In the...wait for it....Primary

New Year, new calling. I was just called to the Primary presidency of our little branch. I miss my Young Women, but it's good to try something new. I had never been in Primary, and as the saying goes, you have to walk a mile in another man's shoes... Anyways, I'm looking forward to getting to know the kids better and I love the other ladies I'm working with.

I am teaching the CTR class, and in our branch, that means I have 10 kids ages 3-7. (We have to divide them at that weird age range so that the teachers don't have too many in each class; the other classes are 18 months-3, 8-12 girls, 8-12 boys.) Having such an age range in my class means I have some that can read, some that can't, plus some that speak only Spanish, some that speak only English, and some that speak both. Whew!

Here is my attempt to keep them all engaged tomorrow, regardless of language and reading ability. We'll see how it goes! Maybe you can use these activity sheets too. They go with Lesson 4, "Joseph Smith's Childhood" (Leccion 4, La Ninez de Jose Smith)

Christmas Cards...or not really

Loving my "Year End" cards this year....yes, they aren't Christmas cards, because like usual, I didn't  get them out on time. Heck, I just ordered them 5 minutes ago. Sigh. But, watch out, cuz here they come!
Perez Family Top 10

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

More Gratuitous Self-Promotion

Because I couldn't find the links fast when I looked for them today, I'm sticking them here. Gotta figure out how to archive footage from YouTube!

HBO Documentary, "Atlantic City: The Original Sin City"
lots of my favorite people are here - Allen "Boo" Pergament, Nelson Johnson, Vicki Gold Levi, Ed McGinty, Ralph Hunter, Turiya Raheem

Press of Atlantic City Documentary, "Boss of the Boardwalk" (looks like the whole thing is no longer online) trailer

Casey Gillis, "Local Digs Up History Behind 'Boardwalk Empire'." The News & Advance [Lynchburg, Va.] 28 September 2010.

Greg Landgraf, "Boardwalk Empire's Librarian." American Libraries 11 October 2011.

Jenny Schooley, "HBO Series 'Boardwalk Empire' Digs Into Archives." Archival Outlook November/December 2010, p. 12.

"Atlantic City Free Public Library prepares for renovation to its archives department." Press of Atlantic City 4 July 2011.

Nina at 18 months

Yes...I am going to do a blog entry. Are you happy?

Here is Nina at 18 months.

She's 22.5 lbs and 33 inches tall(!).

Things she loves:
Blanky
Teddy
Sucking her left thumb
Elmo on Sesame Street (just that 20-minute segment, thank you very much)
Curious George (the tv show)
Playing with her hairbands and clips
Putting coins in her piggy bank
Reading books
Going to the Library for Baby Bounce: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/bouncing-babies-are-brainy-babies-in-a-c/article_b2f54577-4e5e-54f4-94f1-dc2d1b68e499.html

Foods she loves:
Anything sweet (M&Ms are tops)
Anything fruit

Her vocabulary has exploded lately in both languages:
agua
papa
mama
Nenna (Nina)
Titi (tia - Veronica)
Emm (Elmo)
tray (train)
avoo (avion - airplane)
appu (apple)
bo (bol - ball)
nana (banana)
peto (perro - dog)
pato (duck)
eye
She also recognizes a lot of words in both languages and obeys simple commands in both languages.

Sounds that animals make: I'm going to try to upload a video so you can all enjoy the cuteness!

Gratuitous Self-Promotion

Because life is crazy and I didn't get a chance to clip the newspapers this past week, and because maybe one of these years I'll get around to scrapbooking our lives, here are the links to the articles that I may be able to access in the future to use:

Airshow exhibit opening:

http://pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/article_7ff5a72a-8de0-11df-a8cf-001cc4c002e0.html#user-comment-area

http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/arts-and-entertainment/features/2010-Atlantic-City-Air-Show-Schedule-Set-98260719.html

Time capsule opening:
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/article_d479892c-8ea0-11df-9277-001cc4c002e0.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/98393139.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/98341579.html

http://www.njcrda.com/pages/Time%20Capsule.aspx

Plus I was on the local nightly news both nights for the two events. :)

Catching Up...maybe

Yeah...it's been a while. Weeding the garden, cutting the grass, cleaning bathrooms, as well as working full-time and helping my husband work full-time and taking care of a very active baby and running the Young Women's program at church has pretty much filled up my life. Plus, Dora (the computer) was so horribly slow that doing anything took eons. But now we have Della and internet life is a little faster. :)

I will attempt now to summarize the last 4 months by selecting one picture to represent each month:

February - lots of snow...lots.









March - Baby suddenly has 2 teeth. (She hasn't gotten any since then.)









April - Lots of outside work: We put in a garden, Papi cuts the grass for the first time in his life. Papi also starts to work the graveyard shift at the local hardware megastore. He sleeps a few hours here and there and watches Baby during the day. She is sitting and trying to crawl.









May - Vacation in VA is all about yummy food...crabcakes from the Eastern Shore, Cheese Shop (bread ends and house dressing), Sno to Go, Captain George's seafood, Cornell Chicken, wedding cake, and devil dogs were all enjoyed. Baby crawls and pulls up to standing.










Now that it's June, we're working a lot outside and realizing just how big our yard is. We're also getting ready to do some home improvement - the chimney has to come down (it's unstable) this weekend and the siding and roof near that will have to be replaced. We're also excited for summer and the beach and summer visitors and the Airshow.

Roll Over, roll over!

Nina's new talent...she prefers her belly, but will go both ways now.

And speaking of bellies, a few laughs to boot.