Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
First Sledding Day of the Season!
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We were THRILLED to see snow on the ground when we woke up on Saturday morning. We've been waiting for snow…and waiting…and waiting! The past two years we were absolutely buried in snow by this time of year, but this year has been a lot warmer.
We bought Maia a sled for Christmas and it's been really depressing to drag her around the living room on it! We've been hoping to have enough snow to go out at least once and we finally got our chance!
After her morning nap, we all dressed warmly and headed outside - even the dogs came with us. We walked just a few houses down the street to a small field that's popular for sledding. It's a perfect place for kids - it's just enough for them to get a little momentum, but not steep enough to be really scary.
Here's Maia as we walked down the street...
She looks so comfy!! We bought the wooden sled for her but we also purchased the back for it. It's removable so when she gets older we can take it off, but for now it's great!
The first couple times, she had quite a grimace on her face as the sled started down the slight drop.
It was so cute but we were worried it would make her too afraid to sled anymore.
But that wasn't the case at all!!
Romas brought Maia up and down the hill at least a dozen times!! Each time her smile got bigger and bigger…
Apparently Maia loves sledding!
She's a little dare-devil like her dad. We call her the "adrenaline junkie." Before I know it, she'll be asking to go scuba diving and sky diving with her dad. (My blood pressure goes up just thinking about it!)
Here's a video I shot of Maia in action...
With her mittens on you can't see her fingers, but at the end she signs "more." It looks like she's clapping, but she's signing to us that she wants to go again!! She's hilarious! We could have stayed out there all day if it were up to Maia!!
We stopped for a quick photo as we walked back to the house.
The dogs are watching the kids behind us in the snow. Do you see the ramp? Three teenaged boys were snowboarding down the hill and jumping the ramp! It was pretty impressive.
We had such a great afternoon! I hope we get more opportunities to sled before winter is over. Maia certainly loved the experience!! Pin It
We bought Maia a sled for Christmas and it's been really depressing to drag her around the living room on it! We've been hoping to have enough snow to go out at least once and we finally got our chance!
After her morning nap, we all dressed warmly and headed outside - even the dogs came with us. We walked just a few houses down the street to a small field that's popular for sledding. It's a perfect place for kids - it's just enough for them to get a little momentum, but not steep enough to be really scary.
Here's Maia as we walked down the street...
She looks so comfy!! We bought the wooden sled for her but we also purchased the back for it. It's removable so when she gets older we can take it off, but for now it's great!
The first couple times, she had quite a grimace on her face as the sled started down the slight drop.
It was so cute but we were worried it would make her too afraid to sled anymore.
But that wasn't the case at all!!
Romas brought Maia up and down the hill at least a dozen times!! Each time her smile got bigger and bigger…
Apparently Maia loves sledding!
She's a little dare-devil like her dad. We call her the "adrenaline junkie." Before I know it, she'll be asking to go scuba diving and sky diving with her dad. (My blood pressure goes up just thinking about it!)
Here's a video I shot of Maia in action...
With her mittens on you can't see her fingers, but at the end she signs "more." It looks like she's clapping, but she's signing to us that she wants to go again!! She's hilarious! We could have stayed out there all day if it were up to Maia!!
We stopped for a quick photo as we walked back to the house.
The dogs are watching the kids behind us in the snow. Do you see the ramp? Three teenaged boys were snowboarding down the hill and jumping the ramp! It was pretty impressive.
We had such a great afternoon! I hope we get more opportunities to sled before winter is over. Maia certainly loved the experience!! Pin It
Thursday, January 26, 2012
My New Favorite Book
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I love to bake.
I could whip something up every day if I had the time. When I'm bored, the first thing I think of is baking.
Romas has a love-hate relationship with my baking. So do the soldiers he works with! I bake frequently enough that we cannot keep it all in the house. We enjoy a treat and then I send it to work with him. (Sometimes the neighbors are the lucky recipients, too!) It's a love-hate relationship because although they love the treats, they are also required to maintain a level of physical fitness. (I'm not known for making low-fat goodies!)
These are some of the things I've made:
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| Chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream frosting and silver "glitter" |
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| Flip Flop sugar cookies with royal icing and fondant |
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| Irish Car Bomb cupcakes: Guinness chocolate cupcakes, filled with whiskey chocolate ganache, topped with Bailey's Irish Creme buttercream icing |
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| Heart shaped sugar cookies with royal icing |
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| Scrabble sugar cookies with royal icing |
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| Sugar cookies with royal icing daisies |
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| Chocolate cupcakes with yellow vanilla buttercream and fondant/gumpaste daisy |
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| Baby boy shower cake (Oreo cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and fondant accents) |
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| Coordinating cupcakes for baby boy shower cake (also Oreo with vanilla buttercream and fondant accents) |
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| Settlers of Catan cupcakes (photo courtesy of BJK Photography) |
I'm just an amateur (as you can see!) and have never had any training. I started experimenting once we were already living overseas, so I haven't had the opportunity to take any classes. Whenever I try a new technique (which is almost always since I honestly don't know much about cake or cookie decorating!) I spend hours researching on the internet. There are a ton of great resources online, but I have found the ultimate reference book for my collection.
It has everything you could possibly need to know about decorating cakes (and more!) These are a couple of my favorite pages:
How to make sugar animals...
Adorable dinosaur cake topper transfer…
Rice Krispie treat dog on fondant covered cake…
I literally sat on the couch last night for over an hour and read it cover to cover. Not only that, but thanks to this book, I have a serious itch to BAKE! And not just cupcakes or brownies…but I'm talking a serious baking extravaganza!
