14 for 2014

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Today, I am linking up with Miss Kindergarten to blog about my 14 favorite memories from '14!

{ONE}

In March, I was super excited to present at the OAKE conference in Atlanta! I presented about long-term planning and also got to see many of my music teacher friends from around the nation. But even better...my daughter Jenna sang with the children's choir! I was so excited I was a weepy mess listening to their beautiful singing... (Jenna is in the second row, fifth from the left.)

{TWO}

About a week after that, my husband and I took a trip to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, just a short boat ride from Cancun. So beautiful and relaxing!

{THREE}

Then we celebrated Easter. These bunny ears only stayed on Macy for so long (like, 15 seconds)!

{FOUR}

This summer, I was able to spend lots of time with my girls. Macy got tubes put in her ears...long story, but she'd only been diagnosed with two ear infections, but my maternal instinct told me something was wrong, because her speech development plateaued. Sure enough, she had fluid and after several months, got tubes in her ears. It has taken a few months and speech therapy, but we are starting to see some big improvements! (Just this weekend, she said, "All right! Happy! All done!" after eating, and even sang the tune to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Here she is playing with bubbles, one of her favorite things (she says, "bubba pa!" which means "bubble pop!")

{FIVE}

This summer, Jenna competed in her second figure skating competition. She worked so hard...I was so proud of her! She has since decided to do piano lessons instead of figure skating...I loved watching her figure skate, but can't exactly complain about piano lessons!

{SIX}

This summer, I also taught Kodaly Level I at DePaul University in Chicago. I had a great class with lots of thoughtful questions and reflections! Here is a list of all their sticky notes, detailing what the Kodaly philosophy means to them.

{SEVEN}

In July, I went to the TpT conference. So many great ideas and presenters! AND I got to meet Lindsay Jervis from Lindsay's Kodaly-inspired classroom! So neat! (And later this year, I met Amy from Music a la Abbott and Tracy from Mrs. King Rocks when I presented for ROCKE and SLAKE...both are such lovely people!) I also got to meet Paul Edelmann, the founder of TpT, but of course my phone died as the picture was being taken of me with him...and I lost the picture. Still lots of great memories and information shared.

{EIGHT}

Then in late July, my family went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to hike in the mountains and visit the sites. So pretty!

{NINE}

In August, I had to quickly set up my classroom. My school's theme is space-themed, so I joined the fun and have a space-themed classroom. You can see more pics of my classroom this year here.

{TEN}

Then Jenna had her first day of fifth grade. She is a student at my school so she visits my classroom every day before school. How did she get so big!??!?

{ELEVEN}

In September, I went to the OAKE (Organization of American Kodaly Educators) board meeting and was able to visit the OAKE archives, which included TONS of MKMEA newsletters, bulletins, pictures, and more. I am currently president of MKMEA (Midwest Kodaly Music Educators of America) so this was super intriguing!

{TWELVE}

In October, my family and my in-laws went on our annual Hocking Hills trip. This is a beautiful area a little over an hour southeast of us, the same place my husband and I married. Here Macy and I are by our cabin. Love the fall foliage!

{THIRTEEN}

This summer, I learned that I received a grant for 8 iPad minis for my music classroom, with purchase of GarageBand and MadPad for creativity and composition! Hooray! They arrived in October, and I jumped right in and have had lots of fun encouraging creativity, group work, and composition. Read more about the iPads here.

{FOURTEEN}

...And then we celebrated Christmas! Here is Macy playing with what may be her favorite toy EVER...a tunnel from IKEA! (Special thanks to my in-laws for the super fun gift!) After rolling around in it, she was exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" How sweet is that?!?

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and a fabulous start to 2015!