Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

Celebrating Summer

This summer has held so many lovely moments. I can't even begin to share them all in one post. There were moments of wonder, laughter, amazement, excitement and much more. 

Early in the summer I was able to travel to South Korea and Japan to visit the families whose children we had hosted in our home. We shared food, drinks, conversation and even some adventures. 

Seoul, South Korea

Tokyo, Japan

Within a few days of my return, I was off to NerdcampMI. It's always a precious time with friends new and old. It's a time of learning, sharing, and connecting.

I stayed with my mother and spent time with my grandmother who no longer recognizes me. That was hard. I knew it was coming, but it was still hard. I appreciated the time we had even so....

Then, I spent a week learning with people from the Ho-Chunk Nation. We learned about tribal culture, indigenous plants, culturally responsive teaching and more. Again it was a time of learning and connection. 

Lots of fun and learning with @EarthPartners Ho-Chunk Indigenous Arts & Sciences class via @UWMadison pic.twitter.com/Yy6HBLfTe2

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) July 24, 2018

My husband and I, along with another couple, also rode across Wisconsin. The guys were on bicycles and the two ladies were in a car. We got to do a little shopping and eating between cheering the guys on all the way to the finish line.  

I also spent most of a week with my sister who flew from Texas to meet me in Chicago. We had a fabulous time together including a ride on a "pirate ship."

Finally, our international student has arrived from South Korea and will be with us until June. It's a transition time for us all as we get to know each other and even learn a new school. We live near a private high school and she is attending there. 

I'm thankful for the opportunities to travel and connect with people. Being with so many people this summer has definitely been a blessing.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

Celebrating Running

 

I'm celebrating running again. I signed up for a half-marathon in September. I'm not officially training yet, but will start in a few weeks. For now, it is enough to get out a few times a week. Last week I ran three times and finished 10 1/2 miles altogether. After not running much over the past six months, it's nice to know I can still get moving. The miles are going pretty slowly, but they are happening.

My favorite place to run is a nearby park. The trail is flat though so I wanted to find a way to get some hills into my run. The picture above is my newest route. When I run that direction, I get in a little over three miles. I run up and over a bridge twice and I get to look at the Mississippi River too. It's a win-win. Have a great week!

Celebrate Meeting Authors!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

This month I got to meet two authors - Aaron Reynolds and Maureen Goo. Both events were fabulous and had me laughing. It's so fun to hear about the writing lives of authors and learn more about the stories they share in their books. Families from our school also attended the Aaron Reynolds event so it was an extra joyful experience watching them interact with him. Their belly laughs were filling the room.

Looking at the pictures together now, it appears that I like stripes. ;)

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

It's been about a month since I have posted a celebration, but celebrating was still happening. Each week I note a few celebrations almost every day in my notebook. I've been blogging less than usual though. Part of that is because of preparations for my trip next month.

My last post was about my upcoming trip to Korea and Japan. I've been investing a lot of time in learning Korean and reading the history of both countries. This is part of the fun - getting ready for a trip.

Today I'm celebrating the getting ready and the anticipation. One way I've been getting ready is having conversations with Japanese friends about where to go and what to do. We also had some friends over for dinner (I made Korean food) who have a child living in Korea. They told us about their trips there and some travel tips.

There is a small Korean Baptist church in our city. I attended there years ago when my youngest child was taking Korean lessons from one of the members. We would go to church and then stay for a meal and then lessons. It's a very welcoming church and this was an excellent reason to go back and visit. When we went before, I would sing the hymns in English (a few other members do that), but this time, I was able to sing some of the slow ones in Korean. Reading the Hangul (한글) is fun even though I most often don't know what I am saying. It means I can sing along though and read aloud. These are things I enjoy doing. I am happy to be back with such kind people who share food, fellowship and their knowledge.

On a scarier note, I branched out from Korean dramas and watched a movie. Eek! Train to Busan is quite a famous movie and so even though I don't usually watch thrillers or zombie movies, I gave it a try. I started watching it late at night and about half-way through had to stop because my hands were shaking and I was so tense I was uncomfortable. The next afternoon, my husband agreed to watch it so then I was able to make it through. Whew. If you like intense movies with zombies, I would recommend it.

Have a great week!
 