Before I had Maia, I could bake all weekend and any night after work. Now I'm pretty limited so I haven't baked anything complicated or exciting in a while. I have been dying to bake and decorate sugar cookies, but it literally takes me at least 2 full days - almost always 3 days - to make them from start to finish. Obviously with Romas' work schedule and our little Bee, it's impossible for me to devote that much time to baking.
So I stick to the easy stuff. It's enough to quell my craving to create (and satisfy my sweet tooth!) but eventually I'm going to need to work on some of the techniques in this book. I've been daydreaming about it!
The only question is really: What do I make first?!?
Do you like to bake?
Have you ever taken a cake or cookie decorating class?
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The only question is really: What do I make first?!?
Do you like to bake?
Have you ever taken a cake or cookie decorating class?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Slow Cooker Taco Soup
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I'm guest posting today at Healthy Branscoms - come by and see my recipe for Slow Cooker Taco Soup! It's yummy and the perfect dinner for a cold winter night!!
Check it out HERE.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
New Millennium, New Cell Phone (finally!)
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When we got our orders to come to Germany in September 2007, we were so excited about getting on the European cell phone network. We'd heard such amazing things about it: they're so much more advanced, they're so much faster, they're way better than any plan in the States.
When we arrived here in November of that year, Romas and I looked into cell phone plans. We were shocked at how crummy they were!! In the States, we were accustomed to flat rates for data and minutes, free nights, free weekends - most of you have something like it. We found that their flat rates for minutes were only about a quarter of the minutes we'd been allotted in the States! Not only that, we were going to be paying more for the plan. We were disappointed.
We were told they were 1 year plans, which worked best for us since we never know where the Army will send us next. (Remember, in the States we have a Military clause written into almost any contract! When we left for Germany, we just went to our cell phone provider, showed Romas' orders to come to overseas, and the contracts were broken with no penalty. Here there is no such clause!) We did not want to sign for too long a period of time for fear of having to pay the remainder of the contract should we receive orders to leave Germany.
We signed the contracts. After a year, we went into a store to talk about changing the plan and we found out we were actually contracted on a 2 year plan. Guess that's what happens when you rely on the salesperson to translate the paperwork from German to English for you! Lesson learned.
After the 2nd year went by, we chose not to renew our contracts with the company. In order to do this, we had to send a statement in writing to their headquarters three months prior to the end of the contract. If we didn't, our contract would automatically be renewed for another 2 years. Isn't that crazy? We didn't want another 2 year contract when we only had 1 year left on our orders for Germany!
We've learned that customer service over here is virtually non-existant. In America, we say, "The customer is always right." We've grown up accustomed to being respected and listened to if we have a complaint or concern.
Not here.
In fact, if you call a company's help line, you are actually charged per minute! No such thing as an 800 number over here! And once you talk to someone, you'll be lucky if the problem is resolved to your liking. I've encountered a lot of "it's not my problem" attitudes from customer service representatives here. It takes a little getting used to, but I can honestly say it's one of the more aggravating things about living abroad.
Anyway, after submitting our request to cancel our service, I was able to use my phone on a pay-per-use basis. It was awesome! I kept my number and my cell phone, and they only debited our account for the minutes or text messages I used the previous month. It turned out to be WAY cheaper than the plan we had used for the past couple years, too! It was ideal.
I started getting phone calls after about 6 months from an unknown number. The person calling would speak German, I couldn't follow along, and they would say they'd call back. I finally spoke to someone in English and found out it was the cell phone company calling. They wanted to know if I wanted to use my phone for a contract. I told them that I didn't and I was just paying as I went.
The next day they disconnected my phone.
So…here I was, without a cell phone and without wanting to sign onto another 2 year contract. By this time I was about 8 months pregnant and I couldn't imagine why I would need a spiffy phone anyway if I wasn't going to be working outside of my home anymore.
I opted for a pre-paid phone from the Dark Ages. Why on earth I didn't pick something nicer, I have no idea. Romas kept telling me to get something nice but I didn't listen. (Big surprise!) Look how snazzy:
But wait! It even has a color display!!
I know, I know…you're all jealous. I'm sure you would love a phone that doesn't ring, doesn't text, doesn't have a camera, doesn't have internet...
After 15 months with this phone, I've finally had enough. I've actually only had to add money to it twice - I never use it. Half the time I carry it around dead for days before I notice! I never think to check it. I don't even know the number so I never give it out. It's pretty unreliable so I'd prefer to have people calling the house phone.
Over the holidays we were Skyping with my mother-in-law and Maia was playing with my phone. I made a joke about how it doesn't even ring, so Maia actually gets more use out of it than I do. She asked what kind of phone it was and I replied, "A piece of crap." Her answer cracked me up…she said, "Oh, it's a Blackberry?" Ha! I wish!!
So today I decided I had suffered long enough. I went out with Maia and she helped me pick out a new phone.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've finally entered into the New Millennium: I have a camera AND internet on this phone!! I'm so proud of it!
It's still a pre-paid phone but I'm ok with that. Pre-paid phones are very popular here. Germans can actually load money onto their phones at ATM machines! But I digress… The plan isn't ideal. My data is really limited and somehow I STILL don't get service at our house. I think we live in a black hole for cell phone coverage. But I will be able to take pictures and update Facebook on-the-go, as well as check and answer emails. YAY!
Plus, Maia's going to be so excited when I give her the old phone to play with for good!
