2010 Overview

january
• started life in our new house in patterson, ca
• len switched from a 6-day to a 3-day work week and started adjusting to a longer commute
• snakes & rabbits became a normal part of our everyday lives
• len’s golf game started to improve
• klaudia turned 2

february
• len saw a record number of patients in his practice

march
• klaudia started her new gymnastics classes

april
• kate went on maternity leave and started her 4-month break

may
• maya was born

june
• had 3 snakes in our backyard

july
• len spent two full weeks at school in texas leaving his girls home alone

august
• bought a minivan
• kate saw her first tarantula

september
• len enrolled in NP program
• kate’s parents came to stay with us for 6 months

october
• kate’s dad painted the garage and fixed our backyard

november
• thanksgiving in las vegas

december
• len graduated from his rn program
• kate finished her first semester of work as a mom of two
• maya said mamma for the very first time

Teaching in Action

Mama

Maya has been saying Baba for a while, but yesterday she said Mama for the very first time.

6 months

That's how long it took to shed all my maternity weight.

The Beauty of Teaching

Last week in my morning grammar class, one of my students out of nowhere asked: Kate, what does 'erect' mean? Trying to stay as cool as I could, I asked "In what context?" We were covering phrasal verbs that day, and he was trying to get the definition of 'put up'. 'Erect' came up; he didn't understand it, and asked me for the definition. I can't remember exactly what I said, something about putting pictures up on a wall; I was glad when he seemed to understand.

Half hour later, same student said: "Kate, I know you've already explained it, but I forgot; what's 'erect' again?"

This time I said: "Can you please take out your dictionary and check the meaning yourself?" He did. Seeing the reaction on his face was priceless. He got very serious. "Did you get it?", I asked. He slowly looked at me and said: "Yes, I know exactly what it means."

Thanksgiving Vegas Style

A little over 3 months ago, my parents came to stay with us for 6 months. It's been a huge blessing to have them with us. They've been helping us with the girls and basically everything else. Busy as we are (Len is finishing one of his schools and is in the middle of another one, plus works full time, and I am teaching 4 classes this semester), we got to go on a few dates and do things that without help we wouldn't even try to do. This past Thanksgiving weekend, we took the girls and my parents to Las Vegas. Here are a few snapshots of what we did.

Waiting at the restaurant to be seated:



Our sleepy beauties:

At the new City Center:


K making friends with a monkey:




At the Wynn hotel:


At the Venitian Hotel:

And here the story goes like this: Len and I knew that my parents would enjoy a gondola ride at the hotel. My mom, however, gets very anxious about things, so we decided not to tell them about it until the last minute. Sure enough mom started paniking and wanted either Len or me to come with them. (My mom's problem is that she doesn't speak English and gets extremely nervous when anyone tries to talk to her.) We informed the guide not to say anything to my parents, but as luck wanted my parents got paired up with another older couple. We saw the panic in my mom's eyes, so Len and I rushed to tell the other couple that mom and dad speak no English. It turned out, they were from Romania and couldn't even understand us. Somehow that made my mom feel much better.
... to be continued.

Before Meal Prayer