It has been a very long time since I've blogged. Mostly because I'm trying to keep from frightening all of you with a hormonal tirade. To be honest, when I do go on hormonal tirades, I certainly hope that you see my comments as humorous and funny rather than crazy and tyrannical. I don't mean to scare you, simply to entertain! I promise!! So, let's sum up the past couple of days.....
Yesterday was Friday the 13th, and is was also the day that our school children celebrated Valentine's Day (being the last school day before the actual day of LOVE). It was fitting that it was Friday the 13th, because it truly frightening. The week leading up to Valentine's Day at a middle school is a curious time - you can tell that there are a few young souls with romantic hearts who are determined to have a special someone to enjoy Valentine's with. The unfortunate but true fact of the matter is that those sweet children are about to learn a valuable lesson - Valentine's is overrated and love stinks. And when you throw candy grams in the mix, things get just a little bit harder for those lost souls out there.
Okay - enough of being vague, let's get specific! The children at my school have spent the past two weeks eagerly purchasing candy grams for one another for fifty cents a pop during their lunch time. The proceeds are to benefit the math team, so we were all very supportive of the cause (the math team doesn't exactly get additional funding in the athletic budget). You can imagine how candy gram purchases go - several children go ahead and buy candy grams for themselves, even going so far as to write themselves a self affirming message. This is a great idea, in my opinion. Plenty of kids do it, and those that do get the great benefit of receiving a treat on the day that the grams are passed out. Then there are the parents out there that buy candy grams for their children. This is also a great idea. The child gets a treat from someone they love. Who could ask for anything more? Then there are those who buy for their friends. This is what we want all of them to do. After all, they're in the 6th grade. They should all be friends with each other with little interests in other relationships. Then there is the saddest group of all - those who put their hearts out there to be broken; those who send candy grams to the ones they fancy the most. It is important to note that candy grams are passed out during the last period of the day on Friday before Valentine's. On one hand, this is smart - there isn't any time for backlash. On the other hand, those who are putting their hearts on the line have most likely already taken a chance earlier in the day - so their candy gram is being sent to a heartless person who has already rejected him/her.
Case in point - one of my little boys we'll call James. James is a little boy who likes to act up a lot at school, but deep down he is a good boy. We've had some behavioral problems out of him, but nothing a short meeting with Mom and Dad can't solve. He has taken a particular liking to a little girl on our team who is very, very cute - and she knows it. Although she is a sweet girl, she also runs with a tough crowd. Many of her girl friends live in the neighborhood surrounding our school (also known as the ghetto - yes, even Auburn has a ghetto). The kids in that neighborhood are characteristically mature and tough, and it really isn't their fault that they have those traits; it is their life. This little girl in question doesn't live around our school, but she needs to maintain a certain street cred to hang with her girls, so she gets a little sassy and tough from time to time. But, at her heart, she is a very good girl with a great family, and she dresses like a page out of Seventeen magazine. James bought her a candy gram, but before she could get it, he made an attempt at romance; he bought her a $5 giant sized pencil with a feather on top from the book fair. He attempted to give it to her as a gift, and she rejected the gift. Well, we all know that that really means that she rejected him. So, he employed another child to break said pencil in half, then he spent the remainder of the day continuing to dismantle the gift and sulking deep within his hooded sweatshirt. He started out my class on Friday - the last class of the day - with his head down and the hood down over it. His seat mate pointed out the situation to me, but we all assumed he was sleeping. I said he'd wake up soon, so we kind of ignored it. It wasn't long before I realized something was wrong. Poor James had experienced his first heart break. And it wasn't going well. Everyone in the class quickly realized what was happening, and the fallout was harsh. Some kids sympathized, others laughed from a distance. And although I didn't see it, I suspect some laughed in his face. Overall, the whole situation was hard. As an adult, it's hard to watch him and not remember that same heartache from my own adolescence. As a mother, it's hard to not be protective of him and go after the little girl who caused the problem. Who does she think she is, anyway???? As a teacher, the whole thing just makes me mad. If we could avoid this entire holiday in the first place, we could avoid these problems altogether. Then, to add insult to injury, that little girl still received his candy gram, which he sent before the rejection. Before the hearbreak. Before he became hard and bitter.