Now I just have to memorize my new phone number. Did you know phone numbers here in Germany are kinda weird? The landlines all start with a prefix, just like in America. Each prefix signifies the town you live in and they are 5 digits long. Cell phones don't follow this pattern. They have completely different prefixes depending on the cell phone provider. Some are 0176, others 0151, etc. The first digit is always a zero and is only used when dialing within the country. So, for example, if my home phone is 06543 and you want to call from your German cell phone, you would dial the entire 5 digits. However, if you were dialing from the States, you would have to drop the zero. Crazy confusing for newbies!
Then, the rest of the phone number is completely arbitrary. Some numbers are so old they contain only 3 or 4 additional numbers! So the number would look like this: 06543-897. Others are longer and might look like this: 06543-178-0776. You can imagine that learning phone numbers for friends is really hard! I have never learned my pre-paid number. It wasn't worth it. I didn't give it to anyone anyway! But I'm not the only one. You see a lot of people with their cell phone numbers written on a tiny strip of paper and then taped to the back of their phone!!
Maybe I should start practicing my phone number so I can actually get some use out of my new phone!
Call me! Pin It
When we arrived here in November of that year, Romas and I looked into cell phone plans. We were shocked at how crummy they were!! In the States, we were accustomed to flat rates for data and minutes, free nights, free weekends - most of you have something like it. We found that their flat rates for minutes were only about a quarter of the minutes we'd been allotted in the States! Not only that, we were going to be paying more for the plan. We were disappointed.
We were told they were 1 year plans, which worked best for us since we never know where the Army will send us next. (Remember, in the States we have a Military clause written into almost any contract! When we left for Germany, we just went to our cell phone provider, showed Romas' orders to come to overseas, and the contracts were broken with no penalty. Here there is no such clause!) We did not want to sign for too long a period of time for fear of having to pay the remainder of the contract should we receive orders to leave Germany.
We signed the contracts. After a year, we went into a store to talk about changing the plan and we found out we were actually contracted on a 2 year plan. Guess that's what happens when you rely on the salesperson to translate the paperwork from German to English for you! Lesson learned.
After the 2nd year went by, we chose not to renew our contracts with the company. In order to do this, we had to send a statement in writing to their headquarters three months prior to the end of the contract. If we didn't, our contract would automatically be renewed for another 2 years. Isn't that crazy? We didn't want another 2 year contract when we only had 1 year left on our orders for Germany!
We've learned that customer service over here is virtually non-existant. In America, we say, "The customer is always right." We've grown up accustomed to being respected and listened to if we have a complaint or concern.
Not here.
In fact, if you call a company's help line, you are actually charged per minute! No such thing as an 800 number over here! And once you talk to someone, you'll be lucky if the problem is resolved to your liking. I've encountered a lot of "it's not my problem" attitudes from customer service representatives here. It takes a little getting used to, but I can honestly say it's one of the more aggravating things about living abroad.
Anyway, after submitting our request to cancel our service, I was able to use my phone on a pay-per-use basis. It was awesome! I kept my number and my cell phone, and they only debited our account for the minutes or text messages I used the previous month. It turned out to be WAY cheaper than the plan we had used for the past couple years, too! It was ideal.
I started getting phone calls after about 6 months from an unknown number. The person calling would speak German, I couldn't follow along, and they would say they'd call back. I finally spoke to someone in English and found out it was the cell phone company calling. They wanted to know if I wanted to use my phone for a contract. I told them that I didn't and I was just paying as I went.
The next day they disconnected my phone.
So…here I was, without a cell phone and without wanting to sign onto another 2 year contract. By this time I was about 8 months pregnant and I couldn't imagine why I would need a spiffy phone anyway if I wasn't going to be working outside of my home anymore.
I opted for a pre-paid phone from the Dark Ages. Why on earth I didn't pick something nicer, I have no idea. Romas kept telling me to get something nice but I didn't listen. (Big surprise!) Look how snazzy:
But wait! It even has a color display!!
I know, I know…you're all jealous. I'm sure you would love a phone that doesn't ring, doesn't text, doesn't have a camera, doesn't have internet...
After 15 months with this phone, I've finally had enough. I've actually only had to add money to it twice - I never use it. Half the time I carry it around dead for days before I notice! I never think to check it. I don't even know the number so I never give it out. It's pretty unreliable so I'd prefer to have people calling the house phone.
Over the holidays we were Skyping with my mother-in-law and Maia was playing with my phone. I made a joke about how it doesn't even ring, so Maia actually gets more use out of it than I do. She asked what kind of phone it was and I replied, "A piece of crap." Her answer cracked me up…she said, "Oh, it's a Blackberry?" Ha! I wish!!
So today I decided I had suffered long enough. I went out with Maia and she helped me pick out a new phone.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've finally entered into the New Millennium: I have a camera AND internet on this phone!! I'm so proud of it!
It's still a pre-paid phone but I'm ok with that. Pre-paid phones are very popular here. Germans can actually load money onto their phones at ATM machines! But I digress… The plan isn't ideal. My data is really limited and somehow I STILL don't get service at our house. I think we live in a black hole for cell phone coverage. But I will be able to take pictures and update Facebook on-the-go, as well as check and answer emails. YAY!
Plus, Maia's going to be so excited when I give her the old phone to play with for good!
Now I just have to memorize my new phone number. Did you know phone numbers here in Germany are kinda weird? The landlines all start with a prefix, just like in America. Each prefix signifies the town you live in and they are 5 digits long. Cell phones don't follow this pattern. They have completely different prefixes depending on the cell phone provider. Some are 0176, others 0151, etc. The first digit is always a zero and is only used when dialing within the country. So, for example, if my home phone is 06543 and you want to call from your German cell phone, you would dial the entire 5 digits. However, if you were dialing from the States, you would have to drop the zero. Crazy confusing for newbies!
