Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
― Dr. Seuss

Heartwarming Hug

Last night when giving my ten year old daughter her goodnight kiss and hug she whispered in my ear: "I don't want to let go, because you always make every situation better." 

Yes, those are her exact words--she is a little precocious, but very endearing...warmed my heart.   

Scrabble Talk

Can you find the word our sixteen year old son composed during a friendly game of Scrabble on family game night?

Noodle Confusion

I asked my 15-year old son Jarrod if he wanted egg noodles or mac'n cheese for supper. He said, "egg noodles."  When supper was ready he took the lid off the noodle pot and said, "What's this? I thought you were making eggshell noodles. " I went to the cabinet and pulled out a box, showed it to him and asked, "Is this what you were thinking of?"  
Turns out he wanted elbow noodles. So..I gave him a high five and said, "Congratulations!  You made the blog!"
Love you, Jarrod!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind."   ~Dr. Seuss

Coloring Contest Circuit

Our  nine-year-old has been traveling the coloring contest circuit this past year.  Her last win was a DSI from a local contest, which was an extremely generous prize.  On our way to the store to pick up her prize my beaming daughter said, "I must be very talented with the coloring arts." 

Thought for the Day

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."




~Charles Swindoll

APPRECIATION

This past weekend my hometown had Homecoming festivities at the high school. The kids have spirit games all week long that lead up to the parade and homecoming game on Friday night. The town is buzzing with a current of excitement, because our football team is destined to win the conference---GO EAGLES!

Saturday night is the Coronation. The high school boys get dressed in tuxedos while the girls wear unbelievable dresses. A ceremony is held before the dance to crown the king and queen and then the dance begins. All of this is followed by diner out and after parties. This is a BIG DEAL in our town. Although we are just middle-class American, Coronation is taken seriously...So seriously that party buses limos and even Hummer limos can be seen taking the high school students to their destinations.

Upon seeing one such limo drive down their street, Denise's eight-year-old daughter Madelyn looks up at her and says, "Wow! They must really appreciate their daughter."

Smart girl. She is getting Mom and Dad primed for her turn in six short years.

The Golden Rule

Six-year-old Carter is learning about self discipline at his school. In an animated conversation with Mom, Carter explained what self discipline means. He told Mom about the Golden Rule and how we should treat other people the way we want to be treated. Carter then came up with a brilliant idea: "I think they should put the Golden Rule on our school wall in real golden."

Not sure how this idea will go over with the school district with all the cuts to education, but we could check into it.

What College?

My 8-year-old daughter Jae overheard her dad and I talking about our day. "UGHHHH! I had an appointment at the gynecologist's today," I said. At this point Jae chimes in, "What college are you talking about?"

DAY 20 PRE-K

During a language lesson, our speech therapist Ms. Michelle was reading a book to the 3,4 and 5 year olds. "He was startled be a knock at the door," she read. As she read she wrapped her knuckles on the nearest table to make the knocking sound. She then posed this question to the boys and girls: "Who do you think is at the door?" Several children shouted in excited response....TABLE! Thus the need for language lessons!

DAY 19 PRE-K

One day I introduced L to Reid. It went a little something like this:

Me to Reid: Reid, you know Lela from my class.
Me to L: L, you know Reid.
Lela to Me: Ms. Michele, I don't know how to read!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this age!

DAY 18 PRE-K

One student's rendition of the ABC's...

"ABJ2XRZ....How I wonder what you are!"

Sadly, you can not see the HUGE smile on her face after completing the ABC's. She was so proud!

Day 17 PRE-K

While learning the life stages of a butterfly/moth, we used a lot of repetition. EGG, CATERPILLAR, CACOON, BUTTERFLY....EGG, CATERPILLAR, CACOON, BUTTERFLY....EGG, CATERPILLAR, CACOON, BUTTERFLY.

When asking for volunteers to tell the class the life stages of a butterfly one very excited little guy exclaimed: EGG, CATERPILLAR, RACOON, BUTTERLFY!

Day 16 PRE-K

As PRE-K skill checks continued on, I couldn't help but smile when some of the kids named shapes for me. Can you guess the shape?

Egg............................OVAL
Obo............................OVAL
ELBOW..........................RECTANGLE

Day 15 PRE-K

To my loyal followers and those of you that just happen to drop by.....SORRY! Our oldest daughter just graduated from high school and her scrapbook, graduation and party CONSUMED me (Not to mention this full-time work thing!). But...I'm back.

Here is a FAVORITE that happened while I was "gone" in PRE-K:

Mrs. G. was practicing shapes with her pre-k class. She held up shape cards one by one. Each student had to name a shape BEFORE lining up for the playground. "C" was the only kid left.

Mrs. G.: (holds up a "square" card)"What shape is it?"
"C" : (silence)
Mrs. G.: "What shape is it?"
"C" : (silence)
Mrs. G.: "It's a square. Just say square."
"C" : (silence)
Mrs. G. : "Just say square."
"C: : "STOP SQUARING ME!"

I guess it's no longer hip to be square!

Day 14 Pre-k

BUTTERFLIES is our final theme of the year in Pre-K. We've been reading amazing stories like THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle. We even watched a short DVD that featured Eric Carle explaining where he got the idea for his book and what his childhood was like growing up in Germany. As we are watching I'm talking to the boys and girls about how Eric Carle never thought he could write books and now he is a famous author.

I announce: "You can be anything we want to be."

"H" enthusiastically shouts: "I want to be a caterpillar!"

Well.....maybe not ANYTHING!

ALTOID COMMERCIAL

Funny boy -- Isaac was enjoying an Altoid when he asked Mom if Altoids make your muscles get bigger. Mom's response was "What?" He said, "You know, didn't you take them when you had poison ivy?" Mom said "Oh, you mean STEROIDS!"

Day 13 PRE-K

Some cute and funny clowns visited our Pre-K to teach us about the character education word of the month: PERSEVERANCE. I don't know who made me laugh more, the kids with their reactions to the clowns or the actual clowns.

At one point Lilly the clown was doing a "magic" trick. She tried and tried and tried, but nothing she did made her successful. She even said, "abracadabra" but that magic word didn't work. So...she asked the boys and girls if they knew a word she could use to make her trick work. "J" shouted out in a very excited voice, "hoperpatopic" very convinced that HIS magic word would do the trick.

Can you guess what the correct "magic" word was? PERSEVERANCE

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms, step-moms, and grandmas. If anyone knows about perseverance it's MOM! Hope your Mother's Day is FABULOUS!

Day 11 PRE-K

During our POND unit we had a "pond" in the classroom with stuffed (pond) animals. "J" put the snake around her neck and said, "Hey, do you like my boa---constrictor."