I haven't posted Christmas yet?

So I know, I know "I'm so busy". It's like every year I don't think I could be busier, and yet I am.

Currently both Mark and I are working full time. Mark in a new job, that is two jobs combined into one (changes coming next year! more to come soon!)

Mark and I are both going to school.

I work at the YMCA and Community Ed teaching 3-4 fitness classes a week.

Dean has sports now! (Currently swimming which he loves)

Then try and fit in family and friends and things are crazy!

I'll also have been on 6 different plane trips this school year: New Mexico, Raleigh (2x!), Washington, Houston and Kansas City.

We are so lucky, but gosh are our lives full! So let's back up to Christmas.
 First some Christmas fun with just our family. Opening presents, visiting Santa.

Then we had our daycare Christmas party which is always so cute and fun. The boys sang with their friends, got so excited for Santa, got a nice Blankie from Lisa and enjoyed tons of good food and company. I am so lucky to have found Lisa.

Christmas was in North Carolina, and unfortunately it wasn't as warm as it usually is, but we still had a wonderful time! This year once again my mother's sister Marta, her husband John and son Kevin all came with my Grandpa Tota! We got to spend so much time with them, with Paul and Susan's family, and I got to see my Grandma. Additionally, even though Benny was going through a terrible sleeping time with us, he slept GREAT for my parents and Mark and I got a night away in Winston-Salem to visit my suities and see Nicole and her daughter Elizabeth. It was such a special trip (aside from the plane rides; which included being pooped on, spit on, puked on and delayed)

When we got back to Minnesota we had a mini-Christmas celebration. It was after Christmas but we still sang Christmas carols, opened gifts, no Santa this year, but lots of love and joy.

January brought Minnesota snow (2 snow days!), winter carnival (which was too crowded to enjoy), excitement surrounding Football playoffs, disappointment when we didn't make the Superbowl and a date night! Mark and I got to spend a night watching an AMAZING playoff game and then headed to St. Paul to see my first professional Hockey game. The Wild won but it was still nice to get away and have the kids spend the night at their cousins. Additionally, Mark and his dad's birthday came and Sarah came to surprise Steve! It was so great to see her even if she couldn't bring her kids.

Through January and February Dean has also started swimming which he has been loving! He's not great yet, but we are pleasantly surprised with how much he's taken to the water. He doesn't love putting his head under, but this past week he finally started to do it on his own! He still acts like he is super uncomfortable but he looks forward to swimming every Thursday! He has his 30 minute class with 4 other kids, then we all swim together (minus Mark-while he catches up on work!) in the warmer pool. It's... exciting making sure both boys don't drown but overall we have a great time.

In February thanks to a wonderful husband and the funds to do it I got to spend 4 days in Washington. We stayed with my friend Lauren on the islands about 2 hours north of Seattle and it was BEAUTIFUL! First flying without my children was heaven. I finished 2 books. The time spent talking, catching up, exploring, hiking, eating, cooking and giggling together was so needed. I love that I have been friends with these girls for over 10 years, we don't need to spend lots of time together, but when we get back together it is as though no time has passed. We had some deep conversations, things we had never shared before and just continued to grow our friendships and bonds.

After that February brought much more snow and of course Valentine's day. Dean loves every holiday and it's so neat to celebrate each one with him. We followed our tradition, no gifts (except books for the boys, and a little squishy) and we got cupcakes and heart shaped pizza. Because Mark isn't in the classroom anymore we had a few less chocolates than normal, which is probably for the best!

Now Dean is almost 4 years old. We can't believe it! He's already started talking about his birthday (wants a Dinosaur theme again) and keeps saying, it's coming right up after Leprachaun day and Easter day! He's really starting to play with Benny, but doesn't always like to share his toys. He relishes in being a "helper" and we've made sure to start giving him jobs: putting away dishes, putting away his shoes, coats, helping pick up and holding the door for mommy.  He's so positive (unless you're asking him to try almost any food) and loves to give hugs. His current foods of choice include: all fruits, most uncooked vegetables, ham, any carb snack, any dessert, yogurt, cheese, hotdogs, grilled cheese and chips with cheese (do NOT call them nachos). He still refuses to eat almost anything else from us, which  means most nights dinner includes an intense tantrum, but he eats at daycare, and what he does eat is healthy, so I guess we are making progress! He finally wrote a couple of letters and really has good number sense (guess his mom and dad love math). He can count up to 20, and can identify up to 10 objects. He loves turning over our calendar each day and telling us what day it is "2 and 1, 21!!"