Then, the rest of the phone number is completely arbitrary. Some numbers are so old they contain only 3 or 4 additional numbers! So the number would look like this: 06543-897. Others are longer and might look like this: 06543-178-0776. You can imagine that learning phone numbers for friends is really hard! I have never learned my pre-paid number. It wasn't worth it. I didn't give it to anyone anyway! But I'm not the only one. You see a lot of people with their cell phone numbers written on a tiny strip of paper and then taped to the back of their phone!!
Maybe I should start practicing my phone number so I can actually get some use out of my new phone!
Call me! Pin It
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
What happens when a flock of sheep escape?
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They cause quite a traffic jam!
Maybe I should back up a step. For those of you who don't know, we live in a pretty rural area in Germany:
- We are routinely stuck behind tractors when driving.
- We can smell manure for miles when they fertilize the fields.
- Out town is so small, everyone knows us. And I mean everyone.
- Our home overlooks fields used for growing hay and corn.
We're pretty used to the daily nuances of living the country life…or so I thought!
Yesterday Maia and I were heading to the Commissary to buy groceries when I came across this:
Apparently a flock of sheep got loose and were wandering through the fields near our home! In order to get them home, the shepherd had his dogs herd the sheep into the road. They walked along for about 300 meters and then cut back through another field to head home. The van was driving behind the flock with its flashers on. It was the shepherd's wife making sure everyone could see that something was up!
I was hysterical laughing! I have never see anything like this!! There was even a DONKEY loose among them! And how cool is the sheepdog?!? There were 2 dogs - one on either side of the flock. They were keeping the sheep on the road and out of the ditches on either side of the street.
I was having so much fun watching! I desperately wanted to run home and get Budva to help! We always say she needs a sheep or two to herd. (Although our neighbor is a German K-9 officer and says he thinks she needs about 100 sheep to keep her busy!) Here was our chance to put her to work!! I guess she'll have to stick to herding poor Innie around the backyard.
A truck came by while I was waiting and it didn't even stop! I couldn't believe it slowed down but just kept on going. The sheep ran to the right of it, while the dog and donkey went around it to the left. Incredible.
Here's a picture of the shepherd leading his flock. They seriously carry a staff, just like Little Bo Peep!
Once they were in the field, I could finally see just how many sheep there actually were. It was unbelievable!
Lots and lots of sheep!
Never a dull moment around here!
Have you ever encountered a flock of sheep running wild??
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Have you ever encountered a flock of sheep running wild??
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Party Foul
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I've honestly never liked wine much - unless it's sangría or glühwein! However, in the past month I seem to have developed a taste for it.
Maybe it's my advancing age.
Maybe I'm maturing.
Whatever the reason, I've had no less than a glass of wine every night since Christmas!
I'm enjoying trying different types and wines from different regions. It's been a lot of fun and I'm glad that I never stopped trying to appreciate it.
You can imagine my disappointment when our wine key broke while Romas was opening a bottle!
Maybe it's my advancing age.
Maybe I'm maturing.
Whatever the reason, I've had no less than a glass of wine every night since Christmas!
I'm enjoying trying different types and wines from different regions. It's been a lot of fun and I'm glad that I never stopped trying to appreciate it.
You can imagine my disappointment when our wine key broke while Romas was opening a bottle!
He was able to save the bottle of wine! :) We had to use his Swiss Army Knife to open bottles over the next couple days but now we've purchased not one, but TWO new wine keys!
Has this ever happened to you?
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Thursday, January 12, 2012
Pumpkin, Anyone?
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As many of you know, I love to bake. And you also know that I'm trying to lose weight.
It's quite difficult to do both!
I still bake quite frequently, but I've started sending most of the goodies to work with Romas. We keep some here for ourselves (and we always eat the "mistakes!") but everything else is sent to soldiers who are more than happy to eat it!
Occasionally I bring goodies to our German neighbors as well. In bringing treats over the past year, I've learned that one neighbor in particular loves pumpkin desserts. She's such a sweetheart and always willing to help me decipher German mail we receive, as well as customs we don't understand. She helps me learn German while I help her with her (already proficient) English. She has told me many times that Germans only know how to make Pumpkin Soup - which is absolutely delicious! But she was disappointed that other pumpkin recipes were not common in Germany.
Romas and I had wanted a way to thank her and her husband for their help throughout the year. They are always eager to help us with anything we need from translating German paperwork, to lending us tools.
I decided to make a recipe binder for her for Christmas - one that included only pumpkin recipes!
I added a quick note in the front to give her some websites for pumpkin recipes.
This recipes for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies was her favorite, so I made sure to include it. I made her some last year and as soon as fall came around this year, she kept asking me if I would be making the "pumpkin cakes" again. They really are delicious - I'll share the recipe with you soon!
I wrapped the binder in brown paper and tied it with red and green raffia. It looked really cute!
I also included American measuring cups and measuring spoons since the recipes are American and not metric. (Europeans use the metric system for baking and do not use cups or spoons for measuring!)
She was delighted and spent some time looking through it with me. I was happy to see that she like it!
As I write this, I'm getting the urge to bake...
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
American Sign Language and Maia
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I first learned about Rachel Coleman and her signing videos when I was teaching First Grade in a suburb of Phoenix in 2006. A parent in my classroom showed me a Signing Time video her daughter was using and I loved the idea.
