the lollipop so that you form a head.  Finally you just need to decorate the face!

Some finished products that I later handed out to my students.

Ghost Pom Poms

This is similar to the Ghost Lollipops.  You will need a pom pom or a cotton ball, tissue paper (kleenex), and half of a pipe cleaner.  You simply need to place the pom pom in the middle of the kleenex and wrap the kleenex around the pom pom.  Then wrap the pipe cleaner under the pom pom to secure it in order to form a head.  You can wrap the pipe cleaner completely around the pom pom, or you can leave some of it out in order to be able to play with it.  Finally you just need to decorate the face!

Materials and the finished product.  Simple.

Have fun!

year five begins

I don't often post about work, but today was the FIRST day of school with the students.  It is funny, but I totally still get butterflies in my stomach and a bit of anxiety on the first day even though I'm now going on my fifth year of teaching.  I planned my first day of school outfit and packed my bags and got my lunch ready the evening before so that we could get to school early.  Yes...I am THAT person! :)

So the first day was quite the eventful one.  It was a good day, but a LONG one too.  Here are some of the highlights for today.  We left the apartment at 7:00 am and I didn't get back home until 5:45 pm.  I left home healthy and came home with blisters all over my feet.  No manicures for me anytime soon! HA! I arrived to school having planned and prepped for 22 lovely new second graders only to find out that I'd received a new student over the weekend.  I had two students absent on this first day of school.  I have 9 girls and 14 boys this year.  A student threw up all over my classroom floor and trashcan as the kids were transitioning to Mandarin class.  I don't do well with puke, so this was NOT cool...at least I didn't join her! By the end of the day, I realized that the seating chart needs changing as I have a number of talkative (to put kindly) students in my class this year and they need to be separated ASAP!

All in all, it was a good first day.  It was productive and busy and simply flew by thankfully! I think this year is gonna be GREAT! :)

A quick shot from the top of a table of my students on our first day! 

Only 21 out of my 23 kids were here today.

recap

I'm happy to announce that we have made it through our second year in Hong Kong! School has officially ended and we are now ready to begin our eight weeks of summer holidays.  I know...it is pretty ridiculous that we get eight weeks off, but let me say that this is not normal and we will pay for it next summer. :)

Overall, I would have to say that this second year in HK has been a great one.

On a personal level, this has been a truly fantastic year.  The best thing of course is that we got ENGAGED this year.  Matt and I were able to take some awesome holidays outside of HK mentioned here and here.  All of our folks were able to visit us in HK this year...yes, that was a positive thing! :) We moved (more on that on a later date) to Mongkok, which has opened up our lives in a big way.  We also spent a lot of time having fun with friends and cultivating all of the wonderful relationships that we've made in HK.  Seriously, I have some amazing friends here and feel so lucky to have these people in my life!

On the work front, if I'm honest, this year has not been an easy one.  This year caused me a lot of stress and anxiety...to the point where I was getting really ill and even considered moving schools.  Instead of being social and enjoying the school environment, I chose to just put my head down and stay in my classroom.  My focus this year was on my students and doing my best to teach them well.  I tried not to get sucked into all the negativity, which trust me, wasn't always easy.  That said, I've gotten through it and hopefully I'm wiser (and definitely have thicker skin) because of it.  It wasn't all bad though! I thankfully had (and will continue to have) a wonderful partner teacher.  We worked really well together this year and got a lot accomplished in our second grade program.  I also have some fantastic friends at my school and they made things all the more bearable! :D

All of this to say...I've made it! Now I'm off to enjoy the summer!

out with a bang

Pictures from Dave’s visit, Big Buddha outing, and the end of the school year at AIS.

Beer at the Pickled Pelican

Big Buddha

Disneyland HK

Staff Dinner

Graduation with staff!