Graduation Parties Continue

My hubby and I attended only two graduation parties today that honored 3 of the grads. Tomorrow will be a marathon with 5 parties. Too bad one of them does not cover breakfast so that we would have all of our meals covered. Ha!

Niece Graduates

My niece graduated from high school last night. It was a typical ceremony with the usual hooting, hollering, and a few air horns. Nothing really spectacular to write about, except it was a little emotional for our family because our niece is the daughter of our brother who passed away four years ago. He would have been so proud to have seen his beautiful daughter walking in with medals, gold cords, and white sash to indicate just how smart and well-rounded she is. After all she graduated in the top 5% of a class of over 250 and is accepted at IU. He would have been on the floor taking pictures of her and her friends, probably standing in the line of vision of other proud parents. He would have lingered afterward, hoping to get more pictures. He would have done so much more than we did, but then, he was her dad!

School's Out for Summer

School's out! In some ways it seems as if the year as continued forever, but in other ways it just zipped by. Now it's time to clean house, clean closets, sort piles of junk, pull weeds, take more classes, teach VBS, play with my granddaughter, walk 5 miles a day, eight day mission trip, vacation to Tenn., a wedding, a trip to a theme park, Beginner Bible Bowl competition, the Fourth of July celebration, etc., but not necessarily in that order. I can hardly wait!!

More Granddaughter Stories

We had a fun-filled Memorial Day weekend, complete with all my kids coming for the whole day on Mon. I was able to spend time with my granddaughter, Toots, so I have more stories to tell. (My students at school think I should write a book and use her as the main character like the Junie B. Jones series.) Toots and I were sitting out on the patio when I got chocked. I coughed several times so Toots slid off my lap and without looking at me, said in a gruff voice, "Cover your mouth when you cough!" Okay, I survived the incident, but no compassion or concern from the little one. Toots and I tried enticing the ants with food. First we used a marshmallow. The ants really loved that until grandpa through it away. He didn't see the science in it, just the attracting of more ants. Then we tried a piece of Hershey's chocolate on the patio. At first, the ants didn't seem to notice it. But Toots did. I was afraid she was going to pick it up and eat it herself. Once we moved the chocolate to a distant location, the ants soon swarmed it. I'm not sure that Toots thought that was the best use of that piece of chocolate. It just reminded her that she wanted more toasted marshmallows and melted chocolate.

A Worthy Picture Is Worth Reading the Directions, First!

After my father passed away at the end of December, I took on the task of scanning the huge box of pictures that my parents had amassed over the years. My wonderful husband purchased a super duper scanner/copier to make the job easier for me. I have been working on the project off and on for 5 months, and believe I am finally finished. I labelled each picture with names and dates as best I could figure out, then saved each with a particular title. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. It wasn't till this week that I discovered that I could enhance, brighten, sharpen, etc. the pictures to improve them greatly. So the last ones of the Polaroid shots of vacations in the 1960s are now much improved. I wish I had read the directions BEFORE I began this whole process. I am NOT going to redo the pictures. My extended family will receive their individual disc with nearly 500 pictures as is. I don't think I will tell them that I could have made them better. When or if I ever learn how to put one of those pictures within my blog, I will share some of the more humorous ones.

Ants Make Their Choice of Candy Known

Well, we are still feeding the ants and calling it science. We tried an experiment to see what the ants would choose to eat. We put out two each of M&Ms, Reece's Pieces, and conversation hearts. We predicted what the ants would like. Most predicted the conversation hearts. While the kids were in art, and just 5 minutes after putting out the candy, I checked. I wasn't surprised that the ants were on the M&Ms, but was shocked that it took only 5 minutes. At the end of an hour, we checked on the progress and found some interesting information. The ants had begun eating the candy-coated shell off both M&Ms, enough so that the chocolate showed through. One of the M&Ms was surrounded by ants who appeared to be trying to carry it. A few ants were on the conversation hearts, but none seemed to want the Reece's Pieces. By end of day when we checked again, we found that just a few ants were trying the R. Pieces. Maybe they just don't care for peanut butter. I'm thinking of making a commercial--if you have small children who leave their candy around, give them Reece's Pieces to prevent attracting the ants. Or maybe this--M&Ms are so good that even the sweet-seeking ants will thank you for selecting M&Ms. I'm waiting on the call from the candy companies.

Tragic News

Just heard on the news this morning about the tragic death of the five-year old daughter of Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman. His teenage son accidently ran over his sister in the driveway of their home. I just can't imagine the pain that they must be going through, especially the son.

The Ants Enjoyed the Cereal, Too

The ant hill saga continues. My students put out some flakes of cereal and sugar-coated oats to see if the ants would find them. In an hour we went out to check, and they squealed with delight at the sight. Every piece of the sugar-coated oats was covered with ants! Of course I already knew that would be the outcome, but seeing is believing for the children. When even the flakes were gone today, they still were not convinced. One accused the janitor of taking the flakes (as if he would be concerned about a little bit of cereal on the bare ground around the tree.) Guess we need to put out some more candy to make the kids believe again. Wonder if the ants prefer candy hearts or M & Ms? This calls for another science experiment.