I was a language major in college and studied American Sign Language for a year. During the course of the year, my professors showed us research and videos that supported teaching sign language to infants. Children can sign MUCH sooner than they can talk. Did you know children can start signing as early as eight months old? Many people believe teaching sign language helps alleviate frustration and some of the issues associated with the "terrible two's" because children can express themselves with sign before they can talk.
When I saw the Signing Time videos, I filed the information away for a later date. After Maia was born, I ordered the first two videos of the Baby Signing Time series. Each day I am able to shower during the 25 minutes she's watching a Baby Signing Time video. (That, in itself, makes me thrilled!)
But she's also learning American Sign Language. We use the signs from the videos whenever possible in addition to saying the word to her. For example, when she wakes up we talk about what she's going to eat for breakfast as I sign the words of the foods she'll eat.
At about seven months old, Maia learned how to sign "dog." About two weeks later, she signed "Daddy." We were thrilled - and so was she!
And then the signs started coming faster! It's really incredible! At this point, she's 13 months old and can sign 15 different words! Of course the signs aren't perfect. Some I need to see in context to understand the first few times, but as her motor skills develop, her signs improve. Just as with speaking "Da-da" eventually becomes "Daddy."
She even jokes with her signs. One day we were in a hardware store and she was signing "banana" to me. I laughed and said, "Silly! There are no bananas here!" She cracked up!!
She's even used signs that she knows to indicate items she wants, but doesn't know the sign. I made pumpkin oatmeal cookies about a month or two ago and gave her a taste. She LOVED them! That was her very first taste of a dessert, so obviously I had never shown her a sign for it. Honestly, I still don't know the sign for cookie! But she wanted more and used the sign for "cereal" while staring at the plate of cookies.
Pretty neat, huh?
Want to see her in action? I made a video of her signing during breakfast to show you! (I used a video editor for the first time so be patient! It's definitely not going to win any awards, that's for sure!)
I can't tell you how much this has helped us communicate with each other. Romas and I marvel on a daily basis at how much she's able to tell us what she wants. It takes very little of our time to incorporate the signs in our day to day activities and it's alleviated a lot of stress that comes with not understanding her needs or wants.
She's so proud of herself too. She signs to us and when we say the word she's signing, she smiles so big!! Imagine having so much to say and finally having an opportunity to say it?? It must be such a relief! You can see she loves it and that is reason enough for us to teach her more.
When I tell people about her signing, most are really impressed. But I have had people say that they think it's an awful idea because she'll never learn to speak.
You know what? That's totally BOGUS!
Learning another language (American Sign Language, Spanish, French, whatever!) only improves a child's language skills and vocabulary. Their brains are wired to learn and are far more capable of learning than us as adults. It's really fascinating.
I intend to feed her languages (ASL, Spanish, and French for starters) on a daily basis. This is the only time in her life when it will come naturally and easily. I studied four languages through high school and college, and now I'm immersed in German. I know how hard it is to learn a language as a teenager or adult. She doesn't have to follow in my footsteps and study languages, but I want to give her a head start that I didn't have.
Have you used any of the Signing Time resources with your child?
What do you think of teaching ASL to infants and toddlers? Pin It
I was a language major in college and studied American Sign Language for a year. During the course of the year, my professors showed us research and videos that supported teaching sign language to infants. Children can sign MUCH sooner than they can talk. Did you know children can start signing as early as eight months old? Many people believe teaching sign language helps alleviate frustration and some of the issues associated with the "terrible two's" because children can express themselves with sign before they can talk.
When I saw the Signing Time videos, I filed the information away for a later date. After Maia was born, I ordered the first two videos of the Baby Signing Time series. Each day I am able to shower during the 25 minutes she's watching a Baby Signing Time video. (That, in itself, makes me thrilled!)
But she's also learning American Sign Language. We use the signs from the videos whenever possible in addition to saying the word to her. For example, when she wakes up we talk about what she's going to eat for breakfast as I sign the words of the foods she'll eat.
At about seven months old, Maia learned how to sign "dog." About two weeks later, she signed "Daddy." We were thrilled - and so was she!
And then the signs started coming faster! It's really incredible! At this point, she's 13 months old and can sign 15 different words! Of course the signs aren't perfect. Some I need to see in context to understand the first few times, but as her motor skills develop, her signs improve. Just as with speaking "Da-da" eventually becomes "Daddy."
She even jokes with her signs. One day we were in a hardware store and she was signing "banana" to me. I laughed and said, "Silly! There are no bananas here!" She cracked up!!
She's even used signs that she knows to indicate items she wants, but doesn't know the sign. I made pumpkin oatmeal cookies about a month or two ago and gave her a taste. She LOVED them! That was her very first taste of a dessert, so obviously I had never shown her a sign for it. Honestly, I still don't know the sign for cookie! But she wanted more and used the sign for "cereal" while staring at the plate of cookies.
Pretty neat, huh?
Want to see her in action? I made a video of her signing during breakfast to show you! (I used a video editor for the first time so be patient! It's definitely not going to win any awards, that's for sure!)
I can't tell you how much this has helped us communicate with each other. Romas and I marvel on a daily basis at how much she's able to tell us what she wants. It takes very little of our time to incorporate the signs in our day to day activities and it's alleviated a lot of stress that comes with not understanding her needs or wants.
She's so proud of herself too. She signs to us and when we say the word she's signing, she smiles so big!! Imagine having so much to say and finally having an opportunity to say it?? It must be such a relief! You can see she loves it and that is reason enough for us to teach her more.
When I tell people about her signing, most are really impressed. But I have had people say that they think it's an awful idea because she'll never learn to speak.
You know what? That's totally BOGUS!