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

Food our Korean student brought when he stayed with us

The airport we will fly to when we go to Japan (my youngest has already been there)

Another picture from when my youngest child went to Japan

This week I'm celebrating the purchase of tickets. I didn't feel like I could get super excited about my trip to Asia until we actually had tickets. A month ago we started talking about the possibility of a trip and this week we finally made the purchase. We are getting into the more serious planning now and I started up my app to practice Korean. My mother-in-law and I will be flying to Korea. We'll stay with the family of a former exchange student for part of the trip and then go out on our own. Then, we will fly to Japan and meet up with a former exchange student to visit and then we will do some sight seeing on our own there too. It's not a super long trip, but it should be a lot of fun. Part of the fun of trips like this is doing the research ahead of time and looking forward to the trip. If any of you have suggestions, we'll be in the areas of Seoul and Tokyo. Have a great week!

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

Today I'm celebrating time with my sister. She drove up to visit from Texas. That's love - driving 14 hours to see someone. We spent a lot of time together in the few days she was here. We drove along the Mississippi and watched eagles soaring by us.

One of my sister's pictures.

We also went to the National Eagle Center and the Mall of America. On our way to the cities we stopped at Lake Pepin. The ice on the edge of the lake was moving a lot and was super noisy. I loved hearing the creaking, cracking, and popping. 

We finished off our day trip at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis before coming back to our house. I wish we lived closer to each other so we could spend more time together, but I'm thankful for the chance to visit with each other this week. A lot of our time is spent in laughter.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

This week I'm celebrating the youth in our country and around the world. They are inspirational and are proving they have a voice and aren't afraid to use it. Children as young as 11 were up there in front of thousands of people to share their thoughts and opinions. Earlier this week my fourth graders and I listened to one of Malala's speeches and talked about activism. I'm looking forward to seeing what the youth will do to make this world a better place. I'm energized and hopeful as these young voices are refusing to be ignored.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

This week I've really been appreciating my co-workers. They make me laugh every single day. We are able to vent and encourage, support and distract. There are so many ways they make school a great place to be every day. 

This week we had a few who made a special lunch for everyone for no particular reason. There is also one staff member who had an important role in a comedy. My husband and I were able to go watch the play last night and it was fabulous to see my colleague sparkling on stage. The play was Calendar Girls so we also had quite a few belly laughs. 

I wish you a week filled with smiles and laughter.

Celebrating the Sun

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

This week I'm celebrating the warmth of the sun. During the middle of the winter, we often see the sun, but it is a lie. In January, the sun may look warm and wonderful, but when you walk outside, the frigid air hits you and the sun seems to be unable to make any difference.

 

On Monday, we had warmer temps (48 degrees) and the sun felt lovely on my face. I was like a sunflower tipping toward the light and warmth. I even put my windows down to enjoy the slightly cool breeze too.

We also had a fire drill in the middle of the week and we didn't want to go back in the building. As we were standing there, I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the warmth. While walking the dog yesterday, it was the same. The sun just feels like a caress nowadays. Spring is on the way.

Celebrating Snowy Walks

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

Our professional development day was held at the university near our home so I was able to walk to work on Friday. That was so fun. This has still been a cold week, but it warmed up enough to take the dog for walks almost every day. We've only made it all the way around the block once, but every day with a walk is a good day. My Schatzie can only be outside for a little while when it's below 20.
The weather even inspired me to run yesterday. It may not have been the wisest choice, but I survived. When I took my dog out to walk it seemed like it was warmer than normal. I didn't check the temp though and just got ready to run. Within a block my nose was stinging. I didn't realize it was only 15F until I got home. It had seemed warm compared to the day before. It was warmer, but not so very much. The temp made my thirty minute run seem like a major accomplishment. I complain about the cold sometimes, but I do love walking and running in our neighborhood when there is snow everywhere to crunch underfoot. It's been especially nice when the sun has been shining. Sunlight is so cheerful. Have a wonderful week!

Celebrating World Read Aloud Day

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

World Read Aloud Day!

