Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunsets and Beaches
Kaleidoscope is an annual publication by the Michigan Reading Association. Every school in Michigan can submit one piece of student writing for Kaleidoscope each year. Students who are included in the anthology are invited to attend a Young Authors Luncheon during the Michigan Reading Association annual conference. There is always an author that gives a presentation to the young writers. In the words of Martha Stewart, It's a good thing!
Because the girls' school district wasn't sending any writings for publication, I began sending them myself about five years ago. The girls submit their writing every other year, when the conference takes place in Grand Rapids. They love the opportunity to listen to a published author. I also take them to the Author's Garden, an area in the conference exhibit hall where authors are scheduled to sign books. And in the past, I have taken G to other sessions--one where she had the opportunity to do some creative writing led by author Wendy Mass. I have as much fun immersing them in the world of readers and writers as they have experiencing it. Here are their submissions for this year:
Sunset by Lili
Pink and yellow dance across the sky
orange lets its color shine
purple peeks over the mountain tops
red dashes from side to side in a streaking blur
the sun slips away under the Earth
darkness comes and with it, the moon.
The Beach by Genevieve
The sand shines like a million diamonds in the early morning sun,
The water glints, saving us all from the blistering days of summer,
Boats are drawn to it like bees to honey,
My beach
Volleyball matches so intense it's like our own little Olympics,
Tanning on the shores for hours,
Turning a lovely shade of cherry red if you forget the sunscreen,
The days are long, hot, and sticky
The only way to survive is the clear blue water of the beach
Fighting heat like a soldier in a deadly war.
The nights are short,
Spent by the flickering flames of a campfire,
Listening to the melody of the season
Stars poke out one by one, timid, as if the sun could come
Back and wash them away in its golden light
The leaves begin to alter,
Trading in their lively green color for crimson, gold, and ginger,
The summer is gone,
But the magic of the beach is only stifled for a small amount of time,
Hibernating over the winter like a lethargic bear,
Preparing itself for the next year.
Because the girls' school district wasn't sending any writings for publication, I began sending them myself about five years ago. The girls submit their writing every other year, when the conference takes place in Grand Rapids. They love the opportunity to listen to a published author. I also take them to the Author's Garden, an area in the conference exhibit hall where authors are scheduled to sign books. And in the past, I have taken G to other sessions--one where she had the opportunity to do some creative writing led by author Wendy Mass. I have as much fun immersing them in the world of readers and writers as they have experiencing it. Here are their submissions for this year:
Sunset by Lili
Pink and yellow dance across the sky
orange lets its color shine
purple peeks over the mountain tops
red dashes from side to side in a streaking blur
the sun slips away under the Earth
darkness comes and with it, the moon.
The Beach by Genevieve
The sand shines like a million diamonds in the early morning sun,
The water glints, saving us all from the blistering days of summer,
Boats are drawn to it like bees to honey,
My beach
Volleyball matches so intense it's like our own little Olympics,
Tanning on the shores for hours,
Turning a lovely shade of cherry red if you forget the sunscreen,
The days are long, hot, and sticky
The only way to survive is the clear blue water of the beach
Fighting heat like a soldier in a deadly war.
The nights are short,
Spent by the flickering flames of a campfire,
Listening to the melody of the season
Stars poke out one by one, timid, as if the sun could come
Back and wash them away in its golden light
The leaves begin to alter,
Trading in their lively green color for crimson, gold, and ginger,
The summer is gone,
But the magic of the beach is only stifled for a small amount of time,
Hibernating over the winter like a lethargic bear,
Preparing itself for the next year.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
A Chocolate Mess Tradition!
If there is one thing the staff at my school does right, it is feeding each other! Ok, we do a lot of other things right too, but we have a tradition that in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break, we have staff luncheons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each team signs up for a day and then plans the menu for what they will bring. Along with our 4 grade level teams, we have the related arts team, the office staff, and the parapro team. That makes seven days of not having to think about what to pack for lunch...it's awesome!
I didn't realize that my easy crock pot Triple Chocolate Mess had become such an expected tradition. But last week, the gym teacher mentioned in passing that he was already looking forward to it. And when I posted on facebook this morning that it was cooking in two crock pots, I got several comments from anticipating staff members. I also got comments from other friends wondering what the heck I was making. So, here is the recipe for you, friends. Happy cooking, but most of all, I hope it makes happy memories for you!!
Triple Chocolate Mess
1 cake mix
1 instant pudding mix
Mix these dry mixes together in large bowl.
4 eggs
1c. water
3/4c. vegetable oil
1 pint sour cream
Mix these wet ingredients in smaller bowl until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well.
Stir in 6oz. chocolate chips. Put mixture in greased crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. You can cook at a higher temp for less time, but it can tend to burn on the bottom if you do. I also layer paper towels under the lid and change them from time to time to soak up condensation that make it soggy if it drops back down.
I didn't realize that my easy crock pot Triple Chocolate Mess had become such an expected tradition. But last week, the gym teacher mentioned in passing that he was already looking forward to it. And when I posted on facebook this morning that it was cooking in two crock pots, I got several comments from anticipating staff members. I also got comments from other friends wondering what the heck I was making. So, here is the recipe for you, friends. Happy cooking, but most of all, I hope it makes happy memories for you!!
Triple Chocolate Mess
1 cake mix
1 instant pudding mix
Mix these dry mixes together in large bowl.
