6th Grade List

It's the last day of March, so why not celebrate that by  covering some things from February that were neglected? lol

Back in February, one of the assignments in Mikelle's 6th Grade Language Arts class was to write something nice about EVERYONE in class. The comments were then compiled together on a typed list for each student.

I think this is a FABULOUS idea. The middle school years are so tough. This is a good activity! I know the middle school years are tough for everyone, but so far, it looks like Mikelle isn't suffering as much as I did. I'm relieved for that! I know I said that in another recent post, but it bears repeating. I'm crossing my fingers that her journey through the time period, while arduous, won't turn disastrous. 

I asked her if she had trouble coming up with some nice things to say about some of the classmates.  She immediately said, "Yes!" I asked her what she came up with. She said she couldn't remember on a couple of them, but then said, "Well, with this one kid, I said his last name sounds really cool." I don't know what it is. Maybe it's something like Amador or Lancaster.  I'm glad she was able to come up with something.

I had to laugh at some of the comments. In my mind I would think, "Are they talking about My Mikelle?" (especially with the third one)

But then when I saw some other comments, I knew for a fact that they were, in fact, talking about my Mikelle!  I also laughed at "I think it's awesome how you always have no fear" 

Again, this type of activity should be required in all classes! Especially at the Middle School level! 

This is one of the Spring pictures. She forgot about them and she never told me about it when the envelope was sent home, so she ended up wearing pink. She says she hates pink, but I think she *wants* to hate pink. It's kind of like some of us want to hate certain music, but when we're alone in our car and one of those songs come up, we close the windows and crank it up. I wouldn't know anything about that though. 

She doesn't like these pictures, but I plan on getting at least one sheet. She seems to think she is in charge. "Mom! I said I don't want those pictures!" Uh, yeah, but I do. The fact that your birth involved vacuum and forceps is just one of many reasons why my say trumps yours!

 

And does anyone see the problem with this one (below)? It has nothing to do with Mikelle.

I know I'm a history and geography nerd, but if you're going to highlight Arizona's centennial, don't have a picture with a beach background.  Just saying.

Spring Pictures 2012

Keeping up with tradition, the kids had their Spring pictures taken. Part of the tradition is to commemorate Christian's birthday along with Easter/Spring time. Since he turned eight and is getting ready to be baptized, this was even more special. Therefore, he probably had more pictures taken than he had the patience for, but such is life when you have crazy mom who insists on a million pictures taken every few months or so!

Eight is Great!

A Vision Verses Reality 

I had a certain vision in mind of the three kids together, but let's just say that AleXander was NOT in the mood for any stationary poses. Oh, he was happy as long as he could remain in motion. If anyone tried to stifle that, well....

See?

But this one worked...mostly...

And then there was this one...

Needless to say, this session had a lot of "single" pics. There's always collages, right?

Some other fun ones...

 

15 Months

Alexander turned 15 Months yesterday! CRAZY! The kids took an impromptu video (that's why there is stuff on the kitchen floor and dog food on the counter), but adorable nevertheless! I have it set on "public" on Facebook because trying to post videos here is a useless feat. 

Click here:
Alexander 15 Months!

In Case You Didn't Already Know, This is Pretty Dang Sweet

I don't know this kid named Flint. In fact, I've never even been to Austin, Texas. 

However, after teaching K-8 for two years prior to teaching high school, I can only imagine what  4th grader Flint would have been like if he was in my classroom or if I was Albert Ramon, the visiting Austin, Texas Meteorologist to the local school.

Flint's letter is featured on the right, but here is the text of the letter with its original spelling: 

Dear Mr. Ramon,

Thank you for coming to our school and teaching us about weather.

Some day when I become supreme Ultra-Lord of the universe I will not make you a slave, you will live in my 200 story castle where unicorn servants will feed you doughnuts off their horns.

I will personally make you a throne that is half platnum and half solid gold and jewel encrested.

Thank you again for teaching us about meteoroligy, you’re more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out bacon riding a cyborg unicorn with a lightsaber for the horn on the tip of a space shuttle closing in on Mars while ingulfed in flames … And in case you didn’t know, that’s pretty dang sweet.

Sincerely, Flint.

Without knowing Flint, I theorize that Flint is one of those very bright kids with a huge imagination and bundles of energy because he cannot physically hold it in at once. These kids also have the tendency to drive teachers crazy, but any good teacher also knows how awesome these kids can be  (while we would pull our hair out).

This is just my own guess as I speak from experience. Then again, I may be completely wrong!  Kids are as much of a crap shoot than anything else!

Oh, and here is Flint's drawing from the back.

I think of some of the kids that stood out in my K-8 experience. One was this adorable kindergartener from my 2007-2008 school year.  For the life of me I cannot remember his name.  But his face is unforgettable.

He was full of energy and a real handful, but he was oh, so adorable at the same time. 

I know what that is like of course, being Christian and Alexander's mom. Being adorable is their "cover" so they survive!