As you can tell, I'm grateful that when we return to school on Monday, the whole mess of Valentine's Day will be over and done with. And I so wish that we were celebrating Presidents' Day with the day off, because I think the kids need the extra time to recuperate. Thanks state school board for adding more days to the school calendar with no plans on where they would fit in!!!!
Let's see....moving on.... oh, yeah, did anyone catch Survivor this week? The principal at my school is a contestant on the new Survivor. This week was the first episode, and so far so good. She looks good, she sounds great, and she hasn't done anything embarrassing yet. We're all thrilled with our little local celebrity, and we will all watch anxiously to see what happens next. She has already admitted that we won't be exactly proud of her the entire time, but who can maintain total propriety in the circumstances of a Survivor show? They plant those people in the harshest environments in the world and set them up to act like fools. I'm just proud of her for coming back in one piece! I would be reduced to something horrible and unrecognizable. Anyway, watch for Debbie! She's the tiny blonde one, mid-forties, and looks great. I have to be honest when I say that I HATE that her age will come up as a "weakness" time and time again, because it is total crap and continues to encourage ageism on television. Oh well, I'll just have to keep on hating it.
Now, on to important matters - JACKS! Last year I was the worst mother of all time and I didn't make Valentines for his classmates. It didn't even occur to me - is that terrible, or what? So, come Easter time last year, I worked my butt off and made handsewn sock bunnies for all of his class plus his other friends. And I was ready for Valentine's this year. A friend of mine made some heart shaped crayons as a fun craft with her daughter, and I knew I could do that for Jacks's friends. So, Joe and I got really busy last Saturday night, and we made close to 100 heart shaped crayons.
It was sooooo much fun. We used all of Jacks's old crayons that needed replacing anyway. All the wrappers were stripped, and the colors were sorted. We weren't picky about colors; all purples went together, all greens, etc...so we made all new colors with the combinations of the shades. We melted the crayons in muffin tins in the oven at a low setting, then we poured the melted wax into heart shaped ice cube trays. A few minutes in the freezer, or not (they cooled pretty quickly on the counter top), and they popped out like a dream. Before we knew it, we had piles and piles of multi colored, heart-shaped gems to pass out to Jacks's friends. And the best part - no candy!! We get way too much candy in this house at holiday times, and the less we could contribute, the better. Each child got some crayons, a color sheet we made on photoshop, some stickers, and a little box in which to hold everything. We were very proud of ourselves. Several of the kids tried to eat the crayons, but it only takes a nibble to realize they aren't edible, plus crayons are non-toxic. The worst they can do is turn your poop a lovely shade of pink!!
My total cost for this project was about $5 - the ice cube trays came from the dollar tree, the muffin tins from the grocery store, we recycled old crayons, and we had the gift boxes and cardstock (for color sheets) already. Cheap and creative - my favorite kind of craft.
And, lastly, you have to enjoy some pictures of my adorable child enjoying his new crayons. He has been playing with his heart shaped crayons, but he also received an all new set of 120 crayolas as a present for Valentine's. He deserved them since his parents destroyed his previous collection for crafting purposes! He looked so sweet and grown up working at his little table in the morning sun today.
Joe and I had scheduled a baby sitter for tonight, but we canceled at the last minute because I'm feeling a little sick. It is just as well, because our only plans were to go to the movies and out for dessert. We can have just as much fun doing that here at home after bed time. I hope everyone else has a great Valentine's Day doing exactly what you want! Love to you all - K
In fact, he has decided to become a cowboy. As soon as he got on top of this horse, he demanded a hat! And the best I could do, mostly because it was within reach, was this sombrero hat he got as a party favor at Harper's birthday fiesta last fall. One small problem is that although Jacks knows a horse when he sees it, he continues to call both of these animals "cows". My thinking is that he doesn't understand why a cowboy is called a cowboy if he rides horses, shouldn't a cowboy ride cows? He also knows that cowboys say, "Yee-haw!" Although, I really don't know where he learned that. I'm guessing school - kids learn all kinds of crazy things at school, don't they? 