Learning another language (American Sign Language, Spanish, French, whatever!) only improves a child's language skills and vocabulary. Their brains are wired to learn and are far more capable of learning than us as adults. It's really fascinating.
I intend to feed her languages (ASL, Spanish, and French for starters) on a daily basis. This is the only time in her life when it will come naturally and easily. I studied four languages through high school and college, and now I'm immersed in German. I know how hard it is to learn a language as a teenager or adult. She doesn't have to follow in my footsteps and study languages, but I want to give her a head start that I didn't have.
Have you used any of the Signing Time resources with your child?
What do you think of teaching ASL to infants and toddlers? Pin It
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Project Life 2011
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A couple weeks ago I told you about a dilemma I was having with scrapbooking. I'd gotten the "itch" and really wanted to start one, but really had no idea where to start. You can read my questions and concerns HERE.
I wanted to update you and let you know I've started working on my album because my sister-in-law and her family bought me a Project Life kit for Christmas! I'm so excited!! It arrived the week before Christmas and I could hardly wait until Christmas morning to actually open it and start "playing!" I was like a little kid!
I decided that I wanted the album to be about Maia's first year - even though technically she was born in 2010. It will end up being a 13 month album for the first year.
I went ahead and ordered all of the photos I wanted from Snapfish.com. While initially I was enticed by their "join and receive 50 free prints," the $17.95 they charged me to ship the photos didn't make me too happy. I'm still not sure how I'll proceed with this year's album, but that's another story!
Anyway, I spent two entire nights working on the album and wanted to show you what I have so far. Did I mention I'm super excited?!?!
I picked the Amber edition and I just love how vibrant and colorful it is!
The kit comes in a nice, neat box. It has everything you need to fill your binder pages.
Here is the first page of the binder. Everything you need for this gorgeous page is included in the kit! (This is MY kind of scrapbook! Everything is included - all you have to do is fill in the pages.)
I'm way too analytical and could never sit down and come up with something I liked without spending days and days on it. With Project Life, I get to just pick the kit I want. It's so relaxing and actually fun!
I've seen people completely edit their first page. They add their own photos and embellishments and it looks amazing! But I'm looking to just complete the album. Remember, I'm already 13 months behind! Here's a close-up:
I was able to journal the first couple pages. I started it before the pictures had arrived to try to get a head start. I didn't get very far, but that's because once the pictures arrived, I stopped journaling. I want to have all of the pictures in the album and then I can worry about filling in the story.
Here is an example of the journaling I was able to do.
The rest of the album still has blank cards like this:
But it's ok! It's only the beginning of January and I've been able to add photos up until July! I'm half way done! The pictures take a while because I punch all of the corners - see how the photo above has rounded edges? I also have to decide how to put the pictures in the album. Since I have no structure, sometimes I have too many photos and sometimes too little. (Some people take a photo each day and fill the seven openings with seven photos. Some make each spread one week and have roughly seven photos. Days they don't have a picture, they fill in the spot with a receipt or a list…anything to document the events of the week.) My 2011 album has no structure. I had no idea I would be making an album when I took these photos! I don't really care how they end up once they're in the album but I would like to avoid having two events on the same page. (That's just my own OCD!)
My other OCD issue is vertical vs. horizontal photos. The photo pages I bought are for horizontal photos. It's seriously KILLING me to put vertical photos in the slot, but I tend to take a lot of vertical pictures! I've had to make the following concessions to calm my OCD and continue working:
I wanted to update you and let you know I've started working on my album because my sister-in-law and her family bought me a Project Life kit for Christmas! I'm so excited!! It arrived the week before Christmas and I could hardly wait until Christmas morning to actually open it and start "playing!" I was like a little kid!
I decided that I wanted the album to be about Maia's first year - even though technically she was born in 2010. It will end up being a 13 month album for the first year.
I went ahead and ordered all of the photos I wanted from Snapfish.com. While initially I was enticed by their "join and receive 50 free prints," the $17.95 they charged me to ship the photos didn't make me too happy. I'm still not sure how I'll proceed with this year's album, but that's another story!
Anyway, I spent two entire nights working on the album and wanted to show you what I have so far. Did I mention I'm super excited?!?!
I picked the Amber edition and I just love how vibrant and colorful it is!
The kit comes in a nice, neat box. It has everything you need to fill your binder pages.
Here is the first page of the binder. Everything you need for this gorgeous page is included in the kit! (This is MY kind of scrapbook! Everything is included - all you have to do is fill in the pages.)
I'm way too analytical and could never sit down and come up with something I liked without spending days and days on it. With Project Life, I get to just pick the kit I want. It's so relaxing and actually fun!
I've seen people completely edit their first page. They add their own photos and embellishments and it looks amazing! But I'm looking to just complete the album. Remember, I'm already 13 months behind! Here's a close-up:
I was able to journal the first couple pages. I started it before the pictures had arrived to try to get a head start. I didn't get very far, but that's because once the pictures arrived, I stopped journaling. I want to have all of the pictures in the album and then I can worry about filling in the story.
Here is an example of the journaling I was able to do.
The rest of the album still has blank cards like this:
But it's ok! It's only the beginning of January and I've been able to add photos up until July! I'm half way done! The pictures take a while because I punch all of the corners - see how the photo above has rounded edges? I also have to decide how to put the pictures in the album. Since I have no structure, sometimes I have too many photos and sometimes too little. (Some people take a photo each day and fill the seven openings with seven photos. Some make each spread one week and have roughly seven photos. Days they don't have a picture, they fill in the spot with a receipt or a list…anything to document the events of the week.) My 2011 album has no structure. I had no idea I would be making an album when I took these photos! I don't really care how they end up once they're in the album but I would like to avoid having two events on the same page. (That's just my own OCD!)
