Wockets and pockets

I cannot get Dr.Seuss off my mind lately. His birthday is Wednesday and my classes are doing projects inspired by his work. Because of this, and because it's just plain good stuff, I've been reading a lot of Dr.Seuss both to my kids at home and my kids at school.

In preparation for this, I did a lot of internet research on Dr.Seuss and discovered that (not surprisingly) he had a lot of good stuff to say.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

When people express their amazement about how alike my kids look, and how much they look like me, I jokingly call myself a human Xerox. I mean really- three chances for genetic variations and this is what we get?
While the four of us do look alike (sorry John), they all have their distinct personalities. If they learn nothing else from me, I hope they learn to be themselves because you should...

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Here are two more I love:

"Adults are just obsolete children and to Hell with them."

"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good."

...and one final one that I would love to have cross-stitched and framed in my house:

"I've heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me."

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss. Thanks.

Hot-lanta

Last week I went to Atlanta for school. I looked out my hotel room to see this:I was sent to visit this man:Who co-founded this school:The school visit started in the library with stuff like this painted on the ceiling:
...and this jumpy thing as a permanent fixture in the middle (yes, of the library):
The classrooms all had fun stuff like this in them:
We learned (and sang and danced and laughed) a lot and at the end of the day, the only way out was to go down this slide:
What an amazing place! You can go here and read more about him/his school.

The house was even still standing when I got home.

Happy (early) Valentine's

Valentine's Day was always my favorite holiday as a kid.

Not for the romance aspect. Bleh! No, I love Valentine's Day because of the crafting possibilities. There's just something about heart shaped doilies that makes me pause and think, "what could a grown woman do with these?"

The answer, is nothing.

This is why I had kids.

As I said in an earlier post, I made the kids' Valentines this year. I ran into a post on the blog I Am Momma Hear Me Roar. This also introduced me to the photo editing website called Picnik. I see many more projects like this in my future.

Here is Iwa's:
For the treat, I upcycled a bunch of broken crayons (I'm an art teacher who can't throw anything away in a school of 900+ kids. I have plenty of these) into heart-shaped crayons. I put them in a snack-sized ziploc bag and stapled the picture on top.

For Kawika's, I stuck more closely to the idea I saw on the blog:
...mostly because he has THE BEST kissy face in the world. I filled a snack-sized ziploc with Hershey's Kisses.

I still couldn't find a way to incorporate doilies. Maybe next year.

Spoiler alert

This year, I made the kids' class Valentines. I'll post them when I'm done but here's a sneak peek of Kawika's:


...just makes me smile every time!

Happy birthday, daddy!

...John warming his hands by the fire.

We know you've only spent the last 8 1/2 years with us, but we love you forever.

Here's to many, many more.

Show and tell

For those of you who were curious, here's what Kawika took for show and tell at school today:
Of course, at school, he was wearing pants.

Ever since Aunt Krissy sent him and his sisters glow in the dark "bone jammies" for Halloween and we explained what bones were, this kid has been obsessed.

This incident has just put fuel on the fire.

He now sleeps with his x-rays and an issue of the American Journal of Orthopedics which is complete with more x-rays and candid photos from various surgeries.

I just hope that football scholarship can take him all the way through med school.

3 for 3 makes a Turkey!!

I can't see it, my family can't see it, but medical professionals tell me that somewhere in there is a hairline fracture.

In my baby boy's foot.

Let me rewind:

Lots of times, Kawika walks into his room for awhile. Minutes later he comes running full speed into the living room. Sometimes he is running right for you and you hope that someday all this abuse you take will pay off in the form of a football scholarship. Sometimes he falls down and plays dead and you have to perform a fake autopsy or CSI investigation (yeah, mommy has an odd sense of humor. uh, have you met me?). This time, however, he fell down, landed with his left knee on top of his right foot, and laid there and cried.

He broke his own foot and now he's sporting a knee-high blue weapon of mass destruction. Heaven help his sisters if he finds out how useful that thing could be.

He is very excited about the x-rays we got to take home on a CD, and the American Journal of Orthopedics he also took as a souvenir.

First we had the stitches, then, two days later, Leilea dislocated her elbow (again). Not even a week after that, Kawika breaks his foot.

That- in bowling- is what we call a Turkey. (3 strikes in a row)

At home we call it a hell of a week.

I think the Department of Child Services might have a name for it, too, but from now on the kids are going to be wrapped in packing foam and bubble wrap so we never have to find out.