This particular student was finished with his project, but a lot of other kids were not. Therefore, I often gave him jobs or things to do (he enjoyed sweeping, as long as he didn't turn the broom into a sword or blunt object to use as a weapon).

However, on this particular day when he finished early, I simply gave him a piece of paper and told him to draw a picture.  He mentioned he wanted to draw a rock band and a guitar. I about died when I first saw what he came up with:

Yes, it's a GUITAR!

He had already cut out his guitar and glued it to another piece of paper when I discovered it. He wasn't too pleased that I "borrowed" his drawing. But I had to take it home and scan it first before returning it to him. 

And in case you doubt that an innocent 5 year old meant that to be a guitar, here is one he drew the same day with straps:

Guitar with Straps

And if you still don't buy the 5 year old's innocence, here is the guitars in context with the band members (still drawn the same day. This kid did everything fast!)

That same school year, my kindergarten and first graders (and maybe second graders. I can't remember) did a project where they were given a plain shape and they had to turn it into something else. With a circle, I saw a lot of flowers, suns, moons, basketballs, ice cream on top of  cones, and that just names a few of the many creative possibilities that came out of this project. 

Then there was the Demon! LOL!

Not only was it a really creative way to make use of his circle, but look the detail and how well he could draw a Demon!

 And in case you didn’t know, that’s pretty dang sweet!

Our Leprechaun Turns 8

Christian wasn't upset about the misspelling. I just couldn't get much of a natural smile out of him.

Before I get into the St.Patrick's Day Birthday fun, a quick update to the Cookie-FAIL yesterday. On the fan page for the bakery that I posted the picture to informing them of their um, "error", I received this response this morning:

"Hi Jill- We're so sorry for the oversight! Can you please email the details (cafe location, team member that helped you, etc.) along with your contact info to (their e-mail) ? Thanks and we hope your son still had a great birthday!" 

In my e-mail to them (also attaching the picture of the cookie) I provided the location and how to reach me and I also said: 

"I do not know the team member that helped me because my husband ordered and paid for it and I was in a hurry when I picked it up.  I just glanced at my son's name to make sure the spelling of his name was correct. I didn't notice the "birthday" spelling issue and some sloppy spacing issues until about 10 minutes later. However,the kids loved it and it was yummy as always. I don't want anyone to be fired.  Just re-trained on spelling, how to draw shamrocks, and spacing issues.  Also, the employees need to know that auto-correct and spell-check won't take you very far with frosting."

Yes, a little snarky, but progressive stupidity due to entitlement and technology is a pet peeve of mine. Sure, spelling errors existed long before these gadgets, but these gadgets have given people the false notion that we don't need to know how to spell anymore - it'll get taken care of FOR us.  Drives me crazy!

THE LORAX

We began Christian's birthday celebration yesterday by taking the gang to see "The Lorax" Here they are outside the theater just before heading in. It was a beautiful cloudy and windy day - perfect for such an outing! Considering it was in the 90s the day Christian was born, yesterday's 3/17 was much better! 

And today? Yes, I digress,but it's in the 50s, raining, heaving snow up north - we finally get a taste of winter just before Spring commences!I can hear the rain fallig hard as I type! It's a sound that we are deprived of often, here in hell.  But anyway, back to the party....

PIZZA, TOKENS, CAKE...

Of course, as I mentioned with yesterday's post, the realization that we forgot the pick up the cookie-cake caused me to leave the movie early to run back down to the QC to get it and then run to the house to grab a few things. Then Alexander and I quickly joined the group again at Peter Piper Pizza!

Yes, I have some green teeth. Hey, the cookie-cake had its faults, but yummy sugary green, white and yellow goodness to mess up my weight-loss journey wasn't one of them!

Since we're digressing, here are my March toes. This was done a week ago, but it fits now with the green theme.  Mikelle has some sparkly green toes, but I can't get the camera to cooperate to take a pic right now. Hopefully that can be rectified soon.

Okay, back to the party....here is Mikelle and her green tongue with her friend Corbin. Corbin is the same age as Christian by only a few days and we've known Corbin since before he could walk!

Mikelle and Alexander.  As you can see, he's very happy to have his bottle. He's going to be a tough one to break from it.

Daddy and Alexander

I know it seems like we have a lot of pictures of Alexander, but the other boys (including our birthday boy) were running around crazy playing games, winning tickets, spending tokens, etc, and well, I wasn't about to follow them around with the camera.

...And we finally got a shot of Mikelle's sparkly green toes!

No "Spell Check" for Frosting

Today is St. Patrick's Day! That of course means it's Christian's 8th birthday! I wanted to post all his birthday pictures, but I will do that in tomorrow's entry because it will take a bit longer. 

For now, I have to share this:

You may not have noticed the first time. Try again.  

Hint: There is no Spell Check feature or Auto Correct feature for frosting. 

Do you see it now?

I didn't notice it right away because I was in a hurry when I picked it up and I just glanced at my son's name to make sure it was correct. 

I was dumb enough to assume "Happy Birthday" would be a given. And you know what they say about assumptions, right?