4 eggs
1c. water
3/4c. vegetable oil
1 pint sour cream
Mix these wet ingredients in smaller bowl until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well.
Stir in 6oz. chocolate chips. Put mixture in greased crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. You can cook at a higher temp for less time, but it can tend to burn on the bottom if you do. I also layer paper towels under the lid and change them from time to time to soak up condensation that make it soggy if it drops back down.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Simple Memories
I loved the feel of her hands combing through my hair, even if she pulled a little when my face started turning back toward the tv. I hope Lili remembers it fondly one day as well.Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tradition
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Keeping schedules straight in my head for four people is going to kill me--or at least destroy my teeth!
Normally, I don't remember my dreams. But after visiting the dentist today and being told I clench and grind my teeth, and the streak of dreams I have had lately, I am beginning to think that I am working out my stress at night.
When I do dream, I tend to remember the ones that happen because of a change in my schedule. I am always afraid that I am going to miss important events--the first day of school after a long break, important meetings that I have, that sort of thing. This week, being a holiday week, was a strange one to keep straight in terms of schedules. I had work on Monday and Tuesday. The girls were scheduled to have school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday--with Wed being an early dismissal day. Months ago I had decided that I would not be getting up today to take them to school for only a partial day. As it turned out, G ended up with a dental appointment at 7:30 this morning and I had one at 10:30. I also had to deliver G to a friend's house in the afternoon.
On Monday night, I dreamed that I bustled through the day, realizing at the end that, although I had taken G to her appointment, I had missed my own. On Tuesday, as I ran through in my hand what I needed to do the next couple of days, I was glad that I had just dreamed my error. Then I had a moment of panic that I missed taking Lili to dance class. Realizing it was only Tuesday, I breathed a sigh of relief that dance class is Wednesday and I had not missed it.
Today, all the appointments were kept with no problems. I even got to enjoy taking G out to breakfast and visiting with my baby brother. After a busy morning and early afternoon, I was ready to snuggle in for the evening.
While I took a little nap, Lili cleaned up the kitchen with the ulterior motive of wanting to make mini-surprise-cupcakes in the new Xpress Read Set Go machine from Nana. We were enjoying our little cooking time together and were sitting in the living room waiting for a batch to finish cooking. Lili mentioned to me that she had a weird dream last night. I was about to ask her to tell me about it when my stream of consciousness started talking to me. It went something like this: "You had a strange dream the other night too. Isn't it great that you didn't forget any of your appointments? Yep, you are truly a great mom. Even that panic attack about forgetting dance last night was a false...Hey, did you forget that dance is tonight? The last time you looked at the clock it was 5:44. You know dance starts at 6:00, right?"
While I was fairly eloquent in my head, all that would come out of my mouth was, "Lili! Dance!" Her eyes got wide, she scrambled to get dressed, couldn't find her shoes, and we had to wait for a batch of cupcakes to finish cooking. But we were only 10 minutes late. Yep, I'm still a great mom! But now that I have to remember where 4 people are supposed to be and when they are supposed to be there, maybe I need a better system. Otherwise, I'm going to have some restless, dream-filled sleep and less than healthy teeth!
When I do dream, I tend to remember the ones that happen because of a change in my schedule. I am always afraid that I am going to miss important events--the first day of school after a long break, important meetings that I have, that sort of thing. This week, being a holiday week, was a strange one to keep straight in terms of schedules. I had work on Monday and Tuesday. The girls were scheduled to have school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday--with Wed being an early dismissal day. Months ago I had decided that I would not be getting up today to take them to school for only a partial day. As it turned out, G ended up with a dental appointment at 7:30 this morning and I had one at 10:30. I also had to deliver G to a friend's house in the afternoon.
On Monday night, I dreamed that I bustled through the day, realizing at the end that, although I had taken G to her appointment, I had missed my own. On Tuesday, as I ran through in my hand what I needed to do the next couple of days, I was glad that I had just dreamed my error. Then I had a moment of panic that I missed taking Lili to dance class. Realizing it was only Tuesday, I breathed a sigh of relief that dance class is Wednesday and I had not missed it.
Today, all the appointments were kept with no problems. I even got to enjoy taking G out to breakfast and visiting with my baby brother. After a busy morning and early afternoon, I was ready to snuggle in for the evening.
While I took a little nap, Lili cleaned up the kitchen with the ulterior motive of wanting to make mini-surprise-cupcakes in the new Xpress Read Set Go machine from Nana. We were enjoying our little cooking time together and were sitting in the living room waiting for a batch to finish cooking. Lili mentioned to me that she had a weird dream last night. I was about to ask her to tell me about it when my stream of consciousness started talking to me. It went something like this: "You had a strange dream the other night too. Isn't it great that you didn't forget any of your appointments? Yep, you are truly a great mom. Even that panic attack about forgetting dance last night was a false...Hey, did you forget that dance is tonight? The last time you looked at the clock it was 5:44. You know dance starts at 6:00, right?"
While I was fairly eloquent in my head, all that would come out of my mouth was, "Lili! Dance!" Her eyes got wide, she scrambled to get dressed, couldn't find her shoes, and we had to wait for a batch of cupcakes to finish cooking. But we were only 10 minutes late. Yep, I'm still a great mom! But now that I have to remember where 4 people are supposed to be and when they are supposed to be there, maybe I need a better system. Otherwise, I'm going to have some restless, dream-filled sleep and less than healthy teeth!
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