Work for Night is Coming

Saturday we spent the day working outside, pulling weeds, cleaning, organizing, throwing things away, using weed eater, etc. For some reason this morning I keep smelling sage. I cut back the sage in my herb wheel. Could the smell be stuck in my nose? Well, at least it wasn't skunk cabbage.

New Trike, Still in the Box

Our granddaughter, Toots, came over this morning. She spied her new trike still in its box, in the garage and went running to Papa yelling that she wanted to ride it. I told him that someone had spied the box to which she raised her hand (as if she were in school) and said, "Me! I found it!"

Ants at Work

We read an informational story about the ant in class this week. The story was set up with high interest pictures and broken into small, digestible chunks. The students were quite interested in reading all the facts. Did you know that in one year ants move 32,000,000,000,000 pounds of dirt? Did you know that only the females work? Did you know that an ant can carry 5 times her weight? One of my students referenced Bug's Life and said that it was wrong since the females are the workers and the males are lazy. To finish out the time one day (actually we didn't have anything else to do) we went outside to look for ants or anthills. One of my special needs boys was so excited to find a large anthill. When he didn't see any ants, he commented that they must be out to lunch. Now we know that expression as an idiom, but he meant it literally because the females leave the hill in search of food. Next week we will need to plant some food away from the hills and investigate how the ants carry the food back to their homes. I'm sure I can find a standard to cover that!

Point of View

How you take things in life depends upon your point of view. Like at a meeting I attended recently. The leader said we would be among a group of 45 going on the mission trip to the Gulf states that would range from younger to older. I laughed to myself as I surveyed our small group of participants. Among us, I'm one of the younger ones. But I suspect that when all are together, we will find out that I will be one of the older ones. It's just a person's point of view.

To All the Moms

Happy Mothers' Day. Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mothers Day. Whichever way it is written.

Field Trip to Education

Do you remember taking field trips when you were in elementary school? Do you remember the places you went, what the educational reasons for the trip were, or even the food you ate? Me neither. So why do we worry so much about whether our students had an educational trip this year? They will only remember that the horses pooped while giving wagon rides, the multi-flavored snow cones tasted like medicine, the cold wind made them wish for a coat, the mud was so much fun, they didn't have to sit and be quiet while someone else spoke, and the candy at the gift shop was so cheap. For a few years they will say that it was the best field trip they ever took.

No School for You!

As we near the end of this school year, we find life hectic as well as stressful. Trying to fit everything in while keeping the attention of the students becomes more difficult with each warm day. So I thought it was a joke last night when I received a call from a fellow teacher saying that school is cancelled for Thursday due to a problem at one of the schools that could not be fixed in time. Well, alright! I can use a day off without snow on the ground to hinder desired travel. But wait, will we have to make it up? Yes??!! Words cannot express how difficult it will be to keep the attention and behavior of the students in check with one more day added to the end. I will need to be more creative with plans to keep the children engaged without becoming enraged. Wonder what state standard that falls under?

Granddaughters Say the Cutest Things, Sometimes

When my granddaughter stayed overnight Friday night, she woke up really early, like 5:30 am. Try as I might, I couldn't get her to go back to bed. She said it was time to be up. Right, for Mimi, but not for someone who should require more sleep. For breakfast she opted for me to cook crumbled eggs. Now normally she doesn't like scrambled eggs, but my crumbled eggs were delicious. Another cute saying I heard come from her sweet lips, BUT NOT AT 5:30 AM, was crash darn it. I'm guessing she meant gosh darn it. At least that is better than some of the words she tells me that aren't nice to say, then she proceeds to say the word 50 times while telling me all the while that it is not nice to say such words. Hope I never utter something that I don't want repeated at her daycare, at the restaurant, at the drug store, you get the picture.

Another One Bites the Dust

Had an interesting day at school today. One of my students was absent because of a bike wreck that put him in the hospital overnight. He may not be able to return till Thursday. Another student was absent, making our class a very small one today. Many of the others were asleep at their desks. I just bet their parents do not make them go to bed at a regular time, especially over the weekend. Oh, well, not many days left in the school year. Don't think I will be able to change the children OR their parents.

Skip to My Lou

I had my granddaughter with me yesterday when I visited the chiropractor. On our way out of the office she began skipping across the parking lot. She wanted me to join in with her. At my age, walking is a feat, but I did my fake skipping. When I did, she remarked that my skipper wasn't broken any more. You see, when I am too tired or have already skipped a whole lot, I tell her my skipper is broken. She went on to say that her mommy's skipper is still broken. I asked her where do you go to get your skipper fixed? She quickly replied, "At the choirocracker!"