Memorial Day...Poppies

As a young girl in 4-H, my club participated in this 'holiday' by selling poppies.  I remember going to some of the neighboring small towns in Ohio to sell them.  Back then, it was an easy sale.

  At the grocery this weekend, there were two veterans selling poppies.  No one paid much attention to them. After leaving, I wondered just how many people understood what they were doing.  No, I didn't buy one, but that was only because I literally had no cash with me.

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I learned of the importance of Memorial Day and Veteran's Day from my father (whom I sometimes called Pop).  He was proud of his service to our country in WWII, as was my brother for his service in Viet Nam.  Fortunately, they both came home.  I'm sure that they both thought about the soldiers they fought with, who gave their lives for our freedom. 

In Flander's Field

by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky,

The larks, still bravely singing, fly,

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead.

Short days ago,

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved and now we lie,

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe

To you, from failing hands, we throw,

The torch, be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us, who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,

In Flanders Fields.

For all who gave their lives,

Jeans and a Tie...or...

...jeans and a pleated necktie necklace!

This coming week is the last week of school, and my principal said that we could wear jeans all week, as long as we wore either a staff shirt or something nice, to stay professional looking.  I'm thinking that a tie would raise the bar to professional.

This morning I saw this tutorial, from Maybe Matilda.  I raided DH's closet for a tie and came up with my very own pleated necktie necklace.  I made a couple of changes.  First, I decided that since it really did look like a tie, I would use the skinny end in the design, using the entire tie.  Second, I ended up hand sewing the top edge so that it lays nicely.

And I happened to have the perfect button for this!

After I finished, DH made some comment to the extent that people probably look at me and think that I should just go shopping to buy things.  Not.  This is way more fun!

So, will this dress up my jeans enough to make my boss happy?!

Produce Bags and Lapbooks

These produce bags are so cool!  The pattern is from Daisy Janie and they are quick and easy.  I made these for a wonder parent helper for an end-of-the-year gift.  I am also making a fabric grocery bag for her, and one of my team members is buying items to fill the bags.  So far she bought 3 bottles of wine with fun, food-related labels.  Does anyone have ideas for more items to fill the bags with?  This mom helper deserves a lot!        

Three summers ago I took a district class called "Lapbooks: Taking Foldables to the Next Level."  One of the things that I created for that class was a lapbook to be used with our language arts series.  This series has 6 units, so that meant 6 lapbooks for each student over the course of the school year.  Each lapbook has a variety of activities for the students to be working on while I'm working with small groups of students.

Here is what they look like.

Front

 Middle

 Back

 
This mom helper made these lapbooks not only for my class, but for my entire grade level.  That was about 400 of these over the course of this past school year.  Plus, she has volunteered to put the first unit together to start out the school year in the fall.  We LOVE you, Andrea!



Partying with:
Tatertots and Jello