Anyway, I was back at the car with the box with the cookie cake balanced in one hand/arm and Alexander in the other (and of course being a Saturday, the truck was not parked conveniently close to the location of where the spelling error originated) when I made a mental note to look at the cookie-cake closer.

It was only after Alexander was already buckled in his car-seat when I noticed the spell-fail. In most circumstances, I would have gone back in. However, I was in a hurry. We forgot to pick up the cookie-cake before going to the movie with the group (the "Lorax") and I already had to leave before the movie was over to go pick up the cookie-cake and then run home to get Alexander his bottle because we forgot it (and his sippy cup broke a couple of days ago and we haven't bought a new one yet) and by now, Alexander was pitching a fit. 

Therefore, after seeing the error, but knowing going back inside and waiting who knows how long for them to fix it (plus dealing with a an almost 15 month old that wanted his bottle with a vengeance), I just figured "whatever", started the truck and rushed to the house to retrieve the bottle (and birthday candles, and my phone that I left charging, and...) then back to the party, which was now at Peter Piper Pizza, because the movie was over and by now, Chris had transferred the group (4 boys and Mikelle). 

All that backtracking and running around was NOT working well with these crazy gas prices!

I did post a picture on the bakery's Facebook fan page and I have submitted a picture to CakeWrecks.Com, though I don't know if it'll make it on the webpage.

As of this posting, I haven't heard anything yet on the bakery's Facebook page. However, it's only been a couple of hours and it is still St. Patrick's Day (well, night) and a Saturday night to boot! 

I also don't want anyone to get fired or anything - just a spelling lesson. 

Two, we frequent the local bakery location often for their sandwiches, salads, soups and yes, yummy cookies. Therefore, I don't want them to spit in my food! Their food is worth more than making a huge deal about the error (other than me bringing it to their attention).

Next entry? Cute 7-8 year old boys partying it up at The Lorax and Peter Piper Pizza!

The Ides of March

It's March 15th. Therefore, it was a bad day for Julius Ceasar.

I think I have some mild PTSD going on.  It's effecting my emotions, patience level, and all around feelings.  Plus, it's Spring Break for the kids (2 weeks) and I might be going a bit bonkers.

Therefore, I need to post some of my favorite funnies. 

The song is in your head now, isn't it?

In light of the weather becoming warmer (and if you've read my blog for longer than 10 minutes, you know how I feel about that), let's remember some of the side effects to feeling overheated. Click below on this video. No worries. It is very cultured - opera, classical music and some of the good people in Argentina:

A Message from Argentina 

One of my pet peeves is poor use of spelling and grammar. Oh, I know I've made spelling errors on here.  I've also made grammar errors on here as a result of typing too fast for my brain to catch up. However, I tend to go back and edit like crazy.

I'm talking about those that have no idea what proper grammar even is! And worse, you try to correct them and they have a cow. Geez! Just trying to help the world look a little more intelligent, bit by bit.(and yes, that's a little tongue and cheek. I know how snotty I sound).

 

I'm not a big watcher of the Academy Awards.  Oh, I like knowing who and what was nominated and then I like to know who and what won. However, I am not into sitting through the whole thing, the "yaddi yaddis" and commercials.  I also don't want to sit through the red carpet stuff and see what overpaid shallow people are wearing only one time that cost thousands of dollars.  Of course, I like seeing the pictures in Glamour or something later when they're complimenting one overpriced dress and trashing another. 

That said, Angelina Jolie's narcissistic leg pose that night was all over the place after this year's Oscars.  Since I find her shallow, hypocritical and arrogant, I'm in love with some of the parodies.  Here are two of my favorites:

The parody of "Whistler's Mother":

And even though I don't really watch the Oscars, one of my favorite Oscar moments was 13 months before I was even born!

Plus, David Nivens is one classy guy, may he rest in peace. (Nivens was the dressed individual of the two):

46th Annual Oscars - The Streaker

Speaking of vintage stuff, I was sad about the untimely death of the cutest Monkee, Davy Jones.  Here is my favorite Monkees song, featuring Davy in his adorable 60s velour:

Davy Dancin' like Axl Rose (or maybe Axl dances like Davy!)

But wait, this wasn't supposed to be sad. Okay, here is the same song, but the "Literal Version". And a comment made by Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder about how Axl Rose learned his dancing moves from Davy Jones made it into this video:

Literal Video of Funky Rainbow Room!

(As some extras, here's a comparison someone put together of their dancing similarities: For what it's worth..and this one too. I don't know how well the comparisons are made: view at own risk!)

A few more random funnies:

And this isn't really funny, just perfectly logical. My nerd crush is Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

And of course if I was Princess Leia, I may have been tempted to have an affair with Lando and keep Han on the side (especially while he was frozen in Carbonite. I had to let Lando help me deal with the grief, right?!).

And Carl Sagan is just an amazing individual that we lost too soon. It makes sense that if you put Carl Sagan and Lando Calrissian together, you get Neil.  Rawrrr.....

On that note, have a great Thursday!