Late night trip in an Ambulance...Croup!

Brother Love at School

Benny is officially 1 year 1/2. He is saying quite a few words. He knows what they mean, can point to them, and loves to repeat if you ask him to. Favorite words are probably, uh oh, hi, poop, bunny, Dean, mommy, daddy, ball, night night and mine. He loves to take toys from Dean and run away and is still pretty clingy with mommy. He eats ALMOST everything and has yet to be a consistent sleeper. Lately he will sleep through most nights, but he still whines for about an hour before he falls asleep and when we come in he reaches up to have a hug. He's sweet too, but starting to get REALLY good at tantrumming, still nothing like his brother!

Overall, life is going really well! I still like my class a lot, I love my college courses, the fitness classes are getting more and more packed, our boys are soo sweet and the weather is warming! I can't wait for Spring break in a few weeks when we will go down to Houston to visit Sarah and Mike and their family (Mark's sister) and then summer when my parents will be here!!!

 -Post is for my current coursework. Enjoy :)
  Many of you who have been reading this blog since I began teaching know that I started my teaching career in a dual language school. My mother is Colombian and I feel strong ties to my Latin roots. I wanted an opportunity to use my skill set of speaking two languages (I also probably thought it was the easiest way to guarantee a job!) During my two years teaching at this dual language school and then teaching three more years at an immersion school, I realized that the importance of these bilingual schools went so far beyond my personal gains.

    Recently I listened to the Podcast “Getting Smart” an educational podcast that interviews many different people, and in the particular episode I listened to was called, “All Children Should be Bilingual: The Dual Language Economic Imperative”. (http://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/08/juan-cabrera-podcast/) In this podcast feelings of pride, excitement for language and guilt over no longer teaching in a school I was once so passionate about all resurfaced for me. Many of you know I left my last school because the commute became too much with my growing family. But it left me wondering, why DON’T we have a dual language or immersion school in our district? We are the 3rd largest district in the in Twin Cities area, we are well-attended and people move to the South metro to be a part of this district. How could we be missing such an important way to learn?

    Now some of you may say, there’s no need, people don’t want it, they don’t matter all that much, but I disagree. Especially after listening to this podcast with a Superintendent in Texas where he has several dual language schools. Many times throughout the podcast he reminded me of the importance of these schools.

• At 15:35 he reminds us that not only are the schools creating bilingual students, they are bilingual in ACADEMIC language.
• 16:27 Dual language schools leverage the skills that students currently have.

-This is especially the case when there are students from both language backgrounds, each group of students can help the other group and work together to learn through each other’s experience.

• 17:56 Students learn technical content in Spanish to create high level jobs which are important in our and other countries.

-They talked about how so many other countries they encourage students to be fluent in two or more languages, how can we expect to compete globally if our “brightest” are only speaking one language?

• 18:32 Learning two languages builds a person’s overall intellectual capacity.

-Now this point they agreed needed to be studied further, but he as a bilingual learner and teacher has seen this to be the case in so many people he has worked with.

    Of course there are arguments against dual/immersion schools because students at these schools do no immediately perform on state standards the way grade level peers do, but by middle school they outperform grade level peers. Others argue that these are schools just catering to people who don’t speak English and that if you are in the United States you should speak English, well I don’t even want to touch this argument, because if you know me, you know I am passionate about all people and feel that we should encourage more inclusion and collaboration as a culture of Americans.

    So all this being said, WHY? Why is our district so far behind in the immersion/dual language school? Why have I left a dual language school (aside from commute time, and ease of teaching of course ;) . How can we start to plant the seed of dual language/immersion schools so that students in our district are prepared to be global citizens who are successful in the world? How can I get a school here so that my own children are bilingual and proud of their Hispanic heritage, since I have not yet spoken to them in Spanish in our home....maybe this is why I am in school to become a principal?

What do you fellow teachers and administrators at District 196 think? Do you see this need? Would you be a proponent of a dual language/immersion school in our district? Would you want it for your children?