A Coqui in Winterfell

The headboard project...done

My room still needs a decorating makeover,,,but hey! my headboard is now in place.

Before, as it looked in the craiglist listing.

In the middle of the process before I realized that the paint was not nearly as stirred as it should have been.

And finally in place.

Practice Camping

 

The girls are playing in the tent in the front yard. We are practicing putting up and taking it down for our camping trip next week.

Putting it up was pretty simple.  We will see how the takedown goes.

Aay tries out her Oz Hopscotch.

Yellow Brick Road hopscotch

Yellow Brick Road hopscotch
Originally uploaded by anacoqui

Aay was feeling bored after Chris took Zee with him to church. So after keeping me company for a while she asked me to join her outside. She asked me to give her suggestions of what to do outside. I suggested she work on a hopscotch and I asked her if she had a theme she would like to work with. She has previously done space or rocket ones, and she came up with the idea of making a Oz one. She goes to bed listening to Oz audiobooks and adores her collection of Oz comics by Eric Shanower. This is the start of her hopscotch. She got as far as the Emerald City and hopes to work on it some more tomorrow.

Our 4th.

This is our second 4th of July back down stateside since our  time in Canada. Last year we celebrated by walking down to the community center and watching the Penfield 4th of July parade with our friends and kicking back watching the girls scramble for candy.  This year we celebrated by walking in the parade. RCS, the girls's school decided to enter this year, and we marched along with a large contingent of students and parents, bookended by two classic cars.  Walking the route took about an  hour, in addition to the hour we spent waiting in the high school parking lot for our turn to march.  The girls had a blast.  They threw candy to the crowd, they waved and smiled and when tired Zee got to ride in the wagon our good friends Jeff and Ginny lent us. Chris got to ride shotgun in one of the classic cars and I kept my eyes on the girls and rationed out the candy so we would have enough left for the last leg of the parade.  I also adjusted my walking speed periodically in order to avoid overhearing alarmist political conversations and save myself from the temptation to butt in and disagree. 

This was the first ever parade I have ever participated other than school field day parades.  It was fun to look out and smile at all the different kinds of people who lined the parade route. There was such diversity (yes even in our suburb!) of age, race, that it served to me as a reminder of how we need to always remember the vast array of people that contribute to our nation and to love and respect eachother's freedoms even when we disagree.

Scenes from the library, the end of Fieldwork.

On Tuesday I finished up my three weeks at School #39.  I had a great time with the librarian there, getting a lot of hands on experience. I learned some very basic things, like how to check books in and out, how to change call-numbers in the catalog, how to do inventory, and watch her do a lot of the paperwork related to working in a library, in addition to watching her teach 7 classes a day.  I got to see her teach K-6, and see the variety of lessons and subject matter she needs to prepare for on a weekly basis.  I finally had the opportunity to really get a feel for the rhythm of a teacher-librarian's day in a way I had never had before (even after spending 10 weeks at East High School).  I feel I got a very honest look at what the job can entail.  Every school is a little different, some librarians have flexible scheduling, instead of a fixed schedule, others teacher-librarians, co-teach instead of solo teach their lessons, and many have library clerks or volunteers there to do the routine chores, but my host librarian had to do it all by herself, plus attend meetings, and work bus duty, before and after-school.

I am very happy that I got the opportunity to teach 3 classes of 2nd graders, and that they responded well to the lesson. I am eager to do this again soon.

Zonked out!

Was the last day of school.  They were up early, and off in the bus, armed with thank you cards for their bus drivers.  They were home shortly after noon and spent the rest of the day decompressing and playing outside with a friend. And when the friend had gone home, and dinner was over, Zee pretty much melted down for no good reason and curled up on my lap and fell asleep. I am just glad I got some dinner into her before it happened.

Party time: Scenes from a wedding.

The week in Pictures:

Friday June 5th: The kids at school #39 thought my hair was "cute"

Sunday:   At the play park near the Penfield Library.

We spent the afternoon at the our friend Ginny and Jeff's house celebrating the baptism of their niece.  It was a fun time and before we headed home to get ready for evening church I took the girls over to the Penfield library to pick up books and since we still had time the girls got a chance to play some more. 

Tuesday:                                       

The girls get ready in their own ways for the the RCS Spring Concert.

Friday:  Pet Day for 2nd Grade. Zee got to come along and meet a lot of the puppies, hamsters, kitties and other critters that came to school this afternoon. Leia was such a good sport, despite all the dogs running around.

After school, it was time to cool off and play in the sprinkler. Unfortunetly none of the pictures really turned out.

Pieve Family Photo

Pievefam
Originally uploaded by anacoqui

I scanned this picture when I was in Puerto Rico at Papi's house. And I meant to blog about it sooner, but then I had the virus related laptop wipe that distracted me.

In this photo you can see the Pieve family. Jean Pieve and his wife Nicasia. My grandmother Nana is on my Great-Grandmother Nicasia's lap.