My other OCD issue is vertical vs. horizontal photos. The photo pages I bought are for horizontal photos. It's seriously KILLING me to put vertical photos in the slot, but I tend to take a lot of vertical pictures! I've had to make the following concessions to calm my OCD and continue working:
- Just finish the album! If I start getting too technical about it, I'll never finish it!! If I put too much thought into it, I'm losing sight of the whole reason I chose Project Life in the first place!!
- Once everything is in place and journaled I can worry about it. But until then, I'll just keep on truckin'!
- I know for the 2012 album to try taking more horizontal photos. Hopefully I can avoid the issue completely by just being conscious of the orientation of my shots.
The vertical vs. horizontal has been my biggest issue with the album. But I genuinely like the horizontal photo pages better so I'm sticking with them.
I have one last photo to show you. As I was taking it, I realized how silly it was to be taking a photo of a photo! I just thought it was so cute and had to snap away!! This is Maia eating sweet potatoes...
I've been a busy girl lately!! I'm simultaneously working on Project Life 2011 and 2012! I can see why so many people LOVE it. It's made scrapbooking fun and given me a reason to take lots and lots of photos of our everyday adventures!
I'll keep you posted as I continue to work on both albums.
Do you have a Project Life album to share? I'd love to take a look!
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
Homemade Christmas Gifts
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This year, in addition to other gifts we bought for our families, we made 2012 desk calendars. I spent a lot of time working on the digital editing - waaaaay more time than was probably necessary, but I had NO CLUE what I was doing!
I had seen calendars about the size of business cards on Etsy and they looked so cute propped up on easels. Right away I thought, "Hey! I can make that!"
We had just had our professional photos taken so I had lots and lots of great new pictures to choose from. I wanted the pictures to be edited with a "Through-the-Viewfinder" style border, which took me a while to figure out!
I ended up making the cards bigger than a business card. I wanted them to stand out a little more and I knew our families would not mind larger photos of Miss Maia Bee!
What do you think?
Romas and I were both so happy with how the calendars turned out. It wasn't until they were all cut and mailed that we realized we hadn't printed any for ourselves! We're going to have to remedy that!
Did you make any homemade gifts this year? Pin It
I had seen calendars about the size of business cards on Etsy and they looked so cute propped up on easels. Right away I thought, "Hey! I can make that!"
We had just had our professional photos taken so I had lots and lots of great new pictures to choose from. I wanted the pictures to be edited with a "Through-the-Viewfinder" style border, which took me a while to figure out!
I ended up making the cards bigger than a business card. I wanted them to stand out a little more and I knew our families would not mind larger photos of Miss Maia Bee!
What do you think?
I bought the easels at a local craft store. They were smaller than I remembered, but the card stock was sturdy enough to hold itself up nicely. The finished calendar ended up being about 5.5inches tall by 3inches wide.
There are 12 pages, one for each month, and each has a different photo.
I'm really excited about how they came out!
Of course we had a couple minor heart attacks before they were finally created, printed, and safely packaged to be mailed…
- I sat down to edit and could not figure out how to layer the border with the photo. It took me 2 days to get the first picture done…and then I had to remember what I did to work on the next one!
- We went to the only Staples in the area (45 miles away!) and they were very unhelpful. I decided to print them myself.
- We went to the ONLY craft store I've ever seen (in the pedestrian center of Nürnberg) and bought enough card stock paper to print a calendar. (European paper sizes are different than American sizes so I wanted to just enough to test the alignment before I bought paper I couldn't use.) We put the paper in the basket of the stroller, walked back to the car, and apparently it had fallen out along the way. Epic FAIL!
- At this point, I had to order card stock from Amazon.com which took about a week to arrive.
- Then, the day I started printing, we ran out of color ink…and both PX's were sold out. A couple days later we were lucky enough to find a cartridge and started printing.
- And that's when the printer decided to go on strike and stop feeding paper though.
So with Christmas rapidly approaching, we were finally able to print them, cut them down to size, package them, and mail them off. Unfortunately they did not arrive in time to be put under the tree, but at least they made it to everyone in order to start the new year!
Did you make any homemade gifts this year? Pin It
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Happy Birthday . . . to ME!
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The big 3-0!
I can't believe it! 30 years old!
Today I plan on celebrating by spending my day with Maia while Romas is at work. Maybe we'll go into town and have lunch together. She can help me pick out a new eye shadow from the local department store. I'm sure she'll be very helpful ;)
Tonight Romas is taking me to my favorite Italian restaurant in town. We'll eat a yummy dinner and enjoy a night together as a family. (And I might even have some Tiramisu while we're there!)
For today's post I thought it would be fun to share some random facts about me!
Tonight Romas is taking me to my favorite Italian restaurant in town. We'll eat a yummy dinner and enjoy a night together as a family. (And I might even have some Tiramisu while we're there!)
For today's post I thought it would be fun to share some random facts about me!
- I was a veterinary technician for almost 8 years. I miss working in a medical environment. I used to love working in the lab, running blood tests and setting up slides and cultures. But my favorite was drawing blood and placing IV catheters.
- I don't drink milk or eat eggs. Both gross me out.
- I'm conversational in both French and Spanish. My undergraduate degree was in Foreign Languages (French and Spanish) but I also studied a year of both Italian and American Sign Language. (Do any of you find it ironic that I did not study German and ended up living here for 4+ years?!?!)
