Aloha Friday | The Angel Forever

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Vera Bradley birthday goodness

Posted on December 10, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I sit and type this, my birthday has almost come and gone. I was afraid to wake up Thursday morning and face the day because of what happened last year on my birthday. I even wrote about it with my cake request. Thankfully, it was a very nice day. I will write more about it later on.

Most years, I have a hard time knowing what I would like for my birthday. This year, I knew I needed a camera. TechyDad took care of that for my birthday, along with part from my parents. When my mother questioned me a while back, I mentioned that I thought I would like a Vera Bradley purse. I fell in love with Vera Bradley when I was teaching. Many of my students had bags that they used from various collections. One year, I even received my own Vera Bradley pencil case. I use it to hold my MP3 player since it is the perfect size.

I was not really sure which one that I wanted. We went and looked around a few times. After one stop, I knew just the style and pattern that I liked. My mother eventually went back to the store and got the exact one that I mentioned that day.

Isn’t she pretty? I know it’s kind of bold and funky, but I love her. Here is a closer look at my Villager in Symphony in Hue.

So my question to you is inspired by my first ever Vera Bradley bag:

Do you like Vera Bradley and/or have any items? Please share, I would love to know which type and patterns.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #129

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Aloha Friday birthday family looking back me moments photos

Put on your yarmulke. . .

Posted on December 3, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

it’s time to celebrate Chanukah! Why yes, Adam Sandler’s song is one of many that we play during the Festival of Lights at our house. For the first night on Wednesday, we put on the Pandora Hanukkah Station to see what new songs were there. I was surprised that a lot of the songs were all in Hebrew – yikes!

After we lit the candles, the boys received a gift. I will spare you with the comments that we received after handing them their presents. Suffice to say the little guy was not pleased with clothing and said it was not a Chanukah gift – oy!

Thursday evening we lit the candles for night two. TechyDad and I did not buy a lot of items for the boys this year. They receive plenty during the year and from family. I wanted to give them something that would keep them busy. So we pulled out a shared gift and some Chanukah coloring books. The little guy cried again – although I think it was over needing a tissue. The big kid was happy to watch the DVD and color in his book.

So my question to you this week:

What was your least favorite holiday gift that you ever received and why?

P.S. – Please stop by and check out my guest post on Chopper Shopper Chatter about Creating Chanukah Traditions. Oh and don’t forget to enter my two giveaways. #1 for an Aurora stuffed gift (ends 12/5) and the other a gift pack from Loveable Labels (ends 12/12)

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #128

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Aloha Friday holidays jsl nhl photos

Thanksgiving favorites 2010

Posted on November 26, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

After being out and about all day for Thanksgiving, my brain is a bit tired thanks to Mr. Turkey. With that in mind this week’s question is:

What was your favorite part of Thanksgiving this year?

Mine is simple, it was the special time with my family. This year it included 20 of us gathering at my Aunt S and Uncle M’s house. It was a wonderful time. Here are just a few of the memories from the day spent with my wonderful family.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #127

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Aloha Friday family holidays photos

A Magnetic Discovery of the 3 year old kind

Posted on November 19, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Thursday afternoon, JSL and I had a date. We were going to The Children’s Museum at Saratoga to explore before I was set to finish an interview with their Education Director for KidsFunPlaza. We had been to the museum before, but it was when JSL was so little that he did not recall anything. The two of us had a fabulous time checking out all of the different displays and learning areas within the two floors of exhibits.

While in the school house room, the little guy was fascinated with a magnetic ball maze that was on the table. What I captured next was fascinating to watch. Here is my three year old making a magnetic discovery.

This truly is what The Children’s Museum at Saratoga and countless others around the world are about. They are there to allow children and adults to bond over learning experiences that are developmentally appropriate for the child.

So my question to you this week:

What is your favorite museum to go to (with your family or alone) and why?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #126

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Aloha Friday Educational jsl laughs milestone video

School projects

Posted on November 12, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

When I was teaching, I was a pro at assigning projects to my students. I had a lot of fun coming up with new and creative ways for my kids to do things like book reports and science projects. Of course, the flip side of these items was correcting them. I spent countless hours creating rubrics with my grading policies, expectations for each section, and more. Once the items came in, as exciting as it was to see the creativity of my students, it also meant a lot of work correcting/grading them. Not simply slapping a grade on them, but writing comments as to why points were deducted per the rubric and beyond. In the end, it was well worth it. Of course, I did have complaints about some of my projects. The calls, e-mails, and personal visits happened many times. Most of the time, things ended well and everyone was happy.

Now I am getting a taste of life as a parent helping with projects for my own boys. NHL has had a few of them here and there, he is a second grader after all. On Tuesday, JSL (3) came home with his first ever school assignment from nursery school. I smiled as I watched the little guy get so excited that he had homework. I read the note that was on a large sheet of construction paper:

Dear Parents,

In conjunction with the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving, we will be focusing on our families.

Your homework is to depict what your family enjoys doing together. Use pictures, stickers, etc.

Homework is due Friday, Nov. 12th.

Have fun,

JSL’s Teachers

So, JSL has been talking non-stop about doing his homework (I need to record this excitement to use for when he gets older). Thursday, he helped me to pick out some photos. We went to CVS and had them printed out. Then we sat down on the floor to arrange them on the paper. He helped me to glue them on (had special photo glue I was testing), and then added fun stickers of his choice from my collection. Here is the final result:

So my question for you this week:

If you have children, what has your favorite project been that they have brought home? If you do not have kids, or they are too little, what was your favorite as a child?

P.S. Be sure to stop by and enter my Mastermind Game giveaway and TechyDad’s Mastermind Animal Tower giveaway.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #125