Aloha Friday | The Angel Forever

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Drama at schools

Posted on July 16, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As a former teacher, I am quite used to drama at schools. It can happen at all levels and I even remember some as a child. Still, I was lucky enough never to deal with the scenario that is playing out for my son. You see, once again there is a threat to close his school down.Yes, they are threatening to close a school that has had a steady increase in enrollment, high state test scores and a phenomenal community spirit. I am blown away with the so called rationale and backhanded politics behind some of the reasons. Of course, none of these things are really new in the area. The problem is that the state of the economy in New York has made this boil on our bottom even closer to the point where it will burst. (Can you tell I am in a mood?)

So yesterday, after digesting more uncertainties at the school board meeting, I had to take a minute and get some things off my chest. I wrote about it here: Education funding crisis – save our school.

Obviously, I am being a bit vague about things. Since I try to protect my son, I can not go into all of the details, or it will be obvious which school he is in. So this week my question to you is:

Did you or your child ever go to a school that was constantly threatened to close down or get shut down? If you have any experience, I would love to hear suggestions on things to do to help our school and especially my son who will be devistated if this happens.

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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 #108

Categories:
Aloha Friday Educational losing my mind me moments school stupidity

Picking fresh fruit

Posted on July 9, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

During the summer, we often think about going to pick fruit in fields to eat fresh. My family does this since it is a great activity that we can all do together and have fun. My favorite is definitely cherry picking. While visiting my brother and his family we found a place that has mini-cherry trees that were perfect for picking.

When we were finished, we had over 22 pounds of cherries! Seems like a lot, but they were oh so delicious and managed to get eaten up by all of us and others that we gave them to.

This year, we had hoped to get to strawberry picking, but other commitments did not allow for this. We have done it in the past.

Although I love strawberries, I am not a huge fan of picking them. Do not like getting down into the dirt with the bugs. It is also harder for the kids to grab them since they are so easy to squish.

Fun in the fruit fields is not limited to the summer, we also enjoy apple picking in the fall. This past year, we went apple picking for the first time with the boys and had a wonderful adventure.

When we were finished, we had over 35 pounds of apples to eat, share, bake and make into different items.

With any luck, we should be going cherry picking again soon. Can not wait to see how the little kids do this time since they were in strollers on the last trip. This week’s question is inspired by all of the fruit picking adventures:

Do you go fruit picking with your family? If you do, what is your favorite item to get? If you have never gone, what do you wish you could go to pick fresh from the field?

BTW – Be sure to stop by and enter my Simply Go-Gurt Giveaway pack that ends on 7/14.

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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 #107

Categories:
Aloha Friday family food glorious food fun jl jsl looking back nhl photos summer yummy

Things to do at the park

Posted on July 2, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

With the July 4th weekend starting, it is hard to think of anything aside from spending time outside in the sun. Wednesdaym the boys and I went to the park with Nana and had a lot of fun on the cool summer day.

So my question this week is inspired by our afternoon:

What is your favorite thing to do when you go to the park? Remember, not only kids like to swing – so fess up!

Oh and if you have kids in school, please stop by and answer my School Supply List question that I asked yesterday. I posted the list that my son has for second grade and was curious what others have for the fall (must be the teacher in me).

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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 #106

Categories:
Aloha Friday fun jsl nhl photos play time summer

Caved into Character Bandz Craze

Posted on June 25, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Flash backs of my childhood and the jelly bracelet craze came flying back recently thanks to Silly Bandz. Kids all around are begging parents to take them from store to store looking for these rubber bands that are shaped like butterflies, basketballs, elephants and more. As the mother of a son almost done with first grade, I was curious if he knew about them.

Yes, NHL had seen Silly Bandz on classmates and knew that his cousins had them at JSL’s birthday party. That was pretty much all he knew and cared about. I was relieved that I would not have to be one of those parents that went on a wild goose chase to find these greatly sought after items. This was the case until Friday.

Last Friday, after school, I took the boys to the store to get a few items. As we were finishing up our shopping, we ended up in a section that had all things for Toys Story 3. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with packages of Character Bandz. Yes, Disney has signed up with a company to made these bracelets in shapes from Toy Story 3, Cars, Disney Princesses and of course Mickey Mouse.

To buy to not to buy?

I sent out a few Tweets to see what to do. The boys were curious about them and I was not sure if we should buy them. There were three different sets of Toy Story 3. I must admit, I had no clue how many were in the package. In the end, the boys wanted something else that was much more expensive. I turned their attention to the Character Bandz. This is what we bought and took home to open:

When we opened them up, we found the five designs: Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Rocket Ship. The package showed that there were four colors. Much to my relief, there was one of each color for the five designs. So for $4.00 we received 20 of the bracelets. I set them into piles and had the boys take turns selecting two from each of the characters.

Thank goodness, there were no real fights. They were both so happy to have them and put them on. Here are the boys modeling their Toy Story 3 Character Bandz.

What has been funny to me is that JSL is more interested in them. NHL wears them for a little while and then wants to put them away. To make sure they are not lost we have snack bags marked with their names. If they come off their wrist, they must go into the bag. So far so good. The best part, the boys are not begging for more. They seem content with these. Of course, they have not seen the other Disney character options yet either. I guess we shall see what happens if/when we ever see them.

So my questions this week:

1. What fad do you remember from your childhood?

2. Do you have any Silly/Character Bandz in your house? (Adults and not only kids are into them it seems)

Always curious to see what others have seen/heard by them during this latest craze.

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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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #105

Categories:
Aloha Friday brothers Disney jsl nhl photos shopping

Summer fun at the library

Posted on June 18, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wednesday was a miserable and rainy day. JSL was going stir crazy and kept asking to get out of the house. Eventually, I asked him if he wanted to go to the library to get some things and play. Yes, I said play at the library. They were open at that point and I knew they had just gotten some puzzles for kids and had a LEGO table with several types of building blocks. I also thought about taking his library card so he could use their computers to try some things on kid websites.

When JSL and I arrived at the library, it was pretty empty. First, we went to get some DVDs and then settled into the kids area. JSL took out a puzzle and then decided he wanted to check out the blocks and build some items. He was playing very nicely all alone. I will spare you the details about what happened when two girls suddenly arrived without any adults. Thankfully, JSL kept playing and was letting the girls take a ton of the items away from him.

As JSL was using his imagination, I sat next to him on the floor and was knitting my current small project. It was nice and quiet, so I could knit and watch the little guy play.

While there, I also realized that in just a few short days both of the boys will be home for the summer. NHL will be going to camp part of the time, but JSL will be home with me until he starts nursery school part time in the fall.

So my questions to you today:

1. When was the last time you went to the library and what did you do or get while you were there?

2. Aside from spending time at the park, playing outside and visiting the library, what other ideas do you have to keep two kids busy during the summer that will not break my bank?

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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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #104