Star Sponsor and Giveaway:The Snugly Duckling

I'm excited to introduce today's first sponsor: Kara from The Snugly Duckling. She's a newbie to the blogging world, so go show her some love!!

Hello! My name is Kara and I blog over at The Snugly Duckling. I'm extremely new to the blogging world and I feel like my blog is always changing. From designs to the actual content, we're a mess! I mainly try to post DIYs. I almost always link up with Sarah here for Tickle Me Tuesdays (check it out!). I like trying new recipes and trying them out on you. I'm hoping to make a few close friends through my blog as so many of you have!

**GIVEAWAY** 

Kara is giving away a $15 gift certificate to the movie theater of your choice!! (Hello, date night!!)

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Follow Kara's blog! 

(Then leave a comment here with your email address so I can contact you if you win!)

EXTRA ENTRIES: (if you really wanna win!)

+1 Follow Kara on Twitter

+1 Follow me on Twitter

+1 Follow my blog

+1 Spread the word about this giveaway on twitter/facebook/blog (+1 each):

Sample tweet: "Need a fun night out? @snugly_duckling is giving away a $15 movie theater gift card over on @yes_teacher 's blog! http://tiny.cc/aem2o "

This giveaway will end on Tuesday 2/28 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be notified via email and announced on my blog. Open to US residents only. GOOD LUCK!!!

Week 20

I'll be honest: I'm pretty self-conscious when I pose for these things. I've never been into self-portraits or outfit posts so these are always a bit out of my comfort zone! But I do it for sentimental reasons... I know one day I'll want to look back and remember this first pregnancy :)

This weekend, I'll be shopping at a local maternity clothes consignment event so I can stop fretting over WHAT STILL FITS?! I'll also be attempting to make the nursing cover from this post. (Wish me luck!!)

What are your weekend plans?

Lovely Lust-Haves: Vases

There's just something about a vase full of fresh flowers that livens up any room! I especially covet cheerful blooms in the winter, don't you? Below, a few vases that I wish were sitting in my house right now:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Which one is your favorite? I think I'm leaning towards number 5!

When Teaching Goes Right

I could tell you a lot of stories about teaching gone wrong, my friends. But every once in while it just all comes together, and when it does it's simply magical!

Last week, I was introducing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as a poem/song to my small group of Kindergartners (I teach K-1 students with hearing loss - no sign language involved, just a lot of oral language remediation.) We had just finished "singing" the song and learning the gestures when I happened to turn the page in the teacher's manual.

It was a page I hadn't seen before, and it suggested making spider snacks as an extension activity. With a start, I realized that I had ALL of the ingredients on hand! So I made a split-second spontaneous decision and decided to go for it... we ditched the worksheet and had some good ol' fashioned Kindergarten FUN instead!

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The kids were well behaved and loved every second of it (especially the eating part!). And I felt more happy and fulfilled as a teacher than I had felt in a long time. So, win-win!

Have you had any victories lately?

Tickle Me Tuesday, 56th edition

Welcome to the latest edition of Tickle Me Tuesdays, where we all share what's been tickling our fancy!

If you'd like to participate (and you know you do!!), here are the rules:
  

1. Write a short post with anywhere from one to five items that have been tickling your fancy recently. Please include pictures and links :)

2. Make sure to link back to the party in your blog post (you can grab the button or include a text link)

3. Come back here and link up your blog post!  

4. Visit some other links and HAVE FUN!

Love in your Heart Photograph by Yvette Inufio

Sterling Silver Guitar Pick by Greenleaf Pick Company

You and Me Embroidery Hoop by Yvette's Pretties

Now it's your turn! What's been tickling your fancy lately?

<a href="http://yesteachercrafts.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s92/french_mk/tickle.jpg" /></a><br />

Missionary Kid Monday: A Whole New World

{For more on this series, click here}


And so it was that in September of 1996, I left my awful French middle school behind and started high school at Black Forest Academy. BFA is in the small town of Kandern, Germany:

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BFA had many dorms situated in the villages surrounding the school. But my ninth grade year, I was a "home student" since the dorms were full: I lived with a family in town whose children were also students at the school.


They were a Dutch family who spoke English flawlessly (although they did revert to Dutch when arguing, haha!) - they were very nice and took really good care of me. I had a roommate whom they were also housing; her name was Rachel and she was a year older than me. Here we are all dolled up for the Christmas banquet. 

(I'm the awkward one on the left...)

When I was in 8th grade, I thought BFA would be like a real American high school - And I was pretty sure that what I saw on Saved by the Bell was typical of American high schools everywhere. (Ahem.... pardon my ignorance!)

Although it was nothing like Bayside High school, BFA was (and still is!) a tight-knit little community. It was a small school back then - only 30 students in my freshman class (although by 12th grade, we had grown to 75!)

We had our own traditions: like "creeking" someone on their birthday by throwing them in the shallow creek. We had a Friday Night Activity planned for us every week - sometimes it was a school-wide scavenger hunt, or a movie in the auditorium, or a dorm vs. dorm competition of some kind.

When I look back at my diary that year, it was all about who was friends with who, who wasn't friends anymore, and who was crushing on who. In this respect I imagine my 9th grade experience was like many of my American peers (correct me if I'm wrong?!) However, there were no diary references to kissing, sex, drinking, or drugs, because we had VERY strict rules; even hand holding and dancing was forbidden!

And here's how it was different than American high schools:

- The teachers often ate dinner with us in the dorms.

- The students did chores to keep the school clean since we had no custodial staff.

- We had to figure out how to buy school supplies in town without knowing any German.

- Private conversations among friends would often be in other languages.

- All the girls borrowed each others' clothes.

- Senior Skip Day was planned and chaperoned by our teachers (boo!)

-We had Monday morning matins and Friday chapel every week.

- We went on field trips to see the Roman ruins, the WW1 trenches, and a WW2 concentration camp.

- We went on class trips to Dijon (France), to the beaches of Normandy, and we took a senior class trip to Rome for a week.

- We took dorm retreats to the Swiss Alps.

And as fun and cool as all of that stuff was, do you know what the BEST PART was about BFA? Being surrounded by hundreds of kids just like me, who knew what it felt like to be a Missionary Kid. It meant an instant connection and forged the way for long-lasting, deep friendships to happen overnight.

It was my paradise. 

What about you? Do you have fond memories of high school?

We're Having a ......

BOY!!

I went to the doctor on Wednesday but Max wasn't able to be there. So I told the doctor to write down the sex of the baby on a card and seal it in an envelope. That way, Max and I could open it and find out together that evening. (Ummmm, I was a bit distracted while I was teaching in the afternoon, thinking about that sealed envelope....)

Based on the blog poll I had going, most of you thought I was having a girl:

We are both overjoyed!! (We BOTH secretly were hoping for a boy....) And sooooo thankful that baby is healthy. In fact, our little one was taking it easy in there, chillin' with his ankles crossed. (Haha, definitely our kid!)

Now comes the fun part -- now that we know what we're having, I can start planning the nursery! Yay!!!