Beamed Down by Aliens

The last week and a half has been a blur to me. You may have noticed I've been a bit absent lately, and here's why.

I was abducted by aliens.

Well okay, not really, but I was standing in my classroom yesterday, in front of my new sixth graders on the first day of school, and I thought to myself, "How did I get here? I was just on summer vacation and then KA-BLAM! Here I am. Back in the classroom."

My girls came back with me too, and I'm super excited about having them at my school this year. It's going to simplify everything. And annoy me to the point of wanting to jump off a bridge when they're bickering in my classroom after school, but they're there with me, and that is just the coolest thing. Now I can deal with snakes first hand when they crop up. I can't wait.

I just got the one picture yesterday because we were running late. We got up in plenty of time, hard as it was, but Zoe Bug woke up looking like this again, and that threw a wrench in the getting ready routine. It set us back a good fifteen minutes. Plus, because we're so lucky, it was raining. I had to rush the first day of school picture, and as a result it's a little blurry.

I am back in the saddle though, and looking forward to a routine again. I'm pretty happy with my new sixth graders. I have another super sweet class, and it's going to be a great year, I can already tell. Today I had them read "Dear New Sixth Grader" letters from my class last year, and I got a little teary eyed while reminiscing. It made me laugh to read some of the tips and advice given to my new sixth graders. Here's a small sampling of the nuggets of wisdom that were dispensed.

Sixth grade is pretty epic. You learn a lot and have fun.

Hmmm. I have to stop and look up the word "epic." I'm not sure it was used appropriately. It's dang cute though. I should make a vinyl quote for my classroom wall. Yes, that's it! I'm doing it.

About Mrs. Scott, be careful. She's OCD and a little clutzy.

Word.

Give Mrs. Scott presents. She loves presents.

And you my dear, get an A.  A big. Fat. A.

She is fun, and sometimes, I have to admit, she's boring.

Join the club, sister. This isn't MTV.

Um, does that even exist anymore?

She is a funny teacher sometimes, but when you get on her bad side, her head will pop off and chase you around the room, so it's better to be on her good side.

Most excellent advice, if I do say so myself.

Mrs. Scott is a crafty person, so she will make you little bookmarks and all kinds of stuff that is crafty.

I seriously cannot help it. I want to make them things because they are so dang cute. And sweet. And amazing.

You need to know that Mrs. Scott likes to joke around and give lots of homework.

I have no idea what this person is talking about.

Oh, and she hates the word reduce, so don't say it, say simplify.

What can I say? I'm quirky. And picky.

She is really nice and she also likes everything really clean and straight in the classroom, but that's a good thing because then you won't have to clean a lot.

I have symmetry issues. This is true.

Rule #1 - Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself, Rule #2 - stay in your seat when someone is talking, Rule #3 - No airborne objects.

It's true. I absolutely insist that they do not throw their desks.

They just kill me. I can't wait to read what my new class writes at the end of this school year.

Back to School Magnetic Bookmarks

Now I realize that some of you have already sent your kids back to school, but in my neck of the woods, school doesn't start until August 30th. Hence the seemingly late bookmarks. The girls and I have been traveling, without men thankfully, and we've had family visiting since we got back, so I got these up as fast as I could without neglecting all the lounging around and loafing I've been doing. Real important stuff.

Regardless, I've been thinking about doing some back to school bookmarks for months, because I want to give some to my new batch of sixth graders. There are so many uses for the bookmarks, besides the obvious of keeping the place in the book they're currently reading. They're also good to mark planner pages, textbook pages, notebooks, etc. Using them saves a lot of flipping around, and when I've got a classroom full of students, it's important to keep things moving.

I'm so easily distracted, you know.

Anyway, because you know I never forget about my peeps, here are some for you. If school hasn't already started, wouldn't it be fun to leave them at the table for your kiddos on the first day of school?

Remember to click on each image before saving them to your computer, so you get the best possible resolution. If you need instructions for assembling the magnetic bookmarks, go here .

Have fun!

For Just Fifty Cents, You Too Can Have Beautiful Eyebrows

Beautiful shmeutiful. You didn't really come over here thinking I was serious did you?

This, of course, is Zoe Bug. Zoe Bug was born without eyelashes or eyebrows, and it took her a good long time to develop the eyelashes she does have. And she really does have eyebrows too, but they are tinsy weensy and blonde. We didn't even know she had eyebrows until one day when they caught the light just right, and we all exclaimed "Zoe! You have eyebrows!"

This invisibility of eyebrows, combined with the set-back-afar-from-her-face hairline that Peanut Head gifted her with, make her forehead appear . . . . well, expansive.

As a result, Zoe has been coveting the Groucho Marxy eyebrows in the candy dispenser machines at Wal Mart, and today she decided to take a chance and try for some eyebrows. She didn't get the eyebrows she wanted, but she did get a mustache which she resourcefully cut into two pieces to form eyebrows.

Isn't she crafty? I love her sweet little heart.

Back-to-School Preparations

I'm sure that, like me, you noticed the stores filling with school supplies mid-July, and all the back-to-school sales cropping up. It's exciting in a way, I mean who doesn't like school supplies, but also depressing at the same time. Don't pop the bubble that is my summer vacation, PUH-leez.

Well, like it or not, it's that time, time for us to start thinking about getting the kids, and ourselves, back into the school routine. For me, the best way to get in the mood is to go shopping for school supplies.

I've been thinking about revamping my School Clothes Shopping Check List, and I came up with the idea to make a School Supply Shopping Checklist. The thing I loathe about shopping for school supplies is having multiple lists to shop from. And I only have two kids! What must it be like for those of you with six kids? It's enough to make me want to bury my head in the sand.

Anyway, I came up with this solution to the confusion of shopping with multiple lists.

I took my girls' separate lists for school supplies, and I combined them into one list. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, being a lover of spread sheets and all.

Click on the picture if you need a closer look, but the idea is to write your kids' names across the columns at the top, and write the supplies they need along the left side. Then you just fill in the number that each kid needs, make a total column if you don't need that column for a seventh kid, write down what you have already, and come up with a total for each of the items you need to buy.

Pretty simple, right?

Here's a blank one for you. Just be sure to click on it first in order to get the best resolution, before you save it to your computer.

And here's the revamped School Clothes Shopping Check List. This one has enough room for two kids. If you have more than two kids, you'll have to print out more copies. Sorry about that.

Have fun shopping!