Featured

I'm "famous." Okay, not really, but I was featured on Okinawa Hai today. You can see the article here.

Japanese Pancakes

Ever wonder what a Japanese pancake looks like? Last weekend, we went to Okonomi Yaki Osino in American village and got to experience okonomi yaki, or Japanese pancakes, for ourselves.

To create these, our server mixed a concoction of what looked like cabbage, egg, cheese, and some other mystery ingredients in a bowl and then poured half the mixture onto our table skillet. Then, he added our choice of fillers. Finally, he topped it with the other half of the mixture.

They cooked like this for a few minutes and then were flipped.

We also grilled up some herbed chicken and veggies on the side. Here, Noa adds sauce to the top of my okonomi yaki.

Smile! I liked it!

Turns out my "pork" okonomi yaki wasn't just pork, but pork kimchi-flavor. KimUchi = kimchi. Ohhhh, now, I see......

This was the sign on our way out.

Here are the lights of downtown American village at night.

We couldn't resist stopping at Yogurtland for some dessert. Here are our cups of yogurt goodness.

I had to sneak in the Koala Yummies. They are too cute!

Current Classroom Pics

Here's some shots from my fourth year in Kinder. Most of it is similar to last year, but with smaller, less noticeable changes. I gotta keep it fresh, you know?!

The lanterns are new. I love 'em. Plus, I can keep them up all year. No more climbing on that counter to hang up artwork. The counter serves as an art center with supplies on top and contained underneath in the open shelving.
Here's the front of the room where we have morning meeting, read alouds, and mini-lessons as a large group. The "overalls" on the back door has classroom jobs in each pocket. You can see the Listening Center in the corner.

Moving over to the right is our Book Nook area with a display wall. I'm trying to make the classroom all about the kiddos now, so they are displayed everywhere. Plus, it helps with name recognition. The tree will again be decorated with letters this year after we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The next big project is to paint the coffee table white. I'll be using that for my reading groups.

Some self portraits hang on the windows. Cute, eh?

Here's a close up of the Listening Center. The students choose a book/cassette from the container on the right. Then, they plop down on a pillow, stick in the cassette tape and listen to the story.

Here's the Writing Center - by the windows as always. Lots of supplies live here - paper, notebooks, notepads, pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, erasers, word books, stencils. It's a popular center. The computer center is behind it. We haven't "opened" that center to the students yet, since we have to teach them how to type a 9-digit password. Don't get me started on that one....

I'm sure all post more pics throughout the year, but I thought I'd share a little of the part of my life that keeps me so busy all the time!

Roller Coaster Life

Ah, the ups and downs of life. We Hammers have been busy these last few weeks (hence the lack of blogging). Lately there seem to be a lot of ups and downs, but truly I am feeling happy and blessed with life in spite of some of the downs right now. Here's a little glimpse of some of these ups and downs:

UP: Just had a great time with friends at Okinapa, the annual wine festival, on Friday night. We are so fortunate to have such great friends here - I'm glad we extended after all.

DOWN: Sadly, it is our last time going to Okinapa. I will miss events like this when we leave next summer.

UP: School "starts" this week for me. The past week was filled with home visits and parent meetings. This week the real work begins with the kids coming to school!

DOWN: I am so not ready! I'll spend my Labor Day laboring away in the classroom.

DOWN: We're down to one car. The Turtle (my car) died on us late Saturday night and we ended up having to walk home. Looks like the alternator needs replacing.

UP: Having the car towed was easy and headache-free. MCCS came through for us in a big way. Also, I'm glad the car died when Noa was around and I didn't have to take care of it alone.

No, that's technically not my car pictured below. My camera battery had run out of juice when it was time to get the car towed. So, hopefully, my car will be running like this one from the web in no time:

UP: We recently hired a dog walker for the weekdays. The dogs are getting some much-needed attention in the afternoons.

DOWN: It's that time of year again when I'm working a lot. I'm still working on keeping balance in my life.

UP: There was a rainbow outside our building the other day. There's nothing down about that! Sometimes, you gotta just count your blessings!