- I LOVE to bake and would bake everyday if I could. Fortunately for my waistline, Maia does not allow me to bake everyday. (When I do bake, I try to send most of it to work with Romas or I bring it to a neighbor. If it's here, we'll eat it!)
- I was a vegetarian for 7 years in high school and college. I got REALLY sick when I decided to start eating meat again. Guess I should have been a little more gradual in my return to life as a carnivore!
- I'm a sucker for homeless animals. We have two from a shelter and one from a rescue group. Did I mention that one is "special needs" and we have to order prescription food from the veterinarian every month in order to try to prevent hospitalizations? Yup. Told you I'm a sucker.
- Since moving to Germany in November 2007 we've traveled to 24 countries, Mallorca and Sardinia.
- I have naturally curly hair that drives me crazy! Everyone always tells me how blessed I am to have curly hair, but I'd love to have straight hair that doesn't frizz. The grass is always greener, isn't it?
Hope you have a great day! I know I will!
Monday, January 2, 2012
My {Handmade} Nativity - Trip to Poland 2009
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As we put away our Christmas decorations, I spent some time enjoying my Nativity before I packed it up for another year. I thought I would share with it with you, along with the story behind it.
In July of 2009, my sister came over to visit me. Romas was deployed to Iraq and I was on summer vacation from school so we took the opportunity to do some traveling. One of the places we visited was Boleslawic, Poland to shop for pottery. While it's close enough to drive round-trip in a day, we wanted to take our time, shop, eat an authentic Polish meal, shop…you get the idea!
We were up before sunrise to start our drive east and arrived just as the stores were opening. We were greeted by this beautiful sight as we came to the first store...
We shopped til we dropped - hitting up a ton of stores and filling our tiny rental car with Polish Pottery!
In our defense, we did have sleeping bags and pillows in the car for our stay at the Mission, along with bags of goodies to donate! They asked for brownie mix and peanut butter - two things they cannot buy in Poland but love to share with the poor children in the area.
Before going to the Mission, we stopped at this amazing restaurant to have dinner.
We sat outside and ate pirogies!! They were absolutely delicious! (Definitely not on any diet plan, though!)
We ate like royalty: salad, pirogies, and Coca-Cola for only $5 a person! In Germany we pay almost $5 for the Coca-Cola alone!!! It was quite a treat to eat so cheaply!
Only a few miles from the pottery town is the Elim Christian Center. We emailed back and forth to arrange to stay there while we were in Poland. The husband and wife who run the mission speak perfect English. We were told they didn't charge to stay overnight - they just asked for a donation. I believe we each paid 10Euros to stay. Not bad, huh?
The Mission is in a Renaissance era castle - how cool is that?!?
The area is very poor (as is much of Poland) and the mission helps families in the area who have very little. One of the programs they have is teaching women to sew. Teaching a trade helps counter the 90% unemployment rate in the area.
Some of the women who sew are chosen to help create the nativities the mission sells. I bought my handmade nativity for 100Euros. It is beautiful and I love making it the center of my Christmas decorations each year. All of the figures are weighted with beans so they can all stand by themselves. The angel has a halo that can also be used to suspend her above the scene.
Isn't this gorgeous?
Do you have a favorite holiday decoration? Pin It
In July of 2009, my sister came over to visit me. Romas was deployed to Iraq and I was on summer vacation from school so we took the opportunity to do some traveling. One of the places we visited was Boleslawic, Poland to shop for pottery. While it's close enough to drive round-trip in a day, we wanted to take our time, shop, eat an authentic Polish meal, shop…you get the idea!
We were up before sunrise to start our drive east and arrived just as the stores were opening. We were greeted by this beautiful sight as we came to the first store...
Giant pottery!!!
We shopped til we dropped - hitting up a ton of stores and filling our tiny rental car with Polish Pottery!
In our defense, we did have sleeping bags and pillows in the car for our stay at the Mission, along with bags of goodies to donate! They asked for brownie mix and peanut butter - two things they cannot buy in Poland but love to share with the poor children in the area.
Before going to the Mission, we stopped at this amazing restaurant to have dinner.
We sat outside and ate pirogies!! They were absolutely delicious! (Definitely not on any diet plan, though!)
We ate like royalty: salad, pirogies, and Coca-Cola for only $5 a person! In Germany we pay almost $5 for the Coca-Cola alone!!! It was quite a treat to eat so cheaply!
Only a few miles from the pottery town is the Elim Christian Center. We emailed back and forth to arrange to stay there while we were in Poland. The husband and wife who run the mission speak perfect English. We were told they didn't charge to stay overnight - they just asked for a donation. I believe we each paid 10Euros to stay. Not bad, huh?
The Mission is in a Renaissance era castle - how cool is that?!?
The area is very poor (as is much of Poland) and the mission helps families in the area who have very little. One of the programs they have is teaching women to sew. Teaching a trade helps counter the 90% unemployment rate in the area.
Some of the women who sew are chosen to help create the nativities the mission sells. I bought my handmade nativity for 100Euros. It is beautiful and I love making it the center of my Christmas decorations each year. All of the figures are weighted with beans so they can all stand by themselves. The angel has a halo that can also be used to suspend her above the scene.
Isn't this gorgeous?
It feels good to have contributed to such a worth cause. Not only did we help support poor women and their families, we have an absolutely stunning Nativity set to display each year.
Want to learn more about the Elim Christian Center and their Nativity program? Click HERE.
If you are planning a visit to Poland to shop in Boleslawic, I would highly encourage you to stop by the mission. Don't forget to bring some peanut butter and brownie mix for the kids!!
Do you have a favorite holiday decoration? Pin It