This week was a lot of fun because we were celebrating World Read Aloud Day. Teachers were reading aloud with their students and/or having them buddy read. We also made a lot of connections for reading. I wrote about those on our school blog.  A few classes read with Matthew Winner and his classes. I was able to set up author and illustrator visits with seven of my classes too. This means that about half of our students were able to Skype for WRAD. I will work on connecting the rest of the classes with others sometime before the end of the year. I think I have just as much fun as the students when we are able to meet with people outside of our local community. It was also helpful because I had a cold and was not able to speak very well so having others read with us gave my voice a break. Kindergarten didn't have any Skype visits so we used Tumblebooks for our read-alouds. Robert Munch reads his own books and we were cracking up with him.

World Read Aloud Day makes my heart happy.

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week and I appreciate the community we have through this link-up.

There were many excellent moments this week:

Here’s the clip from last night’s interview. Surreal. https://t.co/qih7sS3BAy

— Jason Reynolds (@JasonReynolds83) January 24, 2018

I loved seeing Jason Reynolds talking with Trevor Noah. He's an excellent writer, but what I love most is how he is always centering his young readers. He also asks teachers and other adults to examine how they are interacting with young people & how they're teaching and presenting literature. His words always challenge me to reflect on my teaching and my relationships with students.

I'm part of a book club that reads children & YA lit and this month we read The First Rule of Punk. It was really fun to talk about it with others. My students are enjoying it too. It's rarely on the shelf.

This week my team had car duty so I was out in my long winter coat and boots still shivering a bit, but I always get the most hugs on car duty so it's all good.

Finally, second graders and I enjoyed hearing about sharing peace with others as we listened to Salam Alaikum sung by Harris J. We read the book also and there were many smiles as we sang together.

I wish you a fabulous week filled with many celebrations.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week though this month I have been remiss. I haven't been as good about celebrating here on the blog this month. It's not that I don't have things to celebrate, but life gets in the way.

This year had many challenges and many blessings. We moved to a new home in April. That absorbed a lot of our energy, time, and money. We adore the new house though and love our neighborhood.

My favorite things about the house are glass doorknobs, a laundry chute, and the fabulous location.

Connections are another thing I'm celebrating this year. We are meeting so many new people and are making and maintaining more friendships. The area where we live has houses close together and we are within walking/biking distance of the university and downtown so we can easily attend many events. I'm in two different book clubs now. One of them consists of neighbors and moves from house to house though they are all in walking distance. Long distance connections also seem to be getting stronger. I am especially happy to have met up with Twitter and blogging friends via NerdcampMI and ALA in Chicago this summer. Each in person visit solidifies friendships even more. 

The challenges of this year have been many. Events in our nation and the world have contributed to raised anxiety and frustration for me. This has caused me to become more connected to various activist groups and more involved in local events to make a difference here. I will choose to hold onto the positive things we have done. The most visible activity was a fundraiser for diverse books to put in the hands of children and educators in our city. We were able to raise over four thousand dollars in a brief amount of time. We distributed books to children at the Boys and Girls Club and directly to many teachers in the school district for their classroom libraries.

2018 will surely bring more challenges, but I look forward to stepping out into this new year with friends and family to embrace the difficulties and the joys. Happy New Year.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week though this month I have been remiss. I haven't put my celebrations online this month yet so here are quite a few of them.

I am often celebrating bookish things and this month is no exception. First though, I am thankful I had both of my adult children home for a few days and we were able to spend some time together. One of my children is a fan of BTS (a Korean music group) so we spent time watching their videos. When we did, we found this fun moment:

While watching BTS videos I found an example to go with a reading of The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by @DrewDaywalt #kidlit pic.twitter.com/UcQn7cpqEx

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 24, 2017

Watching their videos is truly a treat as they are cute, have fun dance moves, and their songs are very catchy. It's even better because I get to enjoy something with my child & it connected to a book!

Another fun lit moment was finding the book A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by Thi Bui:

#bookaday A Different Pond by Bao Phi illustrated by @MsThiBui It’s a wonderful story that shares much about family & what they do with & for each other. pic.twitter.com/iYMdA4PbfH

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 23, 2017

We have many Hmong students in our school and there are very few books where a Hmong character just randomly shows up. Plus, this is a wonderful immigrant family story.

