Happy November Y'All

Ah, is there anything more beautiful than Fall in Georgia? 

The answer is No- there is not! ... Well, maybe Fall in London...

Now, I know Fall really starts maybe late September through October, but I always consider the start of November to be the perfect Fall. 

The leaves have changed colors, the weather is cooler, the air smells crisper, and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. 

I LOVE November. I think it is the best month ever! I love getting Carmel Apple Cider from Starbucks... I love wearing scarves.... enjoying the weather... and of course Thanksgiving!!! And now I can add celebrating my wedding anniversary! 

Living in Hawaii- I don't get to see the beautiful leaves... or wear a scarf.... or drink hot apple cider... but it's not too shabby here. The waves are getting big and my drive to work is beautiful. I just wish it was a bit cooler and there was a little bit of orange in the trees. 

Have a great November you guys and if you live where there is a true Fall please enjoy it! 

Halloween With the Kiddos

This year I actually had to fly back to Hawaii on Halloween, but this did not stop me from doing many Halloweenish things with my Georgia family. 

First thing First: Had a blast with some pumpkins

Joe and his girlfriend Mandy carved pumpkins and I had some fun taking pictures. The kids (Jud and Olivia) carved pumpkins Tuesday before Halloween. 

 (Mandy is behind Joe holding the pumpkin) 

(Jud's pumpkins is a paw print because that is the theme of Wild Kratts.. more on that later.) 

Second: Made a Halloween costume at a really late hour: This year Jud wanted to be Chris Kratt from Wild Kratts on PBS Kids... If you have never heard of this don't be ashamed most people (including other 9 year olds) have not. But mom and me wanted to make this costume good for Jud so I went and did some research and I found a blog post dedicated to making the "Creature Vests" they wear in the show and a whole Wild Kratts birthday theme.... and a WHOLE Pintrest page dedicated to Wild Kratts DIY party wear!!!!! 

I mean they are not joking when they say you can find anything on the internet! After reading this blog and one trip to Wal-Mart, Mom and I were ready to make Jud's very unique costume! I think it turned out great! 

Here is what Jud was shooting for: (Chris Kratt is the one in the green) 

Here is what Mom and I came up with: 

Okay let me explain the  intricate parts of Jud's costume. 

1. The Creature Vest: the Kratt brothers put this on when they go on different adventures learning about animals in the wild. 

Mom and I got green felt from the store and spray on adhesive and we cut one of Jud's old shirts to make the vest. 

2. The gloves: see explanation above. 

These were just regular gloves from Wally world. 

3. Creature Power Discs (the colored circles with animal pictures): these go in the center of the paw and represent which animal they are exploring that day..

I did these on my computer. Then we laminated and stuck magnets to them. The paw print had a magnet in the middle as well so the discs would stick! 

4. Power Pouch (aka the purse Jud had around his waist): this holds the power discs!

5. Name Tag: I was afraid no one would know who Jud was.... I know crazy right... so I made an id badge that said "Hi, my name is Chris Kratt from Wild Kratts on PBS."  

(Sorry for the unclear pic... I stole from my Aunt's Facebook) 

Here are both the kids and my cousins and my Abulea on Halloween night. There is Jud in all his Chris Kratt glory. Olivia was Maria Sharapova- I also made her and ID tag that was a Player pass from the Australian open... I know genius right! 

All in all I think the costumes turned out well! Mom and I had to sew a few of the pieces of Jud's costume together but I think he made a great Chris Kratt. 

Many thanks go to the wonderful Mother over at Mom Endeavors for the wonderful blog post about all things Wild Kratts! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Halloween! 

Friday Flashback #24

I guess I have always had a thing for men of color....

Swamp Monster or Swamp Alex

Only in the South would they sell something like this... 

Think Pink

October is Breast Cancer awareness month... it is also AIDS awareness and many other awareness month, but in my family breast cancer is a little more real to us.

(Please don't mind my ashy feet.... GA is a drier than I am used to) 

My great grandmother, Laura Conner, died of breast cancer, and my Abuela, Kitty Stewart, was diagnosed with breast cancer in September of 2009. She went through chemo and has been cancer free for a while now.

This year Abuela and my Aunt Sara decided they wanted to walk in the Susan G. Komen 3 day 60 mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research.

To me this seems like a crazy idea... in order to be able to walk 60 miles... (hint: to be allowed to register) you have to raise $2500 each! You are literally paying to be in pain. Hahaha okay to them it did not seem like this, but to me I could not imagine a worse fate!

Anyway, Abuela and Sara raised the money to take part in this walk and support the cause. I am very proud of them and the fact they lasted 60 miles.

(Sara ran off before I could take a picture with her)  

The walk happened to be the weekend I flew in to surprise my family so I was able to surprise them on their walk. It was great to see Abuela and Sara working so hard for something they care deeply about.

So guys for the rest of October Think Pink! 

Sewing With.... Name Omitted Part I

As some of you know I not only teach Hawaiian and Pacific history, but I also teach one class of Family Consumer Science... or for those of you that graduated before the 1990s. Home Ec.

And as ALL of you know this is a big joke. For two quarters out of the year I have to teach sewing. When I found out this was the elective I had to teach I just started laughing and thinking hmmm well I guess my mother-in-law will get her wish... I will finally have to pick up a needle and figure it out. (Hahaha- for clarification I was joking about the mother-in-law comment although if anyone really understands how hopeless I am in the sewing department it is my mother-in-law!)

In all honesty, Janice (the M.I.L) has helped tons. She sent me a huge package with patterns and lots of sewing stuff (not really sure what all of it is called).... and we had a Skype date where she talked me through a few things. (By the bye, Janice sent me this package late August and I didn't even touch it until late September.... about a two days before I was to start my sewing quarter.... can you say denial! I   put 'learning to sew' off as long as physically possible.)

Anyway, finally it was September 26th and quarter 2 had arrived... it was time to sew... and I was semi-prepared. I was not too worried because the only thing we were doing for the first two weeks was practicing stitches and learning how to sew a button.

Now, you might think 2 weeks is too long to do something this simple, but TRUST ME IT IS NOT! Each class is 45 minutes long and only 4 days a week. And by the time everyone gets in it's closer to 35  minutes. And with 7th graders... time seems to just disappear...

Okay, so it's been about 3 1/2 weeks since the sewing has begun and let me tell you- it is one of the funniest things/ frustrating things I have ever been involved in. When I got home the first day I started telling Matt all the funny things that happened in class and by the end of it we were both in hysterics.... so I decided to start blogging about the funny sewing mishaps that happen in F.C.S.

So here is the new segment Sewing With... Name Omitted. (Just to explain- Name Omitted is a way to clarify that because of privacy laws and the protection of my students- I cannot/ will not use any real names for my students.)

So no REAL NAMES  will be used in this blogging segment!

I will try to give you a weekly update of the funny things that happen. I hope you will enjoy these events as much as I do....

Happy Halloween

Matt and I getting in the Halloween spirit. I think our turned out pretty dang good. We got the skeleton and the caution tape at Wal-Mart for $6!