My first grade students and I read You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith illustrated by Danielle Daniel and made a display. It was super exciting to hear back from the author:

We got our display up after reading You Hold Me Up by @ltldrum & illustrated by Danielle Daniel #wisnativenov17 #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth @WisDPIais #onapride pic.twitter.com/mEkiPIXUXH

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 16, 2017

Please give my love to the students! Their words & illustrations brought tears to my eyes! Imagine our world with these young citizens as our future leaders!💗💫

— Monique Gray Smith (@ltldrum) November 16, 2017

I also had bookish fun at the adult storytime. I shared the essay Bad Feminist #2 by Roxane Gay and many other people shared from books and essays. Next time I want to bring picture books.

Enjoying adult storytime at Turtle Stack Brewery. Thanks La Crosse Public Library. #booklove pic.twitter.com/TQfBlR8bUI

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 15, 2017

One other lovely moment from this month was when I finally listened to the audio of Aristotle and Dante:

That lovely & surreal moment when you're listening to Aristotle & Dante by @BenjaminAlireSa & hear @Lin_Manuel say Alexander Hamilton. pic.twitter.com/MVGJAHL5z6

— Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2) November 4, 2017

Finally, I was also able to go see Jason Reynolds speak in Madison. I am always inspired and moved when he shares from his heart. Not only did I see him, but I was able to spend several hours in the car with two other librarians and that was awesome bookish talking time.

I'm glad I get to spend so much time doing the things I love with fun people and excellent books.

Celebrating Korean Dramas

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

This week I'm celebrating Korean dramas.

Earlier this year I read the fabulous and funny book, I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo. The main character decides to get a boyfriend, but she uses kdramas to plan it all out. She researches relationships by watching hours and hours of kdramas to come up with a strategy. I have several friends who watch Korean dramas and was finally curious enough to give them a try. There's a list of shows at the end of the book to pick from. My first choice was You're Beautiful. It was ridiculous, hilarious and super fun even though it actually made me cry a couple of times. I hadn't laughed so much in a long, long time. My youngest child had watched a few dramas back in middle school and recommended another one called Heartstrings, because it has two of the actors from my first kdrama and it involves music. I enjoyed it too, but not quite as much as the first. I will probably never forget You're Beautiful because it was the first one I experienced. 

On Twitter I thanked Maurene Goo for inspiring me to watch a few dramas and she shared some that she has enjoyed. The next drama I watched was Strong Woman Do Bong Soon because it was one she liked. The first two had been romantic comedies, but Strong Woman ventured into mystery/thriller along with romance. It was also fabulously hilarious aside from some not so funny jokes about being gay. I loved Do Bong Soon. She was a fun superhero and wanted to be a video game designer. It was cool that she was unimpressed by her very wealthy boss who fell hard for her.

Next, I started to listen to the soundtracks to these shows. I had one of the songs playing at school and a couple of students recognized it as Korean music. We chatted about K-dramas and they recommended Boys Over Flowers so that's what I watched next. It was incredibly frustrating at times because I didn't like the pairing at least not for a very long time. There were other reasons it was annoying, but I was determined to stick it out and it was still quite funny. That's my favorite part about these shows. They make me laugh over and over again even though they make me cry too. 

Most recently, my husband asked to join me in this venture. I picked Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (Goblin), because Maureen Goo had also mentioned that one and it looked a little more grown up than the previous ones. It's my favorite so far. 

I rarely watch television, but these shows are allowing for some laughter in my life and with our current political climate, that is very welcome. 

Celebrate

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

The view from my computer. Yay! It's autumn.

 Celebrating Connections

 

We had our final day of Lego League. It was nice that the students had the chance to share their learning and creations with each other and their families. This week we also had conferences at school. It was a great time for chatting with families and students. Because we hosted a book fair, there were many students and families coming through the library. It makes for long days, but the conversations are worth the time.

I also got to chat (texting) with two of our former exchange students this week. It's great to see what they are doing now. They make me smile. I'm thankful for apps that make it possible to talk to people around the world so easily. Now if we could make a way to zip between here and there in moments, that would be beyond awesome.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

This weekend was full of nature and connections. Hmong New Year is a great community event I usually try to attend. It was a little cold and wet this year (50s and intermittent rain), but I saw many students, ate wonderful food, bought some items to add to our Hmong culture kit in the library and had some great conversations with parents of my students and other community members. I also got to talk to an artist and watch him make prints. The first day, I drove, but the second day, I rode my bicycle the six miles each way on a path through wetlands. It was gorgeous. 

I also participated in a night run with some teachers and girls from our school running club. The run benefits the Boys & Girls Club and honors the husband of one of our teachers who loved the club and was a runner. It's a great run because it goes through a park and wetlands with torches along the water. It's beautiful even in the rain. Yes, it was in the upper 40s or maybe 50 while we rain in the rain. That made it even more of an interesting experience for the girls. Most of them had never run that far before so now they have a great story about their first run. Also, they know they can do most anything if they can run and withstand the cold and rain too.

I'm glad we were still able to have fun in spite of the iffy weather.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

This week I'm celebrating my dog once again. On Monday, Schatzie seemed a little lethargic, but I figured he was just feeling a little off. On Tuesday though, he still wasn't his usual self. By evening, I  was getting concerned because he wasn't moving around much. I carried him to his food and water. He was very happy to have a drink, but was completely uninterested in food. He seemed a little warm and I figured we needed to see the vet. We slept together on the couch that night and he went to the vet in the morning. They ran lots of tests and found that while they weren't sure why, he was carrying a high fever. He has had antibiotics and pain relievers and is pretty much back to normal. We had a wonderful long walk today in the sun with fall leaves scattering around us in the breeze. I'm very glad his tests didn't show anything serious and his illness seems to be just a blip in his life. It reminded us that we don't know how long we have our pets though. I'm celebrating that we have Schatzie with us today.

Celebrate!

Ruth Ayres has a link-up on weekends where people link to posts that are celebrations about their week. I love this reminder to celebrate every week.

First in my list of celebrations is cranberry bogs. I've wanted to go visit the bogs since we moved to Wisconsin more than ten years ago. My mother-in-law has been here most of the week and it was just the excuse we needed to make the trip. We got to see some partially flooded bogs and also visited a place that packages fresh cranberries as well as dried slightly sweetened cranberries. They had some cool old equipment to look at too. We purchased some and I've used fresh cranberries to make scones, chicken salad, and an apple salad. Yum!  

We also went on a canoe/kayak trip on the Kickapoo River.  It was a beautiful day and we had lovely scenery the whole way. I enjoyed seeing the moss and ferns growing on the side of the rocks. We also enjoyed the time together as a family. 

My youngest child took Korean lessons a few years ago so we have several books in the house. After watching several Korean dramas, I had started listening to Korean music that went along with the shows. I wondered about the words and decided it would be fun to learn how to read 한글 (Hangeul). I'm working my way through the books and an app called Hangul. I put the Korean keyboard on my phone with the help of my child. I've even written some Korean words that way. It's fun to have a new challenge. With all of the Korean going on I also had to make some 비빔밥/beebimbap. I learned how to make it using the book Bee-bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park. It's super yummy. It takes some coordination because it has a lot of different dishes to make, but it's worth it. My mother-in-law was very helpful as we prepared it together. I had made it a few times, but it is always challenging to get everything ready in a timely way without things getting cold.

Another fun celebration from this week is the Lego League I am part of this year. We started in September and I'm coaching some of my students. This is definitely a learning experience.

Finally, I had a great time with first and second grade going outside at school this week. We read the book On Meadowview Street and talked about plants that help provide homes for critters. We went outside to see what critters might be in our meadowlike area. We also looked to see which plants were most popular. The purple flowers above (maybe they are wild bergamot or bee balm, but I'm not positive) had tons of bees buzzing about and many butterflies too. This lesson was really fun and was inspired by the class I took this summer on indigenous plants. 

Many wonderful things have been happening this week for me, but the people of Puerto Rico and Mexico City are never far from my thoughts. Life keeps spinning on here, but may people's lives were just radically changed in the past week. The devastation is too much to comprehend. I know it will be a long time before their lives will get back to anything like normal and for some it may never get there. My mind doesn't quite know what to do with all of that. Some of the students at our school want to do something in response so we will see what we can get going. It's helpful to have something concrete to do when we can't process the enormity of events like this. One of the other schools in our district is doing a fundraiser so maybe we can work together. We'll see what next week will bring.

I wish you a wonderful week full of wonderful things to celebrate.